| |
| Alrakis Pact | |
| Basic information | |
| Major Species: | |
| Founded: |
2389 |
| Warp Capable: |
Yes |
| Official Language: |
N/A |
| Political Information | |
| Government: |
Alliance |
The Alrakis Pact was formed in 2389 by the Breen Confederacy, Tzenkethi Coalition, Talarian Empire, and the Ravagers in response to the unchecked growth of the Cardassian Union and the Federation's inability to help those that were without membership or like ideals.
History
Background
Breen Confederacy
Until the Dominion War, the Breen were known only as pirates, merchants and slavers. While they were hostile against the Federation, they were not considered a threat. Their bombing of San Francisco changed everything. Not only did the Breen Confederacy declare that they were on the same level as the major powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, they immediately allied with the Dominion as they felt the power from the Gamma Quadrant recognized the Breen’s true potential and statehood. The Breen committed much to the War, and somehow still managed to keep their accustomed levels of privacy.
The war soon ended, with the Breen on the losing side. Like the Cardassians, the Breen were decimated. Retreating to inside their borders, the Confederacy began to repair and rebuild. The fire lit inside them during the Dominion War continued to rage on, and the Confederacy began to look for opportunities for conquest, which were now difficult thanks to the Cardassians on one side, the Federation on another, and the mysterious Inconnu Expanse on the other.
The Breen made several attempts to expand, but found little success. Among their failures was an attempt to invade Lagashi territory, and the crisis with the Valoris Nebula. Any attempt to thwart Federation involvement met a bitter and costly end.
In early 2388, seeing both Cardassian and Federation growth and strength, the Confederacy knew that it could not continue on its own and assert itself as a competitor on the galactic stage. Therefore, the Breen sent envoys to both the Tzenkethi Coalition and the Talarian Empire. It was around this time that the Breen were also in contact with some of the factions of the Ravagers who occupied the Inconnu Expanse.
Unlike the Breen, the Cardassian Union was able to rebuild their empire without obstruction, expanding their borders in every direction, except for what touched Breen and Federation space. During their new thirst for expansion, the Cardassians took it upon themselves to show the Breen what their new found power could do. In late 2388, the Cardassian Union reached into Breen Space and retook 2 systems that the Dominion had given to the Breen during the Dominion War. All in all, there were six systems taken by the Cardassians, including some that were originally Breen. The Breen attempted to retake some of these systems, but were decimated by ships from the Fifth Order. This upset the Breen greatly, but they maintained a stalemate for the next few months, by not attempting to take any of their systems back. The Cardassians, for their part, remained content with their new claims..
Many Breen were still uncertain about their blossoming relationship with the Tzenkethi and Talarians. To solidify their feelings, the Breen reached out to the Federation for aid, hoping, but not expecting, the Federation to intervene in their conflict with the Cardassians.
Tzenkethi Coalition
While the entire galaxy waged in war, the Tzenkethi remained quiet, watching the competitors battle it out for systems and planets. This impartial view gave the Coalition, especially the future Autartch Korzenten Rej Tov-AA, an impressive vantage point. He’d toyed with the Federation during the brief Federation-Tzenkethi War (which the Tzenkethi walked away from with only military losses), but now he recognized the Federation’s true strength: Unity through Diversity.
In 2386, when Korzenten was named Autarch, he sent delegations to all Alpha and Beta Quadrant powers and invited them to open embassies on Ab-Tzenketh. It did not bother him that only the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Empire responded; in fact, he expected it. Through these embassies, Korzenten began to reshape foreign policy, demonstrating that it was a new day for the Coalition.
How pleased Korzenten must have been in 2388 when the neighboring Breen finally arrived. Thot Grez of the Confederacy was welcomed with open arms by the Tzenkethi Autarch Korzenten Rej Tov-AA, despite the vastly uneven public feelings on this new policy. Thankfully, for the public, this meeting was short-lived. Thot Grez left within the first few minutes, as whatever he had to say, the Autarch didn't want to hear. Before he boarded his transport back to the Breen homeworld, he was met by Larquenten Rej Tov-AA, the leader of the Armed Forces. Their meeting lasted considerably longer, and the Breen Thot left, happy that what he had come for had been achieved.
