A New Horizon
December 2163 - Albion - Mackenzie King Space Port
For its citizens, Albion was a paradise following its terraforming and the Canadian government had no issues attracting colonists. In fact, the project had an enormous waiting list, as there was not enough housing available to accommodate those wishing to relocate. To rectify this, the Canadian government took unconventional (and controversial) steps.
(Art by
Mark Williams)
The white ceiling swam back and forth. The primal part of White Fir’s brain was working overtime, trying to determine what was wrong. Their gas bladder had deflated. That was bad. Some predator could come and rip them apart. If they didn’t get help as soon as possible, they would–
Someone floated over to White Fir, looking down at them. “Calm down. You're safe. You’ve just woken up from stasis.”
White Fir’s primal part didn’t calm down. It didn’t understand what was said, but there was enough for the rational brain to latch on to. The speaker wore a medical uniform. The room they were in looked like a medical bay. A bit too bright for White Fir’s eyes. Probably a Human medical bay.
The person floating above looked pleased. “That’s better. How do you feel?”
“Like crap. I think I’ve deflated…”
“Completely normal.” They connected something to a stent in White Fir’s side. A moment later their gas bladder began inflating. “Do you remember who you are?”
“White Fir.”
“And do you know where you are and why?”
“Albion… And I’m here for… work.”
The doctor looked pleased. “No obvious mental impairment. Vitals are well within normal parameters. Everything looks good. We’ll have a look over you once you’ve been reinflated. So just lay here while I go see to some of my other patients. Then we’ll get you on your way. Good?”
“Good.”
"Excellent. And welcome to Albion, White Fir.”
A few hours later White Fir was floating in a waiting room with about two dozen others. They all struggled to maintain buoyancy. Gravity on Albion was higher than the Ring, so that would take some getting used to. What White Fir was certain they would never get used to was the darkness outside.
On a theoretical level, White Fir understood it. Albion was a sphere spinning around a star, and that meant that at any given point, half the sphere was pointed away from the star. Back on the Ring, a Human had once tried explaining it to a young White Fir by using a ball and something called a ‘lighter’. White Fir had panicked and fled when the devices produced a flame.
Even if they understood it, the darkness was intimidating. How would they get enough energy when the sun was gone half the time? The Humans couldn’t help; they got energy by consuming living things (something that still unsettled White Fir). But there had to be some way of dealing with it. The Humans wouldn’t bring them all this way just to let them wither and die.
A voice deep in the back of White Fir’s mind echoed the hardliners back home, how the Humans were secretly killing Lilarobius using various horrific means. White Fir did their best to silence the voice. If the Humans had wanted them dead, they would have done so from orbit. When had the hardliners been right about anything?
Except for the bit about them consuming living things to stay alive. They’d actually been right about that part.
A vehicle pulled in outside of the waiting room. It was clearly a Human design, crudely retrofitted for Lilarobius use. It was rectangular in shape and it had at some time contained seats for Humans. Those had been removed and anchoring points installed in their stead. Everyone knew it was for them, and they all floated closer, carrying the few possessions they’d been allowed to bring.
The ride was done in silence as the vehicle took them from the spaceport to their dorms. Out the windows, White Fir could see Humans going about their business. A few of them looked back at them as they passed. White Fir had never gotten good at reading Human facial expressions, but they were probably not happy to see them.
A few of the Humans pointed at them as they passed. Most of them were weird, small Humans. Children presumably. White Fir had never seen one on the Ring, but the Ring was a foreign place to the Humans. Now things were different. Now they were the interloper in a foreign place.
Their ride took them out of the city, towards a cluster of new development still under construction. There weren’t many Humans around here, and the few that White Fir could see looked like guards.
They weren’t the well-armed, hyper-vigilant guards they’d met on the Ring. These didn’t even wear body armour. But even so, they kept a close eye on them as they drove past.
