Index:
Eight Dartrok Dreadnoughts exited FTL space at the system that was planned
as their next conquest. It was not a particularly important system and
only had one inhabitable planet. The Dartrok fleet's commander assumed
that this system would contain no serious problems but was attempting to
evaluate if the system would simply surrender or if they would fight. If
they surrendered, any ships acquired could be eventually be used in combat
so to reduce risk to any Dartrok lives. After all, lesser beings should
be honored to sacrifice themselves for the greater good that the Dartrok
were bringing to this galaxy. Indoctrinating the lesser beings into the
Dartrok ways would take a while and until loyalty could be insured, the
Dartrok vessels would have to be used for all military and police roles.
The Dreadnoughts were used for assaults and garrison duty was fulfilled
by Cruisers and Destroyers which were more numerous but much less powerful.
As she watched the display of Dartrok Dreadnoughts, admiral Sylvia Petty muttered "Things change" with a grim smile. She had previously been senior officer for the naval forces of Corwin's Folly. The Dartrok ships were creeping into the system very cautiously at less than a quarter of what they drives could attain. The brown haired human admiral knew that even if they won against the Dartrok that they would take sever losses with the brute firepower of the Dartrok Dreadnoughts. This battle might be considered the birth of the Combined Stars Protectorate and it would be a birth of fire she thought. This was one of several systems that the new Combined Stars Protectorate had stationed ships to hopefully stop the Dartrok and give them enough of a black eye to allow a better organization of the Combined Stars Protectorate military forces. Some people in intelligence thought that the Dartroks would retreat after taking some hard knocks and that they disliked putting themselves at an serious risk. She hoped it was true but was not willing to depend on that.
Under the Admirals command was two old missile cruisers, eight old missile destroyers, and a couple of dozen merchant hulls that had been converted into missile platforms. It was a ragtag bunch but it was hoped that her ragtag forces would be able to weaken the Dartrok fleet enough that the other ships could defeat the remaining ships. While the cruisers could likely withstand some damage, the merchant hulls were almost completely unarmored and could not be used with any battle line. Her flagship, an elderly Kurganov class cruiser, and companion vessels would attempt one of the oldest tricks in the book. The ships were at minimum power and were hiding in the rings of a gas giant which was close to the course that had been projected for the Dartrok force. Her ships would launch rapid fire missile volleys as the Dartrok vessels passed.
She wishes she had some more modern ships or equipment but other than
that she thought they were ready. It would have been nice if they had been
able to acquire some anti matter warheads or the x-ray laser warheads,
used by the Consortium Armed Forces and by the Military of the Trans-Galactic
Empire, but she figured that enough old style nuclear warheads would do
the job. Her tactical officers had developed a staggering pattern so that
the Dartrok could not use their Gravitic shock wave to destroy all of their
missiles. The shock wave lasted for just a few seconds and could only be
activated once every fifteen seconds. Usually, it was to the advantage
of launching ships for all of their missiles to come in at the same time
so that fire control cannot track them individually but with the Dartrok,
it was the opposite.
The Dartrok commander watched the data coming in carefully. A group
of ships that seem to have been in orbit of the one life supporting planet
had just activated their drives and started heading in the direction of
its eight Dreadnoughts. The patterns indicated five vessels of cruiser
size and twelve vessels of destroyer size. Previous battles had shown that
many of the ships were pure system crafts which meant that most of them
had no escape. This force was a little bit more powerful than previous
encounters but nothing its Dreadnoughts would take any losses from.
As he watched the supposed defense force head slowly in a direct intercept
of the Dartrok fleet, the Gadorium First Order Karn prepared his own force
to join the force at the proper time. The Gadorium were similar in physical
features to Terran reptiles except for the fact that they had six limbs.
The Gadorium race had been building up their forces for decades to prepare
for wars on conquest. The position of First Order was considered to be
similar to that of the human rank of Admiral and his ships were an important
component of the sixteen cruisers and twice that number of destroyers and
frigates. His ships were hidden behind the planet but after the missile
ships did their jobs his ships would come out from behind the planet at
hull speed and join the defense force in intercepting the Dartrok fleet.
In most close range combat, the larger vessel dominated the battle because
of its heavier shields and armor. As well, in missile combat is where smaller
ship have the best chance to do as well as larger ships arrayed against
them. While none of his ships were close to the size of the dreadnought
or carried close to the same firepower, he hoped the numerical superiority
would cancel the larger ships advantage in shear damage they can withstand.
