This timeline tells the story of humanity's resistance against the Outsiders and its emergence from the underground.
(This timeline also describes major events taking place after the opening of Star Conquest: Catalyst, the game's second major iteration.)
Mid-February 2309 - The military of the AEU, League, and Fringe are certain that the timing is right. They contact a handful of civilian pilots and give them disguised armed ships, in direct defiance of the Outsiders. They hope that the ships will go unnoticed until an event they call "the Catalyst," which will set off the counterattack.
One Week Later - An unexpected patrol by a manned Outsider ship uncovers the humans' armed shuttles. The pilots are seized and thrown into a human space station since converted into a prison. There they also find several Mutuality members, who have been imprisoned since before the Mutuality's general retreat during the war.
Late February - The alliances decided that they must throw their plan into action and cannot wait for the mysterious Catalyst. They offer a small stockpile of armed, Coalition-era starships to their pilots. Corin Shea, the de facto leader of the Resistance, then leads an assault against the Outsider prison with the assistance of a Mutuality command carrier. There, the prison station and everyone aboard was threatened by the mothership Zmnyi Mmyaz. At that moment, the Percival Lowell abruptly reappears, commanded by James Korie, and fights the Outsider mothership to a standstill. In the meantime, the prison is assaulted and the prisoners are freed.
Mid-March - James Korie again makes contact the the alliances, though most of his time must be occupied with keeping the Outsider mothership at bay. He reveals that he has the secret to a shield that will block the Outsiders' superweapon, the phased destabilizing beam, and hands over the data to be analyzed. Around the same time, Benjamin Masterson announces that he has developed "battlesuits" that might be employed for assaulting Outsider bases on the ground. The Resistance appeared to be going well.
Late March - The EAOS and the Mutuality both make separate reappearances. The EAOS suddenly manages to reprogram its flight control beacons, seizing control of their sectors from the Outsiders. The Mutuality activate a "quantum skim accelerator," which provides quick access to their distant section of space.
Late March - AEU President Chris Sheffield exiles AEU pilots who had dealt with the Mutuality, and declares war on the Mutuality itself. The EAOS responds by sponsoring a coup which results in Sheffield's removal from office.
April - The battlesuit system goes live and proves hugely successful, catching the Outsiders completely by surprise. Pilots begin liberating their planets one by one, driving the Outsiders off.
April - Warren Garner becomes President Pro Tem of the AEU. The AEU rejoins the resistance effort. But elements of the AEU Navy are not pleased at this turn of events, and continue to carry out Sheffield's orders, harassing ships in the Mutuality space.
Late April - Every human planet has been freed of Outsider bases, though everyone is well aware that the war is not won until the Outsider mothership is destroyed. Regardless, pilots and alliance leaders gather at the Resistance Headquarters to celebrate. The celebration ends abruptly as the Zmnyi Mmyaz itself appears, and destroys the nearby, historic planet Grenwold apparently simply to locate the hidden Resistance Headquarters. With the HQ threatened with imminent destruction, Benjamin Masterson manages to hold the station together long enough for everyone to evacuate. Masterson himself, however, dies when the Outsiders open fire.
May - With the mood of the Resistance now very dark, the rogue ships formerly of the AEU Navy made themselves known once more. Led by someone calling herself Fleet Admiral Kendra Janus, they demanded that the Mutuality surrender (or that the other alliances force them to surrender). If they did not, Janus went on, she would activate a beacon they had planted in Mutuality space, which would draw the Outsiders to the last hidden population of humanity, allowing them to proceed with the extinction of humanity. She gave the alliances one week's time to respond.
One Week Later - A desperate signal has drawn James Korie back to Known Space. With their deadline looming within 24 hours, Korie and the Resistance made last-ditch plans to try to turn Janus's beacon into an ambush for the Outsiders.
Beacon Day - As promised, Kendra Janus activates the beacon in Mutuality space. Predictably, the mothership Zmnyi Mmyaz responds within minutes. Three alliance cruisers, manned by civilian pilots and protected by Korie's shield against the Outsider superweapon, quickly began drawing the Outsiders' fire. After a few minutes, the pilots transferred to their ground combat delivery vehicles and rammed them into the mothership, beginning a full scale assault. Within an hour, the mothership had been partially disabled, the beacon destroyed, and the alien warlord Zmnyaz was captured. The resistance had succeeded.
