The Final Frontier
It is the year twenty-five-fifty AD and for the first time in Earth’s history there is peace between all Humans... In the year twenty-one-hundred AD, after more than a century of violence and bloodshed across various battlefields on different continents, the leaders of every major power of the world gathered together and swore a nonviolence pact between themselves; forming a democracy known as the United Earth Alliance. Over the next three hundred years the members of the United Earth Alliance grew to include every Human on the planet, putting aside their differences the Human race worked together to erase the barriers of social class, religious ideologies and financial power and slowly cured every disease known to Mankind. It is a time of peace, prosperity, exploration and growth. Developing new technologies we explored the entirety of our own planet, mapping underground caverns and the bottoms of oceans before turning our attentions to the stars... to the final frontier; the last place to be explored.
We started slowly at first, building a space station in Earth’s orbit from which we began building ships to travel through our own solar system using engines and fuel sources developed for just that purpose. Terraforming began upon the planets in Earth’s solar system, colonies sprang up almost overnight as the full forces the UEA were put into the efforts. With the addition of half a dozen colonies and several mining outposts the UEA transformed into the United Systems Federation. Resources began shipping to the space station orbiting Earth and as travel in the solar system increased so too did the size of the station until it became a shining beacon for the future of Mankind. Upon the space station Destiny an academy for space exploration was built, Mankind’s greatest scientists and engineers began work on Faster Than Light engines and a new series of exploration ships to venture outside of our solar system and a new branch of the USF was created; the United Systems Federation Space Command which was to oversee all interstellar exploration.
In the year twenty-five-forty-nine AD six ships left the solar system heading in different directions, Earth’s first wave of exploratory ships manned by the USFSC’s finest graduates. The ships were to keep in constant communication with the USFSC via a series of communication satellites they would ‘drop’ behind as they travelled, essentially forming a web of communications all the way back to Destiny and for just over eleven months these messages came back like clockwork at the end of every day. Eleven months and nine days through the exploration mission only five ships reported in to Destiny. Concerned, the USFSC broadcast a message along the web of satellites - which were programmed to respond with a pre-recorded message to indicate that the message had been received - and the message arrived at the latest satellite however Destiny received no return message from the USFSC Gagarin...
With no response from the USFSC Gagarin the USFSC looked to its scientists and engineers to modify a ship just about to leave the dock to increase power, engine and sensor output. Two months after the USFSC Gagarin lost contact the latest graduating class of USFSC officers were called into a briefing with the heads of the USF and the USFSC to be given their first assignment and the maiden voyage of their new vessel; they were to follow the path of the USFSC Gagarin and to investigate what had happened to the ship and its crew, to give it aid if needed and then to return with the Gagarin - if possible - to Destiny.
The USFSC Orion leaves Destiny under the command of Captain Katherine Beckett, its FTL engines sending it to the far reaches of the solar system and beyond as the USFSC and USF begins to plan for every contingency. Fear rests heavily in the hearts of those in command as one idea roots itself firmly in their minds; perhaps Mankind has made first contact with an alien race, contact that has not gone as well as hoped...
