Does it make you happy now? (another Ngoverse alternate because I can't sleep)

[Cannonshop]

the shuttle went down in the river, and it didn't take Coast Guard personnel long to reach it-the surprise was how many passengers survived.

the team slightly miscalculated twice, and the bomb that was supposed to cut the line of Ngo, failed, twice.

News passed over Clan HPGs, to the desk of the Jade Falcon Loremaster within hours.  It would take another three days to reach Star Colonel Henry Ngo.

HE at least, knew for certain within that time, that Elizabeth's daughter was in stable condition at the Falcon-Hazen hospital in Hue.

gunmen and snipers had failed, regular bombs had missed, or been stopped.

But the Fidelis don't give up and they do learn.  The orders had been given, this part of the mission, accomplished.

they did not realize they'd partially failed.  Really, they should have considered strategies to destroy the planet.  The troublesome bureaucrat was dead, along with her well-connected husband, and one heir.

the team sent to Boojum didn't make it halfway through their mission before being detected, and while the Fidelis are fine warriors on a planet, they aren't spacers.  Prisoners were taken, and suicides prevented until Linda Sithers' OCB team could conduct 'suspect interviews'.

48 hours after the blast, 24 hours before her Uncle would recieve news, Amanda Ngo was awake, and grieving.

She was also the Duchess now.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Well....crap.

[Alexander Knight]

And I really want Victor to say:  "Stone, you ****** up.  We're done."

[Sharpnel]

Devlin Stone is going to die at a much younger age and, very likely, Victor as well.

[Korzon77]

You know, you'd think after how many people came to an unhappy end after pissing off the Ngo's, they'd decide: Hey, you know what? At least open war means that they're playing by some rules.

But NOOOOOOO... Let's take the limiters off, because THERE ARE NO BRAKES ON THIS TRAIN!

[Trace Coburn]

  ‘Someone’ just nuked the main political obstacle to the RotS securing an absolute monopoly on interstellar shipbuilding, and Fidelis teams were caught red-handed trying to physically tamper with (i.e. sabotage) the Boojum yards.  If Pete’s next conversation with Devlin Stone doesn’t include phrases like ‘immediate and complete trade embargo’ and ‘casus belli’, he needs shooting and replacing with someone worthy to call themselves the leader of the Lyran nation.

[Kasaga]

Oh, I wonder how the Falcon's are going to take this as well.  I think I know who the ilClan is going to be in this timeline.  If Peter doesn't man up and hammer the Republic to a pulp he should be replaced by Arthur and his wife (whom Liz put into power on Arluna)

[JA Baker]

So, how long before Amanda turns to her surviving family and asks "So, who wants to be IlClan?"

[Cannonshop]

"Có thể không có một công lý mà không có máu cho điều này."  Amanda's voice was flat, calm.  The fifteen year old girl's bandages were barely visible at the gaps in her clothing.   "It is a Liege Lord's duty to seek redress for crimes against his vassals." she added.  "There is a crime, I seek redress, Your Highness.  it is the simplest formula of the Feudal State, that obligations run both ways."

"Your mother defied my order." Peter said.

"You owe her your throne your Majesty." the girl hissed.  "you let them in, you let Stone's agents have free rein, didn't you?"

"That's bordering on treasonous-" one of the Archon Prince's attendants started to say, before Peter silenced him with a gesture.

"The Duchess is still grieving." he said, and then sighed, "No Amanda, I didn't 'let them in'.  My god, she was my friend."

"Then, do your duty my lord." Amanda stated, "Half a million of my people were converted to radioactive vapor with my family, another two million died in the fires after, and ten million more are sickened with radiation. do your duty...or get out of my way."

"What would you have me do, declare war?"

Amanda's eyes were hard, staring into the comm-screen in the Falcon Aerie in Hue.  "Dafür kann es keine Gerechtigkeit ohne Blut geben." she said it.  "Innocents were murdered as an assassination attempt, on my family line, they did not care nor take care, this was mass murder as political and economic policy.  War has already been declared, you simply must acknowledge the fact of it. They killed for money.  Blood and other things have been spilled, my world is wounded, do your duty."

the image of the Falcon owned HPG commo room blinked out, leaving Peter alone with his advisors.

