NationStates Jolt Archive

Chapter 1 - A Martial Beginning

The humble beginnings of the Xanthalian space program came in the late 1960s on earth, around what would later be known by the Xanthalian calendar as the year 3. It did not debut for peaceful ends: the nation's initial research was concentrated on the development of delivery systems for nuclear warheads. ICBMs were the first success of the Xanthalian Extraterrestrial Weapons Program; and Xanthal would posess in excess of one thousand ICBMs within two decades. Ezekiel Zabertini, Xanthal's founder and Dictator, champion of the country's modernization, directed a large portion of Xanthal's resources to military pursuits. Contemporary records indicate that as much as forty percent of the GDP was spent on arms programs during his reign. However, the rate of development was not enough to satisfy Zabertini.

With modern technologies failing to meet his expectations that Xanthal be able to defend itself against rival contemporaries, Zabertini made risky deals with technologically advanced nations to help Xanthal construct orbital weapons platforms that incorporated fusion and neutron bombs as well as sophisticated laser technology. Surveillance satellites were also launched, but these were constructed mostly with Xanthalian components and expertise. These quick leaps had a high price and low payoff, and XEWP funding was slashed in 1988 in favor of developing Xanthalian land, sea, and air forces. Xanthal's development of extra-atmospheric vehicles and technologies stalled, but critical research that would lead to breakthroughs in the twenty-first century continued, both in Xanthal and around the world.

Though he was no longer funding research and development of space vehicles in his own country, the Dictator maintained the relationships he forged with more advanced nations. The early years of the Xanthalian state were peaceful compared with the conflicts faced by many nations in the latter half of the twentieth century, but the chaos around him instilled growing paranoia in Zabertini that the future of the planet itself was in doubt. This worry culminated in 1994 with what was easily the biggest single business deal of his reign: ten sleeper ships with a combined capacity of 10,000 humans for a sum equal to nearly one trillion United States Dollars (2000).

These ships were filled with volunteers from all walks of life in Xanthal, and in 1995 set on course at near-light speed for an uninhabited, but Earthlike planet twenty light-years away, in a star system marked on old Atlantian charts as Aellis. Though this was accomplished purely with non-Xanthalian technology, it is relevant for two reasons: it was the first unarmed Xanthalian space mission, and it would set the destination for a mass move of nearly two hundred million people over a century later.

Chapter 2 - Early Exploration

In early 2001, Ezekiel Zabertini resigned as Dictator, appointing Cassandra Wells to replace him. Wells shared many of her predecessor's policies but, unlike Zabertini, saw outer space as a forum for exploration rather than simply a staging area for weapons. Whereas no twentieth century Xanthalian travelled beyond Earth orbit, Wells' enthusiasm would set Xanthal on the path to nearby solar systems and the brink of faster-than-light travel by the end of the twenty-first.

By 2002 Wells had fully reactivated the Xanthalian space program, now renamed the Xanthalian Space Exploration Agency. With only minimal assistance from Xanthal's technologically advanced partners, her ambitious initiatives built the first Xanthalian vessel designed to carry people over interstellar distances, using a large Zabertini-era orbital defense satellite as a platform. The ship was a humble one, just under fifty meters in length, with a steel hull and only a laser gun (removed from the satellite upon which it was built) for defense. It used a highly efficient solar energy engine to maintain a navigational computer, minimal life support, and suspended animation chambers for its four-man crew as it travelled at speeds approaching 0.2 c. It was named 夢희망, the "Hopeful Dream," and launched August 2, 2005. The vessel operated normally for two years, during which the crew was woken once for an encounter with another starship, before it stopped sending signals. The ultimate fate of the Hopeful Dream remains unknown, but it is presumed that a mechanical failure on the hastily-constructed ship doomed its crew.

