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Cowboys and Gung Hos |
By the early Interplanetary Nanotech Age civilization had well and truly passed the old nation state of America by. But in the old cities and heartlands there were those romantics who dreamt of travel to the stars, if only they could get the resources together. The nanorevolution gave them the opportunity. As regional governments and police forces tried to crack down on the tidal wave of pirate assemblers these romantics - or "cowboys" as they called themselves (less after wild west interactives or bovine quadrupeds once used for food, and more out of reference to Cyberpunk mythology, over the centuries these two had become inextricably blurred) - began networking, sharing knowledge, and pooling their resources.
Unlike their Cyber-punk (proto- / pre- Cyberian) contemporaries (some of whom also called themselves "Cowboys" for the same reason), many of these "cowboys" were politically right-wing or had rightward leanings, including many racists of the strongly biased WASP minority, dreams of a new frontier, manifest destiny or a "true America".
It was realised early on that in order to succeed they would have to capture amat supplies, as none of them wished to deal with the Genettekers (or "gooks" as they called them). From the start there was a difference between the "gung hos" and the moderates. The gung ho cowboys preferred the idea of a "guns blazing" attack on the amat corps, who they despised almost as much as the "gooks". Growing their customised ships under great camouflage nets, they equipped them with every conceivable weapon, so they became more like cruisers or destroyers than colony ships. The moderates wanted to contact amat corps and arrange a trade - a portion of the new system for the amat to get there. They started communications with many of the amat corps, all of which had been inundated by offers and were inflating their prices. Most corps wanted 49% ownership of any new colony. This even the moderates were reluctant to give.
The gung hos did not have it all their own way either. Their communities were infiltrated or tapped, their camouflaged ships were sometimes detectable by satellite surveillance, Federal authorities raided and captured several of the half-assembled ships (after firefights in which the National Guard and the Army were called to help), and the first of their ships, the American Pride, only managed to ascend two kilometers before there was a reactor blowout and the whole thing tumbled Earthwards and exploded before the eyes of the formerly cheering crowd that had been watching the launch.
Historians have pointed out that the gung hos actually were doomed from the start. In order to seriously colonise a planet in another solar system, a very large colony ship is required. It needs to house many thousands in cryonic suspension, enough materials to be self-sustaining and able to recreate a technological infrastructure, many smaller exploration and landing crafts, and of course an interstellar propulsion drive of some sort (amat-fusion was the most popular at this time, although some still used pellet stream or plasma or maser sail). As the American Pride tragedy showed, it was exceedingly difficult to build a ship that large on the ground and launch it, even allowing a large supply of amat and good superstrength materials.
Many of the backyarders failed for this very reason. It has been said that only one out of a thousand actually made it outsystem, and only one out of ten even made it into Earth orbit. Almost all successful backyarders were those who had first made deals with independent Belters or with megacorps, offering a share of the new world in exchange for building materials, launch facilities, and amat.
As the social chaos worsened due to more and more extremists getting old of pirate nanotech, the authorities were busy elsewhere, and the cowboys refined their designs and plans. Following the the American Pride disaster, a number of gung hos tried building a system of smaller launchable ships that would later be connected in space into a real starship. This was a clever idea, even if rather expensive and wasteful, as the finished ship would be much less efficient than a single big ship. In any case, over a number of years, and following two more crashes they managed to build a compound ship - the Robert E. Lee - that could ascend perfectly into orbit, assemble, disassemble, then come down and land again. Although the Robert E. Lee was captured and confiscated by authorities, who had tracked its flightpath and dispatched fighters and stealth copters as well as the local (heavily armed and armoured) police, the gung hos knew they could succeed, and more and more plans for viable ships were distributed through the internet.
While several compound ships were used, following the design that was used so successfully with the Robert E. Lee, none actually made it outsystem, although they did reach the kuiper belt. But the difficulties inherent in the compound ship idea encouraged other gung hos tried a different approach, making deals with sympathetic Belt habitats, who would assemble most of the ship in the Belt in exchange for a large chunk of the new solar system. The only difficulty was getting the colonists onboard before the start, but that was solved using crude Orion-type nuclear propulsion ships or adapted shuttles.
A bigger problem these Beltists gung hos faced was acquiring enough amat to power their ships to a reasonable fraction of the speed of Light. A number of raids on the big amat farms were tried, most without much success. The most tragic of these however was the B4 disaster of 524.
Over the years the gung ho 's had become increasingly militant and well-organised. In 594 a fleet of two dozen armed ships were launched. Half were transports using a modified nuclear Orion-Daedalus type hybrid drive. The half were heavily modified shuttles, bristling with every imaginable weapon. The harassed Terran Space Guard that met them in orbit found themselves completely out gunned and had no choice but to let them through. The transports made for the Belt, where they were tracked to an independent habitat on Hygaea. The gunships made for the amat farms. The gung hos attempts to hack into the megacorp systems and shut down the security defense network appeared to succeed, but it was actually a trap and as soon as they boarded the station they were met by a security forces, who disabled the cowboys with knockout gas, tanglefoam, and shockerstunners. The remaining cowboys on their ships could not do anything, as a further attack on the station would risk the lives of their buddies. The enraged gung hos decided to attack another amat station instead, the Jerusalem Macrotech station B4, firing first and picking up the amat later. In the ensuring battle both the amat depot, the station facilities and five armed colony ships were destroyed when the containment for the amat failed and the whole thing detonated
Following the B4 disaster, amat corps tended to shoot first and ask questions later. Any unauthorised vessel was met by a withering hail of fire. Elsewhere in the Solar System and on Earth it was the same. The amat megacorps, with the collusion of local police and security forces, used inhouse and mercenary cyborg assassins to attack the gung hos (and anyone else unfortunate enough to be nearby) on Earth. It was the beginning of the total breakdown of society
In the end, only two gung ho ships ever made it out of the Sol System - the Old Glory and the John Wayne. Neither were ever seen again. Other gung hos - quite a large number in fact - did make it to the kuiper belt where they set up a number of colonies and were eventually assimilated into mainstream Haloist and Sempterist culture