Finally they pulled over next to some temporary housing. Unlike all the other buildings they’d seen so far, this looked like it had been designed with Lilarobius in mind. Gone were the doorways that went all the way to the floor, and the second floor didn’t have large staircases leading up to them. Large windows would let in plenty of sunlight, and through them, White Fir could see the light of dozens of sun lamps.
As they filed out, carrying their bags along with them, they found a Human waiting for them. Unlike the guards they’d seen on the way, this man radiated authority in a way reminiscent of the Human officers back on the Ring. White Fir wasn’t sure if it was just their imagination, but he carried himself like a soldier.
“You’re all here, good.” They all lined up in front of him, not making a sound. “I am Jonathan Armstrong. I am the head of alien labour here. That means I am responsible for you, and you are responsible to me. If there is a problem, you come to me. If you cause a problem, you will be brought to me. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Mr. Armstrong,” they all said in unity.
“Good. First shift starts tomorrow at eight. There will be a bus to pick you up half an hour before that. You are to be ready and waiting for it when it arrives. There are alarm clocks already set in your rooms. Understood?”
“Yes, Mr. Armstrong.”
“Now, some practical details. You will be four a room. I don’t care how you distribute, but if you decide to fight about it, you will be brought to me. Furthermore, you are not allowed to travel into town without written permission from me or a site chief. And trust me, you do not want to be in town without written permission.”
He scanned them for a moment. “Any questions?”
“Um, yes.” Someone next to White Fir bobbed up slightly. “Will we be allowed to send any messages home?”
“We will organise a comms package in the next three days. Three minutes of video, or ten minutes of audio only. Text is unlimited. Standard low-priority transmission protocol. Any other questions?”
Silence. There were probably more questions, but not enough bravery.
“Good. I will drop by your work site towards the end of your shift tomorrow. If there are any issues you can bring them up then.”
Mr. Armstrong didn’t wait to see them settled. Instead, he walked to a waiting car and left them floating in the darkness. For a moment the darkness was all-encompassing, the starry sky overhead both beautiful and terrifying. Then someone broke the spell by fluttering towards the door. A moment later they were all moving.
White Fir ended up in a room on the second floor together with the one who’d asked about sending messages back home and two others they hadn’t seen before. The room was spartan: a central sun lamp and a handful of anchoring points, along with a lockable chest for their possessions. About the bare minimum needed to survive. But if there was one thing Lilarobius had become good at since the Siege of Lav, it was surviving.
Out the window, White Fir could see the unfinished skyscrapers, dark teeth against the dark sky. If travelling hundreds of lightyears in search of work was what was needed to survive, then that was fine. They would survive.
* * *
Despite the Galactic Community’s disappointing first meeting, Humanity went into the 2160s with a degree of optimism. There were no great external threats to Humanity, and the Confederacy had so far handled the fractious internal politics well enough. Expansion continued along the Rim, with several promising new worlds being surveyed. And to cap it off, the Koreans landed on Mugunghwa in the fall of 2160.
The ocean world of Ynessa III and the continental world of Tunobo II were still years away from any colony ship being dispatched, but the Confederacy prioritised getting the infrastructure needed established. While the exact borders of the Aifu Remnant were unclear, most estimates put them close to Tunobo.
As the survey ships explored the Rim, two colony ships were being assembled back on Earth. One was going to the moon Selnoc IIIa, carrying an assortment of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English colonists. The moon, dubbed Avalon, was to be a joint venture between the inhabitants of the British Isles. There were some concerns about the joint expedition, with people citing the often dark history between the various nations. The Minister for Colonial Affairs dismissed these concerns, saying: “They’ve got an entire planetoid to work with. If they can’t get along, then they can just settle somewhere else.”
The second ship was also a joint venture, but for a single nation. The American Republic had been granted colonisation rights for Dirmius II. However, given America’s peculiar governmental structure, it was effectively 40 different nations working together with just the barest hint of a central executive. If there had been concerns about Selnoc IIIa, there were significant doubts about Dirmius II. The viability of the project was even questioned by various members of the Confederation Assembly, mostly by those who desired the colony for their own country. However, Canada backed the American bid vigorously, effectively ending the matter.
