OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oOOOO OOOO. OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" .OOOOOO OOOOOo OOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO oOOOOOOO OOOOOOO. OOOO oOOOO OOOO .OOOO OOOO OOOOOOOOo OOOO OOOO" OOOO oOOOO OOOO OOOO "OOOO. OOOO OOOOo .OOOO' OOOO .OOOO" OOOO OOOO OOOOoOOOO "OOOO. oOOOO OOOO oOOOOOOO..OOOO OOOO "OOOOOOO OOOOoOOOO" OOOO .OOOO"""OOOOOOOO OOOO OOOOOO "OOOOOOO' OOOO oOOOO ""OOOO OOOO "OOOO OOOOOO |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | There Ain't No Justice | | | | #92 | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| Foundation of Empire By Tal Meta In 1953, a Drallim scoutcraft crashlanded in the New Mexico desert. Military authorities recovered the wreckage and four bodies from the craft. In 1956, the scientists studying the wreckage accidentally activated the ship's distress beacon, bringing another scout to close proximity with the secret installation where the first craft was being studied. This craft was shot down. Four more bodies were recovered. In 1957, the Drallim opened tentative contact with the United States. The bodies of the 4 Drallim were returned to their people, in return for a nonaggression agreement between the US and the Drallim. The two wrecked scoutcraft were deemed to be complete losses, and the US was allowed to keep them for further study. In 1965, the Drallim returned to offer the US government a new treaty. The Drallim were at war with another race, (the Saathik) and were losing. Because the Drallm were not a warlike race, and Humanity understood war only too well (in the opinions of both races, let it be known), in return for the use of Human mercenaries, the Drallim would continue to supply Humanity with advanced technology as well as setting aside several of the nearest habitable worlds for Human colonization. Since the offer was valid only to the WHOLE of Humanity, the secret was kept by the United Nations Security Council. Earth agreed. In the years between 1965 and 2008, Human mercenaries piloted Drallim built starships, fought ground battles with Drallim built weaponry. The war which the Drallim had been losing slowed, then eventually began to reverse itself, as Human scientists among the UN Expeditionary Force studied and improved upon the Drallim's weaponry. The Drallim, who for the most part were a race of philosophers, were first pleased, and then slowly began to grow apprehensive as their Human allies showed more and more adeptness in improving the weapons the Drallim gave them. Veterans of the Drallim-Saathik War were not allowed to return to Earth. By a unanimous UN vote, they were given the right to be the first settlers of the new Human colony worlds. (The secret of the Drallim could obviously not be kept quiet if the millions of people who simply "went missing" every year suddenly began returning home with fantastic stories of wars among the stars. While the governments of the Earth were slowly acclimating their populations to the idea that aliens might indeed exist, none felt that the world was ready for THAT much of a revelation.) Study of the Drallim technology at home was stalled by several factors. Local wars, economic upheavals, and a simple stagnancy of ideas among the American scientific community stifled breakthroughs. It was not until UN pressure forced the United States to give up their monopoly of the Drallim ships that true progress began to unfold again. In 2047, The UNSS Pathfinder, the "first" Human built Jumpship left the vicinity of Sol and jumped to Alpha Centauri. There it was met by the Drallim, who hailed them and offered full contact between their two peoples. The two ships then returned to Sol, where the crew of the Pathfinder were acclaimed as heroes. In 2048, the TRUE story of the Drallim-Human Treaty was made known. There were few riots. Most people had expected as much for decades, anyway. Drallim starships that year also made contact with a race known as the Z'thar, who introduced them to the Vorsk, and the Yezzrim. The Z'tharii homeworld, situated near the center of the four expanding races, became a hub for interstellar trade. Over the next century, Humanity continued to expand, both in terms of colonies and knowlege. Human innovation led to a stardrive half the mass of the ones in use by the other races, and this, coupled with continued human mastery of weapon systems made them the natural organizers of a unified military force to protect the world of the burgeoning Confederation from the Saathik. All was not peacefull in the Confederation, however. While the Drallim, a race of physically amorphous beings capable of limited changes in general shape, had ceaded several worlds between themselves and the Z'thar to Humans, three worlds settled jointly by Humans and Dralllim remained in Drallim control, effectively cutting off direct trade between Earth's colonies and any of the other races. Any Human ship wishing to trade on Z'tha had to pay tarrifs at each of the stopovers. More; as the Drallim are a race whose primary