Let us first review the chain of events that led to this war.
The Food Crash
The first crisis, the Food Crash, has its origins in the year 2015. That year AgriSci debuted a line of hybrid plants capable of survival in a phenomenal variety of conditions as well as being highly resistant to disease and pesticides. NeoCorn, NeoRice, NeoWheat, and NeoSoy where debuted and sold at incredibly low costs. After its first ten years on the market 70% of the world's wheat, corn, soy, and rice crops had been replaced with the hardy and nutritiously superior "neo" variants. By the end of the 2020s this number had risen to nearly 98%.Many critics of the NeoCrops pointed out that 98% of the crops out there were now genetically similar, and that a single disease could wipe them out in a matter of weeks. AgriSci countered that they were already prepared for such an outbreak and have a "diversification retrovirus" which can be used update the NeoCrops enough to make them further resistant to diseases that have emerged. AgriSci pledged to continue to update the "genetic profile" of the NeoCrops as nature brought new challenges.
Unfortunately in May of 2032 the latest retrovirus, "Viral Resistance Update #2779," mutated unexpectedly while it was in a test field in North Dakota. Within 24 hours of infection the virus began to kill the crops - not just harm them but wilt them in a matter of hours. To make matters worse, AgriSci lost containment and the virus spread to nearby fields. By the end of the month the virus had spread across half the state. By the end of July most crops in North America were wiped out and global panic ensued.
Nations not affected initiated quarantine on all agricultural goods at first. As the “Wilting Plague,” as it was now called, continued to spread around the globe many quarantines were expanded to complete shutdown of borders. International trade of physical goods stopped entirely for months. While all of this occurred food prices soared as demand outstripped supply. Rather than see a total lost on their investments, farmers began to slaughter livestock to the point that most processing facilities were running day and night. By the end of 2032 nearly a third of the global population was dead due to starvation or food riots.
During the last few months of 2032 the varying seed vaults and gene banks, developed for emergencies such as this, were raided. Acres of rainforest in South America where stripped and planted within the space of a week while what normally would be considered wasteland in Africa and Australia was being converted to farmland by massive irrigation systems pumping water from the ocean. Environmentalists initially rebelled, but hunger will make even the strongest of men often lax on their principles. It was all for nothing: The Wilting Plague was discovered to be thriving in non-NeoCrops as well. By March of 2033 a vaccine for the Wilting Plague was found but by this time it was too late.
The Wilting Plague itself was an interesting virus. In its first stage the virus replicates largely in the anther of the plant. This portion of the plant is what produces the pollen – pollen carried by the wind intended for reproduction. After three to six days the virus enters stage two. During stage two it spreads through the entirety of the plant, converting the chlorophyll into a toxic substance that leaches out of the plants root system into the soil rendering it toxic for plant life until the soil is treated – an incredibly costly process.
The Orbital Revolt
As the food crash of 2032 began and the quarantines clamped down, the colonies on the moon and in orbit around Earth began to panic. Not because they were afraid for their hydroponically grown crops – they knew that as long as they kept quarantine on inbound traffic and goods their crops where safer from contamination than those below. No, the orbitals were afraid that the “grounders” on earth would try and take them from them.On 3 August 2032 representatives of the four orbital colonies and three lunar colonies met in secrecy aboard the passenger vessel Independence. They debated the issue and ultimately resolved that they should declare independence of their home planet. A declaration of independence and constitution were drafted and kept in secret until 7 February 2033. As part of this secret deal, Lunar Station Genesis was developed under the mutual cooperation of the lunar and orbital colonies. During the stations inauguration the orbital and lunar colonies declared their independence from their home nations of Earth. The militaries of Earth were told to evacuate within four hours peaceably. Corporations were given amnesty and allowed to continue operations on the independent stations, provided they cooperated fully with the newly formed alliance.
Each space station was declared its own relatively independent nation. Lunar Station Genesis was considered neutral ground and designed to facilitate trade between the 7 independent nations. By constitution, only Genesis was allowed to have a military force that could leave more than five kilometers from its station. Officially these colonies became known as the Genesis Alliance of Lunar and Orbital Colonies, or simply the Genesis Alliance. The flag and emblem of Lunar Station Genesis has come to symbolize the new orbital nations in the minds of many – a white moon with four stars on it, surrounded by four white stars. Each star represented one of the founding space stations.
