agricultural centers still intact; food was not a problem. Its well-fed citizenry had already begun to set up businesses to assist in the rebuilding of damaged cities and towns on other planets.
Most planets needed first to feed their people, so they were glad of any assistance. Because of this, Lord Astral was not particularly liked and was therefore marked as one who could afford to sit five years on Meteran as liege lord over COP. The other lords, concerned with their own planet’s interests, wanted the advantage of being on hand to supervise their planet’s recovery. So they willingly tossed Dargret Astral the boon of leadership. Racine’s house lord had taken a back seat position and allowed Lagros to step forward first with its offerings of help. He knew the action would put a target on Astral’s head.
Planetary representatives submitted requests for aid to this forum. The planets that were left in worse shape than others were the first to receive help. This period of new beginnings saw the strong assist the weak and resources pooled and shared. Realization soon set in that rebuilding would not be an easy task. Commercial starship travel, a must, was hampered. It dawned on those in charge very early that to clear the Nissarian system of its derelict space debris was a must.
This was a monumental task, and it would take years and most had not the time or resources. Still Racine waited. To entice efforts in this direction, it was suggested that a monetary incentive be created. It had to be some form of currency that all would accept. None had currency that other planets had any faith in. As it was, they had turned to the barter system as a means to begin to obtain their needs.
As COP’s head, Astral called for the institution of one central currency. He called for contribution from all planets of gold and silver, which would be sent to a central bank on Meteran. Then the new common paper currency would be redistributed back to each planet in equal amounts based upon the silver and gold contributed. All necessary services would now be obtainable through the use of the new paper currency or royal gold and silver crowns. Soldiers had been stranded on every planet. They were to be the first recipients of the new currency. Finally paid, they were able to obtain whatever passage they could find to return home.
Astral, eager to jump-start the clearing of space personally kept a close eye on the mint producing the currency. He assured all that there would be enough currency available to any who were willing to go into the new private trade of salvaging metal from the floating derelicts in space.
It was then that Racine’s house lord stepped forward. That was how the first planet to take full advantage of space salvaging as a business was the planet Racine. Very little was known about the current-day Racine. In past history, it was known to have been a prime source for machinery, be it farm or military. Racine had made the best starships. Astral gave it no further thought when Racine’s lord stepped forward to be contracted to remove the space debris. He surmised that like his planet, Lagros, Racine had avoided the devastating results of war because of its location.
In truth, Racine had never relied on inter planetary commerce within the system for its survival. It was self-sufficient. It was half agrarian and industrial. Its specialty before the war had been its commercial technical industries, which remained intact. At the war’s end, Racine had a sizable fleet of ships and was able to begin immediate pickup of their stranded people and provided reasonable rates of passage to others. With the soldiers’ return, other planets now had the workforce needed to revitalize the abandoned farms and other industries.
Half of Racine’s fleet provided transport while the rest was used for salvage. Racine had the largest number of individual companies working in space, salvaging metal derelicts. These derelicts were brought back and melted down in its many foundries and resold as raw metal materials. Racine also gave a fair price to other independent space-salvaging companies from other planets, and soon its companies became the primary buyers and exporters of scrap metal. Racine quickly became the center for obtaining for delivery the raw materials other planets needed for their reconstruction needs. This flurry of salvaging activity, besides providing massive wealth to Racine, also resulted in the timely removal of space junk.
At the end of the first five-year period, another lord was selected. He went to Dargret and asked him to continue in the position in his stead. Dargret saw no reason not to honor the request as all was going well on Lagros. This was brought before the members of COP. They readily agreed, as they were heavily involved with their own planet’s personal redevelopment issues. Reconstruction continued, still at a slower rate than had been anticipated.
By the fourth consecutive request for the aged Dargret to continue in the post, the House of Astral family, after twenty years in the position, decided to take a bold step and put forth a proposal in COP—an interim modification. It would allow members of their family to inherit the title general pro temp, governing over COP until such time as the voting members of COP revoked it. The other lords, with a sigh of relief at not having to assume the responsibility of overseeing COP, overwhelmingly passed the proposal. Centuries passed, and none challenged the House of Astral’s continuance in the leadership role. Six hundred painstakingly slow recovery years later the Nissarian system had regained its economic stability. It was again a system comprised of independent planets, which shared a common currency and allegiance. It was recognized that the first important step in the success of the recovery was the rate of increase in commercial starship travel as it related to the clearing of space. This acclaim became the first success attributed to the leadership of the Astral family. No credit was ever given to the efforts of the planet Racine, and it sought none.
The few planets that had been wise enough to align early with the Astral family received most favored status and benefited to the point of becoming very powerful during and after the years of recovery. However, the faraway planet Racine was able to become just as powerful without having to ask or receive any preferential treatment. The ruling family there worked hard and knew that Racine was a planet with a proud populace who pledged their loyalty only to the ruling House Lord Omarlo who in turn pledged his loyalty first to his people and then to COP.
Chapter 1
Once again, the Nissarian system’s nineteen planets found themselves in the midst of turmoil. The cause being the weak leadership of the current Lord Astral, general pro temp of the Coalition of Planets. Various factions had begun to muscle in for control. Within a short period, one faction survived to ultimately gain that control. It was called the Group of 3. The house lords that ran this faction were the House of Omir who represented six planets, the House of Ismael who represented five planets in the upper star system, and then the last and strongest was the House of Marlis that controlled the remaining seven planets in COP. Each lord within the Group of 3 vigorously worked to gather the support of the other house lords for an action against the current general pro temp. They wanted a vote to abolish first the title of general pro temp as was written in COP’s mandates and then secondly to dissolve COP. The intent being to substitute the Group of 3 as the controlling force in the Nissarian system. That no action had yet been taken was because within the Group of 3 there existed internal plotting for ultimate control. Each lord envisioned himself as becoming the one solitary ruler of the Nissarian system.
Of the nineteen planets comprising the Nissarian system, all but two were pledged to support the house lords in the Group of 3. Again they were Lagros and Racine. Lagros of course stood behind their House Lord Astral as the head of COP. Racine, under its Lord Imir Omarlo, stood neutral and alone, stubbornly pledged to COP and the current general pro temp. Lord Omarlo was quite aware of the weakness of the current Lord Astral. His spies told of the atrocities and abuses. The problem was he did not like the alternative, the Group of 3 and the direction they were going. He recognized a dictatorship in the making.
Racine’s stubborn position was a thorn in the side of the Group of 3. Racine, though a small planet, had wealth and power and could not be bought. As they pondered over what action to take against Racine, word began to circulate from unknown sources that Racine had developed a new revolutionizing device. The rumor was that it would give the user an advantage in the struggle for ultimate power. Spies were sent to Racine, but none could obtain any more details or even confirm the existence of such a device.
This unfortunately resulted in Racine’s neutrality finally being threatened. This