Strangelove
Inactive Member
Without any ceremony or forewarning, the rebuilt Lighthouse is used to send out a powerful burst transmission that floods virtual networks at ranges nearing a hundred lightyears from the origin. It is followed by several more on different frequencies to elude jamming attempts, before the transmitter finally burns out. The message appears the same each time...
Beginning playback...
A masked figure appears. The figure wears a dark coat and an aerospace piloting helmet that exudes a hiss every time he takes a breath. He is currently sitting at a desk with a metallic surface. When he begins speaking, his voice is slightly grainy, probably as a result of having passed through the helmet's external speakers.
"I am Prince Hassan of the Wired Rovers. This is a call to arms to those who would volunteers, and a warning to those who would not. We must stop the Yamataian Star Empire. Those of you who know about the Empire know exactly why, which speaks magnitudes of its infamy." The Prince puts a gloved index finger to his chin. "For those of you who have been fortunate enough not to yet encounter it, allow me to elaborate.
“Are any of you familiar with Halna?” The Prince paused for effect, “No? It’s the largest pirate port in known space.”
The feed cuts to a feed over a bustling Halna.
“Or at least it was.”
The feed changes to a dark planet pocketed by blast craters.
The voiceover continued, “A few years ago a splinter faction of our species, called the Guild, was engaged in a campaign to remove crime syndicates from the world. The Yamataian Empire claimed this was in violation of their sovereignty. So in order to ‘save’ the population from our ‘invasion,’ they bombed the planet -- along with its population. Their claims to sovereignty were, after all, far more important than either cleaning up this crime hub or even being bothered to use ground troops to prevent wholesale slaughter of noncombatants.”
The feed then began changing from one planet to another, showing the before and after of three more worlds.
“Of course, Halna was hardly the only planet. The Yamataian Empire bombed every single planetside settlement of our race within known space. On these planets resided not just any civilian population, but what was at the time a pacifist civilian population. Not to mention the thousands of ships lacking weapons, shields, or even basic FTL propulsion. I guess they were too much effort to board, since the Imperial fleet simply cut them down on sight.”
The feed now changes to one of Yui at some kind of military ceremony being greeted by cheers.
“Although genocide is perhaps the worst possible crime any species can commit, I have not yet reached the worst part of the whole debacle. The war criminals responsible for these remain in their leadership positions,” The Prince raised his voice here, “since genocide is apparently not considered a war crime by the standards of the Nekovalkyrja.”
The feed cuts back to the masked Prince.
“Of course, this could just be the evil propaganda of a big bad terrorist organization,” he shrugged noncommittally, “so feel free to look it up yourself. Check the archives of Nepleslian news organizations. Or run a query on the Freespacer Mainframes. See the Lorath libraries."
There is an intensity rising in his voice as he continues.
"You can even come down yourself, in person, and view the aether-scarred surfaces of the planets. See the memorial sites and tombs! Stroll among the unknown graves of those whose bodies were too horribly maimed for identification. Come see the mass children graves where hundreds are buried together!”
The Prince slams down a fist on the table. Realizing what he has done, he takes a moment to recompose himself.
“But back to the genocide. The wholesale killing stopped, not because Yamatai grew a heart (hah!) but because of the public outcry from every member of the international community was so powerful. And for that, we owe them our lives.”
The feed cuts to old news reports about the SMX.
“Of course, mass killing gets boring after a while, particularly since pacifists can’t shoot back. So what did the Empire do? Why, invent another bioweapon of equal power that it could fight! Don’t worry about missing out: they’re sharing the fun of wholesale slaughter and combat with everyone! Yes, my fellow sentient intelligences, the Imperial bioweapon is now on a campaign of systematic conquest and murder of the entire known galaxy! Although most unfortunate, not entirely unexpected given they are the proverbial cousins of the Nekovalkyrja.”
The feed once again cuts back to the Prince.
“Now you may be asking yourself, Prince Hassan, you handsome daredevil, what do you intend to do about these injustices? Well, dismantling the aristocratic oligarchy in the Empire would be a fantastic start, as would eliminating their resurrection backups. We also intend to prevent any future production of the Nekovalkyrja save for rates more in line with that of natural species that are much more stable. "
"We also intend to establish a proper democracy -- by that I mean a democracy in which dissenters have a voice and are not drowned out by the shrill anthem-spewing, indoctrinated-from-birth Nekovalkyrja masses."
"In the mean time we mean to cease any further annexation of worlds along the northern border. While under no official sovereignty they do have small populations of various miners and settlers. We will fight to keep them free, with they in turn voluntarily aiding us. We call our little party the Independent Worlds League."
The Prince clasps his hands and leans forward. There is a hint of excitement in his voice that can just barely be made out through his helmet speaker.
"What say you, brothers and sisters? Who's ready to deliver a righteous ass-kicking to the powers-that-be?"
The feed grows black for a moment, then is following by a scrolling list of virtual addresses for single-use dropboxes requesting contact information for volunteers.
