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I'm just a guy from the good old United Kingdom with a penchant for sci fi and general fantasy in a nation based roleplaying scope.

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--=Galatis Station, Lunar Orbit.
The Office of the High hWarden.

High Warden Christopher Minnaar peered into the screen intently, checking the figures that had been put before him, they seemed to check out - but one had to be careful. More importantly, when one knew history it was wise to triple check. Or septuple check, in this case. Finally, he nodded, bringing his eyes up from the pale blue interface built into the oaken desk. He was somewhat fond of it, even though he truthfully hardly found time to be in this particular office, not that the carefully selected amount of appropriate furnishings would have anyone think otherwise. He wondered how many phantom meetings he had here.

"Alright, Unless you're pulling a fast one like ast time that should be final approval on the matter of final outfitting for Solaris, I still can't believe you managed to fund an entirely seperate pet R&D project on the Directorate's dime and kept your position." He shook his head, chuckling slightly.

Amira smiled mischievously, ever humble in victory, as she lounged in her seat opposite him, it wasn't particularly professional, most of their meetings weren't, but they had known each other long enough for familiarity to overule such things when they were without company. It had yet to breed contempt, but certainly a healthy respect.

"Well it was a resounding success, as you are more than aware. Lying is not exactly a road to success, but efficient lying? With results? My original project didn't even go over budget! Even the Director had to appreciate that, and so I'm still here to make your life.. shall we say.. interesting?" She responded, moving slightly to flick her hand across her handheld device, sending another document to the High Warden. "Now for your pet project.."

"You mean the policy supported by the Directorate." He corrected, though jovially, as he took a moment to cast his eyes across the new document on his display. "An interesting plan of action, it is good to see your talents extend to actually doing your job, Quartermaster General." He quipped.

She smiled again. "Oooh, titles, ever so formal. I'm glad you came all the way up from your usual hidey hole just to use my title when were alone! Delightful." She threw back, but continued "Yes, if we use the older models currently waiting for tasking we can cut down on patrol needs for the corridor by an appreciable percent for a low cost. Of course as time goes on we will want to enhance or replace these old platforms."

He nodded. "Indeed, I see you've accounted for a full sensor package - where are you retasking that from? I gather you've not costed for a full Occulus run from this."

She smiled once more, and flicked something else his way, he took a moment to look at it as she responded. "We found a few sensor suites left over from the last building out of support assets, they've been in storage for a while but they're the latest generation and can be easily retrofitted into the existing tasked platforms without requiring any appreciable time or running down maintanence stocks or a new build series"

He looked up and looked at Amira for a moment, then he smiled "You just happened to find these?".

She held up her hands in mock surrender. "You got me! But no, really, they're exactly what I'm saying they are.. this time. I gather the initial production run was allocated slightly more than they actually needed and instead of wasting it they just built what was paid for."

"Well, hard to argue with plenty when it lands in your lap, I suppose. No arguments from builds?" He asked.

"Of course not, They need me more than I need them, after all." She giggled. "No, surprisingly, I think they were taking up valuable space needed for components on the next production run, so we're actually helping them out."

"Excellent. So when can we start deploying the first platforms?" He asked before raising a finger to delay her response. "And more importantly, did the Bureau give you their threat analysis, I don't see it here."

"On the first, we've got a few ready to go, by the time they're in place we'll have the next set ready to go, and so forth. Bureau are being tight lipped as usual, as well as territorial - they've said you'll have a full report "soon" as is their usual line." She huffed, her light demeanour dipping momentarily before she continued. "Long and short of it is beyond the usual annoyance there already is over our Security Zone, as long as we dont actually deploy anything in the belt there shouldnt be any immediate armed response, but they can't give a gaurantee on that." She finished.

"So, a retasking of some stealth patrols with our current patrol numbers, decreasing as appropriate once our net is in place seems appropriate.. yes. Proceed, and keep me updated. Seems I have some more work to do." He responded, he tapped a key, dropping the protective anti-spying fields around the office, and importantly releasing the door locks.

"Yes, High Warden." Amira responded deftly, slipping back into the model of a Custodial Officer.

"You are dismissed, Quartermaster General." He responded, rising as she rose and left, nodding curtly to each other as was expected.

He seated himself once she had left. He would return to Aventus soon. Most of the High Ranking Officers rarely stayed on Galatis longer than was necessary to make it seems it was what it was meant to be. Galatis was a highly valuable station, but it was not the head of the snake he hoped other forces believed it was, and maintaining that deception was key, but he could certainly work from here.

The Lunar Security Zone was his idea, though the Directorate supported it. It was already in place around an extended Lunar Orbit, though not far enough to enter the quagmire that was Earth's orbital zone as most recognised it. The real point of contention was the corridor segment of the security zone that lead to the belt. Here Technate authority was enforced without question or compromise, and it was the gateway for its mining ships into the belt. To be able to deploy a defensive net of platforms with powerful sensors would allow him to retask numerous ships from patrolling it, as well as provide consistent security and defensible waypoints along the route for these valuable expeditions without entailing what he felt were full fleet escorts every time. The Directorate had finally approved this element of the plan, the key of course was not to overstep. Looking like they were annexing any of the belt was a quagmire almost as bad as Earth, though arguably more stable.

