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Situation and Context
It is the dawn of the 792nd year of the era of the State. The Menschlicher Sternenstaat has only grown in power and influence across the Gamma Quadrant and greater Milky Way galaxy following the establishment of the humanocentric Interstellar Compact of Collective Human Harmony two years prior, with the titanic navy of the Sternenstaat now having been able to reliably travel across the breadth of the galactic disk in shows of force and power projection. Such a monolithic astropolitical event coincided with the diplomatic dissolution of the multiracial Stepford-Arnau Trade and Military Alliance, shaking the balance of the galaxy and thrusting a bountiful amount of opportunities and possibilities for the human supremacist nations of the Compact.
Although mutual relationships between previous SATMA states still linger and bind the various ex-SATMA nations together in a makeshift tent of alliances that stands against the Compact, the Sternenstaat has taken upon itself to exploit the shockwaves of such an event within the Gamma Quadrant in full. In accompaniment with the People's Republic of Sinica, the economic, political, and martial power of the Twin Star Union and the greater Compact has been ejected all along the major trade lanes that run within the Gamma Quadrant. This includes the proximal Swift Winds Trade Corridor, the northern sections of the Perseid-oriented Sivulon Trade Network, and even areas of the gargantuan Galactic Commerce Corridor.
Even with this economic and political clout being ascribed to the Sternenstaat and its allies, this has not quenched the hunger of the ever-expanding Compact industries. The Human Star State itself casts its large shadow unto the void of the greater Gamma Quadrant, and has concocted a plan from within the bowels of its astropolitical think tanks and party meetings: direct appropriation of any and all strategic commerce assets within its periphery as a means to begin choking the regional economy and turn it into a Compact-reliant trade zone. The first roadblock in this plan was already anticipated, and so the pitchers have been placed for the ceremonial bloodletting of war - and a specific country has been chosen by high command to be the sacrifice.
The invasion of the Mercantile Republic of Predena will be first instigated through a false-flag incident, where the Predenans will be essentially tricked into destroying Compact assets and thereby giving the Sternenstaat legal credence within its alliance to pursue war. Time will tell if this will be just one minor conflict amidst the raging fires of galactic war, or something bigger...
Although mutual relationships between previous SATMA states still linger and bind the various ex-SATMA nations together in a makeshift tent of alliances that stands against the Compact, the Sternenstaat has taken upon itself to exploit the shockwaves of such an event within the Gamma Quadrant in full. In accompaniment with the People's Republic of Sinica, the economic, political, and martial power of the Twin Star Union and the greater Compact has been ejected all along the major trade lanes that run within the Gamma Quadrant. This includes the proximal Swift Winds Trade Corridor, the northern sections of the Perseid-oriented Sivulon Trade Network, and even areas of the gargantuan Galactic Commerce Corridor.
Even with this economic and political clout being ascribed to the Sternenstaat and its allies, this has not quenched the hunger of the ever-expanding Compact industries. The Human Star State itself casts its large shadow unto the void of the greater Gamma Quadrant, and has concocted a plan from within the bowels of its astropolitical think tanks and party meetings: direct appropriation of any and all strategic commerce assets within its periphery as a means to begin choking the regional economy and turn it into a Compact-reliant trade zone. The first roadblock in this plan was already anticipated, and so the pitchers have been placed for the ceremonial bloodletting of war - and a specific country has been chosen by high command to be the sacrifice.
The invasion of the Mercantile Republic of Predena will be first instigated through a false-flag incident, where the Predenans will be essentially tricked into destroying Compact assets and thereby giving the Sternenstaat legal credence within its alliance to pursue war. Time will tell if this will be just one minor conflict amidst the raging fires of galactic war, or something bigger...
― c o m p l i m e n t a r y m u s i c :: dominic lewis / verräter ―
“[The Human Star State] does not prosper under the false pretenses of a post-war peace without anticipation; it is an organism ever-prepared for war, and has all of its faculties keyed into wait for the right moment to strike and truly blossom.”
