The Red Star

[Dodge]

Several months later on the same rock from the Sun:

"Our soldiers got in touch with local revolutionary groups, under the guise of sympathisers. We have covertly given them a supply of our NZT-48T medication, which would improve their cognition skills significantly. They are now filled with revolutionary fervour and will seek to undermine the current Tsarist regime."

The Historian reported to the Committee.

"And those who disagreed with our plan, or running off with our drugs?" The Radical asked

"Absolutely not, we have read most of their thoughts, they are Red as Red gets."

"As a backup, we have modified several infants who are orphans. We have equipped them with capacity boosters and will transfer knowledge. They will emerge from the Revolution later after all the infighting has ceased."

"The Doc has ok'd the boosters to be adapted to human neurophysiology" He hastily added.

The Committee breathed a sign of relief, the Historian had shown them archives of human history, sees to be very heavy stuff. But they were like this many, many eons ago, so they were in no position to judge. Where there will be sentients, there will be war.

"Do we have an idea of the technology transfer we will be prepared to give to the humans once the Socialist State is established?" The Navigator asked.

"I was about to, please listen to the Weapons Officer." He pointed to an armoured figure beside him. The Weapons Officer prefer to wear a helmet to disguise his mammalian non-humanoid features.

"To reduce the amount of incongruence, we shall slightly tweak their technology by removing some of the defects, there will be no radical redesigns. "

Assistance would be given in dire circumstance, only.

The WO's voice had a very deep growl to it as if it came from a sabretooth tiger.

"We will not be offering them Civilisation technology that enables them to jump to FTL, that's a journey each race must take for themselves"

And we can avoid the ethics committee! Great, because they will examine our behaviour once we leave. He thought to himself.


Should we fail...That's a thought that echoed throughout the ship, literally.

"We won't fail. Worse comes to worst we would have to intervene directly" The Radical insisted.

He pointed to the floating map of Earth, it navigated from Eurasia to North America.

"Plan B, Nevada," He said, point to a desolate desert region.

"Also, our shuttle energy is not infinite, I think we need a base at sea level to save ourselves some travel," He said.


--------------------------

Several days later

The base was a flurry of action when Hephaniara appeared with a bundle to her chest.

"What is this? A baby? A human baby? " The Navigator was surprised at the bundle held by the Doctor.

"Yes, a baby, I think it wants some milk. Too bad our proteins and amino acids will kill him..." She smiled.

The Navigator was thinking about some breast jokes when he stopped. If she really wanted to know, she could pierce his occluded mind barrier. That would be awkward.

"I am going to adopt him." She said.

"That's crazy. What are we going to do with a baby? A human baby? We can't raise it on the ship! It will develop terrible social skills."

"It needs to stay in a human village."

"Trouble is, I think he's targeted for assassination." She replied. "The Marines found him near a village, which has been razed. There are dead bodies everywhere. He's found under the bed. See the blood on his hands?"

That is a big problem, he looked at the tiny paws. Red blood. Human blood.

"The funny thing is? We did some DNA analysis, none of the dead bodies belonged to his parents or relatives. He's ..displaced"

Well, it looks like we are both screwed, I am stuck on this rock, and you with some bounty hunter after you. The Navigator signed.

At this, the tiny eyes looked at him, an alien thought appeared in his mind space.

What's a bounty hunter?

Did you just sense my thoughts? He was surprised that this planet had psionics. But an undeveloped infant brain should not have mastered linguistics or thought patterns. This is getting interesting. He had to make his mind shield a little stronger. He waited a few minutes.

With no answers forthcoming, the baby went back to sleep.


"You sense him too?" Hephaniara said. "I think we have found a prodigy. Think about the research potentials! we could rewrite human history!"

"About that rewriting...."

"Sorry, I meant there are still unexplained occurrences in human history we haven't found an explanation for. Even though we've been through many intergalactic lanes and wormholes and L-Gates and visited so many human-Earths."

"History books, I meant... rewriting history books." She covered.

"You should probably talk to the Historian about that...." the Navigator was tired, but humouring her.

"We'll put it to a vote," he said, "But he's going back once he hit his teens."


Little did they know the decision that they made that day would give birth to one of the most influential star empires in this galaxy

 

[Dodge]

For the next few months Stukov had many sleepless nights and took pills to stop the nightmares: The aliens, the ship, and the voices in his head. He was again sure that he was going crazy. He became wildly indulgent, hosting parties with sumptious food and drinks, making advances to women, going to Bolshoi, etc.

And things are getting pretty crazy, even without his help.
The world hinges on the love of a woman. If Ramon succeeds in wooing Sylvia, he gets access to Trotsky, attempts the assassination, fails in front of world media, Stalin gets a stroke.
Now, he's not going to let some second rate hack write the script, he'd ghostwrite a movie script himself. He thought when wildly drunk.

He'd made a deal with the generals to succeed as General Secretary if anything happens to Stalin in the next few months. He was so confident that he made a deadline. "Within one year". He was confident to talk about this as anyone found to be a snitch is going to the Gulags.

1939, the World

Hitler made his advances towards a general war in Europe, but this didn't faze Stukov, as the generals could handle this. And they handled it better when they didn't fear the Purge. Stukov was more interested in what happened in the United States. The Cambridge 5 became his job after his predecessor died.
In January 25th Uranium fission is achieved, he realised it's importance from conversations with nuclear scientists, who thanked him for not putting them in Gulags.
This could change everything, he thought.
And he had a funny sense of deja vu.

Siberia, Haghanon the Ambassador, Ship Core
"What's the result of our world similarity test?" the Historian asked the Engineer.
The Engineer, an operator of the massive Quantum Supercomputer at the heart of Ambassador, was a man of few words, and hence didn't participate in their meetings often. "We have ran data collected over 30 years and compared it to 10^10 Earths, apart from events of our direct interference, this world does not deviate away from the mean value in terms of history"
"That means no Aztecs invading, France conquering medieval Europe, Nazi Germany wins World War II, etc" the Historian interjected.
"that is correct"
"Good to hear as we are about to plunge into World War II, existing world data would be very useful".
"I was going to say hold on to your hats, pardon the expression"

 

[Dodge]

Trotsky's guards beat up Ramon in a rage, almost killing him. Trotsky yelled at them to stop "Stop, we need to know who sent him!"

However, Ramon was tight-lipped, only admitting to jealousy of Sylvia's affection for Trotsky. The Mexican police arrived and placed Ramon under arrest. They brought Trotsky and his wife to the police station for questioning. Everyone was exhausted at the end of the day.

They’ve established that 20 armed men assaulted the police outpost yesterday. 5 women believed to be prostitutes used the excuse of ‘birthday celebrations’ approached the guards and got them drunk. They were then tied up and gagged by the assault team, however, they were not harmed, but given a sedative. The men then waited until 8 o’clock in the morning and fired upon the compound with machine guns and grenade launchers. Upon Ramon’s failure, they retreated with getaway cars and disappeared.

The strange unexplained behaviour is that they didn’t attempt to rescue Ramon, and they waited too long for an attack on the house. If they attacked immediately, they would likely to have succeeded. A phone call tipped off the Mexican police who then arrived in force, and this was unlikely to be luck.

Trotsky, shaken by the event, was resolved to finish his work on Stalin, his book title became “Stalin, the Tyrant” and he was writing about 100 pages a day. He knew that his time was nearly up, and worked furiously to finish the magnum opus.

Ramon was sentenced 20 years in jail without parole, and had to be protected in jail against angry 4th international sympathisers.

The New York Times ran an article that simply had the heading “CAUGHT!” and it ran out of print several times. The loss of face was enormous. Curiously, it didn’t mention Stukov’s name, only Stalin’s.

Meanwhile, in Soviet Union, Stalin went into a rage. He called up the politburo and highest ranked generals and personally abused them, in a fashion that was too severe even for Stalin. This resulted in everyone having second thoughts, and the conspiracy group gained widespread support. It was time to make a coup.

Stukov had gained control of the 5th and 10th NKVD Rifle Divisions, and he moved them to block roads into Moscow. General Zhukov had controlled another Motorised Division on stand by. The generals moved the Guards Tank Division outside of Moscow, on a ‘fields exercise’ so they could not interfere with the coup. The goal was to use up their fuel in the exercise and make them unable to return to Moscow. This leaves the internal affairs and military intelligence as their only possible obstacles to storming the Kremlin. The Operation was called Bear Trap and would be launched within days.