It was in motion though, and he was glad for that. He looked at the display, his own pale blue eyes barely indistinguishable from the blue display. After a moment, he spoke.

"Computer, route a request through to Gaea, I'd like her advice on the optimal placement of a defensive grid across a corridor of space best suited for the plan on file LSZ-C1-P2D1."

There was a beep of confirmation, Gaea would get to him in time. He had little doubt that within a few seconds she had received, analysed and prepared a response, but she had taken to making herself appear less than some knew she was.

A little like Galatis Station in reverse, he mused. With that thought pushed aside, the High Warden flicked his display to show Earth Orbit.

There was nearly always something interesting to see there.
Weeeee

:eyes:
--=Telasis City Spaceport, Durand, Commonwealth Colonial World.

For the first time since he had set foot on this dustball Mattias was thankful, thankful twofold. Thankful he'd been on board the Agni at the right moment and thankful he could give up this god-awful wild goose chase - because he had something that would do much, much better. He'd come here because he had been saddled with the task of good old basic journalism, which for the Chief back at OuterNews often meant sending people like him to places no-one really wanted to go on the trail of corporate tax evasion that probably never happened - at least, they never found enough evidence about it 90% of the time. It was what happened when you worked for a low-tier news outlet that was part of some greater media behemoth, Mattias supposed.

And it had of course, meant he'd been here at the right time. He had originally gone back to the Agni - a basic but reasonable courier ship - to file a run of the mill report for expenses and, he had hoped, be convincing enough for them to recall him for something else. After all, when anything lead you out of the Federation things became a little bit more difficult, and accounts buried on some fringe commonwealth world were certainly as much of a dead-end as them not existing at all.

Then it had happened. He had laid low when he'd heard the commotion, and used the Agni to tune into the local newsnet, to see if there'd been some kind of accident or the like. It hadn't taken long for the newsnet to go offline, and that had piqued his interest. A few hours after all that he had risked popping his head out, a few people had been eager to talk - he guessed being Human and a foreigner helped and hindered. He had been eager to listen.

Now he was back here, compiling it all into a basic draft that the office back home could spin into something using all his background notes and information from Federal sources on Durand. Hostages? What seemed like open rebellion? Definitely enough for a couple of news cycles, even if it went nowhere - particularly with Durand being what it was. He imagined that rights to the story would probably net a pretty penny for the company, not that it did him much good.

There was, in theory, a small problem - the local communications channels were either down or effectively useless, and there was little to no way he'd be able to quietly bounce anything through PsiNet - but there had been foresight. Most news couriers had small, but powerful conventional transmitters for long-range communication, albeit mostly text based data, though he'd managed to squeeze in a few reasonable quality photos of people and things who'd been willing. It was important to humanise a story, after all! The Commonwealth either didn't know or hadn't thought to fill that frequency with junk data, so he was good to go. All the same, it would take a few days for it to ping off the nearest FedNat deep-space transmitter, but it would speed up immensely from there. Within a week or two he'd get his payday, and his name would be accredited to a notable breaking story that no doubt even the major newsnets would buy up, rewrite and republish. He also made sure to have Home Office poke the government, he didn't want to be stuck here in lockdown forever, after all.

-----

Some Time Later

"..nued lockdown of the system makes further information difficult to come by, whilst the Voice of Chiron has reached out to the Commonwealth Government via its Embassy for comment, there has been no official statement at this time. In other news, Pilot David Marshall won the Grand Betelgeuse rally today in a stu--" The Holographic image of the news Anchor faded out as Minister Adler waved it away.

What a mess. Now he had another mess to deal with. The Federation couldn't much have its citizens exit travel restricted due to civil disturbances, now, could it. It could very well put them in further danger. No, that wouldn't do at all.

He began to type into his pad, carefully, considering. Letters of protest were, sometimes, an art.
Im not sure if anyone knows the implication but the last IC post regarding cover projects and what not relates to FedNat superdread building. IE: We're building more so it'd be weird to have to change that now.

--=Highfield Crossing, Horizon, Tau Ceti.

Highfield Crossing was the true heart of Horizon. Whilst Couerlene and its Federal sector was the de jure seat of governance for the Federation, Highfield Crossing, only a hundred miles away, was the planetary capital of Horizon and was often where Federal officials decamped to during weekend recess, or during official recess of the assembly. Couerlene was an effective capital, but Highfield Crossing was a true city, with all the wonders and vices that could be had in such a place. It had grown from a sedate farm market town to a bustling city with the establishment of the Federation, and had, most figured, simply through proximity ended up as the planetary capital.

It had its charms. Alanna had not often had time for it since her election to highest office, but she found time here and there to escape the official protocol of Couerlene in favour of the bustle of Highfield, now and again, she could even meld into the scores of people that made their way around the city, living the lives she worked to protect and make prosperous in her own way, though often the trail of security made such a thing more of a distant hope than reality. It was not one of those days today. She had found herself largely confined to the official residence in Rainley Tower in downtown Highfield, but it had given her time to meet with people she normally would of had to go in circles to do so, officially and unofficially - and her office her though far more opulent gave her nearly all the same sort of access she would of gotten if she had never left Couerlene. It was at least, quiet. A few security staff were spread around the residence, whilst a few Aides were hidden about, doing their best to make sure she didn't have to deal with minutiae. Her constant companion, Mikhail, amused himself somewhere within the sprawling penthouse, but she had one more meeting and quite a bit of reading and writing to do this evening. They would be back in Couerlene soon, but she remained hopeful she'd find just a little bit of time for a discreet backdoor entry into the exclusive new club down the street she'd heard so much about. There might be a waitlist four years long already, but being Chancellor had to have some perks, didn't it?

