Chapter 2:
Flashpoint & The Great Leap Forward
The 2050's saw the colonization of Europa by the United States and China, both of which utilized the moons subsurface oceans for resources, albeit no life was discovered larger than cellular. The decade also saw the militarization of space after the Africanas crisis which saw the spaceship Africanas be held hostage by several rebellious ship members, this event led to a sixty day standoff with the world unable to deal with the situation until the ship finally ran out of supplies and surrendered. As such the United States of America launched the Washington Class Stellar Warship of which a total of 32 of the warships were commissioned during the 2050's. However most importantly the 2050's saw the creation of the Ensign Drive by the United States which shortened the average time of travel from Earth to Mars from five months to 20 days allowing for truly economical space travel.
Washington Class Specifications
Width: 9 Meters
Length 31 Meters
Armament:
2x Torpedo Bays each holding 8x torpedoes
4x 40mm Raytheon Point Defense Guns
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 8
The commissioning of these warships led to the People's Republic of China to immediately begin construction of their own warships, the first of which was commissioned in 2053. The Type-001 Class Stellar Warship was very similar to the Washington Class, with the only major difference being it lacked an Ensign Drive, leading to the United States claiming the Chinese government had stolen the blueprints, further escalating Sino-American Relations.
In the year 2054 the European Union successfully reintegrated Poland and Hungary, as well as greeting the addition of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, shortly after which the European Union passed legislation authorizing the creation of a European Space Force, and immediately sought to create twenty four Kiev Class Warships of which upon commissioning were shown to be significantly smaller than the Washington/Type-001 Classes.
The Kiev Class
Width: 4 Meters
Length 14 Meters
Armament:
1x Torpedo Bay holding 2x torpedoes
1x 45mm Mauser Point Defense Guns
Thrusters: Chemical Propulsion
Crew: 3
These ships were deployed to EU Orbital Stations to act as fast response craft.
By 2060 the population on the moon had surpassed 50,000, Mars had surpassed 500,000 and Europa had surpassed 20,000 as mankind truly started becoming a multi-planetary civilization.
The 2060's were marked by tensions between China and the United States becoming untenable as the United States exploited its position as the sole nation with access to the Ensign Drive to quickly establish colonies across Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, Io and Triton. The United States also offered travel to Mars via ships equipped with the Ensign drive only to those planning to immigrate to U.S. Colonies, leading to said colonies experiencing massive population booms.
In the year 2062 the People's Republic of China announced that it had successfully created its own fully functioning Ensign Drive leading to the United States offering schematics for the Ensign Drive to its allies, to which they accepted.
In the year 2064 the United States conducted an Expedition near Pluto and discovered what appeared to be a tear in space…a portal as it was first reported. This discovery was quickly identified as a wormhole leading to an unknown solar system, however the Wormhole itself appeared to be highly unstable and frequently closed upon itself for hours at a time and most worrying of all scientists reported that the wormhole appeared to be artificially created.
The public was made aware of what was called the Cervasian Wormhole, as it was named after the solar system it led to, in the year 2065 after a successful manned scouting mission led to the discovery of a lush and habitable planet. Almost a year after this announcement the United States deployed its first colony ships to Cervasia III and as such mankind had colonized another solar system.
The colonization of Cervasia III led to a large-scale arms race between the United States and its allies and the People's Republic of China. This arms race was particularly focused on Stellar warship construction and the People's Republic of China began investing massive portions of their economy into this race quickly outpacing the United States.
By the year 2070 the Stellar Fleets of the world were as follows
The United States Space Force
32 Washington Class Frigate
26 Tallahassee Class Frigates
8 Houston Class Destroyers
2 Chicago Class Battleships
Fleets & Deployments
The United States Home Fleet
The bulk of the United States Space Force, the Home Fleet is responsible for protecting U.S. interests near the Moon and Earth.
Fleet Composition:
1 Chicago Class Battleship
4 Houston Class Destroyers
26 Tallahasee Class Frigates
12 Washington Class Frigates
The United States Mars Fleet
Responsible for protecting U.S. Interests within Mars.
Fleet Composition:
1 Chicago Class Battleship
2 Houston Class Destroyers
12 Washington Class Frigates
The United States Europa Fleet
Responsible for protecting U.S. interests in Europa and the Outer Belt colonies.
