Timeline of the Elite Universe

1950's - First man in space, controlled nuclear fission, transistor, start of the nuclear arms race

1960's - First man on Moon, commercial fission power, integrated circuits, computers

1970's - Probes in Solar system

1980's - End of first nuclear arms race

1990's - First serious environmental problems on Earth, controlled nuclear fusion

2000's - First (minor) armed conflict between a nation and a "multi-national" corporation

2010's - First serious population problems on Earth

2020's - First international environmental protection enforcement agency, first commercial space station

2030's - Major energy crisis, fossil fuel restrictions, religious unrest, first baby born off Earth

2040's - World War III. Huge technological advancements, huge loss of life, dreadful environmental damage

2050's - War gradually abandoned due to popular rebellions. Commercial fusion power

2060's - Rebuilding. Dominance of corporations increased

2070's - First man on Mars, first permanent Moon base

2080's - Manned exploration of solar system, orbital cities around Earth, first interstellar probes launched

2090's - First permanent Mars base, heavy industry on Moon

2100's - Discovery of fossils on Mars base, "hyperspace" discovered, humans throughout solar system

2110's - Arrival of message from first interstellar probe to Alpha Centauri system. First pictures taken of an extra-solar planet in the Lagrange point on the two main stars

2120's - Presence of life on Tau Ceti 3 detected, first armed conflict in space over rights in the asteroid belt

2130's - Hyperspace capable probes sent to all nearby systems

2140's - Manned space craft sent to Tau Ceti

2150's - Colony established on Tau Ceti 3. Major corporations sending first private colony ships

2160's - The race for the stars. Enourmous production effort to produce ships, and mass exodus started

2170's - First attempt to terra-form Mars started

2180's - Life on Delta Parvonis discovered and made extinct in same year from bacteriological infection

2190's - Discovery of life on Beta Hydri 4, Altair 5. Human colonials spreading out of control

2200's - Earth environmental recovery program started, terraforming of Mars abandoned

2220's - Extinctions on Tau Ceti 3 increasing. Earth threatens to send a police force if nothing is done about it

2230's - Ultimatum sent to Tau Ceti ignored

2240's - First interstellar battle, formation of the Federation, founder members: Earth, Tau Ceti, Delta Pavonis, Altair, Beta Hydri

2260's - Spread of Federation influence

2270's - Second attempt to terra-form Mars started

2280's - Discovery of first non-human relic in space. Origin still unknown in 3200

2290's - First man "outside" on Mars (ie breathing unaided) on completion of terraforming

2300's - Remaining indigenous life on Tau Ceti 3 preserved in special enclosures

2310's - News of elimination of a reputedly sentient race on Achenar 6d by private colonists causes outrage in the Federation. Achenar refuses to join Federation, many terra-forming projects started

2320's - Federation sends war fleet to Achenar. Resulting enormous space battle won by Achenar

2330's - Spread of Empire from Achenar to surrounding worlds. War between Empire and Federation.

- The first Space Dredgers are built as a means of providing heavy industrial capability on the front lines of the war.

2340's - Continuing battles between Federation and Empire

2350's - Sirus corporation founded, and grew rich supplying the war fleets

2380's - Treaty signed between Empire and Federation. The Cold War begins...

2400 - Galactic Cooperative of Worlds is formed as a arbitrating body to maintain the peace between the Federation and Empire as well as the independent systems. It is given a very large budget through equal contributions from the Federation and Empire as well as contributions from other multi-world political entities. This budget is used primarily to produce adequate police forces and a well-armed Navy which would come to the aid of any system threatened with invasion by another system. An era of peace begins to settle over the populated galaxy, though there is still much tension between the Federation and Empire.

2650 - TerraCorp founded on Earth and specialized in producing various manufactured goods used in the frontier expansions.

2700 - Python class star cruiser is produced by Whatt and Pritney ShipConstruct of Inera.

2762 - Viper class heavy fighter is produced by Faulcon Manspace of Reorte and becomes the standard GalCop Police ship. The design is sent to all shipyards on medium to high technology worlds for immediate mass production.

2850 - Space Dredger TerraCorp One suffers a drive coil failure during a hyperspace transit and disappears from known space.

2852 - Gecko is produced by the Ace & Faber HullWorks of Lerelace.

2855 - Cobra Mk. I, produced by Paynou, Prosett, and Salem shipyards of Zaonce, introduces revolutionary Prosett drive which alters the course of ship engine design all over the known galaxy.

2856 - Anaconda class freighter is produced by RimLiner Galactic of Barnard's Star. It is hailed as the largest freighter class built to date and remains so until the late 3100's.

- Orbit Shuttle is produced by Saud-Kruger Astro Design of Achenar. It steadily begins phasing out the old Transporter as the standard surface-to-orbit cargo and passenger carrier.

