Our Official Cyberpunk History 2043 thru 2057
2043
The EU Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Ernst Rolf arrives in Mercury orbit. They launch an invasion of the planet and overrun the abandoned main base. Sweeps of the surface of Mercury find no trace of the rebel cyborgs. Two months into the occupation a bomb rocks the main base and cripples all EU ground operations. The base is repaired and a ground force is left in a defensive posture. The EUS Charlemagne and the EUS Aachen leave orbit to return to Earth.
2044
President Windham reelected to an unprecedented fourth term by a narrow margin. General Pershing made Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.
The Commonwealth Navy starts construction on a class of small “frigate” class space vessels. They are just very large deltas in actuality. The Commonwealth will sell 4 of its first nine to the EU space navy. They cease sales when Poland is attacked.
2045
The two returning ships of the EU’s Mercury expedition arrive at Earth. EUS Orleans leaves for Mercury. MSS Deimos arrives back at Mars.
May 3: A Nuclear Terrorist Strike at the United States Orbital dockyards denies the US of any major space docks and destroys the USS Ronald Reagan, one month before its scheduled launching. Initial suspicion falls on the New Jiyadists due to a leaked memo from Interpol. (It is major elements in the EU that are responsible.)
September 1: The MSS Isidis is launched in Martian Orbit.
2046
February 27: The EUS Lisbon (last of the Strasbourg Class) is launched.
March 7: MSS Phobus departs Mars for the Jovian System.
March 15: Senator Mariska Benes, a hero of the Martian War of Independence, (formerly the netrunner for the Edgerunner team: the Firemen and Europe 3000 terrorist, Raggedy Anne) is elected to a 12 year term as a Consul of the Martian Republic.
May 8: A wave of bombings against EU corporate interests is unleashed across the Czech Republic by the Free Czech Army on Liberation Day, which commemorates the end of WWII in Europe, in protest of the EU supported dictatorship of President (formally General) Skroup.
May 19: The first of the Commonwealth frigates are launched without much fanfare. Plans call for the construction of eight more over the next eight years. Every other one goes to EU.
July 11: Construction commences on the MSS Chryse, sister ship to the MSS Isidis.
* August 6: Doctor Gordon Freeman, Roca Terrier, Wyatt and the five Rio orphans adopted by the Martian A.I. leave for the Galileo Cylinder aboard a Martian diplomatic vessel equipped with Mark II Ion engines. *
September 3: The EU Battlecruiser EUS Bismarck is launched.
* October 18: Zahra Baudin (from the Port Royal ‘Season’ of our Burn Notice Campaign) is acquitted of the murder charge that hung over her head (from her Life Path) in Kingston, Jamaica. *
November 17: German troops serving under EU auspice fire on Czech students in Prague during the annual national Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day commemorating the student protest against the Nazis in 1939 and the protests in 1989 that brought about the Velvet Revolution ending Communist rule. The demonstrators had forced their way into an EU controlled neighborhood when local Czech police refused orders to open fire on the students.
November 27: Construction commences in its sister ship the EUS Tirpitz. The recently completed fourth space dock sees the keel laid down for a smaller EU carrier, the EUS Graf Zeppelin.
* December 2: Kyle Vaduva and Catherine ‘Cat’ Ortiz-Fisher are married in Atlantic City, New Jersey with all their family and friends in attendance. Sam Fisher walks his ‘daughter’ down the aisle. Quite a few representatives of the world’s intelligence agencies attend whether they were invited or not. *
2047
January 2: EUS Orleans arrives off Mercury and relieves EUS Madrid, who heads “out on a return patrol to Earth”.
April 12: The Chinese space carrier, Long March, is launched. It is now the largest warship in existence.
The Russian warship Gagarin heads out to the asteroid belt.
May 13: Mars legalizes “Cyberbrain”, biomechanical and cloning technologies. A political and religious firestorm explodes on Earth.
June 10: A botched attempt to kill Charlie Bibbliodoc (Adkis) in Blackwater, Florida brings down the Lowndes administration in Alabama, but alienates the formally patriotic Charlie. This eventually leads to the formation of the Star Runners.
*** See details in Cotton Kingdom Campaign 2047 ***
An EU fleet consisting of the EUS Lisbon and the EUS Molke escorting 3 transports heads to Asteroid Belt.
The Hiru is launched and joins JAB.
