From jeffj@baudelaire.princeton.edu Fri May 1 09:05:37 1998 Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 06:45:31 -0600 From: "Jeffrey J. Jenkins" To: INDIGO FLEET List Serve Subject: [INDIGO] Rhyfelgri (War Cry) ---OFFICIAL INDIGO FLEET TRANSMISSION--- FMD: -5.1843 Location: House of Lords, Star Kingdom of Dalriada, Dalriada Prime Gothan Brehon was in rare form as he concluded his melodramatic speach before the House of Lords in the Alliance Parliament. The elder Dalriadan statesman represented the most xenophobic faction of the Alliance goverment as he had done for nearly one hundred and fifty years, since his father's tragic and unexpected death after a fall in the family house. Few believed that th fall had been an accident. Gothan had been ambitious from a very young age. The same passionate convictions and refusal to compromise his beliefs had led to his leadership of Cynymreol (Roughly home-first) had prevented him from rising higher in the Dalriadan government. Few felt comfortable in the presense of a zealot. Yet this day he seemed to be winning over the assembled lords of the alliance. Nefydd Arglwydd Rhys was a peacemaker, not a warrior and he knew how much the Alliance could benefit from trade with the Federation. Yet, too many of those around him seemed to have been swayed by the eloquence of Gothan. He wondered to himself for the first time in many months how long he would be able to help his king stay off the turning tide. Cynymreol and other anti-Federation groups were gaining strength and his friends of Heddybythol (roughly Eternal Peace) were no longer able to rebutt their arguments without being shouted down. The House of Lords was becoming an uncivilized mob and soon it would vote for war. "This latest outrage at Xorka must not be let to go unpunished. For three hundred years, the Star Kingdom has ruled this region of space. Now a foreign power from half-way across the quadrant infringes on our territory, harrasses our merchant ships, and even attacks us. First, we are attacked in the Tabilin system, then in the Burrakan system. Now, at Xorka, we are accused of attempted genocide. How can we tollerate this any longer?" At least Gothan never allowed the facts to stand in the way of his arguments thought Nefyyd. He does what the Terrans called a billclinton. He and his supporters filled the air with so much noise that no one could possible determine the facts from the lies any longer. Unfortunately, for the Heddybythol, it was working quite well. Any attempt to point out that it had been Cynymreol reactionaries that had forced the Federation into the position it was now in and had, in all of the occasions he mentioned, been the agressors did not matter. What mattered was that Gothan Brehon was an eloquent and forceful speaker. People, mistakenly, believed that because he spoke so well and with such deep conviction that his conviction stood for what was right and appropriate for the government. That they were so wrong only made their gullability and shortsightedness a trajedy in the making for the Alliance. When at last the vote came, it was not even as close as Lord Rhys might have hoped. Less than four dozen lords of more than two hundred stood in opposition to Lord Brehon. The Dalriadan Alliance and the United Federation of Planets were at war. Worse, it was to be a war launched in secret. The Federation were intended to fully comprehend the magnitude of what was happening only after the Dalriadan fleet had captured Starbase OMEGA, central symbol of the Federation Star Fleet presense in the region. /---------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Jeffrey J. Jenkins | "Fortune is not on the | | http://baudelaire.princeton.edu/jeffj/ | side of the faint-hearted. | | mailto:jeffj@baudelaire.princeton.edu | -Sophocles, Phaedra. | \---------------------------------------------------------------------/ | Copyright 1997, Jeffrey J. Jenkins, All rights reserved. | \-------------------------------------------------------------/ ***This message sent by an official member of Indigo Fleet*** Are you also posting your message to the newsgroup?!!! ---END TRANSMISSION---