The golden age of planetary colonization expanded humanity’s dominion across the whole of
the Solar System.
As the wealth and labor of the colonies was sent back to Earth, resentment grew across
the frontier and radicalized factions began demanding a complete secession from the United
Nations.
At the forefront of this movement was the Settlement Defense Front.
Initially created to enforce martial law on the off-world colonies, the Front’s members
began to view themselves as the true inheritors of the Solar System.
Their ideology portrayed the governments of Earth as corrupt and feeble, parasites that
fed on the bounty of the Solar System.
As the most populous and powerful colony, Mars became the focal point of SetDef activity.
The organization enacted a planet-wide strike, halting shipments to Earth and provoking a
response from the United Nations Space Alliance.
Clashes between Earth’s Solar Associated Treaty Organization and the Settlement Defense
Front ended in a massacre, and war between the two powers was officially declared.
The Secession Wars engulfed the entire star system and when an armistice was finally declared,
the Settlement Defense Front had won control of Mars and other scattered clusters and territories.
The Front legitimized its authority with the establishment of an authoritarian government
built on the tenets of ultranationalism, the regimentation of society and the forcible
suppression of opposition.
State sponsored propaganda networks exerted tight control over the spread of information
while all broadcasts from Earth or its allied colonies were blocked.
Even items that originated on Earth were considered contraband, part of the systematic approach
the Front took towards vilifying the rest of humanity.
Deeply militaristic, SetDef required that all its citizens be proficient with small
arms and every male was enlisted in a mandatory 15 years of military service beginning at
age 12.
It’s armed forces consisted of an army, airforce and navy, with the SetDef fleet in
particular the principal focus of its national strategy.
The Navy of the Settlement Defense front had roughly 50 jump-capable warships at its disposal.
These were split across 8 fleets stationed at critical points within the Solar System.
The majority of these vessels were classified as destroyers, tasked with protecting far
larger carriers that housed squadrons of combat aircraft.
The flagship of the Settlement Defense Front, and the largest warship ever built by humanity,
was the SWSC-1, christened the Olympus Mons.
The ship served as the main hub for the Settlement Defense Front, and became the defacto mobile
capital of the entire nation.
For the majority of its service, the Olympus Mons was commanded by Admiral Salen Kotch,
a ruthless proponent of SetDefs ideals, who had long advocated for a second war against
the Earth and the United Nations.
Salen Kotch eventually got his wish and during Fleet Week, when the Solar Associated Treaty
Organization assembled its most powerful warships over Geneva in a display of force, SetDef
launched their surprise attack.
Front sleeper-cell agents successfully hijacked Earth’s planetary defense system and destroyed
the majority of SATO’s fleet in moments.
Combined with an attack spearheaded by Olympus Mons, the United Nations Space Alliance was
reduced to just two ships, the Retribution and the Tigris.
Coordinated strikes occurred elsewhere in the Solar System, with the Settlement Defense
Front seizing critical sites on Luna, Europa, and Mercury.
Despite their near total success, the SetDef plans for the complete invasion of Earth were
thwarted by SATOs two remaining warships, which managed to conduct a brilliant guerrilla
campaign, striking at targets of opportunity across the Solar System.
This was not enough to prevent a second attack on Geneva, during which the Olympus Mons successfully
destroyed the headquarters of the Solar Associated Treaty Organization.
During the fighting however, Olympus Mons was boarded by SATO marines.
Admiral Kotch was killed and his flagship commandeered.
The warship was diverted back to Mars, and together with the Retribution, crashed on
its surface.
In a final desperate battle, the Settlement Defense Front’s primary shipyard over Mars
was destroyed, crippling its ability to continue the war and giving Earth the time it needed
to rebuild its forces.
Broken beyond repair, the Settlement Defense Front was forced to capitulate, reduced to
a footnote in the annals of human history.
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