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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:02:40 GMT
“ Now some they do and some they don't And some you just can't tell And some they will and some they won't With some it's just as well You can laugh at my behavior And that'll never bother me Say the devil is my savior But I don't pay no heed And I will go on shining Shining like brand new I'll never look behind me My troubles will be few “ – Goodbye Stanger, Supertramp =================================================
[TDA]
It had been some time since the Battle to liberate Vestahl from a pirate lord’s tyranny and the event that was now labelled the “Vestahl Massacre”. It was a severe incident of friendly fire purposely incited by military officers of the Divine Davian Empire. A missile strike that left twenty-four thousand Troopers dead, there was only one wounded General Burt Hashmon, who is still in command of the First Army although he has mechanical implants in 25% of his body. The news of this incident spread like wildfire through the TDA not only in the Ancerious Colonies but back home where millions across all worlds protested the actions of the government and the military as well as called for a war of revenge against the Davians. In the colonies Davian trade ships were being turned away and shunned from ports. The unrest everywhere was getting too much and something needed to be done, Albert Tyldum Director of Extra Galactic affairs was swamped on a constant basis with all manner of problems popping up. Back home things were the same except the TDA couldn’t afford people to be striking and protesting in the middle of a war. This was when President Wes Johnson decided to intervene personally, he issued the order to Tyldum to summon all members of the WRL and to prepare for his arrival in Ancerious.
Tyldum stood in the hanger bay with Sub-Director Chambers, they were both dressed sharply for the presidents arrival. They weren’t alone in the hanger bay however from end to end it was filled with military personnel from all branches, Army, Navy and Marines all in their Dress uniforms accompanied by a ceremonial band. They stood at ease awaiting their commander in chief. Outside around Void Rock six station the navy was putting on a dazzling display of its prowess, they maintained formations and orbited the station slowly to charm everyone who saw it, both the Second and Third Fleets were deployed for the ceremony some five hundred ships on display. When the presidential ship arrived through the wormhole it made an inspection pass of the Fleet before landing in the hanger. The hydraulics of the doors hissed open as the Presidential ship was pulled into the hanger. The ramp dropped and the band began to play the National Anthem as the president walked out once his foot touched the deck of the ship the Parade CO called everyone to attention. Johnson walked up to the Parade CO returned the salute and called the men to at ease. He then walked over to Tyldum and Chambers who were waiting patiently. He shook both their hands and rested a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Al, Alexis good to see you guys again. I’d ask how everything is going but I’m here now so you can sure bet it’s going great.” He said with a laugh before returning with a more serious tone.
“Now Al did you get those… “Arrangements” made that I wanted done? It’s important to send a message you know”
“Yes, instead of an empty docking area it’s filled to the brim with protestors from all walks of life.” Tyldum replied somber in his tone
“You did good Al. now let’s go take our positions, I trust all of our other people made it okay?” Johnson asked as if he already knew the answer
“Yes, they’re all waiting for us we have several press members, and key members from parliament including the minister of foreign affairs and Defense. They are waiting for us now.”
The three left the hanger and made their way to the congress room. It was a monumental that had tiered seating stacks, multiple holographic monitors and a large table monitor in the middle of the room. Johnson, Tyldum and chambers took seats at the head of the table. All they needed to do now was wait for everyone to arrive.
[Davia]
From the corner of the system 3 gates opened as 3 Davian ships jumped into the system. There was a Thien Truong fast cruiser escorted by 2 KHh Frigates. The three ships quickly docked themselves at the designed location.
Then the Davian delegation disembarked at the hanger. Notably the delegation would be led by a relative short green armored robotic figure followed by two more equally short figures, All three individuals wore masks and robes thus it would impossible to see their face or emotion. There were also several commissars including a wingless Shiguran and at least another Shiguran, there were also 2 more chained individuals and several more officials. The Davian group would be escorted by several robotic or human guards.
"The Davian delegation is here for the meeting." The leading individual politely announced as they entered the hangar.
[Crimson]
An Ancient One Frigate followed by four Escorts suddenly appeared in space. Their crystalline ships reflecting and refracting light. On the bridge two women stood and watched as they neared the Void Rock six station.
“Ugh! Why are we here?” Amber whined. Raven turned to look at her with a scowl.
“Because there was a call sent out for the members of the WRL to come here for a ‘trial’. Whatever that is.” Raven scolded. Amber glared a section of floor and muttered under her breath about ‘idiotic mortals’. “You best keep your mouth shut Amber, or so help me I will rip your jaw off.”
“That’s not much of a threat from where I’m coming from.” Amber teased. Raven sighed and was glad that they had been told the new “Shuttle craft” was complete. The two women walked through the halls with their watchers to the ship.
The walls of the hanger opened up and the shuttle took off. The rather large ship was like all other Ancient One vessels. As it neared the hanger bay four crystals moved from the ‘tail’ and acted as make-shift landing gear. The hull of the shuttle shifted and began to form stairs. Raven and Amber walked down the steps, followed by their watchers.
[Free Worlds]
A singular Free Worlds corvette dropped FTL and announced itself quickly, heading to the meeting place and dropping off it's cargo. They bore a witness, Captain Ackers. He had seen most of what had happened as it had happened on the ground, and as he strode to the trial he walked with a limp from injuries he'd sustained in the battle within his IFSP. As he entered he straightened the tie on his dress uniform, a deep green affair harkening back to the US Army dress uniforms of old adorned with a good amount of ribbons and battle honors. One of those honors was very new, and looked as though his men had made it for him. They had. He walked to his place, and nodded to those assembled.
"Captain Richard Ackers, Free Worlds Armed Forces 7th Tolarin Milita reporting." he said, taking off his cap and sitting down.
[Vestahl]
The Commonwealths arrival despite their importance here was rather underwhelming. A singular vessel jumped in system small in class as it came in to dock. The Commonwealth representative looked like a stern man, his right arm was a bionic and it was clear most of his face and right side of his body had been reconstructed and skin grafted. Behind him came several guards all armed and one particular individual. Cassandra Gariot walked with them in manacles as she came but quite well dressed for the occasion.
The Commonwealth reps went straight to the meeting place, taking their seats as the man stood to announce themselves.
"I am councilor Amida of the Commonwealth of Vestahl here to represent my people and those of my planet who were affected by this incident. The one I bring with me is a prisoner from the enemy Vestahl Revolutionary front who we fought, she will corroborate everything"
[ANC]
Artem Votypkov had tried to declare a conflict of interest. He'd initially been invited as a witness, to explain footage the Ancerious News Corporation had taken at Vestahl.
But the ANC had also tasked him to report on the trials as they went on. It was a conflict of interest, he had told them...
But ANC was spread thin. Not enough reporters and too much to report. So, despite the conflict he was ANC's sole reporter, accompanied by a company lawyer, and his support team.
For now, they were just assembling equipment and waiting for the trials proper to begin.
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Cassandra Gariot, the woman accompanying Vestahl's representative was a rather sorry looking individual. As nice as they'd tried to make her look there were certain things that couldn't be fixed. She looked tired, dark cicrles visible under her eyes even through the makeup they had applied. She was pale, thin, fidgeted constantly and avoided making eye contact with anyone, keeping her mismatched eyes fixed on the floor. To anyone who cared to look she seemed uncomfortable and very much like she'd rather be anywhere else.
[Dominion]
When news of the incident and the trail reached the Dominion through familiar and trustworthy channels the high command knew full well that there would be a trial and with it a media circus. The kind of incident described was rare in the space age given that technology had progressed enough to prevent fog of war from blinding commanders as much as it had a few centuries prior. The high command saw fit to send a representative who had little to no dealings with the Davians and TDA specifically to avoid issues of bias. This meant they had to send the leader of the Vaanitas task force Captain Folami Khanaris to represent dominion interests and the rule of law within the western regional league. To that end, the High command gave the captain the mission, with the proviso that whatever decision he made in regards to the trial, it would be a fair and impartial one. To make sure this was the case though, the Captain requisitioned a handful of support staff to record aspects of the proceedings both for the mission report and the news networks back home. The RDNS-Illuminary a Gloucester class cruiser arrived in system and despite the usual sensor scattering common to Dominion military vessels the ship communicated its identification and maneuvered into a proper position to allow the captain’s yacht to be launched. Once the yacht was in a docking bay Captain Folami Khanaris disembarked followed by four assistants moving the necessary materials and equipment to make recordings of the day’s events. It did not take much to gauge the atmosphere of the trial, even the intercepted communications traffic indicated the potential for this trial being a political firebomb if not carefully managed.
[The dirge]
Though the Dirge had little interest or need for morality and ethics, let alone the trial, the fact they had been invited at all was perhaps another opportunity to strengthen ties with WRL members, especially after the summits uneasy conclusion.
A small sleek craft only 100 meters in length was sent. Its surfaces had organic curves forms of precise marbled bone. As it landed at the designated spot, it sent a simple confirmation message that they had indeed arrived.
[Nacht]
It was now being a somewhat common thing in the Araxium Navy that they would almost always deploy an ultimate fast battleship for every situation. The newly promoted Generalfeldmarschall Sabine von Guderian stood on the bridge of the AIN Blue Witch looking out the thick glass windows. Behind her, Arabel bounced around high on sweets. A probable failed attempt at keeping herself occupied, Sabine thought.
Both of them stepped off wearing vastly different uniforms, Sabine in her standard Oberkommando der Reichswehr Araxia officer uniform and Arabel in her Imperial Academy uniform, clearly she had snuck aboard after class. Arabel's mother Viktoriya had heard of it while they were on the way to the meeting place and she didn't care much, just asking Sabine to look after her.
