Mission Critical/Timeline

This is a backstory timeline, extrapolated out of the narrations and the descriptions as well as the sequel novel. It is intended to give to the player a simple understanding of the game universe.

• 2048 UNSEC moves an asteroid into Earth's orbit for mining purposes
• 2050 Earth is populated by 8.5 billion people
• 2055 Tal-Seto jump points are discovered. Turing Processing Cores are invented
• 2060 UN Security Council poses a ban to 'life-emulating technology'
• 2063 General Assembly makes the ban permanent with Resolution 1212
• 2082 The Alliance of Free States declares their secession from the UN
• 2110 Dr. Alan Paho launches project CATALYST to study how to speed up human evolution
• 2111 UN attacks after a tense peace. Secession War begins
• 29/12/2114 USN Bunker Hill-class light cruiser" Lexington" is commissioned
• 2121 Lexington blasts into action at four gravities during the battle for Delta Pavonis V
• 2130 "Why we fight" holovid is published by the United States Naval Institute
• 2131 Beth Erenor Kalb is commissioned to create three paintings showing the Lexington's history
• 15/2/2134 Final crew manifest for Mission 161
• 20/2/2134 James Poole donates a display miniature of Lexington to the command. In reality it hides a timebomb
• 22/2/2134 Departure of mission 161
• 18/3/2134 Nuclear Plant Casualty Drill
• 19/3/2134 Lexington makes an FTL jump
• 21/3/2134 Poole asks Olivar many questions about the recent upgrades to the ship
• 23/3/2134 Rumors among the crew that the mission is about an Earth-type world
• 24/3/2134 Nuclear emergency drill
• 28/3/2134 Magrath and Aguilar try to guess their locations
• 4/4/2134 Lexington makes another FTL jump
• 8/4/2134 Tension on the ships is getting worse
• 15/4/2134 Journal entry
• 20/4/2134 Poole and Narang had a heated argument
• 1/5/2134 08:00 Another FTL Jump
• 4/5/2134 Quan notes that Poole has been running around the ship nervously
• 5/5/2134
  • 14:07 General Quarters (i.e., the klaxon which means that everyone must go to their battle stations).

A rapid electronic alarm with a distinctive sound similar to "Bong BONG Bong BONG Bong BONG Bong BONG..."

• • 14:36 Acceleration warnings
  • 15:10 Secured from GQ
• 6/5/2134 Poole seems to have known about the battle ahead of time.
• 7/5/2134 Gaiser and Slocum finally have a big fight about Gaiser's pony tail.
• 16/5/2134 Quan learns of Poole's affair with Falcon. Player may spot evidence of motive, to copy unsecured codes.
• 22/5/2134 Sixth FTL jump
• 28/5/2134 Lexington arrives at Deneb Kaitos, also called the Persephone system
• 10/6/2134 One of the coolant pumps in Section B goes out
• 11/6/2134 Quan spots Poole hanging around the Weapons Bays
• 15/6/2134 Quan sees Poole searching Dahl's quarters. It later becomes obvious that he sought clues about HYPE.
• 16/6/2134 Quan reasons Poole is either an undercover Alliance Intelligence/Special Operations officer or a spy.
• 17/6/2134 Quan realizes that Poole is much too unprofessional to be a member of Intel/Special Ops.
• 18/6/2134 Quan determines that Poole is definitely a UN agent
• 19/6/2134 Lexington draws closer to an orbit around Persephone
• 22/6/2134
  • Poole is even more unsettled, as though he knows something will happen. Suddenly, the UNS Dharma, hiding on the other side of the planet, ambushes Lexington
  • 22:30:14 Multiple beam and missile hits cause a criticality one fault in the primary power reactor coolant system
  • 22:31:21 Main data cores overloaded by enemy energy pulse; Transfer to secondary cores failed; General system failure. Autonomic functions delegated to system nodes
  • 22:31:22 Damage Control System (DCS) sensors detect an enemy energy pulse around the main data cores. The backup systems fail to trip and contact with the main system is lost. Autonomic ship functions are delegated to local nodes
  • 22:31:24 The emergency handover to the local nodes is finished
  • 22:31:45 Beams and missile hits cease
  • 22:45:07 Internal sensors detect an impact and subsequent decompression on Deck 2, Stateroom 2B. A warning is issued
  • 22:51:40 Deck 2 under the most serious Damage Control Condition in the Navy, called Zebra, which is real.
• 10/2134 The Alliance relief fleet arrives at Persephone and defeats the UN fleet, which in desperation, denies the alien installation to their enemies by "glassing" it with a nuclear bombardment
• 2141 The Alliance signs the Washington treaty and surrenders to the UN
• 2187 A human colonly ship is launched
• 2234 Starhome's atmosphere will be breathable
• 2281 UN controls 20 billion people and 20 colony worlds
• 2284 First sentient Electronic Life Forms (ELFs) come into existence on the planet Prometheus Beta, fostered by dissident scientists who oppose the UN.
• 2295 Player arrives in the future

Alternate timeline

This timeline is triggered after sucessful completion of the game

• 22/6/2134
  • 20:30 Player's memory from the future returns to the present
  • 22:30 Battle of Persephone begins once more, but this time Lexington emerges victorious, defeating Dharma with the help of HYPE. Poole is arrested based on evidence provided by the player, for trial by court-martial on Earth. Because of the unusual circumstances involving time travel, some of the State's evidence was undoubtedly classified. He would face multiple counts of treason and espionage in time of war, punishable by the firing squad under the American "Uniform Code of Military Justice." Due to the time of his offense, this would still have been true even in the unlikely event that the war ended immediately. Being an ideologically motivated spy, he might well have pled guilty. The Alliance would probably pressure him to become a double agent in order to save his life, but he would likely refuse, and before the year was out he would almost certainly have been executed. If not, the Alliance Security and Intelligence Service might choose to report him dead and illegally make him into a guinea pig for HYPE experiments, by means of which black project researchers such as Dr. Morrow sought to control the time gate.
• 2138 Lewis Tyrell is arrested by the Alliance
• 2295 Player arrives to the future once more
• 2300 Player narrates his memories