Altak Union

The Altak Union is the current government of Earth and it's colonies. It is a government build almost entirely on corporate capitolism, with the old democracies, monarchies and socialist republics of old having been long sincereplaced by megacorporations.

It is based on Mars in the star system Sol in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.

Government
The Altak Union is essentially a corporate dictatorship. While united under the Altak flag, the Union is ruled by six megacorporations, each with their own territories and holdings; with a small council of one person from each company (not necessarily the CEO) forming a small parliament that controls the entire empire.

Each Megacorporation is actually made up of thousands of smaller companies, from industries to law firms to private schools and security firms. (nearly) All property is owned by one of the companies and then leased to the citizens; and civil police (and military) duties is also handled by sub-corporations. Competition between corporations keeps prices low, however, as one of the few laws of the Altak Union's constitution states that a corporation can't block it's competitor's products being sold in their territory.

The entire Union is, effectively, divided up by the six corporations, forming six smaller kingdoms that unite under one banner when the need arises. Territory is bought and sold between the companies, and while military takeovers are not actually stated to be illegal, well, there used to be eight corporations.

The current capitol is on Rigel III, with Earth having been since declared a memorial (although it can only be viewed from low orbit, as the atmosphere has degraded to the point where it contains too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen to be breatheable). The current Chancelor is Spencer Mayaan.

Military
The Altak Union has one of the most unlikely organised militaries in the galaxy. Each corporation is obligated to contribute a predefined amount of ships, personnel, weapons, ammo and other supplies based on how many planets it has. These individual fleets are then compiled into three large fleets, controlled by admirals elected by the Council (however, the council can ovveride an admiral's orders at any time). Instead of three branches of Army, Navy and Air Force; the Union's military is lumped into the Navy. Navy ships have the designation 'ESS Ship Name', in honour of the Union's homeworld.

Finances
The Union does in fact have a unified currency (the AU Credit), as well as a central bank (the CUB, located on Mars), although most of the corporations have their own currencies (that are valued higher than the credit, but are only accepted by the corporation that makes them). Paper bills and coins have been abolished, with money now stored on data cards.

Culture
The culture of the Union is far different from today's, with pro-environmental standards being enforced by the very corporations that would benefit the most from said standards not existing (partially because it keeps the air clean, and partially because if they dropped all the 'green' movements that saved everyone's lives back on Earth once there were fossil fuels again, they would be hypocrites, as well as royally screwed). Art is more widespread than even in the 21st century, although it is starting to swing from 'modern' art back to more representational art. Religion, while not banned, has mostly vanished, in favour of the science that got the Union to where it is today.

Free speech, fredom of the press, etc. exists, and censorship only exists in the form of keeping more explicit material away from those too young (the current age that ends someone being a 'minor' is 16).

Living Conditions
Union laws state that everyone in the Union has inalienable rights to enough food, water and electricity to survive. However, any more than that and you need to get a job. Employment is currently rather low, hovering at around 2 1/2%. In addition, the corporations are forced to create jobs at the rate that the population is expanding, as they can't stop someone from leaving their planet, system or even corporation to find work (they actually can't stop them from leaving for any reason, so long as they aren't breaking any Union laws by doing so). None of the corp's are allowed to have their own citizenship programs, so someone can get a ticket to a different corp's planet and be living there within a week with no more paperwork than buying the ticket and then the house from the other corporation.

While the cities are far from as sterile as a microship-production room; disease is in check, and almost nowhere will you see massive amounts of litter. Cities and are designed to promote mass transit instead of everyone owning a car.

History
In 2055, there was another financial tank; lthough instead of the US going down and slowly recovering (and then Greece pulling down the EU), everything collapsed at once. With stock markets going subterranean, unemployment skyrocketing to almost 50%, and fuel prices going well over £30/litre; the shit hit the fan without anyone realising it until it was too late.

Some of the only entities left that didn't sink were seven corporations, Germany (and a few other countries that no one cares about); The United States and Canada (although they were pretty much crippled); and a bunch of people in north-eastern europe. Siezing an amazing opportunity for them, the corporations began forcing their way into he rapidly-failing government; replacing civil police departments, state-funded hospitals, and generally replacing the old governments as much as possible.

The corporations did eventually take over, forming seven new company-run countries (and again, a bunch of old-world-style swedes, Yanks and Germans). Things got much better after the takeover, as suddenly looting stopped, utilities were restored, and buying food was once again possible (instead of farming yourself, which was immensely cheaper). However, gas prices remained high, so non-fossil-fuel alternatives had to be advanced immensely to support nearly all of society.

