The Contact War

134 Years Before Succession, New Standard Calendar   The rules of the Contact War were as high stakes as they were extremely simple. Once our preservation status expired, there would be a roughly 7 month window where we would be bereft of Intercessor protection. At the time that registration concludes, any unclaimed star system with an active human presence in it becomes automatically registered as one under human control. This is ideal, because after initial registration claiming new systems requires maintaining control of them for a rather long period of time to qualify.   This turned several unimportant systems that happened to have limited human presence in them into strategically vital opportunities to expand human controlled space under the Protectorate.   Prior to the Contact War, human space combat had a limited history. And based on the brief encounters with the Intercessors, it was obvious that humanity would have to step up its game in order to defend itself during the registration delay. In a frantic effort, mankind pooled its knowledge and resources to design and build the Globe series warship, the first true military vessels designed for space combat. While the absolute cutting edge of what humanity was capable of at the time, they were not up to par with the efforts of other races, barring one incredible exception.  

The Frogs and EZ Aquarii

  An active arcology world, Aquarion was turned into a fortress to prepare for the Contact War. Despite a small fleet being present to defend it, Aquarion was swiftly overrun and destroyed by a fleet of tremendous size. EZ Aquarii, and 11 other star systems previously falling within the borders of the human preservation zone, was thereafter claimed by the aliens that are now known as the Frogs. Despite having an overwhelming military advantage, the Frogs did not push any deeper into human space. It has since become clear that the Frogs were mostly concerned with testing our mettle and resolve more than actually making specific gains, and the battle at EZ Aquarii satisfied their curiosity.  

The Oolo! and the trade of Proxima

  Striking deep into human territory, a swarm of small and extremely fast ships took their sweet time cutting apart human resistance in the system of Proxima. They swiftly disabled multiple Globe ships, and lead to the destruction of one entirely after it drifted into a planet's gravity well. With the alien's victory all but complete, contact was established and the aliens now later dubbed the Oolo! requested that the remaining human ships withdraw and return with someone with the authority to make a deal. In the closing days of the Contact War, the Oolo! occupying Morningstar negotiated travel and trade rights with humanity 'to exist in perpetuity', and then ceded control back to humanity before the deadline.  

The Miracle of Procyon

  In what remains one of the great unsolved mysteries, Humanity did not lose Procyon during the Contact War. Initially Procyon was just a geological survey turned mining venture, but after the arrival of the Intercessors that limited expedition represented the basis of Two battleships, the Tempest and the Macbeth, were assigned to protect Procyon to the best of their ability. After two months of no activity, four Y'Tug ships smartfolded to the edge of the system. They destroyed the Tempest, and one of the Y'tug vessels that had born the brunt of the Tempest's retaliation withdrew to affect repairs, considering the 3 v 1 against the Macbeth to be a foregone conclusion. We know that the Macbeth placed its resupply storage of nuclear weapons deep within the expdition's mines and triggered them to eject a large chunk of the moon into the path of one of the Y'tug ships, destroying it. We know that the miners were instructued to hide on the other side of the moon and to power down and maintain radio silence in the hopes that they could avoid detection and survive. Everything after that is a mystery. We can deduce that the Macbeth did... something... which destroyed the second Y'tug ship, but the specifics are debated by military historians. The fate of the Macbeth itself and the final Y'tug ship is a complete unknown, no wreckage of either ship was ever found. A popular theory is that they somehow both fell into one of the larger gas giants, but no evidence exists to prove that theory despite multiple surveys of the planets in question. After their unexpected loss at Procyon, the Y'tug were spooked by the unexpected military prowess of humanity and abandoned an ambitious offensive into human space, which would almost certainly have been devastating and denied humanity control of several systems, possibly even including Proceka. The Y'tug have never forgiven humanity for the embarrassment at Procyon, and remain an active threat in that volume.