So with both high ranking individuals at the meeting, they introduced themselves.
"Generalfeldmarschall Sabine von Guderian, ground forces commander of the forces deployed to Vestahl."
"Kaiserin Arabel von Raxia, overall commander and Empress of the forces sent to Vestahl."
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[TDA]
Every guest that arrived at Void Rock six was greeted with full respect and honours especially those whom the TDA had fought alongside at Vestahl, all except one. When the Davian delegation left their ship instead of being greeted with a proud Honor Guard they were instead greeted with a line of Troopers in two lines making a path to the hallway entrance, past those Troopers were a massive crowd of protesters. They hurled insults and waved holo signs as the delegation walked past, to say that these people were angry was an understatement. Going through security they were forced to remove the masks and robes they wore before being allowed into the congress room. Once inside they were shown no respect from the TDA officials and military alike, where they had stood for the entrance of other parties they remained seated when the Davians joined. With everyone in the congress room and ready to start Tyldum leaned over to the president.
“Mister President this was supposed to be kept within WRL was it not?” he said quietly as to not be heard by other delegations.
“Sorry about that Al I must have forgot to pass on the good word I figured that with an event like this it's a lot better when you have multiple eye witnesses and testimonies” Johnson said loudly making no effort to keep their conversation quiet. He the stood up and cleared his throat.
“Welcome everyone, I trust you all know why we are gathered here today. We are bringing to light the treacherous war crimes committed by our 'friend' the Davian Empire.” He stopped to take a breath and clicked his fingers, when he did multiple holo boards lit up around the room for all to see clearly, each one had different helmet cam footage from TDA Troopers on Vestahl.
“Now the first piece I would like to bring is coming up in a second on these videos right here, which is helmet cam footage from our front-line Troopers at the battle. Oh, this it watch closely.” He ceased talking and directed everyone’s attention to videos.
As if on que multiple cams shut off after an explosion some kept filming to show the desolation of the battlefield afterwards and other from the outer blast zones of the missiles was the most gruesome. Troopers walking around maimed, their flesh and the metal of their power armour fusing together and melting. Johnson clicked his fingers again and the holo-monitors disappeared.
“Now, in case you want more evidence from the “Massacre of Vestahl” we do have a surviving eye witness. He’s just over there, give us a wave Burt. But I digress we’re not the only here with grievances against the Davians. So, I turn the floor over to you now.” He said cheerfully. [Davia]
[Free Worlds]
Ackers stood, wincing in pain from his limp but keeping a straight face. "Sir, if I may?" he said. "You have your witness, but I am a witness too. If you will permit it, I will take the stand to deliver my testimony."
[ANC]
When the Free Worlder had finished speaking the next one to rise was Artem Votypkov. The cameras were set up and rolling so he came forward and cleared his throat.
"Ladies and gentleman, my name is Artem Votypkov. I'm a reporter with the Ancerious News Corporation and I was onsite and filming at the time of the... incident. I've been asked to present my video footage and when called upon I shall do so."
[Vestahl] With that the reporter sat down and Councilor Amida rose with a pained grunt.
"I am Councilor Amida Var of the Vestahl Commonwealth, currently one of the last surviving councilors. I am accompanied by Cassandra Gariot, who was an engineer aboard one of the Vestahl Revolutionary Front's ships during the civil war. I come to you today not only to present witness accounts on behalf of General Arna Hanslack and her soldiers, but also to bring to the attention of this court and the media other atrocities committed by the Divine Davian Empire during the joint intervention undertaken by them and others. Before I leave here today I intend to show a pattern of flagrant disregard for my people, and my planet on the part of the Davians and their soldiers. I intend to seek reparations for the extensive and irreparable damage caused by the Davian's reckless use of force, and the war crimes they committed against my people. My government put out a call for peace keepers and the Divine Davian Empire sent us thugs. Thank you chair, thank you delegates. I yield the floor,"
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:02:52 GMT
[Dominion]
Captain Folami had picked up on the mood in the air readily as he glanced about at the faces of those present in the hearing. It wasn’t hard to figure out what the overwhelming consensus was though conflict did have a way of clouding rationality for those who were present. He listened to President johnson and others Identify themselves in order. He kept steady eye contact with those speaking and took mental notes on tone posture and any other body language he could glean as an intelligence officer. Once the representative of the Vestahl Commonwealth had finished her statements as inflammatory as they were Captain Folami stood and spoke. “I am Captain Folami, and for the official record I am speaking as one of the impartial representatives of the Western Regional League’s founding member-nations; the Dominion of Risallas to be precise. I do have a few questions to ask for the purposes of clarity in regards to the information presented thus far in this hearing.” With that the captain politely gestured to the Three Domains Alliance’s president. If anyone was reading Folami’s body language it was measured and non-threatening without a trace of anger or any special preference to any participant in this hearing.
“First, in reference to the video footage presented by President Tyldum, I notice you have a lot of video and audio footage, but can you tell us where precisely your forces that suffered friendly fire were located in relation to known enemy positions and known allied positions at the time that the Davians began their artillery strikes?” Captain Folami knew that it might take a moment for the president to find such information if it was readily available and politely gave him the time he needed to find it by pivoting to his next question which was aimed at the Vestahl Commonwealth representative. “My second question on behalf of the WRL is for Councilor Var. Can you tell those of us present in this hearing the exact date at which hostilities began and ended?”
[Dirge]
The Dirge emissary more of less congealed out of the side of its host shuttle. It Silently moved Into the Congress room, and hovered adjacent to the seat designated for it, "This one Is identified as Violet... This one represents the Dirge in this meeting..." Around its thin neck was a violet purple armband that hung loosely around it
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[TDA]
“Hear that Al looks like you got promoted” Johnson laughed, he then waved over to General Hashmon.
“Now Burt over here is not only the sole survivor of the massacre but he was funnily enough the man in charge of the ground assault and I’ve taken the liberty of declassifying all related materials to the incident and made it readily available for everyone to see” he said addressing both the delegations and the press.
Hashmon walked down from where he was seated and stood next to the President and used the terminal in front of him. He brought up the sensor data from the battle field. There were four groups of tags, blue for TDA forces, green for allied forces, orange for Davian forces and red for VRF forces. Hashmon zoomed in on where the TDA forces were located on the VRF second line of defense. Pockets of TDA Troopers could be could be seen initially getting in on the line, then after several moments the rest of the force moved in for the kill.
“As you can see here our position was well broadcasted and our attack was going well now watch closely.” He said zooming out from the TDA position on the map.
“As you can see we have missile launch from the Davians. Now we only had mere moments to react so you can see we started pulling back but…” he paused for a moment looking blankly at the map. President Johnson stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright son you’ve done enough go sit back down we’ll take it from here. Thank you.” He was sincere in his tone of his voice. Hashmon nodded and returned to his seat.
“Well there you have it captain you can see where everyone was, I think this angle it looks even worse actually almost intentional. Now I’m pretty sure one, two, three, four would have collaborating data on the situation and I implore them to share any information they have regarding the situation.” He said pointing at the delegations that had forces present at the battle.
“It’s alright son you’ve done enough go sit back down we’ll take it from here. Thank you.” He was sincere in his tone of his voice. Hashmon nodded and returned to his seat.
[Davia]
The Davian listened silently as one party after the other accused them. Clearly the court was used as tool by the TDA to completely crush Davian's foreign relation. Yet saying the Davian kept silence was far from true, at least for the three leading figures who constantly communicated with the other via neural links and probably none could realize that the human figured were trying to calm his subordinates down.
- Ungrateful Vestalh dogs. 'bite the hand that feeds you', this's very true with these dogs. - - Calm Yourself Green. We're here as accused; we have little to question the court. And show respect for human being - - And the TDA even brought out all of these 'witnesses'. Are they really trying to crush our relation and ruin this bloc? - - We may never know Gold. We are at the stake here. Thanks to you, military dogs. - The human figure, with his mere though, switched the channel to the rest of his delegation. Clearly the sector commander remained furious with his own military. - You better pray that we can handle this without getting in another war or get kick out of the alliance. And all of you, yes including Gold and Green, do me a favor and kept your fanaticism away. - - Yes, grand councilor - - Still these TDA and Vestalh remind me of the Alliance of Light. Heh... merciless to both enemies and allies, ready to work with anyone including enemy to cast down allied nations for own gain. Quite ... brilliant politically. - - 'when a man is falling downhill, everyone will give him a push.' - Indeed Green, indeed. -
Unlike the other parties, the Davians instead of looking for seats, stood at the middle of the room: "We are the accused, so we have no right to take the seats along with you here. But even accused still have right to speak in this court am I right? I'm Kia, sector commander of Divine Davia Empire in this galaxy. As highest official here I hold responsibility to serve this court and answer to grievances against us. But then with your allowance, may I ask what are you accusing in this court? My entire nation? Or just those who hold responsible for what happened?"
"Still. Firstly, the friendly fire did happen and those guilty was us. There is no way to deny that." Kia spoke sorrowfully: "President Johnson, General Hashmon and to everyone gathering here. I... I'm so sorry." The sector commander slowly knelt down on one of his knee and looked down to the ground; a few tears dropped to the floor: "I'm here to beg for your forgiveness. A general investigation and those responsible are facing severe martial court. And I invite the TDA to observe the proceedings if they doubt that fair punishments will be given out."
