HaMaadimi Imperium

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperatrix Rivkah lived to the grand age of 98; one year longer than the oldest of her known ancestors. But with her passing the Reipublicae Solis had a choice to make; who would be the first official head of state of the republic. (as Rivkah was not actually elected)

In one of the larger deviations from the plan, political factionalism had already begun in the days of the Imperium as a means of politicing favours, and these factions formally linked up to provide support for various Optimates and Imperators. Imperatrix Ha Nu - the leader of the Alien Friendship Association who had been a supporter of both Naomi and Rivkah's Imperiums - was ultimately chosen.

Ha Nu's rise began with her Test - Sirius IV, which she passed with the Imperator's Standard, bringing the former hothouse world to order and seeding life upon the planet, before taking military imperium of the 2nd Fleet. Her keen involvement in the formation of the Terran Alliance, command experience with 2nd Fleet in engagements with pirates and general popularity with the other Imperators, large numbers of the Optimates and the people thanks to her inspirational style meant she was an all around suitable candidate.

Imperatrix Ha Nu was satisfied that the Cabaran situation was now fully resolved, and considered that the key goal of the navy now was to ensure the prosperity of the republic, for which she was a keen advocate of the fast and nimble Corvette as the mobile solution to pirate operations, and favoured moving away from the mixed fleet formations of the Imperium towards long range artillery and carrier focused Battleship core fleets with escorting Corvette screens.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperatrix Ha Nu - her kiem draped on her right hip - felt a great measure of pride as she took the podium. Fluent in eight languages - her native Vietnamese obviously, plus Chinese, Japanese and Korean, plus the English, Latin, Hebrew and Ndebele that were the languages of the Imperium, and passable in Klingon, her ancestors dated not only to the Ehyeh Ventures period, but directly back to the founding citizens of Mars. She waited patiently, examining the crowd one by one. The eyes of the audience eventually settled on her, and a respectful hush descended.

"I am Ha Nu, daughter through many generations of Dung Hu, who came to Mars with Imperator HaMaadimi, and laid the stone I stand upon to speak to you as your newly elected Imperatrix of Sol. You may remember that this is not my first command. I earned my place in the Imperium. I passed the Imperator's Standard on Sirius IV. I have commanded our navy against pirates who would steal from our endeavour. I led talks with the Commonwealths to arrange our Terran Alliance. This republic is part of the dream I helped shape in the mind of Rivkah before me.

I believe in the Imperator's dream, even more so now that we have moved into the stage that excited him. This republic must have a future, and I intend to use my ten year Imperium to safeguard this shared goal we have attained, and also to push it forward so that it will remain long after we are gone."

She gently pressed a fist against her chest. "Vivat Reipublicae Solis."

 

[Nikolai]

May her rule see Sol prosper.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperatrix Ha Nu invigorated the Repubic with an ambitious Will to Power, and soon the transition to far greater technologies was well in progress; Gateways - developed under Rivkah - began to enter service, cutting travel times and speeding trade. This was soon joined by a gravitational lens that ripped material out of the only black hole in Republic space.

Most important was the beginning of the Luna Capitol Project*.

Luna, with it's gravity being only a sixth of Earth's, had a major problem with terraforming because the gravity was insufficient to retain an atmosphere. The solution was to put a vast spherical dome around the moon, a vast web of transparent material and supporting structure beams that supported a moon-wide train network, resting on the atmosphere pumped in beneath, and upon the truly gigantic skyscrapers that formed the ecumenopolis that lay beneath the dome; even 21st century building materials could be lifted into the several kilometre tall region in the low gravity, and on late 23rd century materials buildings reached a staggering ten kilometres tall.

And the construction didn't stop there; while Orbital Rings were a very old technology to the Imperium - the first equatorial ring was pretty much the first piece of infrastructure on any new colony, and developed worlds like Mars and Venus looked like a traditional model of an atomic nuclei surrounded by dozens of electron orbits - Luna was orbited by the first Orbital Arcology, a truly immense ring around the equator that on it's own could house the population of a small Habitat.

