Emancipation and Exodus

Excerpt from Commonwealth: The Transformation and the Expansion of the United States by Gladwell Perez, published 2576, Montesquieu Hive, Mars

The British crisis had already sent shockwaves through the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as the United States and European Union began seeing things in increasingly different manners. The only wild card in the organization was the United States' northern neighbor: the Dominion of Canada.

Throughout the early 21st century the government in Ottawa, the country's capital city in the province of Ontario, was more than willing to follow Washington's line in their efforts to counter terrorism, helping invade Afghanistan and later fighting dutifully alongside the Americans and Europeans in the Middle East and Pacific. The growing consensus benefitted Canada much as it did the rest of the Western, pro-American world; economic exploitation of Africa and the Middle East was made much easier with the conclusion of the Third World War.

As the European Union continued to federalize with the signing of the Treaty of Verona in 2034, Canada sought to increase its ties with the newly formed superstate (although not immediately seen as such then). This was all done within the good graces of the United States; Washington, Ottawa, and Brussels all acted in concord, invading third world countries that were deemed insufficiently integrated into the world system.

The British crisis, however, made the gaping maw between the two powers on each side of the Atlantic ever more apparent. Canada was forced to choose a side in the crisis. Prime Minister Eleanor Camden, a member of the Conservative Party, spoke in favor of supporting the Americans and therefore British independence. However, many members of the more leftist parties were in favor of the European Union; supporting the United States, they thought, would be a betrayal of the social democracy that Canada and Europe had jointly been pioneering along with Australia and New Zealand. The Conservative majority, however, had legislated that the Canadians would back Britain; the rest of the Commonwealth generally followed.

This alliance with the United States generally continued in the 2050s, but the split between the Americans and the Europeans drove Canada into a very unique situations. At summits of NATO, the European and American delegations would often be at each other's throats regarding intervention, especially regarding the expansion of the Union State of Sovereign Republics and the proper means of containing Mihaylov and his expansion. Further division came from the possibility of intervention in North Africa, an area that the European Parliament declared to be "within Europe's sphere of influence not subject to American intervention."

[...]

The American intervention in Kosovo in 2091 and its subsequent outpouring of violence into Albania sent bad omens into political elites in Ottawa. What the United States had done was seen as anathema to general rules of international conduct, but the terror of the Serbian invasion of Kosovo could not be denied. The New Democratic Party Prime Minister Victor Montrose, in a speech to a joint session of Parliament, declared Canadian neutrality in this 'pressing crisis.'


Excerpt from Commonwealth: The Transformation and the Expansion of the United States by Gladwell Perez, published 2576, Montesquieu Hive, Mars

As the war raged on in the Balkans, the area of North America was under a less intense but ever so present state of conflict. As the war began, the US Navy scrambled in the Caribbean to take control of whatever islands that the European Union had in its possession. Navy SEALs disabled anything of value on Bermuda, and a token occupational force came to ensure a form of order on the islands.

In the Caribbean, US Naval forces based in Puerto Rico and Cuba mobilized to take command of the British, Dutch, and French territories in the Windward and Leeward Antilles that often had token deployments of military forces on them. Similarly, the various Commonwealth realms that remained in the region were forced to abandon the British monarchy as even their nominal sovereigns and instead form republics that would be willing to toe the Washington line. The Caribbean states that were countries were also made to play host to American military forces; the island of Trinidad was made a landing point for the invasion of French Guiana, which was important not only due to its proximity to the United States, but also its spaceport for the European Space Agency and the fully integrated European military.

Due to the influence Washington had in its capital city, Mexico was more than willing to contribute forces to the war; it was Mexican, not American, forces that occupied Belize with the intention of keeping it away from European hands; Mexican naval forces also made sure Clipperton island was in the hands of the American-led coalition.

Canada had been assumed to be an American lackey by Washington for the past several decades; Prime Minister Montrose's declaration of neutrality had made the US government deeply suspicious of Ottawa's intentions. With the outbreak of war and the satellite scans that revealed heavy air traffic from Scotland and Norway to Iceland and Greenland, President Bannard ordered his opposite number in Ottawa to have his country's military invade Greenland and St. Pierre and Miquelon (the former nominally Danish, the latter nominally French) to prevent them from being used as bases to attack the United States. Montrose, in an passionately worded speech to the House of Commons, said that

"Canada is not the lapdog of the United States, and we will do Washington's bidding no longer. After all, it was at Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane our brave fathers fought and died for Canadian independence from the United States. We will not take orders from Bannard or from anyone else."

It was shortly after that refusal that Montrose secretly met with European ambassador Annette Leclerc about the possibility of stationing European air forces on Nova Scotia.



Excerpt from Commonwealth: The Transformation and the Expansion of the United States by Gladwell Perez, published 2576, Montesquieu Hive, Mars

The decision to deploy European bombers in Nova Scotia was not something of great significance militarily; European carriers, as well as Greenland and Iceland could have easily served the same purpose. Indeed, if launched from Britain, Ireland, or Galicia, the longest-range of bombers could have reached the United States. The real value of the deployment in Nova Scotia was the propaganda aspect; that there would be a stronghold of enemy power in Canada that would effectively counter the United States. Canada, maintained the European generalship, would be protected from their southern neighbor.

In something eerily reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis, American satellite scans showed the construction of airbases and missile bases on Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, and Prince Edward Island. Since the United States and the European Union were at war, the immediate response by Congress was to declare war on Canada and launch bombing raids on Nova Scotia. The hosting of European weaponry on Canadian soil was, in the view of Washington, was all the casus belli that the United States needed.

US military forces subsequently began invading Canada through three separate areas: in the Pacific Northwest of the US into the Vancouver metropolitan area, into the Maritimes from Maine, and up southern Ontario from Michigan with the targets of Toronto and Ottawa, the latter the capital of the country and the former its largest city. Further bombing raids were conducted over Montreal, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Regina; these were accomplished both with orbital weaponry and with conventional bombers (it is to be noted that despite the superiority of the former in regards of targeting range, they were still much more expensive than the latter; thusly they were kept in service, and still are in some cases, albeit most are now dual space and air capable). The city of Moncton, New Brunswick was damaged to the point that it was declared destroyed by 2093; this targeting was due to the large Canadian emplacements that were stationed in the city with the intention of protecting Nova Scotia.

In late 2093 the Americans, desperately wanting an end to the Canadian front, shocked the world by using the Freedom Star program en masse on a city even larger than Moncton: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, a city on the plains of western Canada. This was the first deployment of orbital weaponry to devastate a city, made ever more worrisome by the fact that they were completely non-nuclear (even though the United States kept its nuclear arsenal in operational status). This was done in conjunction with the destruction of many European Union satellites for military and civilian usage; large swathes of Europe were rendered without internet.

In April 2094, Toronto fell to the Americans after a long slog through Ontario and Quebec. By July, Ottawa fell, and the Canadian government withdrew to Quebec City on the St. Lawrence River. By then, the war in Europe had been all but lost by the Americans, for the European Union's forces were marching into Belgrade and Pristina to restore their form of order. The Canadians, outgunned, were helpless as the United States and the European Union signed the Treaty of Buenos Aires, which stopped hostilities in Europe, made international law of Europe's exclusive right to intervene on that continent, and ceded all European holdings in the Americas to the United States.

In late 2093 American, Canadian, and other North American countries' delegates met at the city of Nagoya to mediate the end of their war (this was concurrent with the Treaty of Taichung, which ended the war in the Pacific). At this treaty, recognizing the military supremacy of the Americans as well as their noted presence in Canada, allowed Canada to become several territories of the United States. Canadian sovereignty was ended that day.


Excerpt from Commonwealth: The Transformation and the Expansion of the United States by Gladwell Perez, published 2576, Montesquieu Hive, Mars
The need for integration of the entire North American landmass was something considered since a century before the conclusion of the Trans-Atlantic War; even during that war, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) still technically applied between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The idea of continental integration seemed likely, even desirable; since Canada was in the hands of the United States, as well as a good portion of the Caribbean and Central America, the process, Bannard insisted, could and should go on.

The power of the European Union, and the implicit power of the Union State of Sovereign Republics, showed the power of supranational unions that would span a continent if not greater. The United States matched the description reasonably well, but did not have the access to resources it needed in the other countries of the continent. Therefore, many in Washington felt, the North American continent had to be integrated.

In the town of Rugby, North Dakota, a town of little repute beyond the fact that it is the geographic center of the North American continent, the leaders of the various nations under the dominance of the United States congregated and negotiated the creation of their own supranational union. From the Congress of Rugby was born the Greater American Commonwealth, the successor to the United States, which, like all the other nations of the Commonwealth, was dissolved. In their place, many new regions, spanning the old boundaries with the intention of dissolving individual nationalism, were created for the purpose of regional government, replacing American and Mexican states and Canadian provinces. For example, the Northeastern Region of the new Commonwealth stretched from Vermont and Connecticut to Nova Scotia, with the parts of Quebec east of the St. Lawrence River hacked off the newly incorporated Eastern Shield Region (composed of Southeastern Ontario, most of Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador) and given to the Northeastern region.

The capital of the Commonwealth was to be Washington, D.C., just as the United States did. A new building was to be constructed to house the larger legislature needed for the new Commonwealth; this was done by moving several lower-income households in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington into the lesser settled parts of Maryland. This was completed by 2098, and the new legislature convened that year with the new President of the Commonwealth, Guillermo Sanchez, the president of Mexico during the Trans-Atlantic War, taking residence in the White House.

The inauguration of the new Congress was something taken with great fanfare; the national heroes of all the member nations, Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Hidalgo, MacDonald, San Marti, and many others were immortalized with statues in the great hall of the structure. The entire Congress, elected from throughout North America as well as the Pacific Region (Hawaii, eastern Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas) and the former French Guiana, convened in the main debate chambers and were addressed by Bannard and Sanchez, the former who said the following:

"The establishment of our Commonwealth is one in which the principles of civil liberty have been forever enshrined."


Excerpt from The Pacific Commonwealth: a Comprehensive History by Jerome Maskelony, published 2589, Pendleton, New Jefferson

The Trans-Atlantic War was, in essence, a civil war among the Western European culturally dominant states of Earth; their strategic objectives that had aligned for over a century but that had ceased to exist by the beginning of the war. The European Union found its own sphere of influence too necessary for its own internal security for the United States to support it unquestioningly.

Hence was the involvement of Australia and New Zealand in the war. They were strikingly similar to Canada in the reasons for their participation. They had both refused to help the United States take control of various European-controlled islands in the Pacific Ocean, a residue from the age of Imperialism in the 19th century, and thusly had no issue when the Europeans would station air forces on Tahiti or New Caledonia or Pitcairn, which were used to make long distance strikes on Hawaii and the west coast of Mexico.

Prime Minister Jacob Edmondson of Australia had also allowed the European Union to establish a radar base in Darwin, on the continent's northern coast. This would be used for the theoretical orbital strike on Honolulu or Merida, or on American naval ships in that ocean. When the United States found out about this, they saw it much like their opportunities in Canada and the Caribbean; they were to reshape the Pacific in their own image, as inappropriate and imperialistic as it may be. The declaration of war actually came in 2092.

The bulk of the American Navy was deployed in the Caribbean, but their Pacific Fleet was still capable of fighting in that ocean. Invasions were undertaken of the Cook Islands, Niue, and French Polynesia, and the long range bombers based in Hawaii made ample targets of Port Moresby, Darwin, and Brisbane; orbital strikes, as a method of intimidation, were made on Sydney, Canberra, Auckland, and Wellington.

The forces of the Australians and New Zealanders were integrated into a unified force poetically known as ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) after their joint participation in the First World War, whose actions at places like Gallipoli had secured their place in the nationalism of both countries. ANZAC would fight an island-hopping campaign through the Solomon Islands and later the rest of the Pacific, countering the Americans with the intention of driving them out of that ocean and eventually an attack on Hawaii.



Excerpt from The Pacific Commonwealth: a Comprehensive History by Jerome Maskelony, published 2589, Pendleton, New Jefferson

The treaty of Taichung (located in a city on Taiwan, officially neutral in the Trans-Atlantic War but a longstanding American ally since the Third World War with the country's liberation from an invasion by the People's Republic of China) ended the war in humiliating defeat for the Australians and New Zealanders. ANZAC had been defeated, bogged down in Micronesia and the Solomon Islands before the cataclysmic final stand at the Battle of Port Moresby.

Orbital strikes, something that the United States had and ANZAC did not have access to, were a decisive factor in the war, arguably winning the war for the Americans, even without the significant American naval power had in bases such as American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas. The treaty of Taichung promised that, so long as the ANZAC nations were in concord with the North American power (now the Greater American Commonwealth), there would be no aggressive actions, orbital strikes included, on Australian or New Zealand territory.

However, the treaty of Taichung was also quite harsh to the losers of the Pacific front; more military facilities for the American armed forces were to be established in both countries, as well as throughout the Pacific. New Zealand's famed nuclear weapons ban was to be repealed for the stationing of nuclear submarines and airplanes in that country, to the chagrin of large portions of the citizenry. Furthermore, the two countries would be, along with the United States, the nexus of a new ANZUS agreement, which would, despite the name of its predecessor, would expand across the Pacific.

The Central Intelligence Agency and other clandestine American agencies began working to subvert democracy in Canberra and Wellington and thereby elect pro-American parliaments to both countries. By 2096 both parliaments were firmly under the command of American government and corporate interests. In Perth, Western Australia, the Australian Army, operating on orders from Washington, violently quelled a peaceful protest against the newly constructed satellite facility constructed in the outback of that state, leaving thirty-six dead and forty-eight wounded.


Excerpt from The Pacific Commonwealth: a Comprehensive History by Jerome Maskelony, published 2589, Pendleton, New Jefferson

Integration of the Pacific region was pushed heavily by the American government in Washington; the GAC was eagerly looking for allies that could be used against a confrontation with the Union State, with the European Union, or against the burgeoning People's Republic of China (later East Asia). The Pacific was the best suited ally for the latter that was not wracked by internal conflict, such as Indonesia, or leaning towards another consensus, such as India.

The GAC saw the Pacific as an opportunity to create another part of the world in its own image; Washington could essentially play God with the fate of the people of that Ocean. Orders went out from Washington via encrypted channels to Canberra and to Wellington to begin fomenting the public opinion in favor of the creation of a Pacific Commonwealth. Funding went to the Australian Integrationist Party and the New Zealand Integrationist Party, political organizations dedicated to the creation of such an organization founded by distinctly pro-American individuals.

The funding provided covertly from the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency was indeed helpful to their cause. Various elections on the local level in the major cities of the two countries made cross-Tasman integration seem ever more desirable.

[...]

By 2096 the consensus in both Canberra and Wellington was to create a new union of the countries, with the possibility of expanding to Papua New Guinea and the various other small island countries in the Ocean itself. By 2098 the Treaty of Alice Springs was signed by Australia and New Zealand, formally integrating the two countries into a single Pacific Commonwealth, with a President and Parliament closely emulating the Washington model.

Federalization occurred rapidly, but not to the dramatic extent of the creation of the American experiment. There was no widespread reorganization of subdivisions; however, the Australian Northern Territory was finally made a state, and the various islands officially considered territories of the two countries (Tokelau, the Cook Islands, Pitcairn, Christmas Island, Norfolk Island, the Cocos Islands, etc.) were organized into larger administrative districts. Civil services, such as welfare, pensions, and the military were integrated into unified services.



Excerpt from The Early Martian Republic: a New History by Newton Tucci, published 2578, Tupelo, New Jefferson

The International Community, or so they called themselves, refused to give the early Free Republic any sense of legitimacy. China and Russia both clandestinely erased any official records of any citizens that made the journey; the United States and European Union were content with ignoring them. Embassies offered by the State Department of the new country were rebuked and expelled from the capitals of the major powers. The American Secretary of State in 2068, Fiona Spitalney, said in a press conference that

"The vagabonds calling themselves the Free Republic of Mars have no right to statehood; they have our citizens hostage and are providing safe haven to criminals. This administration will not recognize them."

Some international organizations recognized the early Mars; the first to recognize Martian existence was of all organizations the World Trade Organization, followed by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. The reasons for the early financial recognition of Mars was due to the country's basis for many cryptocurrencies that were beginning to phase out the original paper currencies; cryptocurrency stakeholders, fearful of seizure of their assets by Earth governments, had escaped to Mars where their property rights were to be respected. The IMF, a United Nations subsidiary organization, had paved the way for other UN bodies to give Mars a seat; the International Civic Aviation Organization, the International Trade Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, and, in an act that confused some, the International Maritime Organization. The latter had added Mars to its membership on the basis that:

"The future of human trade and travel will be in outer space; thusly there must be a regulatory body to govern such travel. It will play a role similar to the seas in past centuries, and it would only be logical of our organization to take command of the space lanes."

This was followed by the renaming of the organization to the International Maritime and Astrogational Organization to govern both forms of travel. by 2069 the IMAO had accepted its first Martian ambassador, Hartley St. Clair, who presented his credentials to Organization Secretary-General Zhou Ma, who accepted them.