Sternenkaiser Philip I of House Kästner, second Star Emperor of the Human Star State
“[The Human Star State] does not prosper under the false pretenses of a post-war peace without anticipation; it is an organism ever-prepared for war, and has all of its faculties keyed into wait for the right moment to strike and truly blossom.”
Sternenkaiser Philip I of House Kästner, second Star Emperor of the Human Star State
Staatskanzler Michael Widmann, Menschlicher Sternenstaat [γ Quadrant]
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Underneath crimson hues of ambient lights did a trio of boots march forth, each step taken punctuating in force as reverberations against marbled tiles underfoot. The first two of the three men that advanced through the concave, stark hallway donned pieces of powered armor apparel, their Flakrüstung combat plates clacking together as they escorted their target with coilguns resting upon metallic shoulders. The central figure to which they heeded the orders to follow wore an all-white formal uniform - one ordained for the highest of Sternenstaat government officials to don upon themselves. With this apparel decorated with golden buttons, a red armband bearing the symbol of the Zentrumband, and a miscellany of medals of varying colors and sizes, an aviator sat shining a dim red his left breast pocket; the vivid blue eyes that they once cloaked were now free to peek forth into the ambient crimson darkness with increased acuity.
The trio received immediate salutes as they rounded corner upon corner of the confidential complex that they found themselves within, with every checkpoint in each hallway allowing them to pass as soon as they fell within eyesight. All-black statues stood silent amidst the edges of these humming halls, the power armor of the two guardsmen beforehand being upon all of these assembled troopers that practiced an attention of stony focus. The optics that lied upon their faces did not waver or twitch as the men passed, but the eyes that lied beneath them strained to hold their focus as they began to realize just who had marched in front of their wakes.
Soon enough, the trio found themselves standing behind a massive bulkhead, its metallic lips held firmly shut by a miscellany of hidden gears and hydraulics systems. However, as they stood waiting before it, the bulkhead began to part its wrought lips with an audible hiss as its internal machinery were forced to haul the weight of the door open in full. As the two portions of the bulkhead affixed themselves to the roof and the floor, the man and his miniature entourage advanced forth into a small hallway that was less reminiscent of an emergency war bunker, and more resemblant of the more iconic governmental infrastructure on Vera.
A lone officer sat silent behind a fine wooden desk, his attention only being briefly gripped by the holo-monitor that sat idle before him. The striking black of his uniform and cap clashed with the red armband that lied upon his left arm, making the officer briefly subsume in vision unto the darkness of the opulent hallway. Upon seeing the three pass the threshold of the bulkhead, however, his darkened form emerged unto the light of the overhead lamps, a straight-armed salute from his right arm being administered in systematic response.
The man with the blue eyes nodded at the underling before him as he passed by, his steps never wavering in speed as he advanced beyond the desk and officer and towards the proper wooden doors that lied at the end of the hallway. Two troopers akin to the ones that escorted the man emulated the officer ahead in their salutes, their arms holding for a scant few seconds until they returned down to their sides. In an almost robotic motion, the two non-escorting soldiers gripped the golden doorknobs to the double doors and twisted them with care, opening them inward unto the room that lied ahead. The man raised his hands in a stopping motion for the two soldiers that had been following him so far, and in response they halted their procession along his side. They assumed a guarding position with the two other troopers in powered armor within the hallway, the shadows of their movement being seen as the wooden doors drifted to a close with a firm clunk.
As his eyes adjusted to the innards of the room that laid before him, the man noticed the sheer amount of officers and civilian officials assembled within. A multitude of leather seats were arranged around an oval-shaped and raised black granite table, with each possessing either a senior military official or astute administrator of the Sternenstaat government upon it. None of them were holograms, and as such, it was of no surprise to the measures of security that the compound that hosted them had undertaken with its multitude of checkpoints and general infrastructure - for some of the most important members of the Vaterlandspartei had assembled for the very man that had arrived.
A large Zentrumband, indicative of the Party that ruled over the country and the very ideological spirit of the nation itself, loomed behind the lone chair that was reserved just for the newcomer to the meeting. He took his advance towards the chair with care, rounding the table and noting to himself all of the figures that had punctually arrived to the appointment at hand. He then unclipped the scarlet cape that rode upon his shoulders prior, and folded it neatly over the head of the lone, white leather chair that laid empty for him at the end of the table. He then pivoted the chair around and let himself slip into its cushioning embrace before turning around to give his attention to the sea of faces that anticipated his very next words.