The American colony, optimistically dubbed Unity, faced some unique obstacles. The atmosphere was breathable, but contained various chemicals that had an aphrodisiac effect on Humans. This quickly led to the colony gaining a reputation for debauchery. Back on Earth, American religious leaders would regularly condemn colonists for “leaving God’s chosen for a life of sin.” In the long term, it would lead to the reemergence of the Quiverfull movement amongst American colonists.
But Humans were not the only people moving around in the Sol Confederacy. Mugunghwa and the terraformed Albion had climates suitable for Lilarobius. It didn’t take long before unscrupulous actors took advantage of this as a source of cheap labour. Ships full of workers departed the Ring, some of its passengers hoping for a better life, while others just hoped to make some money before returning.
This proved controversial back on Earth. Xenophobic elements of the public called this a “covert infiltration of Human space” and argued that the Lilarobius should be confined to the Ring. At the same time, leftists, spearheaded by the Indochinese Federation, condemned Korea and Canada for exploiting the Ring’s desperate. However, both of these complaints fell on deaf ears in the Confederation Assembly. The Confederation Charter treated colonial worlds as sovereign territory of the controlling planet. Thus, the Confederacy had no say in the internal policy of its member nations.
As Humanity continued its peaceful expansion, the troubles in the Galactic North came to an end. On the 14th of January, 2161, a ceasefire went into effect. While negotiations would take months to finalise, the outcome of the war was clear to everyone: the Vetyr Shipping Alliance had won.
With several worlds under occupation, and lacking the capacity to fight on, the Citizen Confederation of Adarnir had to seek terms. The Vetyr, continuing to maintain the fiction that this was an anti-piracy operation, would install corporate councils on the occupied worlds. Collectively, these councils would form the Fevarian Bonded Merchants. This new state would soon form close ties with the Vetyr.
While the Fevarian Bonded Merchants was on paper an independent polity, it was de facto a client state of the Vetyr Shipping Alliance. Or as some would say, a subsidiary.
The Citizen Confederation of Adarnir maintained that this was an illegal occupation of their sovereign territory, but lacking the military means to challenge it, they were forced to grit their teeth and bear it. While the shooting had stopped, few expected the issue to be permanently settled.
As the conflict between the Versum and the Adarnir cooled down, the Galactic Community Committee on Interstellar Trade presented its proposal for rules, rights and regulations pertaining to merchant shipping. Most of the suggestions were uncontroversial, like the signatory states designating trade lanes that would be regularly patrolled and inspection protocols. All ships were also required to submit cargo manifests on system entry, and the system’s owner could turn the ship away if it was carrying goods it deemed illegal. Any ship carrying goods not declared could be seized by the authorities.
It was hoped that these rules would avoid a repeat of the Piracy War[1]. However, the proposal did bring up new issues.
The committee also proposed a “market hub” of sorts to help coordinate the buying and selling of various goods. While most of the work would be done in various exchanges scattered across the galaxy, a central hub was needed to facilitate this work. Whichever state controlled this hub would gain a marked advantage in buying and selling their goods. Naturally, both the Versum Shipping Alliance and the Welfon-Boordar Trade Association were keen on obtaining this advantage. However, both parties had made enough enemies that getting support for their proposal would be difficult.
The corpo states were not the only ones who desired this trade advantage, and across the galaxy, various governments were drafting up their proposals. Humanity was no different. The Confederacy’s initial proposal suggested Earth as the location for the market hub. This proposal was dead on arrival. Despite what many people would like to believe, Earth was nothing special. The trade volume was limited and while the Sol system was in a somewhat ideal position, it was not enough to tip the scale. There was, however, another, more ideal candidate.
During the days of the Lavis Republic, the Ring had been the centre of a significant internal trade network designed to help the Republic overcome the difficulty of their autarkic policies. Much of this was shattered in the war, but the remnants were later restored by Human, and alien, corporations seeking to turn a profit. With the Ring Garden eager to encourage foreign investment, the Ring had rapidly grown to be the central manufacturing and trading hub in Confederate space.
