PROLOGUE Part I
THE FEDERATION
It had been nearly fifty years since the Intergalactic Federation of Coalitions had won its final victory, and brought its last client-race into its vast fold. The Mantis, after decades of a bloody, grinding war of attrition that saw hundreds of millions die from combat-related injuries alone, to say nothing of the famine, disease, and collateral damage that accompanied it had been brought to heel. Faced with the juggernaut of the Federation's economy and military power, and its inexorable progress towards their homeworlds, the Mantis had opted to surrender while they still had their honor (and more importantly their lives) left. The surrender had not come without conditions, and while victory was assured, rather than face even more pointless bloodshed, the Federation opted to come to a negotiated surrender. In exchange for their surrender, the Mantis would have representation in the Federation, their homeworlds left unoccupied by Federation forces, and concessions were made for their leaders to be largely exonerated for instigating the conflict. This upset many within the Galactic Peacekeeper Forces, the military of the Federation, who regarded these concessions as unwarranted and undeserved. These dissidents were convinced, and correctly so, that the Mantis could eventually have been ground down and eventually crushed, and they cared little for the Federation's dogged determination to hold to its Broken Sword Policy; the code of honor, mercy, justice, service, and respect that served as the social and cultural backbone of the Federation's cosmopolitan dominion. Many within the GPN(aval)F had lost friends, family, homes, and more to the Mantis, many more had lost their very lives, and they saw this adherence to policy as a dismissive motion that disregarded their sacrifices, triumphs, and losses in favor of taking the easy way out.
Ironically, it would be victory that would plant the seeds for the Federation's fall.