I AM SO SORRY ITS BEEN SO LONG, I HIT WRITERS BLOCK. Not anymore !
The Lost Colony.
The colony had existed in another galaxy for two hundred years. The Federation had sent out generational starships with long range hyperspace engines and randomised destinations. The Federation had sent out 500, but only 60 were unaccounted for.
The more the Federation expanded into space and into the surrounding galaxies and set up homes, the more frustrated they became as they recalled how some of their generation ships had gone missing. One of the generation ship was actually alright and wasn't discovered for another century. When their ships first entered the galaxy in question, the crews heard rumours of a Human group in the galaxy. Realising at last this was a lead, the authorities back home ordered an intensive search.
The Federation was stunned by what they discovered.
The colonists had certainly done a lot of work. Cut off from the rest of humanity as they were, the colonists had had to make do. Thanks to the resources of their ship and their own wits, the colonists forged a number of home planets out of savage, wild and unpredictable planets.
They had formed a Commonwealth, something similar and yet dissimilar to the Federation back in their home galaxy. Instead of a multi species alliance, the Commonwealth existed behind a dark matter nebula that extended 67 light years in the shape of a half moon.
The commonwealth was mostly agricultural really, with mining taking place in asteroids for ores. Since there were no alien races inside the expanse they were inside, they had the place to themselves. It didn't take long for them to spread out and start to thrive in the Expanse.
The contact came after 201 years of isolation. It had happened by accident, really, a deep space exploration cruiser on a routine charting mission came into the expanse looking for habitable worlds or sources of mineral ores for the increasingly expanding Federation. The crew were understandably surprised when they came across the Commonwealth, and gotten the full and untarnished story.
The crew of the starship, which was called the Voyager, found out the history.
The generational ship became lost in space, either by computer malfunction, or by a simple natural phenomenon. The Voyager crew didn't know, the Commonwealth didn't know, in spite of their investigations over time. The answer was forever lost unless you had a time machine.
The colonists colonised the planet their ship had arrived at, using prefab buildings to live in at first before they actually started building their cities on the planet using the natural materials at hand. It was fortunate that generational ships had on board them power supplies or else they'd have been cold. The colonists first night was cold, highlighted by animals howling in the night.
The planet was hostile, the animals were vicious predators, the plants were just as hostile, some had long vines that shot out and wrapped themselves around their victims and crushed them to pulp. Others used poisonous barbs. Some of the animals resembled something from the Klingon planet, only much more vicious.
It took 12 years before the colonists tamed their planet and built mighty transparent titanium domes, lined with polymers for added protection. Using their old ship, the colonists sent out groups to colonise the planets nearby in a radius of 3 light years after their own was being built up.
Once the outer colonies, as they were known in those days, were built up. The colonies became self sustaining, and realising that the Federation was becoming a darker place after their breakaway, the formed their own government and formed their own way of life.
For 2 centuries, they spent in peace living in the expanse. They knew that one day they would need to leave it and then the Federation, if that was what it was still referred too, would find them. The leaders of the commonwealth, discovering that their new way of life was moreā¦purer than that of the life they'd left behind, didn't want that. So they decided to send out exploration teams in order to expand their knowledge, meeting new races and expanding their knowledge.
In many ways the commonwealth became the new federation, but unlike the old one they learnt from their ancestors mistakes. This time they heeded warnings and desires to stay away from civilisations if that was their wish.
Voyager found them, and notified the Federation at once. They ignored the Commonwealth's pleas to allow them to be left alone to get on with their own research projects, but it didn't work. The Federation came, and annexed the Commonwealth.
The commonwealth leaders had heard rumours of how increasingly totalitarian the Federation was becoming each and every day. It had started because of wars, political upheavals, people who wanted to go back to the good old days of exploration, peace and democracy. Those three things were the new doctrine of the Commonwealth.
The Federation leaders, now corrupt little men, hell bent on maintaining the status quo and their power, reacted with the sort of force that was to be expected.
They called them separatists, using propaganda to make them look like criminals. The logic of the argument was lost on the political activist groups, how can a breakaway society be traitors if they hadn't had any contact with the Federation for 200 years ?
But the public didn't care, they called for war, and they got it. The Federation fleets, combining the might and power of many races, were more of a match for the Commonwealth's own fleet tactically, but the commonwealth's own citizens learnt rather quickly the art of guerrilla warfare. They kept the Federation at bay and managed to stay at least 5 steps ahead of the Federation, always mining their solar systems and keeping the Federation out. They sent numerous pleas to the Federation, saying they were free citizens, that they'd worked hard to forge a new way of life.
The Federation, of course, didn't listen.
For 34 years, the Commonwealth was under vicious and senseless attacks, held in check by increasing guerrilla activity. The New Maquis, they called themselves. Named after the 24th century Maquis group, only this time the stakes were higher.
The New Maquis developed new ships, new technologies to keep alive and they were successful. But they hadn't counted on the increasing desire to surrender. The Commonwealth surrendered after 34 years of conflict. The price was very high, many of the planets had been devastated, millions of innocent civilians dead for no reason except politics.
The Commonwealth became part of the Federation, and laws became very harsh for them. Another example of the moral inversion the Federation was going through.
