By 2040, the looming threat of Mayday Omega and the Six Wars had left much of the world in desperate shape, with many dead and even more hopeless for the future. To bring some sort of sense to the chaos, several powerful organizations came together on Earth to form what was intended to be a temporary organization. The original goal of this group was to preserve the future of mankind in as many ways as possible, including 1) building underground bunkers to give those left behind the best chances at survival; 2) getting humans into space aboard space stations orbiting the Earth; and 3) safeguarding the sum of human knowledge by launching satellites containing our knowledge (data drives, plant seeds, materials, etc.) into different directions in space.
They chose the name B.E.S.T. (Board of Earth-Space Transition) to symbolize their goal of getting not just people, but humankind, off the doomed Earth and into space where it might survive forever, even if only in the preservation of its cumulative knowledge. They campaigned tirelessly to promote the idea that humanity could work together to help as many survive as possible, eventually reaching the masses through media saturation. Their messages of hope were carefully crafted to be realistic, never trying to claim that they could save all of humanity and always being practical and truthful that a great many people would die in the Mayday Omega disaster.
Now, nearly 60 years later, B.E.S.T. has evolved from an Earth based transition-agency into a large, well-funded governmental space organization. They are known as being a soft power that defends day-to-day human rights, helps platform labor unions, and has increasing operational control over inter-station trade routes. Their stated goal is to help shape and defend the new human way of life in the face of rapidly increasing technological and societal change. Perhaps their biggest accomplishment has been getting the corporations to follow basic rules regarding best practices in shipping and delivery.
B.E.S.T. has offices in most major space stations but are primarily known for their own station, High Frontier—a giant ringed space habitat with offices, public meeting halls, and leisure domes known for their beautiful vegetation and serene forest recreations. Visits to High Frontier are encouraged for the general public for all questions about political happenings, and the new generation of youth already have stories about field trips there to see how government works.
Many criticize them for having an agenda of profiteering from their humanitarian efforts and tax collection, with many of the sitting board members being among the wealthiest citizens in orbit. As with any governmental body, people also complain that they tax too highly, are slow to respond, are bloated with bureaucracy, and are all thieves and liars. However, perhaps the largest critique of B.E.S.T. is that they've failed to keep the greedy corporations in check. Many believe that B.E.S.T. takes bribes and kickbacks from the corporations and allows them to get away with egregious violations, usually around labor and workers' rights.
Still, the public, by and large, support B.E.S.T. in their efforts, though grumble much about their methodology. The corporations publicly show support and vocalize their cooperation, but it's well known that they would love to abolish the organization entirely if they could. B.E.S.T.'s current goals of building an armed peacekeeping force and getting their own Hunter to compete in the Survivors' War is especially challenged and frowned upon by the corporations, who believe they can regulate themselves well enough and that becoming an entity with such power compromises B.E.S.T.'s legitimacy as a neutral force.
