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Welcome to the Siraxta City Library, citizen.
Category: History, Selected Article: #34
Thank you for using this terminal. Have a good day. Ad astra per aspera.
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End of the Great War in 2335 brought a beginning of a new era for the Solar System. With all communication with other Terran worlds severed, industry cut off from their main supply routes, millions of people lost contact with their families and fear of the Shivans still growing, it became clear that Galactic Terran Alliance needs to change and it needs to change radically. For first months, however, Earth government has been concentrating on internal political reforms rather than restructuring the Alliance as a whole.
From economic point of view, the highest price for cutting off Delta Serpentis node was paid by main Earth and Martian corporations like Han-Roland Corporation, Mesa Corporation and Triton Dynamics. They were the ones most strongly dependent on resources from other systems. Losing contact with their supply routes meant losses counted in trillions of credits and forced them to reorganize their structure and seek new suppliers.
And they found them. Their attention, once focused on remote colonies in Delta Serpentis, Beta Aquilae and other systems, was now turned back to Sol's outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and their numerous moons. Those corporations entered new markets very aggressively and began construction of new colonies, mines and gas refineries.
Their fast expansion, however, threatened position of minor players once dominating in the Outer Rim, including Valhalla Shipyards, United Heavy Industries, Bamyian Development and Massive Dynamics. Old and new corporations began an intense competition for the most valuable sources of gas and minerals which quickly evolved far beyond standard free market rules. As Earth and Martian corporations eventually failed to dominate the Outer Rim, they requested aid of the GTA government.
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At 11th January 2338 GTA proclaimed a controversial Great Perseverance Plan meant to respond to political, economic and social consequences of Delta Serpentis jump node collapse. A 784-page-long document involved an administration reform, military service reform and changes in variety of areas. Its size, however, was intended to cover its basic purposes:
- Grant Earth and Martian corporations exclusive rights to most precious mineral sources in the Outer Rim
- Guarantee Earth and Martian corporations a primacy over Outer Rim corporations in all future spaceship construction programs
- Enforce massive resettlement actions from overpopulated regions of Earth, mainly African, Arabic and South-Asian, to the newly constructed colonies in the Outer Rim
- Centralize structure of Alliance Revenue Service and allow unrestricted taxation of Outer Rim colonies by Earth government
It was later proved that GPP was written under strong lobbing of Han-Roland Corporation. The other corporations' involvement was never confirmed, but their privileged role in GPP leaves little room for speculations.
In order to oppose execution of GPP, Outer Rim corporations began suing privileged corporations and accusing them for lobbing. Protests also took place in major Outer Rim colonies as it was expected that new employers would provide much worse working conditions. Their actions, however, met with almost no success as bureaucratic machine of GTA administration was rejecting all the causes and at the same time an organized campaign of propaganda was initiated against them. Hobart Ericsson, GTA's Secretary of Treasury called Outer Rim corporations 'a criminal syndicate which destroys stability of the Alliance and threatens our jurisdiction in the whole sector'. 18 months later Mr. Secretary would understand that his words became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
GPP execution begun at 7th March 2338 with first corporate freighters arrived at their mining sites at Ganymede. Miners working for Valhalla Shipyards' subcontractor, Ganymede Works, were ordered to abandon their stations. Between 7th March and 12th April 651 mines and gas extraction sites in total were taken over by Earth and Martian corporations as the first stage of GPP. In most cases takeover was carried out peacefully, although more than 50 incidents of armed resistance were noted.
At 1st May 2338 GTA announced a new warship construction program involving 12 new Orion-class destroyers equipped with new generation of weaponry. As GPP guaranteed, all contracts were given to corporations from Earth and Mars. Following further execution of GPP, new taxes were introduced in Outer Rim colonies in order to meet the increased government expenditures. In fact, Jupiter and Saturn colonies were meant to pay Earth and Martian corporations for the new GTA fleet.
Execution of GPP brought economic problems to Outer Rim Colonies. By the end of 2338 Europa, Io, Calypso and Ganymede were all struck by recession and unemployment following shutdown of many shipyards and factories and further tax rises introduced by GTA government. Massive protests and rioting raged across the streets of Jupiter and Saturn colonies and most of them were violently suppressed by GTA security forces alongside with corporate mercenaries.
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At 15th April 2339 Han Roland's supply convoy was ambushed in the Asteroid Belt. All freighters have been hijacked, the entire escort destroyed with no survivors. Following month 18 more attacks occurred, all took place beyond Mars and all involved targets connected with corporations from inner planets. Han Roland spokeswoman called the attacks 'an organized terrorist activity probably sponsored by Outer Rim native industry'. GTA command responded with deployment of GTD Holmgard under Admiral Marcus Rossendarch to maintain security of Asteroid Belt supply routes. This move, however, did not stop the attacks, but only made them more coordinated and more spread out in the entire Outer Rim.