Larquenten, now empowered with cause, set a plan in motion to realign the Coalition. In December of 2388, Larquenten Rej Tov-AA launched a coup, dethroning and exiling Korzenten. He also raided every embassy, imprisoning over 250 members of the Federation, Klingon Empire and Romulan Star Empire. Those who resisted were not permitted to live. The public fully supported the coup and were grateful to have wise leadership once more.
Talarian Empire
Compared to the surrounding powers, the Talarians were no match for anyone. Half of the Empire attempted to fast track as much technological advancements as possible, thanks to what Captain Endar had learned from the Federation in its encounters with the Enterprise-D. The other half resorted to other tactics, whether it was espionage or trading with the Orion Syndicate for weapons they could reverse engineer. The Empire benefited greatly from the Dominion War, preying on empty and abandoned Dominion and Federation hulls alike to steal technology. But arming their ships with stolen and adapted phaser and deflector technology was not enough.
The Talarians could not win a war against the Federation or its other neighbors, the Tzenkethi. Nor did they have the manpower to expand far beyond its borders. The human Jono, now a Captain, used his influence with the Empire to convince them to let him talk to the Federation. His experience aboard the Enterprise gave him great insight on one of the giants who stood fast during the war with the fierce soldiers from the Gamma Quadrant. An exchange program could be created, enabling the Empire to learn from this Federation.
Others, like Captain Endar, Jono’s surrogate father, who opposed diplomatic ties, saw value in Jono’s inspiration. They could indeed learn from this Federation. While Talarian engineers had reverse engineered much Federation technology, they lacked an understanding of how it worked. The Empire considered itself superior with tactics, but it needed more than that to survive.
When the Breen delegation reached the Empire, Ronzel, the Commander of the Empire, saw opportunity. It considered the Tzenkethi and the Breen as equals, as they favored tactics over technology, yet they also had the technology to back those tactics. Allying with the Breen would enable the Talarians to show their true power and finally demand respect from the Federation. No longer would they be considered inferior. Now, they would be equals.
The Ravagers
With the Wi'u'Kai homeworld, Khrexani is only around 5 lightyears from the Tzenkethi border, it was inevitable that contact between the two civilisations would happen. On the whole, the Wi'u'Kai race wanted to remain secretive. Utilising the gravitic storms that plague the region, they have successfully kept their true strength hidden from the Tzenkethi and even other factions around the Inconnu Expanse, including the Federation.
This gave the impression that the Wi'u'Kai were more comparable to raiders, than an interstellar empire. This also led to the name the ‘Ravagers’. To the outside, the raider factions were still controlled by a council, but the true extent of the councils power is hidden from other major powers.
One of the things the Wi'u'Kai gained a reputation for was smuggling things in and out of the Expanse, and for hiding things within the Expanse, using their knowledge of the gravitic storms.
When a Breen envoy approached the Wi'u'Kai, the esh’Wara jata’Zhe (the Ruling Council), wanted little to do with the Breen. The Breen presented an offer of an alliance between themselves, and other powers located around the Expanse. To entice certain members of the council, the Breen offered the Wi'u'Kai several older model Breen Cruisers. The true size of the Wi'u'Kai military was somewhat of a mystery to the Breen, but given the fact that it's military was often made up of some scavenged vessels, this gift was taken and the Wi'u'Kai took up the envoys offer to send a representative to the meeting.
Formation
With the Cardassians still holding some of its systems, the Breen appealed to the Federation for aid. Despite the Breen’s plea, the Federation declined to send aid at this time. Their reasoning being that as this conflict was confined to the Breen and the Cardassians, sending aid would potentially make Cardassia an enemy, and jeopardise current relationships with the Federation and the Union. The Federation did offer to step in and request that the systems that were originally Breen to be returned to the Confederacy. The Breen refused this. The Confederacy would be complete, not restored in part. This, coupled with the Cardassian advance into their territory, set in motion a new chain of events that would change the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant.
