Читать книгу The Rise of the Omarlo Clan - Rosylan McCallum - Страница 6

Prologue

Centuries of interplanetary warfare resulted in the economic collapse of the nineteen planets comprising the Nissarian star system. Those who were alive cared nothing about the reasons for the start of the ongoing conflict. They only cared about finding ways to continue to survive the war’s devastating results. Generations had grown up accustomed to the constant sounds of war: missiles and bombs exploding, cries of pain from the wounded, cries of hunger and fear emanating from women and children—war’s most vulnerable victims. They knew well to hide from the constant menace of the sluggish steps, which signaled the presence of soldiers or mercenaries trudging through towns and cities. Interplanetary space travel had long since stopped being a common means of moving about. What little there was, the military controlled. Even under those circumstances, travel was sporadic. The problem was hazardous navigation through the debris of derelict ships adrift in space. This space junk was a silent reminder of the untold number of space battles fought and lost.

Then suddenly one day, the war, which had no true victor, was over. The frontline soldiers simply stopped fighting. Supplies such as rations, bullets, and medicine were among the last casualties that had ceased coming. Civilization had come to a brink. There was nothing left to sustain a war. Armies disintegrated, and everyone sought instead to get back home or to what was left of home.

Once again man had come close to the edge of extinction and needed to prove once more if he could be resilient enough to survive. Prior history told of his arrival in the Nissarian star system many eons ago under similar circumstances, that of fleeing war and extinction. He was now presented with another chance to survive and rebuild what had once been a thriving star system.

Those who were able to assume leadership became known as the planet’s house lords and understood that they must start over by first putting aside any and all differences and grievances. To jump-start the recovery process, the partially existing communication satellites were used to send word that a chosen representative from each planet was to attend a conclave on Meteran. This was a planet located in the center of the Nissarian system. The first meeting saw the founding of a governing group called the Coalition of Planets, COP. It was created to be the organization that would oversee state of affairs as they occurred during the period of reconstruction. It was decided by consensus that the highest-ranking house lord would be responsible for his or her planet’s reconstruction needs and, on a rotational basis for a term of five years, would govern as the head of COP.

However, not all of the planets in this star system suffered the same degree of fate. There were two small planets that were located farthest away from the center of the system warfare. They were Lagros and Racine, each located at opposite ends of the star system. They suffered little or no planet wide structural damage. They had no incidences of the sick and the dying abandoned among those who struggled to survive. They were unaffected for the most part as if no war had occurred. Because of their locations, the responsible war antagonists had long since stopped expecting much in the way of help from them.

The result was that over time, they were forgotten. They did, though, contribute their fair share of soldiers to the war effort. Their armies patrolled their space, mainly to ensure protection of their planets. They fought to keep the war away from Lagros and Racine. Those not involved in that process kept the agricultural and the industrial complexes on each planet going. The leaderships’ primary goals were to maintain the security of their planets and to preserve the necessary foresight needed to be ready when peacetime returned to the system. They knew help would be needed. Any who could provide this help would be in a good position to be first to receive untold economic wealth and power.

The first lord to assume COP’s leadership position was Lord Dargret Astral of the House of Astral. He did not want the post but was overwhelmingly voted into it by the other lords. It was known that his planet, Lagros, situated in the outermost region of the Nissarian system, had been most fortunate. They knew that Lagros suffered the least damage to its primary cities and towns. Though suffering from economic collapse, Lagros had its agricultural centers still intact; food was not a problem. Its well-fed citizenry had already begun to set up businesses to assist in the rebuilding of damaged cities and towns on other planets.

Most planets needed first to feed their people, so they were glad of any assistance. Because of this, Lord Astral was not particularly liked and was therefore marked as one who could afford to sit five years on Meteran as liege lord over COP. The other lords, concerned with their own planet’s interests, wanted the advantage of being on hand to supervise their planet’s recovery. So they willingly tossed Dargret Astral the boon of leadership. Racine’s house lord had taken a back seat position and allowed Lagros to step forward first with its offerings of help. He knew the action would put a target on Astral’s head.

