History of the United Commonwealth of Planets

Creation of the United Commonwealth of Planets

After the conflict between V'As'Ta'R and Opiros had come to an end in the year 2199, Q<RE-Ô had an idea: A unified alliance between all of the races, which were, at that time, Lihters, Humans, Opiros, B², 1110110110101111, V'As'Ta'R and Q<RE-Ô, to prevent any future conflicts.

The idea was well received by Lihters and 1110110110101111, but the other races considered it as a bad idea and one that would surely fail. However, Lihters and Q<RE-Ô managed to convince Humans, B² and Opiros into it, V'As'Ta'R were not interested. At first a military alliance was established between the races as well as exchanging technology and open trade in the year 2206.

The alliance worked well and it was stable for several years. The V'As'Ta'R noticed this and started thinking that it might work for them too, although they were almost a full member the whole time due to open contacts. After this, in the year 2235 a unified military between the races was a first step towards the Commonwealth. Starfleet was born, although at that time only included the defensive fleets of each race. More wider exchange of population came after this and more commonly you could see members of other species in work.

At this time, year 2247, the first ship capable of interstellar traveling at a relatively fast pace was constructed. It was the first official explorer ship of Starfleet and was expected to serve in potential first contacts. It was constructed with state of the art technology, combining the best technology from all the races as well as having crewmembers from several different species.

The first problems arose at that time. Xenophobes had been mostly satisfied because all of the races had remained independent and no "aliens" were living there, but after they started moving in violence broke out. Especially among V'As'Ta'R, Humans and Opiros. This was viewed as a major problem. People started thinking that the concept of an alliance wouldn't work; the races were simply too different, too afraid and too intolerant. However, a lot of people still thought that it would be possible.

Security was tightened in every colony world that had people from other race. Putting every alien-hater to prison wasn't going to be an answer, however, and people knew that. Change wouldn't happen overnight either and that had to be earned through years. Because of this the popular support for the alliance later grew and more people started working in worlds that belonged to another species.

After several years, during the year 2310, the first contact to Vemrers was established, and it wasn't a positive one. Vemrers almost destroyed the first contact vessel, but it barely managed to escape. The alliance still tried to establish communication, as they had learned it to be the most effective way to solve differences. Vemrers were different from the races in the alliance, even more aggressive than the V'As'Ta'R, who many considered a very aggressive race.

The Vemrers began attacks against Lihter worlds. Surprisingly all of the other races of the alliance came to help. The Vemrer invasion was easily dealt with with the combined fleets. This unified the races even more as they realized that alone they would not have survived the Vemrer invasion, or at least not all the races. No peace was made with the Vemrers which increased the need for a full unified front even more.

The talks for a unification between all of the races started and was viewed very positively from the beginning. Only a year after the Vemrer invasion, 2323, the United Commonwealth of Planets was born. Commonwealth council would be at the top of the government. Two presidents would be elected to watch the council and make sure every decision is according to the law and the best interest of the commonwealth. Presidents and the council would be located on Lihter and Earth. Starfleet HQ was placed on Hek'Li'E'O, previously the Starfleet had no central location and the individual military HQs had simply cooperated with each other. Starfleet Academy HQ was placed to Foaveq. Research and Development was placed in 101110101101. Starfleet Intelligence was placed to Miue and Industrial Designing Centers to H-FO/A.

The First Years

At first things seemed to be going really well, but after the threat of the Vemrers started to pass away another batch of problems arose. Many people thought that the Commonwealth was unnecessary and was created far too fast. Loosing independence was a huge blow to many people; the fear of a full scale war had given popular support for it, but once the threat was over people changed their minds. Several council members thought the same way. To solve the problem, a public vote was held. Commonwealth was supported by 70% of the people and showed clearly that it still had the majority of support, but it also showed that any possible problems had to be solved to make people happy.

More public votes were held in the future and it was made significantly easier for single citizens to voice their opinions and actually affect the political atmosphere. Political party systems were never established and weren't needed even after the change, although a few of them remained, but with rather low popular support. The political system became more of a individually controlled. Each person had their own views that they were free to pursue and those opinions which had the most support were considered.

At first each world had their own representatives. The amount was based on population. Since the United Commonwealth of Planets, or UCP in short, was seeking to expand and include more members, the council had hundreds of empty seats, waiting for new representatives. Many considered it wishful thinking, but it did become reality in the end.

The Rapid Expansion

After the problems were solved UCP began expanding and exploring, in year 2335. Vemrers were expanding aggressively and UCP needed to stay ahead of them. During this time the UCP established contact to new species, relatively minor ones. Diplomatic connections were established and treaties were signed with several races. UCP continued rapid expansion and the populations of each of the founding races grew.

It didn't take many years before the first race applied for a membership in the UCP, 2350. This was a big moment in the history of the UCP since it would be first non-founding race to join the UCP and would show whether or not the commonwealth would work. It took few years before the first race became an official member, in year XXXX, but in the end all worked out pretty well and they got their first representatives to the council, although less representatives than the founding races. This proved that the commonwealth could indeed work. The dream was born: All people, all races could be united under a single banner.

The same thing continued over time. More explorer ships were built and more explorer ship types were designed too. In the year 2408 a first contact was made with the Folans. Although no diplomatic connection was established, so no one had actually seen them or heard their name. The Folans attacked the explorer ship that established contact, but it barely managed to get away. The UCP didn't want to take any chances so they increased the defenses in the colony worlds that were close to the first contact area.

