The Tide Turns

Because the Moon had no atmosphere, it was never considered a candidate for terraforming. All the same, many domes had been established on its surface, primarily for non-civilian interests: resource mining; cosmology; and astrology; to name a few. Because the Moon orbited the planet and was visible to most of the Earth’s surface at any given time, it was considered a demilitarized zone: no weapons or militarized vehicles were permitted on the Moon’s surface, similar to the Antarctica Treaty of 1959.

This quickly changed when the Riklid attacked. Just as it was not possible to terraform the Moon, it was also immune to the Riklid superweapon. All efforts were immediately turned towards defense and preservation of the Earth and of Mars through the Moon: all established domes and facilities were converted to military bases and factories to put out as many tools, weapons, and vehicles as possible to combat the menace. It was a small consolation compared to the resources – and the surface area – of the Earth, but if humanity was to survive, they would have to do what they could.

At 4:14 PM UTC, on June 20th, 2323, a decisive blow was dealt to one of the Riklid motherships, destroying it. The Riklid could no longer pin down both Earth and Mars at the same time. After thirteen years, the tide of the war had irreversibly changed course.

On June 23rd, the last remaining Riklid warship had fled the system. The Riklid War, as the thirteen years had been called, was considered a victory for Earth, Mars, and Ghi alike.