TNS 1124
131-1124 Warinir/Daibei[edit]
By TNS Staff Writer
Professor Ililek Kuligaan has been, since 213-1123, fleeing a warrant for his arrest issued by Archduke Dulinor himself. Kuligaan's public remarks on 212-1123, critical of the Rebellion, and by extension, the self-proclaimed Emperor Dulinor, have sparked numerous responses, in addition to Dulinor's.
For three quarters of a year, Kuligaan's whereabouts were unknown. Then on 126-1124 it was announced that he had met with Duke Craig at Warinir. Following several days of requests, Professor Kuligaan finally agreed to meet for an interview with a member of the TAS News Service Warinir branch. Although he refused to discuss the details behind his meeting with Duke Craig, he did reveal more of his outspoken views on the Rebellion. The following is an excerpt from that fascinating interview.
TNS: How long until we see the Imperium reunited?
IK: Never.
TNS: So you feel it will take a long time, then.
IK: No, I said never, and I mean never. There will be no reformed Imperium; there can be no peace or unity among these factions. No, we must go farther into the darkness before we can see the light again. That is proper, that is proportionate.
TNS: Proper? By whose standards?
IK: You see, if peace were to come now, that would justify what has already happened. Surely even you have read the figure, tens of billions dead. The horror that we have already visited upon each other, that would somehow become acceptable. Leaders would be able to countenance other wars just like this one. "You see," they would say, "we could do that again and still pull back and be okay again." That cannot happen. Peace now would redeem what we have done, and that is just not possible. It is irredeemable; the sin has gone too far.
TNS: The sin? Against God?
IK: No, not against God; against the only thing you can sin against, humanity.
TNS: So you feel that it is only humans that matter in this equation.
IK: No, you idiot. Who assigned you to this story, anyway? [The sin is] Against the thing inside every living being that makes it unique. The Vargr must call it vargranity, the Hivers call it hivranity or some such. Whatever word you happen to hang on it locally, the object is the same.
But the word has to be local to you if it is to have any power for you. Yes, I call it humanity. And the Vargr have it, the Hivers have, the Asllan have it, the K'kree have it. You might even have it. The issue is --
TNS: Are you a member of the Virasa faith?
IK: Do all reporters have such short attention spans? The issue is -- and by the way, the phrase is, "Are you a Virasin?" -- that what we have done is a crime against all life, all decency, and not in a contextual way, but in an absolute way. We cannnot put a happy face on this, brush ourselves off, and go on. We are corrupt, we are polluted, we are death to each other. And in this case, yes, the issue is about humans, homo sapiens. We have to see our way through this hell that we've created and see to it that it does not happen again. There is something inside us that has allowed us to embark on this monstrous war, and we must burn it out of us.
This war, if all of these deaths are to have any meaning, must force us to come to grips with the fact that we cannot remain this way if we expect to have an interstellar society.
If, on the other hand, we can justify to ourselves what we have done here in this "Rebellion," then we can never be saved, which is to say, we can never save ourselves.
154-1124 Rhylanor/Spinward Marches[edit]
By TNS Staff Writer
At the University of Rhylanor today, approximately 150 students staged a pro-Ine Givar demonstration to show their support at the university's main square. They wore green Ine Givar armbands, shook their fists and shouted, "Agitate. Educate. Organize."
Dean Eneri Woemser called in campus and local police forces to prevent any outbreaks of violence by the students or patriotic bystanders.
After chanting and handing out leaflets reading, "The Moment for Democrasy [sic] Is Now!" The demonstration disbanded peacefully. However, seven students who had been brandishing unloaded handguns were arrested for firearms possession and public endangerment, and inciting to violence.
The university plans to expel the seven students for their acts.
Dean Woemser's brief public statement concluded with the remark: "We have over 34,000 students enrolled on this campus. The forbearing response of the vast majority of our students to this inflammatory display by a handful of illiterates is ample proof that this university cannot be judged by the example of these stylish 'revolutionaries.'"
168-1124 Gracilis/Dagudashaag[edit]
By TNS Affiliate - Challenge 60
Recent Black War strikes on Gracilis by Lucan's forces have prompted planetary leaders to question the long-term habitability of the world. Progressive damage to port and power production facilities combined with the world's inhospitable atmosphere makes the future of the world's 63.2 million inhabitants "tenuous at best," according to one official.
