001 Ultimate PBW game

[Gozra]

It was the worse cabinet meeting I ever held. We were all shocked and stunned. The Kor had broken the trade treaty and gone to war with us. We had depended on their government's integrity and had not prepared accordingly. I could see the shock and anger on the faces of the cabinet members as we watched the newscast come in from the frontier. The litany of death and destruction went on and on. The sudden shock of seeing the name of the ship that one of my daughter's served on listed as destroyed instantly threaded through my whole body. My assistant put her hand on my shoulder at that moment I just felt numb. The bad news went on and on. Colonies gone, millions dead, dozens of proud ships destroyed. Where had we gone wrong? We were looking forward to the commission that the Sonne had offered as a way out of this crisis.
The Kor had called us "Mad"again and again but we had dismissed it as rhetoric and now we had come to the realization that they were referring to themselves.
I had the main screen turned off and the silence was filled with grief and anger. I looked up and all were looking at their personal screens in front of them with expressions ranging from neutral to anger, shock and grief. More than one of us had Daughters and Sons in the Fleet.
I hardly remember what I said so the following is transcribed from the meeting record.

President Ralen Stood leaning forward both fist leaning on the smooth polished finish of the Conference table. He cleared his throat
"Well, I never thought the Kor would choose war over diplomacy but choose it they did. At this point I don't know if it would do any good to pursue a Diplomatic solution or not. One thing is Clear Admiral Leary is cut off from help at the moment and we must reopen those lines again. War is a politician's failure and a soldier's nightmare. I propose that every Effort be made to defend ourselves from the Kor. We need to stand firm in the face of Kor aggression. I am implementing the Kiehl protocols and placing the Alliance under wartime conditions. I hope this situation can be resolved speedily but if not we need to be prepared for the worst. All of you have supported me in the past and we have prospered. I expect your full support now and pray that we will be guided by the almighty in the successful defense of our homes and families. My friends we will not be bullied. We will stand firm in our resolve to do what is right for our people and our Alliance. We will do what is necessary to insure our continued security. Where there is weakness we will build strength. Where there is hopelessness we will bring hope. Where there is slavery we will bring freedom. Where there is despair we will bring courage. Where there are ashes of defeat we will bring Victory."

With out another word the president stood tall and carefully looked at each and every person nodded and left the room.

Excerpt from "Furnace of Victory" memories of a wartime President.
Published by Titan press publications 2416.2 (SGT)

[Gozra]

You have broken our treaty and attacked us. The Huge fleet approaching from the south is an exploratory fleet of seven Light cruisers. We would be thrilled if all people were as terrified, with eight or ten ships we would then be respected in all of space. We told you repeatedly that we would not fire the first shot and we have not. We pledged to submit ourselves to the Sonne Commission however, we suspend that pledge. We will now bring what ever force is necessary to defend our current holdings and will not give up one inch of territory. Your knee jerk reaction to poor intelligence reports. Is encouraging as we see how easy it is for your kind to make mistakes we will hope for the sake of your people you will limit your blunders.
We call upon our allies and any other space faring race to denounce your murder of civilian populations.



Prince Carlton Leader of the ASSB

[AMF]

The Exile government maintains that it was the Corelians who first broke our agreement by failing to relenquish, as they had pledged over a year ago, the planets they had conquered in the Priintlot systems from the Plant creatures. They compounded this by colonizing planets that we had created. Then they demanded that the entire Printtlot and Aragor systems be ceded to them. Even after this disupute reached a high pitch, they continued to colonize worlds that were not theirs, clearly intentionally. These actions, showing a clear disregard for the Faithful, were then aggravated by the discovery, from multiple sources, that the Corelians had been planning offensive actions against the Faithful for some time now. Whether approaching fleets were seven vessels, or seven hundred, does not matter to us in issues of Faithful security. Not only did we not know the size of the fleet, and hence had to assume the worst, but the Faithful possess weapons that allow even a single ship to wreak havoc upon a solar system, and we anticipate that the Corelians do as well. Hence, we cannot risk any such threat to the security of our holy shrines and temples.

