Space Cadet
SOC-12
A.D. 2030
Never before had men felt real confidence that peace was permanent.
The fear that a diplomatic cold war might metamorphose into a hot fight, with death and destruction to soldiers and civilians alike, was gone.
The final catastrophic conflict was over. The great Russian Empire, after five of the most frightful years in the history of the world, had finally succumbed to the last despairing blows of the almost exhausted Western Powers. The great Asiatic mass had become a group of smaller states, slowly digging out from under the ruins of the war. But they, too, were represented in the Congress of the World, which was in session in the great domed building overlooking Long Island Sound from the hills above Greenwich, Connecticut. They too voted Aye or Nay on the laws which were to assure the welfare and safety of all the peoples of Earth. At last the ancient prejudices and selfish insistences upon national sovereignty were no more. A brief ten years had seen the flames of war engulf anew the hopes for peace of uncounted millions, but now no votes could frusterate the decisions of the freely selected Representatives of all the People of the Earth. The President and his Cabinet faithfully carried out whatever was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States of Earth.
And each man knew in his heart that the Government of the United States of Earth no longer lacked the military power to enforce those laws. Fatal indeed had this lack been to the United Nations.
The Transatmospheric Rapid Deployment Forces (TRDF) of the United States of Earth could handle any minor trouble which might boil up in any latitude or longitude. Almost within minutes from the outbreak, TRDF would be on the spot to awe into civilized obedience the unruly burghers of the most remote village or hamlet. Trained to a tick and composed of elements drawn from every land and clime, they had at one time been the best soldiers in the world. In the event of more serious and organized trouble, the United States of Earth could reduce to rubble any community which refused to obey the verdict of the Congress. Enormous submarine cruisers could fire long range rockets thousands of miles inland if the appearance overhead of hundreds of destruction-laden bombers should have failed in its effect.
And above it all, invisible yet omnipresent Lunetta, the man-made Moon, circled silently far above the atmosphere.
Lunetta's acid test had taken place in the final World War. During the dread winter of 2024-25, the motorized forces of the Western allies had ground to a solid stop in the vastness of the Asian steppes. The chilling cold had numbed the blood and the courage of the most intrepid soldiers. Air attacks on the industrial centers of Siberia had almost eased by reason of the incredible accuracy and effectiveness of the adverse anti-aircraft rockets. But these rockets could not reach Lunetta in her dizzying heights, and the courageous crew of 440 men and women who manned her directed their anti-missile interceptors at the enemy's ICBMs and Warheads to such good effect that the scales of victory could only incline towards the Allies.
And so Lunetta had become the Goddess of a new, strong peace, which was to deliver mankind from the morass of the foregoing century. But she was also the symbol of the final victory of man over space. She it was who was to point out the paths of the universe to the peoples of the Earth.
History recorded the dawn of 2030.
The preamble of - Project Mars A Technical Tale - by Dr. Wernher von Braun with some updates for plausibility by Space Cadet
I thought that this is an interesting RPG setting to explore. Now what if Project Mars was updated for the 21st century?
Were talking about an Earth fleet of 10 interplanetary vessels and 10 landers delivering 70 people to Mars. We'll need something to substitute for the canals, perhaps an alien artifact was discovered buried underground by a remote probe. Perhaps they just want to colonize the planet etc. I think 2030 AD is an appropriate time period setting to describe some of the capabilities in von Braun's book.
Never before had men felt real confidence that peace was permanent.
The fear that a diplomatic cold war might metamorphose into a hot fight, with death and destruction to soldiers and civilians alike, was gone.
The final catastrophic conflict was over. The great Russian Empire, after five of the most frightful years in the history of the world, had finally succumbed to the last despairing blows of the almost exhausted Western Powers. The great Asiatic mass had become a group of smaller states, slowly digging out from under the ruins of the war. But they, too, were represented in the Congress of the World, which was in session in the great domed building overlooking Long Island Sound from the hills above Greenwich, Connecticut. They too voted Aye or Nay on the laws which were to assure the welfare and safety of all the peoples of Earth. At last the ancient prejudices and selfish insistences upon national sovereignty were no more. A brief ten years had seen the flames of war engulf anew the hopes for peace of uncounted millions, but now no votes could frusterate the decisions of the freely selected Representatives of all the People of the Earth. The President and his Cabinet faithfully carried out whatever was enacted into law by the Congress of the United States of Earth.
And each man knew in his heart that the Government of the United States of Earth no longer lacked the military power to enforce those laws. Fatal indeed had this lack been to the United Nations.
The Transatmospheric Rapid Deployment Forces (TRDF) of the United States of Earth could handle any minor trouble which might boil up in any latitude or longitude. Almost within minutes from the outbreak, TRDF would be on the spot to awe into civilized obedience the unruly burghers of the most remote village or hamlet. Trained to a tick and composed of elements drawn from every land and clime, they had at one time been the best soldiers in the world. In the event of more serious and organized trouble, the United States of Earth could reduce to rubble any community which refused to obey the verdict of the Congress. Enormous submarine cruisers could fire long range rockets thousands of miles inland if the appearance overhead of hundreds of destruction-laden bombers should have failed in its effect.
And above it all, invisible yet omnipresent Lunetta, the man-made Moon, circled silently far above the atmosphere.
Lunetta's acid test had taken place in the final World War. During the dread winter of 2024-25, the motorized forces of the Western allies had ground to a solid stop in the vastness of the Asian steppes. The chilling cold had numbed the blood and the courage of the most intrepid soldiers. Air attacks on the industrial centers of Siberia had almost eased by reason of the incredible accuracy and effectiveness of the adverse anti-aircraft rockets. But these rockets could not reach Lunetta in her dizzying heights, and the courageous crew of 440 men and women who manned her directed their anti-missile interceptors at the enemy's ICBMs and Warheads to such good effect that the scales of victory could only incline towards the Allies.
And so Lunetta had become the Goddess of a new, strong peace, which was to deliver mankind from the morass of the foregoing century. But she was also the symbol of the final victory of man over space. She it was who was to point out the paths of the universe to the peoples of the Earth.
History recorded the dawn of 2030.
The preamble of - Project Mars A Technical Tale - by Dr. Wernher von Braun with some updates for plausibility by Space Cadet
I thought that this is an interesting RPG setting to explore. Now what if Project Mars was updated for the 21st century?
Were talking about an Earth fleet of 10 interplanetary vessels and 10 landers delivering 70 people to Mars. We'll need something to substitute for the canals, perhaps an alien artifact was discovered buried underground by a remote probe. Perhaps they just want to colonize the planet etc. I think 2030 AD is an appropriate time period setting to describe some of the capabilities in von Braun's book.
