Half Life
Ethera, Volkadia
5800 CE
Its been several weeks since the capital had banned political opinions. Volemstad had been quieted by the military police, but outside the capital it had been a different story. Different Ethera cities had been filled with galactic wide protesters all across Volkadia. Isolationists had been complaining in their own circle about the suppression and have been calling politicans they supported several years ago traitors, continuing their tradition of ever shifting loyalties. Many local administrators often ended up kicking out the Isolationists before they could turn their grumbling into rioting. There was thankfulness in the air that the leaders of these Isolationist factions were not rioting at all, and had been for the most part since the political murders. Teetering on thin ice, the Isolationist movement eventually were able to peacefully gather in the large city of Ostrobkad on the far eastern continent of Ethera. While the current leaders and organizers warned against starting trouble, a small riot did eventually break out in the night by rowdy youths who smashed storefront windows and burned down the house of a alien migrant in the city.
The political violence of the Isolationists has not been without notice. Conservativies in the city of Volemstad had become more close to those who opposed their violent ways, and had been hosting the talking views of the much hated progressive liberals. An active Progressive Liberal philospher named
Nina Rázusová was granted a platform amongst the celebrities and media darlings in Volemstad, in which she began to spout views of liberal democracy, social justice, and representative equality. While this was often seen by the local elite as little more then expanding the horizons of social debate without offering a platform to the Isolationists, many progressive liberals began to take advantage in Volemstad especially under the ceaseless and hard driven promotion of their representative Governor
Zuzana Jillemničková. Many conservatives who had been on the fence with their beliefs began to be convinced by a large influx of progressive liberal commentators in the city to become sympathetic toward their side, often relying on aggressive fear mongering and witch hunting. A number of men and women of merit and skill were let go from their jobs in what many Isolationists refer to as the Purge of Volemstad, including a number of Reactionaries who were targeted by Zuzana for their personal views on her politics, and a popular Isolationist sympathetic radio host who was forced from his building by his employers.
Not everything was great for the progressive liberals though, for as soon as they had a huge foothold in Volemstrad, a fresh controversy had arisen once again against their hated rivals, the Abolitionists. Abolitionists had ranged from conservatives to reformist reactionary, but their goals often were towards the removal of slavery rather then towards true political ends. The parents of a progressive liberal blogger who was ratted out to a local overseer had caught up to three Abolitionist bloggers who were swiftly brought to court, and were tried for murder since the overseer was immune from the law. Public opinion shifted again due to the obvious meddling of progressive liberal celebrities and those sympathetic with them. Governor Zuzana declared that she would not accept anything less then a guilty verdict, and even stood by with the family of the blogger who was killed. When a guilty verdict was called, the Abolitionists were rather insultingly only given a light sentence of 2 year work suspension and a fine payment of 10,000 credits each. The verdict nor punishment had made anyone happy, which was furthered more when a number of Oturan who were watching for news had appeared on the steps, guided by their Overseer. The Progressive Liberals swarmed the Oturan, shouting xenophobic and obnoxious chants, but were disbursed when the overseer fired his gun into the air.
Things were even getting more worse in the Isolationist regroup in Ostrobkad. While much of the attention was one the court case, a number of Expanionists in the city began organizing a 'resistance' to to the recuperating Isolationists. Nearly over 1,000 Expansionists and Reactionaries had begun a counter protest near the meeting hall of the Isolationists. While the Isolationists had still been peaceful rather recently, the Expansionists were in full flown rioting. Thirty cars of Isolationists were flipped or burned, and a Isolationist leader who had been in the home of family was dragged out by an angry mob and beaten. This leader ended up with brain damage and was forced to retire early from his leading career due to the incident, but his broken face became the banner of violence against Isolationists. When this had happened, many Isolationists retaliated in kind and broke into a neighborhood which houses three Expansionist leaders and began breaking signs, throwing junk through windows, and shouting obnoxious chants throughout the night. Unlike the previous incidents, these events were filmed and reported on which only enraged the Isolationists even more when their own woes were ill reported or ignored, but their violence was dramatized. Eventually, the Isolationist leadership was joined by their leader
Klement Kostra who rallied the group, and made plans to protest in the capital regardless of the law.
Klement had been leading the Isolationist factions as a popular leader, but not a official one. His wild ideas and pseudo-philosphies had been popularized by bloggers and celebrities who had tried to debate him on his beliefs, but found him stubborn and well versed in trapping people in their own words, humiliating them and making them look hypocritical, at least to his fans. Now, he and his group marched with banners from a commercial square outside Volemstad and began marching with banners down it's streets. Over 35,000 were marching and shouting, with Klement and his group meeting the first group of police who were sent to stop them. The Barricade had been quickly built and was far too small, and despite explicit orders to shoot the protesters if they came closer, the police noticed guns and makeshift grenades on their person. The Police backed off and regrouped with a larger group, with the law enforcement deciding to scare the group from going towards the inner city with larger barricades and military equipment. The protesters drew huge crowds, but it had been a surprisingly peaceful protest. Klement began talking to reporters who were covering the event, barely his words were legible from the chants of "No Ambassadors, No War!". The demonstration drove a number of scared city folks into their homes, especially when the Isolationists became pushy.
