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The Worlds of Humanity

What is the political structure of Humanity at this point? Does it vary from colony to colony? Is it all one unified Government? Or a bunch of little governments operating under a UN type Organization?

In 2160 CE, Human society is composed of six independent worlds (of which Earth is one), so there's no one "ruler" of Humanity. The Terran Colonial Authority (TCA) governs interstellar issues (and oversees the military (Colonial Fleet) and exploration (Scout Corps) arms); and is run by a council of delegates from the six worlds. In practice, the TCA government is dominated by Earth's interests.

Each planet has its own local government (and some of the planets have more than one). All the worlds are bound together via treaty, and the TCA maintains a military fleet (and Scout Corps) and governs trade and other interstellar matters, but for most purposes each government is independent and autonomous.

Humans developed stardrive on their own, before the Orgus contact. Orgus technology isn't much more sophisticated than Human technology, but they had access to some higher-tech third-party devices through trade, so the Humans still had a lot to learn from them.  

What are the "six worlds of Humanity" mentioned by Alex?

The six worlds of humanity are named Earth, Mars, Alpha ("First"), Proxima ("Near"), Aldea ("Village") and Esperanza ("Hope").

We are presumably all familiar with Earth. 99% of all of humanity still live on Earth (about 25 billion people).

Mars was first colonized in pre-FTL days (around 2050), and supports a lot of heavy industry (as carbon and greenhouse gas emissions on Mars are considered to be a good thing, to thicken the sparse atmosphere). Mars is cold and arid, has a surface gravity of .38 G, and a very thin atmosphere, which still cannot be breathed without mechanical aids by most people. There is very little surface water, and dust storms are frequent. The major settlements are in the Hellas basin in the Southern Hemisphere and the Tharsis highlands in the North. There are major facilities in orbit, including several shipyards and orbital habitats. Population 50 million.

Alpha was the first extra-solar colony, located around the A star of Alpha Centauri, a trinary system. It is a cold, dry Mars-sized planet (.4 G) with a very thin atmosphere. Population about 600,000.

Proxima was the second extra-solar colony, also located in the Alpha Centauri system. It is Venus-sized, with a surface gravity of .9 G. It has an elongated orbit around the B star in the system; for most of its 15-year orbit, the planet is very cold and all the surface water is frozen; when the planet passes through perihelion, it warms up substantially and small temporary seas form, supporting primitive native microorganisms (which survive in geothermal vents during the cold periods). Human population around 18 million.

Aldea is an Earth-sized planet (1.1 G) in the Tau Ceti system. Aldea has a large amount of surface water (even more than Earth), and a dense but breathable atmosphere. Native biology is at the level of algae. Aldea has wet, stormy weather most of the year. Human population about 125 million, making it the largest base of humanity outside of Earth.

Esperanza is the newest colony, and the farthest away from Earth (82 Eridani). Esperanza is arid but Earth-sized (.8 G). Population: 5 million

Is there much colonization outside of these six worlds? In asteroid belts or Ort clouds or whatever?
There are outposts, mining camps and the like elsewhere in these systems (and perhaps in other systems as well), but these six are the permanent settlements.
And how much commerce is there between the various colonies?
A lot. The colonies are still dependent on Earth and Mars for many supplies, especially finished goods, as well as population, and there are a lot of raw materials going from the colonies to Sol. There's enough commercial shipping for the TCA to need to build a fleet to keep it in line.

So we can assume that piracy is a very real threat? What about the behaviour of the pirates? Are they likely to cripple a ship for its supplies, capture it and ransom the crew and/or ship?

The Colonial Fleet exists to deter a number of potential threats to interstellar shipping: piracy, smuggling, hijacking, terrorism, and sabotage or blockade by rival merchants. Since starships are often more valuable as the cargo they carry, both would be targets of potential pirates. Of course, a side-benefit of the Fleet is defense against potential alien hostiles, which is why you have some heavier ships (such as the heavy cruisers) which are not strictly necessary for patrol duties, and probably spend most of their time docked at base.

If someone did have black market goods where would they most likely be offloaded, aside from independent operators? Where are independents, i.e. pirates, fringe groups, exiled criminals, religious extremists, etc. most likely to settle?