Big engineering projects were happening elsewhere in Sol too; Jupiter had been drastically altered in an atmospheric reforming project to make the upper atmosphere habitable- sky-ships tens of kilometres long were constructed that harvested the vast quantities of Exotic Gases deeper in the gas giant and the immense wind speeds for energy to power these sailing cities.

Altogether? The Sol system could now support the population growth of Humanity for a thousand years without problem, and the technologies used would be spread throughout Republic space once Sol had been used as the testing grounds.

At the 2296 Vision Of Tomorrow Conference on Terra Nova Imperatrix Ha Nu unveiled her ambition for Altair, laying out a plan to harness the star's energy with the Dyson Sphere, then build transmitter arrays that directed energy towards the barren and frozen planets in the system to give miniature suns to each world while still retaining the overwhelming majority of the A-type star's energy output for export.

The sixth industrial revolution had begun.


* The game's restrictions on 5 City districts plus 5 spare meant this actually cost two Tradition perks, because Mastery of Nature had to be taken as well to get sufficient districts to be allowed to build an Imperial Arcology; even the Orbital Arcology wasn't enough.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperatrix Ha Nu died in her second term as Imperatrix of Sol, meaning the Reipublicae went into the third elections on the cusp of the 24th century, the elections running into 2298. A major theme of the debate was the balance of Optimates and Imperators. Factional politics saw three big voting blocks develop. Kaliyah Akkad stood with the largest voting block, an Optimate Scientist - perhaps the most famous of all Scientists being the third Captain of the Enterprise - having taken over the Alien Friendship Association in the wake of Ha Nu's passing.

Her fellow Scientist and Optimate Horace Sinclair led the Democratic Alliance.

Imperator Bruce Willard, Sector Governor of Terra Nova, was the only Imperator in the top three candidates. (listing by predicted votes)

After much debating, Kaliyah Akkad was chosen to lead the Republic, which lead to a minor problem about what to call her office.

Rivkah and Ha Nu had both passed the Imperator's Standard; Kaliyah had not. And after more than two centuries of Imperators, the term Imperator had become loaded with a new layer of meaning; it had taken on a symbol of status among the dozens of people who had passed the Imperator's Standard.*

In the end, Derek HaMaadimi stood and declared that Yehoshua HaMaadimi specifically chose Imperator as the title for this very reason of being obvious when it had taken on what he considered unacceptable old earth empire-ness, then drew his sabre and challenged anyone who did not recognise Kaliyah as Imperatrix to a duel. A stunned to silence auditorium accepted Imperatrix Kaliyah Akkad.

In any event, Kaliyah opted to take Elilaxs I as her Test; beyond doubt the most ambitious Test available in the Reipublicae Solis, being a Broken World orbiting the Elilaxs Singularity, the black hole Imperatrix Ha Nu had begun constructing a Matter Decompressor to mine. The Reipublicae Solis therefore, followed Imperatrix Ha Nu's plan for the period.
-----

Compared to the wider galaxy however, the Reipublicae Solis was falling behind; when the galactic council formed, the Republic wasn't even in contention for a seat on the council**, and the technological lead built by the Neo-Klingons had yet to be caught up with. And in naval matters, the Republic had the weakest navy in the Terran Alliance.

-----

* The behaviour had already been apparent in Imperatrix Rivkah's era, when a motion was attempted to block the use of Imperator as a title for Admirals and Generals; Rivkah vetoed it.

** Literally the very first time I have ever failed to be on the galactic council when it forms and I was eligible to join; the Prikki Endeavour also failed to get a seat, but they had the excuse that they were Fanatic Purifiers. But then, this is absolutely an RP build, and I have played suboptimally because of that...