At 29th May 2339 GTA government proclaimed martial law in Sol and accused Outer Rim corporations of supporting terrorist attacks. Marines were dispatched on the streets of major Jupiter and Saturn colonies and security forces demanded unrestricted access to all Outer Rim shipyards. More than 80 representatives of United Heavy Industries were arrested and submitted to interrogation. One of their testimonies indicated that UHI shipyards were secretly producing fightercraft for terrorist groups. GTD Salvation was dispatched to take over Adamant Shipyard on high orbit of Europa. Shipyard's personnel refused to obey, GTA boarding parties met with armed resistance and were forced to withdraw. As a result, Salvation destroyed the shipyard with its main cannons resulting in 4,000 casualties on board the station and further 40,000 when debris hit cities of Europa.
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This tragic event turned out to be a spark of rebellion. Three days later leaders of 19 main colonies of the Outer Rim signed Europan Convention. A document was a declaration of independence from Galactic Terran Alliance and a founding act of Outer Rim Syndicate.
The same day GTA High Command received emergency orders to prepare First and Second Fleet to set off for the Outer Rim and end the rebellion with all mean necessary.
I'm not one for necro'ing years-old threads (except when I do), but I'm going to take this opportunity to repost the original ORS History entry with my edits already implemented.
And there's no one who can stop me. (Although, technically, Nyctaeus can overrule my changes, but only after the fact, so I'm gonna enjoy this while I can. You can all consider this a proof-of-concept for my editing abilities.) :cool: :D :cool:
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Welcome to the Siraxta City Library, citizen.
Category: History, Selected Article: #34
Thank you for using this terminal. Have a good day. Ad astra per aspera.
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The Great War's Aftermath
The Great Perserverence Plan (GPP)
The end of the Great War in 2335 marked the start of a new era for the Sol system. With all communication to the rest of Terran space severed, millions of people in the Sol system lost contact with their families in the Terran colony worlds. With fear of the Shivans continuing to grow, it became clear that the Galactic Terran Alliance needed to change radically to adapt to new circumstances. For the first few months however, the Earth-based GTA government concentrated on internal political reforms rather than restructuring the Alliance governmental and economic system as a whole.
From an economic point of view, the highest price of the collapse of the Delta Serpentis node was paid by large Earth and Martian corporations including the Han-Roland Corporation, the Mesa Corporation and Triton Dynamics. They had been the corporations most strongly dependent on resources from other systems. Losing their supply routes to the rest of Terran space resulted in the loss of trillions of credits and forced them to reorganize their corporate structure and seek new resources.
And they found them. Their attention, once focused on offworld colonies in Delta Serpentis, Beta Aquilae and other star systems, was now turned back to Sol's outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and their numerous moons. Those corporations entered these new markets very aggressively and began construction of new colonies, mines and gas refineries.
Their fast expansion, however, threatened the position of minor economic players still dominant in the Outer Rim, including Valhalla Shipyards, United Heavy Industries, Bamiyan Development and Massive Dynamics. Old and new corporations began intense competition for the most valuable sources of gas and minerals which quickly evolved far beyond standard free market rules. As Inner Rim corporations based on Earth and Mars eventually failed to dominate the Outer Rim, they requested aid from the GTA government still based on Earth.
On January 11, 2338, the GTA announced a controversial Great Perseverance Plan (GPP) meant to respond to the political, economic and social consequences of the Delta Serpentis jump node collapse. The GPP was a 784-page-long document involving administrative reforms, military service reforms and other additional changes in a variety of areas. Its size, however, was intended to disguise its basic purposes:
1. Grant corporations based on Earth and Mars exclusive rights to the most precious mineral sources in the Outer Rim;
2. Guarantee Earth and Martian corporations a primacy over Outer Rim corporations in all future spaceship construction programs;
3. Enforce massive resettlement actions from overpopulated areas of Earth, mainly African, Arabic and South-Asian regions, to the newly constructed colonies in the Outer Rim;
4. Centralize the structure of the Alliance Revenue Service and allow unrestricted taxation of Outer Rim colonies by the Earth-based GTA government.
It was later proven that the GPP was heavily influenced from strong lobbying by the Han-Roland Corporation. The other Inner Rim corporations' involvement in the GPP’s legislation was never confirmed, but speculation about their influence in crafting the GPP continues to this day.
Tensions Rise
Enforcement of the GPP began on March 7, 2338, with the first corporate freighters arriving at their designated mining sites at Ganymede. Miners employed by Ganymede Works, a subcontractor for Valhalla Shipyards, were ordered to abandon their stations. Between March 7 and April 12, a total of 651 mining and gas extraction sites were taken over by Earth and Martian corporations following the first stage of the GPP. In most cases, the takeovers were carried out peacefully, although more than 50 incidents of violence did occur.
