from: E.Tate
to: the council
"since i am a bit fed up with getting information only second hand - so i decided to travel to gran canaria myself to inspect the damage done and the actual situation first hand.
i have just checked into the spaceport hotel and will proceed to the site of damage tomorrow. - freeport 11 will of course also finance any efford to help the victims of the attack and the rebuilding and reparations that are necessary.
unfortunately it turned out that none of the freeport 11 defense staff is available to be deployed at gran canaria - but some freelance zoners may move there. from what i saw gran canaria appears quite secure. - i met the regular patrols in omega-49 today and they reported no disturbance but only high tension.
so far, we ll have to wait and see - but we should stay on guard.
E.Tate out"
Comms ID: Commander Manuel Martinez from [WDR] Talion Law
To: Zoner Council
Greetings Delegates and Zoners,
after receiving the informs about SCRA attacks, we are moving ours security forces to Gran Canaria and Corfu. The crew and marines of the Talion are veterans that come from every corner of Sirius, but they never fight togheter (only a pair of skirmishes).
The orders received of Wanderer Brotherhood are that we are at the disposal of the person who leads ours war efforts. We are ready to receive orders and to send the information of ours little security forces, if will needed our Exploration wing will be mobilized.
Personally I dislike loss men, but we are free men and like them if we must give ours lives in defence of the great dream of a best humanity... the doubts never stop us.
Comms Out
A hologram appears, fluttering, black-and-white. In spite of the low, grainy, quality, it is obvious, from the uniform, and the mechanical prosthetic left arm, that this is Commodore Ares of the SCRA...
"Good evening, members of the Zoner Council...
As you well know, the Coalition has left Gran Canaria, many of our civilians and troops having to leave their homes where they lived for years. I'm not going into the reasoning, as you won't believe me when I lay a large portion of the blame at your feet.
We left, finding a Zoner fleet facing us, which, to be honest, was half-expected. Of course, we attacked. It's what we do, and I hazard a guess that it was expected too.
Now, we didn't expect our civilian transports to be fired upon, which they were. I understand that this was accidental, and some small amount of blame must be taken by myself and other Coalition officers... we should have expected militarily inexperienced Zoners to make such horrific errors..."
He stops and sighs, running his good hand through his hair before continuing...
"...well, we then, as planned, destroyed our own military installation to prevent it falling into Zoner or Corsair hands. Apparently this is firing on civilians, according to your propaganda broadcasts..."
He frowns, pained, shaking his head, beginning to gesture angrily as he speaks.
"... well, that's fine, say what you like. The facts are, intentional or not, that civilian blood is on Zoner hands, not ours. We're the ones with the skill and experience to know what to legitimately target...
But now, after we pack and leave, we see a huge military build up, and hear sabre-rattling from so-called 'peaceful' sorts in Omega-49...
Let this be a warning to you. Many of our pilots and marines lost friends and families in these past few days. You will have your fleet stand down, since I'm finding it very hard to tell them that they can't have justice, retribution or plain old bloody vengeance."
He clenches his metallic fist as the video feed fades to black.
Comm ID: Malaclypse
(The assembled holo-images broke into confused bedlam at the Coalition's transmission. Angry voices were being raised. The Chairglobe immediately ordered the termination of the offending FnordSat Council link, as well as the "Emperor Norton" passcode given previously to Cmdr. Thorvaldssen. Malaclypse extended from his normal za-zen posture, and raised his arms silently, until the uproar among the delegates subsided.)
Fellow Delegates,
The response to this tragedy by our Zoner brethren is heartening, and I once again commend those stalwarts who are flocking towards Gran Canaria in its defense. We have apparently secured Omega 49 for the present, and, as Madam Tate observed, conditions in the system have reverted to a near-normal state again.
However, I am deeply troubled that by doing so, these brave defenders, and this esteemed Council, may very well be playing right into the Coalition's hands.
Mal looked around at the other holo-images, and noticed looks of confusion, as well as a few frowns. He pushed on.
As several of you have expressed, we are far from being a trained military cadre, while the Coalition is superbly trained and equiped. If we present them with nothing but dozens of Fearless Destroyers, untested and uncoordinated, they will grind such a fleet to pulp in minutes with bombers and well-equiped fighters.
