Trials of Oppression - (IC, Open)

[Libertarian Governance]

Ithaca - Libertarian Governance

After dialing the last digit of the phone number then man pressed the cell phones talk button. 25 kilometers away a cell phone answered closing the circuit that detonated a massive bomb. The device had been secreted in a plumbers van that exploded as students of Rochelle Academy were leaving classes for the day.

The explosion ripped into students. Kids and faculty fled and ducked to cover. For an instance confusion held everyone with an iron grip. Then came screams of horror, of pain and anguish. The sounds of car alarms and honking horns broke through the noises of people coming to help. Sirens soon joined in as National Police Force officers, Fire units and ambulances raced to the area.

Within a few minutes the area was swarmed by law enforcement officers, rescue workers and citizens. The area was now secured with heavily armed police and some citizens who had their personal weapons. There were many dead and wounded youth.

A second device, this one in a small hatchback parked about 150 meters from the Vans location exploded without warning. The blast tore through bodies as the car became a mass of shrapnel that tore into emergency workers and citizens alike.

Rochelle Academy was run by Demented Schooling and this particular campus catered to the wealthy and powerful. As rescue efforts continued casualty figures would eventually reach 116 killed and 253 wounded. Most of the casualties came when the second device exploded.

Executive's Mansion - LIberty

Robert Stratton was attending a NSC meeting following the bombing at Rochell Academy. 116 killed in this bombing, I want the perpetrators found! Ok, Thomas you will deliver a more detailed statement on the bombing and what we are doing to find the attackers.

I want to suggest that there may be a foreign hand in this. All eyes turned to Intelligence Chief William Bennett who seemed to hesitate just a moment. Everyone had heard talk of foreign conspirators but there had been no real proof offered, until maybe now. We received a request from Liberty and similar request from Corcoran and Eden. We have been asked to help investigate foreign involvement.

What evidence of this do you have? Arkady Korabelnikov leaned forward awaiting a response.

Well, there is a money trail, some foreign nationals under suspicion. The NPF are pretty sure. I have started an investigation and I will put some more resources into this with this bomb attack.

Alright, take the lead in this investigation. Provide all the assistant the NPF can use. Next matter, the mealy mouthed Katonazag regime has been spewing that we have conducted crimes against humanity for killing slavers. Can you believe these clowns?

General Korabelnikov jumped in as soon as the Chief Executive finished speaking. They lack a pair, always crying about something. Remember their crying in Underium. They have a record of hostility towards our nation.

Lars Abrams the usually dovish chief of staff seemed a bit irritated. What importance do they think they have?

Absolutely none. I am at this time suspending monetary payments to this group. I am also ordering all their officials out of the country and withdrawing our own staff for consultation. What actions should we take against an obvious enemy regime? Tom.

We should always seek diplomacy first. Arkady rolls his eyes as Thomas McWain, the Chief of Foreign Affairs, continues. We can simply talk to other board members whose position is far closer to our own.

Oh, now, there is no need to talk to anyone. What these people need is a good kick. Arkady wore a deep frown now. He pounded his finger on the desk to emphasize his displeasure.

Thomas stood to give his own response. You can't invade everyone. We should talk and achieve a consensus. I mean we are an important contributor to...

Cousin, I don't think diplomacy is at all necessary here. What do we need this organization for? While our troops liberate slaves they hide in the background doing nothing. They are of no consequence and like Arkady said, they seem to have a problem every time we turn around. Unrelenting hostility and attempts to interfere. Have our allies done less then we? Robert nodded to recognize Arkady Korabelnikov again.

I understand they are working with the communist. Arkady spate the word Communist as if it burned his mouth.

Alright, we don't lend any legitimacy to their ridiculous claims but we will begin addressing their hostility and interference in the slave war. Arkady and William, I want you guys to begin preparations for direct action against Katonazag.
Libertarian Westphelia - Camp 17

Petr Skovajsa pled not guilty which set in motion the procedures for an eventual trial. He was offered the services of court appointed attorney Kennington Brewer. Kennington was a world renowned defense attorney with a thriving practice who like all lawyers in Libertarian Governance was required to provide services to defendants who could not afford an attorney at the government's expense.

Kennington informed Petr that he could hire any attorney he wished and that his next court date was a week away. Before the arraignment the lawyer had spoken briefly to each of the men he represented and had gotten a little of his story. He of course took that information to the prosecutor in an effort to persuade the prosecution to drop the charges. Though, the prosecutor said he would look into the claims his initial offer was 5 years imprisonment upon a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit a crime against humanity.

The conspiracy charge carried the death penalty and it hinged on whether or not Petr Skovajsa was seen by a jury of providing economic assistance to slavers. The next court date would see the prosecution introduce statements made after Petr and his associates were captured. Those statements as Kennington briefly looked over the file would show that Petr was in Drackonisa of his own free will for months and as such were very damaging.

While the courts recent ruling regarding Permanent Indentured Workers had resulted in many dismissals and many more pending dismissals, tourist and those willingly in Drackonisa were the primary target of the prosecutors. Kennington held little hope that prosecution would not prosecute Petr as far as they could.

[The State of Monavia]

August 12, 2011
1:00 P.M. Chalcedon local time (CLT)

Office of the King
Royal Residence
Chalcedon, Monavia
Northwest Nova

The methodical patter of footsteps echoed through a wide, high-ceilinged corridor, the walls of which were faced with marble veneers and featured the presence of many fine paintings. The source of this sound, which moved forward with a deliberate and calculated effort, was a government courier bearing an aluminium briefcase used to securely transport correspondence. The courier, a short man barely more than five feet in height, was sharply clad in a burgundy uniform, trimmed with white and secured by brass buttons. His errand was a short one, having begun at the grounds of the Monavian National Intelligence Administration, which were located but a few miles away.

He reached the entrance to the antechamber of the king’s office, which was located on the western extreme of the building, passing a nearby guard with almost no effort whatsoever. He was known to many a guard, all the more so because he had already practiced this line of work for more than two decades. It did not take long to pass through the antechamber once he gained entry, for it was smaller than the office and could be crossed in a few paces. He knocked on the doors to the office.

“Please come in,” answered an authoritative voice, diminished slightly by its need to pass through the doors.

The courier, whose greying hair glinted oddly as the sunlight passing through a window opposite him, was met with the sight of a smiling sovereign. “What do you have for me this time?”

“A delivery from the MNIA, Your Majesty.” He set the briefcase down on a chair and opened it up. He pulled out a sealed envelope and handed it to the king. “This was all they asked me to take here. The other few items inside are to be delivered elsewhere.”

“Thank you sir,” the king replied. “I’ll take a look at this immediately.”

After the courier walked out of the room and shut the doors behind him, the king procured a letter opener from his desk and proceeded to extract the contents of the envelope. He pulled out stack of pages nearly an eighth of an inch thick, stapled twice on the left side. The report, classified as “confidential” on its cover page, was marked with the name of the compiling officer, who had written it up after conducting observations on the progress of the antislavery efforts that had been launched after the Tailville Conference of the previous year.

Not hesitating to read through the document, the king had blazed through it after about an hour, sometimes rereading parts of it in order to understand them more clearly and reinforce his memory. Despite the energetic pace with which he read through the report, his emotions betrayed no indications of excitement. Quite the contrary, his face grew contorted with disgust as he went farther and farther into the document. His expression was suspended one of fury and sickness when he reached the end, a sign of the melancholy brooding that was now filling his head.

By two-thirty that afternoon, the king, deciding that he had spent enough time on the deplorable business of the moment, walked out of his office and went into the adjacent office of the queen, setting it down on her desk. Troubled by what he had read, he knew that some action had to be taken, but rash responses were dangerous to the Empire and its government, and potentially disastrous for international stability. He would not act until he had consulted his advisors, but first he would have to call an extraordinary meeting of the Royal Cabinet.

---

Around four o’clock that afternoon, the queen, having returned from a meeting with the Royalist Caucus of the Monavian Senate, met the king in the library. The subject of the report was brought up during their conversation, but was touched on only briefly. The queen read the report, which had remained undisturbed for several hours, after she had finished her dinner. King Charles had warned her of the potentially deleterious effects that it could have had on her appetite.

Despite becoming internally moody over what she read in the report, Queen Elizabeth did not lose her ability to hatch plans. Conspiring with her husband over some warm tea, the pair devised a plan for making the presentation of the report at the extraordinary meeting all the more compelling.

---

August 13, 2011
7:30 A.M. Chalcedon local time (CLT)

Cabinet Chamber
Royal Residence
Chalcedon, Monavia
Northwest Nova

Two men walked through the corridors of the palace, bearing in their arms several piles of black crepe and ribbons that were normally stored in a basement linen closet. These lengthy rolls of material served the purpose of being used as mourning decorations, an ancient practice still observed with the devoted sense of duty that entailed the highest degree of respect for the deceased. The pair entered the chamber through the north doors and proceeded to drape the ribbons over the mantle of the fireplace located in the middle of the west wall, tied it around curtains and doorframes, and placed it over the windows and the heavy carved wood frames of the paintings in the room. It took them scarcely more than thirty-five minutes to complete their work, the end result of which was the festooning of the chamber with the trappings of a funeral parlor.

After the two servants had completed their task and informed the king that they had done as he wished, they received a quiet mention of thanks and were dismissed for the time being. They would have other work to do later in the day, but for now they could address lighter matters. The placement of these decorations was presently a secret, known only to a few, and the reasons for putting them up were to be demonstrated when the meeting commenced at eight-thirty.

Fifteen minutes before the meeting started, the first few ministers began showing up in the residence’s east gallery, a room with a set of doors leading to an exterior staircase on the eastern extreme of the building. They entered through these doors before turning to their right and walking directly into the chamber through a pair of oaken doors set in an arched frame. Although this meeting was not a normally scheduled one, and had been called with little notice, there were no absentees. In what was the typical fashion of Monavian political leaders and their advisors, the ministers arrived precisely when they were needed.

The Cabinet Chamber appeared somber in the pale light of midmorning. Three gigantic chandeliers, set with hundreds of glass crystals suspended from solid bronze framed that were overlaid with an electroplating of pure gold, hung from the pale blue ceiling of the room. At a normal meeting of the Royal Cabinet the chandeliers would gaily cast their golden light throughout the room, providing its pale blue walls and ceiling and the heavy carven frames of the paintings with a balmy glow, but they sat mute, their bulbs silent in the absence of any of the electric current that would otherwise have hummed merrily through their filaments. Only the natural sunlight originating outside the room was there to stream through the six massive arched windows located on the chamber’s east side, but the curtains had been drawn halfway shut and the alabaster and travertine window frames, much like the wooden frames overlaid with gold leaf that held the paintings, had been draped in black mourning crepe.

Thirty wooden seats had been placed in their usual arrangement around the lacquered walnut table that dominated the center of the room. At the north end of the table, which at this time was serving as its head, sat a narrowly-figured man with a moderate complexion. He glanced out the windows from time to time in order to admire the sights of birds playfully flying around and tree branches sway in the gentle summer breezes, but for the most part he looked out over the table with his beady hazel eyes, watching it slowly fill up with advisors. This man, the King of Monavia, is His Holy Imperial Majesty Charles Petrović IX. Thirty years of rule had gradually exacted a physiological toll on his body. While his health was as fine as it could be for a man who was scarcely less than sixty years old, and his age had yet to fully show, one indication of his attainment in years had crept out in the last half decade. His thick hair, once an inky black, had become thinned and streaked with dark gray, even whitening in places to create a “salt-and-pepper” pattern.

King Charles was not alone at the head of the table, for another seat was located adjacent to him on his right. Her Holy Imperial Majesty Elizabeth Petrović VI, a woman only three years younger than the king, sat in this seat and peered about the room, occasionally staring at the assemblages of black strung about its confines. This wife and mother of five had an imposing five foot, eleven inch frame was of a solid and somewhat muscular build, which hinted at an athletic youth. She possessed shoulder-length wavy hair in an admixture of blonde and light brown streaks and deep green eyes of such piercing brilliance as to bore through the psyches of others with calculated stares.

Taking a seat to the queen’s right was the Most Honorable Thomas Vanderbilt, Prime Minister of the Royal Cabinet, confidant, and advisor on matters of how the populace handled government decisions. He carried a briefcase bound in brown leather and fitted with nickel-finished fastenings, setting it down on the floor next to the chair before he sat in it. Once he had become acclimatized to his accommodations, he picked up the briefcase, entered the required combination, and clicked it open. Inside were dossiers, folders, writing implements—the usual contents of a businessman’s luggage. He pulled a dark gray dossier, also bound in leather, out of the case and placed it on the table as two more ministers entered the room.

The Treasurer of the Monavian Empire, Her Ladyship Agatha Stockton, was considerably younger than the Prime Minister, who appeared to be sixty-five years old. He was actually sixty-two, twice the age of Stockton, and an inch shorter than her. Stockton sat down in a chair to the king’s immediate left, anxiously scanning the room. Her eyes fell upon the black decorations time and again; they seemed to have been placed everywhere.

When the meeting commenced at eight-thirty, a total of nineteen people were seated around the table. To the left of Lady Stockton, in sequential order, were Minister of Defense Carl Blake, Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank Carter, Minister of Justice Nicholas Ellsworth, Minister of National Security Andrew Livermore, Minister of Commerce Susan Wright, Minister of Health Nancy Wood, and Minister of Agriculture George Brenner. To the right of the Prime Minister sat the Minister of State, Victoria Witherspoon, Minister of the Interior Milan Alexandrov, Minister of Education Francis Mason, Minister of Labor Cameron Putlin, Minister of the Treasury Mark Umble, Minister of Transportation Stephan Harrison, and Minister of Energy Henry Douglass. Seated three seats away from Douglass was a stenographer who would record a transcript of the meeting for recording purposes.

