Decade 1: Discovering Xeno Lifeforms while Fighting the Deep State
The Maga are a species of genderless fungoids that visually stand out due to their characteristic white trunk and large colored cap. While capable of movement, most Magas prefer to stay immobile and rarely move far from their domicile and workplace. As a species, Magas stand out among the other species of the galaxy with their intense dislike of manual labor, wasteful habits, and resistance to ideas that do not fit historical precedence. Indeed, the laziness of the Magas is legendary; individual fungoids only have one name composed of at most 3 syllables, compared to Maweer names which consist of 3 words. However, when compared to the other species inhabiting the galaxy, Magas are exceptionally long-lived, with an average life span of 160 standard years, compared to the average of 80 standard years.
The major visual distinction between the individual Magas is the color of their caps. Most Maga caps are blue or purple in color, but some are red. Rare is the orange colored cap, which the Maga people attribute to be a sign of divine blessing.
The Maga government is unique in the galaxy, in that it functions more like a family-run mafia-like cult than a government. The family leader always takes the name
Trump*1, and controls all major decisions through its
Trump Organization (TO for short). What started as a front business for money laundering grew into a global criminal empire once the TO began to subvert televised religious broadcasts. Through the churches,
Trump and its offspring were able to manipulate the red Magas and turn them into cult followers. These red caps formed the core of the TO's political base, and eventually legitimized the orange cap
Trump's*2 entry into the political world. Once in power, the TO used blackmail and the threat of violence to usurp control of the global government.
After the power grab was complete, the orange
Trump largely sat back and siphoned money into its front business. Technological progress and expansion into space was stalled for decades. It wasn't until the night before the orange
Trump's 200th birthday that Maga society began to expand beyond its homeworld of Trumpland. By all accounts, the orange
Trump woke suddenly during the night screaming the word "covfefe" and declaring "it must be mine!". After waking its advisors, it began to frantically declare a search for "covfefe" in between bites out of its favorite brand of hamderbers. Not knowing what exactly a "covfefe" was, the advisors were nevertheless threatened with violence to find it. In a show of creativity, the consigliere stated that "covfefe" must be in outer space. Satisfied with the answer, and not realizing it was a ruse to buy time until the orange
Trump's death from old age, the orange
Trump ordered the creation of a space force that would venture beyond the Trumpstar system and find "covfefe". Because orange caps were considered a divine blessing in Maga society, this decree was turned into a religious commandment. All efforts for the next 100 years were spent finding the secret to FTL travel, and by extension find "covfefe".
In 2200, the first hyperspace drive equipped starships came online: three corvettes, a science vessel, and a construction vessel.
The science ship began by scanning the stars immediately surrounding Trumpstar, while a second ship would be constructed and sent to scan the core-ward cluster of stars. Meanwhile, technological progress was refocused to the studies of fusion power, nanomechanics, and biodiversity studies.
It wasn't until June 6 of 2201 that the Magas found evidence of xeno life forms. On the moon classified as Dorellion IIIa, simple life forms were detected as well as ruined structures.
Up until this moment, there was an aspect of Maga society known only as the Deep State by the TO. What exactly the Deep State was changed based on the propaganda needs at the time, but in general the Deep State was defined as government employees and politicians who refused to fall in line. Terror attacks would often be attributed to the Deep State, and it was widely considered among those in the TO that the Deep State was nothing more than an enemy fabricated by previous
Trumps to keep the general population paranoid and distrustful of the regular government.
The proof of existence of alien intelligence, even if it was ruined structures, shocked the Magas. The shock was so great, that shortly after a June 15, 2201 speech by the current
Trump regarding national purity in the face of an unknown xeno threat, a hidden religion known as the Temple of Unity attempted a coup against the TO. To the surprise of everyone in the TO, it turned out there really was a Deep State, though not the same one portrayed by the propaganda media outlets.
