Intervention on T301
Dateline 3213.322 T301 Quadrant 1
Starship Marines from the Central Fleet of the Federated Worlds of the Outer Quadrants have landed on T301 in support of the Independent Freedom Alliance and Admiral Xen of the FWOQ has instructed the forces of the Blue Hat Colony to withdraw to their own territory “..or face the conequences”. The burn flares of the fleet’s two interstellar battleships have been seen in the upper atmosphere – a sight that would normally be impressive, were it not for the implication of imminent orbital bombardment.
The Blue Hat commander, Marshall Kutuoff, has ordered his troops to dig in, and has apparently co-located most of his military resources in heavily populated former-IDA cities. If it comes to bombardment, the Blue Hatters will find it hard to move their troops and supplies out of the cities, or to re-inforce.
The Colonial Government of Blue Hat Colony would not make a statement beyond stating that “Negotiations are ongoing”.
Reports are coming in however, of the departure of Venerian Ist Defence Fleet from is bases in the Holm system. Officially it is on a routine patrol of Venerian worlds in the quadrant.
‘Unique Find’ Destroyed
Dateline Mystery Q0 3213.355
IFF scientists are reported as being ‘incandescent’ over the destruction of an asteroid in the former Forerunner system of Mystery. Following reports of a still functioning ancient space traffic control system, called Majordomo, the Martian Second Strategic Fleet launched a surprise assault on the asteroid, forcibly evacuating the archeologists, and vapourising the asteroid with multiple nuclear strikes.
Professor Stone, the field director at Mystery said “..this is incredible. We uncovered one of the most significant pieces of functioning forerunner equipment we have ever found. This could have given us an insight into Forerunner space traffic during the period when this system was inhabited and the centre of an ancient interstellar civilisation. We were hoping to at least find out something about the ancient giant space factories and even possibly what happened to the Forerunners to bring their civilisation to an end tens of thousands of years ago. And what happens… the bloody paranoid Martians blow it up. This is a crime against science, a crime against rationality and a crime against humanity”.
The commander of 2nd Strategic Fleet, Thai-sho Zapata, said to INN “..our analysts determined that this was more than just a simple bright slave computer, but was, in fact a sentient artificial intelligence. Such things are in contravention of Martian and Centauri Law and contravene the internationally agreed Stickney Treaty. Under the provisions of that treaty, the SAID threat was eliminated. We are sorry if this has limited the research options of the archeology teams, but this was a matter more important than mere scientific curiosity.”
The Sirian Government has officially protested to the Martian Ambassador about the unilateral action, complaining that this breached the agreement not to take unilateral action at Mystery, and calling for Thai-sho Zapata to be court-martialed.
Sirian Landing Thwarted
Dateline Z10 Q7 3213.327
Assault troops from the Sirian Socialist Republic attempted to arrest suspected pirates at settlements on the disputed colony of Z10. Forces from the New Republic intervened, and although the Sirians managed to maintain troops on the ground for several days, they were forced to withdraw because they were unable to maintain complete control of low orbit around the system in the face of constant harrassing attacks by Republican Pacifiers and interstellar Heavy Cruisers..
The addition of planetary assault troops to the Sirian presence in-system represented an escalation of the action – which culminated in several pacifier dogfights with heavy losses on both sides.
The Sirians seem unable to take the sort of military control over the system that they, perhaps, hoped for faced by determined resistance both on the ground and in orbit.
Political observers suggest that this conflict might very well escalate, as the Sirian fleet forces in the quadrant as a whole are significantly weaker than the New Republican navy. With the New Republic seeking to establish itself as a polity not to be trifled with, there is some concern that the fighting sparked at Z10 might very well spread. Certainly, there has been a marked increase in the number of meetings at the Ministry of Defence on Sirius, Q0, in recent days.
Colonial Referenda and Memberships – from our colonial correspondent
The following colonial worlds are planning referenda: Z10
Referenda have been held on the following worlds:
World
date
Result – voted to apply to join:
Joice Q6 T115 Earth Empire
