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Temporal World - "Happiness through history" is proud to present

JOURNEY TO YESTERDAY Episode 4: Seeds of Empire

Year 2408.3

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Historians have argued for centuries at which point the Sallegan Republic became the Sallegan Empire. The easy answer is with the coronation of Emperor Philosus. However, many feel the seeds of that empire were planted years before.

Here we are late in the first decade of the 25 century. The Sallegans are still ruled by a republic, however the Senates power and influence has steadily declined since the Hive war. The admiralty still professes to show allegiance to the elected representatives, but that allegiance is often a rubber stamp by the Senators on whatever Admiral Grandow feels is in the "best interests" of the republic.

The economy was showing signs of strain. The years of military buildup as a result of the Xi'Chung war and the current cold war with the Sergetti were starting to eat into the mineral reserves. Already close to half of the construction facilities in the Republic were idle. No new ship orders were being placed, and many current orders had been put on hold, or canceled altogether. The massive research network was consistently putting out new discoveries, and improving old technologies, but the money simply wasn't available to put these technologies to use. One at a time, these indicators were not that troubling, but altogether they showed a downward trend that could quickly become a very bad situation for the republic.

The population was generally happy, but so far the majority of them were still getting a paycheck. However if unemployment continued to rise, morale would plummet. That could be disastrous as long as the political situation with the Sergetti remained tenuous. At his critical juncture in Sallegan history several decisions were made that would have far reaching implications in this section of the quadrant for generations to come.

The economic recession could not be ignored. However, the presence of the Sergetti and the other major powers so close by would not allow ships to be scrapped or mothballed. The memories of the Hive war were too painful, and too recent to allow that. The strength of the navy had to be maintained.

A three phase plan was decided upon. The first phase was a simple one. The Ashadra system to the south of Narcisston was young system of planetary debris orbiting a newly formed star. The system was so early in it's life span that the dust and asteroids had not yet joined to form planets suitable for colonization. However, these asteroids were ideal for remote mining operations. Ships were to be designed and built to get at these precious raw materials.

Secondly, information was received from our allies the Fazrah of a race that evolved on Gas Giant worlds. This race apparently lived on the far side of Sergetti space. It was believed they may hold the key to the great mystery of the ancient cities deep in the Narciston Gas Giants. The Sallegans did not want to only have contact with this race through the Fazrah, and thus have to share the existence of these cites with their allies. A decision was made to build a fleet of long range vessels capable of surviving the trip across hostile Sergetti space to make contact with this race. If we could develop the technology to colonize these worlds, it would allow for a wave of internal expansion that would take much of the pressure off the economy.

The Last, and most dangerous phase of the plan had to do with the Zynars. There existed a single uncolonized oxygen world in the Cephredi system. When the original treaty had been signed with the Zynars, it had been the request of the Sallegans to have rights to colonizing that planet. So far the Zynars had not agreed. The treaty had been signed, but it had been mutually agreed to leave the issue of Cephredi VII open. So far neither race had colonized it.

The Zynars were now insisting as a pre-condition for colonization that the Sallegnas submit to their long standing demand that they break their treaty with the Norak. This was a considered a bad idea under normal circumstances, but with the current economic situation it was unthinkable. The lost income alone would throw the fragile Sallegan economy into a full blown depression.

War was not desired by any measure, but it was decided that a new policy of "carrot and stick" diplomacy would be implemented with the Zynars. The Admiralty reasoned that the Zynars needed the Sallegans more than the Sallegans needed them, and thus justified for themselves the aggressive actions to come. The fear of the Sallegan navy was one of the main reasons the Zynars had not been overrun as of yet by one of the other major races. A colony ship was dispatched to Cephredi VII, and a sizeable escort fleet was sent along with it, just to make sure the Zynars didn't get any ideas. In return the Sallegnas would offer a stronger "defense" presence in Cephredi to "protect against outside aggression."

It wasn't quite annexation of Zynar space, but it was pretty close. It was unclear at the time how the Zynars would react to the larger Sallegan military garrison. It was not realized at the time, but historians have considered it the first overtly offensive move the Sallegan government had made since encountering the other races.

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