The ministers, despite the growing intensity of their curiosity, restrained themselves from discussing their observations of the room. They instead passed the time with small talk as they waited for the meeting to commence.

A clock sitting upon the mantle ticked away the last moments that remained before the meeting started, but the queen, who would be opening the meeting, used her wristwatch to monitor the progression of time. Its hands aligned over the two points that indicated the desired hour. With a final glance at the dial of the watch, the queen looked up at the assembled cabinet. Her expression was neutral and becalmed, revealing nothing of her satisfaction with having finally completed the waiting game that preceded every meeting.

With a single rap of a wooden gavel on a striker that was set at the end of the table, the queen attracted the full attention of the cabinet. “Good morning. The extraordinary meeting of the Royal Cabinet for the date of August 13, 2011 is hereby opened.

“This meeting will not be featuring any normal ministerial reports or seek advice on ordinary matters, but rather shall address a situation developing outside Monavia.”

“Your Majesty, why is there all of this black material strung around the room? Has somebody died?”

“Many people have died, Minister Alexandrov.”

“Who?”

“Thousands of foreigners who have been subject to atrocities abroad.”

“Is that what we are to address at this meeting?” asked Minister Blake.

“That is but one part of what we shall address. We have even worse items before us than a few murders on the high seas.”

This unpalatable line of dialogue continued for several minutes before the king produced the MNIA report. King Charles picked up the report and began to read. The content simultaneously chilled nerves with its descriptions of cruelty and boiled blood as it kindled deep-seated reserves of fury. Among the excerpts read aloud were the following:

“I have the regrettable and grim duty of informing Their Holy Imperial Majesties of the details of foreign atrocities carried out under the banner of our noble crusade to end slavery worldwide. On the twenty-first day of June a series of threats were received by the government of a country known as Drackonisa, one which had permitted slavery in its borders and was known in its sphere of influence as a country that had found ample favor with the institution of penal labor as a criminal penalty. After rejecting demands issued by Allanean military forces, the Drackonisans were subjected to repeated attacks by the Allaneans and forces in the service of Libertarian Governance, specifically a naval fleet operated by the LGDF.”

“Even though the Drackonisans put up an admirable fight, they were overwhelmed by the numerical superiority of their enemies. A nuclear engagement during the terminal stage of resulted in the loss of scores of Allanean ships and the destruction of cities and infrastructure on a crippling scale. According to news reports from the government of Libertarian Governance, approximately 137,000 LGDF personnel and possibly more had perished in this conflict.”

“The ramifications, both practical and ethical, which resulted from the massed use of nuclear weaponry against both sides, are not necessarily items with which the Administration is willing to take issue, but the actions perpetrated against civilians after the termination of hostilities are of such objectionable nature as to warrant the concern of the same.”

“The LGDF fleet, starting on the second of July, proceed to destroy fleeing civilian ships, many of which were carrying unarmed passengers. This action grew out of a blockade that later developed into an effort to capture as many prisoners of various national origins as possible. These operations did not cease until almost 750,000 prisoners had been taken.”

“The prisoners seized by the LGDF are now being tried for capital crimes because of their presence in Drackonisa at the time of the conflict. Individuals as young as thirteen are standing trial and shall be hanged if they are convicted.”

The report continued on and on, describing the processes by which the prisoners were seized and how they had since been handled by their captors. After nearly twenty minutes of reading the report, the king set it down and excused himself from the room to find some water to drink. The meeting would no doubt be anything but pleasant.

---

10:48 A.M. Chalcedon local time (CLT)

Office of Minister Frank Carter
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building
Chalcedon, Monavia
Northwest Nova

Minister Carter sat in his office, brooding for quite a while over the proceedings of the meeting. He could not find any words that accurately described the feeling of relief that came over him when the queen banged the gavel on the striker at the end of the meeting to announce its adjournment. It had turned heated after the king returned, with passionate arguing over how best to address this fiasco without igniting a war between fellow governments in the antislavery cause, or worse yet, spark a conflict that would balloon out of control like the Corporate Alliance War did only two years earlier.

“We must refrain from letting this situation spiral away into oblivion,” Carter said at one point during the meeting, only to receive as his reply some dry words from Minister Alexandrov.

“The situation is already beyond our control,” he said. “We may as well be short on niceties in addressing this because we are going to have to negotiate with people who place ideology before reason.”

After the meeting ended at five minutes after ten that morning, Ministers Carter and Ellsworth, respectively tasked with diplomatic action and legal research, had another conversation in Carter’s office. After the conclusion of the discussion, Minister Ellsworth left for the Ministry of Justice Building to coordinate the investigation into the legality of these developments.

In the meantime, Carter began writing out a letter addressed to his counterpart.

To Chief of Foreign Affairs Thomas Michael McWain:

Mr. McWain:

Approximately seven months ago, after the conclusion of the Tailville Summit graciously hosted by the Wagdian government last December, the Monavian National Intelligence Administration formed a unit of analysts to document the progress of the global effort to end slavery throughout the world. These analysts, who have operated in conjunction with analysts employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and cooperating with media personnel, have taken care to make the most objective documentation possible of the efforts resulting from the actions taken in accordance with the principles of the Kázmér Doctrine on the Patriation of Liberated Slaves. Since that time they have prepared records which include information gathered from the domestic news media of your country and a number of others who have joined this effort.

My government was very pleased with the Kázmér Doctrine’s promises of a moderate and reasonable policy that both helped the oppressed and did not impose an undue burden on those who did their rightful parts in carrying out is provisions. The Monavian Empire in particular has contributed many billions of thalers to the funding of both the programs instituted by Kázmér and the Fegosian Union’s Phoenix City project. These efforts have already led to the liberation of millions and the restoration of their liberties so that they can be empowered to live as citizens of free states. Among this number are 2,500,000 refugees residing in Novikovan territory and millions more residing elsewhere.

Though I would relish the opportunity to end my letter here and commend your government for its laudable efforts to support and continue supporting these aims, such an act would be improper for a person of my position. As a government minister and diplomat, I have a particularly stringent duty to the principles of truth and honor, and it would be dishonorable of me to omit some necessary criticisms of policies recently pursued by your government during the conduct of its combat operations in Drackonisa.

During the prosecution of the war against Drackonisa, specifically during the period running from June 29, 2011 to July 2, 2011, when civilian vessels attempting to leave said country were blockaded, elements of the LGDF fleet operating under the authorization of your government and the sanction of its leadership proceeded to attack these vessels from distances of hundreds of kilometers. Observation satellites operated by the armed forces of the Monavian Empire were used to collect some of this data as news of the war reached the Monavian government in mid-June. In addition, much of the evidence that these actions took place has been gathered by collecting material freely broadcast and printed by international media sources and disseminated across the globe.

In addition to the indiscriminate destruction of unarmed merchant shipping and passenger vessels which carried no war materiel and posed no military threat whatsoever to the forces of the LGDF or its allies, the LGDF proceeded to unlawfully board said vessels by force. In addition to the destruction of neutral property not involved in the war except by unlucky happenstance, the LGDF proceeded to send heavily armed personnel on board these vessels with intent to taking prisoner many thousands of civilians. Those too old, slow, or disabled to offer immediate compliance with the demands of the LGDF personnel were subject to beatings and even murder without any cause other than being unable to carry out these demands with the haste demanded of them or unwillingness to be subjected to these inhumane indignities.

The Monavian government has since received a dossier compiled by MNIA officials in early August. This report contains a detailed summary of all atrocities perpetrated by the personnel of the LGDF in the process of capturing unarmed neutral civilians and the waging of unrestricted warfare at sea. Much of the evidence gathered includes independently verified and corroborated material taken from televised coverage of the trials of said prisoners and from radio transcripts of the same, in addition to interviews of individuals who escaped capture but nonetheless bore witness to these events.

More objectionable still is the fact that deadly force was liberally and indiscriminately used against individuals who had not been afforded any trials, by judges or juries or any other impartial body. I consulted the expertise of the Right Honorable Nicholas Ellsworth, the Minister of Justice, and was informed by him that not only did these summary executions without any trial or other effort to ascertain the guilt or innocence of these people in regards to any real or potential crimes violate principles of international law, but that they were also legally dubious according to what knowledge of domestic law in Libertarian Governance could be derived by the sources he had available. I have no doubts at all that many lawyers in your country would also take umbrage with the objectionable nature of this butchery.

The rhetoric that has incessantly been preached by your government and others like it for many decades has been filled with lofty statements about the protection of the rights which your government’s domestic laws provides to those accused of crimes, yet televised coverage of judicial proceedings taking place in your country with the sanction of its government are not being conducted in accordance with these principles. Repeated challenges of legality, jurisdiction, collection of evidence, and other elements of criminal trials have been stifled. Defense attorneys have been shouted down for defending their clients, even if their objections and statements were delivered according to court procedure and the rules of decorum. Judges charged with the sacred duty of impartiality have conducted their proceedings in such as way as to appear prejudicial against the accused.

The MNIA dossier also contains records of the reasons offered by prosecutors for charging these unarmed neutrals with a multiplicity of crimes. Supposedly the conduct of trade and business with any country in which slavery is legal constituted the aiding and abetting of this institution. Never before has the right of individuals to conduct private land legitimate commerce, a right established under customary international law and often by treaty law as inestimable to them, been challenged so recklessly as it has been by the personnel of the LGDF. According to the legal precedents set by such actions as this, all nationals, regardless of origin, must now conduct investigations into activities they plan in order to avoid doing any business whatsoever with any person who may be a national of a country in which slavery is legal or enter the territory thereof. The payment of a customs fee to the government of said country in order to visit relatives who may be living there is now sufficient evidence for a conviction in your government’s courts.

The freedom of the seas has been compromised by these activities in such an egregious way as to merit additional objections from my government. Legitimate shipping must now suffer the undue burden of being subject to unannounced searches outside the waters of any national jurisdiction. Ships that may be considered the sovereign territory may be militarily destroyed for failure on the part of their crews to comply with the demands levied against them by the crews of LGDF vessels plying the world’s waters.

The Free Republic has also demonstrated the audacity to impose its “universal jurisdiction” over all commissions of acts which are crimes in its own sovereign territory but which may be legal and legitimate under foreign law. In doing so, your government has deliberately arrogated to itself the authority to govern, regulate, restrict, and punish the actions of foreign nationals in their own countries, an act which is tantamount to declaring itself the ruling body of the entire world. The Monavian Empire does not submit to any foreign authority in this manner, nor shall its citizens be subject to violation at the hands of the executors of your government’s “universal jurisdiction” laws. My government also flatly rejects any efforts on the part of your government to impose the aforementioned burdens on our merchant shipping and commercial activity.

At the root of this entire series of objections is your government’s policy of declaring the nationals of sovereign states in which slavery is legal to be slavers. By definition, a slaver is a breeder, buyer, seller, trader, capturer, or trainer of slaves. A person whose only relationship to a slaver is a shared nationality, especially a person who has never had anything to do with this institution is, not a slaver by definition. The absurdity of the notion that Drackonisan nationals unengaged in slavery are slavers is preposterous, and the notion that those indirectly conducting legitimate business with said nationals are slavers is as beyond ludicrous as any of your government’s other declarations of intent to violate the very principles upon which it was built.

The hypocrisy of your judges, in stifling any attempts on the part of defense attorneys to defend their clients, is a tyranny that runs contrary to the principles of your own laws. Your military forces have slaughtered people without even so much as a show trial, let alone an actual one. They have destroyed lives and property, ravaging with perfidious and indiscriminate hatred those things which stand in the way of their leaders’ sanguineous agenda, an agenda which so recently has been advanced with the blood of thousands of your own troops and immense quantities of your people’s treasure. Chief Executive Stratton’s government has proceeded to expend his own country’s wealth and lives to further this supposed agenda of liberty, and when the “liberation” of slaves cannot proceed at a pace which suits him and his political allies, he has permitted the values and principles of your country to be expended in the furtherance of this war effort.

The Monavian government has remained clement towards your government for some time in spite of these objections. There have not yet been any formal demands for diplomatic sanctions of any sort, and indeed my government has been generous to an unprecedented extreme in avoiding all conflict between it and the fellow signatory governments of the Kázmér Doctrine, yet my government’s capacity for forbearance has been tested much by these developments. It can no longer tolerate this wanton display of unbridled militarism ad aggression, regardless of what ideological justification may be presented in its defense.

A copy of this correspondence has been faxed to your office this morning and a physical one shall be delivered there shortly thereafter.

Sincerely,

The Right Honorable Frank Carter
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Carter sent a physical copy to McWain’s office and faxed an additional copy shortly thereafter to ensure its timely arrival. An additional copy was kept in the Ministry’s archives of correspondence. Not satisfied with sending this letter only to McWain’s office, Carter immediately decided to send additional copies on their way to domestic media outlets located in the territory of Libertarian Governance.

---

11:30 A.M. Chalcedon local time (CLT)

Meeting room of the Monavian National Defense Council
Ministry of Defense Building
Chalcedon, Monavia
Northwest Nova

While Minister Carter fought his diplomatic battle with the pen and the keyboard, the military apparatus of the Monavian government was being prepared for what could possibly be a catastrophic international conflict. The Monavian National Defense Council would convene at noon, after they had enjoyed an early lunch, and would discuss the requisite measures to be taken in the unfortunate instance that armed conflict became inevitable.

