Sapphire-Republic Wars

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[Report prepared by Larkan Swallow, a student of the Corvallis Regional Education Establishment (CREE), age 16, submitted as historical report, 27 Octember, AS 7293] 
Following the collapse of the Human Galactic Commonwealth (HGC) in the 54th Century, the outer worlds of the Perseus Quadrant were left isolated. Interstellar transportation ceased after the departure of a multi-purpose transport ship called St. Beryl from the Hyperion Spaceport in AS 5496. Shortly after that, the Hyperion base was attacked by Tarmigans (so it is believed, there is academic dispute on the subject) with the loss of all personnel. 
Sapphire and Republic (which was then known as Kaliska) fell out of contact with one another. This condition lasted for nearly 1,400 years. 
==AS 6745 -Sapphire and Republic establish regular contact. ==
While radio contact had been possible for a long time, the planets had largely ignored each other; Sapphire was coping with the global ice age known as the Thousand Year Blight, and Republic was preoccupied with its City Wars. By the 67th Century, Sapphire's climate was returning to normal and Republic had ended its wars under a unified planetary Government. The colonies turned then their attention to technological advancement and spacefaring. Initial carrier wave contact was established in AS 6625 in the form of directed Government signals focused on Sapphire and picked up as interference on the planet’s commercial broadcast network. The first carrier wave signals took over 21 days to pass from one system to the other. The first message from Sapphire was a request for Republic to broadcast on a specific narrowband frequency to avoid more interference.
[Aside: Over a thousand years of linguistic drift had resulted in the worlds speaking mutually incomprehensible dialects of the former Common Human Language. In order to facilitate communication, a group of scholars from both world developed a mutual language that baselined the common elements of the vocabulary and syntax of Republic’s and Sapphire’s most commonly used language. This language became the basis for interstellar communication during the initial contact era, and profoundly influenced the ultimate development of a common language across both worlds. This language was called “Commonized Language for Interplanetary Communication (CLIC)” on Republic and “Thirdtongue” on Sapphire.]
At the same time, the spacefaring technologies of the Commonwealth were being rediscovered; most critically, the development of propulsion systems based on ion thrust and, later, graviton drive. Sapphire began the re-exploration of its outer system and began mining resources from Loki and Rook for the mineral resources the planet lacked. A new spaceport was built on Hyperion. 
On Avember 2, 6745 AS; the URS Winona Ryder completed a voyage of almost a year in duration and entered orbit around Sapphire's Hyperion moon. A delegation of Republic diplomats had arrived ostensibly to establish permanent diplomatic relations with Sapphire. In fact, all of them were agents of the Unified Republic Government on a mission of intelligence gathering. 
==AS 6745 – 6845: Sapphire Builds Mining Colonies, Republic Spreads Misinformation==
The Unified Government of Republic allowed only one political party, called 'Unity' which had emerged as the most powerful bloc in the course of centuries of fighting the City Wars. Although Unity controlled all the mechanisms of Government... political, bureaucratic, communication, and military, its hold was tenuous given the horrible state of Republic's economy and the need to regularly put down rebellions in areas that, although officially under Unity control, still contained rebellious elements. 
Unity had chosen the classic course of directing its aggressions outward in order to maintain control inward. It was a pattern that had served them well throughout the City Wars; directing its aggressions toward cities and sectors of the planet that were not yet under Unity control. The thought had been that once the planet was unified, the Government would focus solely on development and advancement. Alas, this was not meant to be.  
As knowledge of their fellow colony became known the Unified Republic Government, a concern emerged that Sapphire represented an alternative style of planetary Governance that might lead the population to question the correctness of the ruling Government on Republic. In order to maintain order, the propaganda arm of the Unity Government (the Unity Information Service) portrayed Sapphire -- somewhat paradoxically -- as a disorganized and backwards planet, and at the same time, a world holding back Republic's development by refusing to share resources.  
==AS6845 to AS6925: Escalating Tensions ==
By the middle of the 69th Sapphirean Century, the Mining Guild and various Sapphirean Mineral consortia had established mining outposts in the outer Sapphire system. These mining outposts were critical to providing Sapphire with vital minerals and chemicals; especially palladium, yttrium, thorium, and other minerals vital to the planet’s development. The planet depended on its deep space extraction operations for minerals, fuels, and chemicals; the loss of a steady supply of which would devastate the Sapphirean economy. 
Republic had a bottomless appetite for the food, metals, chemicals, and manufactured goods Sapphire was capable of producing, but had relatively little to exchange for it. Republic's Unity Government called this situation "Inequitable" and claimed Sapphire had 'Duty to Share' its wealth of resources with Republic's people. 