2878 - Asp Mk. II is produced by GalCop Shipworks, Eta Cassiopeia and becomes the standard GalCop Navy patrol and combat craft.

2900 - After a series of peace talks, the Empire and Federation decide to form a special joint task force whose "official" purpose is research and development of spacecraft and space living technology. It is given the name Intergalactic Naval Research Arm, or INRA for short.

2914 - Adder produced by illicit Outworld Workshop. Actually, the ship was an INRA design, but this information was considered Top Secret until 3290.

2982 - Sidewinder scout ship designed by Faulcon deLacy Shipworks and produced by Spalder and Starblaze corporation of Eta Cassiopea to satisfy GalCop Navy's need for a fast and maneuverable forward reconnaissance craft. The design immediately becomes very popular with space pirates.

3017 - Boa class star cruiser produced by Gerege Federation Space Works, Gerege.

3027 - Krait class fighter is produced by Faulcon deLacy Shipworks, ININES.

3028 - Moray Star Boat is produced by Marine Trench, Co., Earth.

3050 - First reported contact with insectoid alien race known as the Thargoids ends in hostility.

3055 - The Thargoid invasion officially begins. Massive fleets of Thargoid warships carrying remote controlled fighters ruthlessly cut a swathe into occupied human territory, encroaching on a cluster of stars centered around Alioth. GalCop Navy is mobilized to respond.

3100 - Cobra Mk. III is produced by Cowell & McGrath Shipyards of Lave.

- Fer de Lance Lightspeeder is produced by Zorgon Patterson Group. It becomes a favorite with bounty hunters, but becomes outlawed in the late 3100's due to its overuse by pirates.

- The GalCop Navy manages to beat the Thargoid invasion back, a battle line is drawn, centered on sector 9,9. The Thargoids begin sending small reconaissance fleets behind the battle line and deep into Human territory to survey various systems for later conquest and to raid commercial shipping.

3101 - Worm class landing craft is produced by Sirius Corporation of Sol to provide a means for larger ships to off-load passengers and cargo without the need of an orbital station.

3110 - Mamba class fighter designed as a racing craft by the illicit Reorte Ship Federation. The design is standardized and mass produced by Radlett and Rayburn Shipyards of Reorte and is later outlawed by the GalCop due to its lack of sufficient safety features.

3123 - Galactic Cooperative is reduced in its power to that of an interstellar police force due to its failure to repel the Thargoid invasion. Existence of the INRA is officially announced by the Federation and Empire and the INRA Attack Wing is created. Citizens of both superpowers are encouraged to enlist to help stave off the invasion. GalCop becomes known as the Interpol and it finds itself under much scrutiny by the Federation and Empire.

3127 - Federation and Empire officially reject authority of the Interpol and form their own police forces. Interpol is relegated to policing non-aligned systems and smaller confederacies.

3145 - The Imperial Courier is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar.

3147 - The Imperial Trader is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar.

- The Osprey attack fighter is produced by the Imperial Shipyards at Vequess.

3166 - The Tiger class heavy trader is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol.

3171 - Maximillian Weaver is born in Schuller's Landing on Lave to tree farmers Robert and Marsha Weaver.

3179 - The Puma class clipper is produced by the Gupta Industrial Corporation of Alpha Centauri.

3182 - The Lion class heavy trader is produced by the Gupta Industrial Corporation of Alpha Centauri.

3185 - The Panther class clipper is produced by the Gupta Industrial Corporation of Alpha Centauri. It is the largest privately-owned freighter ever produced to date and remains so until the release of the Quest class ship.

3189 - The Constrictor medium trader is produced by the Vega Line Corporation.

3190 - Maximillian Weaver graduates from the Starpilot Academy with his pilot's license and departs his home planet for the first time in his life to seek his fortune.

3191 - Maximillian Weaver decides to join the INRA in the fight against the Thargoids. He meets Ronald Dreyfuss, son of wealthy mining company executive on Boston Base, Barnard's Star and convinces him to join the crusade.

3193 - Thargoid invasion halted by INRA's introduction of a Mycoid virus into the Thargoids' living machinery. Thargoids vanish from human space entirely and Humanity begins a period of re-colonization and revitalization.

3194 - Maximillian Weaver leaves the INRA under suspicious circumstances.

3195 - The Eagle Long Range Fighter is produced by Faulcon deLacy shipyards, Reorte.

- Weaver re-designs the Sirius Corporation's MB3 Mining machine, making it even smaller and more efficient. He calls it the MB4 and earns an enormous amount of money by selling the design to the Dreyfuss Mining Company of Barnard's Star.

3199 - The Eagle Mk. II is produced by the Federal Military Shipyards at Eta Cassiopea.