Planetary representatives submitted requests for aid to this forum. The planets that were left in worse shape than others were the first to receive help. This period of new beginnings saw the strong assist the weak and resources pooled and shared. Realization soon set in that rebuilding would not be an easy task. Commercial starship travel, a must, was hampered. It dawned on those in charge very early that to clear the Nissarian system of its derelict space debris was a must.

This was a monumental task, and it would take years and most had not the time or resources. Still Racine waited. To entice efforts in this direction, it was suggested that a monetary incentive be created. It had to be some form of currency that all would accept. None had currency that other planets had any faith in. As it was, they had turned to the barter system as a means to begin to obtain their needs.

As COP’s head, Astral called for the institution of one central currency. He called for contribution from all planets of gold and silver, which would be sent to a central bank on Meteran. Then the new common paper currency would be redistributed back to each planet in equal amounts based upon the silver and gold contributed. All necessary services would now be obtainable through the use of the new paper currency or royal gold and silver crowns. Soldiers had been stranded on every planet. They were to be the first recipients of the new currency. Finally paid, they were able to obtain whatever passage they could find to return home.

Astral, eager to jump-start the clearing of space personally kept a close eye on the mint producing the currency. He assured all that there would be enough currency available to any who were willing to go into the new private trade of salvaging metal from the floating derelicts in space.

It was then that Racine’s house lord stepped forward. That was how the first planet to take full advantage of space salvaging as a business was the planet Racine. Very little was known about the current-day Racine. In past history, it was known to have been a prime source for machinery, be it farm or military. Racine had made the best starships. Astral gave it no further thought when Racine’s lord stepped forward to be contracted to remove the space debris. He surmised that like his planet, Lagros, Racine had avoided the devastating results of war because of its location.

In truth, Racine had never relied on inter planetary commerce within the system for its survival. It was self-sufficient. It was half agrarian and industrial. Its specialty before the war had been its commercial technical industries, which remained intact. At the war’s end, Racine had a sizable fleet of ships and was able to begin immediate pickup of their stranded people and provided reasonable rates of passage to others. With the soldiers’ return, other planets now had the workforce needed to revitalize the abandoned farms and other industries.

Half of Racine’s fleet provided transport while the rest was used for salvage. Racine had the largest number of individual companies working in space, salvaging metal derelicts. These derelicts were brought back and melted down in its many foundries and resold as raw metal materials. Racine also gave a fair price to other independent space-salvaging companies from other planets, and soon its companies became the primary buyers and exporters of scrap metal. Racine quickly became the center for obtaining for delivery the raw materials other planets needed for their reconstruction needs. This flurry of salvaging activity, besides providing massive wealth to Racine, also resulted in the timely removal of space junk.

At the end of the first five-year period, another lord was selected. He went to Dargret and asked him to continue in the position in his stead. Dargret saw no reason not to honor the request as all was going well on Lagros. This was brought before the members of COP. They readily agreed, as they were heavily involved with their own planet’s personal redevelopment issues. Reconstruction continued, still at a slower rate than had been anticipated.

By the fourth consecutive request for the aged Dargret to continue in the post, the House of Astral family, after twenty years in the position, decided to take a bold step and put forth a proposal in COP—an interim modification. It would allow members of their family to inherit the title general pro temp, governing over COP until such time as the voting members of COP revoked it. The other lords, with a sigh of relief at not having to assume the responsibility of overseeing COP, overwhelmingly passed the proposal. Centuries passed, and none challenged the House of Astral’s continuance in the leadership role. Six hundred painstakingly slow recovery years later the Nissarian system had regained its economic stability. It was again a system comprised of independent planets, which shared a common currency and allegiance. It was recognized that the first important step in the success of the recovery was the rate of increase in commercial starship travel as it related to the clearing of space. This acclaim became the first success attributed to the leadership of the Astral family. No credit was ever given to the efforts of the planet Racine, and it sought none.

The few planets that had been wise enough to align early with the Astral family received most favored status and benefited to the point of becoming very powerful during and after the years of recovery. However, the faraway planet Racine was able to become just as powerful without having to ask or receive any preferential treatment. The ruling family there worked hard and knew that Racine was a planet with a proud populace who pledged their loyalty only to the ruling House Lord Omarlo who in turn pledged his loyalty first to his people and then to COP.