"What will they do?"

Peter sighed.  "Blut für Blut, The Kowloonese have a long, bitter, institutional memory, especially regarding overlords who failed them in the past, and tyrants who sought to exploit them.  Adept, contact Terra, I need to speak with Victor...or Devlin Stone, it is urgent."

"she can't do much."

"She can do enough, her people, and she has a large selection of competent people who loved her mother as a saviour, will help her, if we don't head this off."  did Liz tell her about Crowbar? would Li or Vu Dao discuss it? he didn't know for certain, but Amanda Ngo was raw, and unlike her mother, she didn't need to build the forces she could call on.

***

"She Burned, Victor." Peter said quietly, "Elizabeth Ngo, her husband, her son, they  burned, along with half a million of my subjects and that is not the worst of it, brother of mine."  Peter had shown calm and restraint, carefully avoiding showing the rage welling up to the girl, but he didn't need to hide it with Victor on the other end of the line.  "They burned, and two million more Victor, burned or killed by debris, and then...then, ten million more with radiation sickness...and the people who did it? they were sloppy enough to get caught.  This wasn't the Blakists, or a Blakist splinter, Victor."

"oh god, no..."

"Oh god Yes, Your friend, your very, very good and charismatic best-prison-buddy, sent them, they are called Fidelis, they are former Smoke Jaguar, their headquarters is known, victor...and do you know who knows? can you guess?  A grieving, wounded, and angry fifteen year old girl who watched her home town die."

"Peter, it couldn't have been one of ours-I would know about it!"

"It was one of yours.  This is your last favor, Victor.  Inform your Exarch that he has opened up a gate to hell, and I have no intention of helping close it again.  The treaty is off the table, in around four more hours, when Yvonne wakes up, she'll know it too, as will Hohiro, and Ragnar.  Your friend Stone has put the final nail to it.  No third Star League if the Republic is allowed to sign.  You didn't let me work her, you sent a botched assassination team that killed Twelve and a half million of my people!!"

"We can still salvage thi-"

"No, we can't.  because we are at war victor, and now I know who my enemy is, because I know, he could not have done it without you.  Good bye, brother."

the screen blinked off, as Arthur walked in.

"Peter, I just heard-"

"we're at war." Peter said.

"not with Amanda Ngo-"

"No, we are at war with the Republic, with Devlin Stone."

"At least you know which side you're on, what about vic?"

"Him too." Peter turned, "God forgive us all."

[LightGuard]

Arrrrrgh! Every time I pull an active Ngo thread up, every time, I wind up with a cliffhanger that sets my ears burning.  >:D

Sorta like Terra will soon. Along with the rest of the system. Hope Stone's little cult got the tools for Fortress Republic in place already...

Though I'm not even sure that'll stop a dedicated rokkajakka.  >:D

[Kasaga]

Arrrrrgh! Every time I pull an active Ngo thread up, every time, I wind up with a cliffhanger that sets my ears burning.  >:D

Sorta like Terra will soon. Along with the rest of the system. Hope Stone's little cult got the tools for Fortress Republic in place already...

Though I'm not even sure that'll stop a dedicated rokkajakka.  >:D

Hahaha 3081'ish oh hell no he doesn't have Fortress yet.  He barely has an army.  And if Cannonshop allows some cannon (lol so funny saying that) then the tensions on his border with the Capellan's have got to be high.  Most of his military will be facing them.

[Cannonshop]

Her mother's dream, the University, was gone.

Amanda stepped carefully through the debris, her environment suit was sufficient for now, but would have to be decontaminated.

Disgustingly enough, it wasn't entirely lost.  Most of the archives were in the vaults below the surface, and had been spared most of the destruction, and the blast had 'shadowed' in interesting ways.

she knelt before the plaque, inset in a wall, now that wall lay like a broken tombstone.

