Desert Planet

by

John Valdez

In the beginning, the desert planet of Imperaxia ruled the civilized star system. It's empire had been acquired by economically influencing planets and other worlds to join their league. They remained unmatched for over 500 years until The Corporation finally rose up in arms against the Imperaxian oppression. Although The Corporation failed in their attempt to gain independence, the Imperaxians initiated reforms and changed their system of government from empire to federation in an effort to improve relations and expand their production and resources. The seven largest planets formally joined the new league as the Five Civilized Planets. This league even included the defeated Corporation which was the first planet to join.

Success for these planets increased their economic development and they began to explore the galaxy in search of other potential partnerships. Upon their search they discovered the Terrans who were readily accepted into the league and welcomed with great interest. Within the same year, the Union had made contact with the league and had reluctantly accepted an invitation to join. The Seven Civilized Planets had been born. By the year 2110, four of the seven worlds had cooperated in a discovery that led to a way to convert magma heat from beneath the mantel of Imperaxia to usable energy. Organized work began and it was dubbed the "CORE" project. At the same time, The Corporation had commissioned Union scientists to extend the project the uninhabited sister planet of Imperaxia called Royax. It had become apparent at this point that The Corporation had recovered economically from the war ten years earlier, and prospered. The Corporation had highly respected scientists and it was even rumored that they were gaining considerable political influence greater than the Imperaxian Senate. In 2011, Imperaxia announced that all governments, including the Terrans were working together, to convert large pockets of the heat from the molten cores of each world into usable wind energy. Everything seemed to be going well, and all seven planets had successfully established colonies on Royax to continue to develop the energy technology and build a planet dedicated to peace.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. A massive seismic quake devastated the planet of Imperaxia, forming volcanoes all along the equator and destroying nearly half of all the cities on Imperaxia. The Imperaxians, believing this was only an isolated incident continued to fund the project on Royax and divert resources to its production citing that it would be a fall back point in the case of planetary destruction. Less than a month after the disaster, a similar quake on Royax had impacted the Corporation, Aristocracy, Coalition, and Axis quite heavily. Still busy in their own planetary relief efforts, Imperaxia sent no help to assist the disaster. Union scientists finally revealed that they suspected this may be a result of the process of energy mining and that this process may also caused volcanoes to surface whenever mining certain areas for wind generators. The Corporation, Aristocracy, Coalition, and Axis were enraged. They had spent a large portion of their wealth on the project and intended to be compensated. Governments started to experience economic tension and hostility at this failure. War broke out, and took its toll on the less established cultures on both planets.    

The Terrans had been recently admitted to the league of planets, and they were well advised to act as if this was a tragedy for everything they had done in the project. The Terrans pleaded with the four colonies to remember the times in which they had worked through extreme political unrest to make this project happen. The result was a cease fire. Talks began and tensions seemed to subside until the afternoon that Governor Samuel Day, who led the colonization of Royax for the people of Earth and Mars, arrived in IMPERIA PRIME. As he stepped off the shuttle he fell to the ground. The ground was strewn about with his organs and his chest laid open with singed tissue that marked his assassination.

His daughter, Summer Day, had just arrived from Mars and represented Mars' envoy to Royax. Representative Day was astonished by the attack. After almost a year of successful work in the colonies, the Governor had been killed by terrorist snipers. Grief stricken Terrans looked to her for leadership, and she immediately organized the consolidation of Terran troops patrolling space near Royax.

As Terran troops began to land on Royax, civil war broke out all over Imperaxia. Communications were cut off and a massive propaganda engine under the control of the Corporation embassy had misfed nearly every computer database with conflictive reports.

Meanwhile, the Corporation, Coalition, Axis and Aristocracy formed an alliance called the"Quaternary" in an effort to conquer the Imperials. The cost of colonizing the second desert planet of their star system left the Imperials without enough resources to defend themselves. They were severely weakened as result of their own civil war when Quaternary invasion forces landed on their homeworld. Robust forces of loyal Colonists under the command of General Tag were still on Royax. Tag had been resourceful and managed to construct several "satellite sensors" which stole information directly from existing satellites. The covert information gave Tag an extreme advantage strategically. He also organized the Provisional League of Allies with the Terrans and the Union to reinforce his military power.

The Union had taken a sort of neutral stand in the beginning and refused to meet with Tag initially. The Union was a newly admitted culture to the project, and they were strange allies. The people of the Union were tri-peds whose talents and technologies were still unknown. They agreed to join the fight to reclaim Imperaxia, but reserved the right to keep any cities they captured, even on Imperaxia! In desperation, Tag agreed to their terms but secretly met with Terrans to form a military pact that would surrender all Imperaxian cities to the control of the Terrans should anything go wrong.

