Discovery Gaming Community

Transmission from the persephone

"i am sorry, that i can t attend to that council personally at that time, as i had to go into hiding from troublemakers. As a matter of fact, i had some contact with the [ZR] who call themselves Zoner Republic. the PAX, their flagship appears to be stationed at freeport 11, another reason i took the persephone into the palau ice clouds, as the presence of two of our battleships would jsut drawn unwanted attention to the system.

sadly though, even their flagship is not properly tagged ( police tag / zoner ID ). from what i hear, they have the ambition to give the zoners more weight in the incidents affecting sirius.
In the end that means, they want to promote a more militaristic and aggressive behaviour. i believe that they think that the zoners deserve more than just our stations. they want the zoners to be within the top of the factions and not a petty sanctuary for all the scum of the universe that can t find a home elsewhere.

allthough their manifest sounds like they want to wage war and to mess with our fragile political construct, they have acted surprisingly tame. - well in contrast of *cough* some others that wish for a more aggressive zoner attitude.

i do believe they are small in numbers so won t affect the zoners at large, but should be informed to join the council, too - as they appear to be determined to live the way of the zoners.

now, that brings us to the other important matter - the [asgard warriors].

i allready made my point saying that any affiliation is only about the here and now. we shall not care what happened in the past, nither the good, nor the bad. - that means , however close the AW were to the zoners in the past, - if they drift too far away from what the council may concider to be what a zoner shall be, they shall not be considered "close to zoners" anymore or protectors of zoners.

in order to make such a decission, we shall look into what we see today.

i will define what i consider MY way of zoners, and its everyones right to have a different point of view. I think that the base of being a zoner is to be neutral. we are not inactive - and passive, no way. but we will try to achive our neutrality by bribes, by blackmail, by playing out factions against each other. you can t call us peaceloving, as we d have a difficult stand when the outcasts and corsairs decided to make peace.

our construct of neutrality is very fragile. corsairs only accept us, they don t like us much. we deny them our biodomes and sell them what they need to survive. in the past years they become more and more independent as a result of their artifacts trade, but still we have some sort of control over them. they dislike us cause we deny them a station in theta and the bounty hunters, who pay us a lot, use our freeports as outposts. - but no matter how they dislike us, they respect our way and they leave us alone.

as for the outcasts, they rather ignore us. they do their petty trade of cardamine mostly by themselves or by so called lawful traders. the outcasts use our bases for refugee and repair cause we do not deny anyone but terrorists and nomads our services.
our best way to ensure that balance of things is to make sure that both factions are focussed on themselves.

we may not take sides, cause taking sides puts us into the focus, too. what are we, without our neutrality, i ask you. we will be traders in the most hostile enviroment. our great vision of zoner bases all over sirius, open for everyone will be in danger if we have to fear for our lives. only by being neutral to all the factions, we can maintain our great vision.

What troubles me is that the AW has taken sides. and not only that. they deny people access to freeport 9. what is a freeport if not everyone can dock there. as long as those that wish to dock leave the zoners alone, they shall never be denied the docking.

now, the asgard warriors call themselves "protectors of zoners". but what protection is there when they are taking sides, disturbing the political net that was spun over the years? as a neutral group, we would not need protection from anyone but from madmen or mindless creatures.
its quite easy to show you the result of the protection. i am sure that there is more fighting in theta than in any other system that inhabits a zoner freeport. tau-37, omega-49, omicron-delta, even omega-41 and other systems see a lot less need for protection. but how comes that theta has become such a dangerous place? are the aw cause of the problems, or are they just defending, that means reacting to hostilities. - have their politics of taking sides maybe caused the problems? or have the problems been there before and forced the AW into taking sides.

whatever the answer is - like i said in the beginning of that statement, it is about the now and here. today, we see the AW far away from what we define "zoner". they are anything but neutral and they carry out their arguments more on the battlefield than at the negotiating table.

shall the AW have a voting right in the council? yes, as their affairs affect the zoners directly, but are they zoners? no, close to zoners? no, have a past that is close to zoners? yes, but thats the past.... .

i d like them to make a public statement that what they do is not in the interest of all zoners. i have seen comments saying that we zoners are only lazy bums hiding behind our neutrality. people pay us no respect for our attitude - but i believe that how the AW is acting is detrimental to our reputation.

right now, i see the jupiter guild a lot closer to the interest of zoners than the aw. but i ll leave it to the council to discuss it. this is a democracy - and everyone shall have a vote and we will accept it.

thats it from the persephone right now"

end of the transmission...

Isaac listens to the long transmission from the Persephone in silence. When the transmission ends, he blinks and scratches his head. "That sounds like an abstain?" he says, slightly confused.

additional transmission...

"i knew i should have put it into easier words. so here is the vote:

voting rights for AW as full members: yes ( as i said i would vote yes, cause i voted yes for JG, too )
call themselves zoners or protectors of zoners: no

however i wish that they would become protectors of zoners, it would include to keep up whats the most important thing to zoners - neutrality. if they find their way back to this - they may again be fully protectors of zoners.

thats the easy version of it all - next time i ll just send a yes or no.

jinx out"

end of the transmission - for that night

Thank you for delving into that, Brother Chairman.

I do not have an issue with AW's voting rights; especially as this matter concerns their future as Zoners.

That is not a subject of the present motion. Jupiter Guild's voting rights will be addressed most quickly, I hope.