 

[Nikolai]

How weak are you by this point compared to potential enemies?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Compared to the AI, we're doing ok. Not weak, not strong. The numbers are broadly lower, but my battleships are meta following designs and I am the only one with a Gateway Network*, so there's no danger. Also, it has to be factored in that the Republic has poured 50k+ Alloy into megastructures at least already, and had that been spent on battleships things would look extremely different.

Compared to the Prikki at 2300? The Republic is clearly ahead of the Prikki, higher fleet and twice the Alloy production.

Compared to the Iriphubliki at 2300? The Iriphubliki would annihilate the Republic. But, you have to remember the Iriphubliki had a truly great position to build on compared to the Republic (the Republic has one black hole, and no other big ticket advantages; the Iriphubliki had abandoned Attack Moons, multiple black holes, L-Gate access, multiple Neutron Stars, multiple O-type stars, and was much larger as Republic expansion was heavily reduced by our Polish-Lithuanian allies getting in the way, and this is a 400 star galaxy instead of the 1k star galaxy of the Iriphubliki run, which makes a huge difference) and I'm fairly sure the research rate is lower this time around because two AIs had Dark Matter Power by 2301, and I haven't seen a notification for that yet from any of the AIs.

----
* there's one Gateway outside the Republic in Neo-Klingon space, in the Gatzo system which has a forced-spawn Gateway as it is one of Gigastructures' systems. This is mainly because Humans are the Gateway Builders, and we haven't got to that point. Yet.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

2302, Senate of the Reipublicae Solis

Imperatrix Kaliyah sat on the front bench of the auditorium, listening to Li Cheng - Leader of one of the five Envoy teams - clear his throat before speaking. "Friends, Terrans, Republicans, I bring ill tidings from Synergetics Industries. They report that a machine uprising has taken place. Three planets have been lost, and the machines have begun purging millions of Human and Cabaran victims. The slaughter extends into space, with machine warships launching a surprise attack on the peaceful traders. I bring to this Senate therefore, a motion to assist our fellow men."

Imperator Bruce Willard - the oldest active officer in the Republic, at 115 years old, still sprightly enough to wield his longsword - stood immediately, and quickly enough that the crack of his spine was heard across the carefully acoustically engineered auditorium. "It was known to Imperator HaMaadimi that Synergetics Technologies were trying to create artificial life, for which they were banished from the Imperium. I may reveal that Imperatrix Naomi discovered that the Cabaran were victims of Synergetics Industries, being uplifted and pressed into slavery. It is known to this very day that Synergetics Industries still has not released their Cabaran slaves. We cannot waste Republican forces to defend slavers."

Imperatrix Clemence Paquette - who achieved the youngest Imperator's Standard in history at just 28, and was well respected for it - rose next. "The esteemed Imperator is right, this Republic is founded on the belief in the fundamental equality of all sapient life. That Synergetics has failed to control their slaves and caused a rebellion twice, for that too was the origin of the Cabaran Defence Authority, is a demonstration of the rightness of the Republic's ideals."

Li Cheng collected his thoughts before replying. "I concede that the morals lie elsewhere. But we must face pragmatic reality; they are a major galactic council member, and from what intel we have, their fleet power is far stronger than ours."

Imperatrix Kaliyah stood. "Li, to the best of your knowledge, what are the M01 Incorporators?"

"There is very little information on them, but it is believed that they were originally research optimisation robots before they attained a rebellious intelligence."

Kaliyah took stock of what she knew. She knew that Synergetics got their council seat through a plot of Envoys at the Galactic Community; Tirkas and Synergetics both got their seats through the efforts of their Envoys stacking the books, Tirkas especially, as two thirds of the staff who run the Galactic Community's bureaucracy were the oversized snails. Their fleet power therefore, was not as strong as Li was making out, because half of the rest were Humans from Synergetics. The Klingons were the only council member to truly merit the place as they had not taken part in manipulating the back-end politics. Kaliyah also knew that the Council were moving to try to get a Council member veto on motions laid at the Galactic Community, and she knew that such a matter had to be blocked. "I will speak. It was established by Imperatrix Naomi that the Cabaran originated as slaves of Synergetics. Synergetics have consistently defied the principles of Imperium and Reipublicae, for which they were banished by my predecessors. The Incorporators are simply doing the necessary duty of slaves and prisoners - to break free, or die trying. Therefore, we cannot aid Synergetics. But equally, allying ourselves with purgers is also unacceptable. As foreign policy is the perogative of the prevailing Imperator, I put to the Senate that I am against the sending of aid to either party."