Like the human female admiral, he had no faith in the Dartrok ships retreating
once battle was joined and he considered that he was likely dead.
The position that the Dartrok Dreadnoughts should reach before Admiral Petty's ships begin firing had been reached and she ordered all launchers into rapid fire. The Dartrok almost immediately noted the missiles coming in from the gas giants ring. Enemies had previously tried tactics like that but the tactics had always failed in the past. It noted that instead of one huge volley of missiles, the missiles were being launched a few at a time and there was many times more missiles that it expected. The way the missiles were coming in meant that it could not destroy all the missiles with one gravitic shockwave. It would mean that his ships would have more chances to stop the missiles but some would likely get through. Its ships would only have to survive about a Terran minute of missiles coming in at his present velocity and course. The lesser beings that they had recruit for its ships could always be replaced but it would likely be that some Dartrok would get killed which was something to be abhorred.
After a couple of minutes, the capital missiles, also known as cruise missiles, went into final homing. It then realized that the attack was going to hurt even more than expected. All the missiles had been targeted on the two central ships in his formation. The ship's point defense destroyed as many missiles as possible and the shockwave eliminated many more but that still left hundreds of missiles sleeting onto those two ships. The Dartrok Dreadnoughts are huge ships and able to withstand incredible damage but not even they were built to withstand this level of damage. The two Dartrok Dreadnoughts targeted were bathed in thermo-nuclear fire and the ships shields went down within just a few seconds. The commander tried to communicate with the ships but he was only able to get fear and pain from the two ships. While it seemed to go on for an eternity, it was for less than a minute and then they were silent. The final groups of missiles could no longer get lock on their primary targets so they went for the last ships in the group. These ships got off luckier and while both had their shields knocked flat, both ships survived with one moderately damage and the other only lightly damaged.
The Dartrok commander took a few moment to figure a response once outside
the range of the missile launchers. Its ships continued to accelerate away
from the dead and radioactive shells that had been less than a minute ago
two of his ships. It had to ignore than and that a couple of hundred Dartrok
had just been killed. It figure that if he clumped his ship extremely closely
together, it could use the point defense of all six of its remaining ships
and they would be much better protected but the gravity wake generators
could not be used without damaging its own ships. Launching all of its
fighters would also give more guns to help protect his ships and between
both should prevent further losses of its ships. It was about to order
both of them when it saw from the gas giants rings, hundreds of drives
all propelling ships in different directions. There was no way it would
be able to intercept many of them.
Admiral Petty had scattered her ships as ordered and had launched decoys
from all of her capital missile launchers. Each missile would broadcast
false sensor images of a ships and she had scattered them in all directions.
Unlike Anti-matter and X-Ray laser warheads, decoy type missile warheads
could be purchased on the open market and so they had been able to get
a large number of them. The Dartrok would not know what to chase and would
likely continue going toward the planet. Well, part one had worked and
all of her ships were intact.
First Order Karn ordered his ships to full acceleration to join the
system defense force which had stopped accelerating in order for his ships
to catch up. The two groups would match speeds and then accelerate as a
group towards the Dartrok fleet.
The Dartrok commander had decided that it would be best assaulting the defense force with its remaining ships. The two damage ones would be able to repair much of their damage and all of their shields would be back long before the forces were to meet. Once those ships were destroyed, it could send most of its fighters out to hunt down the ships that had launched the missiles if they did not escape the system. If the ships stayed separate, it could even expect much smaller losses of the fighters if the fighters were all kept together. Fighters and the lesser beings crewing them could also be replaced.
It accelerated its ships to maximum, planning to finish the fight as quickly as it could. It was then that more data registered. A large group of additional vessels appeared from behind the life supporting planet. Data also indicated the previously tracked force and them would join together long before his ships would get close to them. The combined force would be twenty one cruiser sized and forty four destroyer sized vessels to contend with. It carefully calculated the odds and it could still likely win but it would take severe losses. If it decided not to engage, these ships could never catch his. It was time to plan to plan the best escape route.
There is an ancient statement "The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend." This can be considered the reasoning behind the existence of the Combined Stars Protectorate.