While the huge protest began to go down Victory Road, a long stretch of busy road, a huge blockade had formed on the other side. Cars had been now pulled from the road, but these armed people were not police, but a local militia. 500 social liberals and 10 progressive liberal allies had armed themselves and began taking positions on the other side of the road, protecting a tiny group of houses of Xuhajann. Three of their number, young and well armed, had begun building barricades in their shops and homes. The local police force took up a defensive perimeter to separate the two armed groups, but the officers were in a bad position, now in the firing line between the two protesters who began arguing and throwing heavy objects one another, normally hitting cars. Feeling rather lucky, or perhaps stupidly foolish, a unknown young man had pushed bast a weaker part of the police barricade and shot into the Isolationist crowd. The Isolationists didn't react at first, but the police and the counter-protesters did in fully force. The police, behind their metal barricades opened fired on the exposed group with rubber bullets and dispersion gas at first, but when the Isolationists fired back, it was with real bullets. The officers were hit with friendly fire by the small militia behind them, and soon turned their guns on them as well. Several Isolationists had been recording the event and soon the Police reacted by simply driving the huge group from the city all together, and barred further entrance. 32 Isolationists laid dead, and with over 800 injured. Ten police officers laid dead as well, but seven were killed by stray fire by the militia behind them. Only one Militia man was dead, but 72 were in critical condition. The battle was over in less then an hour, but the worse damage was yet to come.
What had been recorded, and spread around on social media, was a young very obvious counter-protester having fired into the crowd of Isolationists. This had been a huge setback for the social liberals, who now were seen as either violent, incompetent, or just generally evil by a number of growing conservatives who placed the sole blame on their leadership. The Reactionaries, and especially governors like Eduard, spoke in length of the violence and condemned it. The Isolationists in truth had won a huge victory it had seemed, as membership on nearly all planets began to explode. While media had originally sided with the government on trying to downplay the issue, a growing minority of reporters condemned the action, especially the Abolitionists who called the entire affair a 'Mess without reason'. With a huge growing rise of Isolationists and dwindling support of the social liberals, worry began to set in over the halls of government in Volkadia.
Decay
Volkadia
5800 CE
The stock market of Volkadia had still remained steady in the past few weeks, but new signs had begun to emerge of coming disaster, as subtle as it was. Many problems ranging from the poor practices of the current and previous administrations have come to light and have become heavily reported on in the weeks to follow. Violence in the capital had not eased tensions of investors, and many economists feared the worst. Many economists in and abroad predicted huge problems in the Volkadia economy, stemming not from it's usual places but rather in poor policies and general bad luck which had plagued the Volkadia markets. While the civilization was stable for now, cracks had begun to appear amongst the colonial, industrial, and commercial infrastructure which has drawn deep criticism from reformists. While most governors seemed more concerned about the growing instability of the political factions, as well as dealing with a variety of personal issues, the country continued to sink into new hellish holes.
The Volkadian Colonial Authority, or the VCA, had been having to deal with a growing lack of investment and general problems related to their finances. The VCA entrusted huge responsibilities to a mining company named Asteroid Logger Company, but the venture turned south quickly when the company cracked open a number of empty asteroids, wasted precious money on parties and buying the favors of VCA officials, and a number of smaller scandals in safety hazards which saw huge payouts to victims of space mining. When the company tanked, the news broke and scared away new investments. Colonial adventures were already risky enough, but companies like the ALC were just one of many examples of poor luck on the VCA's part to bring in new investment. As their accounts began to tumble, the VCA took out large loans to fill the gaps and expand desperately to several small planetoids, but again was plagued with a lack of resources on them and the colonists located to them found many of the buildings unfinished, including the crew quarters. Colonial expansion had seemingly grounded to a halt.
Another huge issue was that Volkadia had a huge industrial sector, so huge in fact that Ethera alone nearly made up 30% of the nation's factories. Yet despite a need for new factories, there simply was not enough space to fill the gaps of building new factories, along with several huge setbacks. Oakus, which had very few factories, was set to become the ground floor of several civilian ship manufactories, but the company which had been building the factory had turned to stealing Oturan to fill quotas and do hard labor. The local governor sent over three overseers to deal with the issue, who dragged three executives out of the building, and shot one for ordering the forced labor. This scattered and broke many future factory building on Oakus due to the brutal action, and the factory itself was simply abandoned. Another company tried to expand industrial zones on several colonies which had grown to success, but the chemicals they used in cleaning had turned out to be highly toxic in what was believe to be industrial espionage, poisoning many colonists. Lawsuits broke the company apart, and the VCA had remained reluctant to allow industrial growth due to the incident. These acts have led to a constant down hill spiral of factories not being built, and causing further speculation on the health of the economy.
To add to the growing issues of industry which could not expand, the commercial sector had exploded. There had been plenty of space to build new malls, stadiums, and restaurants along with various shops and marketplaces, but these shops had several issues of their own. Often, when a commercial center had been filled to the brim, the owners were hit with a huge tax increase to maximize profit to the government, which killed business really fast. When the businesses failed, they simply moved on to the next commercial center, leaving huge blocks of broken down, barely functioning, and over taxed businesses which could barely keep afloat. Often, larger chains swooped in and bought up most of the land for stores and markets. Now, most commercial zones would simply become outgrowing tumors which moved in all directions, and lax laws on their profitability has been a challenge for many administrators. The normal response was often not to jump to a high tax increase, but instead many greedy administrators would simply allow the problem to continue and pocket a portion of the money for themselves.
