The Expansion Era
Frustrated by a lack of public development, four companies formed The Contract, a mutual agreement for colonizing space. Qinlin Mining, a Chinese concern, bought rights to harvest resources. Ephemeris Engineering promised to provide equipment to Qinlin, and turn those resources into ships and stations to further humanity’s expansion into space. Sadko Transportation agreed to fly Ephemeris ships hauling Qinlin resources. Throughout it all, Lamb Higley & Hilbert provided contractors and life support.
During a time of optimism and hubris, humanity launches its greatest endeavor yet, the Gemini Project. A generation ship, Gemini, launched would-be colonists to a pair of barely habitable dwarf worlds, Castor and Pollux, in hopes that their descendants would be the first humans to occupy planets outside of the solar system. Gemini transmitted until it reached its namesake’s system, then all word from her ceased.
The Contract began to fall apart when an alien species makes contact with a disabled freighter on the edge of the Solar System. The Ahai were a nomadic species without a home planet. In exchange for trade and resources, the offered humanity nearly unlimited and instantaneous travel among the stars with the Ahai wormhole technology. This new technology upset the delicate balance of The Contract, and the corporations began to fight, first with their boardrooms and later with violence, to maintain control of the system. While humans fought each other in the Corporate Wars, another species, the Hetarek, saw an opportunity.
Stories from The Expansion Era
- Void – A Novella
- Optimism – A Free Short Story
- Drift – A Free Short Story