Fleet Composition:
2 Houston Class Destroyers
8 Washington Class Frigates
The Tallahassee Class
Width: 9 Meters
Length 34 Meters
Thrusters: Ensign Drive
Crew:11
Armament:
2x Torpedo Bays holding 8x torpedoes
4x45mm Raytheon Point Defense Guns
The Houston Class
Width: 12 meters
Length: 42 Meters
Thrusters: Ensign Drive
Crew: 26
Armament:
2x Torpedo Bays holding 8x Torpedos
2 50mm Raytheon Mass Driver Autocannons
4x 45 mm Raytheon Point Defense Guns
The Chicago Class
Width: 48 Meters
Length: 220 Meters
Thrusters: Ensign Drive
Crew: 2420
Armament:
6x Torpedo Bays holding 8x Torpedos
2x 100mm Raytheon Mass Driver Autocannons
42x 45mm Raytheon Point Defense Guns
4x Nuclear Tipped Warheads
16x F-39 Stellar Fighters
The People's Liberation Army Space Force
28 Type-001 Class Frigates
58 Type-002 Class Frigates
22 Type-003 Class Frigates
1 Hong Kong Class Battleship
Fleets & Deployments
Home Defense Fleet
The primary fleet of the PLASF responsible for protecting Chinese interests around Earth and the Moon.
Fleet composition
1 Beijing Class Battleship
22 Type-003 Class Frigates
30 Type-002 Class Frigates
16 Type-001 Class Frigates
Mars Defense Fleet
Responsible for protecting Chinese interests in and around Mars
Fleet Composition:
10 Type-001 Class Frigates
14 Type-002 Class Frigates
Outer Planetary Defense Force
Responsible for protecting Chinese Colonies around Jupiter and Saturn.
Fleet Composition
4 Type-001 Class Frigates
2 Type-002 Class Frigates
Type-001 Class Frigate
Width: 9 Meters
Length: 31 Meters
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 8
Armament:
2x Torpedo Bays each holding 8x torpedoes
4x 40mm Zhengzhou Point Defense Guns
Type-002 Class Frigates
Width: 9 Meters
Length: 31 Meters
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 9
Armament
2x Torpedo Bays holding 8x Torpedos
4x 40mm Zhengzhou Point Defense Guns
1x 45mm Zhengzhou Mass Driver Autocannon
Type-003 Class Frigates
Width: 11 Meters
Length: 38 Meters
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 16
Armament:
6x 40mm Zhengzhou Point Defense Guns
4x 45mm Zhengzhou Mass Driver Autocannon
Beijing Class Battleship
Width: 62 Meters
Length: 320 Meters
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 3760
Armament:
6x 160mm Zhengzhou Mass Driver Autocannons
72x 45mm Zhengzhou Point Defense Guns
The European Union's Space Force
48 Kiev Class Fighters
6 Budapest Class Frigates
4 Flanders Class Destroyers
Fleets & Deployments
Home Fleet
Responsible for protecting and securing the European Union's interests in and around the Moon and Earth
Fleet Composition:
4 Flanders Class Destroyers
6 Budapest Class Frigates
32 Kiev Class Fighters
Mars Defense Squadron
Responsible for protecting Europa Station, the largest space station orbiting Mars.
Fleet Composition
14 Kiev Fighters stationed at Europa Station
Budapest Class Frigates
Width: 8 Meters
Length: 24 Meters
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 8
Armament:
1x Torpedo Bays each 8x torpedoes
4x 40mm Mauser Point Defense Guns
Flanders Class Destroyer
Width: 16 meters
Length: 48 Meters
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Crew: 42
Armament:
8x Torpedo Bays each 8x Torpedoes
18x 40mm Mauser Point Defense Guns
The Commonwealths Space Force
8 Victoria Class Frigates
1 Elizabeth Class Battleship
Fleets & Deployments
The Home Fleet
Responsible for aiding in security operations around Earth and the Moon.