2048
The EUS Orleans heads back to earth leaving only a small armed transport in orbit.
Project Longreach arrives at Alpha Centauri and begins construction of a powered gate.
EUS Gustavus Adolphus and two transports follow the EUS Lisbon’s fleet to the Belt.
The Chinese begin construction of the Celestial Dragon, sister ship to the Long March.
President Windham is reelected for an unprecedented fifth term due to his handling of the Lowndes – Alabama Crisis. Opponents claim are serious irregularities with the vote. A government investigation finds no fraud and the results of the election stand. Serious protests break out by Whindam’s administration uses its control of the Senate and its police powers to stifle the dissent.
Japan commences construction on the Akaga, a new carrier.
2049
The EU Deep Space Exploration Vessel, Vasco deGama, is launched and prepared for a mission to the Jovian System. A second larger Deep Space Exploration Vessel, Marco Polo has its keel laid.
The first gate jump from Earth to Alpha Centauri completed. Service commences in secret.
The EU sends Fleet under the command of now Admiral Ernst Rolf to Jovian System consisting of EUS Charlemagne, EUS Roma, EUS Aachen, EUS Vasco DeGama and three small supply transports.
2050
The EUS Tirpitz and the EUS Graf Zeppelin are launched in beginning of year.
After a couple of “pirate” raids on JAB facilities in the Belt, the Japanese Carrier Zuikaku sets out for there.
{Union City Robots leave with Fast Robotic explorer for Tau Ceti with a secret mini-singularity (for transport and communication use). Estimated arrival is 2070.}
EUS Count di Cavour, a Commonwealth built frigate launched in EU service.
General Pershing retires as Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff. He is appointed Ambassador to Martian Republic.
The EUS Murat is launched in Earth orbit.
March: There is another crisis in the Czech Republic. The Free Czech Army attacks the Prague Interpol headquarters and destroys it claiming it is being used as a staging area for the illegal presence of Germany’s GSG-9. A Czech chemical weapons researcher appears in Poland claiming that the EU planned to launch chemical weapons attacks on the Czech people and blame the FCA and their Polish supporters. The EU denies it, but his evidence is compelling. When the Polish people hear of the plot, riots break out against EU interests in Poland.
April: A series of terrorist strikes explode across Europe. The EU accuses Poland with aggression but can produce no credible evidence to support charges. They insist on having Interpol enter Poland to pursue the ‘terrorists’. Poland refuses. The EU invades using their spring manuvers to mass troops on Poland’s border. They hope to take it out Poland quickly, but the Polish Army is ready thanks to intelligence provided by Russian orbital assets. ‘Volunteers’ from Russia and Belarus come to Poland’s aid.
June: World War III commences in orbit with the EU Home Fleet consisting of EUS Napoleon Bonaparte, EUS Tirpitz, EUS Graf Zeppelin, EUS Murat, EUS Count di Cavour and the EUS Orleans along with many new deltas destroys the Russian Space Fleet and their orbital docks. The EU loses only their new carrier the EUS Graf Zeppelin.
August: an EU Fleet consisting of EUS Napoleon Bonaparte, EUS Bismarck, EUS Marat, EUS Count di Cavour and two small corporate transports heads to the asteroid Belt. After a couple of months the fleet is on a mediocre trajectory to some EU manufacturing facilities in the Belt, but is on an optimum course for the Galileo cylinder and Mars. It is going to be a long war.
September: Construction on the EUS Garibaldi (Bismarck class) is started
2051
The ‘Year of Blood’ commences on the Polish front. The moribund United Nations, Commonwealth and United States protest.
March: {Gate ship leaves Jovian System for Tau Ceti. Estimated arrival is 2081.}
May: Slovakia invaded and almost completely overrun by EU forces trying to outflank Slavic forces. Massed EU attacks try to crush the Russo-Polish forces.
June: The EU starts using orbital bombardment within 50 miles of the front lines.
July: After a couple of “pirate” raids on JAB facilities in the Belt, the Japanese Carrier Zuikaku sets out for there.
August: Warsaw is surrounded and a siege begins. The People’s Republic of China invades the Russian Asiatic areas. Despite enormous casualties the Slavic forces hold.
September: Hyper-gate to Tau Ceti departs.
