GM Note: Beautiful “Starmada” mini courtesy of Lt Cuddles!
Good morning! Today, on DISASTEROID! Ur Hegemony Lesser Aspect Emberosia has arrived in system and is offering assistance to the locals. Can they be trusted?
To the denizens and migrants of the Homeric Belt, the forces of the Evolved Intelegence have arrived. We have received multiple requests for aid and have come to offer what help we can. Our flotilla has limited resources but we are sending for more materials and personnel as the intricacies of your human squabbles unfold to us.
We plan to use our resources to firstly construct a depot on the asteroid known as 1777 Du-ε. We understand many of you may mistrust our goodwill and this seems to be the least offensive placement for us that is logistically near enough to the areas of conflict. I am told that the State Empire may be operating in this area as are illegal and subversive groups they are hunting. The data from our scanners is at your service and we are willing to dedicate strikeforces to aid should you request them.
Our available hulls also contain many resources useful for infrastructure work. Many of the roads and other means of transit HuEOS 289 and LuY 911 have fallen into disrepair from neglect or apparent missile fire and our drones and urkherite engineers stand ready to repair them. We would request a meeting with a representative of the Teamsters within the AWU as there are few more qualified to prioritize repairs than the ones traveling these dangerous pathways daily.
Furthermore we offer protection in the form of armed convoys for all legal civilian travel. We do not challenge local authorities and proper paperwork will be filed. Let the roads be safe. Protection will come on a first come first served basis at automated kiosks once deployed.
It is our hope that with the aid of O-12 this will be the beginning of the end of your disputes. We stand by to aid our newfound allies and hope to one day see your fledgling race grow beyond adolescence.
Lesser Aspect Emberosia
Courtesy Dhalik Alshabuu
Welcome, agents of the Evolved Intelegence [sic]. We must commend you on your ample enthusiasm as well as the generosity of the resources you seem ready to commit to this lonely backwater of our human sphere. Your assistance on 1777 Du-ε will not be required. Our investigation is already underway.
We request that you avoid undue risk to our undercover personnel or to the completion of our efforts by inadvertently obliterating the trail of evidence. No doubt your sincere offers to help across the cluster will be welcomed, encouraged and coordinated by your friends in the O-12. Do check that you’ve completed and filed all the requisite paperwork with them first though, they really think the smallest details are important.
Hsien Yue Fei
As the foremost representatives of the best professionals on 1777-Due, and as the sole representatives of certified above-board legal private contractor services on the planetoid, we at MERCnet welcome you to our humble base of operations.
You will hereby find attached a map highlighting the best areas for you to set up bases, occupied mine shafts and the areas where you will find the most people in need of humanitarian aid. Please refrain from entering the areas highlighted in Red.
In order to operate in the red areas, and also to maximize your efficiency of operations, we suggest you use our contracted services through the Ducktail Pub’s channels, which you will find on the Public Broadcast.
Hoping for a fruitful and civil collaboration, we offer our best regards,
For MERCnet, Shareholder H.Koumeini
Lt Cuddles
The Ariadnan Workers Union would be glad to begin talks regarding infrastructure and repairs. With a combination of our workers and your materiel, we shall quickly cover any necessary repairs. Let us discuss how our workers can liaise with your operatives.
BlessedBe
To the delegates of the degenerate Ur Hegemony and the parasite AI that has absorbed so many free peoples of the galaxy: we preferred you when you stormed the jungles of Paradiso, unleashing sepsitor nightmares and cannibalizing the corpses of our fallen for your Umbra puppets and Shasvastii marauders. Better an honest enemy than a false and faithless ally. We know you for what you are. Do not interfere with Nomad interests. We reject the pretext of “aid and development” as a vehicle to diminish the sovereignty of the Human Sphere.
BorisGreyMenace
As a Provisional Non-Commisioned PR and Communications Officer for HHC, i state neither support nor opposition to the opening statements of the Nomad Delegate, as the full degree of trustworthiness of this CEASEFIRE, is still unknown at this time. yajib ealaa albashar alhadhar min albashari!
We fight for Humanity’s Cause, not that of one human or nation.
Dhalik Ashabuu
Courtesy Dhalik Alshabuu
While I respect Haqqislam and the relationship we have curated for many years, I ultimately support the statement of my colleague and protest the continued cooperation with the Combined Army. It was not long ago when these alien aggressors were ruthlessly opening fire on humans without discrimination, regardless if they were combatants or not. Too many humans have been abducted by these invaders, and too many more lost in the fires of their conquest for us to simply forgive them and let them into our highest order of government. This is clearly a plot, and anybody who believes that they are here with our best interests in mind is both short sighted and incredibly forgetful.