The end goal is to replace the government with a military commission, Stukov was to be the General Secretary but doing real secretarial work, with other powers greatly diminished. He was to be rewarded with industrial relocation portfolio in addition to ministry of the interior (secret police) portfolio.

After the planning go-ahead was given, Stukov received a summons from Stalin himself.

“Zhukov and Konev had better not fuck up” He thought. He gave the command for a company fo the 5th Rifle Division to follow him to Stalin’s dacha, which is located outside of Moscow. He also gave the command for the NKVD to block the entrance of the barracks, trapping neutral soldiers inside for days.

 

[Dodge]

Yes, this is actually a Stellaris AAR

2360, Sol System, USS
more than three hundred years ago humans lived in hell, capitalism exploited the workers ruthlessly, and this was undone by the effort of the working class. In memory of USSR the new systems federation was born, the Union of Socialist Systems, it follows the creed of Socialism in one Star System.

Luna colony

Jovian Moon colonies
Mars colony

Venus colony

Various habitats around asteroids

Mercury is being strip mined, its size reduced significantly

The Yggdrasil planet-sized farm ensures that no human would ever need to suffer from hunger again.

 

[Dodge]

A brief history of the 20th century Soviet Union - a precis from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, vol. I chapter 11-20

Ivan Ivanovich Stukov - born of Russian peasant ancestry in Siberia, his father, a factory worker, became a telegrapher, and his mother was a school teacher. Later research shows his records during the 1900s was meticulously wiped, and his original birth certificate disappeared. He joined the Bolshevik revolution in late 1918 as a member of the youth movement and was active in the war against remnants of the Tsarist forces. He named different dates of his parent's death, and no record was available to confirm them. During the political checks, he was able to answer the questions convincingly that no further questions were raised.

Stukov joined the Cheka during the war in the twenties and was an active member, reporting on dozens of counter-revolutionary spies. He was promoted rapidly and since NKVD was established became one of its earliest commissioners. His actions during 22-36 were extensively documented as he caught many spies both internal and external, who readily confessed crimes without the use of torture, which was unusual at the time.


During the Spanish Civil War, he was sent to fight with the Republicans with a hidden agenda to establish spy rings on the various participant nations. He was also tasked with the job of securing the gold reserves which were held by the Republicans. He was famous for catching and executing the traitor Alexey Orlov who had planned to defect to the United States of America.


Upon returning, he was disillusioned with Stalinist policies and joined a cabal of conspirators to topple the Stalinist government. He removed his superior Beria by arousing Stalin's suspicion of him and became head of the securities. Using his capacity, he secretly freed many of the army officers sentenced to execution, buying him goodwill in the army. He was about to begin a coup when news got out that Stalin died of a stroke, and he seized the opportunity. Later when the coup has declared a success, he was named the General Secretary of the Union, and wasted no time in securing more powers for himself, first as Minister of Industrial Relocation then as Minister of Finances.


During his reign, he made some controversial decisions such as moving factories to the Far East Siberia, for unknown reasons. He was insistent on this and even threated the government with resignation if it was not done. He had shown a flair for managing complex industrial issues as production rose under him. The nuclear program started under Stalin was greatly accelerated and fissile materials accumulated.


As World War II broke out, Stukov focused on training the army and rejecting intervening in foreign wars - a view not shared by all the generals who wanted western Poland and parts of Karelia and Finland. He believed the Finland war would be a disaster and called a halt to it.


In 1941 Hitler attacked the USSR with an army of 4 million men, 1 million Soviet soldiers were captured in the first 3 months and was dealt harshly due to Nazi's insistence of Maximum Cruelty. Stukov adopted a partisan and scorched earth policy to halt the advancement of the German army, and new innovative weapons were starting to be used by the Soviets. Still, the Germans made it to the gates of Moscow and moved to encircle the city, fighting tooth and nail against Soviet counter-attacks. Losses of both sides were great, but Hitler commanded 'no retreat" and continued the siege.


During the siege, it became apparent that Moscow was a gigantic death trap. Each block of the building had advanced anti-air guns guarding them, and anti-artillery radar was deployed throughout the city. For each gun that fired towards the city, a counter-battery fire would knock out the artillery battalion that fired. German pilots reported fighting aircraft with unheard of speed and manoeuvrability, that exceeded the speed of sound and could climb to over 20000 metres in height. Yet they pressed on, with each step sacrificing up to dozens of lives.


The Russian Winter had arrived in the midst of the invasion, which made the situation worse. At night time the temperature had plunged to -34 degrees Celsius, and tanks using the petrol engine could not be started. During the day the German position would be assaulted by ski-team armed with automatic rifles that poured out torrents of fire. The Panzers, if they supported troops, were attacked by grenade launchers that were better than their own portable anti-tank weapons.


In the final push by the Nazis, the temperature at night time hit -80 degrees (Celsius), and the attacking Germans without winter gear simply froze to death. The blizzard was unusual as it had not appeared in several hundred years, and as Moscow was the epicentre, it didn't affect Soviet forces that much. Stukov launched his counter-attack, coordinated with forces outside of Moscow that had 'retreated' in front of the Nazi assault. It turned out to be a ruse as Zhukov, Konev and Rokossovsky returned with a vengeance.


As the battle subsided, Soviets had tallied that over 1 million German soldiers died (more wounded) in the Siege of Moscow offensive while Soviet deaths were negligible. Most of the deaths resulted from the near-supernatural blizzard that occurred in the last days of battle. Moscow was free from danger.

End of precis

 

[Dodge]

1943 February 21st, Operation Asterope began. Thousands of tanks and artillery poured out of Soviet lines and rushed towards the West. Accompanying the tanks were deadly attack helicopters, armed with rockets and missiles. The sky was filled by the Tu-4 bombers and Mig-21 fighter aircraft, rolling out of the Siberian factories. Each soldier was armed with an automatic assault rifle designed by a man named Kalashnikov, an unsung hero.

When the soldiers advanced, they advanced in armoured vehicles known as APCs, greatly reducing the risks of being hit by stray bullets.

The doctrine was to arm the divisions to the teeth to compensate for any training deficiencies, after all most soldiers have not attended high school.

The heavy hitter of the army was the 152mm towed gun, which had a range of 32 km, and the truck-mounted rockets, affectionately known as the Katyusha. The army also made a towed version of 120mm rockets that can be easily towed by a truck, and when fired the impact on enemy morale was enormous.

The long-range rockets were another problem for the Germans, for they devastated the German strips and one rocket could result in 3 months of repairs – time that the Luftwaffe didn’t have. It was estimated that the rockets ranged 400 km and were launched east of Polish borders.

The Soviet army of 1943 was well supplied, its logistics based on trucks and trains, not mules. Rubber came from synthetic chemical factories, and oil was refined from remote Siberian fields that would be impossible for the Nazis to reach.

Using Deep Operations tactics, the Soviets quickly broke the German line and encircled many of the enemy infantry divisions. Their motorised divisions barely escaped destruction. Hardened armoured divisions are destroyed from the air, with rockets fired from helicopters.

The Soviets entered Poland in a week and counterattacked from Kursk to Romania in two weeks. Poland was liberated with promises of free elections at the end of the war. However, the KGB was keen for action, rounding up democrats and Fascist supporters and selectively trying them while giving socialists and communists a free pass. Same occurred in Romania, and the King was made to abdicate because he was ‘an enemy of the common worker’ and should thank Soviets for not hanging him on the spot.

After leaving garrisons, the force in Romania swept the Balkans, breaking into two spearheads. The first one rampaged through Bulgaria, then entered Greece. The Greek Communists welcomed the Soviets as heroes and were given ample arms and instructors. The second spearhead drove up northwest towards Hungary, where they found evidence of mass murder of the Jews. The Hungarian fascist government was purged on Stukov’s orders, and Hungarian deaths were too numerous to count. The force then entered Austria and Slovakia, promising that Czech and Slovakia should be partitioned into two separate countries.