The situation worsened in the year AS6920 after a partnership of several Sapphirean enterprises (including the Mining Guild, the Great Carpentaria Company, Halifax Elements, Hyperion Space Constructs, and the University of Sapphire at New Cleveland) assisted in the development of mining facilities on the ice-giant "Archon" in the Republic system. The Unity Government on Republic denounced the contractual fees the partnership had negotiated as "Usurious" and accused the companies of "Predatory Economic Practices." (Through back-channels, the Republic Unity Government urged the Sapphirean government to pay off the debts, but Sapphire's Government refused.) In the aftermath, many companies pulled out of projects in the Republic System. Unity claimed these pullouts were orchestrated by the Archon partnership as payback. In truth, the companies simply realized they weren't going to get paid for their work. 
Worse, the Mining Guild suspended docking privileges for all Republic-registered ships at its space facilities until the debt was paid. Republic initially began paying back the Mining Guild, while refusing to pay the others. Then, the Unity Government sent a security force to seize Collossus 4 Station - the lone Mining Guild outpost in the Republic system - in 6922. 
==AS6929: The Battle of Gigantor==
In the Sapphirean Year 6929, a Republic Assault force seized an abandoned complex on the moon Gigantor 2 in the Sapphire System. Republic justified the seizure on the basis that its ships had nowhere to dock in the outer Sapphire system. When the Sapphirean Government voted to demand that Republic vacate the base, Republic mocked the idea that Sapphire could be threatened by a small base on a moon a billion kilometers from their Home World. While overtly claiming the base was for peaceful mining and trade, the Mining Guild detected convoys of ships carrying military supplies to the base. 
In response, Sapphire built a permanent military installation on Gigantor's Fifth Moon and created the Permanent Sapphire Defense Office (PSD Off) to create military apparatus to provide security to the Sapphire system; an expansion of the existing Sapphire System Defense that had been providing escorts and counter-piracy support to the Mining Guild for over a century. Sapphire also began building patrol ships and battle cruisers for system and planetary defense. The Republic Unity Government denounced this as warmongering and aggressive, unnecessary escalation. The base was retaken by Sapphirean military forces in AS6936, and the Republickers returned to their home planet. 
==AS6950 AS6990 - The Republic Marauders==
Beginning in 6950, Republic began sending Deep Patrol Ships into the Sapphirean System. the PSD designated these ships as 'Marauders' and they were distinguished by type designations according to their configuration. ('Tango Class Marauder' 'Uniform Class Marauder') By far the most numerous were the X-Ray Class, which came into service beginning in AS6964. The X-Ray class was 220 meters long, carried a crew of 60-70, and was armed with 40-50 ship-to-ship missiles and some ballistic projectile armament (railguns). They carried escape pods that could be jettisoned in low orbit and land safely on the planet's surface. They could operate for up to three standard years in the Sapphire system before returning to base.
The Marauder's primary missions were to infiltrate Sapphire space, monitor communications, track fleet movements, and transport agents for inflitration using their escape pods. They were also to be ready to provide an armed response in the event hostilities broke out. 
When these ships began being detected in the Sapphire system, the PSD Off ordered a number of 'Cutter' Class patrol ships: 170 meters long, with crews of 30-40, with 60 ship-to-ship missiles, grappling tethers, and railguns. 
Captured Marauders were also sometimes dispatched to the Republic system for intelligence gathering; these missions were codenamed "Deep Silent" and among the most dangerous missions of the conflict. 
==AS6975: The Fire Tortoise Incident==
In AS6975, a Shadow Service crew in a stolen Republic Marauder stumbled upon a large military base hidden on the planet Fire Tortoise, the second planet of the Sapphire system. The discovery caught the PSD by surprise as they had not anticipated a Republic advance on the inner planets of the Sapphire system. 
The Shadow Service successfully infiltrated the base using a pair of captured Marauders to delivery two squads of Sumacian commandos to the base. The commandos proceeded to sabotage critical systems throughout the base, including the overload of a reactor on a Marauder docked at the station. The damage forced Republic to evacuate the base, after which it was destroyed from orbit by a pair of Sapphirean Battle Cruisers (Puncher and Devastator) using nucleonic weapons. 
