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Poldavia is the fourth planet in the Alpha Star system, a rich garden world inhabited by the descendants of the crew of a Vilani starship that crashed on the planet millennia ago. The marooned crew named their new virgin world Deraabelar from the vilani word meaning “One who goes far away” and then technologically and culturally collapsed to a tech level 1 Iron Age level. Studies of ancient murals and depictions in texts suggest that the vessel was likely to have been a Sharurshid class 2,000 ton passenger liner carrying “over 1,200 souls”. This would seem a reasonable assumption given this vessels common usage in the Vilani Imperium and that a starting viable population of over 500 would be required to flourish. This genetically Vilani population seems to have thrived till roughly a century ago when there is evidence of a cataclysm that almost destroyed all life on the planet. An asteroid strike on the main continent that intuited an impact winter causing extensive damage to the biosphere from which the world has not fully recovered. Society and technology collapsed to a barely bronze age level and remained so till contacted by the Imperial elements fleeing from the collapsing Third Imperium.
The Vilani descendants had dropped to a low tribal level led by their own under-kings, Sarpuhii, with a warrior structured society and an enlightened priesthood based on their handed own tales. It was a great culture shock when the Imperial refuges descended from the stars to the holiest of sites, Star City. The Imperials intervened and joined the Ears of Engin clan and re-located them to Star City, effectively making them the chosen people. They re-designed the city and re-designed the Vilani culture. They trained the brightest up as technicians, in the Guild of Artificers, and recruited the fiercest and most skilled warriors as their Constabulary. The Imperials detected a genetic defect in the Vilani due to inbreeding and set up their own cross-breeding programme with Imperial males and local women while they also started cloning other Imperials to fill key roles. The 4,300 Ears of Engin clan was totally changed by contact with the Imperials. Ganglic was now the language of the chosen and the local pidgin Vilani the tongue of the lower orders. Still the Imperials attempted to co-exist with the Vilani in a benevolent way, well for at least the couple of months.
Contact was made with the Duchy of Far Fenwick and emissaries sent to them. While this was on going another Imperial refugee vessel limped in to the system, the IFA Hera Sprinter, a 2,000 ton, Type TI, Frontier Transport with a mixed compliment of refugees on board. The most senior of which was Francesca Romana Rivelli Stromboli, the widow of the late Teraq Stromboli; last Count of Libert. She was accompanied by a range of attendants but most notably by a squad of Imperial Marines with combat armour and energy weaponry. As the senior Imperial noble present she claimed the planet in the name of the Emperor Lucan of the Third Imperium and proclaimed herself his lawful steward as Countessa. She was not contested.
Her chef advisor was Marine Commander Kachalla Turji, who led her protection squad, and he was made the head of all marine and ground forces. While the squad became her personal bodyguards, the Comital Guard. Armed with TL15 combat armour and FGMP-15 energy weapons they were very well equipped. The Star City Constabulary was renamed the 1st Ascari and firmly brought in to military control. A systematic campaign of subjugation was then carried out with the other remaining clans of the world, who were forced to accept Imperial rule after demonstrations of superior weaponry. All clones were claimed as Imperial property but issued licences on behalf of the Countessa subject to their loyalty and good behaviour. Arrests of a few dissenters and disloyal elements were carried out. Relations with the Duchy of Far Fenwick were formalized with the planet adopting, once and for all, the name of Poldavia, as it was called by the Duchy. Countessa Francesca was formally recognised as ruler and Poldavia was granted protectorate status and a ducal guard ship was dispatched.
In the fourth month of the Countessa Francesca’s rule another ship limped in to the Poldavian system. All assumed it was another lost member of the initial refugee flotilla; it was not. It was a heavily damaged Vain Glory class, Assault Carrier; the INS Varyag carrying the remnants of a demi-battalion of the 2/841st Imperial Marines out of Ruby/ Jewell in the Spinward Marches. It had mis-jumped and had crawled in to the system grossly overloaded excess marine passengers. Though their jump had last a suspiciously short two days they had all suffered from severe jump fever and found that in normal space and time they had been missing for 20 years. It was clear that the sub-sector was a nexus for mis-jumped vessels. After negotiation with Captain Gravely, of the Varyag, and Lt. Colonel Vikane, of the 2/841st Marines, they agreed to join Poldavia.
With a second TL15 warship and her disposal and even more well equipped marines, Countessa Francesca grew in confidence and showed it. She issued a degree removing citizenship from all native Poldavians and ruled that they had to earn it through service to her regime. She took a hard-line with the Duchy of Fenwick and demanded concessions and extra material support. Internal unrest grew with her rule and more draconian laws were enacted. Several clone personnel and an increasing number of natives were arrested and interned as martial law was declared but this in turn increased the levels of discontent. A mutiny occurred amongst the 3rd Ascari who had only recently been recruited from the Plants of Pow clan; violence was used to repress it. Within a few months Francesca had achieved something unheard of, she had united all the clans against her.
All the native Ascari troops were disarmed and ordered back to their barracks. It turned out that batches of clone marines had been created over the proceeding months and they were deployed. Curfews were implemented and more and more arrests carried out. Then a terrorist attack tipped matters in to near anarchy as a bomb at the starport field killed half the naval crew of the Varyag. Countessa Francesca ordered reprisal killings from within the local populace and a full revolution began. Having lost faith in the Countessa, Lt. Colonel Vikane acted.
Part of the hardware of the Varyag was repurposed from an earlier vessel that had been stored at the Depot/Inar/Deneb in the reserve fleet. An obsolete Cholath-class Destroyer had surrendered much of its basic parts to the under construction Varyag; randomly assigned as a redundant back up system, was a suite of Wafer Discs. Vikane had found the system and the chips within; he found one was an Agent with all the powers of Imperial Edict 97. Believing that Countessa Francesca’s regime was out of control and on a path to destruction, Vikane fitted a wafer jack to himself and inserted the Agent chip and allowed its personality to override his. Within seconds the Agent was present, within hours he had gained control of all Imperial ships and personnel, within the day the planet. The Agent was an emergency personality wafer and he was very good at crisis management. He ordered all government forces to stand down and arranged a ceasefire. He reversed the majority of the Countessa’s rulings and reinstated all clones and locals as full citizens. He offered amnesty to rebel leaders and reinstated the Ascari as the police of the local clans. A Duma council of local planetary leaders was established and listened to. The Countessa retired to her personal estates for the goodness of her health, though still remained ruler in name.
Every month his disc needed to be transferred to a new host and so it was for almost a year and a half. On the second anniversary of the landing of the Imperials on Poldavia, the world was finally at peace and developing under the care of the Agent.
© Copyright Winwick Pig Publications 2024
