
[2741-2819  The Corporate War]

The 2nd Martian accords saw a cessation of U.N. domination of the
solar system and a loosening of quarantine restrictions with a
corresponding collapse of Terran trade barriers. However, the
accords also brought Mitsubishi to its knees with the
domestication of its Earth-bound facilities which came under the
control of the newly formed Terran conglomerate. Despite this,
however, Aster and Femm continued to grow in power, waging a
trade war against the untested Terran Corporation. It was, thus,
clear that the megacorporations were acting as a single economic
entity.

   The quasi-peace was short-lived, however, as within a decade,
news arrived from Durhael, one of Earth's most distant colonies,
that the shattered core of a nova had been discovered. This news,
though unheralded by the mass-media, carried extreme weight with
the scientific community, as it was hypothesized for several
centuries that the eka-metals (heavy elements) to be found within
such an astronomical find could be used to tear the fabric of
multi-dimensional space at the subatomic level, in effect,
opening the possibility for faster-than-light travel.

   Although technically owned by the Terran Corporation under the
2741 accords, the Aster Corporation was in a far better position
to exploit the find, and this is exactly what it did. In order to
protect its position, however, Femm & Aster began a conquest of
the entire arm leading to Durhael, firing the first shots of what
would become the bloodiest war in history.

   The war, in its early years, became a contest between
technology and sheer numbers. The Corporate Alliance controlled
the best spacecraft and the best weapons, but the Terran League
still had the most people, the most shipyards, and the greatest
raw economic might, although the majority were still concentrated
in the Sol system, and on Earth in particular.

   In order to counter the Terran advantage, Femm geneticists
released a number of viral weapons on critical Earth colonies in
an attempt to cut Earth off from the rest of space. The move,
while strategically successful, managed to create such a backlash
of public sentiment that many worlds which had been trying to
stay neutral quickly seized or destroyed Femm & Aster assets,
jailing company personnel and threatening their execution if any
retaliation should be attempted. In one case, an entire division
of Femm Biolabs switched sides when they were ordered to deploy a
deadly virus against Earth itself. Although the planet was
eventually hit by the virus, the incident gave Earth enough time
to prepare that the majority of the population was already
inoculated by the time the outbreak occurred.

   The second major aspect of the war was the hastened
development of mutant technologies. In 2794, Femm geneticists
located the psi-gene and later incorporated psionic attributes
and biocybernetics in its infamous line of mass-cloned Okuma
war-mutants of the early 29th century. The Okuma mutants were the
perfect killing machines, capable of infiltrating enemy
installations simply by the power of suggestion, and then
wrecking havoc with a suicidal urge once inside.

   Femm was not alone in its development of war toys, however.
The first years of the 29th century saw major breakthroughs in
artificial sentience, and various degrees of self-aware computers
were deployed in Aster's Shambler series of self-replicating
predator vessels akin to the Von Neumann robotic miners of the
23rd century. This advancement, by itself, could have signalled
the end of the war, for suddenly the Terrans were fighting a
self-replicating robot fleet as well as the crewed ships.

   Such barbaric use of technology, however, deeply troubled some
of the scientists critical to Femm/Aster's fighting effort, and
in 2812, just as it seemed that the Terran fleet was on the brink
of folding, Aster scientists defecting from the Corporate
headquarters handed Terran officials what was to become known as
the Deagol blueprints, which were, in essence, plans for the
construction of humanity's first hyperdrive. Also gifted were
command codes for the Shambler vessels as well as enough eka-
metal to upgrade a modest fleet to FTL capability. Once their
ships were ready, Earth's victory was virtually assured, as their
starships could cover in a day the distance it took their enemies
to cover in several years. The multiplicative effect was
overwhelming, as from the perspective of their opponents, the
Earth fleet was striking everywhere simultaneously. Aster's &
Femm's joint Board of Directors finally agreed to a formal
surrender after their capture at the Battle of Osgiliath in 2819.