“Thank you, gentlemen of the Fatherland, for coming here today.”
His words rung strongly into the air as the man reclined, stroking his empty chin as his elbows fell upon the chair's armrests. The other arm moved to press a button embedded within the desk, and as a result of such, a hidden panel revealed itself unto him. The man reached forth and grabbed a large cigar from the panel, methodically inserting its end into a nearby cutter before lighting it with a peripheral plasma flame. This process lasted nothing more than a handful of seconds as his eyes scanned the table before him, spotting that many of the officers and officials assembled had waited for him to arrive before lighting their own cigars and cigarettes.
“It is not often that we, as the embodiments of the Fatherland Party itself, come together under one roof. And for that, I thank you once more for your presence.”
He raised the cigar to his lips and puffed on it as he noted the responses from the various men in front of him, retrohaling the smoke through his nose in the process.
“Staatskanzler Widmann, we are all pleased to be assembled unto your behest as leader of the Fatherland Party,” Staatspräsident Heinrich Schuhbeck stated as he mulled over a fine cognac. “Not a detriment to us in the slightest. I must thank you for your assistance in my re-election as well,” he added, before finishing the rest of the cognac left in his small-portioned glass.
“You are always the fucking sycophant, aren't you?” jabbed Staatsführer-SS Vincent Heitmeyer, his jet black uniform akin to his subordinate that Widmann had briefly met prior. He too puffed upon a cigar, exhaling it through his mouth in preparation for his next insult towards Schuhbeck. “You know, Herr Staatspräsident, I can always take your place if the position gets boring enough. Switch places, even, eh?”
Before Schuhbeck could respond, Widmann rapped his knuckles upon the black granite surface of the table before them. “Let us not get ahead of ourselves; this isn't our usual party meeting. Eisenmenger, give us the debriefing for the intelligence your men have collected.”
Widmann's gaze turned to a man dressed in non-descript leather clothing, who sat next to the Staatsführer and opposite of Schuhbeck. Eisenmenger's stare was forlorn - a stoicism that Widmann had gotten used to long ago as acclimation to his job position. After all, the man was the head of the shadowy Staatssicherheitsdienst - an organization that even the Staatsschutz could not get its bureaucratic hands upon. Such a stark divide was noted in how Heitmeyer carried himself around Eisenmenger, sporting a hint of caution around the SSD director.
“Right away, Herr Staatskanzler. As detailed in my summative report to members of the Staatskonvent and high commands of the Staatswehr and Staatsschutz alike, we have ascertained the key strategic positions within proximity to the Sternenstaat that would - if seized - would cement our powerbase in the Gamma Quadrant.”
“I've read your report front and back, Eisenmenger,” voiced Rupprecht Kronenberg, chairman of the Staatskonvent legislative body within the Staatskongress. “And, yet, it never informs the reader of anything pertinent to how these targets as a whole would strengthen the Sternenstaat or the Compact at large.”
“That isn't my job to do,” Eisenmenger replied, his cold stare turning to face the brown eyes of Kronenberg's. “My task, as dictated by Herr Widmann, was to compile the data pertinent to each and every target. It did not quantify my specific study of the astropolitical nor military benefits to the seizure of these areas or infrastructures detailed - that is why we are here, to discuss these things, Chairman. And, if I heard you right, you ask for the Compact's strength to be brought into question - is your loyalty to the Fatherland, or to this Compact we attach ourselves with?”
“Eisenmenger. You need not question the loyalties of our comrade here,” Widmann said, his free hand pointing at the SSD commander before him. “You know how astute our dear Chairman is with the details of every report that falls upon his desk. As for you, Kronenberg, Eisenmenger has already stated the crux of this meeting; it is for full discussion of these targets, which is something best left to the confines of this room versus it being intercepted out amidst transmission.”
