Space, scientists said, was mostly empty. A void, comprised of small clusters of whirling chunks of matter that didn’t impact us or our lives at all.
But when the first Faster Than Light engines (FTL) were developed, very quickly scientists found out how much that tiny amount of matter in the universe mattered. Test runs didn’t return, or when the prototypes did return, they returned as wrecks instead of the sleek space faring vessels they had departed as.
This perplexed early scientists, as they had extensively mapped out routes that should have been safe for their pilots. Even taking into account the fact that some of these star systems were nowhere near their observed position, the best explanation they could come up with was that the gravity wells of nearby stellar giants adjusted the ships courses.
Another theory that was proposed, but then quickly discarded, was that far from the light of stars, away from the ordered rules of a solar system, were planetoids. This proposal was unacceptable for a number of reasons, none the least of which were the idea that from Earth, there were things that we just couldn’t see, no matter what tools and instruments we employed.
But whatever the reason, the effect was a waning of interest in exploration beyond our solar system. We had already colonized a few planets and moons in our own system, began mining asteroid belts for necessary raw materials. For what reason could humanity want to leave the confines of what we knew?
Few people understood just how precarious the position of this nascent stellar empire was. The first colonists were not brave bastions of humanities best, but rather petty criminals or those deeply in debt. The first colonies, therefore, were not loyal to any Earth government but highly valued their independence. So as more money and materials were invested into the Mars colony or in mining missions, slowly these servants of Earth began exercising their own right to rule. While these rebellions were easily enough put down, each time the travelling was a matter of weeks if not months. The costs began to become prohibitive, and if there wasn’t a faster way of travel between these missions and Earth, then each colony would be in that much better of a position to try becoming their own independent nation.
There was plenty of debate about why the colonies in space shouldn’t be their own nations- after all, they had to self-govern, they had their own considerable populations and they would still be dependent on Earth to provide them vital biological components while they continued their terraforming efforts. To some, it seemed as though allowing the colonies to become independent would strengthen the space exploration and colonization mission that the Earth was embarking upon.
But in point of fact, the majority of space exploration at this time was funded by businesses, not by governments, and businesses weren’t looking to create new trading partners. They were looking for new monopolies, or failing that, they were looking for raw materials and cheap. Businesses lobbied politicians, who in turn made policy that just declared there weren’t enough colonists in space to matter. Instead, they would be allowed to continue their pre-existing self-governance on the grounds that they would elect their own governors, their own representatives to legislatures. The colonists begrudgingly accepted these terms, feeling as though they had no alternatives.
The colonists, in turn, weren’t blind to Earths growing frustrations with them. In fact, there were rumors on the colony worlds that Earth was developing super weapons, missiles which could obliterate entire colonies before you could say “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, and unsurprisingly no colonies had weapons of their own. Sure, they had personnel weapons, and they had mining equipment, but if someone on Earth decided to nuke a colony, there were no defenses for the colonists themselves. Tensions were at an all time high.
So what, then, was the reason for the First Interplanetary War? The reason, historians said, were mainly empty rumors. A series of anxieties and paranoia that began to slowly touch every person, and had everyone slowly prepare for something they all had seen as inevitable. Another FTL engine was launched, and it had impacted with a mining station around Jupiter. The mining station and a significant portion of the planet was engulfed in plasma and heat, and instead of this being viewed as a tragedy, it was instead viewed as a declaration of war, with the colonists seeking revenge on corporate executives and Earth itself.
To this day, many wonder if these were enough reasons for so much death and destruction.
Hi! My name is Jeffrey, an aspiring novelist and massive geek. I actually tend towards fantasy, but for some reason my brain has been stuck in Science Fiction. Lemme know how it reads, if it makes sense as a premise!
