AN: I do not own any part of the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri universe except the crazy ideas I may write about for your viewing pleasure.
(Story)
Western Wall of Dragon's Teeth...Early 2645...
When the Tachyon field fell, the UPAMB soldiers had felt that this would be their lucky break in the fighting. It had not been. After a few days, reinforcements stopped altogether. Transports stopped as well. Every time the UPAMB soldiers sent a caravan with supplies up the neck of the western continent, they just disappeared.
It didn't take long to understand what was happening. The Dragonite soldiers were outside of the walls as well. Probably a guerrilla force meant to be able to keep their supplies lines cut or disrupted.
The answer to the problem arrived with the supplies being shipped to the eastern coast by the Pherals, and the western coast by the Morganites. There upon, permanent ports were placed in order to keep the UPAMB soldiers supplied. Then, a road was built to the air strips, where they were trucked in. This process however drained the Northern Fleet's size, to which Admiral Jeffrey's complained about night and day
The advantage of the Dragonites without a Tachyon field fell away in mid 2645, when a second borehole was completed and the combined energy brought the field back up like a raging inferno. If the first field had been a match, the second field was like a bonfire. Hundreds of times more power, in which the UPAMB soldiers and generals demanded weapons a hundred times more powerful.
The answer came in the Planet Busters. Both sides recognized the threat beforehand and supplied themselves with radioactive suits, strong enough to withstand the radiation in the eye of the blast, and continued to fight even as the Spartans launched Planet Buster after Planet Buster at the Tachyon field.
The Dragonites lost 2,500 lives while the field had gone down...and now no more seemed to be able to die. They were simply too self-sufficient. Even the means of surviving a Planet Buster had fully been prepared and now no one could effectively fire a shot across the no-man's land they had created.
Ceasefire Tent...Mid 2650
The Second Great War, which had officially lasted for the last nineteen years, was being called for a close. UPAMB had been abandoned when the Gaians successfully merged with the the Dragonites. At the meeting sat the nine dignitaries of the eight factions, as Deidre leading right along side her husband.
Lal stood up, "We are called here today, to put an end to this frightful war. To bring an end to the suffering." His short speech was met with nods and grunts. In truth his foods had been poisoned lately and he hadn't the time to create a proper speech.
When he sat down, Corazon Santiago and Zakharov stood together to address Deidre and Mogul, "To put it bluntly, its a sign here sort of paper." Handing them the paper they both looked over it with fine scrutiny. It read simply:
Blood Truce Treaty
As bound as we are to continue fighting for our ideology, we find ourselves incapable of continuing this fool's war. Too many lives lost, too many innocents killed. In short and to the point, the UPAMB organization will be splintered back into its seven factions. The Dragonite-Gaian merger will be allowed, but further mergers must be reviewed by the World Council. The Dragonites must release their hold on the great mind worms. The Dragonites must pay 20,000 credits in reparations for the men on the New Hope observation base.
Signed,
Santiago
Zakharov
Morgan
Yang
Lal
Kurchask
Miriam
Deidre/Mogul
With a quick signing, the world rejoiced in an instant. The world was at peace again. After over fifty years of a secret vendetta and then the second great war, the world was finally at peace. The changes that occurred from this peace were astronomical however.
Believers wanted to be allowed to skip church. Hive citizens wanted to be more free. The Peacekeepers and the Pherals already did whatever they wanted really. The Spartans wanted to pursue more peace-time work. The Morganites wanted to give the environment a chance. Even the University citizens wanted to be more fun and social.
People came to respect the Dragonite Gaians (or DG's) as the leading faction. They had withstood the military might of the world for nineteen years. They had more territory than the Believers, Hive, and even the Pherals combined. Remember those lists of Power and Territory? I believe its time to bring those back up to date.