“I understand,” said each of the men asynchronously, with their heads bowing slightly to recognize Widmann's authority.
“Good. I will assume control of the meeting's conduct today - that is, unless someone has input to my ideas. Let us start.”
“We must discuss the state of affairs in the galaxy in full in order to settle ourselves into the proper mode of strategization for the times to come. The Stepford-Arnau Trade and Military Alliance has dissolved now nearly two years to the present, and with it, the Sternenstaat's opportunities for expansion of influence have increased exponentially. While we cannot haphazardly jump into confronting these shamed polities one-by-one militarily, as they still maintain alliances between ex-member states from underlying treaties, the state of galactic trade security in both physical and economic senses have been perturbed in favor to us.
The Interstellar Compact of Collective Human Harmony is an extension of our power, even if diluted with the machinations of fellow member states such as the Olimipiadans, Sinicans, or Pikasistani. The rise of power of the Compact is the rise of power for the Sternenstaat, and if we abate using this to our advantage any longer, the opportunity for mankind to attain glory and definition upon the Milky Way will be lost. Look at the Weld, who still wage their wars of occultic rage across the Gamma Quadrant. Our stand at Iskikan showed the galaxy that the Fatherland and mankind itself will not abandon its own children. Look towards the state of the galaxy upon every shimmering shard of an alternative universe; infantile wars of the most basic formulae fought for control of a mere few star systems, or at the whims of moronic leaders for reasons still unknown. Our administration is paramount, our military is resurgent, and yet we lie here in meditation as the cosmos burns itself a path for us to tread. This has been the folly that we must correct today, gentlemen.
The first stepping stone on the path to a greater Sternenstaat will be, as all of you know, this 'Mercantile Republic' of Predena. It is a bastion of near-human degeneracies and hypocritical xenophilia, giving freedoms to these animals in one sector and yet using them as slaves in other sectors of their very own nation. A nation of greedy merchants and hypocrites is something antithetical to our country, and their actions as of late have also been antithetical to our goals within the Gamma Quadrant. For one, they have blocked access to the Sivulon Trade Network and the Swift Winds Trade Corridor through the Carinae Sector, and as a result, New Silk Road traffic must be routed beyond the Carinae Sector in order to interact with these other two trade lanes. That is, in itself, unacceptable - and all that it will take to justify action against them is if they enforce this blithe embargo against us. Eisenmenger, if you may detail to them the mission that you have been planning...”
“Thank you, Herr Widmann. I have been formulating an idea in order to force the hands of the Predenans into acting against us, and in kind, giving us the proper justification for conflict without the butting heads of foreign star states attempting to intervene in sympathy to them. Any and all Compact-affiliated merchants have been barred from entering the Mercantile Republic for over a year, and have informed any and all vessels affiliated with the Compact that any entry of their territory will be met with appropriate force. The assets I have within the country tell me that their Defense Force command are drunk off of our inaction, and say that even if they fire upon a civilian vessel that it would all be swept under the rug. The psychology of their government and their military has numbed to the point of clueless bravado, and it is the perfect climate for action against them.
The mission details will specifically involve the departure of a Compact Economic Cooperative ship into Predenan territory - one from the Beta Quadrant, running Sinican merchant credentials and yet containing Staatsmensch crew, having completed a year-long leg into Pikasistan and back. The Sinicans are to be informed of these details, but it will involve a fabricated loss of life for maximum culpability against the Predenans - since they are confident of inaction from us, they will do nothing but issue empty apologies. These very empty apologies will be the impetus of rage for the Sternenstaat to capitalize upon, and will be the very rage that we begin our efforts of reviving the Sternenstaat war machine.”
“If I may ask,” Heitmeyer said, turning to face Eisenmenger next to him. “You say a... fabricated loss of life. What does this exactly entail? Are we sending an iron coffin into Predenan territory and hope that no one finds out about our tactics?”
“Comrade, we live in the age of memetic duping of the utmost caliber. There will be no souls aboard, but the general public nor Predenan intelligence will know. All we need to do is to feed them the proper communications, dupe the proper heat signatures within, and respond with legitimate anger; all three of which entirely possible if the greater public does not become cognizant of our plans. We need not sacrifice the life of even one proud human to gain the excuse to lay waste to them.”
