What If: Take 2(Full conversion AU)

[monbvol]

[Author] I'm still wrestling with a lot of things really, especially what to do for posting up the designs I use for this setting, but I'm strangely feeling the need to write again and I do want to focus on my full conversion AU.  So no cross overs for this.  I may keep most of what I wrote previously as is but again that's still something I'm thinking about as well.

For now I want to go ahead and start some prep work and do up some faction and important figure bios/writeups.

The short faction write ups will be overly simplified and some things may seem like they may get contradicted later but part of that is simply going to be me expanding on things and trying to show that my factions do grow and evolve a bit.
[/author]

An Idiot's Guide to the Post Exodus Conflicts
By Fenton Reed
Goldstar Publishing
Wallstreet, Corporate Sector
ICN Dropbox #957612

Chapter 1 the Colony Wars

One of the great problems when studying what is commonly known as the Colony Wars is that what we now know as the Terran Dominion was re-writing history and obfuscating facts with propaganda and the space born colonists had more important things to worry about than keep accurate records and ensure they would be passed on to future generations.

As such no one knows for sure exactly when the Terran Dominion actually formed, when the shooting actually started, or how long the Colony Wars actually lasted.  But let us indeed start with the political entities involved.

The propaganda history of the Terran Dominion has it forming from a particularly charismatic African Warlord that had a gift for unifying previously warring factions under his dominion and spreading out to the rest of the world.  There do seem to be certain elements of truth to this as the Terran Dominion capital has been located in Johanasburg, South Africa as far back as verifiable records that exist can confirm.

The name of the first Prime Minister is hotly debated as later holders of the title have further re-written history since then but what is known is his ambition was to rule all mankind.  So he began developing his own space program from the plundered knowledge and expertise of the conquered nations of Terra.

Many nations before they had been conquered had setup reasonably self sufficient spacestation colonies.  Most of the ones that were not were in orbit of Earth or waystations to help facilitate transit to and from the colonies on Luna and Mars.  These space colonies largely had no choice but to immediately submit to the Terran Dominion, at least officially.  Many did covertly support the more self sufficient colonies.

Many space station colonies were created in the Kuiper Belt and were reasonably self sufficient and thus were the main source of resistance besides the colonies established on the surfaces of Luna and Mars.

While not all of these colonies were unified, either in their desire to resist or in their efforts to resist, most were.  Together they managed to construct what may be humanity's greatest engineering accomplishment up to that point, Exodus Station.

Able to house millions for extended periods of time and possessing hydroponics, industrial capabilities, and research labs it was truly a major feat of engineering.

Exodus Station too is the subject of much debate among scholars.  Some say it was in the Oort cloud, some say the descriptions of how dense the stellar object fields around the station were that helped keep it hidden could only be the ring system of Saturn, or that it had always been where it is now in the Kuiper Belt.

As indicated there are those that suggest the Terran Dominion moved it after the Exodus.  Unfortunately those that knew for sure felt no need to keep records to settle the matter or wouldn't say.

What is known is that the primary architect and builder of Exodus Station was William Spence.  He used the code name Heron of Space to conceal his identity during the Colony Wars.  His gift for engineering and manufacturing techniques was one of the prime reasons the colonists managed to even have a chance of surviving beyond Exodus thanks to the compact automated factories he was able to furnish the early extra Solar colonies with to ensure they'd have industrial bases to start with so that they would not have to build them up from scratch.

Which allows us to go on a tangent about the other colonist heroes of the colonies.

Professor Richard Clemson who went by the code name Green Forest, sometimes being unused to having to use code names he'd introduce himself as Forrest Green hence many accounts of him also using that name.  With his wife Rachel Clemson and daughter Kelly Clemson pioneered the field of practical interstellar travel and with the help of William Spence made it a reality.  Their combined knowledge is so great that when both Rachel and Kelly Clemson and all their notes were destroyed when the Terran Dominion nuked Habitat Station 217 while she was staying there temporarily even Richard himself could not fully explain the workings behind this new science and technology.  Replication and subtle refinement was all anyone could manage from these works.  He would die without learning that he was a grandfather and that Tiffany Clemson had been safely transported out of the danger zone by one of the first slowboats to be intercepted by one of the Jumpships using the Clemson families works to traverse vast distances in practical time frames and deliver her safely to what would become the Anvil system where she would put the talent for computer programming that she inherited from her mother to work developing the first rudimentary AI systems.

Cobalt Blue was an instrumental pilot that helped cement the very idea of space born combat who's identity has stayed a mystery to this day.  Only Professor Richard Clemson ever gave any hints in that he was from Habitat Station 114 originally in the Kuiper Belt and that his first name was Garth and that he had most likely perished helping buy time for the last few evacuation transports to leave Exodus Station.

Pter Yukinov was a genetic scientist that had used the vastness of space to engage in highly controversial research for genetic duplication and genetic engineering.  His work proved instrumental in ensuring that humanity could survive on alien planets by making sure they could withstand the inevitable mutations of viruses that these new biomes would cause and that the crops they brought with them would grow there and make the air breathable.  He was known to have settled on Belarus and establishing their controversial Projects 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, and 116 that were used to create what essentially amounted to a slave population that would be indoctrinated from birth.

