Knight's Move (56 page)

From then on, only the Dragons themselves were in any doubt about the outcome of the war.  Humanity’s war production had skyrocketed, with thousands of fleet carriers, superdreadnaughts and naval transports – and a literally uncountable number of starfighters – being manned by the vast resources of manpower the Federation had built up over the years.  Indeed, if there hadn't been a desire to liberate the occupied worlds, it is quite likely that the war could have been ended much sooner.  Instead, the occupied worlds were liberated by the end of 2579, followed by a headlong invasion of Draconic Space.  The final battle, over Prime Sphere, illustrates what truly won the war.  For each starship and orbital defence station that defended the world, there were literally a thousand human capital ships.

When the high orbitals were lost and the Terran Marines prepared to storm the planet, the Emperor, his heirs and most of the planetary population committed suicide, taking with them the last threads holding the empire together.  Most of the smaller clans promptly claimed to recognise humanity as superior and tried to make deals with the TFN, although such terms were harsh.  The discovery of death camps and worse on the occupied worlds fuelled a demand for indiscriminate revenge.  In hindsight, the Dragons were luckier than they deserved. 

The Treaty of Prime Sphere (2583), which officially ended the war, was effectively forced on the Dragons (which sociologists swore would be more meaningful to them) at gunpoint.  Put simply, all war-capable starships were to be handed over to the TFN, all slaves and POWs were to be liberated, all occupied alien homeworlds were to be freed and the Dragons were not to attempt to rebuild their empire.  Unsurprisingly, while the large majority of the remaining Dragons accepted the treaty, quite a few refused to honour it and went renegade.   There was also a growing feeling on Earth and the Core Worlds (most of whom had been untouched by the fighting) that the teams of the treaty were too harsh.

By 2585, the situation in the former Occupied Zone and Draconic Empire can reasonably be described as chaotic.  Dragons who were landed on the occupied colonies are supposed to be being repatriated to their empire, but many of them don’t have a place to go.  Raiders and pirates, often rogue Dragons, are raiding the colonies at will, despite the best efforts of Frontier Fleet.  Meanwhile, many of the liberated alien worlds are demanding protection, Federation membership (a worrying request, as the Federation was purely human) and/or revenge on the Dragons, many of whom are chafing under the treaty’s terms. 

Many of the colonies are restive in the aftermath of the war, even outside the Fairfax Cluster.  Quite a few of them feel that the Federation betrayed them in the lead-up to the war, or abandoned them after a ‘too clever by half’ Admiral lost the Battle of Starlight.  In the Fairfax Cluster, there is also a growing awareness of their own independence – and their reluctance to accept the Federation’s authority. 

Although the undisputed victory of the war, the Federation is struggling to cope with the aftermath too.  Hundreds of millions of servicemen are being demobilised and thrown onto an employment market that is trying to switch back to civilian production.  War contacts are being cancelled, causing economic shockwaves that are threatening to plunge the Federation into chaos, while the rise of war profiteers is causing unrest in the Federation Senate.  The last thing the Federation needs is more conflict. 

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Officially, the Federation is a direct democracy, ruled by the people.  Unofficially, those who pay the bills call the shots – and the national blocks surrounding Earth (worlds settled by nations on Earth) – pay most of the Federation’s operating costs.  Corporate worlds pay much of the remainder, giving them a considerable advantage in manipulating the Federation to pass laws in their favour – and, as they consider a considerable percentage of the economy, they have influence out of proportion to their size. 

The Federation is headed, officially, by the President, who is directly elected by the people.  It is, however, a largely powerless post. 
Real
power rests in the hands of Congress and the Senate.  While all independent worlds are guaranteed a seat in Congress, additional seats are assigned by population sizes, giving the older worlds and multi-star blocs a decisive advantage.  (The United Stars of America, having seventy worlds under its control, has over a hundred votes in Congress.)  The Senate, again, is divided up by population size.  Smaller worlds, even working in unison, do not get a vote.