The Faithful have severed relations with the Corelians until these issues above can be resolved. Our forces, upon being approached by Corelian forces, merely defended themselves. In any case, the planets that were damaged during such defense actions were clearly military outposts and not civilian ones, as reported by our unbiased Paladin pilots at the battlespaces in question.

The Faithful of Kor do not inflict harm upon others without cause, and our priests tell us that to kill an innocent is a sin. It is with extreme disbeleif that we hear that Exile forces in Aragor and Priintlot have injured civilian populations. We assure the interstellar community that a full investigation will be opened up into such allegations, and we will appoint a committee chaired by reputable members of the secular government.

In order to avoid any civilian deaths, it is our intention to have our Holy fighter wings avoid the Corelian homeworld in Aragor. They will be instructed to refrain from entering the orbit of that planet. Apart from that, they will continue their combat space patrol patterns and act to defend themselves should they need to. Their patrol formations will, of course, be a mosque level secret, and we cannot disclose them to infidels.

The agreement governing the Priintlot system must be adhered to before we can proceed to other issues. Meaning that all the plant people colonies that have been conquered by Corelian forces must be ceded to the Secular government.

We request strongly that daily and weekly prayers of the Faithful be not interrupted by the Corelian forces as they attempt to defuse the situation in Aragor.

So speaks the Secular Governemt of the Exiles, leader of the Faithful and Listener to Kor.

[Gozra]

: A personal Communication from Prince Carlton Leader of the ASSB (Alien Space Security Board)
: To Ambassador Korla-Kola, of Kor

Good Grief! Korrie. What are your people thinking? Everyone in the alliance is clamoring for war. Your exiled exiles are trying to sign up in huge numbers but military quotas have been met this year and they are being turned away and now they are rioting in the streets 'cause they can't sign up to go kill their relatives. You really put me in a tough position old boy I can't even get in to see the president my father to try and present your view on this whole thing. Oh and you did wipe out 3 civilian colonies along with 2 military post but our press is lumping it all together as civilian casualties and there have been some anti-Kor activity around your Churches.
Oh by the way the "attack" fleet you asked about really was an exploratory fleet sent to the southwest quadrant to look at some unmapped systems we knew nothing about. It turns out that it belongs to the Negation. Once we understood that we pulled them back and then the idiots severed relations with us. We complied with their demands and then they pulled the plug on our treaty. Makes no sense to us (if you could pass along your take on them we would appreciate it). Thanks for the keg of Korban brandy it really was a hit here. I even had an offer from one of my merchant friends to cut me in on an import license let me know if you want in on the deal as I think it can make a tidy sum for both of us.
Trisha says to tell you and yours hello.

Prince Carlton

PS The word about the Priintlot system planets is not encouraging the debate is centering on the actual wording of the agreement. Things don't look well in handing them over. There is a firm decision about that colony ship we intend to leave it alone for now but that could change.

[AMF]

: A personal Communication from Prince Carlton Leader of the ASSB (Alien Space Security Board)
: From Ambassador Korla-Kola, of Kor


Carl! Holy Gribnitz! I thought for sure the Purity Police would have found this channel and shut it down by now. Guess they still have figured out all the inner workings of us Secularists, eh?

Listen Carl, this situation is pretty grim on this end. I'll do my best to work something out. We might be able to do something using backchannels, but the Priests here are gain ground daily. Things are very different here than they were when we were at the interstellar academy together. Right now is tough for me to talk. This line might be, ahem, compromised and I'm running out to catch a shuttle to the Core to attend a War Council meeting. I'll contact you in a few days the way we worked out back in Gravimetrics 305 class so long ago...

K

OOC: Hey, I literally am running out to catch a flight to AZ in two hours, and just HAPPENED to check the forums. Will talk more when I return monday? (I already turned in my orders for the game, BTW). Thanks, Alarik

[Space_Viking]

The Sonne Council disbanded in disarray over the news of commencements of hostilities between two respected allies... but the decision to remain neutral in this dreadful conflict remained unchanged.