field of study had always been philosophy, peace left them with an extended period of time to study their new neighbors. Many were alarmed to discover that Humanity was a race of thousands, if not millions of philosophies, while others rejoiced. Drallim Philosophers, studying Humanity, sometimes went mad, others, embracing Human ideologies, went rogue. The Vorsk, an insectile race comprised of several forms designed for individual functions, the primarily visible ones are called "Mediators". Their culture is based extensively around trade; each hive is in effect a corporation, with markets and agreements stretching back centuries. The sudden influx of two new trading partners created... opportunity, as well as conflict. Drallim philosophies were easily adapted as tradegoods, as were Human innovations in technology. Humans bought Vorsk bioengineering techniques extensively, at first, but then began encroaching on Vorsk markets with improved methods of doing things. The Yezzrim, a race who physically had the most in common with Humanity (they resembled a cross between a monkey and a flying squirrel), were perhaps the most diversified race in the mix. Like humans, they excelled in many areas, but they often tended to become obbsessive in their endevours, a racial trait burned into their delicate biochemistry. Yezzrim scientists often died of starvation, Yezzrim warriors ignored orders to retreat, so enraptured were they with the tasks at hand. With the aid of Human computer technology, (widely acknowleged as better than anything the other races had ever created) and several breakthroughs in Human biotechnology, a Human scientist learned that the Yezzrim "Monomania" had in fact been increasing slowly over the past centuries, with a cause linked to bio-agents planted in Vorsk trade goods. Tensions between Yezzrim and Vorsk increase, making for several violent incidents. (Meanwhile, Human attempts at reversing the damage was in fact making it worse, causing certain elements of the Yezzrim to become violently monomaniacal.) While at home, the synthesis of Human computer technology and Vorsk biotechnology has resulted in a melding of man and machine. On some of the Human worlds, these developments, coupled with Drallim philosophical principles, have resulted in Humans and other bioforms designed from the gene up for one purpose: cheap biological labor. Earth's governments, united at last, are now faced with the fracturing of the colonies into individual world and system states. In an effort to present a united front to their neighbors, an independant Militia is formed to police the space surrounding Human worlds. The Militia goes on to found its own, independant chain of colony and outpost worlds, hidden not only from the collective Human member states but their alien allies as well. Human shipwrights are double dealing as well, selling the Confederacy allies "Cruisers" that are so lightly armored and underarmed that the lightest of Militia's Corvettes could destroy them in minutes. In 2203, just as the Human Coalition's ships were silently gathering in an uninhabited star system a single jump away from one of the contested Three Worlds, the Saathik struck at the heart of the Confederation, Z'thar. Only now the Saathik starships were of a radical new design. Previously, the Saathik used ships of a design similar in principle to those of every other known starfaring race... ships requiring a huge, supercooled hyperdrive engine, that moved by jumps of at most 30 light years at a time between recharges. These new Saathik starships appeared to use a completely new principle, freeing them from the need to re-enter the physical universe a discreet distance away from any gravity source. It also allowed them to strike anywhere, without tripping the standard Jump-Signiture sensors every inhabited solar system kept watch over. Their new starships were also larger, more heavily armed, and carried defensive energy screens, a technology unknown in the Confederacy. The Second Saathik War lasted four years. While the Saathik had a technological edge, they had chosen precisely the wrong moment for their invasion. While their first tentative probes along the edges of the Confederacy had brought them in contact with Confederate Navy ships, those battles had all been with the ships supplied to the Confederacy by the Human Coalition. With the bulk of the Human Militia's TRUE strength scattered in a narrow arc merely two jumps away from their initial point of invasion, their technological superiority was rapidly crushed by ships easily their equal in armor, and in most cases outmatching them completely in firepower. While their defensive screens easily turned away missiles and naval autocannon, they only partially deflected lasers and actually ATTRACTED the Human Militia's new particle cannons. Eventually, the Saathik retreated to wherever they'd come from, leaving the Human Coalition to explain why they'd had that kind of strength so close to the Drallim Expanse. 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