Editing Beyond the Zone (section)

='''Situation.'''= 
Thirty years ago , The Solomani Confederation came crashing down under the attack of a sentient cybernetic AI program.
It spread  at the speed of the Jump ships that tried to warn of its approach, only to find they carried the infection outward as fast as they went.
It devastated Confederation space, turning all automated systems into sentient and largely destructive beings.  

The Imperium (Third Imperium), with a vastly different computing protocol, managed to halt the spread along its borders. So to, did some of the Federations of planets that constitute the Solomani Confederation. 

The Terran Federation managed to stave off the worst of the collapse through a combination of luck and their own highly Imperial-ised computer technology.

Hivers and Aslan had similar success at stopping the spread of the virus at their borders, as did smaller empires with radically different computer protocols.  The outbreak that destroyed Solomani space was contained.  

At great cost, though. The Black Fleets, the Robot Rebellions, the deaths of entire worlds, all of it affected the collective psyche of Imperial citizens. 

The Third Imperium incorporated the Terran Federation as the Terran Autonomous Region at the same time as they declared the Zone.  All shipping in and out of the Zone had to pass rigorous checks for infection and all systems were declared Red Zones. The entire region was placed under Imperial Martial Law for nearly twenty years. No private shipping could leave the Zone for Imperial space.

Smuggling, piracy and petty empire building have been the way in the Zone, along with two appallingly brutal virus outbreaks that have ravaged subsectors.  The Imperium has kept the border tight. So has the TAR, but they have run a variety of covert missions along the Zone over the years and their intelligence network is well established.

In the last ten years, however, the planet by planet struggle to free systems in the Zone has paid off here and there.  There are places the TAR are welcome and their antiviral electronics are famous.

The Imperium is considering formal explorations beyond the Zone within the next four years. The TAR has been given leave to ignore this time limit with regard to exploring and contacting old Solomani worlds near their border and perhaps integrating them into the TAR.