The Combined Stars Protectorate is located in a generally sparsely populated fringe area between the Consortium of Civilized Worlds Space and the Trans-Galactic Empire. In this area was a cluster of inhabitable planets. Just about every resource that couple be found in the region could be found elsewhere in larger quantities but the systems were mostly self sufficient. The Consortium of Civilized Worlds was not particulary interested in the region and the Trans-Galactic Empire had areas that were of more interest to them. For these reasons, the who area was ignored by the major powers.
Before the coming of the Dartrok, the whole region were single planet or just two or three star system powers. The area had a vast variety of races, cultures, and governments. Many of the small powers considered each other to be rivals. None of the nations were at war with each other but there were economic disputes and skirmishes between their military forces. Because minor fighting was fairly common, most of the local powers did have militaries but they were small and designed to deal with each other. The forces also were often disorganized and had no capability to deal with any major military such as the Consortium Armed Forces or the Trans-Galactic Military Forces.
Like the Dartroks considered this area to be an easy target and not likely for other to be concerned about. Systems quickly fell to the surprise attacks and incredible weapons. In fear, many systems surrendered without a shot being fired. The remaining systems quickly scrambled for some sort of safety. Many of the more democratic planets tried to join the Consortium of Civilized Worlds but few were able to make it through the time consuming procedures necessary to become a Consortium Member World. Many planets willingly joined the Trans-Galactic Empire considering the Kreeghor to be the lesser evil than the Dartrok. This still left a good number of systems or small two or three star governments unable to join the Consortium and unwilling to join the Trans-Galactic Empire. While many of them were rival before the Dartrok arrived on the scene, the desperate situation gave the individual governments no choice but to join together. At first only a few systems joined together, but within six Terran months the Combined Stars Protectorate contained virtually all star systems that had not been taken over or joined a larger government. This is how the Combined Stars Protectorate was formed.
Since the formation of the Combined Stars Protectorate, there has been much talk about freeing the planets under Dartrok control and there has often been skirmishes between the Protectorate and the Dartrok but there has been no real gains or losses either way. Only one star system was able to break free from Dartrok control. They did this without the support or assistance of the CSP. A scientist on the planet devised a virus to defeat the Dartrok. Realizing that they could not survive without outside help, the planet did decide to join the Combined Stars Protectorate. They are the only non newly formed star system to join the Combined Stars Protectorate after its initial foundation and formation. The planet is often used as an rallying point that the Dartrok can be defeated.
The population of the Combined Free Stars is one of the most diverse within the Three Galaxies. There are some native populations such as the Gadoriums but much of the populations are from other parts of the Three Galaxies. There is even a planet with a population consisting of different mutant animals from around the Mega-Verse.
| 26% | Gadorium | |
| 19% | Wolfen | |
| 17% | Human | |
| 7% | Noro | |
| 6% | Seljuks | |
| 6% | Mutant Animals | |
| 4% | Catyr | |
| 4% | Silhouette | |
| 2% | Dwarves | |
| 2% | Elves | |
| 7% | Other Races |
Agriculture: Most planets within the Combined Stars Protectorate
are self supporting. Some planets within the Combined Stars Protectorate
have large excess of food products which helps to support the planets.
Industry: Industry and technology in general is at best forty
to fifty years behind the consortium and is more often a couple of hundred
years or more. There is little large scale production although there is
a good amount of small scale production. Over the next few years, the leader
hope to increase this greatly. Many planets do have asteroid mining and
one planets entire economy is based on it.
Education: While most of the citizens of the planets are literate
and there is high education available on most planets, the education is
at a lower standard than places like the Consortium of Civilized Worlds.
The only exception to this is in the medical fields on Preserve World who's
medical professionals are some of the best in the Three Galaxies.
Each individual power, whether a single system or two or three planets, has their own government and is self governing for the most part. There is a vast variety of different government and almost every star nation has a unique government. Some of the planets are Democracies and Republics but others are Monarchies or even Totalitarian Dictatorships. There are all well known government systems represented with the exception of a Theocracy. There have been a few reforms but most of the governments are unchanged from the time that they joined the Combined Stars Protectorate. The reality is that it is likely that the Combined Stars Protectorate would collapse if something was to eliminate the threat of the Dartroks. There is hope for the future because the planets become closer together and the militaries become stronger organized and trade becomes better established.
