Restrictions Lifted

[Tawuse]

The Kessel Accords
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The treaty on the end of the Tawusian embargoes on trade and forbiddance of slamgate use.
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A lot of the CTCs shortcomings in the field of FTL advancement and territorial gain stem back many decades ago to before the signing of The Kessel Accords in 2153 with the Axdelian Interstellar Federation. This date is considered a cornerstone for Tawusian sovereignty and credit is given to its impact surrounding the consolidation of colonies past the Novaporta slamgate. The previous Tawusian government wished to circumvent the slamgate travel restrictions implemented by the AIF in order to accelerate trade with Urth. This conflict of interest caused the Adxelian government to embargo Tawuse, resulting in a ban and harsh crackdown on TEA expeditions through the Novaporta slamgate. Although travel was still theoretically possible, travel without the slamgate caused journeys which would typically last days to take months to complete. This coupled with outdated technology caused a drastically reduced trading opportunity for Tawusian ships. Uncertainty which accompanied these issues caused initial colonies to struggle as volunteer turnout was low, resulting in most colonial ventures being unviable and over time, colonial populations began to stagnate due to nonexistent job opportunities.

With pressure mounting from all corners of Tawusian society, the old government had no other choice but to enter diplomatic discourse with the AIF in order to put an end to what is now known as the time of great depreciation and any fears of revolution due to resource shortages. That being said, the current government of the CTC is wildly different in structure to that of the past. The terms of The Kessel Accords, formed In order to ensure the future of Tawusian culture and society, stated that the archaic government of the Vongolean dynasty had to come to an end with the installation of a more compliant democratic government in order to pursue healthier relations with the AIF. Since ratification, relations between the two nations have become cordial but tension still exists inside the CTCs scattered population centres.

In the year 2178, the CTC and AIF entered a new age of diplomatic relations with the ratification of The Ferraccoan Corridor Agreement (FCA) allowing increased trade between the powerhouse AIF and the fledgling of a nation that is the CTC. Although fragile, the CTC has manifested a growing industrial sector which can only be accredited to the increased trade between itself and its much larger neighbour. As recently as 2185, the FTL cortex was erected in the Ferracco system, acting as a confluence of trade routes passing through CTC space and is now considered the most important trading station within colonised Tawusian systems.

Many ponder if an agreement will arise in the near future allowing CTC shipyards to purchase blueprints of better, more streamlined, FTL drives from Axdelian sources. However, so far it seems that the AIF intends to maintain its vast technological superiority over the CTC with any chances of a deal being rejected without negotiation.

[Pagi]

“Should we?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Not even a Caelx-class? We still have a few knocking around that didn’t sell, and those things were outmoded just over a decade after they were commissioned. They’ll do good for themselves with them,” he pleaded. “You know they fly around in actual, literal garbage cans taped to fusion torches. Giving them even a single Caelx would allow them to reverse engineer 8 types of shipbuilder alloy for larger, stronger ships, high power optics for surveying new stars, efficient virtual mass projectors for faster drives-”

“I don’t doubt that they would make good use of our technology, its whether or not they can be trusted with it,” she retorted

"It’s been 5 decades since the last time we had our guns pointed at each other. They are so far out in the dark, allies far away and out of reach - not to mention the fact we are between them and anyone who wants to trade with them  - they are right there in our palms, and could be a powerful ally, all they need is a little boost to increase their economic productivity.”

“Their allies rank among the greatest threats to our sovereignty as a nation. What you are describing will not create the partnership you are dreaming of but a bitter rivalry we will never shake. We do not need more foreign hands staking claims on Novaporta the council has debated this numerous times already.”

There was a long pause. Soft wind with a hint of lavender, a scent produced by the majority of the native Aquanian plantlife, swept in through the wide open windows.

“No, it doesn’t make sense. There’s got to be something else going on here I haven’t been made aware of.”

“You have pretty high information clearance. If there was you would probably know already.”

“Tawuse is a tiny nation which we almost throttled to death in its infancy. Even today it is a mere mote of dust compared to us. A couple of ships thrown their way for them to experiment with is not going to tilt the balance of power even if their allies get a hold of them. At the end of the day it’s 20-30 year old tech. So, what is really swaying the council against it? Or are they just that petty.”

