Federacy votes for war

In an extraordinary session of the Federal Surpeme Council the motion to intervene in the war on Libria was passed by a majority vote. Since throwing off the yoke of Imperial oppression the Federacy had concentrated on recovering, rebuilding and rearming. Despite the Federacy's growing strength the majority of members felt little enthusiasm for an unpopular war of aggression, reluctant to end the decades of peace their populations had become accustomed to in pursuit of foreign military adventures.

Meanwhile the Tau Empire was becoming ever more overstretched. Its efforts to incorporate major worlds in the sector into its new sphere of expansion had been overwhelmingly successful but the Empire's resources were not limitless. The Federacy had been providing supplies and support to the Tau and allowing the use of its worlds for resupply and recuperation but little else. The Tau now wanted more from their allies and had been placing increasing pressure on the Federacy to take a more active role. They had been aided in this by Hartak, the warlike and idealistic Squats spoiling for a fight and eager to extend Federal freedoms to other worlds ready to throw off the Imperial yoke. They chafed under the growing isolationist and pacifistic direction the Federacy had taken. It was Hartak, seconded by Cerberex, that tabled the motion to become involved in the Libria campaign. They challenged the Federacy to actively seek to expand its influence, or as one Squat delegate less diplomatically put it, to “stop acting like a bunch of yellow pussies”.

Under heavy pressure from the Tau and a promise that Libria would be allowed to join the Federacy should it wish to the motion was reluctantly passed but it wasn't all the Tau had hoped for. The Federal Fleet would now be available for combat operations but no state of emergency had been declared and no world was compelled to send ground troops. For the time being the majority of Federal aid to air and space support. Hartak would mobilise its armies along with volunteer battalions from other worlds but without the numbers to wage a full scale war across multiple worlds they would be broken up and serve as auxiliaries alongside existing Tau Cadres. Still, it was a start.