The Arrival
“Truppen. There’s some information on here about a group of Truppen, the first ones. The experimental ones.” He leaned close to whisper, “The ones who look like humans.”
2662, Planet ARDA, ERCA Territories
An Enduring Sun, Chapter 5
By AR DeClerck
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| Northern Alliance vessels arriving at the secret facility |
The Northern Alliance
The Northern Alliance was a coalition of starsystems within the Terran Republic that had its roots in the Ammanian exodus from Mars in the first half of the twenty-second century. Even after the exodus, religious persecution of Ammanians was common. The austere lifestyle of the Aparatic sect of the Attran branch of the faith set them apart. Their refusal to participate in normal communal activities and entertainments made them targets of derision. Ignorance about Ammanian culture led to wild rumors and fear, further isolating the Ammanians. Adding fuel to the fire, the Tatou sect, the spiritual descendants of General Kossa's Principate, began to seek political autonomy. They promoted the establishment of Ammanian majority colonies and encouraged the faithful to emigrate to those starsystems. Within a few decades, there were Ammanian starsystems in every corner of Terran space.
Although at first resistant to the Tatou demands, the Terran Republic had faced similar claims from other groups. The vastness of Terran made some form of limited autonomy inevitable, especially for the outlier regions like United Consortia and Outland Colonies. Attempts to retain centralized control by force were also fruitless, as the Distan Colonies Wars and the Reittian Secession proved. Over the second half of the 26th century, the Republic allowed the establishment of autonomous regions, and in Ammanian starsystems scattered across Terra. In the first part of the 27th century, the Ammanian starsystems banded together to form a single autonomous government, the Northern Alliance, operating under Terran authority.
From the beginning, the Northern Alliance was under Tatou control. The Aparatics and Attrans acted as the loyal opposition, but they had little influence on government policies. Within months, the legislature instituted a consulship, naming Victor Manz as First Consul of the Northern Alliance. Manz quickly appointed six additional consuls operating under his authority and acting as his cabinet. There followed a series of incidents and provocations between Terra and the Northern Alliance, culminating in the First Consular War. More on that later.
Besides the consuls, there was a band of Manz sycophants who carried out the orders of the First Consul with brutal zeal. One of these minions, commander of the First Consul's Liebtruppen bodyguard, learned about the existence of the Aparatic enhancement project. He secretly dispatched a detachment of troops and technicians to verify, and if true, seize the Aparatic facility. Not even First Consul Manz knew of the expedition when it arrived at the facility on Christmas day, 2628. The moon was secured by a battalion of Northern Alliance troops, and within a few hours, they had seized the entire underground facility. The monks were detained, interrogated, and executed. Technicians then set about militarizing the project. The subjects at the facility were declared Truppen property. Designated as Truppen Mark 1s (T.Mk.I), they were then placed under the control of the technicians and scientists operating the facility under the newly formed Truppen Science Directorate. The subjects seized were, for the most part, humans who had undergone significant modification but they were still very human in appearance and psychology. Under their new masters, they were to suffer a far more intrusive and brutal enhancement program. When complete, each Truppen would be a deadly cyborg soldier, utterly under the control of the Directorate, with no real will of their own.
Although at first resistant to the Tatou demands, the Terran Republic had faced similar claims from other groups. The vastness of Terran made some form of limited autonomy inevitable, especially for the outlier regions like United Consortia and Outland Colonies. Attempts to retain centralized control by force were also fruitless, as the Distan Colonies Wars and the Reittian Secession proved. Over the second half of the 26th century, the Republic allowed the establishment of autonomous regions, and in Ammanian starsystems scattered across Terra. In the first part of the 27th century, the Ammanian starsystems banded together to form a single autonomous government, the Northern Alliance, operating under Terran authority.
From the beginning, the Northern Alliance was under Tatou control. The Aparatics and Attrans acted as the loyal opposition, but they had little influence on government policies. Within months, the legislature instituted a consulship, naming Victor Manz as First Consul of the Northern Alliance. Manz quickly appointed six additional consuls operating under his authority and acting as his cabinet. There followed a series of incidents and provocations between Terra and the Northern Alliance, culminating in the First Consular War. More on that later.
Besides the consuls, there was a band of Manz sycophants who carried out the orders of the First Consul with brutal zeal. One of these minions, commander of the First Consul's Liebtruppen bodyguard, learned about the existence of the Aparatic enhancement project. He secretly dispatched a detachment of troops and technicians to verify, and if true, seize the Aparatic facility. Not even First Consul Manz knew of the expedition when it arrived at the facility on Christmas day, 2628. The moon was secured by a battalion of Northern Alliance troops, and within a few hours, they had seized the entire underground facility. The monks were detained, interrogated, and executed. Technicians then set about militarizing the project. The subjects at the facility were declared Truppen property. Designated as Truppen Mark 1s (T.Mk.I), they were then placed under the control of the technicians and scientists operating the facility under the newly formed Truppen Science Directorate. The subjects seized were, for the most part, humans who had undergone significant modification but they were still very human in appearance and psychology. Under their new masters, they were to suffer a far more intrusive and brutal enhancement program. When complete, each Truppen would be a deadly cyborg soldier, utterly under the control of the Directorate, with no real will of their own.
Next Time...The Five Generations of Truppen
END TRANSMISSION
Artwork by Camilo Aldana, & Mike Fong
Copyright 2018 Kgruppe LLC
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