"...e have forgotten so much knowledge, we have lo...he words to describe what is gon.."

"Prophetic." Amanda murmured.  She turned to the Coast Guard team, "decontaminate everything you can, secure or copy anything remaining of records or documents and have it ready for...for the new facility."

Forever Earth has been the cause of my people's miseries. she fumed, Amaris, Chivington, Cameron...no more.  never again.

"Amanda?" a voice spoke over the common channel.

"Hello uncle henry." she greeted him while glancing to see wehre he might be.

"where are you?"

"I'm...on the grounds of mother's university site.  I thnk we may need to find new scholars, and that precious knowledge has been lost once again."

Chivington, Stone.

"I will be where you are in a few minutes." He said.

"Do you bring good news from Marthe Pryde?" she asked.

"Define 'good'?  I think you will not be displeased at the Clan's response to this atrocity."

"I look forward to seeing you, Uncle." she said respectfully.  "I would caution you to stay buttoned up. the bomb they used had a dirty core. Decontamination will take years."

"I brought specialists, and advance Clan equipment for the task." he assured her.  "I presume you wish to begin with the University Library, quiaff?"

"Aff." she said with a nod.  "It was her dream...to bring us out of the dark ages."

"and what is yours?"

"Blood for blood, Uncle, blood for blood."

[Cannonshop]

There are preparations that must be made, when one is gearing for war in a hurry.

the Republic's military, grab-bag that it was, was already on a war footing due to threats from the Capellan side-the Cappies hadn't agreed to Stone's peace treaty, Candace Liao actually refused it even from Lear's hand, her position as Chancellor secured as it was, by the death of Kali the Mad.

her assassination had, instead of smoothing the way, yeilded an heir even more intransigent in their stubborn refusal, to the point of threatening war, then actually mobilizing for it.

Only the weakness of the Confederation, and the threats of the Federated Suns on their borders, kept them from attacking to reclaim worlds outright.

In the Federated Suns, Yvonne looked at the evidence brought to her by courier, and then, looked up at the Envoy from the Republic.

"I see before me, two stories." she said.  "On the one hand, a claim that the deaths of millions of my brother's subjects was a false flag by Blakist splinters, on the other, my Brother Peter's assertion that the attack was from your government.  I must ask myself this question..."

she laid the files on her desk, "Who benefits?"

"Highness, I think it is obvious, the Word of Bla-"

"The word of blake's people benefitted greatly from the Amnesty." she said, "they would hardly wish to endanger that for themselves or their colleagues who might be feeding them information or acting as cat's paws in your military or your 'secularized' Comstar, neither of which is the case when the possibility of triggering a war with the Lyran Commonwealth, which just happened, just now, well, in the last few weeks, at any rate...no.  That doesn't fit for a motive."

she traced a stylus along the edge of her lip. "Hmmm.. Elizabeth Ngo, Kowloon, industrial planet, undamaged shipyards, major tooling supplier to the commonwealth, who refuses to do business with the Republic.  REcently defied a back-door attempt to seize assets for transfer to the Republic...and Liz Ngo survived literally dozens of assassins before." her eyes narrowed, "Now, who benefits from removing the chief opposition figure in such an obvious and destructive manner?"

"Your majesty-"

"I have made my decision.  The Federated Suns will remain Neutral in this matter." she announced, "I would recommend you dig in your defensive lines, as we are going to remain neutral and uninvolved in your Republic's affairs until this matter has been satisfactorily resolved...which means no, until proofs are provided, and the guilty are punished, we will not be signing or ratifying the terms of your trade offer, nor will the Federated suns be delivering any further military assistance packages unless or until this dispute is properly arbitrated and settled."

"Your HIGHNESS!! that is completely unaccepable!"