"I have nothing to defend what our forces had done. And we have no power to bring back the death. Those died by the incompetent of my officers, those brave TDA who died trying to help Vestalh, they were all heroic martyrs." He stood up straight before continuing: "However, I must dispute the assertion that this was malicious and intentional strike undertaken by Davian commanders. During the course of the battle no joint communications, or joint tactical network was ever established. The TDA advanced from the first to the second line mixed in with retreating VRF hostiles and at no point did they communicate their intention to do so, nor did they communicate that they had been done. This was not the first instance of communications issues on the part of the TDA, nor was it the only friendly fire incident that resulted from regrettable communications problems. I believe my commanders acted rashly, and without taking proper precaution, but I cannot with any degree of certainty agree that they did so out of a malicious desire to inflict casualties on the TDA."
After his speak Kia turned his eyes to the Vestalh.
[Free Worlds]
Captain Ackers stood again. Still in pain, he nodded to Johnson. "I do have information corroborating this. I was the Free Worlds ground forces commander in the AO at the time, and I had a full overview of the battlefield via my mech's HUD. We were flanking up the left to provide cover fire and a RRF to the allies barring enemy contacts on our own, and at the time we were matching pace with your men pretty well."
He paused, and glared over at the Davians for a long moment before taking a breath. "Sir, when you're out there with the shit hitting it so hard the world is brown with bullets flying, you want to be able to count on the guy in the hole with you. You need to be able to trust him, not just with the mission, but with your life. Count on him to get you home, or to cover you. What became very, very clear to me when allied contacts started vanishing from my HUD, is that the Davians were not the man I could trust. They were not the man I could count on. The Dirge proved lightyears more reliable than the Davians did when the blue-on-blue happened, and while I can't tell you the greatest of particulars of what happened leading up to that harebrained strike, I can tell you without lie, I know it was the Davians."
[Vestahl]
With a wince that made clear every movement was painful Councilor Amida forced himself back up to his feet. For the moment he decided it was best to wait for the first issue to be resolved before shifting focus to his own grievances, but nonetheless he answered Captain Folami.
"The Commonwealth was created on March 4th AME 48 as a means of administering colonial expansion. Many were... dissatisfied with certain elements of the Commonwealth's constitutions. Protests began immediately and slowly escalated into riots, terrorist activity, and eventual the full-blown rebellion. As such, an exact date for the beginning of hostilities is difficult to determine and most likely disputed. I can say with certainty that the foreign intervention began about three months ago and ended within a couple days of the initial arrival. For the sake of organization, I will wait until the current matter is resolved until I elaborate further on my governments own grievances against the Divine Davian Empire. Thank you chair, thank you delegates,"
With a grunt and another wince, the Councilor sat down once more.
[ANC]
"If I may," Artem said, standing suddenly. "With all due respect to your analyst she's incorrect. We use tactical displays at the ANC to track troop movements for reports. I just conferred with my AV technician and he indicated that without line of sight or a joint tactical broadcast network, TDA troops would have shown up as the grey generic contact icons on Davian displays. And the Daviab representative just confirmed that there was no tactical broadcast network and no line of sight. It's the same way the Free Worlds mistook Davian ships for VRF later in the battle. That is all."
His piece said the reporter sat back down, the courtroom now deathly silent with the revelation.
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[TDA]
Johnson sat in his chair smirking as he listened to Davians plea, “not intentional” was what they were trying to get across to everyone… as if he believed that.
“We got any analysts in here?” Johnson said loudly standing up from his chair to peruse the congress room.
“Y-yes sir, I’m an analyst” a young women part of the TDA army stood up in the crowd.
“Tell me is it possible to track a friendly by their IFF?”
“Yes sir, when you send out the identification signal and when we receive the return one you can trace it back to its point of origin accurate within a few metres if the target is moving.” She said meekly
“And each IFF was unique in this case so there was no way we could have been mistaken for enemies?”
“Yes sir, I was monitoring the situation from one of the mobile bases at the time I was the one transmitting the IFF location data to General Hashmon in the field.”
“Alright, thank you Miss that’s all I needed to hear.” Johnson said turning his attention back to the floor grinning
“Well… you heard it first-hand folks if the Davians had been monitoring the war front as closely as they say then our IFFs would stood out against those of the VRF forces. So when you say it wasn’t on purpose I’m not inclined to believe you everyone here part of the TDA is not inclined to believe you, and I’m sure the other commanders there feel the same way.” The crowd gave a small applause when he finished speaking
“Now I’m going to have to agree with you on your statement councilor, the Davians did send thugs that had a blatant disregard to how they got the job the done. Sure, they would have saved the planet but there wouldn’t have been much of one left at the end. And now members of the Western Regional League I ask this: Why should we keep someone around if all they care about is the ends and not the means of their objectives, and as Captain Ackers stated how can we trust them to work with our fellow soldiers in a fight without them worrying about getting shot in the back as far as I know we weren’t allowing stances and attitudes like that. I mean take our encounters with the Vaanatis for example we didn’t welcome those brutes with open arms why should we allow the Davians to stay if they are just as brutal.” Johnson received a much larger applause from the crowd this time as we walked back to his chair.
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[TDA]
Johnson sat in his chair smiling at Captain Folami’s line of questioning while his colleagues were looking a bit concerned. Just as the tension was reaching its boiling point he began to laugh.
“I like you Captain, you’re a man of action and I appreciate that. Could of used you back in the day at the helm of a ship and I do appreciate your impartialness on this matter and the ANCs pandering to the Davians” He shot a look over to Votypkov that would kill.
“Funnily enough I don’t remember seeing any reports of you there at the battlefield so that explains why you couldn’t tell who was who on your map since no one shared IFF codes well at least not the TDA ones, they were however shared with the other military parties involved.” He stood up from his chair making his now regular walk around the room.
“Well, if you were paying attention we had no joint communications and no shared tactical data as stated by the Davians. So yes, it comes down to a communication error caused by all parties involved I’ll admit that and all the tactical data you see is from our records on the matter and it is 100% unadulterated. But let me state this for everyone and especially anyone who is or was military you’ll be able to relate to this a lot. Why did the Davians neglect to mention to their allies in the field that they were deploying weapons of mass destruction. Now we do know that the Davians knew that there were friendlies on the frontline and it was an active frontline, and being their weapons they should know very well their full destructive capability. Hell, I can point to any member of the TDA military or parliament and they can tell me the ins and out of all the equipment they would use as part of their job. But nonetheless they launched their weapons and those people are dead and you want to put the blame squarely on a communications breakdown. Think about it a simple press of a little button and a small amount of talking could have prevented 24000 citizens from being murdered. What am I to tell the grieving partners, kids and parents of those Troopers “Don’t be upset it was a communications error”. As if, the Davians like everyone else in this room is a space faring empire capable of FTL travel and going between universes and you want to sell communications error as the main cause. So this is why it brings me to the conclusion that the Davians had malicious intent to bomb us out or they were grossly neglecting the fact that they were deploying weapons of mass destruction on enemy positions and they did not care who else was caught in the blast.” He spoke clear and concise to get his point across the room. He hoped that would shake things up, he sat back down in his seat and waited for the rebuttals.
[Davia]
Kia and his subordinates listened to the TDA's president and immediately realized his true intentions.
- So, his true intention is to blame us and portray us as barbarians and he wants us out of the alliance we helped found. It's bad. Still 'while there's life, there's hope' let see what can be done to lessen the damage. - - You still want to cling on it Kia? I see he's starting to blame both the ANC and RD for saying something fair and true. - - And I detected a possible Achilles heel here, Kia. - - Let me see to it. -
"Mr. President." Kia looked at the TDA's president: "I know you're angry, and your people are also angry. Yet, as Captain Folami here said, calling us as thugs and other name calling won't give you any sort of higher ground here."
"With your permission ladies and gentlemen and with minor apologies to Mr. President and General Hashmon. But…" Kia looked at the TDA before turning to the ANC's reporter: "I can clarify that mister Artem is right. As I said before, no joint communications, or joint tactical network was ever established. The TDA's units back then were displayed with grey generic icons and we had nothing nearby to make visual confirmation, again I do not dispute that my commanders caused a friendly fire incident yet we did not intentionally bombard TDA's units. It is completely irrational to assume we did without any evidence to prove such an accusation and we strongly refute the TDA’s claims otherwise. Furthermore, I can show you footage and tactical display data on our part to prove that the incident was not malicious, it was an honest accident."
"Gold. Give me what we have."
Gold walked forward and showed first the tactical display just before, during and after the Davian's missile strike. The Davian's tactical displays, even at first glance totally differed from the TDA's once.
"As you can see here ladies and gentlemen, this's Davian's tactical display. Red were VRF contacts which swarming all over the first and second lines, Green were Davian's own contacts which staying far at the rear, Blue were allied contacts which engaging or advancing toward the first line, and Grey were generic contacts all over the first and second lines. As I said we Davian have no knowledge of TDA's movements, positions, or intent to advance, they did not tell us they were moving at all. Visual confirmation was unavailable since we had no nearby units, our long-range scanning was also heavily hampered due to the chaos of battle, the enemies’ strong AA and AO also prevented us from utilizing aerial or orbital scanning. Aside from that the terrain in the form of an old growth forest further hampered our ability to maintain any form of line of sight contact.” To further the point the display showed that the entire forest in question was marked with a massive grey contacts block.
“That's why you can see the red and grey contacts here kept changing colors and very confusing. We weren't even able to reliably determine the identity of smaller sized infantry units let alone directly verify that the TDA’s forces had been ordered into our free fire zone."
"On the other hand, the Vestalh had clarified to us there were no civilian or friendly units cut off or surrounded by enemies so my commanders perhaps rashly; assumed there were no friendly or even neutral targets within the area. Yes, my commanders made a mistake right there but, I strongly dispute the claiming that Imperial Forces intentionally bombarded TDA's units."
