Star Marshal Sergei Dudnik
2200.01.01 - 2230.07.01
Extracts taken from Ambrose Hammonds insider account of the Star Marshal Dudniks regime published in 2233
Lucius Taylor was replaced in 2200.01.01 by Sergei Dudnik who was appointed to the new position of Star Marshal by the Novus Parliament. Sergei was right hand man to Lucius during much of his life and was seen as the natural man to take over from where Lucius left off. Sergei led the Loyalist party (currently the only party to hold seats in the parliament.)
In the interim between Lucius and Sergei scientists had successfully created a working FTL drive. Sergei promised to use this to colonize the surrounding worlds and on this mandate led The Novus Union into the Stars. Novus Union scientists immediately began work on the technology surrounding colony ships and the infrastructure needed to make them.
As Human scientists charted the surrounding systems they came across large amounts of alien artefacts including entire derelict ships. As the possibility of alien contact became a reality Star Marshal Dudnik passed the "First Contact Non-Aggression Protocol" which outlined the actions that should be taken upon contact with another species.
In 2204.03.14 alien vessels were discovered in the Bregglar system which was a prime candidate for colonisation. This was reported as first contact and heavily covered in the media but it turned out to be a false alarm as what had thought to have been alien ships was merely some form of space amoeba. Still the public's appetite for aliens had been whetted and the governments' exploration projects became extremely popular.
In 2205.07.08 The Novus Union was shocked by the worrying news that half the crew of the science ship the ISS Protector had been trapped in some kind of extra dimensional space. Not long after the missing crew members returned in an identical science ship with little memory of their experiences. The government was split over whether or not to accept the crew member back into the fold. On one hand these men and women could now be a threat to humanities survival but on the other the Novus Union was built around uniting all humans in its fold. In the end Star Marshal Dudnik stepped in to ensure the crew of this ship were accepted back into human space.
Not long after this military scientists announced they had completed the colony ship research and that it was ready for construction. Work began immediately on the first colony ship. Meanwhile the science department were reassigned to focus on powered exoskeletons for the army and terraforming. Head of society research Thibault Dupont warned that terraforming would not yield any instant results as it was based upon the existence of several theorized materials. Despite this Star Marshal Dudnik pushed on with the project eager to see humans spread across the stars.
In 2207.05.06 the first human colony was set up on Bregglar Prime. Finally Humanity was claiming its destiny among the stars. Bregglar Prime and its sytem were renamed Lucius in honor of The Novus Unions founding Father.
Sergei spared no expense for his new colony; he quickly built up a new space port and invested in buildings for the new colony.
As it neared election time in 2209.06.01 the Dudnik administration suffered a blow in public opinion as space piracy emerged as an issue. The paltry Union fleet consisted of only three ships and they were not well enough equipped to stand up to the pirates ships. Several stations were destroyed before the fleet was built up to the point it could retaliate. Sergei was merciless in crushing the pirate fleet during an ambush in the Lucius system but was unable to destroy their base of operations before the next election.
2210.04.01 Election
This was the first real test of Star Marshal Dudniks administration as for the first time the Loyalists had to compete with other parties in the Novus parliament. Although Dudnik had been largely successful in achieving his mandate he had suffered in the polls for his failure to maintain an effective fleet size. Dudnik had also made the mistake of focusing his infrastructure works on the colony of Lucius Prime. The colonists of Lucius Prime were mainly civilians and as such had no vote. While the colonists liked the Loyalist party there was no significant military force on the planet and as such the Loyalists could not make up for lost votes there.
In order to win the election Star Marshal Dudnik promised to expand the navy and to focus infrastructure projects on the capital world Novus Prime. Now he simply had to wait and see if that was enough. Running against the Loyalists were the Moderates and the Loyalist Bloc which were both splinter groups of the main Loyalist party who were displeased with how the pirate crisis and other issues had been dealt with. Both parties also had strong leaders in the form of Wu Hu and Yusuki Tanaka respectively. Both leaders had been members of the original coup with Lucius Taylor and had strong legitimacy as leaders because of this. Also on the rise was the Insider party which promoted xenophobia and legalising slavery. This hard-line party used a minority of humans fears of aliens to gain votes in the parliament. Leading this minor party was Admiral Yan Wan who had led the 1st Strike Force against space Amoeba in the past.
The loyalists maintained a slim majority in the parliament with 135 of the 250 seats. It was time for Star Marshal Dudniks second term.
