The
Martian War of Independence; detailed timeline
All dates in c.e.
·2185
Inner council formed to provide a legal template for new colonies and
space usage rights in the inner solar system. Council membership is 80%
Terran with neural interfacing to several net resources, including an
Earth based hyperturings.
· Council holds considerable power initially, but with the
rapid rise of the orbital colonies, several secede in relatively quick
succession over a period.
2190· Neogen species discovered in Martian atmosphere,
allegedly gengineered for terraforming program. Gengineering is now
mainstream, but many are uneasy about neogengineering so this causes a
bit of a stir.
· Law is hastily passed by Inner Council banning several
neogen species throughout the inner system (in which the council still
has power). Regulations on specific areas of neogen research are also
established.
·2195 Martian revolution, new Martian government is formed.
Terran powers lose significant power and assets
· New Martian government lobbies for aggressive new changes
in law including a relaxing of gengineering laws for neogens.
· Conspiracy created to reclaim Martian territory
– AI cooperation gained by promising AI rights. AI involved
begins "infecting" polities with memetic propaganda against
neogengineering.
· Bill proposed for greater AI rights.
· Raid on belt piracy operation yields illegal neogen
templates which intelligence sources link to a Mars funded biotech co.,
event steals the headlines for a period. Mars denies knowledge.
· Independent poll shows public sentiment against
neogengineering in CisLunar region and many more against unrestricted
neogen research.
· Prominent CisLunar leader warn of the "hidden evil" in
Mars' neogen research program. Concerns are raised over potentially
lethal biological semisentient weaponry and also of neogen
super-species that would all but spell the end to human prosperity.
Mars council members strongly deny such motivations.
· Several baseline normal groups hold public demonstrations
against neogengineering.
· Mars Inner Council representative Fateh al'Himri Diasha
addresses the council in a bid for a more tolerant view on the neogen
subject. In his speech he outlines the benefits of the technology to
space colonies and also warns of the dangers of being left behind by
outer system polities who have embraced the technology and are leading
the biotech race. He warns that these polities may use the technology
to dominate the solar system and even suggests a worst-case scenario in
which the inner system colonies are invaded by a force, which would be
impossible to fight. The council is mostly
uninterested.
· Public sentiment on the neogen debate escalates in the
direction of banning it or at least strongly regulating it. The memes
have spread fast though society. Some common one at this stage are:
"neogengineering spells the end to equality between human beings",
"neogengineering is a danger to society", "using neogengineering is
creation of the new devil", etc, etc. Political
and religious leaders have all climbed on the bandwagon as well as the
usual activist and fringe groups.
· Another untimely discovery is made, a banned neogen
parasite species, used to combat a malicious disease which for a while
plagued the vast polytunnel agriculture food plantations of Mars'
Tharsis territory. The Tharsis government insists the parasite was
deployed before the neogen rulings and that a way to remove it is being
developed, but the council is unimpressed and the question asked why it
was not announced sooner.
· Migual Preston a top ranking member of the inner council
with general council approval calls for Mars to grant access to all
biotech facilities for inspection "in view of the imminent threat to
humanity". Mars refuses outright.
· A new poll shows that 53% of the population would support
a war against Mars if they don't allow inspectors into their facilities.
· The inner council places trade sanctions on Earth
shipments to Mars
· The inner council passes a vote suspending Mars' rights
on the inner council pending an inquiry into the recent "illegal"
actions contravening the biotech laws. Representative Fateh al'Himri
Diasha insists Mars has done nothing wrong.
· A large Californian war fleet breaks orbit from the
Sun/Earth L5 point en route to the asteroid Ida, a route which can
easily be diverted to Mars. A couple of days later a Greater Brazilian
fleet launches from earth seemingly headed towards the outer system
asteroid Chiron also easily divertible to Mars. The Lunar Chinese
Republic canton Ch'ang O task force pursues a similar course taking it
close to Mars.