She sighed, tapping her hand terminal a few times which actively isolated the noise of the room and deactivated every camera. “One day we certainly will help them grow, I don’t think anyone in government wants to see them struggle for survival like this. But right now there are far greater concerns which Tawuse could compromise.”

“How so?”

“Did you hear the sonic booms earlier today?”

“Yeah? Shuttles make those all the time when they deorbit.”

“It wasn’t a shuttle, it was a cargo ship being used as an improvised kinetic weapon that was shot off course and landed in the ocean. The tsunami from it caused some minor damage to the nearby coast, but originally it was aimed right at Lapatus. You owe a big thanks to the navy that we aren’t sitting in a smoking crater right now.”

“Dear Sek! An attack on the capitol? I thought that was impossible.”

“The ship was melted by a thermonuke long before it hit the atmosphere, though spectroscopy indicated the presence of stealth composite panels on its hull which hid its true velocity from our early warning systems.”

“Was it our own stealth?”

“No, which is even more concerning since it means we can’t find out where it came from ourselves.”

“This is a lot to take in, but I don’t see how Tawuse comes into this?”

“I have a meeting in a few minutes, so I’ll cut right to the point if that’s alright. We are not allies with them -and we cannot remedy that right now- , though a number of our enemies are. Enemies which until we have more evidence, we can assume just tried to slag the capitol building. If we can pin this attack to anyone, it will come to war. And if it comes to war, more likely than not Tawuse will be one of our targets. So now is not the time to give potential enemies a good inside look at our ship architecture and how they can kill them best. Do you understand?”

“I do,” he said, though he still had many more queries clouding his mind. After he left he sat thoughtfully in one of the open forums of the Capitol building, flipping through news feeds on his hand terminal, reading the reports of the cargo ship which careened through the atmosphere earlier. Currently most were treating it as a tragic accident, though soon the truth would leak out, and it would be the beginning of something horrible.

The past decades had seen scarce combat between nations. Space was too big and economies had yet to expand, there was too much room to contest for war to ever occur. Now, however, most nations had grown exponentially, fielding interstellar navies capable of annihilating entire planets. The tensions of the old world were chasing them out of the gravity well of Urth, and it seemed like they were finally catching up.

[Tawuse]

Strong winds were rasping on the Fattorian capital of Noutest, the few surface structures basking in the eternal candescence imposed by the planets tidality. The serenity stopped here, within the city anxiety had a stranglehold. Rumours of the crash on the Axdelian capital hours before had reached the core of Tawusian media, with a few speculating that it was more than an accident; the central colonial authority building was no different.

“A freighter crashing so close to a major population centre, why leave it so lat-”

“They obviously didn’t see it coming.” a senior councillor interrupted. Despite his stoic appearance, you could see the fear in his eyes.

“Oh, a sensor error. Those happen all the time.” the younger Ferraccoan exhaled, almost as if they cleared their  mind of any worry.

“Not to the Axdelians, their technology is half a century ahead of ours at the least. Their sensors do not just break. This wasn’t an accident, it was an attack on the capital of the strongest nation for thousands of light-years. This isn’t just a security risk for the AIF, it’s one that affects every single Tawusian from Fattoria to Colonis.”

“You’re not suggesting the CTC is also under threat from these attacks, surely we can just repel them like the Axdelians.”

“Think, a cargo freighter redirected by the Axdelian navy hit the ocean with seconds to spare. Let’s say something similar happens here in Noutest, what makes you think we’re able to detect a ship so obscure that even the AIF missed it. Furthermore, where will it be redirected? Fattoria has no ocean-- a scorched desert in the west or the ice field of the east? Our subterranean cities aren’t deep enough to avoid the impact. Millions would die and we lack the infrastructure to immediately bounce back.”

Silence filled the chamber, the Ferraccoan placing their hand terminal onto the desk. Their hands were clammy as if to suggest that the severity of the situation had finally come to their attention. The councilman on the opposite side of the table, sat palms flat.

“It’s that bad, huh. Look at Ferracco, no atmospheric colonies. Just shipyards and domes. A hit to my homeworld could starve us into submission. Do we know who did it at least?”

