The Terran Empire

The Empire is the ruling form of goverment in this story. It is based on the planet earth, aka Terra. The supreme commander of the Empire is Empress Katya Petrovna. She is the daughter of a former admiral with the Federated Worlds Navy, Yuri Petrov.

The Federated Worlds was the goverment that existed before the Empire. In the Federated Worlds every member world had a delegation on earth and an equal voice in the grand council. The earth president served as the supreme chancellor of the grand council.

The leaders of each member world also had the right to take command of any Federated Worlds Navy vessel operating in their system for "official" business. However what actually constituted official business varied from system to system. Admiral Petrov who was angry at having his fleet constantly pulled from important duties for the vanity of planetary leaders filed a motion with the grand council to change the policy on planetary leaders commandeering vessels for their own uses.

For six months the vote was tied up in committee hearings. When it was finally held a small majority voted to retain the current policy. Admiral Petrov received the news only minutes after hearing how his son had been killed because the frigate sent to support him had been commandeered by the leader of Avalon to take him and his mistress on an "official" cruise.

Petrov was furious, and issued a call to arms against the existing goverment. More than 60% of the fleet actively joined him, off those that did not, only a handful sided with the goverment. The military campaign lasted less than a month and all the leadership of all member worlds were arrested by Yuri's forces. A military tribunal was held for all of them and guilty verdicts returned.

They were then all executed by firing squad, except for the leader of Avalon and his mistress. The first was killed by Yuri himself who took great delight in putting him in an airlock and blowing him out into space. As for the mistress she was given to Yuri's crew to do with as they wished. A week later her corpse was also blown out into space.

After the executions a period of reorganisation occured. Each world that was part of Federated Worlds was allowed to apoint new leaders, who had to swear loyalty to a military governor selected by Yuri Petrov. In just six months the Federated Worlds had been washed away and the Terran Empire risen in its place.

For most of the citizens of the former Federated Worlds, day to day life remained the same. For some, like the people on Avalon who had lived under corrupt leaders, life actually improved. But for a small minority things got a lot worse. Out on the periphery in what was known as the coreward expansion zone, a seperatist movement arose.

A decade long civil war broke out. During the war a number of previously loyal worlds joined the seperatists cause. These worlds were quickly brought back into line. On the planet Edo, this was achieved thru the use of orbital bombardment of the capital city on the planet. Millions died in just a few hours.

Out in the coreward expansion zone the seperatist fleet launched a massive **** against the Imperial station Outpost 44 and the Imperial fleet stationed there. The Imperials won, but at great cost. More than half the fleet was destroyed and on Terra an unknown assassin killed Emperor Yuri Petrov.
19 year old Katya assumed her fathers place as leader of the Empire. Some saw her as Yuri's rightful heir. Others saw her as a safe bet, in that her lack of military experience would mean that she would not follow the same course as her father. As a result her claim went unchallenged and she officially became the Empress.

Those who saw her as a safe bet were shocked when she appointed a new admiral to command the Imperial Navy. It was captain Galen Marick, the officer who had devastated the capital of Edo. This act saw protests spring up on almost every Imperial world. However they were all silenced with operation Midnight Sun.

Operation Midnight Sun was a fleet action where vessels of the Imperial fleet took up orbit on the dark side of every world with protests. Then on the command of the Empress, they fired their weapons into the atmospheres of each world. The effect was stunning, turning night into day on each world. The message it conveyed was a blunt reminder that the Empire could if it so desired could wipe out every city on every world. The protests stopped, but tensions remained high. With all the troubles occurring within the Empire, all efforts to continue colonising thecoreward expansion zone were officially abandoned.