F-23 Discordia took a femtosecond to tally the vote again and project it for the members to see.
*Mr. Chairman, on the Motion: One Yay, six Nays, two Abstentions, and two votes uncast. It would appear that the Nays have it.*
Malaclypse rose. "Thank you, Dis. I so submit to Brother Isaac as well. If he or Brother Grayson voted Yay, and the Abstainers changed their vote, the Motion would still be defeated.
"Our only question now regarding AW is how to implement the wishes of the Council. I grant that Sister Aurelia has presented evidence to the Members that it would take nothing short of an "Act of the Gods" to make a change of affilliation mandatory for the AW. It is certainly not within the power of this Council to force them to do so. However, I submit that is entirely within the their power to voluntarily do so.
"If they are still not willing to do so; then I see only one alternative for the Council:
"I move that a "Letter of Censure" from this Body to all of Sirius be drafted, voicing our displeasure and censure of the Asgard Warriors for "un-Zoner-like behavior. Thus will our decision and our feelings be known to everyone;
"This Proclamation should also make known to all of Sirius that the Asgard Warriors have no authority to "protect", police, influence, or otherwise interfere with any Zoners or Zoner Installations, other than those located in Omicron 74 and Omicron Theta; and that they do so in those locations at their own risk and responsibility. In effect, we would be "cancelling" their so-called contract of protection in any areas other than their "Zone of Influence".
"I would volunteer to Draft such a Letter for the Council if the Chair wishes and the Council approves. Hopefully we can agree on the drafting of this Letter of Censure quickly; so that the Council can move on to the matters of the Jupiter Guild's voting status, and the discussion of the Nomad threat that Jinx has brought to our attention."
Malaclypse sat again, and waited for Chairman Drake's response to his comments.
Incoming transmission from Freeport 11, O-Delta
" i am really sorry that i cannot speak to the council in person, but matters require my attendance here at home. I am aware that the council has other matters still going on, i must foreward the nomad issue, as it is of very urgent nature.
Yesterday the nomad battleship harbinger attacked freeport 11 directly, damaging its docking pods B and C and destroyed many peaceful zoner traders, that were currently around hte station. most of them could be beamed aboard and cared for in the medical station. but some of them died in the massacre the nomad ship caused.
however much certain people believe that the nomad ship harbinger is of utter peaceful nature, the attack yesterday came unprovoked and was directly aimed at the civilians. unfortunately the persephone was not yet ready to intercept the threat as it has to remain docked for a few more days untill the replacement parts are delivered.
it was luck that the black squardon reacted to the distress call and headed to our help with a fighterwing of bombers. - it shows great intelligence, that the nomad ship retreated well beyond the palau ice nebula as it sensed the bombers approach. so we can be certain that this particular nomad is indeed a special one. maybe its a node that operates other nomad ships in the area or it is - who knows, controlled by even a human?
to back up that theory, we encountered another nomad, a small fighter craft, which was in contrast to the battleship harbinger capable of human speech - most primitive, but human enough. specialists at freeport suspect either a "wild" behind that or a new breed of some madman, possibly in the inner core systems, as the harbinger often shows itself around liberty and magellan.
if the attacks continue, freeport 11 will need protection and material to repair the battledamage. occasional repairs can be made by the neighbour station, the corsair yaren depot, which we have a friendly relationship to - but yaren is not close to be equipped enough to provide freeport 11 with all the needed material.
furthermore, the council should decide to offer a permanent contract to maybe JG to protect and patrol delta. at least untill the nomad manace is gone.
i am afraid, but i m needed at the repairdocks again - i ll answer further questions from the council later.
sincerly, Jinx"
End of the transmission
This entire time Tarlkor had mainly been sitting there looking bored. Now, however, he excused himself and walked out of the room for a moment. When he came back, he opened a channel to Jinx and stood up. "Well, I can't vote yet or anything, but I would like to inform ya'll that Jinx had quite a bit of warning and was repeatedly warned to evacuate the Zoner civilians from Freeport 11 because this'd happen. Jinx also caused this after bein' warned that it'd cause this if that bounty wasn't removed. Havin' a bunch of people blow up that big Nomad battleship... an' for once, I can actually understand those crazy blue slugs. I mean, I wouldn't like to be blown up either!"
Tarlkor paused, then continued. "I'm bettin' that there'll be more attacks like this, an' I think the Council should evacuate the civilians before Jinx's streak of foolishness costs more lives. A'course, I don't really get a vote, but I don't know... can I make a proposal like this or not? If I can't, just someone else make it for me, will ya?"
Tarlkor sits back down and waits for a response.
Pip was deep in thought as he looked up.
"The Battleship doesnt respond ?.......interesting....I have a very reliable source that states quite the contrary. This source has established contact with this entity once....IThe ship refers to itself as "we".
Any how...if people are putting bounty on the Harbringer, do it with annonymity. It would be a good way to better relations with the TBH on this one, to allow those pirates to earn a bounty on that nomad."
Leroy Fenning nearly exploded. "Something must be done about this. I've just received reports that the Harbinger was spotted in Omega-49, although it has since disappeared. Something is different about this Nomad ship... why is it wandering Sirius? Why is it attacking Freeport 11?
"Tarlkor, do you know something that you aren't telling us? If you have any information about the intentions of this Nomad ship, by all means please share it. I'm all in favor of communicating peacefully... if we can. If the Harbinger has other objectives than to attack our people, I want to know what they are.