Unbeknownst to most, the transports that the Ferengi had been monitoring for months were transporting materials to construct a Starbase within the Inconnu Expanse, well beyond Deep Space 7's former location, but still well in its sensor range. The Ravagers had been encouraged by the Breen to destroy this station, to blind the Federation, where they would be encouraged to work with the Breen against the Federation and potentially Cardassia. The Breen took a part of this new station, named the Alrakis Station, and made it something akin to an embassy. It was here that they would invite representatives from the Talarian Empire and the Tzenkethi Coalition, who had established they were open to a future standing beside the Confederacy.
The Talarian Empire were one of the first to sign up to the Breen’s new alliance, though they did so in secret. They were encouraged to remain familiar with the Federation, and continue the ongoing negotiations that they had started, in hopes it would reveal more of the Federation’s motivations and tactics for that section of the galaxy. Though they had become somewhat cordial with the Federation, they had always had their doubts that any friendship between them could exist.
The Tzenkethi were the next to commit. The new Autarch, Larquenten Rej Tov-AA, immediately released the more than 250 diplomats from various races he held captive, shoving them towards Federation space in poorly maintained freighters and mothballed cruisers.
All three powers, now joined by the Ravagers, gathered at Alrakis Station and drafted their own charter. Thus, the Alrakis Pact was born.
Activities
Initial Days
Following the signing of the Charter, all Breen, Tzenkethi and Talarian representatives were recalled from both the Federation and Klingon Empire. The Breen and Tzenkethi also immediately set a claim to all sectors of the Inconnu Expanse west of the Gavaria system. The Tzenkethi also placed a claim along the corridor between them and the Ferengi Alliance. They urged the Federation to withdraw, stating that any Federation ship within a lightyear of a Pact-operated facility would be destroyed or boarded. The Federation was also given a 90-day deadline to vacant the Expanse.
In the announcement conveyed over the Federation News Service, the Tzenkethi also released the 250 diplomats and embassy officials they'd imprisoned during the 2388 coup d'etat. These personnel were deposited in short-range shuttles and escape pods along the Tzenkethi/Federation border.
Slave Trade
One of the immediate benefits for the Tzenkethi and Breen was that their competition of the slave markets changed overnight. Slaves could now be used as bartering tools between the powers, and new slaves were now easier to source and distribute. Additional slave labor camps popped up on habitable worlds and stations throughout the Inconnu Expanse, though these were kept closer to Breen and Tzenkethi borders in order to keep them away from the watchful eye of the Federation. Several Federation assets did go missing within a few lightyears of these camps, including a Starfleet Corps of Engineering Team, the Valkyries; and a Marine Special Forces team. Neither have been heard from since, and search parties have been unable to find any leads.
Inconnu Expanse
The Pact went to work immediately, establishing blockades in several areas of the Inconnu Expanse and Carnwennan Corridor, slowly pushing towards Federation space. What they did not anticipate was how difficult it was to mobilize their fleets into well coordinated units. Groups of isolationists were forced to learn and work together. Aside from their leadership, the lower castes found it difficult to trust the species they once fought against and despised.
It was clear, however, that as the deadline loomed, that the Federation was unwilling to leave the Expanse, and that the Pact was not ready to force the Federation out of it. In hopes to find a peaceful solution, representatives from the Federation's Office of the President and from the Alrakis Pact signatories met outside the Neethia System aboard the Cardiff Class USS St. John Talbot. These negotiations yielded the Inconnu Access Agreement, which allowed the Federation to maintain its exploration and relief efforts in the Expanse, but prevents them from further colonization.
Membership
- Breen Confederacy (Founding Member)
- Tzenkethi Coalition (Founding Member)
- Talarian Empire (Founding Member)
- Ravagers (Founding Member)
Use of Bravo Fleet's Alrakis Pact is permitted under the Creative Commons 4.0 License and may or may not have been modified to suit the purpose of AioRPG.