Operation Bedivere

For more than a decade, the crumbling Union has struggled to hold itself together against rebel colonists seeking independence and the guerrillas of the Earth Liberation Movement at home. Under the leadership of Chairwoman Avni, the Union has held its ground, but her bid for an emergency extension of her term has failed and she will soon be replaced by an ineffectual successor sure to oversee the Union's death knell.

The Chairwoman hatches one final, desperate plan to buy time for the Union against its enemies. The colonists have yet to acquire space-folding technology. If only they are denied it longer, any attempt to dispatch a fleet against Earth herself will be set back months or more. To this end, Chairwoman Avni pulls together all her resources to put space-folding technology beyond the reach of her enemies.

The name of this plan was Operation Bedivere.