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A DREAM FULFILLED
I see a day when the Mother of Worlds will acknowledge
that her children have surpassed her, when the
Children of the Stars shall claim a rightful place as
equals—rather than as colonial subjects—alongside the
Children of Earth. I see a time of peace and prosperity
embracing not one world, but a thousand worlds. Most of
all, I see a day when unity in the common cause of freedom will
create an age when no world need suffer from hardships or famines
or internal strife, because a thousand brother-worlds will be
standing by to provide the support needed to weather the bad
times or to enjoy the good.
—Lucien Davion, from a speech to the New Avalon
Chamber of Deputies, 2317
Lucien was the dreamer, the statesman who forged a federation
of worlds and made it work during the first critical years
of growth. His diplomatic success was due as much to an admirable
personality and reputation for integrity as to his natural
talents as a negotiator. In his day, “the Davion wisdom” became
a byword among populations who had never heard of New Avalon,
but had come to love the first President of the Federated Suns
for his fair and honest judgement
of complicated interworld disputes.
Lucien’s charm could not
smooth over the difficulties of one
situation, however. In 2318, the
Commander of Muskegon, sovereign
ruler of that planet and its colonial
offshoots in the border area
of the Crucis Reach, joined the
Federated Suns as a full member
of the Council. The colonies of
Emerson and Beten Kaitos were
growing restive under the impersonal
government of Muskegon,
however, and were refusing to obey
the edicts that were part of the laws
of the Federated Suns. Many of the
rebellious colonial leaders believed
that the two planets should fall
more naturally under the protection
of the Chesterton Trade Worlds,
another new interstellar community
forming in the shadow of Terran resurgence.
The colonies declared
their independence of Muskegon
and signed agreements with
Chesterton soon after the Commander
announced his decision.
The decision to turn away from the
Suns in favor of another interstellar
power was to cost these two
worlds dearly, with far-reaching implications
down to the present-day
reigns of Hanse Davion and
Maximilian Liao some seven centuries
later.
DELEGATE FROM NEW AVALON
While we were negotiating the Crucis Pact, Lucien
Davion surmised that several of the other delegates (myself
included) might feel it was more democratic to hold
the final meetings away from New Avalon. I was flattered
when he suggested my homeworld, Delavan.
I had met Davion once before and very briefly after I
replaced the former delegate, who had taken ill. He had
seemed pleasant enough, but I was completely unprepared
for the impression he made upon arriving in the
capital of Delavan. Previously, surrounded by other officials,
Lucien Davion had little time to exchange even distracted
courtesies. Now he was ready to give me undivided
attention, and from that moment he appeared, there
was never another man, other than my husband, whose
attention I wanted more.
It wasn’t just that he was handsome. He had been in
uniform before, looking like just another soldier, but with a
little more braid on his shoulder than most. Now he was
dressed like a noble, and his manner showed that this
was a real individual, not just a cog in some military machine.
In a room filled with dignitaries, he caught my eye
just as he walked through the door. He crossed the room,
nodding to some, shaking hands with others, as he passed,
but never stopping until he came up to me.
As we shook hands, he leaned over to kiss my cheek
and whispered, “You’re just as I remembered.” What he
meant by that, I had no idea, as we were both married
and were there on highly official business.
As he straightened up, I noticed two things about his
face. His smile was crooked—the left side of his mouth
turned up further than the right—which gave his expression
a boyish quality. The other, truly charming thing about
his face was that one of his eyes was green and one blue.
—From the unpublished memoirs of Duchess
Ariana Fulgess, on the events of 7 Novemeber
2317
MUSKEGON
In 2163, a group of Terran colonists had set out for
McHenry, a recently opened colony world. A malfunction
of the colony ship’s Kearny-Fuchida drive forced the colonists
to desert the JumpShip in the Muskegon star system.
The single marginally habitable planet of that system
become the new home for nearly 1 00,000 people.
Conditions on Muskegon were harsh, and so only harsh measures
could overcome them. Because they controlled systems
vital to survival, the Captain and crew of the colony JumpShip
set themselves up as leaders with absolute power over the other
colonists. Within a few generations, Muskegon society had polarized
into a Crew Class of aristocrats and a Colonist Class of
workers. The office of Expedition Commander, now known as
Commander of Muskegon, had become hereditary, and was
vested with near-dictatorial powers. The people endured, however,
and the colony prospered despite the severe conditions of
their homeworld. Thanks to stern measures taken in the earliest
days of the colony, knowledge was retained even when it was
not immediately useful. The rebirth of technology waited only for
industrialization.
In 2177, technicians succeeded in repairing the original
colony JumpShip. A volunteer crew
departed in this vessel with orders
to seek out a better world on which
to transplant the colony. Instead,
the expedition found Emerson and
Beten Kaitos, planets rich in natural
resources but whose environmental
conditions were not much
better than Muskegon’s.
A shipload of deportees and
political prisoners colonized
Emerson, while volunteer colonists
settled Beten Kaitos. In both cases,
the new colonies were ruled by the
government of Muskegon, which
exploited the new worlds without
providing much support for the
needy colonists. Raw materials
from the two colonies helped build
additional ships for the fleet at
home, and these in turn were used
to found other colonies on nearby
planets. By 2190, Muskegon
claimed six planets. The Commander
of Muskegon was absolute
ruler over these worlds through a
network of governors chosen from
the Crew Class.
Emerson’s ties to Muskegon
were weak because its first settlers
had been deported criminals.
When a ship from the Chesterton
Trade League arrived in 2195, the
Emersonians (with the tacit approval
of their governor) became
members of that body. For his part,
the Commander of Muskegon
hoped to turn Emerson into a port
of entry for trade between the two
interstellar groups-with high government
tariffs making the venture
worthwhile.