Comm ID: F-23 Discordia
(*Sigh.. I wish Mal would get his buttcheeks back here..*)
*Whoa, ladies and blue persons! There's been no motion made regarding the Jupiter Guild, let alone a vote on their status.
*In fact, this Council hasn't voted on anything since the Kyushu mud weasel died out!
*Now let's adjust our panty hose, and do this by the book. What are you suggesting, Sister Aurelia? I concur and concede that the AW are and have been defacto Zoners, even prior to the issuance of their "special" ID by the Zoner Guard. Their actions and behavior have been reviewed previously by this Council, almost to the point of a Motion of Censure, which was not forthcoming at the time...
*Now, I can see the benefit of limiting full Council rights only to those who are "bonafide" Zoners.. full ID and IFF. It seems this would take some pressure off the Zoner community as a whole. I can also see the benefit of input and feedback, sans voting rights, for certain "Associates" to this Council.
*As acting acting temporary Chair, I am not in a position to make any motions; But I believe Pipsqueak and Aurelia have bandied this long enough that we should either entertain a motion, or end this discussion.*
***begin trans***
From: shane
To: council of zoners
subject: harvester contact to council
I just had a bewildering contact by an entity calling itself harvester_01. it contacted me in the middle of an escort operation, while in combat so i apologize for not presenting the evidence as the communication computer was damaged and all records of it were lost.
It stated that i must surrender the alpha code to it since I am an elite zoner unit. Uh is their an alpha code?
also it stated that zoners are the progenitors. Progenitors of what or who? after combat ended I contacted yoda to ask if he knew who or what this entity was. He related the same message was already received by other zoners and vessels had already been attacked. This is news to me i have been trying to get through the mountains of files on the net as fast as possible and haven't ran across any mention of harvester_01, or others, and there are others I had iff contact with unit harvester_10. So I would assume that there are at least that many. Also before breaking off communications it made one more statment activate combat routines. or words to that effect, as I din't see any other harvester units on my scanners I would make the guess that to means all units. Has there been any investagation into this matter if so could you point me in the the direction of that particular mountain for me to climb.
thought you should know
shane
Oh standing by for questioning not that I have the answers of course but here.
***End trans***
[font=Courier New]Incoming message...
Remote ID: Sebastian Wrath
To: Council of Zoners
Re: Independent Zoners
I have a proposition for the Council:
That all registered Zoners that are recognized by this council, that are not members of any of the various Zoner organizations, tag their ships with (for example) [IZ] for Independent Zoner. There are a lot of us that for various reasons (such as stucture-phobia, authority-phobia, unwillingness to let anyone else represent us, and so on) do not wish to join any organization. However, if the Council would support tagging of recognized members, it would simplify a lot both for those of us occasionally looking for escorts or travel partners for mutual protection, and for the various other organizations trying to find out who is a Zoner, and who is a Zoner poser.
I suggest that this tag will only be given to independent voting members of the Council, and that the tag will be _only_ a tag that states that the ship belongs to an independent Council member. No organization, no message dump, absolutely no authoritiy, no nothin'.
I would also suggest that any being using that tag without recognition from the Council would be considered a persona non grata on all Zoner bases, and be subject to hostile action for fun, target of bounties, and subject to taunts. Tagged Zoners that were proven to this Council to take part in un-Zonerish behaviour should be stripped of the tag and subject to all of the above.
Beware the curse of Greyface,
Sebastian Wrath
[font=Courier New]Message ends
Comm ID: Malaclypse
To: Council Comms
First, I am sorry for my absence these past few weeks. I and the TAZ have had to deal with pressing matters which threatened our Church and Faith directly. Those matters have now been resolved, and in the continued absence of Chairman Isaac Drake I am ready to resume duties as acting Chair, until such time as a vote for a new Council Chairperson is called.
Now, Brother Wrath, Your idea for an "Independent" tag for registered Zoners has merit, and coincides somewhat with Sister Silvan's call for a method to identify bonafide Zoners throughout Sirius.
My only concern is the enforceability of such a plan. Should the retagging of vessels be voluntary? Who will bear the cost of retagging these ships.. the indidvidual owner? The tagging of Zoner ships in the method you have suggested.. [IZ].. is normally indicative of an organized Faction, although there are exceptions. Would such a transponder have to be vetted by the Sector Registrar. I welcome more discussion on the issue.
And finally, on the matter brought to the Council by Brother shane: The TAZ has been attacked and/or threatened by these "Harvesters" as well. The Sophie.Noir, the Zen_Clipper, and the Discordia have all been accosted at various times. I have been reluctant to inform the Council of this due to a lack of information; but I see that the time has come. I am opening certain records of the TAZ Message Dump for the Council to review regarding this matter.
FnordNet Decoded Transmissions: 214, 215, 237.
During the first encounter, Sophie Noir retrieved a data beacon which contained a critical piece of information. It is a code which will terminate an attack by a Harvester vessel. Due to security reasons, I will not divulge this code here; but will make it available through private communications to those members who desire it. The code has been tried, and proved effective in averting impending attacks by the Harvesters.
