Re: Dawn
Nekkar IV…homeworld for the Colonial Dawn Empire…
2405.8 (sorry about the wrong year posted in my opening post)
Chairman Lomax rubbed his eyes. He was looking at yet another system report. He smiled. It was late, he was tired, and he was happy.
Well, he was supposed to be happy.
Success brought happiness.
Didn’t it?
“34 colonies in ten systems” he read aloud. In less than six years. The Dawn’s growth was – indeed – amazing. And he had confirmation of that. The Chethrod race had just sent him the very same message last month. How right they were. And how instrumental they were, although they probably had no knowledge of it. The growth of the empire had coined the phrase, “The rising of the Dawn”. And it was all because of the Chethrod. A seemingly insignificant oversight, in a series of negotiations during that first contact almost two years ago may well have catapulted the Dawn into a position of prominence they may never relinquish.
The Chethrod were encountered by the Dawn in the Sheliak system. The frigate Leeds (or, more correctly, Colonial Dawn Ship Leeds – CDS Leeds) had warped into the system to find two rock worlds that could be colonized. They also encountered the Chethrod. Of note were the 30 fighters that orbited the planet they had colonized. The message from the Leeds also mentioned one more important fact. The Chethrod inhabited gas giant planets.
CDS Southampton, another frigate, joined Leeds on the Sheliak side of the warphole joining Sheliak to the Praxis system. Negotiations were initiated by the Chethrod and they were fairly basic – colonization in each other’s systems, trade, and re-supply between both empires. As a standard response, Dawn made a counter-offer: an observation of non-aggression in neutral systems, but the prohibition of establishing colonies in each other’s systems. The offer was fair, and a logical first step. Lomax knew not to jump at the first offer (it wasn’t good business, after all), and always ask for what you want – only then settling for what you need. The want, in this case, was simple.
Dawn wanted everything. Everything Chethrod had researched. The request, of course, was worded a bit more eloquently, but it was still there: “We require all research – including racially unique research – to ensure our two races can coexist peacefully.”
To the surprise of everyone, the Chethrod agreed.
The science council was ecstatic, to say the least. The big prize, of course, was the secret to establishing colonies on gas giant planets.
And just like that, the Dawn had opened up a treasure trove of locations. No less than ten new worlds were at least medium sized gas giants with oxygen atmospheres. Dawn had, indeed, risen.
Lomax returned to the present and re-read the recommendations of the council heads within the empire. The question was whether or not to allow contact with more races. Doing so might be profitable, but there was always the concern to secure the position of the empire before moving on to a new system. They actually had a system with two planets to colonize they hadn’t even got to yet. The Forlorn system had two planets yet to be colonized. It was secure with only one warp point, and that was to another system – Samora – that only connected to Forlorn and Sirius. Sirius was a Dawn stronghold. Practically speaking, all ten systems were Dawn strongholds since no other empires were in the systems. Lomax decided to keep it that way. Choke points were established in three systems that effectively prevented any contact if so desired.
Another race, the Cue Cappa found that out, when their frigate emerged from a warp point in the Ushphada system, and was greeted with a pair of fourth generation capital ship missiles. A second frigate also met that same fate, before the Cue Cappa initiated negotiations. A treaty was finally signed with the same provisions as the Chethrod treaty – stay out of our systems, and give us your research. They objected, of course, but the Dawn’s position, like their hold on the warp points, was unmovable. The Dawn didn’t need the Cue Cappa. Which reduced the Cue Cappa “empire” to that of mere competition.
And no corporation gives their competition a chance to become equals.
With 89 second-generation research facilities and 39 more scheduled to come online, the capability of the Dawn to develop new technology was staggering. They already had shields, energy stream weapons (lasers), and new kinds of point defense technology that included the laser, small seeking missiles and a very basic but effective version of the old shotgun called the flak cannon. The universities of the empire were also adding to the knowledge base of the scientists here, and fiscal policies were continuing to reduce expenditures, allowing more and better facilities, ships, and units.
It was a dream. New ships were being designed. Mining operations had left the planet surfaces and were now being conducted by company ships in asteroid fields. The Dawn was rising and nothing could stop it.
But Lomax knew that there would be competition. Somewhere, there would be an empire, or perhaps several, that would challenge the Dawn and its lofty technology. Lomax kept that thought foremost as he made his decisions. He knew it would happen. He just didn’t know when…
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