The Interstellar Federation, a brief history

The Interstellar Federation is a close-knit and powerful coalition of worlds, the founding race of which was the Atlasians, so it was only fitting that InterFed’s home planet be Atlas. The Atlasians themselves were a mystery. In the post-HyperDrive galaxy attention was focused on the question, why do the Altarians look so much like the humans? In all the hubbub, the Galaxy forgot that the Atlasians also looked exactly like the humans, more so than the Altarians.

The IF was inaugurated in 1526 (Earth Standard Year) and has spread to countless worlds all linked on the Stargate network. The IF managed to devise a program that could read incoming Stargate signals and block them if necessary, which is how they staved off Drengin invasion for all those years, simply because the Drengin relied on Stargates for travel. When the Humans arrived on the scene in 22nd century the IF watched in the wings with interest, eyeing up the Terran Alliance for potential trade agreements and membership. In 2171 the Humans gave the IF the gift of HyperDrive, sealing the deal. InterFed offered the humans membership but they respectfully declined, wishing to maintain their own autonomy. The IF was unfazed by their refusal and struck up trade deals with the Alliance nonetheless. Even in the HyperDrive enlightened era the IF still maintained their Stargates, but no race knew why. But in 2224, the reason became evident. The Drengin were arming for a war with the humans, the IF pledged support to the Terran Alliance should such a war happen. And because of this, the Drengin laid waste to numerous Federal worlds. The IF responded mercilessly. Taking all but one of their Stargates on daring covert missions into Drengin space, they were placed around as many Drengin stars as possible. The one remaining Stargate was moved to 135/42, a restricted sector within Federation Space. It was here that, many thousands of years ago, a super massive star had gone supernova, leaving behind a black hole. The Gate was placed within the accretion disk of the black hole, just out of the Event Horizon. The Gate then dialled all other Gates (currently orbiting Drengin stars) simultaneously. Once this happened, the gravity of the black hole was transmuted along the wormhole, literally causing the Drengin stars to be ripped apart by the Stargates. It worked perfectly, the plan was truly ingenious and the Drengin have since signed a non-aggression pact in the form of the Greenleaf Accord with the IF, one that InterFed does not intend to honour. All IF Stargates were destroyed in the attack save for the one still in the accretion disk of the black hole. It is rumoured the Federation is currently rebuilding its Gates for a repeat attack in the future. Military advisors warned that like InterFed, the Drengin were not going to honour the Greenleaf Accord.

2227

The Drengin are dying, still reeling from the crippling Solar Catastrophes of 2224, the Empire had no chance of surviving a war with the Terran Alliance, and in February 2227, they surrendered to the Arceans. This caused the remaining governments, the Torians, Terrans, Yor, Thalan, InterFed and the Altarians some…indigestion. Now the Arceans were a truly mighty race, having assimilated the tatters of the Drengin Empire, they now owned an unholy amount of the sector. The Federation sported a minimal presence here, 6 planets, which were, in order of colonisation, Atlas, Lilac, Athens, Bellerophon, Greenleaf and Salisbury. However these planets were all of excellent quality, no more so than Greenleaf. The greatest planet in the sector, and the IF got there first. Though the IF had the least amount of planets in the sector, we had a massive military presence. Our ships were similar if not identical in design to those of the Terran Alliance, and were only differentiated by the slightly darker main colour (Grey) and trim (Indigo). But no military presence could rival the Arceans, they practically owned the sector, and this was a subject which everyone else was unhappy about. Including the Federation.

2230

War began with the Arceans. And it was brutal. The Arceans went straight for Greenleaf, several times. But the planet was too well defended. Two starbases, Fort Greenleaf and Eden Station gave support to ships orbiting the planet. And ground based defences could bombard orbiting enemy transports before they got close enough to land their troops. However, the IF had gotten itself entrenched; any ship that entered Arcean space was immediately hunted down by a vastly superior force and annihilated. And later that year, all that remained of the *impressive* Federation fleet was defenders. We needed a rethink. Through a (large) cash injection to the Yor and the Torians, we got them to attack the Arceans, which gave us time to reflect and rebuild. The reason for the high attrition rate was a mismatched starship design. The Arceans attacked with Beams and defended with Countermeasures. We Attacked with Missiles and defended with Shields. So while we could take a beating, we couldn’t deliver it, neither could they but they had the strength of numbers. It was the classic "Brains vs. Brawn" scenario. We needed to design our ships to exploit the Arceans weaknesses. As it stood, in a one on one, it was a fair fight, fair fights, tactically speaking, are bad. So, after a lengthy research process, the Federation made the switch to Beam weapons. Countermeasures can’t take down a beam travelling at nearly the speed of light. But our shields still provided adequate defences against their beams, and so great warships were built. Equipped with Mark III HyperWarp drives, they could go, see and conquer in the blink of an eye. These ships would be called the Pegasus class. Backed up by the Oberon class Battlecruisers, they would have nothing to fear. But before we could return to the fray, we needed a way to get our troops to the frontlines, fast, safely, and in large numbers. The Mass Transport was the answer; it was a truly amazing ship.