The seven corporations (and bunch of Germans and swedes) stayed largely seperate, each forming their own proper governments, cities, industries, law systems, space programs, etc. Rail gun technology was advanced by an immense amount during this period, as magnetic rail launching was the only way to get anything into space without hyper-expensive rocket fuel.

In the late 2100-early 2200's, the remains of Germany and a few other former Soviet/Scandinavian countries (that had formally combined into the 'Aegis Nations ' in 2047), caused a great deal of trouble for the Union; going as far as to war with the rapidly-growing Union until they were forced to take a 'Tactical Retreat' (in reality, they got their arses handed to them) and leave for somewhere-or-other.

Just before (and during) 2400, however, a certain bunch of assholes from Sweden, Norway, Finland, the US, Canada and a few other countries didn't particularly like things getting back to normal, so they up and left, with the territory being claimed by Atax Securities, Inc. and Redmond Corp. With the exodus, the number of governmental entities left shrank to seven.

By 2550, the Altak Union had expanded to 24 different systems, with Sol as the one system in the union that wasn't owned by anyone. Technology has advanced leaps and bounds, and the average standard of living has gone from 'gee-I-hope-I-don't-get-eaten-tomorrow', to 'HA! Those pre-war idiots had crappy lives!'

In 2575, a corporation that shall not be named attempted to take over one another company's systems. It was annihilated by the rest of the Union within five days.

Corporations
Atax (Ay-tax) Securities, Inc (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.): The previous controlled of Europe, and owner of five systems.

Yamasaki (Yah-Mah-Sak-Ee) Limited (formerly a bunch of Korean companies): The previous controller of the habitable regions of northern Asia, and controller of four systems.

Redmond Corp. (formerly Microsoft): The previous controller of what was left of North America. Controller of only one system.

Hajal (Hah-jall) Inc. (Formerly Samsung and ASUS): Previous controller of Southeast Asia, most notably Singapore. Controls six systems.

Cytek (Sigh-tech) (Origins unknown): A company somehow formed after the collapse. Controlls four systems.

Unekko (You-neck-co): Formerly almost every insurance company on the planet. Used to control what was left of Africa, now controls four systems.

First Fleet:
Under command of admiral Norman Rockwell, immediate inferiors are Samuel Marx and Richard McPherson.

Ship Count: Five interceptors, 32 frigates, 24 destroyers, 15 cruisers, 7 battlecruisers, 2 battleships, two carriers, one dreadnought, two planetary bombardment vessels, and three command ships. Flagship is the Titan ESS Do You Feel Lucky.

Crew Count is Estimated at 20 000; affilated to the Altak Union.

Second Fleet:
Under command of admiral Jacob Townsend, immediate inferiors are Robert Wagner and Rachel Toralen.

Ship Count: Five interceptors, 25 frigates, 30 destroyers, 12 cruisers, 3 battlecruisers, 1 battleship, one carrier, two planetary bombardment vessels and two command ships. Flagship is the Dreadnought ESS Leviathan.

Crew count is estimated at 15 000; affiliated with the Altak Union.

Third Fleet:
Under command of admiral Joseph Amarr, immediate inferiors are Claire Ott and Jason Soss.

Ship Count:

Three interceptors, 25 frigates, 27 destroyers, 7 cruisers, 4 battlecruisers, 1 battleship, 1 carrier, one planetary bombardment vessel and three command ships. Flagship is the dreadnought ESS Marathon.

Crew count is estimated at 16 000; affiliated with the Altak Union.

Other
There are 35 Asssault Ships, twenty cruisers, thirty destroyers, two battlecruisers, one dreadnought and two fighter-less carriers in reserve that can be drawn on, fully or partially, at any time by any fleet; so long as the fleet in question returns the same number of ships after the mission in which the reerve ships were needed. These ships also act as an emergency evac/response fleet if an emergency breaks out on a planet and can only be solved through naval interference.

These ships (minus the assault ships) and several others that haven't been built yet are going to eventually become the Fourth Fleet, with the Dreadnought ESS Steve Jobs as the flagship.

The Tyranny Problem
Haha, what? No tyranny here! Everyone's absolutely, 100% free to do whatever the hell they want! No oppression here, folks! No bias at ALL!

Now would you please put away that gun, Mr. Mayaan?