The Phalanx Editorial Office

[Maniac]

We urgently need to post Vishniac's article before the news gets cold! In a few days we'll already have to follow with a full and official declaration of war!

[vishniac]

I think I have to start working on the next article.
I DO want to write somewhere the sentence "We had to destroy Morgan Mussels to save it!"

[Kassiopeia]

Uh, of course Maniac, but where is the article?

[Kassiopeia]

Ah, bingo, found it!

I'll slap some One Sentence Story after it and just post it straight away.

What, for the sake of the article's formatting ("by -officer rank- -username-"), what branch are you, Vishniac, in and at what rank? Is the default rank of Captain (of the Army) all right?

I'm also going to make some appearance formatting (to make it uniform with The Phalanx' earlier) pieces. I'm also going to make the currently generic Junta speaker our war correspondant from years ago from the Uni "liberation", as soon as I remember her name.

[Googlie]

Vishniac, as our newest recruit, can maybe be the captain in charge of the colony pod out of Fort Soup:

Captain vishniac raised his wrist and looked into the small commlink screen. The face of Colonel Maniac looked up at him, and he heard the words he'd been waiting for. "The Planetary Transit System is ours ........ you may proceed" He snapped the commlink shut, and looked around at the assembled colonists as he began the ritual naming of the base.

His adjutant held the scabbard towards him, and as he grasped the hilt of the ceremonial sword, he intoned the timeless incantation:

"By the powers invested in me by the Junta, I claim this land for the Federation"

He drew the sword from the scabbard and held it aloft for all to see. The colonists gasped in awe and delight as the blade shimmered and shone in the twin suns' light. He looked around, then reversed the sword to point down, and thrust it into the soft Chiron soil.

"I name this base Ironholm. May its citizens be proud members of the Spartan Federation .......... and may Sparta be proud of the citizens of Ironholm"

A huge cheer erupted, and vishniac looked around, surprised to see so many crowding the plains and the hillsides. He'd left Fort Superiority with around ten thousand colonists, but now it seemed there were almost 30,000. He knew that they'd been joined by small and large groups of erstwhile University citizens as they'd travelled to the designated base site, but hadn't imagined it'd be this large. Truly a base to be proud of, and as he looked at the rich mineral hills, he reckoned that it soon would live up to its name - an Iron Home, and designated to be the administrative center for North Arcadia, and home to Lt Colonel Kassiopeia, its regional governor.

Captain vishniac was proud, at that moment, to be a Spartan

(Obviously a bit premature, and not meant for general publication)

[Maniac]

Great article. Perhaps fit for "The Arcadian Observer"?

Meanwhile I've been thinking a bit about what we could release to announce the PTS Raid. I was thinking of an article listing all the casi belli we have on them. Anyone interested to write something like this, or should I go ahead if I find the time?

• Running Wealth
• Having the faction colour yellow (see here for why that’s so evil. Aaaaah, my eyes!!!)
• Striving for a monopolistic stranglehold over our economy
• Unilaterally reducing 50 credits of their debt towards us
• Conducting unethical experiments in the University of Planet, and keeping Zakharov mindcontrolled.
• Taking over control of the SCC Hunter
• Throwing all contracts, treaties and agreements out of the window, including annulling all their outstanding debt
• Stalling so-called “peace negotiations”, and instead making use of that time to:
  
• Bribe Yang into declaring war on us (most likely not true but who cares )
• Declare war on our pact brothers of the University of Planet
• Steal technology from our pact brothers the University of Planet (it's possible that they traded some techs with Zak after we made him submissive. As the UoP isn't supposed to do any independent diplomatic activity, getting techs from him equals theft to us )
• Violate the Modo Doctrine by
  1> hiding the SCC Hunter in the fungus two squares away from our naval base of Minas Tirith,
  2> moving a foil into University territorial waters.
• Perform a military build-up

[Kassiopeia]

I'd love to write it!

[Maniac]

[Kassiopeia]

I am writing this article to you, dear fellow citizens, in a state of great emotional upheaval and in a considerable hurry - therefore I ask you to excuse any errors or mistakes I might make in the following text, for it is imperative that it is delivered to you through the datalinks as soon as possible. You have the right to know of this matter as soon as possible.

I am sitting onboard a transport that has just set sail from Morganite territory. I come from an exhaustive several day marathon of negotiations that have left me fatigued and tired. For these sleepless days, I and my loyal team of assistants and attachés have done all in our and the Federation's power in an effort to end the vendetta between our factions. Up until yesterday, things seemed to go well. Despite some misgivings and distrust from both parties, we were all very optimistic that a peaceful resolution could be achieved soon.

Yesterday, however, that all collapsed like a house of cards. The Morganites started to stonewall our negotiations, refusing outright our rightful demands. The situation worsened hour by hour until last night the Morganites refused to see us at all, and declared that the negotiations had been closed and that all Spartan citizens, including diplomats, would be considered persona non grata on their soil. Feeling that our personal security was in jeopardy, we have evacuated all Spartan negotiatiors and have, thankfully, been allowed safe passage back to the homeland.

This complete change in attitude from the Morganite side implies, I believe, a shift of power in the intricate web of power that Morganite politics is. The ruling parties of the faction can be dethroned by the whimsical head of an investment bank or the crash of a company's value.