On the other side there were only two figures that history has recorded.

Admiral Huwe Ndola was first Chief of Naval Staff for the Terran Dominion.  An old guard traditionalist Huwe Ndola believed in strict chain of command and never allowed any action to be taken without proper authorization.  This centralized command philosophy permeated throughout the armed forces of the Terran Dominion that makes their forces vulnerable to head hunting tactics and this trend generally persists to modern times.  Often threatened with replacement he never was thanks to taking a tour of Naval Station Fort Zimbabwe right as it was attacked.  Dying as a hero he was honored with the first class of destroyers being given his name and the fourteenth ship of the class also carried his name.

Alexi Korikov began the conflict as a Commander but was one of the up and comers in the Terran Dominion Space Navy and was the first to attempt to break the rigid command structure created by Chief of Naval Staff Huwe Ndola.  Facing stiff opposition from the traditionalists and lack of support due to an active conflict Alexi resigned himself to focusing on the conflict.  His willingness to take action and ability to survey a situation earned him the attention of the first Prime Minister of the Terran Dominion and earned him the position of Chief of Naval Staff and a promotion.  He held this position long enough to see the Terran Dominion Space Navy be reorganized as the Terran Dominion Interstellar Navy.  Alexi Korikov never had a class of vessel named after him but a new Kimsatsu class destroyer carries his name.

The conflict itself was intense for the time but that was largely because space combat was still so new and relied primarily on nuclear ordinance.  Which both sides used on the other with the Terran Dominion using them last.

[Author] And here I'm thinking about transitioning into a re-write of Chapter 1 of the first version of the story.  Mostly I'll just be looking to correct errors more than anything else for the first chapter.  I'll probably do more stuff like this to help setup each chapter and go into more detail on factions and personalities.  So stay tuned as I'll be getting to work on sprucing up Chapter 1.  Might be a bit before I post it up though. 

[edit] Realized that I made a bit of a misstep in how to present things and made a light edit to make the overall story flow a bit better as a result. [/edit][/Author]

[monbvol]

[Author]  So I've decided rather than get bogged down with all the technical stuff to just make a few changes to the story here and there so that they are less important.  I think I also got all the worst errors cleared out now.  It'll probably take me a bit longer to clean up Chapter 2 in a similar way.  [/Author]

With that valued reader what follows is a perhaps slightly dramatized account of what scholars have been able to piece together.

Sol System
High orbit over Luna
Date lost to antiquity


"Factory Station 007, this is Inspection 1 you are to stand by for inspection by order of the Terran Dominion Space Navy."  The young darkskinned Ensign at the controls of the shuttle struggled with his accent.

"Ensign?" Another darkskinned man in newly developed microgravity "Marine" gear decorated as a Captain asked.

"Sorry sir.  Most of these stations still have yet to accept the new national language.  This station speaks primarily English.  Most of the time if you address them in their language they'll be much more cooperative."  The ensign replied.

"We'll just have to fix that then while we are over there.  Wait a second what is that?"  The Captain asked as the sensor panel showed a new contact emerging from the far side of the station.

"Not in the war book sir.  We're being jammed!  What do they hope to accomplish?"  The Ensign asked as he tried to puzzle out the meaning of the current situation.

Impact warnings began lighting up all across the port side of the small shuttle.  Punching some more power to the sensors to break through the jamming and saw six new contacts.

"They're avoiding our guns.  Time to get out of here.  Comms still not punching through the jamming."  The Ensign alerted.

The smaller craft stayed on the port side with little trouble.  Their acceleration profile was beyond anything the Dominion had.  More damage warnings lit up.  They were using guns similar to what the Dominion fielded in their space forces so fortunately the damage was not very impressive.

The new craft closed in and peppered the port side once more.  As the craft rolled six more contacts appeared on the screens to join the attack.

Situation Room
Factory Station 007

"It's what we were afraid of sir.  They perform well enough but their firepower just is not enough to quickly dispatch targets in space.  Reports are starting to filter in from our Terra raids.  We were able to have more success there simply because we could carry bombs to drop where we needed.  Still we didn't have enough to do what we wanted.  Good news module 4 will be in position by the time the Dominion mounts a reprisal."  A short stout man with graying hairs in his dark brown hair and a face covered in lubricants spilling down to his work suit said as he watched the progress of the fight.

"Word is they're already working on that for the next batch."  A much younger and cleaner man next to him answered.

"We'll see.  Won't take them long to figure out what we did to their technology and start matching us for real.  Time to evacuate and data purge.  It was a good run.  Bring them home.  We'll need everything we got for round two and I just have an idea that may work."  The elder man said as he watched the skirmish unfold.

Royal Palace
Johanasberg, Africa region Terra

"Sorry to wake you Prime Minister.  We have been attacked."  A young fair skinned woman quietly announced in the minister's bedroom.