2052
January: The EUS Bernadotte (Murat Class) is launched. Russo-Polish Winter Offensive breaks encirclement of Warsaw with first five days. EU doesn’t fall back and regroup. They go on counteroffensive but fail. By end of month, an EU army corps is encircled and wiped out. EU space superiority is offset by improved Adkis Lasers (courtesy of Martian Republic & designed by Charlie (Adkis) Bibbliodoc) deployed to protect offensive area. The EUS Tirpitz is heavily damaged. Others ships take light damage.
February: EU military commanders are sacked as public horrified by EU casualties. EUS Madrid arrives back to Earth.
The EUS Bernadotte along with three supply vessels is dispatched to the Asteroid Belt to help engage the combined Russian and Martian squadron there.
March: Hyper-gate to Epsilon Eridani departs.
Sunday, April 21st: War between the EU and the United States breaks out with the attack on the almost rebuilt United States Orbital Docks. The USS Yorktown and the USS Constitution are destroyed. The USS Agamemnon is near the Moon and is heavily damaged by an EU delta attack. The aging vessel is able to get to safety. It makes some space borne repairs and then heads to Mars after the defeat of the EU Fleet at the Galileo Cylinder.
Monday, April 22nd: The Chinese carrier Long March engages the carrier, Hiru. The Hiru rams and destroys the Long March and itself.
Wednesday, April 23rd: United States troops pour across the Bering Straits and reinforce the Russian Far East pocket that had been bypassed by Chinese troops.
Thursday, April 24th: The long quiescent Civil War in Ethiopia erupts as the EU-backed faction attempts to seize the capital Addis Ababa from the US backed faction. War comes to Africa.
Saturday, May 4th: Chinese troops invade Korea and land at Inchon as MacArthur did. The United States and Japan declare war in support of their ally. Indonesia attacks the Philippines, and the United States and Japan declare war on Indonesia but can send only meager resources.
Friday, May 10th: The EU blows up the two Martian battle satellites guarding the station at the L-3 point. The unarmed station surrenders. The EU announces that the armistice that ‘ended’ Mars’ War of Independence is now over. They will seek to bring Mars under EU control. In the asteroid belt Mars armed transport escapes EU trap off Ceres after delivering Charlie Bibbliodoc (now Adkis, again) at the secret asteroid station of the nomads who have moved to space. They have named themselves the ‘Star Runners’.
Saturday, June 1st: Martian Fleet intercepts a large EU squadron off the Galileo Station and the Martian flagship the modern MSS Isidis leads the slaughter of the EU Fleet by destroying the EUS Napoleon Bonaparte, EUS Bismarck and the EUS Count di Cavour with its improved particle cannon. The EUS Marat is pounded into surrender by the MSS Deimos. The two transports also surrender to the Martian Fleet.
Sunday, June 2nd: The Japanese Carrier Zuikaku changes course and head to Mars as does the USS Agamemnon.
Thursday, July 4th: United States submarine forces begin attacking South China Sea Oil production and cripple it by Spring 2053. The Chinese momentum in Asia is stalled.
Monday, October 21st: The Chinese invade Indochina to secure the South China Sea oilfields as the US submarine offensive starts to bite. Vietnam and Cambodia resist. Laos is just overrun. Thailand isn’t attacked. The US sends some special operations troops.
Tuesday, November 5th: President Windham wins election for a sixth term, as he has no serious contenders to run against due to the wartime security restrictions. It is the least participated election in US history with only 9% of the electorate even bothering to vote.
Sunday, December 22ndthru Tuesday, December 24th: Indonesian navy and active invasion military is wiped out by American & Philipino allies. Indonesia falls out of the war soon after.
2053
Sunday, January 26th: A new class of American deltas with stealth technology (courtesy of the Republic of Mars) attacks the Chinese Orbital docks, and destroys them along with the carrier Celestial Dragon that is under construction.
{Saturday, February 8th: Gate Ship leaves Jovian System for Barnard’s Star. Should arrive 2067.}
Sunday, March 30th: The EU Spring Offensive in Poland is stopped with enormous casualties on both sides. The EU starts using bio-mechanical shock troops. Malfunctions and lack of coordination (along with C.I.A./GRU sabotage limit their effectiveness. One spy operation causes a bio-mechanical strike regiment to turn on the EU troops and causes 10,000 EU casualties along with the failure to encircle Warsaw. The EU tries to suppress the news reports.