It is now obvious that the Morganites have no desire for peace. This comes as no surprise, of course, to those of us who have followed their actions with us carefully over the mission years we have been in contact with them. The Hunter Incident and the declaration of vendetta that accompanied it was but the tip of an iceberg of Morganite transgressions and mistreatments of interfactional relations.

To get us started on this long history of Morganite criminality, the very being of this faction reeks of a very questional and dangerous ideological stance - that of Wealth. These credit-grubbing landlords and robber barons have under the guise of free trade, progress and development extended their clutches to manipulate all of the different socioeconomies over planet in an effort to homogenize and monopolize them - destroying cultural diversity (Morgan Entertainment), the freedom of speech and expression (Morgansoft) and the environment (Morgan Industries).

The perfect example of this arrogance has been the 50 credits the faction saw fit to deduct as "recompensation" for a probe incident, the details of which are currently classified. This money was taken from trade payments that belonged to us. Even if the payment had been justified, Morganite executives saw it appropriate to dock the payment without even discussing the matter with Spartan dignitaries, seeding confusion and resentment all around. In a similar vein, the Morganites have on occasion thrown out of the window of their headquarters several treaties and agreements the Federation has made with them.

The most cruel of all Morganite crimes, I have to admit, and one that went unchecked and unanswered under unfortunate circumstances, was the campaign of terror and human rights violations carried out in University territory under the Morganite puppet regime of a mindcontrolled Prokhor Zakharov.

Now that the University people have been liberated from Morganite influences, they strive and prosper as our allies and with Zakharov, now rehabilitated, truly back as the leader of his people. The University of Planet is the true beacon of progress and development on Chiron, and the Federation will do anything in its power to protect them as it has protected itself.

This, of course, has not been an easy task at all. All the while the Morganites were conducting make-believe peace negotiations with us, they have carried out a wide military build-up to stamp the logo of a Morganite boot factory in the face of all those who have said or will say "No!" to their cruelties.

With their ill-gotten gains, they have even managed to seduce the otherwise ascetic communitarian Yang into a vendetta with us and the Gaians, using the Hiverian hordes as proxy of dominance. The Morganites have also snatched technology from the innocent and unprotected network nodes of our University allies, since money isn't enough to motivate their own researchers.

And then there is the Modo Doctrine, established to safeguard the waters and coasts of Sparta and her allies. The Morganite navy, if one can call it that, has disregarded this Doctrine on several occasions. The gall of hiding our own ship, the Hunter, which they cunningly mindcontrolled, into a fungus patch within artillery range of our coast demonstrates clearly the Morganite attitude towards other factions. The University has received the same devious treatment from the Morganites, but the brave seamen of Commander Modo have luckily risen to save the day.

All these things considered, it is maybe for the best that the Morganites themselves are not interested in peace. This leaves us no choice but to intervene on this matter; to protect all of us others on Planet from their conniving schemes, aloof diplomats and their obnoxious economical practices, never mind the hideous colour yellow that trademarks their factories and supermarkets.

Therefore, the Spartan Federation has decided to call its people to arms. The behaviour of the Morganites has forced us to an incredibly difficult situation. I speak as an officer of the Junta, and for the officers of the Junta, as I want to make it clear that using military force has not been an option to us so far. Spartans must not die in unknown lands for unjust causes.

Now, however, as the Morganites themselves push their vendetta on us, we have decided to act. Our strike will be swift, precise and deadly. Spartan blood will be spilled on foreign soil in the following days, but it is our firm belief that the coming sacrifices will not be made in vain. Our attack will be overwhelming, and it will be called an atrocity by others, but it will spare an immeasurable number of human lives on the long run.

Spartan soldiers - have courage! Spartan mothers - have strength! Spartan leaders - have wisdom!

[Kassiopeia]

The amount of adjectives and pathos in that thing is just staggering

[Googlie]

* * *

[Kassiopeia]

Excuse me, but I have no idea what the * * * stands for. I assume it's something positive though.

[Zeiter]

I had the gall to edit the article, Kass. I hope you don't mind. You can easily change it back if you wish. The only things I changed are the things in bold:

The gall of hiding our own ship, the Hunter, which they cunningly mindcontrolled, into a fungus patch within artillery range from our coast demonstrates clearly the Morganite attitude towards other factions.

The part about the artillery range is technically true. they could have fired upon Spartan territory, either due north, or on that forested peninsula to the southwest. I just thought that putting their transgressions in more concrete terms, instead of just saying "near our coasts" would have more of an effect.

Spartans must not die in unknown lands for unjust causes.

I take it that this is what you meant.

The University has received the same devious treatment from the Morganites, but the brave seamen of Commander Modo have luckily risen to save the day.

Again, for emphasis and clarification.

Absolutely excellent article. The best part is that, even reading from an objective point of view, all of the arguments would seem to be very reasonable. The others might even believe it! That's not to say that they will be jubilant about the destruction of the Morgan empire and the emergence of a sole superpower, though. But I think this will significantly help.

[Kassiopeia]

Thank you Zeiter. A second pair of eyes is always a good thing to have to remove stuff like "Spartans must die in unknown lands for unjust causes". (That has the makings of a sig line!) I'll make the edits now.

Edit: And there I go again! You already did them! Even better. Anyone can feel free to edit it too, I have the original on my computer anyway.

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Kassiopeia
Excuse me, but I have no idea what the * * * stands for. I assume it's something positive though.

Three stars and two thumbs up??

It doesn't get much better than that!!