The Sinews of War, the Price of Peace
A thousand ships lost. Losses that should be beyond imagining. Yet, when the Codexian government asked for more, the people relented. They gave it - and everything else demanded by the state. Conscription was enacted, but proved hardly necessary. Millions of volunteers were clogging up the recruitment system, essentially overloading it. Enormous numbers of new vessels were built, as Codexia's famed industry shifted into gear. Even as the 10th Fleet was almost destroyed in a fleet action around Indigo V, the reconstituted 11th was deployed along the front. Casualties rose into the hundreds of thousands. The Hin'in were a cold and calculating foe. They would strike human formations and then quickly retreat, before reinforcements could arrive. When confronted by strong Codexian forces, they would give way, conducting masterfully co-ordinated fighting withdrawals. The humans - bless them - kept pouring new meat into the grinder.
And, as the months rolled on, and a thousand more ships were added to the loss tally, this stratagem began to produce results. The Hin'in, for all their battlefield prowess, were obviously less inured to casualties than their human foes. Whereas the Codexians would throw a hundred ships away to destroy a battlegroup of twenty Hin'in vessels, the psionically gifted aliens were never comfortable with such arithmetic. The clean, sterile war they had seemingly wished to fight became a death grapple. As 269AU dawned on the universe, the Hin'in found themselves giving ground. To be certain, they continued to savage human formations with uncanny regularity, but it was a struggle they were coming perilously close to forfeiting. The sons and daughters of Codexia bled for their nation. Their resolve was grim.
It was at that point, in February 269AU, that the unthinkable happened. The young world (a new politically correct term replacing 'colony') known as Leonid declared its independence from the Codexian federal republic, unilaterally. It had already previously had its far share of separatist struggle (in the 220s), but now it seemed as if more of the (much larger) population had decided that this was the best course of action. The local Codexian Army garrison voluntarily surrendered their arms, for the most part. Those that chose not to were given safe conduct off-world. A few small formations entered into open battle with the separatists, but those engagements seldom ended well. Leonid had simply become fed up with the central government. Behind the overweening paternalistic nationalism of the core worlders was a sad picture of impending socio-economic failure. This is exemplified by the following: a single frigate cost more than nine hundred million credits to produce. Nearly four hundred frigates had so far been destroyed during the conflict, and another five hundred had been built. The economic cost of the whole affair was by now approaching about twenty percent of the GDP.
Something had to give. There were no foreign partners to secure wartime loans from. The banks were dry, as a source of capital. Private investors were completely overcommitted, already. The public was already having its marrow sucked out, taxation-wise. Codexia (the homeworld) and the oldest colonies nonetheless stood proudly and accepted the privations as a matter of course. The younger worlds, however, were outraged. Five other worlds quickly followed suit, after Leonid, and together they officially announced the formation of the Commonwealth on 26 April 269AU. A new interplanetary state now existed, in a de-facto sense. The independence proclamations rocked Codexia to the core. Stock markets crashed overnight, liquidating multi-billion credit investments and wiping away almost a trillion credits from the economy. Social welfare no longer had the funds to pay out pensions and other benefits. The warchest was running completely dry.
Codexia faces the darkest period of its history. It is threatened with an enveloping, catastrophic system failure. How will it respond to the challenge posed thereby?
Choice A: The Independents
Do you... wearily recognize the Commonwealth as a peer?
OR
Do you... refuse to recognize the Commonwealth, instead claiming that it is an illegal construct? However, you also choose to concentrate on the Hin'in War, rather than expending your martial energies on your fellow Codexians. They can wait.
OR
Do you... pull requisite forces away from the front, and intervene militarily on Leonid and the other separatist colonies?
Choice B: The Hin'in
Do you... unleash your forces against the Hin'in in much the same way as you have done so far, in an attempt to overwhelm the tottering aliens decisively?
OR
Do you... slow down the tempo of operations, giving both sides a strategic breather, while you resolve outstanding issues on the homefront?
Choice C: The Homefront
The war has had catastrophic consequences for the Codexian homefront. Choose an effect:
Do you... badly slow down shipbuilding, as funds dry up? Your fleets will begin declining, steadily, if they are still committed to the war.
OR
Do you... slash social programs further? Healthcare, education and social welfare will be the main victims of your belt tightening, as you look for funds to continue the struggle with.
OR
Do you... begin printing money recklessly? This will buy you (literally) perhaps three months of breathing space, before inflation spirals out of control.