"Who?"  The first Prime Minister of the Terran Dominion barked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Several space colonies, mostly those established by the former powers here, assembled a new type of combat craft we have never seen before.  They hit several targets but there were too few to cause extensive damage.  The worst damage we received was to our research facilities.  They used EMP devices.  Research has been slowed but thankfully backup protocols mean we will not have to start from scratch.  Fighters were scrambled but nothing we had was fast enough and they bombed from above where our Surface to Air umbrella can reach.  No bomb was more than 150 meters off target despite the extreme height.  We're obviously dealing with a combination of technology and training that means trouble."  The young aide briefed.

"Any good news?"  The Prime Minister pulled on his robe.

"An inspection team bound for Factory Station 007 was attacked by these fighters.  It seems their weaponry is a bit weak.  The Chief of Staff for the Space Navy is requesting additional shuttles until we can provide him with our own space born combat fighters."  The aide answered.

"A reasonable request.  Approved."  The Prime Minister walked to his shower.

Situation Room
Factory Station 007

"Well what is this idea of yours?"  The young man asked looking over the reports and improvised displays.

"We'll be chewing on them forever if we just rely on those pop guns and whizbang missiles that more closely resemble festival fireworks.  What if we took the guidance package out and put it on some of those old rockets we used to plant sensors inside asteroids to see what was inside.  Those should crack those shuttles a lot faster."  The older man still covered with grime and lubricant answered.

"Won't be very accurate since those things weren't even designed to change course much but they should just crack right through those shuttles."  The younger man began writing things down on a notebook.

"Time to catch our shuttle.  Oh well, hope they like the other surprise I left them."  The older man said as he punched in commands to the makeshift terminals.

Several hours later
Hangerbay Factory Station 007

"No contact yet sir.  Their shuttles are not here.  Everything that can be cleaned out has been.  Checking the central core now."

"Sir I have something in the power core!"

"What the?"

"Evac now!"

"Too late!"

Of the ten shuttles sent in four remained on patrol outside the station to catch any runners.  Unfortunately it was not far enough away for the old fission plant that powered the station converted into a bomb.

Terran Dominion Space Navy Platform 004

"Now that they have shown their hand we'll be ready next time.  Order what shuttles we have left to make an example of Habitat Station 114."  Commander Alexi Korikov barked from his command chair.

Exodus station situation room
Somewhere in the Kuipier Belt
Day 114 of the Colony Wars

"As we expected we've been pushed back to almost exclusively here now.  How did the strike go against Fort Zimbabwe?"  A grizzled old fair skinned man in old style work clothes and a paper notebook tethered to his hip asked.

"Both better and worse than we expected.  We took the base out but we had to use one of our scarce nukes to do it.  The strike force was counter attacked on the way out and took heavy losses but with the upgrades and new fighters we did a number on them as well.  Can we drop our code names now or do I have to keep calling you Haron of Space?" An elderly man with gray hair and fair complexion in simple clothes countered.

"Only for a little longer Green Forest.  We'll know for sure once the seeding of the belt finishes up.  Then if we still are not attacked we'll know our vetting process has worked.  The new fighter of the Dominion  is not bad but it lacks the bite of our heavier jobs.  Looks like they're using the same guns as on their shuttles.  Haron of Space when can we start shipping people out?"  A middle aged man with graying blond hair and light complexion joined the conversation.

"Nice of you to finally join us Cobalt Blue.  After that debacle last week and the redesigns we're ready to make another test run today.  We already have a brand new shuttle on steroids worked up that will hold over a thousand people each.  We can build these a lot faster than the interstellar ships.  We have a final tally on how many people we got on this monstrosity of mine?"  Haron of Space grumbled.

"A bit over two million.  If we can get Fort Zululand out of the way we can probably have that much again.  Then there is Mars.  Many of the habitat stations are already re-working themselves to be slow boats, the damn insane fools.  At least we can send the true interstellar ships out in advance to prepare the way and then when the slow boats get there we could even possibly have more interstellar ships heading out to pick them up depending on how long we remain hidden."  Cobalt Blue answered grimacing.

"All right we'll get some real slow boats going as well.  If our descendants are going to have any chance of having the industry, technology, and manpower to make a go of it we have little choice."  Haron of Space fummed.

"Cobalt Blue your pilots have my authorization to nuke the hell out of that military station.  Hell after what they have done if you can find a way to get a strike to Terra you can use what we have left on those Dominion bastards."  Green Forrest snapped.

"As much as I hate the idea of doing that to the homeland we have little choice.  I think that trip in can be arranged."  Haron of Space slumped visibly.

"Thanks I'll need it.  We'll probably lose a lot in this strike even with that."  Cobalt Blue leaned against the wall.

Command Bunker Prime
Location Classified
Day 129 of the Colony Wars

"Prime Minister they have managed to infiltrate into the inner system."  A short heavyset dark skinned General said as he hung up a phone.

"How many?"  The Prime Minister barked back.

"Latest count has 24 craft with radiological readings escorted by 72.  We can muster 128 to intercept but with how close they got and factoring in the probability that the 24 craft with radiological warnings are carrying live nuclear devices I must warn that there is a good probability that they will get through to do some serious damage."  The General answered.

"They are bluffing.  They dare not turn the will of the undecided.  Scramble the Orion's."  The Prime Minister smirked.