- The Eagle Mk. III is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar a few months after the Mk. II is released, ultimately fixing problems caused by the Mk. II.

- Ronald Dreyfuss inherits the Dreyfuss Mining Company due to his father's death. The company becomes Weaver-Dreyfuss Mining with Max Weaver and Ron Dreyfuss becoming co-owners. The company specializes in Frontier system mining and production of the MB4 mining machine, though they have licensed other corporations to produce the MB4 as well.

3200 - Frontier: Elite 2 begins.

3219 - The Tiercel class light freighter is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol.

- Mark Jameson Pritchard is born in New York, Earth, Sol.

3228 - The Skeet class star cruiser is produced by Whatt and Pritney ShipConstruct of Inera.

3229 - Weaver, Baker, Dreyfuss, and Stone Mining Corporation formed as the result of a merger between Weaver-Dreyfuss Mining, Baker Technologies, and Stone Limited.

3230 - Alioth uprising. The system, which had been subjected to many battles between the Empire and Federation was freed in a massed insurrection against both sets of invaders. The Alliance of Independent Systems is formed. Oltiqu is renamed Gateway as it joins the new Alliance.

- Argent Amalgamated Aerodynamics (Inc.) is formed by Meredith Argent and Mic Turner and based on the newly-renamed world of Argent's Claim. The company immediately announces its position as "The Official Alliance Shipbuilder." Construction begins on the soon-to-be-famous New Rossyth shipyards.

3231 - The AAAI's New Rossyth shipyards are completed. The new facility utilizes state-of-the-art technology and immediately begins producing its own ships.

- The Harrier class medium fighter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti.

3234 - The Gyr class medium fighter is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol.

3236 - Alioth system economy stabilizes due to business interests taking up residence on the system's three terraformed worlds. The New Rossyth Shipyards reach an incredible production record, which is unsurpassed by any other shipyard in the known galaxy.

- James K. Winston is born in Newtown, Nirvana, Phekda.

3237 - The Mantis class transport is produced by the AAAI of Alioth.

- The Harris class heavy fighter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti.

- The Wyvern class light explorer is produced by the AAAI of Alioth.

- Mark Pritchard joins the Federal Military.

3240 - The Lanner class heavy trader is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol.

3244 - Pritchard, after serving through the mandatory waiting period, is transfered from the Federal Army to the Navy with an Ensign's commission.

3245 - The Griffin Carrier is produced by the AAAI of Alioth.

3247 - The Lanner Mk. II heavy trader is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol.

- The Merlin class medium fighter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti.

- The Spar class medium fighter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti.

- The "Incident at Delta Pavonis" in which Mark Pritchard is involved. An attempt at a show of force by the Federation though the performance of large-scale maneuvers close to Imperial space turns into one of the greatest military disasters to date. Thousands of lives are lost both by the Imperial and Federal armed forces and nobody is ever completely certain of which side fired the first shot.

- Mark Pritchard officially resigns his commission from the Federal Navy and becomes a lone-wolf trader.

3248 - The Imperial Explorer is produced by Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar.

- The Viper Mk. II is produced by Faulcon deLacy of Inera.

3250 - Frontier: First Encounters begins.

- The Osprey-X attack fighter is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar.

- Maximillian Weaver, while living on Boston Base, Barnard's Star, is saved by Mark Pritchard from an INRA assassination attempt.

- Scientists at New Rossyth Shipyards, backed by WBD&S and the Sirius Corporation design and build the revolutionary Class 4 Military Drive. It is determined that the new engine is so powerful that it can only be installed in ships of Python size or larger.

- Valhalla Liberation Army commander Dentara Rast is assassinated.

- New Rossyth Shipyards secretly builds the Crimson Arrow. It is first new Python class star cruiser in over two hundred years and is outfitted with the new Class 4 Military Drive. The addition of this new drive, plus the use of some new lighter and more durable hull materials gives the new ship the designation Python Mk. II. The ship blasts its way out of its hidden orbital hangar to avoid destruction by a surprise attack by the INRA and then engages its experimental hyperdrive and disappears.

- Mic Turner of AAAI fame completes his design of a brand new type of starship called the Quest class. New Rossyth Shipyards begin laying the groundwork for this new vessel.

- V.I.P. Maximillian Weaver is declared officially missing.

3251 - Max Weaver returns to Alioth in time to celebrate his 80th Birthday.

- New Rossyth rebuilds prototype Class 4 Military Drive and mounts it on the prototype Quest class ship, the Turner's Quest. The Quest class starship is officially announced and becomes the largest privately owned vessel ever produced.

3252 - The second Quest class ship, named Argent's Quest is laid down at New Rossyth Shipyards.