Along with the high cost of operating a warship, the biggest obstacle to piracy is the lack of a base from which to refuel and a market for stolen goods. Starship fuel requires substantial infrastructure to refine and store. Few criminal organizations would have the resources to establish an outpost in deep space, and any such base would probably be quickly found and destroyed by the Fleet. So, criminals and smugglers have to be sneaky... a shady corporation, for example, might buy goods stolen from a rival and shelter the thieves.

Where are independents, i.e. pirates, fringe groups, exiled criminals, religious extremists, etc. most likely to settle?

In this early phase of colonization, passage offworld is very expensive; nations do not pay to move criminals and malcontents to the stars. The vast majority of the colonists must either pay their own way offworld or have valuable skills to offer a corporate or government employer.

Rogue asteroids come to mind for their defensive and resource values, space stations, or planetary bodies, etc. How would colonial and naval authorities deal with this?

They'd move in and either take the base over, or simply destroy it if capture seemed too difficult.

Due to the inter-colony trade is there a significant number of independent merchants? How do independent merchants react to piracy, i.e. do they trade with the pirated goods, set up agreements to move through pirate space, etc.

The majority of transport ships are owned by large corporations; some are operated by smaller companies, and a few are independently operated. Regardless of who owns the ship, all cargoes have to pass customs at local ports, so shippers have to be careful about where their cargoes come from; illegal cargoes must be carefully "laundered" to disguise their origins.

How did all of these groups react to the news of alien presence?

The opening of alien markets will definitely be good news for merchants... both legitimate and otherwise. The existence of a dozen or so alien markets that are not under the control of TCA regulations will no doubt be a boon to would-be pirates or smugglers. But this would be after the war is concluded, assuming that humanity survives.
With its population of 250 millions, wouldn't Aldea be quickly gaining on Mars as humanity's second planet?
Yes, Aldea is the most influential of the colonies. Mars still has more industry, however, as they got a 50-year head start and specialize in industrial production.

Is there a set of standards that these governments must meet in order to be recognized? Sort of like the standards that NATO imposes (civilian control of the military, etc) on prospective members?

I would expect that the TCA charter would include a sort of "bill of rights" that signatories would have to abide by. They have limited ability to enforce these rules, but I like to think that autocracy will be out of style by 2160. Setting up an interstellar colony requires a lot of money and know-how... it's hard to imagine the sort of thug-states we have on Earth arising on the new colonies, unless something goes wrong after landfall. Oppression is bad for business.

Then again, humans have always been inventive in ways to make life miserable for each other, so who can tell what new conflicts might arise?

Of course, the millennia-old conflicts between the social and ethnic groups on Earth will still exist (and some of these will no doubt be carried to the stars), but I think the most oppressive of governments will have been cleaned out by then. In 2160 anybody with access to the appropriate materials can make a weapon of mass destruction... so a nation that has internal strife is a clear and present danger to the world at large, and the other nations won't sit by and wait for something to go wrong; they'll move in and clean house. I think the "Bush doctrine" of preemption is going to become, of necessity, standard operating procedure.

Actually, in a way, this would be sort of a return to the way things used to be in ancient times. If you couldn't keep your own country under control, your neighbors would take you out in a heartbeat. For different reasons, of course.

I would expect that individual countries still exist, much as they are today, and are still sovereign to a certain extent, in the same way that states are locally run in the United States. I haven't given the matter too much thought (as it's not directly relevant to the story), but I assume that each planet will have its own self-determined government (Earth's would probably be a decentralized federation similar to the United Nations, but hopefully more effective). Management of inter-planetary issues falls under the auspices of the Terran Colonial Authority, which the government organization dealt with in the story (i.e., Alex's bosses).

The Terran Fleet

Humanity has many more starships than are directly involved with the Alien Contact mission (including military warships), but few that can travel such a long distance without resupply. Which is why the Scout Corps (whose peacetime job is deep-space research) got the call.

This is the list of active Terran military vessels as of the time of Alex's departure from Esperanza, 17 May 2160.

