[center][h2]Paradise Station, Paradise System, Soverign Star Confederation[/h2][/center]

Kaela gazed pensively at the wine swishing in her glass with each lazy rotation of her hand.  The lights in her office were dimmed to near their minimum, emitting only a dull glow that scarcely illuminated the deep purple liquid, reflecting off it's surface weakly.  She'd not done this in a while, but how was one to avoid a migraine after everything that had happened?  With a pained smirk she distantly envied that Princess of Musashi whose letter glowed a dim blue on the holographic desk before her, what would it have been like to never worry about migraines?  About getting sick before an important meeting?  What a boon that must be, genetic modification.

Of course, it wasn't like Yuki's genes had saved her.  The scent of the incense that burned by the entrance to Kaela's office was testament enough to that.  She leaned back for a moment and sighed, ignoring the splitting pain that threatened the contents of her stomach, after all it was nothing compared to what she knew would follow in the weeks to come.  Such cruel irony it was, that the Princess of Musashi would profess her inability to tear her home apart to the one that had been given the responsibility to do so.  Kaela hated the taste of it, futility.  Yuki had worked for peace, accepted her fate in the pursuit of it, and was surely buried deep by now.

Taking a sip before setting the glass down and burying her face in wrinkled hands, Kaela reflected on how it'd all gone so awry.  Isolated incidents, unpredictable happenstance, a thousand meaningless coincidences leading to the death of a reprehensible man.  An event that would herald the death of billions.  She'd already prepared the speech, and the official missives would be on their way by now.  As of an hour ago she was the only First Chancellor in history to have been granted emergency powers twice.

In spite of all the sacrifice, the diplomacy, the assurances, war had come again.  It would be her responsibility to tell the people that, to let them know their sons and daughters would be sent off to die in the name of freedom and democracy.  How insipid it would sound.

Extracting a small black cylinder from her drawer and pressing it against her neck Kaela breathed deeply.  The injector hissed and her vision sharpened, the pain dulled.  It would only last for a few hours, but that would be long enough to do her duty.

[center][h2]New Königsberg, Prussia System, Sovereign Star Confederation[/h2][/center] 

With a muttered curse Wilhelm Graf and Heinrich Schreiber stumbled out of the tavern, the burly proprietor watching imposingly from the shadow of the door frame reminding them to be quick about it.  With a flip of the bird Wilhelm rubbed the arm he'd been dragged by and scoffed; it was a shitty bar anyway.  Sure they'd gotten a little unruly, but who the hell wouldn't?  The nation would be properly at war in in a few minutes if he had read the time right, and their proud Germanic Republic had a strong tradition of throwing idiots like him and Hein to their graves without even asking.

So piss on that bar, and the asshole who owned it.  With a sigh Wilhelm noted the crowd gathering in the square and nudged Heinrich, “Looks like trials wrapped up buddy, wanna go watch the sentencing?”

Heinrich grinned at the sardonic comment and chuckled, “May as well, ain't like we can run from this one.”

With that the two awkwardly made their way to the square, though from the looks of it they were hardly the only ones who'd been imbibing.   Squeezing through the crowd the pair finally made it to a bench and climbed up to gain a head above the throng, making the wall-screen of a nearby apartment visible for the first time.

Contrasted against screen's black background were the ominous words 'Emergency Broadcast – Standby'.  The crowd waited with bated breath and simultaneously let out a gasp and cringed when the screen's speakers blared to announce a live broadcast and the image suddenly switched to the face First Chancellor, Kaela Zevaren.

The older woman seemed to gaze down at the crowd like she could see them, even if she was light years away.  With a somber expression she began, voice booming through the town from a plethora of speakers, “People of the Confederation, I come to today with grave news.  No doubt many of you have already heard, but for those who've not tuned into the news I will reiterate.  Mere hours ago our steadfast ally, the Core Imperium, was ruthlessly attacked by the repugnant so called Dominion of Man.  ”

Closing her eyes for a moment as if in mediation Sevaren paused before she continued, “We have long condemned the actions of the dictator Faust and his murderous cohorts, but complacency has led us to permit him his atrocities for too long.  No longer.  No longer will we sit by and watch millions marched to their deaths for the sake of a perverted vision of a 'racially pure' galaxy, this shameless attack on a sovereign nation is the line we draw.  As of now we are at war with the failed state known as the Dominion of man.”

The crowed murmured and shared hushed conversations among themselves, but their First Chancellor forged on, “Many will, and already have, mentioned the justification given by the dictator Faust.  I let you know now, any explanations given by the Dominion are nothing but a ruse.  Petty tricks meant to paralyse us with indecision.  A mass murderer has set their mind to killing untold innocents, and they have the temerity to use the unverified death of a single individual as their reason?  What further proof of a state and a man's depravity can there be?”

“We will fight tyranny as our forefathers once did, and as their forefathers before them did.  We will not be swayed by the insipid words of serpents.  As for those nations who have so tragically been ensnared by the Dominion, the Musashi Empire and Varangian Remnants, know that we cannot abide those those who aid and abet evil.  Just as we are at war with the dark stain on the galaxy that is the Dominion, we are at war with all who support it.  In this we are not alone.”

“Perhaps the time will come when better men and women steer those nations away from the path they have taken, but for now we are resolute.  The Confederation we have forged in the name of liberty will defend her ideals to the last, and if that means we must make war upon those who infringe those ideals, then we will make war.”

With a sudden intensity Sevaren added, “However!  We must never forget what the ideals we fight for are!  We must always abide by the codes we have set for ourselves, we must always fight as the better man, otherwise we become that which we sought to destroy.  In the coming days many will call our enemies monsters, beasts, but we must remember that they too are intelligent beings.  Mankind just like all the species of this galaxy, is capable of incredible cruelty and evil, and we must keep in mind we too could fall so far if we are to fight this war.”

“So I beseech you, the people of this beloved Confederation, come to your nations aid at its time of need, but do so as citizens, democrats, and the educated would.  There is a long conflict ahead, but we will fight it as we are and we have been.  We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies in the Imperium and Commonwealth, and we will do so in a way we can be proud of when the light of peace shines on us at the end of this dark night.”

“Much will change in the weeks to come,”  Sevaren paused and smiled as she emphasized, “But we will meet those changes heads held high, [i]and we will know victory[/i]! “

With that the transmission cut out, and the crowd started to cheer, no doubt one shared across thousands of worlds.  For his part, Wilhelm pissed himself a little.