---

1:00 P.M. Chalcedon local time (CLT)

Office of Minister Frank Carter
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building
Chalcedon, Monavia
Northwest Nova

Carter had taken nearly two hours to draft his first letter , but having decided that it might be insufficient by itself, he proceeded to take even more drastic action than merely castigating the governing body of Libertarian Governance for their atrocities. He could excoriate them until he ran out of official Ministry stationery and ink, but that may as well be a one-way correspondence. He would take additional action in the form of submitting some materials to Doctor Kázmér’s office for review.

To Dr. Kázmér, Ambassador to the Fegosian Union:

Mr. Ambassador:

My government’s ratification of your proposal for the handling of liberated slaves has contributed to the effort to provide freedom to millions of people who we have chosen to take in, yet this effort may now have become jeopardized by the actions of the governing body of the Free Republic of Libertarian Governance. I regret to inform you that I have the onerous duty of presenting your office with a copy of the letter I have sent to their government in objection to some of their recent policies and a copy of a dossier compiled by the MNIA.

The Crown has authorized me to send you a copy of this dossier because its contents are of a nature that is so inflammatory to our peaceful relations with the aforesaid government that they could potentially result in the severance of participation by the governing body of the Free Republic of Libertarian Governance as a signatory to the Kázmér Doctrine on the Patriation of Liberated Slaves.

Sincerely,

The Right Honorable Frank Carter
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Enclosure.

---

OOC:

I am leaving a few things open so that I can write up some more scenes later (especially the Monavian National Defense Council’s deliberations and proceedings). For now, this is all that I can afford to write.

EDIT ONE: Typo in paragraph one of Carter's first letter fixed.
EDIT TWO: Typo in second-to-last paragraph of the same letter fixed.

[Drackonisa]

Prisoner #2: Cassandra Viras sat motionless by the side of the benches, watching the proceeds of trial against Charles. Her mind worked quickly, if even a vile rapist and gang member had been released, which meant she and the rest of the other PIWs had a good chance of getting off. One of the last few FAG members to be convicted in Drackonisa, she and 24 others had missed the New Hayesalian evacuation for the freedom fighter group and was subsequently captured by the Drackonisians. She had spent the past 11 years in the PIW program, first being posted to a state owned brothel for 5 years and suffering the worst humiliations and degradation there. Following which she was sent to the mines to work, after she nearly killed one of her clients. Most of those caught with her had already died slow, agonizing deaths in the program, and she now hoped this was her chance to be free.

Standing up, she addressed the judge. "Your honor, I am Cassandra Viras, once of the now defunct FAG group which fought against the tyrannical dictatorship of Drackonisa. For 11 years I have suffered the worst degradations and abuse possible in the Drackonisian PIW program, being forced with many other women convicts to service customers in state run brothels after which we were sent to work in the mines in the most dreadful and appalling conditions. We have been through all this, for no reason other than being guilty of fighting to free Drackonisa from the tyranny of the now deceased dictator, whose replacement had proven to be even more ruthless. I beseech you to bring judgement fairly, as you had first done with Charles as a precedent, and free all of us under the PIW program."



Transcript from Permanent Indentured Workers(PIW) Archives

Code: Select all

Prisoner ID: #0780990
Name: Cassandra Viras
Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Highest education level attained : Degree in Mechanical Engineering(Drackonisa University of Innovation and Technology ).

Case Notes:
Accused Intent to incite Violence against Drackonisa. Member of the F.A.G(Freedom and Guns) terrorist group. 5 counts of terrorism. 6 counts of conspiracy to mass-murder. Convicted on all charges. Sentenced to Permanent Indentured Workers program with immediate effect.

Penal Activities:
-5 years service in state owned brothel
-8 years of hard labor in Northern Mines
-Promoted to Supervisor of Chattel


[Libertarian Governance]

Thomas McWain received the letter from the Monavian regime and immediately brought it to the attention of Chief Executive Robert Wilhelm Stratton. As the two talked in Robert's office the Chief Executive perused a copy of the Monavian diatribe. He rejected everything the Monavian regime had asserted out of hand.

His direction to Thomas was clear. Though the diplomat Thomas agreed to follow his cousins direction. Within minutes of finishing his conversation with the Chief of Foreign Affairs, Robert as President of the Unified Realm made a conference call to the Unified Realm Secretary of Defense, General Alexandros Mixaloliakos and the Libertarian Governance Defense Chief, Supreme General Arkady Korabelnikov.

The conversation turned very serious as the entire 500 million soldier URDF was ordered to a war footing. Patrols of Realm waters and airspace begin to increase immediately and in the coming hours and days would begin to blanket the region and its member states with sophisticated sensors to seek out enemy naval vessels and aircraft.

The Unified Realm Defense Forces were made up of volunteers from over 30 individual nations. With a tax paid by each member state to provide for arms and operating cost, the URDF had become a self contained and deadly adversary. The LGDF under Supreme General Korabelnikov begin its own preparations, cancelling leaves and bringing the military to an all hands on deck stance.

The 5000 nautical mile EEC of the Realm would be costly indeed for any nation to cross and countries from Nova were now considered hostile and subject to direct military action. The claims of the Monavian regime were outrageous and under no circumstance would the nation accede to any of that nations non-sense. The proof was in the results, billions had been freed by force of arms and in other less publicized actions by the intelligence agency and its special operation units slave enterprises had been crippled or disrupted around the world.

As the military units prepared for possible conflict, both DIRE and Bureau 24 prepared too, using satellite assets to begin gathering information on their potential adversaries, monitoring troop and equipment movements.

To: Frank Carter, Minister of Foreign Affairs


It must be noted that the Free Republic of Libertarian Governance categorically rejects the baseless assertions put forth in your letter. Furthermore, The Free Republic will continue to wage war against slavers and their supporters anywhere they may be found. Therefore, your objections are noted and dismissed.

As to your specific claims:

1. The LGDF had maintained a blockade against a country engaged in hostilities. Said, vessels that you are speaking of left a base used by the Drackonesian military and proceeded towards LGDF vessels. These enemy vessels were warned by radio per international custom and only after ignoring warnings issued in numerous languages across all locally used frequencies were the vessels fired upon. LGDF forces fired to disable the vessels and halt their advance towards our forces.

2. Boarding was done in accordance with standard procedures against slavers and vessels coming from slaver waters. These actions are conducted daily by nations around the world. Troops utilized flash bangs to bring the crews under control and only executed deadly force when LGDF personnel were in life threatening situations. Your claims of summary executions are outrageous and patently false. Furthermore, the LGDF will certainly investigate any evidence of summary executions offered by any legitimate nation or individual.

3. All persons on trial are on trial for their participation in and aid to the Drackonisa slave trade. Unlike their victims we have accorded said prisoners full due process rights. Although a great number of people have been arraigned on formal charges there has not yet been any cases which have preceded to actual trial by jury. Even though, a number of persons have been released as new information has become available. We have faith that our judicial system is capable of adjudging guilt or innocence in this matter. The judicial process will continue despite your objections and your desire that slavers should be allowed to do whatever they please under the false assertion you make regarding national sovereignty.

4. We don't recognize any organization as the Kázmér Doctrine.

5. Wars kill people so sending me a letter where you say soldiers killed people while fighting a war is sort of strange.

6. Your claims against Libertarian Governance Judges is ludicrous. Any meritorious claim of defense made in a LG court will be considered by our judges. Judges are charged with zealously protecting the individual and inherent rights of the accused. The conviction rate in LG courts is less than 50% due to our judges adherence to their Constitutionally proscribed duties. To see the ridiculousness of your claims one only has to look at the recent ruling by Judge Christiania Tucker on Permanent Indentured Workers found to have been mistakenly taken prisoner. That ruling, rightfully, has led to hundreds of dismissed cases and there are several thousand more cases pending review for possible dismissal.

7. Regardless of the nations flag, any ship or crew suspected of involvement in the slave trade will be seized. We care not whether the vessels nation acquiesce to that seizure or not. We also refuse to give any quarter to those cavorting with slavers or to those aiding and abetting slavers in the commission of crimes against humanity.

I do sincerely hope that our answers are satisfactory.

Sincerely,


Tom McWain
Chief of Foreign Affairs


Arraignment of Cassandra Viras - Camp 17

The Judge listened attentively to the defendant while she spoke. Ok, Mister Simpson, what is going on here?

Simpson rising to address the court pulled some papers from his file and handed them to the courts NPF officer. Those papers were scanned by the officer from his desk and sent to the Judges desk in a matter of seconds. A copy was also provided to Cassandra Viras via her court appointed attorney, Sylvester Snead. Your honor, at this time we are not prepared to dismiss charges against the defendant. We have evidence which will show that Cassandra Viras as Supervisor of Chattel participated in violence against and murders of slaves. We are still checking some things out but at this time we are prepared to proceed to trial.

Judge Christina Tucker took a moment to read over the evidence which detailed accounts of several eyewitnesses to atrocities committed by the defendant. I see. Mrs Viras, the prosecution has presented some evidence that alleges that you as Supervisor of Chattel conducted beatings, torture and murder of slaves. Now, these are only allegations but with these allegations there is not much I can do at this time. Your next court appearance will be scheduled one week from today and at that time the prosecution must present a prima facie case.

Now, I will sit in judgement of their case and this is not a trial only a hearing to determine if the prosecution has enough evidence to proceed. If I find that they do have evidence then I will set a date for trial in which a jury of 12 must vote unanimously to convict you. Your court appointed attorney is a private attorney that is paid to represent you. You have the right to hire any attorney you please should you be able to afford representation. On the matter of bail.

Sylvester Snead was first to rise. Your honor. What we have here is a victim of the vile system of bondage and oppression brought about by the inhuman brutality of Draconisa. My client is a victim and we ask for release on her own recognizance.

Armand Simpson spoke to the Judge next. Your honor, this person while initially a victim became an oppressor. She took part in acts brutalizing those weaker then her. We ask that due to the seriousness of the charges, the violent nature of the offenses and we see the defendant as a flight risk. We will likely amend these charges to reflect her actions in Drackonisa. We ask she be held without bail.

Oh, your honor this is preposterous. My client has no ability to flee and she is not a threat to anyone here or anywhere else. She is a freedom fighter not...

Striking twice with her gavel the Judge exerted her control over the proceedings. Ok, Mister Snead. First, I don't give two hoots what you might do at some mythical point in time Mister Simpson. I am concerned only with what is in front of this court right now. What is before me is a capital offense. I am also concerned that defendant has no ties to Libertarian Governance which would suggest her as being more of a flight risk then someone with family and residence here.

The accused is accused of heinous crimes and although I don't necessarily think she is a danger to anyone in Libertarian Governance I do find her a flight risk. Bail will be set at one million Gold Coin. The Judge then strikes her gavel ending the proceedings.

[Drackonisa]

Cassandra sat upright as the case started to turn against her. Her, a heroic freedom fighter now about to be facing the hangman's noose while a convicted serial rapist and gang member gets freed? Its preposterous! Speaking up, she began, " Your honor, this is outrageous! You freed Charles, a convicted rapist and all round unsavory character but seek to convict me? While i admit to being promoted to a 'Supervisor of Chattel' against my will, I never did anything unfairly and always tried to use my position of power to better the lives of those under my charge!"

As she tried to continued, another member of the accused stood up, this time addressing the judge. "Your honor, if I may interrupt. Cassandra here is by no means an unwilling participant in the promotion. She had snuggled up to the prison camp superintendent and gotten the position so she could have an easier life in the PIW program at the expense of her fellow captives! I was one such victim, under her charge, I was subject to beatings and abuses even though I did nothing wrong. All this, she did so that she could obtain better rations and quarters for herself. The Supervisors were rewarded whenever they administer punishments, so many of them take great pleasure in meting out unfair penalties to their wards. In some ways, they are far more brutal than the guards themselves." Raising his shirt, the man showed a long scar by his stomach, "This was inflicted upon me by none other than our 'heroic freedom fighter'. She used a pickaxe to inflict this, nearly gutting me in the process. We want justice, your honor. That is all we desire."

Cassandra snarled and pointed a finger at him, "Taylor! Your a lying slime! I did that in self-defence after you tried to force yourself on me! Your honor, do not listen to his lies! He has no evidence whatsoever to prove that I did that to him, further more, abusing my fellow captives in exchange for benefits is utterly preposterous! I have risked my life, my track record as a FAG member should have proven my willingness for self-sacrifice. I would never do such vile things to my fellow prisoners!"

The accused parties rose up and began bickering, with prisoners laying in and shouting accusations, many in support of Taylor's words. The guards moved in, quelling the near riot with swift strikes of their batons.

[The Eagleland]

Oured, Eagleland
Aetos House
15:22 OST

President Likas entered the Cabinet meeting room, in which the Eagleland Joint Staff would make a presentation of the Current situation. It was of a necessity, as several Novan states have been agressive towards the Libertarian Governance. The Eagleland was not willing, but she prepared, for defensive war. Marshal Mixalis Karamolegos is making an overview of the situation at hand.