She raised her head from the report she'd been half perusing, sunk into the scandalously comfortable chair in this office she was sure had been designed with the idea of ensuring no-one ever really got work done that didn't involve napping. There had been a sound - the entrance to the office was some absurd security measure with multiple doors that often let her knew someone was coming in a good few moments before they were. She didn't bother checking the cameras on her desk display - it wouldn't help, she never knew who she would be meeting when it came to Intelligence matters when they were not completely on the books.

The inner door opened with a slight swish of air and metal being moved by unseen mechanisms, and a man stepped in, nodding respectfully and approaching Alanna, who motioned to the seat opposite her - one she noted was likely far less comfortable, but still more than suitable. She took a moment to take stock of the man, he was.. average. They normally were. The Intelligence Services had a knack for taking nearly anyone and making them appear perfectly, boringly average. There was an edge of above average attractiveness to this one though, which told her he'd probably actually not been altered much, if at all.

"Chancellor." He said, sitting himself down as indicated by Alanna.

"C7, I've not had the pleasure previously, but in these meetings I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of re-acquaintance." She said, smiling.

"Indeed, Chancellor, though as you know, there are a finite number of C's to meet. Sooner or later, you may have the pleasure of seeing a familiar face." He responded, sharing a smaller smile. Though she expected pretty much anything he did or said was calculated, not that it mattered, they were on the same side.

"I Live in hope. What do you have for me that I can't get through the Committee or Minister officially?" May as well cut straight to the point, she could be business if she needed to be.

"It'll be 14 total by the end of this standard calendar week. No plans for more - we don't have enough for that, as you know. Everyone thinks you don't know the entire puzzle, but that's the idea. Project Helios on track though with withdrawl from the treaty, we can unveil Helios fully and scrap plans for the fourth cover project. Shakedown testing is nearly done for the launched Helios 1, Helios 2 and 3 are on track for completion as outlined previously. The cover projects have also kept to schedule and have proven viable in simulations. The Triumvirate in High Command is in on this, of course, we're using High Admiral Lieng now as the Liason there. High Admiral Rochester has taken over all Agdenmar operations as per your request. I believe High Admiral Alyentsov has your confidence for the current Rolvian issue." C7 said, not stopping at any point for breath but never going too fast that she didn't take everything in.

"I see. I'll leave the Helios timetable to AIS and the Admiralty, the public are quite invested in the cover projects, so we will certainly have to proceed with them to completion, if not their mission profile. Agdenmar is a mess, but involvement now would of been troublesome, and Lieng requires too much convincing sometimes, but he should be fine overseeing Helios. Rochester will act when appropriate, and he is considerate enough to keep us all informed, so I foresee no issues there, considering our involvement will not hide behind questionable legalities. As for Alyentsov, I've not had the honour of a face to face meeting with that particular member of the Triumvirate, but they have seemed most capable in my few encounters with High Command. Alyentsov wants to back up Piazza's 12th with Patel's 16th, Defence tells me, The Admirality gave that the go ahead a few hours ago with my blessing for whichever course of action pursued. I'm not going to personally inform the Rolvian's of that, but they'll get notification of them joining the "wargames" through normal channels by the time anything I send reaches them. Its mostly a show of intent for everyone other than the Rolvians at this point, given the guarantee I've all but given them, and all should proceed without incident, provided we do not violate Rolvian Sovereignty. On that note, speaking of violating sovereignty, anything to share?" Alanna almost leaned back in her chair, but decided against it.

C7 nodded. She probably hadn't told him anything he didn't know or wouldn't find out, but she was forthright with the C's and they were forthright with her. He began to speak.

"Most things you've been briefed on, there's been a number of direct engagements on Agdenmar again, though I am aware you've been given the full reports on those. Little more to provide on that. Our Embassies are relatively quiet - nothing out of the ordinary there." She knew he meant intelligence embedded in Embassies by that. "Sources are mostly detailing reactions to our withdrawl from the era of Detente, As per expectation, most don't regard the Federation as a threat in a military sense, let alone much of anything else. Biggest concerns have been economic, but that's a general concern across most quarters. Honest assessment is that the Federation will continue to be considered economically and to some extent politically, but as a military near non-entity until we take aggressive or defensive action. Nearly every political operator and intelligence agency, even those with smart analysts and good sources still measure by the standards of the Great War, it counts in our favour for the moment." Alanna nodded, she even appreciated the frankness with his admittance that other powers had good sources in the Federation - but that was an inevitable reality. It implied some familiarity, so she hoped he knew who some of them were, at least.

"The Foreign Minister had thoughts on a similar assessment, he implied that its very likely that sooner or later someone will force us to lose the carrot and use the stick, to borrow an old phrase, simply because they think it won't hit them." Alanna responded, shaking her head a little.

