Thanks to the balanced and careful policy of Regent, the Empire stopped at the very edge of civil war. Somewhere, at the borders of remote Sectors, local conflicts flared up, but they did not overstepped the bounds of separate star systems.

However hostilities did not stop. Hundreds of Frontier worlds that still retained formal independence both from the Empire and the Protectorate became a new battlefield. The reasons of conflicts were quite different, but as a rule all came to one and the same. An independent planet located in Frontier, but not touched by war area, became loot. The loot of one of the Empire corporations that were trying with all their might to increase their power in Frontier. The loot of a vagrant “pirate” fleet, a great many of which appeared after the disintegration of the Great Empire Fleet. Or, simply – the loot of a too far independent Lord-Governor, who aspired to extend the borders of his sector. And the Protectorate Colonial Corporations often tried to swallow a tasty and seemed belonged to nobody piece.

Then anything could happen. The government of such a planet could apply for help to Regent of to the Protectorate, Advisors could stir up a local conflict turning it into a vexing the Empire hot spot. However and Regent himself often supported such ventures – won though local wars strengthened his prestige in the eyes of hesitating Lords and, of course, the military had something to do. Thus in the “independent” worlds of Frontier, the interests of the Protectorate and the Empire confronted each other – though indirectly. But now there appeared more players in this game – different corporations, Lords-Governors, numerous “pirate kingdoms” weren’t going to lose their piece of cake.

So local conflicts and little wars took place of secret, “underground” operations of the Raid War times. Now troops of the Protectorate and the Empire clashed with each other again, but the scale was much less and, as a rule, a conflict did not go beyond the bounds of one star system. The central governments pretended that nothing happened not wishing to give a cause for a new galaxy war. Meanwhile, the Empire raid-commandos and the Protectorate rangers were fighting each other on hundreds of unknown planets.