Εδώ και μέρες υπήρξαν, όπως γνωρίζετε, διπλωματικές αψιμαχίες μεταξύ της Πολητείας της Μοραβίας στην περιοχή της Νόβα και της Ελευθερωτικής Διακυβέρνησης, με αφορμή τον πόλεμο στην Δρακόνησα στον όποιο, όπως γνωρίζουμε, πέθαναν 132.000 στρατίωτες των Αμυντικών Δυνάμεων της Ελευθερωτικής Διακυβέρνησης και χρήσημοποιήθηκαν Πυρηνικά Όπλα. Σύμφωνα με κατηγόριες της Πολητείας της Μοναβίας, πλοία του Πολεμικού Ναυτικού της Ελευθερωτικής Διακυβέρνησης άνοιξαν πύρ κατά πολιτικών πλοίων, με αποτέλεσμα να σκοτωθούν αθώοι άνθρωποι. Σήμφωνα με τον Μακ Γουαίν, "Τα εν λόγω πλοία για τα οποία μιλάτε έφυγαν απο μια βάση του Δρακονήσικου Στρατού και έπλευσαν κατά των πλοίων των Αμυντικών Δυνάμεων της Ελευθερωτικής Διακυβέρνησης. Αφου μόνο αυτά τα εχθρικά πλοία, ύστερα απο άγνοια των προειδοποιήσεων σε πολλές γλώσσες και σε όλες τις τοπικές συχνότητες, σύμφωνα με διεθνείς διαδικασίες, τότε τα πλοία μας αρχίσανε πύρ κατά των εν λόγω πλοίων. Οι Αμυντικές Δυνάμεις της Ελευθερωτικής Διακυβέρνησης πυροβόλησαν για να ακινητοποιήσουν τα πλοία και για να σταματήσουν την πρόοδο τους κατά των δυνάμεών μας". (Here for days there have been, as you know, diplomatic skirmishes between the State of Moravia in the Nova region and the Libertarian Governance, with the war in Draconesa as a pretext, in which, as we know, 132.000 soldiers of the Libertarian Governance Defense Forces died and Nuclear Weapons were used. According to the accusations of the state of Moravia, Warships of the Libertarian Governance Defense Forces opened fire against civillian ships, resulting in the deaths of numerous innocent civillians. According to McWain, "Said, vessels that you are speaking of left a base used by the Drackonesian military and proceeded towards LGDF vessels. These enemy vessels were warned by radio per international custom and only after ignoring warnings issued in numerous languages across all locally used frequencies were the vessels fired upon. LGDF forces fired to disable the vessels and halt their advance towards our forces.")

Retired Admiral Antonis Vassilatos, the head of the ENIS, informed Likas about the EN's dirty plans, as described by the Police and the ENIS's undercover agents. Παρατηρώντας την κατάσταση του Εθνικηστηκού Κινήματος της Αετοχώρας, κάποιος μπορεί να συμπεράνει τέσσερα πράγματα. Πρώτον: Ο Μιχαλολιάκος έχει αγοράσει μέγαλο αριθμό όπλων απο μαγαζία και τα πουλάει σε αναρχικόυς στην Ελευθερωτική Διακυβέρνηση. Δεύτερον: Ο άνδρας που τους τα πουλάει, ο Μιχάλης Μπουτσάνας, στην ουσία είναι ξάδερφος του Μιχάλη Παπά Σκαραμαγκά, ο οποιός πέθανε πέρσι. Τρίτον ο Μπουστανάς, που τότε λέγοταν Χρήστος Σκαραμαγκάς καταδικάστηκε σε θάνατο διότι είχε βιάσει ένα μίκρο κορίτσι, αλλά απέδρασε και άλλαξε το όνομα του. Και τέταρτον, οι άνδρες μου λένε ό,τι ο Μπουτσανάς σκοπέυει να κλέψει και να χρησημοποιήσει το Χημικό Οπλοστάσιο των Ελευθερωτικών εναντίων τους. (By taking a look on the Nationalist Movement, one can conclude four things. Firstly: Mixaloliakos has bought a large number of weapons from shops and sells them to Anarchists in the Libertarian Governance. Secondly: Mixalis Mpoutsanas in essence is a cousin of Mixalis Papas Skaramagas, who died last year. Thirdly Mpoutsanas, who was then called Christos Skaramagas was given the death penalty because he raped a girl but he escaped and changed his name. And fourthly: my men tell me that Mpoutsanas intends to hijack LG's Chemical weapons arsenal and use it against them.)

President Likas made his decision in short notice. Ετοιμάστε τις Ένοπλες Δυνάμεις για πόλεμο. Θα αναγκαστούμε να πολεμήσουμε, είτε το θέλουμε είτε όχι. Και Βασσιλάτε, κανόνισε τους Εθνικηστές, διότι θα μας τρελάνουν - συνεργάσου με το Γραφείου 24 και τον Μπενέτ. Η συνεδρίαση τελείωσε. (Prepare the Armed Forces for War. We will be forced to fight, whether we want it or not. And Vassilatos, deal with the Nationalists, because they will drive us crazy - co-operate with Bureau 24 and Benett. This meeting is over.)

---

Liberty, Libertarian Governance
Liberty Docks, Pier 77
17:30 Local Time

ΠΕΘΑΝΑΝ! ΠΕΘΑΝΑΝ! ΟΕΟΕΟΕΟΕ! (THEY DIED! THEY DIED! OEOEOEOE!) Mpoutsanas was celebrating the death of the 116 students of the Rochell Academy with zeal. This attack was only a test to see whether bomb explosions could cause a diversion. A diversion needed to raid the Libertarian Governance's Department of Defense Building and steal data of LG Chemical Weapons Wherabouts. After a short call with Mixaloliakos Mpoutsanas received the Green Light for the plan to attack the DoD of the Libertarian Governance.

When his men were readied, Mpoutsanas entered the lead vehicle and they drove towards the LG DoD. One of the Vehicles is remote-controlled and it is filled with explosives; it would explode so as to cause a diversion long enough for the heavily armed strike team to enter the DoD building Guns blazing and retrieve intelligence on LG Chemical Weapons whereabouts. When he gave the signal. the 6 Buletproof SUVs and the one remote controlled SUV moved out of the Docks.

[The Ctan]

Transmission Source: His Imperial Majesty Ranisath Cuilahîr Cuilévaher nos Fëanor, Elenaran of the Necrontyr Empire.
Subject: Statement on the Controversy over the Slaver Trials of Libertarian Governance
Security: None

We sympathize with the intention of the government of Libertarian Governance, and absolutely support its actions in persecuting slavers. We also support punishing, within reason, the supporters of slavery.

It is our concern though, that in considering this as a criminal matter, rather than a facet of the war on slavery, is a mistake. We consider it simply sufficient to obtain abolition in a country, and then write off our efforts against that nation and move on. While we do not presume to dictate policy for Libertarian Governance, we fear that the administering of trials for those who supported slavery opens up a can of worms, especially given the Libertarian requirement of a speedy trial, that is liable to cause substantial rushing of procedures with these vast numbers. We mean no slight, when we say, we think this an unwise means of handling the captives.

It is for this reason that our standing policy is to consider the act of forcibly depriving others of rights, as in slavery or tyranny, to be a de facto waiver of the rights of the actor involved, and thus considering slavers and their supporters open to, subject to reasonable certainty that they are in fact, slavers, the application of force to their persons without trial.

In short, we are at war with the slaver, and any slaver who does not recant their ways (our policy is to permit this only once, any recidivism is a further waiver of rights by the slaver, and death is to be meted out immediately) is an enemy of all sapient life and to be put down with force.

Giving slavers trials is foolish, allowing protections intended for real people to save them, while on the same standard, applying rigid laws of age-of-consent to children who were under the ultimate duress of not being considered legally responsible or protected from punishment, risks appearing to be a travesty of justice. Instead of appearing as a travesty of justice, we would suggest instead appearing merely to deal with them as a matter of expedience.

That said, we do consider an element of mercy as well as justice required in the handling of persons who have merely traded with slavers, intent is, we consider, important. Intent to ignore the horror is one thing, mere ignorance another. We would strongly caution that our official opinion is that prosecuting foreign nationals in this instance is probably not a useful step toward Universal Abolition of Slavery.

We would, in fact, let most of those captured off with a slap on the wrist, as a matter of policy.

Death to Slavery, Death to the Slaver, Life Eternal to the Slave

[Libertarian Governance]

Executive Mansion - Libertarian Governance

Robert Wilhelm Stratton had hours before signed a directive "in the interest of the security of a free state and people" Under the provisions of the Intelligence Agencies provisions of the Constitution there were certain things that could be done to enemy aliens and most did not require any due process.

Under said authority and without any oversight the Chief Executive could order spying, counter espionage, inciting rebellion or unrest, assassination, seizure and detention, torture, conduct or conspiracy to commit felonies and misdemeanors, terrorist attacks practically anywhere in the world so long as the target was an enemy alien. A lengthy list of enemy countries was amended to list many more including a number of former allies.

Libertarian Governance had come under attack by a concerted effort of what were believed to be enemy aliens. Robert handed the document to William Bennett who left taking the documents back to Bureau 24 headquarters where they were stamped with three levels of top secret and scanned into Bureau 24 computers.


Defense Headquarters - Liberty

The guards of the Defense Headquarters were LGDF security forces. In addition to the guards at the entrances and guards within the building there were four react platoons available for support. In front of the Defense Headquarters stood a monument to Hassan Nganda on the very spot where he fought off Spectarian troops during the Old States War. It was a massive facility with nearly a dozen floors beneath the surface and 20 floors above. Glass and steel with reinforced concrete walls a foot thick covering the first two floors.

Guards opened fire as the remote controlled SUV rolled forward towards one of the entrances. It exploded 7 meters from the building tearing a hole in the building where the doors had just moments ago stood. Glass blew out on the upper floors showering the street and surrounding area.

Rounds were now flying from Shrec AWS rifles as alarms wailed and violence filled the space. As the assault force moved up they came under withering fire from at least four positions. A 40 mm grenade bounded towards the advancing force aimed to land just 3 meters in front of the breached entrance.

React, React, React! Was echoed through the hallways as heavily armed troops rushed to secure the building. Men chattered away on their headset mics describing the attackers, their positions and the armored vehicles.

It was shocking that anyone would try to break into this building. It was stupid and it was crazy. It was the HQ of one of the best military machines on the planet and it was heavily defended. Furthermore, there was not anything here to take.

Libertarian Westphelia

The masked men who entered the camps throughout the night wore no insignia. Their battle dress uniforms were black as the mask they wore. Each man carried an Annihilator 12 gauge or a Shrec AWS in carbine configuration. They held pictures and illuminated prisoners with the tactical lights on their weapons until they identified the person in the picture. Then the person was slammed to the ground violently, cuffed and dragged out with a black bag over their head.

In a single night over 800 people disappeared from the camps. Though this was the first time such tactics had been employed, prisoners had seen people taken to Adseg for disciplinary problems, moved to LG itself for their actual trials and there had been people released. Though those people were usually not taken away by an armed squad with a black bag over their heads.

[Novikov]

Removed

[Libertarian Governance]

OOC: This is the response you received and signed papers by the prisoners.

To: United Kingdom of Oceania

The people you are speaking of were released from LGDF custody last night. We determined, due to circumstances uncovered during our investigation that a trial was not in the best interest of justice. We do not keep track of people who are not in custody. They were last known to be in Libertarian Westphelia at the city of Fort Robert E. Lee but may be anywhere by now. Attached you will find signed release papers for all eighteen of your citizens.

Sincerely,


Tom McWain
Chief of Foreign Affairs

[Libertarian Governance]

Preliminary Hearing of Cassandra Viras

Cassandra Viras was moved from the detention camps of Libertarian Westphelia to the Corcoran city jail in Liberty. The Jail was a complex of two squat towers that reached 12 stories in height and could house 4400 people. The inside of the jail was very clean though it was sparsely furnished befitting its design. Two elevators were used by staff and prisoners for movement between the floors. The elevators were controlled from the 12th floor and none of the elevators available to prisoners went to that floor. Security cameras were everywhere and there were guards too, national police force personnel who possessed radios, ASP batons, Tasers and OC spray.

Each floor of the facility was divided into four modules with a central guard post. Each Guard post spanned two floors and was built in an octagon shape. There was thick shatter proof glass all around and the guards inside had a variety of non-lethal weapons with which to enforce order. The guard post was always staffed by two guards and there was another guard assigned to each module.

Like many of the prisons and jails of Libertarian Governance this one was controlled by the notoriously violent Red Dragon Faction. The RDF managed to use local gangs and criminals to exert control of the criminal underworld. Their leaders were said to control some of the nations largest corporations. They ruled Corcoran city jail with an iron grip.

Every prisoner was provided a single cell with a bed, writing desk, toilet and sink. Prisoners were allowed visitors two days a week, except for those aiding their defense such as lawyers and experts who could visit at will. Among the activities available to prisoners were television, an exercise yard that included a basket ball court and exercise machinery, there were religious services , medical, dental and commissary once per week. Various games could be played on the modules tables and there was a library that also provided access to legal materials twice a week.

Cassandra had been housed on the eighth floor which currently was experiencing a lock down after a member of the Asian Gangsters was stabbed to death by members of La Colonia. It was thought the hit was part of an ongoing aggression by the Red Dragons for the Asians refusal to pay taxes on their underworld profits.

Just after her 5 am breakfast, Cassandra was led to the court holding cells in the buildings basement. There she was fitted with restraints around her waist, hands and ankles. She had then been moved by underground tunnel to the court house where she had sat in a holding cell until 1pm.

Calling Libertarian Governance versus Cassandra Viras. The NPF baliff announced which saw Cassandra led into the room and seated by defense attorney Sylvester Snead. To her left was a separate table housing Prosecutor Armand Simpson and an assistant. Hello, Cassandra. I hope the jail is a little better then the camp. They are required to present some evidence today and I am going to try to destroy that evidence and get you out of here. But first. He pulls a document from his case folder and rises.

