Pacification
They called it the ‘Fourth Great Terror’, thereafter. In hindsight, perhaps it was inevitable. A hundred thousand dead demanded retribution. Though, who is to tell what the greater sin of the Commos was; their murderous rampage, or their ignominious defeat? Whatever the case, the triumphant march of the Respublican fleets across Commonwealth space was part theatre, part funeral procession. The Commonwealth had to be humbled before the real ‘work’ began. And there was certainly grim work to be done. Within three months of the capitulation, the bulk of available Space assets were deployed in what was formerly the Commonwealth’s domain. A few small-scale battles broke out, as stubbornly recalcitrant local commanders acted out against what they perceived to be treachery on the part of the Commo’s senior leadership. These clashes tended to be short, brutal and one-sided. The victorious Respublica was in no mood to apply a delicate touch, at that point. The gloves were well and truly coming off.
It did not take long to break the back of the remaining ‘resistance’. When the dust finally settled, the inquisitors began their holy labour. It all began innocuously enough. First up was the war crimes tribunal. Thirty generals, legislators and members of the executive were tried, sentenced and executed with alarming speed. Nonetheless, the day-to-day business of administration remained in local hands, with Respublican military and religious governors providing strategic directives and overseeing regional government. It was six months into the occupation that the so-called ‘Leonidian Purge’ would rattle the Commos to their very core. In early 358AU, the Integration Governor of Leonid, Maxim Cassano, instituted the Department of Public Security and Internal Affairs (DPSIA) on the former Commo capital world. Ostensibly, it was an effort to speed up the integration of the Commonwealth back into the Respublican fold.
Sadly, its real purpose was revealed soon enough. The churches, shrines and temples that sprang up almost overnight across virtually every Commo world (but especially so on Leonid itself) provoked protest and resentment from ambivalent and hostile locals. This, however, was very quickly proven to be the least of their worries. Maxim Cassano was a prodigious talent, and a man noted for his energy and drive. Tasked with destroying the very idea of the Commonwealth – wiping it away forever from the public consciousness – he poured every iota of his considerable ability into completing the bloody assignment. The Commo elite were to be the first, though not the last, victims of the resulting Terror. Leading intellectuals, successful capitalists and industrialists, community leaders, heretics and the former officer corps were ‘liquidated’ in vast numbers between 358AU and 360AU. The DPSIA was efficient, ruthless and beyond any institutional or legal restraint. Conservative estimates place the numbers of individuals they ‘processed’ at over 185,000. Of those, more than half were deemed ‘irredeemable’. Fear gripped every tier of Commo society as the purges continued to ravage the traditional fabric thereof.
The next step in the process of integrating the heretics was re-education. That step would likely take decades to bear fruit, but the Respublica was patient and supremely confident of a final victory in the war against an old idea. In the meantime, the wider Hin’in War continued to rage without pause. Raumeni space, so long occupied by the psychic aliens, was by now an almost wholly devastated battleground. Four worlds had already been ‘burned’ by the Hin’in as punishment for Raumeni stubbornness and ongoing resistance. Millions upon millions of the insectoids were dead. The effect of those losses would reverberate for generations to come. In response, the Raumeni expanded the scope of their operations. Uncertain reports made mention of ‘suicide swarms’. Dozens of small, easy to manufacture vessels would enter a Hin’in system and thereupon make for the nearest inhabited settlement. Reaching relativistic speeds, they would then crash into the most populated areas, doing incredible damage and inflicting vast loss of life. The success of this tactic and its actual usage remains ambiguous, with reliable intelligence reports being few and far between. This was truly a war being fought on a foreign shore.
However, it was apparent that the Hin’in simply could not spare the resources they required to crush the insectoids outright, caught up as they were in fighting the Bron. Major battles were being fought in the depths of Hin’in space, with nary a whimper reaching Respublican ears. Information was at an absolute premium, despite the relative excellence of the human intelligence agencies. Simply put, gauging the state of the conflict, on the whole, was proving extraordinarily difficult. Nonetheless, the Respublicans had to make some very important decisions about their participation in the war.
Do you... wash your hands of this war? We have plenty to worry about at home. Let us recuperate and consolidate. Who cares what happens to the bugs and other assorted aliens? We could be THE pre-eminent power in this stellar region, if these endless, costly wars could finally be set aside.
OR
Do you... stay out of the fighting, but support the anti-Hin’in coalition? Money, supply and materiel can go a long way. We can at least help the Raumen overcome some of their basic resource deficiencies. Even if it doesn’t decisively impact the conflict, it will drag it out, and the xeno scum can bleed each other dry.
OR
Do you... organize your forces and intervene in the short term? We have built up our shielded fleets over the last few years. We have trained our officers and men to a higher standard. The Respublica is ready for this fight. We can break the Hin’in!
OR
Do you... organize your forces and intervene in the medium term? We need to be fully prepared for this fight. Instead of jumping into the thick of things, let us intervene after the Hin’in do a little more bleeding. Every month they fight is another month’s worth of destroyed ships we don’t have to face. We must be smarter than we were in the past.
Please Note:
The Barbarian did not want this update to stretch on into forever, so he did not include this relevant tidbit to the extent that he wanted to: yes, the Codexian economy is tottering, and, yes, propping up the war machine has taxed it heavily, and, yes, the home world is still scarred from the war. No, not every ship in the fleet is shielded yet, but the percentage is much higher than at any time previously.
