The councilors of the Terran Alliance and the current President of the Satellite Charter Umar Sallandro have one main concern: the protection of the Hub systems. This region includes Houghton, Cook’s World, Mal’s Folly and the systems between. To the councilors of the Charter all else is expendable, and with the limitations of Fold Space Drives they are reliant on the Dindrenzi overreaching themselves as they pass through the Storm Zone. The commanders of the Navy of the Terran Satellite Charter (NTSC) are fortunately dedicated to the protection of the systems within Fathoms Reach and in the Charter itself. They have their best Terran warships deployed at the front in the Terran Storm Fleet (TSF), with the assistance of the Terran Allied Fleet (TAV), which includes battle groups of Sorylian and Aquan warships. They hope to call on reinforcements in the form of the Kurak Hub Fleet (KHB), the Fortress Fleet (FF) and various scratch formations made up of converted merchant vessels commanded by colonists. The outlying worlds of the Charter are assembling whatever resources they can muster, while Fleet Command, led by Commander Ramsey Slade, attempts to stem the Dindrenzi tide as it surges into the Storm Zone. The Dindrenzi War is one fought by the Terrans, Aquans and Sorylians against the Dindrenzi, but there were earlier wars and conflicts that were not so simple. In recent centuries there have been several short-lived wars between the Terrans and their present allies. They were caused by territorial disputes brought about by Terran colonists primarily, without the authority of the Charter, and resolved with bloody confrontations. These wars are kept a secret where possible, as the Alliance, Prime and Collective would all rather avoid similar conflicts or the trouble that public knowledge of them might cause. Some of these colonists have even been disowned by the Alliance, and as a consequence their systems have become independent and formed some of the Raider Sectors. These Raider Sectors are mostly situated below Fathoms Reach among barren planetary systems, where they survive through a mixture of limited industrial productivity and banditry.