Undeterred by this setback, Wells' XSEA designed a new ship, the Shishoni. Chastened by the loss of the Dream, Wells demanded extensive testing and safety features not yet feasible with Xanthalian technlogy. Because of safety concerns, a prototype was not completed until 2033. A fully-operational version of the 100-meter Shishoni was launched in 2050, followed by another begun under Wells' direction and completed in 2068, after power in Xanthal had passed to Carol Olen. Each was similar to the Hopeful Dream in principle, but engineered much more soundly and with the benefit of three decades of technological advances. They were faster, better armed, and carried fusion reactors aboard for power.

The first Shishoni was sent on a round trip to Aellis, to make contact with the colonists sent there a half-century earlier. The other was sent on a less ambitious mission to Proxima Centauri. Shishoni 1 made it to Aellis, but encountered technical problems along the way that compelled its crew of ten to stay at the colony upon arrival in 2091 rather than returning as originally planned. Shishoni 2 managed to complete its mission without any major problems, returning to Earth in 2090.

The apparent triumph of the Shishoni program led to the construction of a third ship, completed by the turn of the century. The destiny of the Shishoni 3 was about to change, however, as Xanthalian physicists had just made a breakthrough that would rocket the country into a century of stunning progress, ending with Xanthal poised to become one of the greatest military powers in the galaxy.

Chapter 3 - New Frontiers

At midnight, leading into January 1, 2100, XSEA physicists successfully transported a mouse from one coast of Zithal to the other almost instantaneously using a precisely-controlled micro wormhole. Better, earlier tests had already shown that the process produced only negligible relativistic effects. The new test, however, proved that these wormholes could be used to transport complex organisms with no apparent ill effects. It was a breakthrough for the Xanthalian space program: this opened the way to faster-than-light travel for exploration and transportation to other populated areas of the galaxy; it was just a matter of power and scale.

Carol Olen did not share her predecessor's enthusiasm for space exploration, but not being one to stand in the way of progress, she promptly approved further research and ordered prompt implementation of the technology into future XSEA ships. Shishoni 3 was rendered obsolete before it left its orbital construction platform. Eager to implement the new technology and unwilling to let the multi-billion dollar ship go to waste, XSEA directors decided instead to refit the vessel with a wormhole generator. The power dilemma was solved easily enough with another relatively new technology that allowed for autonomous, sustained fusion in plasma. Though only in the early test phases, an operational power core for Shishoni 3 was hurriedly manufactured and installed. In 2105, the extreme makeover of Shishoni 3 was complete. The end product was suspiciously similar to the ill-fated Hopeful Dream in its slipshod construction, but this time Xanthal won its gamble. In early November, Shishoni 3 departed Sol for the Aellis colony and, to the surprise of Xanthalians on Earth still unaware after fourteen years that the last mission to Aellis had been stranded there, returned with five of the ten crewmembers of Shishoni 1 less than two days later. It would be another six years before the original message of the Shishoni 1 crew reached Earth.

Emboldened by this success, XSEA submitted a list of four more missions on which they wanted to send Shishoni 3, now simply called "Shishoni" as the last remaining vessel of its class. Olen, now facing a nation swept up in the excitement of these great leaps forward, could hardly have denied the request if she'd wanted to. The Dictator would later write, "Though I still felt there were more practical ways to spend money, I must admit that by that time I was beginning to feel quite exhilarated by the implications of a Xanthalian star fleet." Olen signed off on the extended service with little complaint or delay.

Ferrying letters from Earth to Aellis and returning with responses (and the remaining Shishoni 1 personnel), intercepting the signal sent from Aellis by the Shishoni 1 mission, establishing contact with the little-known Than System, and retrieving some of the experiment modules left at Proxima Centauri by Shishoni 2; despite the questionable safety of the MacGuyvered Shishoni variant, fortune was with its crew as each went off without a hitch. After these successes, however, Shishoni was beginning to fall apart -literally. While docking after its last approved mission on October 23, 2107, its main sub-light engine separated from the frame, nearly killing the chief engineer. In just two years of service, Shishoni 3 had done far more than its three predecessors had in a century, but it was obvious that the ship had reached its limit. XSEA's resources were now fully invested in building orbital facilities capable of assembling new starships in mass quantities, and for the first time since 2050, Xanthal was without an operational starship.