Excerpt from The Early Martian Republic: a New History by Newton Tucci, published 2578, Tupelo, New Jefferson

In 2070 as the Urumqi Winter Olympics winded down, President Lata Tamboli sent her Secretary of State Felicia Lambeth to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, to discuss, in the words of Tamboli's speech to the Republic's assembly, the "joining of the international community via sport, and through there make an understanding that Mars is composed of humans like any other."

International Olympic Committee Chairman Hans Weierbach himself had no issue with the inclusion of Mars; he accepted Lambeth's credentials as he would any other government. Martian Historian Yulia Tikhonova wrote that the "IOC's recognition was perhaps worth more than those little Pacific nations or Switzerland in bringing Mars to international acceptance." Upon discussion with the Committee itself, however, those from the United States, various Earth nations, China, Russia, Canada, and Australia had all spoken against recognizing a "terrorist state" which harbored many international criminals. In a very slim vote, thankfully for Lambeth, who gave an impassioned speech to defend Martian sovereignty, the IOC voted to acknowledge Mars as a competitor in the 2072 Irbil Olympic Games.

Other works can give a better understanding of the situation in Kurdistan during that time period, but suffice to say the decision by the IOC to allow Mars to compete was detrimental to the situation on the ground. The withdrawal of American forces from most of its neighbors left semi-agreeable states surrounding it, with only the remnant of Iran and Turkey being openly hostile to it. However, American foreign policy forbade any support to any nation or organization that allowed any sort of recognition to the Free Republic of Mars.

As the controversy brewed the various legislatures of the multitude of nations of Earth brooded over what action to take. In 2071, the United States declared that they would boycott the 2072 Olympic Games in Irbil in a swipe towards the Kurdish government which, against American orders, refused to deny Martian athletes and officials entry to their country. China, the Union State, and the multitude of countries of the European Union followed suit, as did the allies of the major powers.

This formed something of a perfect storm in 2072; the Kurdish government had put so many billions of dollars into improving Irbil for a swarm of athletes and tourists and media figures that now were not going to arrive, for new decrees from Earth nations had forbade live coverage of the games. There would be no profit; the Kurdish government was crippled. Wide dissatisfaction with the Kurdish government led to a massive protest that turned violent when they torched the Presidential palace; the country subsequently erupted into civil war in which the Turkish intervened.

Excerpt from the Martian Free Press, 2595

AIC, ALLIES TO BOYCOTT INTERSTELLAR OLYMPICS
AT RISK OF CANCELLING WHOLE COMPETITION

MARIAHILF, NEW INNSBRUCK - Interstellar Olympic Committee (IOC) Chairwoman Tatiana Petroskey has made the announcement that all the nations of the Alliance of Independent Colonies (AIC) have withdrawn from the New Innsbruck Olympics scheduled for next year on the titular planet due to the current hostilities between the UFMR and AIC in the Periphery. Allies of the AIC, such as New Jefferson, have also withdrawn their athletes.

The New Innsbruck Olympics Chief Director Heidi Buchheim has condemned the "base partisanship" of the AIC's various Olympic committees for "brazenly following Trundholm's line" in their positions towards the UFMR and the Orion League. "The Olympics are designed to be a force for interstellar peace, not the partisanship that has wracked the galaxy for so long."

Withdrawals were decided often by national legislatures throughout the AIC; Novaya Russia, Asgard, the Quetzal, Sandhurst, and the Interstellar Ummah all had majorities refuse to allow their athletes to compete in the competition. Melvin Lindelhof, a member of the Asgard Thing, condemned the UFMR and the Orion League for "base aggression towards the AIC and towards the people of the Martian Periphery" and lambasted the Orion League in particular for being "Mars' own harem of whores that will do its very bidding no matter how depraved."

Embargoes have already been placed on the major nations of the Orion League by the AIC and the Orion League has corresponded with similar sanctions. Analysts at the Martian Center for Foreign Policy, based in Jefferson Hive, have said that this is part of a widening trend of near-total war between the UFMR and the AIC; analyst Gunter McCormick has said that "the Fourth Galactic War is now reaching the totality of the Second and Third."

Neutral and Orion League nations have already committed their athletes to the competition, but due to the sheer amount of worlds that belong to AIC member nations puts the competition in serious jeopardy. Director Buchheim has announced that the AIC withdrawal could force a "mass cancellation." This would not be unprecedented; similar cancellations occurred during the Second and Third Galactic Wars.


Excerpt from a report from General Gersham Choudry, Commander of all ILF deployments on Earth, to Martian Secretary of Defense Yulia Mammadova, 2595

What our current scans and monitors of all Earth telecommunications indicate is something that could be seen as deeply distressing. Yes, the press has been saying that it looks like that there is going to be another war on Earth; usually that is something we don't particularly care about. However monitoring of their communications and military movements has revealed suspicious activity around the four remaining spaceports: Fredericksburg, Civitavecchia, Kamenka, and Gaocheng.

[...]

In PREA large amounts of troops and vehicles have been detected moving from Korea, Japan, and the northeastern parts of China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) towards Hebei province, location of the Gaocheng spaceport. Military bases throughout Hebei, theoretically for the defense of the area from looters and hooligans in the decaying ruins of the Beijing-Tianjin metropolitan area, have been fortified substantially. Air patrols have been seen throughout the country, with numbers of squadrons rising on a monthly basis.

[...]

What is particularly concerning regarding the mobilization of the Earth powers is what appears to be new innovations in their military, beyond what is permitted by the Treaty of Luna. In the Union State, airplanes have been flying faster and with more ability to evade radar detection, even with the sheer advantage that the ILF currently possesses. In far Eastern Russia, testing sites for aircraft on the Kamchatka peninsula have been buzzing with activity that has been hard to monitor by both orbital and planetside facilities.

Communications, too, have seemed to go dark. What had once been a flurry of information travelling the world has now gone almost silent; Xiamen, Smolensk, Karlsruhe, and Sioux Falls are all now almost silent on designated military channels. Spies in their military working for the ILF have had hard times getting into meetings; security has been increased substantially, and Martian diplomats are now meeting with Earth governments throughout the planet with noticeably less frequency.

[...]

In the four major powers there is increased movement towards isolated areas. In the European Union troops have been funneled to the wastes of northern Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Finland in this case - Svalbard seems in particular desirable to them). The purpose of these is unknown and the lack of detectable radio communication is distressing and perplexing to our analysts. It is unknown what is in these transports; all monitored vehicles have shown them to be no more than supplies.

[...]

This suspicious activity is not restricted to the four major powers; Brazil, Argentina, Gran Colombia, the Pacific Commonwealth, Iran, Turkey, and many states of the Indian Subcontinent have been mobilizing and have had convoys abuzz throughout their nations, some of them going into major states.

Transmission fragments picked up by deep space surveillance arrays on Gardner's World - by Blackjack555

[SSV Fairfax, merchant vessel]
...Captain's Log, June 23, 2595, EST: So far, nothing unusual's happened this trip. So much for the "dangerous anomalies" in this sector. There's been a few strange transmissions, but not much else. Still, the crew's on edge. Well, maybe it's time to tell them about the bonus the company offered if we made this run. I have to say, that was a weird one, like they had to bribe captains to make this trip, but money's tight and that bonus would buy us all a weekend of R&R on a resort world and a systems overhaul for the ship besides...

...Captain's Log, July 3, 2595, EST: Something's wrong with those survivors we picked up off the Wayfarer. They were fine when we picked them up, but now they've all fallen ill. Our doc says he's got them in quarantine, so it should be fine. I'll be glad when we get done with this run. The crew are still on edge, and I can't blame them...

...Captain's Log, July 9, 2595, EST: Last night a power fluctuation caused one of the quarantine fields to go down for a few minutes. Now a few of the crew are sick. It seems pretty minor, just some coughing and congestion. Doc put them on low-grade bacteriophages and antivirals...

...Captain's Log, July 12, 2595, EST: Two of the infected crewmen are showing signs of improvement. Doc's efforts are paying off. Unfortunately, the third and four other crewmen are sick. The third of the original lot fell into some kind of coma. Meanwhile, there's something decidedly, unusual?, about the crew of that wrecked ship. They're all comatose as well, and they seem to be deteriorating in the fields, but they aren't showing any signs of distress. I'm sending out a biological distress beacon and continuing. We're only two days from Gardner's World...

Automated beacon from SSV Fairfax received July 13, 2595, EST: This is an automated onboard distress beacon. Warning. Navigational hazard. Shipboard systems online. Crew unresponsive. Warning. Biological contaminant onboard. Warning. Life support system deteriorating. (Message repeats).

Excerpt from a closed channel discussion between senior Martian government and military officials, July 2595

[Present are Admiral Oswald Janacek of the ILF, Goodwin Albro of the Department of State, Ludmila Hasegawa of the Bureau of Civic Order, Weston Seyoum of the Department of Commerce, and Olivia Jovanovic of the Department of Defense]

JANACEK: I have called this meeting to discuss what, exactly, the Department of Commerce is doing with these suspicious ships going to Earth nations. Mr. Seyoum, would you be so kind as to elaborate?

SEYOUM: What convoys? I have not been informed of any convoys heading to Earth nations. [he searches via Department databases] I cannot find any record of ships heading to Earth, and no deals.

JANACEK: I have been receiving multiple requests to let multiple ships bearing Commerce signatures to descend towards the few Earth spaceports. So far as we can tell, these are accurate; communications with your department have confirmed their accuracy.

SEYOUM: As I said, Admiral, there are no recorded shipments to the Earth nations. Mr. Albro, has the State Department been doing negotiations with the Earth Powers?

ALBRO: Not beyond the usual. [he searches through databases] There is nothing for you in there. Admiral Janacek, what has been these ships' stated reasons?

HASEGAWA: Could it be subversive?

JANACEK: They claim that they are negotiating 'export treaties' with Earth nations.

HASEGAWA: And you saw no need to interrogate them further?

JOVANOVIC: Admiral, this is somewhat disconcerting.

JANACEK: I trusted that these were Commerce Department ships and saw no reason to question at the time; I called this discussion to discuss them, as I was suspicious.

HASEGAWA: Admiral, as Ms. Jovanovic said this is disconcerting. Why would you let them in?

JANACEK: As I said I trust the Commerce Department.

[Seyoum snickers]

JOVANOVIC: Perhaps your trust is misplaced?

SEYOUM: Are you saying my department is subversive?

HASEGAWA: If they're sending in unmarked ships for classified reasons that may well be.

JOVANOVIC: Admiral, how many ships have there been?

JANACEK: [Pauses to search database] As of now sixty two have made their descent and ascent. They have increased substantially in the past week.

JOVANOVIC: Admiral, I would suggest putting your forces on high alert. This is beyond worrisome.

JANACEK: I will confer with General Choudry; he should agree. He has been worried about this too.



Internal memo, Office of Clandestine Services, New Victoria - by Blackjack555

CLASSIFIED TIER 0 ULTRA SECRET
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

Director,
Per your instructions we have investigated further the recent loss of ships along the Sector 6 frontier. A total of 73 ships have disappeared in that region since three months ago. So far, 12 have been located, though if any have been boarded or investigated no record of such exists. All have broadcast automated distress signals including a biological contaminant warning. The rate of disappearance is holding steady. However, of the returned ships, nine have returned in the last month, with five of those returning in the past week.

There is a second pattern as well, and this is the one which my analysts find concerning. Five of the ships lost were independent freighters. The rest were the property of or under contract with one of two shipping conglomerates, Eridani-based Pan-Galactic Transport Incorporated and Terranova-based Warp Speed Shipping. After the first month, independent freighters and other corporations stopped traveling through the region, but PGTI and WSS actually increased their traffic in the area. There are indications that there have been mutinies aboard two of their ships. One of those ships was conclusively destroyed, while the other fled into hyperspace when PGTI mercenaries attempted to reclaim the ship. The crew are believed to be on Teal at the moment. We are attempting to make contact and obtain details of events, but our efforts are being complicated by PGTI's agents, who are obstructing our efforts and attempting to use us to locate the crew themselves. I request authorization to give our field teams full semi-covert tactical freedom to ensure success in this mission.

As to the other business we discussed previously, contingency Eclipse has been put in place for activation at your command. We are in contact with Swordwind elements. Should it become necessary, we are as prepared as is possible, though personally I have no desire to see it activated.

For Queen and Crown,
Wolfsbane


CLASSIFIED TIER 0 ULTRA SECRET
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

Wolfsbane,
You are correct in bringing this pattern to my attention. Though the temptation to dismiss it as coincidence is great, we both know there is no such thing in our business. Your field operatives have my direct approval to proceed with low-visibility tactical operations as they see fit. I have a sinking feeling this mission may be more important than either of us know, far more so than avoiding stepping on the toes of a shipping conglomerate we have no ties with anyway. We will discuss further operations in person when you return. There are questions, especially pertaining to Eclipse and Swordwind, which it would be ill-advised to commit to written record.

For Queen and Crown,
The Director



Excerpt from the Martian Free Press, July 2595

BREAKING: AIC SHIPS OVER NEW HARBIN

NEW HARBIN - Somehow evading defenses established against FTL-enabled ships in the Martian core worlds, an armada of ships of the Alliance of Independent Colonies arrived over New Harbin and have begun shelling the world from orbit.

Immediately, Admiral Dragotin Vukoja has recalled his elite fleet from the periphery (after giving significant training and equipment to local ILF deployments) and returned immediately to the New Harbin System to engage in a defense of the world, where the two forces are currently doing battle; as of this report, the AIC has lost three ships and the ILF has lost one, the F.M.S.S. Jonah Lockhart, in combat. Vukoja currently commands his fleet from his flagship, the F.M.S.S. Claus von Stauffenberg, which is one of the most heavily armed ships in the entire Martian armed forces, with several Weapons of Mass Destruction able to be used if needed (it is to be noted that Vukoja holds the usage of WMDs to be immoral unless absolutely necessary).

The breach of the defenses based in various commonly used military CDD frequencies were breached via unknown methods; the commanders of various anti-FTL blocking infrastructure have been removed from their positions and been moved to various internment locations as punishment for such a grievous failure of defense of the core worlds.

President Dioso has been quiet on the attack, saying that is a "failure of the most heinous degree" by ILF officers and an "act of great arrogance" by the AIC, stressing that the ILF as of yet has not attacked AIC worlds directly, only attempting to reclaim rightful Union worlds. Military analysts not in direct Union service have posited that the ILF is currently undergoing stress due to Vukoja's withdrawal from the Periphery, where AIC, New Jeffersonian, and rebel forces are running amok.


Excerpt from a record from a security camera in a communications room aboard the F.M.S.S. Stanislaw Brzoska, in orbit around Earth in close proximity to the F.M.S.S. Spartacus, the command ship of Admiral Oswald Janacek, supreme naval commander of the Earth blockade forces. There is a window such that the Spartacus is in view, as is Earth.

[Two men, Lieutenant Cyrus Peterson and Ensign Nikola Karadzic, are seen at a console with a keyboard and screen.]


Audio from Console: Requesting communication from the Brzoska. Signature from Fort Amirmoez.

[Peterson authorizes the communication request. On the screen appears a woman in ILF uniform; her nametag identifies her as Lieutenant Mae Ja Hyun.]

Mae: Sirs, Secretary of Defense Mammadova requests information regarding the actions of the Earth militaries. What is new?

Peterson: I cannot tell the Secretary enough, there is nothing going on down there that Janacek deems important enough to tell you. Yes, it is suspicious but it hasn't gone anywhere.

Mae: Your insubordination is not necessary, Lieutenant. The Secretary demands information; I am only her conduit.

[Karadzic types furiously on his keyboard, focusing on something other than the communique.]

Mae: Ensign, what is occupying you?

Karadzic: This isn't good. I don't know what this is but it is not good. Peterson, Mae, one of you, check if there are any launches permitted from Earth. Something returning, because I was told of nothing.

Peterson: Do you detect some kind of projectile, Ensign?

Karadzic: Yes, I do, Lieutenant. There's some kind of projectile being launched from Siberia, and I have no record of any launch. Check for me, please. I can see it outside the window.

Mae [looks through database]: No, there's nothing scheduled.

Peterson: I'll inform the Spartacus. [begins typing on keyboard]

Karadzic: It's coming towards us at extremely quickly. I don't know what it is.

[The projectile zooms into the field of view provided by the window and collides with the bridge of the Spartacus, exploding in a massive ball of fire.]

Karadzic: Fuck!

Peterson: What is going on, Ensign?

Karadzic: Don't know how else to say this [visibly shaken], but the projectile collided with the Spartacus. It exploded and now the ship has been destroyed.

Peterson: Impossible! [Glances out of the window] My God.

Mae: I'm transmitting this to the General staff now. This can't be good.

[An intercom voice is heard]

Intercom: This is Admiral Dagobert Humphries of the F.M.S.S. Stanislaw Brzoska. The Spartacus has been destroyed by an unknown object that had been launched from Earth. Admiral Janacek and all others aboard are dead. In my position as the second in command of all naval forces over Earth as invested in me by the General Staff on Mars I am assuming command of all ships over Earth effective immediately. All hands on all ships man battle stations immediately. We have detected more projectiles inbound from Earth as we speak. Prepare for combat.

