Schrödinger's President

Federation President Halsey is missing.

Or dead.

Quite possibly both.

It very much depends on who you listen to, or want to believe. Factions within the Federation are each telling wildly different stories; with an investigation that seems to lead to more questions being asked than answered.

So I have to go there to investigate on my own.

Dropping back into normal space in Azaleach finds it busier than usual. Much busier. A small cluster of ships break out of tight fuel scooping orbit around the sun, and begin the 20,000Ls long run out to Leoniceno Orbital. Two more ships jump in and turn immediately, apparently more confident in their remaining fuel, and follow close behind.

“12 hours ago, following entry into hyperspace, Spaceflight One went dark. All attempts by the President’s security team to trace the vessel have met with failure.” - Secretary of State, Felicia Winters.

Missing! They can't find the ship.

The system is huge. Azaleach B and C stars glimmer faintly, orbiting each other and barely visible at over 220,000Ls away. They almost, but not quite, fall into the background of nearby stars. They've already been picked out by an advanced scan of the system along with their orbiting asteroid belts so there's no problem finding them.

It's a damn trek out there to go take a look, and precious little chance of finding anything.

"We exited hyperspace uncontrolled and in deep space – something I’ve never seen before... We first searched the deep space around our positions, then jumped to the destination point rendezvous as quickly as we could. Nothing. Not even wreckage.” - anonymous escort of Spaceflight One.

A misjump then into a dark and uncharted volume of space and lucky to get back out alive. Almost unheard of these days with the safety features built into these drives.

How exactly do you force a misjump?

The system is full of security patrol ships as the system is in a state of semi-lock down. Searching for a piece of wreckage, a transponder, any signature that could be Spaceflight One. Any clue on what happened.

There's nothing here to see, and nothing found. They are searching in the same way that I am. They carry a hope of finding a clue that others might have missed, and have a palpable sense of something most definitely lost.

Having ensured that the tumbling rocks around Azaleach B remain protected these two security ships jumped out.

The background to these events don't stop some of the wilder speculation making it out onto the comm nets either.

“Learn your history, people. It wasn’t all that long ago that our ancestors were being plucked out of the black right into the belly of bugs ... Weird, pulsing, alien things. I don’t know where they came from ... You think it’s a coincidence that the President went missing just weeks after those THINGS turn up?" - Alex Snoori, host of Beyond Top Secret.

This one sounds like the rantings of a conspiracy theory.

Except for one thing.

When you do go a check your history books it's clear that Spaceflight One made a detour that took it within 300Ly of a known base of operations for the Thargoids.

There, I've said it. I'm almost ready to buy into something as imaginative as that. The history books are full of commanders that went missing, and some that even came back with wilder stories. Jameson himself claimed to have survived more than one witch space encounter, bringing back technology that would have made its way into the research laboratories.

"But the idea, the very notion, that our best and brightest out there on Starship One would have let that bird fly with a busted engine... No way. Those guys are military. We need to be looking for who did it. We need to nail them NOW. The assassin is busy covering their tracks while we speak." - Shadow President Hudson, Federation Congress.

The Shadow President seems certain it was an assassination. Is he grasping at straws, or does he have some inside track?

In any case the call of a vote of no confidence in the President, missing and believed dead, is brutal and callous. With Vice President Naylor also on board Spaceflight One (against all the usual travel conventions for senior leaders) there is no-one to answer to the vote, or hold to account should it pass. Hudson is making his powerplay and the Secretary of State is meekly letting it go ahead.

“Starship One’s disappearance appears to have been caused by a major malfunction in the Frame Shift Drive’s safety systems. It looks like there was a major power surge, followed by four separate system failures in quick succession according to the data we have, resulting in a catastrophic explosion. We do not believe this explosion would have been survivable by anyone on board.” - Lieutenant Barringer, Federal Transport Safety Administration

The story has changed. As they were originally searching for a missing ship, then the catastrophic explosion must be inferred from the consequences of the system failures. I keep on coming back to the question of how to perform a mis-jump. Was it a deliberate act of ... intent... or sabotage?

Perhaps Hudson was right about such an accumulation of chance being malicious: the Federation leadership on one ship, the power surge, the sequence of safety system failures...

Neither the Empire nor the Federation now has a credible and unifying leadership to maintain the peace, and the known human space is accelerating into a turmoil not seen in recent history. Major powers fracturing along internal divisions of ideology and ambition, and openly competing for hearts, minds and territory.

What really happened to Spaceflight One?

A new dawn at Lugh

There is a peace here now.

Of a sorts.

A hope of tomorrow being different to recent memory. That the future holds a brighter and better thing than recent uncertainty and doubt, pain and fear, sacrifice and loss.

The waging of war has torn this system asunder and now it needs time to rebuild. The Federation is gone, but has certainly not gone far. It will not forget for a long time the solitary system that roared.

Long after the deaths of thousands of civilians there will be a memory of a bloody nose. Perhaps historians will look back with the benefit of hindsight, and more complete knowledge, and call this a cusp in the long history of the Federation.

