(OOC: Dragon, the move for Skyblades fleet was absolutely unhindered by Farazon, and did go to Orion. Perhaps you forgot that it originated in Satori, and has a direct line to Orion?)
-Begin Hypercomm Transmission-
(From: Jason Turner, President, INN)
(To: Alan West)
(Copy: Rico Commision, Morgan Anderson)
(Uncoded)
(Priority: High)
Mr. West, I feel you should know that analysis of INN logs indicates that there was no coverage of any lockout of the Zaxted system prior to the scouting run in question. You may be unfairly blaming Mr. Anderson for your own error in failing to transmit notice of such lockout to us. I say again, there was no public notice on this station.
Jason Turner
President, INN
-End Message-
(OOC: Rak, go back and check the topic - you never said anything except to your own advisors.)
-Begin Hypercomm Transmission-
(From: Morgan Anderson)
(To: Prime Minister Alan West)
(Copy: INN, Rico Commision)
(Uncoded)
(Priority: High)
Mr. West, I received no transmissions from your security forces or any other source before or after entering the system, unless Consolidated Mk. 83 Missiles count as transmissions - perhaps we should check with Consolidated and the Confederation classification committees on that. I was not informed that was I was doing was considered in violation of your sovereignty, and, as I see INN has already informed you, there was no notice from them either. My lawyer will be speaking with the Rico Commision representatives on Levo shortly, and dealing with the charges against me. Unfortunately, since you can't hide as well as I can, and the charges that will soon be against you are more significant and fact-based, you may find them more problematic. Good Day.
-End Transmission-
============
Anderson's lawyer was even then in court on Levo. After submitting several briefs and evidence documents to the Court, he addressed the judge.
Your honor, I am here today to address the charges brought by the Rico Commission against my client, Morgan Anderson. He has authorized me to make the following pleas in his absence: To the charge of intentional violation of the sovereignty of Zaxted, Not Guilty; to illegal espionage, No Contest; to illegal interception of coded messages, No Contest; to conspiracy to kill independent nationals, Not Guilty; and to illegal IFF Beacon modification, Guilty.
Further, I move that the two charges for which he ahs plead Not Guilty, intentional violation and conspiracy, be dismissed on the grounds of the evidence submitted to the court by myself. In summary, the evidence states that he was never warned that the Zaxted system was closed to traffic, and that, when in the system, he never opened fire, and thus cannot have attempted to kill anyone.
If this issue can swiftly be resolved now, Anderson is willing to pay the fines for the other three offenses, and need never come here in person.
As Andersons lawyer sat down, the prosecuting attorney rose. If it please the court, I have an announcement, he informed the judge.
Proceed, council.
On behalf of the Rico Commission, I withdraw the charges of intentional violation of the sovereignty of Zaxted and conspiracy to kill independent nationals. Our original evidence in this cas e was based on inaccurate information, and have been revealed to be entirely baseless.
Very well. The said charges shall be removed from the record.
As Mr. Anderson has plead Guilty or No Contest to all other charges, I fine him the legal amount for those offenses, that amount being 500,000 credits.
As Morgans lawyer paid the fine with the Baliff using funds from a credit line against Andersons funds, the council for the Rico Commission continued. If it please the court, the Rico Commission has new charges related to this case that we should like to introduce at this time. Andersons lawyer looked at him suspiciously, but said nothing.
You may proceed.
The Rico Commission charges Prime Minister Alan West of Zaxted with the following offenses: Conspiracy to kill independent nationals, in the matter of Zaxted forces illegally firing on Morgan Anderson; perjury; and lying to an investigator. The second two charges carry fines only, the first can be life in prison or the death penalty. Unless the first charge later be dropped, Mr. West must appear in this court within thirty days. However, the Rico commission is in possession of sensor and communications logs indicating that this charge should at least be brought to the courtroom at this time.
The crowd began murming, and after pounding for order, the judge asked if there were any other motions at the present time. When there were none, he adjourned the court.
============
Jeff Daniels looked at the ring of ships surrounding his planet sadly.
He new, ultimately, that Diphidia would prevail in this struggle. Unfortunately, it was likely to be lost first.
He would try once more to execute a diplomatic solution. If that failed, it would probably be time to try for a government in exile while the courts took Zaxted to pieces.
-Open Intrasystem Communication-
(From: Jeff Daniels, Prime Minister, Diphidia II)
(To: Alan West)
(Copy: Zaxted Invasion Fleet, Liat Corsair, INN, Rico Commission)
(Uncoded)
(Priority: Urgent)
I have decided one last time to attempt to make you see sense, and back down from this course of action before you destroy yourselves.
This is the final official warning: The forces of Astex, the Confederation, and Zaxted are banned from this system. Those currently present must withdraw within the hour.
To Mr. West, your declaration of war against us is entirely in error; the charges you specify against, while they could be valid, are entirely baseless. The court system will bear us out on this if necessary, however, we believe it is in the best interests of all concerned if you peaceably withdraw now.
Your first charge is that you have come to bring justice to the Defense Minister of Diphidia II. The fact of the matter is, we currently have no Defense Minister. Diphidia II is a peaceful planet. We have increased our forces recently, it is true, but they are designed solely to police our system and defend it from Pirates, and are so few in number that such a position has never been implemented. This is a matter of public record; none of the official records of this planet are classified, and you can see this for yourself. (OOC: Rak, as Ive said many times now, Anderson has never yet accepted a position with Diphidia II. The only mention of it was an off the record conversation in the PMs office. Anderson has no official standing with Diphidia II as of yet.)
