I certainly agree with Negentropy that Australia's outback is something of a no-brainer for a large Cetian colony. One issue they did not bring up is the Native people reaction to this--they have a lot to complain of as is OTL, and I would think the general pragmatic globalization of Earth to defend and win the dual invasion war, and maintained for 20 years after (which should go an awful long way toward establishing a world political order so intertwined with routine, with factions deeply committed to maintaining it, that would-be isolationist or imperialist secessionists would be overruled, sat on politically, and consensus would exist for military intervention to put their governments back on track with global federal union in extreme cases--some small nations might be let go, but that sets a dangerous precedent, so I'm guessing not)--this normalizing of a global authority would tend to give dissident groups with serious justice grievances some leverage they have less of OTL. Against this, perhaps the pragmatic global federation runs in part on agreements to disagree, including non-interference in domestic affairs.
As a USAian I certainly don't want to imply I think Australian "aboriginal" policy has been overall worse than US bigotry and oppression toward Native Americans (or other groups!) But it is not idyllic either. In context it is very easy for non-Native Australians to write off vast swathes of the Outback as no great loss if there is something to be gained from it, but won't Native Australians have some bitterness about being shuffled off territory they have been grudgingly or absent-mindedly permitted to live traditionally in thus far, simply because few people of European descent care for occupying it profitably?
So, that is one strike against Australia hosting Cetians--though retroactively, it would certainly make sense if a fair number of Conquest Fleet Males had drifted into the Outback ad hoc, on individual terms. Expanding that via these settlers hosting Colonization Fleet people under the Patronage Policy would make some sense too.
So is it settled that Australia, despite its obvious attractions as terrain hospitable to Cetians, and the relative lack of animosity among the majority of Aussies, assuming some roughly just settlement of conflicts of interest with Australian Native bands living traditionally in the Outback (more assimilated Natives can be better dealt with via reasonable compensation though many of them would I believe still retain stakes and interest in Outback ranges), has in fact been remarkably low, or is the author interested in filling in this blank with asserting that by now, the Cetian population in Australia, mainly in the dry lands, has indeed risen with a gradual influx of Invasion Fleet settlers drifting in from less happy for them settlement elsewhere?
Another problematic potential of a large, contiguous tract of Australia going over to Cetian settlement wholesale, either as a previously done deal to be expanded now, or as a novel introduction toward addressing the Colonization Fleet's survival, would indeed be the ecological stuff. The defeated Invasion Fleet males are inured to living without Cetian ecology (I gather even they brought some plants and animals along and some of these have gotten loose already, others are contained, and still others were never introduced or eradicated belatedly) but the Colony Fleet people will be expecting to Home-form their new "Tosev III" conquest, and there would be some temptation in a large contiguous tract in Australia (or other possible places, the US/Mexican desert region, various belts in the Sahara and Arabia, and Namibia come to mind) host rather more, perhaps in the optimistic hope the imported ecology can be contained.
Insofar as Cetian settlement can be accommodated via ad hoc individual settlements among Terrans, and large numbers of small reservations here or there, the pressure is on them to learn to live without Cetian flora and fauna. But that maximizes interspecies contact, which has good aspects (at least from my humanistic, in the generic sense of all sapient beings, standpoint) and also dangerous ones.
As a broad thing I have always favored a generous, inclusive approach. This is partially just me being a softie, but also it is I think pragmatic. "Keep your friends close, your enemies, closer!" The Terrans won the war, and despite being grievously devastated vastly outnumber Cetian and Centaurian invaders combined, even throwing in the vast Colonization Fleet population. The survivors of the two invading fleets darn well know the Terrans have the drop on them should it come to vicious interspecies warfare again. They thus have strong pressure on them to come to agreeable terms with the Terrans and integrate into a larger Solar commonwealth, and shift their loyalties to a system where Earth and Sol system remain at the very least equals, and in fact seem likely to hold hegemony in the longer run among the five species--better for their respective homeworld species if the Solar commonwealth is accustomed to integrating people of their respective types! Of course interstellar contact with the as yet unsubjugated home worlds which might not accept they had better give up on the whole Solar conquest project might revive separatist, chauvinistic spirit among Cetians or Centaurians--I do wonder whether a splinter faction of the other two Cetian empire subject species might develop some interest in reconstructing their pre-conquest societies; given the extremely long time scale and despite the long lifespans of the various hotland reptilian imperial species, any dissident memory of those days is probably thoroughly extinguished and a separatist movement would be essentially promoting a piece of historical fiction, calling it a reconstruction would be generous.
