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Length : 4 years
Background:
Humanity went to the Stars, explored and colonised scores of worlds yet found no traces of alien civilisations, either ancient or current. Humanity thought itself to be the only life in the Galaxy and slowly but resolutely expnded its sphere of occupation.
The view on the Galaxy changed somewhat when a cluster of worlds closest to the center of the Galaxy (which was still a far way off) were suddenly trapped within a sphere of impassible interference. Ships could not jump through the interference which was dubbed The Great Cloud by those trapped inside it, nor could they pass through by thrusters. All ships that tried had their power sucked from them leaving them floating idle, still thousands of kilometers away from the physical presence of the Cloud. After a year of research and attempts the Federation of Worlds gave up and soon found themselves facing a threat far more dangerous.
The worlds trapped inside the Great Cloud did not have the resources or ships to try for longer than a few months at attempting to get out, they would wait until the Federation of Worlds came to them. For the next three years the dozen worlds and a Combined Arms Division (the typical largest independant force the FoW used when not at war) waited and gave up all hope. They resigned themselves to being trapped forever, not knowing that on the other side of the Cloud, humanity was battling for its very existence, and loosing.
The stability enforeced by the FoW Division collapsed after the General of the division had, to his own explanation, a 'relevation' although a more preferred theory was that he had gone mad and meglomaniacal after eating an especially mind altering fungus while on a hike. The General changed his rank to the title King and declared himself sole ruler of the worlds within the Cloud.
The civilians immediately objected to his claim, they did not want a military dicatorship, or even a monarchy run by the military. Many of the divisions units also supported this and stayed loyal to the civilian administration. Notably, was a young Colonel Randal Wills who commanded the divisions Second Brigade. He attempted to place the King under arrest but was foiled when troops loyal to their General took him off planet.
The worlds were quickly split up. To get resources the King captured the world of Minos and changed its name to Lionesse as the homeworld of his new Lion Kingdom. The civilians, like those on other worlds tries to resist but loyal troops quickly subdued them and instituted a police state. The King demanded complete loyalty and instituted indocrination reforms in schools.
In response the other worlds formed the Boston Council, centered around a civilian government. Colonel Wills was promoted and given command of the military and protecting the seven Council worlds.
A brief war was fought between the two sides and ended when both realised neither had the resources to win completely without destroying themselves and that their worlds didn't have the industrial base to support any prolonged conflict. Equipment was to be carefully looked after and warefare reverted to raids or static infantry combats with cheap conventional weapons. The short war had cost the Division half of its strength and two thirds of its heavy or specialised equipment.
A year later, the First King of The Lion Kingdom was assassinated in a coup and his second in command took over. With him came a Queen who gave birth to twins.
The new King continued to play the low intensity game with the Council while gathering intelligence on the strength of one of the Council's prime worlds, Burchermans World . He reasoned, that if he could capture the planet he would be in a stronger position than the Council. With a clever plan he managed to land a regiment of troops supported by a company of Mecha. The battle was hard fought but the Kingdom troops were forced to retreat after the arrival of the BCNV Rightousness broke the blocade of Kingdom ships. The King was humiliated.
Trade between the two sides was nonexistant, a crime for any trader caught doing it, and almost impossible as both militaries commanded any space faring vessels. Two worlds were contested, Golb and Elijahs Paraisde. There smugglers crossed the border, avoiding both sides patrols and managed to sell their small loads. Espionage was more prevailent as both sides tried to learn the strengths, weaknesses, and social condition of the other. The Council found out a lot about the Kingdom as its citizens were more disenfranchised with the monarchist dictatorship although the indoctrination was working on the youth.
The next major action occurred in 2173 AD. The King had decided that it was time to get his revenge for the defeat on Buchermans World. He ordered the Council training carde on Gold to be destroyed by his elite forces. This they mostly managed to do, causing over eighty percent casualties. The response from the Council was not what was expected however.
Swifty and with vengance the Council send the majority of its Mecha and naval forces to Golb and the nearby Kingdom world Barren Rock where a large Kingdom military base was stationed. The force that had destroyed the carde was in turn wiped out, along with the Kindgom carde also on Golb. The Council forces also took heavy loses, including a warship but proved their point.
Not long after a Kingdom General, Hwang, had the King assassinated. While riding the King's horse reared up and he fell. His Guards for that day where all Hwang's men and they broke his neck and claimed that it happened when he fell onto a rock. The Queen then 'died with grief (murdered with poison) that night. All that remained of the Royal Family were the twin girls of the departed King and Queen. They were only just in their twenties and suddenly thrust with ruling half a dozen worlds.
The Council went on high alert when it learned of the coup.
General Hwang tried to capture the twins, if he killed them then the population would certainly know what was up, and make them appoint him as Regent. The Kings Bodyguard escaped with the twins to Boston. Their arrival was a great surprise.
Hwang quickly took over and claimed that the Council had assassinated their rulers and kidnapped the twis Princesses.
On Boston the Council and sisters came to an agreement. The sisters would give up their 'rule' of the Kingdom and merge it with the Council to unify all the worlds in the Great Cloud again if the Council deposed Hwang with its own military.
Elite Special Forces and Mecha units landed on Lionesse to arrest General Hwang amid scenes of unrest as the population rioted to rumours spread that Hwang had the monarchs killed. Hwang hadn't had time to consolidate his grip on power and the army and fled Lionesse to another world. Council ships pursued him and finally trapped him.
Council Administrators joined their Kingdom counterparts to merge the two administrations and declare the war over and unity. The twins made a joint statement with the Council Members and the populace rejoiced that it was all over.
Then the Great Cloud vanished.
Hwang, trapped on the edge of the Cloud suddenly found himself staring out into open space. His engines recharged he quickly jumped out of the system and into the unknown. There was no way for the Council ships to follow so they returned to Boston with the news.
It would be a hundred years before all traces of the Great Cloud vanished from the worlds that were contained within as light made its way to the center of the sphere. It was a strange phenomemon, to know that the Cloud was gone but to still see it in the sky, light decades old.
The Council, now will double the number of Representatives convened to discuss what to do next. For thirty years they had been trapped behind the Great Cloud and now it had gone as quickly as it had arrived. The nearest FoW world was only a jump away but they did not know what had happened outside. They didn't even know how large the Cloud was until now and decided to be cautious. They prepared a fast ship and waited to see if any FoW vessels made contact first.
After a month, where the Council had finally integrated the Kingdom worlds and settled the population the jump would be made. The BCNV Deliberator would make a quick jump, beam a message and scan for life and then jump back with the reports. Then the Council would plan again and decide on a course of action.
The mission went as planned. The Deliberator jumped into the Duomo Sector but failed to locate the planet Duomo. All they could find was a huge, previously non existant asteroid field. Uneasy, the Captain beamed the message and then jumped back to Boston.
Unknown the the Captain, the message had been picked up by a nearby vessel, one of alien nature which was patrolling the region after running into and destroying Hwangs' ship. The alien ship had been surprised and checked the records of the Kingdom vessel. It picked up the message broadcast from the Deliberator which included the location of Boston. It watched the Deliberator jump away and jumped to Boston itself.
Almost all of the Council Fleet was at Boston awainting the return of the Deliberator. The scout ship flashed back into existance and sent out a shuttle towards the Council flagship, the Rightousness where the Council was waiting aboard. Then the alien ship appeared, the Deliberator exploded and the renmants of humanity were at war with the vast and mightly Crok Empire.