"Gold, give me the recording No.LRS843."
"Yes, Grand Councilor." Again, Gold showed a new record which synced with a helmet's cam footage of a long-range scout squad.
"Here's the record from one of the long-range scout. He and his squad were among the first to arrive to the actual battle line. Upon reaching closer did we realize what happened. Further bombardment was immediately cancelled once we realized there were friendly units in the target zone." Kia stopped for a moment as the Davian's tactical display updated based on what the scouts saw: "Regarding the lack of communications and joint network, these problems plagued the ground campaign from the very beginning. The SRU kept informed us about the presence of a massive anti-orbital network on the ground and repeatedly informed us to not conduct hot drop. Yet somehow all of these warning messages were presumably didn't get through to the TDA and they hot dropped disastrously right into the jaw of anti-orbital fire. Later in the campaign our oceanic fleet which alone bore the brunt of the entire VRF's oceanic navy’s attention to buy time so that our land-based campaign could advance further than it otherwise could. For the official record we were also fired upon by the Free World's fleet above right after we managed to defeat the VRF fleet. However, we assumed that incident was a very regrettable result from similar circumstances, however we couldn't say for sure without the Free World’s logs. On a personal note; our commanding officer, a brigadier and my personal friend was killed along with his command squad due to friendly orbital strike while leading the charge again the command bunker, yet due to the chaotic nature of the combined charge we could not determine who did it. But probably not Davian."
"Still for the sake of organization for this court, we will voice our concern about these after the TDA and Vestalh cases are resolved. In the other hand..." Kia looked to Acker and the Free World delegation with strangely normal eyes: "We understand there were a lot of communication and cooperation issues in the campaign. As such despite what has happened we would like to still retain friendly international relations regardless of what regrettable errors might have occurred.” Kia then turned to the TDA's president again: "Mr. President, in your comments prior I noticed that you claim we use weapons of mass-destruction. That is something I have to strongly dispute and this is why. Kia turned to look at Gold and said in a slightly hushed tone "Gold, give me the simplified schematics of our phosphoric and plasma lance warheads."
"By your order Grand Councilor." Moments later two simplified schematics of the warhead showed up. "Here are the two weapons that the President is claiming to be weapons of mass destruction if his words are to be taken literally. Ladies and gentlemen, I must dispute this claim because according to very generally known information numerous armed forces all over the galaxy utilize these sorts of weapons as standard issue armament. We even have another nation right here in this room that uses similar technologies. But I digress, here is why these weapons are not WMDs; the phosphoric warheads were used as first wave because they create a very large smoke screen to allow the second wave of missiles to hit home under cover of smoke. Sure, they are noxious and can be seen as flame base weapons but claiming them as weapons of mass destruction is intentional exaggeration. Our Plasma Lance Warheads in comparison act like a single shot plasma cannon which upon reaching suitable range would discharge a plasma beam towards the target. This beam specifically has the same performance to a conventional warhead so to claim them to be a weapon of mass destruction is pure and intentional exaggeration."
"Naturally the bombardment conducted by my commanders was considered a conventional artillery bombardment in our doctrine. Again, I do not deny the fact that my commanders did cause friendly fire but I must strongly dispute that the missile strike was an intentional or malicious strike using weapon of mass destruction against TDA forces in Vestalh."
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:03:03 GMT
[Dominion]
Captain Folami maintained his composure and completely ignored the vain attempt at a compliment knowing that some serious political gymnastics were going to follow. To him, the president was getting very predictable, and while it took this long to get the President to admit that his own troops were not communicating nor did they inform their allies of their advance it was just enough to ruin the TDA’s case. But interestingly enough, it wasn’t the TDA who made the opening to invalidate the TDA’s argument, it was the Davian’s comments on weapons of mass destruction. Captain Folami was originally going to ignore President’s incorrect assertions that plasma weapons were weapons of mass destruction but since this entire proceeding was being broadcast live, it was a point that had to be addressed.
“It is not as cut and dry as you think Mr. President; your assertion that plasma based weapons are weapons of mass-destruction is foolhardy. Perhaps the Three Domains Alliance thinks it is a WMD but in reality, you would be the only one in the galaxy to believe such a thing. Plasma weapons do not have a lasting deleterious effect on the environment they do not irradiate or spread biological pathogens and thus are not considered weapons of mass destruction by anyone who is competent in the scientific field of Energized Particulate Science. Now I admit, they are ruinous to soft targets, but this is no different than napalm or white phosphorous or similar such compounds that have been weaponized. Given that things such as the Crucible exist; which can destroy entire solar systems without ever getting near the target, conventional plasma-based weapons by comparison may as well be a child’s popgun.” Captain Folami paused for just a moment to receive a folder from a member of the support staff he’d brought along for this hearing. The Captain knew damn well that this proceeding was being broadcast live, and his pause would give the immediate audience time to look up the subject matter on the galactic or local internet. The precision timing allowed enough time for the court of public opinion to catch a glimpse of where the Captain had caught President Johnson perjuring himself on the stand.
“Now, in regards to the overall issue at hand both parties must realize one thing to be true, by their own admission the Davians still pulled the proverbial trigger; and yet you also have just admitted that your coordination system was not being used and your military command made no efforts to ensure that it was being used. On top of that you just admitted by default that your command did not make the normally expected efforts to inform allied units that they were advancing. This oversight should have been enough to get the officer whom ordered the advance a court martial, just like how the Davian officers who did not verify their target would undoubtedly receive. In both cases it is clear negligence, your command didn’t do what it was supposed to do and neither did theirs. Were this a civil trial you both would be deemed ‘not guilty’ because although not intentional you both are complicit in the deaths of twenty-four thousand allied troops. The deceased are not here to represent themselves but I am. So, here is what I propose for the both of you…” Captain Folami gestured as two of his attachés delivered a folder with a few documents pertaining to the agreement that hopefully would resolve the points of contention between the two nations. Unbeknownst to any party present the Captain had been in constant quorum network with his support staff the whole time and even while talking to the parties’ present had been dictating the terms and conditions of the documents.
“It is a simple enough agreement; since both are complicit in this tragedy the agreement before you are endorsed by the WRL. Firstly, since you are both equally complicit It is proposed that the costs of making this right or reparations is split between the two of you fifty-fifty and by reparations, I mean whatever it takes to make the lives of the families and children of those lost free of hardship in the aftermath for as long as it takes to ensure that justice is done. I imagine that you will not like this arrangement Mr. President, but this isn’t about you or your political ego, this is about doing right thing which leads to the second clause, the Commanding officers in both the case of the Davians and the TDA who issued the order specifically in both the instance where TDA troops advanced and Davian Troops fired artillery both of which being causes of the friendly fire incident should be court martialed in an international court of law where certain parties cannot attempt to swing the results with a ginned up media circus.” As Captain Folami said the last part he watched to see what reaction the TDA delegation would give as he knew full well that locally the story of the friendly fire incident had been spun to the masses politically and it was likely that they would not be too happy.
“Now, as a final set of terms for the agreements before you, I suspect that your two nations will want to avoid each other for a while; this is understandable. While we cannot and do not dare dictate what you do outside of formal WRL business, it is proposed here that for at least one standard galactic calendar year that in any shared WRL operations be they diplomatic, commercial or military oriented that your nations will be given sufficient space if desired so you need to directly work with each other. Each of you can opt out of such events as well if you so desire. This will at the least allow tempers to cool and hopefully will allow the both of you to act in good faith and make the proper amends to the deceased and their families and begin to heal the wound that was created on Vestahl. It is the very least that we as civilized nations can do, so what do the both of you say?”
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[TDA]
President Johnson remained seated, his face a blank mask as he mulls over what the Dominions captain had to offer. He couldn’t be serious he had to be joking trying to get the victim in all this to pay reparations, combined with all the other nonsense that he was spouting on about. It was also clear this captain had no understanding of the word ‘Impartial’, the whole things turned into a farce real quick. It was time to leave but not before getting the final word to shut this fool down he thought. Standing up from his seat with regular smile he looked first at the Davians.
“You have just made it worst for yourself, I’m afraid saying you couldn’t identify us but everyone else, those unknown contacts could have been captives taken by VRF or civilian aid and you still didn’t check who was in the AO. Also, you did have visual on our forces I have multiple eye witness accounts and footage that before the attack you linked up with our rear-guard unit defending a Casualty Collection Point. But you still insist that a few little trees and some craft got in the way of your sensors. It’s clear that this was a case of gross neglect. Since this wasn’t the first time you tried to launch missiles at the planet.” Johnson snapped his fingers and a tactical with the relevant information were displayed. It was from the TDA fleet and showed the position of the Davian Fleet as well as the allies in orbit of Vestahl. The Davian fleet then can be seen firing nearly 400000 missiles at the planet’s surface.
“As you can see without the orbital shield I’m sure everyone here would be looking for answers as to why you launched the missiles. I have more to show but I think everyone gets the point” he was done with the Davians, as allies they had proven to be completely incompetent in his eyes and all ties would be cut with them. He looked over sternly at Captain Folami.
“So Folami, you think because there is a weapon capable of destroying star systems nothing else is capable of causing mass destruction. So when the VRF nuked a city off the face of the planet that doesn’t count in your books as a WMD? So when the Davians used the same missiles used in that first barrage of ship based plasma missiles to rain hell down on us you consider that conventional. If you need a lasting environmental impact to satiate your need to stick to your guns ask the councilor over there a whole forest was burnt down.” He was getting worked up but he didn’t let it show he kept his head cool and level.