[More projectiles are visible outside the window, coming from Earth. Within moments they are revealed as warships. One passes by the window; an insignia identifying it as belonging to the Union State of Sovereign Republics is visible on the hull. More follow.]

Karadzic: That was a Union State ship! [Getting hysterical] A fucking Union State ship! Earth is attacking!

Peterson: But how? How did they get the capabilities to attack us like this?

[Another Union State ship flies by the window and is destroyed by one of the Brzoska's guns.]

Mae: Does it look like I know? I'm just an adjutant!

[Mae's image fades out and is replaced with that of a man in a grey naval uniform with gold trim]

MAN ON SCREEN: I am Admiral Zang Minsheng of the People's Republic of East Asia's People's Liberation Army Space Force. I speak on behalf of all the nations of Earth in saying that we have had enough of Martian tyranny. Now, we have risen. Your command ship has been destroyed and we are now well on our way to triumph. We do, however owe a lot to some allies of ours.

[Screen segues to an image of a woman in Sandhurst naval uniform]

WOMAN ON SCREEN: I am Admiral Daphne Webster of the Sandhurst Self-Defense Force. As you can see the AIC has been investing heavily in arming Earth in our current war. As you can see, this investment has been successful.

[As Webster continues, a shipboard gun fires upon a Union State ship, sending it crashing into the ship, killing Peterson and Karadzic. Feed ends.]


Excerpt from a Mars Now broadcast, July 2595

[Announcer Hezekiah Youmans is seen at his desk]

Youmans: Good evening, Mars! Firstly I'd like to start off with a word from the Department of Defense. Please welcome Ms. Bogdana Debeljak from the Department.

[Debeljak appears onscreen]

Debeljak: This is simply a statement from Defense Secretary Mammadova; she assures the people of Mars that the current happenings on Earth do not in any way pose a danger to the integrity of our world's people or the war effort in the Periphery. The war will be won, on Earth and on other worlds.

[Debeljak disappears]

Youmans: With that being said, we go to Sardaana Razumovsky on the orbital habitat Lincolnia. [Razumovsky appears onscreen, with a large window in the background showing other orbital habitats and miscellaneous satellites; among them are two defense satellites/]

Razumovsky (to camera operators): Are you sure this is a good idea? Are you certain that there will be no Earth ships attacking us?

Operator: We're certain. Don't ruin it for the audience.

Razumovsky (to audience): Good evening, Mars, and good evening Mr. Youmans! This is Sardaana Razumovsky reporting from Mars orbit. As you can see in the background, there are two defense satellites, the Matthew Harnisch and the Liberator aimed at likely vectors of attack. It's obvious that the brave members of the Interstellar Liberation Fleet will defend us from any monstrous Earthlings that may attack us! [Razumovsky has a worried smile on her face.]

Youmans: Ms. Razumovsky, does the ILF have any ships stationed around Mars right now?

Razumovsky: [somewhat shaken] There is the occasional capital ship around the planet but in all honesty they aren't needed. Mars is safe.

[In the background the two defense satellites begin reorienting their weapons towards the planetary surface.]

Razumovsky: Indeed, Mars is so safe that our satellites would make short work of any potential attack fleet. Thing is though, Earth doesn't have FTL to our knowledge so we're safe.

Youmans [worriedly]: Camera guy on the Lincolnia, zoom in on those two satellites. It looks like they're reorienting.

[The camera zooms in on the defense platforms. The panels concealing the actual cannons have opened, and the satellites are now firing projectiles onto the planet's surface. On the surface, large explosions are seen.]

Razumovsky [looking at the satellites]: Err... What is going on? Why are the defense platforms firing on Mars?

Youmans [now visibly panicked]: Mars Now has received footage from one of our observer satellites. This is happening worldwide.

[New footage is onscreen, taken from aforementioned observer satellite in Mars orbit. Throughout the screen orbital satellites are firing onto Mars; the world is pockmarked with white flashes at impact sites.]

Youmans: We are now receiving reports that the ILF nuclear arsenal around Mars is now targeting various major cities on the planet, although not the Hive Cities themselves. Defense Department estimates state that as many as nine hundred million have been killed in the last five minutes, and many more are to be expected.

Razumovsky: Wh-what? What is going on? Why would the ILF t-target Mars? Mr. Youmans, we're getting some disruption here. Is there something going on at headquarters?

[Both disappear and are replaced with the image of a man in the uniform of the Greater American Commonwealth's space force]

Officer: Good evening, citizens of Mars. My name is Admiral Harold Winklerprins of the Greater American Commonwealth. As you have certainly heard, millions of your fellow Martians are dead, and millions more will die. Our friends in the AIC have been very thorough in their infiltration; they have hacked into ship communications, satellite communications, and now your weapon systems. This is, as you might be able to tell, a form of poetic justice: you are now on the receiving end of what Earth went through several centuries ago, leaving us crippled prisoners of your morally bankrupt Union. Now, with the help of your mortal enemies, the tide has been turned. You are now cowering at the power of your own weapons, as ironic as that is.

Some of you are certainly asking, 'what about the civilians?' I must ask, when did Tsukino care about the civilians on Earth? When did any of your presidents care about the civilians? When did anyone in the ILF care about the civilians? The answer is that they did not, and do not. What about the children? You may ask. To quote someone of similar morals to you butchers, nits make lice. Today, Martian man, woman, and child will burn. Billions of Martians will burn today, and it will be completely justified. This is a holocaust in the original sense: a burnt offering to liberty to ensure that the Union of Free Martian Republics will never again enslave humanity.

[Winklerprins disappears. Outside the Lincolnia, ships begin warping in with the insignias of Earth Powers on them.]

Razumovsky [scared, tears in her eyes]: This can't be happening. They have FTL.

[The ships, most of them with GAC markings, begin firing on an orbital habitat. It is soon destroyed, and the charred remains of metal and human begin drifting into space. More projectiles are fired onto the Lincolnia; these projectiles miss. Panicked crowds begin running onscreen. One man shoves away Razumovsky.]

Running man: Get out of the way, bitch! You're in the way of a bunch of people!

[Razumovsky is soon trampled by fleeing civilians. Worried chatter is heard as the screen is filled with civilians. There is swearing, yelling, and the occasional wail of children. A projectile is seen shattering the window on the Lincolnia. Feed ends.]

Excerpt from a press release from the Allied Forces of Terra (AFT) high command, issued by General Wai Weisheng, September 2595

It is my honor as a representative of all the nations of Earth that took part in this struggle against Mars that today marks the rebirth of a centuries-old organization that had previously been seen as irrelevant but now is of the utmost importance in international relations. For today, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the various nations of the world have reconstituted the United Nations as a single coherent entity.

In light of our victory over the Union of Free Martian Republics, no matter how inappropriate such a name is, there came the need to govern the planet in such a way that would not espouse favoritism to any of the various constituent states of the Alliance that defeated them, along with of course our friends in the Alliance of Independence Colonies. The result, as agreed at Rio de Janeiro, was the recreation of the United Nations, with its meeting center to be in that city.

The occupation of Mars shall be the first preoccupation of the United Nations as we have established it. The entire enterprise has been put under the command of the European Union's Marcius Takacs, one of their highest ranking ship captains who led the capture of Montesquieu Hive. As the commander of the United Nations Occupational Force on Mars, Takacs will oversee the transformation of that planet from the capital of an evil empire to a peaceful world living in harmony with the rest of humanity.

Rebellions are still being put down in the hives; the lower classes of the planet, so long mistreated by the Union government which has so cowardly fled to a far off world, are in their lack of education are still harassing their liberators. Troops from the various Earth nations have been supporting indigenous forces in taking command of the situation, with a Sovereign Republic of Mars being established in the ashes of war. Established by the surviving political dissidents on the planet, its constitution explicitly forbids wars of aggression and commands its public servants act in perpetual cordial relations with the nations of Earth.

And, the question that most of the public has been waiting for, yes, there are reparations incoming from Mars. The Sovereign Republic has of its own free will decided to send large quantities of capital, resources, and manpower to help us join the interstellar community at long last. No longer will we be shackled by Martian overlords. We will have the benefits of three centuries of human progress available to our peoples after so many years of oppression. Earth can now only enter a renaissance.


Excerpt of a speech by Slobodan Carew, president of the Sovereign Republic of Mars, September 2595

It is not for nothing that our new government has been established. We mourn the losses of our brethren in the destruction of so many cities, but we must also celebrate, not merely weep. For our friends and family in these cities were a sacrifice to liberty to ensure that it can continue to thrive.

The Union of Free Martian Republics was too large to be truly democratic. We hardly had a say, and we had more republics than a world usually had, hence more representation in the Assembly. Now, that Assembly has fled to a new world where it may govern tyrannically over whatever poor souls happen to inhabit Mannerheim and the surrounding worlds.

The abuses of the Union government on Mars are clear to us; we lived working pointless jobs with only the barest of government aid to the worst off of society. And, when we dared to object, we were imprisoned and locked away, our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and loved ones sent to die of starvation and neglect. And when the whims of the Assembly deemed it necessary, we were forced into armor, given guns, and thrown onto the frontlines in a distant world fighting those with whom we had no quarrel.

The new government, the Sovereign Republic, of this world has been created in full concord, not in opposition, with our neighbors on Earth. The great flaw of the Free Republic and its successor, the Union, was its steadfast and stubborn opposition to the very idea of Earth sovereignty. Was its shackling of these nations under an orbital stranglehold just in any way? The answer is no. As we starved in the hive cities, Earth starved from lack of exposure to the rest of the galaxy. Now, we, just as Earth, now have access to civilization at large. We have centuries of catching up to do, and we must do so at once.

Within the year, supervised by our friends on Earth, the Sovereign Republic will be engaging in elections within the year. Unlike the old government, this new government is completely in tune with the average Martian citizen and cares for the well being of all the people of our wonderful planet. Within the month, the Sovereign Republic's Militia will be formed and will be accepting recruits to be trained by Earth.

We have upon ourselves a new dawn, a new future that is the anathema of the abuse we suffered under the Union. A future with Earth. A future focused on Martians by Martians for Martians.


Excerpt from a broadcast from Sovereign Martian News, the state-owned news apparatus of the Sovereign Republic of Mars, established with support from the Alliance of Independent Colonies.

[The scene opens on Locke Square where a massive crowd has gathered. A raised flat platform is seen in front of the former Assembly building. The dome on the building has been destroyed in war.]

[The reporter, Valerian Hagistavrou, is seen on the platform along with other members of the press. Troops belonging to the occupying Earth powers have made a pathway amongst the crowd. Sovereign Republic troops line the back. On podium, President Slobodan Carew is seen.]

Hagistavrou: Good Morning, Mars! This is Valerian Hagistavrou reporting from Locke Square! President Carew today is currently speaking about justice and the new Republic! [He gestures to the crowd] As you can see there are several thousand people in Locke Square today, the first time for many as they were too poor to get here otherwise. Let's focus on President Carew; he seems to be saying something interesting.

[Camera refocuses on Carew]

Carew: The oligarchs may call this 'Victor's Justice,' but what kind of justice is sweeter? [Crowd applauds] Is there not justice in ending the lives of those who ended so many more? Is there not justice in avenging the dead poor in the struggle for liberty? [More applause] Now, for the first convicted!

[More applause as a small vehicle pulls up a bound and gagged man on its flatbed. Soldiers keep the crowd back from him. He is brought up to the platform. He is clearly distressed.]

Carew: This man was a tax collector. [Jeers] Quite surprising, that we're on the cusp of the twenty seventh century and we still have physical people going door to door collecting taxes. You'd think that we could do it on the hypernet. But wait! They kept us so damn poor we couldn't afford them! [Laughter] Now, Mr. Tax Collector, whatever the fuck your name is, meet the people you stole from!

[Carew takes the tax collector and throws him into the crowd. The people around him approach him and begin beating him. One member of the crowd has a heavy steel bar, which he uses to smash the tax collector's head in.]

Hagistavrou: It's beautiful, isn't it? Justice is finally being done.

[Another small truck approaches, this time with a man, a woman, and two daughters, one about fourteen and the other around nine. They are brought up to the platform.]

Carew: Do you see this man? This is Mr. Geraldo Plimpton, a member of the Assembly - from Locke Hive, no less! [Jeers] You see him? This man voted to cut welfare! [More, louder jeers] He called us, no, he called you gangsters! [Angry roar from crowd] You hear that? Gangsters! [Even louder roar]

[Carew gazes into the eyes of Plimpton's wife]

Aren't you beautiful? [laughter from crowd. Carew touches her inappropriately. She recoils.] What a damn fine specimen of a trophy wife. Let me guess, Union Financial? Or was it Montesquieu Astronautics that paid for her? [more laughter from crowd. He goes on to the older daughter.]

She looks just like her mother! [He gropes her like he did her mother. More laughter from the crowds.] I can clearly see you fucked your wife just like you fucked us all over, eh, Geraldo? You must have had a hell of a lot of fun doing that in both cases! [raucous laughter from crowds. The youngest daughter is now crying through her gag. Carew moves to the youngest.]

Aww, what is wrong, child? Sad that your life of privilege is over? [He pulls down her gag]

Younger daughter: Daddy! I want to go home!

Carew: Sorry, sweetheart, there is no more home. Your home is destroyed and you are all going to die here today!

Younger daughter: I don't want to die! I don't want mommy and daddy and Marisa to die!

Carew: But you will anyway. Do you see these people out there? [laughter] They all want you dead. [Raucous laughter. The younger daughter begins crying and closing her eyes.]

Look at that! She doesn't like the look of you good people. She doesn't want to see you, just like her parents! She wants nothing to do with any of you! Such a little aristocrat! Now, since we want to be fair, she won't have to see you! Hell, she won't see anything at all now!

[Carew brandishes a knife and gouges both of the younger daughter's eyes out. There are more screams from here and hysterical laughter and applause from the crowd.]

She'll no longer have to see again! Her shrieks are music to my ears, music to Mars' ears! Certainly more musical than that chickenscratch noise you call an anthem, Plimpton!

Speaking of which, I always carry a knife and a gun on me. Living in the depths of the hive cities makes that a very valuable thing to do. It's what happens when you're a gangster, isn't it? [Raucous laughter from the crowd]

It's sweet, isn't it, Plimpton? You now get to meet your constituents in ways that you never ever could. Now, meet them for the last time!

[He throws them all into the crowd. The people around them beat them; within moments, all of their heads have been crushed in. The camera goes back to Hagistavrou]

Hagistavrou: It's a beautiful sight indeed. Revolution has come and justice has been done. And, of course, it wouldn't be fair to go this far without thanking the good people of Earth for letting this happen! After all, they beat the aristocrats offworld! So many new opportunities! I get to be a news anchor, for crying out loud! It's wonderful!


Excerpt from an interview with Novaya Russian General Vladislava Nazarova, a strategic and political advisor for the United Nations Mandate on Mars, held in Naberezhnye Chelny, Union State of Sovereign Republics, Earth.

Reporter: General Nazarova, what is the AIC's and the Mandate's position on the recent mob justice on Mars? Is it considered too much?

Nazarova: The AIC and the Mandate are not immediately concerned with internal Martian politics. The real issues with which we must deal are with the prevention of another armed conflict and the rooting out of Union stragglers in the Sol system.

Reporter: Are you saying that the recent massacres are something that you are willing to ignore?

Nazarova: When you look at the situation you see that the only people being 'massacred' are the ones who were loyal to the old regime. The old government is something that, I have said, we are trying to root out. If the Martian people are willing to take things into their own hands, the United Nations and the Alliance of Independent Colonies sees no reason to stop them from doing so.

Reporter: What is the plan for Martian government? Will they have their own country?

Nazarova: They will have their own government, one that has already been established, along with monitors from the United Nations ensuring that they will not be making warlike moves towards Earth nations or towards nations of inhabited space. However, the current plan also ensures proper conduct by the Sovereign Republic; the supreme judiciary of the Republic will be a court composed of legal appointees chosen by the United Nations. Indeed, most international legal services will be run by United Nations staffers and will be those under their employment.

Reporter: Does the United Nations intend that Mars will be permitted access to the international economy and society that exists beyond the Sol System?

Nazarova: Yes, it will be permitted economic and social contact with other nations of the galaxy. There is no reason to cordon off the remaining people on Mars from humanity; they were not the ones who committed the Union's crimes.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

The Admiral insisted on taking the Claus von Stauffenberg, now painted with Dominion insignia, and commanding an entire fleet, to take control of Chittagong, the Kunming sector's foremost ship manufacturing world and the head of the local ILF until the Ummah occupied it, with rebels supporting them. He had demanded that this world be captured, both because of its proximity to Mannerheim and because of its importance as a shipbuilding world. "After the fall of the Union, there was a great void left," he had insisted to Admiral Yohannes, "and we must fill that void as quickly as possible lest the AIC become the galactic hegemon."