"Our forces on Mars are under attack.  In all likely hood with the communication delay based upon the reports filtering in they will be overwhelmed before we can get reinforcements there."  The General looked at then unfolded a report handed to him by a comm officer.

"We must restore control on Mars.  Are the new style shuttles ready yet?"  The Prime Minister calmly inquired.

"The enemy seems to know where to poke us to slow that project down.  Indeed for a bluff it seems the main facility is now radioactive cinders."  The General unfolded another note handed to him by his aide.

"Recovery time frame?"  The Prime Minister quickly overcame his shock.

"The technology is secure so no loss there.  The factory is another matter.  Those tools and machines were cutting edge prototypes.  Though we did have another batch being produced to expand the construction output it will still take years to fully recover."  The General answered.

"Why have we not found their new base?  It has to be in the Kupier Belt somewhere."  The Prime Minister let some anger slip into his voice.

"They have seeded many asteroids with jamming devices, decoys, and power plants that power nothing.  We are discovering secondary bases but we cannot gain any information about where the new main base is.  Intel can find no more cells operating directly in the inner system.  This current attack was staged from some ore haulers that we expected.  I have already devised some revisions to our screening process for these crews and will enact them right away.  If you will excuse me so I may do so."  The General answered without hesitation.

"Very well.  Seems we have no choice to pull back from the outer system to restore order on Mars for now.  Minister of Intelligence you must step up your efforts to secure the locations of our projects."  The Prime Minister glared right at the Minister of Intelligence.

Situation Room
Exodus Station
Day 156 of the Colony wars

"Thanks to the success of our Mars operation and the resistance in the Americas we have a great deal of time now to recover our loses and finish our projects."  Green Forest broke the silence.

"We lost a lot on that last attack run for sure but we should keep up the pressure if we can."  Cobalt Blue spoke up.

"With what exactly?  Those dang Dominion bastards still have at least a hundred fighters out here still coming for us.  All our transport assets are tied up with the aftermath of Mars and our production capacity is already full up expanding itself, making modules for colonies, making ships, making slow boats, and still managing fighters for you.  Nah everyone has to lick their wounds for a while now.  At least we'll get another slow boat filled and shipped out later today.  We're already dangerously overcrowded and there are more coming from Mars every day."  Haron of Space snapped back.

"All right.  Point made."  Cobalt Blue sulked.

Command Bunker Prime
Location Classified
Day 254 of the Colony Wars

"Sir I think we may have it finally.  Recovered comm chatter from Habitat Station 116 has finally been decrypted.  Along with interrogations and other recovered comm chatter we are now decrypting I believe we have an area to focus upon.  I know our space born transport assets are still stretched thin but we must move more combat craft out to Navy Platform 004."  Admiral Alexi Korikov said calmly.

"Now I remember why I allowed you to be promoted.  Despite bad situations you are confident and intelligent.  Very well.  take the next shipment of combat craft.  Mars will have to tide itself over instead of getting another regiment."  The Prime Minister answered.

Situation Room
Exodus Station
Day 300 of the Colony Wars

"Well they finally did it.  Enemy fighters have breached the outer markers and marine shuttles are already on their way."  Cobalt Blue said looking down at the sensor displays.

"How many do we have left?"  Green Forest asked afraid.

"Fortunately the last slow boat left just an hour ago.  The Barque is just about finished charging and the gravity is within tolerance.  No time to see if she passes muster.  We still have time to get you away."  Haron of Space smirked more for show than any feeling of certainty.

"Yes.  The wipes are finished but I didn't have time to make them as thorough as I like.  You two certainly have earned a spot as well."  Green Forest sighed heavily.

"You go Haron.  I'll organize the cover and make sure Exodus Station does not fall into Dominion hands."  Cobalt Blue countered.

"I respect your decision even if I don't like it.  I hate that self sacrificing hero crap.  Good luck Garth."  Haron of Space shook Cobalt Blue's hand heartily.

"All right Richard and William you two better get going.  They'll be to the inner perimeter soon."  Cobalt Blue shook the hand of Green Forrest.

Command Bunker Prime
Location Classified
Day 354 of the Colony Wars

"Prime Minister we are pleased to inform you that we just received word that Exodus Station is now in our hands.  The traitorous scum tried to self destruct the station as had become common when they knew escape was impossible but our men were able to prevent it this time.  Additionally we have combat camera footage under analysis of a new type of vessel never seen before.  We know it to have been constructed at the station.  According to pilots it just seemed to disappear after a brief flash of light.  If not for the combat camera footage I'd call them crazy."  Alexi Korikov briefed the Prime Minister.

"We must duplicate this technology right away.  How much did we recover from their computer systems to give us a head start?"  The First Prime Minister immediately grasped the implications.

"They were very thorough but combining the records across all the bases we captured where this research was taking place, it will still be near from scratch but not quite.  We also managed to catch glimpses of what we know they called "slow boats".  Vessels designed for prolonged acceleration and space flight.  They were able to cobble together a great many by making use of the habitat stations strewn throughout the inner and outer system.  Based upon interrogations and recovered data we have a likely gathering point but even if we got started now with our own interstellar expeditions we would not arrive until they were likely long gone."  Admiral Alexi Korikov answered.