Your second charge is that we are violating human rights in concert with the Deneb Argo Combine. This is equally ludicrous. Diphidia II has no current affiliation with that organization. We have received correspondence from Deneb III in regards to it, but none of this has been acted on by our legislature. Further, all information available to us indicates the this DAC has not, in fact, committed any Human Rights violations.
I am giving you one last chance to withdraw peacefully from our system, and never return. Failure to comply will result in war crimes charges being levied in court.
Jeff Daniels
-End Transmission-
With that, Daniels turned back to overseeing the evacuation of civilians from the capital, and also watched his tracking display. I really hope, for the sake of all those Marines out there, that West chooses to accept my offer, he muttered. Also to no one in particular, he added, Anderson, wherever you are, get the hell back here, could you? A little help right now would be good.
(OOC: Rak, that battle post nees work - Diphidia's defenders are all in the atmosphere, and if you try to attack them, you risk the ground based emplacements in the capital. request you edit that, and consider the message I just sent.)
============
The commander of the Tiber fleet were getting concerned. A significant portion of the fleet had been lost, without inflicting too much damage on the Confederate fleet. However, the Confed fleet itself was now low on ammo, from its barrage against the station and defending itself from his Destroyers.
Then the fleet from Agena hypered into the system and opened fire.
The Confederate fleet, low on ammunition, could not respond with much counterfire right away. The fleet moved in behind a wall of torpedoes launched by the Destroyers, savaging the Confederation ships already damaged by Torpedo fire. The station launched 5 more Destroyers, its defense fleet, which also fired torpedoes.
Meanwhile, the 40 Mantas from the Agena fleet split into two sections. One group of about 15 aided the remaining Mantas from the Tiber fleet in cleaning the battlefield of Confederate fighters. The other split into two packs, and each pack swarmed a Confederate Frigate. The Frigates, quickly overwhelmed by the massive fighter swarms thrown against them, began dropping rapidly, able to inflict only attrition losses on the Mantas. Meanwhile, the remaining Destroyers formed into three large packs and began assaulting individual Confederate Cruisers, while the Rebel Cruisers advanced.
Now, it was the Confederate fleets turn to find itself boxed up, low on ammo, and suffering heavy losses
Fleet status:
Confed:
8 Cruisers (most heavily damaged)
1 Flagship
4 Frigates
19 Patrol ships
(OOC: Fighter losses realistic, as Rebel Cruisers would concentrate on fighters, which they are quite well suited to taking out.)
Rebel Combined Fleet:
6 Cruisers
15 Destroyers (counting Tiber defense)
38 Mantas
============
-Begin Hypercomm Transmission-
(To: Liat Corsair)
(From: Morgan Anderson, Special Consultant to the Rebellion)
(Copy: INN)
(Uncoded)
(Priority: High)
Mr. Corsair, according to my information, your information about the Lethe system is false. You have left operatives in control of their government, which have not allowed them to take actions you oppose that have nothing to do with Cydonia. Specifically, I refer to your apparently preventing them from joining the DAC, which has nothing to do with you or Cydonia. This gives lie to your assertion that they would be left alone. Deneb has not interfered with their government, as nearly as I am able to determine, aside from chasing off your officers and allowing Lethe to resume control of itself.
As for the matter of the Rebellion, I do not hold you responsible for anything done in the past, I hold you responsible for the unfounded aggression of the present. The aggression you show now, and by declining an entirely just and equal peace treaty, is proof enough that your current government is as we remember the Confederation of old. You claim the treaty is not in accord with your political interests because your interests are in conquest there can be no other explanation, for the treaty we offered treated the Confederation and Rebellion equally effectively, both governments were to be destroyed, and a neutral panel of all planets would decide the rest.
The Rebellion has not started this phase of the war. There have been no Rebel attacks on the Confederation for months. We sought to end this war with a just peace now you insist on perpetuating it. How can that prove that your intentions are honorable, and devoted to peace? Quite simply, it cannot.
I offer this text to the media so that the citizens of the galaxy can form their own interpretation of the Confederations actions. Everything I have stated herein is true, and is all a matter of public record, easily verifiable. Give it what weight you will.
Morgan Anderson
-End Transmission-
============
- INN Special Report -
Today, a large group of protesters, estimated at over 50,000 strong, marched outside the Confederation Senate on Earth, demanding Liat Corsairs resignation and the acceptance of the peace treaty offered by the Rebellion. Leaders of the march said that they have lost faith in the Confederation, and no longer feel that its cause against the Rebellion is just in light of the rejection of the equal peace recently offered by the Rebellion.
In other news, the Rico commission resolved its case against Morgan Anderson today, levying only fined against him, which have been paid. In the same case, they have filed various charges against Prime Minister Alan West, including
============
-Begin Hypercomm Transmission-
(To: Deneb III)
(From: Morgan Anderson, Special Consultant to the Rebellion)
(Copy: Acting-PresidentWIlk)
(One time cipher pad with pass as long as message)
(Priority: Urgent)
While we have no official relations at this time with Deneb III, I am willing to consider your request, as the predations of the Confederation and their allies are of grave concern to us. However, I regret to inform you that no fleets are positioned such that they can readily come to your aid at this time.
Acting-President Wilk is the commander of the nearest fleet, stationed in Sirgil. If you desire assistance, I recommend you contact him. His fleet would have to cross Confederate territory to get to you, and in light of that fact, combined with the facts that he outranks me and we have no official relations with you, means that this is his decision.
Capt. Anderson
-End Transmission-
------------------
- Macavenger | e-mail: (url="http://"mailto:e-gamerguy1@attbi.com")mailto:e-gamerguy1@attbi.com(/url)e-gamerguy1@attbi.com
What difference does it make if there are torp launchers on new cydonia?