Continued from Part 1.....
Month 105, 2nd Empire of Man, pt 2
Avoril System: The Avoril System is the location where the recalcitrant
humans of the Empire of Antara have been relocated. The system is
currently under a civilian travel ban placed by the Imperial Navy due to
the unrest among the Antarans, however, once the ban is lifted the
opportunities for travel and trade are certain to exist.
Nix: The Empire’s only non-human allies can be found in the New
Territories Sector. The Nix are a charming people, and are quite friendly
and welcoming, but because they live underneath the vast seas of their
planet only a few limited areas are open for visitation by humans.
Wonder: There are no less than five earth-like planets circling the two
suns of the Wonder System. This incredible find has become a focus of
effort for the Imperial Colonization Bureau, and at this point all five
planets have been colonized. Four of the five planets are incredibly
Earth-like, and are as yet pristine and untouched, and because of that the
Wonder System has become a regular stop for several of the passenger
lines, giving people from the over-civilized inner worlds a taste of fresh
air and unspoiled vistas.
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Note: The above was taken from a travel book named "A Guide to the 2nd
Empire", written by an obscure author named Camille Foster. The Imperial
Security Service (ISS) impounded the book prior to publication and
arrested Ms. Foster on the charges of Theft of Classified Information,
Disclosure of Classified Information, and Treason. Ms. Foster was
ultimately released and the charges dropped when her attorney proved that
all of the information in her book could be obtained through unclassified
civilian databases. The ISS promptly classified the book under the
"collection" rule, which states that although the individual pieces of
information might not be classified, when collected together they can be
considered a threat to Imperial security. To date, in spite of several
lawsuits by Ms.Foster, the book has remained classified.
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Imperial Naval Intelligence Report on the Followers of Atong
History: The Atong have long been friendly but independent in their
dealings with both the Republic and now the Empire. They have consistently
refused a military treaty when offered such by the Empire, and their only
response to such offers has been to state that they will judge each
situation on its merits rather than on an agreement formed before the
situation arose.
The Atong are known to be technologically advanced, and they are known to
field a powerful naval force, however, to date, Naval Intelligence has
been unable to penetrate their security and obtain any hard information
about their deployment or capabilities.
The Atong have long been consistent in their relations with the Empire.
They have been content to maintain trade and have shown no interest in the
Empire’s internal matters. Because of this consistency, the Atong have
long been considered a quiet and reliable neighbor, and thus little effort
until recently has been made to fortify the warp chain leading to the
Atong.
It appears, now, that this has all changed. At the start of this month the
Atong announced that they will be dissolving their government in favor of
a new, multi-racial government known as the Atong Union, or just "The
Union". The Union will be made up of the Atong, of course, along with the
Izzians and a formerly unknown race called the Yorians. While Naval
Intelligence has no information on the Union’s military, it appears that
the new organization’s economy will be approximately 40% that of the
Empire, and, most disturbingly, the new Union appears to be more
expansionist and aggressive than its predecessor.
Naval Intelligence recommends that the Erebor System fortification efforts
be stepped up, and that more political assets be deployed to the Union to
determine what changes, if any, they will make in their foreign policy.
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Imperial Naval Intelligence Report on the ASR’s Reorganization Efforts
The following information is known about the ASR & Free Republic Alliance
(Post amalgamation with the Confederation of Races)
Income: 340,000 MCr’s (166% of the Empire’s)
Technology: Generally higher
Fleet Strength: 390 warships (151% of the Empire’s Fleet)
Political Reorganization:
In its original form, the GDO was not actually a government. It was much
closer to a military administration, or more accurately, a political
organization set up to maintain and organize a military force. The GDO had
little power in purely civilian matters, aside from matters relating to
taxation to support itself and the military, and that was apparently the
way the Gorandans wanted it. The GDO started changing once other races
began joining it, and those changes continued as more and more races
joined it, culminating in the formation of the ASR. The ASR is a true
interstellar government, overseeing not only military but civilian matters
as well. Unlike the Empire, though, new races joining the ASR are not
subsumed into the larger organization, but rather they maintain much of
their sovereignty and internal organization. The ASR is, in actuality, a
"Confederation of Nations", in which races joining retain their government
and individuality while giving up some of their independence and power to
the overall government.
The ASR underwent a major reorganization recently, as part of the
amalgamation of the multiracial human/alar government called the
Confederation of Races. The major impact of this reorganization is that
the ASR military has now been completely removed from the control of the
member states and is now under more-or-less central control of the ASR
government. The member states still retain their own governments, and the
current reorg has done much to reinforce this, including formalizing the
ASR’s Sector organization (the ASR calls their Sectors "Territories"). The
now redrawn Territories conform to the old national boundaries of the
member nations prior to their admission to the ASR, and confirm that all
new colonies in their area will become members of that state, no matter
which race colonizes the system.
The overall ASR government has been delegated the power of overseeing
trade between the ASR and foreign states, formulating treaties, defense,
and guaranteeing certain basic rights among all member races. Aside from
monitoring compliance with the basic guaranteed rights and in matters of
taxation, the ASR government has no law enforcement capability and cannot
interfere in the actions of the member states.
