Confederacy of Suns

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Confederacy of Suns is a fictional political entity in The History of the Galaxy series of novels by Russian writer Andrey Livadny. It was formed as a defense measure against the powerful fleet of the Earth Alliance.

[edit] Before the Wars

Humans began to colonize other star systems even before the discovery of the hypersphere anomaly (time period known as the "Great Exodus"). Relativistic sublight colony ships were sent to the closes systems to establish human presence there. When the first hypersphere-capable ships sent from Earth in 2217 reached the colonies, the colonists felt bitter about their "Earth brethren" sending them to a possible death and now demanding to accept additional colonists to relieve the pressure of the overpopulated Earth. Refusing to accept the arrivals of the "Second Exodus", the colonists attempted to cut ties with their homeworld.

[edit] The First Galactic War

Unable to ignore the problems present on Earth, the President of Earth Alliance ordered the Alliance fleet to take control of planet Dabog - one of the colonies resisting Earth's influence. The First Galactic War began with the siege of Dabog. The farming population of Dabog refused to submit and fought dearly against the invaders. Surprisingly well-equipped to fight, the colonists managed to repel the Alliance ground forces by using their agrarian walking machines. These servo-machines (AKA mechs) proved to be much more effective in ground combat that Earth tanks and troop transports. After taking heavy losses on the ground and in space (the Dabog colony had a surprisingly effective missile defense system), the admiral of the strike fleet ordered all ground troops withdrawn and fleet moved to a higher orbit. From there, the ordered the entire planet bombarded with nuclear warheads. Only a handful of survivors managed to make it off the colony before it was turned into a radioactive wasteland.

Banding into a military alliance known as the Free Colonies, the colonists began to organize their own ragtag fleets against the might of the Earth Alliance. Eventually (after decades of bloody and destructive fighting), the Earth fleet was near-destroyed and retreated back to the Solar system.

Realizing that the Earth Alliance would return in greater numbers, the Free Colonies began to build up their own fleets and armies, awaiting the impending invasion. The second invasion came after the Alliance managed to rebuild their fleet and modernized their ground forces with semi-computer-controlled servo-machines, including the infamous Phalanxer-class heavy walkers. Unlike Earth military, which strived to automate their instruments of war, the colonists, lacking the necessary technology, instead preferred to simplify them, so that the humans could use them.

Several decades later, the second phase of the war was coming to an end. The Free Colonies were gathering the entirety of their battle fleet to take the fight to Earth. They fully expected to the battle to be the toughest one yet, as over 90% of Earth's defense was machine-controlled. In fact, Admiral Vorontsov, the supreme commander of the fleet expected his fleet to be annihilated. When they arrived, however, they (relatively) easily dispatched the Earth defense fleet, as the admiral in charge deactivated most of the machines shortly before the battle. His motivation for doing so was not discovered until much later - he was trying to stop the machines from eventually destroying the colonies, as he wished for the human race to survive. After the surrender of Earth, Earth Alliance was no more as a political entity.

The Free Colonies were officially reformed into the Confederacy of Suns immediately after the surrender of Earth.

Ironically, it was the war that turned the colonies without any major industries into powerful centers of innovation, culture, industry, and trade. The prosperous Confederacy eventually allowed other colonies to join, albeit at a lower status than the core colonies. It was due to this treatment of border colonies that led to the eventual downfall of the Confederacy.

[edit] The Second Galactic War

Also known as the War of Everyone against Everyone, the Second Galactic War, basically, involved most of the outer colonies banding into small alliances and waging war against each other to establish their own sovereignty. The Confederacy remained neutral, although hardliners like Admiral Vorontsov were itching to take their fleet in to "let the upstarts know who's the boss", the other politicians disagreed, prefering to let the conflict play out, as it did not directly affect the Core Worlds. The Admiral was ready to do just about anything to assert his fleet's supremacy throughout the known worlds. His chance came with the start of the Shiran invasion of several border colonies, on their jihad to form the great and powerful Stellar Caliphate. Vorontsov's plan was to let the barbaric desert warriors wreak havoc on the nonaligned worlds and then move in with his fleet to drive out the religious fanatics and show the colonies that only under the unified Confederate umbrella they can be truly safe. His plan backfires, when the Shirans send only a token force to invade three colonies in order to distract the Confederate ships, while sending the bulk of their fleet to attack the heart of the Confederate Navy - Fort Stellar, Vortontsov's home base. The daring attack is surprisingly effective, which is a shocking blow to the Fort Stellar inhabitants, as the moon was thought to be an impregnable fortress. If not for the selfless actions of several former Earth officers and Ganians, Fort Stellar would have fallen to the enemy, and the galaxy would have been theirs for the taking. Barely managing to hold off the Shiran forces while the Fort's defenses were being brought online, many Earth officers lost their lives. However, the reactivated guns made short work of the enemy ships and troops, destroying any hope for the Stellar Caliphate. This close call has convinced the Confederacy leaders of the need for peace.

[edit] Decline and Rebirth of the Confederacy

After the decline and, eventual, disbanding of the Confederacy of Suns, each planet was on its own. The only thing connecting the world together was sporadic trade and the Interstar network. However, when the Harammins attempted to invade the colonies during the Seven Days War, the main hub of the network was destroyed, leaving the colonies isolated. After the defeat of the blue-skinned aliens, a new Confederacy was created in the place of the old one. Unlike its predecessor, all worlds were treated equally, so as not to cause any more dissent. In fact, the newly-freed Insects and Logrians petitioned to join this new structure and were gladly accepted. With the re-creation of the Confederate fleet came stability, offset by occasional corporate struggles and Ganio pirate attacks.

The discovery of the 10th level of hypersphere was immediately classified, as this information presented a threat to all the Confederacy. Deciding that a military presence was required at the center of hypersphere to stop any possible alien invasion, the Confederate fleet built several ships specifically designed to work in a non-electronic environment by using laser computers and nuclear technology, which were not affected by the intense magnetic field at the center of the anomaly. A rogue Borderworld corporation called "Genesis" found out about this and hijacked the two prototypes, intending to take control of the "hypersphere hub" themselves and dictate demands to the Confederacy. By chance, they took the ships to the planet Hermes, secretly owned by the late Galactic Cybersystems Corporation. In the ensuing firefight, "Genesis" lost many ships but were able to make the jump along a vertical force-line in one of the prototype ships, pursued closely by the Confederate heavy cruiser Dion intent on retaking the ship. However, on arrival to the center of hypersphere, both ships were sucked into another vertical leading to an unknown system. Repairing the second prototype, a killer and a clone, along with a cybreaker and a mnemonic (hacker and information security officer, respectively, both with multiple brain implants), made a jump while being on the ground (never before accomplished) and ended up in orbit around First World. The mnemonic accidentally discovered that she could "see" with her implants all the verticals around her and distinguish the idle ones from those which have recently been used. They use that information to follow the Dion and rescue both ships.

These revelations allowed the Confederacy to turn First World (or Arast, as it became known in the galactic community) into a true hypersphere hub, where ships modified for 10th-level travel and crewed by mnemonics-navigators were able to quickly travel to any system in the galaxy and back.

Unfortunately, this turned out to be easier said than done, as President Sheila Norman decreed that traveling to uncharted systems should be done with utmost caution, as there could be other alien races out in the galaxy, who must never get their hands (paws, fins, tentacles, etc.) on the human hyperdrive technology.