"No, it is completely unacceptable that after three years of existence, the vaunted Exarch's intelligence agencies have yet to deliver a single Blakist War Criminal to justice, and it is completely unacceptable that, with the claims  you have laid before me, you allowed an enemy terrorist cell to attack an ally's world...unless it was your people doing it and they botched the job, which is also unacceptable.  If you want to buy guns, buy them from Hohiro.  In the meantime, you may withdraw the bulk of your embassy staff out of my borders, especially your culture attache and military attaches, the RAF does not need to know the status of Federated suns defenses, finances, or national security...and inform your bosses, we will be taking control of and management of, our own Hyperpulse Generator facilities."

[pheonix89]

Victor is a WoBBie Spah too.

Because the pre-Jihad Victor would be killing stone *himself* over this.

[Euphonium]

But, really, Jeebbus H Chrispy. Does Lizzie never get a ****** happy ending?

In this iteration Liz got a longer life and less agonizing life, she married apparently quite happily, Amanda is healthy, Kowloon is at peace, and when she died it was so quick she never knew anything. Considering what death from Cholman's looked like I would say that by the standards of other iterations this is a happy ending!

[Cannonshop]

The Folk.  Tramp captains to some, vermin to others, the equivalent of space gypsies, these free traders are to Belters what Belters are to Earthers-people with no 'home system' who ply the starways, born to their ships, they might visit a world and never return for a generation.

Word travels fast.  Elizabeth Ngo's initiatives before the Blakist war were remembered-free repairs and assistance, subsidized yard spaces, tech inspections that ignored contraband so long as it wasn't slaves, and rescue when accidents happened.

Not all of those who loved Lizzie Ngo of Kowloon were her subjects, or even Lyran.

as I said, word travels fast, and word spread to every port in the Commonwealth, and beyond.  For most of The Folk, it was greeted with a mild sadness, as if a favorite neighbor or steady customer had died.  for a few, it was shrugged at, and the word passed on.  but for some, it was anger.

especially those Crewers who joined Folk ships after the Lyran Drawdowns...and there were a lot of tramp spacers with ex-Lyran crew, or captains, or both.

Quietly, an exodus began from the territory and spacelanes of the Republic, as independent shippers passed along rumours.

the drop in small-firm merchanter traffic was barely noticeable at first.

at first.

but then, the more regular, 'ported' shippers started to taper off, and at Congress Station in the Metis, traffic was also falling off, until all that remained, were the Republic Bureau of The Belt officials-officials who had been BTA before and during the Jihad.

The Belters were going 'underground', severing contact with the Homeworld.

THAT got noticed, especially as whole shifts of workers stopped arriving at Ceres, Ganymede, Eros, Io, Titan, and Luna, leaving only "Inyawallah" earthers and foreign contract workers to man the forges and the factories.

at Ross 248, labor slowdowns began, as (again) workers at the maintenance yard failed to show for work, and a check of crew habitats showed signs of an orderly move-out sometime during the night.

an old hunter might suggest, that when the birds stop chirping, and the forest goes still, it is time to be wary, for danger is close to hand.

[JA Baker]

You gone done goofed, boy

[Nikas_Zekeval]

You gone done goofed, boy

To quote Sun Tzu?  "If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by."  Elizabeth was patient enough to wait for the RotS to fall under the weight of its own contradictions.  And maybe at worst do her best to keep the Lyran Commonwealth from helping to spackle over the cracks.

Amanda is not that patient, not with a dead family and millions of others besides.

[Sharpnel]

Arrrrrgh! Every time I pull an active Ngo thread up, every time, I wind up with a cliffhanger that sets my ears burning.  >:D

Sorta like Terra will soon. Along with the rest of the system. Hope Stone's little cult got the tools for Fortress Republic in place already...

Though I'm not even sure that'll stop a dedicated rokkajakka.  >:D

Not likely as it's somewhere between 3082 and 3085 by my best recall. He hasn't been in power quite long enough. I would expect many key worlds in the new RotS will cease to exist, such as Luyten, the Fidelis homeworld and many of the shipyards that they have. Amanda Ngo is about to take control of all Interstellar trade.

