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MCKENNA’S HEGEMONY
In 2314, six years after Lucien became Prime Minister, a
bloody civil war broke out on Terra. In the wake of an armed
clash between the Expansionist and Liberal parties, the Terran
Alliance collapsed. To restore order, Fleet Admiral James
McKenna stepped in at the head of the Alliance military. The
charismatic McKenna created a new order from the death of the
old, naming it the Terran Hegemony. Dedicated to the restoration
of Terra as the center of the Human Sphere, McKenna’s new
government stimulated interest in the former Terran colonies,
which could only spell trouble for those worlds. Where the Terran
Alliance had withered in influence, the Hegemony began to expand
and soon had regained control of more than 100 worlds.
Lucien Davion knew only too well that if a resurgent Terra decided
to pick off the colonial worlds one by one, there would be
little any single planet could do to stop her. Independent for less
than a century, New Avalon was as vulnerable to takeover as
any other world.
In a series of swift and decisive moves, he began to contact
other worlds of the Crucis Reach, who had no reason to love
Terra. Though none had gone through armed revolt, all had suffered
when the Alliance had withdrawn from her colonies in 2237,
leaving them to sink or swim. “Homo stellaris,” whom McKenna
had extolled in speeches on Terra, had grown up without help
from Terra. Now his offspring were hostile to the idea of surrendering
their autonomy to the Terrans again, after making it through
the hard years of what had already become known as the Exodus.
It did not take much to manipulate those hostilities and fears,
and Lucien Davion was the man who could do it best.
In a whirlwind interstellar tour begun in 2316, Davion visited
each world of the Crucis Reach. His theme was constant: one
world could not resist Terra, but many standing together could.
He stressed the idea that a show of independence early in the
crisis would keep the threat of interstellar conflict from materializing.
The fledgling Hegemony was not yet strong enough to fight
a major war at the end of a light-years-long supply line. McKenna’s
government would try instead to pick off weak planets through
threats, economic sanctions, or small armed demonstrations.
Lucien was persuasive, and it won him many supporters.
THE CRUCIS PACT
Our one world cannot stand alone any longer,. we
must reach out, forge new bonds, and seek friends
among the stars, so that our children can stay strong
and free.
—Lucien Davion in a speech in support of the Crucis
Pact, 2317
It is important to understand that Davion took special pains
to identify himself completely with the plan. On some worlds, he
conducted his meetings with local authorities, not as Prime Minister
of New Avalon, but as a private citizen concerned for the
future of the Reach. By 2317, he was ready to convene a summit
conference of leaders from 23 planets. The conference lasted
for three long months, but when it finally broke up, all but three
participating governments had agreed to sign the historic treaty
that became known as the Crucis Pact. Creating a mutual defense
and trade union known as the Federated Suns, the treaty
ensured complete local autonomy for all member planets. It also
offered the benefits of favorable trade terms, military assistance,
and an assembly known as the High Council for the discussion
of issues and the settlement of disputes between members.
Lucien Davion was unanimously chosen as President of the new
body, a tribute to his personal popularity and his crucial role in
calling together the summit and drafting the terms of the Pact.
The Crucis Pact embodied a number of high ideals that
Lucien Davion genuinely valued. At the same time, it was so
loaded with amendments ensuring local jurisdiction that it was
virtually useless. One 24th-century historian referred to it as “the
only document to make the League of Nations charter look practical.”
Despite its flaws, the Pact worked well, thanks to Davion’s
tireless efforts. He delegated most of his Presidential duties on
New Avalon to his brothers, which freed him to travel from planet
to planet in pursuit of a workable interstellar governmental system.
His reputation for impartiality and his statesmanship helped
Lucien Davion obtain the cooperation of even the most unruly
member, while adding several new worlds to the federation. The
Crucis Pact of 2317 sparked a number of similar mutual defense
and trading pacts elsewhere in the Human Sphere, but few developed
as smoothly or functioned as well in these early years
as the Federated Suns.
In the 15 years between the signing of the Crucis Pact and
Lucien Davion’s death in 2332, the first President of the Federated
Suns turned a loose association of planets into a union of
closely allied worlds. In the process, the Presidency became
synonymous with the Davion name. After Lucien’s death, there
still existed enough petty rivalries between member worlds to
make it difficult for them to agree on anything without their
President’s mediation, but the name of Davion was magic.
Lucien’s youngest brother Charles, though hardly in a class with
his respected elder, became a prime candidate for President of
the Federated Suns. It was only after Charles had secured that
post that he announced his intention to stand as New Avalon’s
Prime Minister.
Lucien had not appointed any of his family members as
Deputy Prime Minister, for his brothers had acted as his personal
representatives without benefit of specific office. Now the
Chamber of Deputies was once more reluctant to allow a “dynasty”
to control the Prime Ministry. For a time, they seemed
bent on selecting one of the Hasek line to show their defiance of
the Davion power base. It was the talented Louis who changed
their minds in a speech full of veiled references to the growing
importance of the Federated Suns. His threats were unspoken,
but they came through loud and clear. No Avalonian wanted to
see his world abandoned as the capital of the newly created
Federated Suns, and many feared that the Davions would use
their influence