He went in the full military regalia that he wore at the rallies with the Mannerheim citizenry; to this day I suspect that he had people force them to show up. He had perfected the look of a dashing military commander that would save the people; it was in cap and cape and suit and sash he appeared at every occasion. He had told me that he fully intended to hail the Ummah's commander.

He did so once we arrived over Chittagong and destroyed some of their patrol ships. He gave a very cold and deliberate speech once their admiral had responded; I remember it very well.

"My name is Dragotin Vukoja, the Paramount Admiral of the Free Dominion of Mannerheim. You have an hour to vacate this world and allow it to be brought into the Dominion's fold. If you do not do so your fleet will be obliterated."

Their admiral was deeply confused. He had heard the name Vukoja before, certainly, but his change in allegiance was something he had not expected. Their Admiral, I believe his name was Tariq, enquired of us,

"I thought you were a Martian? What is this 'Mannerheim' you speak of?"

"The successor to Mars and its ideals," replied Vukoja. "I am now its supreme leader, the very incarnation of the ideals of the first men and women to set foot on the Red Planet." Never had I seen him so cocky, so arrogant. It must have been the uniform.

"I can tell you are not going to surrender. Why would the ships of the oh so valiant Alliance of Independent Colonies do that? Don't even bluff me." He ended the hailing. He had never denied an attempt to surrender to an enemy fleet. He was becoming so cocky it was amazing.

"Fire the nukes. Let none of them survive. Fleet, pick them off as they try to escape."

Such brutality horrified me. He had never been so quick to use these weapons, even if he was known for eagerness to use them. He did this now that he was in charge of his own fate. He had no more Locke Hive to listen to. He now was the master of the battlespace and he could be as cunning as he pleased, as brutal as he pleased. Sometimes, though, he would want to send a message. The message here was clear. Fear the Dominion, or be destroyed.

Several of their ships were destroyed, approaching I would guess around seventy percent of the fleet. Their command ship was among those that got away.

The Admiral was surprisingly not fuming, as he tended to be when he lost an engagement. He seemed almost happy that there were witnesses. I asked him about it.

"Now," he responded, "the galaxy will know fear."

Field intelligence report, New Jefferson by Blackjack555

Priority Level NON-ACTION IMMEDIATE
Classification Level GOLD 3-CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE, INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION AT DISCRETION OF RECIPIENT
Sender Raven K-5
Destination Fortress in Shadow

Dominion of Mannerheim forces launching major offensives across sector
Admiral Dragotin Vukoja (RepDes TORCHBEARER) personally commanding operations in this theater

TORCHBEARER employing extreme force far exceeding previous ILF operations

TORCHBEARER launching purge of naval personnel. Purge targeting internal corruption and incompetence, but endangers operatives. All internal sources running silent until all clear message received per OPORD 31-65

Projected improvement of between three and ten times efficiency aboard Dominion vessels, similar gains in ground force units

TORCHBEARER willingness to utilize all available weaponry including WMD assets creating significant fear among local governments. Some rogue AIC elements seeking separate peace with TORCHBEARER and Dominion.

Domestic conditions within Dominion significantly improved over previous government. Corruption and arbitrary law enforcement sharply decreased, standard of living increased. Tensions exploited in operation FLINTLOCK no longer viable for internal disruption.

Close sources indicate likely intimate personal relationship between TORCHBEARER and personal aide Katharina Gramatikova (RepDes TINDER) provides relief from psychological stress and trauma felt by TORCHBEARER. TINDER is not viable intelligence asset, according to source. However, TINDER may provide useful channel for negotiations or possibly a means of manipulating TORCHBEARER, further observation required.

Use of TINDER to influence TORCHBEARER provides potential opportunity for cooperation with Dominion. TORCHBEARER presently avoids engagement with

Fleet assets, unknown whether due to diplomatic intentions or lack of confidence in Dominion ability to engage and defeat Fleet in major engagements (Preliminary tactical data and ForCorrelRep appended for analysis).

Unidentified biological agent (RepDes ANDROMEDA) continuing to spread. Contact lost with several minor colonies, no assets in place on those worlds to determine fate as yet. Attempts to obtain sample for analysis so far unsuccessful. RepDes chosen based on opinion of FORCON personnel regarding origin of pathogen.

Dominion proving far less susceptible to plague than AIC or independent worlds, believed due to unified and rapid response, containment, and treatment. If ANDROMEDA continues to spread at present rate, recommend approaching Dominion to cooperate in sector response before AIC.

Excerpt from the New Jeffersonian Herald, March 2596

AIC INVADES FUJAIRAH
FIRST NEUTRAL WORLD INVADED

FUJAIRAH - Forces of the Alliance of Independent Colonies, recently reorganized into a single force from many national forces, have recently commenced their invasion of Fujairah, a small world, formerly a member of the Union of Free Martian Republics, related to what has been deemed "an affront to AIC diplomatic efforts."

Last week, the new AIC ambassador (as foreign diplomacy is now something handled by the Executive Council on the capital world of Trundholm in the Asgard Protectorate), Felicia Al-Qasimi, was run over by an automated truck ostensibly bringing materials to a local construction site on the world's capital city. Fujairah officials have blamed faulty control of the truck for the accident, for which they have apologized profusely; they cast further blame upon the outdated equipment that the Union of Free Martian Republics had given them before the conclusion of the Fourth Galactic War.

However, negotiations between the AIC and Fujairah have been tense regarding the possibility of AIC management of minerals underneath the world's surface. Fujairah government officials have refused to allow AIC corporations to take control of the mineral deposits; the newly drawn up constitution of the world forbids foreign investment in the world's commodities. These minerals, important in the construction of Fujika-Tomkins drive engines among other things have been proposed by many skeptics as underlying reasons for the AIC invasion.

AIC forces have already seized the major cities and orbital facilities of the world and have established their own government in an outlying city far from the capital. The force is led by Admiral Vincent Lindstrom, who is currently overseeing the occupation and the war waged against the loyalist government.

International reactions have been condemnatory when they have been vocalized at all; New Jeffersonian President Monae Dubroff have condemned "blatant aggression" by the AIC, calling it a "disgusting act of hypocrisy given the recent war that has ended." Similar statements have come from neutral worlds and from New Valais; notably, the Free Dominion of Mannerheim has been silent on the issue.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

At one point I had to deliver the Admiral some kind of intelligence briefing, I don't remember what. It wasn't all that important to the war effort, but he had to see it nonetheless. I gave it to him, he reviewed it. I waited there for any request of his.

It ended and he asked me one small question, "I trust you have heard of what is happening on Fujairah?"

"Yes, yes I am aware of the AIC invasion," I replied.

"Katharina," he enquired, "does this surprise you?" He looked at me piercingly, directly in the eyes.

"I'm not sure, honestly. They've made it very clear that they want to bring peace to the former Union."

"They're doing the very same thing that the Union did when it was at its most imperialistic," he said. "Blatant invasion in the name of resources and of influence. It is what states do."

It was clear to me that this was a continuation of the thread of conversation we had had over some world, I can't remember which, in which he threw the slur "Roddenberry" at me. "Would you say it is not a human thing, Katharina?" he asked me.

"I would say that it has an unfortunate tendency to happen over the course of human history."

"It is not just an unfortunate tendency," he said, "it is human nature. Humans want power, and will organize and compromise to get it. Mars fell first and foremost to its desire for power."

"Then why did you serve it? Then why do you try to emulate it with the Dominion?" I asked him.

"Because I believe in what I suspect what the founders of Mars wanted, that Mars would serve to save humanity from itself. Unfortunately, their democratic ideals were ones that lead only to mob rule than to oligarchy based off of apathy. Better to remove the pretense of democracy than to dissemble about it."

"This is coming from the butcher of several worlds?" I asked him, somewhat indignantly.

"You need to save people from themselves," he said didactically, pacing around the room. "To do so, you need to apply the carrot and the stick in equal measure. You scare them into following your lead and then you make them happy by showing how wonderful your lead is."

He continued, "there is a methodology behind all of this, Katharina. You must be good to those that you rule and coax those not under you to under you via kindness, not the sword. The AIC is making the latter mistake as we see it. I cannot foresee them lasting for very long."


Excerpt from the New Jeffersonian Herald, March 2596

AIC BEGINS REGIME CHANGE ON ONE OF ITS OWN

CAUCAIA - The Alliance of Independent Colonies has, in a blatant affront to its name, invaded the world of Caucaia, a sparsely populated republic located on the world of the same name, which had refused to commit war materiel to the invasion of Fujairah.

President Gabriel Macedo of Caucaia refused to commit his nation's forces to the invasion of Fujairah, deeming it, along with the entirety of the nation's Congress, to be an "Imperialist action" along the lines of what the Union of Free Martian Republics, and now the Free Dominion of Mannerheim, commonly do. "We will not support any form of foreign imperialism, especially against innocent nations of this nature," said Macedo in a speech in the world's capital of Praia do Futuro.

Immediately after this declaration, Director-General of the Alliance Orlando Zurita ordered the AIC's armed forces to enforce "regime change" in the name of the "popular sovereignty" of the people of Caucaia. The AIC government on Trundholm has been strident in asserting a 92% approval rating for the war on Fujairah; it is noted that very little in the way of real polling information can be found by the Herald's research staff. Nevertheless, the entire operation is considered an act of liberation by Trundholm and the Executive Council.

Forces under the command of Admiral Fillip Ulitsky have began landing on Caucaia and have already arrested Macedo. In their place, a military government run by Trundholm-appointed officials is to govern the country until the world "has been made safe for democracy." The military government has been insistent on the restriction of civil liberties, which are deemed "nonessential" in a time of rebellion.

Much like the war on Fujairah, the invasion of Caucaia has been condemned throughout the galaxy. President Monae Dubroff has made condemnatory remarks, as have the foreign ministers of various neutral nations, New Valais included. Similar to Fujairah, Mannerheim has been silent.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

Fujairah and Caucaia had been great points of contention among the Admiral's inner circle; it was expected since the beginning of the Martian collapse that the AIC would begin to grow more imperialistic much as Mars had, indulging in its own greed, but it came to be much sooner than the Admiral had expected. Their alliance was now the new power of the galaxy and we had to deal with it, and not exactly from a position of strength.

The Admiral was very insistent on neutrality in this conflict. "We cannot allow them to think we are weak. By saying something and doing nothing, we give off an aura of submissiveness. I would rather keep them on their toes and have them think we are plotting something." I had no doubt that the Admiral was plotting something, but he would take me there for those meetings.

Many of the inner circle wanted a firm denunciation of the AIC; Admiral Zlotnick in particular demanded it. "Do you want us to look weak, Admiral?" he had asked quite indignantly. "I serve you by negotiating an end to the last war, and now we let this new war go on without saying anything? Do you expect the alliance with the AIC to last?"

"No, I don't," said Vukoja. "But I do know that we do not quite have the strength needed to combat them. We are the obvious enemy, the real threat to their existence. New Jefferson is strong, yes, but they do not have a truly powerful military. They are mercenaries and shock troops, not a body that can take and hold entire sectors. They are the best of the galaxy but there are very few that can be described as the best. Hence, we are the second power in the galaxy. Interfering with AIC business in this manner will only open us up towards another eventual war. We cannot afford that now."

Zlotnick was stubborn. "But the neutral nations that emerged out of the former Periphery will be looking either toward Trundholm or towards us. Either way they cannot be allowed to fall into Zurita's fold."

"They won't. They are too threatened by the interventionism of the AIC Executive Council that they will at most remain neutral. You see, they don't like either of us," he maintained. "We are both at our core militaristic oligarchies. However, ours is to protect humanity from itself. Theirs is run on blatant opportunism. This distinction is not easily gleaned by backwater governors turned national leaders; we must allow such a distinction to be made naturally."

He was very insistent that the AIC should be allowed to show its true colors, and he thought that Fujairah and Caucaia were perfect examples of such a phenomenon. He thought that such a self-interested oligarchy would only rip itself apart, much like Mars had done. "The conditions within the AIC are even more prone to civil war than the former UFMR," he had said, pointing to Sandhurst. "Within two decades we will see another war. And then we will be the most powerful state in the galaxy. It is all a waiting game."


Excerpt from an article in the Mannerheim Sentinel, the planetary newspaper of Mannerheim proper, by Maeda Toshiko, published 2596

Recent news from the Sovereign Republic of Mars, the current government of the world that once ruled billions of souls, has shown that the planet's treatment of minorities is still disgustingly unfair. The South Slavic minority on the planet has continued to suffer foul mistreatment by the Sovereign Republic, which was already bad under the UFMR.

The South Slavic minority on Mars has persisted there for half a millennium; the origins of the unique culture of these people stems from their common status as refugees in from the Trans-Atlantic War between the United States (the predecessor to the Greater American Commonwealth of our era) and the European Union in the 2090s. The nations of Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia were among the most hard hit by the war, as it was the main battleground between the two superstates. The Free Republic of Mars in its benevolence mercifully extended offers of citizenship to refugees; they came in abundance via the spaceport in Switzerland.

They were not the only refugees; there were many from Canada as well. However, the Canadians integrated themselves into the greater Martian society; the South Slavs insisted on their traditional values, their unique cultural mores that were distinct from the rest. Their different language from the majority of Mars set them apart; as the centuries went on and on their very pale skin made them immediately recognizable on the streets of the major hive cities (the various races of Earth mingled profusely in the first three centuries of Mars' settlement; during all subsequent centuries they had mixed to the point that any difference was irrelevant; a light brown, as we know most Martians to have nowadays, would become the standard). They became the outcasts of Mars. They were too poor to afford to move to the new colonies, and so they remained trapped on Mars to be a lower class.

The Sovereign Republic claims to support freedom and democracy for all of its citizens, but it continues to neglect the South Slavic minority. When the riots began as the Union government fled to Mannerheim, the rabble that the AIC touts as "the voice of the people realized" went into South Slavic neighborhoods and went on a reign of rape, murder, and plundering that exterminated several villages of these poor minorities. Of course there were several South Slavs in the mob, but a racial component cannot be denied.

Even now, as their president has one of their names, Slobodan, the oppression continues. Their army regularly loots minority neighborhoods in the name of their ideals; studies have shown that South Slav neighborhoods are targeted more so than others for "reconstruction tithes," while allowing the majority Martians to continue their relatively privileged lives. Shootings by police and military (not as if there is much difference between the two on Mars nowadays) of civilians of South Slavic ethnicity are common; there are protests on their world, but the military is more than willing to bring about massacres.

And yet the AIC calls these people noble, human, democratic. These are nothing more than murderers and racists given unrestricted power over a minority. They are not even pawns in the great game of astropolitics; they are pawns of pawns, the servants of the Earth Powers who themselves serve the AIC. With Fujairah and Caucaia, the hypocrisy of their system is broken open and visible to all.


Excerpt from a transcript of a meeting between Guillermo Reyes, Alliance of Independent Colonies Chairman of the Economic Committee, and Shaaheen Baddour, Chief Executive Officer of the Ummah Mineral Conglomerate, the largest resource extraction firm operating within the AIC.

Baddour: I must know, Mr. Reyes, when will Fujairah be pacified? There is only so much time we can wait before considering willing contracts on the various lesser worlds in the former Periphery more appealing than gold locked in a box with no known key.

Reyes: The pacification is going splendidly, Mr. Baddour; within the month it should be ours and the resources yours.

Baddour: I want it done quickly. The galaxy knows about the relations between Trundholm and my corporation, and many, many worlds have turned away from us after Fujairah, and even more after Caucaia. Do you have any idea at all how worrisome this is for us? Do you have any knowledge of how crucial these minerals on Fujairah are, not just for money itself, but for corporate goodwill?

Reyes: I understand completely. However there are only so many things that you can do to stamp out a rebellion. Your scouts on the world have been very pleased with what they have seen, as I'm certain you're aware; I have seen them in reports from the military who found them of interest to the general situation.

Baddour: Of course, of course. However, do be aware that we funded your candidacy back on the Quetzal, and have done so for a long, long time. We gave you your home on Trundholm and your fancy automated cars for the city. We can take those away, you are aware, aren't you?

Reyes: Yes, Mr. Baddour. But do not try anything fishy; I have the power of the Commercial Regulatory Agency at my disposal. After all, I am the head of the Economic committee.

Baddour: And I am the CEO of the largest and most influential mineral company in the AIC.

Reyes: Union Financial has been very interested in opening up commercial ties with the AIC government; lo and behold they now have an office on Trundholm. How times change, don't they?

Baddour: You even acknowledge that Union Financial is here, you lose your cars, your house, your ships, your wife, your mistresses, everything. Everything. Do not disappoint me, Mr. Reyes. There is a lot of money on the line.

Reyes: And a lot more than that, Mr. Baddour.



Excerpt from an editorial in the New Jeffersonian Herald by Luis Antonov, May 2596

I grew up under a starving local government in the periphery of the Union of Free Martian Republics. I have written extensively on the expansion of humanity into the Orion arm. I have attempted to understand, in depth, the nuances and the grand ideas of the age of colonization and expansion of the Union of Free Martian Republics and its allies, as well as the rise of the AIC, and to a lesser degree New Jefferson.

