Snake Eyes
’This government’s incompetence continues to astound and bemuse. Ground Force is committed on a host of worlds where Man kills his fellow Man over petty externalities. Why? Freeborn or vat-grown, are we not all human? An extra arm does not cheapen a man’s soul, surely. At the very least, are we not all citizens of the Second Respublica, in any case? Every year, trans-humans help fill this authority’s coffers with their taxes and contributions to the economy. Ladies and gentlemen, you are failing a great number of your taxpayers. You are failing your people. You are pushing them to take a stand.’
- Excerpt from the ‘Plenary Congress Speech of Representative John Newman, 12 August 524AU’
It had been a bold move, holding the Plenary Congress in the midst of the greatest crisis facing the Respublica in more than fifty years. And, as bold moves so often do, it held the potential for both greatness and disaster. But it was a necessary gamble. After all, the troubles on Sand were neither isolated nor aberrant in their seriousness. By 524AU, the year of the Congress, tens of thousands were dead from communitarian violence right across the Respublica. Several worlds were seeing fighting so fierce that the word ‘war’ proved a more apt descriptor than mere ‘conflict’. The appointment of ‘the Gentleman’ Marc Luis Ferrero to the Master Governor General office for the stellar region had proven wise, but inopportune. A diplomat and an administrator, his ability to negotiate truces, concessions and compromises was quickly becoming legendary, but he was not the man to cut the Gordian knot of the underlying conflict. That is to say, he did not fan the clashes, but neither could he prevent their recurrence.
The conflict was exacerbated by the rapid spread of the ‘Freedom Army’ and its politics across Old Phyrria and some of the Core Worlds. John Newman, its leader on Sand, was accused in many quarters of masterminding this spread – an allegation he continued to vehemently deny. The organization and its ideology concentrated on trans-human rights and open resistance to norm violence. Ironically enough, that resistance often took the form of violence verging on terrorism and insurgency. In other words, it fought fire with napalm. But the movement was proving popular with numberless millions of the modified, the poor and the otherwise discontented. It promised liberty and fundamental changes to outmoded thinking in the Respublica. In a very real way, it was quite attractive to right thinking, civically minded folk as much as trans-humans consumed by bitterness and loathing of the ‘inferior norm’. In the heritage territories of the Commonwealth, for example, its emphasis on small government and individualism bought it sympathy, and a fair bit of active support. On the other hand, it had the active allegiance of the vast majority of trans-humanity, who saw in it their government of choice, above and beyond planetary or Respublican authority.
By the time the Plenary Congress met in 524AU on the world of Rebrant, the political landscape had grown very complex, indeed. The Freedom Army was becoming a real player. And so was the unquestioned ‘star’ of the Plenary Congress, John Newman. The trans-human leader, who had been given official recognition only the previous year, had found the perfect platform for his rise to true prominence. As the Representative of Sand and the face of the Freedom movement, he had garnered enormous regional support – as well as the support of those in the Core Worlds who had an axe to grind against the government, or were hoping to replace it. When finally given the opportunity to speak, after some dalliance and stalling on the part of uncomfortable Respublican representatives (who had considered Newman a terrorist, for his part in the Sand War), he became something more than he had been, up until that point. It was a magnificent speech, broadcast across much of the human sphere. A historical speech, even. Newman was absolutely magnetic. Railing against hardline authority, oppression, hate and regression, he left billions scratching their chins.
And to top that effort off, he spent the rest of the Congress successfully combating Respublican attempts to cast him and his movement in a bad light. They were at times clumsy, and at times quite devious, but he managed to bat them away with the practiced ease of a career politician. In the space of a month, Representative Newman had become a household name. Elder Delmunde, for his part, did not acquit himself well in the affair. He made his government look impotent, as charge after charge was left at its feet, unanswered. In the end, the Congress was concluded with no solution to the antagonism between norm and trans-human, and none to the tension between the central government and its planetary ‘vassals’. Instead, it was a showcase for regional politics and the failure of Respublican governance. Most of all, it was Newman’s show to run – and run it he did.
Thereafter, the violence worsened noticeably and the stability of the Respublica, as a whole, became threatened. This powerful, opulent state was being eaten from within by its many demons. Master Governor General Ferrero could not control the situation in Old Phyrria. In mid 525AU, he began to engage Representative Newman with a view to stabilizing the situation and establishing a dialogue, of sorts, with the ‘other side’. Though there was no direct proof, many saw the Freedom Army behind regional dissident advances against right-wing norm groups. In this endeavor, the Gentleman failed profoundly. The trans-human was not to be toyed with. Though Newman was at first co-operative, Ferrero found himself accommodating the Sandian more and more, as the months wore on. Then, he worryingly began expressing sympathy for his political adversary’s position. In 527AU, the Respublican government was forced to sack Ferrero, having discovered a trail of leaked documents leading back to him. Immediately thereafter, he was found openly consorting with Newman, and was soon appointed as a senior official in the Freedom movement.
It was not treason, per se, but it was a hammer blow for Respublican efforts to rescue the situation in Old Phyrria. After Elder Delmunde’s death in 528AU, the Respublican decline accelerated (Elder Hertze was as inept as he was corrupt and nepotistic) and by 530AU most of Old Phyrria, much of the Commonwealth heritage territories and even some Core Worlds either supported or were openly sympathetic to John Newman’s Freedom movement. Worse still, he had also managed to buy or charm numerous senior officers in Space Force and Ground Force. The stage for a showdown was almost set, and something had to be done. Decisions await.
The Respublica is broken. From without, it still appears whole. But there is a cancer at its heart. If we do not cut away the tainted flesh, we risk it all. Choose our last roll of the dice, in stopping the looming avalanche.
Do you... send the greatest assassins in our employ to cut short the career of this would-be ‘liberator’? John Newman is the menace at the root of our problems. He is a conniving, ruthless gangster whose existence threatens that which our hands had built. Kill him. We can always blame norm groups in Old Phyrria. And better we risk more unrest than outright usurpation.
OR
Do you... attempt to remove him from power, legally? This man has broken the laws of the Respublica. He leads the Freedom Army’s clandestine war against our state, and we can prove it, if only we have the fortitude to make the process formal. Yes, there is risk. If we fail, we might cement his legitimacy and moral superiority. But, if we succeed, we can undo much of his work overnight. It is better than risking more violence or even civil war.
OR
Do you... raise the forces you will need to actively suppress the violence across the affected territories and to eliminate the Freedom Army? It will be costly and unpopular, but we can take the rug out from under Freedom’s feet. We just need the manpower and the resources to put in a credible effort. So far, the government has provided neither. Our military is a tool of the state that has gone underused. Let us give it meaning once more.
sort of person. Exactly the kind of man we need!