"In the meantime, I second the motion to extend a contract to the Jupiter Guild to guard Freeport 11. I don't know if a permanent contract will be necessary, but we certainly could use the protection. And evacuating Freeport 11 is not an option. Most of the Zoners who live there would rather fight and die than leave their home anyway. We've been able to guard against Nomad incursions for many, many years: I'm confident that despite this new threat, we can continue to do so."
Fenning paused, his voice echoing slightly in the small chamber, then continued. "I suggest we continue attempting to communicate with the ship. If encountered, we should attempt to understand its intentions. But if it attacks or threatens our people or bases, and we have not put anything in place to defend our people, the blood is on our hands."
He sat down, and started typing out a message to someone while simultaneously digging angrily into the pie that had been provided. He was disappointed when it was gone... it had been quite good.
"Ya mean Jinx didn' tell any of you votin' members?! Jinx's been receiving warnings for about a week that this'd happen. It's Jinx's fault too... We TOLD 'em that bounty'd make them made, but did Jinx listen? No! An' THAT'S why Freeport 11's bein' blown to dust now! THAT'S why it's attackin' Zoners! Because Jinx decided ta have some Nomad that'd never attacked the Freeport blown up!"
Tarlkor shook his head. "That's just unintelligent, not tellin' ya'll. I knew Jinx wasn't the sharpest tack in the box, but come on..."
He continued. "An' don't bother tryin' to guard the Freeport, just get everyone outta there. My brother tells me there's somethin' more comin', and that Jinx knew abou' that too. An' if ya want proof on Jinx's utter stupitiy, just let me know, I have recordin's a' the whole thing."
video uplink established, freeport 11
Jinx looking exasperated at Tarlkor-
"i wonder how you dare to accuse me before that very council. - your warnings were channeled to the right people, which is the order, as they know most about the nomads. i had discussions of how to react to your warnings and we came to the end that only by acting relentlessly against those that crippled the colonies not long ago, we could put an end to them.
as you see, i seeked council, of course, first with those that live next door to me and have the greatest experience.
as for the warnings. yes, warnings were given, but cloudy ones without any background. what should i have believed, the misty warnings of some apocalyptic prophet, or the pragmatic facts given by the order.
you have warned me about the actions, but your warning was late and it was lacking. the harbinger had allready violated the very close security space around the delta satelite aswell as the minor jumphole installations, which it passed at a less than 5 clicks distance, terrorizing the traders. it came within the very sensor range of freeport 11. of course i acted and called for help.
should i have waitef for it to move in? - i don t think so. your warning came too late. way too late. if you knew more about the harbinger, you should have shared it before it violated the space of freeport 11 and not afterwards.
if you knew more about it, you should have backed up your warning with reasons, and not with accusations and cloudy hints. but sadly enough, you did not. - and still, you do not reveal your source of knowledge. you pretend to know much, but i better listen to facts. the order has been open minded, and allways honest about reasons and their actions. furthermore they live close to me and so its their affair aswell as freeport 11s.
it makes me sad that you try to turn the council against my very judgement on that matter, and i am sad that you haven t revealed your sources and your knowledge before things escalated.
as a matter of fact, it is too late now. and you shall suffer the blame aswell as you think i shall do. but at least i have reason to hate nomads. i have been fighting nomads for a long time, as they appear regularly in delta and each and every nomad has turned out to hostile and aggressive.
if we wait for the nomads to make a first step, - they shall not do it in a fully armed and battle ready battleship close a civiilian installation. if they seeked peace, i ask you why did they not come unarmed or maybe send their minions, the wild, which are able of human communication?
instead i had a battleship at my doorsteps, only a fool would wait for it to make a first step as that would have been a deadly fault then.
i ask you now to reveal your sources and all the knowledge you have about it - and the reasons why you haven t told us before. we are now defending agianst an aggressive creature and no matter if the attack on the harbinger was justified or not, - it made no attempts to make a peaceful offer to any of the delta inhabitants.
Jinx out."
end of the transmission
(ooc: Sorry for posting a bit late, just have some troubles here)
Grayson Burrows enters the room, he was a bit late because of some other matters with the nomads back in alaska, and the training of a new apprentice, "Sorry for arriving late, had some troubles with these blue guys" refering to the nomads, " i came as soon as possible after receiving the message that Malaclypse in my neural net, and i have reached to a decision about the Asgard Warrios issue, and my vote is fo NAY. I really think they have gone beyond the rules of the Zoners neutrality". Grayson takes a deep breath and continues to talk in a more calmed way, "About the nomads i'd like to say that i'll be at FP11 if anyone needs an escort or just a simple patrol around delta o tetha"
Tarlkor sighed.
"You sure you're all right? You're talkin' to me like I'm my brother. I ain't. An' how're you looking at Denelo when he ain't even here? And cryptic... Haha! For the rest of you, lookie here, here's a log of the transmissions."
Tarlkor tosses a file on the table.
File Link 1
File Link 2
"See, I gave Jinx ample warnin'. Jinx's just choosin' to ignore the facts: Nomads're killin' Zoners the she was supposed to guard, and it's her fault. An' not even from a failure as much as a direct action."
Fenning raised his eyebrows as he read the files brought by Tarlkor, and frowned.
"Let me get this straight. What you know, you know from your brother Denelo Mori. He delivered some cryptic warnings to Jinx that were ignored because they were so vague. Yes, Tarlkor, they're vague. No specifics, just general warnings. It's clear that Mori knows more about this than he is willing to reveal. How does he know? And why are we being kept in the dark as to details?"