The coup was not successful, and the survivors escaped in 3 corvettes to the toxic planet
Uggudasch. Two more corvettes were constructed, and the 5 ship
Glolindus Starfleet under the command of admiral
Glopp attacked the rebels. After 5 months of fighting, 2 of the 3 Deep State ships were destroyed and the third disabled. Recovery of the computer banks showed three more Deep State fleets had been assembled before the coup attempt, but did not join the fighting. The closest of the 3 fleets was in the nearby
Qurus system. Admiral
Glopp was ordered to return its fleet to Trumpstar for repair and refit. Analyses of the battle found that the armament of the corvettes would be more efficient if one of the two mass drivers was replaced with a red laser.
While the battle was taking place above
Uggudash, the two science vessels continued to explore the surrounding star systems. One ship found archeological evidence of a massive multi-species federation that existed in Maga space some 2 million years before. While no evidence has been found of existing xeno nations, the fact that such a large nation existed in this area and quite possibly extinct caused the TO to begin a campaign of expansion in order to safeguard the Maga species.
On December 9, 2202,
Glolindus Starfleet set course to the Qurus system. The battle would begin on March 1, 2203 and end on April 14, 2203 with no loss of TO ships. The armament change resulted in greatly increased damage efficiency, from 63% during the previous battle to 94% during the battle of Qurus.
Following the battle, the TO continued to expand consumer industry on Trumpland and exploration continued in both the surrounding star cluster and the core-ward star cluster while attempting the track down the remaining 2 rebel fleets. It was on November 2, 2204 that the first encounter with xeno spacefaring vessels occurred in the Aldebaran system in the core-ward star cluster. Initial readings showed the vessels as being armed and weapons activated. To
Trump, the presence of hostile vessels only validated its decision to expand Maga territory and increase resource production.
Part of the implementation of
Trump's expansion policy was the scouting for habitable planets. One such planet had already been found in 2201, but the planet's climate was not suitable for Maga habitation without the use of extensive life support systems. On March 15, 2205 planet Gedexus III was mapped. With a climate very similar to Trumpland and with a little more landmass, Gedexus III was the first colony candidate found by Maga explorers. The planet was lacking in natural resources when compared to Trumpland, but it did have a deposit of unique resources not found naturally in any of the star systems yet surveyed.
By June 30, 2206 both remaining Deep State fleets had been identified. The fleet located in the Tureis system consisted of 4 corvettes while the fleet located in the Brustam system consisted of 3 corvettes and a ship of unknown design. Admiral
Glopp was ordered to the Tureis system with its 5 corvettes.
The battle was uneventful. No TO ships were lost, while all Deep State ships were destroyed.
While the battle was taking place, innovations in engineering and society research led to advances in researcher efficiency. Research efforts were refocused on afterburner engines and genome mapping.
Meanwhile, on May 5, 2207 Maga explorers stumbled across another example of xeno life, this time a massive organic spaceborne alien craft. The explorer retreated from the system before detailed scans were made, but later this creature would be called a Space Amoeba.
Initial scouting reports of the last Deep State fleet showed it contained a large vessel of unknown design, but containing 2 large red laser mounts and 6 medium red laser mounts. To combat this vessel an additional 5 corvettes were constructed for
Glolindus Starfleet.
The Battle of Brustam went better than Admiral
Glopp expected. The three corvette escorts were dispatched with no losses, and while the unknown vessel had large weapons, the ship had difficulty targeting
Glopp's corvettes. The battle ended with the loss of one corvette.
The large warship was not fully destroyed. Enough remained of the debris to allow a boarding party to extract the data core. Science officers onboard the admiral's flagship managed to locate the shipyard that built the Deep State ships. Unfortunately for Science Officer
Ump and its vessel the
TOS Blurp'Ator, it was not notified of the shipyard's location before entering the Lothandra system, where a Deep State fleet ambushed and destroyed the science vessel.
Trump Organization at the end of the first decade of faster-than-light travel.
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1. Other spellings suggested by the translators are Drump and Dump. Considering the connotation those words have in English, Trump was chosen in this work. It is not known why the leader of this criminal organization changes its name to Trump when it gains the position.
2. There are competing sources from before the political rise of this Trump regarding whether the orange color was natural or faked. The publisher takes no stance on whether the color is genuine or not.
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