There are many eras that call to mind other eras, and at times there are moments that could define the coming era. Now, we are at one of the turning points of history. We are at a time when real freedom and democracy, not the lies of the UFMR, could become predominant in our galaxy. Or, we can let authoritarian powers no better than the Union continue to herd the human species in that direction.

There are three major powers in our galaxy as of this moment: the Alliance of Independent Colonies (a series of oxymorons for their name), the Free Dominion of Mannerheim (only containing one lie within its names), and the New Jefferson Confederation (not nearly as dishonest as the other two in terms of nomenclature). The first two are authoritarian oligarchies who want nothing less than power; the latter is a democracy, flawed as it may be, and the only one so democratic with such influence on the galactic stage.

What needs to be understood is that this is an opportune moment for New Jefferson to break its traditional isolationism and serve as the beacon of hope to the downtrodden people of the galaxy, of the former periphery, of the former Union. There are strongmen and strongwomen on these worlds, often former Union governors, that are more than willing to act in a heavy-handed manner. There are also revolutionary leaders who have found the taste of power to be one that they quite enjoy. There is the distinct possibility for more oppressive government on these worlds; they have known nothing else for the past few centuries and so democracy will not likely take root naturally.

This is where President Dubroff and the rest of her government must step in. We must take the lead in establishing democratic traditions in the new nations that have emerged from the Union's corpse. Democracy is the first and foremost bulwark against oppression; it affords accountability and the ability to enact change without resorting to violence. There is no such thing in the authoritarian states like the Dominion or the AIC.

New Jefferson has the military to enforce this and the commitment to democracy that can protect this. If we are to remain cooped up in our turtle shell for the next few decades, the next century will be one of authoritarianism and oppression, no different from the last few. I implore the government to seriously consider outreach programs to newly independent worlds.



Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

It was not long after Fujairah and Caucaia did the Admiral receive a somewhat puzzling communication. It used a signature that belonged to the UFMR's government echelons and before its collapse usually signaled that the bureaucracy governing the Union had lost faith in your enterprise. Its usage after the collapse seemed deeply puzzling.

We opened up the communication and found a man who looked like the stereotype of the Martian bureaucrat: tanned brown skin, jet black hair, and a uniform that seemed right out of their propaganda flicks. He had the arrogance to stare Vukoja right in the eye and not afford him the luxury of addressing a head of state and government.

"Admiral Vukoja of the Interstellar Liberation Fleet," he said, savoring the anachronism, "this is Ishmael de la Roca, President of the Union of Free Martian Republics. You are ordered to stand down and assume service of yourself and your forces to the government of the Union."

The name de la Roca seemed familiar. I had heard the name involved in Union government business but never to any real importance. He was another voice in the morass of the bureaucracy.

The Admiral just looked at him, perplexedly. He then burst out laughing.

"Have you been asleep for the past year? The Union is dead! The ILF is dead! What gives you the authority to order me around like some kind of peon?"

de la Roca seemed offended. "The Presidency of the Union fell to me as per the order of succession as defined in the Constitution of the Union. I was previously the Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Navigation, and Exploration; the rest of the chain has died due to extenuating circumstances."

"Of course I would know that," spat the Admiral. "I killed a good deal of them."

"You swore an oath to obey the civilian leadership of the Union, and so you must do so now," insisted de la Roca. I noticed he was fairly short; he must have had one hell of a Napoleon complex.

The Admiral laughed uproariously. "I have a fleet and an army. If you have either of those, they will not compare with mine." He snickered. "Where do you make your "Union?"

"The Union of Free Martian Republics has relocated to the world of Otsu in the Grimmelbein Sector. Several other worlds around it have sworn loyalty to our government, and we are currently massing forces to retake Mars proper. We need your assistance."

The Admiral laughed even more. "We have peace with the AIC. That system is theirs now no matter how much we wish it may be otherwise. I must honor that agreement."

"You are an illegitimate state," insisted de la Roca. "You must obey my instructions."

"Who recognizes you beyond other corrupt governors?"

"Several minor independent worlds have already handed over Martian diplomatic personnel after our requests."

"You have no authority over the Dominion, the rightful successor to the Union," spat the Admiral. "Know your place." With that, he ended the communication.



Excerpt from an article in the New Jeffersonian Herald by Yukuan Geisel, published June 2596

PROFILE: ISHMAEL DE LA ROCA

Ishmael de la Roca is the galaxy's newest polarizing figure, claiming to represent the Union of Free Martian Republics despite that polity's collapse in the last year. Operating from the world of Otsu, de la Roca, assuming the mantle of President of the Martian Union, is now calling for a "great crusade" to retake the Sol system in the name of the Union's founding ideals.

de la Roca was born on Terranova, and became interested in navigation at an early age. He was average in his academics, but was accepted into the Martian National University on that world, no doubt aided by his background in a planetary elite family descended from settlers from the European Union. There he studied commerce and transportation, eventually gaining a position in the Republic of Terranova's Department of Transportation. He worked there for several years before the election of Lazaro Cheung to the Martian Presidency; Cheung appointed Erica Park to the position of Secretary of Transportation, Commerce, and Navigation. She subsequently appointed de la Roca as her deputy secretary after hearing of his impressive work in managing shipping to and from Terranova.

The fall of the Union had forced the government of the galaxy-spanning empire to flee from Mars proper; most had made their way to Mannerheim, where they were executed by the forces that would become the core of the Dominion. However, many low-ranking members of the bureaucracy were left on Mars to die; de la Roca was not among them. Rather, de la Roca was on the distant world of Fuenlabrada, assisting in an audit of the world's shipping manifest records regarding the transportation of illegal substances.

With the death of the Martian leadership on Mannerheim and Vukoja's assumption of the leadership of the Dominion, the remaining ILF and Peacekeeper forces that refused to accept his claim that he was the rightful successor to the Union government attempted to coalesce around a leader. The labyrinthine laws regarding the succession of the Union's presidency allowed for not only cabinet level appointments, but deputy leaders of departments to rise to the office of president should catastrophe occur. Since the Union has de facto ceased to exist, catastrophe is considered sufficient.

The various generals and admirals of the ILF rallied around de la Roca, offering him their ships as he was, in their view, the rightful Martian president. Understanding this, de la Roca moved all forces to the world of Otsu, a noted luxury world for the Union's elite, not unlike New Babelsberg, which was a particular favorite of the deputy secretary. Using his armada, he was able to secure the loyalty of surrounding systems, including Fuenlabrada.

de la Roca has been very vocal in his assertion that the Union still exists, and that he is the rightful president. "I have no reason to lie, for the Union never died; it only was attacked from within." Confirming this, he has attempted to achieve diplomatic recognition from New Valais, New Jefferson, and the Alliance of Independent Colonies; none have been successful. Minor worlds, usually those independent before the fall of the Union, have accepted his credentials and have handed over Martian consular personnel to be brought to Otsu for their rehabilitation.



Excerpt from the New Valaisian Herald, July 21st, 2596

AIC, NEW JEFFERSON, NEW VALAIS REPRESENTED AT MANNERHEIM EXODUS DAY PARADE

KOLLAA, MANNERHEIM - In what appears to be an acknowledgement of the cementation of the postwar order, President Monae Dubroff of New Jefferson, Director-General Orlando Zurita, and President of the Federal Council Jerome Wenger, as well as leaders from AIC constituent states, have attended the grand military parade in Mannerheim's capital city of Kollaa on the invitation of Paramount Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, in celebration of the anniversary of the foundation of the Free Republic of Mars.

The celebration of this holiday marks the ascension of the Dominion as the rightful successor of the Union of Free Martian Republics; this day, the Union's former national day, now has that role among the Dominion. Even if the new flags with torches on them fly instead of the Martian dove over the streets of this world, it is very clear that they are trying to legitimize themselves by exploiting the legacy of the Free Republic. Along the streets were projectors of the founders of Mars, including famous ones such as Rigby and Tamboli, and other Martian leaders from their early days, plus many generals and admirals that had served admirably in wars and in invasions. There were very few politicians from the last century; they were, in the views of the leaders of the Dominion, led to the Union's collapse.

It may be odd to some, seeing portraits of Rigby next to a flag that was not his, but this is a calculated effort by the Dominion; they want the legitimacy that the Union had, and is doubted in the minds of a large but decreasing group. This legitimacy is recognized in most major capitals nowadays; the leaders of New Jefferson, the AIC, and New Valais all stood beside Vukoja as he reviewed the troops marching, the vehicles driving, and the ships flying by the Dominion's capital building. There were even ships and troops from these nations; the AIC made a statement by having ships that fought at the Battle of Sandhurst, commanded by Admiral Tariq, the victor of the second battle of Chittagong, as part of the contribution to the parade.

This parade comes with the backdrop of the remnants of the UFMR under Ishmael de la Roca insisting that the Dominion is illegitimate, and that he is the rightful successor to now-deceased Union president Carlton Dioso, who assumed office after the assassination of Lazaro Cheung. de la Roca is held to be irrelevant to most issues in the interstellar arena but has been a persistent thorn in the side of many foreign ministries and state departments.

Interestingly, Slobodan Carew of the Sovereign Republic of Mars, as well as the leaders of the four major powers on Earth, plus some minor Earth nations, attended the parade and contributed detachments to the lineup of soldiers and ships. This has been seen by many as a form of reconciliation between the Dominion on one hand and the pro-AIC powers on Earth on the other hand; indeed, Vukoja was seen shaking hands with Carew and with Earth leaders, albeit with a somewhat sullen look on his face.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

I knew the Admiral like martial music; he had gained an appreciation for it in the military academies that he had attended, marching in Exodus Day and other holiday parades on various worlds of the Union, at one point even being reviewed by Presidents and members of the Assembly. As I stood by him on the grand promenade of the Dominion's capital at Kollaa (hastily constructed as an expansion to the old republic legislative building to give a sense of grandeur that a government of the Dominion's nature most desperately needed) I could hear the military bands playing upbeat marching tunes, as the troops of the various Dominion worlds made their display to the nations of the galaxy.

He had detailed his reasons for appropriating the old Martian national holiday; he had believed that "the people need heroes in these miserable times; the old ones will do, for their successors' ineptitude does not detract from their own brilliance." The great pictures of the founders of Mars dotted the facades of the buildings on Mannerheim's Simo Hayha Avenue, and the occasional dove flag could be seen; nevertheless the torch flag, our new flag, was dominant.

There I was able to meet the leaders of other nations of the galaxy; Wenger of New Valais seemed very quiet, very shy; he saluted his nation's troops at the parade but said little else beyond diplomatic pleasantries, preferring to keep to the company of his wife and one of his generals. Dubroff of New Jefferson was more outgoing; she and the Admiral got along quite well; they had quite a lively conversation about the end of the war as well as the structure of both their militaries, in addition to a trade deal being negotiated. It was fascinating, to say the least, to hear them talk. The Admiral had spoken highly of New Jefferson before and now that he was in the presence of their highest ranking leader he was quite happy indeed.

Zurita was colder but talkative. They talked mostly about the war, particularly the phase when we destroyed Sandhurst and its allies. It was a conversation that I do not remember much, for I did not want to hear it; the murder of millions was something I did not want to celebrate, and so I excused myself, conversing with the children of the Novaya Russian President instead. They were the only really happy people at the parade; the rest instead had an arrogant feeling of triumph that colored the whole day.

Perhaps the most odious was Slobodan Carew, the President of the Sovereign Republic of Mars. He and Vukoja clearly despised one another, but they carried on diplomatic banter, mostly about de la Roca and how little he mattered. He gave off a very corrupt, very unkempt aura to his surroundings; I caught him leering at me multiple times, as well as the older daughter, I would guess about fourteen years old, of the Novaya Russian President, Grachyova. He had an unkempt beard and ruffled hair that made him look very underclass; this was not surprising for he had been a ghetto dweller in the Martian hive cities only a year ago; his understanding of the morals of what proclaimed itself to be high society were somewhat lacking.

The leaders of the Earth Powers there, Galland of the GAC, Gmyrin of the USSR, Hao of the PREA, Cosmatos of the EU, Taplin of the Pacific Commonwealth, Tavares of Brazil, and a few others from nations that did not seem important enough to be here but were here anyway. They all had bizarre accents, or bizarre to me, at least; being from humanity's homeworld, our accents, not theirs, were the odd ones; they were more faithful to the original pronunciation than ours. Among the entourage of Cosmatos were some Bulgarians, my ancestry, and some Serbs, the Admiral's ancestry; we both tried speaking our native languages, and they understood us with some difficulty.

Excerpt from an intelligence Q&A with the AIC Strategic Planning Committee - by Blackjack555

(Fifteen Strategic Planning Committee members sit in a luxurious briefing room. At the front of the room, an AIC Department of Strategic Intelligence officer stands in front of a massive holographic display. Though the chamber is three kilometers underground, a display covering one wall shows a live view from the top of the AIC's Independence Tower, looking out over the capitol world below.)

MAJOR GENERAL BRUDER: Colonel Meyers, your report states that New Jefferson's conquest would require a military force almost as large as that required to take on the Dominion of Mannerheim.

COLONEL MEYERS: That is correct.

GENERAL TOUSSAINT: Ridiculous! There is no way we could require that much force. It is simply impossible! Such nonsense! These projections call for more force just to invade Midgard than I brought to the entire Sector 9 campaign!

MAJOR GENERAL BRUDER: Now, Jacques, the DSI has more information than we do. Let the man explain.

COLONEL MEYERS: Thank you, General. There are four core difficulties with invading the Confederacy. The first is their defensive advantage. If you look at the display, you will see there is only one way into their core systems. There is a sphere of dense nebulae and dust clouds surrounding them; our scientists believe a sort of micro-galaxy initially formed there, then collapsed. This would explain the prevalence of rare elements in their asteroid belts. Only one small region is regularly possible to traverse without assistance from their own navigation beacons and sensor grid, and for obvious reasons we would not have that. They have fortified that entry point system very heavily, both along the ecliptic and above and below it. Reliable intelligence on their defensive emplacements is extremely difficult to come by. Even our agents, despite notionally being allies, cannot gain access, and the EID and IID have made being a spy there too dangerous to be able to obtain many sources, even if the people were not so loyal to their government that they would rather shoot our agents than turn traitor. However, from what we know, there are multiple layers of heavy anti-ship railgun platforms and hypervelocity missile batteries, supported by graser and maser projectors, a large defensive fleet, and strike fighter bases throughout the system. Though no other system is as well-defended, they construct defenses on most planets under their control capable of engaging our fleet from beyond our own range.

ADMIRAL TARIQ: Surely, this must cost their economy horrifically. How do they accomplish this, without bankrupting themselves?

COLONEL MEYERS: That is the second problem with fighting the Confederacy. While they control nothing we would recognize as a Forge World, their methods of exploiting asteroids and deep space resources are unmatched. They use fusion-pumped centrifugal furnaces to separate the ore rapidly, then feed it to immense nannite-assisted particle jet assemblers. The end products are produced rapidly, with virtually zero waste, while the waste heat of the furnace system is fed into the thermal pylons that operate the rest of the facility. They have a vast array of these systems throughout their asteroid belts and have developed some means, yet unknown, of rapidly replicating them in new systems, possibly through use of Von Neumann probes, though that is pure speculation. Combined with the high degree of automation they use and the coronal harvesters and cloudscoops deployed en masse to support this system, they can produce roughly forty percent of the industrial output of the Union of Free Martian Republics at its peak.

GENERAL TOUSSAINT: That is patently absurd! You would have us believe that a nation comprising a mere thirty systems, the vast majority of which are either unpopulated or barely inhabited rebel Martian colonies, can nearly match our own industrial output? You are lying for your own gain, to be sure. Guards! Arrest this traitor!

(Two soldiers from Nouvelle Marseilles enter the room and attempt to apprehend Colonel Meyers. Meyers acts submissive, then surprises the one that moves to cuff him with a leg sweep and rolls forward, uppercutting the other and disarming him, before slamming the butt of the second man's carbine into the first man's kidney as he tries to stand. Both guards fall to the floor and several more enter the room, rifles at ready, only to be confronted by a fireteam of New Brandenburg soldiers summoned by General Bruder.

MAJOR GENERAL BRUDER: That is it! Toussaint, be quiet for once! (He draws a large revolver and fires a bullet into General Toussaint's stomach) Your Sector 9 campaign was a clusterfuck from start to finish that lost us more men than any other front. You only won because the counterattack force mutinied before they could catch up to you and put you out of the rest of our misery! You are a sniveling, incompetent, worthless, gutless piece of garbage, and now you accuse one of our loyal officers of treason to cover for your miserable failures, because you know that your embezzlement and cowardice in the face of the enemy would come to light if we looked into why such a supposedly easy campaign proved so impossible. Oh, yes, I know about that. I had planned to deal with you in private, but since you have given me such a wonderful opportunity, General Jacques Toussaint, I hereby find you guilty of high treason. The sentence is death, to be carried out immediately. (He raises the revolver and chambers another round. General Toussaint blubbers and shivers in terror on the ground. The revolver's report seems deafening in the silence that followed Bruder's proclamation.) Guards, remove this trash from the briefing room. I apologize for that interruption, General Meyers. Toussaint was not meant to even be around for this meeting, but there was too much paperwork involved to get rid of him sooner. I believe an opening on the Strategic Planning Committee has just been created. Someone with your expertise would serve quite nicely, certainly better than that worthless slug ever did.

