indexNews from the Edgedateline, ArlunaFollowing the announcement by no less than three claimants to the Lyran Commonwealth, the Congress of Electors tonight voted 44 to 12 to recognize all three as Legitimate States, with Legitimate Claims to the mantle of the Lyran Commonwealth.
By vote of 33 to 20 with 3 abstaining, the Congress further has set forth a finding that such recognition of legitimacy shall be pulled should one claimant recognize the Legitimacy of the Rim Worlds Republic.
By vote of 54 to 2, the Union of Independent Worlds has chosen to remain neutral in the Lyrans' internal dispute, with the stated intention of remaining friendly with all three claimant states until such time as one triumphs over the others-assuming that said triumphant state does not sign treaties nor accept diplomatic delegations from the Rim Worlds.
A motion to request aid from Clan Star Adder in the event of a Lyran invasion was tabled as too speculative, a similar motion in favour of requesting Free Worlds assistance against possible Lyran aggression was also tabled for similar reasons. Elected Archduchess Debra MacAulliffe noted in her address to Congress, that "Compromising our independence at this point in our nation's existence by rushing into entangling alliances would be foolish, and only result in foreign rule, whether de-facto, or de-jure. I am not inclined at this time to sign any bill from this body, nor recognize further motions until such time as we have a more established position on what foreign policy beyond neutrality serves the interests of the Union's people. Likewise, I'm rather certain that while the League would be flattered, I doubt they feel a compelling national interest in taking that sort of risk, particularly after the damage sustained by the Magistracy of Canopus when that state had, as we do, a non-hostile detente with one of the Clans."
Talks with the Free Worlds delegation, and with Clan Star Adder, are said to be progressing well, while the Goliath Scorpions (Second largest neighbour positioned between the Union and the Rim Worlds) have yet to begin. It is un-known at this time if the Union of Independent Worlds will seek diplomatic recognition from either the Terran based Star League, or the Commonwealth of Periphery States. Foreign Secretary Gordon has yet to make announcements, but the rumour mill is rife with speculations...
Donegal Broadcasting Corporation- Nightly News Aug 10, 3069
Robert declares for Archon, Calls for elections!
Batch Message* All LyrCom* Text only
People of the Commonwealth a terrible tragedy has been visited upon our nation in this time of great adversity. An unknown party has taken it upon itself to decapitate our goverment. In doing so our Archon and the Estates General were vaporized in a cloud of nuclear fire. The LCAF high command was also elimiated in the same manner. In light of this event I am declaring myself as a cantidate for Archon and have pledged the resources at my disposal to the security of the Lyran Commonwealth as a whole. I call on all Lyrans for thier support during this time of crisis.
Overall Command of the LCAF will fall to the senior officer known to be alive at this time. I call on our neighbors and fellow Star League members to provide humanitarian aid as needed. At this time I also call for all member worlds of the Commonwealth to send new representitives to Donegal to convene an emergency session of the Estates General so that the Commonwealth may go on. I have decided that the interests of the Commonwealth and the welfare of it's people outweigh my own.
In service,
Robert Kelswa-Steiner
Duke of Skye
Duke of Tamar
*Message ends*
It's been less than three years since Arluna was depopulated by a horrific plague, and even now, there is a faint 'taint' of death in the air. The Plague year changed the people here, as it did on six other worlds. Self-reliance, determination, and a subtle streak of...things have changed radically here.
Much of Arluna's capitol is still empty, but it is slowly filling out, and there is a sense of something building here, streets are no longer marked in german-they are marked in english, or vietnamese, but the german signs and adverts are slowly being overtaken by a new identity, one that is growing in strength even as the influence of Lyran culture diminishes.
These are survivors, and they know it-there is a grim pride, and under that pride, a wrath lurks, a sense of a people, coming together, with vengeance on their mind and in their hearts.
The graffitti along the main road from the space-port says it all...
'Rim Worlds Delenda Est."
'Ten Billion Demand Vengeance'.
'No more Absentee Landlords'.
'Where was Tharkad when we needed them?'
'Independence forever!'
'On Our Feet.'
On Inarcs, the sentiments are echoed, the same can be said of Neerabup, and Anembo, and Jerangle, and every other world in the Union- the Plague zone has begun coming together, and they chose the hardest-hit world as their capital for one reason: To remind them all, to become more...a black centre of fury, tempered by hard-won wisdom.
Mass Arrests on Arc-Royal?