The first thing on the agenda was dealing with the pirate menace that the election had interrupted. Not long after the election a pirate asteroid base was found and the fleet dispatched to destroy it.
The operation was a success with only one ship lost.
Now Dudnik had been re-elected he lived up to his mandate by investing heavily in both the military and Novus Prime. New power plants were constructed across the planet and the fleet more than doubled in size. A new admiral Julieta Alvarez, who had a reputation as a trickster, was appointed to lead this expanded fleet. Expansion efforts had not been forgotten however and the planet of Speight Prime was soon colonized for the Unions cause.
While looking for a new potential colony site a Union science ship came across the Hahn-Mur civilisation in the system of Halverson. The species had not yet reached nuclear power. At last humans had found true aliens but what was more was that humanity far surpassed them in technology. An observation post was quickly constructed above the planet in order to observe this species. Whether or not humanity should reveal itself became a hotly contested issue in the Parliament. Both the Moderate and the Loyalist Bloc party wished to establish contact while the Insiders suggested a preemptive invasion.
Dudnik eventually agreed to enlighten the natives in order to maintain support within his own party. This took a toll on the research plans of Dudnik but it would ensure he led his party into the next election.
in 2218 work began on researching bigger ships in order to expand the navy further. These ships were classified destroyers.
The rest of Dudniks term remained uneventful with destroyer research and native enlightenment continuing on schedule.
2220.07.01 Election
The Loyalists entered the election in the strong position of having fulfilled their mandate and making few mistakes. In this case the fact that there was little to do had been a benefit for the Loyalist party who had been seen as a stable hand. Although the opposition parties came out swinging they had little ammo to throw especially as they had supported the Loyalists government's policy of native enlightenment.
The Loyalists secured an increased majority of 153 seats while the Moderates and the Loyalist Bloc both dropped to 48 seats. The insiders suffered the most however as they lost all but one of their seats. Public opinion had become more favourable of aliens due to the enlightenment program. Public opinion seemed to suggest that these aliens were sons of humanity of a sort.
Not long after the election in 2221.03.21 humans finally encountered another FTL species. Much to humanities surprise they didn't seem particularly interested in humans at all.
After the Klaggian Archivists several other alien empires made contact with the Novus Union. In order to improve diplomatic relations Dudnik brought in the "Naval Bombardment War Crimes Act". This brought the Novus Unions official policy in line with surrounding empires.
In 2222 problems occurred on the new colony of Mulcahy Prime where stone age residents were discovered after the colony had been set up. These natives were moved to protected reservations however Dudnik feared that this would hamper the colony growth. Xeno relations worsened when the newly discovered Democratic Pirak Confederacy declared itself a rival of the Novus Union.
Good news finally came in 2224 when the Hahn-Mur were finally enlightened to FTL level technology and became a protectorate of the Novus Union under the name of The Hahn-Mur Consciousness. Dudnik hoped that this would create a buffer between the Novus union and the much more technologically advanced Klaggian Archivists.
Galaxy Map as of 2224.11.22
These were not the only empires to emerge over the coming years. Indeed several potentially hostile alien empires were found on human borders and some held advanced technology that posed a real threat to the union. More surprising than all of this however was the discovery of other Humans in 2227.11.15. It appeared that another arkship had successfully made it to a habitable planet. The ideals of this so called Human Assembly put them at odds with the Novus Union. While little could be done now the Union would not forget its brothers who had lost their way.
As the election drew closer research on Destroyer class ships was completed and orbital stations began to be upgraded so that they could produce these new ships.
2230.10.01 Election
The Loyalists headed into the election with confidence promising more of the same. More ships and more infrastructure they also planned to pick up the minority vote of the insiders by using the threat of the alien menace beyond human borders. To counter this the Moderates spoke of diplomacy with local alien empires to secure an alliance that would protect the Novus Union from aggression. The moderates also pointed out the lack of orbital mining and research stations that would provide the resources to produce the new destroyers at a faster rate. The Moderates had a new party leader. Diya Swamy a young officer who had no combat experience to her name but was a charismatic speaker.
To the Loyalists surprise they had lost the majority and now held only 110 seats. The Moderates themselves surged to 107 seats. While the Loyalists were on a back foot the Moderates wooed the Loyalist Bloc into an alliance and announced a coalition government. With the Loyalists out of power for the first time in thirty years it was now up to Star Marshal Diya Swamy and Vice Marshal Yusuki Tanaka to show the Union what they could do.
Diya Swamy in 2230 after her successful election as Star Marshal
Galaxy Map Upon Ascension of Diya Swamy