In order to oppose enforcement of the GPP, Outer Rim corporations began suing the privileged Earth and Mars corporations and accusing them of unfair lobbying and corporate malfeasance. Protests also took place in major Outer Rim colonies as people expected the new employers to provide inadequate working conditions. These actions were for naught, however, as the GTA judicial bureaucracy dismissed the lawsuits and the protests swayed the opinions of virtually none of the GTA politicians. Meanwhile, several of those same GTA politicians began an organized campaign of propaganda against the Outer Rim corporations. Hobart Ericsson, the GTA's Secretary of the Treasury, accused the Outer Rim corporations of becoming 'a criminal syndicate that is destroying the stability of the Alliance and threatens our jurisdiction in the whole sector'. Almost fourteen months later, Secretary Ericsson’s words would become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
On May 1, 2338, the GTA announced a new warship construction program involving 12 new Orion-class destroyers equipped with a new generation of weaponry. As the GPP guaranteed, all of the construction contracts were given to corporations from Earth and Mars. Following further enforcement of the GPP, new taxes were introduced in Outer Rim colonies in order to meet the increased government expenditures. In fact, the Jupiter and Saturn colonies were required to pay Earth and Martian corporations to fund the construction of the new GTA fleet.
The GPP brought numerous economic problems to the Outer Rim colonies. By the end of 2338, Europa, Io, Calypso and Ganymede were all struck by recession and unemployment following the shutdown of so many shipyards and factories and further tax increases introduced by the GTA government. Massive protests and rioting raged across the Jupiter and Saturn colonies and many of them were violently suppressed by GTA security forces and corporate mercenaries.
Spark of Rebellion
On April 15, 2339, one of Han-Roland's supply convoys was ambushed in the Asteroid Belt. All of the freighters in the convoy were hijacked while the entire escort was destroyed. There were no survivors. In the following month, eighteen more attacks occurred, all taking place beyond Mars and all involving targets connected with corporations based in the Inner Rim. A Han-Roland spokeswoman called the attacks 'an organized terrorist activity probably sponsored by Outer Rim native industry.' GTA Command responded with the deployment of the GTD Holmgard, commanded by Admiral Marcus Rossendarch, to maintain the security of the Asteroid Belt supply routes. This move, however, did not quell the attacks, but only further inflamed tensions throughout the entire Outer Rim.
On May 29, 2339, the GTA government declared martial law throughout the Sol system and accused Outer Rim corporations of supporting terrorist attacks. Marines were deployed throughout the largest Jupiter and Saturn colonies and corporate security forces demanded unrestricted access to all Outer Rim shipyards. More than 80 representatives of United Heavy Industries were arrested and interrogated. One of these UHI representatives, Robert Sharif, then made a sworn statement that UHI shipyards were secretly producing fightercraft for terrorist groups. (Though rumors claimed that Sharif had been forced to make that statement, it was never conclusively proven if Sharif’s testimony was made under duress. Only a few days after making his statement, Sharif disappeared and was never heard from again.) The GTA used Sharif's sworn statement as a pretext to justify taking the Outer Rim shipyards by force. The GTD Salvation, under the command of Admiral Ivanov, was thus dispatched on June 1 to take over the Adamant Shipyard in high orbit over Europa. The shipyard's personnel refused to obey the order to stand down and evacuate. GTA boarding parties then tried to capture the shipyard by force, but met with armed resistance and were forced to withdraw. Although Ivanov had been ordered to capture the Adamant Shipyard intact, seeing his Marines repelled by a bunch of poorly armed, ragtag civilians so humiliated him that he commanded the Salvation to fire on the shipyard despite his orders. As a result, all of the 4,000 civilians onboard the shipyard were killed when the Salvation opened fire and a further 40,000 civilians died when debris from the destroyed shipyard impacted several of the cities of Europa below. (Ivanov was never punished or disciplined for firing on civilians.)
This tragic event turned out to be the spark of rebellion. Two days later, leaders of the 19 largest colonies of the Outer Rim gathered at an undisclosed location on Europa and unanimously signed the Europan Convention. This document was a formal declaration of independence from the Galactic Terran Alliance and became the genesis of the Outer Rim Syndicate.
In response, later that very same day, GTA High Command issued emergency orders to the 1st Gaian and 2nd Martian Fleets to set out for the Outer Rim, join up with the 3rd Jovian Fleet and end the rebellion by any means necessary.
To Be Continued in..."The Secession War (Part 1)! (https://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=96529.0)"