The main Soviet force pushed through Poland and entered Germany itself, towards Berlin. A separate northern force swept through the Baltics and ended up consuming East Prussia. The two forces merged 50 km east of Berlin. It was late May / early June 1943.

The Allies planned to attack Italy in 1943, but the Soviet advance has certainly thrown a spanner into the works. They hastened their preparation of Operation Overlord as they didn’t want to give Soviets a free hand in Europe post-war. The Italian invasion was cancelled. Instead, Normandy landing was in preparation. This allowed the southern force of the Soviets to enter Italy from Yugoslavia unopposed, reaching gates of Rome and soon will be crossing the Rubicon.

France was certainly on Stukov’s mind in the summer of 1943. He had to race against time and the Western Allies to secure it, and he activated the communist resistance inside France. They agitated against the Germans who dared not to repress them too much now that defeat was imminent. Stukov vowed severe retaliation against German officers who killed partisans and had an extensive network of spies and guerrillas that enforced this order. Even behind enemy lines the German SS and Gestapo were not safe. The French Communists PCF roused the workers and gained increasing support, disguising itself as a ‘moderate’ force by allying with socialists and denouncing the Fascists and liberals. They became a nightmare for the Free France movement, which considered itself the legitimate government, and even suggested working with the Vichy government was better than De Gaulle’s exiles for they are too much influenced by Britain and USA.

From France he looked southwards. Remeber Guernica, remember Madrid! He vowed bloody vengeance on Franco's country and could not wait to strike a decisive blow against it. However, as Franco had craftily stayed out of the war, he had to wait until he’d achieved total dominance to consider taking revenge.

Stukov now waited for USA and Britain to come to the negotiating table, and he set to extract a pound of flesh from them both. First Greece must become Communist, then Turkey needs to sign a 99-year lease of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, or at very least guarantee Soviet naval passage through the Mediterranean. Italy's fate shall be decided by a race, see which country can conquer it first.

He’s already set up the Soviet Republic of Iran which contained the western provinces of Persia, mindful not to touch the oilfields, and he is recruiting an army there. A bunch of bright, socialist Iranians who had enough of corruption of the Shah and the backwardness of the country are answering his call. He’s also made dangerous overtures to the ruler of Afghanistan, making it pro-Soviet with promises of aid. He was careful not to introduce radical change such as land redistribution in those countries.

The border of Socialist vs Capitalist Europe? It shall be decided by treads of tanks, and end at the actual line of control. And its looking increasingly like Gibraltar.

The British Empire was a sunset empire, and hyenas are already circling the ageing lion. Had the British been strong enough it would never have gone for a deal like destroyers-for-bases. Still, the lion would find the polar bear much more ferocious than any hyena.

For the Americans, he would renege on the Land-lease deal. They’ve supplied material, and Soviets supplied manpower, it was a fair deal. It wouldn’t be fair to expect any returns of the funds they sent to the Soviets, as the USA benefited tremendously for not having a Germany in Europe.

Consider it a bonus payment for a job well done.

And dead soldiers don’t come back to life. Soviets already made many sacrifices, and there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. He also started to see revolutionary possibilities in the South American and Caribbean regions, specifically Cuba, Argentina and Venezuela. Especially Cuba, which is a stone’s throw away from the continental USA, a good site for missiles? And he see Mexico, maybe it wants to reverse the Treaty of Guadalupe? Time will tell….

There is a timetable for all of this, or so said his friends from above. They have not failed him so far, let’s hope it continues. He now has a grand vision of the socialist paradise to come

 

[Dodge]

Siberia, battlecruiser Haghanon the Ambassador

"I need to go to Tehran," Said Stukov to the Doctor Hephaniara, his mother.

"Whatever you do, we are behind you" she said gently.

He looked up into her deep green eyes, from his infant days to now, she hasn't aged a day. Wish we could all be like this, he thought

"Don't worry about that, with the MedBay, you would live a long and health life, far outstripping your peers." She said. Telepathy is her strong suit, and empathy.
"You know I don't like dealing with those horrible killers of workers," he said. And meant it, the hypocrisy of the New Deal, the old imperialist that he had to deal with, it's almost too much.
"They will not last in the new regime that you have brought to life," She said, with sincerity
"Together we'll create a new world, a world without oppression or alienation of the workers." He hardened his resolve.
"and I need to borrow a shuttle."
"It is yours."


Tehran, meeting between the Big Three and translators.

"A second front? Why do I need a second front? I thought I was doing pretty well on my own" He said.

He was in a meeting with Roosevelt and Churchill, and his temper seems to be rising.

"yes, sir" the translator faithfully relayed his message.

"But Ivan, let us land in France, we'll take the pressure off the eastern front," said Roosevelt.

Although he doesn't understand English that well, he could read their thoughts. The Anglo-Saxons, always meddling, trying to bend the world to their will.

Ruining the world without their own skin in the game.

He waited for the translator then formulated a response. He didn't want them to know about his telepathic abilities after all.

"France is not mine to decide what to do with. It belongs to the French people, and the French people now want communism." He said. The PFC is drilling them in the polls.

Churchill tried to chime in "As a matter of fact, we are hosting General De Gaulle, and we support him as the legitimate government of France, they have requested...."

Churchill said something else, something inconsequential. Stukov waited, then gave a cold sneer.

"Tell me Prime Minister, how many votes did this "De Gaulle" get?" The translator was on point.
He seems to be actively hostile, thought Churchill, a thought Stukov captured. Stukov then deliberately coughed, interrupting his thoughts.

"Let's cut the crap, how many divisions can you muster now? Both of you?" Stukov said. "Translate, and don't forget the 'cut the crap' bit".

Even Roosevelt as calm as he can be is getting riled by Stukov. Good, good, I've got you where I want you, thought Stukov. Angry people miscalculate.

What's this? The PM is going to go for one of his famous insults, let's see what happens. He was getting amused by this.
Unfortunately Churchill took the high road and didn't act sarcastically.
"We should stop this, all we are doing is making Hitler win," Churchill said.

"I thought the American investors loved Hitler, I thought they loved him a great deal for getting them out of the Depression and making a bundle of money for America."

He was relentless.

Roosevelt was taken aback, this seems to hit too close to home.

"Excuse me, I need a cigar," he said and had his aide wheel him outside the room

"What do you really want?" said Churchill to Stukov

"Now that we are in the clear, man to man," Stukov said, with long pauses for the translator to catch up. "I want what you want - an empire to last the ages."

"Impossible... people will never stand for Bolshevism!"

He liked this a great deal, it's much easier to speak frankly.

"Look, Winston, your time in the sun is over, you've sold what? Nearly all of your Atlantic bases? To him?" he pointed to the door. "There's no coming back from that."

He continued. "India is going to blow, and Africa will blow up spectacularly. And who's the hyena going to gobble up the lion's share?"

"Last time I checked, I don't have a navy, so Frank over there..."

Churchill tried to form a response, the man is right although he's got no filter.

"We still have our navy and industries, you'll be hard pressed to find a better one." He felt proud, Britain was still the premier naval power.

"And Frank is building 80 carriers at once..." He chuckled. "I don't disagree. I'll cut you a deal, give me one of the aircraft carriers, and I'll give you all the Land-lease aid Frank sent me. Useless junk that they are"

"What about Germany?"

"I am a ... magnanimous type, I won't kill them. But they get a vote on their future, and if you don't meddle, I don't meddle, how about that?" He said, disingenuously

"France?"

"I think the power of the people will overwhelm their occupiers" with some help from Soviet-supplied arms, that is. "But you are welcome to land in Normandy and try" He dropped an Acme 100-ton bomb.

Churchill was mesmerised, by the psionic power that emanated from Stukov. "And Italy?"

"Our forces are in there as we speak, I think I'll keep the King and the Pope, but the Pope can go live in an apartment, maybe a luxury apartment. We believe in separation of Church and state.

Like hell you do, thought Churchill, you think the church belongs in the Gulag.

"The Church is... useful, opiates are still opiates, but people might need them. They can stay." He said

Churchill was surprised by the naked ambition. Stukov really blew his mind, what sort of mentality the Soviets high ups have.

"If you could do me a favour, Winston?" He was suddenly all serious.

Churchill's mind is confused, he was about to say "Yes what is it?" and remembered himself, he shut his mouth.

