The Rim Rebels

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FREE SYSTEMS ALLIANCE: Name given to a group of some 340 systems, of which 186 have inhabited planets, occupying the outer part of a spiral arm to the Galactic East of the Empire. Originally part of the Empire, the Free Systems Alliance became independent in 3428 A.E., and remains the only multi-system government not part of the Empire. In contrast to the centralized Emperor/Council of the Empire, the Alliance of Free Systems is governed by a Congress consisting of one representative from each inhabited system, a President elected by the Congress, and a cabinet appointed by the President. Since the member systems fiercely defend their own independence, the Alliance government itself is, by design, relatively weak, and the sessions of the Congress often chaotic and contentious.

-Encyclopedia Galactica, 2473rd edition

Prologue

The pebble had been wandering the outer fringes of the Boondock system for millennia since being formed in the primordial protostar that became the system's primary. The chance of its course intersecting that of another material object was so slight as to be infinitesimal . . .

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