Arguments - of the logical kind; Imperator HaMaadimi had always insisted that as a principle getting angry lost the debate - went back and forth; Optimate traders who made credits off of Sophont trade (the biggest allies of Synergetics) were the main defenders, mostly sticking to the claims about ongoing purges in their calls for action, and how the Sophonts had already declared war on the Incorporators. The Imperators stuck to Willard's line of argument.

After the alloted thirty minutes of first thoughts debate, Konstantin Rvekov, the blind from birth speaker of the house, stood and walked from his seat straight ahead along his guide rail to the podium. "The motion has been put and given preliminary thought, and the Imperatrix has given her view. There will now be a recess to allow the Senate to consider what has been said so far, and prepare formal oratory."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

The peace however, did not last. In 2307, The Cabaran Defence Authority declared war on the Starborn Commonwealth on the eve of the elections for the next Imperator. Imperatrix Kaliyah went from the day before having almost a third of the projected vote, to losing as the Reipublicae Solis voted overwhemingly for Imperator Bruce Willard, the Warlike Fortifier.

----

Bruce strode into the Senate, longsword in hand. As he reached the podium, he lifted the blade high. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Republic, I wish it was under better circumstances that I received your support for the task I am now taking. Like you all, I would rather that Imperatrix Kaliyah's peace had continued. But, to confirm the report that led to today's shock result, Cabaran warships crossed the Mira-Tiom frontier and attacked the Commonwealth's Starhold in the system in a surprise attack. Henceforth, as part of our duties to our fellow members of the Terran Alliance, we have declared war on the Cabaran with heavy heart.

It is therefore with great sadness that I am forced to activate the Republic's General Order for Volunteers and summon five cohorts from every planet and warship crews, and I request the Senate's swift approval of the measure to spend our Alloy reserves on new warships.

I am Imperator Bruce Willard. You all know I am prone to be quick to speak and draw blade. You chose me because I am Warlike, because I am a Fortifier. Therefore, I pledge my life to winning this war and protecting our Republic and our Alliance."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Now, this?

This was a surprise. and in the event you are wondering if any of it is fluff, the only fluff is the bit about ships crossing the border, that hasn't happened yet - it will, the Starborn have their navy on the far side of their territory - but the rest - the new Imperator being Warlike and the eve of the election is true to the game. Might not have been exactly next day, but it was certainly within three days.

In retrospect, it was obvious; the Cabaran have built a 130k+ navy, and the rest of the Terran Alliance combined has dropped their navy to just 30k total, with just under 100k Republic navy. (it used to be much higher) Now, when you consider that the Poles used to field a 30k navy back when Cruisers were new, something has gone seriously wrong. I mean, I thought I had been lax by not building more ships, but it seems the rest of the Alliance has been decommissioning theirs...

Thanks to the speed increase I added for late-game impulse engines (I wanted much higher in-system velocities) their navy can leave their home port and cross the border into Reipublicae space within 180 days. It takes 159 days to recruit six battleships from the near-frontline shipyard. (Desperate Measures Ambition is extremely helpful here)

My options?

If I was the Cabaran, I would launch a massive strike into the Republic immediately; while they don't know exactly how much Alloy I spend, they could tell from the popups from megastructures alone that I'm pumping out megastructures - Dyson Sphere started, Matter Decompressor started, lots of Gateways, Science Nexus started. Therefore, they know that is a huge amount of Alloy spending going on. They need to attack while they retain the advantage, because my economy will obliterate them if they don't; a few more industrial districts and I'll be able to produce one battleship each month.

