Your repeated attempts at peace have been listented to, argued, and left without gunfire by me, and me alone. I have given you the respect as another man, one who fights a common foe, despite the misgivings of every single person I know, from Golanski to even my wife, Aelita. Hellion has downcried your moves, Kalh has lost all trust over the days and now, you stand here and call me an Idiot. I, the second most powerful man in the Order, the sole person who sat down at a table and without fear shared the wine you offered, partook of the cake you brought. I gave you my trust and together we talked, of ideals and right. I left promising hostile neutrality - that as long as we are to stay out of each others way, I will not look to violence. I chose to be the hand of peace all these months, Auxesia. I chose to give you the same respect I wish would be given to me. And here, you spit on my respect, you tarnish my name and sit there calling me arrogant when you are the ones claiming systems your own, with barely three warships between your hands. You sit there and lecture me, you say you are the righteous and the power. You are nothing more than a brood of vipers; how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of! And every time I have the displeasure of encountering your Keeper Raven, you yourself, Joshua, your words fall upon me like a rain of acid. Your Raven is deranged, easily sent into an erratic downspiral if one merely questions if she has any friends. You, who hide behind a metal mask and expect anyone to figure out who this mysterious "Endurance" is.
You sit there and claim "redemption without bloodshed" and "forgiveness without sentence" yet now you outcry war and fire. You take the actions of a man defending a friend and leap to war. No, Kalh did what was right. And now you have awoken my wrath. As Kalh stood to protect friends, I shall stand for mine. Your little stunt, your outcry to depose Golanski? I let it go, I charged it as anger. But now I shall do as Kalh, and protect a dear friend.
He chuckles.
Redemption without bloodshed. Forgiveness without sentence. Can we not let the past go, and look to the future? Or...do those words only apply to those angered with Auxesia, angry at it's outcry and sins. No, instead of sitting down to discuss how we can avoid yet another incident - and incident much like Delta, the dozens killed as you helped the Core, before that the hundreds on Starborn as you allied with the same demented cretin you started the Delta incident; Mu, where you invaded with warships full, ranted in arrogance at us as we took immediately to defend against those who already slaughtered our people; Baffin, where you chased us and forced us to defend ourselves, where you gunned down our informant - you outcry for war, baring your fangs. No, dear Curator, I see your guide to redemption and all she is is your shepherd to damnation. She has led you from one cult, the Core, Cult of Nodtviet, and formed her own. Now you are merely her puppets, puppets of Raven, and your sins have finally bore fruit.
So now, I shall leave behind my pity, my compassion, my mercy. I will gather forces from across Sirius. I will hunt you down in every nook, cranny, and corner you may hide. I will deplete your fuel, rend your supplies, melt your guns and watch your ships fall into disrepair as I bleed you. I will see to it that in our final moments, the day you face everyone you have wrong and everyone you have angered, that you can barely lift a single turret in defense. I will put down every one of you like dogs, and I will continue, until there is nothing left but sorrow and ash.
So, Curator, you have one day. One day to flee from Coronado, from Kansas. From Magellan, Cortez, Baffin, the Taus, the Omicrons, Kusari, from Liberty. Flee from the Omegas, from Rheinland, flee.
You have bitten a sleeping dragon, for my fire consumes all in it's path, and in my inferno I leave nothing but the waning cinders of those who dared to stand.
Get out of my homeland, get out of the land of my friends and allies. Flee to whatever corner of the sector you can find that I cannot reach, and hide there, cowering in your own fear and feces. I will leave nothing of Auxesia but the footnote in the history books that it belongs.
A cult of ignoramus, for the fate of all fools is death. And as the first light of my rage comes, your final sunrise shall set, and I will mourn the men and women who have been wasted on an insignificant footnote in the bloody history of the Nomad war.
-Admiral Jeremy Hunter
OCV Oathkeeper
CO, 3rd Battlegroup - Gallant Dawn
Once again you act on the assumption that we are to blame.
No.
Your Captain intervened to aid the Fifth Fleet which had chosen to fire upon our vessels and destroy a civilian logistics ship. We retaliated. Your captain intervened and attacked my home. You would act accordingly if yours was threatened, and have. I do not call you an idiot. I call those around you such. You were the voice of reason, and I care little for your Captain's trust levels if he cannot stay his guns.
They attacked us, we shoot back.
This all could've been avoided had the idiocy of one warship not intervened and fired on behalf of your organization.
You claim we are puppets, yet here I am acting as an individual, as I always have.
You, Admiral, have made a terrible mistake. Take your forces and leave the independent worlds, for it isn't only us you've wronged. I am offering you a chance to surrender and withdraw before this conflict escalates any further, but you sit here continuing to insult me, my family, and my people with threats on account of me doing my job. I made a statement on behalf of the Inner Phalanx, not as an individual. I argued that I would rather it not reach this point, but the actions of one on behalf of your leadership have crumbled any chance we had to avoid what I now see as the inevitable.
Withdraw your forces from the Independent Worlds. I will only ask once.