Through a Dark Mirror

**Through a Dark Mirror** is an American dystopian alternate history and future novel. The book describes an alternate timeline that diverged from the 2090s leading all the way towards the late 24th century, with the determining event being the Martians achieving independence from the US that would lead to Mexico and their allies winning the Third Mexican-American War and divided the United States, leaving the rest of the US slowly yet effectively disintegrating, giving rise to numerous yet powerful competing city-states that would eventually evolve into empires. Critical response to the book was overwhelmingly positive. The book was wildly popular among veterans of the war, and early plans have been made to adapt it into a film and virtual.

## Synopsis

It is the early 24th Century. Technology has largely stagnated, though it is much more advanced than at present. Mexico is the most powerful nation on Earth and rules over an empire that spans from Antarctica to the Mississippi Basin. The United States of America is long dead, fractured into numerous states. The only rival to Mexico (aside from the Martian Empire) is the Manhattan Empire that directly rules over the Eastern Seaboard and has dominion as far west as the Great Lakes.

In Europe, the Turkish-Israeli Empire is the dominant force on the continent. Western Europe has been transformed into a jigsaw puzzle of once famous states in near constant war with one another, and Poland's once mighty Intermarium is disintegrating as its influence over Germany and Russia falls away. In Asia, Singapore has grown to be the region's most powerful nation-state, carving a new Srivajayan Empire out of trade ports across the entire length of the South Pacific. Singapore is an uneasy ally of Mexico against their common enemy in the Pacific: The Imperium of Mars.

After the collapse of the United States, Mars was forced to rush in to seize the country's space elevators where it could. Its equatorial colonies on Earth are a continuous thorn in Mexico's side and may potentially serve as a major catalyst in a future world war...

## **Timeline**

### **Before History**

The Guardiola Incidentor theColonial War was a conflict between the United States' Orbital and Lunar colonies and the Mediterranean Union based Guardiola Foundation. Though never formally recognized by any major power on Earth as an actual war, it remains a controversial incident in the minds of colonials. On May 1st, 2099, the Guardiolas staged a massive attack on Glen Station at L1 of the Earth-Luna system. Shortly after taking Glen station the Specialists launched a series of strikes on several Lagrangian and Lunar colonies, deploying armored infantrymen and support drones against civilian militias. When the colonial governments, resident commissioners and the Interplanetary Trade Commission all called on the Federal Government for help, they were met with deaf ears. As the Mediterraneans were an ally of Mexico, and while the Guardiolas were only a rogue faction, the US government on Earth refused to get involved directly as it would likely drive the United States and Mexico to another war after concluding one in South America only a few years earlier.

On September 2, 2099, after months of fighting, Martian reinforcements arrived to put down the Guardiolas, who had so far killed over 100,000 people either through direct combat or from decompression. At the battle of Stanford Station, the first wave of Martian ships engaged the Guardiola fleet. The battle led to heavy losses on both sides, including the deaths of both Roma Guardiola along with the commander of the USPGS Scott Carpenter, Lionel Halvidar. The latter of whom was killed after the Carpenter was damaged sufficiently to undergo decompression. Although Halvidar escaped with most of the crew and entered combat in vacuum rated armor, they were subsequently decimated by a kamikaze wing of support drones launched from the Guardiola Fleet before the USPGS Gus Grissom could arrive in time and evacuate the survivors. One of the more prominent soldiers during the battle is a Master Sergeant in the Mars Planetary Guard named Maisie Luong.

By January 20, 2100 the Earth orbit had been cleared of the Guardiola presence. The US government, in a desire to save face with its colonies, launched a coordinated strike on the Guardiola Foundation’s headquarters, and issued joint warrants with the MU and Mexico for the arrest of its surviving members. This got the colonies to stand down, but they would not forget the betrayal by their own government.