· The Inner council gives Mars an ultimatum: allow a
CisLunar inspection force access to all Biotech facilities within 30
days or face military action against a coalition of various powers
which are announced to the public. There is a list of other demands in
addition.
· The inspection force convoy launches from L5 en route to
Mars.
· Further task forces set courses which pass close to Mars.
· Mars deploys long range automated defence drones in
Martian space, when an explanation is demanded a Mars official claims
it is "for a routine testing drill". The Inner Council demands its
removal immediately; Mars refuses claiming that is nothing illegal
about their actions.
· An AI diplomat is sent to the Mars as a negotiator, but as
the diplomatic convoy reaches low Mars orbit, the unthinkable happens:
· On July 24th 2202 (233 a.t.) a wave of Martian
automated drones break from formation and open fire on non-hostile
targets! The fire is indiscriminate, several innocent trade ships and a
small orbital colony of 10,000 are destroyed with a number of ships and
orbitals severely damaged in the melee that follows. Ironically the
diplomatic
convoy comes under attack and one of the escort ships is badly damaged.
The negotiator was unharmed and quickly escorted out of the area. Mars
is quick to announce that it is not a deliberate attack, but 24 hours
later the council never-the-less declares war on Mars.
World in CisLunar is that Mars fired the first shots.
· The Martian defence force, somewhat caught on the back
foot by how quickly the War has started, decide not recall the
remaining drones which initially carried out their defensive role
effectively as designed, but as the war progressed however, it became
apparent that the drones with sentient and semi-sentient capabilities
were becoming unstable after a certain time and posed as much of a
threat to the Marian defence forces as to their attackers. Others
simply abandon their orders and leave the region altogether.
· Initially the Mars orbital defence network easily fends of
the attacks, Mars having invested heavily in their defence, however
with many of the drones becoming unstable, the advantage switches to
the CisLunar attack fleet.
· After 10 days of strategic strikes on the Martian orbital
network, the Coalition announces orbital superiority. Forces gather for
a bombing campaign.
· In the Early hours of June 4th, CisLunar mount a bombing
campaign of unprecedented proportion. Using smart weaponry, 1,002,450
warheads are landed on the Martian surface in the space of just two
hours. Relatively few casualties result from the attacks
due to the fact that the main biospheres are avoided and that mainly
remote unmanned automated weapons facilities and defence platforms are
targeted.
· Deployed in the bombardment are about 200,000 of
cyber-pods, hard cased shells, deployable from space and able to
withstand heavy impact with the surface of a planet, each bearing a
cyborg warrior.
Periodically, additional resources and equipment are deployed in a
similar fashion from orbit, some are destroyed by the remnant ground
defence forces, but these are easily pinpointed and dealt with by air
strikes.
· Almost 48 hours after the deployment the first military
action on the ground occurs within the orbital colony Noachis Alpha.
The Coalition is met with stiff resistance by Martian forces who are
evenly matched in technology and have greater numbers - armies of
bionts in cybersuits and similarly equipped cyborgs, but are more
spread out than the concentrated Coalition surgical strikes.
· Coalition lands troops of bionts and sapient AI and
establish several bases around the planet. Without orbital assistance,
Martian resistance forces are unable to do anything about it using
conventional tactics are mostly restricted to the biospheres and
underground tunnels. The Coalition on the other hand has orbital
support enabling them to utilise satellite guided artillery,
submunitions and air strikes. If the Mars resistance fire, warheads,
the orbital defence force quickly cut them down them using high powered
lasers and any military forces sent to engage the attackers are spotted
easily and dealt with using orbital strikes.
· The coalition forces concentrate on taking control of
various key centres of power, but these are resiliently defended.
Very little progress was made on the ground for a number of weeks.
· The coalition forces gain additional support as several
Martian territories align themselves against the Martian resistance.
· Mars strikes a blow to the Coalition using `Battle Moles'
– a cybernetic digger developed by the Neumann consortium
(Mars division) sporting a large diamondoid drill tip allowing it to
burrow underground at around 50km/h. One tactic used was to tunnel in
deep, directly below a Coalition installation and place a nuclear
charge.
