If history has taught us anything, it's the inevitability of the fall of the empire. It is the eve of the final stretch of death throes of the 1000-year rule of the Federation, that has governed over the populated rim worlds humanity has seeded. The year 979 of the Federation, 3483 of the old calendar, has the captain of the Solar Trading Company Robert Janas return back home to Earth. He has spent decades on the Rim, investigating the steadily growing unrest and the rebellion it has caused. He's seen atrocities from both sides, burning cities and smouldering planets left in their wake.
The Solar Trading Company, the largest and the most influential entity humanity has given birth to. They were the first who created the trading routes between new planets, tied them together and allowed the newfound Federation to be born from where they walked. STC looked at how the rim world was unified under the rule of the Federation that sprung its Capitol in Geneve. The old countries of Earth ceased to exist, now there was only the Federation that spoke for them as well as for the rim worlds.
It wasn't in the interest of STC to interfere with politics. All they cared about was the trade of goods and information. While the politics turmoiled in the spiral arm of humanity, the leaders of STC kept as far away from it as possible, playing the neutrality card. The times have changed now. With age comes stagnation and the Federation is a far cry from its former democratic entity, its current leader, chairman Herrera running it like a dictator in everything but name.
Captain Janas has seen how this has affected the populace of the rim. They are increasingly unhappy and now, lead by the military genius of General Henri Kantralas, they have come together to form an alliance with the biggest fleet of human history. Thousands of ships armed for war are heading towards the Earth and the seat of the Federation. During this, Solar Trading Corporation is about the throw away the shield of neutrality and Janas is afraid that will also mean the destruction of the only entity he sworn allegiance to.
There still is a slim hope for the survival of STC. While the fall of the Federation is inevitable, this much Janas believes to be true, STC might linger a bit longer. In his attache case, Janas has reports he hopes will sway the leader of the company, citizen Altho Franken to stay neutral, but the time is of the essence if STC is to see tomorrow.
The Sky is Filled With Ships is a surprisingly fast-paced and tightly packed story, considering that large scale political game that is constantly running alongside Janas' attempts in preserving the neutral status of STC. The narrative shifts between Janal and the forces of the Federation waiting for the inevitable attack to take place. After the attacks happen, we see yet another perspective, those of the people of Earth, who are now finally waking up from their own slumber, after having for centuries thought of being untouchable by the woes of the galaxy.
While the story is filled with political intrigue, double agents and betrayal, I wouldn't necessarily call it a thriller. More than anything, it reminds me of a bit more condensed iteration of Isaac Asimov's Foundation stories. Instead of following the fall of the old Empire during several books, which span over centuries, Meredith focuses on the single point in history where the stagnant Federation finally collapses under its own hubris. Despite this tighter focus, it has a similar feel of being a snippet taken from history. There's a bit more action than in the Foundation series, but the stories do share tonal similarities.
Janas knows that the fall of the Federation doesn't turn things magically over. He is afraid of the dark ages that come after the power vacuum the once de facto leader of humanity leaves in its wake. While General Kantralis has united the planets of the rim against their master, that is not to say that the alliance lasts beyond the death of the old General. He hopes that if he manages to keep STC alive, the organization can again work with the rest of humanity, bringing it together again, like it did once before. No politics, just commerce of goods and ideas to aid the collapsing societies to get back on their feet and to help them remember that there is bigger humanity out there.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story is its point of view in seeing the humongous megacorporation that is Solar Trading Corporation as the good party of the story. Usually, in the sci-fi tales, it's these corporations that are the baddies because of the same reasons it is shown here as good; STC is the only entity that has no political interest, it only wants commerce, hence it is neutral. This despite the people who work for it see it as their "home country".
In the end, the people in the tale just function on based what they see is pragmatic. What the STC does is buy humanity some more time despite its seemingly neutral stance. Not even the mighty corporation is eternal, but perhaps it exists long enough to keep the wheels rolling. It might not be the ideal end, not even a good end nor one people would prefer or expect, but in the large scheme of things, isn't the survival of humanity the main thing over anything else?
If you are looking for a solid sci-fi tale with some well-described space battles, you could pick a worse book than The Sky Is Filled With Ships. And it isn't a long book either, under 200 pages, in fact, so you won't lose too much time if you decide to jump on it.
For a while, the book was in digital distribution thanks to now-defunct Singularity & Co., a Kickstarter venture that aimed to bring old sci-fi books into digital format. As they are now out, you might get lucky in finding the book from a library. There are also some copies of it on Amazon.
On a side note, despite the world of the story being full of ships that can jump lightyears in minutes and even run independently with AI, for some reason the communication still uses printed out papers. Sure, they have full-scale 3D TVs and phones, but still, for some reason, people carry prints of papers with them. And they smoke a lot as well. Like almost constantly.
But that's the future for you. It never unfolds the way you'd expect.
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