- Break’s over, everyone back to work.
When Ampella first arrived on Xenoth she was truly startled. She had never been a labour worker before, and didn’t know what hard work was entailed. She was up early every morning, worked extremely hard every day. She was entitled to a break for resting and a break for eating, but never long enough to ease the tension straining her aching body. The pressure cumulating on overburdened body was excruciating at worst, and fatiguing at best. The Intergalactic Alliance was a somewhat democratic assembling of species from all over the galaxy. The Alliance’s member systems joined by choice, if they were deemed an asset to the whole. Most systems were peaceful, though some had difficulty following the rules conduct set out by the constitution. Some coercion was sometimes used to gain systems that would be true assets to the Alliance, but never to the point of all out war. The Alliance wasn’t perfect by any means, as the labour camps clearly demonstrated.
I can’t complain too much, I mean, labour camps are joined by choice, Ampella thought… theoretically that is.
It was true that the labour workers chose the profession at their own free will, but this was a matter of technicality. Nobody had labour schooling and everyone knew that to be a labour worker was to succumb to desperation. The working conditions were extremely poor, the danger factor was large and the benefits were minimal. The pay could be big enough to escape the life of the labour worker, depending on how dangerous the job was. For most labourers, they did not chose the profession if they had much of a choice. The only real advantage to the job was the travel, which most tired of quickly. Xenoth 9 wasn’t much of a tourist destination in any case.
Xenoth 9 was a small planet with no inhabitants. It was for this reason that the Alliance could justify occupying it. It was the ninth planet in a small solar system. This system was never before visited by the Alliance, but recent probes sent out had discovered and reported considerable resources in the area, resources that the Alliance’s Resource Minister needed and could not ignore.
The Alliance was vast, it contained several thousand solar systems and its needs could not be met by the planets from which its members originated, especially taking into account the fleets of space ships traveling from system to system. The ships used up a large amount of fuel both for the vessels and the ever increasing number of officers manning them. These ships explored, discovered and sometimes were involved in conflict disputes or small conflicts themselves. With the power of the Alliance behind them, the vessels never had to inflict much damage, the threat of the Alliance was often enough to silence any opposition.
With this large fleet in place, the Alliance knew it needed more than what it had. One hundred years ago, the Alliance began a systematic exploitation of resource rich planets that did not support life. These planets represented resources that were not being used by any other beings; therefore it was logical and efficient that the resources be retrieved by the resource hungry Alliance. The Alliance was fantastic at taking advantage of their ability to retrieve and cultivate these planets. This federation of sentient beings was responsible for the welfare and flourishing of many citizens and it was a sound method for ensuring the prosperity of the majority of the populace without endangering the planets that these species were inhabiting themselves. After all, it wasn’t as though these new planets supported any conscious life forms.