Fleet Composition:
8 Victoria Class Frigates
1 Elizabeth Class Battleship
Victoria Class Frigate
Width: 12 Meters
Length: 28 Meters
Crew: 12
Thursters: Ensign Class
Armament:
8x BAE 45mm Point Defense Guns
2 50mm Mass Driver Autocannons
Elizabeth Class Battleship
Width: 44 Meters
Length: 200 Meters
Crew: 2260
Thruster: Ensign Drive
Armament:
16x 50mm Raytheon Mass Driver Autocannons
36x 45mm BAE Point Defense Guns
Upon discovering and colonizing Cervasia, immigration to the new world outpaced any previous immigration in the history of mankind as the environmental crisis on Earth began peaking millions of refugees began fleeing to this newfound colony and within ten years of the planet's colonization its population had surpassed 20,000,000.
On April 22nd, 2074 the U.S.S. George Washington Chicago Class Battleship was conducting anti-piracy operations under escort of two Washington Class Frigates some two million miles from Mars when a Chinese Type-001 Frigate that had been shadowing the fleet since its departure began conducting dangerous flybys of the Capital Ship, on the Frigates third flyby disaster struck when unexpectedly the Frigate erupted into flames and crashed into the Battleship causing critical damage to the ships engines.
This tragedy quickly erupted into a diplomatic crisis and the Chinese Government claimed their vessel was shot down while the United States claimed it was a blatant act of aggression to destroy one of the United States most powerful warships in the region. Diplomacy immediately broke down as both sides proved incapable of easing tensions.
Mars:
The Opening Volley
Meanwhile as tensions on Earth were reaching a point of no return, the now gravely damaged and partially immobile G.W. Bush hobbled towards the European Union's Europa Station for dire repairs however as the ship was still 500,000 miles out the G.W. Bush's radar systems began detecting a large formation of unknown vessels approaching the warship and to the G.W. 's Commander dread all ships were reporting failure to contact the United States Mars Fleet due to what appeared to be frequency jamming.
The warship immediately began battle preparations as F-39 Fighters launched outside of the vessels ship bays and in close formation with the ships two Washington Class Frigates began forming a defensive ring between the Capital Ship and the unknown vessels.
The incoming vessels were identified as nearly two dozen Type-001 & Type-002 PLASF Warships, the commander of the G.W. Bush made the difficult decision and authorized use of force as the F-39 Fighters & Frigates launched their torpedoes at the oncoming vessels before closing the distance to engage with their Mass Driver Autocannons all the while the G.W. Bush's Mass Drivers began engaging the enemy fleet.
The Chinese Strike Force went to life as the fleets PDS began engaging the onslaught of Torpedos as several successfully hit their targets.
Three vessels were immediately confirmed as neutralized as a mass driver round streaked through the stars and ripped a massive hole in another Chinese Vessel however it was at this time that the Chinese fleet began to return fire en mass as the G.W.'s fighter squadron was immediately engulfed in PDS fire and torn to bits meanwhile the Capital Ships two escort ships attempted to pull back but it was far too late as the U.S.S. Carolina burst into flames after a torpedo struck the stern of the ship and second later the U.S.S. Vermont was peppered with countless mass driver rounds.
.
As the remaining twenty Chinese vessels closed the distance with the G.W. all hell broke loose as both sides entire armaments began opening fire as yet another Chinese warship identified as a Type-001 bursted in flames after a Mass Driver round penetrated its hull seconds later the G.W.'s PDS systems went to life as thousands of rounds began engaging the oncoming swarm of Torpedos.
Within the G.W. uneasiness was apparent as mass driver rounds continuously vibrated the ship interior followed by frequent torpedo detonations causing large craters in the vessel.
"Commander! The Mass Drivers have received a direct hit and are no longer functional."
"Status on the PDS Systems?"
"18 of 42 are still operational sir!"
"The Nuclear Warheads?"
"Disabled. Sir."
As the Commander of the G.W. went through the status of the ship a dozen torpedoes streaked towards the ship's center mass all scoring direct hits as the vessel split in two. The first battle of World War III had ended in a Chinese Victory.
Upon the destruction of the G.W. Bush the PLASF Mars Defense Fleet streaked towards Europa Station which was entirely oblivious as to the intentions of the Chinese Fleet as the Europa Station attempted to discover the reasoning of the Chinese Fleets approach a barrage of Torpedoes were launched giving the station little time to defend itself or launch its Kiev Class Fighters as the Torpedos one by one struck their targets causing the station to erupt in a massive fireball that could be seen from Mars.
The Chinese Fleet then conducted high speed burns towards Washington Station, the headquarters of the United States Mars Fleet. On board Washington Station word was just trickling in about some calamity that occurred on Europa Station when the Chinese Fleet appeared on the station's radar.