Several years passed with no additional contact and UCP continued normal expansion although only lightly in the direction were the contact with Folans was established. A small race was found near the area that had been ravaged by several Folan attacks. It was here that the UCP first heard the name "Folan Empire" and saw pictures of Folans. This race was quickly placed under UCP protection. There was something strange though, the race had last been attacked two years ago and after that had only suffered from small and fast Folan raids.

It was believed that something had happened to Folans and a daring exploration mission was made. Almost a dozen explorer vessels went to search even deeper into the area where the contact was established. About 5 months later they stumbled on a battle that explained the situation: Folans were at war with the Vemrers. The presence of UCP had both negative and positive effects. For UCP it had negative effects as both the Folans and Vemrers set their sights on them, positive for Folans and Vemrers as the war ended.

A New Era of Colonies and Contacts

Diplomatic connections were established to Folans, however. Although no treaties were established. Some people believed that Folans were buying time to repair their fleets and establish treaties with the Vemrers, enemies of UCP. Only a year after, in year 2448, a first contact was established with the Gigerdians. Their space was relatively far away from the Vemrers and Folans. The first contact was also a very positive one. Both parties were peaceful and willing to cooperate, there was, however, something else special in the encounter. The similarity between the Humans and the Gigerdians sparkled very close relationships. The Human captain on the first contact vessel has been said to have commented during the first contact: "You, as a species, must be our long-lost brothers from another world."

Treaties were signed quickly and just a few weeks after the initial contact non-aggression, trade and research pacts had already been signed. Several partnership-programs were soon initiated and joint-research projects began. The Gigerdians were the first major power that was peaceful from the beginning and was considered as a major step forward in the galactic affairs. After only a year of co-existing the UCP council offered membership for the Gigerdi Federation in the UCP. They would've even had more power than a single founding member. They Gigerdians, however, declined the offer, but promised to reconsider in possible future. While disappointed it was an expected answer from a race as powerful as the Gigerdians.

Colonization increased rapidly over time, especially once early prototypes of warp drive were invented. The extra speed allowed for a faster travel time and larger distances. A lot of UCP population, especially Humans, migrated into the Gigerdi Federation and a lot of Gigerdians emigrated into the UCP.

Soon, in 2454, contact was established with the Dand Oligarchy. A race which raided smaller worlds as well as functioned as pirates. They also welcomed members of other species into their ranks. Although rather small in power they were relatively formidable in military strength. They welcomed trade, but weren't interested in anything else. Some UCP residents joined the raider and pirate forces of the Dands. They were considered as a potential threat to the UCP and the Gigerdi Federation. It didn't take long, even with the trade agreement in place, for the Dands to commend first raids against UCP colonies as well as supply convoys. It was also believed that the Dands were supplying the Vodoss pirate-clan. Some still believed that Dands could become productive members of the UCP in the future.

Only three months after of the first contact with the Dands, the replicator was invented. It was a major technological breakthrough that enabled even better colonization and space exploration, and increased ship and military production. It was clear that the Starfleet's size had to be increased in order to effectively protect all the colony worlds from all current threats.

Times of Conflict

It was clear that the Dands knew that UCP wouldn't repel them with an all-out attack. UCP, however, started to strengthen their defenses so that Dand raids wouldn't succeed as Starfleet had superior strength and technology. Although replicator eliminated currency there were still a problem of potential traitors, people who had been bought by the Dands, who supplied information to the Dands. Starfleet Intelligence, a rather small organization till now, was strengthened and became significantly more active. Before they had only revealed few Folan operatives in the Commonwealth.

Colonization continued, although at a slower pace due to increased need for a military protection. The Dand continued to be active in their raids. UCP finally decided to mount a quick surgical strike against the Dand base of operations. To cripple their ship production. Thanks to Starfleet Intelligence the operation was kept in secret successfully and several traitors had been discovered.

The Starfleet fleet took the Dands completely by surprise and decimated their primary production facilities as well as large number of docked ships. This ended the Dand raids. UCP still continued to be ready for any potential raids or pirate attacks. A little later the Dands started raiding the Gigerdi Federation with the Vodoss pirate clan, but they were also soon wiped out and the Dands were forced to sign a non-aggression pact with both governments.

The Commonwealth didn't really participate in the H'Vos war, although they did provide non-military assistance to the Gigerdians. After the Gigerdians defeated the H'Vos things started to look peaceful.

New Frontiers

Decades went along with no major conflicts between any of the races. UCP slowly expanded their territories and improved their relations with the Gigerdians even further. While the constant threat of both Vemrers and Folans were there they still remained silent for now. Many believed that they were preparing for an invasion. The Commonwealth also prepared its defenses and conducted military training exercises with the Gigerdi Federation in case of a common threat.

The Folan War

Main article: The Folan War

In year 2572 the Folans and Vemrers were detected approaching one of the Commonwealth's border colonies rapidly. It was clear that it was an invasion force. The colony was partially evacuated, but not everyone made it out in time. While defenses were able to slow down the invasion they couldn't stop it. Fortunately, however, both UCP and Gigerdi Federation was prepared for an invasion and scrambled their fleets together. Two other colonies fell before the defense fleets clashed with the invaders.

The invasion fleet was driven out and the defense fleets retook the invaded colonies. Folans soon withdrew from the war, but Vemrers continued for a little longer, but soon they too withdrew.

Peace treaty was signed, but it was clear that it might not last. No one knew though how peace could be held so only time could tell that.

The Peace Station Project

Main article: Peace Station Project

Ib the year 2621 the Peace Station project was welcomed by the Commonwealth; it seemed like a way to preserve the peace in the galaxy. Sometime before it the Commonwealth had established connection with the Hemmoians and Bacterians, signing a non-aggression pact with the Hemmoians.