Monday, May 4th: The Chinese Army pushes the combined Korean, Japanese and American Army out of Korea. The Chinese attempt to starve out Japan.
Saturday, June 14th: The EUS Garibaldi, a Bismarck Class battlecruiser, is launched and joins the EU Fleet defending Earth.
Thursday, July, 17th: A combined American and Russian force of stealth deltas ambush the EUS Garibaldi on a shakedown run and destroy it. The EU home fleet commander is sacked.
Friday, August 8th: To break the stalemate in August, Hungry & Serbia join the war on the EU side as both declare war on Romania. The Hungarians & Serbians with EU backing push into Romania, but they are quickly slowed then stopped.
Thursday, August 14th: EUS Comte de Gallifet (Murat Class) is launched.
Friday, August 22nd: USS Agamemnon reaches the Galileo Station and is repaired and refitted.
Sunday, September 2nd: The EU also declares war on Bulgaria and Turkey and strikes with a reinforced Greek Army. The Bulgarian Front becomes a Black Hole as massive EU reinforcements are needed. The offensive against Turkey is limited to opening a water route to the Black Sea.
Wednesday, September 5th: The Japanese space carrier Zuikaku reaches the Galileo Station and is resupplied and refitted.
Tuesday, September 23rd: The EU takes the Dardanelles at tremendous cost, but fails to take Istanbul and the Bosporus.
Thursday, September 25th: The Chinese launch the biggest seaborne invasion in history against Japan. In a titanic three week fight, the Chinese Navy is fatally mauled, and the Chinese Army thrown back into the sea.
Thursday, October 2nd: Rice blight hits China and food stocks are disrupted. The Chinese blame the United States and Japan (actually it was the Russians). The moribund UN hosts the meeting. All the contending parties quickly agree to cease their use of biological weapons, but the brief ten-day truce collapses and war, albeit a little cleaner, continues.
Saturday, October 25th: Mars armed transport vessel has linked up with a rearmed Gagarin at asteroid base. EU fleet consisting of EUS Lisbon, EUS Molke and two of its three transports has pursued the Martian vessel. They find the base and prepare to attack. Martians fire a self-correcting stealth missile and nukes the EUS Lisbon. The ship is vaporized. The Gagarin easily wrecks the EUS Molke. Ship is a total loss. One transport is captured by Mars vessel.
Sunday, November 9th: Sofia falls in Bulgaria. The government now in Romania vows to fight on.
Saturday, November 15th: EU Fleet reaches Jovian System, and engages the USS Andromeda rebuilt with Martian technology and the MSS Phobus. In a pitched battle the EU loses EUS Roma and EUS Aachen. The EUS Vasco DeGama surrenders to a marine assault. The EUS Charlemagne is heavily damaged, and withdraws. The EU meets the Gravitic Fighter for the first time.
Tuesday, November 18th: The EUS Bernadotte along with their supply vessels change course to rendezvous with the damaged EUS Charlemagne.
Monday, December 1st: Cyborgs on Mercury reappear and storm the EU base killing 95% of the inhabitants.
Wednesday, December 24th: The MSS Chrysie, sister ship to the Isidis, is launched.
Monday, December 29th: Exhausted EU forces reach the south bank of the Danube in Bulgaria, but are stopped there.
2054
Russo-Martian marines retake Ceres from EU force.
The former EUS Marat is repaired with Martian technology, turned over to the Russian Rocket Corps and renamed the Admiral Vladimir Kornilov.
A Russian Spring offensive in Asia leads to the rout of the thinly stretched Chinese Army. Russian air strikes hit major European cities. (The Russians have a new class of stealth aircraft built from Martian technology.) The targets are hit with pinpoint accuracy. More disconcerting is the various terrorist strikes by ‘occupied’ areas of New Central Europe.
There are no major actions on the European Front only an attrition that the Euros can’t afford. Bulgarian and Albanian resistance groups establish enclaves in their own countries.
EUS Borghese (Murat Class) launched.
The allied fleet consisting of the MSS Isidis, MSS Deimos, MSS Aries, the USS Agamemnon, the Admiral Vladimir Kornilov and the Zuikaku set out for Earth to contest orbital mastery.
EU casualties mount on the static lines on the Polish (and Ukrainian) Front. The starvation winter of 2054 to 2055 sets off mass deaths in Chinese areas.