Further, by concentrating the bulk of what military resources we have in one system, we are giving away several of the advantages that we do possess over the Coalition.
More of the images were frowning now, some even to the point of anger, and several appeared ready to interrupt. Mal held up a fist, and continued, punctuating his next points by raising a finger for each..
Firstly, I trust that due to the nomadic nature of Zoners, the Coalition is currently hard-pressed to determine the exact number and strength of Zoner military assets. By concentrating a large number of those assets in Omega 49, we make that determination much easier for them.
Mal held up another finger.
Secondly, while a centralized and well-defined command structure is essential to the functioning of an Army or Navy, I believe that trying to duplicate such a structure among our Brethren would be a hindrance rather than an advantage. Again, by identifying which of our members are blessed with combat and command experience, we give away valuable intelligence to our aggressors.
A third finger extended heavenward..
In the same vein, a registry of ships, indicating which are military and which are support assets might be somewhat helpful to us, but would no doubt be hugely appreciated by the Coalition's intelligence staff.
Mal could now see the looks of anger turn to those of reflection, and in some cases, nodding comprehension. A fourth finger slowly joined the other three as he contined.
Now, I can say with confidence that every Zoner probably passes several of our Freeports in the course of a day's trading or "business". I needn't remind this Body that those Freeports and other Zoner assets are also threatened by the Coalition's new and hostile stance towards us. While some of those assets have permanent defensive capabilities, (he smiled and nodded to the image of Madam Tate), others may now rely on those passing Zoners to monitor their safety and security.
I contend that this fluid "security" can be an asset in our tactical response to the current threat, rather than a liability. While we may not know which Freeport may be attacked by the SCRA on a given day, they also do not know whether two ships or a dozen are in close proximity to defend the base.
Mal paused and surveyed the other images. He wiggled his thumb a moment before raising it to join his fingers, thus completing the Sacred Law of Fives.
And Fifthly, my fellow Zoners, while I oppose any offical and general call for assistance from others, whether Bounty Hunter, Corsair, Mercenary, or well-meaning individual sympathetic to our plight..
Mal's raised hand now made a subtle change.. the index and second fingers remained extended in a "V" shape, while his thumb joined the remaining fingers near his palm, making the ancient symbol for "Victory".
...unofficially, we all know that the SCRA has made many enemies in its crusade to wipe out the Alliance. These enemies are already making discreet inquiries as to how they can assist the Council. As long as these offers remain clandestine in nature, the Coalition can never be sure what resistance they will face in any move against the Zoner Community.
In conclusion, Delegates, I firmly believe that the Zoners' advantages over the Coalition can be expressed in the old Discordian Catma, "We must all stick apart!"
The Podge will be our friend and ally in the future, my Brothers, against this rising tide of Coalition Hodge.
================================================
Incoming Transmission: *** Holographic Signal from Yoda JEDI-Master ***
================================================
Greetings, Honorable Council Members
Some of the recent 'events' prove quite disturbing to be... hmm
Those SCRA 'Coalition' be showing their 'true faces' (IF they have ANY) - to say the least... errghh
The Zoners have provided them Home and supplies.
They even use our very own Zoner-Guards System [Omega-52] for Basing.
And YET they be ATTACKING our Ships and interests !
That be how they show gratitude and respect, it seems - though i doubt they know any meaning for those words... errhmm
And what's more, they claim to be 'on the right side' and pretend to give us lessons.
Well... maybe some 'lessons' they will get from Zoners - IF The Council resolution on this matter decides so.. hmm
Zoners will do what need be to keep our standards, and we can prove this once again, if need be...
May The-Force guide our ways !
* a new hologram appeared*
Counsil,delagetes,brothers and sisters,
Im glad to tell my engeneering finaly fixed my hologram device aboard the "Alcmaria.Vitrix*
we should spread our forces in 49, so they are harder to count,maybe we should park some ships in their backyard(omega 5), as former tactic commander, that would be quite usefull when they planning an atack on us, we could sneak behind their lines and sqweeses them between our forces
J. archer out
Comms ID: Mannock Benitez
Greetings again Companions of this Council, Brothers and Sisters Zoners and our assassin Ares,
the words of this... man, are hollow like his head. They attack us in our home and we are guilty. Sorry Commodore for we be alive.