"Astute, to be sure, Minister Adler does know his craft." C7 said, matter of factly. He shifted in his seat slightly, an indication that he had nothing much more to add, unless he was specifically prompted on a subject.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate AIS's praise, though I wouldn't want to make him think he's too good at his job. However, that should be all. Let's keep in touch." Alanna watched the man rise.

"Never out of it, Chancellor. Have a good day." He said, and strode out of the room with a self-assured confidence that belied his near complete averageness.

Alanna took a moment to reflect, before turning back to her display. There were things to respond to - some she had waited on - some were new. She drew closer to the desk, escaping the near sinful comfort of her chair, and began to work.



Alanna took a moment to think. Rolvius had its importance, even to projects in the Federation. They'd made a mistake before, of course, and millions of individuals around the galaxy had died, but not on the doorstep of the Federation like it had been with the Republic. She was determined that it wouldn't happen again, not on her watch, anyway, and she'd essentially just galvanized the populace for it too, making it almost an internal political matter. She couldn't force the Rolvians into anything, not without taking either military or economic action, and that was exactly the kind of strong-arming she wanted to avoid.

More awaited, though.



Alanna didn't know the most about the Kadathi, but they were, as ever mentioned, driven by their desire to not end up part of the Commonwealth - the Ashtar had seen that was fact, now it remained up to them themselves to ensure it. Alanna had, she realised, declared a policy of containment contingent on whatever the Federation decided was keeping the peace - she saw that a coming to blows with the Commonwealth was a likely outcome of that, but hardly one she wanted to speed along. Aiding the Kadathi for now would retain some sort of balance, though if an agreement was signed she expected the Commonwealth would hardly react positively, but it was an economic matter, what it was used for was hardly for the Federation to dictate.



Alanna had not expected that, of all things, and she would be sending off a number of messages around the Federation - including to intelligence. She didn't quite know what was going on here, but it wasn't something she'd disregard either. She noted the Latin, the anachronistic formality of some of it, whether it meant more than what it seemed to was a different subject, but one she'd leave to some poor analyst somewhere.

She sighed. She really needed to go to that club.

----------



--=FRCHS Hermione, Hospital Ship, Agdemnar System

The Hermione had been busy being put to use, a resupply ship had just arrived and gone - and many were busy offloading the supplies that were replenishing the stocks that were being used up by the recent casualties incurred by forces in the recent flurry of combat in the system. The Hermione's doctors were however, excellent, and most had undergone extensive sim-training with most notable species they'd encounter, and rates of survival even in alien patients were higher than in some hospitals found on Horizon or Hippocrates.

In a way, it made the crew of the ship feel safer, having countless sick or injured individuals onboard was hardly conducive to morale, but it made the likelyhood of an enemy ship coming along and blowing them out of the sky far less likely, and a system of separate wards and security systems meant that even if opposing factions ended up being treated at the same time, they couldn't interact without intent from the command staff.

Captain Argyle had been picked to command the Hermione mostly because he had intelligence clearance and familiarity with the operations of a ship dedicated to the art of healing. Being unerringly calm had also helped, given where they were deployed - and for the most part nothing too concerning had happened. Now he was staring over the shoulder of a bridge technician wondering how in the world they were going to avert a disaster.

"Captain, we're looking at a faulty stabilising mechanism, whether its structural or the Devite was off and warped the containment, I couldn't say from here, but when they did this ship over it wasn't designed for this kind of power system. If we don't replace that mechanism the secondary fusion core is gonna make what happens down on that stupid planet look like a fun day out." The technician said, mostly composing himself.

"Why exactly do we not have one in storage?" Argyle asked, frowning.

"We did have four according to the manifest, but looks like when they converted some of the storage areas into wards and centralized the whole logistics aspect they didn't think to recheck whether they put the things back on board, who the hell messes up like that?" The technician said, growing exasperated.

"This was a rush job, be glad that's the only thing important they forgot." Argyle responded, he frowned again as the ship shuddered a little. Alert lights began to blink.

"We just got a uncontrolled power surge, no permanent damage but engine block one and two have just gone offline temporarily and several thrusters are firing independent of control due to a short, were basically about to begin rolling at a list to anyone outside till its fixed, Captain."

Argyle rolled his eyes.

"Fantastic, issue a warning to all nearby ships of our uncontrolled movement. Magnetize all docking clamps so no-one still latched onto us goes flying off or into us. Damnit, No-one out there is going to have what we need, we're going to have to call in one of the cavalry." Argyle frowned once more, he walked over to his own station, punching a few codes into a console, simultaneously sending a dispatch homeward and one out into the black void of Agdenmar. A few moments later, Argyle hit another key, bringing the holoscreen into life, a woman in a standard Unified Navy uniform greeted him, he supressed a smile, as he noted her captain rank.

"Having a problem there, Argyle?" Said the woman, Argyle knew her from way back, she'd risen pretty far to end up on a Pharos, the premier stealth ship of the Federation. Couldn't say she didn't deserve it.

"A very big one, Captain Tsang, you're going to have to break cover and come in to help us, unless you'd like us all to explode into a small micro-star for a few seconds. Personally, not a fan." Argyle said, non-chalantly.

