Frontier Chronicles History Part One

Ever since the dawn of time, Man has always been interested and influenced by the stars. These twinkling heavenly bodies would hang in the sky at night, and help Mankind to create great myths of their gods' heroic deeds, create great monuments and devices, explore the unknown, navigate the oceans, and plan their harvesting and planting seasons...

...and they would also lead Mankind to explore the Final Frontier.

In the 1950's, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in the famous Space Race. The U.S.S.R. struck first in 1957 with Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. Then, they launched Sputnik 2 soon after, carrying the first animal into space. A month later in November, America launched Explorer 1, which detected the Van Allen Belts, and then they launched the SCORE communications satellite. Eventually, going into space was not enough for both nations, and soon they began to aim for the moon. Luna 2 and 3, sent by the Soviets, were the first probes to go to the moon and photograph it's far side respectively. Then they sent the first man into space on Vostok 1, launched on April 12, 1961, and the first woman on June 16, 1963 in Vostok 6. The US fired back with Gemini 8, which, on March 16, 1966, completed an in-orbit rendezvous and docking. Apollo 8 completed the first manned lunar orbit on the 24th of December, 1968. Finally, US astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. became the first men to set foot on the moon. Later on, the US and U.S.S.R. would come together to commence the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in July 1975, which signified the end of the fast-paced Space Race.

Mankind continued to explore the great unknown long afterwards. Deep space probes were launched into space, beaming messages to the far reaches of the universe. Unmanned robots explored and photographed the surfaces of Titan, Mars, and Venus. The Hubble Space Telescope took pictures of nebulae, stars, systems, and planets that were light years away from Earth. Eventually, we soon built better ships that could take many people into space, and soon, we began to move the ever growing population into colonies that were built on the moon. Next, we began to build massive orbital space stations that circled the Earth, and then we began to colonize Mars and its moons, and we continued to stretch further out into space. We had shot for the moon and ended up going way beyond it.

But soon, Mankind experienced a terrible disaster.

On June 18, 2130, a massive asteroid cruised into our corner of the Milky Way, destroyed two orbital colonies near Mars and Earth, then collided with our home planet. The space rock accelerated through our atmosphere then crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, causing great earthquakes and gigantic tidal waves to destroy many cities that were both coastal and inland. Sea levels rose to new heights, flooding many cities like Tokyo, New Orleans, London, and Rio de Janeiro. Billions were homeless. The death toll was immense and so was the cost of the damages. But this disaster was only the start of even more problems.

Two months later, on the 6th of August, the global economy collapsed. Widespread panic went rampad and a slew of massive riots devastated those cities that were not harmed by the meteor's wave of destruction. The United Nations did everything it could to handle the situation and retain order, but failed, and soon, collapsed. The world had fallen into a total state of anarchy and would remain that way for years to come.

But hope came through on January 2nd, 2137. A new world government emerged and began to repair the seemingly unfixable problems that plagued Mankind. Soon after, the world was united under one flag: the flag of the United Earth Federation.

However, many did not trust this new government and wanted to get rid of them. Soon, the colonies furthest from the Earth -- the Alliance of the Outer Colonies, and the Martian Principality -- seceded from the UEF and declared war on the Federation. World War III -- the last war to be fought on Earth (or so we think) -- lasted from 2139 to 2154. More deaths amassed and cities crumbled, but the UEF fought on, determined not to lose the war. The UEF soon emerged victorious, driving out the two factions and remaining the Earth's main governing body.

Under UEF rule, the economy was back on track, and several breakthroughs led to scientific discoveries, including a method of faster-than-light travel. Though it was only about 20% accurate most of the time, Mankind could now cover billions of lightyears in as little as a few days in "Jumpspace." We also continued to improve our ships. Eventually, the Martian Principality and the Outer Colonies signed a peace treaty rejoining the UEF, and Man continued to explore space, building colonies that were further away from Earth. Even though some prospered while most perished, we continued to probe deeper and deeper into the darkness.

The wars from before taught Mankind to build better ships with tougher armor, powerful guns, and stronger power sources. Eventually, the Federation's navy grew until it was massive: over seventy thousand ships now patrolled space, their crews always keeping a watchful eye on things that could threaten the safety of Earth or her colonies.

We charted everything down as we explored the vacuum. New planets, new systems, new galaxies, and new stars were all noted, explored, and sometimes colonized. Yet, despite thorough exploration, we did not find a single new form of intelligent life. We appeared to be the only beings in the entire cosmos...

...until that fateful day...

In the year 2230, a fleet of ships on an expedition broke through Jumpspace, intending to find themselves near the arid planet of DZ-1454SC09 "Sirocco." However, the crews were surprised to find that, when they looked outside, they had discovered a new planet. The captain described the planet as, "...so similar to Earth, that I would have mistaken it for Earth if I had no knowledge as to what sector we were in..."

And it was similar to Earth. Most of the planet was covered with water, a few large landmasses were visible through the white clouds, and greens, whites, and browns decorated these landmasses.

The captain of the Cosmic Windrider -- a Himalayan-class super-battleship -- sent a message to the planet saying, "We are calling to you from beyond your atmosphere. Our intentions are peaceful. Please respond if you can hear us."

There was a moment of tense silence...

...then someone planetside replied, "Oh we hear you, sir. Loud and clear."

We could not believe our ears! Here we are, believing that we were the only life in the cosmos, then, all of a sudden, we finally get a reply from an intelligent being from another planet!

The captain, the expedition leader, and the mysterious speaker continued to converse with each other. We came to find out that not only was there intelligent life on this planet, but there was also several forms of government. In fact, we had come into contact with one of the Zev'Threthian Kingdom's radio monitoring stations. We also learned about the climates of the planet, which, again, were similar to Earth's. The Zev'Threthian speaker also informed us of the several governments, tribes, and races that inhabited Sok'Pultwi (we nicknamed the planet "New Earth" later on).

A few months later, after establishing an agreement with most of the nations, we began to colonize a part of the planet. Eventually, we learned more about the races. There were the Orz'akothians [Neo Humans], which looked a lot like humans, but had an elf-like appearance, the Durk'vals [Canians], which were canine-like humanoids, Seli'vals [Felidaeans], which were feline-like humanoids, and several other races. We began to learn first-hand about their customs, religions, technologies, flora and fauna, and diseases, just as they began to learn about ours. It was a repeat of the famous Columbian Exchange, but on a more massive scale.

End Part I