The United States fleet began contacting the Chinese Fleet and began warning the fleet to stop its approach immediately to which the fleet paid little attention by the time the station commander realized the severity of the situation and began fleet to battle formations as well as calling for the 2nd Strike Fleet to return from its patrol it was far too late.
Fleet Compositions During The Battle of Washington Station
The United States of America
At Washington Station
1 Houston Class Destroyer
4 Washington Class Frigates
On patrol returning to Washington Station
1 Houston Class Destroyer
6 Washington Class Frigate
The People's Republic of China
PLASF Mars Defense Fleet
8 Type-001 Frigates
10 Type-002 Frigates
The Chinese Fleet quickly closed the distance as the U.S. Fleet waited under clear orders to not attack unless fired upon, seconds later the Chinese fleet opened fired as dozens of Torpedos launched from their tubes and mass driver rounds began pelting the American ships which quickly returned fire.
As the two fleets engaged each the U.S. Second Strike Force initiated emergency burns to aid their assaulted headquarters.
Within seconds of the engagement the U.S.S. Austin, the sole Houston Class Destroyer in the battle went dark as a mass driver round struck the vessels bridge killing the vessels entire command apparatus and disabling the vessel from the fight, moments later a Washington Class launched its torpedoes and delivered two decisive hits at a Type-001’s bow knocking the vessel out of the fight before being hailed with mass driver rounds one of which struck the ships ammunition stores and all but evaporating the vessel, moments later the remaining two Washington Class vessels were overwhelmed by torpedoes and mass driver fire and rendered inoperable. Washington Station fared little better as it quickly became the focus of the Chinese fleet as torpedoes struck the station’s critical systems one by one before the station commander ordered a scuttling of the station.
“3… 2…. 1..”
A blinding light shot out from the station as the nuclear warhead detonated from deep within the headquarters almost immediately two Chinese Warships were destroyed as the station evaporated and was replaced by nothing but pure light.
The United States Second Strike Force arrived moments later only to see the destruction of their headquarters, the Admiral of the Strike Force gave the order… Emergency burn to Earth…. We have lost this fight…
Europa:
Striking Back
While the events in Mars were ongoing the Chinese Outer Planetary Defense Force was conducting a sustained burn towards Jupiter’s moon Europa with one target in sight: the Headquarters of the United States States Europa Fleet. Clipper Station.
On Clipper Station things were hectic as they had just received confirmation that the People’s Republic of China had declared war upon the United States and European Union due to the United States blatant attack on one of their vessels, the Commander of the station knew all too well that the Chinese O.P.D.F. Fleet would be on it’s way to the station attempting to repeat their success and readied his fleet.
As the hour passed the Chinese Fleet had at last entered into range of the Station’s radar and the call was made as six Washington Class Frigates and two Houston Class Destroyers lurched towards the incoming fleet as the last two remaining Washington Class Frigates of the fleet stayed back to protect the station.
The unprepared and unsuspecting Chinese fleet was caught off guard at the sound of their defense systems tracking incoming torpedoes which moments later knocked three of the warships out of the fight, moment later the two Houston Class Destroyers opened up with their Mass Driver Autocannons and knocked out an additional two Chinese Frigates. The clearly outgunned and panicking remaining vessel within the Chinese fleet attempted an Emergency burn to escape the onslaught but shortly after received a hail of Mass Driver rounds crippling the ship.
The Outer Belt was now in the firm hands of the United States and its allies.
The spark of this open conflict led to the establishment of the Democratic Front which was composed of the United States, the Commonwealth, European Union and India against the People's Republic of China.
Almost immediately the newly colonized planet of Cervasia announced complete and total neutrality in the conflict with both Chinese and United States colonies on the planet standing united to avoid the devastation that was soon to come to the Sol system. The Democratic Front promptly protested but after realizing that it would avoid a new front agreed to Cervasian Armistice while the People’s Republic of China denounced their fellow colonists on the planet and revoked each and everyone of them of citizenship.
