Unraveling the Lies

[Tom]

An emergency notification came to each senator. They were to go to their personal communications device or the nearest secure Nepleslian communications station and enter their information. After logging on, they would use the highest degree of IPG encryption available to the empire, reserved for discussions of the utmost national importance.

Davis awaited at his own terminal aboard the NSS Mirage. He appeared as a small holographic image as his text flowed across the screen.

"Gentlemen, I hope you've had a good rest because I cannot believe what I'm seeing here. Here we will discuss our next course of action. Begin."

 

[SUBLIMEinal]

For the first time in many, many years, Ioannes Calero could conjure only one word for a reaction over the IPGnet server.

Fuck.

 

[MoonMan]

Edward Vanderhuge was accessing the meeting from his personal computer aboard his private vessel, originally en-route to Nepleslia for the completion of the Nepleslia/Yamatai treaty revisions.

This is insane. I don't know what this Melisson is trying to do, but unless she can prove some of this, I'm not fully buying it. Tell Flint to keep his guns trained on them.

The room was dark, and Roy's deep slumber was interrupted by the still alien feeling of a space next to his bed, as well as the shrill beeps of his personal communication device on his bedstand. With a raised eyebrow, he opened the attachment that came with this recent notice, and the brightness of his communication device and the revelations being made through the attachment proved to keep the senator awake the whole night.

Grabbing a glass of his strongest Scotch, the Senator placed the communications device in front of his bed stand and sat before it on an easy chair, sipping the alcohol. This is how he'd appear before the senate, a glorious monument to having no class.

"These are some very heavy accusations made against our annoying neighbors across the galaxy. Should this be proven true, I see no reason not to drop the hammer on their elitist fucking heads."

Patrino was fast asleep at home when the message came to him. The Senator went to his terminal and logged on. He silently began watching the feed. Though, when he reached the part on the information on the origin of the PNUgen plauge, he almost went into a deathly coughing fit. When he recovered a sickly, yet maddened senator tacked away a message:

This is an OUTRAGE. How DARE they goad us into an alliance by twisting our past! I will not blindly fall into this school bus of lies!"

Davis brought up a hand to calm down the senators.

Calm down, senators. This Melisson makes some very large claims, some of which disgust me tremendously, but we must enter this discussion with calmer minds if we are to avoid a disaster. What we have here is a Misshu-allied woman claiming that the plague was caused by the Yamataians. I have little reason to believe her now, but the fact that she is not attacking us now, as we are used to with the SMX, gives some credibility to her at least being diplomatic. Could this be an effort to manipulate us?

Of course it is! Why else would they use our past against us!? Why would she sugarcoat her offers, and label them as the 'underdog' in all of this? To try see if they can get us to sympathize and relate with them! We will not bring our self into some basket war with the foolishness of a goat!"

I’ll withhold my opinion until I hear how she intends to prove all this, let alone explain why we would trust her with any of the claims or bargains she’s given us.

The claims are large, but are they really that hard to believe? The fascist Uesu has shown his willingness to commit horrors for power before, and his SAINT are just the ones to pull something like the Elysian fiasco. While the Mishhu aren't what any sane man would call "friendly", neither are the Yamataians.

Let's assume that this is not a lie. We'd be foolish to ignore the numerous people that died in the wake of that tragedy."

My friends, if we were led into this web of lies 22 years ago, to be hopelessly entangled, then our relations with Yamatai would... sour to say the least. But if Melisson is lying, we have her to target our aggression on. Either way, it seems like troubling times will be ahead.

I demand we demand we search Yamataian demands of the information on the plauge! If they've nothing to hide, then will have no problem allowing us to search an archives of information they have the event.

Patrino, you believe the fascists will turn over information such as that? And risk their very empire crumbling around them? I think not.

Information that could have easily been manipulated to prove no fault. SAINT is skilled at erasing truths and creating other truths.

Then send the IPG on them, anything! We must spoon this information out of them!

Do we not have our own investigative branch? Perhaps they will do well in unraveling the web of lies that SAINT weaves.

SAINT creating a truth? Even that old psychopath is Veles is more able to do that than them.

"Then go to the Elysians, ask them to pull up information they had on the virus! We will see what 'they' can offer us then."

You forget that we're in the midst of an alliance with them! The files are being sent to your electronic addresses as I speak!

That Alliance is NOT APPROVED on our end of it! Our pens have not met their paper!

Say we're looking into it. That's all they should need. This meeting shouldn't take long. I don't have high expectations.

"Seek to change the wording even more, in the spirit of trying to eliminate the formations of loopholes in it? Any small reason is still a reason."

The fact that we haven't shot the Mishhu from the sky yet is more than enough reason for them to assume they've told us something. Even if what the Mishhu says is a lie, the Yamataians will be wary of us, and they will come eventually.

"I agree with Roachmere's motion to ask the Elysians for their information. I will see what we can obtain from them. But as for Melisson, are we to grant her an audience?

Ed Vanderhuge says yes.

"Roy Garza wishes for Ed Vanderhuge to not refer to himself in the 3rd like some product of incest. But I agree."

"Enough of this inbred silliness! We investigate the Elysians, and then we jump down Yamatai's throat like a marine on shore leave!

"Then it shall be done. Prepare for immediate departure to meet the Misshu representative. MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR CEREBRAL CHIP BACKUPS. We cannot afford a total, permanent loss of the senate due to a miscalculation. As for me, I must attend remotely, due to the fact that 5th XF airspace is currently a warzone. My apologies, senators."

"I believe I shall catch the rest of my rest, hoping that this jest of a meeting that I detest will be assessed when we meet the woman who started this pitiful fest."

"Fair enough. I've got to tend to my concubines, anyway."

I'm going to go kick an orphan.

Ed Vanderhuge needs a drink.

"Then I call this meeting of the senate to a close. May our strength guide us through these difficult times.

 

[Tom]

Please send me a message when the meeting starts. I must continue my negotiations with the 5th XF. By the will of the Nepleslian people, we shall succeed.

-Robert Davis