The Reconnaissance Corp

To discover planets suitable for human colonization the UEG established the Reconnaissance Corp – an elite exploration group who spearheaded mankind’s expansion through the stars.

The spacecraft fleets of the Reconnaissance Corp jumped to far away galaxies to study solar systems and planets to determine which could be made habitable. When such worlds had been found transport vessels from earth then took tens of thousands of people at a time to begin building the colonies.

The Lost Ships

Before the hyperspace beacon network was established it was up to scout ships from the Reconnaissance Corp to make uncharted leaps into the depths of space. Without accurate co-ordinates and unreliable anti-grav drives many of these ships missed their destinations, sometimes appearing hundreds of light years away, sometimes even further. Such ships would then be forced to try and jump back, but the odds of making such unplanned jumps were slim. More often than not these ships were never seen again – becoming known as The Lost Ships.

The Dominion of Humanity

Over the next five hundred years the earth’s population fell dramatically as the new colonies grew and expanded, easing the burden on the earth and also sending back desperately needed resources.

The human race was now spread throughout the universe with some colonies in almost complete isolation to the home world. As centuries past the colonies had less and less contact with the Earth, some by choice and others simply because of the vast distance that separated them. Many worlds wanted to sever their ties with the earth completely and govern themselves without the inference of a planet so very far away. Hyperspace beacons began to be deliberately damaged to prevent ships from the earth jumping to these colonies.

By the 29th century the earth’s hold over the Dominion was ready to collapse, and seeing this demise, the Reconnaissance Corp split away into an independent faction and chose a small star cluster at the edge of space to be its home. Without the Reconnaissance Corp’s aid it was impossible for the UEG to reestablish contact with the lost colonies.