“And you accuse us of being complicit for fighting a ground war that everyone was fighting and we all had the same objective an uplink tower past the lines of defence so our advancing was not something done as spur of the moment, I’m sorry you think that it’s unreasonable to have some sort of warning that the ground you’re standing on is about to be carpet bombed. And you want to take my General to a court martial that I’m sure will be as impartial as you have been today, where I’m sure his service and actions in the line of duty will be on proud display when you put him up against a wall for a firing squad. Just to let you know the press is here because we have this little thing in the Articles of Alliance called freedom of the press not as some sort of political or scare tactic you might believe. And to top it all off you want us to pay reparations? To who? For what crime? What next you’re going to ask everyone else who was present to pay reparations too. You came here to be judge but so far the only person you’re judging is us son, try asking some of the other parties involved instead of putting us in the limelight maybe that will give you some more time to compile a verdict that makes sense. You have single handily managed to turn this whole discussion into a farce and I won’t have it. Enjoy the rest of your day ladies and gentlemen we’re done here.” He gave a few hand gestures and every person part of the TDA got up and left the room. Johnson was the first one out followed Tyldum, then Chambers and then the rest of the TDA peoples. They left quickly and orderly so the only people left in a now empty congress room were the delegations from other nations and the media. The TDA media crews looked disappointed that they couldn’t leave as well but they had an obligation to fulfil. Johnson busted through the door to Tyldum’s office and sat down on one of the couches.
“Dammit Al, I thought you said these people could be trusted instead we have an entire nation of incompetents and another one full of idiots.” Johnson could speak his mind now
“I know I know, this is bad maybe we should have invited the Dectrose to mediate instead. It just seemed more convenient to do it in Alliance. So, what do you want me to do?” Tyldum was just as mad as everyone else over both incidents.
“Scrap it, we’ll withdraw from WRL it seems the Davians and Dominion are sharing the same bed so having them removed is out of the question, cut ties with both and I mean all ties. For the Ancient Ones alert them of our departure from the alliance and tell them we’d like to maintain all our agreements however. Also start preparations for TDAOSS to get an office set up here I think we’ll need them in the not so distant future.” Tyldum nodded and began to make the necessary arrangements
[Davia]
- Alright. So we essentially lost an ally and now we have a hostile neighbor who is part of another unfriendly bloc. Thank you, military dogs, you were very helpful, thank you. - Kia almost screamed yet he managed to calm himself down and used neutral link communication instead -Anyway case one ended, onto case two, the Vestalh.-
- I had told you clinging on it won't help Kia. They simply don't want to be friend anymore and clearly intended to kick us out of the alliance and completely ruin our foreign relation. See how many media, protestors and witnesses they brought. Yet in the end they walked out themselves. After the ruling did not satisfy them. -
- I've tried to ease the case, Gold. I've tried hoping to make it right. But then they decided to sacrifice the relation toward 2 factions instead of stepping down and show some sympathy. Still we have more thing to do. - Kia related his orders to his subordinates: - The TDA would probably declare their withdrawal from WRL as well as cutting all ties to us soon or even try to do something else. I want every single Davian out of their territories and TDA out of our space asap. Gold, your Silver Fleet hold responsible for the complete evacuation of our embassies and all accesses from TDA's capital. Green, your Black Fleet and Voi Con's garrison will watch the TDA's embassies closely and will escort them out when need. All other units prepare to intervene in case they decide to go further. I want TDA's codes to be turn into unfriendly neutral. Security Forces will keep watch on any TDA's personnel or accesses staying within our border if there are any, once they officially cut ties, sincerely bring them out. Our suspending trade would be cancel entirely. That's all I can do for now. - - Yes, Grand Councilor -
- And now onto the second case. They want us to pay and extract ten thousand of personnel to them so they can execute them enmasse? After we lost near a millions troops for them? - - Grateful is something luxurious, Kia. Those who ate from a rice bowl tend to piss on them right after that. That's why I stood again your decision to help some random nation. - - Shut up Green. -
"Ladies and gentlemen, with your allowance." Kia sincerely bowed again while the TDA were walking out: "Divine Davia Empire fully accept and would follow WRL's ruling for the case. And while the WRL's ruling dictate that we just have to pay 50% of reparation to the relatives of the martyred TDA soldiers, we are willing to pay 100% for them. In case the relatives or the TDA's government do not want yearly payment then we can make a one times payment which worth 100 years per case, of course further negotiation is open to debate. In the other hand we offer to treat any WIA TDA's soldiers back to normal status and I personally offer this service to general Hashmon. Speaking of the court martial, it would definitely happen. And finally, as the highest ranking official of the co-founder of WRL, I beg the court to not condemn TDA's command in Vestalh, my argument on their behave is: their negligence was not enough to be deemed as guilty in our viewpoint. That's all I can do for now. Again, TDA's people, I beg for your forgiveness and we will obey the ruling."
Of course, Kia fully aware that his speaking worth little to nothing to the TDA as they had decided to walk out of the court and probably out of the WRL overall. Yet he also well aware these speaking would at least partially lessen the political impact caused by the incident. Once the TDA's had walked out completely and the Vestalh's councilor finished his speaking, Kia said while turning to him: "Councilor. I must say I'm quite disappointed to the Vestalh Commonwealth. If I understand it right then your words dictated us as your enemy who caused suffering to your people, is this how you treat a faction which responded to your very own distressed call for help and spilled some of the most blood to help your people? Millions of Davian died in Vestalh to help you from your own rebels and in the end, you labeled us as war criminal and treat us no better than your enemy?" Kia stopped for a moment before gave out a slight smile: "Still we are no stranger for this kind of treatment, we will endure this and since you had brought your cases here, please give us more details about your grievances again us. In the other hand with your allowance councilor, what law are you using to voice your grievances again us? As you may aware ours law and yours law may not be the same with the other and according to my knowledge this galaxy has no unified law."
[Dominion]
Captain Folami listened intently as the President Johnson quite predictably flew off the proverbial handle. It all happened so easily that it only served to verify what he suspected about the TDA’s real intentions. They didn’t want to negotiate at all, they came to make demands and if those demands were not met well they would storm out thus removing from the equation of this hearing all irrational and illogical thought process. Since the captain knew his staff were recording the meeting he didn’t have to really listen to President Johnson’s rambling, only every fifth word or so to make sure he had the gist of it. Openly he looked as though he was being attentive but in reality, he was considering the Davian-Vestahl situation which was far more complicated. In that case there was no question of the grievance, just a matter of how to handle it in a fair and acceptable manner, he knew the Davians had done wrong, but he didn’t quite know the scope of it. As soon as the TDA left and there were a few moments of silence Captain Folami spoke.
“I do apologize for that, but it was necessary to remove certain irrational elements from this hearing so that the needs of the Vestahl people can be addressed f ully without muddying the waters with unnecessary accusations and demands. So, in that light yes let us work together to determine how best to assess the charges you are brining against the Davians Councilor Amida.” Captain Folami paused to listen to the words of one of his staff and receive an intelligence document regarding the Vestahl situation. “In the case of the use of excessive force, I see here that the near destruction of your planet has to do with a botched orbital bombardment; is that correct? Also, can you describe the lasting environmental effects and health effects your people have suffered as a result?”
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[Vestahl]
"Yes, it is Captain," Councillor Amida said standing once more. "Shortly before the missile strike that cost the lives of twenty-four thousand allied troops the Divine Davian Empire attempted an orbital strike consisting of two hundred thousand plasma missiles, a hundred thousand white phosphorus missiles and some two thousand thermonuclear torpedoes. While these missiles were stopped by the orbital shield, the Davians then proceeded to use artillery shells loaded with white phosphorous on enemy positions causing the near total destruction of an extensive old growth forest while inflicting no notable casualties upon the VRF and in fact putting the SRU and their allies into a strategically difficult situation. While the other missiles were stopped, had even one of the nuclear missiles made it past the shield the damage to Vestahl would have been irreparable to make no mention of the friendly casualties that may have occurred. Had all or even a significant number of the three hundred thousand missiles launched reached their target my planet would have been utterly destroyed. The strike was unnecessary, reckless, endangered the lives of billions and the white phosphorus strike utterly destroyed a natural wonder for no meaningful tactical gain. The full environmental effects resulting from the destruction of a major carbon sink has not yet been fully studied but I have been assured that initial models are not promising." He paused momentarily to take a sip of water and cough before continuing.
"On the accusation of war crimes: The Commonwealth has strong reason to believe that the Davians tortured prisoners taken throughout the course of the fighting. I don't know what your laws are. But on Vestahl, where you were, we do not torture prisoners."
[Davia]
- Kia, you want me to continue? You seem exhausted yourself after the first case.- - No Need Gold. I'm supposed to handle all of this shit. - Kia responded through neural link before glanced at his other second in charge. - Stop it Green I do not want more proverbs. - - I'm not saying anything...yet. -
"Councilor Amida" Kia spoke while looking at the half cybernetic enhanced councilor with sympathetic eyes: "I understand what your people had gone through in the war. Say If I'm not mistake then the marks of the war can be seen on your body, isn't it? Indeed, all wars are hell, it would never change. I had also heard that your planet was essentially ruined and your people are suffering." Then his voice changed to be a little more serious: "However councilor, you and your people must understand that it was your own rebels who caused all that first hand. And by calling in foreign intervention you should also understand that those who came to help you may have very different viewpoints, cultures or ideas compare to your people and by calling them in you essentially own them blood price. And blood price is the hardest price to repay at least for us Davian, you better remember that fact. And let not forget nearly a million Davian died for your cause and now you are here blaming us for not fighting, or should I say dying, according to your own liking. Still the galaxy is brutal place where gratefulness is luxurious and resentment is common place isn't it? Besides, if I remember it right then you had never told us how to treat your environment or even tell us what rule should we follow to fight your war so my commanders had probably acted on their own standard."
