October, 2057: a date to forever guide the course of history. GigaCorp's MIDAS Project, at first kept largely secret, discovers the element He³.

Similar events in the past have likewise centered around man's need, real or perceived, for mineral wealth. Consider the Californian gold rush of the 1850's. Or the oil shortages of the 1970's and early 2000's. The lengths mankind has gone to achieve this wealth have often resulted in violent war; at the same time, more technological achievements are reached in order to win these wars than are developed in times of peace.

With He³, mankind has proven himself no different. A rich and promising fuel - able to antiquate fossil fuels as well as provide a stable alternative to Uranium 235 - the discovery seemed to herald a new golden age. And for a short while, the advance of technology necessary to process He³ did promote a renaissance of stellar exploration - and colonization. First on Luna, then on Mars, even to barren rocks of the asteroid belt; to prospect He³, mankind would overcome any limit.

Ironically, it was this very colonization in pursuit of He³ that saved man from total destruction - a destruction brought about from greed surrounding the resource's pursuit.

March 13, 2140: Earth is destroyed by a run-away asteroid, sent to a Lunar station for He³ extraction. Sabotage is suspected.

As every faction relies on He³ resources, every pilot is, to some extent, fighting for rights to He³. But just what is this element? How did it develop in the system? Before answering these questions, let's first take a brief look back at the history surrounding Helium-3:

• May 2046: Emmet Longstreet, still with GigaCorp, launches the MIDAS Project - the construction of a series of unmanned, highly sophisticated scouting vessels, with the stated aim of finding other Sol system resources that could be of “immeasurable value to the people of the Earth.”
• October, 2057: After MIDAS Project drones collect “anomalous samples” from the asteroid belt, He³ is discovered in the samples. Preliminary experiments show that He³ would make a promising fuel for fusion reactors.
• 2062: Reacting to the discovery of near-Earth sources of He³, corporations begin searching for other such sources. Luna territory is suddenly of immense value, and many competing firms begin large-scale strip-mining and He³ harvesting operations.
• 2070: Lunar He³ reserves severely depleted; extraction of any material from the super-dense subsurface are highly inefficient and He³ concentrations are exhausted more rapidly than previously projected.
• April, 2071: The Siege of Leonov begins. A moderate He³ concentration is detected by two teams of prospectors and both lay claim to the deposit, in the Leonov crater.
• November, 2071: The Siege of Leonov ends, as Iron Coalition forces strike without warning and vent spare atmosphere from key corporate staging areas within the crater. Both sides are ordered to pull out or suffocate, and promptly comply.
• March, 2074: The Mass Conveyor system goes on-line. Asteroids are “captured” by mining ships, which then accelerate them along a ballistic trajectory. Once a certain velocity is reached, the asteroid is released, to continue on course towards “catching” stations on Luna. There, the He³ deposits are extracted.
• March, 2080: The first “portable” refinery stations go on-line in the asteroid field.
• 2113: The corporations begin shutting down facilities on Luna, instead moving their operations closer to the asteroid belt.
• December, 2131: GigaCorp scouts discover He³ on the other side of the Aleph.

A lot of interest in a little isotope. So, what does He³ provide? For starters, He³ fuels all fusion-powered ships in operation. And while not all ship drives utilize a fusion thruster, they are far more popular than the liquid-fuel rockets requiring heavy, and volatile, tanks. As important as the fusion drive is to many pilots, equally important is the weapon system connected to this drive. All energy weapons likewise depend on He³, from sniper lasers and “DEW”-style Directed Energy Weapons, to even more powerful Conductive Energy Generator “Lightening Bolt” and Gamma-ray/Microwave Emitter “Angel Gun” systems. Of course, a ship's energy shield is likewise linked to the fusion drive.

Essential stuff, it would certainly seem, for just about every pilot out there. But just what is He³?

A radioactive Helium isotope, found only in crystal form. And, apparently, found only on stellar bodies possessing no or low atmospheric density. Of course, every schoolchild knows this about He³ - but not the why's behind.

Dr. Sylwia Kujawa, prominent GigaCorp science executive, had this to say:

“Helium-3 exists as an extremely “light” element. In the formation of the Earth, any concentrations would have vented into space and been lost as the atmosphere developed. It is doubtful that deposits ever existed anywhere in the crust; certainly, when the original periodic table of elements was constructed, scientists had never heard of this element and so never thought to create a category for this unknown Helium isotope. When scientists later expanded the table to include both theoretical as well as man-made isotopes, they confined them to the heavier categories of radioactive solids. No one thought there could be a new, lightweight radioactive gas until He³'s discovery in space.

“So why only on asteroids and smaller stellar bodies? Most likely, it is these bodies' lack of atmosphere that allowed for the collection of He³. When He³ vented into space, clouds of the element passed over such bodies to collect there.”

Yet, some scientists like to point to the obvious paradox inherent to He³ - the element does not exist on stellar bodies large enough to support an atmosphere; at the same time, He³ appears to collect on smaller bodies after having first vented from larger bodies. So the paradox - then where does the element first vent from? Did the same beings who created the Alephs also “dust” the system with He³ as well? Or, as some believe, did the isotope really vent from the sun, emitted as a form of solar radiation?

“It is most likely that for the time being, we can only reach the conclusion that He³ originally drifted through the Alephs and into our system. This theory, of course, sheds no light on the prime origins of He³, yet it does resolve the paradox of the element's introduction into our system.

“The Alephs themselves are extremely powerful stellar objects. It is possible that He³ drifted through them accidentally, from some unknown sector. It is equally possible that benign particles, when pulled into an Aleph, are released as He³ only as a by-product. This would also work to explain the existence of an element not corresponding to the periodic table as we know it. After all, according to the Rixian Code, several of their species traveling through the Alephs evolved into a higher order. Simple Helium, also passing through, may have similarly evolved.”