In terms of power, the DG's ranked number one. They were without a doubt a Major power. In the wake of the war however, the Spartans emerged as a Major power as well. The University fell from their grace as a leading power, into a moderate power due to their continued losses. The Morganites on the other hand, had emerged as a major power as well. The Pherals were a weak power, and the Believers were a moderate power. The Peacekeepers had elevated themselves to a more prestigious moderately weak power. While they were no longer just weak they weren't quite moderate yet. Last and sadly least was the Hive which had fell into depression after their forces suffered terrible losses at the Battle of Dragon's Teeth. General Karkoff had been their best, and he had brought with him the bulk of their army. Now without a police force to maintain the drones, the Hive faction was the only one teetering off the edge of stability.
Arranged out, this is the list of power in the factions.
1. Dragonite-Gaians
2. Morganites
3. Spartans
4. University
5. Believers
6. Peacekeepers
7. Pherals
8. Hive
Arranged out in their territory in the factions, it looked like this.
1. Morganites
2. Spartans
3. University
4. Dragonite-Gaians
5. Peacekeepers
6. Pherals
7. Believers
8. Hive
In the year 2653...
Given three years time after the end of the war the world was returning to a stable state. The Hive was still in a depression, and its industry was practically non-existent, but given a bit of aid from the World Council, they were faring a bit better than the United States during the Great Depression. Just a lot more rioting.
Under the articles of the first Great War's Treaty, the Pheral Faction and the Peacekeeping Faction could reunite. The conditions of such an arrangement however would depend on the times. During war, the two could rejoin each other into a single faction in order to form a better faction against their enemies. During peace time however, a majority vote between the 180,000 people of the the central continent had to agree and that was the problem.
At the moment, Lal with his Peacekeeping delegation, and Kurchask with his Pheral delegation were in deliberation on its merits. After all, another condition of the reunited Peacekeeping halves was that the Pherals pay off their reparations. The main deal was Lal paying off the rest right off...or slowly introducing the drones to reuniting with each other or letting the Pherals pay off the reparations themselves. They weren't headed anywhere fast...so a major power in the Peacekeeping faction wasn't likely yet.
At the same time, the economic recovery plan presented by the Morganites in doubling the commerce rates between all of the factions. The only disagreement was the Dragonite-Gaian faction who didn't like the clause that trading ships were free to enter any port. However they were overridden on the matter, and Deidre made Mogul agree to it. To keep the peace. That and she promised some really kinky things. Who can't say that the world is decided by bedroom politics and pillow talk?
On the up side, the world got their first look in on the defenses that the Dragonites had developed over a hundred years time. The structures and ingenuity of Dragonite-Gaian society was breathtaking. In the Gaian portion, the Dragonite workers were mending the mesh between civilization and nature into near nothingness. There was no distinct barrier between where mankind ended and nature began. While the Gaians in the Dragonite portion were coaxing the mind worms out of the area.
The main thorn in everyone's side was space. During the second Great War, the Dragonites had captured all of the space stations, mining stations, energy stations, farming stations, or missile pods in orbit. Now, after the war, the World Council frequently came to the business of the Dragonites returning the property. The Dragonites always refused under the grounds that it was no where in the truce treaty that the Dragonites had to return the gained property. The World Council for the time being was simply stuck on the idea that the Dragonite-Gaian faction held 89 percent of all space equipment. What they didn't have were the imagery satellites, which had been a frequent target of the missile pods during the war.
It was near the beginning of this time that Deidre went into a sort of coma. Planet has contacted her and it was amassing for the utter destruction of the human race. Mind worms of all sizes and species began to manifest outside of all of the major bases. Battle hardened troops had no problem swatting them off like flies, but citizens world round were scared out of their minds. Many immigrated to the strong powerful factions, such as the Spartans and the Dragonite-Gaians.
The shift in population resulted in further peaking for the two most powerful factions. It made the strong stronger, and the weak weaker. It widened the gap between the major powers and the moderate and weak powers. It set the Dragonite-Gaian faction and the Spartan faction to become the elite.
If communism has taught us anything, it is that the weak always seem to rise up to fight their masters.
(Story)
AN: December 5th, 2011: Hey guys! I know I haven't done many updates for my stories lately, but here is a quick edit for When Gaians Throw an Orgy! My major work is with A Tale of History and Tails Combined at the moment so I have my priorities split between these three stories. If you're feeling up to it, please review my stories. They make me feel better as I continue to finish up my final assignments of the semester.