The ASR will be organized into 5 Territories, one each for the Gorandan,
D’nax, Thranx, Confederation, and Evarid nations. Each Territory will be
formed around the nations named above, and will be governed by that
government much as they always have in the past.
As noted above, the recent reorganization’s biggest effect has been to
remove the ASR military from the local control of the Territorial
Governments. Until now, the Territorial Governments have retained control
of their military forces, and have retained their own rank structures and
deployment priorities. The reorganization has changed all of that. The new
ASR Fleet Command, located in the ASR Capital System of Cannes, now
controls Fleet deployments throughout the ASR, without recourse or
referral to the Territorial Governments (in theory). The ASR Fleet
structure appears to be somewhat different from the Imperial standard.
Each Territory is assigned a Fleet, and only one Fleet, for its defense.
The Fleet is commanded by a Territorial Fleet Coordinator, who is in
complete command of the Territorial Fleet and its deployments. Unlike the
Empire, where Imperial Fleets are well defined organizations intended to
fight and work together, ASR Fleets seem to be more of an administrative
organization. Any ships assigned to a Territory, or transferred from one
Territory to another, in an emergency for example, are considered to
belong to the Territorial Fleet where they are located.
Below the Territorial Fleet level, ships will be organized into the
following groups:
Battle Group: Monitors, Superdreadnoughts, and/or Battleships
Cruiser Group: Battlecruisers and/or Heavy Cruisers
Escort Group: Destroyers and/or Light Cruisers
Carrier Group: Carriers (CVE/CVS/CVL/CV)
Various other groups as needed.
The Operational Units of the ASR Fleet appear to be the Groups, which will
not be split up under most circumstances and will be deployed as a whole
to whatever area of operations they are needed for.
Exploration Command: Each Territorial Fleet Administrator will have direct
control of the Exploration assets in his or her Territory, as the ASR
considers exploration a military function of their search for the Eaters.
The ASR Government is undertaking a major new initiative to fortify its
borders with races that have so far refused to consider membership in
their confederation, including the Empire. To date the ASR, and the GDO
before it, has refused to fortify its borders in the belief that such
fortifications could provoke an arms race and would promote general
antipathy with the race involved. This change of heart appears to be both
in response to the recent war with the Axons as well as to the recent
reorganization of the ASR. The proposed fortifications appear to be little
more than trip-wire forces intended to delay an attack and demarcate ASR
borders.
In addition to the border fortification initiative, the ASR government has
also begun diverting a significant level of resources towards fortifying
major systems within their area of control. According to governmental
spokesbeings, this program is intended to increase the overall security of
the ASR and also to provide the ASR Navy with fortified fallback positions
in case of Eater attack.
The amalgamation of the Confederation of Races into the ASR appeared to
present the ASR with a large political opportunity as well as an equally
large problem. The Confederation is located in trans-Ayoun space, and the
only access the ASR had to the Confederation, as well as the recent
battlefields with the Eaters, was through the Ayoun home system. The ASR
continues to maintain a large fleet presence in the former Eater
Territories in spite of the fact that the war appears to be over, and all
of the supplies for that fleet, along with all trade with the
Confederation, flow through the Ayoun home system. The ASR’s right of
transit through the Ayoun system was negotiated with a large fleet
orbiting overhead, and there is little doubt that the treaty was obtained
by force of arms. The Ayoun government that signed the treaty was later
overthrown, again with ASR help, and the new government reaffirmed the ASR’
s right of transit, again while a large ASR fleet was orbiting overhead.
As the new Ayoun government became more confident, though, and its
military re-established itself after being devastated during the
rebellion, the Ayoun have become restive under what they view as a vastly
unfair agreement. The incorporation of the Confederation into the ASR
solved the ASR’s problem of supplying its fleet in trans-Ayoun space
should the Ayoun close their borders, but the amalgamation also appeared
to offer an even larger problem. Should the Ayoun close their borders to
ASR traffic, a significant portion of the ASR would be isolated from the
rest. The situation seemed ripe for conflict, and Xanti agents are known
to be active in the Ayoun government. Then, miraculously, the situation
resolved itself. As part of the amalgamation, the Confederation and the
ASR compared star charts, and this comparison revealed a previously
unknown connection between the two nations. This connection is in the D’
nax Territory, a starless nexus discovered long ago. The nexus was
discovered through a closed warp point by the D’nax prior to their
amalgamation with the GDO, and was never explored as it was in a fairly
remote area of space. The same nexus was discovered and surveyed by
Confederation explorers, and several systems with habitable planets were
discovered and colonized. Had the GDO, or later the ASR, ever returned to
survey the nexus they would have discovered large convoys of Confederation
freighters plying long-established routes between several heavily
colonized systems, but the two nations failed to discover their connection
until now. This discovery has completely resolved the situation with the
Ayoun by allowing the ASR to renegotiate their treaty with the Ayoun. The
renegotiated threat gives the Ayoun much better terms than they had
before, including allowing them to inspect all freighters transiting
through their system, as well as allowing them to prohibit the ASR from
moving warships through their system unless they obtain prior agreement.
(
geocities.com/mwadwell)