And, thank you Captain Jinx, for that very thoughtful analysis of the "here and now". Spot on.

Aurelia had trouble keeping a grin from her face. "Thank you Jack." She failed at keeping control of her face when hearing the others of the council began to speak. She stood, making sure she had the council's attention before she began.

"Despite my opinion that this council is, and has always been, a futile organization, I assume that I still need to explain a few things to the few here that are not working. Of course, our king Malaclypse here, seems to be rather smug about it all. Especially since.." She held her hand out behind her where Jack handed her an envelope. "He has already decided the ending to this."

At that she tossed the contents of the envelope onto the table.

"Whether or not this council's decision, we will continue to protect those whom we have for the last few years, the ones who have seen this situation from its start, and the ones that we effect here and now. We will continue to protect Omicron Theta, as well as Omicron-74, and keep those who attack it from entering its vicinity, as we have done with the BSG. We will acknowledge the opinions of those we actually care about, the Zoners in our respective area, not this facade of a council made to feed an ego that I daresay is greater than my son's, or his father's before him."

At that she turned and walked out of the room, Jack following her. Leaving only the opened envelope lying on the table.

Leroy Fenning entered and sat down quietly just as the transmission from Persephone began. He nodded. The c urrent motion was not a surprise... but it had come sooner than he had expected.

After the others had finished, he stood.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the council: the Asgard Warriors have a long history deeply intertwined with both our people and our organization. They have bravely protected our interests many times, and we cannot afford to forget that. At the same time, many of their actions, especially recently, have become very dangerous politically.

"We cannot afford to give the Outcasts, the Corsairs, or any other organization reason to believe that the Asgard Warriors represent the Zoners in the political arena. This is the crucial issue. The Zoner organization must remain neutral, regardless of the affiliations and interests of the people who look to it for protection. And it seems that the Asgard Warriors have developed enough of their own allies and enemies that the Zoner organization needs to distance itself from them somewhat.

"At the same time, we welcome their protection of Zoner interests in the region of Omicron Theta. Frankly, we need it. But I believe that their relationship to the Zoner organization must become more distant... and now, I'm repeating ground that Persephone has already covered.

"My vote is that the Asgard Warriors should in no way be considered part of the Zoner organization. However, they have as much right as anyone to consider themselves part of the Zoner population, and they have sacrificed enough blood that it would be a disgrace not to give them a voice on the council.

"As far as their continued place as guardians in Omicron Theta... as I said before, we need them, and their help is welcome and appreciated. I simply hope that they can leave their own issues and allegiances aside when they act in that role."

Leroy Fenning started to sit, then noticed Chairman Isaac's irritated look. "Nay on official affiliation. Emphasis on official."

Leroy waited for the nod, than sat.

Malaclypse gave the image on the table a cursory glance.

"Aurelia seems to think that I have "pre-decided" for this Council. When an organization sides in conflicts with groups such as the Outcasts, the Blood Dragons, and the Lane Hackers, and openly supports their agendas; then I stipulate that indeed they are no longer Zoners. So, I have no idea what the AW is hoping to prove or disprove with this "evidence". My statement to the Captain of the Abledan stands.

"Brother Fenning, I have no quarrel with the AW's protection of Corfu and Freeport 9 either. But, to be honest, the presence of the Abledan today was rather a surprise to me. I have not seen that sort of sustained presence by the AW in Theta for a very long time. They are usually off in Magellan, or Vespucci, or bloody Tau 23 of all places.

"There are no Zoner "Kings". Our Faction's name is testament to that. Refer to the Galactic Dictionary for the meaning of "autonomous" if you must. Ontological anarchy disavows any such notion as "kings" or "presidents". Any TAZ member is welcome to voice his or her opinion here if it differs from mine.

"As Aurelia did not cast a vote before huffing off, Brother Isaac, I have no idea what the AW's intentions are regarding this Council and its deliberations. I can only assume that any vote or "censure" will be ignored. I would like to remind the Members however that it was I who placed the AW on the Zoner Registry, with full voting rights, in the first place. If they wish to ignore those rights by withdrawing or abstaining, then so be it."

' Wrote:"As Aurelia did not cast a vote before huffing off, Brother Isaac, I have no idea what the AW's intentions are regarding this Council and its deliberations. I can only assume that any vote or "censure" will be ignored. I would like to remind the Members however that it was I who placed the AW on the Zoner Registry, with full voting rights, in the first place. If they wish to ignore those rights by withdrawing or abstaining, then so be it."

Isaac gives Malaclypse a nod. "I have to count their vote as 'abstain' until we hear otherwise." Leaning back in his chair, he glances at his old-fashioned wristwatch and looks around at the assembled Zoners. "Still a number of votes left to cast, it could still go either way. So, what say you all? Come on then, speak up."

The smell of personal vendetta fills the air, thick to the point of making it hard to breathe. Such ways of dealing with delicate matters should be abstained.

From what I have seen as an Independent Zoner the AW does stray from being Zoners, to a sometimes erratic extent considering they maintain the Zoner tag. However they have always and I believe will always protect the Zones and maintain the Zoners best interest at heart. They are what I think our closest and most trusted allies. I hope to one day say the same about the JG but have not as of yet had enough encounters with any of the members.

I support the AW fully on having a voting seat on this council.

- Vendhyan

*Vote Tally updated, Mr. Chairman. Four nays, two abstentions, five votes remaining.*

*I'll call next door for coffee and pie now...*