History and Tales of the UHR
History
With the vast financial and practical rescources at his command, the man began to hire away the finest and brightest of the space industry and put them on the UHR Industries payroll. His only adamant requirement was that they be as dedicated to his ideal as he was. And his ideal was to reach as far out amoung the stars as his dreams and vision did.
It took years. An entire research center was established in the American desert, under the strictest security, an entire city underground. Its' craftsmen were all of the old school who were more concerned pride in the product they made rather than the speed it was produced at. Its' scientists and engineers had the best support available. Its' security force was trained to perfection and given the finest, most reliable equipment available, for the trouble that was sure to come. Every possible eventuality was prepared for.
And with the launch of the first test vehicle from the middle of the North American continent, the legal battles began. Not that he paid a bit of attention. His city was completely self-contained. When the law tried to stop him by force, he merely locked them out and went on with his tests. Once a month, another vehicle launched. Some carried equipment, some carried personnel, some carried materials and supplies. Those who went on those vehicles had signed on for a one-way trip and had no qualms about never coming back, for even the vehicles were building materials. And within a year of the first launch, a fully-manned and operational station orbitted the Earth. Wholly owned and built by UHR Industries.
There was no attempt made to build stations or colonies on the planetary bodies, such being a waste of time in its' redundancy. Being the most adaptable creature on Earth, if man could live in a bubble under the sea, he could live in a bubble on Mars or the moon. But shipping raw materials into space was expensive and time-consuming. So robot machines and robot ships delivered mining equipment to the moon and returned with raw ores. Huge furnaces fired by the concentrated light of Sol smelted the raw materials, and production began in orbit.
The man did not live to see his ultimate goal reached. Life was not that kind to him. But his son was every bit as strong-willed and visionary, and had been well-trained by his father. So from the station, probes and navigation bouys went out. And more ships launched from the desert. Another station was built, and manned. And more probes went out, experimental probes with experimental engines and propulsion systems.
But the son did not live to see his fathers' ambitions realized. Still, he left behind a strong-willed and well-trained son of his own. And he saw all their dream realized at last.
Early in the Twenty-First century, a ship left the second station. An experimental ship with an experimental propulsion system, and a bold, brazen crew. It launched, aimed out of Earths' solar system. It gained momentum at a phenomenal rate in the weightless, frictionless void, ever accelerating. In a short time, it attained a speed which would fling it across the vastness of inner system space in but days instead of years. And as it passed the orbit of Pluto, it vanished. That is considered the first day of the New Era Calander. The day man, through UHR Industries and the vision of its leaders, exceed the speed of light with a space vehicle.
Over the next twenty years, UHR Industries built a great assembly factory in orbit. And from there, the first ship of the great UHR fleet was launched, the UHRS Explorer. Explorer struck out amoung the stars for Earths nearest neighbor and didn't return. Explorer was followed by its' sister ship Pioneer and it did not return either. Pioneer was followed by a vessel, manned by the security forces and armed with experimental weapons, UHRS Warrior. And Warrior returned. It returned with the news that man was not alone amoung the stars.
Explorer had found this out. It had even made first contact. And had not survived that first meeting with extraterrestrials. The fate of Pioneer was never known. But Warrior arrived strong enough to defend itself and earned the ear of the first race man had met in space. The Chakha' ah were a diminutive race, short of stature and bowed-backed. The had an exoskeleton like a huge insect, and their language was a chittering of sounds. But they were warm-blooded and sentient, and had developed a society every bit as old an complex as mans, though just beginnig to reach for the stars.
The greatest problem, of course, was communicating. Months were spent on Chakha learning to speak with mans' nearest neighbor. and the first thing to happen between the two races was trade. From then on, the stage was set for the UHR. More and more ships were built, some around Earth, some on Chakha. And those ships went out further. Each one went a different direction, each one went armed, and each one carried Humans and Chakha. Scientists, engineers, language specialists, trade negotiators, and soldiers. Some returned quickly, some returned after long voyages. And some never returned at all.
But more races were encountered, some Humanoid, some Human! And some were just too bizarre to be dealt with. But not many. Most were interested in reciprocal trade, some few were not. Many were space-farers, of a star-spanning empire called the Imperial Reagency. Which made little difference to the UHR.
Where ever they went, the UHR left behind garrissoned trading stations and small settlements. More ships were built, trade ships, freighters. But always armed. For the Reagency had its' own problems and the UHR perferred to be left in peace and uninvolved. And they guarded that privicy jealously, forcefully when necessary. Eventually, they were left their peace. And where they arrived throughout the Reagency, they and their trade, were ususally welcomed. From the Reagency, the UHR gained better technology, better weaponry, and wide trade routes. Slowly and carefully, being very particular about what they allowed out of their control, the technology the UHR returned to Earth began to infiltrated mans' society.
Then, back-tracking a pirated Chakha ship, the Confederation of United Planets arrived from beyond the reaches of Reagency space. Earth was approached and offered membership, which was accepted. And, alongside the new ships Earth sent out with UHR-gained technology, the UHR spread out amoung the stars of the C.U.P. By 100 NEC, the UHR was well entrenched throughout the two great empires that shared known space.
All was not peaceful and easy. The empires collided and fought, cultures clashed, and fought. And in order to protect its' privicy and sanctity the UHR began to operate as a military orginization. It remained an industrial and trading concern, but survived through military methods. In 68 NEC, the UHR ceased to be UHR Industries and became just The UHR.
The C.E.O. stopped being a corporate executive, and became The Commander, Commander-In-Chief of the UHR. The Board of Directors became the Commanding Staff. Officers were commissioned, men and women were enlisted rather than hired, crews became rank and file space sailors. And, patterned after the proud tradition of that namesake organization from the UHRs' home world and nation, the security forces became the UHR Marines.
Trading settlements grew to become cities and bases, shipyards and manufacturies and farming communitites. Empty, or unclaimed planets were discovered and strictly UHR colonies sprang up. Originally, a city named Etharnal was built on the harsh world of Ashta , a Reagency world at a crossroads of their own trade routes. It was devastated in a conflict with the Reagency in 154 NEC.
The city was rebuilt on the UHR colony world of Caladan III, again named Etharnal, and permanent Headquarters of the UHR. Caladan III was a green, young world deep inside C.U.P. space. From events initiated in the Ashta conflict, the UHR began to move outward even more, expanding into areas as yet unexplored. This became the UHRs' territiory, which they administered and patroled, the Third Quadrant. And peace and prosperity reigned in the three Quadrants for many years thereafter. Until the exploration of the Fourth Quadrant finally reached beyond the area known as the Waste, a vast and empty area, even amid he vastness of interstellar space. For, beyond the Wastes was the territory of the Takrotkan Empire.
Greater than both the Reagency and the C.U.P. combined, the Takrotkan Empire also backtracked arriving ships and, in 253 NEC, launched an invasion into the Three Quadrants that inititated a war lasting thirteen years. Only by allying one with the other, and both with the UHR, were the Three Quadrants able to defeat the forces of the Takrotkans. And, when finally victorious, the Allies jointly shared the spoils of their victory and the responsibility of rebuilding the devastated Empire.
One of the spoils of war to come to the UHR, though discovered by them earlier, was the Sabaatah system.
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