Mark Skarr, I have two comments...
first, its not that the bad guys hadn't their share of wins too. At one point in Fenspace (after raiding and killing Fens for many months), they nearly managed to WIN... they overextended themselves which lost them the war (otherwise the Fenspace project would have been dead), but its not that it wasn't close. And there are more than enough victims of the war left... or remainders of the former "evil empire".
second, I disagree on your opinion that most Fen are just a pack of unskilled and untrained people. I think you would be quite surprised how many people with scientific or engineering background you will find among Scifi fans. There is a reason why there are not THAT many Fen in orbit, especially in the first years... because only a few of the people with access to Handwavium had the skills to make it up into orbit and be able to stay there.
first, its not that the bad guys hadn't their share of wins too. At one point in Fenspace (after raiding and killing Fens for many months), they nearly managed to WIN... they overextended themselves which lost them the war (otherwise the Fenspace project would have been dead), but its not that it wasn't close. And there are more than enough victims of the war left... or remainders of the former "evil empire".
second, I disagree on your opinion that most Fen are just a pack of unskilled and untrained people. I think you would be quite surprised how many people with scientific or engineering background you will find among Scifi fans. There is a reason why there are not THAT many Fen in orbit, especially in the first years... because only a few of the people with access to Handwavium had the skills to make it up into orbit and be able to stay there.