[Space_Viking]

The Sonne ambassador to the Corelian alliance, petals held in calm repose, emanated waves of complex colors. Glowing glyphs appeared above him, and the universal translator spoke in mellifluous tones.

"After some consideration, we have determined that in breaking the peace with both ourselves and the Corelian Alliance, the Exiles of Kor have embarked upon a reckless path towards conflict. Yet we shall endeavor to find a solution before the current fires become a conflagration that consumes whole worlds.

Please state what concessions must be granted by the Exiles of Kor, and we shall state your case to their council."

[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

[AMF]

|||begin delta level encoding|||
Personal transmission to Prince Carlton Leader of the ASSB (Alien Space Security Board)
Via unique gravimetric wave-pulse algorithm

Carl,

Listen buddy, I think this is secure. If you're reading it then you remembered that experiment we did at the academy. I don't think this is traceable, but, well, if I disappear under mysterious circumstances, then I guess I'm wrong in that.

So, the Secularists are trying to hold on here, and the last month helped us out a bit. Every time the Purity Police broadcast sensor feeds of combat against Corel Space Forces, we lose a few more seats to the priests. Eventually, they'll take over the Grand Council and the Edicts, and then we'll all be in trouble. They're pretty worked up, pretty fundamentalist, and, well, let's just say that I'd have to take a stealth-boat to the far side of the quadrant to get out in one piece...

On the flip side, the Secularists and humanists are still getting most of the votes in the more populous megaplexes, and everytim an uunderground samizdata broadcast of Corelians being killed reaches the 'net, it makes the hawks look pretty bad.

I'm still able to keep up the face of moderation, but we have to find a quick solution to this if we're to avoid a Jihad. if that happens, the entire quadrant is screwed - once the Purity forces get control it will be almost impossible to keep them from declaring all out war against all "infidels."

Here's what I think I can sell: Priintlot is KorSpace, so that's off the table. It will be very tough on us if your government demands a presence there. Is there a way we can evacuate the Corelian colony there? is there anything that can be done with that? Is there anything I can do to make that easier?

As for Aragor, I think we have a lot more freedom of action. If we can come up with a way to declare victory in Aragor, even if it doesn't really result in substantive changes, we might be able to stand all this down since then the Pure Forces would save face and the Priests could claim the "infidels" were beaten down.

And, as to the future of Aragor: our Engineering Corps is just an arm of the Civil Corps, with a large contingent of Priests. However, the priests are only involved in purifying newly created planets right at the point they are created. Hence, they are not involved in the schedules. Furthermore, the schedules are classified, so the populace doesn't know it either. So, I think we can prevent any further planetmaking in Aragor because the priests and the electorate will never be in the loop.

And, just between you, me, and the durasteel bulkhead, odds are the priests will demand the destruction of the plant people if we head them off here. They smell blood, or chlorophyll, and if they can't get it from Corel then they'll get it from the plants.

I'll keep this channel open as long as possible, but I am off to a bunch of other meetings at Makkah for the rest of this stellar week.

Yours,
K

|||end delta level encoding|||


Edit: Hey, OOC: I am, beleive it or not, actually out of town again this weekend. I fly out tomorrow noon (EST, wednesday the 2nd) and return very very late Sunday night EST. I'll do my Ultimate 001 orders tonight...

[Gozra]

The Corelian Alliance Ambassador faced the Sonne Ambassador.
"Ambassador." The word hung in the air.
"My Government wishes me to inform you that we have suffered huge losses as a result of Kor actions. Five colonies destroyed."
She paused.
"Further more we sought your guidance and help relying on our treaties with the Sonne. Since you choose to degrade those treaties we ask that you refrain from further development in our mutual border systems. My Government also wishes to express that we will strive to maintain cordial relations and will do nothing to jeopardize our supply of nuetronium crystals. We have found our trade with you to be profitable in the past and have hopes that the future holds as much profit. You can count on us as much as we counted on you."
Ambassador Bass Sighed.
"Off the record the Kor Attack came as a surprise to us as we thought we could make a deal, but it appears that a miscalculation was made on both sides. Beware in your dealings with the Kor."
With a small wave Ambassador Bass left the room.