Conflict Horizon, The story so far.

During man’s expansion into space, the earth was in turmoil at a global stage. Wars in the middle-east destabilized the earth. The climate change brought on by the solar storms from the system’s sun had damaged the atmosphere and parched parts of the planet.  Resources became scarce, and the super powers of the world battled each other for what was left, completely redrawing the borders of their nations in the process. During these events, private organizations started to colonize new worlds. Luna, Mars, Europa and others were colonized, they began to establish and sustain themselves. Asteroid mining became big business and the mining operations setup dirt-side on many of the new worlds proved to be a valuable commodity.

 

The West Euro-American Alliance attacked the Eastern Eurasian Confederation. This led to an embroiled war that would drag the rest of the world in the long and bloody conflict. Nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, devastated much of the world. Once again, the borders of earth’s nation were redrawn after the dust settled. As the world recovered, as best it could. Resources had dwindled to nearly nothing. Work began on a grand alliance between the remaining major powers. This was due to the mass genocide never before witnessed by man as billions died indiscriminately. As a result, mankind was emotionally scarred. Because of the events that transpired during the war, we vowed to never let it happen again and the Global Alliance was born.

 

The GA reached out to the Alliance of Colonial Worlds requesting assistance from its colonies.  The ACW accepted the request and alien resources in abundance flowed into the earth’s ravaged markets. The earth began to flourish once again and the colonies began to feel the strain. The earth’s demands became greater and the need to protect its new found wealth increased. The GA sent paramilitary units to set up bases of operation on the colony worlds in accordance to the contracts. The paramilitary forces were seen as intrusive and even as invaders by some of the colonial peoples. The working conditions of the colonies soon became horrendous, as the GA enforced the laws of Earth. It wasn’t unusual for the miners to work 16 or 18 hour shifts with six hours of rest before coming back in for his or her next shift. Wages soon dropped and the cries of rebellion went up. Resistance cells formed all over the colonies and began attacking the GA Police units stationed on their worlds.

 

War between the GA and ACW was in full swing. At first the colonies had the upper hand, which would soon change. Built from modified construction equipment called Industrial Amplified Mobility-Systems, what was known as an IAM changed the warfare and the universe forever, the ACW used these converted industrial machines to attack the GA Paramilitary forces in combined arms raids. The GA only had tracked and wheeled vehicles. Though the tanks of the GA could boast more firepower, the IAMs could move over the rough alien terrain that the armored vehicles could not. This made the IAM a perfect playing piece in the resistances’ arsenal. The GA had built their own machines dedicated to combat, and began landing the extremely advanced versions of the Industrial Amplified Mobility-System now called Combat Amplified Mobility-System (CAM), on the colonies. Because of these advanced combat machines, the GA soon quelled the resistance. After the battle and the fall of the ACW, the GA became known as the Earth-Colonial Alliance.

 

With the wealth of the colonies at its disposal, Mankind began travelling faster and farther than ever before.  Stars barely seen from earth were now conquered by man, as we stretched further into the void with no fear. Now the colonies were government sponsored, though corporations staked claim on certain worlds and terranized them, the governments of earth paid for the colonization. The big colonial boom began and it seemed that the wars of the past would fade from memory as mankind seemed enamored by the unknown. There were always the few bad apples however. Pirating became a lucrative business as did smuggling and soon humans have found themselves driven by greed yet again. Colonies armed themselves against the pirate threats as the ECA forces were stretched so thin already from the rapid rate of expansion. Soon colonial militias formed to fend off the pirate threats. Once these forces had driven off the pirates, they found employment from other colonies to assist in their piracy problems. Even private corporations began to hire their private military forces out to other organizations.

 

The Colonies were crying for independence, so numerous that the Alliance couldn’t quell them all. The government began to build up arms to assert their authority over their territory. Problems soon deepened as border disputes between the colonies themselves arose. The mercenaries became the perfect piece to assist in protecting each of their holdings. The taunts and skirmishes between a few units engulfed the entire Colonial Circle in civil and territorial wars. The ECA also attacked worlds trying to crush any resistance or rebellion. The most notable world to feel the ECA’s wrath was Ayden. It was there that the ECA showed its dark side. The ECA fleet bombarded the world from orbit, killing much of the population. This period became known as the Fracturing, when alliances new and old fell apart.

 

The Alliance back on Earth was facing its own battle. The earth was yet again on the decline because of the colonial civil wars. Resources once clogging the trade arteries began to trickle and dry. A political group known as the Earth’s Collective Union party spewed propaganda against the Colonies claiming it was their fault that earth was on the decline. This was the start of the earth’s xenophobia toward anyone not born on of it. As the resources dried up completely, the Collective’s influence grew as the populace demanded blood. The organization’s plans were well laid out. As an elite military unit within the ECA army, the collective had access to the most advanced equipment not even given to the ECA mainline forces. With the Collective’s growing support, the ECA found itself being overshadowed by the growing hatred of the colonies. The Collective staged an elaborate coup d’etat, executing many of the high ranking ECA officials. Within six hours, the Circle was changed forever.    

 

The new earth government, under the collective’s banner occupied many of the colonies by force. Colonies like Centauri, Groombridge, Aquitaine, Procyon, Galatea and many others fell beneath the Collective’s heel. Plenty, a colonial world in the Sirius system had consigned themselves with the collective as long as they could remain an independent world. In exchange, the collective would receive revenue from the illegal black markets, cartels, gambling and blood sports so long as they were able to carry out business as usual.

 

Many of the major colonies, now calling themselves solar states began attacking collective held or allied worlds in addition to attacking each other. This war was unlike any other as it had involved the entire Circle, Every world now felt what it means to know war.

 

  © Copyright 2013 Dallas Walker