IS Commerce Agreement

This fanfiction article, IS Commerce Agreement, was written by LoyalHaloFan. Please do not edit this fiction without the writer's permission.

Ever since its signing and ratification between various states, the Inter-Species Commerce Agreement, abbreviated as ISCA, has been shrouded in controversy. The treaty was first proposed in September 2553 on Earth during the official establishment of relations between humanity, the Sangheili and Kig-Yar trade republics. The ISCA was intended to develop trading routes and stations across human, Sangheili and Kig-Yar space.

During the negotiations, the treaty and its sponsors experienced a wave of criticism during its inception, mostly among human populations. Protests erupted throughout human colonies, with the most destructive taking place on Jacinto and Earth. Many humans believed this agreement was treasonous, for allowing trade with species that wanted to eradicate them not even a year ago. This anti-ISCA movement grew a large following and even gained support within the UEG and UNSC. Some believed this agreement would allow the Covenant to enter human systems unopposed where they would be able to glass colonies and kill millions to continue their genocidal campaign.

Despite the controversy and growing support against the treaty, it was eventually signed by all three parties in 2554 on Jacinto, with commerce ships entering territories of member states and conducting trade without incident later that year.

By 2558, the ISCA still existed and was a major success. However, tensions still remained between the humans and the former Covenant species. In October 2558, the ISCA was brought to a halt in human territory after the arrival of the Guardians. Because of this incident, traffic across other ISCA member territories was significantly decreased and Sangheili naval forces entering a state of high alert as a result of the confusion.

History

Inception

The Inter-Species Commerce Agreement was first proposed by UEG Senator Jacob Kayen of Jacinto in September 2553 to establish formal and permanent relations with the Sangheili. Senator Kayen believed that by trading with the Sangheili, it would give humanity access to new materials and technologies. In secret, Kayen, and other associates, had intended to use the treaty to map any possible and already known colonies and discover the furthest extent of Covenant territory. The reasoning behind it was that if war were to ever break out again between humanity and any Covenant species, humanity would be able to launch a preemptive strike by jumping into Covenant systems, and bombarding their colonies with high-yield nuclear weapons and MAC rounds. The treaty would allow humanity to catalog planets with the highest populations in order to cripple the enemy and force a surrender under the threat of possible extermination.

This plan arose from The Syndicate, a secret organization of powerful men and women within human government and the military that was formed after the war as they became concerned with the survival of humanity, and sought out plans to launch a campaign of extermination against the Covenant of their own.

By November, Kayen had gained support from Senators mostly from the Inner Colonies, while opposition grew among Senators mostly from the Outer Colonies. While support for the agreement grew steadily over the months, the opposition launched a ruthless campaign that soon put the future of the agreement in jeopardy. Civilians across the colonies started to oppose the agreement. Fear-mongering took center stage for the opposition, as the made it clear that if the treaty was signed, war would break out all over again.

Criticism by the Trade Alliance

Ever since the first proposition of the ISCA, the Trade Alliance had strongly criticized and even condemned trade policies in which they were not in control of, nor had any power in the creation of regulations among human-Covenant trade. The Trade Alliance claimed that the ISCA would cause disruption among the Alliance and destabilize colonies.

The Trade Alliance would lobby heavily within the UEG Senate in an attempt to shutdown the agreement or delay it until the Alliance were given control and the power to establish their own regulations for inter-species trade. Once the agreement was signed, they continued to lobby within the Senate, calling for the ISCA to be repealed and replaced as it would cause damage that would eventually lead to the collapse Alliance in the future.

Signers

Below are a list of signers to the IS Commerce Agreement:

• Unified Earth Government (UEG) - 2554
• Swords of Sanghelios (SoS) - 2554
• Inzarr Trading Republic (ITG) - 2554
• Unggoy Oortehap (UG) - 2556
• Lydus' clan - 2559
• Phaenus' clan - 2560