During the 24th century, humanity was both in its highest and lowest. While they have conquered their own solar system, they have failed to look after their own world. Overcrowded with 25 billion people and their own wastes, Earth was slowly falling apart while humanity was advancing. Even frequent relocations to Mars and lunar colonies weren't enough to give Earth some breathing room. In 2517 a multitude of leftist factions decided to unite for one purpose: to reduce Earth's population. On that fateful night mutiple orbital defense platforms were hacked and targeted at major cities around the world, kickstarting the Pre-Crossing War. (Most of my planes are built around this time.) During the onset of the war the first FTL drive was accidentally invented when a group of scientists were testing a new propulsion unit for aerospace fighters. This event marked the beginning of the Crossing, mankinds' exodus from the Sol System. Several FTL drives were smuggled to civilian refugees who in turn fled to neighboring star systems. As the remaining contingent of humanity battled to extinction, these refugee colonies soon flourished and became the first inter-system union that would soon dominate its side of the galaxy.