"Franco, I want him dead. I want his Nationalist country annihilated, I want the Falangists shot one by one in front of me. Forget about the Nazis, you can have all the Nazis you want."

Churchill was shocked, the man's hate is that intense, seems like rumours are right, the Spanish Civil War really did a number on him.

"And if I refuse?" He finally found a bargaining chip.

"I'll make an offer you can't refuse... how about ...say Prime Minister into the '60s? You don't want that Atlee in Whitehall right?" Stukov was serious too, he could knock out Spain on his own, but it would be much better if the world went along with it.

“Have some more wine.” He offered. "Good Georgian vintage"

Roosevelt came back, after all, state matters are more important than infantile tests of will. He was shocked at the scene. Churchill already in cahoots with Stukov, he thought. The old imperialist can no longer be trusted.

"Ah, Frank, Winston was talking to me about your little plan to land in Normandy," Stukov said malevolently.

"The American people will always stand for freedom and democracy in the world" Roosevelt replied.

"we were talking about De Gaulle. Give him a job, the propaganda minister of France, you know."

"The PCF is polling at about 80%, you can't expect more than that."

Roosevelt was chagrined, he didn't know the secret polls in France which the communists conducted, right under the Nazis watchful eye.

"If that is the will of the people..."

"You do know that we believe in democracy centralised, once elected we will never leave." He winked. God, he was enjoying this too much.

Roosevelt tried to ignore him. He put his hands on the wheelchair.

"We should probably reach a consensus about European affairs after this war," he said, "Together we control 80% of the world's industries, Germany and Japan are not going to win."

"Yes we do, Winston, what do you think?"

Churchill raised his head, he looks drunk. "Yeah! Europe for Europeans! Yankees Get the F--k Out!"

"My God Winston, are you drunk?" Roosevelt was shocked

"To hell with Monroe, this is the Churchill Doctrine!" He yelled.

Stukov had a great time in Tehran, however the other leaders of the Free World are not amused. In fact, they feel situation is very grave.

 

[Dodge]

Yalta conference
In January 1945 a conference was called between the major Allied powers against the nations of Fascism, specifically Germany and Imperial Japan. Italy has surrendered and is back in the hands of Victor Emmanuel and his Communist advisors. Most of Europe has fallen under Soviet control, and France is independent with strong Communist /Socialist leanings as a reward for their partisan efforts in getting rid of the Germans.

The 1944 Operation Overlord has been a fiasco as the Nazis somehow got wind of the location at Normandy and set a trap for the Allies as they were unloading millions of tons of materiel onto French soil. The Nazis concentrated 50 divisions on the western front and most of the Luftwaffe to take advantage of a lull of combat at the Eastern Front, as the Soviets regrouped and slowed their advance to reduce their combat losses. Rommel was joined by Steiner, Manstein and a group of other generals and marshals and put up a brilliant defense of the French and Dutch landings.

The result was another Dunkirk - American and British, Canadian forces had to be evacuated to avoid disaster, or being humiliated by being rescued by the Soviets. It is in this background the Yalta conference started

Stukov chose Yalta because of its balmy weather at this time of the year and also its MedBay facilities. He was going to do a favour for the Americans and also showcase the Soviet medical advances by curing a case of poliomyelitus. Yes, for the President. Roosevelt was hesitant at first but Stukov showed him binders of photoes of before and after treatment and had patients appear to talk to him in person. He was impressed and gave it a shot. Stukov had arranged this to be in the first few days of the conference, the phase of exchanging pleasantries before the bare-knuckled negotiations, he'd also show the world that he was a kind generous man. To offset the image that he accumulated during the NKVD years of harsh repressions.

The second day of the conference, the world press is sufficiently wowed by the fact that President was standing up and making speeches, without support. Stukov beamed, the President didn't disappoint and heaped praise upon the Soviet medical system. He knew it would make the following negotiations easier and referred to the American President as the 'host' of the meeting.

Roosevelt's main goal was to get him into a battle with Imperial Japan, now still perceived to be powerful as island-hopping done a number on American casualties. But Stukov knew Japan to be a paper tiger as they failed to break through Vladivostock even in the most difficult days of 1941. The counterattack pushed them to Southern Manchuria, nearly recovering the losses of the 1905 war of Imperial Russia. Still, Stukov aims to drive a hard bargain, and requested the lease of the latest carriers, the Enterprise and the Forrestal to study the designs of US CV groups for later expansion of the Soviet navy. It was an innocuous request: How else was the Soviet Union going to invade Japan, which had a navy? If in doubt, he could also apply some psychic persuasion.

The only problem is the bargaining chip that the USA didn't know itself had: The Manhattan Project. The Soviet spies knew more than perhaps the president, that a bomb would be ready in several months, and USA would not be so forthcoming about supporting the Union then. But the Soviets already had their own bomb, it would just seem aggressive to detonate it first, so Professor Zakharov waited.

Churchill's aims are much simpler as he sought to push for elections in areas not under his own control. Stukov countered this somewhat by aligning with Roosevelt who pushed for de-colonization. However this was limited as USA still had Guam, Philipines and Hawaii which are Pax Americana and he would not give up. The best Stukov could do was to place India, Egypt and Malaya on de-colonization timetable. The Dutch are laughably trying to cling on to East Indies, which is not going to happen. The French needed to be persuaded to let go of Indochina and that requires effort, speaking of which....

"May I introduce General De Gaulle, leader of the Free-French government and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, leader of China" The adjutant announced. Stukov invited those two because, why not, the more the merrier. Churchill was a bit miffed but he knew De Gaulle was his own man. Roosevelt was taken aback, his disagreements with the Gaul widely known. Well since you are trying to setup a United Nations, Franklin.... thought Stukov.

As for the Chinese leader, Stukov thought it was just a ruse, misdirection for Roosevelt. The overweening pride of Chiang would lead him to defeat against the Chinese Communists, that is for sure. So no point negotiating with him, its more for show and photo-op than anything else. Any agreement can be overturned once the Communists get into power. Mongolia can wait.

In secret, he was to undermine the newly birthed United Nations. Permanent Council of Five, what a joke, They must think him stupid to agree to be outnumbered 4 to 1 in a vote. No, he would seek to find his own organisation, he just need a clever name, no, not Comintern. How about... the Human Revolutionary League? It captures the spirit of Progress perfectly, Stukov thought.

After many days of intensive negotiations, the following was agreed:
United Nations - yes
Europe to vote for its future, no aid from America - check
Soviets have access to the Mediterranean - check
War with Franco at earliest opportunity, Allies stand idle - check
Occupation of Germany - because of the poor effort of the Allies, they get Bavaria and Soviets get the rest of Germany
Occupation of Japan - to be determined at the actual line of control
Korea - independence guaranteed, under Kim Koo
Civil war in China - Nations can arbitrate but not intervene directly

The elections are a trap, as election results heavy favoured socialist and communist parties. It is what you get if you have 100s of psychic operatives working on election day. The Capitalists retaliated by calling it an Iron Curtain, and the rest are history:

 

[Dodge]

1945
- Soviets take Hokkaido Island in a surprise attack using borrowed carriers. It then advances to Tohoku all the way up to Iwaki.
- The democratic People's Republic of Korea is formed, ruled by Kim Koo, it covers the entire peninsula
- Roosevelt undergoes MedBay treatment, after being invited by Stukov. He reverses his poliomyelitis
- Hitler suicides in prison using planted cyanide pills in his teeth.
- Test explosion of a nuclear bomb in New Mexico
- Soviets respond by testing a nuclear bomb in the Arctic and South Pacific (with French assistance)
- Japan surrenders to belligerents, divide Honshu into Tohoku and rest. Soviets take North East Japan
- France becomes communist after PCF winning majority of votes and joins Comintern
De Gaulle is sidelined, given Minister of ethnic affairs.
- Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia but was assassinated. Rumour says it was done by either OSS or KGB.

1946
- Churchill gives the famous Iron Curtain speech, antagonises USSR.
- League of Nation dissolved, the West forms the United Nations, in a surprise move Soviet lead communist nations form the Human Revolutionary League, spurns the UN.
- Warsaw trials replaces Nuremberg Trials as most criminals are caught by Soviets.
- Germany divided into Germany (USSR occupation) and Bavaria (Western occupation)
- Communist party gain majority in Hungary
- UN nations vote to form Israel, HRL rejects the proposal and threatens war
USSR arms all Arab nations making Israel impossible to form.