[Cannonshop]

This was not what the models predicted.  Devlin Stone studied the morning's dispatches, reports of work slowdowns and entire shutdowns at the major shipyards, The Lyrans wouldn't be ready before he'd crushed the Capellan resistance and secured that border-Peter had been too accomodating, scrapping his fleets in the name of peace.

Victor couldn't calm him down.  it was worrying.  More concerning, was that while the OTHER Steiner-Davion, Yvonne, had not pledged to support Peter's declaration of a state of war, she hadn't supported the Republic either.

She'd pulled most of her diplomats from Earth, and sent most of the Republic's people to the border with a very politely worded boot in the ass, combined with nationalizing the HPG network and telling Comstar that 'We'll find our own operators, thanks.'

The operations keeping the Free Worlders at each other's throats were still going, that was a relief, and Hohiro hadn't refused offers yet.

Hadn't accepted most of them, but hadn't refused them either.

he leaned forward, and typed a command into the computer, followed by a name.  might as well find out what kind of kid survived a Fidelis team.

The file here, was compiled for him by operatives in both the regular commonwealth, and the Jade Falcons' little reservation-province.

it was a bad combination. 

on the intelligence scale, the girl's scores were in the upper 99th percentile, like her mother.

the personality battery done by the Falcons on Sudeten during her time there, showed what the Clans would call a 'perfect hook' of traits.  High aggression, high on charismatic factors, low on passive, high on self-reliance.

her algometric scores were...concerning.  Probably a result of the treatments to remove the Cholmanns from her genetics via guided retroviral surgery,  a process both agonizing and drawn out enough to be something that would qualify as a war crime.

The result being a pain tolerance level that blows right past 'dangerous' like it's standing still.  Anyone trying to use nerve induction or other methods of physical torture on Amanda Ngo would find it long, drawn out, messy, and fruitless.

Psychological methods would be similar.  The Treatments involved submersion in oxygenated flourofluid, so sensory deprivation wouldn't do much to the kid, she'd already endured it and come out sane on the other side.

"Mmmh, narcotics or hallucinogen treatments might work..." he noted.  Turning the girl might take some pressure off, getting a snatch team to grab her might be on the edge of impossible, however.

Particularly with Peter ruthlessly chasing down Republic Intelligence assets in the Commonwealth as part of his preparations to actually back his words with actions.

Stone frowned.  "Could she be vulnerable to reason?"  The idea was a bit novel, but it worked on Victor. 

I just need to talk to her. he imagined, i can make her understand.

it didn't feel like the right answer, but he didn't dismiss it entirely.

[JA Baker]

It's going to be hard to say much with a gun lodged between your teeth

[jonen c]

Amanda is entirely amenable to the use of Reason, though I suspect it is her intention to inflict a quantitatively and qualitatively superior amount of Reason on the Republic Head of State first, last and a couple of times more to be sure and to make a point should they ever find themselves in the same frame of reference.

Ultima Ratio Regum.

[Sir Chaos]

Amanda is entirely amenable to the use of Reason, though I suspect it is her intention to inflict a quantitatively and qualitatively superior amount of Reason on the Republic Head of State first, last and a couple of times more to be sure and to make a point should they ever find themselves in the same frame of reference.

Ultima Ratio Regum.

You know what they say... if violence isn´t your last resort, you didn´t resort to enough of it.

[Trace Coburn]

Stone frowned.  "Could she be vulnerable to reason?"  The idea was a bit novel, but it worked on Victor. 

I just need to talk to her. he imagined, i can make her understand.

  ‘Reason’?  He thinks he can talk down a grieving fifteen-year-old girl, let alone the specific girl that is Amanda “Wrath of God” Ngo?  After he incinerated her parents and brother and inflicted twelve million collateral casualties!?   :ugly_stupid:
  This guy really is completely delusional, isn’t he?  Or he actually buys into his own hype enough that the end-result is the same thing.

