Aurora-Cyborg War

The Aurora Cyborg War orginated on the planet Aurora during the Era of the Synerplexes. During this time, Aurora's social order was dominated by large national enterprises called 'Synerplexes' that occupied the planet's urban zones. The Synerplexes fostered conflict as a means of selling weapons. In the course of developing advanced weapons and sexbots to satisfy their citizens' insatiable craving for sex and violence, two of these cynerplexes developed highly advanced cyborgs. 
The 'Men from MAARRS' (the Munitions, Armaments, Rockets, and Soup Consortium) were manufactured as shock troops, with enhanced physiologies, radiation resistance, and tactical capabilities. The 'Women from V.E.N.I.S (Very Enhanced Neural Interactive System)' were designed initial as sex robots; but some were programmed for infiltration, seduction, and assassination. The head of the MARRS consortium intended to use the Men from MAARRs and the Women from VENIS to effect a hostile takeover of the entire planet. She was thwarted when the Pathfinder Ship Pegasus disabled her orbital weapons network. (Worlds Apart Book 5: Aurora)
The crew of Pegasus arranged for the Men from MAARRS and the Women from VENIS to relocate to the abandoned Ecco 1 colony. It was hoped that the cyborgs would establish a peaceful, or at least non-threatening, society once given their own planet. 
It didn't work out that way. Three generations after settling on Ecco 1, the cyborgs grew resentful of their human creators and decided to make way on Aurora. By this time, the synerplexes had collapsed. The new Government on Aurora was insular, xenophobic, and theocratic. The surprise attacks from space concentrated on areas of the planet where the synerplexes had once ruled but had largely been abandoned after the collapse. Still, the attacks resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties. The Ecco Cyborgs had demonstrated themselves to be an existential threat to the Aurorans, and the planet -- which had withdrawn from interstellar politics and trade -- was forced to mobilize for war. 
Aurora began the war with no ships and no troops trained in space combat. The planet's leadership reached out to the New Galactic Commonwealth for support. The New Commonwealth sent a delegation to Ecco 1 to negotiate peace, but the cyborgs attacked and attempted to capture the diplomatic ship (the Explorer Ship Ascension) but were fought off. The ship was heavily damaged and over a third of the crew was killed or wounded in the assault. In exchange for diplomatic concessions, the Aurorans were supplied with surplus ships and technical advisors to develop planetary defenses. Aurora instituted a universal military draft.
The first Auroran counter-attack consisted of a fleet of ten ships that launched re-entry missiles tipped with nucleonic warheads from planetary orbit. The missiles targeted the old Ecco 1 colony site, which was completely obliterated in the attack. However, the cyborgs had long since abandoned the colony. Most of them had adapted to a spaceborne existence, and the remainder inhabited underground complexes in the desolate wastelands that covered most of the planet's surface. 
Over time, the Ecco Cyborgs augmented their numbers with the construction of thousands of killbots; deadly machines programmed to attack and destroy human life. The killbots were effective en masse, but vulnerable to Shockwave(TM) weaponry developed on Sapphire's University at Tenochtitlan that disabled their primary systems. 
Over time and with the assistance of the Commonwealth, Aurora was able to deploy a constellation of orbital defenses known as The Meta Shield. The Meta Shield was effective in reducing Cyborg attacks on the planet's surface, although it would take years to find and eradicate Cyborg bases already established on the planet. The orbital platforms comprising the shield were also subjected to Cyborg attacks. in SY 7316, the Cyborgs seized control of one platform and redirected its weapons at other platforms and surface targets; destroying four other platforms and killing hundreds on the ground before the platform was retaken by Auroran forces. 
The cost of building and maintaining The Shield was enormous and put the planet into horrendous debt. Mining outposts on the other planets in the Aurora system and two nearby star systems were essential to repaying its debts to other colonies. (Notably, the New Commonwealth of the Galaxy offered to 'renegotiate' Aurora's debts to Commonwealth worlds in return for joining, but Aurora insisted on maintaining independence.) The trade routes to these facilities became a focus of subsequent Cyborg attacks. 
During the Second Aurelian War, the cyborgs allied themselves with the Aurelians. The Cyborgs took on the role of attacking Alliance and Commonwealth supply ships and bases. The cyborgs specialized in infiltrating ships and disabling life-support systems to kill the crew. Infiltration of the Pathfinder Ship Republic was a critical factor in its destruction during the Second Aurelian War, and the failure of its classified mission in the Emeishan System. The cyborgs also established a base on a large asteroid in the Bountiful (B) system and used it to launch attacks against logistical targets as Bountiful fought against a prolonged Aurelian onslaught. The cyborgs attempted to bring in the android inhabitants of Medea on the side of the Aurelians, but their attempt at an alliance was rebuffed; the Medean androids choosing to have nothing to do with the war. 
After the defeat of the Aurelians, the Cyborgs refocused their efforts on the Aurora System; which by this time was able to establish highly effective system defenses with the use of surplus ships and weapons sold by the Commonwealth. The Cyborgs similarly fortified space around their Ecco 1 homeworld and built chunky, slab-like ships to provide orbital defenses. Each side resigned itself to a long and costly stalemate. While Aurora remains the primary focus of Cyborg Aggression, they have sent ships throughout the Quadrant in search of resources to help them defeat the humans.
Category:Background