"I see." She hit a few keys herself, and nodded to someone offscreen. "What do you need?"

"Stabilising mechanism for a Fusion Core, they seemed to of misplaced ours during this girls refit, I'm just glad that's all they missed - or we'de probably of blown up a lot sooner."

She looked down for a few seconds, then back up. "We've got what you need, we're going to have to go live when we come in to dock and the entire system is going to see us blazing our IFF out of nowhere, so I'm sure Horizon is going to be unhappy about those questions, but that's not our problem. We'll help stabilise your movement until repairs are complete, then drift back into the black. ETA 15, hope you've missed me."

"If we didn't have 45 till critical, I'd say take your time. See you on the Hermione."

Argyle frowned as the holoscreen blinked out of life. At least he could be thankful the Pharos was shielded against most levels of scanning. If a dozen powers were about to get a look at it, at least they wouldn't know what it was other than it was a Federation Cruiser.

--=AIS Plainsight, Equatorial Free Region, Bastion, Bastion.

AIS Plainsight was named entirely in the dumbest way possible but no doubt the most accurate, it was simply an AIS Installation in plain sight, after all. Even though Bastion was the nexus of the military, it still held areas of beauty, and whilst general tourist traffic was not exactly as high as say, Tyralene or New Vegas, it was still a planet with a diversified economy - Bastion still had bills to pay, after all. That said, the overwhelming number of visitors to the equatorial tropical regions tended to be military on leave, but posing as a tourist was one of the the easiest ways to begin going incognito on Bastion, so Plainsight had been built. Most of it operated as a tourist resort, but it had so much behind and below it that even people in the know weren't quite sure how big it was.

It was also currently rotating as the planetary side HQ for this half of the year, considering some genius had come up with the idea of rotating senior authority of the AIS through different installations planet side for a few years - it half smelled of a trap to draw the curious out, but one could never really know.

That was the game after all.

C3 didn't think about it all too much, to most with the clearance, they were still just a number, and to everyone else they were long dead and buried. Here, at least, they could fake some relaxation, though truth be told, they might start enjoying it, probably around the time they had to decamp again. Ha.. truth be told.

They shook their head, and turned their attention back to winding up today's work. They'd signed off on all the collated reports from around the known galaxy for this quarter, as well as prepared a dozen of their own with appropriate addenda for everything that was known as of, well, an hour ago. This would be going to the Chancellor, for sure, High Command, disseminated amongst fellow C's and a few others, and would no doubt trickle down in some form to just a few more, it was hard work for just a few people to ever see, but it had to be done, and they'd never stop doing it as long as the Federation called for it.

They'd even prepared a comprehensive Agdemnar report. At this point, they were relatively certain they had a considerable section of the deployable Pharos assets in system, yet for what purpose was not yet for them to know, everyone only had a piece of the puzzle, though no doubt it would all come together soon. They couldn't hide that many active stealth ships for much longer, that much was known.

Other, trivial matters, at least to C3's own mind were also attended to, and so they began to transmit. Data left in seconds, and wheels began to turn again.

Truth be told, the game never stopped.


--=FMIS Triumph, Outer Asteroid Belt, Bastion.

While Galatis Station was the true orbital headquarters of the Unified Navy of Nations, Triumph was often used by the Admiralty to meet and discuss in unofficial capacities, as well as conduct business between each other that High Command didn't strictly disapprove of but often needed to distance itself from. The Starbase Triumph was close enough, yet well obstructed enough to serve that purpose, and was more than outfitted enough to suit the Admiralty from Rear to Grand and sometimes even High.

However, there was to be no somewhat off the books business, and certainly no unofficial meetings of Admirals of any stripe. High Admiral Cassius Rochester had had quite enough of that for this moment, thank you very much. He had gotten answers, of a sort, from Intelligence - and the Foreign and Defense Ministries had already begun their machinations for the new era, and yet, for all being at the top of High Command meant, his own subordinates were being too much like Intelligence for his own liking. He was one of three of the Triumvirate - the High Admirals who sat on the High Command with other representatives of the armed forces, and sometimes it felt like he didn't even know what anyone was doing.

Rounding a corner, his silent but dutiful aide keeping a respectful distance and appearing once again a moment later. He almost couldn't tell that the latest android model was anything other than human. Almost, though he did admit to himself that it had taken a few days of conversation for it to be truly apparent. Yes, by all means, they could think, to some extent feel and express the correct emotional responses, but it was programmed, and eventually, you noticed it. That said, they were invaluable - a human could eventually be broken. Any android assistants assigned to the military deleted their memory cores the moment they got too far from their charges, or upon any order, coded or otherwise, delivered electronically or audibly. That he could talk classified matters with at least one entity at nearly all times had done him good, that much he knew.

He didn't slow down as he remotely keyed open the conference room doors for the Triumph's main conference room. He knew there would be two occupants, and he had been here himself before, so he took no time to appreciate the view or acknowledge the two present, simply taking the seat at the head of the table - neither present possessing the rank and thankfully the violation of protocol to of done so themselves. He watched their faces as they looked at him, he had not been expected. Good. He took a moment to get comfortable, then began to speak.

