Sleeping in the Stars by D Patrick Wagner

Author:D Patrick Wagner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2019-02-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Aboard the Griffin

Griffin exited the Bridgelen gate and popped into the Cencore system. Again, as the last two entrances, the Mack jettisoned CERVE/rocket package as the Griffin achieved normal space. This time, he aimed the package at Titus and left it to drift towards their final destination, a cold, dark chunk of flotsam impossible to spot.

Thousands of ships peppered the Cencore system, most being merchants, tankers and service ships. But the large military presence dominated the black of space. Griffin’s sensors picked up multiple navel fleets filled with spacecraft carriers, dreadnaughts, battleships, cruisers, corvettes and troop carriers.

Krag’s previous life flashed back, quickly rekindling his anger and loathing. Perusing the Cencorian space, seeing the Space Force might, Krag recalled his ex-commanding officer, Vice-Admiral Weiskoff the Third. He remembered the Admiral flaunting his position as a member of the military aristocracy, never letting anyone forget it, either through his imperious poses or his arrogant way of ordering his underlings around.

Krag remembered competing against Theodore Weiskoff at the academy. For Krag, the competition didn’t spill over into his post-school life. But, for some reason, Weiskoff seemed to remember him and carried a grudge. And that grudge had carried through Krag’s entire Space Force life, keeping Krag always on edge, always self-protective. Krag thought about this history and the history of the Federacy as he piloted Griffin deeper into its heart.

Then Krag thought about the settling of Cencore and its resultant dominance. The Cencore system became the seat of Federation power after the Federacy’s separation from the Old Earth Commonwealth. Almost two thousand years ago, long before humanity had discovered the Alcu-space gate in its solar system, long before Humanity had discovered the first habitable planet (Pantea), the Federacy didn’t exist. Instead, there was the Commonwealth of United Planets for the two settled worlds and four settled moons in Old Earth’s solar system. The Earth-based Commonwealth began as a federation of planet-states that were joined by the common needs of territorial borders, trade and currency. With mankind not able to travel at speeds any faster than about one-third the speed of light, each planet-state became its own entity, with its own form of governance, its own economy and its own social value systems. The interplanetary connections formed their relationships based on trade and socio-economic needs. But they were essentially autonomous.

When the gate that led to the Atlantius system was discovered and planet Pantea was claimed, it naturally became a planet-state as part of the Commonwealth. The first pilgrim ship that landed on Pantea contained the bureaucrats, scientists, military and skilled laborers required for establishment of the colony. In the first few years, the government that grew out of this first group of people became a benevolent oligarchy. And everyone was happy with that. Each of the people on that original pilgrim ship was the best at what he or she did. The Pantea pilgrims only wanted to work in their perspective areas of expertise, content to leave the governance of this new world to those that skilled at governing.

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