Overview
While it is the commercial and economic power of the Conglomerates who control the trade of goods and material back and forth between Earth, the colonies, and the mining concerns out in the Asteroid Belt, it is the U.P.S.F (United Planetary Space Fleet) or Fleet for short, who have the arduous task of keeping the peace in space. No mean feat considering they are, diplomatically speaking, caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
U.P.S.F. Fleet came together out of what were the remnants of the UN Peace Keeping Force, of the late twentieth century, and while its role is pretty much the same as that of its predecessorâexpected to function with a limited budget, limited resources and, as can be expected, plenty of red-tapeâit nonetheless does have the real power of enforcement out in the vacuum of space.
DAEDALUS SPACE STATION Partly owned by the Congloms and Fleet, the Daedalus orbital space station, which was originally conceived as a military base in space, has become the off-world headquarters for not only most of the major Corporations and Congloms along with the six major Government Axis-powers, but also Fleet (JHQ), which has now established its own dock and shipyards in proximity to Daedalus and the ever sprawling Commercial dockyards.
POWER AXIS The major Governments of Earthâwho still suffer from almost the same problems they did a century agoâhave merged into Economic Alliances through the Congloms, thereby creating powerful economic blocks who fight and vie for control and power through the control of resources across the system.
MARS The Colony, which has been established for a number of decades, is host to a military staging post run by Fleetâwhere a small but highly trained force is permanently stationedâas well as the many factory workers and their Corporate Bosses who run, as well as own, just about everything. Colonists and Workers still harbour deep-rooted resentment toward the Corporations and Congloms, after the Martian General Strike and riots, which ended in the Mars Massacre. As a result, there is a deep distrust of Fleet who were instrumental in putting down the riots and subsequently blamed for the massacre.
EUROPA While Mars is seen as the hotbed of discontent and simmering towards another flash-point, it will, in fact, be Europaâslowly becoming a major player in its own right because of growing economic powerâwho will try to break away not only from Earth but the Congloms themselves. Thereby igniting the touch paper to open rebellion, setting into motion a chain of events that will result in not only Fleet meeting its greatest challenge, but all Colonies across the system.