1947
-Pakistan-Indian war, Pakistan joins United Nations, India joins HRL
- Chinese civil war reaches stalemate along major river banks.
- Soviet Union offers assistance to Chinese Communist Party on the condition that Mao steps down for Liu Shaoqi as leader of CCP

1948
- India and Pakistan negotiate a cease-fire
- Zionist Jewish forces, Haganah violently clash with British mandate forces
- The Czech Republic became Communist
- Crimes against Humanity recognised by UN, HRL in a rare coordinated move.

1949
-HRL raises the issue of de-colonisation, after the Dutch sends forces to Indonesia
-Communist China wins the civil war, takes Hongkong and Macau with Soviet backing.
- Soviet Navy and US Navy nearly clash off the coast of Taiwan as Communists poise to attack it
- First human organ transplant takes place in the US
- The Democratic Republic of Germany established, covers pre-1936 border of Germany sans East Prussia (which became Kaliningrad)
- Roosevelt survives an assassination attempt by extreme rightwingers.

1950
- France grant independence to Vietnam to comply with de-colonisation
and setup committee in Algeria to negotiate a withdrawal. As Britain still have its colonies in South America, France is free to keep its colony to keep watch on Britain.
- Death of George Bernard Shaw

1951
- Crisis in the Suez Canal, Egypt tries to seize Suez Canal but was rebuffed.
- Rosenbergs spy trial, Soviet engaged in an exchange of high-level spies. Was unable to save them, results in worsened relationship with the USA.

1952
- Japan formally sign peace-treaty at Vladivistock (with the USSR and China)
- Hydrogen bomb tested by the US
- Hydrogen bomb was tested by USSR on remote Arctic territories.

1953
- Malenkov named deputy of General Secretary of Union, nicknamed the 'phone boy'
- Mt Everest climbed by Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay
- Politburo now consists of Zhukov, Konev, Malenkov, Khruschev, Bulganin, Kaganovich, Mikoyan, Molotov and Kalinin (who was treated using alien tech)
- Trotsky publishes book "Stalin, a biography" and it became Times best seller

1954
- Controversy regards to DNA discovery, Rosalind Franklin sues Watson and Crick
in a surprise turn of events.

1955
- Argentina on the cusp of a revolution, Soviet intervention
- Warsaw Pact was signed as a formal alliance between Communist countries. Attack on one is an attack on all.
- Brezhnev Doctrine - Communist countries must assist communist parties in Capitalist countries. It was first suggested by General Brezhnev. (who was a military commissar)

1956
- 2nd Suez Crisis. Arab League is formed.
- Comecon is formed, this is the economic cooperation organisation between command economy countries - nearly all of Europe, majority of Asia
- Sputnik launched

1957
- Cuban revolution began
- China invades Tibet, quickly overruns it.
- Indonesia became independent, declares "Beijing-Jakarta Axis."

1958
- The United Arab Republic forms, as a merger of Iraq and Syria
- Lebanon becomes communist

1959
- Riots in apartheid South Africa. The US supported civil rights for black SAs
- Soviets launch a new satellite to the dark side of the moon. Findings are top secret

1960
- Martin Luther King becomes world famous. Soviets secretly fund Black Panthers movement
- Kennedy was elected as president. Stukov sends his congratulations

1961
- Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space
- United Arab Republic is dissolved.

1962
- France recognises Algerian independence, withdraws without a war.
- Cuban missile crisis - see other posts

1963
- The second wave of the feminism movement
- Malaysia gains independence, becomes Socialist
- President John F Kennedy is assassinated

1964
- The Beatles became the most popular band in the world.

1965
- President Sukarno of Indonesia was assassinated, the Communist party forms a new government and vows to hunt down the assassins.

1966
- Northern Ireland Easter Rising. Sinn Fein revolutionaries asked for Soviet assistance but was rejected.

1968
- Prague Springs, students protested in the Czech Republic, was brutally suppressed by Yuri Andropov, now politburo member.
- Czech reform was promised, minor concessions made.
- MLK dies
- Apollo 8 was launched

1969
- Former president and general Dwight Eisenhower dies.
- Republican Spain block land route to Gibraltar
- Apollo 11 launched, it put the first men on the moon.
- Concorde, the supersonic passenger plane, was flown
- The Soviet Union modifies Mig-25 into a passenger jet, reaching a speed of Mach 3. Chairman Stukov made it his personal transport.
- Ghadaffi forms Libyan People’s Republic, embraces Arab socialism

1970
- 500 thousand killed in Bangladesh by cyclone.
- Leon Trotsky dies, Stukov sends condolences, raises hope of reconciliation with 4th Internationale.
- Charles De Gaulle dies
- Cambodia revolts against Vietnamese rule.

1971
- Idi Amin becomes president of Uganda. UN does not intervene. HRL intervenes to remove the president.
- China joins Comecon after long periods of economic stagnation, and preparation for the great nuclear war.

1972
- Terrorism in Munich, 15 Comintern athletes die
- Stukov signs treaty with Nixon reducing number of nuclear tests (but not number of weapons)
- American reaches 30000 nuclear warheads, Soviet numbers unknown.

1973
- Watergate scandal
- Chilean president Allende killed by Augusto Pinochet, who was assassinated in turn by KGB.

1974
- Arab nations began oil embargo, Soviet Union takes the opportunity to corner the market on crude

1975
- Oil embargo causes a great recession in the Western nations.
- Ethiopia had a socialist revolution to overthrow the Emperor Halassie

1976
- Japanese Red Army becomes active, claims responsibility for many acts of terror designed to remove US occupation forces in Japanese main island
- Soviet Union stations 5th Guard Tank Division from Far East in Tohoku in response to events.

 

[Dodge]

1977
- Massive riots begin in Tokyo and the Ryukyu Islands, protesting against US servicemen crimes. Protest stems from the fact that US soldiers had extra-territoriality and did not have to face Japanese courts.
- Soviets prepare an invasion force in the Far East.
- Riots continue as JSDF joins the protests, refusing to suppress its own citizens or even leave its barracks.
- Blood was shed in Tokyo by US soldiers against JSDF officers in an incident.
- Entire JSDF joins the revolt, move against US bases in Tokyo, Aomori, Kyushu.
- The US negotiates an exit from Japan.
- Japanese Communist Party joins the Japanese Red Army to form the socialist alliance, joins HRL and leaves the UN.

1978
- First IVF baby is born
- After suppressing a Cambodian revolt, Vietnam masses its army on the Thailand border.
- The USA warns Vietnam against military adventurism

1979
- Iranian revolution begins, Ayatollah Khomeini returns from France.
- Pahlevi Shah flees Iran, claims to have been cured of cancer by Soviet doctors.
- Iranians kidnap US Embassy personnel
- The botched rescue operation by President Carter enraged Khomeini, who declared that he'll execute a US hostage every day (but did not carry out this threat)
- Soviet signs secret pact with Iraq - Iran's Khuzestan is to be given to Iraq.
- The US launches a full invasion of Iran
- Iraqi intervention - invades Iran from the west.
- American and UK forces suffer heavy losses in door-to-door fighting in Tehran against fanatics
- Iraq is bogged down in Khuzestan
- Vietnam takes the opportunity to invade Thailand, the US send defensive forces to help the Thai Kingdom.

1980
- The USA withdraws from Iran to focus on Thailand, negotiates to free hostages, and agrees to supply Iran with parts of F14 Tomcat fighter planes to fight Iraq.
- Iraq pushes to Isfahan
- Iran-Iraq agrees to ceasefire mediated by the Soviet Union
- Iran gives up Khuzestan for a stake in Iraqi national oil company

1981
- US intervenes in Thailand triggers 2nd Indochina war (first was between Cambodia and Vietnam)
- Jungle warfare, the US loses a massive number of soldiers, anti-war protests became significant back home
- Iraq invades Kuwait, overruns it in 24 hours.
- Iraq invades Saudi Arabia, it's stated aim is for removal of "Decadent Monarchy" and free "workers of Saudi".
- US stations carrier in Persian Coast, Khomeini warns the US to stay out of Persian Gulf and would move to block the narrow straits.
- USSR move missile defense system to Iraq.
- Turkey mobilises
- Syria & Lebanon mobilises in response to Turkey.
- Egypt mobilises.
- Palestine volunteer soldiers to join Iraq.
- Turkey backs down

1982
- Iraq forces enter Riyadhi and captures many of the Saud royal family.
- The Old king Faisal abdicates, succeeded by an Arab Nationalist prince friendly to Iraq.
- Some royal family choose to flee to Mecca, where another cadet branch resides in.
- HRL member states recognise the King in Riyadh, UN recognises the King in Mecca. Two kings for the Saudi throne.
- China launches a full-scale invasion of Taiwan and is assisted by Soviet Navy operating from Vietnam.
- Taiwan falls, old Kuomingtang party mostly executed.