Source: Newswire Kaumberg
Potentially disturbing footage has reached the office of Newswire Kaumberg, apparently showing the mass arrest of protestors on Arc Royal. While the total video runs in less than two minutes and lacks sound, it appears to display local police as well as a number of men wearing the patch of the Association of the Tharkad Martyrs violently confronting Lyran citizens and herding them into police vans. Signs carried indicate that the unhappiness with the "Emergency Acts" that the Arc Royal Estates General has declared was the cause of the protest. The video displays some fifteen to twenty arrested, but the footage implies that the protest may have been much larger and the numbers of those arrested greater.
When contacted by our bureau, Tainya Algeburg, Delegate Khartoum and Director of Communications for the Estates General issued the following statement. "I can confirm that there have been isolated incidents of unlawful gathering used as a front for dissident activity. Numerous arrests have been made, but none of the encounters have turned violent. The police and their auxiliaries are using utmost caution in identifying subversives who threaten the state. There were no 'mass arrests,' and no cases in which those taken into custody were harmed. It appears that Newswire Kaumberg has been taken in by a video clip known to us, one that was intentionally mauled to cover the shoddy editing of footage. This video is a product undertaken by dissidents who would undermine the legitimate government of the Commonwealth in order to prop up greedy village strongmen."
One local video expert, who requested anonymity for reasons of safety, disagreed with the Delegate's statement, claiming that there is no evidence of editing or that the damage might be intentional. Newswire Kaumberg will inform the citizens of any further developments.
3069/11/21Nha Tranh spaceport, Kowloon..."...sorry Scott, we can't pay you, and the Commonwealth's dumped out of their contract." Charles Vanh wasn't sorry. Not one bit, but there was no reason to be uncivil, and more than a few reasons not to be unpleasant.
"You've already said you're making for somewhere south-now, I can read a map, and so can you. When you catch up with Adam, give him this from Top, got it?" Charles handed Scott Blackstone, Commander of the Blackstone Highlanders, a small thing, really. Five centimeters long, wooden, and sharp with a triangular profile, on one face, it said "Somerset", on another, "IOU".
"I lost my oldest son on Somerset, Scott...and take care of yourself. I don't want to see you again at all until this is over."
The Mercenary left the room.
"You're just letting him
go?" Anh Le asked.
"Yeah." Charles said, "I am. If we have to fight someone, I'd as soon NOT have it be on our home soil, and maybe the damn Congress might get some damned sense-we're not in a position to launch foreign wars, not with the Commonwealth on one border, Debbie dancing her ass off at the Clanners to keep them from 'adding' us to their possessions, and all the rest."
"But you gave him a toothpick..." she said.
"To give to Adam Steiner. yeah...well, Scott Blackstone's not wrapped up in personal business, but I needed someone to take it there." Vanh told her, "He needs to
know why before I kill him, make himself right with god or whatever he does as a replacement for that."
Colonel Scott Blackstone took the toothpick with a bemused expression. He nodded to Vanh. "I will, and I will. And, for what its worth -- I'm sorry that things ended up this way." He came to attention, saluted, executed a crisp, parade ground-precise about-face, and left the room. He wound his way out of the spaceport's terminal, through two security checkpoints (who didn't stop him; the marblized blue-black-white battle dress of the Highlanders was well known), and out onto the spaceport's drop pads.
His XO, Major Charles Lydecker, was waiting for him, watching as the last of the unit's 'Mechs and tanks were loaded up on their DropShips. He saluted and let out a breath. "I'm amazed you're still alive."
Blackstone snorted. "Yeah. . . me too."
"They actually going to let us leave? Or is this all a charade so that they can kill us via decompression when they blast our DropShips while outbound?"
"They'll let us go, Chuck," Blackstone said as he pulled out his sunglasses. It was bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. "They know where we're going, but Vanh said they'd let us leave unmolested. Coming back? That'll be the hard part."
"Really. He said that?"
Blackstone let a grim smile creep onto his face as he stepped off towards the DropShips. "Not in so many words. But Daphne's a friend of mine, but they all hate her here."
Lydecker chuckled. "Good thing I didn't invest in that retirement home."
LCS Kowloon, in transit from Tharkad...The bridge speakers echoed with the sound of a
Skye traditional-Copyright belongs to Flogging Molly and their record company-I didn't write it, I don't intend to infringe on their copyright."...Genuflect all you refugees who fled the land
Now on guilt you kneel
And say a prayer for those left behind
From beyond the pale to the Northern sky
So you saved your shillins and your last six pence
Cause in God`s name they built a barbed wire fence
Be glad you sailed for a better day
But don`t forget there`ll be hell to pay
Rebels are we, though heavy our hearts shall always be
Ah, no ball or chain no prison shall keep
We`re the rebels of the sacred heart
I said no ball or chain no prison shall keep
We`re the rebels of the sacred heart..."Kapitain Michael Collins sipped whiskey, and stared out through the vision ports. "Regrets, sir?" his Nav Officer was a rockjack with the improbable name of St. John Nghien.