In order to keep up with the affairs of state and slacking economy, the Volkadia government held a vote to get a loan from the national bank of 72 billion credits. This money was divided up amongst the more troubled members of the old families to distribute amongst their administrators to encourage industrial growth. Vodca
Maximilián Pokorny funneled over 5 billion of these credits to improving Ethera's local schooling system, and while it would hopefully be beneficial one day, it did not elevate much in the short term. When the government took this much money from the national bank, the bank had to bring a lot more credits into the system and as a result there was a huge spike in inflation of over 0.30%. There was huge unrest amongst the commercial centers who were already struggling, and a number of poorer and middle class families were especially hit hard. Their voices and anger made the loan intensely unpopular amongst the less educated circles, with a growing number of conservatives joining them in their displeasure with the growing inflation.
While many of these problems had only become truly problematic, the current concern was to keep the stock market in a buying mood and continued to invest in Volkadia's projects. The Vodca in the late afternoon of the senate to hold conferance, relating the economic woes to the old families. While many of the old families had been entirely on board with Max's concerns, they had different ideas on how to do it. The Reformists wanted drastic economic reforms, the reactionaries wanted to promote a Blackguard from a successful CEO, the liberals wanted to get another loan, and the conservatives wanted to do nothing and just hoped it would blow over. In the end, what had been decided upon was that the Governors would buy the already overly expensive stocks on larger companies and publicize it, making it look like the economy was still strong enough for investment with government approval. The hope was that the economy was swiftly improve by the time it entered a selling phase, but some were still deeply worried about the state of Volkadia's ailing industries which didn't see and true reform to improve them.
The Volkadian National Bank, who's owners were happy about the government's involvement, felt they still needed a a surefire way to keep the economy afloat and looked for desperate solutions without having to give huge bribes to administrators or the governors to see change. They found their answer when a VCA representative came looking for a loan from the bank to help start a colony. A new habitable planet called Nausobo was discovered by colonists who began building extensive homes on the surface. The Bank and the VCA soon found themselves working more closely, believing the planet near the EGD (estate galactic district) would be super rich in minerals and become the new anchor to the economy. The VCA and the Bank put forth huge funds towards several businesses such as the Oturan controlled Eastwind Mining Company and the Family Colony Group to help fund and prop up the planet as a new industrial zone. Yet, despite warnings from surveyors and ecologists who warned that Nausobo has a number of incredibly dangerous apex predators and poisonous fauna that would need highly proper and expensive removal, the largest concern came from a number of Eastwind Mining geologists who were finding only limited traces of usable materials on the planet's surface but had only explored 2% of the planet so far. Yet despite this, the bank encouraged the buying of VCA stocks, helping to relieve their investment woes, under the assumption that the Nausobo colony would do very well.
In spite of the efforts by the bank and government to alleviate concern, many CEOs had over the next few weeks began to pull out larger and larger shares from their local banks, private ventures, and credit unions. Volkadian CEOs found themselves warned of upcoming problems in the Volkadian economy, but it was a surprise to most that the popular game company Ethera Stradegum which specialized in tabletop figurine battles had rather suddenly began to close up shop and sell their brands to other companies. It's CEO had been warned by a economist that the Volkadian company wasn't going to take a tumble soon, but would instead collapse, and that in order truly save money, now was the best time to cut losses. Other similar things began to happen, much to the public's confusion, and to many economist newspaper's deep fears. Many CEOs from high brand companies had retired or sold off prestigious and expensive parts of their companies for huge payouts, and began saving money not in banks but in vaults within their own home. Many of the CEOs tried to convince members of the old families of the growing problems, but the governors simply believed that their system would not fall and often thought of the deep fears of these rich businessmen was just fear mongering.
The Populist and the Old Man
Volkadia
5800 CE
The populist
Eduard Hornik had been growing in ever increasing popularity, especially amongst the Reactionary governors. The formal leader of the reactionaries, Governor
Branko Slaný had been delaying the populist for months, but many reactionaries grew resentful of Branko and simply began to invite Eduard to the Black House, the original imperial government building which had been converted into a museum and hosted the dinner parties of the Reactionaries. At first glance, many Reactionaries despised Eduard due to his idiotic banter and poor speech, but now many believed the hype of his growing popularity which was made even greater by the fact he had forced a deal with the elder social liberal Vodca. The old families ended up not treating Eduard to a feast, but instead found themselves treated when Eduard's company which he was still CEO of ordered a huge roast beef dinner with some very fine wine, made by two of Volkadia's most experienced chefs. The dinner only proved Eduard's personal power, and Branko who was regular in attendance found himself speechless and simply handed the reigns to Eduard in the most normally informal way of Volkadian politics, simply toasting to him and proclaiming he should run the group.
Now with the reactionaries behind him, Eduard had a bill he had been preparing for weeks. As a CEO and a politician, a very rare character in Volkadian politics but not illegal, he had wished to treat both his friends who helped him to power such as weapons salesman
Marek Biely while also helping small businesses owners and the richer classes. Eduard introduced before the senate the
High End Act. The Act would universally set the tax rate anyone who makes over 2,000,000 yearly rather then it being decided by administrators, along with offering a payout to failed small business owners who had failed because of poor practices by failing administrators so long as they would restart their business within three years. The High End Act would also give pay the salaries of employees of these smaller businesses for a year which had gone out of business, but forbid payments of those who used slave labor. The last piece of the bill also would reward a 50% refund to failed investments from families who had 1,000,000 yearly income, but this money would be placed into government accounts and was to only be used in new investments.
