House of Steel The Honorverse Companion - By David Weber Page 0,99

of date when the colonists arrived. FF sold its rights in the Manticore System to the Manticore Colony, Ltd., (MC) for approximately 5.75 billion EuroDollars. As part of the transfer of rights, FF expunged all data on the system from its memory banks, transferring the information to the Solarian International Data Bank’s maximum security files. This was a standard safeguard to protect MC against the occupation of the planet by later expeditions with faster ships, as it was already apparent that advances in hyper travel might well make such protection necessary. It was also recognized that there was no way to guarantee that faster, more capable hyperships would not beat the colonists to Manticore anyway. Accordingly, Roger Winton, President and CEO of MC (who had already been elected Planetary Administrator) opted to establish the Manticore Colony Trust of Zurich (MCT).

The MCT’s purpose was to invest all capital remaining to the MC after mounting the expedition (something under one billion EuroDollars) and use the accrued interest to watch over the colonists’ rights to their new home. It was a wise precaution.

Landing and Early History

1416–1453 PD

When Jason finally arrived in the Manticore System on March 21, 1416 PD, her crew discovered a modest settlement on the planet Manticore, staffed by MCT personnel who also manned the four small Earth-built frigates that protected the system against claim-jumpers. Indeed, so well had the Trust done in the last six centuries, that Manticore found itself with a very favorable bank balance on Old Terra, and the frigates became the first units of the Manticoran System Navy. Moreover, the small MCT presence on Manticore included data banks and carefully selected and trained instructors assigned to update the colonists on the technical advances of the last six centuries. This last was a feature even Winton had not anticipated and he had very good reason to be pleased with his own decisions and the diligence, foresight, and imagination with which he and a succession of MCT managers had discharged their duties.

Two centuries later, the MCT funds on Old Terra provided the initial capitalization of the Royal Bank of Manticore, and it has been argued that the initial experience with the MCT had a great deal to do with the Star Kingdom of Manticore’s farsighted enlightened self-interest where management of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction is concerned. Despite occasional detours, the Star Kingdom has always had a tradition of long-term, forward-looking economic and fiscal policies. The MCT remains in existence even today, managing Manticoran economic and governmental affairs on Old Terra, although it is no longer the financial mega-giant it once was.

A notable side effect of the emergence of the impeller drive and Warshawski sail was the emergence of both interstellar piracy and warfare. The region in which Manticore was settled had few close neighbors, and the colony government used some of their bank balance to purchase a squadron of Solarian-built destroyers, and hire the personnel to crew them.

It was well that they had that foresight. Less than two decades later, the nascent Manticore System Navy fought its first battle against advanced units of the Free Brotherhood, a wandering band of nomads and raiders that had begun migrating through the galaxy aboard a fleet of huge hyper transports accompanied by a veritable horde of light warships. Although no match for a well-organized multi-star imperium, the Free Brotherhood had wreaked havoc with many single-system polities and made the error of thinking it could do the same thing to Manticore.

The first battle occurred in the uninhabited Megan System, 8.4 light-years from Manticore, when two Manticoran frigates on a survey mission were attacked by advance scouts for the Brotherhood. MSNS Triumph was destroyed with all hands, but her gallant resistance bought time for the badly damaged MSNS Defiant to escape back to Manticore. When an aroused Manticore proved to be a much tougher customer than their normal victims, the Brotherhood moved towards the Haven Sector in search of easier prey.

The Plague Years

1464–1496 PD

The initial bid for Manticore had been so high for two reasons. One was that the G0/G2 binary was highly unusual—indeed, unique—in having no less than three planets suitable for human life. The second was that Manticore and Sphinx, the two habitable planets orbiting the G0 stellar component, were extremely Earth-like. Although each had its own unique biosphere, survey reports indicated that terrestrial life forms would find it unusually easy to adapt, and so it proved. Terran food crops did well and while the local flora and fauna could not provide