The needs of the relatively large population require a vast oxygen and water cracking industry to chemically produce these essential resources from minerals found on the world. Recent developments in the ongoing Rebellion have made this procedure much more difficult. Lucan's raids have done extensive damage to Gracilis' habitation domes and subterranean galleries, which will require time-consuming repairs. Until such time as permanent repairs can be made, temporary repairs allow atmosphere and water supplies to leak away, placing a greater strain on the cracking industry. However, damage to the world's power production facilities has already reduced the capacity of the power-intensive cracking operations.
Repairs to any of the damage pulls already-scarce resources away from other projects on a world that has been on a wartime footing for seven years. Access to crucial repair parts is also becoming difficult, given extensive recent damage to Gracilis' port facilities and the dramatic fall-off in trade in Dagudashaag Sector because of the war.
Troy Kharkazlin, Gracilis' Minister for Resource Management is blunt about the situation: "We might just be able to keep going if things are left the way they are now. It won't be easy, but five or six years down the tunnel I can see a little light. But any more damage to this world and it's all over but the dying. It's time for a contingency study on worldwide evacuation."
However, Kharkaziin is quick to agree that all of this leaves one question unanswered: "Where do we go?"
220-1124 Dlan/Ilelish[edit]
By TNS Affiliate - Challenge 60
Dulinor today firmly refused military aid to exiled President Kaerri Sundarigari of Neola/Gushmege (1430 B526543-E). This aid would have been used to unseat the military council which overthrew her democratically elected government in a coup two months ago.
Federation Press Secretary Tredek Jurisor said: "The Federation is well aware of the situation on Neola. We have received the assurances of General Meochovici that Martial law will be lifted and democracy restored as soon as the current crisis has ended.
"Therefore, we will continue with Federation policy of non-intervention in the affairs of individual worlds, unless other worlds or the Federation are threatened."
Speaking from her hotel in a hastily arranged and bitter press conference, Sundarigari responded: "'Current crisis?' What current crisis? I am absolutely sickened by Dulinor and his farcical Federation!
"Six years ago, I remember Dulinor saying Emperor Strephon was complacent, that he should have used his position to make the Imperium more responsive to individual citizens. He said he would bring an end to representation by the nobility, and give power back to the public. Now he's turned his back on the issues which supported his claims to the throne or any legitimacy as a ruler."
When asked to speculate on the reasons behind Dulinor's decision, Sundarigari replied angrily: "Maybe he feels that the [military] dictators will build more warships than we did for his precious Rebellion."
251-1124 Dlan/Ilelish[edit]
By TNS Affiliate - Challenge 60
Dlan Port Authority officials reported that former President Kaerri Sundarigari of Neola/Gushemege (1430 B526543-E) was killed along with four of her closest advisors today in a freak accident at Dlan Downport. She was reportedly on her way home to her subsector to recruit support to fight the ruling military council that unseated her government over two months ago.
Eyewitnesses report that Sundarigari's party was waiting to board a shuttle to the orbital starport when an out-of-control baggage lifter crashed into and ruptured several liquid hydrogen refueling lines. The resulting explosion killed Sundarigari, her Defense Minister, Press Secretary, Chief Judiciary Advisor, and Chief of Staff, along with nine other bystanders.
Archduke Dulinor's office expressed its regrets moments later when the event was reported, remarking: "President Sundarigari was a courageous and dedicated leader."
Some of Dulinor's officials have privately remarked that there should be an inquiry into the possibility that the junta's assassins could have reached all the way to Dlan, and the dangerous possibility this represents to other dissident groups.
345-1124 Hice/Diaspora[edit]
By TNS Affiliate - Challenge 61
In one of the bitterest blows of the Black War yet to befall the Diaspora Sector, Solomani forces launched an attack on Hice's class A starport using thermonuclear weapons. This attack completely destroyed the starport and, it is believed, killed a substantial portion of Hice's populace.
According to a source in Margaret's Navy, Hice was not targeted because of any inherent value, but rather because of its location near the Solomani frontier and its high-quality starport. "It was like a dagger pointed at their operations in the Promise and Khulam Subsectors. We had been staging forces out of Hice right in their front yard to keep an eye on their activities and threaten any movements they made. By removing Hice, they've improved their ability to operate unhindered."
Tentative estimates by local Travellers' Aid Society officials indicate that Hice will now be listed as X795122-E.
- Dave Nilsen. Survival Margin (Game Designers Workshop, 1993), .