Rupil System
Once upon a time, this was the capital world of a mighty race – the reptilian humanoids of Rupil, and their prosperous space-faring nation, a full member of the Extra-Solar Union of Systems. Their ships put the fear of the Union into the Shivans and guarded the space lanes from incursions. And then, it all ended. The Rupil civilization partly crumbled in a series of upheavals, and partly just withdrew into itself. The fleet was no longer seen, and even Rupil Station, the defender of Rupil, was abandoned.
It would be left so forever – but then, new threats rose.
Some in the Extra-Solar Union feared the Imperial Republic of the North. Others were concerned about the Hermes. After the suggestions of forming a joint alliance military to strike either one side or the other were shut down, several of the Union's nations banded together to build a fortress – not a mere fortress on a planet's surface, not even a fortress-world. A fortress-system was conceived.
Rupil had been chosen – and soon, the works began. The Kuiper belt and asteroid belts of Rupil were seeded with munitions and killsats. Armed starships patrolled the system. In the orbits of each planet, battlestations sneered. The teraton guns that had once defended Mars were relocated into the system, gleaming with all their insane firepower. Every non-inhabitable planet was made into a bastion. And as the climax of this orgy of fortificatory excess, the very sun was bound in a chain of battlestations, its power harvested to power two immense systems – a sunlaser and an enormous ringed accelerator – in effect, a gigantic, astronomic-scale shotgun.
But all things passed. The crisis passed, too, and the fortress-system was naught but a gleaming testament to the economic and military power of the ESUS. The key positions were still manned, of course, as a duty to the Rupilians if nothing else – who, coincindentally, continued their lives on the single habitable planet of the system. Allanea traded with them – mostly exporting goods and services – but they did not participate actively in the world past their atmosphere.
And yet the Rupil Station remained, the last relic of their spaceborne civilization. Today, it was the headquarters of the Rupil SystemAuthority – an ad-hoc body of states who had helped build the defenses. National ambassadors, trade outposts, and other such things were found aboard the station.
Sitting in a hotel room at the station, Maverick Monningham sighed as he typed away on his computer. He had come out here in person, with only a small staff of assistants, to arrange for a project. Soon it would be showtime – for him and for Allanea. It would be less flashy then the advertisement campaigns his people used to take over markets, and less destructive then Allanea's military campaigns – but in its own way Monningham's plan had great potential.
He knew -everybody knew – that the Herpetological Empire of Sakkra and the Great Therapodian Empire of Sskiss were neighbors. If they could – if they could be persuaded to establish diplomatic conflict, then not only would both of these states benefit, but the United States of Allanea, binding its allies together into some sort of friendship pact, could surely profit.
And as such, invitations were sent to the leadership of the Therapodian and Herpetological Empire, and to several other states.
To: Leaders of the Great Therapodian Empire of Sskiss, the Herpetological Empire of Sakkra, the Federated Segments of Scolopendra
Dear Sir!
As the Secretary of State of the United States of Allanea, I would like to invite you to send the representatives of your nation to partake in a diplomatic meeting at the Rupil Station. As you know, the Rupil homeworld still holds a large population of native Rupil citizens who have become entirely landbound. We wonder if it would be useful to discuss the future role of your state in protecting these citizens, and further, the development of a friendly and cooperative relationship between the Herpetological Empire of Sakkra, the Great Therapodian Empire of Sskiss, and their allies.
Sincerely yours, Maverick Monningham