This huge reform, once presented to the senate, was laughed at by a number of conservatives in the audience who saw obvious flaws and issues with the bill.
Július Smutný argued the bill's most glaring flaw, which essentially gave a near infinite supply of money to investors of rich corporations to continually put up a huge loss of money on a failed venture, and the government would pay out to others, and that the bill had no means for which to pay for it. Eduard argued, rather poorly and with angry sass, that the only rich people in Volkadia were the governors themselves and if they could not have a safety net when putting in a investment, then no one would invest. Many conservatives, despite their reluctance to support Eduard, did like the small business reform which had been on everyone's mind. The conservatives in the senate argued with the reactionaries to make a lite version of the bill, but Eduard would have none of it. Only the former leader Branko Slaný seemed to bring reason to Eduard and was able to get him and Július into a private room and worked out a lighter version which the conservatives were more willing to support and made Eduard happy. The investment refund was improved upon, only allowing trusted person to be given the privileges and the refund had a limit of a 10% refund which could go above 250,000 credits.
While the conservatives had seemed more likely to support the bill, the Vodca was surprised that the conservatives seemed to not know how to fund it. Vodca Maximilián Pokorny argued that the bill was still far to expensive and supported large corporations above that of the Volkadian people. Max and Eduard debated the merits of the bill, with it becoming increasing obvious to the Vodca that the bill was more of a way to increase the popularity of Eduard without regard for consequences. Spiteful of his rhetoric, Max voted a hearty no along with his social liberal governors. Eduard however was able to rally surprising support amongst the conservatives still along with a social liberal governor who should have sided with Max, but instead liked the bill's support of small business owners. The issue in the senate seems to divide them, but the Vodca does eventually again find himself having to deal with Eduard privately under the insistence of his ally Július. While in private, Max is not convinced of Eduard's intentions, but the man again surprises him with a strongly worded agreement he would pay for the bill with the aid of corporate donors. This would mean giving larger presence of corporations in the government, which made Max far too concerned, and refused to deal with the populist.
Even though the social liberals and over half of the conservatives opposed him, Eduard still had a trick up his sleeve, the silent minority of Reformists. Eduard's secretary and political mastermind,
Daniela Novomedsková, had been busy outside the senate building by finding out all she could about the Reformist governors and their concerns. She found two reformists expressing concern over the political system, and wished to change it by reintroducing laws that would bar political opinions from he front pages of popular newspapers. Daniela struck up an awkward conversation with them in a bar who blew her off as a nuisance. In order to get her way, she ended up following them to a brothel, taking pictures and confronting them later in the day, forcing them to listen to her and redirecting them to her boss Eduard. Under blackmail, the Reformists looked over the bill in a more serious light and made suggestions which Eduard really did not listen to. The Reformists were joined by the informal leader, a conservative named
Mirek Surový. Mirek was a conservative in name, but he was governor of a huge space asteroid city in the eastern galactic district which was famed for it's growing industries and was very sympathetic to abolitionists, and also ended up as a staunch ally of the Vodca. Mirek rejected Eduard outright, and encouraged his fellow reformists to not buy into his populist tactics.
Eduard however was not done just yet and pursued Mirek outside the senate to a Oturan enclave in which the reformist leader was hosting a charity event amongst some Abolitionists and the local Oturan. The Overseer of the enclave, having earned so much controversy and being a friend of Mirek, was on extended vacation, and thus could not make it. Eduard talked and talked but could not budge the increasingly annoyed governor, up until Eduard simply said to him "I will give you, whatever you need or want, just so long as we pass this bill". Mirek raised an eyebrow and motioned Eduard into the overseer's office where the two forged out additions to the bill. The bill's additions would grant a safety fund for Overseers and their families, paying 20% of their legal fees and would now additionally reward small business owners who expanded their businesses to more then 25 locations with a moderately sized payout. Eduard sheepishly agreed and was able to confirm with his other supporters. Mirek appeared alongside Eduard when he made his speech to the changes to the High End Bill, with applause amongst the publicly conservative but secretly reformist governors. The Vodca remained silent throughout all this, and when it came for his time to speak, he still held deep concerns over the payment of the bill and it's reliance on the corporate industries, but remarked he would apologize personally to the Eduard if the bill did improve Volkadia.
The time of the vote came, and the room was quiet at first. The Vodca read aloud the bill to the standing governors and called for a vote by yelling "aye" loudly. There was a near thunderous roar of Eduard and his supporters, including half of the conservatives, but the Vodca was not impressed. Seeing as there were few of his own supporters doing other things that day, the Vodca called for a written vote instead. The Governors quickly read and only partially debated, with the Vodca looking over who was voting what. Half of the conservatives and many other distant parties voted yes, and tied up with his social liberals and himself. Much to his shock, a vast majority of the Abolitionists had signed on with Eduard due to the new additions to the bill, despite the abolitionists having been his own allies. When all the votes were counted up, the screen in front of the senate room lit up and by a close margin, the bill had passed. The Vodca sighed deeply, but Eduard and his reactionaries loudly celebrated and shouted "Glory glory glory!" over and over again, with governors getting close to Eduard and hugging him for his huge political victory. The Bill would go in effect within the month.
