The Story So Far...

The Empire Saga
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Episode 6

VEGA

For two millennia before the rise of Terran civilization, two sentient
races populated the galaxy: the Vegan Republic and the Qua'lari Order, both
having formed a symbiotic relationship in which they lived together in
peace and harmony.   The Vegans were the great minds of the galaxy with
almost all technological advances coming from their design centers, though
despite their prowess they harboured no dreams of a large empire, being
content with the few systems and colonies they administered.   The
Qua'lari, known for their fearsome reputation in battle, had saved the
Vegans from destruction on more than once so it came as no surprise that
the two races would become close allies.   Together these two ancient
powers watched over the developing civilizations on Zarbroxx, Hunn'stach,
Sauridia, Calanar and Earth in the hopes that one day these five unique
races would join their alliance.

It was not to be.

The Terrans were the first to develop a space navy and began to explore the
Galactic North.   Soon the Vegans and Qua'lari witnessed the conquest of
Zarbroxx by Earth's Colonial Navy.   This tragedy was soon followed by the
annexation of Hunn'stach, Calanar, and finally Sauridia, along with their
respective colony worlds.   The Vegans knew it was only a matter of time
before the mounting greed of Earth's Central Command would drive them to
explore the Galactic South so the Republic began to build up their forces
in defense of their homeworld.  When the first Terran sensor probe arrived
the Vegans believed they were ready... but then something happened that the
Vegans could not possibly have anticipated.

Central Command, upon realizing that Vegan technology far surpassed their
own, decided that annexation of Vega would come at too high a price though
also realized that the Vegans were too much of a potential threat to be
left alone.   Soon after the sensor probe, a fleet of Earth neutron
cruisers and dreadnoughts arrived.   The Battle of Vega had begun.   While
the Vegan defenses were fighting the Earth fleet, a lone Terran escort
frigate flew low over Vega Prime and detonated a biological weapon into the
upper atmosphere.   Within a matter of hours, the nitrogen atmosphere of
Vega Prime had been burned off and the entire population was dead.
Despite their victory, Central Command realized that the public outcry over
such a horrific massacre might undermine their regime so they carefully
covered up the whole mission, claiming that there was never any life in the
Vega system to begin with.   Vega Prime was renamed Enyo's World after
Marcus Enyo, the Admiral who led the Terran fleet during the assault.
Eventually a fuel refinery was built in orbit and no one knew of the
terrible genocide that had taken place on the planet below.

The surviving Vegans, meanwhile, evacuated the support colonies on which
they were living and fled to the unknown regions beyond the charted rim of
the Galactic South.  They sent a message to the Qua'lari pledging to
reestablish contact in 20 years using a hyperportal generator, one of their
many technologies.   The Vegans thus fled known space and have not been
heard from since.

Meanwhile, Earth continued on its path towards forging a pan-galactic
empire.   For five years the newly named Terran Star Empire controlled the
galaxy with an iron fist until one fateful day on Zarbroxx when a rebellion
known as The Uprising began with the bombing of a Terran Imperial Army
barracks.   Soon afterwards the Brox surprised the Terran defenses and
drove them from their system.   Word of the Brox victory quickly spread and
the other three alien races annexed and put to slavery by the Empire
revolted, forcing their Terran overlords from both their homeworlds and
colonies.   However, the victorious alien sentients quickly realized that,
if they were to remain free, an alliance would be prudent.

It would be known as The Weave.

The fighting lasted for over a year, with The Weave scoring several
significant victories against the Empire.   However, the alliance could
never compete with Earth's mass production ability and was doomed to
failure.   At the Battle of Satori, the Weave Alliance fell to defeat... or
so the Empire thought.   Several of the alliance's finest battle groups had
in fact planned to flee to an unexplored region past Clotho, where several
newly discovered planets would serve as temporary bases and allow for the
rebuilding of their military in preparation for a sustained
counteroffensive.

This was never to happen.

A year before The Weave was ready to put their plan into action, the
Colonial Navy discovered the hidden hyperspace portal leading to their
systems.   An armada was massed and soon the support worlds were conquered.
Not even The Weave's new superdreadnoughts and support carriers could
stop the inevitable and after an epic battle, the Navy destroyed the
alliance's High Command and shipyards.   The Weave had finally been
destroyed.

During the epic wars between the Terran Star Empire and the Weave Alliance,
the Qua'lari began to test Terran defenses in preparation for the
confrontation they knew would come.   The final such encounter ended with
the destruction of the Qua'lari battlemoon by the Colonial Navy's notorious
Fourth Order.   After such a devastating defeat, the Qua'lari decided to
wait for the Vegans before engaging the Terrans again.  Soon after their
victory over the Qua'lari, Central Command re-conquered the Non-Alligned Worlds,
which had been abandoned during the war with The Weave to free up warships.  Earth's
empire now complete and unchallenged, the Chairman of Central Command
publically declared Sol's new doctrine: "One Galaxy shall speak with One
Voice".  However, this proud boast was never entirely true.