GENERAL MEYERS: Thank you, sir. It is an honor.

MAJOR GENERAL BRUDER: Competence comes before connections, General Meyers. Toussaint forgot that. Now, while I suppose it is no longer a briefing as such, if you would continue your presentation, I believe there is a great deal of information you have learned that would be of use in planning further.

GENERAL MEYERS: Of course, sir. (He smooths out his uniform, returns the carbine to the stunned Nouvelle Marseille guard, and resumes presenting)


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

What had struck me postwar with the Admiral's dealings with foreign powers was his appreciation of the New Jeffersonian government, including their President Dubroff and their Secretary of External Affairs Ragnarssen. During the time of the UFMR their government had demonized the New Jeffersonians, casted them as weak and spineless.

The Admiral had never objected to this line but never enthusiastically endorsed it either. In retrospect, the later affinity he had with them should have been anticipated. He would have a better rapport with New Jeffersonian government officials, more so than the AIC. With the latter he maintained a respectful distance from them, much as he had done so with certain unpleasant Martian military and political leaders. The former he was warm with, engaged with, willing to talk theory and policy and hypotheticals, something I had never seen him do.

I once asked him about this. "Why is your rapport so much better with the New Jeffersonians than with the AIC? You're even better with them than you were with Cheung and Dioso."

He looked at me matter of factly. "New Jefferson is perhaps the greatest, most efficient nation in the galaxy right now," he said bluntly.

"What makes you think that?" I asked, perplexed with some of the more florid praise that had come from his mouth in a while.

"They have managed to reach almost half of the Union's industrial output at its height at a fraction of its size. They have wisely avoided over extension that crippled Mars and is beginning to rot the AIC. They have focused with making do with what they have, and they have made do brilliantly."

"That is why they are a premier military power of our day, when both the Dominion and the AIC dwarf it several times over. They focus on ingenuity, not bulk, utility, not mass production, streamlining, not tradition. They are truly brilliant at what they do."

He continued, beginning to pace around the room, his eyes wistfully turned to the ceiling. "Mars could have been New Jefferson, but the early politicians' desire for power and dominance doomed that. Many of my military reforms have been explicitly in the New Jeffersonian model, but I can never rule a state like theirs; the Dominion is too big. New Jefferson succeeded in what the rest of humanity has failed at."

"That is why I have such a fascination with them. I am trying to make them divulge all of their secrets, all of their keys to success, so that I may implement modified forms of them in the Dominion. We cannot die like the AIC soon will, and how Mars has. We must become the galaxy's hegemon and in the most effective way possible."

Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

The issue of the plague on New Harbin had been a minor thorn in the Admiral's side starting from the end of the campaign against Sandhurst. It was one of those galactic sources of pity, where hagglers on the streets of major worlds would beg for money. As the months went by, however, the situation along Tanner's Loop and other routes, like the Maiduguri route, became something that we could not ignore.

When he appointed his first cabinet on Mannerheim, the Admiral at first did not see any need for a Surgeon General. With the crisis unfolding, and the smaller nations demanding that the powers of the day take some refugees, he caved into suggestions by Secretary of State Marinello to appoint one to appear "caring" on the interstellar stage. Knowing the need to take into account hearts and minds, he agreed to this.

The appointment was one that was not in any way surprising; Duong Thi Ngu was the Surgeon General of Mars before the Union's bloody dissolution. Duong, from a minor world in the inner frontier of the Union's worlds, was a medical expert and was appointed by President Cheung to deal with minor outbreaks in the Periphery, which were done with great efficiency. On Mannerheim during the coup, she was not at the fateful meeting where the Admiral murdered the old leaders, and he did not find her enough of a threat to be executed. Indeed, he thought she may be useful.

I sat in on several meetings between the Admiral and Duong. Duong said that it would be in the best interests of the Dominion to open refugee camps on worlds such as New Balakovo, Champawat, and others of lesser importance such as Dire Dawa, New Pretoria, Saint Botolph, Warrnambool, and others in the Dominion's hands, backed by Marinello and some on the general staff like Keaton.

The Admiral saw strategic benefit in doing such a thing; notably, he promised so before any similar declaration from the AIC or New Jefferson, even New Valais. He wanted to close the power vacuum with as much of his power that he could stably hold, and therefore saw it not as charity but as practicality.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

We had been together on New Balakovo to see the landing of the first refugees. The ships came down from space and landed at the Novobryansk spaceport. The captain of the main ships, a fellow named Amparo, had come down to confer with us.

"They're grateful for your assistance, your Excellency," he said, deferential. "My government was being overrun."

"All for common humanity," said the Admiral laconically.

We were on a tower with a magnificent view of the spaceport; the top of the structure had a control tower upon it, guiding the ships to land and to have the infirm transported to local hospitals specifically prepared for the sheer capacity of the sick and dying.

He was very insistent that there be none of the infirm on Mannerheim itself; he did not want to risk an outbreak on the Dominion's most important world. He did not say this to Amparo, but it hung beneath the conversation, at least to me. He was only charitable as it directly benefitted him, as the glassing of so many worlds attested.

After meeting with Amparo an aide of the governor of New Balakovo, her name was Nora, presented us with a recording that was forwarded to us by Admiral Zlotnick. It was prefaced with his own message "Do you think this bastard is worth any time?"

The recording was that of a speech on Otsu, where that tinpot dictator de la Roca was blustering as he tended to. "The decadent enemies of Mars and of civilized humanity must fall!" he screamed. "We have nuclear weapons! We have the fasted FTL drives known to our species! We have planet-scalding bombs that will make the destruction of Sandhurst seem tame! I dare you, Vukoja! I dare you, Zurita! Come to Otsu, and try to destroy me! You will be the ones that will die."

The Admiral just sighed. "Tell Zlotnick that he is irrelevant, but put some small detachments on standby in case he does something stupid."

He left it at that.


Entry from interview with Vladimir Ivanovich, Greenland (Delta Procyon II) colonist 2 - by Blackjack555

True to his word, Sergeant Tarkin saw to it that we were geared up as best he could with spare gear from the back of the APC. Jim was confused at first.

"Sergeant Tarkin?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't we already have body armor?" He pointed to the Union-issued bulletproof vest he wore, a mirror image of the one I had on myself.

"Look, I don't mean to disappoint you fellas, but that armor? It won't stop shit. Might, and I mean might, turn a .22, if it didn't hit you straight on. See, your bosses, they don't want you to have anything that might let you actually survive resisting them, so they made sure your gear is garbage. Your armor, your guns, your comms... basically only fit for scrap. Once we've sorted out this little disagreement over who runs this planet, we'll ship in some real equipment for the local police and civil guard. Here, catch."

He tossed each of us a kit bag. It looked heavy, but was surprisingly easy to catch. I opened it up and pulled out what looked like a long-sleeved sweater with armor plates on it, followed by armored pants and a pair of heavy boots. The armor pieces were made of that same light-eating black substance, and the fabric underneath had an odd look to it, like corded muscle but dark grey and made of octagonal tiles. I wondered, briefly, how to put this thing on. I could see Jim had a vague sense, but wasn't sure what to do, looking around the back of the APC.

Sergeant Tarkin chuckled. "I forgot, y'all out here don't use this kind of armor. It's a second skin, not an overlay. Just undress completely and put it on like your clothes. If it helps, I'll turn around and y'all can duck into the back of the Rhino if y'need some privacy, though truth be told we usually just don’t care much. You just get used to it after a while."

While we dressed, he explained the armor in what I couldn't help but think of as a practiced instructor's voice. "The Paladin Defense Technologies Mark IV-B non-contiguous powered armor uses carbon fiber exo-musculature under a graphene sheet composite to enhance the wearer’s strength while providing a defense against shrapnel and low-caliber small arms fire up to 5.56mm rifle or 10mm pistol ammunition. It WILL NOT stop high-caliber or armor-piercing rounds. The armor plates are made of the same composite material used by the full Mark V Powered Individual Combat System, and will stop nearly all small arms fire up through .50 caliber and 12.7mm rounds, though some armor piercing weapons will still penetrate at a reduced effectiveness. The user’s nervous system combined with micro-scale fusion generators provide the power needed by the muscular enhancement system. In emergencies, the sections can seal together and form a hood over the user’s head if no helmet is provided that is capable of being sealed, and the suit can become suitable for up through Level 7 hostile atmospheric conditions. For you folks, Level 7 is a sustained CBRN attack, the release of corrosive agents into the atmosphere, or the presence of cytophagic nannites in the local environment. In that state the integrated air recycling system can maintain can maintain the wearer’s air supply for up to one hundred twenty New Jefferson Standard hours before the onboard fuel supply runs out. Without that extra load the suit has the power capacity to operate for six hundred hours NJST on its internal supply of reactor fuel, a figure which can be extended indefinitely by siphoning elements from local atmosphere provided they are present in any form, though refinement from compounds requires energy itself. If you ever find yourself in such a situation, keep the energy requirements for electrolytic fuel refinement in mind. The suit will warn you of all of these time constraints on operation.”

Finishing his lecture, he turned around and looked at us, now wearing the armor. It was surprisingly comfortable and fit perfectly, which puzzled me until I realized it had adjusted itself as I put it on.

“Now that y’all are in armor that’ll actually keep you alive on the field, let’s get you guns.” He hefted two long black cases from a rack near the ceiling of the APC, which I noticed held several more similar cases of varying sizes and shapes. He pushed a couple of keys on the front of each and set them down on the floor of the APC. The cases opened and several panels swung up and out to display an array of firearms. He pointed to the pistol in my case.

Entry from interview with Vladimir Ivanovich, Greenland (Delta Procyon II) colonist 3 - by Blackjack555

“This is the Colt-Tristar M1911-MA. It’s a variant on an ancient design of .45 pistol from the 20th century United States called the M1911, widely thought of as the greatest pistol ever designed. This particular variant has been created to use a magnetic acceleration rail system rather than standard propellant charges. The magazine holds twelve rounds, twenty in an extended version. The bullets in the magazines in your cases are .45 antipersonnel rounds; they will go through most locally issued body armor and barely slow down.”

He changed his attention to the strange-looking shortened rifle in the center, which had its magazine behind the grip. “MAR-65C assault carbine. Magnetic accelerator, that is standard in all New Jefferson military hardware, fully automatic. Fifty round magazine, bullpup configuration allows for a much longer and higher-performance barrel within a compact frame. It uses 6.5mm ammunition, in this case antipersonnel rounds. Handle with care.”

Next was a larger rifle, no longer using the bullpup design, with an odd piece of equipment mounted under the barrel, a long tube of some kind with a small magazine of its own, and a scope on the top. “MAR-64 battle rifle. 7.62mm mag-cel semi-automatic, if you fire too quickly with this you’ll shear your shoulder out of its socket. Multiband scope, variable mode, switch on the right side to change settings. Setting one is 0.7x reflex, two is 1.2x holo-sight, three is 4x medium range, four is 6x-75x variable zoom sniper scope, zoom adjusts with the dial on the left side. Underbarrel, 20mm rail dart launcher, integrated five-round magazine, hit the switch on the left of the tube to set the scope to grenade launcher mode. It automatically range-finds for you with a laser, dial on the right for airburst, penetration, or contact detonation, in that order. Ammunition, twenty rounds armor-piercing 7.62 Starfire, the bullet contains a core of plasma energized by firing. Bullet hits target, containment in tip fails, plasma jet goes through armor, hostile dies. For the dart gun, couple types. Red banded mags are AP explosive penetrator, punches through armor or cover, then explodes. Blue band means flechette, lots of little tungsten mini-darts that separate near a target for maximum anti-personnel effectiveness. Shit against armored targets, though. No band mags are Kilo-Kilo, kinetic kill rounds. Big ol’ fin-stabilized dart with an iridium head and a scramjet booster. Kind of like a pocket kinetic strike from orbit, but more personal. No splash zone (well, except bits of the poor fucker who gets hit with one) and sloped heavy armor’ll deflect them off to lord knows where, but against anything short of a tank they’ll kill your target dead. Any questions?”

I think Jim was slightly less stunned than I was, having been on the receiving end of this arsenal before, but we both stared in slack-jawed amazement for a few seconds. Everyone knew that New Jefferson’s Marines were probably the best-equipped military in human space, only equaled by a few extremely advanced (and usually very small) nations, but seeing it in person was still stunning. Part of it, I think, was that there was enough firepower in front of us to eliminate most of the planet’s defensive forces in open battle, but mainly I was amazed by how much equipment they gave to their individual soldiers. Under Union control, it would be unthinkable to give this much equipment to individual soldiers, much less to release it on the local officers’ discretion, and they absolutely would not have left spare equipment in the deployed vehicles. They were far more afraid of their weapons being resold or turned against them than they were about those weapons being used for their intended operations. It made a certain kind of sense; any given hive world produced enough people that the loss of a whole invasion force would not even be a noticeable fraction of their deployable, if quickly and poorly trained, military personnel, and the forge worlds produced enough equipment to replace the losses nearly instantly. Still, the New Jefferson method seemed far more effective, given the results of our engagements.

It had only taken fifteen minutes to get to the vehicle, get equipped, and return. The Captain noted our return and immediately set about asking me questions, both about the Mansion and its internal defenses and about the probable layouts of other Union holdouts on the planet, logistics, supply bases, and who would and would not embrace the new government. I hesitated again. The Captain understood before I did my conflict.

“Listen, Lieutenant, I understand what you’re feeling right now. You’re realizing that, no matter how awful your current government may be, they are the ones to whom you swore loyalty, and we remain foreigners. That’s not a bad thing, in fact, it’s a sign of a sense of personal honor. However, there are two things to remember. First, the Confederacy does not wish to replace one authoritarian regime with another. We do not occupy worlds. Local government will be restored, or better yet left as intact as possible after we have dealt with the corruption and abuse that seem, unfortunately, to be endemic to the Union’s outer colonies, probably because you were used as a dumping ground for politically connected nuisances who could neither be left in place nor formally dealt with. Your cooperation and that of others who truly want what is best for the planet will not be collaborating with occupiers, it will just ensure that we can surgically remove only those who need to be excised. When we leave, you will still be a self-governing colony, just with better technology, a lower tax level, and a government not regarded as a quarantine for failures. Second, your oaths are not to the Union or even to your government, but to the people. There is a reason for that, much though some governments like to pretend otherwise. You and yours did not elect the governor. You did not volunteer your money, your industry, or your people to the Union’s demands. So, I ask you to consider this question, and I will not hold your answer against you: Does helping us harm the people to whom you are loyal, or the government which has usurped your loyalty?”

This was, more eloquently than I could have put it, the direction my thoughts were heading, and had been since I agreed to help storm the Mansion. I had been thinking that there was a difference between removing one sadistic, useless, corrupt official and helping to dismantle large sections of the government, but was there? No, on reflection, there was not, and furthermore, the Captain was right. My duty was, and remains, to the people of Greenland colony, not to its government. I had a chance to make sure that Greenland’s government, for the first time in our history, represented our people, our interests, our society. How could I cast that chance aside?

I saw the same internal battle play out on Jim’s face. He looked at me, a questioning look in his eyes. I nodded slightly, and he nodded back, eyes regaining their earlier resolve. We were set to it, then. I turned to the Captain. “Captain Shay, we’ll help you in any way that we can. You’re right. Our oaths are to the people, not the politicians who betrayed them at every turn. What do you need from us?”


Excerpt from the New Valaisian Herald, October 2596

NEW JEFFERSON DIVIDED OVER HOSTING INFIRM

NEW JEFFERSON - Although not afflicted with the misery of riots on worlds such as New Anadyr or Oyo, the political establishment of New Jefferson has been bitterly divided about hosting refugees on New Jefferson proper.

President Monae Dubroff announced that the world itself would be holding "up to two thousand infirm," and New Jeffersonian hospitals would be prepared for their arrival. "We accept our status as one of the foremost powers of the galaxy and therefore accept the responsibilities that come with that status." The first ship, the Zhengzhou, landed at Monticello, the national capital, to deposit infirm held on Sarai.

Many among the New Jeffersonian government have supported this motion; Secretary of External Affairs Jonathan Ragnarssen said that it would be "prudent" of New Jefferson to host some, as did Surgeon General Charles Macomb. Further support came from House Majority Leader Louisa Bromley and from Secretary of Defense Alton Armstrong.

There has, however, been some opposition. "There is no fundamental reason for us to be keeping them here," said Gerald Dermott, a media mogul often held to be backing many xenophobic candidates in contravention of New Jeffersonian campaign financial laws. "They are here to take our medical attention away from us," said Dermott in a speech in the city of Pendleton. "They do not pay taxes, and they do not work like the rest of us do. Why, exactly, should we be paying their medical bills?"

