Privateer Onlinetimeline
Privateer OnlineTimeline
2680
Science/Technology/Growth
Confederation in conjunction with Hurston Dynamics begins field-testing chain ion or “cloud burst” weapons technology at Krieger Starbase.
Daily Life
Influence of Kilrathi culture on fashion and entertainment begins to spread outside of the Border Worlds.Some systems put a ban on the import of all imitation Kilrathi weaponry and human-styled armor/clothing wear. This only increases the value of the items on the market.
History/Politics
Border Worlds Kilrathi TPFs (temporary placement facilities) are reduced to only three planetary locations (as opposed to 50 a decade earlier) as another displaced clan is relocated to a system within Kilrathi space.
These facilities, nothing more than reservations for the Kilrathi, were beginning to come under the scrutiny of several Sentient Rights groups. Charges of neglect and cruel treatment go unheard at the General Assembly.
Governor Cavazos, then head of the G.A., publicly states that the remaining Kilrathi will be relocated in under five years. His statements are almost drowned out by representatives of the Border Worlds calling for faster action.
Daily Life
Rein Ertrobs releases the fourth book in his wildly popular series of fantasy novels set within the Darkening universe. The book, entitled “Lev’s Pact”, forces the publisher to restructure its flat-scan transmit hub in order to accommodate the over one billion requests.
2681
History/Politics
The “Nephilim”, a race of insect-like creatures from outside our galaxy, terrorizes remote Confederation installations. Their motives are unknown, but Confed reacts in force, sending out the newly commissioned “Super Carrier” Midway to assist in quelling the threat.
After intensive engagements over the course of several months the Nephilim are “defeated” in the Kilrah system.
Daily Life
Leonard Styles, staff photojournalist for ISDN (Intersystem Daily News) takes the first shots of the Nephilim in action against a transport convoy fleeing the Kilrah sector after the official evacuation order was given.
His stark images of a Nephilim destroyer slicing through a civilian transport with a plasma beam put an image to the threat most remote sector citizens had dismissed.
Science/Technology/Growth
A joint Hurston/Bartok Industries and Confederation research program develops the “dust cannon”, a mass-driver variant using “dust-cull” technology to recycle power plant waste matter into a limitless ammunition supply.
Daily Life
Robert Brindle’s novel, “Clipped” about conditions at Kilrathi placement facilities is criticized by veterans and administrators as both inaccurate and inflammatory. The publicity generated causes thirty system representatives to call for a committee to be formed on placement conditions.
History/Politics
The TCS Cerberus a new “quick strike” carrier is unveiled by the Confederation. Constructed by Bartok Industries, the Cerberus is quickly put on a secret assignment by the TCIS to investigate reported straggler Nephilim within Sol sector.
History/Politics
Military hero Commodore Christopher “Maverick” Blair, (known for delivering the Temblor bomb that destroyed the Kilrathi home world of Kilrah thus ending the conflict), is MIA in the war against Nephilim and presumed dead.
2682
Daily Life
The Kilrathi clan Sihkag’s traditional fighting tournament becomes the highest rated Holo-Vid event ever.
Its popularity is credited to the first time inclusion of humans in the fights. The managers of these fighters are criticized after all are killed during the tournament, save one. The sole human survivor suffered a broken back, fractured skull and other internal injuries after managing advancing to the Juc’lohn, essentially a sudden death quarter final that utilizes the Pah’nel, a rotating column covered with razor whips that randomly engages during the fight.
History/Politics
Incidents of anti-Confed terrorism, following the bombing of the TCY arcology, increase in frequency. Confed promises to act quickly and decisively in dealing with any future internal threats.
Daily Life
The Guinterin Combine resumes its Cruise Ship service in 2681, despite warnings of straggler Nephilim presence within its operating quadrants.
Subsequently the Twilight Purchase, the latest cruise ship in the line, was attacked. Although rescued from outright destruction by unnamed Confederation Pilots, the ship is exposed to an alien viral agent resulting the in the death of 80 percent of the passengers and crew.
Another cruise ship in the line, the Ana Maria Alberghetti, was destroyed utterly after an alien attack. The Blue Horizon was lost and no trace recovered.
In 2682 the lawsuits begin to be filed.
History/Politics
Civilian protestors use Robert Brindle’s novel “Clipped” as ammunition in acts of civil disobedience in and around the general assembly headquarters in Sol system. Dozens of people are injured and hundreds more arrested in demonstrations that last throughout the entire month of the Assembly’s quarterly sessions.
Science/Technology/Growth
Following the end of the Nephilim conflict the Terran Confederation Stellar Cartography program (headed by TC exploratory services) came out of hiatus. Refinements made in stable wormhole survey technology were put into practice as part of a renewed quest for more systems located within Confederation influence.
Although system exploration was sanctioned within the Avalon and Gemini sectors of Confed, this timeline will focus only on the Gemini sector discoveries.
Unexplored system TCSC3057 is discovered off of the former pirate haven of Pentonville in the Humboldt quadrant of Gemini.
