PROLOGUE:
Invasion
There had not been an interstellar war among the colonies and nations of humanity. There hadn’t been a reason for one. Eventually, though, a reason was found.
It was inevitable that colony systems with plenty of local resources, far smaller populations to demand them, and smaller bureaucracies trying to manage every facet of running them, would develop quickly.
As they did, some declared nationhood, and joined the UN. The reasons for the latter were a combination of a sense of duty to the body politic of humanity, for trade and commerce through the established agencies, and for economic support and investment. The smaller and less-funded colonies needed this more than some others.
At the other end of the spectrum, Govannon was owned by Prescot Deep Space, which was owned by a single family. They were neither colony nor nation, and did as they wished, selling raw materials to all systems, neutral and unhindered.
Grainne Colony, however, upset the routine when they declared themselves a nation, then made no effort to ask for UN membership. It would have been granted, since they were a wealthy system with a strong economy. The Parliament waited, and no request came. The Parliament enquired, and was told that the Freehold of Grainne saw no advantage to UN membership, but was happy to continue trading with members.
At this slight, various factions made snide comments, accused the Freehold of selfishness and greed for all its development costs, failing to mention that had all been underwritten by TanCorp, a private entity that might be smaller than Prescot, but was just as insular.
When this failed to achieve a response, it was stated loudly in both Parliament and the media that Grainne’s economy would promptly collapse without UN membership and support.
It did not. Trade continued, wealth increased, and the Freehold diplomats smoothed out political issues in trade deals that wouldn’t have been necessary if the UN bureaucracy was not determined to have a say in everything and a cut for their operations.
Until the UN tried to sanction the Freehold and its ships for “noncompliance” with UN Directives.
Inconvenienced but not stopped, Freehold ships either reflagged to other nations, or simply hauled their goods into Caledonia or Novaja Rossia and traded there. NovRos especially was known for paying only lip service to UN Directives, and happily relisted anything it got as domestic production.
It took a decade, but the UN Security Council, despite protests from several members, voted to form a committee to consider direct action. This committee immediately did so, ordering the Military Bureau to prepare for a military exercise, while privately informing a handful of reliable officers it wasn’t an exercise.
Nor was it successful.
The UN managed to slip an assault carrier into the Freehold system, and dropped a landing force to secure Jefferson Starport as a landhead for further incursions. Four of the ten transports never made it to ground. Two others force-landed in the wilderness. Four landed successfully and were utterly outmanned and outmaneuvered. The Freehold media railed on the hilarity of attempting to occupy a planet with fewer than two thousand troops.
As powerful governments often do, the UN reacted to the slight by doubling down.