Need I remind everyone that it was the Combined Army who destroyed two of our circulars and damaged another? Our infrastructure has been massively damaged by these aggressors, and it is the people of the Human Sphere who will have to pay the costs to rebuild. We already struggle with one AI overlord in the Human Sphere, and here we are, seeking to invite another in. One with motives incomprehensible to us humans. But we’ve seen what this alien computer does to people it views as dissenters and belligerents. It reprograms their minds and turns them into slaves. What do you think will happen when it comes into direct contact with ALEPH itself? Do you think that it will simply respect a younger AI? No, it will continue to do the same. The devil will be rewritten and reprogrammed, and before we know it, humanity will have entirely lost its own agency and ability to govern its own development.
Would you rather be a footnote in another empire’s tales of glory? Or stand in defiance in the faces of gods and demons to earn our place in this universe?
We hope mankind can return to its senses and expel these aliens from our homes. I only pray it doesn’t happen too late.
Razek (CSU Larry)
yajib ealaa albashar alhadhar min albashari!* However, while speaking immediately as a temporary representative for the Haqqislamite Nation I am bound to stand by the acceptance of O-12 accords and the desire to maintain the peace and well being of all humans in the Human Sphere. This Haqqislamite delayed would, at the same time, like to emphasize that this is a CEASEFIRE, not a peace accord, based entirely off of convenience and necessity. The diligence with which our Nomad hulafa’ almuharibin watch this change and it’s development is priceless as a service to the Human Sphere!
*Humans must watch out for Humans!
Dhalik Alshabuu
The Nomad delegation wonders when this ceasefire will end? It was formed to combat the Q.A.Z crisis on Concillium Prima, a disaster which has been managed. Why then does the Combined Army continue to hold their provisional seat on the O-12 security council? The Nomad Nation has always watched out for humanity! We have always taken people in when they felt their rights were being infringed upon. But the thought that humans are watching out for humans in the O-12 security council is simply just a fallacy now, and there is no telling how much lobbying is being done by the CA in the capital city of lobbying in order to further their own agenda! I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if half the council was already replaced by Shasvastii impersonators!
Therefore, I put forward the motion for the immediate biometric scanning of all members presiding on the security council, their aides, and their staff. This information must be released to the public on the Maya and on Arachne post-haste. Furthermore, we should increase the research and development for a next generation of biometric visors to outfit Bureau Aegis with in order to maintain the integrity of our esteemed O-12 council.
Razek (CSU Larry)
Following Nomad Diplomat Razek’s motion to institute biometric scanning of all O-12 security council members and associated staff, our sources tell us a mass decanting of Bao Troopers from cryosleep was immediately begun across all Imperial Service facilities in the region. Unfortunately, many Bao Troopers have been lost, as their cryo pods have been moved into the various broom closets of Yu Jing facilities across the State Empire.
We must also take a moment to mourn the loss of one Erin O’Nealz in combat. We are informed that her cube is intact, but the queue for resurrection in the Homeric Edge is quite long!
It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the news that Sixth Sense News warcor Erin O’Nelaz was fatally wounded during a firefight that ensued during a visit to the Averroes Hospital compound.
The journalist was holding a valid press pass authorization and was embedded in Batth’o Ubelin inc. team to document the situation. Our squad was hambushed by hostile operatives who unprovoked and without warning deployed lethal force against us.
The attackers were positively identified beyond any reasonable doubt to be Aleph agents. In the ensuing firefight they were defeated and withdrew from the theater of operations, to disappear into thin air.
As it is often the case, innocents are the first casualties in conflicts spurring from greed and lust for power. Despite the grevious wounds inflicted by DA long range ammunition, Erin’s body was recovered and her Cube implant seems not to be compromised.
I personally commit to do all what is in my power to return her to the Human Sphere. In such times there is even more need for independent and brave journalists to document what happens at the fringes of civilization.
Batth’o Ubelin
Courtesy Dhalik Alshabuu
ALEPH representatives declined to comment on the incident directly, but did provide the following statement:
Following O-12’s decision to support and protect Aleph through Starmada, Aleph officials have asked the O-12 to deploy the Antochi, a Corvette that distinguished itself on Concilium Prima. Aleph hopes that Captain Theoni Rossopoulou will be confirmed in charge of the ship: under her command, the Homeric Belt will be a safer place!
Uncle Pentium
ALEPH LHOSTs often have extra fingers to further increase typing speed when interfacing with mechanical keyboard terminals as found in the less technologically advanced spaces in the Homeric Belt.
O-12, eager to support the request of ALEPH, has indeed dispatched the Antochi, captained by the Theoni Rossopoulou (she/her).
The Antochi is a lightly armed corvette designed for peacekeeping, which is just what the rapidly unfolding events in the Homeric Edge need!