The central government of the Combined Stars Protectorate is very loosely organized and its only real initial purpose was for self protection. In many ways it could be considered simply a loose collection of nations similar in form to the United Nations but in many ways actually weaker. The government is in the form of a council with one representative for each planet or multi planet government. The actual selection of the representative from each nation varies. A few are elected but most are selected either by the ruler or the government. They greatly vary in their actual skills. When the council first met, the location of meeting varied from planet to planet but since Talborn became a member of the Combined Stars Protectorate, it has become the location of council meetings. Since starting as a simple war council, the Combined Stars Protectorate Council has been working in other issues as well. This have included the attempt to get outside allies, military expenditures, mediating disputes between various star nations, and trade agreements. Several of the planets that are Democracies and Republics have been attempting to achieve government reforms in some of the more totalitarian governed planets. All decisions need only to be approved by a simple majority but to keep the government intact, most of the council members work for a compromise that all sides are satisfied with. Due to the fear of what could happen otherwise, this simple government has worked relatively well so far.
Before the coming of the Dartrok, each planet or star nation had their own military forces and there were no comprehensive treaties between any of them. After the small powers joined together to become the Combined Stars Protectorate, their individual militaries were organized together to become the military forces of the Combined Stars Protectorate but their still retain allegiance to the planet or star nation that they come from. Some of the planets have planetary defense stations and system defense ships without any form of FTL propulsion. These have been retained by the planets or star nations themselves. Mostly, the organization of military forces has been for starships because it is expected that they will be most important in any battles although some planning has been done for using ground troops from a variety of planets. The ships are also suppose to be maintained by the planet that they originate from but they often require need to be maintained by the governments more able to or the council force as is called the new fleet that is considered independent from individual powers. Often the actually quality of starships will vary greatly making planning hard for flag officers. As well, starships tended to be fairly small with no ships larger than a cruiser and the vast majority being much smaller. Most ships were either refitted civilian designs with added weapon systems or old ships that had been retired from the larger navies such as the Consortium Armed Forces. It is likely that many of the ships would have been retired even by the Free Worlds Council because of the ships need for comprehensive repairs. Since the formation of the Combined Stars Protectorate, ship qualities have been around the same quality although most admirals prefer older military ships instead of refitting civilian designs. Before the coming of the Dartrok there were few facilities to do work on ships or build fighters. Since then, several planets have built facilities to build fighters and to repair or refit starships. No planets have yet built any facilities to build any craft larger than starfighters. Similar to the ships and equipment themselves, the quality of crews and troops vary greatly. The majority of them are from the planet which the units or starships are from and are locally trained. The training schools for them are of very different qualities. Some star nations have excellent training while others have almost no training at all. Some of the crew members are civilian spacers or ex-mercenaries. Even with the best of the planetary schools, the backbone, although not the majority, of the army and fleets are from the militaries of larger militaries. The Consortium Armed Forces is a common source for trained starship crews and soldiers. Still, the quality of civilian ship crews, mercenaries, and ex fleet crews is lower than those recruited by wealthier governments and star systems. It is frequent that they had reprimands from their previous positions although some are excellent and just got someone above them angry at them. A few planets have even recruited questionable individuals and pardoned them and blocked any form of extradition if they agree to join the military. This has included being wanted for piracy, drug users or dealers, and other serious criminals. In general it could be said that the star nations use what they can get hold of in both equipment and personnel.
Because of the unknown quality in both equipment and personnel, there have always been strong advocates on the council for a formation of military force that reports directly to the council instead on individual planets and star nations. It took several years before the formation was agreed on and the force is still small and in the stage of formation. Even so, it is still the best military forces that the Combined Stars Protectorate has. So far the starship forces consist of two pocket battleships of the Wyvern class which act as flagships, six light cruisers of the Bushido Industries' Raiden class, four Wolfen Stalker class fast escort carriers, eighteen destroyers and frigates of various types, and a variety of support vessels. The fighters for the carriers are a mixture of new Bushido Industries' fighters and of older designs which are a mixture of Human Alliance, Wolfen, and Kreeghor classes. There has been no large purchases of Naruni fighter classes because the older fighters that they have purchased are considered more flexible and capable than the Naruni classes. Most Naruni fighters are also fairly slow which limits their usefulness.
