Part 31: Session 13: Armistice

Defense Commission

The Support Frigate shall be designed, which shall use the cargo hull, the Zalon Defense mainframe, an Advanced Warp Bubble projector, two Durathium alloy armor units, and four reinforced hull plates.

Colonial Development Commission

All unused development tiles shall be utilized at Senator Skye's discretion. All current special projects are encouraged to be built, and furthermore Senator Morgan shall be permitted to place the Manufacturing Capital, Senator Zakharov shall be permitted to place the Technology Capital, and Senator Santiago shall be permitted to place the Omega Defense System. In particular, Daikou shall have a factory purchased for it, the Orbital Command Center shall be built on Kora, and the Galactic Bazaar shall be purchased on New Avalon. Finally, this bill reaffirms that any senatorial action will supersede any committee chairperson's unilateral decision.

Infrastructure Development Commission

All starbases, upon receiving an upgrade, shall immediately build Battle Stations I should they not already possess it.

Xeno Relations Board

An alliance shall be pursued with the Arceans immediately.

Scientific Grant Board

The next technology funded shall be Expert Diplomacy, followed by Terraforming.

*RECORDING BEGINS*


Ladies, gentlemen, and gemelords, we shall now commence the final debate regarding the armistice of the Korath Clan, late members of the Drengin Empire, now sovereign in their own affairs.


'Til now, that is.


President Svensgaard, please avoid interrupting the proceedings. President Mue, did you wish to begin?


Thank you, President Kzientha. A scant few generations ago, we Altarians managed to rid ourselves of the oppressive yoke of the Drengin Empire, the ancestors and former masters of the Korath Clan, whose master sits before us now. I remember well the name of the clan sent to oppress us, and how they reacted when we wrested our freedom from them. The Drengin have been quite forthright in sharing their information on how the Korath were driven to a self-imposed exile after their failure to annihilate the Altarians brought about ideological differences with the Drengi. The Terrans have kindly shared the proof they discovered regarding the Korath Clan's experiments into Spore Ships, space-faring vessels that can drop a biological weapon into a planet's atmosphere, a weapon capable of killing every last sophont within hours of deployment. That you were unable to put these ships into effect is, I have no doubt, due solely to your preemptive declaration of war against our nation, which brought about this coalition.


Coalition, schmoalition. Hey, Iso, care ta tell us how much you contributed ta the war?


That's…you must understand, this war was rather out of our reach. We were able to provide the Torians with some support, at least.


And yet yer walkin' away with half the prize. Makes me wonder what the fuck's goin' on through Krindy's little pinhead.


You want to know? Because it's really quite simple. Out of the six galactic powers, two have personal grudges against the Drengin, grudges that quite understandably extend to my kind. Of those nations remaining, the Yor would rather exterminate us all than let us live, the Korathi would rather die to the last child than return to the Drengin-not that they are more than a shell of their former empire anyway-and, well, I think you Terrans have quite enough of a "prize" as it stands. Therefore, the Iconians are our best option.

I'm sorry, did I ruin this little debate of yours by cutting to the chase? Blame the Terran; he's the one who goaded me into responding. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe there's a ritualistic suicide that needs committing.

*RECORDING ENDS*


A' course, you should understand that the whole thing was staged fer G-SPAN. All the hemmin' and hawin' was done fer several days before then.


I can't believe you ruined the event like that.


That was ta let everyone know who was really in charge. Us humans did all the planetside fightin'. Us humans neutered their space fleet. Us humans were the ones who put the Korath's back to the wall. They may have put the space frog in charge a' the proceedin's, but we were the ones swingin' our balls around. Like my dad used ta say, "Only the host can afford ta be rude at his own table."


Preferably, no one is rude at a given table.


Yeah, well we ain't livin' in a preferable galaxy.


If you two do not mind, I would like to start the third quarter report now.


Sure, I'd prefer ya ta do so.



Excellent. Trade news has been slow, what with the lack of commissioned freighters. Altaria has been increasing their trade with us, but that's hardly unusual at this point.



Unfortunately, there was a bit of a problem moment late in the third quarter.



The ship design implicated the Yor, making this a senseless provocation on their part. Fortunately, the Yor were quick to explain that the vessel was recently purchased from them by the Korath. The ship was in transit from Yor territory, which also explained why the attack was so far from Korathi space. I was also able to convince the trade lane owner to keep it open, since the ship was far more likely to enter the war zone than to continue harassing trade.

That will be all for now.


Prav, yer up.


Very well. First, in accordance with Stellar Senate wishes, an alliance was sought with the Arcean Empire.



Of course, we first had to explain the concept of an alliance to them.



After that, they were more than willing to join in a defensive pact with us. They even gave us a few billion credits in the deal.




Once it was determined that the Korathi War was winding down, I moved our agents out of their network and sent them to the two races not in our alliance network: the Drengin and the Yor. This is purely an effort to gain understanding and avoid diplomatic mistakes, naturally. Intelligence with both races reached "Medium" levels before the third quarter ended.

Mechanics note: remember to remove your spies before a civilization shuts down, or kiss them goodbye.



The Altarians have come to us with another warning about the Torians' increasing influence. I can't help but wonder about possible growing tensions in their relationship. Finally, no new technologies were purchased in this quarter, so this ends my report.


Zak, go.



