2200 C.E.
The Hague, European Union, Earth
The view from the window was spectacular...the nighttime metropolis of The Hague expanding out towards the sea, even a little beyond it. Alexander Reid, the Director of the Coalition Security Council, just simply stood in his office and enjoyed the view. It had been a long day, meetings with representatives from the New Central American Federation, Brazil, Argentina and the Union of Southeast Asia regarding their plans for colonial expeditions had been long and drawn out. Japan, Israel and Saudi Arabia were already vying for opportunities to expand outside Sol, and the UCNS would be stretched enough as it is with the Coalition's planned second wave of expansion with expeditions to nearby star systems. He would have to play this out carefully, otherwise the other states would just launch their expeditions anyways, with or without the Coalition's help or opinion. As the plan stood now, the Coalition would send out the Enterprise to chart out the nearby systems to assess them for habitability, launching from Epsilon Eridani. Once any habitable systems were discovered, then and only then would Reid greenlight their colonization projects, and even then only to a limited degree. Any human colony had to be within reach of the UCNS, it was the only way to not only keep them within Earth's control, but to protect or help them in case anything went wrong.
Reid yawned, deciding to call it a night. Tomorrow morning he would gather with the rest of the CSC and they would greenlight Enterprise's mission. After that...no doubt he would have further meetings with agitated representatives again. It would be another long day.
>>>The Hague, European Union, Earth
>>>The next day...
The Coalition Security Council along with the heads of the Departments of Global Defence, Space and Colonial Affairs, Foreign and Global Affairs and the Coalition Integrated Intelligence Service had met to discuss the upcoming second wave of colonial expansion. As it stood Japan, Brazil and Central America were close to launching their own colonial expeditions, prompting the Coalition to meet and discuss their options regarding this new development.
The Secretary of Foreign and Global Affairs said "There's no sidestepping the issue, the Japanese, Brazilians and Central Americans have the capability to chart and expand into other systems. They're getting impatient with negotiations and are getting poised to set off on their own, with or without our approval or support. The Treaty of Luna City prohibits independent colonization only within the Sol System and makes no mention of other star systems and they know it. If we let them go off on their own it'll encourage other powers to follow their lead, and then what will happen is you'll see a regression to the pre-Space War political and military climate. Unless we act to regulate interstellar expansion, we'll soon be surrounded by potential enemies, which will make the Space War look mild if hostilities ignite."
"The Secretary is of course correct" said the Director of the CIIS, an illusive and slightly intimidating presence in the room, with a deep Louisianan accent that commanded attention "Japan is the most capable, but also the least likely to turn on us. They currently have observer status and the current government is interested in possible membership in the Coalition. Right now we also know their military had to undergo difficult budget cuts to fund their colonization program, while the opposition party is pushing for greater austerity and caution, and is working to drum up support among the population. A confrontation with us would prove politically and economically disastrous for them right now. The Brazilians and Central Americans however...well, even after the Vox Populi's defeat their still remains considerable anti-Coalition sentiment amongst their populations. Even though both governments lean more towards pro-Coalition, they can't ignore the will of their own people, or another revolt might topple them completely, not to mention destroy their economy. However they are still financially and economically fragile and still recovering, we could use that. We also still have forces deployed in those countries, they should prove a useful leverage."
The Secretary of Space and Colonial Affairs then said "That will change if they successfully get a colonization project off the ground though. Asteroid mining is proving a significant boon to economic recovery, and interstellar colonization will ease the population burden on them, not to mention provide new sources of revenue and resources. If they play their cards right without antagonizing anyone and successfully colonize new systems, we could be seeing them become resurgent in a decade, and then become major economic and military powers in two decades."
General Preston then said "If it comes down to it, the current garrisons in both countries are capable of neutralizing the Brazilian and Central American security forces, so long as we provide them with support, which will be easy as we command complete aerospace supremacy. The hardest task for us will be the subsequent policing actions afterwards. We can count on a long and costly insurgency for years in both countries. We'll have deploy relatively large occupation forces just to maintain law and order and keep any new government in check. Alternatively we could take the less costly options of either preventing colony ships from leaving Earth orbit, or just follow them and occupy their colonies, there wouldn't be much they could do about it either way."
The Security Council deliberated for awhile, weighing all possible options before coming to a decision.
Director Reid said "Alright then, we will rule out the military option for now and focus on political and economic pressure to bring them to our side. The vote is unanimous, we will approach Japan and begin negotiations for their possible membership, while economic pressure will be brought to bear on Brazil and Central America until our second wave project is underway."
With that the meeting was brought to an end and the final clampdown on independent colonization was brought under way.