The view of Malaclypse on the Council members' monitors had changed. He no longer sat behind a desk in an office. The bustle of a busy ship's bridge could now be seen around and behind him.
"Fellow members, it appears that neither the Hellfire nor the Liberty representative are in any hurry to address us, so I feel it imperative to present another matter to the Council.
"Recent events have forced me to change my priorities unexpectedly. I will no longer be able to serve this Council effectively as Acting Chairman in Brother Drake's absence.
"I am therefore opening nominations for a new permanent Chairperson for the Council of Zoners. Due to her tenure and status among the Zoner community, I hereby nominate Sister Aurelia Silvan for the position. I will do my best to follow and monitor the vote once all nominations have been made and seconded.
"Are there any other nominations at this time?"
Mal looked aside and nodded briefly as a voice was heard in the background.. "..jumping to Kyushu in 5 seconds.. prepare to lose comms!"
"I will be in touch. Malaclypse out."
Comm ID: Malaclypse
Captain Ward, I personally did not ask for testimony on either of those matters, and I am as confused as you are why Brother Tarlkor has wasted your time and ours over issues that are "old news", and apparently have no bearing on the matters pertinent to this Council.
Now, if you have anything to present regarding either of these issues, I suggest you do so quickly, concisely, and once and for all. I grow weary of your coyness. Either spit it out, or let us get on with business.
Please continue, and quit beating around the bush, if that's possible.
Samantha shows up on the Council members' monitors with a pale face.
She speaks with a thin voice:
'Malaclypse, brother, please reconsider your decision.
You have proven wisdom and power in your diplomacity so far.
I'm merly a warrioress, just trained in fightings not in 'talkings'.
I feel responsible for some recent actions due the lack of diplomacity.
Please blame me and not you, for the sake of the council.'
Samantha sits down.
The Council members' monitors fade out.
Captain Ward frowned, leaning forward in his seat. "I was under the impression that you had called me here for a specific purpose. No matter. I will, if you do not mind, then, proceed to what I believe is a more pressing matter."
Captain Ward stood and began pacing around the room, looking worried. He looks at each delegate's monitor in turn, examining each one, almost as if he is trying to figure out what sort of people they might be by just looking at them.
"A few weeks ago," He began, still pacing, "A large force of Liberty ships caught a lone Lane Hacker, one Vladick Voronov, attempting to sneak through Liberty. While this Lane Hacker was fleeing, he noticed something interesting about one of the ships chasing him. A Battlestar Advanced. What was Liberty doing with one of those? His surprised turned to stunned disbelief as he discovered that this ship had a Zoner transponder signal, as well as Zoner identification. Now remember, this is one of the ships chasing and attacking this lone fighter. What is a Zoner doing chasing a Lane Hacker down and attacking him alongside Liberty forces? Particularly a battleship?"
Captain Ward sat down again, but leaned forward in his seat. "I suppose you are all wondering what the name of this Zoner is now, no? I don't know the name of the captain of the ship, however the ship itself is called the 'Yoda T', or something of that sort. Now I ask you... what was it doing attacking a Lane Hacker alongside the Liberty Navy and the LSF?"
Comm ID: Malaclyse
Thank you for your candor and directness, Captain Ward. I can imagine your confusion over this incident.
Your questions are valid, yet they strike to the heart of this Council's actual purpose and authority.
The Captain of the Yoda-T has not seen fit to register either himself or his vessel with the Zoner Registry.
Shortly after receiving your transmission, I was able to open a private channel to the Yoda-T. The Captain was adamant that he has been maintaining the neutrality of a true Zoner. He was also adamant that the Council of Zoners have no authority over him. He even went so far as to infer that the TAZ and I as its leader are trying to "control" all the Zoners in Sirius.
My arguments fell on deaf ears, Captain. My only option was to invite and encourage this self-styled "Jedi" to join this discussion. Whether he will choose to do so, I cannot say.
I have been agonizing myself over the arguments made by this Zoner, and others as well. Does this Council in fact have any jurisdiction over Independent Zoners who do not choose to register or participate? Conversely, it seems that while we may not have that jurisdiction or authority, there are many in Sirius who are willing to point fingers at this body, demanding that we exert influence and pressure on these independents.
Add to that the fact that many bonafide Members of this Council cannot be bothered to participate or comment on these matters. This does not speak well to this Council's effectiveness; and in fact serves to perpetuate the impression that a very few outspoken individuals are using this Council for their own designs, which I personally wish to vehemently and categorically deny. I would remind the Council that I am myself violating a prime Catma of my Discordian faith by participating: "We must all stick apart."!