While Max was not happy the bill was passed, as Vodca he was obliged to follow through the senate's rules. Yet, the least happy of those in the room was Governor Zuzana who pouted loudly amongst the social liberals in the room. The day after the vote, Zuzana proposed a bill in the senate which would increase wages of government workers, which most including Eduard was for, but the bill was no read aloud due to it's length. The bill was passed without much debate, but then the proud women came to the front stand to read the bill aloud and gave a smirk in the direction of Eduard. As she read, the bill's ending notes also repealed the High Class Act fully within a vague margin, and many in the social liberal audience cheered much to the fury and anger of the reactionaries. Eduard angrily called out Zuzana and the Vodca for this political maneuvering, with Max stating that Eduard himself had voted for Zuzana's bill, and wondered why the fellow governors were so willing to repeal it. Zuzana concluded her speech before the senate, claiming that Eduard was a bigot and that those who supported the High End Act were secretly Isolationists, which shocked the senate room. Many who would normally have supported Eduard's bill remained silent, not wishing to be associated with the growing Isolationists or their radical policies, and knowing full well that Eduard was supported by Isolationists before now no longer wanted to associated with him.
Infuriated by what had happened, Eduard complained and screamed at the Vodca over the lies of Zuzana, in which Max simply decried that he and everyone else should read the bills next time. Not one to be easily defeated, Eduard decided to do something rather unusual and gathered his allies, including the enraged reformists who had been snubbed by the progressive liberal who they referred to as a witch. Eduard published the High End Bill to the public forum, and bribed a number of media personalities to discuss the bill, and leaked much of the bill's contents to social media controlled by the progressive liberals. When these progressive liberal personalities began to agree with many merits of the bill, Zuzana showed herself to them to warn that the bill was toxic and was made by a Isolationist populists in the senate, naming Eduard and Mirek. Yet, this had predictably backfired, especially when Zuzana went after Mirek. Mirek was a popular governor known for his kindness of the Oturan and was especially known for his charitable events much like the one in the local Volemstad enclave. The bill was looked more into by many other personalities, including Isolationists, who promoted the bill viciously on social media. The bill's popularity had soared in the public, but it wasn't enough to get it back on track.
In the midst of the senate, Eduard made a speech in the following week, proclaiming weakness of the Vodca to deal with the economic issues and calling out Zuzana on her lies. When Eduard was done with his ranting, his challenge was matched when Zuzana appeared on stand despite Max urging her not to even respond. Zuzana made her own speech, angrily decrying Eduard as a Isolationist puppet and a moron unworthy of being Governor, and that no one in Volemstad liked him or would ever like him. She declared her own innocence in the whole affair, declaring herself innocent by the virtue of being member of a prestigious family. When she was done, Zuzana looked to Eduard who instead of her prediction to be cowering angrily in his seat, was giving a wide smile. The next day, a video had come out on Eduard's online network, recorded on a cheap spyware cam was Zuzana's speech and Eduard's very bombastic commentary. While off putting to richer folk, many small businesses owners and minor administrators were utterly insulted by Zuzan'a rhetoric and were outraged by Eduard's insistence that Zuzana had defeated his popular bill by rather dubious means. This was added to a number of cheap shots, declaring that not even Isolationists would go so low when it came to the Vodca's vote on diplomacy with Astrana. There was a huge uproar across Volkadia, with many Reactionaries weaving large conspiracy theories that Zuzana was involved in many of Volkadia's most horrific troubles.
If the uproar outside the senate was horrible, the political instability became and eldrich abomination within the halls of the confederate senate. Many senators began yelling and screaming at Zuzana and the Vodca, specifically in order to look good for their own supporters back home since their elections would be coming up in 7 years. Many of Zuzana's more closer allies had been damaged as a result of her, with conservative supporters flocking to Reactionaries or worse Isolationists. Anger against Eduard was not unheard of, but many feared he would do to them as he did to Zuzana. Rather then step down, Zuzana brought charges against Eduard for causing mob violence, despite no violence having been committed. While it was technically legal to film in the informal senate, it was just simply unheard of, and many within the senate were panicking. Eduard demanded a new vote to repeal Zuzana's vote. Rather then face further instability in the government, Max quickly agreed. The vote was met with a resounding boom of a 'Aye' from almost every senator, and with that the bill was repealed. The High End Act was back in full swing.
By the end of the month, things were not as calm but at least the government had breathing room. When the bill went into effect, it began to work in ways that only Eduard could dream of, much to the amazement of Max and the conservatives. The Bill naturally of course made sure that larger corporations payed less taxes, but their donations to the bill's finances had relieved a lot of pressure on the revenue to the government. More importantly, the improved refund system set in place encouraged larger investments, especially by the VCA which could float the economy further from the edge. These huge reformers however were still very costly to maintain but did improve the popularity of it's creator and his allies. The social liberals and the Vodca saw this whole show of politics as disgusting and unnecessary, but this change in opinion also saw a even greater increase in fringe elements coming to light and the gains of the social liberal dissipating.
Hierarch's Estate
Ethera, Volkadia
5800 CE
". . .And just as importantly, I come from a member of a highly prestigious family which has dated back before your infernal and toxic 'family' even came into wretched existence! I will tell you this, Governor Hornik, I will not let you dump your waste on this republic with your slander, your lies, and your lower class foo-" The video stopped, paused with the glaring reflection of a disdainful look of
Marcel Novák looking down upon it. The video was close up on the face of the speaking governor, but Marcel wasn't really interested anymore. It was just another governor, but this had been in the news for the past week, talked non stop by political commentators who had no idea what they were talking about. He clicked an exit button on his phone and put it in his coat pocket.