"Admiral Piazza, Vice Admiral Laurent, you both have some explaining to do, don't you think?"

Martina Piazza looked at Cassius, raising an eyebrow. For a moment, she lingered, then turned to her counterpart.

"It is as you say, High Admiral, though I would have to inquire as to what specific matter you are referring to?" Francois Laurent said, his earther french accent thick. He was speaking Standard English, so ever prevalent automatic translation had done nothing to ease that.

"Well, Francois, I would very much like to know why we have deployed a considerable portion of Pharos assets to Agdemnar far beyond the official order of, and I stress, one escort. Though of course, I did perhaps give you the implication of much freedom in my personal communications with you regarding the subject, I would very much like to know, when the Chancellor inquires, as to why one has become, I believe, thirteen." Cassius asked, he had of course not let even the tiniest bit of respect for getting so many stealth ships into the system in just a few resupply runs for the Hermione come into it, but it was there, in the back of his mind.

"The Hermione's safety is of course, of paramount concern - and the AIS convinced the Ministry of Defence to upgrade Agdemnar information gathering priorities to a scope that could not be accomplished by the Hermione, respectfully, at all, let alone with a singular Pharos, High Admiral. Regretfully, as per protocol, plausible deniability was key and I acted unilaterally in this regard." Francois responded, simply, matter of factly.

"That may very well be the case, however, in the future, all deployments of critical assets to the Unified Navy, which the Pharos programme is very much part of, are not to be taken unilaterally, at least one of the Triumvirate is to be informed at all times so that way we may all be informed and, more importantly, I do not have to cram myself into a stealth shuttle to come and berate one of my better Intelligence liasing Admiralty Members in person, and that is very much an order. Am I clear?"

Francois nodded "Yes, High Admiral."

He turned his focus to Martina.

"And of course, you are to immediately explain to me a very simple matter, Where in the heavens is the 12th Fleet?" He asked, letting a small amount of exasperation come forth.

"The 12th Fleet is currently on location or en route to a rendezvous point of my choosing, High Admiral, as you know we recently received clearance to conduct deep space war games near the main trade routes towards Rolvian territory - as we know they would not view such a thing as threatening if they detected it prior to them being fully informed, as well as given the 12th Fleets requirement to react to incursions in that area." She said, almost convincingly.

"Admiral Piazza, You know full well that the 12th Fleet is nowhere near the Rolvian routes, though given latest reports, I would very much like it to be. That is also an order, from the entire Triumvirate." He avoided that Agdenmar could wait ending for that sentence. High Admiral Lieng had taken long enough to let him in on that plan - and he and the Chancellor had both decided it was too early. Lieng of course couldn't recall Piazza personally, and Cassius had had to wait until she met with Laurent.

Martina nodded knowingly. "The 12th Fleet will be in position within three days, High Admiral. War games will commence shortly after, of course."

"Hold off on the war games, Admiral, there's an intelligence packet waiting for you on your Command Ship from my staff, you'll understand why. Maybe you could have a little.. chat with the Vice Admiral here about getting more intelligence, if it so suits you." Cassius responded. With that, he rose - this was, after all, still off the books, so neither of them were required nor wanted to observe protocol, and remained seated, both simply inclining their heads.

With that, he departed.

--=Office of the Chancellor, Courelene, Horizon, Tau Ceti.

Alanna had done something that no recent Chancellor had done and secured a full council assent for a foreign policy matter, and it had been exhausting. She had received information and had to act on it, and everyone had been consistently convinced or so believed that the Treaty had been so harmful to whatever interest group that they were serving that they ready to tear it up even without good cause. Yet they had still required hours of debate, discussion and nearly outright argument.

She had wanted to rest and consider, for a moment, before making fact what had been made law a few hours ago, though she knew that the Foreign Ministry would have just about finished informing all its ambassadors just about now, and she would have to inform the Assembly and the nation soon.

She read the last reports as they came in, and signed off on a thing or two here and there.

There was, however, one small matter to attend to before she faced the podium.



"Are you sure offering them what amounts to a unilateral guarantee of independence right after putting a fleet basically so close they could take observatory photos of it is the best idea?" Mikhail asked, quietly intruding into Alanna's pondering silence.

She hit send.

"The Rolvian's won't see this as an opportunity to do something stupid without consequence, and I haven't signed a treaty, I won't unless they ask for one. At the end of it all, they aren't going to start a war, but somebody will start one with them. You know they will sooner or later. And you know what? I'm not content to watch them die whilst we ferry around the survivors this time." She responded, daring Mikhail to contest her.

"Ever the optimist." He smiled back.

"And damnit Mikhail, stop remote accessing my station!"

----------

The Podium was for the Chancellor, the Deputy Chancellor, or the Speaker of the Assembly to address the entire hall. Normally, the Speaker held it during sessions, to hold order, deliver and address protocol, and all other matters such as that. When the Chancellor took it, as she did now, it was to make a statement, a speech, or to confirm that the Referenda had called for war.

It was thankfully, not the latter.

She wasn't quite sure it was good enough to be the second. It was a statement, and that was that. Half the Assembly already knew. Too many eyes and ears in the Foreign Ministry - but they hadn't told the Media - and the Media would tell everyone else in the Federation, perhaps beyond, if the Foreign Ministry didn't work fast enough.

