Grand Admiral Valken looked around in shock. Ghosts were appearing around him. That feeling of helplessness was around him. Dominic Valken had never seen these phantoms and clearly Senator Izgimmer wasn't seeing them. But he could tell who they were. Freespacers and Jiyuuians. Men, women, and children started gathering in their hundreds around him, staring.
Valken looked around, saw things were still progressing, confirmed he wasn't ill and then watched them watching him. They wanted something. What they wanted, he could not say. Dominic stopped himself. No, he wasn't supposed to say it. His duty was military and security. Not morality and the justifications behind Nepleslia's position. Those areas belonged to the Senator and Charlie.
But damn it, they didn't have ghosts haunting them! Dominic Valken was a soldier, not a politician. He didn't encourage speaking, he wouldn't have said anything here. Charlie could do it all for him until the damn Ketsurui got off its high horse and lifted this gag shield. Funny how it somehow didn't affect the cat people when they were in the same gallery.
He pulled out a datajockey and recorded. This is why the Ketsuruis are the worst thing to happen to Yamatai... Valken sighed. Dominic spoke for the first time, quietly and with restraint. But there was bitterness in his voice.
"You say that, Premier. But unless we can verify that, it's merely words. For all we know, you are programmed to give that response when the truth is a completely different answer. We can see how our brains work, Geshrin, ID-SOL, Fyunnen, Kohanian, even the Vordachibeans. Nekovalkyrja deny anyone access into how their brains work and how their Operating System, that is, I believe, still the current phrase, functions. From a security perspective, you will never earn that trust because we will never know what really is going on inside your head. All of those things I just listed, they are all flesh, perhaps changed by robotics or synthetics or artificial genetics. A Nekovalkyrja is a robot clad in flesh. One that will not tell us how it works and one that will not let anyone whose name is not Ketsurui control the Empire. That in the underlying difference in our views. But it isn't the most important."
"Do you remember the Species Restriction Order? I believe your Army issued another such order a while back. I was interested to hear that there was a quiet mass of resignations and the deactivation of your 12th Standard Fleet as a result. It confirms something for me. That your Empire is built on a lie. That lie, Premier, is that you believe in equality. Are the Nepleslians in Yamatai allowed to rise to the highest levels of government? You may say yes but I do not see that. After all, when was the last non-Ketsurui monarch? Why, if equality is your core principle, is your military imposing arbitrary restrictions on its soldiers? I know you people. Your body type is like clothing, what you wear is who you are. Yet that fundamental right to choose your own body is now regulated by the military. You say you are democratic but serving military officers are in the Senate. The Elysians are prevented from regaining their independence. If the Kodians, Phods or Separans asked for independence, would you let them go if they said they were going to join the ASE or the Lorath Matriarchy? If it is convenient for you, will you revoke Nepleslian independence like you did to the UOC? Where were your vaunted fleets? Sitting back and waiting for the NMX to win. You could have deployed immediately but you didn't. I was there. It took my decrepit mothball force days to reach Tange after crossing your Empire. It could have taken any of your fleets a fraction of that time to be at Jiyuu. You could have saved the UOC but you let them die."
"Nepleslia gives voice to the voiceless, Premier, and we guard that voice by the strength of our military. We view each opinion with equal measure, though we may condescend upon the speaker. If you ask, right now, I can tell this entire delegation about what Jiyuuians in Nepleslia think. I can tell you all why the IWL is so fervent about its cause. All of them have had their voices silenced by the Star Army and so the only way for us to hear them is violence. I have done nothing yet I cannot speak. The Senator voices what our citizens feel but you silence him. You wrongly bombed the Freespacers, killed millions of them, and what did they get when you realized you were wrong? An apology. Nothing to actually symbolize or show you felt regret. Just words. We gave the Jiyuuians a voice, representation in the Nepleslian Senate. A planet to call their own and maintain their way of life. Your Empire annexed them to become part of something they didn't want to be in, regardless of their opinion. We have pledged to defend every Freespacer and our warships actively patrol their systems with their agreement. Nekovalkyrja are the symbol of the Empire. Your Empress is one. As a result, they are the symbol of what kills off the weaker, dissenting voices. The IWL is a monster of your own creation, one with very justifiable grievances but do you invite them here to speak and change relations? Do you invite the Free State? No. And you know, my own Chief of Staff says that what I just said is Neko-pandering. She says I still hope to see Yamatai live up to its ideals rather than hide behind them. When was the last time your Empire didn't strip someone of its voice but instead amplified it?"
Dominic Valken sent the message to Charlie, as he stared at Yuumi. Years of bitterness rolled off him, lifting his shoulders.
Coast received it, glanced through the text, and got everyone's attention. "This is from Grand Admiral Dominic Valken, who leads the 4th Fleet and led it during the NMX War. For those of you who don't know, he was a former Star Army soldier who left to join an independent Nepleslia. Since he is currently muted by our host, through no fault of his own, I think you might like to hear his perspective after having been on both sides."
He had watched the Freespacer Genocide with horror, ashamed at his powerlessness. He had watched helplessly as the UOC collapsed while he could only put together a scratch force that would arrive too late to save even a tenth of Tange's population. Dominic Valken had watched his daily mail acquire messages from the Jiyuuian survivors. Not electronic mail but handwritten notes or letters, many tear-stained. He had kept each one in a special drawer in his office on Nepelslia Prime. Some of them damned him for not arriving earlier. Some of them thanked him. Some of them simply had imprecise words or sentences that had no meaning. Dominic Valken knew that every man and woman who had been on the Tange operation had received things like that over the years. Something to acknowledge their role. But it didn't help the ghosts. No matter how hard he tried to reconnect broken families, no matter how much IPG resources he threw at the problem, he couldn't heal the deep, soul-rending destruction in the hearts of the Jiyuuians.
This time. This time the ghosts of the dead would be heard. That Yamatai would have to practice what it preached or it would finally feel the wrath of millions of souls extinguished by the Star Army's actions or inactions. And Nepleslia would be the avatar of that wrath. Valken was finally in a position of power, in a place of power and the dead would be heard. He looked hard at Yuumi, demanding she answer the voiceless dead. Dominic Valken tried hard not to look at them.
