Beyond the far edge of the eastern part of the Clone Star Empire is a collection of worlds known as the Eritran Free States. This is a loosely aligned collection of ethnic Eritran planets. Why is this important because the Clone Star Empire (East) is largely the conquered Eritran Trade Federation and there are fears in the Free States that the Clones may one day decided to expand their frontiers.
That is why we have seen a build-up in space navies and armies in the Free States especially in the case of cash rich Molab who are starting to assemble a pretty useful fleet. The latest announcement of 12 ex-Utrek Kalahati Tuuls going to Molab has raised eyebrows on Austini 55 (or would have if Clones had eyebrows) as, although the ships are old, with DDS updates they could be quite formidable opponents. It also confirmed that the Molab build-up was with the Clones in mind not the Utrek.
One thing the Clones know for sure that a war with one Free State would mean having to fight all of them. Recently Eritran insurgents were linked to Sear N7, who are a weak power with no offensive warships, but the Clones could not attack Sear N7 without risking the intervention of Molab.
So let us see what the Clones could be facing if there was a war against the Free States, we are taking 2112 when all current known procurement orders come to fruition :
- 3 Isometric-EMM
- 10 Pentekonter-E
- 12 Kalahati-Tuul
- Various older legacy ships including Tarbotian Vormix and even a couple of ancient Dinomarks
The legacy ships can be largely discounted but the 25 other warships cannot! The Clone fleet, of course, is much larger but Benito's portion of the fleet is roughly equal to the responsive sizes of the two halves of the empire so he has around 20% of the HCS fleet. This brings the two sides much closer. The Isometrics are also superior to anything Benito has bar his Soulakis.
So the Free States and especially the M-word is something Benito can never ignore. It is known that Benito would like to expand his empire but the only way he can expand is to take the Eritran Free States but to defeat them it is likely he would need reinforcements from Captain Clone which are unlikely to come quickly. It is thought this is the main reason Benito is slowly drawing the CSE-E away from the west so he can begin building up his fleet outside of the restrictions of HCS planning.
The problem is by the time Benito can build up his fleet the Free States will be all the more stronger. It is forecast that Sear N7 and Oxsasx will buy combat ships within the next few years (Sear N7 is already a buyer of support ships from the DDS) and Molab will continue to expand their fleet. It may be in a few years the Free States may think themselves powerful enough to go on the offensive and retake the Eritran Trade Federation from the Clones. Then Benito may find himself without an empire.
