The Origins of the Terran Republic Part 3
The USS Nevada was decommissioned in 2176. It served as a museum ship at the Stealthship Museum at Gremmen Spaceyard until the Naplian Invasion, when it was destroyed during a bombard attack on the Gremmen Spaceyard.
The Age of Coexistence and Exploration
2112 - 2131
Although a factional rebellion pushed the Ammanians out temporarily, the population preferred the Ammanians to the Terrans and welcomed a renewed diplomatic effort that left Mars entirely in Ammanian hands by 2112. Over the next decades, a majority of the diverse populations of Mars converted to Ammanianism. The Martian language was also adopted. Initially, the Ammanians required only the subordination of these peoples rather than their assimilation, a process that took considerable time. Following this process, the groups that inhabited the Principate became known collectively as Martians.
With the Mars issue settled, the nations of Earth turned their attention to the further reaches of the solar system and beyond. Already, in 2093, Earth's first faster-than-light (FTL) starship, USS Nevada, had been commissioned at Gremmen Spaceyard, Connecticut, and on April 7th of that year, she made the first FTL transit out of the solar system.
In 2115 the United Nations founded the Canton Colony on an exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, part of a tri-star system. United Nations representative Fiala Adrian became its first governor. However, the colony was abandoned the following year after thousands of colonists contracted an unidentified neural disease and turned violent. Governor Adrian was killed by one of the infected. All uninfected colonists were forcibly evacuated to hospital ships, and the remaining infected inhabitants were euthanized in situ.
In May of 2118, the Wu-Hun Moon Colony was established on Ganymede Moon, Jupiter, as a small fortress moon and orbital trading post by Entrepreneur Moi Yong Chok in conjunction with the Sol System Colonial Licensing Authority.
A second attempt was made to establish a colony on Proxima Centauri Cb in 2120. A squadron of transports and support vessels under the command of Military Governor Admiral Mohamed Bhatti brought prefab structures, supplies, and support equipment for the 300,000 soldiers, technicians, and colonists aboard the transports. An orbital dock and a functioning surface colony with enough supplies for two years had been built within six months. Except for one warship, a hospital vessel, and two freighters laden with additional equipment and supplies, the squadron departed for Earth. The next ships scheduled to arrive would be the resupply sortie in 2121.
Disaster
The resupply squadron orbited above New Canton Colony on December 23rd, 2121. All of the colony’s structures were intact, and from orbit, it appeared that more structures had been erected. But there was no one there. The ships that had been left behind were nowhere to be seen, and every one of the 300,000 colonists had vanished. There was no sign of violence, no damage from an attack, just empty structures. The resupply squadron collected vital equipment and potential evidence and made the two-month voyage back to Earth. A United Nations inquest failed to determine the cause of the calamity. Terran society dubbed New Canton the 'Lost Colony.'