1983
- Argentina claims St Malvinas Islands (Falkland)
- The UK sends an expeditionary force with carriers and destroyers
- USSR secretly supplies Argentina with Sunburn anti-ship missiles, and France supplies the Mirage 4000 aircraft
- 80% of UK warships in the task force were sunk in a sea battle, invasion called off.
- US 4th fleet intervenes
- Soviet Mediterranean Fleet engages US 4th in a standoff. Both eventually backs down
- Argentina becomes Socialist and joins HRL
- Venezuela joins HRL
- Columbia and Bolivia are teetering on the edge of communist revolution.
- Chile becomes socialist and joins HRL

 

[Dodge]

Announcing that restriction of movement of labour is a conspiracy by the capitalists to push down labour costs, Putin announced the gradual introduction of the HRL passport - move anywhere, work anywhere - as long as work can be found. It was later shortened to the Human Passport.
The natural barriers exist, of course, language being the primary one. An attempt was made to standardise language schools worldwide, conforming to a single curriculum for each language. Later on, the program extended to all education beyond simply language, and sciences and mathematics followed a single path. Of course, paths for more talented individuals exist, in selective classes.

The purpose of the exam system is to build an education based on merit and ignore the archaic institutions that focused on birthright and so-called 'intangible' educations. For example, Moscow State University opened branches in many European cities, providing an alternative to the elitist institutions of old. Instead of playing polo and rowing regatta the students focused on quantum physics and molecular chemistry. More equality was seen as a fundamental good. Small cliques are strongly discouraged.

Massive aid was given to the least advanced regions of humanity, increasing their life standard to about 0.80 HDI on average. The world is classified into 10 regional strata, from 0 - least advanced to 10- most advanced. The most advanced regions have an obligation to help the less advanced strata. Clean water, sanitation, are no longer a dream for most of humanity. Scientists stopped their latest research on weapons of war to help disseminate essential life science for the masses. In fact the budget for research has been cut while budgets for applying existing knowledge soared. By 2030 most of the Earth reached a 'reasonable' state of living, and areas hostile to human life were vacated as there were no national borders anymore.

Equality came at a cost, and accumulation of personal wealth became very frowned upon. Estate taxes were hiked to unheard of levels, and methods and vehicles to escape from the tax were curtailed, in particular non-profits, trusts and foundations. The law was fundamentally changed. Public domain became extremely important and to prevent misuse they came under close scrutiny. Anti-corruption drive is still regularly occurring.

The ability to halt scientific advancement and speed up existing application became a hallmark for the extremely egalitarian-minded government. To prevent academic fraud funding was scarce and difficult to obtain, and much rested on the reproducibility of each paper. The citation game became worthless if results cannot be repeated and Comecon policy favoured transfer of knowledge to less educated nations/regions. If the poor and the people cannot use the research, then what good is it?

By 2023 when a new General Secretary of USSR was elected, the 21st five-year-plan started, aiming for universal literacy and numeracy in all school-aged children. Subsidises were made for adult education in literacy and numeracy as well.

Civic advances aside, the Union did not forget that it was the investment in space (and help from a mysterious source) that enabled it to defeat its enemies on Earth. Space investments were not reduced but doubled. Former scientists from NASA were recruited after that agency became defunct with the dissolution of the United States. Although some refused cooperation with the Soviet Union due to the Columbia shuttle incident, most wanted a chance to work with the most advanced space technologies. Unlike the NASA the Soviets had many space bureaus all competing with each other, and many designs of rockets were used. What they excelled at was space station building, and a large dock was planned at the Lagrangian point L1 between Earth and the Sun.

By 2050 the System Station was complete and further space missions are launched from there instead of the Earth, saving enormous costs.

 

[Dodge]

in the early 50's the System Station enabled large manned explorations of Mars and the Jovian moons. 4 of the moons are deemed potentially habitable, while Mars terraforming is almost a certain plan. Theoretical science calls for a 'terraforming liquid' which can act as a catalyst to transform the surface of Mars and give it an atmosphere, everything else then follows.

The Jovian moons are more complicated, requiring a device known as the core ignitor to make them spin at a greater, accelerated pace. The distance involved would also complicate logistics, and bigger and greater payload space crafts are constructed. Ganymede, Callisto and Europa missions landed on the moons, whilst Io was molten and only a flyby mission was conducted. Skylabs were constructed that study the surface of the moons, and they were unmanned in the 50'. It's not until the 70's that the mission became manned. The missions directly called for longevity research as the distance traversed is too great and would take much of a person's lifetime.

The missions were a success and led to further missions afield, to Saturn and the outer gas giants. A curious finding was that there seems to be a way to stabilise the upper layer of the gas giants, bringing forth the possibility of colony in the clouds. This would go a long way in gaining knowledge about the gas giants and gather valuable volatile gases, which could be used in industries. There was also a plan to use the gas giant's upper layer as hydroponic gardens, although on a truly gigantic scale. Such endeavours would have to wait till technology have caught up with the human imagination

 

[Dodge]

2117: as the new bicentennial dawns upon the USS, a bold new plan was made for the Sol system, the system that the civilisation calls itself home. It had some broad, dashing strokes that would brighten up the future of humanity.
The luna colony:

The moon is to become a fully-fledged colony, which will pay for itself with its abundance Helium-3 deposits. The current base of operations would be enlarged and eventually an atmosphere to be installed on the moon. The moon will then be terraformed with Earth plants and animals, becoming another SFR of the union.

Venus is another planned colony under the audacious minds of the 17th Politburo. The noxioius atmosphere is to be cleansed using Terraforming gases and the planet irrigated, using water harvested from the asteroids of the Martian and Jovian belts. As the resources required to terraform the planet is mainly acquired outside of the solar system this will drive new exploration and discovery efforts towards the Kuiper belts and even beyond.

Mars is to be colonised as soon as practible with its existing ice caps providing the ocean needed for lifeforms to take off, after an atmosphere is established.

The many moons of Jupiter shall be colonised except for Io which is a molten world. The Jovian upper layers contain many of the exotic gases that we need to terraform the rest of the solar system. Already a feasibility study is commissioned to harvest those gases

Mercury is too close to the sun to colonised but its resources shall be strip mined to provide the alloy forges of Earth and other planets. A giant mining contraption is being planned and many engineers are working on this as the 17th Politburo deliberates.

Saturn will be an experiment to stablise the upper layers of a gas giant and convert it to hydroponic farms. Its moon titan proved to be valuable as a colony and a staging point.

Lastly Neptune will be converted too, should Saturn prove to be of use. Its moon Triton is also going to be terraformed, there are no shortage of living space for humans within the solar system.

To make the above plans a reality enormous amounts of resources are needed, and it would be required to venture outside the solar system to gather them. The Politburo is quite conservative inside the solar system and believed in a gradual construction plan, but is quite aggressive outside of the solar system as claimed star systems may come under fire from hostile alien civilisations, and it must be prepared to defend against them

 

[Dodge]

Under the planetay government that is the Union of Socialist Systems, the implicit meaning is that the executive government will expand ever outwards, to other star systems. Life on Earth is without worker's alienation and drudgery, however still not perfect. Robots have replaced most of the manual labour, and are now encroaching on simple clerk work. Employment is universally assigned using a series of metrics and tests while at school and is not easily changed. Only talented will go on to higher learning under auspices of the state, and other avenues of learning can be prohibitively expensive. Primary and secondary schools are completely funded by the state, including school excursions to other cities or even regional capitals. Gynmasiums are common for those who wanted to join the work force earlier, for what is more glorious than taking up the hammer of the workers? For example, those students who've decided to become a nurse would attend a nurse school instead of normal secondary school, and spend 4-5 years honing their skills in nursing. To be a doctor is even more difficult, eschews middle-school altogether and spend 10 years from teens to early twenties in a medical school. Dropouts are factored in the system, however it would be reduced by big data and psychometric testing. For skilled factory workers the path is through reduced high schooling and more time spent as 'apprentice', and this makes up the majority of the workforce.