The first project finished was the third version of Particle Beams, for a time the most advanced beam weapon in the known galaxy.



Resources were then funneled into a series of seminars regarding xenopsychology. Terraforming would ultimately take much longer.


Guess that's the end of it, then. Yang, what's up?






Our space stations continue to develop thanks to the constant stream of Ninjas. However, there is one thing that must be added.



During the advance into Korathi territory, an unused military resource was found and a Ninja was sent to exploit it. Unfortunately, the area was insufficiently secured, and the base was destroyed before it could be reinforced with weapons.


I hope you're not blaming me for that, Yang. It was the Ninja's fault for rushing in too early. You can see how the area was crawling with enemy ships just from the graphic.


I would never think to accuse you of anything, Senator Santiago. However, it does seem that the area is also crawling with our frigates, doesn't it? Well, no lasting damage was done, and the resource was reclaimed later in the fourth quarter.


I'd best cut in before y'all start ramblin' about that and get ahead a' yerselves. Deidre, you had somethin' ta do this time 'round, right?



Ah, yes. First of all, the Galactic Bazaar was built almost immediately after the session ended, wiping out our treasury reserves.


Allow me to add that our current income is well over 200 billion credits per week, and our treasury has almost reached its previous level as of the new year.


I suppose so. Now, about this bill the Development subcommittee passed. First, I wish to say how saddened and disappointed I am that my fellow senators saw fit to build over the verdant beauty of dozens of planets simply in the name of "progress." Still, the composition of the "improvements" was my prerogative, so I decided to limit the ecological damage as best I could: I refused to order any industrial buildings or farms, and preferred banking and research centers, which create less waste than other structures. Certain planets with relatively low morale have also been given an entertainment center.


Since the Research Capital was given to me to place, I settled on Chiron: it is out of the way, near an Ascension Crystal, and has plenty of room for research centers.


Yang, Santiago, and I decided together where to place the Manufacturing Capital. Daikou was suggested, thanks to our…connections with the locals, but the idea was discarded due to the planet's limited potential. Instead, the capital will soon be finished on New Israel, an aquatic planet. Given the planet's new strategic importance, we also managed to overrule Senator Skye and get as many manufacturing facilities built there as is possible.


Planet Kirk was chosen for the Omega Defense System, thanks to its strategic location: it is the closest Terran planet to the center of the galaxy.



One final note: while Senator Slaan, recently relocated to Kora, did request that the Orbital Command Center wait until after the planet's infrastructure was rebuilt after the slave centers were demolished, the nearby war made me reconsider and give it a higher priority. Rather ironically, however, it seems that the center was finished on the last day of the Korathi War.


Speakin' of, I think it's yer turn, Cora.



Very well. Let me begin by saying that I moved immediately to make up for our transport ship shortfall.



Next, the Support Frigate was designed as soon as the engineers could plan it out. The many hard points makes it an expensive ship to produce, but as it can enhance the abilities of any given fleet, and we need fewer of them for our purposes.



We began the new quarter by attacking the Kora II defense fleet, which the Korath were apparently uninterested in naming separately.



Additional battle elements were approaching Kora, and they were dispatched as well. One frigate remained behind on Kora to protect the Hengest construction.



Tidal Disruptors were chosen for the invasion of Kora II. Given that Senator Skye seems determined to destroy any slave-based structure she sees, I felt that using the Disruptors would simply expedite the matter while improving our troops' odds.



My gamble paid off well.



We also found hard copies of plans for the Ion Cannon III. Sadly, even the third generation of Ion Cannon is not very advanced compared to the Pulse Cannon, so this is again merely a bargaining technology.



Kora II herself is a planet of nearly limitless potential. Life here is in the extremely early stages, with only limited plant growth on land, but the planet has the potential to be a Class 12 or even 16, given enough love and attention. In addition, after the tides receded, the only structures left standing were the spaceport and the initial colony itself.



After the conquest of Kora II, our ships moved into the Starbuck system. Altarian frigates were also seen in the area, but they have not engaged the enemy while in our view. Given that most Korathi vessels streamed in from up-left, there was presumably some engagement between the two.




Regardless, Starbuck II was rendered defenseless soon enough.



When a Hengest arrived, Tidal Disruptors were once again selected.



Unfortunately, while over 80% of enemy troops were neutralized, a tsunami wave hit our troops' position and destroyed most of our fortifications. Global catastrophes may be easy to cause from orbit, but they can be hard to control.



Meanwhile, our advance elements reached the Vesta system, where the retreating Korath had set up their third central government.



Newly arrived frigates made sure that Starbuck II remained defenseless, but before we could bring another Hengest to bear…



The remaining population realized that their only hope of survival lay in capitulation.




This would turn out to be the final straw for the Korath Clan as a whole. Uprisings spread throughout their remaining planets, and, well, you can see the end result. Given that their ship captains rededicated themselves to piracy, however, there was some considerable cleaning up left to do.


Truly sweet.



Starbuck II is a sadly substandard planet, and will only reach Class 9 after terraforming. I've done what I can, but the standard set of improvements is more than enough to fill the planet.


Right, I only got a few things ta add.



First, we found some more anomalies that sped up Particle Beam research.



We also found a fuckin' invisibility cloak. Fuck yeah.



That'll be it, though. See y'all in an hour.