Interplanetary Systems Alliance
The Interplanetary Strategic Alliance, or ISA, was created by the UCN to protect the colonies it created outside of the Sol System. They were created due to the lack of any effective long-range communication system, which made it difficult to defend the colonies. They also served as the governing branch of the UCN's colonies, and keeps them under control.
Creation of the ISA[]
As the UCN took control of new colonies, they discovered that there was a notable lack of effective long-range communication, preventing the UCN from providing protection to their star systems. To prevent this, they created the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance, a body that allowed individual colonies to create defensive systems to protect themselves.
Localized colonial administration provides funding and manpower whilst the UCN provides the training, equipment, and full political support for all of the interplanetary colonial administrations. The ISA acts as the main policing and defensive body for the citizens, and the main revenue gathering party for the local government. Each ISA command is directly subordinate to local colonial governmental authority, which in turn is subordinate to the UCN interplanetary authority. Since each ISA Command is an independent unit of each colony, it is not linked to the military command of the UCN. As a result, the ISA Command's budget and strength are determined by the funds each local colonial administration provides.
Created in 2133, ISA Altair and ISA Alpha Centauri were the first commands.
Golden Age[]
With the backing of Earth and no powers to contest them, the ISA entered an age of unprecedented prosperity and peace, with colonial development and trade skyrocketing the ISA economy and fueling near-constant expansion, eventually allowing over 500 well-established colonies to fall under the ISA banner. Earth prospered enormously with their docile puppet-nation firmly under their control, leading all of humanity onto a path of rapid technological advancement and democracy. The ISA was not without flaws, however. Corruption became a festering wound all across the higher ups within the government, especially among the leaders on Vekta and Gyre. Exploiting the powerless Helghan corporation and suppressing outer colonies perceived as unruly and threatening the status quo earned the ISA enemies over time, and indirectly lead to the birth of their eventual destruction: the Helghast species.
Second Extrasolar War and Decline[]
Over a century after the ISA took control of Vekta, the new Helghast Army, attacked Vekta, and the ISA became the victim of one of the greatest military campaigns in human history. Unbeknownst to the ISA, they had two traitors in their ranks, General Stuart Adams and General Stratson, who deactivated the ISA defense platform, allowing the Helghast ships to break through their lines and into Vekta. Thousands of Helghast soldiers, vengeful and filled with national pride, conquer half of Vekta within hours, easily overwhelming the ill prepared ISA troops. The next morning, the Helghast attack Vekta City, their capital. The ISA's RRF (Rapid Reaction Force), led by Captain Templar and now prepared for the Helghast attack, clash on the streets of Vekta City with the Helghast 3rd Army, led by Joseph Lente.
Many lives on both sides are lost in the ensuing conflict, as the RRF put up a strong, but doomed defense of the city. After nearly two years, Templar's unit finally falls to the 3rd army, after two years of urban fighting. Following the fall of Vekta City, the Battles of Diortem and Adenshin ensue, with the force in Diortem being led by Colonel Kratek and Metrac and Cobar in Adenshin. Both battles are won by the Helghast, as the ISA are forced back to make a last stand at Rayhoven Air Base, which has a large stockpile of ISA munitions and nuclear weaponry. The ISA drive Lente's forces back, giving the ISA a large boost in morale.
After the failure of the UCN attack, the ISA, knowing they are beyond any external help, launch the nuclear weapon, codenamed Red Dust on Diortem. The nuclear weapon destroyed most of Diortem, taking away a large portion of manpower from the Helghast, although Helghast troops outside of the blast radius do not suffer any damage from the radiation due to their time in Helghan. Visari takes advantage of this and broadcasts a massive propaganda campaign, as the citizens lose trust in their government. Eventually, the Helghast take over Vekta, while the ISA commanders and members of the government, escape using the few ISA ships they have left, along with any survivors they could find.
Twenty years of war consume the system in its entirety, with the Helghast unrelenting until they take every planet, every moon and every asteroid within the system, leading to the ISA's full retreat from the system. Losing their leading worlds, the backing of Earth and subsequent rebellions all across the middle and outer colonies fractured and destroyed the remaining ISA leadership, with the nation as a whole splintering and falling apart as a result. the ISA is no more.
Successor States[]
Most ISA planets joined together under the Confederation of Conjoined Colonies, establishing a nation that was governed by neary identical ideals and culture as the former ISA. The C.C.C. was widely considered the legitimate successor to the Alliance, and this brought several unaffiliated worlds under its banner whilst also forming a permanent rift between the new nation and the resurgent Helghast.
Behind the scenes, however, others were busy at work to continue the true ISA's existence. Controlling the Confederation from behind the scenes, this organization, formed from all remaining ISA generals, governers and scientists all across the galaxy, worked to ensure their nations eventual return would go unimpeded and that the foes who devastated their home would be punished for their ungratefulness. The incredibly few in number who knew of this organizations existence only knew of their name: the Colonial Defense Initiative.