As the People’s Liberation Army Space Force was the only remaining fleet near Mars it immediately began with cooperation from People’s Liberation Army Ground Forces on Mars began demanding the surrender of Democratic Front Colonies and after the Washington Colony refused and repelled a Chinese assault the Chinese Navy began an orbital bombardment of the colony shattered the colonies domes and murdering the colonies inhabitants who were not lucky enough to be in Shelters, the remaining colonies promptly surrendered to the Chinese Forces as on Earth headlines began running across television screens.
“China Conduct’s Mass Genocide Against The Washington Colony. Over One Million Dead”
Anger and passion ran through the blood of Democratic Front forces as the opening volley of the war began on Earth as thousands of aircraft began flying in opposing directions. Along the entirety of East Asia was engulfed in warfare as armies numbering in the multi-millions clashed along the Indo-Chinese, Russo-Chinese and S Korean-Chinese Borders. As the long held in reserve weapons of mankind came to the forefront truly devastation was felt across the entirety of the region.
In the orbit of Earth as first standoff began occurring as the Democratic Front’s and Chinese Fleet’s began conducting what seemed like the world longest staring contest as both fleets remained well out of each other's ranges waiting for the proper time to attack knowing that the battle could decide the war.
As the weeks began to pass by, the Battle in Asia raged ever more on as the death toll began numbering in the tens of millions with neither side appearing to gain an upper hand on the other. However in Space things were becoming ever more interesting as the United States Mars Fleet’s 2nd Strike Force which had narrowly escaped the Battle of Washington merged with the Democratic Fronts fleet followed days later by the arrival of the United States Europa Fleet and the People’s Republic’s Mars Defense Fleet. It was clear that supremacy of Space was to be decided over Earth.
The Battle of Earth
As the Democratic Front and People’s Republic of China prepared for what was certain to be the battle that would determine the war both sides were growing increasingly uneasy as both fleets proved to be equally matched and capable.
Fleet Composition Before The Battle of Earth
The Democratic Front
The United States Space Force
26 Washington Class Frigate
26 Tallahassee Class Frigates
7 Houston Class Destroyers
1 Chicago Class Battleship
16 F-39 Fighters (on board the U.S.S. Chicago)
The European Union's Space Force
34 Kiev Class Fighters
6 Budapest Class Frigates
4 Flanders Class Destroyers
The Commonwealth’s Space Force
8 Victoria Class Frigates
1 Elizabeth Class Battleship
Total:
50 Fighters
66 Frigates
11 Destroyers
2 Battleships
The People’s Republic of China
The People's Liberation Army Space Force
19 Type-001 Class Frigates
52 Type-002 Class Frigates
22 Type-003 Class Frigates
1 Hong Kong Class Battleship
Total:
93 Frigates
1 Battleship
On June 3rd, forty two days after the attack on the U.S.S. G.W. Bush and the start of World War III the newly made People’s Fleet of the People’s Republic of China began advancing towards the Democratic Front’s fleet the move was unsurprising considering how the situation on the ground was developing, as the People’s Republic of China began being pushed back on all fronts they had no choice but to force the Democratic Front into a pitched battle in the hope that defeating the enemy fleet will allow them not only free access to the solar system but it would also free the People’s Navy to being able to conduct orbital bombardment uninterrupted.
The People’s Fleet’s movements were no surprise to the Democratic Front which had closely been observing it’s movements in anticipation of such a move as the joint U.S., E.U. & Commonwealth Fleet went into positions in preparation for what was to come.
As the two fleets shortened the gap between each other and entered weapons range all hell broke loose as both sides deployed the entirety of their arsenals at one another as billions as citizens on Earth and the Moon gazed into the stars in terror to watch the battle unfold.
Hundreds of torpedoes streaked across the stars as hundreds of Point Defense System Autocannons erupted into action as tens of thousands of rounds were launched from the systems with every passing second. The first volley of missiles proved deadly as vessels from both sides began to burst into flames, seconds passed as the vessels closed the gap further and entered into Mass Driver range as hundreds of mass driver autocannons began launching rounds at unbelievable speeds into their targets all across the battlefield chunks of metal was torn from vessels causing in of itself a great hazard to the warships.
Almost immediately the Democratic Front’s fleet split in two and began to encircle the Chinese Fleet, as the encirclement began the Chinese Fleet was immediately caught in a deadly crossfire as mass driver rounds and torpedoes began striking their vessels from both sides causing many to tear apart under chaos. However as the Democratic Front knew all too well , conducting the encirclement would leave their flagships vulnerable as a dozen Chinese vessels broke their encirclement and launched their payloads at the H.M.S. Wales one of which caused a critical hit to the vessel leading to an eye blinding explosion that is said to have been seen from Mars.