Marcel was at the Novák estate, and was Hierarch in name but in reality he was just another man with a useless title, a fact which annoyed him greatly. Yet today was a least a little different. It was in the later afternoon and there was a huge gathering of Nováks from across Volkadia who had gathered for a family reunion. He looked down from the high rise of his estate into the surrounding forests. The estate was utterly surrounded by forests, built on the remains of the Novák's cabin home and now served as their homeward hamlet for generations. As Hierarch, he lived in this mansion complex away from the civilized world throughout the rest of Ethera, and was constantly hounded day and night by cameramen. With drink in hand, he rejoined the party in grace.
The great estate could be seen in many directions with the house filled with more celebrities then actual family members. As he moved into the inner household and towards the mansion's bar, he was stopped on his way by his wife, as old as he was but he would jokingly think for more good looking then he was.
Maria Novák was in a more causual uniform and smiled. "Enjoying the party dear?" she asked. Marcel didn't wish to actually answer truthfully, but could not hide his disdain. "I like the food. I wish we were ever more casual. I could have sworn i've seen cameramen in the bushes outside."
Maria giggled "I am certain they are, so long as you aren't shooting at them again." Marcel remembered rather fondly of that day he had been hunting on the estate's grounds with all four of his sons, celebring Samuel's promotion when a Camera man annoyingly trailed them. Marcel, angered by their intrusion and sabotaging his adoptive son's celebration, shot at the poor man, purposefully missing and a good laugh was had all around, except for the press that week who called him a psychopath. Good times, he thought. "I'll try not to, they are lucky I don't have my guns out."
"Also my sisters are here, by the way, make sure to say 'hi'. I think your sons and our adoptive boys are hiding from the guests. I cannot find them anywhere." Maria looked about, almost concerned, but Marcel reassured her and kissed her on the cheek "I know where they are, don't worry far too much." Maria went about her busiesses to attend to the guests, with Marcel going into the basement rather then the bar.
The basement was a gray and barely lit room, with a huge screen in the corner which was attached to a number of cables and devices. Marcel turned on the lights and he could hear the collective groan of his boys. Marcel nearly gave a hearty laugh with his younger son
Miloslav Novák holding a controller and sitting on a fairly comfortable couch close to the screen, surrounded by his Oturan adoptive brothers,
Samuel and Milan. While two were full fledged adults, Milan technically was still a home serf and still held a true child's heart, but Samuel had become a well spoken of Blackhand who wore his black and white vest with a black handprint on it's cover. The three looked at Marcel and waved in unison.
"Enjoying yourselves I see." Marcel smiled. Milan nodded, with Miloslav speaking up "Aunt Invola nearly spent the last hour talking about her cats again. Samuel saved us from a night of misery." Marcel came over and tapped his son "Finish up, cause your mum misses you three. Do you know where Rišo is?" The three looked at one another and back at their patriarch. Samuel spoke up first "He said he was meeting with Gabe. He should be here. . .somewhere." Marcel's smile turned into a frown. Out of all the people he suspected not to be here this evening, it certainly wasn't his estranged cousin. He nodded at them "Make sure to say hi to your aunts at least, then grab some food and silently come back down, I'll let your mother know." The three smiles, but as Milan and Miloslav went upstairs, Samuel joined with Marcel as the two maunevered their way around the party towards the west wing, where the meeting room was. It was the regular haunt of figures like Gabriel.
As the two went down the halls of the estate, Samuel struck up a conversation. Samuel and Milan are Oturan brothers who were orphaned from a terrible engineering accident in which both of their parents were killed when he was very young. The two were bought by the Nováks when they were young to be servants, but were instead pleasantly surprised to be raised by them instead. "I never asked, but what was this issue between you and Gabriel anyway?" Marcel gave a grunt as he walked "Gabe may be my cousin, but we disagreed about a lot of things. He became a admiral, and I didn't. I had a family. . .he didn't." Samuel didn't ask further as the two walked past the more empty halls of the western wing.
The two came upon one of the houses meeting room with the door open, and in the darkness of the room Marcel could make out the figure of his son leaving.
Rišo Novák was just exiting the room, in his full military regila when he was surprised to find his father and adoptive brother standing there. "Oh. Father! Nice to see you, but what are you doing all the way out here?" Rišo asked. Marcel could see his son's disappointed face, and could only guess what had transpired in the room, a rejection to come under the wing of Volkadia's most experienced admirals. Marcel put his hand on Rišo's shoulders and smiled "Go, your mom needs you. You join him Samuel." The two went off without a word as Marcel entered the room.
The meeting room was dark, but it had a window which looked out over the night sky and barely illuminated front, with a man and a woman standing on the opposite side of it. The woman, a thin and gorgeous young creature was sitting, her face utterly covered in shadow as she watched a brightly lit media broadcast which was on mute.
Gabriel Novak and his naval secretary
Janka Razúsová. Gabriel, in his own fully military uniform was smoking from his pipe, looking out the window and looked rather peeved. As Marcel entered, he stood next to him in silence. The silence was broken by Gabriel, not willing to play this foolish silent game.
"Mark."
"Gabe."
