As far as anyone knew, this was the third galactic war.  The seeds of war were sewn many generations ago in this galaxy, before any living memory.  Most stations kept track of time in terms of the solar systems they consumed for resources, and in terms of the age of their station.  The time spent around one solar system was known by most as an 'cycle'.  The process by which one station grew massize enough to split into 2 stations was known as an 'iteration'.  Most stations lasted for 3-4 cycles.  Most of the time stations flirted with the borders of a solar system: picking up what resources they could without being predictable enough to be shot out of the sky.

Notes:
One cycle = 80 to 300 years depending on the resources availible