"Oh, and my sincerely advice to your people is: next times when you call in foreign intervention, remember to include your requirements, law of engagements and consequences instead of just screaming for random help so those who wanted to help can calculate and expect possible consequences for helping you, Vestalh friend." Kia gave out an additional comment to conclude the first part of his speaking.
He then turned to what the Vestalh's grievances with sympathetic voice but no less serious: "Anyway I see that you're accusing us as this and that in our orbital bombardment. I admitted that my commanders were a bit reckless for throwing quite a lot of firepower onto that shield. However, it does not mean my commanders did so without any reasons nor did they disregard to your planet. As we all known, the Davian was not the only one who tried to beat down the orbital shields, several factions did so before us and failed to break it down. In case you didn't know then I must remind you that, batter down orbital shield is some of the most basic tactics in this galaxy. I believe my commanders and machineries had calculated that the orbital shield was exceptionally strong and would probably be able to shrug off almost all of the strike. And it did, the fact is our bombardment was not be able to break through that orbital shield and caused almost no damage to the landscape below. So, your blaming us in this particularly case is somewhat irrelevant as it caused little to no true damage. I believe blaming someone who caused no real damage is somewhat exaggerate isn't it? Beside I wonder: did you voice your concern to the other factions for bombarding that orbital shield yet? Or are you only trying to blame us for that because we seemed to shoot more than the other?"
"For your blaming us for the burning of an old grown forest, I must admit it did happen and it was a regrettable collateral damage." The Davian then bowed a little as his voice dropped to show his regretful and more sympathetic: "In this case the blame is us. Still your assuming said fateful bombardment had no tactical value did surprised me a bit as we all known the rebels had used said forest as their second battle line. Or are you trying to tell me the entire battle line have no tactical value? But don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to deny the fact that we did collaterally burnt down one of your forest, I just want to point out the strike was not that valueless as you are saying. Still I want to say sorry for it, I know that forest was important to you and I'm not going to say sorry and let it go, we can restore that forest to you, we can decontaminate the affected area and regrow the forest to its pre-war state should you require us to do so. Of course, it may take some time."
"Not only that, as a sign of good will and sympathetic to your bartered people we would also offer full restoration of your planet to pre-war condition for free." Kia's voice while remain sympathetic did become a little brighter and he even managed to give out a small smile which would be cut short immediately as the sector's commander know that it would be better to not give out personal feeling especially in something like this court: "Not only that we would also offer to cure any of your people who had suffered injuries throughout the duration of the war back to normal condition. While we probably do not have the best technology or power in this galaxy, we can do it should you require. However, in case you do not want to take our offers and prefer economic support only then we would also agree to negotiate about it. Just so you know that we came to help you selflessly and require no credits."
"And finally," The voice again changed from sympathetic back to normal yet somewhat cold: "I sincerely request you to tell us more about your accusing us for torture prisoners of war. As I said before our laws, viewpoints and cultures may differ from each other, yet I hope the differences won't be too large in this case."
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:03:14 GMT
[Dominion]
Captain Folami listed to the Councilor’s statements and then the Davian rebuttal, but there was something odd, for the first time the Vestahl had mentioned a differentiation, they specifically mentioned artillery use in regards to the old growth forest and yet…the TDA had only spoke of unspecific bombardments. Captain Folami considered the big picture as the Davians continued their rebuttal, what if the TDA was considering it a use of weapon of mass destruction then their troops were hit because the strike wasn’t conventional artillery but actually an orbital strike. Local laws varied greatly all over the galaxy and just the concept of ‘civilized warfare’ was as varied as the local cultures. If the Davians hit the TDA with an orbital strike then that would logically explain President Johnson’s behavior to some extent. It was obvious that most of his behavior was simply pandering to his constituents but it was based on a misunderstanding due to a lack of evidence. This would lead to the Captain’s next question which was phrased so that the Vestahl and the Davians needed to answer it separately. “Alright, with that said I believe a clarification is in order, Firstly, Councilor Amida, the bombardment against the orbital shield, was this the first attempted bombardment or were there others? Secondly, the bombardment of the old growth forest by way of conventional ground artillery is this the same bombardment in which the TDA suffered twenty-four thousand casualties?” Captain Folami then glanced at the Davian representative to ask two questions for their delegation. “Now Representative Kia, can you tell me why it is that your command felt the need to bombard the planetary shield with that amount of ordinance? It seems to me that you used an awful lot of firepower against a shield that you simply could have bypassed. Likewise, can you explain in your own terms why you decided to fire on an old growth forest claiming it harbored your enemy without using reconnaissance to verify the presence of enemy forces first? That is clearly a lot of collateral damage that did not need to happen.”
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[Vestahl]
"The bombardment against the planetary shield was conducted from orbit." Amida said. "The second bombardment which cost the lives of some twenty-four thousand allied troops was also conducted from orbit. The missiles were directed around the shield and were flown in with Davian fighter craft providing cover for them."
He then turned to Kia.
"As to the assertion that the white phosphorous bombardment provided tactical gain, I would remind the Davian representative that the destruction of the forest enabled the VRF to launch a massive armored push which nearly broke our own offensive and cost the lives of thousands more allied troops, a move that was only made possible because the forest, which was a natural barrier to their armored vehicles, was destroyed by your artillery strike.
"And finally, to your assertion that any destruction wrought upon my planet was our own doing I would tell you quite plainly: How dare you? My government appealed for peace keepers. You sent us thugs and now you come here and you have the gall, the fucking gall to say we deserved it. That we deserved to have our land burned by those who claimed to be helping us. That we somehow deserved to have our people tortured. How dare you. How fucking dare, you,"
The councilor paused, evidently realizing that he had allowed his emotions to get the better of him. He took a moment to compose himself before turning to Captain Folami once more.
"Needless to say, my government is not interested in any further 'assistance' from the Davian government. Especially given the... strings they attach to such aid,"
He dug through his briefcase momentarily, producing a folder which he brought to the dais and held out to the Captain.
"My government has compiled what it believes to be suitable reparations from the Davians. This is expected to cover both their reckless use of force and the torture of my people. All this is in addition to the extraditions I mentioned earlier,"
The folder itself simply contained lists of raw materials. Titanium, platinum, and other such raw elements along with corresponding tonnages and instructions on how the Commonwealth expected them to be delivered. The instructions alone made clear they didn't trust the Davians, requiring all materials to be shipped through a third party to 'avoid provoking tensions with local traffic in Commonwealth space'.
"My allegations of torture will be addressed once the current matter is settled," Amida said, returning to his seat.
[Davia]
- Kia, calm yourself, you're going a little overboard - - I am Gold. But I'm not emotionless. Still, take the reparation bill and check it then report to me Gold. - - Ok Kia. -
Seeing the Vestalh overwhelmed with rage for a moment, Kia turned to face him and slightly bowed: "I understand your feeling councilor. But allow me to apology for my last comment. I must admit that my words were rather unsuitable for this situation but alas I'm not emotionless. It pains me deeply when I think about our soldiers who died in the campaign only to be seen as thugs and treated worse than enemies. They do not deserve it in my personal viewpoint. But we Davian will endure this."
"As for your argument about the tactical and strategic gain, I can go further into it but I won't because it's out of topic, our viewpoints are difference and we are not in position to argue. So, we can have it go along with your thinking."
"For your requirement." Kia made a quick glance at the reparation bill before continuing: "We offer to pay twice the amount you're requiring. I sincerely request you to take it as a sight of our atonement. For the transportation methods of these goods using third party, I believe we can find the suitable solution right here or later."
Kia then turned to Captain Folami: "Sorry for kept you waiting Capitan. To answer your questions."
"Regarding to the bombardment of the orbital shield, as I said before, the command thought those would be necessary because the other tried to break it down before us and failed. They also calculated that the shield itself would be able to absorb almost all of the striking. Should the shield go down then we would have gained another angle to project our power and we believe fighting from as many angles as possible is an acceptable tactic in this galaxy. Alas it was not worth it. The shield was not damaged, nothing was harm."
"For the bombing of the forest, according to our AAR and investigation, the command had committed the strike due to: - The Vestalh had reported that there were no friendly or neutral targets in the area so the entire area was considered as free fire zone. - Other factions were being very heavily engaged at the first battle line, as well as in the air, large amount of artilleries fire, anti-air fire as well as anti-orbital fire were spotted coming from or around that battle line. - Further confirmation was not available to us due to long distain, no visual confirmation, difficult terrain, strong enemy fire, lack of join communication and the chaotic nature of the battle.
These points made our command to make a gamble, the poor and disastrous one I must say, and bombarded the entire line hoping to make the open for our side. I cannot clarify this but it is possible that they thought by doing so would pressure the enemy into surrender. Anyway, the blame is our to take here."
[Dominion]
Captain Folami watched the exchange between the two parties and listened to the information presented. The detail that had eluded the entire discussion had finally come to light, the Davians had in fact hit the TDA from orbit, the old growth forest was razed from orbit and, the Davians attacked the planetary shield despite knowing others had tried and failed. This was a clear instance of the use of excessive force when the situation clearly warranted an intelligent solution. Captain Folami looked over the Vestahl request for reparations carefully and noted the Davian offer to pay twice as much.
