Chapter 11 - 2352 to 2374: Desolation of the Yssravannar
The war is over, yet not much changes. It was such a quick and easy war that very little of life in the Federation changed during its course of time. The biggest change was the influx of technology and research from occupied stations. In the last 5 years, several very new and very advanced technologies have been researched. The most recent is Jump Drive, which will tear a hole in the "fabric of reality," as the scientists who developed it stated in the press conference, allowing ships to near-instantly travel from point to point. They concluded the conference saying that the space through which they pass during the travel is very poorly understood. Another technology researched was the Hyper Shield, a very powerful advancement on regular shields. Lastly, sapient combat AI was researched by the TT-01 Division and implemented in all robotic armies of the Federation. Another positive change during the war was the start of the construction of an Orbital Artificial Ecosystem, which will be used to test new biological and societal technologies. It is being built around a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri system, and it started about 4 years into the war, after the huge intake of minerals and energy from the taken systems.
Soon after peace with the Vissari, many new treaties with the defeated enemy are signed. Among them are an immigration treaty, a research agreement, and a non-aggression pact. The new government is very eager to work alongside Earth, rather than stay as rivals.
The Orbital Artificial Ecosystem, or OAE, is finished in 2356. It will very greatly improve societal research. One of its first discoveries is a new terraforming method that can transform the atmosphere of a planet. Terraforming of Mars and Venus begins soon after.
Relations with the Steel Bank also improve in the following years. New trade and commercial pacts are signed, and a research agreement is written up. The Steel Bank's government returns to their ancestral pacifist and materialist ways. Even the Triad is somewhat more friendly with Earth. So little was requested from the defeated parties, yet the war was so outmatched, that they desire peace above all else now. They know there is no way to defeat the Federation at the moment.
The next election begins in 2359. The only new face is Reginald Wires, running as an independent with 17% support. TBC may win this election, regaining his position as President. But then, just a month into the campaign, Ronald TBC suffers a heart attack and passes away at 88 years of age. His vice, Mirox the Baanthurian admiral, takes over. He does not have as much support as his predecessor, but he is still in the lead. This may be the first time the Federation is led by a nonhuman species.
Still, perhaps the Federation feels it is not ready for a Baanthurian president. Tina Nikolaevich wins another term in office. She promises to continue improving Earth's relations with the rest of the galaxy.
President Nikolaevich sadly dies in a plane accident 4 years into her peaceful second term. Before her death, rumors had started that she and her administration were working on a new super-weapon meant to place the Federation as the most powerful empire in the galaxy, above even the Watchers and the Ancients. The rumors die with the president. To take her place is President Josep HistoryDude.
He has been mostly out of politics until fairly recently, when Tina Nikolaevich chose him as the Secretary of Defense for the Federation. During his few years in the position, he has expanded the fleet considerably, including authorizing the creation of 3 new anti-piracy fleets to combat the growing numbers of marauders plaguing the hyperlanes. Along with this, his office developed an entirely new class of ship, called a Titan. No Titan has yet been created, but 3 are planned in the next 10 years. These are truly spectacularly large ships with ten thousand crew members each. It is unclear whether the Titan is the super-weapon that Nikolaevich was working on.
The Irassian homeworld is colonized with Awakened in 2365. The ancient and giant shipyards are put back into use.
The terraforming of Mars is completed in 2365, and humans begin the process of colonizing it. Because of the slightly cooler climate, woolly mammoths are revived from extinction and placed on the surface.
The Kirillian Empire successfully invades the Triad in 2367, taking a huge chunk of territory. The Triad is now split in 3, and it has gone from one of the most fearsome to one of the weakest empires on this side of the galaxy in less than a century.
A year later, the Cartel declares war on the Triad. They cite border skirmishes started by the Triad as justification for the invasion, but several Earth military advisers doubt the claims entirely. The Federation's closest ally appears to be a little too imperial for their liking, and relations worsen between the old friends.
President HistoryDude reveals his plans to his advisers: wiping out the pesky marauders on the Federation's border. 1st and 4th Fleets will enter their territory from one side, while 2nd and 3rd will come in from the other. Their combined strengths should be enough to destroy the multitude of bases and fleets present in the Rabinoc system. At the moment, the Yssravannar Reavers are fractured and warring, but there is no telling what they will do once the Federation invasion begins. In protest to the plans, the few Yssravannar leaders in the government and military resign their positions. They claim that the Yssravannar way of life is raiding and pillaging, and that the Federation has no right to destroy them for something they have been doing for millennia.
The first of the new breed of Titans is finished just in time for the invasion. It is called the Pegasus. It joins with 3rd Fleet, ready to take on the Yssravannars. A new Titan is planned for each fleet.
The invasion kicks off in 2369, and all four fleets jump into the system. The first few days are a blur of flashes and color, as hundreds of ships engage each other.
It is the largest space battle ever seen, and the first pirate station ignites in a nuclear blast that lights up the system for several days. Several pirate ships surrender in face of the destruction, but the white flags are ignored, and all are killed.
Eventually, only the massive Galleon-class pirate ship remains, but it too is surrounded and destroyed. Several dozen escape pods from the defeated enemy fleets are rounded up and their crews taken captive.
The Detheris system is the next to be entered. This one will be much tougher, with 2 large pirate fleets, 3 galleons, and 7 stations. The 4 Federation fleets enter and engage in 2370.
8 Federation ships are lost and dozens of the pirate ships destroyed, the rest fleeing to their final system of Moscot. The Fleets remain in orbit around Detheris, while minor repairs are done. According to intel reports, the Yssravannar have done nothing to unite in face of the invaders, and they descend into even more chaos.
Moscot system is host to one large pirate fleet, a galleon, 2 large bases, and a few asteroid bases. A few Federation ships are lost before the last of the pirates are defeated.
Several thousand pirates are taken prisoner, and the remaining survivors scatter as refugees throughout the galaxy. The Reavers are no more, and the Federation's borders are now safe.
The election of 2373 begins. There is a new party in the running called the Martial Supremacy Alliance, led by the general Obr-Pwot. He and the resigned Yssravannar leaders formed a political party after the destruction of the Reavers, based on the principles of galactic domination through force. At the moment, they barely garner support from 1% of the population.
Josep HistoryDude wins another term as president, after his very successful decimation of the Yssravannar. The move, potentially controversial, was greatly supported by the general population of the Federation. They have no love for uncivilized raiders.
The Thimoid Watchers approach Earth later that year. They have watched the Federation's attempts at artificial intelligence, such as the Think Tank and the Awakened, and they are not happy. They demand that the Federation ceases all creation of artificial intelligence and outlaw it throughout the empire. Earth rejects their demands immediately, angered at their pretense.
Then, in 2374, in protest to Earth's use of AI, the Thimoid Watchers declare war.