Science/Technology/Growth
The “Nephilim Virus” is identified. The initial vector is linked to a deep space salvage freighter called the “Hispaniola”
With exposure to atmosphere the armor began to decay, causing dormant microbes to become active. It spread due to the handling of decaying organic armor by scientists and salvage ops.
The virion, either absorbed through the skin or ingested through the air, began to feed on living tissues. As part of their waste material they manufactured a chemical that induces euphoria, causing the victim to neglect the deleterious affects of exposure.
Traditional methods of treatment prove ineffective. A galactic search for a vaccine/cure begins in earnest.
The initial death toll was set at 47,000.
History/Politics
After much public outcry and several internal Confederation inquiries as to the conditions of Kilrathi placement facilities, Confed agrees to help the Kilrathi form a new governing body to self-regulate conditions and manage Kilrathi/Confederation relations.
Shortly after, the KCA (or Kilrathi Clan Alliance) is announced. Staffed by royal clan leaders and Sivaran Priestesses, the KCA promised a new age of cooperation and self-determination for the Kilrathi.
2683
Daily Life
A group calling itself the Hearts of the Tiger sends out its belief on a holo-vid broadcast purchased by their eccentric and extremely wealthy founder, Hillel Jackson. It claims to have received a message from the late Commodore Blair that offers a dialogue of hope and oneness for all creatures of the galaxy.
Although written off as a minor cult, sightings of Blair in the Trk’Pahn and Gemini sectors begin to be reported by a number of converts. Jackson, who made a fortune in flat-scan display manufacturing, put all of his credits behind the organization.
After the transmission the HOTTs claimed a membership of 100,000.
Daily Life
Saranya Carr’s daughter stars in the holo-vid sequel to her popular “Luna Jones: Jumpscout”. Entitled “Riva Jones Daughter of Destiny”, Morgana Carr fails to capture the same success her mother achieved twenty-five years earlier.
Science/Technology/Growth
With no tenable cure for the Nephilim Virus yet discovered, the CVCD (Confederation Viral Control Division) calls for the immediate quarantine of entire systems, starting with Kreiger in Sol sector.
Kreiger was home to a research starbase that had been conducting initial tests on Alien technology. Tests that left the starbase a floating hulk filled with seven hundred corpses.
Other than CVCD operatives, no traffic in or out of the system was allowed. The death toll was now at over 3,000,000.
Science/Technology/Growth
Following multiple terrorists Neural EMP “blastcasts”, all electro neural research and technology is re-classified as forbidden to any without official Confederation security clearance.
“Blastcasting” was the media term given to the activation (or detonation) of a pulsed carrier wave that could transmit brief suggestive messages into the conscious and subconscious.
Science/Technology/Growth
Exploratory services activity is put on hold until the Nephilim Virus is contained.
History/Politics
Governor Cavazos of Sol sector is reelected in a landslide despite protests from varied civilian interest groups. He is accused by several groups of being ineffective in his handling of the Nephilim and the subsequent reconstruction.
His personal assembly vote that supported the order of execution for 40 Kilrathi “Bloodeye” pirates in Valgard two years earlier, earned him great criticism in the growing Kilrathi rights movement.
At his inauguration Cavazos stated, “People hate the tough decisions, but they hate the man that makes them more.”
2684
History/Politics
At a KCA organized clan rally many Kilrathi clan leaders speak out conditions on placement facilities. KCA official speeches applaud efforts made by the Confederation to provide adequate oversight and resources.
The event is marred by violence following the inflammatory speech given by an enigmatic teenage clan leader named Ra’Khaj nar Ghoran. Ra’Khaj, representing the Kiranka clan (a conglomeration of various fractured warrior class) calls for true Kilrathi self-determination and puts pressure on the KCA to cut access to Confederation holo-vid, consumer goods and other “implements of cultural domestication”.
After naming several royal clans he considered “complicit in the destruction of Kilrathi honor” an open brawl broke out amongst Kiranka and royal clan representatives leaving 20 dead and dozens injured.
Science/Technology/Growth
All craft entering critical systems are now scanned for Nephilim Virus before being allowed to proceed.
The “iron maiden”, a single person chamber filled with micro-needles synched to inject a prototype vaccine to every point on the body, was proven to have limited, yet repeatable, effectiveness at stopping the progression of the virus in infected individuals.
However, the treatment is so aggressive that even with the virus neutralized the patient is usually unable to survive the anti-bodies invasive application in their weakened state.
The death toll had escalated to over 24,000,000. Agrent, Hawking, and Avalon sectors are untouched.
Science/Technology/Growth
Confederation officials applaud Nanofab structural prototypes tested by the Guinterin Combine as “the single greatest advance in human history since brick and mortar”.
Prohibitively expensive and subject to decay, the technology is still estimated at having many years of development ahead of it.
Daily Life
Leonard Styles releases another flat-scan photo essay showing the effects of the Nephilim Virus on the hardest hit sectors.
“I wanted to put a human face to an epidemic that most citizens would rather ignore.”