Within days, loyal Colonists under the command of General Tag began to rally as many troops as possible for a make-shift army until the re-enforcement arrived from the outer patrols left roaming in the system. Tag had contacted them and instructed them to land on Royax to their "fallback" position. Enemy colonies of the Corporation, Aristocracy, Coalition, and Axis were held in check and even beaten back once the Colonial reinforcements arrived and fortified their position. Unfortunately, the battles on Imperaxia had not gone as well as on Royax. The beautiful capital city of IMPERIA PRIME had been sacked and even captured by the efficient Corporate rifleteers. Troops from all cities left their garrisons in a massive effort to recapture their most treasured center of culture and science, but it was too late. Massive forces led by I'Grande of the Aristocracy joined an equally large force led by Juneau of Arms of the Coalition, and caused such heavy casualties in the first wave that Imperaxian troops quickly retreated. Many units became scattered and were hunted down one after the other by Pythagoras, leader and commander of the Elite Axis Forces.

Pythagoras used this opportunity to quickly penetrate the southwest portion of the Imperaxian Empire. His success made his allies jealous and animosity now rests between all the cultures of the "Quaternary" (the alliance of the Corporation, Aristocracy, Coalition and Axis). The tensions threaten to break up even the Quaternary!

Still, Imperaxia continued to endure; scientists secretly continued their investigations into what caused the failure of the CORE project. Imperaxian engineers determined that channeling large pockets of superheated metals trapped under the planet's mantel which converted them into "hot air currents" or "wind" to power wind generators permanently disrupted the delicate tectonic balance of both planets. The effect caused unexpected volcanism to occur after a period of time. The question was whether it was reversible. 

Later, they discovered that waves emanating from the direction of Union space had acted as a catalyst for the effect in the first place. When questioned about it, the Union denied any involvement and ignored pleas by both Terrans and Imperaxians to investigate their space. As a result, Imperaxia and Royax were suffering greatly and mining specific terrain such as the Salt Flats or Cactus Forests created disturbances in the mantel which formed new volcanoes! For now, scientists have been recommending that all wind generators are to be build in the mountains for all production needs. Scientists living in the colonies have resisted taking up arms, insisting that the artifacts they have discovered on Royax match the ones found on Imperaxia and claiming they may be linked to the wave discovery. Their claims are so intriguing that reporters from Imperaxia risk their lives to just to obtain information about latest updates. Terrans and Colonists have become equally distracted by the work of the scientists since they have begun to find artifacts from an archaic civilization called, "The Ancients". The finds have sparked considerable interest for some reason by the Union. Their attention is mainly focused on keeping everyone's attention directed toward the war, insisting that they will abandon the Alliance...if their demands for cooperation are not met. The Terrans, although well-liked by the Union, believe the Union is hiding something and they have placed almost every available scientist on the work of translating the language and symbols found on artifacts of the Ancients.

Although the Union only recently came to this star system, their new knowledge of the local astrophysics and system geography are staggering. Very little is known about their technology, but it seems quite impressive. They are concerned mainly with their privacy and seclusion. Their participation in the war effort has certainly been a shock to the Colonists who whole-heartedly expected the Union to pull out. To make matters worse, refugees of the planet Imperaxia began to escape to the colonies. A small group of Imperaxian rebels have managed to survive on their home planet; they haven't had any contact with anyone, and they are completely out of touch with the current situation. They have adopted a method of shoot first and ask questions later, making them enemies to both the Terrans and Colonists! In addition, a couple of rebel groups managed to make it to the colonies. Industrious rebels stole a Corporate spacecraft and landed troops! Numerous sightings of rebels in the northern ranges came too late as rebels attacked several Terran cities.

By late 2112, local scientists had discovered artifacts which indicated a "secret" kept by the Ancients. In these artifacts, some writing was translated and led scientists to believe that the Union had prior contact with the Ancient's culture. The Union had refused to confirm or comment on the matter with scientists and ignored the situation. It wasn't until local scientists presented artifacts at the Provisional League's Science Consortium that the Union protested the recovery of Ancient artifacts claiming that they were the direct descendants of the Ancients. Posturing on the part of the Terrans kept the peace, but the Union secured a reputation that they cannot be trusted by their weak excuses and lack of cooperation!

The Union even took the liberty to scold Terran researchers for their discovery of "multitronics" claiming they would only use their discovery to make frivolous things rather than the invention of better weapons. News of this advancement leaked to the Quaternary who stepped up their aggression against the Union to curtail military advances before the Terrans could improve their weapons systems. The act only solidified the Terran position to support their allies and they launched a massive assault against the Quaternary in the western hemisphere of Imperaxia. But, the assault came too late, and the Planetary Command Center for the Imperaxians had already been captured!

The Union was outraged at this loss and quickly retaliated by launching several prototypes of the what was thought to be the Ancient's Plasma Weapon as an experiment of it power against all Coalition cities and bases! The destruction was swift and powerful and for a moment there were no sensor readings because of the extreme flash radiation that resulted. Finally, planetary sensors confirmed mass destruction raging on both planets! The weapon had been completely successful and totally destroyed the Coalition. Shock traveled throughout the colonies and the Terrans quickly regrouped their troops. Terran scientists finally translated a small portion of the Ancient's message found written on one of the many artifacts which read as a warning: ....beware, the evil Union...beaten us...conquerers of the Ancients...to rule the universe!

Now, only time will tell what lies ahead.

Play the Desert Planet Scenario and add your ending to the story!

Be sure to visit http://www.civfanatics.com for the latest downloads and modpacks.

(c) 2000 John Valdez. All rights reserved.