But the fastest growing, and to many the most frightening of the Space
giants, was the metal-churning monster known simply as 'The German
States'. Their technology and industrial determination once more
bringing them to the fore of the political arena, this born-again
superpower, in the eyes of many, was the card on which the growing
instability would turn. And the Germans themselves, for reasons not
entirely clear, seemed to savor this new role, and to do everything
possible to enhance it. Most had believed (not without cause) that it
was they who encouraged the Cantons, and therefore they who would soon
be making their presence felt in the outlying sectors. But when the
time for such a move had come---the ruthless destruction by mercenaries
of half the Canton fleet at Centaurus (so read the propaganda
line)---they had shown no such inclination, choosing instead to remain
neutral. True, their moneys and weapons were sometimes involved; but
by all legitimate intelligence not a single German squadron or military
adviser had been seen within the whole of Andersen sector during the
dispute. There could be no denying, however, that their geological
fleets had moved in quietly after the destruction of the Laurian
ore-planet, recovering valuable mineral wastes that the Cantons could
not. The mysterious 'gravity station' had also disappeared.