Your honor. If it pleases the court I have here a motion of dismissal based on several Constitutional issues. Handing copies of his original document to the Baliff and the prosecutor he begins to speak. Libertarian Governance has a number of due process rights which I believe have been violated in this trial.

First, my client was seized by the LGDF during a military operation against Drackonisa. During that arrest, she was questioned and made several statements which could be incriminating. The LGDF did not tell her at any point till almost a week after she was held in custody that she was a suspect.

Then to top this off she is charged with Conspiracy to commit a crime against humanity. She is taken from Drackonisa waters without an arraignment and brought to Libertarian Westphelia. She is placed into a camp and for three days held without benefit of counsel. We ask for dismissal of all charges pursuant to the offered affidavit which includes affidavits from three LGDF Swords.

Mister Simpson?


Thank you, your honor. First she was not in custody when she spoke to the LGDF and was not under arrest.

Oh, please. What was it a vacation? You had better have a better argument then that.

No, no your honor she was a prisoner of war. During that process the LGDF tried to separate the slaves from the others.

Ok, all statements of defendant are out. What about arraigning her within 72 hours?

The prosecutor seemed stunned by that ruling and he stammered a bit before continuing. Well, she was held pursuant to the intelligence agency exemption. Simpson now picked up a paper which he shared with defense and the court. She was in Bureau 24's custody and it is they that released her to the camp.

The Judge shook her head. He has you on that one, she is clearly an alien and as such their paperwork is proper. I may not like it but oh well. First witness Mister Simpson.

We call Carter Fliess. A man rose and walked to the witness stand with a bad limp, using a cane. He was a 28 year old and had been sentenced to slavery for the horrendous crime of passing out leaflets with his parents when he was 17. The leaflets advocated democracy in Drackonisa.

After being sworn the prosecutor begin questioning. Mister Fliess, how did you meet the defendant. I was arrested with my parents for handing out leaflets calling for democracy. I was sentenced to their PIW program, my parents were killed. She is the lady that we were assigned to.

The prosecutor turned and pointed at Cassandra. That lady there?

Yes.

You were a slave in Drackonisa?

Yes.

What happened when you met her?

She had a baton and she begin to play with us. She hit a guy in the head for nothing. We were just standing there she walked up and just hit him. Then she grabbed me and started choking me. Then she pushed me down, I was pretty small, I guess scrawny at the time. She started hitting me with the baton on my legs. Tears fell from the witnesses eyes as he spoke.

You walk with limp. Did you have that limp before you met the defendant?

No, she broke my leg in three places and shattered my knee. I have walked with a limp and great pain ever since.

Turning to face the defendant the prosecutor walked closer to the defense table causing the Judge to strike her gavel. Get the hell away from there. You know the rules, no grandstanding.

Walking back a bit Simpson continued his questioning. That person there, Cassandra Viras beat you and broke your leg?

Yes.

Do you know why she would beat you like that?

Objection, he can't have possibly read minds.

Sustained.

How long were you a slave in her custody?

About 4 years.

Did you witness attacks on other slaves?

Yes.

Did the defendant ever laugh or smile when administering these beatings?

Yes. She enjoyed it. She's evil.

Objection.

Sustained. Do not make assumptions we only want facts. The Judge took a sip of water.

Did she ever beat you again?

Yes, whenever production was low or someone tried to escape she would make an example out of someone. That's what she called it, making an example.

No further questions of this witness. Prosecution moves to amend the complaint to add a second count of conspiracy to commit slavery and a third charge of commission of a crime against humanity to wit engagement in human slavery.

Snead is on his feet even before the prosecutor finishes. Objection! Objection! This is...

The Judge strikes her gavel. Overruled. I will consider their request on amendment. Now, Mister Snead you may question the witness.

OOC: Drackonisa, we are having a cool rp and I feel you are able to RP the defense lawyer and whatever questions he wishes to submit with the witnesses answers. This is the only witness the prosecutor will call for the prelim, plus he has submitted the PIW records as evidence. You can also bring your own witnesses or have defendant testify so long as I can question when you are finished.

[The Eagleland]

Liberty, Libertarian Governance
Department of Defense Building
22:20

Mixalis Mpoutsanas exited the vehicle as soon as it entered the DoD compound. However, his assault with his 20 men on the DoD has gone a bit haywire. The Libertarians were exiting the building in masse, armed to the teeth with AWS rifles. The terrorists were in trouble. When Mpoutsanas looked at the DoD building, he found out that the important intel was way beyond his reach. He entered his SUV and escaped, leaving his 20 men behind, whose numbers were thinning because the LGDF guards were far better than them, to put it simply. 5 surrendered, 8 were killed and the rest commited suicide. Mpoutsanas was driving back to the docks in a hurry, before the Police would catch up. He would hide himself inside his ammo dump at the docks.

---

Elsewhere

Oured, Eagleland
Eagleland Nationalists Headquarters
27, Vasileos Street
23:55 OST

Before Mixalis Mxaloliakos could sleep, an EKAM squad, with the DA, stormed the building. The EA members were caught off guard and were arrested before they could pick up their weapons. The DA, being former Sergeant Major Alexandros Sampanis, entered his office.

- Μιχάλης Μιχαλολιάκος; (Μixalis Mixaloliakos?)
- Μάλιστα, κύριε. Τι θέλετε; (Yes, sir. What do you want?)
- Κύριε Μιχαλολιάκο, σύλλαμβάνεστε για τρομοκρατικές πράξεις εναντία στην Αετοχώρα και την Ελευθερωτική Διακυβέρνηση, όπως επιτέπεται απο το Ένταλγμα Α8769 Επιπέδου Α. Διατηρείτε το δικάωμα να παραμείνετε ήσυχος. Μπορείτε να πείτε κάτι, αλλά μπορεί να βλάψει την υπεράσπισή σας, συνέπως για να πείτε κάτι χρειάζεστε στοιχεία. Πάρτε τον! (Mr. Mixaloliakos, you are under arrest for terrorist acts against the Eagleland and the Libertarian Governance, as allowed under warrant A8769 Level A. You have the right to remain silent. You may say something, but it may harm your defense, therefore to say something you need evidence. Take him!)
- Μα, πρέπει να υπάρχει κάποιο λάθος! (But, there must be some mistake!)
- Λυπάμαι κύριε, δεν έχω χρόνο για παιχνίδια με τρομοκράτες. Παρακαλώ προχωρήστε στη κλούβα. (I am sorry, sir, I have no time for games with terrorists. Please proceed to the containment vehicle.)

Mixaloliakos was arrested and was taken to the containment truck. In the Eagleland, a Level A Warrant authorises full police action; unlimited interrogation time, no access to lawyers, no right to bail when the case gets in court and it is a sort of prologue for a long, long time behind bars, or even a rope around the neck.

[Libertarian Governance]

To: His Imperial Majesty Ranisath Cuilahîr Cuilévaher nos Fëanor, Elenaran of the Necrontyr Empire.

Greetings Friends,

I first want to thank your honorable nation for its friendship. There should never be a reason that friends should not feel free to speak openly and frankly with each other. I have read your statement and somewhat agree with you in your statements.However, I do feel the trials are very important.

You see, for too long have slavers been given an air of legitimacy which they are not due. While nations pay lip service to slavery they sell these criminal enterprises weapons, commodities,and other goods and services. Trade with them freely, associate with them freely. What other crime do civilized nations allow people to freely associate and deal with criminal enterprises?

Yes, this is a war but it is not a war against governments it is a war against criminal scum. Those that are lucky enough to be taken alive need to be given a public sentence and punishment as a deterrent to others. Thus the prosecutions which by themselves freed over 1 billion persons held by Advanced Slave Trader.There can not therefore be an argument my friend that prosecutions are not effective. Nor can there be an argument that our tactics are not having an effect.

And yes, we are prosecuting those who provide material support to the slave trade. We have previously stated openly our intent to go after those nations aiding slavers either by inaction or by their economic or military relationships with such criminals. Remember Your Majesty that we are talking about the most vile crime ever committed, slavery. There is nothing worse that can be done to a sentient being.

As to what you refer to as children. Children are seen in many countries as property. They belong to their parents who can in places beat them even kill them. This attitude actually grows from the same sick and twisted thinking that allows slaves. As I am sure you are aware we have one of the most liberated societies on the planet. Parents can not hit another individual here because they are a child. An assault is still an assault.

If you look around the world you will see children murder, conspire, run criminal organizations, run businesses and so on. So, just being young isn't necessarily proof of incompetency. While, these issues do cause concern and are being discussed throughout our government it is the current law. Is a 13 year old who picked out a slave and asked his parents to buy the slave not guilty?

We are keeping an eye on all prosecutions of those considered children. We have no desire to see innocent persons hanged or imprisoned. I believe our juries deserve more credit in applying our laws ethically and justly.

Sincerely,


Robert Wilhelm Stratton
President of the Unified Realm
Chief Executive of Libertarian Governance
Prince Imperial of the Greater Prussian Empire


Bureau 24 Interrogation

For the men belonging to Mixalis Mpoutsanas it was a bad time to get captured. The Chief Executive had just signed a security directive that turned the entire government loose on enemy aliens with extreme prejudice. Already, Medusa Agents had guaranteed that hundreds in the camps for slavers in Libertarian Westphelia simply disappeared, forever. The five men captured following the shoot out at the Defense Headquarters were now under the control of Bureau 24.

Sitting with each arm and each leg cuffed to a metal chair was one such person. The medical screening, taking of blood for DNA analysis and fingerprinting had long since finished. A bucket of ice water brought him awake.

Breathing heavily as his eyes focused in on two masked men, he attempted to form a word or two before a hard right cross almost sent him to sleep again. So strong was the punch that it topple his chair on its side. Looking up through blurry vision there was a single florescent light in the ceiling, grey walls that looked freshly painted and two very bad guys.

The masked man leaned down to the toppled prisoner. He held a small ball pen hammer in his right hand, just inches from the mans face. Whispering devilishly. You are going to tell me everything I want to know.

Why couldn't he speak, he would tell them whatever they wanted to know. The man with the hammer kept talking. You see, I am going to take this hammer and start breaking your bones. I am going to start with the fingers on your right hand. Then in a lower whisper as he placed his face right against the prisoners ear the man continued. Then I am going to break the fingers on your left hand so that your nervous system doesn't send you into shock. I want you to feel all the pain. Shhhh don't, don't. I don't want to hear it yet.

The man moved back and motioning to the other man, the prisoner had his chair returned to the upright position. A hard slap connected across the back of his head. The second man begin to hold his right wrist firmly against the chairs arm. Again the man desperately tried to tell them, desperately tried to get words and sound to leave his mouth. He would talk, don't do this he thought.

The hammer begin striking. Through the pain and anguish of each crushed bone the prisoner still could not speak, could not scream.

[The Ctan]

Dear President Stratton,

Due to a series of engagements today, the Elenaran is currently unable to devote the time required to reply to your message in full, but has requested me to sum up the essence of the concern. In many, nay, most, countries, children are essentially considered slaves. It is because of that fact that we consider it a dangerous road to prosecute children for supporting slavery in mundane ways, such as by tourism (the example of actually participating in the slavery process as an owner is on the other hand, far more serious) when they are essentially considered property of their parents themselves.

Just as the slave that toils making chains under pain of death can hardly be said to be a willing participant in the system of slavery, the child who is taken on a holiday to a slaver state, in most nations, does so under implicit duress of punishment if they were to attempt to refuse. We think it unfair to punish a child who was effectively a slave themselves for acts that are in short, innocuous.

Obviously where a young person of any age was not only competent in managing their own affairs but able to do so free from duress, then they should be held to full account for their actions.

With Compliments,
Ilene Vashon
Adjutant of the Elenaran

[Libertarian Governance]

Executive Mansion - Liberty

Robert took a moment to read the reply to his letter sent by Ilene Vashon. After reading the letter he frowned. Indeed he thought she is absolutely correct that children in many countries of the world are treated as slaves. He had to take a seat for a moment. How could they have erred so gravely in not considering this fact?

Libertarian Governance was certainly far different then most nations of the world in its pursuit of liberty and equity. He gazed at his own child, 14 year old Ryan. Ryan like many Governors of his age was far more mature then many of similar age in other nations. This was a product not only of the education system but of the nations general culture. A culture that grew out of the codes adopted by Captain John Locke so long ago and which was a product of life aboard the fighting vessels of the Nemesis Incorporated fleet.

In the great fleets of old men and women were judged not by race, not by gender and not by age but by their abilities to contribute to the mission at hand. For in the Nemesis fleets children who were captured were often adopted by the crews and in fact became parts of those crews. In the old stories there were tales of heroic sacrifices by persons as young as 10. So it could be understood how the Constitution once adopted made little distinction between a person of 30 years of age and one of 8. Liberty was a right to everyone. Additionally, children at least those who reached the age of 12 were accorded the right to vote. Just as they had held the right under the Nemesis Incorporated Codes to vote while serving with the fleets crews.

As he watched his son play it was clear that despite the maturity mentally this was still a child. Ryan, come over here for a moment. Sit beside your father. Smiling the kid made his way over and sat on Robert's right hand side. Robert placed his arm around his shoulder and gently kissed him on the side of the head. I fear we are perhaps making a bad mistake.

What kind of mistake dad?

With the slavery trials. Do you believe people your age should be prosecuted for helping slavers?

Hell yea! I know slavery is wrong just like I know murder is wrong.