Terran Scout Corps vessels
6 Bennet-class long range scouts (190 m): (ECS-067 Bennet*), ECS-102 Pellew, ECS-150 Utsumi, ECS-154 Bellarmine, ECS-175 Matveyev, ECS-177 Galvin*
2 L’Amour-class long-range transports (275 m): ECS-050 Prabhu, ECS-052 Tartakovsky
1 medium transport (200 m): ECS-151 McCracken
1 heavy tug (250 m): ECS-155 Cavadini

Terran Colonial Fleet vessels
3 Centaur-class light cruisers (280 m): ECS-020 Centaur, ECS-029 Aldea, ECS-037 Esperanza
9 England-class destroyers (200 m): ECS-036 England, ECS-038 Hellas, ECS-051 California, ECS-054 Russia, ECS-060 Chryse, ECS-063 Australia, ECS-088 Norway, ECS-096 Cydonia, ECS-152 Madagascar
4+2 America-class heavy cruisers (320 m): ECS-062 America, ECS-099 Pacific, ECS-103 Europe, ECS-149 Afrika, (ECS-180 India), (ECS-201 Antarctica**)
3+3 Arcadia-class heavy destroyers (240 m):, ECS-153 Arcadia, ECS-155 Tharsis, ECS-170 Alberta, (ECS-200 Nihon, ECS-204 Brasilia, ECS-206 Arisilon)
4 modified-Bennet class heavy scouts (190 m): ECS-178 Yorktown, ECS-181 Valmy, ECS-182 Agincourt, ECS-189 Cape St. Vincent
6 L’Amour-class long-range transports (275 m): ECS-049 Actium, ECS-053 Puebla, ECS-057 Midway, ECS-095 Panipat, ECS-148 Plataea, ECS-156 Red Wall
(support vessels and smaller craft such as frigates, police craft, etc. not listed)

* Galvin and Bennet have the “modified-Bennet” refit.
** Antarctica was laid down but later canceled.

Vessel indicated in parentheses are still under construction, or undergoing refit.

Colonial warships are armed with a combination of point-defense laser turrets, heavy lasers, mass driver turrets, and missile tubes. The Bennet-class scout is armed with two missile tubes and a single point-defense laser. The "modified-Bennet" refit adds a third (rear-firing) missile tube, and two medium mass-driver turrets port/starboard.

The five main ships involved in the Alien Contact mission are Pellew, Utsumi, Bellarmine, Matveyev and Prabhu.

The standard armament for Terran warships includes lasers, mass drivers, and missiles (nuclear-tipped and otherwise). Bellarmine had the one point-defense laser turret, and a pair of missile tubes topside. Among her missile loadout were some nukes. Terran missiles are primitive by Loroi or Umiak standards (they probably have about a 10G burn; the Tempest could easily outrun them), but she did have them.

Out of curiosity, how does this rank up to the Loroi/Umiak fleet technologies, size, and numbers?

Numbers-wise, there are about as many ships in the Tempest's squadron as in the whole Terran fleet. Which is about what one would expect of respectively sized nations (four inhabited star systems versus about fifty).

Size-wise, they are roughly comparable to Loroi vessels. The Loroi destroyer is about 250 meters long; the cruiser 400m or so, the Tempest in the 750-775m range.

Tech-wise, the Loroi are about three generations ahead of the Terrans; Terran vessels have no defensive screens, and are limited to about 6G acceleration. Loroi ships can sustain 30G acceleration, and their blasters and pulse cannon do a lot more damage at much greater ranges than lasers (although the Loroi do still use lasers for point-defense weapons, and are considered quaint for still using them). The Loroi were using weapons and systems similar to what the Terrans have now (plus fighters) in the big war that formed their empire several hundred years ago.

I'm surprised (except for space considerations) that the Bellarmine wouldn't have an aft "chaser" torpedo tube-if only to keep people away from it while it's running away at full speed for the hyperspace limit.

Bellarmine's weapon systems were an afterthought; she wasn't really designed as a warship. The Bennet-refit version of the scout does have mass-driver turrets and a third rear-firing tube. But torpedoes fired from the forward tubes can track a target no matter where it is. Torpedo combat is long-range combat.  

Humanity has a large stockpile of nuclear weapons. Can't we use them as some sort of weapon in this war?

I don't think current nuclear warheads have anywhere near a 158 year lifespan, but no doubt there will be plenty of nuclear warheads at hand. Warheads are relatively cheap; it's the devices required to deliver them on target that are expensive.

It's worth pointing out, though, that nukes are still nukes, and kinetic energy is still kinetic energy. Under the right circumstances at close range, a Terran warship could do significant damage to a Loroi vessel.

