6The beginning. Feedback appreciated
It is a new age for humanity. After the destruction of Terra, Luna, and Mars in the First Solar War, man was forced to find a home outside the Sol System. The first settlement was in the Centauri system, where the new peace between the governments allowed the building of a majestic government seat.
Just as things were coming to completion, however, there was treachery. On the fifteenth of April, the year two thousand three hundred, the leader of the Saturnian Tradesmen Legion was found dead in his room. The body of his ally, Leon Trablevsky of Mars, ruler of the Untoward regions of the planet, was discovered minutes later. Neither had died in a struggle, nor showed any wounds. But both, it was said, had been stabbed in the back.
All fingers were pointing with a vengeance toward John Harmarkand, an independent trader who was quite wealthy, and had deep enmity towards the Legion. Oddly, he had entered into a triple alliance with the STL and Leon Trablevsky, some say only because he could smell power, and went after it without remorse. His hatred for the Saturnian Tradesmen Legion was cited by many as proof of his involvement. The more he denied it, the more they accused, before finally Harmarkand succumbed to the wishes of the public, and allowed himself to be driven into hiding. He left for the closest solar system, some 60 light-years distant, and vanished into the mists of time.
After his exodus, another leader, this time Marklin Johanneson of the United American Republics was killed. The bloody, brutal nature of the slaying threw the remaining governments into an uproar. Fingers were pointed everywhere, most landing on the Brazilian Liberty Party. The cellular organization had not made a secret of its deep-rooted hatred for the oppressive, heavy-handed Johanneson regime. The suspicions of the rest of the civilized world were confirmed by an immediate "Jihad" of sorts against the common populace of the UAR. Very quickly, the remaining residents fled, fearing for their very lives. They settled on "Second Circuit" planets, Delta-Zeta Centauri
At this point, peace was almost a far-off dream. Despite the evidence pointing to specific groups or people in this act, governments were mobilizing troops. Whole battalions of the Martian Sovereign Army were springing up from their cloning sourcepockets. The Brazilian Liberty Party re-organized, forming a massive army from their fanatical cell warriors. The infamous Venusian mercenary warlords began signing on with the highest bidder, bringing to bear awesome power with their spy regiments and berserker legions. The forces piled up, but as long as they were equaled by another nation, no one dared move. Then, finally, the precipitating action occurred.
An assassin was discovered right in the midst of the royal banquet of the Tricontinental Union. The attempt on the King's life was thwarted, and the assassin was caught, with a Greater Martian Republic dagger on his person, as well as the brand that all of the Rust Army carried on their left bicep. The Union imprisoned the Martian, but the damage was done. The entire system was thrown into war.
The smaller, smarter unions in the Second Circuit began expanding outwards, leaving the system once again for a new life in the nearby stars. Some of the bigger or bullheaded remainders of the UAR remained where they had settled after being scattered to the winds by the Brazilian Liberation Party, only to have their control over the frontier lands taken away from them for resources or sheer landmass. The great Unions seemed content, however, to tear at each other's throats while the smarter pieces of the United American Republics slipped farther out. A few of the larger pieces managed to fight back, and one even regained control from the Tricontinental Union, after a hard five years of fighting. This one piece was the world of Epsilon Centauri, the fifth planet in the Centauri system.
This planet is a cold one, just at the lower tolerances of the human temperature spectrum. The citizens spend most of their time and enegy mining the steel that organically grows in the deep unfrozen oceans. The planet's surface is mostly water, which is mostly frozen over for most of the year. The exceptions are two large blotches at the equator, which feature weak ice and large holes in the ice surface. All of the natural life occurs underwater, mostly in the depths, where geological heat warms the water to a comfortable level. Few people have lived to see the depth at which the large life-forms roam, but many legends exist of the terrors living in the depths of the seas.
It is here we start our story. On this backwater planet, frostbitten and miserable, there is a frostbitten, miserable town, known as Glenn's End. And in this frostbitten, miserable town, there is a young man, Jack Benson, who is also miserable, and has a bad case of frostbite. This is the chronicle of the incredible events of his life.