MICROFICTION|SCIENCE FICTION
Take One
It had been three hundred galactic standard years (GSY) (about 3000 human years) since humans figured out they were not alone. A joint operation between the United States and Russia discovered alien life. Since then, humans pooled their resources and, through a series of treaties, united into one global democratic government. The only semblance of the old order was the administrative divisions left over, largely for the purposes of electing representatives to the new order.
The thing the humans did not bank on was how developed the galaxy was. Not only was it developed, but almost every society was heavily militarized and some had united into larger planetary or solar coalitions. The most powerful of these being The Union of A Thousand Suns (UATS): The Vestian Coalition, and the two Andromeda Empires. The latter of which had been born of an imperialistic power which later split into two even governments covering, for the most part, the entirety of the Andromeda galaxy. The former two were born out of alliances against the expansionist Andromedans and eventually formed into societies.
Several hundred wars had been fought, including the great war for the universe, which had left the galaxy in a state of reconstruction for two hundred GSY and shook out with the powers seen today. The Union of A Thousand Suns has been mired in a state of political turmoil for the past fifty GSY, and the Vestian Coalition had been rapidly militarizing in an attempt to strike at the heart of the Andromedans. So where does this leave the little old Earth? Well, the attempted first union under one large government was slightly messy at first (humans have been at war with one another for thousands of earth years), however a preliminary strike from the Andromedans made them REALLY united.
Now, here’s the thing about humans: they are incredibly warlike and brutal. They also had massive, uber-wealthy corporations dedicated to developing the best possible military hardware, and some of the greatest minds of their time working on it. This led to the development of the Bradley class space carrier, the Scipio class battleships, the Armageddon class dreadnoughts, and the Roman class command destroyer. This was in addition to the S-300 fighters, SB-250 bombers, landing craft, and completely revamped ground forces. These forces were developed entirely out of fear of the Andromedans, but also the rapidly militarizing Vestians. The UATS were not seen as a threat as there was too much internal turmoil for them to unite and do anything at the time.
About one GSY after the Andromedans attack on Earth, the newly organized Terran Administration deployed their massive navy to an Old Andromedan Empire (OAE, the New Andromedan Empire, or NAE is on the other side) outpost located just at the edge of their borders. Since this was a staging area for military operations against a smaller Thermidorian collective friendly to the Terran Administration, the Andromedans had it guarded with ships designed with fleet-killing weapons. The OAE believed they were superior in every way, and they were subsequently crushed. The battle for Outpost-32 saw an end to OAE ambitions against this particular collective of Thermidorians.
It also showed that these humans were not to be trifled with, as their tactics and weaponry crushed the entire Andromedan 8th Fleet as well as 9th Andromedan Army stationed on the Outpost’s surface. The Terran Expeditionary Forces landed within an hour of the attack, as the Terran navy blasted a hole in the Andromedan line large enough to send several ships to run the blockade. The ensuing battle saw human troops capture the outpost and a fleet-destroying weapon located on its surface, which was then used to exterminate the entire Andromedan fleet.
This battle marked a turning point for galactic dominance, as the Terran Administration developed several weapons which were capable of various forms of mass destruction. The Terran navy then swept through its entire solar system, and then it began to take territory off of many of the smaller galactic unions and collectives, eventually threatening the territory of the Vestians and the Andromedans.
The NAE called a meeting between the four galactic superpowers to discuss what should be done about the coming Terran threat. It was decided that the four would band together to defend the status quo of the galaxy. The issue, however, was that a human spy had penetrated the ranks of the Vestian ambassador’s honor guards and had been listening in. Within minutes, the Terran Navy was outside of the Vestian capital.
They sent one transmission: run.