The council has approved the expansion of the forces and the plan is to add two more Raiden class light cruisers, about twelve more destroyers and frigates, some more support vessels, and ideally four light carriers. The design of carrier that they have been looking are similar in design to the Human Alliance Dragonfly class or New Coventry's Invincible class light fleet carrier. The problem is that the Human Alliance yards are working on refitting their fleets and New Coventry is at full capacity for starship construction. They have been looking at other yards to build the ships but have yet to find anyone willing to and able to construct the vessels. The CSP Council fleet will most like add eight more Wolfen Stalker class fast escort carriers because at least they can find a source for them. The Combined Space Protectorate has already begun discussion with Bushido Industries for the purchase of two more Raiden class destroyers as well as a large number of fighters. In addition, they are looking at the products of various manufactures including the MacKenzie Corporation and the REF Military as likely candidates. They have sent overtures to both but have not received answers yet.
The auxiliary vessels are some of the busiest ships in the fleet. The ships were all originally purchased to support the council fleet but have been occupied with all sorts of others activities. Since having been acquired, the repair ships have been used to work on the more derelict of the vessels of the smaller powers. Until more repair ships are purchased, this will likely keep the crews of these ships busy. It was originally planned that they would be used to also build new destroyers but will likely have to wait until the new shipyards are completed. This new shipyard is being built on the opposite side of Combined Stars Protectorate space from the Dartrok controlled areas. The part of the yard designated for building destroyers is scheduled to be completed within four months but is more likely to require about six months to complete. The facility to build cruisers and other large vessels will require even longer, it could be as long as two years before it is complete.
There has been an attempt to recruit the best members of the smaller forces into the council forces but the individual retain their rank and position within their home military. As well, their retain their previous uniforms which creates an interesting assortment of different uniforms within any gathering of members of the Council Military Forces. As well as pulling from the militaries of the Combined Stars Protectorate, they also attempt to hire mercenaries and larger militaries such as the Consortium Armed Forces. These individuals are often of better quality than what the member governments get due to better pay and a more comprehensive selection system which weeds out some of the worst individuals. There has been much discussion on the formation of a military academy for the Council forces. It took several years before the school was approved but the first class is scheduled to begin within six months. Presently, the school is being organized and instructors are being recruited.
While crews from other militaries within the Combined Stars Protectorate retain their old uniforms, these non native military members have a common uniform. This uniform is very similar to the ones worn by Talborn military forces prior to being conquered by the Dartrok and has been re-adopted by the planet after the planet freed itself from Dartrok domination. The uniform is a simple jumpsuit with a short jacket. Ground troops uniform is a dark green with gold trim and the space forces uniform is red with gold trim. There has been strong consideration for adopting the uniform for all of the council military forces but it is still being debated. If a single uniform is adopted, it is likely to be helpful for moral and reduce any lingering animosity between beings from races that were formerly at war.
Mercenary forces have been an important part of the defense forces of many of the individual government's defenses before the founding of the Combined Stars Protectorate. This trend has continued since the founding of the Combined Stars Protectorate and has become even more widespread. In addition to individuals being recruited into the various militaries, there are several mercenary fleets and companies on virtual permanent employ by the Combined Stares Protectorate. Some of these forces have been hired directly by the council and others are hired by individual governments. There are several means that are used to attract the interest of mercenary groups and get them to move themselves into Combined Stares Protectorate space. One of the most common is to offer an asteroid or small moon for basing and either tax breaks or no taxes. Another, which is more questionable, is to allow freedom of action to mercenary companies that base themselves within their territories. The only actions many government members will stop are those directed against at other members of the Combined Stars Protectorate. In addition, licences for privateering against the Dartrok are often given by individual member governments. Several planets have abused the recruiting of mercenaries and have allowed pirates to establish bases within their space. Again, while piracy within Combined Stars Protectorate space is not tolerated, actions outside of it are mostly ignored. There have been a few incidents where pirates have been caught by the Trans-Galactic Empire or the Consortium. Each time, the government that allowed the pirates to base themselves in their territories has claimed to have no knowledge of what the pirates have done and has at least pretended to give the larger government their full assistance against the pirates. While this has prevented any direct action against the governments in question, it has created tension that makes it less likely that the Combined Stars Protectorate will be able to get their help against the Dartrok. This is likely a problem that needs to be solved by the Combined Spaces Protectorate before serious repercussions occur.
