Last week I flew home to New Zealand for a month long return visit. But sadly, half that month will spent trapped in a hotel room - the government requires a compulsory two-week quarantine for anybody arriving in the country.
Stuck in a room with no models or painting supplies (too bulky to pack) and only a few books to read, I've instead starting fleshing out the backstory of my Sierra Foxtrot universe...
History
By the middle of the 21st century, human civilization was in something of a golden age. Advances in technology had largely eliminated poverty, even in the developing nations. While the great powers still argued over a range of issues, these were in no immediate danger of spilling into open war. Even smaller local conflicts and ethnic strife were on the decline. And science continued to advanced. In particular quantum mechanical research into the structure of spacetime would produce a breakthrough that would change human civilization forever.
Discovery of the Doorways
The mathematical foundations of Structure Theory (the study of the structure of spacetime itself) were conceived in the first half of the 21st century, but it was not until the 2060s that the first significant experimental results confirmed these ideas. By the 2080s the field was solidly established, and a range of practical applications had been proposed. One area held particularly tantalizing promise. The equations suggested that, in the right circumstances, two locations in everyday spacetime could be connected by a shared set of hyper-dimensions. Thus if an object could alter its position in these hyper-dimensions in the right way it could instantly travel between these two distant points.
Unfortunately this phenomenon would not allow free teleportation between any arbitrary locations; it would only work between very specific locations where the structure of spacetime had the required properties. The Global-Spacetime-Structure-Survey (GS3) orbital mission revealed three such locations on Earth, locations that would later become known as the doorways. One was in Western Australia, several hundred miles north of Perth. One was in Southeast Asia, spanning the border between northern Thailand and Laos. And the third was in the central Pacific Ocean, five hundred miles northwest of Hawaii.
In 2086 the Endeavour probe became the first human artifact to visit another star system. The probe made three return trips through the Western Australian Door, and was soon joined in its explorations by Endeavour II and Saahasee. After several months of exploration and study it was deemed safe for a human exploration party to go through, and in March 2087 the first team of the Scott Expedition went through.
The First Expansion
The next fifty years were a period of exploration and discovery. As predicted by structure theory, each doorway was part of a fixed pair connecting two worlds. Most worlds had two or three doorways. Some had only a single door, making them a "dead-end" in the network. And a few had four or more, making them nexus points for travel.
As knowledge of the newly discovered worlds grew, exploration gave way to settlement and exploitation. With a population of just over 10 billion Earth was crowded. While technology could keep people fed and housed, many longed for open spaces, freedom, and perceived opportunity. Under careful United Nations supervision dozens of colonies were established on other worlds. Colonies were not permitted on worlds with indigenous intelligent life, and strict rules were enforced to limit the impact on native biospheres. A complicated allotment system was established, with parcels of land being variously allocated to UN member states, sold at auction, or granted to ethnic, religious, or ideological interest groups via UN agencies. By the 2140s Earth was at the center of a small interstellar empire. Three dozen major colonies had been established, and around two hundred worlds had been visited. However the new frontier was also proving a source of conflict at home.
The physical locations of the doorways on Earth created focal points for travel and trade; to reach the vast new frontier one first had to travel to one of the three doorways. However due to geography and politics, not all nations had equal access to the doors. China's early attempts to gain effective control of the Southeast Asian Door were thwarted when all its Asian neighbors came together in a united front. Russia seethed over what they saw as unjustified US dominance of the Central Pacific Door. And the nations of Europe felt left out, geographically distant from any of the doors and at risk of being left behind.
The First Nuclear War and The Closure
The events of the First Nuclear War are unclear and disputed. Nobody knows who launched first and what the chain of escalation was. But by the time it ended (a mere three days after it began) hundreds of cities had been destroyed and billions of people killed. In the aftermath a nuclear winter resulted in significantly reduced crop yields worldwide. EMP bursts had caused serious damage to electronics and computer networks, even to countries not involved in hostilities. The majority of satellites in orbit were destroyed. The global economy collapsed, with international trade dropping to zero overnight. Many regions fell into anarchy, and even in places were the government survived famine and hardship were widespread.