While I deeply appreciate the support of those like our dear Sister Senya, I am at a moral crossroads concerning the existence of this Council; and, I honestly do not know which path to follow.
Perhaps the input of Liberty and the Captain of the Yoda-T will show me the way; but until this crisis of conscience is resolved, I maintain that I can not be an effective Chairperson, and encourage further nominations for the Office.
Mal out.
from: Battleship Persephone II
to: council
*the screen flickers as the picture appears*
"since we are currently talking about that one called Yoda T -- i might add a bit to the discussion. i do not know him personally - but he hung around in omicron-delta often. he is not a freequent guest at the freeport. i guess he prefers his roomy ship as a home.
there is a theory of why the captain of that ship is acting most funnily though. from most occasions that this battleship appeared, he was ofteninvolved in combat with the keepers forces. his ship was more than once blown to pieces and he barely made it to the spacedock in a cloud of debris and a few armor platings that barely held the ship together.
now we know about the nomads, and with a ship consisting of more holes than armor, i would not be surprised if he was asaulted by nomads. that would explain why he is acting sort of "out of the normal". how the libertonians would embrace him warmly into their forces is a miracle to me though. they must either been careless not to scan this ship thoroughly or they know more than they admit.
anyway - when it comes to our reputation as zoners; - it is more and more being ripped apart - from within. i allmost receive daily messages about zoners acting - strangly. there must be something done - and i would say "soon" or our whole understanding of zonerkind is at peril."
Com ID: The Dark Rose
I would appreciate learning what the Councils and the individual members opinion and thoughts are on Pirate activity in Omicron Theta. Particularly pirating and the destruction of ships near the Freeport. I received a transmission today from a trader that was killed while undocking from the Freeport by a brotherhood member. I have the traders testimony but will hold transmitting it till I am confident this is an issue we wish to discuss.
Rose out.
*Aurelia leaned forward and activated the communications console on her part of the council table.*
'Dark Rose,' the Asgard Warriors have also heard of an attack by the TBH, from the trader who was attacked. We would be very glad if you provided us any evidence, or at least the name of the victim who was attacked. At the very least, I would like to know the name of this TBH, so I may determine if it is the same as the one responsible for the attack described by my source. The treaty the TBH signed strictly prohibited any form of piracy in Theta, and they have already violated this treaty once by attacking a Lane Hacker who was moving through the system, and for an attack on a trader.
I believe its time that The Brotherhood has a bit more of a wake up call. That will be handled by the AW. But if they violate the treaty one more time, hostile action will be an almost certainty, else we will always have to suffer attacks on the commerce and innocents of Theta.
*Aurelia looked up and caught the attention of the delegates sitting around the table.*
On the subject of a new chairperson, I am flattered by the nomination of our former chairman. However, I may not be the best choice, concerning the Asgard Warrior's differing diplomacy with other organizations and factions. I do not wish to have the image that the Zoners as a whole, have the same policies and diplomacy as the AW. However, if most of you still wish me to take the position, I will do my best to separate AW's interests from my decisions.
Thank you.
Com ID: The Dark Rose
The following are com logs of the conversation I had with the trader who's ship was destroyed. Also including a burst transmition from the FP shortly after the trader was killed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21021134@N06/?saved=1
Rose out.
from: New London public message terminal
to: Council of zoners
"i just received the message update about the councils issues. - i am doing business in bretonia at the moment, negotiations about a new ship purchase, - so i have time to browse through all the com channels.
about the issue in theta and the pirates. - well, it happens that the reputation of the zoners is rapidly shrinking away. not only do i hear of zoners making an embarressment about themselves, but i also heard of zoners attacking innocents.
now - all those incidents or rumors undermine the effords of zoners to stay neutral from the point of view of others. zoners are more and more targets of opportunity or worse, - they are treated like a common petty criminal.
but personally, i cannot say anything about theta. theta is AW territory - and so not the concern of zoners. just like IMG freeports are IMG issue and no concern of zoners. - i can only say that everyone respects the neutrality zone around FP11. but then i only enforce or ask for a neutrality zone of around 5k clicks around the station - as is appropriate - and not the whole system.
there has been no pirating of zoners in delta while i was around - and only little pirating in general. - usually, everyone respect those laws. unfortunately i cannot say much about zoners in the core systems. i can just say that i am hardly ever bothered.
if zoners are treated in an unjust way - or being pirated on a regular base, i would suggest to stop supplying far the bases of said facitons that terrorize our traders, maybe use our contacts to convince others to stop trading with them, too. once their space is becoming void, they will know how to treat zoners. there is not much else we can do - unless we want to fight back, which i would only see as the very last option.
E.Tate out - got business to do now"