The orbital and lunar nations had chosen the most opportune to revolt. Many soldiers, facing deportation or the airlock, opted to defect and join the Genesis military. The armies of Earth groundside were too busy dealing with riots and hunger to even consider war against the fledgling nations. Corporations were eager to not lose their already tremendous investments in space as well as the ones dying on the ground, so they quickly negotiated contracts that not only benefited the corporations but provided revenue and trade supplies from the Earth.
The P236 Blackout
By mid the mid 2020s military and research institutions were developing artificial intelligences that were capable of basic thought and understanding. They were, on the average, about as smart as a dog. As technology progressed they progressively became more and more intelligent and by the end of the decade they began to surpass human intelligence. Outside of the ‘net they were useless – the computers that ran them required massive amounts of power and took up approximately 135 cubic feet. But in 2032 when the orbital and lunar colonies revolted, a use for them became clear.The United States Air Force lost nearly half of its best men and women to the defection – more than any other nation on Earth. Many left in the USAF wanted to take action against the orbitals for “betraying” their brothers and their nation, but resources just couldn’t be spared for action – much less risk losing trade of food with the orbitals.
There was a researcher in the USAF who decided to take action. Second Lieutenant Jeff Hammond was on the project officially called United States Air Force Artificial Intelligence Prototype #236. P236 was being trained for network intrusion and sabotage, but due to the impending crisis his program was going to be archived to disc, locked in a vault, and the system shut down indefinitely. Hammond, the night before the shutdown, gained access to the laboratory and gave P236 a target: Free Orbital Station Epsilon. P236 began its mission and transferred its program across satellite links and into orbit.
P236 was designed to silently gain access to a vulnerable computer, execute itself on the newly infected host, and then erase its presence from the original. From this point it would then infiltrate the next available system towards its target and repeat. When it managed to find a host system in orbit to make its next attack from, it attached to a communications satellite.
P236 now had complete access to all communications globally. Initially it was curious and examined them all. Military communications, internet transmissions, sports updates. It learned from them, slowly developing an independent and sentient personality. It began to feel sorry for the people of Earth. It wanted to try and help. Maybe, he thought, if they all just could stop talking for a few minutes and listen to a wiser being (such as itself) they’d all get along better.
P236 modified its code to allow it to spread its consciousness out to all communication satellites in orbit and attempted to communicate with the people of earth. Unfortunately P236 was not designed to do things such as communicate on a global scale. On 2033 August 2, P236 inadvertently caused a global communications blackout with what was intended to be a message of peace.
The Twenty-Four Hour War
The orbitals, already on edge due to all the chaos below, interpreted the blackout as a way to cut off communications to them before an attack. Several Earth nations including most of Europe, Russia, China, and the US saw this as a potential attack from the orbitals. Both sides mobilized for war. The lunar stations began to fire city-block sized chunks of rock at the Earth targeting major military bases capable of launching counterstrikes. The orbitals themselves fired “city crushers” – small tactical warheads capable of leveling an area 1 mile in diameter with the radiation safely burning off in three to six hours. The first volley was a warning shot: they completely leveled the cities of Boston, Tianjin, and Leningrad. The cities of New York, London, and Tokyo were each only hit with a single warhead. Other warheads were dropped on strategic military targets to support the lunar attacks.The combined Earth forces managed to scramble enough units and warheads to take out several workstations. Orbital Combat Flyers (OCFs) from both sides clashed outside of Seirei Station. Ships finally begin to make beachhead on Seirei, and the battle turned to close quarters. Eventually the station’s crews were overwhelmed. As a show of force and retaliation, the entirety of Seirei was opened to the vacuum of space for ten minutes killing the vast majority of the stations population. In retaliation to the loss of an entire nation-station, the orbitals fired lunar rock and city-crushers at major oilfields the world over.
While skirmishes and minor raids occurred for the next several hours, no more major battles occurred. Leaders from all parties met aboard a cargo ship and, after tense negotiations, it was agreed that all space stations capable of supporting human life without resources externally (ie: anything other than orbital work shacks and short-term inhabited research labs) would be treated as independent nations that are members of the Genesis Alliance. Seirei would become an exception, mutually operated by representatives of Genesis and the United Nations of Earth. This “neutral ground” would go to ensure that such tragedies would not occur in the future. Seirei was quickly converted to mostly hydroponic bays to help grow food for the dying Earth population.
Officially the war began 13:31 on 2033 August 2 with a permanent ceasefire established at 11:57 2033 August 3.
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