"We can use that to our advantage.  We can create a manifest destiny to keep the unity we now enjoy together beyond our generation by giving them the mission of unifying our lost brothers and sisters."  The Prime Minister smiled.

Point Luck
What will become known as the Palembang system
Date unknown

"Well we have a good supply here of everything we need.  Operating our fast ships in a chain we'll be able to gather up the slow boats here well ahead of schedule and have a fleet to transport them the fast way shortly after.  Our next priority is to scout out for a permanent home.  Ideas?"  Professor Richard Clemson asked.

"I hate to say it but we should split up.  We have more than enough people on those slow boats to do so.  Based on what our telescopes could find there are several good possibles well within range.  If this system here checks out I'm heading there."  William Spence answered.

"Yes you are right.  If this system here checks out I would like to go there."  Richard sighed.

Residential section, Point Luck Station Palembang system
Later that day

"Professor Clemson I presume?"  A small man with short black hair and features that betrayed his Eastern European ancestry entered Richard Clemson's quarters.

"Yes, and you are?"  Richard asked as he clasped a lock of hair.

"Professor Pter Yukinov.  I am here to offer my condolences on your daughter and to make a proposal.  I was saddened to hear about the nuking of Habitat 217 by Dominion forces in retaliation for the nuclear attacks we made on Terra.  My sister was on that station as well.  I am collecting genetic samples to create a repository of heroes of the resistance.  I would like to include your daughter in a place of honor.  I did not think it possible until I heard the rumors of that keepsake you have there."  The small man didn't pause or allow his accent to fumble the words.

"It should have more than you need.  Here, I'm not sure how much longer I could hold on to it anyway.  At least this way future generations will have an unique insight to us."  Richard tossed the lock of hair at Pter.

He looked down at the locker that held his daughter's true legacy.  The most sophisticated computer coding ever done.  It would take the work of others to finish but what was in there could revolutionize computer based intelligence in a way only ever dreamed about.

Victory Plaza
Geneva, Switzerland
date lost

"People of Terra, we stand united as never before in the history of this world with a peace never before obtained nor imagined.  With this we shall move forward to a greatness that can never again be equaled.

Despite this there are those that have become lost.  Both metaphorically and literally.  As such I charge the people of the Terran Dominion to bring these lost souls back to our glory.  We shall not allow them to remain lost in the dark while we enjoy the light.

This great task may well be passed on for generations.  Despite this we must never give up.  How could we go forward if we did?

People of the Dominion celebrate your unity and peace.  If you do your children and your children's children shall be able to as well."  The First Prime Minister of the Terran Dominion finished his speech to thunderous applause.

New Minsk, Belarus
Date Unknown

"I'm sorry Professor Clemson for lying to you but if it is any consolation your daughter will live again if I am successful."  Professor Pter Yukinov said as he held a test tube in his gloved hand.

His work was revolutionary.  Pure genetic duplication was thought to be a dream.  His technique was so ahead of anything else he had already mastered duplicating physical appearance despite the tendency of the same genes sometimes manifesting in different ways.  It was why even identical twins were not always completely identical.  But now that would change and it would give them the edge needed to stand up to the Terran Dominion.

Espana, Ascunscion
Date Unknown

"Well at least I will be able to enjoy a nice tropical beach in my retirement."  William Spence jotted down some figures in his notebook as he sunned himself.

Sandwiched between two attractive women he had been surprised at the offer they had made him.  It seemed it was not all that uncommon across this new world.  He still hadn't understood how the hell it happened to work out this way but he wasn't going to argue with the fact that he now had two wives and their relationship while complex did work.

He finished sketching out a new work frame design.  Once he got back to his office he knew he'd be able to take it farther but he doubted it'd be practical to manufacture in his lifetime.

Green Forrest City, Anvil
Date Unknown

"Granddad would be so proud of us.  We're so close but so far from the greatest breakthrough since he and his compatriots solved practical interstellar travel."  Tiffany Clemson finished her eulogy of Richard Clemson.

Her mother had made sure she was on one of the first slow boats out of the Terra system as soon as she was old enough.  Because of that she never met her grandfather before his death.

She knew now what she had to do.  She had already been grappling with her mother's advances into artificial intelligence.  It had been a surprise just how human the systems behaved.  Retreating into their simulations and developing a whole host of what could only be described as psychological problems due to the sheer amount of computing power at their disposal.

[monbvol]

[Author]  Chapter 2 is proving to be a bit of a pain to re-work since it has a fair few more action scenes, many of which need additional cleaning up desperately.  Plus with the prologue I put in originally it is going to be long enough to split into two posts thanks to character limits.  Might be three by the time I'm done re-working the prologue with my new style, we'll see.  So it may actually be a bit longer before I actually get into chapter 2 proper but I feel like doing some writing now and you lot have been politely waiting for me to put up something new.  [/Author]

Chapter 2 The Icabar Conflict

An age of relative peace settled on humanity after the exodus from the Sol system.  Many second wave colonies were established and the earliest nations began forming.  Even the Terran Dominion began colonization efforts.

As is often too true in other periods of human history this did not last.