Below the Federation, there are a multitude of competing interests and power structures.  For example, there are multi-star power groupings that wish for greater independence now that the war is over.  Others want the Federation to be more flexible (at least in their interests) or merely a greater say in what happens.  Still more want the Federation to enforce their positions; national power blocs, for example, do not wish to see their member worlds secede as it would dilute their voting power in the Federation Government.  Most of the outer worlds want some degree of independence from the Federation.

On the face of it, the Federation’s current challenge is rebuilding the former Occupation Zone and repatriating most of the alien refugees stranded on human worlds.  However, the stresses and strains that were papered over during the war (particularly the exact legal status of the Fairfax Cluster) are threatening to unleash a second round of war.

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The Fairfax Cluster is difficult to define.  It sits on the other side of the Bottleneck (hence the name; Bottleneck Republic) but Bottleneck itself is not actually part of the Republic.  It consists of around seventy worlds and ninety additional star systems on the other side of a semi-permanent hyperspace storm.  This inaccessibility allowed non-corporate interests to stake the choicest claims, with the net result that the planets are thoroughly eccentric by the Federation’s standards.  These include Fairfax (a representative democracy), Jehovah (a theocracy), New Texas (a semi-democracy), Galt’s Gulch (semi-anarchist) and Buckingham (an aristocracy.) 

Each member world contributes roughly 10% of its GNP to the Republic, which uses it to build up the Colonial Militia and native industries.  The Republic had to work desperately to produce war material when the Dragons cut them off from the Federation, resulting in a number of interesting and innovative designs that proved an unpleasant shock when the Dragons finally attacked. 

Apart from a handful of basic agreements, the Republic has no power to control the internal affairs of its states.  For example, there are no laws on weapons transfer and/or registration that are binding on the entire Republic.  It is fairly easy for commercial interests to purchase an ex-military light cruiser, if they try.  Slavery, too, is common on some worlds.  Unsurprisingly, there is a considerable amount of friction between the different states that make up the Republic.

The Federation’s official position is that the Bottleneck Republic is part of the Federation and, as such, is bound by the Federation’s laws.  However, these laws have not been enforced since the foundation of the Republic and most citizens consider themselves independent.

Apart from this defiance of the Federation’s laws, there is also the question of alien refugees.  The Bottleneck Republic is considerably more xenophobic than Earth and the other Core Worlds (this is true of most outer worlds, who bore the brunt of the war) and does not want to deal with the problem.  There are few worlds in the Fairfax Cluster that would willingly take the refugees, even for a short period – and none that would consider extending citizenship to them. 

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Starships open portal gateways into hyperspace to travel faster-than-light.  As hyperspace is a dangerously high-energy dimension, most crews prefer to avoid actual
fighting
within hyperspace.  Navigation is aided by a series of navigational beacons that can be detected within hyperspace, allowing starships to triangulate their position. 

Hyperspace is marred by storms caused by gravity wells and random energy fluctuations.  The Great Wall (preventing a direct passage from Earth to Fairfax) appears to be permanent, others come and go as the fancy takes them.  The Federation Survey Service monitors the progress of storms within Federation space and beams warnings out to spaces.  Most ships prefer to avoid storms entirely; brave crews can shave hours off their journey time by skimming the edge of storms. 

The Federation Communications Network beams messages through hyperspace, using a network of communications beacons (linked to the navigational beacons).  It can still take days to get a message from one end of the Federation to the other, despite the most advanced AIs in service constantly massaging the network.  Among other things, a message cannot be sent through a storm. 

***

In normal space, starships fight with phase cannons, quantum disrupters, pulsars and antimatter missiles.  Starfighters are armed with tactical phase torpedoes, which can penetrate a starship’s shields if fired from sufficiently close range. 

Planets are defended by Orbital Battle Stations and Planetary Defence Centres, which are protected by powerful force fields.  In order to capture a planet, the orbital defences have to be reduced and ground forces landed to take the PDCs on the ground.  Battering them down from orbit is possible, but it does untold damage to the planet’s ecosystem (which didn't stop it happening during the war).