C-182: Merchant Freighter Spanial (Docked at Zarg’s World Highport), Common Room

by Overlord Frank · 2020-09-10

So, Oliver’s summary of Dominion-Separatist relations:

Separatist ships are not permitted within the Dominion Sphere (an area of space with a 50 light year radius of Zargonia)
Dominion ships are not permitted to jump into colonised Separatist systems
The exceptions are the agreed interface systems of Gateway on the Separatist side and Newerth on the Dominion side, which is the conduit for approved diplomatic relations and trade
Violation of the above is technically an act of war
The Overlord technically claims all of space in the entire galaxy, however, practical constraints make this impossible and so the concept of the Dominion Sphere was loosely defined in the Codex
The Treaty of Separation makes the Dominion Sphere a defined thing, being the place Separatist ships may not go

The Treaty of Separation makes no distinction between ships operated by the Separatist government or private citizens
The 50 light year radius is not hard wired into the Treaty, but is a declarative thing open to future expansion

Some time ago, using the precedent of the Dominion Sphere being a variably declarative buffer of space and some vague wording in the Treaty, the Separatists declared an area of space called the Electorate Jump Zone that would be actively patrolled by their Navy as a means of securing their borders from ‘alien threats’

The wording in the Treaty is less strong with regard to this area that the Dominion Sphere
The Electorate Jump Zone is defined as a distance of Jump 3 from any Separatist Colony System, excepting where this would be inside the Dominion Sphere
It’s not automatically an act of war if a Dominion ship goes into the jump zone, but may be considered an incursion under the treaty (what that means is beyond Oliver’s ready-to-hand knowledge)

The Separatists do make a distinction between ships operated by the Dominion Government and private shipping

However, the presence of a private ship in the jump zone is against Dominion Law

The Dominion doesn’t fully recognise the claim of the jump zone, and every know and then they stage a ‘show patrol’ into the edges of the jump zone

But they always announce it well in advance with the full patrol route so there are no surprises either side
Sometimes there are no Separatist ships in evidence, sometimes they announce a military exercise at the same time – the response seems to vary

[Note for Michaela: Lia may know some of the above during the meeting, if not, Karmen knows all of that information and can explain it all later.]

Karmen says, “it’s five or six Cycles for us from Pristine to Nonoop.”