There is much debate about exactly when the period that would become known as the Border Wars began but almost all agree the conflict on the planet of Icabar was the dawn of true interstellar war between organized governments.

As indicated three nations had fully cemented themselves by this point.  The Anvil Merchants Guilds Institutes and Societies Commonwealth Pact, better known as the Amegis Compact.  Belarus Alliance.  Finally the Terran Dominion.

The Amegis Compact had perhaps the most mixed bag of the three nations at this point.  Professor Richard Clemson called it home until his death and as a result they made the most progress toward creating interstellar capable Warships and the scientists that went with him ensured they would have a very significant think tank to begin with that would propel the Amegis Compact into being in contention for the most overall technologically advanced nation of humanity.  Also possibly the most altruistic as they preferred to use diplomacy rather than conquest to expand early on.

This came with a cost though.  They also got the fewest initial settlers and the region of space they settled in had few ideal planets.  Thus manpower has always been their greatest limiting factor.

Also I should note that while they preferred diplomacy to conquest that does not mean they didn't use conquest or military force as part of their overall strategy even during this era and would always have an ever present stance of peaceful does not mean defenseless to their policies.

The Belarus Alliance in their diplomatic talks managed to secure everything they would need to build the same model of Destroyers as the Amegis Compact but knowing that they needed more they also abused this trust and access to steal the plans to a Warship Carrier that the Amegis Compact was also developing.

The Amegis Compact did learn of this but not being able to afford another adversary and knowing they could actually use the additional common design to their advantage against the Terran Dominion they instead leveraged the Belarus Alliance for all necessary technologies and techniques for their genetic engineering program that would eventually evolve into Project 114.

This gave rise to what many consider the darkest spot on the Amegis Compact's soul.  What would thus become known as the Ankokujin, the dark people.  All female, genetically engineered to be attractive, and predisposed to lives in extremes of gravity in the hopes they'd bolster the low population numbers eithe through the old fashioned method themselves or at least by joining the military since the Amegis Compact has always desired to fight in space first rather than allow enemies to make land fall.

To redeem themselves no actual psychological conditioning was ever required or introduced and as far as the law was concerned they were full citizens and just as human as anyone else.

Despite this their predispositions did see them heavily joining the military with some also joining the various law enforcement and intelligence agencies of the Amegis Compact.

The most notable personality of the Amgeis Compact during the Icabar Conflict was Professor Thomas Gates, father of Leandra Gates.  His work was focused primarily on establishing the educational systems of the Amegis Compact, especially the higher educational systems.  He also helped develop the very beginnings of Project Uplift.  The brain mapping and memory transfer project that would allow digital copies of people to be made.

For the Belarus Alliance they were a lot luckier in their initial colonization sites with very ideal worlds.  Combined with their knowledge of genetic duplication and genetic engineering they were able to expand their population very quickly.

Which means this is probably the best point to bring up what many consider the most distasteful aspect of their society.

Professor Pter Yukinov had started out performing just pure genetic duplication and had become a master of it.  Then he took the next step and actively began working on genetic engineering to get desired results.

This did yield many positive results in terraforming and keeping disease from devastating the colonies, especially as these alien environments would inevitably mutate many diseases that would have otherwise been catastrophic.  Indeed this gives the Belarus Alliance a level of medical science that not even the Amegis Compact can match.

Where it gets distasteful is in the introduction of the Project 110 and beyond system.  These genetically engineered people never received legal protections and schools specifically designed to condition these genetically engineered people to be psychologically conditioned to desire to perform certain tasks.

The legalized slavery and institutions that arose from these practices ensured that internal protest was marginalized for the most part.  Eventually some reforms had to be introduced to keep certain natural born segments of the population from erupting into open revolt.

Professor Hal Whittleson is the man credited with creating many of the programs these reform brought about.  His work on the orphanage and welfare systems in particular to ensure even those without jobs could be housed and fed are considered great achievements.

While the idea of large bipedal machines to aid in construction work was already a widespread idea with a lot of independent  parallel evolution it was the Belarus Alliance that first made the leaps to turn these machines into weapons of war.

While many argue about just how useful and powerful these Battlemechs as they are now called are in comparison to more conventional options the evidence thus far indicates they will always have a place on the battlefield.

For the space based portions of the conflict the Belarus Alliance relied heavily on Admiral Shushkinay Gruchinik who developed the early doctrines of the Belarus Navy at the administrative level but at the local tactical level it was a Project 114 genetically engineered person using the genetics of Richard Clemson's daughter.

The man who would face the Terran Dominion on the surface of Icabar would be Major Joseph Yugin.  By the end of the conflict he would be promoted to General.  It is well known he was given this assignment on the hopes that he would take after his father and be as effective against the Terran Dominion as his father was against them on Mars.

His victory over the invading forces ensured his inclusion to Project 111 as he predicted and ruthlessly exploited the errors his Terran Dominion counterparts would make.

The Terran Dominion's expansion was predicated on the idea of controlling what industrial machinery was sent to each colony so that they could not be self sufficient.  This mostly worked in the early days but as Icabar and the Belarus Alliance would teach them, this created it's own perils for retaining the loyalty of a colony.