- Another INRA attack on a secret asteroid base in the Alioth system results in the theft of a vaccine to the Mycoid Virus with which the Thargoids were infected in order to bring about a victory for Humankind over the Thargoid invasion.

3253 - An official peace between Independent Alliance and Thargoids is established when the captured vaccine to the INRA's mycoid virus is stolen from a secret INRA research base and delivered by the crew of the Argent's Quest to the Thargoid home system of Miacke.

- The first Thargoid warship ever to be flown by a human arrives in Alliance space.

3255 - Relations between Thargoids and Humanity become more amicable as both species begin exchanges of technological and cultural ideas.

- Winston pulls off a foolhardy assassination of one of Phekda's mafia at Boston Base, Barnard's Star, starting his infamous bounty hunting career.

3258 - The Crimson Arrow, manned by most of her original crew, as well as a Federation and Thargoid scientist, sets out into deep space on a special reconnaissance mission.

3261 - The Veliaze crisis. The Empire sends out a massive invasion fleet to take Veliaze, just south of the Alliance system, Gateway. This causes widespread panic in the Federation and the Alliance. The Alliance quickly retrofits a number of Long Range Cruisers as capital battleships (the Valiant class), and the Alliance Joint Navy is formed under the command of Adm. Rafe Wilson.

- AJN's training academy, the Turner Space Combat Academy, is opened at Dublin Citadel (Gateway).

3262 - Veliaze joins the AIS, much to Hengist Duval's annoyance.

- INRA tries to prevent Veliaze from joining the AIS. The AJN Bounty is dispatched to protect the new Alliance member. Although its mission was successful, it received such heavy battle damage that it was scrapped the same year.

3265 - James Winston and his crew of fourteen bounty hunters smash the notorious "Sirius Templar" organized piracy ring.

3268 - Winston joins the AJN's security division - the AJNIB, after an unorthodox recruitment method is used on him. [Note: There's more of this story to come, but I'm not giving it away since it's part of "Deceit, Harmony & Pleasure" I haven't written yet. And yes, I do have an outline of what happens ;-)]

3269 - The AJN Eastwood is destroyed after a collision with Phekda 6. The entire crew abandoned ship successfully when it was apparent the collision was unavoidable.

3270 - The new AJN battlecruiser, the Victor class, is unveiled. The first ship of its class, the AJN Hood, is launched.

3272 - The AJN flagship, the Valiant-class AJN Fearless is replaced by a Victor class ship of the same name. The ship is commanded by James K. Winston.

3276 - A strange object of unknown origin is discovered in the vicinity of Liazeda (-12,3). Named the LRA (Liazeda Radio Anomoly), the Alliance research ship, the Lion, is sent to investigate. The LRA and the ship disappears and its fate is still unknown in 3296. Only a handful of crew, who were deploying probes from two Explorer-class vessels return.

3280 - Winston is promoted to Fleet Admiral of the AJN.

3284 - Federation Democratic Council ratifies the Instellar Crisis Management Act which allows for "rapid access to any and all available resources to deal with any crisis which effects an entire system or systems. This can be anything from the threat of supernova, medical emergencies and similar incidents."

3288 - First fatigue problems found in the AJN's Valiant-class battleships. The AJN Enterprise is scrapped after unusually high fatigue damage is discovered. The ship is replaced by a new Victor class, the AJN Ark Royal.

3289 - Battle of Biggs Colony. 74,000 Imperial Soldiers killed by under-estimated rebel forces on the planet of Biggs Colony in the sytem of Altair.

3294 - Winston steps down as Fleet Admiral, and becomes the commander of the Turner Space Combat Academy.

- The Cause is started by a group of anarchists dedicated to "bringing the concept of justice to populated space" through direct action against megacorporations and governments.

3296 - A Phekdan government is formed, and the system joins the AIS. The Federation and Empire try and take Phekda when it is discovered that the system is ripe for military fuel production. Skillful diplomacy and a show of force by the AJN repels the attack with little bloodshed.

- Deep space probes return with news that the star, Betelgeuse, went supernova. The Alliance Science Council dispatches hundreds of deep space probes to study the nova. Meanwhile, a second LRA-object is discovered. Considerably more caution is taken examining this object. It still yields few secrets, and eventually disappears with a number of deep space probes attached to it.

- James Winston is captured by Federation forces and held in prison on Boston Base, Barnard's Star. This creates a massive protest by Alliance citizens and the military. Winston's nephew finds himself harassed by the Federals due to his presence on the station at the time of his uncle's capture. - Membership in The Cause increases exponentially as a result of Winston's alleged kidnapping by the Federation and imprisonment. - The Cause makes its official base on Davies Earth in the Quator system and aquires the Long Range Cruiser Azure Sunset.