"Regrets? hell yes...but they took Maddie, and I won't leave my friends to face those maniacs alone." he said, "I guess I really am
not a good officer-hell, I'm not even a particularly good terrorist, you know what I was in Blackgate for, St. John?"
"No sir." Nguyen replied.
"I bombed a tax-office on Rahne." Collins said, "For Free Skye, now, I'm going out into the dark to fight for independence for someone else...while Skye is free, and the price of that, is I'll never be welcome back home agian."
"You're a good officer sir." Nghien said, "You held it together, held US together."
"We'll see, boyo." Collins said, "We'll see, contact all units, prepare for KF jump in Time-minus three hours."
DBC, COmmonwealth Tonight, Aug 21,3069
“This is Gretchen Sundberg with Tonight in the Commonwealth with Duke Robert Kelswa Steiner of Skye. Robert I’m sure our audience would like to hear what you have to say regarding the current state political state of the Commonwealth. So to begin what is your stance on the UIW?” Robert sips his water.
“Well I view the UIW as misguided. Their reason for pulling out of the Commonwealth is valid, but in essence is a knee jerk reaction to the atrocity committed on Tharkad. While I am against their secession in principle there is no legal recourse save to wait for them to come home so to speak. The articles of acceptance allow for worlds to leave the Commonwealth . While losing the benefits of membership they are technically not in revolt.”
“I see your point Robert. Now what about Bolan? They have declared for another state do you have an opinion regarding them?”
“Indeed I do. Bolan’s Duke Umayr has garnered a lot of popular support in his province his worlds FOLLOWED him when he switched sides so to speak. Misguided? Very much so but he has made his bed and will now sleep in it. I’m sure our Clanner neighbors with their ‘Rawr me smash’ approach will take great pleasure in gutting the re-born Rim Worlds. Better them than me. On a another subject as long as the RWR stays on their side of the fence I will concentrate on liberating Lyran worlds from the evil clans. Should Adam Steiner or his WIFE think of trying to take Commonwealth worlds by force I will be forced to destroy them.”
“So you recognize the Rim Worlds Republic Robert?”
“A good question Gretchen…I do not like the idea of an RWR and Daphne Rowe is not Stefan Amaris if I am correct she is descended of one Hector Rowe who founded the Rim Worlds Republic . Her actions while she was in the Commonwealth do prevent both herself and Adam Steiner from ever returning. Arc-Royal announced a bounty on her head and it is quite substantial.
“Speaking of Arc Royal, Robert… Do you have an opinion of their actions besides the bounty?”
“Arc-Royal’s heart is in the right place but their actions are not rational. The Estates General needs to be reformed and an Archon selected as soon as possible but they made no effort to allow myself or the other nobles to make allowances to get delegates lawfully elected and TO Arc Royal. This speaker character whatever her name is is trying to order the LCAF to do her bidding? It is my opinion that she is trying to bend the Commonwealth to the will of Arc-Royal and the rest of us be damned. If she was receptive to allowing delegates from Skye and Donegal time to arrive before proclaiming herself Speaker I would be far more receptive to her desires. To top it off she has no legal authority over the LCAF and by bypassing the legitimate military authorities is setting herself up for failure.”
“So you have declared yourself a candidate for Archon Robert. What are your goals should you ascend to the throne?
“My goals are simple. First is to rid the Commonwealth of the Clan threat. Second is to ensure all treaty obligations are met . In doing so it is my goal to bring the Commonwealth back to a semblance of normalcy preferably without a civil war. I want the Lyran People to be prosperous and not have to live in constant fear of invasion from one foreign power or another. My late cousin Katrina did try her best to accomplish this with her peace accord of 3020 and only the Federated Suns accepted. Unfortunately, my Uncle put his goals over the survival of the nation. Instead of compromising with the Archon and her husband he allowed himself to be manipulated by forces that would see the Commonwealth a mere façade of what it was in 3028.”
“So you believe that Free Skye is wrong in their actions over the last 40 years?”
“In principle no in execution yes… The Commonwealth has since its founding been a coalition of states working together to benefit the whole not a monolithic super-state. Free Skye failed to see this until I took the reins and became the Duke. It will take time but Free Skye is changing.”
“Thank you Robert for allowing us this interview. “ She turns to the camera. “Thank you for watching.”
