by C. C. Ekeke
As of 2403, the Galactic Union now had up to eighty-seven full memberworlds, along with hundreds of colony worlds and territories in at least seven designated sectors of space.
Government Structure
The Chouncilor of the Galactic Union
The Galactic Union’s elected leader and head of its executive branch is the Chouncilor. The position is voted in by the Chamber of Delegates, which obtains votes from the memberworlds, colony worlds and territories they represent. The Chouncilor and the Executive Branch reside on the Union capital world, which is currently Terra Sollus.
The Chouncilor presides over meetings with the Executive Ministry, which are the leaders of the Union’s Executive Branch. The Chouncilor can serve a maximum of two five-year terms, but every two and a half years they receive an approval review from the High Tribunal, based on anonymous members of the Bicameral and their track record (a form of checks and balances). There have only been two instances in Union history where a Chouncilor has been ousted due to a below average job performance.
One of the Chouncilor’s most important roles is being the Supreme Commander of the Union Command Armada. In matters of extreme urgency or during war, the Chouncilor can make immediate, unilateral decisions without the approval or the High Tribunal or the Union Bicameral.
The Chouncilor’s second in command is the Vice Chouncilor, the first person in the line of succession to the Chouncilorship upon the death, resignation, or removal of the sitting Chouncilor.
The Honor Guard, an interplanetary law enforcement agency within the Ministry of Homeworld Security, is tasked with the safety of current and former Chouncilors and their families. They also provide protection details for Vice Chouncilors, Chouncilor candidates and visiting foreign Heads of State.
The Executive Ministry
After the Executive Council was dissolved, the Executive Ministry was formed to assist the Chouncilor in governing the various needs of the Galactic Union. The 15 supervising officials of each ministry hold a position in the Executive Ministry, as stated below:
Minister of Union Affairs
Minister of Defense
Minister of Homeworld Security
Minister of Commerce
Minister of Finance
Minister of Education
Minister of Interior Development
Minister of Expansion and Exploration
Minister of Interstellar Relations
Minister of Justice
Minister of Transport
Minister of Energy
Minister of the Proletariat
Minister of Agriculture
Minister of Health Services
High Tribunal
The High Tribunal is the head of the Union’s judicial branch, and the highest court with the Galactic Union. The rulings are handed down by eleven Chief Magistrates. The High Tribunal Court remains on Galdor, even though it is no longer the Union capital world.
The Union Bicameral
When the Union was founded, the Executive Council served as both the Union’s legislative and executive branch. But once so many new members began streaming in, the Executive Council was dissolved in 2173. A two-chamber legislative branch was then formed to represent every memberworlds in the Galactic Union.
The Chamber of Delegates consists of Delegates from all areas of the Union, including territories and colony worlds. A memberworld’s number of delegates depends on the planet’s population and influence. The Union Senate is comprised of three Senators from each memberworld, which brings the current Senate up to 261 members.
Delegates and Senators represent the interests of their planets in the Union legislative process, but they aren’t constitutionally authorized to execute the laws. Various parties are represented in the Congress, chief amongst them are Populist (favoring a less centralized government), Temperate (moderate/middle of the road), Imperialist (favoring a more centralized government), Technocrat (technology-leaning) and Theocrat (religious/spiritually leaning).
Union Memberworld governments
Each memberworld’s government is structures to be a microcosm of the greater Union’s government. A memberworld’s executive branch is ruled by a Viceroy, with a World Court heading the judicial branch and a Global Congress for the legislative branch. The main Union government usually doesn’t interfere with day-to-day governance of their memberworlds, particularly their interior affairs.
But in a number of domains such as warfare, communication with other star-spanning governments and resolving disputes between memberworlds, Union mandates always supersede individual memberworlds’ law.
Military
The Union Command Armada (UComm) falls under the Ministry of Defense’s jurisdiction. Since its formal creation in 2153, the UComm’s size, capabilities and responsibility for protecting the Union from any interior or exterior threats has grown exponentially. The four military branches subordinate to the Ministry of Defense include UComm PLADECO, UComm AeroFleet, UComm Space Marines and UComm Border Patrol.
The UComm Planetary Defense Corps (UComm PLADECO) deal directly with the protection of all Union memberworlds, colony worlds and territories. This includes aerial, terrestrial, nautical, and suborbital armed forces.
UComm Space Marine Corps (UCSMC) provides outerspacial force projection, utilizing the mobility of UComm’s AeroFleet to deploy its units. Subdivisions include Space Marine All-Terrain Operations Command (SMATOC), UComm Fleet Space Marine Force (FSMF), and Space Marines Consulate Security Command (CSC).
Union Command Aerospace Defense Fleet (UComm AeroFleet) represents the Galactic Union’s military space fleet. This ranges from fighter jets and massive battle command cruise ships in AeroFleet Combat Command to deep space exploration vessels in AeroFleet Exploration Corps (shared between the Ministries of Defense and Expansion & Exploration). AeroFleet Academy, where the next generation of aerospace officers is trained, also falls under AeroFleet’s umbrella.
The primary mission of UComm Border Patrol (UCBP) is ensuring the safekeeping of borders between neighboring races and unclaimed space. Vessels and personnel in this agency are tasked with patrolling Union borders as well as conducting health and security inspections for ships suspected of violating Galactic Union laws. Other Border Patrol duties include preventing terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the Union, stopping individuals attempting to enter the Union illegally and ensuring the safety of travelers entering and exiting Union Space.
