The Least Worst System (CLOSED)

[Hittanryan]

20 Hill End Street
New Laconia

Rowan's appearance had given his party a bit of breathing room. Down-ballot Social Democrats appreciated having a means of deflecting the Liberal line on foreign policy, and the Liberals were having to explain themselves in greater detail rather than simply piling on the vitriol. However, the SDP was not out of the woods yet, not with the Presidential debates coming up and a stock market crash in Novitera. Rowan called another lunch meeting with his senior advisors, and this time it would be an actual working lunch.

Ober threw a container of leftover Hostillian food in the microwave and picked at it straight out of the container with a fork, having never worked out how to use chopsticks. Ferrain had a rather impressive cold cut sandwich courtesy of his wife, with plenty of turkey, fine Swiss cheese, tomato, bell pepper, lettuce, and alfalfa sprouts. Snyder and Feng had both gotten rather unimpressive subs from a franchise that seemed more bread than anything. Cruise had actually gone to a local restaurant that he frequented and ordered a big Reuben sandwich with a pile of crunchy kettle chips. The savory aroma of hot corned beef and sauerkraut wafted over most of the room, while Cruise himself enthusiastically and rather messily chowed down. Rowan himself heated up some lasagna leftover from a few nights ago, scrounging around for a plastic knife and fork a bit comically in the break room, meeting a somewhat stunned intern in the process.

"First things first, what is this business in Novitera? Stock market crash? Dave, what do you know?" Rowan asked.

"Best I can tell, the major banks bit off more than they could chew," Feng replied. "The banks themselves will likely survive, Bank of Novitera, Civic Bank of Avantine. It's their subsidiaries that are in trouble. It's a classic Noviteran bubble bursting. Happens every decade or two. They'll bounce back eventually, they always do."

"So what do we do about it? Our party is in government. That means we will catch more of the blame for whatever happens. It's not fair, but that's how it works," Rowan said.

"Well, obviously this is the natural result of Liberal policies," Cruise said, crunching on some potato chips. "Boom and bust cycle, the natural result of laissez-faire. We say this is exactly why we need proper regulations and a social safety net."

"It could be a convenient reminder of the risks associated with deregulation. People were starting to forget," Snyder agreed. "So we pledge to strengthen or at the very least maintain the safety net, keep people safe."

Rowan glanced around before focusing on his economic advisor. "Dave, what would that mean in terms of policy? More specifically?"

Feng was chewing thoughtfully, staring into space as he put his sub down. "Extensions on benefits. Lower interest rates to help investment. Subsidies for struggling businesses. Support vocational training and retraining. One idea that's a bit outside the norm: throw a bone to domestic manufacturing specifically, give them tax credits for having a certain number of manufacturing jobs in Adiron to head off outsourcing. After all, it'll only get more tempting as demand starts to dip."

"Right, any objections to that?" Rowan asked, looking around. Seeing there were none, he moved along. "Then what's this about the leftists? Garcia is making noise?"

"She did an interview on NLSU campus radio," Snyder said, producing a sheet of paper and reading from it. "The relevant bits are...here. 'Since the caucuses George Rowan has not fully clarified his position on fair trade despite repeated opportunities and even requests to do so...et cetera et cetera...apparently intends to place John Pendergast in his government...et cetera et cetera...and, here it is, we cannot be certain at this time that Mr. Rowan is taking the progressive caucus of the Social Democratic Party seriously."

"They got State and Labor, what more do they want?" Cruise asked as Snyder slid the paper across the table.

"Everything," Rowan said rather grimly as he set his fork down to take a closer look at the transcript. "This was the risk we ran partnering with them. They're never satisfied."

"Well, what choice did we have?" Snyder asked, keenly aware it had been her strategy. "It was either do this or watch Pendergast walk away with the nomination."

"Let's not worry about what happened at the caucuses," Rowan said. "How do we placate them?"

