[AMF]

The Secular government of KorSpace has received the Sonne announcement with puzzlement.

Here is our position in the matter of Priintlot and Aragor:

Priintlot has always been shared between the Exiles and the Plant People. Some time ago, the Corelians decided to destroy the plant people. At that time, they petitioned us to allow them free action against plant colonies in KorSpace. Although the plant people are our allies, because they are ruled by a bizarre computer intelligence, we allowed the Corelians entrance into KorSpace with the condition that upon weeding of plant colonies, those former plant planets were to be turned over to Kor. The Corelians then proceeded to conquer a number of plant colonies in Priintlot and elsewhere, but failed to turn them over to Kor. Suddenly we had multiple Corelian colonies in systems that were deep in KorSpace.

When we pressed the Corelian government for an explanation, they replied that they had the right to keep the conquered planets on a technicality: since they had conquered, rather than cleansed, plant colonies they had every right to keep them. They claimed that they had only agreed to turn over plant colonies they had cleansed.

On the other edge of KorSpace, the system Aragor has been shared by Corel and the Faithful for over ten years, in relatively amicable circumstances. Approximately two years ago, our engineering corps began to terraform asteroids in Aragor into planets usable and colonizable by the Faithful. These engineers proceeded to create about ten such planets over the last year. There was never any complaint from Corel in this regard. However, about five months ago, Corelian colonists claimed three newly created KorSpace planets in Aragor. Two months ago, they claimed another as well as one in Priintlot.

As soon as we discovered Corelian colonies on sacred KorSpace planets, we demanded an explanation. In reply, the Corelians claimed the right to all of the Aragor and Priintlot systems - truly a provocative and extremely surprising response, obviously intended to elicit action on our part.

We have tried to defuse the situation for the past five months, only to learn from multiple sources that the Corelians fully intended to attack us and in fact had fleet elements in the souther portion of the quadrant.

It became clear that the Corelians had nefarious intentions against the Faithful. To this end, the Secular Government decided that information and sensor net contacts with Corel must be ended. Such sensor shares were a by-product of our partnership with the Sonne people. Hence, we informed the Sonne ambassadors that we would no longer be sharing sensor nets with them, since they are tied into Corel sensors.

After this, the Corelians maintained their extreme demands. It became clear that more pressure was needed until the Corelians would realize that their demands are unreasonable. To that end we cut trade with them and placed our fighter wings on Combat Space Patrol. We have not declared war on the Corelians, and we have no desire to do so. But when we cut contact with them, their vessels ignored warnings to not come within the standard 10 light-second weapons-free zones around our vessels. By repeatedly ignoring such warnings, our vessels were forced to defend themselves. In many cases, Corelian forces ambushed and destroyed Faithful forces. In many other cases, the Faithful, due to their unswerving beleif in the power of Kor, were able to sucessfully defend themselves.

Note that, as of last month, we have pulled all forces out of the 10-light-second perimeters of all Corel planets and forces. This last month has seen only one, very minor incident between our military forces, in which two Corelian warships stumbled upon Kor Faithful fighters and were destroyed.

Given this recent history between our two peoples, and, in light of our shared past and biology, the Secular government of KorSpace is willing to listen to possible solutions to this crisis. We have no desire to risk further inflaming of our Purity Police forces or our populace and we would like to avoid an expansion of this conflict.

With that in mind, we welcome any proposals from the Sonne council but feel a need to emphasize that the following are non-negotiable:

KorSpace is inviolable and prior agreements must be held to. The Priintlot system and any other systems in KorSpace must be vacated of all Corel forces.

Aragor is a shared system, not part of KorSpace. We recognize the status of Aragor as a homesystem of the Corelian people, but we have also shared this system for over ten years. Such joint habitation must continue. the Faithful will not countenance being kicked off of worlds they reside on.

Worlds that are created by the Faithful are sacred to Kor. Therefore, worlds that we have created, except where we create them specifically for others (and thereby without the sacred rituals), must be forever a part of KorSpace and inhabited by the Faithful. This includes those planets created in Aragor which Corelians stealthily colonized. Such planets must now be purified, a costly and involved process of prayer and rituals.

Aside from these inviolable precepts, the Faithful are willing to entertain any options put forth. Prior to this crisis, the Secular Government volountarily demilitarized Aragor and pulled from it all military forces. That is something we will consider again. Other options are also possible.

We look forward to the Sonne proposals so that war may be avoided. We will also continue to work through backchannels to reach a potential agreement with the Corelians.

Korla-Kola, First Speaker of the Secular Government
At the whim of the Most High Priest