2055
The Allied Fleet meets the EU Fleet off the Moon. The EUS Tirpitz, EUS Comte de Gallifet and EUS Madrid are destroyed and the EUS Orleans and the EUS Borghese are driven off. The MSS Deimos is badly damaged and after some brief repairs heads back to Mars. The Allied Fleet destroys the mass drivers on the Moon and all EU military facilities. Under threat of orbital bombardment both Lunar Colonies surrender.
A Russian Summer Offensive in the Asia hammers the poorly supplied and overstretched supply lines of the Chinese Army. By the Bering Straits a combined Russian and American force routs the Chinese troops facing them and drives towards Peking. Korea invaded by combined American, Japanese and exiled Korean forces. All real resistance from the Chinese ends except in Korea in the Fall as their armies begin a rout back to their homeland.
The EU’s orbital construction facilities fall to EVAT Marine assault. The L-3 point is retaken from EU troops and returns to Martian control. The EU’s L-2 Point Station surrenders to an ultimatum to surrender.
Russo – Polish Autumn Offensive breaks the Vistula Line and pushes EU back from Warsaw. By December the Poles retake Lodz and relieve pressure on Krakow in the south.
The Lunar Colonies are allowed to declare their independence and declare war on the EU. They remain “Occupied” until the Treaty of London.
EUS Charlemagne’s squadron, the EUS Borghese and the EUS Orleans rendezvous, but all vessels are in terrible shape. They have no place to get repaired or resupplied. Allies finish clearing earth orbit of all EU and Chinese space assets.
Around Christmas there is a clamor for a holiday for Christmas and New Year’s ceasefire. It goes into effect on December 24th and is supposed to end on January 3rd. January 3rd comes and goes and the ceasefire holds on the European Front. It is much like the Christmas Truce of 1914 and suffers the same fate in another week.
2056
Neither side in Europe attempts any offensive action during the spring. Local EU commanders conduct talks with resistance (former terrorist) groups in occupied Eastern Europe and arrange local ceasefires. The rising peace movement in Europe will not tolerate the measures needed to suppress local resistance. In early summer, an armistice is declared ending World War III. The EU withdraws from Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey.
Combined Japanese, American and Korean forces retake Seoul and continue to liberate the Korean peninsula by Fall. Taiwan revolts and declares its independence from Peking. China withdraws to its prewar boarders and plebiscites are scheduled to be held in Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Southern China, Hong Kong and Taiwan next year to see if they will stay in the People’s Republic of China.
This is followed by the Treaty of London in 2057, in which the EU agrees to reduce their blue water navy, and turn over all its remaining space warships to the rejuvenated United Nations. The EUS Orleans is transferred to the Russian Rocket Corps. The UN also gets the space docks at the L-2 point. The United Nations are given authority among the planets to maintain a space fleet and a ‘small’ professional force of Peacekeepers. Mars, the newly formed Lunar Republic and the Dominion of Mercury join this new United Nations (of Sol).
{Gate Ship for Epsilon Eridani departs; should arrive 2083.}
President Windham does not run for reelection. Instead he is elected Secretary General of the new United Nations (of Sol). The Unites States and the Martian Republic announce the existence of the Hypergate Program and the gate to Alpha Centauri. The two governments insist on control of the technology, but turn over the question of the continued exploration and settlement of the new star system to the United Nations. A United Nations Convention is held to discuss this.
2057
Chinese plebiscites keep Inner Mongolia, Southern China and Hong Kong in the People’s Republic. Taiwan becomes the Republic of Taiwan and completely independent. Tibet also gains the right to its independence, but its strong economic ties with China lead it to become an autonomous state within China.
Hyper-gate from Earth to Jovian System opened.
The Convention on Interstellar Development decides that most of the planets in the new system will be administered by the United Nations. Terra Nova (in Alpha Centauri B) will become an independent state based on science and technology. Religion is legal but true believers don’t get the vote. It is the minor mental aberration called ‘Superstitionism’. Mars and Mercury will control Tartarus, in Alpha Centauri A, but one small American colony is permitted. Mars already controls the three low points where the atmosphere collects on that planet. Mars will take two of these areas, the United States gets one and Mercury will get the rest (85%) of the surface. Proxima Centauri has one habitable planet (Kopernik or Copernicus) in an elliptical orbit under the administration of the United Nations Science Agency that will be awarded to NCE nations. Final Version of the Treaty of London is accepted by all parties.