“No. Even if the Axdelians knew, they wouldn’t inform us so soon. Officials have labelled it a ‘tragic accident’. A one off. They’re not stupid enough to panic their people. Let’s say they find the culprit and it’s one of our old allies, what do you think will happen to us - the new generation are lucky to not know the hardship of the great depreciation. We haven’t had to worry about the skies falling for fifty years.”

“You seriously believe that the Axdelians would embargo us like before? That’s absurd! Surely they wouldn’t want to put an end to trade in the Ferraccoan Corridor!” The younger of the two began to raise their voice, almost in denial.

“That agreement was only a preventative measure to save our nation from collapsing and causing a headache. Our tech is archaic even compared to their oldest unit; they’re doing us a favour and nothing else. It wouldn’t be a war between our nations, it’d be a slaughter.”

The CTC was waiting for the consequences of the crash to reach them, the uncertainty filled the air with a miasma so toxic even the air scrubbers were ineffective. One thing was for certain, a new age of fear was drawing near.

[Pagi]

Outer Aqui-Solar orbit

Oh to be out in hard vacuum, nothing separating yourself from the dark void but a few thin layers of airtight composite. It was liberating, especially compared to the hard gravity of a planet and the claustrophobic cabins of a spaceship. Of course this was only temporary, but it distracted Lily from the fact she would be experiencing both once her work on the hull of this gigantic gas tanker was complete. The ships name was Nessie. How she had been obtained it was not Lily’s duty to know, but in a few weeks time she would be resting in the crater where the AIF capital of Lapatus once stood.

Currently the success of the mission depended on how well she and her crewmates could secure the panels of exotic stealth cladding across strategic locations of the hulking ship, as once the automated flight path was activated there would be no chance of her interception before it was too late. Although it had failed, the first cargo ram attack had taught them much about the capital world’s traffic management satellites and how to spoof them best using the specific metamaterial coating they had procured. If anything, the first run had been nothing but a test. This time, the traitors would die.

Almost finished, Lily commanded another work drone that had finished its tasks to return to the ships cavernous hold for stowage as she inspected its welds and monitored the black, iridescent panels for any cracks that could compromise the ships radar signature. She took one moment to glance over her shoulder, away from the distant faint orange star and towards a bright purple glow that belonged to the approaching transport that would take them back to Urth once the job was over. Soon this small endeavour would be over and she would be home.

There was no indication that the Nessies drives had just been punctured by a brick of high velocity tungsten, but the frantic radio chatter from her comrades and the lurch of the almost million ton tanker in front of her gave it away. She gasped and twisted around just in time to watch a breaching pod coming out of the void and slamming into the side of the ship, atomising one of her unfortunate crewmates with its shaped charge. She heard the captain’s futile order to accelerate and escape the approaching threat, to jump into lightspeed. It would take several dozen minutes to charge for an emergency jump and the captain knew it, so it was likely he was preparing to scuttle the ship instead.

Lily was hyperventilating. She could hear her name repeated over comms several times but remained frozen watching the cloud of debris and gas from the impact site of the breaching pod drift towards her. Suddenly the ship’s thrusters burst into life and it began pulling away from her. She watched helplessly, turning around only to see the distant triple drive plume that was the harbinger of an approaching Axdelian frigate. Suddenly, soundlessly, the Nessie’s contingency systems were activated, and the command deck was consumed in a flare of plasma as several torpedoes stowed around the tankers midsection detonated. In an instant the steel superstructure was rendered down to glowing slag.

With nothing more than her spacesuit protecting her, Lily prepared to die as the shower of shrapnel from the explosion careened towards her. Closing her eyes she whispered one last prayer as she asked how such a perfect operation could have gone so wrong. Which little shit had cracked and given away their plan to sling retribution down on those who had abandoned Urth so readily. It was unforgivable. Death never came to her, however. Opening her eyes slowly she didn’t see the cloud of rapidly cooling plasma she expected, but instead saw a set of electronic eyes and matte composite plates of an Axdelian limpet drone shielding her from the debris. For minutes she floated there motionless, too shocked to mourn the loss of her friends on the Nessie, of the sacrifices they had made in vain to get this far, and of her imminent capture as the glow of the frigates drive grew brighter, and its shadow enveloped her.