Eight Hundred and Twenty Fifth Year of the Exodus, Zeroith Year of the Splintering

Eight Hundred and Twenty Fifth Year After the Battle of the Sol System

The return of the Sunstreak and the information it brought with it caused an uproar among the TRAPPIST-1 colonies. About a third of all of the humans, led by Abby Bain and her cadre of social and environmental engineers, wanted to simply start over. Stay in the TRAPPIST-1 system until the Twisted Empire inevitably made contact, and make overtures of peace.They did not particularly care if they became part of the Empire or simply good neighbors. All that they wanted was to be left in peace, to raise their families and live their lives.

Another third, headed by Admiral Supesu and the Void Guard, wanted to take up arms and bring war to the Twisted Empire.They argued that the destruction of Earth and the occupation of the Sol system was a state of affairs that could only ever lead to war. And that the utter destruction of all humans in the Sol system, provoked or otherwise, demonstrated the fact that the Twisted Empire would settle for nothing less than the total eradication of humanity when the two races inevitability met again.

The last third of humanity, largely leaderless and made up of humans dwelling on the orbital habitats, wanted to simply move even further away. Humanity had the capacity to build FTL colony ships, so why not use them? Set off for the far side of the galaxy, or even to other galaxies, find a new worlds and start fresh again? Grow strong far from the Twisted Empire, and should the two races meet in the distant future, negotiate from a position of equal strength.

The Command Crew being divided, and with fully a third of the people of TRAPPIST-1 disagreeing with both of the other sides, a compromise needed to be found. A compromise that no side would like in its entirety, but which all sides could agree to. A Second Diaspora project was started, with two separate FTL super-ships to be constructed. Named the Nomad class, they would have cryosleep arrays at their cores, deep-space construction capability to fulfill the early needs of any conceivable colony, and enough firepower to defend themselves.

The Solar Wind was already under construction, although she was being redesigned and rebuilt in the spacedock to accommodate a DTA drive, would belong to the Colonizers. The refit specifications reduced, but did not eliminate, the weapons mountis in favor of increased asteroid mining, resource refining, and deep space construction capability.

The second Nomad-class ship, The Third World, would belong to Admiral Supesu’s Militarists. It would first serve as a transport and colony ship, but would then be converted into a gargantuan flagship. Her plans were drawn up accordingly, with only limited but sufficient endurance as a colony ship, heavy armor, gravity shields, and heavy missile launchers. Once the colonists were unloaded, the cryosleep array would be stripped out and three heavy spinal mass drivers would be installed in its place.

Both Nomad-class ships would be built at the same time and depart the TRAPPIST-1 system at the same time never to return. In exchange for not sabotaging the project, Abby Bain’s Peacemakers would get to keep the TRAPPSIT-1 system and all of the infrastructure in it.

Ensign Musume Supesu stood on the bridge of the Solar Wind and stared across at the work lights illuminating the core of what would become The Third World. Her relationship with her father had become exceedingly strained following her decision to join the Colonizers. What it came down to was Musume’s belief, not shared by her father, that the Void Guard, with The Third World to lead its fleet, would be able to smash the Twisted Empire in open combat. She believed that the level of industrial effort present in the Sol System indicated that the Twisted Empire controlled more than just the Sol system and the Alpha Centauri system. While Musume conceded that they had shown no ships that could fight something the size of The Third World in open combat given equivalent levels of technology, they did not really need to match the MIlitarists ship for ship. With multiple shipyards across multiple systems, they could simply drown the Militarists in numbers and irreplaceable attritional losses.

For now, they were both officers of the Void Guard, and would adhere to the regulations pertaining to their ranks. Musume had moved out of her family’s home to the Solar Wind and had no plans of ever leaving the ship. It would be five years before construction would be finished. Five years before she could turn her back on the foolish Militarists and the idiotic Peacemakers. Five years before she would be free to follow her own path, chart her own future.

Kynttilan’Liekki Laiska’Vanha’Verta re-checked the order slip for the seventh time. He could not believe his luck. Good or foul was yet to be seen, but his comfortable posting was drawing to a close. He had been recalled to the Crown World system, there to receive the rank of Soihtu’Liekki and posting to the Twenty Seventh Scout Flotilla. He had heard rumors of a new Scout Flotilla being formed, and had wondered which of the Vahna’Verta clan would be tapped for ship command. Laiska’Vanha’Verta had never anticipated that it would be him! His service record was solid but uninspiring. Laiska’Vanha’Verta’s performance evaluations had confirmed his competence, but also highlighted his uninspired tactics during simulated engagements. He had bent the rules slightly to take a peek at the ‘restricted’ section of his personnel file, the part that included the Fleets decisions about future promotions and postings. Laiska’Vanha’Verta was unsurprised to note that he had been deemed ‘not particularly suited to command of mobile units.’