“Hmm... interesting,” Heitmeyer said, resting his cigar down. “The thing is, have we yet to calculate the military and paramilitary preperations for this endeavor? The Predenans, as ignorant as they are so far, must be able to become aware of any major fleet movement coming from Compact member nations against them.”
Widmann was the next to talk, following up on Heitmeyer's comment. “Once this meeting convenes, we will rationalize the specifics and nuances of such a mobilization. However, we will not attempt any preparatory mobilization effort prior to the SSD's feigned incident, as we cannot risk the general public nor outside intelligence becoming cognizant of our actions. Instead, as soon as this incident occurs, we will use the gravitas of such to empower our army and population in a revived war effort more glorious than even that of Operation Wolkenkratzer. Now, Herr Heitmeyer, the Kampf-Staatsschutz will be instrumental in the upcoming conflicts as a complement to the Staatswehr's operations. Since the Carinae Sector is well within proximity of the Nauticus Sector and our very nation, it is only natural to allow the K-SS significant operational duties in a potential invasion of Predena. Do you personally believe that your men are ready?”
“Is there even a need to ask, my Staatskanzler? Of course. The legions of the Kampf-SS stand at ready to sacrifice anything for the Fatherland at any moment - it is the Staatswehr that you must ask this question towards.”
The Chief of Operations for the Sternenstaat's military, the Staatswehr, gave Heitmeyer a glare from the sides of his eyes. His rank being of high prominence, Oberbefehlshaber der Staatswehr Hildebrand von Bothmer sat near to both Kronenberg and Schuhbeck, a cigarette in between his fingers and his mouth contorting in listening to Heitmeyer's insinuations.
“I can assure you, Staatskanzler, that the military is on an ever-permanent state of readiness. The only current obstacle to a rapid reaction time of our forces is their various patrol routes assigned as a part of the Compact Security Cooperative - they are able to be called back to direct military service at your behest. The thing I am most concerned with here, though, is how we will deliver these plans to the Sternenkaiser.”
“The Sternenkaiser is the very first man that I spoke to in regards to this very topic, Bothmer,” Widmann said. “I will admit that he is not fond of the need for our country to assume direct action as soon as possible, but he recognizes its necessity and has given me implicit authorization to carry out these objectives. It is the general public that we must be careful addressing, gentlemen, for it is they who will carry the brunt of the future conflicts upon their shoulders. We must shepherd them with care, and make sure that they understand the ideological and practical necessities of what we are to plan here today. Now, to finish up the topic of the Predenans, take a look at the map shown upon your respective holo-screens.
The Mercantile Republic of Predena has a horizontal territorial configuration, with respective to galactic direction and proximity to our country. The northern breadth of their nation is effectively open to permeation from our navy, especially in the locations most proximal to the New Silk Road. The bulk of an invasion should be coordinated from the New Silk Road itself to maximize logistical capabilities and efficiencies, but we must nevertheless also include the possibility of an invasion into their westernmost sectors from the voids to the north as well. These voids are rarely patrolled and infested with pirates, but I put full stock in the abilities of expeditionary naval units to take advantage of that situation.
Another weakness that lies in their country is, as you can see, their spine of a sector that defines the location of space known as the Cruxan Run. If we are able to assume control of this sector even prior to cracking open the Eye of Tian, it will shatter the conduct of war for the Predenans instantaneously. Heitmeyer and Bothmer, you both will create military strategems cooperatively to ensure SS-Staatswehr coordination in the capture of these objectives. I do not care who gets to them first, as the importance of these battles will not be pertinent on which armed force wins them. It will be if the Sternenstaat and the greater Compact get the chance to end this war fast through Quasarkrieg and quick before the entire galaxy grows knowledgeable of the trends we are to commit to in the future. Do you both understand?”
The two men who sat practically opposite of each other responded in kind, before looking at each other in silent recognition of their roles' importances to come.
“Excellent. Now, in regards of this incident to feign... let us plan that in totality, alongside how to treat the public's reaction...”