You begin a war with yours only friends... sorry again, now I remember that in your dictionary that word dont exists. You can finish this war very easily, you only need to deliver the commanders of the attack in Gran Canaria to be trial (you know, that thing with lawyers, judges, laws and justice).
The trial dont return ours deads, dont heal ours wounds but, at least the butcher bill will no be increased.
You began a war, but you make a mistake never begin a war that you can not win. Now your fleet is bigger and best than ours and we dislike waste lives, but you know that all can change. Your industrial capacity is non existent, every ship that you lose is gone forever, in a few months your spares parts will run low and low and your people will suffer famine, disease and pain. Forget the last, your people dont have importance for yours leaders.
You say the thruth in one thing, you have the skills and experience to know what to legitimately target and this is the reason because there are so many civilian casualties.
Brothers and Sisters the only peace that SCRA known is the peace of cemetery, the only thought that they knwon are the words of theirs leaders, the only liberty that they known is the liberty of a slave. We must win this war because we can win it. Maybe some of us or others can believe theirs nices words, but words said without heart are empties, only tactics.
At the begining of my speech I said assassin to Commodore Ares, because him active or passively let that the attack to Gran Canaria happened. He is a high ranking official and a murderer.
Which is the price of an innocent life? Most of us are traders and we know that all the credits of Sirius is not sufficient to pay the price of only one life.
Friends, we must stop or win this war. I want the first option but if this council opt for the second... then if the SCRA people have a God, which may be entrusted to him because they will needed one.
Safe flight and clean skies to all
From: [WDR]Kullman - Older Brother Of The Wanderers
To: Malaclipse
Copy To: Council Of Zoners.
I think i was not enough clear on my proposal, and i will try to clarify some things.
The proposal of a guard command was made in the zoner council cause it was the right placer for this, obviously the comms made by counselors can't use the same unsafe system which uses the council. All our communication system will need to be builded from scratch, allowing a high encryption rate to prevent coalition to get the valuable information.
We, The Wanderers Brotherhood, offer our high security comm system for the use of the zoner defense command when formed. That will be the right place to make the cap registry, and to communicate between the admirals, between the counselors, and even from them to the operatives, almost completely safe of coalition inteligence operatives.
From: Lucky LeRoux
Location: Fox Electra
To: Council Of Zoners
Well, this has been a right old bog up....So now I can't trade with the SCRA and have been made t'scurry away to Baffin fer a bit of shelter and protection with the TAZ while the curfew lasts. They're great hosts on Shasta... but really I gotta be out there to pitch me goods..y'know?
Not good fer Trade me fellow Zoners, not good at all.
Anyway..My view on potential hostilities.....
Headline: It ain't worth it, the only folks who'll make money are the BHG, pretty keen to offer their services eh? And I'm not convinced the SCRA want all out war. So why have one?
Next, a structured Zoner Armed Force? Named ship roster? Please could someone explain how this could possibly work within the Zoner community? I for one would have no truck with it.
In conclusion, I think that Mal's five fingered dissertation and two fingered conclusion sums it up.
Lucky....
**Incoming Coded Transmission**
**Decode Algorithm 4-A997-B**
**Decoding...Complete**
>>[LN]-Jack.Malrone<<
--Message Reads as Follows--
I'd like to bring it to the Council's attention that an Admiral of your, commanding the
Peacekeeper-:-Elysium, has been convicted of the following crimes in Liberty:
- Bringing an unauthorised battleship-class vessel into Liberty
- Failing to follow Liberty Navy orders to leave Liberty, due to the fact he had a foreign battleship
- Insulting Navy officers
- Creating public hysteria by creating doubt about the law-enforcing ability of the Liberty Navy
Due to his failure to follow orders, his Battlestar Advanced was destroyed. We apologise to the Council for the loss of weapons, equipment and cargo on board the battleship, but it was necessary to ensure the safety and security of Liberty.
Since then, he has acquired another battleship and has returned to Liberty, once again pestering our forces and continuing to disobey orders. We'd prefer not to endanger the lives of the crew onboard the Peacekeeper, but if it comes down to it we will have to destroy it again.
We, the Liberty Navy, must insist you take disciplinary action on the Admiral in question.
Respectfully,
Lt. Commander Malrone
--Message End--
**Connection Terminated**