The Soviet system supports universal welfare by handing out universal nutrition vouchers (ie food stamps) that is designed for optimal functioning of the body and mind. However blackmarket exchanges are rife as people exchange surplus food stamps for other goods. Consumer goods also operate a voucher system, with essentials provided monthly and big items occassionally handed out. Any additional items not supply by the state can be purchased in a store. Money still exists, in the form of universal credits or (UCs) pronouced 'youks'. It was decided that it gave people meaning for their work performed and shall stay. Wages are extremely equalised, or 'shaped' according to a formula. The Politburo member doesn't necessarily earn more than a well-compensated plumber. Because the power differential is factored into the wage account. A boss with many underlings reporting to him is deemed more powerful and influential and thus paid less in UCs than the average worker. Thus was true equality established. Checks and balances exist everywhere, and monitoring system is most severe for grafts or other crimes afforded by power.

The political system had become much more democratic over the past but still centralised, voting is allowed again, although each citizen need to be educated on how to vote and how to maximise their own interests by voting. Essentially a watered down politics course. Under 20s cannot vote at all. Because the government covers the entire Earth, everyone is a citizen and is enfranchised. Except for serious offenders, such as murderers, whose voting rights would be suspended for many years. The entire planet falls under the unicameral congress called the Party Congress, and other party can exist besides the Communist party, they just have fewer members. Factional struggle inside Communist party is encouraged and is a way to ensure competition of ideas. The Politburo need to be passed with 2/3 majority by the Party Congress, and General Secretary is elected by the people directly, sometimes with over 50 candidates.

The politicians usually comes from a scientific, military or previous career politician background. Populism doesn't exist, as no one would vote for a reality TV star or a sports star in this system. The candidate must be serious. As private enterprise comprise a smaller part of the economy than public (government owned) enterprises CEOs usually do not get elected neither. People tend to be frugal and would not use up their savings, and are routinely taxed by the government. The government places most of the funds received into space exploration and further education. The stockmarket exist but is a shadow of its former self, as people are generally risk-averse

 

[Dodge]

At the dawn of the 23rd century, the USS cosmonauts could do naught but stare at the lights of trinary Alpha Centauri, knowing that to venture out would take more than 40 years and perhaps longer than a person's lifetime. No longer. A new engine, the hyperspace drive, was invented to overcome this precise problem. By hitching on to 'hyperlanes' of the star systems, a trip to Alpha Centauri now takes 60 days. New space ships are built, first the science vessel then a construction vessel, followed by more powerful ships of war. The Union placed utmost importance in the mission, and christened the vessel names "Sputnik" "Soyuz" and "Salyut". They are to explore into deep space, starting from Barnard's Star, Alpha Centauri, and Sirius. Where they end up is up to the crew.

Each ship is lead by a chief scientist, not a warrior, and the ships are unarmed to reduce chances of misunderstandings. Alien life was expected and each ship was armed with a linguist and a supercomputer that is built to decipher the strange language they might encounter, including those without a voice.

Operating en masse, over 50 scientific vessels are launched at the order of the Politburo. The Union does not believe in half measures. Even though the cruel space would claim the lives of over 10 of these ship crews, the rest reached outer space and found star systems that's worth chartering. As many engineer vessels followed, and constructed starbases that proclaimed the Union's sovereignty of these star systems

By 2215, the Union have claimed vast region of the sector space, although they are still a drop in the ocean compared to the billions of stars in the galaxy. They've also met alien civilisations, some friendly, some less so.

Our expansion to the west is blocked by the Gwesibo Stellar Authority, a xenophobic empire with 1 inhabited planet, it would be easy to incorporate them into the USS sphere of influence.

The irony that the stellar cartographers placed the Union space on top of the sector near North is lost to no one

 

[Dodge]

Stukov had realised very early in the days of the USSR leadership that in order to win, the Union would need more people than its competitors, the capitalist states of the old West. And because in organic growth it was never going to match that of the West, it resorted to press-ganging most of the third world into its cause. First came Eastern Europe, then China, then India, then most of the Middle East and South America, and by that time the game was up. With superior technology and most of the markets, the world became more amenable to Marx-Leninst thought. In fact, it became their only thought. Seizing the means of production. When the third world is not very productive industrially, the Union gave massive aids to build factories and mines. The mines, in fact became defining characteristic of the union.

Minerals were the lifeblood, they could be forged into alloys, built into durable consumer goods, thus reducing a lot of wastage and spoilage, and weapons of war, which the Union used to threaten the West with. While USA consumer goods were built with plastic, the Unions had stainless steel. With the addition of new fangled researched technology, a game-winning combination was found. The old West shrivelled and died when it could not blackmail to get the third world's production, for which it relied on for the continued comfortable existance of its exploitative classes. Without their creature comforts, the decadent workers of the West crumbled, and revolted to elect down their masters.

The 23rd century Union operated on a similar principle - first get the worlds of minerals, then get the population centres, in a Marx-Lenin-Maoist revolutionary way. Because space is vast and habitable planets rare, until the problem of artificial habitats are solved the goal will be on assimilating, not negotiating, with the capitalists of space. The 'MegaCorps' are anathema to the Union, and their propensity to turn on a dime and chase after profits will be the doom of them. For Lenin famously said, the capitalists shall sell us the rope with which to hang them.

99.5% of the problems are caused by 0.5% of the people. No more of these people, no more problems

When I said, no problems, I meant.... "No. Problem"

And of course the Union didn't lose sight of the origin of the problem, and that is the small group of pathological hoarders, known as capitalists, that existed since the Industrial Revolution. The USS dealt efficiently with them by evicting them from Union space, and in extreme circumstances, expropriating them of their wealth. People became much more equal when you get rid of the small band of outliers, and their original function is now fulfilled by the state, called state capitalism. That is fine, however, since the state is public

In Liberalism our enemy upheld the tenet that the customer / market is right, and there is no higher authority. But that is wrong. The Truth is right, and the wrong is wrong. No, I am not talking about a religion, for that is bunk too. If the entire world consumes too much Oreos, it gets fat - On debunking liberalism: 1984 speech

Centralised control became the theme during the USSR days, as better and faster computers became a statistician's dream. With humble beginnings from emulating a 80286 chip made by Americans, the Union made the ES-1384 chip, but rapidly left its competitors in the dust, with innovations such as Graphite core chips and 3D-Silico technology, Soviet computers could predict with errie accuracy of what a person is likely to do regarding purchasing decisions, and that placed planning over ad-hoc allocation of market resources, which became wasteful.

In effect, according to the Soviet historians, Stukov was prescient in that he predicted the collapse of the market into monopolies (in more detail, than previous economists) and he was staunchly anti-liberalism for he believed that
1. That there is no individual, we are all products of emergent behaviour of our brain's neural-networks,
2. Market acceptance is not the best gauge of truth
3. Central planning done well can exceed that of the ad-hoc distributed nature of the market.
4. Privacy will not become an issue in the future as convenience will outweigh it by a large margin.
5. State can provide most public services much better than private companies focusing on profit
And surprisingly, all those came to pass, it was as if he had glimpsed into the future.

