Proposed Transport Union

Story so far

The proposed union begins as James Holden's answer to three postwar problems that cannot be separated. Naomi's transit analysis shows that unregulated gate traffic can make ships vanish; Earth, Mars, and the colonies urgently need safe movement of food, water, air, people, and raw materials; and many Belters cannot move down gravity wells or compete with planetary resources, leaving them vulnerable to the same abandonment that helped Marco Inaros build support.

The plan would organize Belter ships, support stations, and related services into an independent network responsible for coordinating passage across the thirteen hundred-plus accessible systems. It is intended to regulate the gate network's load limit and make the Belt's specialized experience in vacuum indispensable rather than obsolete. Holden offers the name spacing guild without attachment, while Avasarala's preliminary framework proposes limited sovereignty alongside oversight input from major governments.

The institution is only a proposal, not yet a functioning government or company. Its first leadership becomes immediately contested when Avasarala appears to draft Holden and he instead nominates Michio Pa, insisting that Belters must choose their own leader.

Appearance

A political and logistical network still existing only in a thousand-page Ceres proposal: Belter ships, support stations, gate schedules, cargo routes, traffic records, and contested lines of authority across the Ring network.

Role

The proposed union is the central postwar mechanism meant to turn the Belt's threatened dispossession into the indispensable work of connecting humanity's worlds.

Relationships