“Alright everyone, let’s keep cool heads here and let us resolve three issues right off; first, since the Davians have admitted to all three bombardments and it is now clear where those bombardments came from and the circumstances surrounding. First off since the Davians have agreed to cover your reparations costs, it is now clear that in the matter of the excessive orbital bombardment and the razing of the old-growth forest that both parties accept guilt (the davians) and reimbursement (the Vestahl). As for delivery the WRL itself can deliver the materials and goods you have compiled on this list so that your request of no further direct dealings with the Davians can be respected fully.” Captain Folami made use of a holographic display to demonstrate using either dominion or ancient one shipping to make sure the transfer of materials and payment would be made without delay. He also brought up a visual representation of the Davian-proposed double-payment and split it in half.
“What I recommend to the Davians is to hold whatever payment you offer over their specific requests for the possible outcome of our discussion here about the allegations of torture. If you are held responsible based on the evidence presented that is where you will need it. This also brings to light our prior situation with the Three Domains Alliance and their reparations. I know that the Davian delegation will not want to hear this but, given that it has been revealed that your strike on the area in question with orbital assets has changed the nature of that incident entirely.” With that statement Captain Folami brought up example starship scan from a reconnaissance action a few months ago over a pre-FTL level civilization. “As you see here, even with sensor jamming factors, in this case Iota type radiation, sensors can tell the difference between masses of sapient animals moving about and those of sentients moving in organization. A good military commander can extrapolate whose forces are who’s by where they are moving to and where they moved from. It seems now to me that Davian commanders did not even do this and bombarded the area where TDA troops had moved from a prior known allied position. With that in mind I must unfortunately reverse the original dispute settlement in that case also. I know for a fact you will not like it, but the evidence now does speak for itself, and Davia is on the hook for reparations to the TDA, who by the way are in their legal right to demand extradition of whichever of your officers ordered the strike.”
Captain Folami let the effect of that reversal sit for just a few moments before continuing as it was a pretty major thing and undoubtedly if this part of the hearing was still being broadcast live the news would probably be a surprise to some. “Now if there are no objections we can move on to the accusation of torture and hopefully settle that as well.”
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[Davia] "Indeed, we do not like it Captain." Kia slightly snapped as the captain, or the judge in this case decided to reverse the first case, still his voice remained calm: "But we are here to make thing right isn't it? So, do whatever you deem necessary to make it right Captain."
"For your suggestion for us to hold back the payment for the torturing, I understand that by agreeing with it could be seen as we accept their grievance, however councilor Amida had said." Kia played the record of the exact part he wanted: "This is expected to cover both their reckless use of force and the torture of my people". Then he continued: "I must emphasize these words 'the torture of my people'. According to my understanding, councilor Amida means the Vestalh people feel tortured by the burning of a forest as well as by seeing the bombarding of their orbital shield, that's why we Davian offered to pay for it too."
While Kia still explaining the Dominion’s, representative walked in with the reparation built from the TDA's government.
- Gold may you retrieve it. - - Here you are Kia - Gold walked ahead, quickly scanned the piece and walked back - They demand 3 things: the truth, 25 thousand tons of highest quality Red Crystals and justice. - - Hm…quite interesting - Kia responded still via the neural link before glancing at his other subordinate - Green, you handle the third case I believe you know what to do, I need to work out this thing a bit. - - Yes, grand councilor - Green left out a thought as he walked forward to take the lead: "Greeting ladies and gentlemen. I was authorized to continue from here." The childlike cybernetic bowed slightly at the parties.
"Firstly, I want to say this. We feel a bit uneasy here due to the present of the VRF enemy in this court." Green made a quick glare toward the VRF's personnel. His eyes, unlike usual innocent or easy going turned into glowing murderous blood red eyes of a merciless none-organic warlord. Yet this only happened for mere seconds before he turned back to the other people and his eyes reverted back to normal: "Still we will endure this because we understand differ sentient races have differed ideas and viewpoints. In Divine Davia Empire, we do not treat traitors lightly, once you have turned your back on your own people, there would be no going back, you are forfeit and death would be the only punishment. The command in Vestalh did intend to show no-mercy to your traitors yet your commander Arna had demanded us to not execute prisoners and we did show mercy to them. And what about them the VRF?"
Green showed a few short records mostly related to the massive tank battle which clearly showed the merciless of the VRF who willingly and fanatically killed every single soldier they found while the Davian took prisoners: "They had showed us no mercy, they murdered the wounded and the incapable, they even desecrated the corpses of the fallen. Yet we did honor your demand and took prisoners."
Green continued: "VRF Prisoner No.113, reporting name: Cassandra Gariot, captured by the imperial forces following the salvaging operation after the space battle in Vestalh." A record would be show specifically about Cassandra Gariot as Green continued: "Status when found: heavily wounded at both legs. Prisoner then received first aid after rescue to keep her alive and remained sane, prisoner No.113 was interrogated by Davian staffs and due to uncooperative, Davian staffs did make some more aggressive talks." The record switched to the part where the prisoner was being interrogating by the Davian, the record did show the prisoner was indeed tied to the wall and questioned by the staffs yet the record had no sound: "However the interrogation was stopped due to prisoner's health degenerated rapidly from battle wounds as well as mentally break down possibly by psychological shock after the space battle, prisoner No.113 was took care by Davian's medical staffs. They concluded that the prisoner required extensive healing. The prisoner's legs and particularly the foots and toes were severely damaged" The record turned into the scene where Cassandra Gariot was being surgery and Davian staffs trying to heal the foots and toes areas: "The surgery was a success as the staffs managed to completely healed the prisoner's body back to normal state. However, it may take more times for the prisoner's nerve system to be fully recover and unfortunately the staffs cannot sure if the prisoner's mental would be fine or not and suggested further treatment which was unavailable due to her status as prisoner of war and the demand of Vestalh to retake prisoners right after the war." The record showed the prisoner woke up after the surgeon within individual cells with food, drink and medicine provided by the Davian. The record ended with Cassandra Gariot departing the Davian's dropship onto Vestalh's soil.
"As you can see, we did anticipate that our prisoners would try to blame us, after all they are enemies and won't be fair. That's why we had made the entire record for each of them just in case they try to blame us later." Green began to speak again: "As you can see we did nothing but talked to them, yes I must admit all the talking was aggressive and threatening but it's far from torturing at least to our culture and the aggressive talk would only be carry out if prisoners refused to co-operate. For VRF prisoner No.113 here she had been wounded when we rescued her and it was us who treated and healed her from those wounds. Normally the damage would require the amputation of her entire foots but we didn't do that, instead we tried and managed to heal it back intact but as the report emphasized, bodily healing is one thing, nerve system and mentally healing is another thing. We didn't have enough times to care for her mental. Beside want it or not she was our enemy not our friend or our own so you cannot demand us to treat her as gently as our own men. The healing process could be alien or even painful especially when she awoken after the surgeon but if you condemn us as torturing then I must say your viewpoint is too difference from us here. And finally we did what you had demanded, you demanded us to not killing prisoners and we gave them back alive and fully healed bodily. But since you literally threw us out so we was not be able to provide further mentally treating if your prisoners get into mentally disorder. Normally when our soldier lost part of their body like limbs it would take us at least a week or two to fully restore them both bodily and mentally but that's how we treat our own or friends, prisoners won't receive that much treatment and normally would receive only minor mental treatment."
Green then turned to Cassandra Gariot: "We have showed you your entire record. We rescued you and treated your wounds, now you labeled us as torturing you. Yes, our talk could be aggressive and our medical treatment could be alien to you as well as painful but it's does not mean torturing according to our language."
Finally Green looked at Acker: "Be cool Free Worlders. I had explained what had happened to the prisoners."
[Free Worlds]
Ackers was... stunned. Never, in all his years of service in the Free Worlds armed forces, had he heard of someone or something outside the United Earth Alliance Remnants using torture in such a way. Or at all. They didn't do it, the big Reds back home didn't do it... call Captain Ackers naïve in this regard, but seeing that the nation that they already were putting on trial had done this so brazenly shocked, disgusted and appalled him.
It took him a long count of seconds to find his voice. "Enemy or no enemy," he said, referring to Cassandra's having been VRF, "Torture is... it's disgusting. I know I must be impartial as I can until this is proven or disproven, but if I may be honest, an act like this shouldn't surprise me." Running a hand down his face, he turned to Amida. "Sir, does Miss Gariot require a medic?" he asked, his voice concerned.
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Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 15:03:26 GMT
[Dominion]
“I have to agree with the representative from the Free Worlds and note that, torture of enemy combatants for information is, illegal in many sovereign nations including the Dominion. However, regardless of how the Davians view the opposition forces in the Vestahl Civil war, the war is over and Mrs Gariot is a citizen of Vestahl. In of that her testimony demonstrates that she has indeed suffered some form of psychological trauma even if there are no physical scars. It would take nothing short of a trained user of psionic abilities to absolutely verify the veracity of her testimony at this point.” Captain Folami gestured as a holographic display popped up above his left hand and he typed a few commands into a hard-light console which then projected an image of the banner of the AGA. “I trust some of you have heard of the Galactic Alliance, they have a member nation whom has the psionic personnel who can absolutely verify Mrs. Gariot’s testimony as true or false, and considering the Dominion is a member of the AGA in good standing we are willing to facilitate this if the Councilor and Mrs. Gariot are willing to take the offer.” The captain paused to allow a bit of room for questions or any other concerns to be voiced before he inquired in regards to the allegations of torture. “I have to ask because for the purposes of the allegations it is important, are there any digital or otherwise evidence that supports the allegations or disproves the allegations of torture such as video, sensor or voice logs available?”
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[Davia]
Just as Green began to speak he felt an organic hand on his shoulder and a voice could be feel right in his robotic head.