Because of this, the Minister for Ring Affairs, Marie-Paule Leavitt, suggested that the Confederacy should promote the Ring as Humanity’s market hub candidate.
The response from the xenophobic and Human supremacist portions of the Confederation Assembly was immediate, with prominent members of the Assembly calling Leavitt a traitor and a “weed lover”. These public condemnations only calmed down when Flynn Webb, another Assemblymember, was taken into custody for making death threats. While he would later be released, he was issued a stern rebuke from the Assembly President. Meanwhile, Minister Leavitt would have a strengthened security detail for the coming years.
This very public dispute around the proposal travelled abroad, and a few weeks after the initial suggestion, Chancellor Dudás was contacted by Ambassador Vezem of the Welfon-Boordar Trade Association. He had a very simple proposal: if Humanity would propose the Ring as a site for the market hub, the WBTA would support the bid.
Their reasoning was simple enough. While they would prefer it if the WBTA won the bid, it was not likely. And if they didn’t win it, it was likely that the winner would be someone hostile to them. The Suramo, like Humanity, had invested a lot of resources into the Ring, and relations between them and the Sol Confederacy were amicable. So the Ring being chosen as the site for the market hub, while not ideal, was the next best thing.
This complicated the discussions on Earth. One argument that the Human Supremacist faction had leveraged was that suggesting the Ring was unlikely to win the bid, but the proposal could embolden the Lilarobius. They had already been moving off the Ring and any further “concessions” could easily lead to the reemergence of the Lavis Republic.
While the argument had significant logical flaws, it was indicative of how many saw the Ring and its inhabitants. Feelings dominated the discussion far more than facts. That many of the representatives to the Assembly had in some way served during the Lavis Wars only added fuel to the fire.
However, the fearmonger had one opponent they struggled to beat: greed. When news of the WBTA backing the Ring bid, corporations that had invested heavily in the Ring practically salivated. Within days, several corporations got together to form the “Economical Council for the Development of the Ring”, a lobbyist group dedicated to promoting their interests on the Ring.
The ECDR went into action, wining and dining both proponents and opponents of the Ring bid. Slowly, the narrative shifted from the threat of unshackled Lilarobius, to the economic benefits for the common man. While the proposal was never uncontroversial, it was able to move ahead.
When the proposal was submitted to the Galactic Council, it was met with immediate suspicion. The only other proposal that had the backing of more than one state was the Versum Shipping Alliance, whose bid was also supported by the Fevarian Bonded Merchants. That a client state backed their patron was no surprise. That the WBTA backed the Ring bid was.
While many (if not most) viewed the proposal with a mixture of scepticism and suspicion, there were few other good candidates. Most member states had suggested one of their own worlds, usually their capital. While some of these worlds were significant economic centres, few were remarkable.
At this point, it seemed like the discussions would descend into petty bickering. Fortunately for Humanity, it instead escalated to sabre rattling. The Versum tried to force a vote for their proposal, but the Citizen Confederation of Adarnir, still furious about the war and boiling over with revanchism, threatened war[2]. As the talks began breaking down, Human representatives were able to present themselves as a calm and neutral party. This was helped by most of the galactic powers not having a lot of history with the Sol Confederacy. Most were familiar with the Lavis Wars, but Humanity’s response to attempted genocide was seen as restrained.
After long talks, Humanity was able to get enough support for their proposal. The only real opposition came from the Versum Shipping Alliance, the Beldross Hive and the Versum Divine Empire. The latter two backed the Versum bid mostly due to seeing the Confederacy as a threat.
At the end of the proceedings, Chairman Sows the Fields of the Vetyr Shipping Alliance held a speech stating that “With this pen stroke, the galaxy has taken a step towards unity and peace. It is my hope that the galaxy will never again see the shadow of conflict.” The phrase “A step towards unity and peace” would soon enter the cultural lexicon as a deeply ironic saying.