As the havoc went on nearly all forms of formation and tactics were abandoned as the two fleets smashed into each other, chaos ensued as ships flying thousands of miles an hour began attempting to maneuver the mess of friendly, hostile and destroyed warships causing several vessels on both sides to crash into each other.
However as the battle went on it was clear which side was gaining the upper hand as the Chinese fleet continued to dwindle however the pride of the P.L.A.S.F. the Beijing continued to fight courageously as it shrugged off countless torpedo strikes as one after another struck its hull. However with every burst of its 160mm Mass Driver Autocannons the flagship became more and more vulnerable as its Point Defense Guns went offline one by one and breaches within the ships hull became amore and more frequent.
As the Democratic Front’s vessels dived in for a final strike all too similar to the strike the Chinese conducted towards the U.S.S. G.W. Bush that started this damned war time slowed down for a moment as it became clear that Democracy would reign supreme on Earth as hundreds of torpedoes and mass driver rounds hurled towards the Flagship of the totalitarian state.
A bright light shined through the stars for several seconds before all went quiet and the flagship began to break apart into thousands of pieces. The Battle of Earth was over.
As the Battle of Earth reached its conclusion billions of people began screaming in joy knowing their rights would be protected for decades to come all the while billions began to cry as their nation’s fleet was destroyed. Dashing any hope of a victory. Ensuring that those Western Menace would rule the world.
However things were not as black and white as they appeared as the next day the People’s Liberation Army’s Ground and Airforce did not lay down their weapons and instead began fighting with even more ferocity even as the Democratic Front began large scale orbital bombings along not only the front lines but within China’s cities.
Although the Battle of Earth did indeed decide the fate of the war, peace did not come immediately as the Chinese Government became ever more determined to see the war through to the end, encouraging its citizens to fight to the last man even as Beijing fell, they fled inwards as their original leader Mao Zedong had done over a century earlier, however the Democratic Front persisted and for every step that the P.L.A. gave the Democratic Front claimed it with growing determination.
As the war continued Chinese citizens who had long been supporters of their totalitarian government began wavering and showing their support for the Democratic Front as they could no longer support their nation which was sending even children to the battle field.
On July 16th, 2078 a whole four years after the war started the remains of the People’s Republic of China was overthrown by its own military who refused to keep on fighting for a cause that they no longer believed in.
The Treaty of Tokyo occurred less than a week later as the leaders of the Democratic Republic of China signed the document officially calling an end to World War III. The most devastating war in human history.
Casualties of World War III
Total Military Dead:
332,000,000
Total Civilian Dead:
2,520,000,000
Total Dead:
2,852,000,000
East Asia took the brunt of the casualties as China’s population decreased by more than sixty percent however every corner of Earth felt the devastation as new military graveyards were built by the tens of thousands to make room for the dead. Outside of Earth, Mars by far received the hardest beating as after the Battle of Earth, the Chinese Army on Mars began a scorched Earth tactic by sabotaging dozens of colonies before fleeing leading to the population of Mars decreasing by some fifty five percent most of which were due to oxygen deprivation.
However some places felt little change or even prospered during the war such as the Outer Rim Colonies namely Europa which after the Battle of Clipper station became an invaluable supporter of the war effort through its mining efforts leading to the once poor colony to become rich and prosperous, however no colony benefited more from the war than Cervasia which at the wars onset proclaimed outright neutrality not because of pacifism but because of distaste over the Sol Systems politics and this distaste only grew and evolved as tens of millions of refugees immigrated to the flourishing colony once again not detesting warfare but instead detesting Earth as it’s selfishness and chaotic rule had brought nothing but the outright endangerment of mankind.
As Earth began rebuilding at the conclusion of World War III the Democratic Front’s members began discussing ways to prevent the rise of tensions to ensure a conflict like World War III these talks culminated in the Conference of Berlin which began with high hopes but quickly devolved into squabbling and arguing as little success was reached on ways to actually prevent future conflict.
That was until during a closed door session the United States of America and the European Union revealed what they believed would ensure prosperity, peace and democracy for the entirety of Earth. The suggestion was simple yet implausible to think of until then.