- Stop. I will continue. - - What? - - There're new reports. It's bad as our method is not suitable here; you haven't know about it but it's not your fault. And the Grand Imperial Council had allowed me to speak.- - What method? - - This galaxy sees our high interrogation method as torturing or at least those staying here think so, and in case you don't know Green, organic beings are affect by psionic. - - The Empire's method has never fail, the Empire has never be wrong and will not be wronged by anyone. Not by these. - - Proper enthusiasms are good, blind enthusiasm is not. Green. I need you listen to me… listen to your brother this time. - - We're doom then. - - Phoenix dies in flame and rise from ash. At worst we would be out of this sector but the Empire would never fail. Believe. - - I must agree with Kia, Green. After calculating the situation. - - Fine. -
Green hesitantly stepped back as Kia again took the lead: "I am very sorry ladies and gentlemen." He spoke with rather cold yet sympathetic: "I have to retcon what my secondary just said. I believe after I say this most if not all of you here would see us as barbarian or worse, however I still have to say this. I just received the newest record from our investigation and I must say some higher form of interrogation was used in Vestalh again in-cooperate prisoners and unfortunately, it's seem these higher form of interrogation is being seen as torturing in this galaxy. The reason for the using of these methods was because we desperately need information for the raging ground war. Still I am not defending or denying here. Beside I can clarify that my second in charge was not lying or trying to deny it, he didn't know about the true nature of it, I too didn't know about it until I receive this new record. The record is being sent to those who feel interest."
"And with this new record in hand I must agree with the demanding of the Vestalh delegation here. Personnel involved in the incident would be transfer to Vestalh as soon as possible and reparation would be paid. In term of reparation, this is a separated one to our former offer which mean we will pay 200% of the entire Vestalh's list above as reparation for the damage we caused again Vestalh planet and 200% of reparation for the torturing of Vestalh citizen. For the transferring…"
- You're overdoing it Kia. We just have to do what they want. - - Shut up Green. You have more or less screwed it up -
"It would not be done." Suddenly Gold spoke a little loud to get the attention of the room before continuing: "I am very sorry ladies and gentlemen and you too Grand Councilor but those personnel are…no more."
"What do you mean no more?" Kia turned.
"I have just received the new record from our military forces." Gold responded: "Our units sent to investigate Zaingraf have been fired upon by enemy. Unprovoked attack and they had specifically targeted our science vessel first hand using FTL weapons, no survival, and our entire vanguard forces have also been destroyed. That destroyed science vessel was crewed by the same medical staffs in Vestalh, all of them are death."
Kia silenced for a moment before asking: "Do we have record?"
"Yes Grand Councilor. The vanguard forces managed to send its final record before being destroyed. Here is the record." Gold spoke to Kia but loud enough for everyone to know: "We also managed to record the last moment of each and every personnel there so the other in this count will not suspect that we are lying. Beside other WRL members was also there beside the TDA so they can clarify it for us"
Gold then showed the record of the death moment of every personnel on the science vessel right in front of the count: "Here is our record, ladies and gentlemen, every single personnel of our medical staffs who was in Vestalh was death."
"With the death of the personnel we cannot transfer them to Vestalh as we cannot revive death organic being." Kia spoke again: "So can we conclude this case here then? And is there anyone who wants to bring more cases again us here? If you have anything more just bring out."
"Beside I had also received the new degree from Davia Grand Imperial Council. From this moment the Davia holding in this galaxy would withdraw from international activity and adopt strict isolation, current relation remains as normal in case anyone who know us decide to not severe relation with us. And finally…"
Kia turned back to his delegation, his war mask shut and its visor turned into blood red as he spoke loudly: "You will kneel before those you are wronged sinners." The admiral and general of Vestalh kneeled down and prostrate before the count: "You had committed untold crime again these people, you had painted an un-cleanable black mark on the reputation of the empire, your action had humiliated the very essence of the empire. I, as direct representative of Divine Davia Grand Imperial Council sentence you to death; all of your defending is irrelevant, for your crimes you will not be allow to commit suicide as you are not worthy. Execution is to carry out immediately."
- The Empire blesses you comrades. Your sacrifice would be remembered… back home. Davia forgive you all. Bless us back when you are one with the Empire. - Kia switched to the neural link communicator with his last words to prevent anyone but his people to know. - The Empire will never fail. Long live Davia. - - Immortal Child Lord. The Empire blessed you and sector 19th forever. Long live Davia. -
"Carry out the execution." With utter emotionless voice Kia ordered. Several Davian stepped up and put a thick piece of silk on the floor which the sinners stepped in and kneeled again. Then Green and Gold walked in front of them.
- Keep your sword straight Green. It will over in seconds. - - I know what I have to do. -
The two Davian robotic being, in complete unison, reached for their plasma swords and slashed. Blood spat all over the silk piece as the two severed heads dropped. The white-hot plasma blades quickly vaporized the blood on them and cleaned themselves. The silk piece and the bodies would be collect and bring out of the room immediately after that.
"Execution finished." The two spoke again as motionless as their master who turned back to the count: "Sorry to let you all seeing this ladies and gentlemen but Justice have to be done. We are wrong; we will change to make ourselves acceptable. So do we have any more cases?"
[Vestahl]
Amida was beyond livid. The Davian delegation had blatantly lied, walked back that lie with a half-hearted explanation, produced records indicating any and everyone involved in the torture of his people were conveniently killed in action, and then executed both the commanders before proper inquiries could be conducted.
Wordlessly, Amida transmitted a signed version of the new reparations demand to Captain Folami. It doubled the amounts initially asked for, matching what the Davians had already agreed to pay, and took a far more hardline stance on the clause demanding that no Davian vessel be used in the transport of the requested materials.
"I would like to inform the Davians that the Vestahl Commonwealth's borders are from this moment forward closed to them. Any Davian vessel found in Commonwealth space will be impounded or destroyed. Davian personnel and citizenry found within the Commonwealth will be detained indefinitely without trial. You have been warned."
The Councilor left without another word, inwardly seething while his guards and the VRF prisoner trailed behind him.
[Dominion]
As events unfolded, Captain Folami had literally in all his years of dealing with criminals and the depraved had never seen anything like the actions of the Davians. He wanted badly to face palm as unprofessional as the gesture was, as things had gone from bad to worse in just a few short hours somehow. Although it unfolded over about ten minutes… he literally did not believe the Davians were willing to go to such lengths. On his personal device the adjusted claim from the infuriated Vestahl came up and he didn’t think twice about accepting it, in the same way he sent a revised appraisal to the TDA representatives in case they too in light of this miscarriage of justice and law wanted to alter their claims. He took a deep breath and collected his thoughts before making a final statement.
“As of this moment, I have never heard nor seen more suspicious behavior then that exhibited by the Davian representatives, and I share the absolute outrage the Vestahl must feel at how you have denied proper justice to those wrong by tampering with evidence and conveniently eliminated those who stood to be extradited. Those staff should have been in a holding cell pending the outcome of this hearing and not traipsing across the galaxy to ‘help’ another nation in distress.” Captain Folami stood, as his staff had already gathered all the documents and such that was spread across the table. The captain glared at the remaining Davian representative with a look that only a seasoned military commander could give someone whom he regarded with utter contempt. The cold vacuum of deep space was comparable to a warm summer day compared to the temperament he was displaying now.
“What you have done on this day is make a fool out of everyone in this room and all those who watched this hearing live across the galaxy. We have all been diminished for having dealt with your insanity…to that end I am approving the full claim submitted by the Vestahl, which as a matter of honor will be delivered by the Dominion. If you should fail to meet the terms, the Dominion will come knocking and you don’t want that. The Three Domains Alliance’s claim is approved however, if they also want to adjust it they may do so within thirty standard days, in that case if they so wish the Dominion will make the delivery of materials or assets, and again, should you fail to meet the schedule we won’t be very cordial.” With the last words he shut down the holographic projector he’d used prior and handed off the last of his documents to one of his aides. For the briefest of moments, he turned to look at the member of his staff taking the documents and with a slight gesture said something that was understood without words.
“There is just one more thing, As the authenticating member nation of the Western Regional League, I must put on the record that you have broken several of the rules in our charter which means that as of this moment the Divine Davian Empire is dismissed as a member from the WRL. Your behavior has been horrendous and your affronts many against those present, as such you do not represent the nature of the WRL…may the court of public opinion have mercy on you.”
[TDA]
Johnson, Tyldum and Chambers all stared in awe at what the Davians did in the congress room. They could still watch the full thing happening through the security cameras as the TDA media crews had enough common sense to either cut the feed or censor it out before the deed was carried out. These sorts of things couldn’t be broadcast live to a galaxy there were probably children watching.
“Give… um… whoever’s on clean up today something extra.” Johnson said in disgust. The three were equally shocked by the departure of the Vestahl Commonwealth dignitaries as well as the shock decision made by the Dominions representative to dismiss the Davians from WRL.
“So should we still prepare for our exit from the alliance sir?” Tyldum asked
“Yeah just look at it… the whole thing is falling apart at the seams it won’t last much longer and I’ll be surprised if it does.” He said solemnly
As each of the WRL members returned to their ships they were greeted by a member of the diplomatic corp. each member handed them over the official resignation of the Three Domains Alliance. Each one however was different the Davians received another official form outlining that all agreements and pacts are broken and are no longer in effect and that they are banned from TDA territory and will be fired upon if they are found inside the borders. The Dominion got one outlining that the TDA wanted their reparations quintupled in light of the incident as well as the expressed desire to maintain a NAP. The AO on the other hand received the notice as well as the expression to maintain a NAP and all deals and pacts made previously. The representatives gave each member their tablet and as quickly as the appeared they left leaving everyone to journey back home.
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