
[2870-2879  Rise of Nikita Nakurev]

The incident on Mordante triggered a public outcry back on Earth,
particularly since there was no governmental mechanism in place
by which to charge, prosecute, and punish the individuals who had
nuked the populace on Mordante. Technically, these individuals
did not have to answer to any law but their own, and since
Mordante was essentially destroyed, there was no court in which
they could be tried for the crimes committed there. However, 2869
was also an election year for the Secretary Generalship, and
running on the promise that she would repair the loopholes of the
Great Compromise and force democracy upon the Coalition, Nikita
Nakurev won an upset victory against the incumbent, delivering on
her promise the following year by seizing all IPF forces in
Coreworld Homespace and consolidating them into the new "Terran
Navy".

   Needless, to say, the IPF council was shocked by this clear
violation of the "Great Compromise", and they staged a limited
invasion into the Terran controlled Core Worlds in order to
recover several shipyards which were the key to long-term control
over the fleet. Although the attack did result in considerable
damage for the Terran forces, the invaders were finally repelled,
and the IPF council splintered during the aftermath as each of
the member worlds began nationalizing vessels for the purposes of
system defense.

   Riding a wave of public outrage against the invasion, Nakurev
seized the moment by counter-invading, conquering one system
after another and inserting military officers as interim
governors. Seeing that a normal military response was out of the
question, Coalition forces adopted terrorism and piracy as
methods to drive out the Terrans.

   By 2875, Nakurev narrowly won herself a 2nd term. Despite the
military victories, the populace was growing increasingly weary
of the bloodshed, particularly after news was released that
Terran agents had seized viral weapons en route to Earth, which,
if released, could have killed over half the world's population.
Many people blamed the increasing bloodshed on Nakurev, stating
that she had gone too far too quickly, and that she had refused
all attempts at a negotiated peace. Meanwhile, though the capture
of many Coalition worlds have proven relatively easy, keeping
control of them was becoming increasingly expensive, both in
terms of resources as well as lives.

   As the war continued to drag on, reports of atrocities
committed by Terran forces on subjugated worlds began to leak
into the press, and Nakurev's popularity plummeted. Shortly after
an assassination attempt in 2878, she declared marshall law over
Earth, the Core Worlds, and all the conquered territories,
imprisoning government officials who spoke out against her and
replacing them by "Right of Appointment". By the following year,
in what should have been an election year, it became apparent to
many if not most that Nikita Nakurev, who had been elected on the
promise of bringing democracy to all of colonized space, had
instead set her goal on becoming its supreme dictator.

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