Cargo hull (modified Colony ship design)
5 Mk. III HyperWarp engines
5 Adv. Troop modules (5000 legions in total),
4 Force Field Generators
One forward mounted Mk. II Disruptor emplacement.

The company that built it sold it saying, "Hurl lots of troops at ridiculous speeds across the galaxy and kick butt when you get there!" The hordes of Ghengis Khan would drool in envy. It was time, to rock ‘n’ roll.

2232

10 Mass transports (50,000 troops) departed Federation space in 2232, escorted by wings of Oberon Battlecruisers backed up by fleets of Pegasus class warships. They tore into nearby Arcean worlds. Following the Federation tradition of changing planet names instead of leaving them as "Weber III" this planet was named Old Sarum, followed in quick succession by Meridian. However it was here that the Arceans drew the line. They held the fleets back just before they hit Arcea and something new was needed to tip the balance, enter the Warstar.

2233

A Huge scale ship, it would serve as the flagship of the fleet against the Arceans and in 2233, it arrived at Arcea and stripped away the defences single-handedly. Arcea was now under Federal rule. Unfortunately the cost in manpower was high; it took three mass transports (15,000 troops) to conquer Arcea. And many ships fell keeping Arcean warships flying in from other planets away from the transports. It was getting harder and harder to destroy their ships…they were adapting…

2234

Disaster. Our allies, the Terran Alliance, entered the war…against us. They had ripped up the Mars Accord that brought the alliance between nations into existence, and the now stood between us, and the rest of Arcean space. We did not blame them. Their treachery made us take a frank look at ourselves. In 4 short years we had charged across half the sector, cutting down whatever lay before us. We knew what that must look like to the other races, especially if it looked like it to our allies. But there was no going back, and soon, our ships were engaged in combat with our brothers…the Humans. It was an odd sight, and uninitiated observer would think that humans were fighting their own. The ships looked identical, the Atlasians and Humans were identical. What cruel twist of fate had us fighting out brothers? It was not less than civil war. And then the third evolution of Humankind, the Altarians, joined the Terrans against us. Even combined they were no match for us, and we tore them to shreds. On the 19 December, 6 days before Earth celebrated Christmas, the Federation flag was hoisted over it. Earth was ours. The rest of the Terrans crumbled. Fleeing their home world now occupied by their brother from beyond the stars. The Altarians surrendered to the Yor, who used this new found power to attack us with. Though no official alliance was made, the entire sector was trying to kill us. Except the Torians, who remained irritatingly neutral as the sector fell apart around them. The Arceans surrendered to the Yor as well. It was now us, and them. The sector split in two, but blood pouring over the borders.

2235

Endgame. The Yor took Atlas, the seat of Federation power. But our economy was resilient, and suffered but a dent. And but two months later the Federation flag once again stood on Atlas soil. However Federation citizens were growing tired of war, 5 years was the longest war in the Federation’s history. As such the Federalists were kicked out of the Senate. But even under new management the war could not end, the Yor were relentless. Eden Station, orbiting Greenleaf, was destroyed. Fort Greenleaf had taken heavy damage. The Yor possessed Doom Rays that far outstripped our defensive capabilities. We could gain no advantage in a reasonable amount of time. We just had to slug it out, and that meant take as many planets as possible to deprive the Yor of resources. Many people began talking of rebuilding the Stargates, and once again destroying Yor stars. But that proved impossible. The material required for building one Stargate equalled that needed to build 100 Pegasus class Destroyers. In late June the Federation made one final push, and took three more Yor worlds. Six remained, but apparently these were not enough to sustain them, and they surrendered to us. After 5 long arduous years of war, InterFed could breath easy. The battered starships returned home for repairs, and, for now, there was an uneasy peace.


*Screenshots to follow later*