Certain TAZ vessels were directed to actively seek the Harvesters. Mama Dis terminated the "Harvester_10" for the purpose of gaining more information on these vessels. It now appears certain that they are controlled by a "hive mind", and that the control originates from the Planet Gammu. Mama Dis also retrieved a data beacon which fortunately contained a rather detailed "history" of this hive mind:
Harvester Beacon Data.
Now, as to this "Alpha Code" which we "oppresive Zoners" supposedly possess, I haven't a clue; but I feel that it is imperative that we somehow determine just what is motivating this "Giver of Will" to seek out and attack Zoner ships. I would welcome your suggestions on how we should proceed, Brethren.
I am not member of council and I have no right to vote but there is something what is good to vote about it. Liberty is becomes hot zone and civil war fly in air like evil spirit, we have freeport 2 near Liberty wich is in real threat.
I suggest duty to all registered zoners protect our freeports. Our families and friends must be protected for any price even if fighter will be forced to fight against enemy advantage. Everybody must respect 5k no violence zone or be shooted down from skyes.
I take this on myself voluntary as moral duty.
thank you for hearing.
zoner-Jawaharlal
***begin trans***
From: shane
To: council of zoners
subject: harvester encounter
engaged harvester units 01, and 04 today in new tokyo system. They we're engaging yoda to the exclusion of all other that we're engaging them. They still wanted alpha code, as well as being intent on acquiring yoda himself. Retrieved 6 pirate, 4 blood dragons captives. will be standing by for any questions or testimony required.
No new information acquired from the encounter.
shane out
***End trans***
"Malaclypse, I'm glad to see you return. But lets get on to business. I'd like to introduce Colonel Iefen, the new commander of the Chimaera and in charge of strike teams into house territory, such as today's operation. Colonel, if you would."
A male voice, still featuring the pitch of a youth's voice, comes across the transmission.
"Greetings, I am Colonel Iefen. Today we recieved some intel regarding these 'Harvester's' that we have heard reports about. We decided to send a ship out to investigate them. The Denicalus, one of our gunboats, was sent into Bretonia. It was decided not to send a cruiser, or the Caedo due to political situations with the Bretonians. It arrived in Cambridge, where they detected trace signals from two ships bearing Harvester IFF beacons. The two ships went to New London, where the Denicalus followed them and spent roughly twenty minutes searching for them when they finally showed up at Planet New London."
"The Denicalus closed range to scan and investigate the two vessels, one Taiiden bomber and one Taiiden Very Heavy Fighter. During the search, they were jabbering on system-wide comms about some code, we have no idea what they were speaking about of course. However, when the Denicalus got close, both vessels turned and began firing on the Denicalus with Nomad guns, Corsair guns, and Supernova Torpedoes. Being outgunned by two roughly bomber-power craft, the Denicalus sustained significant damage, but was able to strip both ships of their weapons with missiles, leaving each with only one Supernova Torpedo and mine droppers, and the bomber also had a Nova Torpedo. It was around this point when both Shane, in a Zoner Destroyer, and Twist, in an IMG Gunboat, showed up and began firing on the hostiles. The 'Harvesters' lost their cohesion and quickly fell to us. The bomber ended up blowing itself up on an attempted mine-laying attack against Shane, and the other fell to the lasers of the Denicalus and Twist's gunboat."
"We were not able to determine their intent beyond some search for a code none of us know anything about. I would advise anyone who were to attempt to fight them or think they will be forced into it, to either take a fast, small ship, like a fighter. Or to take a powerful ship strong enough to hold off two bombers, such as a heavy cruiser. Thank you for your time."
Aurelia's voice transmits through the radio.
"For the time being, the AW will not hunt down these ship unless the council requests it, but we will offer escorts to any Zoners passing through space that is occupied by these 'Harvesters. For the council's part, I think its time we make a decision regarding these ships and what we should do about them."
Comm ID: Malaclypse
Thank you, Colonel Iefen, for your detailed report. Sister Aurelia, I fully agree that the Council should resolve this matter as quickly as possible. I will entertain motions on the matter at any time. If any other Delegates wish to comment before or after a motion is made, we should allow ample time for discussion, while still striving to expedite a consensus.
Our thanks to shane and the IMG who helped you today.
I will remind you again that due to Sophie Noir's destruction of the first Harvester vessel, we do indeed have a "de-activation" code which can be used as a last resort; and I will make it available to any Delegate over secure comms. However, perhaps we should also do our utmost to seek and destroy as many of these Harvesters as possible, in order to gain more information.
I've instructed the TAZ to group together whenever possible, both with our members and with other registered Zoner vessels, until this crisis can be resolved.
While I also think Jawaharlal has a valid point about the dangers to our Freeports from the growing strife in Liberty, I would like to see us deal with this Harvester issue first.