Same Cats, More Juggling, part 3

Posted on Mon Sep 27th, 2010 @ 10:19am by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Lieutenant Commander Delon Tovan & Lieutenant JG Erin Tal & Lieutenant JG Nava
Edited on on Mon Sep 27th, 2010 @ 10:23am

1,156 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It
Location: Council Chamber, New Paris, Turkana IV
Timeline: Current

ON

[OLD]

The Grand Marshal got a look out of the corner of Xon's eye with that one. His reputation always preceded him. Before continuing he steepled his fingers and darkly looked at all present. Things were obviously weighing heavily on his mind regarding these conferences.
"However I am remiss to declare these conferences as anything other than a break in hostilities at the moment. The only difference between these conferences and ones that have preceded them are that no Coalition special forces or Alliance assassins have made their presence felt, at least not yet.

[NEW]

The fundamental difference between the Alliance, the Coalition and the Union is the perceived nature of this struggle. The elder two factions have always viewed the ongoing conflict as one of power and control. Their ideology demands the utter destruction or subjugation of all other ideological and political systems besides theirs.

The Union however has always viewed this conflict as one of progression. Our end objective is not to seize total and undeniable power and control, but to give our fellow citizens a stable and meaningful peace along with prosperity. Our policy has never been one of conquest or subversion but of choice. The districts that have opted to join ours have done so out of choice, and if they are ever dissatisfied with our ideology or methods of operation they are always free to disassociate with The Union somehow.

In fact we guarantee every individual that declares themselves a member of The Union a right of free passage to other factions if they so desire it. Our first and foremost directive is that the actions of The Union mus never unduly infringe on the individuals' right to choose, whether it be a spiritual, material, or ideological choice.

Therein lies the crux and the fundamental unspoken issue on this planet, the right to individual choice, for while The Union has been adamant about giving individuals the right to choose, this is not the case with the other two parties, at least not entirely. There has been repeated documentation of what happens to so called 'traitors' in the Coalition. If they're fortunate they face execution by firing squads followed by being unceremoniously disposed of. Nobody exactly knows what happens to the ones that are not murdered for wanting a different life away from a particular regime.
Less clear is the response of the Alliance, but rumors do abound that everything from revenge assassination after a long layoff period to the systematic incarceration without warrant or trial of families of those who have left the Alliacnce abound, and if any one of those rumors is true even to the slightest degree then it is a travesty on par with the overt ones of other factions as well as independent groups.

What I am suggesting is this: To secure peace and prosperity on this shattered and broken planet there needs to be a fundamental shift in thinking from the Alliance and the Coalition. To continue hostilities on old pretenses continually steers us all onto a course with destruction, a course that is both easily avoidable in practice and terrible in consequence when ignored. As the duly appointed Prime Minister of the Union, I have always and will continue to extend open arms to you Grand Marshal Teenan and you Lumiya Onasi in the name of peace and healing, but not under the old pretenses of power and control but of reconciliation and reconstruction."

Nava spoke up, she had forgone her Star Fleet uniform to make her less of a presence "May I suggest that you look at a council of sorts. With and checks and balances in place by a group of people that have little vested interest in the situation." Nava was quiet for a moment "How much of these differences are caused by the mercenaries that frequent this planet?" She asked looking at each of the members sitting at the table.

Lumiya turned in her chair shifting her attention away from everyone else at the table and focusing solely on Xon. "You speak about the rights of individuals and freedom of choices yet your actions speak louder than your words. You invited the Federation into our homes without once speaking to me and judging by the reaction from the Grand Marshal you haven't even spoke to him about it."

"I wonder where our voices in that instance were. You cite examples of how both Alliance and Coalition treat their citizen taking their right to choose yet in the end you have done that same thing here. You didn't let US choose if we wanted the Federation here, you simply forced it upon us. The philosophy you preach is a wonderful one and I hope that one day we can come to an agreement where the citizens of the planet have that right anywhere they go, but if you preach it at least make sure you follow it."

Lumiya took her eyes off Xon and looked around the table. "What Xon says it's true, a lot of the blame for this conflict falls upon the Alliance and Coalition however the Union is not as perfect as it's made out to be here by Xon. They are not without their own issues and faults. I am beginning to question the motives behind these talks if they are truly for the good of the planet or are they simply for the good of the Union." As she finished, she simply leaned back in the chair and looked around the table.

Teenan nodded at Lumiya's words as his own thoughts echoed them. "Agreed. It seems to me that Xon is only attempting to appeal to the Federation with these talks. A Federation who already abandoned our planet once at the first signs of instability, I might add." He looked to the Starfleet diplomat. He had no intention of fielding her questions.

He turned to look at Xon "You are all too quick to point out our flaws and paint us as monsters. I wonder how you would go about appealing to mine and Lumiya's reasonableness with this sort of pretext. I don't see how your approach to this could be anything but self defeating unless convincing the Coalition and Alliance to join the Union isn't your goal at all here."

Teenan shook his head. "For everthing that has happened in the past between the Coallition and Alliance, I trust Lumiya far more than I trust you Xon. Nothing about the Union sits well with me and certainly nothing about these proceedings."


(To be continuyed...)


OFF

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Lt Jg Nava
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Major Damon Raine
Marine CO

Lieutenant JG Erin Tal
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Dalon Tovan
Chief Operations Officer

Xon (NPCd by Kaj)
Union Leader

Lumiya Onasi (NPCd by Alen)
Alliance Leader

Grand Marshal Teenan Varik (NPCd by Cole)
Coalition Leader

Gloriana Vak (NPCd by Sam)
Assistant to the Planetary Government

 

RSS Feed