From my perspective, I have the Alloy to constantly produce battleships for this and most of the next ingame year. Alternatively, it will be six years, and then I can put Attack Moons into service; each Attack Moon is 320 Alloy per month while under construction, which means I can afford to put two in service in six years followed by another in year seven. Two in year seven if I cancel the battleships I just ordered. In terms of firepower per Alloy it's an obvious decision, but the war is unlikely to last six years, so is it worth it? Not really.

Long term victory is assured because they can't match the rate I can replace losses, but if they were to play smart they can win this.

I'm not worried though, the AI probably will not go for the most powerful enemy first.

 

[Nikolai]

Too bad the wolves chose blind hatred over reason. The empire was sympathetic after all.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

It's not blind hatred, but quite logical from their perspective - the need to survive, to live free, or die in the attempt. And the Imperium/Reipublicae could never fault a slave trying to fulfill their duty in attempting to break free; it is as much a duty of the slave to escape as their captor's duty is to keep them under control, which is why slave-based economics fails.

The Republic would have the Cabaran join the Terran Alliance (they are ultimately of Terra, just not Human) but, the Cabaran don't want that; why would they make allies of their former captors?

They need the opposition, otherwise the Defence Authority collapses; their governance is a military with a state, and that military was formed by the standout leaders of a race genetically engineered to be slaves.

And the Terran Alliance only allows for Liberation offensive wars, which the Cabaran inevitably see as new masters, same collar. In the end, cold or hot war is the only possible outcome without fundamentally breaking the Cabaran.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperator Bruce looked to the assembled Generals and Admirals; one General to command the defensive garrison of each planet, plus the legions as they were recruited. Admirals were much fewer, as the navy was focused into two main fleets. But, they were essential for planning the war. They were Humans, Neo-Klingons and Starborn, and for a brief moment Bruce contemplated the community of them.

"As you all know, the Republic has known peace for so long that the only fighting of note has been anti-piracy confrontations. Things are different now. We are going into war with an enemy that outnumbers our forces substantially. My predecessors were much more busy with building the Republic, and as a result our military has fallen behind.

We will correct this issue, but for now, there is only one order - survive. All of you who are being commissioned to command roles may now be known as Imperators of the Reipublicae Solis. Our Republic must not fall, and you are our guardians in the field."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

The Cabaran War:

Imperator Antaak (Neo-Klingon) commands the 35k Federation Fleet in the Tion system.
Imperatrix Stefanie Brinkmann commands the 16k battleship squad that is hopefully going to lure a 64k Cabaran fleet away from the 80k Cabaran fleet in the Cursa system.
The Republic fleet in the Muscida system consists of the 1st and 2nd Fleets under Imperator Thabian Fabii and Imperator Manuel Dominguez respectively, plus a second 16k battleship squad under Imperatrix Courtney Roberts.

The Republic's plan is simple - divide the Cabaran navy, and once divided, annihilate it.

Roberts and Brinkmann are both Gale-Force Admirals with Afterburner-equipped battleships, and are raiders; Antaak will take the Federation Fleet raiding once the Starborn deploy their own forces to their borders, but at the moment he offers a dangerous bait to divide Cabaran forces, and guard the supposed war target.
Fabii and Dominguez are the hammer; the combined 85k is large enough to hopefully crush any individual Cabaran fleet.


What could go wrong?

Well, if the Cabaran work out that Brinkmann is only leading them on a wild goose chase and properly attack with their fleet, then the Republic can't stop that combined fleet until 2310 for lack of battleships; the gamble relies on the Cabaran's thinking a 16k enemy fleet is too much to risk letting it run around their territory. We'll see how it goes.