For now though there is still work to do.

Both factions need stability. Leaders of both sides must learn to operate in a peaceful coexistence again. In a far better way than the rabble rousing and drum beating of war.

Much has been done in the name of people of Lugh. They rightfully expect no less.

Though a nagging doubt arises and I hope that it is just an aberration. When bounty hunters act to drive away lawlessness and bring a return to order, then why does the Crimson State Group have trouble with bounty hunters. A misunderstanding?

For now I can't tell. But I'll stay around for a while to see what emerges.

Outbreak - is Onionhead the cause?

The past two weeks have seen the drug Onionhead being spread far and wide across the Federation. Seen by the politicians as a social malaise, contained forcefully by the military, and as the livelihood of the farmers of Kappa Fornacis. It is a continuing source of escapism by the young.

But that doesn't stop Onionhead being what it is: an alien plant.

Taken recreationally rather than medicinally is there room for Onionhead to bring longer term side effects that are only now starting to emerge?

CMDR Charybdis responded to a medical emergency mission in Tau Ceti last night, one that contained an outbreak. A mission that required agri-medicines to contain.

An outbreak of... what, exactly?

Federation GalNet news and analysis (at 31-Dec-3300)

Story Arc:

The high burden of welfare and the increasing costs of the military have led Federation President Halsey to announce an increase in taxation for the new year. Long held to be a problem due to the imbalance between frontier worlds and the core systems, this has plunged the President's popularity to a new low.

The frontier system of Sanna has already called for secession from the Federation in a powerful speech made by Congressman Marcus Albertson. Retaining the taxes and forfeiting the vote in Federal Congress has attracted a firm response and a Federation battle cruiser will shortly be deployed to help retain Sanna's membership of the Federation. Shadow President Hudson sympathised with Sanna, and pointedly called for lower taxes, welfare and bureaucracy.

Analysis:

The tensions within the centralised government of the Federation have stepped to the fore again. Individual systems that do not feel connected to the core worlds will watch Sanna with interest, wondering if they dare pursue the same desire to secede from the Federation.

They should look first to the independent worlds or the loose collective known as the Alliance to see what there costs would be. The local taxes no longer paid to the Federation would have to go towards local defence forces, local bureaucracy, and local business investment, otherwise the system would fall into decline as feudal or anarchy states.

Sanna has already attracted the attention of a Federation battleship, certainly not the return of taxpayer credits that they were looking for.

The Shadow President has given, if not tacit for support and encouragement for Sanna, then at least a used the events to advance his own agenda. One that would still be in place, no doubt, regardless of where the issues played out at Sanna fall. The call for conscription for the young to address the welfare and Onionhead issues of the day still remains un-costed, and does not take into account the young and strong members of the Federation that contribute and do not place a burden.

If the platform set out by the Shadow President advances further then he might well find the conscripted are sent to frontier worlds to hold the Federation together.

Link: GalNet news archive

Federation - story arc catchup

Story Arc

A narcotic plant discovered in the independent system of Kappa Fornacis has led to the blockade of the system by Federation forces, with President Jasmina Halsey citing concern over the effects of this new drug called "Onionhead" on the young and impressionable.

The fleet action led by Federal Admiral Vincent is engaged in the prevention of ships entering and leaving the system, while the farmer's leader Georgio Algeria has called on support from the free thinking against the oppressors "If the Federation doesn't like it then it MUST be cool".

The Federal bombing of the drug crops has had a sharp negative impact on the social media, directly affecting the President's perceived popularity. The act of distancing herself from the actions of Admiral Vincent, and denying that the bombing was a presidential order, has drawn sharp criticism from Shadow President Zachary Hudson who has pointedly separated the execution of law enforcement from the drafting of laws and policy making.

Going even further the Shadow President has used his congressional speech to call for the return of conscription, with his own military career as an example of how it would benefit the lazy youth of today.

Analysis

It must be the doldrums between election years.

The Federation President has triggered the blockade of an independent system in order to tackle the problems of the youth of today, and no doubt to show action is being taken to the concerned middle class. In doing so she has tripped over the oldest degree of separation: politicians set the objectives and exit criteria, while the military plan and execute the operations needed to achieve those objectives.

The intervention by a politician in the operational decisions of the military, and then withdrawing that support in what, on the face of it, appears to be based on falling popularity, will be seen as faltering and indecisive leadership in some quarters.

It doesn't help that the Onionhead farmer's leader sounds like he is sampling his own wares, though the drugs themselves must be making quite the profit for someone. The battles raging about Kappa Fornacis are being led by top of the line Anaconda and Python warships, and CMDRs of the Federation of Pilots drawn to the fight are finding this unexpected resistance disquieting.

The recent incursions by the Empire into independent systems must have struck a nerve among the hawks in the Federation, with the Shadow President openly calling for a return to conscription. Expect voices to be raised more shrill over what is happening just across the border, and calls for an increased militarisation of the Federation.

So far the battles between the Federation and Empire are in proximity only, but could escalate into "by faction proxy", before falling into open warfare. Has the touchpaper been lit?