[Starhawk]

2436.4 The Alliance Fractures:
It was a bright sunny day on Icara when the shuttles carrying the Christiran and ECA ambassadors landed at the space port, a thousand army soldiers and two State Security brigades had been turned out to escort the two men and their entourages to the Imperial Palace.
The two ambassadors were loaded onto separate APCs and placed in the center of an armored brigade as the procession of troops and vehicles proceeded down the miles of streets from the spaceport.

The trip its self took only thirty minutes but once the APCs and their escorts had reached the sprawling palace grounds an armored column under the control of the Praetor’s own regiment took control of the APCs and their passengers and after thorough inspection continued on until they reached the very gates of the Palace.

Praetor Rodrick the second sat calmly at his desk as he watched the holo display on his desk as images of the two Ambassadors as they were led to separate waiting rooms, a moment later a quiet knock on the door pulled Rodrick’s attention away from the display. The young Praetor looked up with a smile as his assistant; Lieutenant Sally Reece walked in with a folder under one arm. She was a few years older then he and was absolutely stunning to the young man, even though he never saw her in anything but the drab green and gray army uniform. She smiled back and handed her Praetor the folder.
“The two ambassadors are here sir, they say they will only speak with you however, these are their files that the Shadow daggers were able to pull, would you like me to summarize highness?” she said sweetly.
“Sure Sally.” He said as he opened the folder and flipped casually through the flexis
“We believe the EAC has become disheartened with the rest of the alliance that we previously thought was dominated by the Andermanians, apparently it’s actually a Mantisoran alliance and though the Mantys have the largest military force of their alliance they have not provided aid for any of their fellow members against us. The ECA has suffered crushing losses against the 2nd fleet and apparently has had enough, they are probably here to try and negotiate a treaty, however the Intelligence service believes we should settle for nothing less then absolute surrender.” Sally smiled again as she saw the smirk on Rodrick’s face, the Shadow Dagger agents that had gotten into the Mantisoran Alliance members had suspected that the Earth Corps wouldn’t last much longer, their economy was collapsing because of the burden placed upon it by the military requirements of the allies.

“Okay so that’s what he’s here for what about the Christiran Republican, we haven’t had much contact with them at all and we know they aren’t members of the Manty alliance.” Rodrick asked as he tossed the ECA fleci aside.
“Sir the Mantisorans have been taking advantage of their war against us to annex territories within Christiran space, the Republic’s own military has been caving in under the pressure, odds are they’re coming here to seek Protectorate status, again the Shadow daggers believe we should force them into a complete absorption into the Empire thus bringing two Star Nations into the Empire without a shot being fired.
Reece briefed the Praetor on each of the ambassadors that was waiting in the palace and exactly what the Empire held over their respective nations, by the end of the day both the ECA and the Christiran Republic were forced to sign “treaties” that amounted to nothing less then absolute assimilation by and surrender to the Icaran Empire. That day over a hundred billion people and over a hundred new starships were added to the Empire.