Do we have carriers? or do the heavy cruisers carry a significant number of fighters? I know that a fighter won't be very effective but alas they are so glamorous.

Humans do have fighters that operate from bases and stations, but they haven't yet built any carriers. The other warships have shuttle bays that could theoretically carry a small handful of fighters. If the need arose, a transport could conceivably be converted into a makeshift light carrier.

The Bellarmine Incident

The Bellarmine was armed with a twin-laser turret, and two torpedo tubes.

The second strike against the Bellarmine should indicate that the attack was no accident. And 60 kilometers is considered very close range here; especially since some of the combatants are over 1 km long. Bellarmine herself is (or rather was) 190m in length.  

When the second strike "ignited" the Bellarmine's fuel tanks, what sort of fuel ignited? If it was 5,000 tons of anti-matter, we wouldn't be enjoying this comic 'cause our friend Alex would be a spike in the universal background radiation level. 
If it was hydrogen, what ignited? Did the energy weapon strike cause the hydrogen to fuse, resulting a massive explosion? Or was this a "mechanical" explosion - the liquid/slush hydrogen was rapidly converted to gas by the energy weapon strike, and we're seeing the equivalent of "steam explosion".

The Bellarmine's main tanks would have been liquid hydrogen, fuel for a fusion drive. Secondary tanks would have contained oxygen and other substances. I'm not enough of a physicist to know exactly what will happen chemically to liquid hydrogen when you subject it to intense heat in the direct absence of oxygen, but as you've suggested there would be at the very least a pressure explosion (as the fuel tank was ruptured), and there was enough oxygen in the vicinity (from storage tanks and escaping atmosphere) to create a noticeable fireball. I don't think the fuel would have reached fusion temperature; I assume a thermonuclear explosion at such close range would have been inescapably lethal to Alex. So, technically only a portion of the fuel would have "ignited" -- that is, burned chemically as a result of contact with oxygen.

Isn't it unwise to send out manned scouts, thus declaring our existence to the combatants? Wouldn't unmanned, remotely controlled probes have been a better idea? And why was the Bellarmine sent out alone? Sounds like the mission was set up to fail.

The problem with sending an unmanned "probe" is that there is no "subspace" communication by which to relay information back to base; the ship must return with a report. So, there is no such thing as a "remote control" starship.

As for having an AI control the ship, I don't see the advantage. The same steps can be taken to "sanitize" a manned ship information-wise to prevent an enemy from learning the location of Earth as can be taken with an unmanned ship, but remember that the whole idea was to eventually make contact; according to their intelligence, eventual contact with the warring parties is inevitable. Both sides are expanding in attempt to gain needed resources. As for the choice of whether to hide or attempt contact, this issue has already been discussed. The story of Humanity cowering in a hole until the Umiak arrive to conquer them wouldn't have made for a very interesting storyline, in my opinion. The scout's intention was to gather intelligence first and contact second, as the Bellarmine was attempting to do; that there happened to be a hostile vessel in their lap was unforeseeable bad luck.

And as far as contact is concerned, the idea is that the scouts must be able to make decisions on the spot, as they can't call home for instructions. Would you want to trust an AI with the future of your species? I wouldn't.

Time is an important factor to Humanity. Hostile scouts could discover Earth tomorrow or five years in the future. It has already taken more than 6 months to organize the contact mission, and the Bellarmine spent almost two months making the 200 light year journey; to report back takes another two months. There isn't a lot of time to waste.

As to why the Bellarmine was alone, the Humans don't have an unlimited supply of long-range starships. The Scout Corps only has six such ships, and four of them are involved in this mission (along with a fifth long-range transport that serves as a relay station between the scouts and home base). Not knowing the precise location of either the Umiak or Loroi, the Humans chose to spread their 4 scouts across a large area, hoping to find what they were looking for. Two groups of two ships each is, in my opinion, putting too many eggs in too few baskets. The Bellarmine has been destroyed, but there are still three other scouts out there. Another issue is that if you have two ships in a group, one waiting at the jump point while the other goes in to investigate, in order for one ship to transmit the information they've gathered to the other, they have to break radio silence -- which is exactly what you don't want to do if you're trying to avoid detection.