==AS6995 - AS7020: The Battle for Loki==
Beginning in 6995, Republic began an aggressive program with he objective of establishing permanent settlements on the fifth planet of the Sapphire system. Loki is a cold planet with a thin atmosphere but has always been recognized for its high potential for terraforming. In AS6995, the PSD detected a number of orbital and surface expeditions from the Republic system on or near the planet Loki. Republic asserted that Loki was not the sovereign territory of Sapphire and was open for colonization. The Sapphirean Government 
==AS6990-AS7040: The War of Subversion==
Sapphire's structure of Governance - based on volunteerism and the random selection of citizens to serve as legislators - was a target of great contempt on the part of the Unity Government. The Sapphirean Concept of Limited Democratic Government with minimum citizen participation was an affront to the Republic vision of a powerful centralized government with Maximum citizen control. The Central Unity Committee initiated a secret plan to “reform” Sapphire’s government into what they considered a more “Democratic” system that would vest power in elected legislatures and committees. 
Republic agents initiated a number of 'Democracy Movements' on Sapphire: Calls for elective representation in Government and an expanded role for the Government in providing welfare and management of the economy. Their efforts never attracted more than a very small fraction of the population of Sapphire, mostly in academic circles, but their sympathizers occasionally engaged in acts of sabotage against Sapphire's military and disrupted the proceedings of the Thing on several occasions; especially when some of their number happened to be selected as members in the Thing of AS7010-7015. Their disruptive actions only marginalized their movement further; Sapphireans preferred to be left alone by their Government and held individualism and self-reliance as our highest cultural values. 
The plan was revealed in AS7013 when Sapphirean agents “liberated” the Chartoff - Mitsubishi Files from a dumpster behind the Republic Diplomatic Mission in Corvallis. The files clearly indicated that the long term goal was to "bring Sapphire into the Unity Government by any means necessary" and detailed a range of initiatives underway on the planet Sapphire to undermine the planet’s economy and Government systems to weaken the planet. The Government of Republic denounced the documents as a forgery, but subsequent investigations identified Republic agents who confirmed their assignments under interrogation by Truth Machines. 
Aside from exposing the plot, Sapphire took very little retributive actions, determining that exposure of Republic’s actions were sufficient to preserve planetary integrity. 
==Task Force 'Livid Porcupine' ==
In the year AS6999, a group of four Sapphirean Battle Cruisers [Avenger, Ranger, Assailant, and Puncher] were sent on a mission into the Republic System. After carefully -- and with the help of advance scouts and some sabotage from the Deep Silent Missions -- evaded space patrols and the system defense net and made orbit over the Republic Homeworld in Avember AS7000. They transmitted a message from the People of Sapphire. "Greetings, people of Republic Colony. Our ships bring you a message of peace. We are not armed with orbit-to-surface weaponry, although all of our ships are capable of transporting and launching such weapons. Our message to your Government is simple: We don't wish to go to war with you, so back the Hell off." 
The Task Force was soon surrounded by Republic's cruisers who demanded that they leave the system immediately. The Task Force departed, allowing the Republic ships to escort them as far as the planet Shiva, at which point the Sapphirean ships accelerated to demonstrate their superior speed to the Republic ships, which fell behind unable to catch them. 
The 'Livid Porcupine' mission is often cited as the event that made the Republickers reconsider their aggression, but another factor was the inability of the Government to sustain the war effort. Their territorial adventures in the Sapphire system had failed to secure resources or establish the foothold for eventual conquest. The military build-up the Unity Government ordered after the incident pushed the Republic economy to the brink of collapse.
==AS7040 to AS7060: The Waning Years==
After decades of power, the Unity Government was dividing into factions, some of which were opposed to conquest of the Sapphire System; the open opposition of other factions laid bare the dishonesty of much of Unity's anti-Sapphire propaganda.  Economic liberalization on Republic also had created opportunities for trade and economic exchanges that had not existed at the start of hostilities. 
Beginning in AS7045, Sapphire and Republic signed a series of treaties ensuring that each world held "ultimate sovereignty" over their respective systems. The treaties stipulated that Republic would not operate military vessels within the orbital margin of the Sapphire systems outermost planet (Sprite). Similarly, Sapphire would not operate military vessels within the orbit of Republic's outermost planet. The space between systems was declared neutral. Safe passage to all trading vessels was assured. Diplomatic codes were established. However, the experience of two centuries of Cold War left mutual suspicions on both sides. Over the next two centuries, successive Republic Governments (AS7119-AS7129, AS7144-7146, and AS7156-7166) were also caught in subversive activities in the Sapphire system. Republic occasional engaged military operations that harassed mining ships in the out-system, which required Sapphire to maintain a strong defensive posture even though the worlds were ostensibly at peace. 
Category:History
Category:Backstory
Category:Background