2036

December --"Underground" journalists-guerilla reporters that refuse to work for the corporate-controlled media-sneak into a GeneFlex operations center and discover several "discarded" failures (genetically altered corpses). These "failed experiments" are being "recycled" (destroyed).

2037

February --Media pirates hijack a GigaCorp communications relay and air the tapes recorded in the GeneFlex ops center. Public outcry is enormous, though GeneFlex maintains that, because the research facility where the experiments were conducted is off-planet, it is not subject to the genetic experimentation prohibitions.

April --The United Nations adopts a revised and expanded version of the Space Charter (which includes provisions about illegal genetic experimentation).

May --GigaCorp challenges the restrictions in Earth courts, launching a series of legal battles that will last for years.

2039

January --Widespread colonization of Mars begins. Martian colonies begin importing "blue-color" workers to work the agridomes. Estimated Martian population is roughly 30,000. Also, after months of debates, the UN Global Supreme Court is founded, predominantly to handle adjudication of extraterrestrial legal conflicts.

May --As unskilled, poorly educated contract laborers (many of them criminals) are "imported" to Mars, the Martian crime rate skyrockets. Corporate security forces begin enforcing order through the exercise of military power.

July --By July, corporate Martian colonies are pacified, though living conditions for the poorer inhabitants are ghastly.

2040

February --The United Nations sends a fact-finding mission to Mars, based on media coverage of conditions among contract laborers.

March --United Nations envoy Richard Kine and his advisors and military escorts are killed in a dropshuttle crash while touring Martian facilities. Amid public outcry -- which pins the blame on corporate sabotage -- an investigation begins. The corporations maintain that human error was to blame in the crash, though they launch their own investigation into the incident.

2041

March --Prosperity Station, the largest single space station yet devised, enters construction phase. Sponsored by GigaCorp, Prosperity Station is the grand dream of GigaCorp founder Longstreet.

2042

March --The investigation into the deaths of UN envoy Kine and his associates ends, with no conclusions. Evidence of pilot error exists but cannot be corroborated. Widespread media speculation about a corporate-sponsored assassination plot gradually fades out by the end of the year.

2045

June --Prosperity Station completed, though severely over-budget and two years late. As a result of the cost overruns, Longstreet's control over GigaCorp falters. He remains involved in many day-to-day operations but has only moderate authority.

2046

May --In an attempt to show his value and regain some control over his company, Longstreet launches the MIDAS Project. The MIDAS Project -- the construction of a series of unmanned, highly sophisticated scouting vessels -- had the stated aim of finding other Sol system resources that could be of "immeasurable value to the people's of the Earth." (In reality, MIDAS was underfunded and was accepted merely to keep Longstreet out of the way of the "real" power behind his company -- the board of directors. However, Longstreet hoped to find something that could enable him to retake the reins of GigaCorp again.

2056

January --The MIDAS Project is completed, behind schedule and over budget.

April --Longstreet is ousted in a vicious proxy fight, though he has not been removed from the corporate roster.

December --Longstreet "commandeers" (through creative redistribution of GigaCorp assets) a large transport ship, supplies, and the remaining ALEXANDER project subjects. The ship -- which Longstreet christens the Long December -- heads off into the outer regions of the system.

2057

October --After collecting "anomalous samples" from the asteroid belt, the MIDAS Project drone ships return to Prosperity Station. After analyzing the samples, Helium 3 (He3) is discovered in the samples. Preliminary experiments show that He3 would make a promising fuel for fusion reactors.

2058

February --GigaCorp scientists -- led by Dr. Mariko Takamoto -- manage to successfully extract He3 from MIDAS Project samples and use it as fuel; once this fuel "refining" process is perfected, GigaCorp begins to mobilize for long-term, widespread exploitation of He3 resources in the system. Many of the GigaCorp execs defect to other companies, selling pertinent He3 to GigaCorp's competitors.

April --Longstreet and the Bios establish a hidden colony near Saturn. After establishing food production facilities, the Bios frequently launch infiltration missions into corporate and military facilities and begin gathering supplies and technology.

September --The Free Martian League forms. The FML is an insurgent group composed of disgruntled contract laborers. Their stated aims are the removal of corporate influence and military power on Mars and the establishment of a sovereign government on the planet.

October 30 --A series of bombings and acts of sabotage-dubbed "Hell Night" by the media-mark the FML's "debut." No one is killed in the initial attacks, though millions of dollars' worth of GigaCorp assets are severely damaged.