Yes, but in some nations people your age are treated like slaves. If I were your parent in some other countries I could use force to make you comply with my demands.

Now it was Ryan who frowned. Those countries are backwards. You can't hit me its assault and I could defend myself.

Robert laughed. Yes, here you can. But in other places it is not that way.

Anywhere I can because I have the inherent right to do as I please. Yes, they might violate my rights but I still have rights. Rights are natural to all sentient beings. That's what school says and that's what you have always said. Then Ryan looks hard at his father noticing the anguish on his face. Standing up he faces his father. I guess if I was a slave people could try to make me do things I didn't want to do. But, we always have a choice. I can resist or comply, I can refuse and I could fight.

Yes, I bet you would fight.

I'd neva eva be a slave. I'd die on my feet, a freeman.

Tyrants are hard to resist. It can take great inner strength and that is a strength most men and women don't have. And what if you lived in a place where it was normal to be a slave, would you think of resisting?

The child thought a long moment before answering. Captain Locke and Captain Nganda, Chief Executive Crockett they had strength. Captain Nganda was an old man and even though he fought the best troops of the Spectarian army to keep our flag from falling. By himself! The story of Captain Nganda's heroic defense of the Libertarian flag during the Old States war was one every Governor knew. The Captain, a former slave and one of the nations first Chief Executives at age 70 refused to take a step in retreat slaying a dozen Spectarian Knights while militia forces fled the enemy in terror.

But if you had never heard of any of them or any of this stuff of liberty and responsibility would you really think of resisting? Or would you just go along with what every one else does?

I don't know dad. I do know about them and I know about liberty. I would hope I would not be so weak. I would hope I wouldn't ever do evil because I was too weak to see it was evil. The child smiled as his father did. Reaching out he hugged his parent. Can I go hang out at Thomas's?

So long as your cousin doesn't mind. Have one of the drivers take you. After the child left Robert had determined that action on the children was necessary. Though there were only so many options. The legal system was separate from the executive branch of government. Though Robert could pardon convictions or commute sentences he could only exercise either power upon a conviction. That meant the legal process would have to continue.

The second thing that was possible would be to get the Prosecutors office to end the prosecutions. The Chief Prosecutor was a member of the ruling party so that was a possibility and then there was another route...

A call was made to William Bennett, Chief of Bureau 24 Intelligence who had just been issued sweeping authorization to deal with enemy aliens. Within a matter of hours national security letters had been issued placing the occupants of three camps under the control of Bureau 24. Along with those letters were transfer request that in a days time would see every prisoner under the age of 18 in Bureau 24's custody. Some 88,000 persons between 12 and 18 were now officially out of the judicial system.

While it would take some time the former prisoners were being issued deportation orders by Bureau 24 under the Intelligence agency provisions of the Constitution. The nations that these children were from were beginning to be contacted by the Foreign Affairs Office and informed when such persons would be officially deported and available for transport. Except that children from areas controlled by slavers and nations committing crimes against humanity would not be deported, instead they would be turned over to child welfare and anti-slavery organizations for adoption.

To: Ilene Vashon, Adjutant of the Elenaran

Greetings Friends,

I agree with your view that most persons under the age of 18 in the world are essentially slaves. As such, I have taken steps to remove said persons from the judicial process and deport them to their homelands. That is with the exception of those from regimes that practice crimes against humanity. Those persons will be turned over to child welfare agencies and anti-slave organizations for adoption within anti-slave states.

As you read this all such persons are being removed to three main camps which will be administered by child welfare advocates and anti-slave organizations. Recognized non-government agencies are free to access these camps and their inhabitants.

Sincerely,


Robert Wilhelm Stratton
President of the Unified Realm
Chief Executive of Libertarian Governance
Prince Imperial of the Greater Prussian Empire

[The Eagleland]

Undisclosed Location
Libertarian Governance

Konstantinos Alexandrou, one of the prisoners, heard the sound of crushing bone. As the toughest of the lot, he was able to wake up, at least barely. What the 2 men were doing to his fellow man was bizzare to him, but nothing out of the ordinary for him. Back at the Eagleland, he was a bad student and he was often in trouble with the Law. His low grades on the final exam meant that he was subjected to conscription. Unlike the Professionals and Reserves, the Conscripts are badly treated; hazing, beatings et cetera were common phenomena for these "servants" of the country. All of the 5 prisoners were ex conscripts who have served in the same unit, in the 22nd Conscripted Infantry Battalion at Niki Island, the base where the worst of the worst are stationed, but the Libertarians were obviously lucky; they picked on the "soft one", Andreas Karanikos,. As a conscript, he was not tough enough to withstand the hazing and was imprisoned for 10 years for insubordination, after he refused to undergo hazing and threw his rifle to the other side of the wall. If he failed in the army, why he would succeed in enduring the pain from the hammers? The other 3 were Alexandros "Souperman" Sampanis, Mixalis Kokkinakis and Dimitris Dimitriou.

Alexandrou had only regained his consciousness when the Libertarians have just broken his final finger. He said to himself that if Karanikos would crack, the others were screwed. So Alexandrou decided to..... ease the heat from Karanikos.

E! LIBERTARIAN MOTHERFUCKERS!

---

Liberty, Libertarian Governance,
Downtown,
2 Kilometers from the Defense Department Building,
23:30

Mpoutsanas was only 2 Kilometers away from the DoD when the NPF finally caught up with him. The LGDF sent his Licence Plate Information to the Police and one hour later, he was found. A pursuit throughout the city of Liberty was on. His driving skills were a match for the 3 Libertarian Police Cars that were pursuing him, and the fact that his vehicle was an SUV would mean that a direct collision between Mpoutsanas and an NPF officer would not end up well for the Libertarians. While Mpoutsanas was on a Highway (as he wanted to avoid roadblocks within the city) leading from Downtown to Little Eagleland, he received an SMS message from one of his colleagues back in the Eagleland. It was not good news.

ΜΠΟΥΤΣΑΝΑ! ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ ΠΡΟΒΛΗΜΑ! ΟΙ ΜΠΑΤΣΟΙ ΣΥΝΕΛΛΑΒΑΝ ΤΟΝ ΜΙΧΑΛΟΛΙΑΚΟ ΚΑΙ ΕΡΧΟΝΤΑΙ ΣΕ ΕΜΑΣ! ΚΑΝΤΗΝ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΛΕΦΤΕΡΙΑ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΑ ΡΕ!!!

(MPOUTSANAS! WE HAVE A PROBLEM! THE COPS HAVE ARRESTED MIXALOLIAKOS AND THEY ARE COMING TO US! GET OUT OF LIBERTY FAST RE!!!)

ΣΚΑΤΑ!!! He said to himself. While he was angry, however, he was too busy looking at the SMS message, when he suddenly hit another SUV of the same make, driven by a drunken teenager, with the passengers smoking Marijuana. The collision was devastating. The airbags explode, and Mpoutsanas was nearly choked, but he was a bit shaken. The 3 Police cars in pursiut stopped and a female officer aimed the gun at Mpoutsanas, unaware of this man's abilities; Mpoutsanas served in the Eagleland Special Forces before he became a bodybuilder, who as of now weighs approximately 150 Kilograms (~300 lbs), mostly muscle.

SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY, OR I WILL OPEN FIRE!

Mpoutsanas recovered from this, but he was breathing heavily. The sight of a woman was simply enough to wake the monster beneath this large ex-bodubuilder.

ΠΟΥΤΑΝΑ.....ΘΑ ΠΕΘΑΝΕΙΣ! (BITCH.....YOU'LL DIE!)

He then charged towards her with his combat knife, with a direct intention to kill her.

ΕΕΕΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗΗ!!!!

He terrorises the others. The word "shit" came up a lot. Meanwhile, the teenagers were not in a better state than Mpoutsanas

[Libertarian Governance]

Senate - Libertarian Governance

The Senate President Aiden Nganda brought a measure to the Senate floor that would modify the Crimes Against Humanity Acts to do two things. First the law would add a provision requiring more proof against those that were considered slaves. This was a result in several mistaken prosecutions which had targeted members of the Drackonisa Permanent Indentured Workers program, largely considered mistaken prosecutions.

The second major move was to institute additional protections for those under the age of majority in their home countries. While, persons above the LG age of majority would still be subject to prosecution the law would be amended to by specifically allowing persons to cite their age as a condition of slavery and therefore not to be held criminal liable. The requested changes to the law were demanded by Chief Executive Stratton.

Though the Senate was the Senate. The Senate met in a large complex in Liberty that provided for 2400 Senators and nearly 1200 observers. The remaining Senators were provided smaller satellite offices around Libertarian Governance that was connected to the main building by audio and video technology. The entire body was present with all 7320 Senators taking part in the crafting of the modified law. Numerous additional amendments proffered by all parties and debate lasted throughout the day. These amendments included an outright attempt to retract the law by the Libertarian Anarchist party and several humanistic affairs crafted by the Progressives.

While, most amendments were voted down by the Sons and Daughters of Liberty using their majority to good effect the final law was far different then it had previously been. The final vote on adoption of the modified law was 4318 aye and 3000 nay with 2 abstentions.

Crimes Against Humanities Acts

Description:
Crimes Against Humanity are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more sentient beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government, business entity or of any other de facto authority. Said crimes shall include slavery; murder; extermination; torture; rape; sexual assault on persons under the age of 12; political, racial, or religious persecution where they are part of a widespread or systematic practice.

Definitions:
Human, Persons, People - For each of these words the term applies to sentient beings whether human or non-human.

Slavery - A system in which sentient beings are held against their will and forced to work or perform other duties while being deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation.

Material Support - The act of giving the slightest financial, military, physical or political assistance to any person, organization or nation engaged in the practices of any crime against humanity.

Trafficking - The act of moving an individual, either within a nation, across borders, through international waters or airspace, for the purposes of delivering that individual to a person, organization or nation that will commit a crime against humanity against said person.

Declares:
1. Crime Against Humanity are any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental individual inherent rights and or of due process;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender to include persons defining themselves as gay, lesbian or homosexual, or other grounds;
(i) Sexual assault of any person under the age of 12;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

2. Libertarian Governance courts shall have jurisdiction over any and all crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world regardless of whether said crimes were committed outside the boundaries of Libertarian Governance, regardless of nationality of the accused or victims, regardless of the country of residence of the victims or accused, regardless of any other relation with Libertarian Governance.
(a) Crimes against humanity shall be considered a crime against all sentient beings.
(b) Libertarian Governance law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies are explicitly authorized to act to stop crimes against humanity anywhere in the world and to further kill, seize or prosecute perpetrators of such crimes.
(c) Libertarian Governance law enforcement, military and intelligence agencies are explicitly authorized to seize or destroy property used in the commission of or furtherance of crimes against humanity anywhere in the world.

3. Any person, organization, or other entity who provides material support to any any person, organization or nation engaged in the practices of any crime against humanity shall themselves be guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime against humanity.

4. Any person, organization, or other entity who provides for the transport of persons that are the victim of any crime against humanity specified herein shall be guilty of trafficking the victims of a crime against humanity.

5. Enslaved persons may only be found guilty under this law as stated in accordance with the rulings made in Libertarian Governance v Charles Ling.
(a) Persons who have not reached the age of majority in their home countries may claim the protections provided enslaved persons under Libertarian Governance v Charles Ling as it is recognized by Libertarian Governance that such people are in fact treated as slaves and as such are often not acting on their own free will.

5. Punishment for any conviction under this law shall be death by hanging.

[Libertarian Governance]

Black Watchman Safehouse - New Rome

The night was dark thanks mainly to the tropical rainfall that had continued off and on throughout the day. The street was quiet and there was little movement in this area of town with most of its working class occupants having to work in the morning. 3:15 am and three men and a women entered the 10 story condominium building on Via dell'Aracoeli. The building was about 10 years old and middle class in its styling. The four people bypassed he elevator and entered the stairway. The each removed a pistol from their jacket as they begin climbing the stair case. Holding their weapons two handed and pointing everywhere their eyes went the four people advanced upwards to the seventh floor.

Without a sound the team leader opened the door to the hallway. Ever so slightly so he could peer down the hall. Stepping and pulling the door completely open the other three team members rushed into the hallway, the first turning right and te other two moving to the left. The team leader followed until they came to a door.

Removing a small ball of putty like substance the female kneels beside the door, fully covered by the wall itself. She molds the material around the lock and handle, then removing a small metal tube she inserts it into the putty. Next she attaches wires to the tube and unfurls the wire moving back about 5 feet and then connects them to a small box.

The remaining members of the team brace themselves against the wall and with a nod from the leader the female presses a button and an explosion rips through the door. The team leader immediately kicks the door wide leading the team into the condo. Gun shots erupt as first a man and then a women inside are shot three times in the head. The team swarms into the condo knowing the floor plan perfectly. More gunshots and more two more occupants are dead, the last of which is an Eaglelander belonging to Mpoutsanas gang.

It talked seconds to clear the condominium with three Libertarian members of the Black Watchmen and the Mpoutsanas bomb maker dead. Inside the condominium are photos and maps of Libertarian Governance including maps showing the Xs where the bombs were placed outside of Rochelle Academy. There are various bomb making materials in the kitchen and more then 100 assault rifles in one of the bed rooms with thousands of rounds of crated ammunition.

The team keeps the building secure until the National Police Force arrives.