The military leadership is one of the simplest ever know since the beginning of organized war. All orders from higher ranking personnel in the various militaries of the Combined Stars Protectorate is expected to be followed unless there is an overriding reason not to follow those orders with severe penalties for insubordination . These measures were put into force to prevent problems with personnel being unwilling to follow the orders of someone senior to them if they come from another government withing the Combined Stars Protectorate. Early in the history of the Combined Stars Protectorate there was a ship captain that would not listen to an admiral from another government and a battle was lost because of it. As us expected, each of the governments has their own senior officer. While it is considered to dangerous for all of them to meet together at one time, the officers are expected by the council to meet each other in small groups fairly often. As well, one of the senior officers is selected by the council to act as the Combined Stars Protectorate's Chief of Military Operations. The officer selected is expected to be respected as their senior officer by all of the governments' officers. This position is held for two years before a new Chief of Military Operations is selected. This position has been rotated between the senior officer of different governments by the council to prevent any discord. In case of an emergency, such as an attempted coup, the council has the right to dismiss the Chief of Military Operations but this has never come up.
Council Fleet Forces:
Carriers:
| 4 | Wolfen Stalker class Fast Escort Carriers |
| 2 | TMS Wyvern Class Pocket Battleships |
| 6 | BI Raiden class Light Cruisers |
| 4 | CAF Scimitar class Patrol Ships | |
| 8 | Wolfen Hunter class Destroyers | |
| 6 | Ferret class Corvette |
| 120 | Various Mine Sweepers Classes |
| 4 | Various Troop Transports Classes (converted passenger ships) |
| 6 | Button class Repair Ships | |
| 12 | Various Supply Ship Classes |
Planetary and Small Star Nation Government Forces:
These forces do not include the sublight only system defense vessels
and does not include mercenary and other independent forces operating within
Combined stars Protectorate Forces. Mercenary forces add about 50% to the
total forces available. In addition to these forces, there are a number
of civilian cargo ships and liners that can be conscripted into military
service.
Carriers:
| 12 | Gryphon Claw class Escort Carriers (Converted Cargo Vessels) |
| 2 | CAF Warshield class Cruisers | |
| 2 | TGE Defiler class Heavy Cruisers | |
| 5 | TGE Smasher class Cruisers | |
| 19 | HAFN Natasha Kurganov class Missile Cruiser | |
| 9 | HAFN Everest class Gun Cruisers | |
| 10 | Wolfen Lictor class Cruiser | |
| 48 | Various other Cruiser Classes (Many Converted Cargo Vessels) |
| 8 | CAF Scimitar class Patrol Ships | |
| 10 | TGE Berserker (Standard) class Light Attack Ships | |
| 34 | TGE Berserker (Old) class Light Attack Ships | |
| 122 | Wolfen Hunter class Destroyers | |
| 103 | HAFN Ferret class Corvette | |
| 135 | Various other Destroyer Classes (Many Converted Cargo Vessels) |
| 164 | Various Supply Ship Classes |
New Military Technology:
When the Combined Stars Protectorate was first established, they did
not have any of the newer missile warheads and used nuclear warheads almost
exclusively. The missiles actually had about ten percent less range and
maximum speed than the missiles used by the more advanced races of the
Three Galaxies. Since then, they have copied decoy missiles from Civilian
sources and have began constructing anti-matter cruiser missiles to increase
their firepower. The planet has begun experimenting with the use of pepper
box launchers that are used by several other militaries.
Significant Members of the Combined Stars Protectorate:
There are a great many star systems that are not listed here but they
have relatively small populations and do not major military forces.
Relations with other Governments:
Consortium of Civilized Worlds: C.A.F. Intelligence is attempting
to find out more information about the Dartrok and if they are a threat.
The Combined Stars Protectorate is attempting to get some Consortium advanced
technology to improve their military forces and general technological level.
As well as trying to get the information through trade, several planets
have begun sending their best and brightest to universities in the Consortium.
There is some trade between the C.C.W. and the C.S.P. but the piracy on
Consortium shipping has become a serious concern.
Free Worlds Council: Both Governments are similar in respect
that they exist because they have enemies but the problem is that they
are different enemies. As well, the two powers are not close in physical
proximity. Because of these two factors, it is unlikely that they will
ever work closely together. It is still quite possible that some minor
but important exchanges may take place. The Combined Stars Protectorate
is attempting to purchase some technology from the Free Worlds Council
such as X-Ray laser warheads and the improved Flying Fang Starfighter design.