"I stand before the Assembly to deliver a statement regarding a legally binding decision reached by the Federal Council regarding the Foreign Policy of the Federation of Nations at this current time."

Some of those not in the know groaned, some mumbled. This was usually boring formality.

"The Council has reached full assent on this subject, and as such, the Assembly must follow without contest, and may not call for legal challenge."

Nearly all of those not in the know now focused entirely on her. No Federal Council had ever made a decision in full assent in nearly thirty years.

"As of 15:00 Horizon Central Standard Time, The Federation of Nations, with all of its constituent member states, colony worlds and territories, officially and unilaterally withdraw from the Treaty of Madrigasa, commonly known as the Treaty of Detente."

Some gasps of shock - Silence from the Pacifist and aligned blocs, though a few were nodding - they knew the treaty was dying, and they'd soon have the rest of them in line. Good, she needed their support. Then the applause started, though it only lasted a few seconds - she had not left the podium.

"As your Chancellor, I receive information I must act upon in the best interests of us all, for the Federation and the community of nations it represents. As some of you may know, or come to know, the Treaty has come to lose meaning. It was only a matter of time before another would sound its coming end, and this has come to pass. As Chancellor, I listened to the talented people of the Federal Council, our advisors, our ministries and the brave, loyal guardians of our military. There was only one option - we had to withdraw, or we would not be able to protect our grand democracy and all it stands for from those who do not care for peace, for stability, for prosperity. These are three things I promised to uphold in my oath, and in my campaign for the highest office. I also championed fairness, and it most certainly would not be fair for me to limit our stalwart military to the obligations of a treaty no longer followed by those who could someday come to threaten us."

Applause. She let it continue, but she had not yet left, so it died back down.

"It is my vow that I will continue to stand for this Federation, as we all do. Let our clarion call for peace go out - but let us not be blind to the fact peace must often be, ironically, fought for. We will not stand aside as we once did, content to protect those most at risk but never acting truly in their defence when it matters. The Federation was born out of an ideal of peace for humanity, and by our hard work we have achieved it for many of us. Yet, we are not alone, is only humankind deserving of peace? A foolish question, most assuredly, so we must gird ourselves for action on the behalf of those who are not as fortunate as us, to prepare to protect all whom are requiring of it. That is what the Federation is for, and we shall carry that with us into the stars with dove or sword. Unum Liberum."

She stood back from the podium, the applause began again, and she began to walk back into the shadows, away from the Assembly. A voice entered her ear through her earpiece. Mikhail, as always.

"You wont get any more trouble from the rest of the industrialists, they know the Sanctuary Overhaul program is just the beginning - and uh, and i think you just won the Warhawks, I didn't think that was in the plan." He said. She didn't know where he was, but he was good at gauging these things, that's why she'd hired him, and he wasn't cheap.

"Next time I'll throw in a few terms from the old dialectic, might give me some peace from the Vegan faction then."

They both chuckled.

--=Federal Quarter, Couerlene, Horizon, Tau Ceti.
In the Federal Council Chambers.

The Federal Council Chambers were nowhere near as busy as they could, or should of been - but it wasn't necessary for everyone to attend to the minutiae of the day to day affairs of state, that was after all why the Assembly existed. It was why information was distilled into succinct reports for everyone that had an interest. For once, however, there was a minor impediment to the agenda not to mention news came from places of unwelcome developments, but you could only summon so many ministers and secretaries so fast.

It was, however, politics, so Alanna Descoix, although only six months into her term as Chancellor of the Federation of Nations, had endured prattling about inconsequential matters for no small time in a valiant effort to get to some measure of the point. She found some small comfort in the fact that the chairs were obviously made for comfort.

She refocused her thoughts, keeping her brilliant green eyes on the new exchange between her Political Advisor, Mikhail Kalinkov, and the Minister of Defence, Theodore Fox. Both were part of the new political breed that had begun to come to the fore before the Message, like Alanna herself, they were both younger than she, however - though that held a different weight in an age of advanced medical sciences that made life expectancy far beyond what had been thought possible.

"The Vegan Faction always pushes for an extra 3% to the Federal Subsidies for Health & Education, if they didn't we would have a real problem." Mikhail said, shrugging.

"And yet here we are having the same discussion we did about it the last time they tried to amend it to a arms appropriation bill, They didn't get it last time - we cut a deal there, but if they don't get it this time I'm not sure it'll pass the Assembly ready for Referenda." Theodore responded, turning to Alanna.

"They have the power to block our agenda domestically, though of course Foreign Policy lies purely in the remit of ourselves for the most part." He added, addressing her directly.

"You don't have to remind me, Theo, I've had to rely on the Vegan's and their associates for nearly every important social reform so far. It's only fair we return the favour. Treasury?" She asked, turning to the functionary that was present in place of the Treasury Minister who was currently on Earth.

"You'll have final figures on your desk by the end of the afternoon, Chancellor, but to put it plainly, it is doable, if we slow down current spending on the Fringe Worlds to a like for like increase this year, there shouldn't be any major impediments to any other current spending plans." The functionary responded.