When ISDN ran the essay, the Nephilim Relief Fund saw a fifty million credit increase in donations over the course of the following week.
Daily Life
Basic Edible, the Confederation’s largest supplier of foodstuffs, loses 10 of its 40 agricultural planetary operations due to plague quarantine.
Rations on both staple and luxury foods are put into effect by Confed.
The black-market for edibles skyrockets.
Daily Life
A holo-vid event entitled “Plague” is cancelled by Confederation order in light of the epidemic facing many Confederation and Kilrathi sectors.
Although the TCBN (Terran Confederation Broadcasting Network) protests that it is purely fiction, they agree to pull the feature co-starring Morgana Carr.
2685
History/Politics
Sol Governor Cavazos is assassinated by terrorists while en route to a Border Worlds conference on the status of reconstruction efforts following the Nephilim conflict.
Science/Technology/Growth
A security leak within Bartok Industries revealed to ISDN and other representatives of the press that cloaking technology had been developed by the company and utilized for a number of TCIS (Terran Confederation Intelligence Service) craft.
The technology was described as stable on both large and small scales. No explanation of what “large and small scale” meant, but the implication that consistent and reliable cloaking technology was in active service made for a huge media buzz.
Although no further details were forthcoming from Bartok or Confed, this marked the first public admission of stable Confederation cloaking technology.
Daily Life
Rein Ertrobs, author of the long running and highly popular series of novels The Darkening, releases the final chapter of the popular fantasy series.
Although critics were mixed in their blessings of Ertrob’s works, no one could deny the impact it had on the population. The hard print of the novel was immediately unavailable, and the publisher’s transmission hub was shut down due to the crush of customers.
Titled “Blind Fire”, all hard copy artifacts immediately skyrocketed on commodity exchanges.
Science/Technology/Growth
Local militia shoots down ships fleeing quarantined systems as they enter the Argent Sector. Although the militia members responsible are formally indicted, they are viewed as heroes in their home sector and hidden from extradition by Confederation forces.
Over forty systems scattered throughout the Sol, Vega, Trk’Pahn, and Gemini sectors are quarantined and blockaded by a coalition of official Confederation and conscripted local militia vessels. Supplies are delivered to the afflicted areas with unmanned drones.
The death toll trips the 200,000,000 mark.
2686
Science/Technology/Growth
Researchers at the CVCD finally isolate the Nephilim Virus. Extensive tests begin on non-intrusive delivery systems.
The Gemini Sector is the hardest hit by the virus due in part to the pirate and mercenary activity that has distributed contraband alien technology. All jump points out of the sector are blockaded. Drone transports are utilized to send supplies to systems.
Although a marked slow down in the spread of the plague had been noted, the total casualties (after incorporating Kilrathi estimates) was now over 600,000,000.
History/Politics
The new Sol Governor, Yoshida Grider is elected on a platform of growth and reform.
History/Politics
The foundations of the CCSP (Confed Citizen Subsidy Program), for the organized expansion and solidification of Confederation influence, are laid in secret with Yoshida Grider driving the program.
Daily Life
Following a series of articles and interviews on ISDN, Ra’Khaj continues his dialogue calling for true Kilrathi independence and self-determination “unfettered by the genocidal barbarians who have disparaged whatever honor the great Heart of the Tiger may have afforded them with their callous actions”.
A love/hate relationship between Ra’Khaj and the Confederation public begins, with many calling him the next Thrakath and others calling him the first true leader to emerge from the fractured culture of Kilrah.
2687
Daily Life
The HOTTs leader Hillel Jackson announces that they have raised the funding necessary to begin construction of an unrivalled network of subspace relays that will, “link together the believers in an instant congress of data and discovery.”
Daily Life
After five years of waiting, the family and other plaintiffs finally have their case against the Guinterin Combine’s Cruise Ship division heard in court. Claiming negligence, and a host of other issues, the friends and families seek a far-reaching settlement.
Guinterin claims to have already met the needs of the plaintiffs and denies any negligence in their actions. However, they obey a court order to stop the cruise service offered by their remaining ten craft until the lawsuit and independent investigations have been completed.
History/Politics
A corruption scandal exposed in the KCA. Ra’Khaj utilizes his public stature to bring documents and transmissions to light that implicated the Juk’Teth Royal Clan in labor camp profiteering in the TPFs and selling off Kilrathi artifacts to wealthy Confederation collectors.
Sivaran Priestesses take control of KCA until another Royal house can be elected. Ra’khaj feted at the KCA senate in honor of his actions.
He swears there are “many more traitors to be exposed and much more work to be done”.
Science/Technology/Growth
With the death toll slowed dramatically but still at six hundred and fifty million, the CVCD announces it is beginning preliminary testing of a new vaccine to prevent any further casualties.
Delivered by tablet for purposes of inoculation, the vaccine also treats active cases by being dissolved into a warm bath into which the patient is completely submerged. The agent is then absorbed through all the pores, combating the virus’ ability to intelligently shift its location away from active anti-bodies.