Gabriel let out a large buff of smoke "Your boy is well versed, but not skilled. Don't take it personally." He remarked. However, Janka commented as well which added to the sour mood. "While not lacking in courage, I must say i've never been more disappointed." Marcel looked at Janka who sat emotionless. Marcel then spoke up "I am shocked you even came. Last time we talked, it was years ago. I never thought you enjoyed places like this."
"Enjoy your hellish prison, parish the thought." Gabe chuckled. "To be honest, when I was walking in, if I was allowed to have my gun on your property, three rather nasty celebrities would be dead, and then where would I be?"
Janka spoke up again "Hero of Volkadia at this point, sir."
Gabe agreed with a nod "I heard politics here has not gone well."
Marcel was silent, he had opinions certainly, but he wasn't sure what his cousin was getting at. Gabe motioned him to the screen, and with a change, it changed to various cameras. The camera focused in silence on Marcel's two adoptive sons, Samuel and Milan, despite adolescents, were playing with one another. Janka scoffed at this fun "Hard to believe you would have any feeling towards slaves, Hierarch."
"That is enough Mrs. Razúsová." Gabriel demanded. Marcel was silent, as he watched the two, having fun and doing anything of things he was never allowed to do when he was growing up. He never abused them, and showed them a love only a father could give, and now one was a skilled special operative, and another had long standing dreams of joining the Bureaucracy. His own sons had been just as successful, but these young creatures had also become his own. Yet, in spite of all that, in formality they were still his servants.
"They say our ancestor looked at a group of laborers and one day decided they would be teachers, governors, and artists." Gabriel retorted "Its almost as if its in the very blood of us Nováks to command and control, to build from nothing and to love the very people we rule over. Yet here you are." Marcel could hear a spite in Gabriel's words, and by many means, he was right to be spiteful. Marcel had done nothing in his career despite his many attempts to assert authority, and he spent far too much time on his family then ruling. He looked to Gabriel who had a glint of ambition in his eyes.
Gabriel turned off the screen. "Its not that hard to figure out your security system by the way, but I have actually come here for a reason. The capital is becoming less and less like it was, and have festered with all kinds of annoyances. I think you have a opinion on this just like everyone else I am sure."
Marcel grunted "Yea. I've seen the video of one Governor declaring the superiority simply because they are born into the right family, and another playing petty political tricks complaining about other petty political tricks. Strong men aren't born into positions of power, they are taken, trained, and made into what they are. Blood had nothing to do with Gabe, it is skill and experience. It is why our ancestor built this meritocracy, and now we allowed it to fall into the hands of morons and baffoons, while the vultures pick at it like they do. There wouldn't be a Isolationist faction under Blažej Novák."
Gabriel gave a short smile, perhaps the only smile he would ever wear. "That is exactly what I like to hear, my dear cousin. Tomorrow, I leaving for the fleet at Oakus. I want your son onboard my ship, but I need you do something for me."
"And that is?"
"Make sure the capital doesn't burn down in my absence."
Wildpark Outdoor Market
A22 Commercial Zone, Nauroma, Northern Galactic District
5800 CE
On the brightly colored and hot landscape of Nauroma, a young woman and her daughter were investigating a small stand. It was the Wildpark Outdoor Market, a prestigious giftshop next to Wildpark Safari, a popular Volkadian park. They had just stepped down when the young woman noticed a sickly man looking at a poster, carrying in his hand a copy of the
Will of the Lord, and was mumbling to himself. Her daughter went over to the man, and she gave a quick but subtle chase. This man was most likely a drug addict who wasn't picked up by security yet, but she did find it odd that the man wore a large vest on Nauroma of all places. There were bumps in his chest, and as the man turned, he smiled at the girl and her mother.
"Are you okay Mister?" The young girl asked
"Its fine. Its all going to be okay." The man smiled. The woman stopped, and noticed the man open his book and pull out a small metal rod attached to wire. Her eyes widened, she screamed, and then there was fire.
From a small abandoned building sat
Metod Bartoš, who was scrawling holy scripture into thr wood of the abandoned bar. The room was dark, but set up rather swiftly as a small base which laid across from the local police office, where his real target was. He had sent some faithful martyr as a distraction, a idea which bothered him more then what he was really doing. Metod watched the news intently, the suicide bombing was suppose to have happened 5 minutes ago, and in the room several mercenaries had been waiting. The news station showed an emergency broadcast as one of the mercenaries began loading his gun.
". . .explosions hit the Wildpark Giftshop today! The police are demanding people stay away from the blast sight, as rescue workers who tried to enter the containment area have found themselves poisoned and dissolved by some kind of acidic smoke! P--. . ." The news feed was cut off.
"Alright. Its time. Hit it quick, hit it hard." The commander of the group quipped and left out the abandoned building's side door. Metod followed, his own gun well loaded. The group piled into a armored civilian hover truck and waited for a good amount of the police to leave from the station in front of them. There was a loud cackle on the radio as it buzzed on, cheap military equipment truly the mark of a cheap company of mercenaries. "Ready? I got sights on the Colonel."
"We are ready. Let us drive up. Is he leaving?" The commander asked
"Not yet. Hes getting into the van."
"We hit that first, if he flees inside, cover the exits."