Some of the old Communist circles suspected that Stukov conspired with Leon Trotsky later in the WW II to come up with an amended Constant Revolution doctrine for the USSR, however this was strenously denied by both as they never met in person after WWII. Communications in written form cannot be ruled out, however. Stukov would have found the World in Revolution ideal too radical anyway, as he believed in Socialism in One Country / World

 

[Dodge]

at 2210 war broke out between the Union of Socialist Systems and the Gweisbor Stellar Authority
Unchecked, the Gweisbor had increased its colonised planets to three, although two are still in the process of colonisation. They have also beat the Union to the border system of Iram which annoyed the Chairwoman Mei Saito to no end. She ordered the strike on the Gweisbors, and upon seeing their weakness, a full scale invasion. The space war was decisively won with 33 frigates over 18 frigates of the enemy, but the land battle was intense with loss of 20 armies on the ground. The Gweisbor were also masters of winter defence, and their capital was on an arctic world. Severe losses had resulted in increased army spending of better materiel and training

 

[Dodge]

Chairwoman Mei Saito was 45 year old when she took over the reigns from previous Chairwoman Katerina Ivanova whom was famed for bringing the Union into interstellar space. She had Brazilian and Japanese heritages and came from a family of working class background. She was a scientist but was working on industrial automation and became a minister of the industry in the North American sector. She lived in the BosWash megalopolis and traveled to work using public transport. Her ancestors were collaborators to the fearsome Japanese Red Army who, having no Middle Eastern causes to fight, fought for South American Autarky from the United States. This rebellious streak must have earned some kudos from the Communist establishment. However it is now 2200s and she had no political families to speak of, and she had to work on her own election merits. She performed well in the industrial research area, although she sometimes wished that she could have her own research vessel to survey the stars. She is unique for not having left earth at all, even to visit the moon colonies or the martian stations.

Still, an opportunity opened when she heard the presiding Chair is considering retirement due to the demands of the job becoming more and more severe. The complexity increases exponentially with every discovery the Union had made, from some inconsequential Crystals to automated miners to Tiyanki lifeforms, it just took a toll on Katerina. Mei thought that she could handle it better, toughened by the industrial disputes that she had to sort out during her job in North America. She became leader of the Galactic Emancipation Council which was the Progressive Faction amongst factions in the Communist party, vs the Conservatives of her predecessor. She had played her cards right and the former leader did not contest re-election, and the new leader of the Conservatives failed to get enough votes to get elected. She also made pacts with the Military Officers Association, promising them more military funding, which came to pass. Alas, more glorious wars against the space bourgeoise nations did not come to pass for many years.

Still, Mei Saito's reign covered the period of the greatest territorial expansion, afterwhich the pace became slow and static. She pushed the border to the Daturi expanses and met an also very aggressive empire called the Korinths. Had the Union not taken the Daturi Expanses this empire surely would have. It contained a dozen systems with significant deposits of motes and gases. The way to the west is blocked by the Bebaki Corporation which had closed their space to the Union after encountering its ideology. Looks like future expansions will be through client states and not exploration

Engineer and student union activist, Mei Saito, university years
(all portraits from non-existant humans)

 

[Dodge]

The Chairwoman's speech lasted about 20 minutes, which was the optimum time for attention span. Later on the day the program was filled with museum visits and opening of the Kremlin, and enterprising drivers started tours to other tourist attractions around the city. A man watches the Square wall from a distant location intently, followed by his own shadow. He took out an old pipe and without using his hands, lit it. He had no mechanical implants or prosthetics, or laser vision. He noted that the pipe was a gift from one of his former enemies, now long dead. But then again, Death now no longer hold sway over him.

"Master, should we clear the crowds?" A voice said beside him.

"No, I think I'll be fine here, I am getting a bit nostalgic, after all those years" The man replied, as if to the thin air. His companions, if they were visible, they didn't stay that way.

Across the square a child of about seven had flown her kite towards the wind, and the string broke due to a sudden rush of wind.

The man looked upon the air, seemingly focusing on the kite, and it began to descend, as if touched by an invisible hand. He waited till it fell towards him, then reached out and fetched it, giving it to the child. The child looked wild-eyed. "Wow, its magic!" she said.

"Not magic," he said, tapping his head. "Science."

The child's mother appeared, "Tofu!" she shouted to the kid. "Say thanks to the man." She made gestures to her child.

She first took notice of him, a tall stranger, with a hint of the grey in his hair, and creases in his face, saying age has affected him faintly

"Terribly sorry about this Comrade, my daughter Mischa, she's always getting in trouble, taking risks she shouldn't be". She said to him.

"That's quite alright... when I was a kid I liked to take some risks too." He said, truthfully.

"Sorry I forgot my manners, I am Aneka, this is Mischa (oops I think I mentioned her already) and we are here to see the tricentennary, may I call you?"

"Anton", he said. "I am here to meet an old friend." He moved his arm, emphasised the bunch of red flowers.

"Oh, I am sorry to hold you up, come along Tofu," She mentioned for her kid to gather up and leave.

"No, it's no trouble at all, Comrade Aneka. I should be leaving anyway." He politely shuffled off

She sensed something amiss, but Anton moved away rapidly for a man of his age.

"Where have I seen you before? Excuse me,Comrade Anton!" She shouted, but the last part was lost to the wind.

And there was no answer, the man moved away while something told Aneka that there might be danger if she followed, so she stopped, she still had to take care of Mischa. or "Tofu".

----
Several minutes walk away, Kremlin Wall Cemeteries.

"my friends, I have come to meet you again. It's being a long time." Anton thought. He'd spend some effort to place a nervous-system dampener on the crowd. He placed his flowers on the individual tombs, as well as the mass graves. No one onlooking found it odd that his flowers never seem to run out.

"And having seen what we have accomplished, is it all worth it?" He said rhetorically, quietly, not to disturb the tourists.

As he is not completely heartless, he did feel a crinkle in his nose, and something in his eyes, so he took out a handkerchief.

It is at this time a strong gust of wind blew over, sending the tourists running for cover. Shadowy figures appear from his shadow, holding umbrellas for him, but still no one find it odd.

"Well that won't do," he said, and clapped his hands. The wind stopped. He continued on his way of paying respect to the dead, until he reached granite statue, that looks like it had recently been cleaned. There is an eerie resemblance.

"Cardinal of the Kremlin, Viper of the NKVD, hammer of the Capitalists, Saviour of the workers..." He kept going but the list is getting long. "Well the Cardinal is really Comrade ....you know." He rattled off some names. He is feeling mischievous. That's the difference between him and his old colleagues.

"Master you deserve all of the humans' praises, " said the shadowly figure next to him, now holding umbrella.

He moved to the tomb several metres to the left.
"Ol' Joe and I have a history," he said, and reached into air and pulled out a bottle of Vodka, 300 year celebration edition. "He did love his drinks and food," he said, feeling a bit sorry for the man. "Sorry couldn't have helped it, you were killing all of us." He opened the bottle and let the alcohol flow freely onto the ground. "It's just one of these things". And then took a swig at the bottle. Alcohol no longer affected him, if he chose not to be poisoned by it.
The tourists continue to see nothing, but an old man paying his respects. To the original Communist heroes, 300 years ago.

And a few minutes later, at a different sarcophagus.
Anton said it to his guards. "This one shouldn't be here, we got into a big fight over whether he belonged here, but I've won over them at the end. He deserve to see the World Revolution coming to an end." He reached out and saluted the granite bust.
"The Warrior-Poet," his guard commented. "Fighting until the end, with his mighty pen and missives"
"That's right," said Anton. "If I feared anyone I feared him" He could never write as eloquently as the deadman beneath him, but he could learn.
"Funny all the times I've seen him I never figured out his drinks, " Anton said. But I bet the man of steel knows, he thought. He placed extra flowers onto the sarcophagus.

After several hours, the guards are getting anxious.
"Master, we should probably leave, human surveilances are getting better every year."
"And that's a good thing, the Union advances! the technology advances!" He was feeling proud. Of all the things they'd achieved.

----
Later Aneka took Mischa along for a walk around the Kremlin Walls, and found out why the man she saw seemed familiar. Right of Stalin and left of Putin, the granite statue, the legends were based on some truth after all.

"______ shall return." someone scrawled over the base of the statue, with charcoal.

She smiled a little, knowing that someone watches over them. Earth...can be a warm place, even in the snowy cold.

Mischa "Tofu" who later became a space megastructural engineer

 

[Dodge]

The famous terraforming liquid and gas have been found, terraforming mars can finally begin in 2230, near the 3rd term of Mei Saito.

It is estimated to take about 15 years. Just in time for the border force upgrade. The Union planned to have 13 fleets of 20 frigates by then, budget be damned. Such a force could ensure overwhelming superiority over the Korinth Empire and the Vissari Union at the same time