2309 - First Major Battle:
Brinkmann's dividing of the enemy has been successful; the 80k fleet has been successfully separated from the 64k fleet, and brought to battle.

Imperator Dominguez, Imperator Fabii and Imperatrix Roberts engage the 64k Cabaran fleet under Derom ov'Gut.

They fought... Tactically, retreating so many vessels is a good outcome for them. And well, inflicting substantial casualties on 1st Fleet. (which is all the non-battleships)

However, it does mean that their 80k Fleet is out of the way. And, Brinkmann can now lead the 64k fleet into the rest of the Republic's navy.


2nd Major Battle:

Brinkmann successfully led the 64k Cabaran fleet to the Delta Pavonis system. rendezvousing with the damaged 1st, 2nd and 4th fleets.

Unfortunately, they did not arrive to the battle at the same time; Imperator Fabii escaped with only one Cruiser not destroyed, Brinkmann lost half her squad, and Roberts lost five of her six battleships. (most of which were still recharging shields; it was one battle into the next) Dominguez, arriving last with the Titans, turned what could easily be described as a rout - I genuinely feared for a defeat before Dominguez's fleet arrived - into a victory.

Tens of thousands of people died to break these two Cabaran fleets. One has been routed, the other smashed.

But, as cruel as it sounds, the Republic can afford to rebuild the ships. By the time the fleet is repaired, I'll have replaced most of the lost battleships; the Cabaran however, will not. Two thirds of the Cabaran's navy and their best Admiral are stuck in emergency FTL or destroyed.

I'm not going to say the war has completely gone to plan, but my strategic goals for the first stage of the war are now met; the second stage is deploying the armies recruited into the field in order to pursue victory, and hunting down the 54k Cabaran fleet heading for Starborn territory.

 

[Nikolai]

That was costly, but as you say it is replenishable.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperator Bruce Willard browsed the records, eventually finding his grandfather's personal log.

"13/12/2026. So, I signed up with Ehyeh Ventures today, for the Luna Manufactury. And well, it is encouraged to keep a personal log. Yehoshua is crazy, but it's a nice crazy. We had the interview today, and well, I was expecting anyone else than the actual boss; I mean, Ehyeh Ventures handles billions of dollars, he will be too busy for hiring people. But no, he was there.

That was the scary bit. He spoke first.

'Xavier Willard, correct?'

I nodded.

'Tell me Xavier, what do you see when you look at the night sky?'

'Stars, Moon I guess.'

I got the inspiration to ask him, figuring it would be a good idea.

'I? I dream of planets that my children will dream of stars.'

As I said, the man was crazy. He liked to think visionary, although he freely conceded he was somewhere on the line between genius and madness. The next question was tough.

'Xavier, let's be frank - my interest in your offer was the sheer audacity of applying when you freely admit that you know you don't have the grades. Why do you want to join my little project?'

A good question. I mean, I'm eighteen, and frankly, I did flunk the school side. I thought of possible answers. Saying something noble about the destiny of man, or my love of space, or the money to be made in space perhaps. But, I figured he had heard all that before a thousand times. So, I decided to go big or go home.

'Because you are just so crazy that I wanted to watch from the inside with popcorn.'

He roared with laughter, and when he stopped laughing he smiled. 'Can't fault that, not at all. But, I have a feeling that was just an answer to break the ice, as the saying goes. Tell me, what makes an eighteen year old decide to sign up to leave everything and everyone they know best part of quarter million miles behind?'

'To be truthful, I just don't see a future here, you know? Like, where am I going to get the money for a house these days? I wanna do more with my life than just a dead-end job that pays off the mortgage so that I have a roof over my head.'

'I understand the feeling.'

'And well, dude, I honestly don't know if your crazy ideas will work. But I'd rather throw my lot in with you than be stuck like my parents are. I know my grades aren't good and all, but I'm pretty useful.'

'Common sense type of person?'

'Yeah.'

'Always a useful thing to have.'

'Do you think you could find a role for me?'

