When the big three alliances went to the stars, so did Constantinople. One of the little secrets that nobody talked about at the time was that Constantinople actually helped fund the early colony expeditions to Alpha Centauri, and most of the big ones that came later. In exchange, they secured rights to trading stations with very minor service fees. Even now, they’re very minor, but they have stations everywhere. Added all up, they make serious money.
The people of Independence believe it was the penetration of The Wall separating them from Earth that initiated Contact. Independence Seven had only landed hours before when Admiral Oweoc’s battleship floated down from the clouds to hover over them. Independence still claims that was First Contact. The official record, backed up by very official time stamps, is that Aneerin’s Contact at Earth came first. The Peloran have never backed either claim.
The original Normans were Viking raiders and invaders. We went wherever we wanted and took what we wanted if someone did not want to trade us for it. We even conquered northern France. We conquered other regions as well, but after that most of our expansions were through well-placed marriages. In the end, Norman blood flowed through the veins of every monarch in Europe and some beyond. It made for interesting family dinners when relatives came calling.
Constantinople expanded out through the Solar System in the early years. Yeah, back when we only had one solar system to play around in. What else were we gonna call it? They built stations in orbit over Venus, Mars, and every lunar colony any one of our governments built. They were about the only people we were all willing to trust enough to put something like that over our heads. They built one heck of a trade network off those stations. They still have it.
Independence is the heart of the Tau Aurigae system. It’s also the name most people call the entire system, even the locals. The world was discovered by one of the last NASA missions, the Independence Seven genuine rocket ship. No gravtech back then. She was the first ship to penetrate The Wall of debris that surrounds local space. The Terran Bubble we call it now. It was the only space we knew then, and breaking through The Wall was our greatest achievement.
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