The more Laiska’Vanha’Verta though about his new orders, the more he suspected that both the Bureaucrats and the Fleet was up to something. One of them was setting the other up to fail by putting him in command of a ship and expecting him to fail his tasking. Laiska’Vanha’Verta suspected that it was the Beuracrats who had set him up, but the Fleet had chosen his posting when the inevitable seniority-based promotion came through. That meant that the Twenty Seventh Scout Flotilla was expected to remain in orbit for some time.

Laiska’Vanha’Verta found himself satisfied with this outcome. He would get ship command experience in his career history in a situation that was utterly unthreatening. This would in turn add the notation to his personnel file that he was indeed able to command mobile units. And when the inevitable promotion to Palo’Liekki came through, Laiska’Vanha’Verta would be in a position to essentially pick his posting. Probably as an officer aboard one of the Fleet shipyards he speculated, leveraging his (by then) senior rank with his limited shipboard deployments to secure a posting aboard a fixed installation.

Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika, employee of the Resource Allocation Division of the Empire’s Bureaucracy, stared at his display. He was not afraid of the results on his screen, despite the blinking red numbers that indicated resource shortages. He was running a three hundred and thirty Crown World Orbit forecast, which was performed on a routine basis. It was not Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika’s decision on what was to be done about the inevitable resource shortage. It was only his job to complete the forecast, highlight that Something Needed Done, and bring that conclusion to the attention of his superiors.

Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika checked the numbers on which the forecast was based, and ordered his terminal to run them again, with the consideration that the third world of the Toinen’Maailma system would be ‘skinned’ a third time. He went to fetch a drink while the terminal processed the request.

When he returned, he found that the results were actually worse than before. He checked the detailed analysis section, and found that ‘skinning’ the third world was actually a net loss of resources..

Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika set his drink down and considered the options. The Fleet was beginning to assemble a new Scout Flotilla, which may find some systems sufficiently rich in resources to be turned into mining outposts. But it might not as well. Thus his forecast should include options based on the fact that the Fleet could not be counted on to fill the resource shortfall before the stockpiles ran too low.

Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika pulled up the Starlog for the Toinen’Maailma system and started flipping through the worlds. The asteroid belt had long since been consumed, but perhaps one of the other orbital bodies could be tapped for resources.

First world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S02-ZNT-L-F: Special-class world of danger level two - Rocky body, No life forms, Trace atmosphere - Inner Cauldron orbit - Ferrous composition Second world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S09-ZNB-L-U: Special-class world of danger level nine - Rocky body, No life forms, Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere - Inner Cauldron orbit - Unknown composition. Third world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S01-ZNT-O-F-P067: Special-class world of danger level one - Rocky body, No life forms, Trace atmosphere - Orbital debris present - Ferrous composition - Planet Consumption progress at sixty seven percent. Fourth world of the Toinen’Maailma system: G01-ZEC-A-I. Garden-class world of danger level one - Rocky body, Empire life forms, Crown World-like Atmosphere - Atmospheric Anomalies - Inhabited world. Local name: Salama’Maa. Fifth world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S05-VNR-A-R. Special-class world of danger level five - Gaseous body, No life forms, Reactive atmosphere (hydrogen primary) - Atmospheric Anomalies - Reactive composition (hydrogen primary). Sixth world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S03-VNR-O-R. Special-class world of danger level five - Gaseous body, No life forms, Reactive atmosphere (hydrogen primary) - Orbital debris present - Reactive composition (hydrogen primary). Seventh world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S04-GNR-D. Special-class world of danger level four - Frozen body, No life forms, Reactive atmosphere (hydrogen primary) - Dihydrogen Monoxide composition. Eighth world of the Toinen’Maailma system: S03-GNR-D. Special-class world of danger level three - Frozen body, No life forms, Reactive atmosphere (hydrogen primary) - Dihydrogen Monoxide composition.

It was promptly apparent to Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika that only the first and third worlds of the Toinen’Maailma system were suitable for Planetary Consumption, and the first world was only a marginal candidate. Being an Inner cauldon world, it was too close to its star for Planetary Consumption in its current orbit, which would require that it be moved. This was a resource-intensive undertaking, and usually not worth the cost.

Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika ordered his terminal to re-run the forecast, excluding the ‘skinning’ of the third world of the Toinen’Maailma system, but including the completion of the Planetary Consumption process. The terminal processed the numbers and displayed the results. Yellow numbers this time, indicating projections were within acceptable parameters, but whose lower outlier bound was below acceptable parameters.

Laskemalla’Numerot’Juoksupoika nodded his satisfaction and began to compile his report on the forecast. The third world of the Toinen’Maailma system would require total Planetary Consumption, but the Fleet’s Scout Flotilla should also be dispatched when it was assembled. Not that the Empire would necessarily need additional resources within the next three hundred and thirty Crown World Orbits, but it would need those resources in the future. And if the Fleet happened to find a suitably harvestable system in the next three hundred and thirty Crown World Orbits, then so much the better.