Rocketry

## Afronauts Ascent

Edward Makuka Nkoloso was a man with a dream: To have an African as the first person to set foot on Mars, colonize the territory and, if applicable, evangelize the natives. Coming from one of the countries that had been but recently liberated, still reeling from the fact that it used to be a backwards colony from one of the largest empires the world has seen, most people saw his dream as anything but a naivé dream of a man who couldn't really grasp the extent of what his dreams really meant. Nonetheless, he kept going on, looking for funds from various sources, carefully planning the steps and preparing the programs for the would be Afronauts so they'd be prepared for the dangers of space.

Despite the fact that the Allied Nations denied any funding and the Soviet Space program laughed him off, he still managed to keep going, thanks to some funding that came from an unexpected, if really close, source: The African League.

Trying to show their new found place in the world, as a power as mighty as any other, many people began to share the dream of Africa being the first ones to reach Mars, to show to the world they were as capable as any power fruitlessly vying to have them steer their allegiances on way or the other, philanthropic Oil Barons, Diamond Sultans and other eccentrics started pouring private funds on a project that every time grew bigger, grander in scale and that, slowly but steadily, started taking shape. Yet, they knew that they had to go a step at a time, to get to another planet, first they had to reach Space, and to be able to do that, first they had to get a working spaceship in orbit, instead of looking for fancy, complex methods of takeoff, the newly born African Space Agency instead opted for the simplest of methods: Propel a Rocket high enough as to make it reach space, and towards that goal is that they brought and bought the finest leading experts on rocket science to make sure their chance of success was secure.

Their Space Agency grew by leaps and bounds in record time, thanks to the endless funding the project counted on, and before they could even realize it, the launch day had come, the Afronauts were ready, the Rocketship set and the mission control expectant of the incoming miracle.

An entire country held it's breath as they saw the Rocketship ascent to the stars and then... Success. Africa had put their first crew in Space, a small step for Zambia, a giant leap for the African League. The Celebrations lasted weeks, even though the event went mostly unnoticed by the world, distracted on more important, pressing matters, to pay attention to yet another third world so-called power having put yet another toy in the sky.

Then the Gatecrash came.

## Grounded

The Military certainly wasn't as happy in regards of this project as the civilian population, and soon this sensation got transmitted into the echelons of government, simply said, it was realized that their efforts were for naught, the success of the African League went unnoticed on an uncaring world, and what's the point of investing so many resources on a project that, ultimately, nobody cares about?

No, this simply wasn't going to be the way the League would show their independance from the power plays of the upper world, the Northern Powers wouldn't take seriously their fledging efforts unless they used a show of force, this is the thought that reigned, and the events of the prior days just confirmed their fears.

Cutting the fundings of a wasteful project that ultimately wouldn't help their goals, Mungu 5 would be the first and last Rocketship the African League would put in Space, that didn't mean, however, that all this research would go to waste, too much money was poured on this project, and it would be a shame not only for those involved but for the entirety of the League to leave it all to rot, instead, they looked for a practical use for all the extensive research on propulsion systems and explosives that could be found amongst the research notes of the project and soon a big, dark and twisted inspiration came to the Panafrican Divisions...

For years the Panafrican League had suffered from two problems:

1. The entrenched nature of the Sprawls of their sworn enemies meant that they were effectively inexpugnable fortresses. Dangers could be found in every corner and Legionnaires could easily take shots at shooting them half a city block away and then disappearing through the urban jungle, the efforts of the Panafrican Divisions being made but pointless in trying to assert any kind of control over these bastions of corruption that were twisted mockeries of cities.

With enough explosive weaponry, it was theorized, it'd be much easier to force the Mercenaries to abandon these wretched hives and, if worse came to worse, these could simply be leveled to dust, rebuilding the cities, after all, would be much easier and certainly an improvement over the eyesores that were plaguing the continent, it would also have the beneficial effect of dissuading people from settling these places, furthering their efforts in their quest to extinguish the Turquoise Shadow that was cast upon their Homeland.

2. Though they had proven to be surprisingly reliable, it simply was an undeniable fact that the Ornithopters simply couldn't compete with the increasingly common jet fighters their enemies had started to deploy on the Continent, dominance of the skies was as quickly lost as it had been obtained the prior decades, the fighters hopeless as they saw enemies bomb their homes to ruins without any chance at retalation, if they had the technology to get a man to space however, what impeded them of having ornithopters that could compete with the most top of the line fighters that saw action in Africa?

Soon it was decided that the use of Ramjets would be the most optimal in combination with their Ornithopters, mostly out of convenience, as they were the most cost-effective while versatile option when it came for propulsion not only for the weapons that'd finally topple the Mediterranean Empire, but the propulsors that'd retake the Skies of Africa from the Saffron Menace.