First Contact War
Humanity had already colonised a half dozen terra-compatible planets by the time their stumbling steps among the stars led to an encounter with a Federation starship. Fortunately explorers had already discovered ruins and other hints that humanity shared the stars with other species, so when scout ships encountered each other all went relatively smoothly.
The Federation is led by a collective of three alien species, all humanoid and technologically advanced compared to humanity; it also includes another dozen member species that lack the same voting rights. Together they rule a large section of the galaxy bordering humanities home system.
However, it was quickly discovered that the Federation was fighting a desperate war against the encroaching Hrrzt.
An intelligent insect-hybrid species commonly referred to as “Bugs”, the Hrrzt had never once responded to communication and they repeatedly attacked and utterly destroyed colony after colony. While outnumbering the Hrrzt and being technically superior in many ways, the Federation lacked the knack or instinct to fight back effectively and was slowly losing the decade’s long war.
Humanities appearance would appear fortuitous to the Federation, well known to its self, humanity retained its aggressive nature when compared to the more agrarian and passive Federation species. While often viewed behind their backs as an uncouth barely sentient species, the aggressive humans also exhibited a more noble aspect and were eager to help and protect others as well.
With offers of Federation membership, technology and trade treaties the fledgling Earth Alliance found its men and women drafted into an intergalactic war – commonly called The First Contact War as it stemmed from humanities first contact with other species.
Quickly adopting and adapting Federation technology, within six months the first Earth Alliance military service vessel prototype was commissioned. The Prometheus was a heavy frigate designed as humanities first hard and fast response to Hrrzt incursions, while a basic design compared to later marquees the robust mass produced design eventually accounted for a full 13% of enemy vessel kills.
Two years later as humanity officially colonised its eighteenth system, the first small fleet of Earth manufactured star ships engaged the Hrrzt fleet above the Federation planet of W’yatt. While outnumbered five-to-one and utterly destroyed, the Earth fleet inflicted enough damage to stall the invading fleet so that reinforcing Federation ships could drive them off in what became known within the Federation as the ‘Turning’ where the tide of the Hrrzt war changed.
A mere three years later, and with the Federation species gasping in surprise, the Earth Alliance revealed its latest battleships. Having reverse-engineered secretly obtained Federation technology, the latest warships equalled if not exceeded the capabilities of the Federation fleet. It was with a handful of these new battleships that the Earth Alliance led the Federation armada into battle against the massed flotillas of the Hrrzt in their home system.
Ten thousand men and woman gave their lives alongside a hundred thousand Federation crew as they valiantly fought against the Hrrzt fleets, so numerous was the enemy that it was later calculated at least a million Hrrzt had perished in their final stand. After the battle space around the homeworld was so littered with debris, and remains so, that only specially hardened heavy shields can survive the trip to the planet.
With the Hrrzt homeworld effectively imprisoned behind a near impenetrable graveyard of high velocity kinetic debris, the following years saw a decline in the conflict as smaller fleets and colonies where hunted down and eradicated. At last the Hrrzt menace was declared destroyed, thirteen years after the involvement of the Earth Alliance.
During that time the Federation accepted humanity as a part-member, to numerous cries of disgust and insult given all that humanity had done to save the Federation and the galaxy as a hole against the ravages of the Hrrzt. To add further insult, the promises of technology were withheld after claims that humanity had already stolen more technology than they had been promised.
While the Federation set about rebuilding its lost colonies, murmurs of discontent circulated that humanities aid had come at too great cost and that during the war they had seized a number of prohibited worlds for colonization. Following their rapid expansion, at the end of the First Contact War humanity officially controlled the second largest number of systems following the ancient Aesir and the fourth largest population.
The Earth Alliance agreed to relinquish control of the battleship fleet to help stabilize the weakened Federation, and hopefully as a means of gaining full membership. But many see this as a way for humanity to bully its way in the upper echelons of the Federation, while several other species have actively promoted humanities ascendancy to not only full-membership but also leadership of the Federation.
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