The total unification of Earth under one Federal Government, the suggestion blindsided the entire planet as even within the European Union and more particularly the United States of America the suggestion was met by laughter and over the ludicrous suggestion. However as images of the devastation within Asia and across the Solar System as a whole continued to flood televisions across the world, public perception about the idea gradually began to shift.
For months participants in the Conference of Berlin met together and began hammering out the details of how such a Federation would function, it was ultimately decided that the Federation would be highly decentralized and that each country would be made into an independent state which would enjoy great autonomy, although uncertainty continued to linger over the once thought ludicrous idea a date was set for the referendum to occur across the nations of the world, and to the surprise of billions the referendums succeeded within the European Union, United States, The Commonwealth and The Democratic Republic of China thus officially created the Federated States of Earth.
With the Federation born, public opinion forced dozens of independent nations to conduct their own referendums as large swaths of the planet came under one power.
However this Federation was fragile and for every nation state outside of the Federation it weakened its call of unification leading to the Federation covertly funding unification movements across the globe, as propaganda began calling nations that refused supporters of human annihilation, gradually the final remaining states joined the Federation until all of Earth was composed of a single Federal Government.
However as was always predicted such a massive Federation with so many underlying clashing beliefs proved highly immobile with a crisis striking quickly over voting rights for those outside of Earth. Although it may have seemed like an uncontroversial decision to give those who had fought tooth and nail during the war in space the right to vote, growing colonial dissent primarily on Cervasia and Mars encouraged many lawmakers to refuse such voting rights as it would only strengthen those who opposed the newly established state.
Ultimately after months of gridlock it was agreed that only citizens of Earth would be able to vote for the Federations Parliamentary elections, with colonies voting for colonial representatives who lacked any power within the previously stated parliament.
This decision caused mass riots across the colonies of Earth to which the unified state established under the principles of Democracy deployed its warships and subdued the unrest when necessary with force.
The first task of the Federation was solving the increasingly damaging environmental crisis which was only worsened by the war, together the nation states poured trillions of dollars into new policies which although proving to be promising were slow in effect further encouraging immigration towards Earth's colonies namely Cervasia which at this point its population had surpassed two billion a fifth of Earth's total population, all of whom lacked a true voice in governing their future.
At the start of the 2080's mankind became aware of Hyperlanes which from their understanding were artificially constructing "pathways" allowing for faster-than-light travel although poorly understood it was clear that unlocking the secrets to these HyperLanes would grant mankind access to the galaxy as a whole, leading to the Federation's government putting great effort on reaching a potential breakthrough and allowing mankind to take the next great leap forward.
Years passed by as the Sol System began to rebuild itself from the devastation of the war, however the 2090's were marked by what is now considered the decline of the F.S.E. as corruption became more and more commonplace within the Federal Government which was gradually becoming dominated by the United States of America, The European Union, The Commonwealth, India & Japan at the expense of all other member states, calls for reform began being silenced as the ruling states clung onto their power in the name of ensuring stability.
The 2090's were also met with the first major breakthroughs into Hyperlane research as scientists began understanding how the HyperLane's functions and how to successfully utilize them, these discoveries led to the F.S.E. to grant massive funding into a theoretical HyperDrive which would allow vessels to travel within the HyperLanes at Faster-Than-Light speeds this funding culminated into 1.8% of the Federation's funding as massive complexes were constructed with the sole goal of FTL Travel another major breakthrough was the construction and eventual commissioning of the Sol Starport over the Sun this massive complex housed over 100,000 permanent workers with capabilities of housing over 200,000 to be provided for trade vessels and the F.S.E. Navy.
As mankind entered the twenty second century many began to look back at how far mankind had come in just one hundred years and many looked forward to what the future held. The year 2100 saw the first official prototypes of the HyperDrive constructed which although all written off as failures it was reassuring progress that mankind was on the verge of FTL-Travel.
On Cervasia migration from Sol continued in the tens of millions annually as citizens of Earth hoped for a new start on the prosperous colony which offered droves of jobs ranging across all education levels, during this time construction of mining installations were completed across the Cervasian System as well as the Cervasian Star Port orbiting around its sun however Cervasia's citizens grew ever more distrustful and hateful against Earth's government as large sums of the colonies wealth was driven back to Earth while in return they were given no representation within the Federated States of Earth's government.
