Cygnus

Cygnus was in the same sector of space as Mantor, and had been contacted (and subjugated) by the Kzintis as early as Y48. The Cygnans had not made it into space on their own (beyond the first single-passenger orbital capsules that could stay in space less than a day) and were quickly declared a “protected” planet. The Klingons visited Cygnus only once (at least officially) before the Kzintis declared the planet off limits to outsiders. The Kzintis did this, expending a lot of effort to subjugate Cygnus despite its distance from the Hegemony, because the Cygnans had proven to be superb technicians who could build anything. The Kzintis provided the Cygnans with access to high technology, although only so the Cygnans could build items for them. The first Federation explorers tried to reach Cygnus in Y87 (as they could detect its massive electronic traffic on their sensors) but were kept away by the Kzinti fleet in the sector.

After the First Federation-Kzinti War ended in Y92, the Federation was still barred from contact with Cygnus and resorted to having the GIA conduct clandestine missions, most of which failed to return. Enough information was obtained, however, to show that possession of Cygnus was a major Kzinti advantage and would be a major gain for the Federation if they could gain control.

The Federation made its Border Declaration of Y102 for a number of reasons, but gaining access to Cygnus was one of them. Under heavy pressure, the Kzintis agreed to a special protocol that was somewhat different from the one agreed for Mantor, but had the same effect. The Federation never admitted to Kzinti control over Cygnus, but did note the “historic relationship” (as opposed to the “historic trading relationship” noted in the Protocol for Mantor). The Kzintis “agreed that Federation trade with Cygnus could enhance the overall relationship”, a phrase that he Kzintis felt recognized their ownership of the planet but which the Federation felt said no such thing. Trade was limited to non-military goods, but the aggressive Federation corporations hat did the trading quickly found ways to push the limits well into “dual use” technologies, and to expand their presence on the planet from purchasing agents to the secret ownership of entire factories (allowing easier import and export of clandestine goods).

The Cygnans welcomed the Federation and conspired with Federation businesses to evade the Kzinti limits. They had been virtual slaves of the Kzintis for five decades and were more than tired of the relationship. Thousands of Cygnan technicians were taken away from the planet for work in the Hegemony, most of them never to return. (Curiously, the Kzintis insisted on taking only females and sterile males, so when the Federation pushed the Kzintis out of the Cygnan system, the Kzintis had no way to breed a captive population. Even if they had, this would have done little good as it was the superb Cygnan education system which produced the brilliant technicians, not Cygnan genetics.) Between Y102 and Y135, Kzinti control over Cygnus steadily eroded, and Federation control steadily increased. The Kzintis had lost so much influence by Y131 that they were unable to stop the Cygnans from applying for Federation membership and constructing their first “national” warships as Federation auxiliaries. While the independent Mantor had virtually no armed fleet (relying on neutrality and on the presence of three competing powers to balance each other), the subjugated Cygnans had their own armed warships.

Thanks in part to the actions of the GIA, and to agreements which had sent thousands of Cygnans to other Federation planets on “short term visas for education”, seven of the ten Cygnan ships were not stationed at Cygnus or even known to the Kzintis. When tensions flared in Y136 and war was imminent, the Federation dispatched a heavy cruiser to make a courtesy call on Cygnus, bringing with it the warships of the Cygnan National Guard. While the Federation had decided to evacuate its citizens from Mantor and let that planet’s neutrality protect it during the coming conflict, the Federation had decided to fight for Cygnus.