The detonation would cause the ground below the factory to become
unstable and sink into the Martian soil. This had the undesirable
effect of totally devastating the surrounding landscape, but it was
found to be an effective tactic in such desperate times.
· Mars defences slowly start to crumble in many of the
territories, but there is still heavy resistance. A couple of minor
centers are finally taken by the Coalition forces.
· Coalition forces strike a major blow to resistance forces
as after a long intense drawn out battle they finally take control of
the Fons Juventae space elevator, which has been secured by the
resistance since the start of the war. The Coalition start ferrying
troops to the surface en masse.
· Coalition forces make a startling discovery, securing a
Mars cybernetics factory, which contains several self-replicating
cyborg templates, banned under the council's ruling. Several biotech
facilities are also secured, but no evidence of neogengineering is
encountered.
· A year has now passed and CisLunar powers are feeling the
economic strain of war. Most expected a quick and decisive victory,
with few anticipating the heavy Martian resilience. Anti-war sentiment
is now on the increase. But the war continues.
· The outer system is also calling for an end to the war,
especially from Titan a major exporter of nitrogen, the com et herder
community and ring miners of Saturn, all unable to do business with
Mars – the number one consumer of volatiles in the solar
system
whilst the CisLunar blockades remain in place. The Gengineering
Republic remains peacefully out of the commotion.
· The inner council representatives maintain their stance,
despite mounting political opposition against the war.
· Meanwhile the coalition captures the colonies: New Cydonia
City, Aresopolis and Port Robinson, but lose Olympia, Noachis Alpha to
Mars' fast growing self-replicating cyborg armies. They also lose the
space elevator at Fons Juventae, which is destroyed by resistance
forces, a huge blow to the Coalition assault and kills thousands of
troops en-route to the surface.
· With the Martian resistance employing self-replicating
technology, illegal under inner council law and the coalition unable to
use similar tactics or risk public reprimand, the Mars resistance is
starting to win the war coupled with the huge cost of continuing
an interplanetary war which has already lasted much longer than
expected and incurred an astronomical economic price tag. The Martian
force is now in a much stronger position tactically, but volatiles and
food are scarce and the toll on biological species is becoming extreme.
Due to trade sanctions, there is poverty and starvation in many
regions. The first attempts by Mars at instigating peace talks are
turned down, by the Inner Council who call for the resignation of the
current government.
· A couple of days later an unknown official is seen
entering the office of Migual Preston. The two are seen to have lunch
together in Liberne, one of the cities in Biosphere III, where they
part company. A meeting of the Council follows and the following day it
is announced that the council wish to negotiate a peaceful resolution
to the conflict.
· The Council announces a ceasefire window while peace
negotiations are under way.
· Unexpected by many a ceasefire is agreed to within a few
days of negotiations in a speech to the public, Migual announces the
war as over on terms that were agreeable to both CisLunar and Mars. The
speech is both vague and perplexing and leaves many questions
unanswered, but so ends the first interplanetary war, a war fought
mainly around the Martian biospheres, lasting over a year and claiming
the lives of around 2 million sentients, with only an estimated 2% of
those civilian casualties, due to the smart weaponry used.
· New polls show the public feel strongly that the Inner
council should explain its decision in ending the war. The council
maintains its stance that the two parties simply came to an agreement
that satisfied both parties, but remains vague on details.
Meanwhile on Mars CisLunar forces have withdrawn, but the
inter-territory wars on the red planet continue and minor conflicts
aren't resolved for decades to follow.
· The council sets about the rebuilding it's shattered
economy and aiding a devastated Mars in its reconstruction effort.
· Three weeks later Migual announces his retirement from
politics and disappears from public life. Several prominent Inner
Council resignations follow shortly after.
· Within a year of the end of the war the Inner Council has
gone through a radical overhaul with few of its former members still in
power. The council eventually votes to dissolve itself and form the
CisLunar Alliance, a body which no longer has any influence over Mars
or the Belt colonies.
