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With the discovery of the Node drive, a motive for further cooperation among the various Human Consortia was found and the available resources of several governments were pooled to fund the research and development of the first interstellar space ship. Christened the Nova Maria, the ship made several successful Node jumps to and from nearby star systems before the first deep space colony was planned.

As the Nova Maria boarded its passengers for launch, intent on the first adventure of space colonization for the Human species, tragedy struck. A Hiver nesting fleet, consisting of a Dreadnaught and several support vessels, arrived in the Human race’s home system. The planetary defenses of the Human race, which had never before encountered another star-faring species, were negligible and easily brushed aside by superior Hiver firepower. The Nova Maria was destroyed in the first volley with all hands lost and the Human home world was bombarded from space for 48 hours afterward, resulting in massive devastation and catastrophic loss of life.

Only the legacy of Humankind's suicidal past eventually saved their home world from complete destruction. After nearly 36 hours of struggle, the curators of the planet's former ICBM arsenal finally managed to reactivate their remaining stock of ancient missiles which had been stored for decommission in the silos of the North American and Asian continents. A total of 3,000 fission and fusion bombs were launched at the descending Hiver fleet, destroying its full complement of Destroyers and causing serious damage to its Dreadnought.

Thereafter, the remains of the Hiver fleet left orbit and limped on to parts presently unknown.

Toward the end of the Hiver War, SolForce would learn that this nesting fleet was part of the clan of a Hiver Princess named Obsidian Crown, who had no affiliation nor alliance with any of the Hiver clans they attacked after making first contact.

Rebuilding from this devastation took the Human race several years. Although the Human home world was lightly populated and there was little pressure to expand, certain peculiarities of Human psychology had re-emerged from their slumber. The Human race re-learned its historical taste for war; SolForce never lacks for willing volunteers. Many Human spacers have bitter memories of the Hiver attack and are old enough to have lost friends and family in the fires, floods and chaos that followed. Accordingly, although the official motto of the Space Corps is "Per Ardua Ad Astra"—"Through Hardship, the Stars"—the unofficial motto of Humans in space is "Repensum est Canicula"—"Payback is a Bitch".

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