"We can sell the increase in subsidies as a minor change to the Fringe, not much of anything there that's too difficult, politically speaking, or media wise." Mikhail interceded.

Alanna nodded. "Very well, I'll make a final decision on that when I can take a look at the figures. Please add any pertinent information for the worlds effected - if we slow down too severely on projected growth in the Fringe who knows where that could end."

"Of course, Chancellor." The treasury functionary said, making notes on her holographic pad.

"Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, Anything Else?" Alanna asked, spreading her hands to the assorted functionaries, secretaries and ministers. Her focus turned to the Foreign Minister, Reinhard Adler, he was part of the old guard - but she had found him adaptable and importantly enough, adept at his work. This was even more important than ever, given the current galactic climate.

"Chancellor, firstly, we have received a communique from the Rolvian's, which has been transferred to your office as per protocol and is awaiting your personal response. In other matters, all reports from Intelligence and Diplomatic sources indicate that the Imperial Systems Commonwealth's parliament will vote to abrogate the Treaty of Detente. If they have not already done so." Reinhard said, matter of factly.

Alanna raised an eyebrow as Theodore spoke.

"It was to be expected. Half the galaxy doesn't pay attention to the spirit of it these days, let alone the letter." He said, leaving out the obvious that the Federation was complicit in being very carefully defiant of their obligations to that particular treaty. Though they had hardly been the first and definitely not the last.

"That is an.. accurate description, more or less. It may be that some powers react... poorly to no longer being constrained, though there is no immediate and direct threat to the Federation's borders as of this moment." Reinhard said, nodding as Theodore stated a simple "Agreed".

"It is of course incredibly likely that other powers will withdraw from the treaty completely and with haste." Reinhard continued. "I cannot say with certainty that any of them will view withdrawal as tantamount to a declaration of war, but I do not doubt that some will view it that way. However, Madam Chancellor, we do require a forthright and appropriate response." He finished.

Alanna waited for a moment, then spoke. "The Treaty has arguably kept meaningful peace reigning this long, but we all knew it would be fleeting. We all know the Federation agreed to it out of necessity, and I do agree it was necessary. Reinhard, once we have confirmation, please issue a.. restrained but appropriate diplomatic protest to unilateral abrogation of treaty obligations, for protocols sake. I doubt they'll even pay any notice to it, but of course have it mention that we will have to take action in accordance."

"You intend to withdraw from the Treaty?" Reinhard asked, though not in a way which indicated any form of shock, simply confirmation.

Alanna nodded. "It is a matter of foreign policy and it lies within the Councils remit to withdraw. We need not take it to the people. While I appreciate the irony given the Commonwealth's likely parliament vote, Given the scope of the treaty itself however I will submit it to Council Vote. Please issue a full and essential summons for that purpose, Mikhail, I trust you to see to that matter. However, only do so once you have confirmation from the Foreign Ministry of what the Commonwealth has done."

A nod from Mikhail was enough, and Reinhard nodded that he would of course make privy information as it was confirmed.

"Very well. Unless there is anything else, I believe I have some matters of my own to attend to. Ladies and Gentleman, The Council is dismissed."

----------
Office of the Chancellor.

The Office of the Chancellor was functional - in its own tower a small distance away from the main Assembly building, its offices served the Chancellor foremost amongst all things - and it needed not be an opulent place. The Office of the Chancellor itself changed from occupant to occupant, who brought their own things to make their mark and took their own things away again, in a even more literal handing over of the office.

So far, she had kept it simple. The only thing of any real value was the oak desk that she had paid more than enough for - not because Oak was rare in a traditional sense, it just never seemed to grow anywhere but Earth, which gave it a rarity of its own. It was not particularly old - having had many of the modern technological computational devices built into it that she needed in this office. She seated herself, her chair too was her own, having been brought from her study back on Terra Nova. Taking a moment, she spent a few seconds making sure her long red hair was still in place, and opened up state matters once more. The Rolvian Message took priority.



She took it in, and began to compose her response.



----------



--=FRCHS Hermione, Hospital Ship, Agdemnar System

The Hermione was the only official presence the Federation of Nations possessed in the Agdemnar System. It was notable in the sense that it was an "official" presence, unlike most. The Federation had not really reacted, or so it had seemed, to the Message. At the outbreak of "hostilities" in Agdemnar not long after, the Federation of Nations had very publicly and loudly stated its intent to provide humanitarian aid as per its want and remit, and had done just that, sent a hospital ship. Everyone likely thought it was a front for something else, but it submitted to infrequent "inspections" and now was mostly ignored by everyone unless they happened to have need of the re-purposed luxury liner's extensive and rather, actually, quite good medical facilities. Its Crew largely thought it was a miracle no-one had decided to just blow it up first, whilst a few thought that had even been the intent - to provide an official reason to place a military presence in the system.

That wasn't particularly true, but the loud noisy arrival of the ship - and its subsequent resupplies - had provided cover for a number of Pharos programme stealth ships to enter the system. For now they had watched, just in case. Whilst the Hermione was well shielded, it was largely defenceless. For the time being, at least, anyone who did make an attack run on the Hermione was likely in for a nasty surprise.

The Federation could afford to be patient for now. To Watch. Why waste lives when you can learn from the mistakes of others?

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