In addition, the Free Worlds Council has been at war for many years and
could provide good advisors to help strengthen the military forces of the
Combined Stars Protectorate's forces. The Combined Stars Protector has
offered raw materials from their mining worlds, food supplied, and the
assistance of the well trained medical personnel and advanced medical technology
of Preserve World.
Naruni Enterprises: Naruni Industries is interested in this area
because of the possible income it could generate and has begun sales to
the minor nations including much at discount to gain more interest. There
is a little bit of disagreement within company management because some
do not want to end up controlling planets or territory in the path of the
Dartrok advance. While it is likely that some planets would overextend
themselves to purchase equipment, the rest of the council would prevent
it. The Combined Free Stars, mostly through the planet of Farewell, has
already paid of a huge debt that one government had acquired with Naruni
before the arrival of the Dartrok.
New Coventry: Until the Dartrok worked out their alliance with
Xanadu station, New Coventry was just another system although it had interesting
equipment. Now, the council is considering strongly sending a representative
to New Coventry about the information they know about the Dartrok and what
that will mean for New Coventry's agreement with Xanadu Station. The Council
might very well this simply to attempt to prevent the Dartrok from expanding
their influence but the Combined Stars Protectorate would also hope to
exchange the information for advanced technology.
Phase World: There is no real dealing between them besides some
trade. This is another avenue that the Combined Stars Protectorate is using
to attempt to acquire more advanced technology although much of the Phase
Tech is beyond what they can afford.
Paradise Federation: Nothing significant and neither side has
much interest in each other.
R.E.F. Wormhole Station: A group of R.E.F. ships was rifted to
the Phase World Universe. The control a unusual spacial anomaly that allows
virtually instantaneous space travel between the Corkscrew and the Anvil
Galaxy. The Combined Stars Protectorate is attempting several things with
the R.E.F. The first is trying to get advanced technology from them like
they are from many other powers as well. A second item is that they have
been attempting to give the R.E.F. warnings about the Dartrok and it is
rumored that due to the warning, the R.E.F. has sent several secret intelligence
gathering missions. Finally, they are also trying to get the R.E.F. involved
in the dispute as either peace keepers or to outright defeat the Dartrok.
The R.E.F. current problems with the Kreeghor likely rule out a full military
campaign.
Splugorth Worlds: The Combined Stars Protectorate has made some
very careful purchases of weapons from the Splugorth but have done nothing
beyond that. The Splugorth have about the same reputation as the Kreeghor
and the safest course seems to be to only make some minor purchases. The
Splugorth have no great interest in the area and consider the Dartrok to
be a relatively minor menace compared to the Kreeghor.
Trans-Galactic Empire: The Combined Stars Protectorate has not
let fear of the Dartrok allow them to become any closer to the Kreeghor
Empire. The planet of Shade Hold would be staunchly against this in any
cases and many members consider the T.G.E. to be just as bad as the Dartrok.
The Trans-Galactic Empire has sent some overtures which have been rejected.
United Worlds Warlock: The U.W.W. is to far away from Combined
Stars Protectorate space to be of any great interest. As well, the U.W.W.
is a very loose government and it is unlikely for them to become interested
something this far outside of their borders. Present attempts by the Combined
Stars Protectorate are limited to gaining some of the advanced magic that
is available in the U.W.W.
Xanadu Station: Xanadu station is a government formed by a group
of CAF fleet personnel and by people that were Rifted from Macross II universe.
At one time it seemed that Xanadu would assist them against the Dartrok
but with Xanadu Station becoming allies with the Dartrok, all hope has
disappeared. No actions have been done yet but the Combined Stars Protectorate
has been considering warning individual members of Xanadu Station military
and government.
[ Phase World TM, CAF TM, CCW TM, and Kreeghor TM, and Mutants in OrbitTM
are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
[ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium Books Inc.]
[ Robotech® and Robotech: Sentinels are registered trademarks owned
and licensed by Harmony Gold USA, Inc. ]
[ Macross® is a registered trademark owned and licensed by Big
West/Bandai. ]
By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).
Copyright © 2000, Kitsune. All rights reserved.