UComm Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) oversee all special operations elements, even those within the other UComm branches. Star Brigade, PLADECO’s Omega Group, and the Space Marines’ TROJANs fall under JSOG’s authority.
The Union Command Joint Medical Division (UCJMD) create joint oversight between all areas of the UComm in four key areas: medical research, medical education and training, health care delivery, and shared support services.
Another key division is UComm Installation Operations (UCIO), which manages all military border outposts, deep-space stations, mining stations, shipyards and starbases.
Other military subdivisions include Military Advocate General (MAG), UComm Corps of Engineers (UCCE), and UComm Military Intelligence Directorate (UCMI or Military Intelligence)
Noteworthy Chouncilors
Vut’guios’ajjus (2174 – 2179), aka ‘Sajjus’, was an esteemed Kudoban diplomat and mediator who helped extensively with the Great Migration of displaced Ttaunz refugees, was elected as the first Chouncilor of the Union.
While many believed his pacifist nature would make him a weak choice for Chouncilor, Vut’guios’ajjus in the end defined the role for future Chouncilors, which included setting the balance of power between the High Tribunal and newly created Bicameral. He held the Union together during the First Terminus War (then called the Separatist War) between 2176-2178, eventually reaching a truce with the separatist leaders. Sajjus served just one term, which was heralded as a major success.
Unfortunately, certain policy dec
isions made during his tenure were blamed for the Economic Slump of 2180.
Gulthresh’Gishroo ‘Gult’ (2264 – 2267), a Voton male, was a lackluster Chouncilor renowned more for his carnal indulgences than his policies. In 2264 he approved a mandate for Terra Sollus to become the official homeworld for earthborn humans 150 years after it became a colony world for Earth. The move was seen as a slight to the indigenous Korvenites who were losing more and more acreage to immigrating humans. Gult’s push for Cantalese’s full membership, where he spent an excessive amount of time, was unsuccessful. It was rumored that he wanted to make the Vacation Planet the new capital world of the Union.
But Chouncilor Gult is mainly remembered as the first Chouncilor to be assassinated. The culprit behind Gult’s death was a radical sect of Rhomerans. This renewed hostilities between Rhomera and Aurealis for many years.
K’Lyrrid Varo-Kata (2374 – 2383), a Kintarian female, was a former AeroFleet Admiral and Defense Minister who rode the wave of her ‘war hero’ status after the Second Terminus War into the Chouncilor’s office. Her combat prowess served her little in her tenure’s first few years, but helped after a series of tragedies. The first was the Earth Holocaust in 2377. Varo-Kata rose to the occasion, holding the Union together and ordering the capture of all Korvenites. It was under Varo-Kata’s tenure that the secret internment camps were built to contain the Korvenites.
The second tragedy happened when the Terminus Cluster rebelled again after two of their planets, Ysaeld and Shrall, applied for full Union membership. The mutinous species in the Terminus Cluster declared these planets to be traitors and seeing the Earth Massacre as a sign of weakness, obliterated Shrall. They threatened to destroy Ysaeld as well unless the Union left the Terminus Cluster and abdicated all claims to it.
Varo-Kata refused to bend, and once all Union personnel had been evacuated from Terminus Cluster worlds behind the uprising, Varo-Kata struck. She ordered the destructions of all rebellious worlds—seven in total—completely eradicating these species. Many in the Bicameral wanted Varo-Kata tried for multiple counts of xenocide, but a trial was rejected by the High Tribunal in light of Varo-Kata effectively ending the Third Terminus War and any future rebellions.
Varo-Kata’s actions made testimony to any memberworld or star-spanning government doubting the power of the Galactic Union. This earned Varo-Kata the nicknames of ‘L’Kyrrod the Destroyer’ and ‘World Breaker.’
Aristotle ‘Ari’ Bogosian (2396 – 2403) was a former Chamber Delegate and Union Senator elected to office of the Chouncilor in late 2396, a year after the Ferronos Sector War. Bogosian was a shrewd politician and conciliator, finding ways to bring even his staunchest detractors to the table and reaching a middle ground that appeased most parties. He successfully put down the first incarnation of the Korvenite Independence Front as well as averting a near-war with the Juunthra Accord over long disputed borders.
A major triumph during his tenure was capitalizing on the goodwill between the Kedri Imperium and the Union after the Ferronos Sector War to move toward a historic interstellar trade merger, which would’ve been the largest in recorded history.
Unfortunately, the actions of the Korvenite Independence Front terrorist group turned the merger into a disaster and the Union’s relationship with the Imperium is now in disrepair. Shortly afterwards, Bogosian resigned from office in disgrace in the middle of his second term and now dedicates himself to philanthropy.
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OTHER BOOKS BY C.C. EKEKE
STAR BRIGADE SERIES
Star Brigade: Resurgent (Book 1)
About the Author
Born in 1979, C.C. Ekeke spent much of his childhood on a steady diet of science fiction movies and television shows, as well as superhero comic books like the X-Men and the Avengers. It was in college studying for a degree in advertising that he stumbled across a desire to write books. Some of his heaviest influences include authors J.K. Rowling, Michael A. Stackpole, Peter David, Timothy Zahn, and most recently George R.R. Martin (both TV show and books). Currently living in LA’s San Fernando Valley, he’s at work on the next full-length Star Brigade novel.