Insurrections and general lack of support for the Terran Dominion government was probably what allowed the other nations to have a chance to form and grow into powers able to contend with the Terran Dominion and keep their initial technological edges.

General incompetence on the parts of the various commanders of the Terran Dominion also helped as many were in their positions due to political loyalty rather than actual ability.

Those that had competence were not unheard of but often had their own limitations.

Perhaps the best example is Admiral Negowe Bengali.  He used a conservative strategy in the combat in space over Icabar due to a lack of information that most other political leaders could understand even if they were not entirely happy with it.  Later conflicts would prove him correct in his strategy but the impatient and nearly unforgiving Prime Minister of the Terran Dominion still nearly had him shot for cowardice.

Colonel Mao Chisen and General Reginold Amos were the ground commanders for the two operations to bring Icabar back into the fold and both made perilous errors that doomed many of their men to certain death.

[monbvol]

[Author]  Oy I've been getting distracted a lot lately.  Enough I considered ending this attempt here since most of what is left I think I'd only change in removing more of the detailed technical elements.  Which raised questions of would continuing what I did in Chapter 1 be too much of a clash of presentation styles especially once I move into eras where I do want more certainty to events than what Chapter 1 has and I realized it probably would and it worked for Chapter 1 because of the uncertainty surrounding it.  So yeah I'm probably going to finish off with more of a documentary high level overview style of events and let my pre-existing story stand as is for a more character focused and driven supplementary piece.  [/Author]

The lack of practical interstellar communication during the first stage of the conflict did allow both sides to write their own versions of what happened.

Fortunately scholars were able to correct this over time and other more focused publications have far more detail on the conflict than this particular publication is designed for.

Still we wish to give at least a basic overview of the conflict.

As hinted the conflict came in two waves.

The initial wave was a limited affair as both sides still hadn't built up their space forces enough to bring in larger forces as yet.

The main inhabited area and the industrial zone that made Icabar worth invading was located on a the northen portion of the largest of 4 continents.  Surrounded by rugged rough mountains that would make moving forces through them extremely difficult and easy to setup choke points except for the coast area to the south that lead into a large valley and open plains before becoming bracketed by mountains again.

Colonel Mao Chisen decided he'd avoid the surface to air batteries and being potentially encircled by landing on some islands off this open coastal area and conduct a second landing where he could at least screen his forces with his hovercraft.  Unfortunately for him this did provide more than enough warning that Major Yugin set up heavy fortifications and thoroughly trounced the Terran Dominion forces.

The full extent of the disparity in technology between the Terran Dominion and the Belarus Alliance in favor of the Belarus Alliance was on full display on the ground but with it not being fully revealed in space the Terran Dominion retreated with severe losses.

Taking some time to regroup the Terran Dominion focused on closing the technology gap as much as possible and began putting together a much larger expeditionary force.

Their scientists had also managed to decipher just enough of Professor Clemson's works and theories that they were able to develop practical interstellar communications and deploy it to many important systems and some new warships in the hopes of them being used as flag vessels.

The Belarus Alliance and Amegis Compact were not entirely idle either as both launched punitive raids on the Terran Dominion to keep them off balance and from probing too far in the wrong areas of space.

In particular the Belarus Alliance had the most luck here as they caught a portion of the Terran Dominion forces bound for Icabar in transit.  While they failed to destroy any troop ships the damage they inflicted meant the troops would be unavailable for long enough that the Terran Dominion decided to go ahead without them.

With a much more substantial fleet around the invasion force the Terran Dominion made their second landing.

General Reginal Amos decided he would be much more direct in his landing and set down in the large open plains south of the main inhabited area.

The technological gap on the ground had been nearly closed and the fight was a much messier affair but again now General Yugin had prepared his traps well and encircled the Terran Dominion forces from the beginning.  Then using the limited number of Battlemechs at his disposal for the first time in battle anywhere he proved their worth in their ability to navigate terrain that would hinder most other forces and despite their primitive nature at this time and the resulting limitations on their firepower the Battlemechs were now a proven asset that had shown they were worth developing further.

The full extent of the genetic engineering projects in the ground forces of the Belarus Alliance had been revealed though.

Eventually it was the lack of air support that doomed General Amos's invasion as in space things were also still slightly in favor of the Belarus Alliance.

While in ship to ship combat the Terran Dominions new line of Warships were certainly more formidable the Belarus Alliance still had huge advantages in aerospace fighter technology, pilot training, and force discipline.

The Admiral in charge of the space forces was a result of Project 114 and used the genetics of Kelly Sarah Clemson.  The Belarus Alliance in a clerical error used the middle name of Richard Clemson's daughter as the donor identifier instead of her first name, hence many of the accounts that Richard Clemson's daughter was named Sarah, not Kelly.

Knowing the donor source and that it would help add confusion to the Terran Dominion while possibly deflecting some of their reprisals against the Amegis Compact instead sent video messages to the Terran Dominion fleet.

When it came time to engage the Terran Dominion fleet the superior number and superior abilities of the Belarus Alliances aerospace fighters were quickly put on display.