[YellowApple]

Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

Chapter 11, Book of Genesis, The Old Testament

Administrative Residence, Manzanopolis Prime, YellowApple

Administrator Manzano thumbed through the casualty reports of the attack on Heaven's Gate on his tablet computer. At least 500,000 YellowApplan nationals - innocent men and women - presumed dead. The Heaven's Gate orbital elevator and the surrounding islands were reduced to radioactive ashes.

And the lines to Drackonisa were dead. Data packets to the Drackonisan communications networks were bouncing back with routing errors, as if the whole damn country didn't exist.

Manzano sent one more message, hoping to clarify things.

TO: [Contacts > International > Libertarian Governance > Robert Wilhelm Stratton]
SUBJ: "Heaven's Gate"

To Chief Executive Stratton:

The previous message regarding the apparent battle around Heaven's Gate went unanswered. All I know is that my people were slaughtered with no explanation, that nuclear warheads were deployed, and that we've lost contact with all of Drackonisa, and every single radar signature around Heaven's Gate belonging to us vanished.

So what's going on? If this is all because of some error we made, then we'd be absolutely delighted to talk it out, but we can't do that if you're ignoring our messages. Whatever the reason may be for what appears to be your forces attacking Heaven's Gate and everything near it, we'd be would love to talk it over.

May there be lasting peace and prosperity between our nations.

Sincerely,

Administrator Amarillo Manzano

The message sent successfully, and Manzano finished the cup of coffee he was holding before getting dressed for the day of meetings with his staff. The spider silk jacket and pants covered a mostly mechanical body - the epitome of YellowApplan prosthetic technology, prolonging his life for 150 years past his "expiration date" - and the rim of his fedora cast a shadow over his red, artificial eyes. Amarillo Manzano was more of a machine than a human now, and to even call him "alive" was stretching the definition of life itself.

Regardless of his physical form, Manzano now faced a vital meeting, as today, YellowApple's military command would need to discuss their readiness for a possible attack on YellowApplan cities. Such discussions hadn't taken place since YellowApple's founding, and thus were a clear indication of what the nation may look forward to in its international politics. YellowApple's history of pacifism and neutrality may be nearing its end.

[Libertarian Governance]

To: Administrator Amarillo Manzano

The problem is that you are an oppressive criminal regime involved in slavery. As such the Free Republic of Libertarian Governance demands that you immediately end this vile system of oppression. Your failure to do so will result in further military action. We also will not countenance arguments on your part that these are criminals. Indeed it has come to the attention of the Free Republic that often not only do you enslave the person that committed the alleged crime, but you go further and enslave family members that have had absolutely nothing to do with the crime. You also have enslaved a number of foreign citizens without cause and generally are knee deep in the criminal enterprise of slavery.

We also question if females are not being routinely and systematically subjected to rape and sexual assault. End this evil enterprise that you are participating in and end it now. The Chief Executive has offered to provide your nation with a number of Gold Coin or other commodities for the release of all these people to Libertarian Governance and a permanent end to the system. You are seriously advised to accept this offer and realize what happened to your allies could happen to you next. We will not tolerate slavery anywhere.

We have captured a number of persons claiming to be from Yellowapple and a list of their identities is attached. These people are currently being prosecuted for violation of our Crimes Against Humanities Acts. A copy of the law is attached.

Sincerely,


Tom McWain
Chief of Foreign Affairs

[YellowApple]

(Image)

To: Administrator Amarillo Manzano

The problem is that you are an oppressive criminal regime involved in slavery. As such the Free Republic of Libertarian Governance demands that you immediately end this vile system of oppression. Your failure to do so will result in further military action. We also will not countenance arguments on your part that these are criminals. Indeed it has come to the attention of the Free Republic that often not only do you enslave the person that committed the alleged crime, but you go further and enslave family members that have had absolutely nothing to do with the crime. You also have enslaved a number of foreign citizens without cause and generally are knee deep in the criminal enterprise of slavery.

We also question if females are not being routinely and systematically subjected to rape and sexual assault. End this evil enterprise that you are participating in and end it now. The Chief Executive has offered to provide your nation with a number of Gold Coin or other commodities for the release of all these people to Libertarian Governance and a permanent end to the system. You are seriously advised to accept this offer and realize what happened to your allies could happen to you next. We will not tolerate slavery anywhere.

We have captured a number of persons claiming to be from Yellowapple and a list of their identities is attached. These people are currently being prosecuted for violation of our Crimes Against Humanities Acts. A copy of the law is attached.

Sincerely,

(Image)
Tom McWain
Chief of Foreign Affairs

TO: [{autoreply}]
SUBJ: "RE: Heaven's Gate"

Mr. McWain:

It's unfortunate that you confuse our system of contractual servitude with that of "slavery", like many foreigners. It seems your information is slightly dated and most certainly inaccurate. The practice of imprisoning family members was outlawed quite a while ago (exception: unless a family member chooses to serve a sentence in place of the convicted person), and the YellowApplan government no longer endorses nor participates in international slave trade (it is still legal on a private level, but rare). We also would care to know the erroneous source that claims we have "enslaved a number of foreign citizens without cause"; even if it were true, it's not much worse than your own military and (from what we can gather) that of Allanea murdering millions of civilians (both YellowApplan and Drackonisan, among others) without cause, and even likely murdering millions of the slaves you could have freed.

Additionally, contractual servants voluntarily choose servitude over other sentencing by signing a contract waiving their free will (this even includes slaves purchased from sellers in other nations to become contractual servants; import into YellowApple is illegal without a signed contract verifying the to-be servant's consent). Individuals may certainly choose prison (or, in the case of murder or rape, execution) instead of their servitude. We don't force them to do anything.

The philosophical difference is also significant. Contractual servants become contractual servants to cleanse themselves of their crimes by proving that they can function under an authority figure. Their obedience and hard work translates to eventual freedom. According to our most recent surveys, 76% of all servants serve for less than 10 years, and 95% for less than 20. Even those few that serve for life are treated well, seeing that intentional physical harm is still classified as assault and punishable as such.

As for the concern about females, what makes them so special? What about males being sexually assaulted and/or raped? Are men not equal to women? But to address your concerns, that is unregulated by the YellowApplan government. Servants are protected from physical assault just as any sapient being, but sexual roles are defined by the contract itself; many contracts do indeed specify automatic sexual consent. But again, all criminals choosing their sentencing reserve the right to not sign the contract and instead be simply imprisoned. By signing the contract, an individual willingly hands over decision-making to his/her contractual superior.

In short, your government, like many others, fails to draw the difference between our actually beneficial and proven-to-work system and those disgusting petty slavers kidnapping individuals and selling them like livestock. The fact that your government is so hasty in making threats based on inaccurate information is also quite disturbing.

We kindly suggest reconsidering your needlessly aggressive methods; we predict that a more peaceful and diplomatic approach would be far less costly to the Libertarian Governance's reputation, military, and people. After all, our reports indicated your naval fleet was severely crippled after the Heaven's Gate battle, and that your people face civil unrest. How many more wars will you be able to fight before the Libertarian Governance can't fight anymore?

Stop baring your teeth like a rabid dog and start being civil. You'll see that your goals will be much easier to achieve when you discontinue such an immature and uncivilized approach to diplomacy as fighting anyone who disagrees with you by even the slightest bit. Put away the guns and we'll consider negotiating our own policies.

May there be lasting peace and prosperity between our nations.

Sincerely,

Administrator Amarillo Manzano

[Libertarian Governance]

Thomas McWain had a lunch the next day with his cousin Chief executive Robert Wilhelm Stratton. The lunch was held at the swank Mezzogregarios restaurant in Liberty. While, the violence had abated itself somewhat Governors were still armed to the teeth and stuck in their individual ways. The violence had largely fallen to normal levels. The police had raided numerous Black Watchmen houses over the evening and because of their conspiring with the enemy aliens of the Eagleland underworld there had also been a number of intelligence agency actions, most of which were carried out by Medusa Anti-Vip units with text book results.

Both the Democratic Progressives and Libertarian Anarchist continued to stage anti-war protest with the Anarchist simultaneously denouncing the ongoing criminal trials. Things were definitely getting back to normal.

Mezzogregarios was crowded at anytime of the day. Its contemporary furnishing featured multicolored marble floors, papered walls with art deco paintings and sculptures along with a few ancient artifacts mixed in here and there. Seated at a booth in the rear of the restaurant the two officials discussed the recent letter from Yellowapple. Thomas had ordered a toasted sandwich that included liberal amounts of three cheeses melted to perfection, pepperoni, ham and Italian sausage. Along with a caffeine ans sugar loaded Cola. Robert drink pomegranate juice and ate the restaurants famous lasagna.

Well, this is just plain bullshit as far as I can see. Robert talked between bites of his lasagna.

Thomas laughed. Hey, what do we really know about these people? How much real intel is there?

We know enough to know this is a pack of lies. Hell, they enslave children into sexual assault and they want to talk about...you know I feel like just...can you imagine the craziness of some of these thugs? I love the lasagna here.

Look maybe they are lying but I think the important thing is their willingness to negotiate.

Now Robert frowned placing his fork down. Negotiate with criminals?

Tom seemed angered. Here me out for once. Our military could probably fight another 100 years straight. We know that. We have money, we have manpower, we have the best damn weaponry around. But, how long will the public support war after war?

Restraining himself Robert manages a smile. Our polling numbers show 62% of the public supporting war on slavers.

Thomas nods. Yes, but that is down 8 % from where it was before Drackonisa. Sooner or later there will be disaster and you know that you were in the military. Remember Gabrielle?

Robert blinks as if stunned for a moment. My Gabrielle, yes I remember my wife. What..

How many of our people have lost their wives or their husbands or their moms like Ryan has because of war?

My wife didn't die fighting slavers. She died because she was a soldier in a war. As I was a soldier too. It was her duty and she died honorably doing her duty.

Reaching across the table Thomas grasp his cousins hand. Does that make it any easier for you or Ryan? All I am saying is that we should really look at the cost of these wars. I am as anti-slave as you and you know that.

Robert wipes a tear from his eye. We don't fight these wars for glory, we don't fight for land, we don't fight to enrich ourselves. We have spent billions, trillions of our own wealth and spilled the blood of our sons and daughters not for us. We fight the evil of slavery because it is right. We fight because the world has turned a blind eye to this oppression.

Sitting back in his seat Thomas takes a sip of cola. You know the first memory I have? You were throwing me up in the air and catching me. I was all happy as I remember until you dropped me on my head.

Robert laughs. You remember that? You have a good memory.

Yes, I remember it. I even remember the ringing in my ears after I hit the ground. Sue came and took me. You're my closest family Robert.

What is this some sort of torment because I dropped you on your head as a baby? Robert smiled a bit more then took a sip of his juice. What is it you want?

Let me do my job. I'm your Foreign Affairs Chief, let me talk to them and see if we can negotiate something.

Negotiation is nothing but a way for those who do nothing about slavery to claim they are doing something.

The world knows we will attack and kill any slaver. The world knows that we have freed billions. If we free a few more with talk what is wrong with that?

Leaning his head back and gazing at the ceiling Robert thought on his cousins request. Then looking his cousin in the eye and taking another sip of juice he thought some more. Ok. Use your diplomacy. Later that day a carefully crafted reply was forwarded to Yellowapple.

To: Administrator Amarillo Manzano

Greetings,

Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps we do misunderstand your system. At the same time perhaps you do not see what we ourselves see. I would propose that we open talks with one another with no preconditions to the discussion. I believe we may be able to come to some mutually agreed arrangements that will enable not only a better understanding between our governments and people but perhaps bring about an era of mutual respect, cooperation and prosperity.

I will start by saying that it is not our policy to interfere with the punishment of criminals. So long as there are reasonable protections of fundamental rights and due process we respect any nations authority to punish crimes. However, we have some concerns that this may not always be the case in Yellowapple. There are what we consider reliable reports that children are enslaved to this day and are sometime born into slavery. There are again reliable reports that a criminal's family members may suffer slavery as a result of a crime they had nothing to do with.

As you stated to me there is still private slavery in your nation. We would like to see that end. There are other issues I am sure. I am equally sure that there may be issues you have with our own actions in the world. As to the prisoners, we understand the actual number claiming Yellowapple citizenship is 213,459. An additional 72,814 are under the age of 18. Now, we will allow access to these prisoners by your officials. You may of course provide them with legal counsel and I must say we have provided each a court appointed attorney.

Of those under 18, they are presently being held in facilities managed by child welfare and anti-slave agencies. We would again allow access to your officials and that access will include family members visiting without fear of arrest or prosecution. We will not allow anyone into our country under these terms that have what you call a servant and what we refer to as slaves. Libertarian Governance would like to repatriate these children but before we can we need some clarifications of the slave issue.

I am of course willing to meet for face to face talks.

Sincerely,


Tom McWain
Chief of Foreign Affairs

[YellowApple]

The exchange of messages was certainly tiring, but Manzano was pleased that he was finally getting some answers, and that said answers were becoming more civil.

TO: [{autoreply}]
SUBJ: "RE: Heaven's Gate"

Mr. McWain:

I appreciate your willingness to adopt a more diplomatic method of achieving your goals. I'll save further negotiations for the in-person meeting you suggested. Provided I have authorization from your respective departments, I will be arriving at the YellowApplan embassy in Liberty within the next 48 hours. I recommend discussing this there, but you are welcome to select an appropriate setting.