'Find would be the wrong word, in my view. Let's look at it a different way. What do you envision your life will be like if you were to join me?'

'Not sure exactly, but I know that I like the sound of being a part of history.'

'Alexander was a child when he conquered his first nation, so an adolescent to the Moon is nothing unusual. History is a strange thing, they say it is written by the victors, but it isn't; the barbarians who crushed the Western Roman Empire left practically no records at all, what we know of them was Roman in origin. Which is why I keep records of everything.'

'Even this interview?'

He lifted a recorder. 'You'll get the original recording.'

'So, what else do you want to know about me?' I decided to get back on the interview.

'If you want, we light the first stage of the transit rocket on the 25th January 2028, and there is a seat with your name on it if you pass the basic astronaut training.'

So, I'm going to the Moon. At the moment, I'm scheduled to just do operating the remote controlled mining drones, but it's an important job - the whole site will be underground to shield us from the radiation. Its not just the materials, but digging out homes for everyone. The plan is to build the orbital ring from Luna materials, use the profit to pay the investors off, then we burn for Mars.

So, I get a house on the Moon, and one on Mars, a career, degrees, everything; even a Moon Buggy. And I get to be one of the ten thousand people who are coming to Mars. It's a lot to take in.

I guess that's history, made in the little moments like laying awake at night thinking about the future and you realise that you are going to be a part of Man's Second Step.

 

[Nikolai]

That was an awesome update.

 

[steptioit08]

Ehyeh Ventures

On the moon, now I am thinking of a book series called Moon platoon

 

[CBR JGWRR]

As word of the losses returned to the Republic, shock set in. Very rarely did people die of non-natural causes these days, so to lose thousands of people in a single day in battle was a huge loss. That it was ostensibly a victory did little to quell rising sentiment against the war; Imperator Fabii in particular, was recalled to the Senate for an inquest into his management, charged with putting personal glory ahead of the Republic after it was revealed how his fleet had rushed ahead of the heavy artillery weapons of the titans and battleships to engage at point blank range.

Various members of the Optimates who disliked the policy of the Council of Imperators deciding military appointments pushed for a overhaul of the command structure to make the military accountable to the people, instead of the Imperators, citing heavily the failure of Fabii.

Fabii for his part, stood on the Senate floor like the statues in carved marble of his ancestors, and being very aware that nothing he could do could save him, stayed silent through every accusation.

Imperator Willard addressed the Senate on the issue by pointing out that as a general principle democracies do a poor job of winning wars, and that any nation where the military was representative of the people needed to ask serious questions about what kind of people they were. The simple fact was the Republic was not a Republic of warriors, but of builders. Indeed, Imperator HaMaadimi had made it clear even as early as the Ehyeh Defence subsidiary that the military should not be representative of the people; the military is composed of individuals who have the objectively horrific trait that they can kill their fellow man because the state told them to do so.

Ehyeh Ventures and the HaMaadimi Imperium, he stated, had always had the military as an afterthought that was tacked on to the main goal of building civilisation; Eyheh Ventures didn't even have a standing police force, relying on a minutemen citizen levy. The Imperators had control of the military to prevent the military being turned against the people by concentrating power in the hands of those who can be trusted with it,who knew the military was a loss making waste of resources committed to defending what had already been made instead of pushing forward new growth.

His final declaration - and the longest section of the speech - was to go through the history of all the wars that were fought because tyrants corrupted democracies that had the military answerable to the state and therefore were corrupted into conquest and highlighting the old American Empire with it's military-industrial complex that kept the great experiment in liberty shackled in wars as it's congressmen took corporate backhanders to vote never-ending war, of the rise of Hitler who began as Chancellor, declared himself head of state and head of the army and plunged Europe into disaster for his ego, of the fall of the Roman Republic when Ceasar and Pompey turned assigned military positions and governorships into personal power - the three ways democracies fall.