Similarly, anti-migrant sentiment has popped up in smaller towns. The Mayor of the town of New Norwich, not far from Smedley, Sabrina Ferster, said that "these people are welfare leeches, sucking off the collective blood and sweat of New Jefferson. New Norwich will not be allocating any of its hospitals to freeloaders. That is final." Ferster's remarks were met with condemnation nationally but great applause locally and among other smaller towns.


Excerpt from the New Valaisian Herald, November 2596

OUTBREAK FEARS AS MARS TAKES REFUGEES

LOCKE HIVE, MARS - The Sovereign Republic of Mars, the new government of that planet after the fall of the Union of Free Martian Republics, has been taking in refugees from the plague crisis that has affected many on the worlds of Tanner's Loop. However, given the densely packed nature of the Martian population, there have been distinct fears of a large-scale outbreak on the planet.

The world's population is focused around the former capital region of the Union of Free Martian Republics, namely Lock, Jefferson, and Montesquieu hives. The rest of the major population centers were destroyed when the Earth Powers hacked into the UFMR satellite defensive systems and targeted them with Union WMDs. Now, most of the infrastructure is destroyed; what wasn't ruined in the nuclear blasts was destroyed by fleeing UFMR military and political figures, the bulk of which would form the core of the government and military of the Free Dominion of Mannerheim.

As such, refugees have been placed in the areas surrounding the capital region, where infrastructure was destroyed in widespread rioting in the months after the fall of the Union government. Now, these camps often occupy dilapidated government structures that have been poorly maintained by the civil service of the Sovereign Republic, and what new camps that have been assembled have been so poorly.

Doctors Without Homeworlds chief consultant for the Martian government Songsuda Akradej has expressed concern about the camps; in a press conference in Montesquieu Hive, Akradej said that she was "deeply concerned" with the state of Martian camps. "An outbreak is disturbingly likely and I am frankly not sure Mars could handle it. The world's on Tanner's Loop can hardly do that."


Excerpt from A History of Interstellar Commerce by Delia Eckel, published 2592, Pendleton, New Jefferson

Tanner's loop was named for an enterprising merchant by the name of Bruce Tanner, from Waco, Texas, Greater American Commonwealth, during the years after the First Galactic War. In the era of robber barons and government strategists seeking to depopulate Earth as much as feasibly possible, ambitious individuals could gain decent headway so long as they cooperated with the big name colonization corporations such as Virgo Interstellar or Montesquieu Astronautics.

It was with Virgo that Tanner got his start; the company had been recruiting in Waco, particularly among refugees from the charred remnants of the metropolitan areas of Austin, Houston, and Dallas. Tanner himself had family in the suburbs of Dallas, but the nuclear bombs launched upon the city by the Martians had killed anyone he had known; he himself was deployed in Midland, waiting to be sent offworld. Now a disillusioned veteran, Tanner looked towards Virgo to give him a new future.

His first assignment was to ship goods to New Harbin, now a Martian Republic. Doing so, he was given a new mission at the planet to scout out new worlds, some inhabited, some not. These worlds were founded by refugees from the decaying Earth powers as well as other nations that were suffering from the economic devastation of the war.

Launching into space, Tanner first found himself at New Tucson, not far from New Harbin. From there, he went to uninhabited worlds and chartered their locations; one of these would be the future site of San Luis, and another would become Lanzhou. Previously settled worlds that he came across on his newly charted route were Oyo and New Anadyr, which would be added to the new route. These worlds were settled by refugees from Earth, and the majority joined the Union of Free Martian Republics in short order.

Eventually, the settlement of worlds that he had charted made enough of a loop that circling back to New Harbin was considered feasible by Tanner and his crew. When he returned to Shuangcheng and presented his findings to the Virgo Interstellar New Harbin headquarters, he received accolades from the CEO and from the Martian Assembly. Tanner continued to haul and survey, and later became a member of the Assembly for a district on Meridian.



Excerpt from the New Valaisian Herald, October 2596

UFMR INSTITUTING COMMUNICATIONS BLACKOUTS ON CERTAIN WORLDS

OTSU - The government of the remnant of the Union of Free Martian Republics has been silent about communication blackouts going through certain planets throughout the territory that it controls.

Even with the expulsion and detainment of foreign journalists, the current government is very much afraid of foreign infiltration. Xenophobia permeates the current state apparatus; their assembly is by all means authoritarian and a rubber stamp for the executive. Throughout the remnant Union, worlds have ceased to appear on hypernet, and their beacons for navigation have stopped broadcasting.

Worlds such as Xining, New Kamchatka, Smarhon, New Merida, Puerto de la Victoria, Parakou, Laayoune, Sao Bernardo, and others have completely disappeared from interstellar navigation systems, and all attempts to contact the world governments have similarly been fruitless. The New Valaisian government has contacted Otsu for comment, but has been rebuked sternly by the civil servants it was able to reach; the New Valaisian Minister of State Albrecht Waldeck made this announcement at a press conference in New Conthey; he said the following:

"New Valais is deeply disturbed by the communications blackouts in the Union remnant. We urge President de la Roca to cease such activity immediately."

Reasons are hard to find; many have suspected rebellion. Others have speculated that the plague that is ravaging New Harbin and Tanner's Loop has broken out on these worlds, and the remnant wants to save face on the interstellar stage.


Excerpt from the New Valaisian Herald, November 2596

PLAGUE OUTBREAK ON MANNERHEIM

KOLLAA - A camp for the infirm in the newly constructed Wongstown district of the Free Dominion of Mannerheim's capital city of Kollaa has inadvertently released the plague into the surrounding area, which has force the Dominion armed forces to quarantine its environs.

It is unknown how the plague was released from the Wongstown district, but it is known that the camp was undergoing delayed construction after bureaucratic mismanagement in regards to its foundation; the military had to remove an officer in charge of the construction and demote him; the new administration, now under civilian management, had to pick up the pace exponentially to meet the incoming infirm. Nevertheless, the Wongstown commandant, Lieutenant David Bortnikov, allowed the infirm into the facility.

Within a week of the arrival of the infirm, plague symptoms were found in the local population; native Mannerheimer Heimo Lehtola was the first to be admitted to the general hospital. Within the day, three hundred and sixty two were admitted to area hospitals, and afterwards the week presented Mannerheim with over three thousand infirm.

Emergency services have been faring decently under the crisis; the Dominion Liberation Fleet has been shuttling in hospital ships to prevent the sickness from spreading further.

Paramount Admiral Dragotin Vukoja of the Free Dominion of Mannerheim has said that "those who are responsible for this grave act of negligence will be punished severely," and has promised that the situation "will be resolved."

Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

"Idiots!" the Admiral screamed "IDIOTS!" he barked at the director of the Wongstown camp, a middle-aged woman named Deborah Chemnitz. "What made you think appointing any of these fools was remotely a good idea?" he asked her.

"Their resumes were completely qualified!" she said, trembling.

"And you," he turned to Bortnikov, "you did not see reason to send in the troops immediately?"

"I thought the hazmat teams could handle it!" he insisted. "They've done well in every other situation!"

"Have you not been reading the news?" he asked. "Have you not seen the devastation on Tanner's Loop? Are you so insulated? Are you so inept?"

"Sir, there are more important things to be doing than looking at biased news reports," said Bortnikov dismissively. "I have a whole district to look after, remember?"

The Admiral seethed. "I expected better from the hero of New Dorchester," he spat.

"The two of you are sentenced to death. It is lenient, for no punishment can make up for the thousands of lives lost in this travesty."

"Please, no!" shouted Chemnitz. "I have a family! Three children!"

"There are good foster homes," he remarked without emotion. He drew his pistol and shot her dead.

"And you, Bortnikov, the crime of failure is something that you know is punished harshly. It has not changed since the days of the ILF, fundamentally anyway. It has only become less arbitrary."

Bortnikov looked down at the ground, dejected, accepting his fate. He ceased to live.

"Sometimes, I wonder how you are so comfortable with killing," she remarked to him.

"Sometimes, I wonder how you fail to realize you are part of something greater," he responded.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

I could tell that Zlotnick was Vukoja's confidante; the two of them had grown close at the Naval Academy on Mars Proper. They were from faraway worlds, but the two of them shared a commitment to the Union that even the politicians lacked. With the fall of the Union, the two kept to their interpretation of its ideals upon founding the Dominion. The two were steadfast friends; they would spend long hours talking with one another regarding whatever they felt was necessary.

They were both serious, both very business-minded without a doubt. With the crisis unfolding at Wongstown, the two of them met in the Paramount Admiral's state residence in Kollaa in the massive porch that overlooked a garden, and from there they would sit, with me recording anything that was important.

"I told you, your excellency," said Zlotnick, pleading, "it was a very bad idea to establish refugee camps. The risk of this was simply too high, and now look at what has happened. There is no reason at all for them to be on the planet."

"I suppose I could have some warships converted to hospital ships," remarked the Admiral. "But we need those ships to defend ourselves in case of those meddling charlatans we conveniently have as allies attack us in such a vulnerable hour."

"Oh, Dragotin," remarked Zlotnick, one of the few people in the galaxy allowed to use the Admiral's given name, "always the defensive man. Always the ILF man. But even so, you need to understand that a few ships mean nothing. Suppose they do invade and we have converted warships to hospital ships. We could still defend the Dominion.'

"The Fourth Galactic War took a number on the ILF's hospital ships," responded the Admiral, "and now many of them are in rebel hands. We are lacking them, and our warships need to be refitted."

"So refit them as hospital ships!" insisted Zlotnick. "There are armed hospital ships; keep them in orbit and bring them to the orbital stations if necessary."

The Admiral paused, looking over the opulent gardens that the government of Kollaa had prepared for him. They were certainly serene, making it easy to think.

"I suppose that could work," responded the Admiral.



Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

I could tell that this war and this plague were taking a toll on the Admiral; he was getting very little sleep and heavily overdosing on various drugs designed to keep him alive and functioning normally, or as close to normal as you could possibly get. His hair was greying faster than normal, and the were bags under his eyes a good deal of the time. He would go through absolutely inhuman hours working on running the Dominion and its armed forces, on whatever world they needed to be on.

During the plague crisis in particular he became more and more irritable, sometimes less able to focus. I once asked him if he was okay.

"No, but neither is the galaxy," he said, resignedly. "There is nobody else who could possibly do this work except perhaps Zlotnick or Keaton, and even then I do not fully trust them."

He didn't trust anyone fully; I can only imagine that so many years in the ILF and then diplomacy would do that to you. He didn't even trust me to the extent that normal people trust those around them; he was perpetually alone, perpetually skeptical, perpetually fearful that those around him may be working for an enemy power, feeding intelligence into their databases.

His patience began to whither; he became snappier with me, demanding more in less time. I took this without complaint; I understood that efficiency was required in this crisis, punishing those who were culpable for the Wongstown outbreak, dealing with the sick, converting warships into hospital ships.

The conversion of the former ILF's proudest ships into homes for the sick was hard on him; it was a massive waste in his eyes, but a waste that had to be dealt with in the name of saving lives. "I understand why I need to do this," he said to me, "but as an ILF man it still sickens me to a degree."



Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

Even in the chaos of the plague crisis, Mannerheim, and Kollaa in particular, was a bustling, diverse world, whose vast unused expanses gave way to more and more cities; Wongstown was one of these new developments, purposed specifically for refugees.

Wandering the streets of Kollaa was bizarre; the Finnish names of the majority of the city starkly conflicted with the various languages I heard. You could tell a local from a foreigner most of the time; the locals were very pale, many blond, what those from the more cosmopolitan worlds of the Union called 'white.' The foreigners were darker, the standard brownish skin with jet black hair that was the combination of races on Mars and its colonies that had occurred for centuries after the settlement of the first human world after Earth. There was not much tension; Mannerheim had been in the Union for over a century and as such was accustomed to having those from other Union worlds coming, and as such they were aware of their differences.

There was however some cultural apprehension. Mannerheimers were generally more introverted and less talkative than their hive city countrymen; there were many weird looks exchanged when the offworlders tried to initiate conversation with a local. The heavy accent of the Mannerheimers, so different from the standard Martian dialect, was prone to misunderstandings.

Perhaps the starkest social tension was not based on world of origin at all; the origin, rather, was conscription. The ILF and the Peacekeepers and the other forces belonging to the Union's bureaucracy were large, but they did not have the personnel requirement of most of the nation; the Dominion Liberation Army was three times the size of the Interstellar Liberation Army a year before the Fourth Galactic War. There were soldier riots, mostly by the privileged young of elite families who had to spend time with those of lower classes.


Hail broadcast by New Jefferson Orbital Defense Command to ships entering Gateway - by Blackjack555

Attention, inbound vessel. This is New Jefferson Orbital Defense Command. Due to the ongoing pandemic, all ships, their cargo, and their occupants both crew and passenger are required to undergo customs check before being allowed through the Gateway system to any other systems of the Confederacy. Alter heading to the nearest security checkpoint. If you are unaware of the location of these checkpoints, coordinates are attached to this transmission. You will be met by a System Defense Fleet vessel, and Marine personnel will board in order to conduct multi-spectrum scans.

If you have personnel on board who are already ill, proceed to security checkpoint as stated and activate your emergency beacon with a contagious disease warning. System Defense Fleet medical personnel will arrive with the boarding team to assist you. If your personnel are urgently in need of medical attention, activate the emergency transponder immediately, but continue to the checkpoint. You will be met by medical personnel on arrival. If you have an unrelated onboard emergency and require assistance, activate your emergency transponder and proceed to the checkpoint if possible. If you cannot proceed to the checkpoint for any reason, cut drives and activate your emergency transponder, and append the nature of your emergency. A System Defense Fleet vessel will arrive to assist you as soon as possible.

If your vessel has internal scanners capable of detecting pathogens, provide a data feed from the scanners to the boarding team. If you or your personnel have nanites and are therefore immune to the pathogen, provide your link information to the boarding team. Also provide the boarding team with your navigation logs for the past six Earth standard months and a full cargo manifest. Your cooperation will expedite your passage through the checkpoint.

Any vessel that attempts to conceal infected personnel will be assumed to be hostile. Any vessel which attempts to evade the checkpoints will be assumed to be hostile. Any vessel which attempts to stall or block out the boarding team will be assumed to be hostile. There are no new restrictions on cargo or personnel; there is no reason to attempt to avoid the search. These measures are for your protection as much as anyone else, and System Defense Fleet personnel will respond to violations with lethal force.


Excerpt from the memoirs of Katharina Gramatikova, personal secretary of Admiral Dragotin Vukoja, published 2610

Once more we met with Ragnarssen, the New Jeffersonian Foreign Secretary, or whatever his official title was; New Jefferson as always likes to be contrarian. There he was with a certain swagger, a certain bravado that people from that country seemed to have in abundance.

He offered the Admiral Bourbon, as he was wont to do; he did so every time when they met. The Admiral was used to it, and even became friendly with him. They complemented each other greatly; Ragnarssen was the wisecrack and Vukoja the straight man, each appreciating the other's wit and charisma.

"If you were not an official in another country," said the Admiral at one meeting over Mannerheim in a luxurious suite in an orbital habitat made specifically as homes for the Dominion upper class, "I would promote you to something very high ranking, Jonathan." He made a small sigh. "It is unfortunate you were not born in the Union. You have to be foreign."

Ragnarssen snickered. "We are moving towards greater cooperation, your excellency," he responded, prudently preferring to use his title. "I am flattered, and I must say that President Dubroff has never been quite so cordial." He went on about how the New Jeffersonian Congress was not fond of how cavalier he was.

"How odd," quipped the Admiral, "they dislike you for the very same reason the galaxy does not like New Jefferson!" He laughed, and Ragnarssen too found it funny.

"After all, though, that is what happens when you live in a democracy such as our own. The only got me in office due to a deal about lowering some mineral import tariffs and Dubroff's own force of will."

Vukoja snorted. "And that is why I keep the public participation in the sphere of politics to a minimum," he replied, saying that which was the underlying truth behind the falsehood of democracy in the Dominion. "And I hardly play the farce myself; the legislative branch is dominated by military men and women, and the elected delegates know their place. Your system is the ultimate denier of the value of expertise. It does not let the experts do what is best for the country."

"And yet you don't even think that the people deserve some say in national affairs?"

"They don't know what the hell they're doing," countered the Admiral. "That is what allow populists to come to power, and enable the dynasties that corrupt the system."

"You certainly don't think highly of the Liberation Party while it existed, now do you?" responded Ragnarssen coyly.

"It was hellishly corrupt by any standard. I was a member, technically, but I never did anything beyond the bare minimum for that wretched institution. They were the ones that were interfering in the War Effort. Had the populism enabled by democracy been removed, New Jefferson would be another Martian world."

"Forgive me if I don't see that as a good outcome of the war," responded Ragnarssen, with a wry smirk on his face.