### **Second Martian Revolution**

As questions of the future of Mars grew with the public's discontent with Earth and the fear surrounding the possibility of a war on Earth spreading to Mars, the Mars Society for Independence and Freedom (MSIF) became an increasingly prominent force in the Martian political discourse. Under the leadership of Maisie Luong, the MSIF become a mainstream political movement due in no small part to Luong's commanding presence as a speaker. Although there were several political movements across the planet such as the pro-Earth Union Party, most were never able to consolidate into a formidable political entity and most lacked any figure resembling a charismatic leader who appeared strong enough to challenge Luong's fiery rhetoric on the public stage. In public rallies across Mars, the MSIF argued that only as an independent power could Mars and the rest of the colonies hope to defend themselves, and achieve the rights that the US on Earth had long denied them. Luong rallied her supporters across the planet through propaganda and marches on territory Capitols, often carrying out demonstrations that drew thousands. As the Dignidad Party on Earth continued their tirade against the colonies, and Mexico conducted more drills with their Orbitals, the MSIF got louder and more aggressive.

One of the main targets of the MSIF's rhetoric was the Interplanetary Trade Commission, which Luong and her followers saw as "collaborators in a conspiracy with the government on Earth to deny the rights of freedom and self determination to all Martians". After years of being ignored and seen with contempt by the government on Earth, and the ITC powerless to stop the rise of the MSIF across Mars, the situation finally came to a head in 2129 when Luong and her supporters stormed the Headquarters of the ITC in Bradbury. Flying red flags and brandishing old weapons and armor from the Guardiola Incident, Luong and approximately fifty thousand MSIF supporters gathered and declared Martian Independence from the United States of America. Declaring themselves the legitimate authority on Mars, a Governing Council was quickly established and the Mars Planetary Guard were mobilized in preparation for the inevitable military response from the government on Earth. Aware of discontent on some of the other planetary colonies, Luong quietly sent intermediaries to Jupiter and Saturn in an attempt to gain their support. Additionally, during the takeover, it is discovered that the ITC was in the process of developing a new class of space warship ordered by the various Colonial Planetary Guards back in 2126. Luong orders their continued development but that all information regarding their existence is classified.

In Washington, the Levin Administration was caught completely off guard by what they saw as an illegal rebellion carried out by an illegitimate separatist movement. At the insistence of Vice President David Castillo (a member of the Dignidad Party), President Levin ordered the United States Space Force to carry out an invasion of Mars in an attempt to restore the ITC to power and eliminate the threat from Luong and the MSIF. However, the invasion of the planet was carried out carelessly, the decision to bomb strategic targets before landing resulted in unnecessary and easily avoidable civilian deaths. These deaths were heavily propagated by revolutionaries as a personal attack on the colonies which helped drive a significant portion of the Martian population to take up arms against their mother country. US forces on Mars were harassed by guerrilla fighters and casualties were heavily reported on the news, leading to public opinion turning against the war. By 2132, US losses became so great in the short period of time that the US was forced to hold a ceasefire with the Martians. In the face of these losses, President Levin decided to not run for a second term in office. He would never be able to fulfill his dream of ending hostilities between Mexico and the United States before it was too late. David Castillo's support of the war on the US side was also heavily criticized and had resulted in greatly reduced popularity in the Mexicano Libres Party, allowing US forces to quell any ideas of secession. Aztlan ultimately doesn't exist.

### **Third Mexican-American War**

Without the founding of the Union Party by the late Lionel Halvidar, the liberal parties of the United States became more popular but were heavily divided between each other as they were constantly splitting public opinion in the polls, allowing the Conservative Union to maintain a significant lead over the parties by taking advantage of the discord. Following the contentious 2132 Presidential Election with the majority of the campaigning focused heavily on the issue of Martian Independence, Lydia Monroe of the Conservative Union was elected the 65th President of the United States with Harrison Reed as her Vice President. President Monroe was considered by many to be a great and aggressive speaker which has led to her election. Any hopes of reconciliation between the two sides were gone when President Monroe declared during her inaugural address that the United States would never recognize the MSIF as the legitimate authority on Mars.

In the aftermath of the Second Martian Revolution (also known as the "Martian War" in the US), a classified post-war assessment is presented to President Monroe by the Department of Defense. It highlighted "reckless overspending" and indicated that losses in both material and personnel on Mars had denigrated the US' ability to fight a conventional war on Earth. Furthermore, morale on the American Homefront was at an all time low. The assessment concluded that it would take several years, before the nation could return to pre-war military levels and that if it were to enter into a new conflict, the United States would struggle to win, or even lose a war; with "...damage to American security and global influence could be devastating and beyond repair."