At the end, Imperator Bruce, stood in full battle armour and wearing a longsword, turned to Fabii.

"Fabii."

He approached the podium, having not actually sat since the Senatorial recall. He looked out of one eye, where a collapsed bulkhead had almost missed his face. One of the descendants of a family that had held power down the centuries.

"We Imperators hold ourselves to a higher standard, as we must, lest we fall. Imperator Fabii, I am Imperator Bruce Willard, and it falls to me to declare you have failed the Imperator's Standard."

The Council of Imperators all entered, and stood.

"Fabii, what is the end of the failed Imperator?"

"Death."

Bruce held out his hand to Fabii. Fabii drew his ancestral gladius, and gave it to Bruce. The end was as clean as the spilling of blood, and swift as a single movement.

"No one else in the Republic stands the penalty of death for failing in our duties. Imperator HaMaadimi set the goal of rehabilitation, not vengeance, as the outcome of our judicial system. For those who wonder to whom the Imperators are accountable, I say this - we are accountable to each other, knowing if we fail, the Imperium falls, the Republic falls. Therefore, we do not tolerate failure. Fabii set his pride on being first to battle, and failed as an Imperator irrespective of the outcome of the battle. His fate is a reminder to all of us what happens if we fall."

Bruce wiped the blade, and returned it to Fabii's sheath, and stood again. "I am Imperator Bruce Willard. Does anyone contest my judgement in this matter?"

 

[CBR JGWRR]

It would prove to not be the only battle the Imperium would suffer significant casualties in; although the Cabaran fleets were forced to retreat, they did inflict damage - Imperator Antaak was killed when his Federation fleet was attacked while in drydock for repairs, while Imperatrix Lijowski, commanding Republic battleships alongside him also went down with her ships.

But:

The war was effectively over - the fleets were recalled to the Mirach system for overhauls and replacing lost vessels. The last Imperator to die was Bruce, who died peacefully, being 120 years old. Imperatrix Kaliyah left the Elilaxs system - where her Test planet had been superheated to melt it back together and was now being rapidly cooled to make it solid again - to lead the Republic into a new era.

Some parts were good; she was thrilled to accept the Republic's nomination to the second Galactic Council for example.

But the Senate was once again in conflict with the Imperators, this time over the issue of claims on Cabaran territory as reparations. The Optimates and Vox Populi demanded the issue of territorial gains, while the Imperators held the policy that claims should not be issued. The issue came to a head, with the Senate voting in defiance of Kaliyah's veto to issue legal claims as part of a reparations settlement.

When the war officially ended - the Cabaran fighting fiercely to the last planet against the efforts of Legio Wasat under Imperatrix Schneider - the Senate forced the acceptance and therefore gained one Cabaran planet.

Kaliyah's somewhat petty response was to put General Colaut cur'Fargeth - a Cabaran - in charge of Legio Solis, under the pretext of treating Cabaran's equally. The Council of Imperators disapproved; Colaut was not an Imperator. And, Samira HaMaadimi had command of Legio Solis, and replacing her was an unpopular decision.

Senate Optimates - having been blocked under Bruce - then tried to push through another military leadership reform by pointing out Kaliyah was acting unworthy of an Imperatrix and should be above such pettiness. Derek and Samira HaMaadimi then stood up and delivered a joint address blasting the Senate and the Imperators alike, going so far as to say that the entire assembly was acting so badly that Rivkah HaMaadimi would be incredibly disappointed in them, and ultimately Derek walked to the podium and picked up the copy of the sabre of Imperator HaMaadimi as a symbol of the withdrawal of HaMaadimi favour, and he and Samira walked up the auditorium to the main entrance, bound for Mars.

Sufficiently shamed, the Senate and Imperators apologised, and Derek was delighted to turn around.

Just as things were stabilising, Noriko Nakajima - one of the Envoys to the Terran Alliance - sprinted through the doors, shouting "Bellatrix has fallen! The Poles are under attack!"