Terra Forever

Prologue

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This universe and all of its characters are solely mine. Please contact me if you would like to write spin offs and such.

Project started December 8th, 2016.

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Humanity has reach the 4th millennium, with Earth laying claim to most of our solar system including stations around Jupiter, and colonies on the Moon, Mars, and several other solar bodies. 

This expansion first kicked off in the 21st century of the previous millennium when an international space corporation made a round trip to Mars in just under 2 weeks. This new technology was the beginning of the end for the relative peace of humanity.

The United States, China, and Russia all started making bids for buying out the company, however, none were able to come to a price that wouldn't bankrupt their own fragile economy.

Over the next few years, countries began to expand. Major alliances were formed between Europe and the Americas, and a mass merge of nations occurred in the 23rd century, as many nations came together to contest with the growing communist movement in the east.

On that tremendous day, all of the European and American nations came together to form one massive nation, later to be known as the Terran Imperium. In Earth's past, there was only one nation that could rival this historic event, Rome.

They had modeled their now massive government and military after the Roman Imperial structure and legal system. National leaders were formed into the Terran Senate, which made all legislative and judicial decisions. Next came the head of state. Even though this government was officially labeled as an Empire, it was unanimously decided that the Head of state should be granted to one sole member. The Imperator of Terra. Followed by elected Consuls, Praetors and magistrates. An aristocratic Senate lead by the rich families of Terra and other planets.

Hidden in the shadows of closed boarders and heavy traffic control, the Russians and Chinese were plotting, planning, and converging into their own dictatorship ruled by an Emperor who held full power over every aspect of government. Their oppressive leadership, however effective, managed to hack into the servers of the international corporation and hijack their plans for a next generation ship to make the journey to Mars in less than a week.

Construction of the project was finished well before the original launch date of the known international corporation. In the midst of a solar flare, which blacked out all satellite sensors and data, the Collective launched their new automated pilot shuttle into space.

When the flare finished, and the satellites began functioning once more, chaos ensued. The Shuttle's autopilot had malfunctioned mid flight and angled the fuselage in a 15 degree offset to what was planned. The friction proceeded to tear the multi billion dollar craft into massive sections that plummeted over the boarders of the Terran Imperium.

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the next hour. And billions after. The Imperium reacted as if it was a missile attack, and fired thousands of non-atomic missiles over the oceans and land masses into the Collective covering the launch of a single atomic weapon which then hit Beijing. The nuclear fires could be seen from space as contact was made with the space stations in orbit.

Next came the invasions. The Imperium had no remorse or forgiveness for the domination of the Asian Continent. What was known as the unification war lasted for 4 days. Entire cities were surrounded, Communist leaders were executed in the streets for crimes against Terra. The civilians could only watch as what they knew was burned to the ground.

When the 22nd century crawled to a close, countries were rebuilt, the military reorganized, and the government restructured. Many new laws and decisions were made for the global good of humanity. Servitude was reinstated, a form of slavery based on levels of criminality.

With the re-introduction of free labor from criminals, the economy boomed as products could be made cheaper than ever before. Life could now thrive rather than just getting by. The view of space travel was once again envisioned as humanity's next great conquest.

So humanity took to the solar system in the masses. Starting with the industrialization of the moon, Mars became the first "Home away from home," and lastly, Jupiter and outposts on Venus. Jupiter having massive gas harvesting stations set in orbit to provide the masses with a near limitless amounts of energy and power through the plasma generation process of these stations.

Plasma became the new staple of energy. It was used for interplanetary space craft, planetary energy plants, and even weapons. This new source changed everything. The Terran Imperium could now transverse our solar system in a matter of hours.

The colony on Mars is finally becoming stable. Criminals and slaves served as the backbone of the labor force as many immigrants from the Empire started settling and forming habitable communities. Terra-forming had been started by oxygen and carbon dioxide dumping over the equator as massive freighter ships flew in water from the melting ice caps in the north.

Cities were set up near rivers as traditionally done in Earth's past. Space ports were normally the center of the activity in every city, and due to their importance, became centers of the main government. Here in the Capital of Mars, Arcadia, the 23rd Legion was headquartered along with a single Praetorian Cohort to serve as military police and personal guards for the state government.

This is where our story begins. Two brothers recently graduated from the Praetorian academy back on Earth and embarking on their story to the colony on Mars.