As mankind continued the struggle of constructing an operational Faster-Than-Light HyperDrive, mankind was nearing the end of their study of HyperLanes as they discovered that the HyperLane System outside of Sol were some seventy five million years old and although mankind was on the verge of learning how to transverse HyperLanes how they were constructed was by mankind's understanding purely unknown if not magical as mankind’s greatest minds were unable to understand in any way or form how it functioned. This pure uncertainty led to the belief by billions that the HyperLanes were constructs of God himself to help guide mankind towards the future.
After a continued string of failures mankind in the year 2104 successfully conducted its first ever faster-than-light jump as the F.S.E. Adventure activated it’s HyperDrive allowing it to transverse the HyperLane to Alpha Centauri. After a five day journey the Exploratory vessel reported that it had successfully arrived within the Alpha Centauri System and shortly after returned to the Sol System as all of mankind cheered at such a great success knowing that with the F.T.L. travel the entirety of the galaxy was now within mankind’s grasp all it had to do now was reach out. And reach out it did.
Shipyards in the orbit of Earth and Cervasia quickly began production of long range self-sufficient exploration vessels to explore the galaxy, these vessels upon being commissioned set off in every direction as they began searching for habitable planets and evidence of intelligent life. The first vessel was a refitted F.S.E. Adventure which after surveying the Alpha Centauri System discovered that just as scientists had long suspected Alpha Centauri III was indeed habitable although far from the ideal habitability of Earth or Cervasia as the planet had extreme characteristics that made it dangerous to live on leading to only the most dedicated or desperate homesteaders to colonize the planet.
One month later the F.S.E. Progress entered the Sirius System and discovered another habitable planet which although slightly more habitable than Alpha Centauri III still had several planetary issues that made habitability rather difficult when compared to Earth and Cervasia. During this time Mars reeling from mass immigration out of the planet was approved by the F.E.S. to terraform the planet albeit with the costs coming out of Mars own coffers.
It was not long before exploration vessels outside of Cervasia began discovering their own habitable planets as the Nela & Trinity System both were discovered to house a habitable planet each leading to their prompt colonization however just as with Alpha Centauri & Sirius these new planets were also shown to have some habitability issues leading to immigrants to continue to choose Cervasia over these newly discovered planets as only those looking for a true restart boarded colony ships for these planets.
One by one more habitable planets were discovered across the void of the galaxy however the Exploration’s Vessels second objective of discovering evidence of intelligent life continued to evade them as even though countless forms of life were found on these newly discovered habitable planets however none of them were considered to be truly intelligent.
However this search met its end as the F.S.E. Taiwan entered an unexplored solar system and was greeted by a grand battle field as hundreds of vessels drifts endlessly over a barren world covered in countless crater, these vessels dwarfing even the current battleships in the Federations fleet further investigation of what the media began calling "The Spaceship Graveyard" revealed several interesting and disturbing details the first of all being that the battle seemed to have occurred over seven hundred thousand years ago, the second being that all of the vessels shared the same icon on their bows, the third and most disturbing being that no remains could be found on board the vessels and according to our scientists the vessels had to of been manned…. Was this the aftermath of a civil war or something much more sinister….
Months passed by without any new discoveries related to the Spaceship Graveyard however this did not last as nearly a year after the discovery of "The Spaceship Graveyard" the F.S.E.. Void discovered an eerily similar scene as dozens of destroyed alien warships were discovered floating throughout the system many of which were stuck in orbit over a crater filled barren world, further investigation revealed that the ships were seven hundred thousand years old just as the ships discovered a year ago were however these vessels had very different designs and appeared all but alien when compared to the previously discovered vessels and once again no remains were found. What made this discover ever more terrifying was that the F.S.E.. Void started it's search in the complete opposite direction of the F.S.E. Taiwan was some sixty HyperLanes West of the Spaceship Graveyard.
As the decade neared its end the brave and patriotic crews of the exploration vessels continued to every year or so discover yet another great battlefield all of which shared the same characteristics no remains of any form could be found onboard the massive husks of warships and all the graveyards were dated from around 700,000 years ago offering little explanation or answers. However not all was grim as Exploration vessels continued to discover new habitable worlds for human civilization as mankind truly began conquering the stars.