2624-2823 AU
After the war, Kardak Raegen took up the position of magnate (Magnae) of the Graedian sector, where much of the Nebulan Empire’s military resources were now concentrated. The following year was subdued but tense. Secretly, an underground movement of Graedian patriots organized themselves against the Nebulans in an effort to end the occupation. Armed conflict broke out in 2624. The First Graedian Revolt lasted two weeks: one week for the revolt to reach its climax, and one week for Raegen’s iron fist to utterly obliterate it.
Twice as many people (many of them civilians) were killed in the two-week revolt as in the year-long Nebulan conquest. Nebulan forces were given no other orders than to suppress the rebellion and kill until ordered otherwise. Revolting worlds were pulverized in assaults and bombardments; cities older than the Terra Nova Empire were reduced to slag. Whole worlds were enslaved without mercy and some populations vanished completely. Kardak followed up his suppression by electing brutal magistrates for each revolting system.
The debris of the rebellion was salvaged, processed by slaves, and used to rebuild the Confederacy in the Nebulan style: powerful industrial bases defended by fortress worlds.
It took nearly 200 years for the Confederacy to recover from the devastation wrought by Kardak in 2624.
Despite the chaos and death toll, fifty years after the revolt, the Graedian sector had seen substantial recovery economically. Bureaucracy was reworked under the Nebulan regime to be more streamlined, efficient, and honest. Revenue and productivity steadily increased and corruption was slowly weeded out. But the Graedian people always lived in the shadow of Nebulan cruelty. Slavery continued for 100 years and was never relaxed. Finally, in 2770, the planets held in bondage were given their freedom – a gift they accepted bitterly.
Nebulan occupation continued apace for another 100 years. During that time, in spite of relative unchanged in foreign movement in the Graedian sector, Terra Nova and its general population remained on edge – save merchants, thinkers, and explorers.
At the dawn of the 29th century, the iron grip of the Nebulans on the region relaxed. The potential for broad Nebulan citizenship was beginning to circulate through the empire around this time. Nebulan military forces in this time were at their peak, but still spread thin due to expansion in the north and patrolling of the Terra Nova border in the south.
The possibility of war with the Terrans was constantly on the minds of Nebulan leaders. Some endorsed a war, yet the majority knew that, preemptive strike or no, the Nebulan fleet simply could not contend with that of the Terrans. To supplement their numerically inferior forces, Nebulan scientists began work on a new weapon for capital ship combat: the Mass Driver Cannon. Essentially a huge plasma cannon with incredible power and range, development of the MDC began as early as 2790.
A new Graedian revolutionary movement also began around that time – organized and fanatical, but having learned from the mistakes of the Nebulan conquest and First Revolt. They modeled their forces on the discipline and grueling training of their conquerors, but removed a severe Nebulan weakness – lack of agility. Graedian forces were supremely maneuverable in battle, with a surgeon’s precision.
However, plans for another Graedian revolt were placed in jeopardy by the development of the MDC. The weapon was primarily designed as an anti-starship cannon, but could easily be used for devastating planetary bombardments. The thought of the Nebulans with a weapon of such destructive capacity in their arsenal stepped up the timetable of guerilla activity, and as their first strike the Graedians hit the R&D facility where the MDC was being designed. They not only succeeded in stealing the prototype, but all research data as well, and destroyed the facility as they left. Furious, the Nebulans hunted the culprits for months, and threats of violent suppression began.
Then in 2823, on the anniversary of their fall to the Nebulans two hundred years before, the Graedians exploded into full revolt. Their outnumbered and outgunned fleet, now armed with a few MDCs, wrought havoc on the Nebulan occupation forces. Fortress worlds designed to hold the Confederacy from assault were quickly taken and turned against the Nebulans. The beginning stages of the war were an amazing feat, aided once more by the legendary Astyr Clan in the field and the Squires at home. Young Cabal Raegen, serving under his father Niklohs (son of the late Kardak), distinguished himself in the fighting on Graedius. At the same time, huge swaths of colonies along the Nebulan Fringe saw an opportunity to free themselves from Nebulan rule. Past oppression of the colonies now fomented unseen rebelliousness.
Given the potential cost of trying to retain the whole of their empire, the Nebulan leadership decided to cut their losses and negotiated the secession of the Graedian Confederacy in 2824, three months after the beginning of the revolt. Certain rights were retained by the Nebulans, and a military aid pact was sealed, but the enormous tax revenue, raw materials, and production power were wholly lost. Some historians have attributed the success of the Second Graedian Revolt to the more even-handed Magnae and magistrates in charge of the region; Kardak Raegen had died in 2751, and his moderate successors – along with the changing political atmosphere on Nebulus – provided a setting conducive to successful armed revolt.
After the elimination of the Graedian threat, the Nebulans turned their attention to other colonies that had revolted. (Graedians, true to themselves, gave no thought to those that were beyond their own sphere of influence.) Nebulan forces, now able to concentrate themselves, subdued dozens of systems. Those that resisted to the last were obligingly destroyed. Systems that fought valiantly and yielded were spared. Systems that yielded without a fight were also spared, as per Nebulan custom.
This was the low point of the Nebulan Star Empire. They had lost their most powerful economic and production sectors and also suffered tremendous losses in morale. To avert potential disaster, the Nebulans gave concessions to Fringe worlds; nearly full citizen rights as well. Autonomy was granted to the colonial worlds, tax burdens were lightened, and defense was to be provided by a new branch of military forces – the Colonial Legion. This force consisted of local militia armed and advised by Nebulan personnel, making them effective soldiers for outlying systems. Fringe policing was now to be largely handled by the Colonials, which could also be summoned to service by the Nebulans at need. These concessions re-established Nebulan credibility with its colonies and allowed the Empire’s recovery to begin. Though a short and relatively bloodless conflict, the Nebulan Empire had been shaken to its foundations; as a result of its magnitude, historians call this period of conflict the Fringe War.