Chairman Sows the Fields announcing that the Ring had won the market hub bid. Thanks to the flowery language and ironic circumstances, the speech became the first pan-galactic meme. Even the Beldross got involved, ribbing on Sows the Fields’ poor choice of words. Sows the Fields would at the time describe the speech as one of his best. He would retire in disgrace months later.
In early April of 2163, the inevitable happened. After years of tensions, diplomatic mudslinging and inefficient Galactic Council meetings, the hostility between the galactic powers spinwards of Humanity finally boiled over.
The war had long been expected, both by Humanity and the parties involved. The only uncertainty was when and how it would begin.
In what they claimed to be a response to a slave raid by the Versum Divine Empire, the Hierarchy of Hazi mobilised their fleets and punched into Versum space. This triggered the defensive pact between the Hazi and the Beldross. However, the Hazi maintained that they had been attacked in the aforementioned slave raid[3], thus calling on the Welfon-Boordar Trade Association to join the war. The WBTA agreed, and the War of the Dual Alliances was underway.
What followed was frantic activity in the Galactic Council as the Vetyr felt they were once again losing control of the situation. An emergency meeting was called, but the belligerent parties spent most of the meeting hurling accusations at the other parties. A second, reduced, meeting was called a few days later. In this meeting, the Vetyr appealed to the Sol Confederacy to intervene in the conflict. Chancellor Dudás refused, citing that Humanity had no stake in this conflict, and would remain neutral[4].
Despite this, the war would influence Human foreign policy.
A few months after the outbreak of hostilities, the Beldross Hive announced that they no longer felt bound by the non-aggression pact between the Hive and Humanity.
The non-aggression pact, which hailed from the tense years following the First Lavis War, had been a cornerstone in Human defensive planning. While the relationship with the Beldross had soured since then, most experts had expected them to maintain it.
This act puzzled military and economic analysts. The conflicts with the Lavis Republic had ballooned Human defensive spending and, even with the reduced rate of ship construction since then, the Confederate fleet outmatched the Beldross. Adding to this, the Beldross economy was nowhere near as strong as Humanity’s, so any extended arms race would only exacerbate this difference. The Beldross reneging on the agreement was thus not in their best interest, especially during a time of war.
The effect of this was the immediate redeployment of the Confederate Fleet to the Ring. This would allow for a faster response in the event of hostilities, as plans for a war with the Hive relied on speed. In addition, an emergency fleet expansion bill was pushed through the Assembly at breakneck speed. The bill also included measures to improve the defence of Russalka, which was exposed to a potential Beldross attack.
A few prominent members of the German high command also pushed for a pre-emptive attack on the Beldross. With both their and the Versum fleets occupied in the ongoing war, they argued that Humanity could cripple the Beldross with minimal resistance. The subject was even discussed in a meeting with Chancellor Dudás. It was shot down in the end, but the meeting minutes, declassified decades later, revealed that the main considerations were political in nature. The Chancellor worried about how to justify such an attack to the general public, and to the Galactic Community. Tellingly, the military might of the Beldross Hive was a subject of minimal debate.
In the end, Humanity adopted a “wait and see” stance to the war. Indeed, the same was true for most of the galactic powers. Only the Vetyr Shipping Alliance were actively working to end the conflict. But after carving a de facto client state out of the Adarnir only a few years earlier, they were viewed as simple hypocrites.
The Galactic Community had failed in its intended purpose. It would not be the last time.
[1] - The Piracy War was the name the Vetyr Shipping Alliance and its allies called the conflict. The Adanir and their allies called it the Shipping War.
[2] - This was an obvious bluff. The Citizen Confederation of Adarnir’s military was still reeling from the losses endured during the war. However, it is not clear if the Versum, unaccustomed to armed conflict, realised this.
[3] - It is unclear if this specific slave raid happened, but the Versum Divine Empire had a long history of sending raiding parties into foreign space to attack and enslave workers on mining stations.
[4] - This remained the Sol Confederacy’s official stance throughout the war. However, the Confederacy would share a lot of experiences from the Lavis Wars with the WBTA through back channels.
