Mars was the second planet gentlemen ventured to in their ætherial journeys. The first British æthernauts to make planet fall on Mars discovered the vestiges of a once great race of aliens. The Martians were at the point of first contact existing upon the ruins of a prior technologically prominent generation that had declined into a sort of barbaric decay. Soon all manner of British civilization started to descend like much needed rain. The backward heathens had the potential to become, not grand but perhaps, humble subjects of Queen Victoria. Although the majority of Martians desired the civility the British offered there were malcontents who had been earlier corrupted by inferior influences that opposed the crown. The Klinkons as they called themselves resisted any incursion of the British onto Mars. At first the Klinkons fought a guerrilla war, raiding, sabotaging and disrupting British operations and colonization. When the forces of her majesty were on the threshold of eliminating the rebels altogether, they disappeared only to resurface on Phobos. The Klinkons with the help of anarchical humans had reactivated the ancient Martian spaceport and established a Kilinkon stronghold. Humanity's first interplanetary war was declared against the Klinkons after they had massacred all aboard the Space Station Hornsby in orbit around Mars. The war continued for 8 years until the treaty of Syrtis Major, which recognized an independent Klinkon state and allowed equal access to the Martian home world. Britain unsupported by the Ukp established a base on Deimos to watch the Klinkons.
To date Britain has established numerous independent ventures on Mars. Agriculture, trade and industrialism between Britain and Mars is strong but the willful independence and ingratitude toward the crown has strained the relationship.