Metod stood emotionless, noticing a tattoo on the commanders arms, rather mockingly reading 'Sof can Suck It' scribbled around a beating heart. It sickened Metod he had to work with such people, but as the armored truck moved, its driver took up speed. Metod knew the man was going to crash into the police truck an initate the attack, but ducked down from the seat before hand. The man next to him thought this looked stupid at first, until the truck crashed into the police vehicle and the 5 mercenaries tried to pile out. Metod had faced off against police before, they were not easy targets, and the poorly trained mercenaries soon found themselves in the heat. Two Police were gunned down by machinegun fire, but the passanger next to Metod was slain by bullets which wizzed into the vehicle. He took his gun and opened fire from the armor vehicle, gunning down another two with excellent marksmanship.
The Colonel and his remaining men before they could leave were utterly surprised and rushed into the building, followed by the mercenaries who began shooting up the station. Metod reloaded outside while the mercenaries haphazardly assaulted from the inside. Poor cover killed another mercenary, but their superior bullets and exploives proved too much for injured and shocked officers. The Colonel rushed to his office, grabbing a shotgun with seeker bullets and fired, hitting their target behind the cover of a desk which wizzed into their vital areas by going around. Why the time he tried to fire off his second shot, Metod burst into the fray and shot him in the arms. The mercenary commander checked his dead and then looked to Metod.
"You got this?"
Metod didn't speak. He looked at the commander with his less pleased looked. "Get a cruiser, i'll take care of the colonel." The commander nodded. While the mercenaries collected themselves, Metod looked over the commander and began to push his thumbs into the injured officer's eyes. He recited the Will of the Lord as he did so, and the screams of the colonel echoed until they echoed no more. Once the man was dead, Metod heared the vroom of a engine leaving and thought ever more poorly of the mercenaries.
The remaining mercenaries had piled into the police car and left without the fanatic, with Metod watching them leave. Having been left alone, now a small army of police and military were tracked to his position and would soon overwhelm him, but it was occasions like these that Metod had his own plans. Metod shot swiftly went into a police shower room and found cloths which fit him and shot himself with a grazed bullet. It hurt a great deal, but these things meant little to him. He slumped down near the hallways as a horde of police entered the building. Mistaking Metod as a injured officer, they loaded him onto a medical bandwagon and sent him along, but as soon as the wagon started moving, he attacked those inside and threw them onto the streets and drove to the usual meeting place, a parked garage.
Once in the garage, Metod looked for a manhole to the commercial zone's sewer system. As he crawled inside, he got a call on his personal phone and began to transverse the gray water to freedom on the outside of the city. He looked at the contact number and sighed, picking it up. "What do you want."
"Hey, buddy. I heard you got killed."
It was
Jonáš Koleno "Of course not Jonáš. Only Sof may kill me, I thought you knew this?"
"Regardless, Vladislav called. He says you are dead."
"He's got this mixed around. I am a bit busy. Was there anything else."
"Just making sure you are still breathing. I should have been there."
"That woman only wanted 'the best'. Hey. Are you near by?"
"I am."
"Well, grab a rifle and meet me at 66 442 221 003. Kill anyone but me."
"Got it boss."
Metod continued to transverse the sewers for hours and despite the mercenaries destroying his lights, Metod has a flashlight on hand and a gun in the other. He continued to navigate through the sewers by memory, mostly becuase he had practiced this assassination weeks in advance, in fact he could have probably done this alone. Metod eventually came upon the manhole to the city's limits and sighed with relief and began climbing the ladder towards the light. As he entered the city's limits, the mercenaries were utterly shocked to see him. Two helped them to his feet. "Metod. Your alive?" asked the commander.
"I am, thanks for leaving me by the way." Metod said without emotion, he looked as if this was a minor annoyance. The commander sighed. "The Hell dude, at least you could have died with some dignity. You know how much we have to share with a piece of crap like you?"
"50%"
"Exactly." The mercenary took out his pistol, and aimed it at his head "Look, dude, its nothing personal." As he was about to shoot, a shot wrang out and hit on the mercenaries in the head, and then another. Four were now left and Metod grabbed the man's gun as he was about to shoot and aimed it at another man's head. He body slammed the mercenary commander and cracked his arm, taking his gun and shooting the two distraught mercenaries trying to find cover. As the mercenary commander coughed and screamed, he tried to make it for another weapon near by, but was dragged away, crying as he was, away from the carnage. Metod waited as a hover car came barreling out from the brush, with Jonáš Koleno driving, his rifle still well spent. He got out of the car, with Metod still looking over the desperate screaming man.
"Close?"
"Nah. Just annoying. I cannot believed I sent Vlado to the heavens for this piece of crap." Metod looked down and took out his knife, carving the mercenary commander's tattoo from his flesh, screaming even further. He threw the skin to the side. He got another jingle from his phone. Metod checked it. It was just a simple text. 'Talk. Now. -SK'. Metod knew naturally who this was, but he still was rather annoyed.
"So why this colonel?" Jonáš asked. Metod smirked "Politics of course, but its still good money, and most likely like many Colonels he was a non-believer. Like this man." Metod motioned to the commander still trying to escape. Metod knew he couldn't keep him alive, but he really just did not like this man. He snapped his fingers and went beneath the police cruiser and tore out a thruster with the help of his knife. As the car sagged a little, Metod often knew thrusters had a lot of juice to power them without a power source for over 20 minutes, and he pressed it against the man's legs. The mercenary's legs caught on fire, and as Metod swished the thruster cap from side to side on the man, he made a blazing inferno. Metod nodded his head, satisfied the man now would not talk.
"Alright. Lets go."
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