[AMARDA]

It seems that Stone in this is some brainwashed sod that got shoved into the role. It also seems that Victor, at least, in my opinion is also suffering from some form of indoctrination at this point in time.

[Nikas_Zekeval]

One, on Stone's Projections.  Isn't the first thing a Sargent has to train out of his new Lieutenant is "The Map is not the Terrain"?  And this misunderstanding is the reason just about every military has an expression, "The most dangerous thing on the battlefield is a Lieutenant with a map"?

As for reason?  The time for 'reason' passed when Stone sent in assassins with nuclear bombs.

[Euphonium]

I think the only way Stone could reason with Amanda Ngo would be either if he could provide conclusive proof that stands every test Amanda can throw at it that he and the Republic were not responsible, (I can't imagine this being possible within this storyline), or if he 'fesses up and publicly sharpens his sword before falling on it.

[Niopsian]

One, on Stone's Projections.  Isn't the first thing a Sargent has to train out of his new Lieutenant is "The Map is not the Terrain"?  And this misunderstanding is the reason just about every military has an expression, "The most dangerous thing on the battlefield is a Lieutenant with a map"?

As for reason?  The time for 'reason' passed when Stone sent in assassins with nuclear bombs.

It certainly does seem to be one of Stone's defining characteristics at this point. It's evident in Canon Stone in Rock of the Republic, where he flat out states that his personal analysis of the state of the Sphere told him that dropping the HPG network and going to sleep for a few decades would work out just fine. And his initial response upon waking up was, "But, muh models!"

 ::)

[Nikas_Zekeval]

It certainly does seem to be one of Stone's defining characteristics at this point. It's evident in Canon Stone in Rock of the Republic, where he flat out states that his personal analysis of the state of the Sphere told him that dropping the HPG network and going to sleep for a few decades would work out just fine. And his initial response upon waking up was, "But, muh models!"

 ::)

I had an engineering professor who would repeatedly tell the students "All models are wrong, but some are useful."  Apparently Stone didn't have anyone to beat the same into his head.

[Cannonshop]

"...don't put anything on HPG." Amanda finished.

"What? why?"

she sighed, "WHO routes all HPG traffic, has owned the network before, and was given the network mother and the Clans rebuilt with the treaty? and where is their headquarters office?"

"oh...yeah. comstar."  Davey was an intern at Ngo Industries until around twelve hours ago, when he suddenly found out he'd been given a try as the Duchess' personal aide.

"hit petty cash, buy a decent suit." she added, "With a tie.  we have a certain image to project, and it's got to be professional and polished...as Ms Whyte used to tell me."

she chose him in part because she needed the actual professionals on staff, both with the company, and the planetary government, doing actually professional things rather than keeping her schedule and fielding calls.

Among other tasks, Davey was to make excuses and lie about her whereabouts as often as possible, especially to people 'not on the list'.  He wasn't to be coming with her into space.

His other jobs, occurring to her as she thought of them, included finding out what kind of snacks people around the office preferred, listening to gossip, spreading gossip, and as a font of disinformation, delays, and excuses whenever possible.

In other words, a replacement for Kelli Whyte until she could find another one.

unless he actually worked out. if that happened, she wouldn't have to dig through mom's old rotofiles.

"Ma'am, where are you going to be?" he asked.

"You'll tell everyone I'm in grief and seclusion somewhere in the Folly." she told him, "except for Star Colonel Ngo, auntie Evelynn, Morgan Icaza, or the Archons. you can tell them I'm visiting the laboratory site on Boojum Five."

"Will you actually be there?" he asked.

"Not sure yet, but it'll keep them guessing." she told him.  "and don't forget, a nice suit, it needs to be tailored, and it needs to be contrasting with mine, I recommend a light coloration as I will make my appearances in basic black."

"Yes Ma'am...nice suit..."

"Scoot!" she shooed him off, "Go get fitted, don't forget to take a company voucher! and..." she hissed, "Hair in a ponytail, or get it cut! that style makes you look like a drug addict!"