by Grant Davis

November 5, 2001

After the initial efforts by Earth governments in the 20th century, space exploration floundered until the Jump Drive was theorized, raising the prospect of interstellar travel. The development of efficient fusion power in the early 21^st century was a great boon for interplanetary travel; fission power was available in the 20^th century, but was rarely used due to the environmental risks of launching radioactive material from Earth.

Combined with a plasma drive (and later a Displacement Drive), the time for travel between planets was cut down to weeks and the mass required was cut by a factor of 100 or more. After a working Jump Drive was built and tested (again, by an Earth government), a wealth of star systems were within Humanity’s reach.

These new technologies suddenly made it practical to consider developing the resources of other planets, and even colonizing them. A few visionary businessmen saw the potential of interplanetary development and set to work exploiting it.

Money is an instrument of trade. People use money as a common denominator for exchanging goods, services and information without having to barter directly for them. Without human colonies to trade with, money has no frame of reference to work from.

The first corporate expeditions into space were simple mining missions to the local asteroids; robotic ships that landed, mined the useful ore and returned to Earth. When tons of minerals suddenly appeared in Earth orbit, global markets underwent a great upheaval and had to start taking the new frontier seriously.

The first shipments were actually many times more valuable in space than on the ground (saving the expense of launching them into orbit) and were used to construct the next generation of orbital factories and cargo ships. Billions of dollars changed hands on Earth for goods that were never seen by humans. Hundreds of startup Corporations were founded to take advantage of this new market. Outright fraud was rare, but people were disconnected from the product they were buying and selling. A ‘bubble market’ grew, as stock prices grew much higher than the returns could realistically bring. As these returns began to come in, reality set in and the market crashed. But before that happened, a few ambitious individuals were able to parlay their newly-made wealth into what they really wanted; manned expeditions to other planets and, eventually, other stars.

In the wake of the market crash, the Interstellar Commerce Commission was formed by treaty among the Nations of Earth. Most of the treaty was derived from the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, but there are some changes. The main points of the new treaty are:

• Outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty.* Colonies and human-crewed vessels are not considered to be the territory of any one nation. This also means that they may not declare themselves to be "Nations".

• States Parties to the Treaty shall carry on activities in the exploration and use of outer space in accordance with international law.* Colonies are subject to international law as well as any laws which they establish among themselves. In practice, Corporations use coercion to ensure that the laws colonists establish "among themselves" are in accordance with corporate policy.

• In carrying on activities in outer space and on celestial bodies, the astronauts of one State Party shall render all possible assistance to the astronauts of other States Parties. *
• States Parties to the Treaty shall immediately inform the other States Parties to the Treaty or the Secretary-General of the United Nations of any phenomena they discover in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, which could constitute a danger to the life or health of astronauts. * Non-governmental entities must inform the Executive Director of the Interstellar Commerce Commission. The ICC maintains a quarantine protocol for extra-terrestrial life returning to Earth, enforced by random inspections at Gateway and other stations near Earth.

• Non-governmental entities may establish manned or unmanned facilities on celestial bodies for scientific investigation, commercial use or human settlement. An international organization shall be established to regulate the use and territorial and extraterrestrial claims of such facilities. This is the article that established the ICC. "Extraterrestrial" means off-planet claims, such as the space above a planetary claim (see below). The ICC currently recognizes claims of up to 150 km around a landing area.
• Non-governmental entities may not posess or carry weapons of mass destruction. This is an important change from the treaty, which forbade all nations from stationing nuclear weapons in space.

*Retained from the 1967 Treaty.

The ICC’s decisions are recognized by the Nations of Earth and the global trading markets, but it has no military or law enforcement arm. Instead, it relies upon military assistance from nations which have signed the treaty, and the United States is the largest contributor of military force in implementing the ICC’s decrees. The United States Colonial Marines are the force most commonly called into action off-planet.

When deployed, the Marines do not have general law enforcement authority, only that which is specified in their mission orders. A Strike Team declaring "Martial Law" would be in violation of the Treaty and have no authority. As astronauts and representatives of the United States, they have the right to inform the ICC of a possible threat to the health of astronauts and begin quarantine protocol.

A Marine Strike Team is always assigned a representative, either from the ICC or an interested Corporation, but Strike Teams in the field are directed by the ranking military officer. This is a demand of the United States; soldiers from other Nations or in multinational units may be led by an ICC representative.

As ambassadors of humanity, Colonial Marines leave much to be desired. Human rights are not monitored as closely as those of us from the late 20^th century are used to. Troops are given much leeway in the field and rarely held accountable. Humanity has not encountered a species that it considers self-aware, and treats all extraterrestrial life as animals. A prime example of this is the planet Arcturus, where sexual abuse of the indigenous humanoid race is widespread and discussed openly.

The last few decades have seen the rise of private armies among the spacefaring Corporations. The ICC and Nations of Earth decry the practice, but have not been able to halt it. Corporate forces are generally better funded than the ICC’s, but the Colonial Navy holds one important advantage: nuclear weapons. Weapons of mass destruction are strictly forbidden to the Corporations and the ICC devotes its limited resources to enforcing this ban. Note that nuclear weapons in the 22^nd century are fusion-based, not fission-based, and thus create no radioactive fallout. The Corporations have been trying to skirt the ICC rules with the new extraterrestrial life-forms being discovered. The Alien creatures would be a great boon to their research, as they still believe that they can control such a force in war.