Meeting between NJSecExtAff Ragnarssen and Paramount Admiral Vukoja (WIP) - by Blackjack555


(Continuing transcript of the meeting between Ragnarssen and Vukoja aboard the New Jefferson heavy cruiser CSS Tobias C. Mason, at in high orbit above Arcadia. Arcadia's assigned hospital ship and escort squadron are also there, and a New Jefferson battlecruiser group sits under full stealth nearby to safeguard the meeting place. Transcript resumes following the departure of Katharina Gramatova to deal with a minor diplomatic crisis on one of the Dominion's border worlds, her rulings subject to Vukoja's review, though it has been years since he actually overrode her decisions.)

VUKOJA: On to business, then. You are, I assume, well aware of the spread of this unknown plague currently consuming human colony worlds?

RAGNARSSEN: Indeed. (He pulls up a holo-map showing human space). Best our analysts can figure, the plague, which our agents call the Andromeda Strain after some ancient pop culture reference, originated around here (he highlights an independent frontier world on the coreward edge of human territory) and spread gradually from there. It seems like about a month later, the UFMR attempted to capture and study it at their biological warfare facility on New Harbin. We believe that their containment failed, leading to the rapid spread of the pathogen aboard trade ships departing from New Harbin along Tanner's Loop. From there it branched out from these ports (a rough loop of worlds is highlighted in red, with New Harbin at its base flashing bright crimson. Smaller loops extend outward from several of the highlighted worlds, with tendrils of red extending further from the worlds in their paths) and grew rapidly along major trade and transit routes.

VUKOJA: That is our understanding, as well. My agents, however, have a slightly different map of the spread of the disease (He stands up and places a hand on the holo-map table, linking his implant and applying his own data. His map mostly overlaps with the New Jefferson one, but misses several frontier worlds and highlights dozens far from the main area that are not on New Jefferson's analysis).

RAGNARSSEN: Allow me to guess: Those worlds took in refugee ships from the plague worlds that did not land at any intermediate stops, and so do not leave a trail of pandemics in their wake? Our intelligence network is excellent, as you have no doubt seen, but we lack the manpower to achieve the kind of mass penetration you have access to.

VUKOJA: You are astute as always. It is good to have allies who are neither inept nor delusional. It would appear any world that takes in refugees quickly sees an epidemic of their own. Perhaps more worrisome, we have quickly lost contact with worlds that received large numbers of refugees. (He highlights around thirty systems off the trade routes and several on them, including many of the densest population urban worlds. These worlds and the space around them are surrounded by black grids, denoting a dead zone in the galactic communications network.)

RAGNARSSEN: Several of those worlds are major relay points, are they not? There may be a greater problem than either of us first suspected. The fall of the relay points would mean a loss of communication with entire sectors, and we would be unable to warn anyone within those sectors of the danger. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that this is why we have not yet heard from many of the worlds afflicted by this plague.

VUKOJA: You suggest that the lack of requests for assistance from the worlds along the loops and in the frontier is not because they have the situation under control, but rather because they simply cannot transmit any longer? (He paces in front of the map, muttering angrily,) Why did I miss this? How did I not see it? Of course, that idiot Bortnikov probably did not help, but I should have realized... What happened on New Jefferson, that resulted in the quarantine?

RAGNARSSEN: It's not quite clear. When the first refugee ships arrived, the sick were screened out as a matter of course and sent to a medical facility constructed a few miles from the main refugee camp. Our doctors administered the standard treatments and began lab tests. Two days after their arrival, there was a violent incident in one of the med labs. As I heard it, one of the worst cases was being administered his hourly injections when he suddenly got up and assaulted the doctor violently, attempting to claw and bite him. The doctor was, fortunately, wearing the standard CBRNV-3 hazardous environment gear we use in quarantines, again as a matter of course, which includes basic protection from knives and small arms fire. The patient was unable to injure the doctor before security personnel responded and subdued him. After three more nearly simultaneous incidents, one of which injured a lab tech who was not in an armored environment suit, General Chambers ordered the worst cases moved to a military secure lab and the quarantine and screening policy was enacted.

(Gramatikova returns to the room, a datapad in hand and a concerned look on her face)
GRAMATIKOVA: Admiral, I apologize for the interruption, but there is a situation developing aboard the hospital ship Hyperion that I felt you would want to attend to personally. We have lost communications with the ship. At last report, Admiral Zlotnick's inspection team was in the quarantine zone when fighting broke out. It would appear that some of the refugees became violent and overwhelmed a portion of the ship, including overtaking a section dedicated to the ship's own afflicted personnel. The Admiral took personal command of the security personnel he could find and led them in to restore order. That was twenty minutes ago. When the Captain lost sensor contact with that region, he began transmitting a distress call, which only reached us two minutes ago. We no longer have communications with the ship.

VUKOJA: I apologize, Secretary Ragnarssen, but I must attend to this matter. Katarina, how long will it take to have my personal guard ready for combat?

GRAMATIKOVA: They are already standing by, sir. I took the liberty of notifying them while I was on my way here that they should prepare for action.

VUKOJA: Well done, Katarina. (He stands up, finishing his drink and setting the glass back down.)

RAGNARSSEN: Would you like assistance on this boarding action, Admiral? This is a New Jefferson warship, after all, and there is a full platoon of Marines aboard, along with my Special Operations detail. And I am a great believer in seeing things with my own eyes, such as whatever is causing the infected to turn violent, before making my report on my return. (Vukoja looks like he is about to say something, unused to the idea of a government official being willing or able to fight.) Don't worry, I will not be in the way of your men or my own. Like most of my colleagues, I served in the Marines myself for quite some time, and likely have more combat experience than most of my guard detail.


Excerpt from a recording of a New Jeffersonian Presidential Candidate, Frederick Altman, at a rally at Hutchinson Square, Monticello, the national capital.

Altman: Good morning, New Jefferson! [Cheers] Good morning, Monticello! [More Cheers] My sincerest apologies for inconveniencing you good people; I still have to run according to these godawful campaign finance and advertising laws. [He checks his neural implant] Thanks for the money! [Cheers] With the way you people are doing it, the government can't tell who gave it!

You see, and you must know, because I think New Jeffersonians, with such a good education system, are not stupid, that I think these repressive, authoritarian campaign laws are a bunch of bullshit. [Laughter] That's right. Bullshit! I fucking said it! [more laughter] Not like the sanitized, politically correct career politicians for whom the electoral system is so rigged that they don't need donors. They don't need the detailed advertisements, so they don't let anyone do it! [Roar from crowd] Oh, that's right, that old fashioned campaign law that the government uses, which is supposed to "foster civic discourse" and prevent "identity politics" is now used to suppress the former and embrace the latter. Their identity, of course, is that of the establishment. This establishment does not care about you. [roars] It cares about other people, but not you! [more roars]

You know about those refugees, those sick little leeches, that they're bringing in? Yeah, they're infected with something far more dangerous than just a common disease. These people are now attacking our own men and women in uniform. Why? I can't say. But they clearly aren't happy about the kindness we are giving them. [cheers]

So why, exactly, are Dubroff and Ragnarssen and all the other bigwigs letting these people in? Because they don't care about you. They care about the approval of other bigwigs. Haven't you heard about what Ragnarssen does with that oh so esteemed Admiral Vukoja? I hear a bunch of shit, but it might as well be Ragnarssen and that cheap slut found off the streets of whatever shipwreck world that he found her off of taking turns sucking him off! We should not be fighting the Dominion's wars! We should not have been fighting the AIC's war! [roars of approval]

I know the veterans here were less than enthused with the war effort. Why should we have cannibalized off the rotting corpse of the Union when all it gave us was spoiled meat? All we have now are more welfare leeches on planets that don't give a shit about our values, our culture, our civilization! [cheers] Why do we do this? To keep the bigwigs in power!

[raucous cheers, which transform into a roar]

Don't you see that you are being lied to? Don't you see that you are tools in a massive contest of egos between elites? [Enthusiastic 'yes!' chant from the crowd] Then to hell with the whore Dubroff and the coward Ragnarssen! Let's make an Independent New Jefferson!

[fervid cheers and roars]


Excerpt from a strategic brief from the New Jefferson Armed Forces to President Monae Dubroff, 2596

As much as it pains the high generals and admirals, particularly Stanhope, Welch, and Waltershausen, to admit, the truth of the matter is that the collective defense bureaucracy cannot promise more than fifty percent odds of defeating the Dominion in a one on one war. The Dominion is a different beast than the old, dissolved Union, and it is a beast that is far more threatening.

Our counterespionage services have found multiple Dominion moles and hacks into our data systems that have apparently stolen classified weapons, manufacturing, and doctrinal information, which seems to have been integrated into the standard Dominion modus operandi. Our own intelligence agents throughout the Dominion, which has command of a significant amount of the Union's prewar industrial base, has determined that our own improved industrial methods have been put into operation on worlds such as Waltonshaven, New Innsbruck, and Chittagong, among other worlds, including Mannerheim itself.

Massive industrial projects have been undertaken among smaller Dominion worlds to foster the beginning of new forge worlds, many of which went independent or fell into disarray after the dissolution of the Union. Worlds that have survived relatively intact, many of which are former Orion League members, have been the forefronts of some of the most ambitious industrial innovation, with the pinnacle of these being Zunyi.

Our old doctrine against the Union was a doctrine that was designed with a decaying, decrepit behemoth in mind. The Union was very much that, and the Dominion is moving far away from that nature. Now, the Dominion is robust and efficient, and most importantly not plagued by the politics of the Union's Liberation Party. Its industrial capacity, augmented with our own methods, now surpasses our own threefold, a truly amazing accomplishment.

It would be wise to heed members of Congress such as Vaillancourt or Royce to bolster the Army and the Navy's funding. We will soon be unable to compete with the Dominion if our current rate of development continues.

Additionally, we concur with what the State Department people have been saying about building up allies. Those worlds that we have established good relations with after the fall of the Union will be instrumental to combatting the Dominion should war break out.

Of particular interest is Bengkulu (or at least what one of the names is, anyway). Yes, the Chamunda Front is less than wholly moral, but they are the best warriors of our allies. The strategic location of their world, in combination with the rich resources within the system, is worth the investment and our military support.


Excerpt from an editorial by Luis Antonov in the New Jeffersonian Herald, 2596

I'm an old man; I had an established academic career forty years ago. I saw the terrors of my homeworld bombarded by the Martians during the waning years of its era of annexations. I saw the increasing corruption that took root in the Union, the demagoguery, the pandering to nationalists to keep the Liberation Party afloat.

And I'm seeing the same things in New Jefferson right now.

Have you not seen Altman? He is insane. New Jefferson is already sufficiently independent, not like what this madman calls for. We are a galactic power, and have the responsibility to help those less fortunate. Altman thinks this is a century or so ago, long before our nation reached its lofty heights in the Second and Third Galactic Wars. Now, we need to engage, not sequester ourselves in a box of delusions.

One must understand that we must do what the Union did not: guard peace and tranquility, and care for our fellow human beings. Altman wants to expel every single infirm from the former Union that we are trying to support, and for no reason more than his blind nationalism, his cocky sense of superiority. It was that same sense of superiority that led to the warmongering that characterized the Union for centuries. They are two sides of the same coin, isolationism and warmongering, and we now need to make sure we chuck that coin into the cold depths of space and never consider it again.

Altman believes that the very action of cooperation with foreign powers is a betrayal to the founding principles of this nation. I dispute this. Had that been the case the founders would have gone far into the reaches of unknown space, and would be lost to the annals of history for centuries. But this did not happen. We have our State Department and our Armed Forces. We worked with the AIC and later the Dominion to preserve peace and promote the general galactic welfare. With a power like us, we have to, by virtue of the need to care for others.

Do not let Altman fool the nation. Do not let him become the leader of the nation in such trying times. Do not let us abandon the galaxy when it needs us most.

Personal account of one Gunnery Sergeant Jacob Dunn, New Jefferson Marine Corps 7th Special Operations Group, by Blackjack555

Yeah, I remember the day we found out what the Neurophage really was. I can’t forget it, no matter how hard I try. The General, technically Secretary of External Affairs but the Marine Corps will always remember him as Brigadier General “Viking” Ragnarssen, commander of Ragnarssen’s Raiders, was at his usual meeting with Admiral Vukoja. When he told us we were going to go board a Dominion hospital ship that the plague had taken over, we were a bit surprised at the situation, but the decision to take the opportunity was obvious.

The Military Intelligence Bureau had been trying to figure out for a while just what was going on out there. All we could find out was that colonies on the edges of human space had been disappearing, and it seemed to coincide with the plague spreading along Tanner’s Loop. Then some of the less developed worlds along that set started to go quiet. Panicked transmissions that made no sense, rioting, chaos, and then silence. Sometimes not even panic, just communications ending. Deep space sensors didn’t show much in the way of useful information, and contrary to popular belief we really didn’t have eyes and ears everywhere, especially not in the hundreds of minor independent worlds that used to be the UFMR and the Orion League. Getting an opportunity to see what this thing really was up close was just too good to pass up.

We geared up in the same space as the Dominion boarding party, which was a fascinating look into the differences in our kit. I have to say, their kit looks a lot more impressive than ours, but truth be told I don’t think it’s as good. Our armor is simple, from the outside. Graphene and Adamantium (sorry, I can’t tell you what exactly goes into that, but it’s a lightweight, extremely hard metal alloy and graphene composite developed by Hargreave-Lockheed) layered plating with superconductors running through it to disperse energy hits, on a bodysuit of carbon nanotube strands that extend and contract for an enormous strength boost, over an underlayer of a self-repair gel suspended in a fabric (the rest of the details on that are extremely classified) that interfaces between the wearer’s nervous system and the armor. If need be, we can attach all kinds of modules for missions, in this case EVA thrust packs, and wearers can customize their gear with holsters, hard-cases, plating, or whatever they think will be useful. Fully kitted out, you can barely tell that we are wearing a military issue equipment set, much less get any idea what it can actually do. Dominion gear, by contrast, is standardized, and looks incredibly imposing. It adds twenty centimeters to the wearer’s height, looking more like a walking tank than body armor. Instead of a bodysuit and contact interface, they have several hard interface “jacks” along the spine and at various joints, literally plugging them into their armor. The reason for this, as one of our armor techs explained to me, is that they don’t have internal augmentation to the degree that we do, especially not the bloodstream nanotech common to everyone from New Jefferson, so the jacks also connect the armor’s wearer to the armor’s medical systems. The armor plating is a good centimeter and a half to two centimeters thick, made of plates of Impervium (their version of the Adamantium we use, much heavier but admittedly also much stronger) with supplemental external plates of ablative armor. Exoskeletal systems cover the surface, servo-motors and hydraulics to assist the internal ones in driving the armor at high speed, thruster pods for EVA movement and limited in-atmosphere jumps, active point defenses, integrated weapons systems, and sensor hardpoints, all linked to the operator by a network of cables and micro-circuitry. The different philosophies of design and warfare are obvious at a glance. Our armor is built for speed, stealth, and adaptation. We can take hits, but it’s not supposed to happen. Their armor is pure frontline warfare, about as durable as one of our medium combat mech suits with firepower fit for a whole squad. We hit the enemy fast and hard, and disappear before any survivors can shoot back. The Dominion doesn’t do hit and run, they keep hitting until there’s nothing left to run from.

My squad, nine Marine Special Operations Command troops counting myself, would be accompanying Ragnarssen, Vukoja, and twenty-four Dominion Storm Corps soldiers to the other ship. Ragnarssen wore a slightly stylized parade-ground variant of our armor, exactly as functional but adorned with gold trim and displaying his various medals earned on campaign and the old Raiders insignia where our armor was matte black with a simple New Jefferson Marine Corps symbol on one shoulder and the unit patch of the 7th Special Operations Group on the other in silver, and a matched pair of .500 rail revolvers. Vukoja’s kit was a lower-profile version of the Storm Corps armor, his personal insignia painted on the chest. We made a strangely mismatched group as we filed aboard the pair of transport shuttles that would take us to the Hyperion.

What greeted us as we boarded was an eerie silence. There was no movement, no sound, no sign of life whatsoever. We walked along the corridors for what felt like hours. The lack of activity was disturbing. Normally, a ship this size would be full of crew and passengers wandering around, working at whatever task they were meant to be carrying out or going about whatever leisure activities they did when off duty, or just moving from one place to another. It was in reality maybe fifteen minutes before we started hearing something. We had split into teams to cover more ground. Vukoja and his team were headed straight for the bridge, planning to find out what had happened from whoever was still in charge. Our group, meanwhile, headed for the main medical bay, on the theory that, if this were some kind of attack, we could sneak up on the attackers much more easily without twenty-five massive walking tanks crashing along the corridors behind us. The main medical bay, which included the central control and coordination offices for the ship, would be both a likely target for a raid and a natural rally point for survivors.

We were moving through a patient ward several decks above and perhaps three hundred meters astern of our destination when we heard gunfire ahead of us. The ward itself was eerily calm, like the rest of the ship. Some rooms were empty, while others contained patients whose vitals read as being in a deep coma. Not having a real doctor with us, we couldn’t really examine them in any useful way, so we passed them by. The gunshots we heard led us to pick up the pace. I and two of my Marines went ahead, while the rest remained to protect Ragnarssen and advanced at a calmer pace.