One of the vessels in the Terran Dominion fleet was one of the new vessels intended to act as flag ship.  Why the Terran Dominion Admiral didn't use the vessel as intended will probably never be known.  The vessel was crippled then easily captured by the Belarus Alliance.  Giving them access to the new faster than light communications technology.

The writing was on the wall though for the Terran Dominion.  They knew the gap was closing but that they would need to take more time, fight more defensively, and then set out on the offensive once again.

It was also about this time that the Amegis Compact launched a raid on a major military regional HQ for the express purpose of also gaining this new FTL communication technology.  Along with the technology the extra chaos of the Terran Dominion not being sure which enemy was responsible for which act to retaliate against helped cement their decision to be less aggressive for the time being. 

[monbvol]

Chapter 3 The Border Wars

The conflict in the Icabar system was just the first as an era where the various powers started to form and establish the limits of where they could project power.  Thus establishing the name of this era, the Border Wars.

The Ascunscion Alliance, Carfana Federation, Darian Supremacy all formalized as powers during this era to join the Amegis Compact, Belarus Alliance, and Terran Dominion on the interstellar stage.

While these new powers participated as well it was still the Amegis Compact, Belarus Alliance, and Terran Dominion that were the most active.

Indeed the Terran Dominion did learn of the sharing of designs between the Amegis Compact and Belarus Alliance and assembled their most ambitious expedition of the conflict into the Palembang system.

The Palembang system was the home to one of the larget shipyards in the Amegis Compact.  While well defended a stroke of fortune had the Terran Dominion choose a jump point into the system where the Amegis Compact was conducting a live fire weapons drill for visiting political dignitaries.

The opening strike was brutal by the Terran Dominion, destroying the observation deck where the dignitaries and the commanding admiral of the naval forces were located.

The Admiral slain was Lious Bolivar.  He was also the one coordinating the raids into Terran Dominion territory and his acumen for the task had earned him a great deal of respect and prestige.

It was at this juncture that one of the great figures of the Amegis Compact would start making a name for herself.

Leftenant Leandra Gates was forced to take command of the fleet when the flag captain froze in shock unable to function.

She used the Admirals authentication codes to issue orders to the fleet and quickly recovered the situation.

Unfortunately the damage was mounting and with the live fire drills the ready ammunition was running dangerously low and there was no choice but to retreat from the system leaving it virtually defenseless against the Terran Dominion.

While many respected Leandra for her quick thinking and decisive action the board of inquiry had little choice but to remove her from command as it came to light how she had gotten the Admiral's authentication codes.

She had been in a secret relationship with the Admiral and discovered that she was pregnant with his twin sons thanks to a freak failure of her contraceptives.

Despite all of this Leandra was still very much valued and was transferred to the Department of Military Science where just how intellectually gifted she was would come to light as she made Project Uplift a success.

Part of this work was helping to establish the AI classification system and cementing the rights of Class 5 AIs and helping usher in the science of AI psychology.

The bad news kept coming for the Amegis Compact though as the Belarus Alliance sensed an opportunity and launched an attack on the Kure system.

The massive numbers advantage of the Belarus Alliance proved too much here despite there being no surprise.

All that kept this success from turning into a full on invasion of the Amegis Compact was a daring and successful infiltration of Section 9, the foreign intelligence and special operations service of the Amegis Compact, into a Belarus Alliance Space Command facility and issuing orders for an attack into Terran Dominion space by the reserve forces.

By the time that this was caught by the Belarus Alliance their reserve forces were already in combat with Terran Dominion forces.

Unable to retake Palembang or Kure and war exhaustion setting in the Amegis Compact gathered for what would be their last attack of the era into the Tomsland system of the Terran Dominion.

Here too Section 9 made a name for themselves in exercising their mandate to disrupt foreign hostile forces with a now infamous incident where they infiltrated the Terran Dominion's communications feeds and flooded all the audio and video feeds with content that caused many in the Amegis Compact to question the judgement of the operative but none could argue with the results at it took days for the Terran Dominion to remove all the viruses and re-establish their communication encryption to try and prevent such future efforts.

The orders sent by Section 9's operatives from the correct HQ station did cause the Belarus Alliance to attack the Forrestal system in the Terran Dominion and achieve victory there but the counter strike in their Gar system made it a relatively even trade.

What forced them to realize they were becoming too overextended though was when they attempted to invade the Carfana Federation system of sand River.

At first everything seemed to go well but then the Carfana Federation sprang their trap and showed their expertise at asymmetrical warfare.

This signaled the end of any full blown invasions and the cementing of borders for some time to come.

[monbvol]

[Author]  So this is going to be a completely out of story post on my part.

To start off oy even by my standards Chapter 3 is a bit of a mess mostly in all the stuff I rather glossed over probably too much or otherwise left out.

The trouble is I've set myself up for such bad habits in that regard by deciding my previous attempt can stand on it's own as a more character driven story.

It also makes it painfully obvious how little time I have spent on developing certain factions and having them participate in events in certain eras.  So yeah I think I need to work on some stuff to fill in chapter 3 a bit here.

Which I admit is making me think about putting a thread in the Fan Designs section where I can lay out more of the out of story stuff to help provide some context.  [/Author]