Jack of Harts

The New England Federation built the first American starships and funded the bulk of the cost of colonizing Alpha Centauri and the other first wave colony systems. And they carefully vetted the colony organizers to make certain they understood who was really in charge and who would get first crack at the best resources the new colonies discovered. That usually involved bribes. Sometimes blackmail, but unwilling agents were so hard to keep. It was much better to make sure their agents had a stake in the windfalls to come. It was after all very important that an agent you bought remained bought. The Federation was very good at keeping people bought, and equally good at tracking down those who forgot they were bought. Forgetful agents rarely enjoyed that.