To address your specific concerns, children are no longer born into contractual servitude. When we still practiced "involuntary servitude", this was possible, but with the recent insistence on voluntary contractual agreement, children born during their parents' servitude are deemed citizens of YellowApple, as they did not commit a crime nor agree to servitude. Unfortunately, it is still possible for a child to sign any legally-binding contract with parental counsel, and it is additionally possible for family members to voluntarily serve in place of another person. Although I would personally like for this to change, it would be a complicated matter that would require much deliberation with the YellowApple Department of Education, which uses signed agreements to allow students' participation in a wide variety of activities, and the YellowAppe Department of International Relations, which requires that all immigrants (children included, with parental counsel) sign various agreements pertaining to their understanding of YellowApplan laws and regulations. We would have to create a quantifiable measurement of morality.

Please understand that we will be reluctant to move too quickly on the slavery issue, not out of greed, but rather out of concern for societal stability. Drastic changes in lifestyle will lead to inevitable animosity, and given the close proximity among citizens, any animosity is destined to escalate into a riot, as is currently happening in one of our major cities, Astleyville, as a result of a recent arrest of a high-profile gang leader. I agree that slavery in its traditional sense is a disgusting and horrendous ordeal, which is why, when the contractual servitude system was modeled, I insisted on contractual agreement, so that at least the servant-to-be had a valid option of whether or not to serve.

We can discuss this further when we meet in person. May there be lasting peace and prosperity between our nations.

Sincerely,

Administrator Amarillo Manzano

The message sent successfully. By now, Manzano was standing outside the door to the Administrative Meeting Hall, tablet in hand. He slid the tablet into a pocket on the inside of his jacket before opening the door, prompting the two dozen or so Departmental Heads inside to stand up rigidly, their arms in a stiff salute. Manzano proceeded to his seat at the end of the long table, waving his hand a bit as a gesture for his subordinates to relax. They sat down as he did, listening to his scratchy, electronic voice as he addressed them.

"Gentlemen, as you may have heard, there was a costly military conflict among multiple nations in the Heaven's Gate archipelago. What is known is that the Elevator was attacked with thermonuclear munitions, resulting in the estimated deaths of between 500 and 600 thousand YellowApplan citizens.

"The conflict appears to have been between the nations of Drackonisa and the Libertarian Governance. We also know that the nations of Allanea and Tehraan were involved, but do not know for certain their role in the conflict. We have received diplomatic confirmation from the Libertarian Governance that they were involved in the assault, citing it as part of their project to end international slavery, and that they have nearly 215 thousand prisoners from the conflict claiming YellowApplan citizenship. The civilians are being charged for their 'crimes against humanity'."

Chief Secretary Ben Davis, Departmental Head of the YellowApple Department of Domestic Relations, interrupted in surprise.

"¿Crimes against humanity? ¿What did our citizens do?"

"Practiced 'slavery'," Manzano resumed. "The Libertarians indicate that they regard our system of contractual servitude as a form of slavery. I called this meeting to synthesize an action plan. It seems the Libertarians have a history of using military force to get their way, as we saw with Drackonisa. I've managed to talk their Chief of Foreign Affairs, Tom McWain, into peaceful diplomatic negotiation for this to be resolved without starting a full-scale war. If I do not succeed, it may be necessary to prepare for a costly military conflict."

Phia'sa "Paul" Soban, Lead Admiral of the YellowApple Aerospace Defense Corps, cleared his throat.

"Administrator, we would likely be outgunned, even with our full reserve force."

"I am aware of that, Paul," Manzano replied cooly. "If we do engage in military conflict, we will have to be tasteful in exactly how we deploy our forces. To assist with defense, I strongly advise running evacuation drills in major cities and prepare for dispersal procedures."

Lead Deputy Christopher Redfield responded to his department's - the YellowApple Domestic Security Corps - "recommendation".

"I agree, Administrator. We will schedule weekly evacuation drills in Manzanopolis Prime, Trololopolis, Astleyville, Del Tangerino, and Torvaldsville, and ensure that each has an up-to-date component dispersal script. The current script will scatter all components and activate signal jamming systems in every component that has such a system installed. Hopefully, the tactic will make our cities harder to hit. The defensive outposts around them are also equipped for anti-missile operations, in case they use SAMs or cruise missiles."

"Excellent. ¿General Rico, what of the Marines? ¿Do we have sufficient equipment and manpower to effectively retaliate?"

"Possibly," Lead General John Rico, head of the Aerospace Marines, replied. "We will need to retool some factories to Morita III and ATU manufacture, and I imagine Paul's department will want to do the same for his interceptors and bombers. With a million or so more rifles and ATUs, we should be fine. Specialized training will be ideal, though, and seeing that the Libertarians have a policy of 'nuke first, ask questions later', I have doubts in our capacity to do much."

"We'll see. For now, begin cycling in larger numbers of reservists and drill them on land deployment and combat. If we are attacked, we will need to deploy as rapidly as possible. I also recommend we verify our nuclear arsenal. Hopefully, this whole situation will be resolved through diplomacy, but if the Libertarian Governance and YellowApple cannot reach an agreement, then it will be better to be overprepared than under. They are a force to be reckoned with, and we'll need to be able to stand our ground."

[Libertarian Governance]

OOC: I don't see a need for arrival post and all that. Though if you wish Liberty International is the nearest airport and there is a diplomatic terminal. It is located on a offshore island on the Glass Sea.

Bureau 24 Interrogation

Eventually the paralyzing agent wore off and Andreas Karanikos's ability to scream returned. And he did scream as every finger was crushed on both hands. Then the interrogators crushed every bone in each hand, working on opposite sides of the body so that shock would not set in. They left him sitting in the chair for hours in agonizing pain. Then they returned asking questions in between the infliction of more pain. His answers had allowed a successful raid on the Black Watchmen that had resulted in the death of the person believed responsible for the Rochelle Academy bombing.

As Andreas Karanikos sat chained to the same metal chair in a single cell, Alexandros Sampanis was the next to suffer at the interrogators hands. 4 men had entered his cell, kicking and hitting him with heavy metal flashlights until he was unconscious. When he awoke he was chained to a metal chair in the same grey interrogation room that had witnessed the interrogation of Andreas.

But there was a difference. In the case of Alexandros Sampanis his mouth had been kept opened with blocks and his head was held back by a garrote held by a powerful man behind him. As his eyes opened and he could see the interrogators, the man who swung the hammer now had a small hand held drill. The men laughed as he approached. The garrote tightened nearly choking off his breathing.

So, though guy. You will talk. Nodding a man approached from the side as the garrote was pulled tighter. A gunshot sounded and a .22 caliber bullet pierced Alexandros left knee. The men laughed.

Then it started without a question asked the man with the drill slid a switch and started using the device on Alexandros's teeth. One at a time making sure to drill into the nerve then after a slight rest, he drilled again and again into a total of twelve teeth. The other captured foreigners would get their chance soon enough but today they would listen to howls of agony from Alexandros Sampanis.

Yellowapple Embassy - Liberty

Thomas McWain pulled into the Embassy in a black Tigner 62. He came with only an administrative assistant. Stepping from the vehicle he thanked his host politely and entered the embassy building for the meeting with Administrator Manzano. There was much to discuss. Thomas stood well over 1.93 meters in height. With bright blue eyes adorning his boyish face and blond hair he was anything but intimidating. He seemed to smile easily and had a way of making those around him feel immediately comfortable in his presence.

His blue silk suit and possum skin shoes identified him as among the upper class. Though his attitude was anything but elitist. The young lady with him had been at the Foreign Affairs office for about 4 years and she was one of the best admins he had. Janet Livingston was much shorter than her boss at just over 1.6 meters with long brunette hair and hazel eyes adorning a figure to die for. She wore a red business suit and carried a tablet computer with her and an expensive looking briefcase.

Thomas smiled as he greeted the Administrator. Administrator Mazano it is my pleasure to meet with you today. I am honored that you accepted my invitation. I feel we have much to discuss and I am extremely hopeful of a good outcome. Well, shall we get right to business?

Pursing his lips a moment in thought he walks around the meeting area a little seemingly thinking of the proper strategy to use. Ok, Our position is that you are a slave state. From our previous correspondence we realize you may be taking steps to reform, and we applaud and support all such efforts at this time. While you claim your involuntary servitude system has been abolished, it is our position that this is primarily only a change in rhetoric.

We have a number of issues with this so called contractual servitude, particularly as practiced by the private sector. First it would seem that all such contracts are at least the vast majority are for indefinite terms. That sounds a lot like slavery to us. We would like a comprehensive list of the misdemeanors and felonies that can bring about contractual servitude. At this time though we believe that these laws are overly broad. Can illegal immigrants be placed into contractual servitude in lieu of prison or execution? How about prisoners of war?

Also, it seems that persons can be imported from abroad, slaves can be imported and made to sign on to this contractual servitude. Are slaves advised that they do not have to sign these documents? We believe that the owners simply coerce a signature. That is participation in the slave trade by default just to import people for such a purpose.

Commercial distribution of these servants are another issue we have. People are being bought and sold, people in indefinite service and they have no say so. Oh, I understand you require a new contract when selling between government and the private sector but how freely is that contract really? What about private sales are they regulated or restricted in anyway?

Children seem forced into this system for a large variety of reasons and most of those have little to do with parent consent. What are these psychological evaluations we have heard about? And is it true that children born to private owners of servants are dependent on the owner freeing them, or granting citizenship and if the owner decides to keep them as servants can they?

There is some private slavery in your nation as stated by you. That makes you a slave state. Is slavery outlawed? What steps are being taken to eradicate that vile enterprise? Libertarian Governance would be very reluctant to repatriate anyone, specifically minors to a nation where we believe slavery exist. As you stated slavery does exist privately in your nation.

Concerning those persons over the age of 18 that currently face trials under the crimes against humanities acts. As you know these persons were captured largely attempting to flee Heavens Gate by our fleet. They are for the most part being tried under a provision of the law that deals with providing material support to slavers. Your citizens are accused both of providing financial support and in some cases military support to Drackonisa, a slaver. As part of any deal we would want specific assurances that such support in the future will be a prosecutable offense in your own nation and as for government support or toleration of slavers it will end.

There is some percentage charged as having slaves themselves. Each has been offered a plea agreement of 5 years of imprisonment upon a guilty plea. At trial they face death by hanging. We believe support of any regime or person practicing slavery or other crimes against humanity is itself a crime against humanity. What you call civilians in Drackonisa we label criminals aiding and abetting crimes against humanity by other criminals.

Again we question how these contracts are forced upon people. Is it only convicted criminals that can sign them or could a poor person say hey let me sale myself and or children into contractual servitude?

While you say this contractual servitude isn't slavery isn't it true that servants can be beaten to force compliance? It is true too that there is wide spread sexual abuse of servants and nevermind these claims of consent because this abuse takes place with children as well from our understanding.

Thank you for respectfully listening to our position and I will now hear your answers as well as your own issues with Libertarian Governance. Smiling affably Thomas then takes a seat.

[The Eagleland]

Liberty, Libertarian Governance,
Downtown,
2 Kilometers from the Defense Department Building,
24:02

Mixalis Mpoutsanas charged at the female police officer with his Combat Knife, and stabbed her 4 times at her chest, shouting loudly at he did so. He obviously enjoyed it, until another Police Officer shot him on his right shoulder with his AP-9. Although it would be enough to stop a normal man, Mpoutsanas's size and Special Forces Training made the officer's decision look like a bad thing. He turned towards him.

ΔΕΝ ΠΥΡΟΒΟΛΑΜΕ ΤΟΝ ΜΠΟΥΤΣΑΝΑ ΗΛΙΘΙΕ! Α ΣΤΟ ΔΙΑΟΛΟ!!! (WE DON'T SHOOT MPOUTSANAS IDIOT! GO TO HELL!!!)

He threw his combat knife at the officer, which hit his stomach. Then, while the officer was falling down, Mpoutsanas punched him 3 times before his upper body even fell to the ground, and then picked up his sidearm. As he was heading to the bleeding female Police Officer, the other 2 cars arrived, with more coming. Mpoutsanas used the sidearm picked up from the dying cop, and used it on the other 4 officers. shot after shot, he managed to empty the magazine of the AP-9 by firing at the police cars. He then threw the pistol at the female officer who, being stabbed, is not only bleeding to death but also was ready to fall, as she was hanging off the guard rails. If she fell, she would fall on the streets some 40 meters below her. Mpoutsanas then went to the stabbed officer, pulled his combat knife out and headed to the cars he had shot. As he was doing so, however, 2 AT-350s arrived, and the passengers were not exactly friendlily-armed. Mpoutsanas was not dumb enough to die from MG fire; Eaglelanders suicide rather than die from an overwhelming enemy about to capture them. He ran and jumped from the guard rail and landed some 40 meters below the highway, on a car parked on the street. Before he could get up, a SWAT officer shot him in the head with his AWS rifle. Mixalis Mpoutsanas was history.

---

Undisclosed Location,
Libertarian Governance

Konstantinos Alexandrou could not bear his friends' agonising pain. Sampanis was breathing heavily and because the garrote choke was very strong, he felt that his neck was bleeding, while in fact it is sweat. Karanikos was having bigger problems. He was screaming because of the pain from his broken fingers. The other 2 were shocked and terrorised. Alexandrou only felt it to shout:

LIBERTARIAAAAANNNNS! YOU COWARD SONS OF BITCHEEEES! FIGHT LIKE MEN, ASSHOLES!

Sampanis then breathed even more heavily and was bleeding even more because of the hits on his face. Karanikos afterwards screamed even louder.

Sampanis then closed his eyes. To Alexandrou, Sampanis seemed dead, even though he regained his normal breathing pace and wanted to rest his eyes. Konstantinou screamed at the top of his voice:

MOTHERFUCKERS!!!