Chapter 4 - Leaping Into the Future

Though Xanthal had no starships of its own between late 2107 and 2114, these years were not spent idly. On and in orbit of Earth, Xanthal was completing an industrial complex that would enable it to create spacecraft for interstellar travel on a scale that it could previously only dream of, up to twelve a year. Furthermore, these were no longer primitive ships; Xanthal's own technological ability was growing rapidly, supplemented by extensive reverse-engineering of components purchased from governments and companies that had already achieved mastery of outer space.

The XSEA was making huge strides forward under the direction of the new Dictator Dustin Amadeus, who posessed the even more enthusiasm for the space program than had Cassandra Wells, as well as a penchant for borrowing technology from more advanced nations in the style of Ezekiel Zabertini. What he lacked was any of the restraint of his immediate predecessor, Carol Olen. As early as 2115, Olen was expressing reservations about her choice of successor. In her autobiography, written in 2130, she charged that Amadeus' blind ambition was driving Xanthal's economic and political stability into the ground.

Olen's concerns about Amadeus were well-founded. To fund Xanthalian expansion into space, he cut the budget for social services across the board, which caused the state-run economy's modest black market to baloon into a major source of food, income, and even medical care for the country's population of about 190 million. Between 2109 and 2119, during the first decade of Amadeus' rule, the black market is estimated to have grown in value of goods and services exchanged by a magnitude of 30. Public confidence in the government and its currency began trending downward. Despite these warning signs, Amadeus pressed on with his program. In 2118, the Dictator made the full extent of his ambitions known, issuing an order that Aellis V, until now only a colony planet, be developed for the entire population of Xanthal, which would begin moving there as quickly as possible.

While the XSEA, arguably the primary beneficiary of the Dictator's budget manipulation, was busy creating its construction facilities, Xanthal was leasing transport ships to make regular trips from Earth to Aellis and Than and back again. Amadeus' government regarded the Than as their chance to make a first impression of Xanthal in the interstellar community. Xanthalian efforts to open friendly relations with the traditionally isolationist Than paid off, though whether this was more a result of Amadeus' policy, the skill of his diplomatic staff, or the social crisis gripping the Than during this period is a matter of debate to this day. Whatever the reasons, Than and Xanthal, after nearly a decade of persistence on the Xanthalian side, signed a treaty of alliance and friendship in 2124, a landmark for both countries, neither of which had established permanent relations with a government outside its home star system before. Perhaps the most important aspect of this new friendship was that the Than, who despite their historic aversion to dealing with the universe beyond the Than System's rather dense Kuiper belt had significantly better technology and innovations in the area of space travel than did Xanthal at the time, were quick to give their new allies parts, plans, even whole ships and engineering staff to assist the XSEA's already rapid advances.

The public uproar and pockets of rebellion that followed the announcement of the Dictator's plan to uproot his people subsided and suppressed, the XSEA began the mind-boggling task of moving 200 million people across twenty light-years. With their own small but growing fleet, rented transport vessels, and whatever ships the Than Hegemony could spare to the effort, the undertaking began in 2125, successfully moving five million people in the first year. By 2150, all but about 400,000 Xanthalians had been transplanted. Those remaining were to administer the continent of Zithal, which Xanthal still claimed as its own. It was a stunning feat, especially for a nation so new to interstellar travel. In just a few decades, Aellis had become the center of Xanthal and Earth had been reduced to mere colony status.

The move to Aellis was an unprescedented victory for Xanthal in its transition from Earthbound nation to galactic player. The transition was far from complete, however, and the leaps forward in space travel achieved under the programs of Dictator Dustin Amadeus were coming at the expense of the country's economic, political, and social health, just as Carol Olen had predicted. The XSEA continued to grow and develop its space fleet, but Xanthal itself was on a crash course with disaster.