97260.5 Federation News Service Memorial for Mars Attack Opens Today
Few people who were alive at the time are not able to remember what they were doing when the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards and their host planet of Mars were under attack. After thirty-five years, the Mars Historical Preservation Society has formally opened the Utopia Planitia and Mars Memorial to the public today. The dedication ceremony was attended by both President Okeg and Proconsul D’Tan.
The catastrophic events began when a single A500 synthetic android proceeded to lower the planetary defense network’s deflector shields, exposing the shipyards and the planet itself to orbital bombardment from the planet’s own synthetic ship fleet. Over ninety thousand individuals lost their lives and the Martian ecosystem was brutally impacted, with large swathes of the planet’s terraformed surface made uninhabitable. The majority of survivors retreated to living and bolstering several of the original Martian colonies’ still existing domed cities and underground habitation expanded massively, both to rapidly handle refugees and to provide staging grounds for restoration efforts.
In the aftermath investigation of the A500 android models that were deemed at fault, specialists disagreed vehemently on the root causes of the synthetics’ total collapse into operational dysfunction. The lack of a unified theory and satisfactory explanation forced the Federation Council’s more reactionary politicians to immediately demand a halt on all commercial production and development of synthetics.
Often referred to as the ‘synth ban’, this legislation expressly outlawed the mass production and mass employment of artificial workers, severely crippled research and development of new synthetic models, and made it illegal to own or utilize any synthetic worker model that was not specifically approved by the Federation Council’s newly established Synthetics Research and Defense Advisory Committee. Even the most premier institutions, such as the Starfleet Corps of Engineers and the Daystrom Institute, found their synthetics projects subjected to debilitating levels of scrutiny and the majority were often shut down due to increased restrictions and frequent security inspections.
It wasn’t until 2399, when new information came to light on the causes of the A500 failure, that the synthetic ‘ban’ was subsequently revised. Though mass employment of synthetic workers would be generally required to stay at more minimal levels, commercial and research development resumed and previously persecuted artificial lifeforms would again be permitted to seek hearings to confirm their sentience and citizenship.
In the meantime, Starfleet’s science division grappled with the ongoing dilemma of Mars’s restoration. It took geoscientists over four years, but in December of 2389, Mars’ atmospheric combustion was finally resolved, allowing treatment of the planet’s atmosphere and terraformation restoration efforts to begin. In March 2392, approval to return the planet’s surface was given, which allowed infrastructure construction to begin and the Utopia Planitia shipyards were restored to rudimentary service in late 2395.
Though the Federation has largely recovered from the catastrophic events of 2385, we will likely continue to bear the scars of trauma for some time to come. The Mars Historical Preservation Society hopes that the new Mars memorial will be part of our collective healing process and we at the Federation News Service agree: it should be considered a must-see for any Federation citizen.
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Star Trek: Picard, Season 1 should now generally be considered fleet canon.