But perhaps the most surprising result of the war was the Closure - all three of the Earth doorways abruptly ceased to work, rendering travel to other worlds impossible.
To this day the cause of the Closure remains a mystery. The obvious explanation is that the nuclear explosions from the war disrupted them somehow... but nothing in current structure theory can explain how that would happen. Once satellites were finally able to be placed in orbit again the spacetime around the doors was studied, and seemed to be unchanged from before the war. But regardless of the how and why, the fact remained - Earth and its colonies had been cut off from each other.
For the next two hundred years Earth rebuilt its shattered civilization, and the colony worlds adapted to their sudden independence. The more fortunate colonies had been established long enough to have at least some degree of industry. Less fortunate worlds still relied on imports from Earth, and many of these collapsed. The colonies could still travel through parts of the doorway network (albeit having to detour around the now inaccessible Earth), and some trade between worlds was established.
The Second Expansion
Nearly two hundred years after they suddenly closed the Earth doorways just as suddenly re-opened. Hyperdrive equipped vehicles had mostly been re-purposed after the Closure, but a few had been left in the doorway zones and set to automatically keep trying, just in case. In 2335 these vehicles unexpectedly transitioned, proving that the doorways were open once again. Once the initial surprise faded, the nations of Earth began to prepare to venture out into the galaxy again. Old colonial records, planetary surveys, and maps were unearthed, although it was known these would be two centuries out of date.
The next year produced a series of surprised and astounded encounters. The nations of Earth (or Terra, as the colonies universally called it) learned of the Zhaleed Empire, Citadel Republic, Thrainites and other surviving colonies. The colonies likewise learned of what had transpired on Terra and the global geopolitical situation. Relations were initially non-hostile, but formal, with all sides uncertain how things would unfold. Gradually diplomatic relations were established, and the re-united nations starting discussing how they would co-exist.
The Snake War
The reunion between Terra and its former colonies occurred against the backdrop of a major interplanetary struggle - the Goshuran Conflict, later also known as The Snake War. The Zhaleed Empire and its allies were engaged in ferocious fighting again an alien species known as the Serpents. While they were (barely) holding their own, they were suffering tremendous loses in doing do. After analyzing the situation, the Southern Commonwealth offered its support, and began to mobilize its forces.
The Commonwealth's motives in supporting the Empire were threefold. First, coming to their aid in war would provide an excellent beginning to a strong relationship between the two nations. Secondly, the Serpents forward positions were only a few doorways away from the Western Australian Door. While not an imminent threat, it was deemed prudent to push them as far back as possible. Lastly, during the course of the campaign they could establish forward bases on other worlds, giving them a greater presence in the galaxy after the fighting ended.
The entry of Commonwealth forces into the war decisively turned the tide. The Serpents rapidly pulled back to their pre-conflict border, and sued for peace. The Commonwealth and Zhaleed Empire signed a mutual-defense treaty, both pledging to support the other should the Serpents invade again.
Recent Events
For the next twenty years after the re-opening the galaxy was relatively quiet. Alliances and trade deals were formed and broken, and a few minor to moderate skirmishes and conflicts arose, but no major wars were fought. Then five years ago, the Rung-Xanh colony on the outskirts of explored space was wiped out. There were no survivors, and no trace of the attacks - only rubble. Then a second colony suffered the same fate, then a third.
In the aftermath of these attacks governments started to bolster their defenses on outer-rim worlds. Then in 2356 humanity had its first recorded engagement with this new enemy - the Malroid Swarm. At the Battle of the Gordon Flat a joint Southern Commonwealth/Zhaleed Empire force engaged the swarm. While the human force was driven back, they managed to hold long enough for a significant portion of the colonists to evacuate. And they gained vital data on this new enemy, its units, and its terrifying capabilities.
