Chapter 2

�The moon is the first milestone on the road to the stars.�
--Arthur C. Clarke

The year is 2159 Human civilization has expanded into space. At fist it was space stations, then the moon, closely followed by mars. Soon they managed to expand past the solar system to other systems. Humankind worked together for a common purpose.

To begin with there was just mining facilities, but soon businesses and even residential expansion onto planets meant people could move to different planet to live and work. Giant robots were used to mine out the minerals and construct the grand cities that would hold the human life. Soon most of the nations of earth left for new planets to colonize.

Now they had their own planets�, the alliance that had unified the nations together broke apart. But some good did come of it. Tensions due to race, religious interests, and so on, died down because they were not in such close proximity than it was on earth. And for a while everything seamed peaceful. For a while anyway.

A philosopher once said, "As long there are humans, there will be war." Sure enough war did break out. Other planets that wanted to be greedy, force their beliefs on other people, or kill them because they don't agree with their beliefs, engaged in combat with other planets. All the old problems that had plagued mankind on earth carried on in space. Fearing that these parties may grow out of control, a committee was formed to help maintain the peace.

Of course it wasn't all diplomats. There was an army to deal with the hostile situations. The United Planetary Defense Force, UPDF. A multi planetary, multi national group, that would take neither side in a war and fight for the peace. This was enough to deter some fights, but still, some antagonists still try to cause trouble and the UPDF engages these from time to time.

The main problem comes from fanatical religious groups. One group has been causing the most trouble and has become the most powerful. Using modified robots for war they attacked other planets. Their name, The Shankaries. The UPDF retaliated with specifically made robots of their own, the Mobile Armored Walker, or MAW.

Soon all military powers had the MAWs. The early versions used a nuclear reactor to power it. Later on, new energy sources were discovered, which were safer, and the new MAWs used the new power. However there are still MAWs out there which use the nuclear reactor, due to the availability and cheapness of those models, and many of the budget groups still use them.

Jason Lawson works for the UPDF. He is the lieutenant of Squad 12. When he was seven years old when the Shankaries tried to invade their planet. They were quickly taken out, but not without casualties. His parents were killed in the firefight, leaving only him and his older brother. He grew up with his older brother, and when both he and his brother were old enough they joined the UPDF.

The training was tough, but it paid off in the end. He was eventually promoted to Sergeant, then Lieutenant of squad 16. Soon after his promotion his brother died in a sortie against the Shankaries. This hit Jason hard, as his brother was his only surviving family up to then. Now he was all alone. He tried his best to deal with his brother�s death, but the anger that came with it would sometimes come out.