Adding yet another question to the torrential and neverending stream of shouts coming from the assembled reporters, a young man, looking in his early twenties, in a simple black suit with a pin of the Rheinland flag on his lapel, calmly walked to the front of the crowd, holding a video recorder and a microphone connected to it, standing in front of the assembly perhaps somewhat awkwardly, but confidently nonetheless. His Rheinland accent thick, marking him as a denizen of Stuttgart, he held the microphone up as close to the Kanzler as he could reach, before simply stating his question.
[color=#33CC00]"Herr Kanzler, you say zat the forces used for ze Sigma operations have been taken from ze garrisons of ze southern systems of our homeland - will zis not make these areas much more vulnerable to attacks by, say, ze Rote Hessens und, ironically, ze Corsair barbarians?"
Systems away, the men he had once called comrades sat in their asteroid base and watched the news feed with looks of wonder collectively stricken across their faces.