But by and large, after 20 years most of the severe animosities are dispelled or contained one way or another; mixes that were explosive have exploded or been defused via settlements or dispersing the mutually irritating parties, or perhaps more finally with violence in some cases.
The Colonization Fleet population is large but still pretty small on the scale of Earth's Terran population, and while trying to assimilate the lot of them runs some risk of a revived Cetian flare up, I think everyone would be realistic enough to accept that that would be a quixotic route to species suicide, at least within the Solar system. Realistically, the option exists for some Cetians to return to Home, up to the capacity of the Colonization Fleet vessels, and that suggests to me the ultimate outcome will be that a large fraction of the CF will be joined by a portion of the IF males who have been marking time on Earth but have had quite enough of our chilly damp planet and would rather return Home even bearing bad news than stay. Meanwhile their numbers would be more than balanced by CF people who decide to stay on Earth for various reasons.
The Solar Commonwealth or whatever its proper name is or would become, is the stronger for integrating five species in diverse circumstances, and can afford some generosity. I do think it is only prudent to send some expeditions to stars within say 15-20 LY, once cold sleep tech is developed for Terrans, to scout them out and be prepared for possible other alien intrusions, and to put up a bunch of military preparations along the approaches from the three Cetian empire homeworlds and Alpha Centauri. From remarks, I am not sure how canon they are, about how crushingly expensive it is to send a starship to another system, perhaps even small scout expeditions must await some generations of economic development.
Per prior discussion I point out the actual TL is neither entirely Turtledove's canon nor Niven and Pournelle's and just because eventually Terrans develop FTL in the Homeward Bound section of Turtledove's work, it is entirely author discretion whether essentially that same hyperdrive, some other FTL approach, or none at all is feasible, and if so when and if Terrans ever develop it--it seems most unlikely either Cetians or Centaurians can beat Sol to that punch, if it is ever coming here at all.
Fundamentally, based on the physics we think we know, FTL in any form is a deus ex machina. As a classic SF fan I favor it appearing at some point, but We Know Not The Day Nor The Hour, and unlike faithful Christians in that New Testament reference, we also lack any prophetic assurance the day or hour will ever come. Totally up to author discretion then.
Sticking to STL, some prior discussion and in other threads too suggests there is more than one way to skin a cat--for instance, while I much disbelieve that Turtledove's canon makes sense and approve the author's suggestion (I gather) that squaring the circle of Cetian ability to launch ships going at half the speed of light with the rather limited degree to which Cetian tech really much exceeds OTL known engineering possibilities by saying they lavished tremendous resources using well known technologies to essentially catapult the Fleets at Sol, and in so doing largely bankrupted the empire (hoping for a payoff in seizing rich Sol system which now will never emerge), there are more economical ways to expand beyond Sol proper, albeit to very short ranges and quite slowly. If we have a system where initially military outposts, essentially support for robot early warning posts in the direction of the Cetian empire and Alpha C, attract gradual peripheral "settlement" on the thin and vague boundary between Sol's outer Oort cloud reaches and interstellar space proper in the form of teeny lumps of matter scattered between the stars, we could creep along at a fraction of C finding little oases of small masses to build stations at. This distant halo of opportunism will not add much wealth to Sol system proper but it will perhaps provide convenient outer bases for gradually advancing more efficient technology to pick up the pace and leapfrog greater distances at sustainable cost. Given the basic dynamism of a united human species salted with the alien perspectives of several assimilated other species, even if FTL never eventuates, perhaps between fusion power enabling cruise speeds of say 1/10 C, perhaps enhanced with some manufactured antimatter for dense power storage, and some combination of cold sleep and Terran human life extension, all the uninhabited stars within say 10 LY will be gradually absorbed into the Solar sphere of influence. Certainly information communications, slow as lightspeed is, will be far faster than personal conveyance--and it ought to be possible to send some humans (or other member species) at much higher speeds at suitably high cost. So given some political wisdom and economic and social foresight, it should be possible to have a Sol centered interstellar commonwealth within say a century, or two anyway.
FTL, if that is ever in the cards, being invented any time in there changes the game (assuming it isn't ruinously expensive to use) and will trigger a Solar expansion rush leapfrogging dozens of light years or more out.
A conservative wait and see policy toward Tau Ceti and the other two Empire home systems seems prudent, albeit with some surveillance if that is feasible, watching in those directions but leaving well enough alone. I gather Alpha Centauri on the other hand is in crisis and ought to be investigated cautiously but closely, and quite possibly eventually incorporated into the Sol centered political system with Solar Fithip, by then generations integrated, facilitating this integration.
