Chapter 1: Earth That Is

Almost three centuries had past since the Alliance was formed. Not much had changed for the folks at that time really, except that the government’s thirst for power soon focused on the whole world rather than the other superpower. Gone were the days of freedom and individual rights, constitutions and representative governments, the first casualty of the Alliance. They had made their bed with corporations, and as business thrived, so did the powers that be.

It had been no surprise, really. The United States had slowly handed its sovereignty to the United Nations and its subsequent manifestations for decades. Rather than defend the interests of the U.S., the federal government and its military became the right arm of the world government, and eventually a government of worlds. Nations soon erased their borders under the threat of ‘police action’. After all, those in power write the laws; and the power of the people was written out of existence. The masses had one purpose: to labor and provide a tax base. It no longer mattered what nation one called home. China had become the economic behemoth that 21st century America feared. China, realizing that it could not keep up militarily with the U.S., made the choice of building a flourishing economy over a bloated military, avoiding the same mistake of the Soviet Union two centuries before. China could buy any military they needed; and they did. Thus the Alliance was born, even if not in an official capacity.

Once allied, China and their new military machine were an unstoppable economic and military force. In short order, nations sacrificed their borders to enjoy the prosperity of the allied territories. Only a ‘paranoid and foolish’ few attempted to rebel against the malevolent dictatorial government. For over fifty years the Alliance grew and rapidly devoured the resources of many former nations. Once the world was a single political power, technological advance became paramount and the search for resources expanded int