While the Empire was occupied with finishing the Weave Alliance, the
Resource Wars raged on between Lethe Prime and Cydonia.   As both colonies
neared destruction, a mercenary working for the Cydonian government
discovered that the Empire had secretly found nearby planets rich in
precious water and minerals and was keeping that knowledge from Lethe Prime
and Cydonia.   Realising that the Empire was escalating the Resource Wars
for its own purposes, the former foes came together and defeated Earth's
regional proxy forces, capturing the new worlds for themselves.   The two
governments formally declared independence from Empire administration and
joined in what became known as the Lethe-Cydonian Alliance.

With the destruction of their High Command, the last surviving Weave
officials decided that the space of this new alliance was the safest place
to settle.   After two long months in hyperspace, three massive Weave
support carriers docked at the L.C.A.'s new sentinel station.   They
brought with them all their latest weapons research, including information
on captured Qua'lari disruptor technology.   Realizing their
upgraded Kestrel class light frigates and Pulsar class heavy destroyers
would be no match for an Empire annexation force, the L.C.A. wisely formed
a coalition with the Weave survivors and, using the new technology, soon
began production of a whole new breed of warships that could battle the
Navy's best and emerge victorious.   Following the loss of a second
annexation fleet to these new platforms, the Lethe-Cydonian Alliance was
left to its own means by Central Command.

After the formation of the Lethe-Cydonian Alliance, there were no further
challenges to Empire authority for almost six years.   The Empire believed
that a forced peace was finally at hand.   However, Earth's arrogance would
be shattered in the most unlikely of places: the Tamarov system.   The
Russian Consortium, which the Empire had always considered one of its many
satellites, had discovered a planet rich in a new, extremely dense metal
known as tucharium and refined it to secretly build a navy that rivaled
that of the Empire.   When they were ready, the Consortium declared its
independence from Earth.   Central Command, whom only knew of a small
militia of civilian craft in the Tamarov system, scoffed at such a lofty
claim and sent a pair of assault carriers to suppress the rebellion.
Within ten minutes both vessels, the most powerful in the Colonial Navy,
had been completely destroyed.

Central Command was shocked at such a quick defeat and sent a large armada
to Tamarov, still believing the system to be defended by little more than
upgraded civilian craft, only to be routed once again  After
five more such disastrous assaults, the Empire reluctantly granted
independence to the Russian Consortium whose first act as an independent
government was to form a military and economic alliance with the L.C.A.
Both states then closed their borders to all Empire alligned craft and are
now known as the only truly free part of the galaxy, though the Colonial
Navy has sworn to engage and destroy any merchant or indy vessel trying to
cross the border.

The Scavengers were a ragtag group of scrap dealers who were never a threat
to the might of the Terran Star Empire.   Gradually however, they moved
into arms trading and built up a small militia to protect their traders.
The Empire became suspicious of the Scavengers and began to attack their
craft whereupon the Scavengers responded by closing their borders, using
newly discovered worlds deep in the Trugati Expanse to support themselves.
With memories of their losses at Tamarov still fresh in their minds, the
officials at Central Command decided containment was the best course of
action regarding the Scavengers and set upon constructing several sentinel
stations, thus leaving the Scavengers to their isolationist ways.

That was almost three years ago.

Since then the Colonial Navy has launched several major campaigns into
L.C.A., Consortium and Scavenger space in an effort to regain their lost
territory.  All have ended in dismal failure for the Empire, which is still
ruled by the brutal Central Command and terrorized by its elite
Purification Patrols.   Recently the Seventh Order of the Colonial Navy
reported that hyperspace portals to all Scavenger systems have ceased to
function, with Scavenger space essentially cut off from the rest of the
galaxy.   The L.C.A. and the Russian Consortium continue to be beacons of
freedom and many people have lost their lives trying to cross into their
space.   While there have been no new attacks from the Qua'lari Order since
the destruction of their battlemoon, there have been stories of sightings
of unidentified craft north of the Satori system.   Rumor also has it that
the Empire is attempting to form an alliance with a newly discovered alien
race, though Central Command has officially denounced these statements as
"Russian terrorist propaganda" meant to "scare the free people of the
Terran Star Empire".  Nevertheless, such tales persist to this day.

This is the galaxy into which you are placed.

Good luck, Captain.

May the wind be at your back.