"It's damned if you do, damned if you don't, George," Cruise said, a bit of sauerkraut dropping to the bottom of his styrofoam container. "We've gone as far left as we can by remaining open to some of their ideas. If we actually commit, we start digging new holes in order to fill in old ones. Keep a leftist vote, lose two moderates."

Rowan sat back in his chair and frowned. "Maybe we would be better off just letting them go," Rowan remarked rather acridly.

"Sure, we can do without and still keep a majority," Cruise agreed, nodding and licking a bit of dressing off his finger with a smack of his lips. "Let 'em be someone else's problem. Eddings'll take 'em. By Green standards these people might even be moderates, might even pull the hippies closer to center."

Snyder disagreed, but not because she felt much sympathy for the leftists. "Uh, we let them go, George, and you'll be letting them go not just from the party but probably from the Assembly altogether. Green numbers are falling. The defectors' prospects are about as good as new hires at Bank of Novitera."

"Why?" Rowan asked, cutting off another bite of lasagna.

"Energy for one," Snyder explained. "Eddings is Mr. Biofuel. He's opposed to any new drilling, including fracking. Says we need to double down on renewable energy, replace fossil fuels entirely. Combine that with people saying the energy crisis was a good thing because it spurred the growth of renewables, and they've painted a giant bullseye on their backs."

"Liberals are blaming them for the energy crisis," Cruise said. "Hard to disagree with them in a way. If we had more domestic oil, it wouldn't have been as bad."

Rowan was shaking his head. "We're supposed to be looking out for ordinary families, especially considering they took the brunt of the energy crisis. The Greens are making every stereotype about them come true."

"What, as smug West Coast hippies who talk down to working class folks about rejecting consumerism, living more simply and sustainably...while driving a one hundred thousand dollar luxury electric sedan?" Cruise said snidely as a bit of dressing dripped onto the container.

"Yes, that stereotype, thank you, Alan. We've talked about renewables being the long-term solution, but it's not realistic to talk about switching to a fully renewable transportation grid even within the next ten years. Dave, we can't get there yet, can we?" Rowan asked Feng.

"No, not even close," Feng spoke up, mouth half full, pausing to swallow and set his half-eaten sub down. "In general terms, we now have several million more hybrid, electric, and biofuel vehicles on the road than we did in 2010. Considering the cost and limited infrastructure, that is pretty damn good. We're beating the global average, our firms have beaten the Noviterans to all kinds of patents, we're ahead of the curve. But bear in mind it took a major energy crisis and years of public subsidies to get this far. That's probably about as good as we're going to get until costs come down as the manufacturers scale up...or as oil starts to run out, of course."

"This Noviteran recession is also going to reduce discretionary spending; between the layoffs and cutbacks we're likely looking at, fewer people are going to shell out for an expensive electric car domestically or abroad. It might even turn the green energy boom of the past year into a bubble," Feng concluded.

"Plus, George, don't forget the military," Ferrain added, wiping his hands having finished his sandwich. "The Army and Navy have been trying to improve fuel economy for years and they're only just now seeing some possibilities for renewable fuels. And it must be stressed, they are only possibilities, they will not necessarily become feasible for years to come. The Air Force hasn't even gotten that far. They still need conventional fuels."

"I'm assuming that's because the engines in our armor, ships, and aircraft are incompatible?" Rowan asked.

"Not just that. Even if our hardware was compatible with say, ethanol, the Adiran military in wartime would go through the amount of ethanol produced annually in a matter of hours, and that assumes none of the ethanol is reserved for civilian use. If our engines could accept all biofuels, you might almost get to the end of the day. The supply simply isn't there."

"And don't mistake my tone, the military is gravely concerned about the threat posed by FODE to our fuel security. If there was any way we could switch now, we would. But we can't."

Rowan was chewing thoughtfully. "I don't see any other public line right now. What Eddings wants is just unrealistic, and the country thinks it'll plunge us right back into another energy crisis. And then we've got the Busters who are ready to bolt the party for him. We need to start approaching our Members more directly. I'll talk to Cullen and Madrigal first, then our allies, Michaels, Harding, Fan, you know, the usual suspects. Try to find out what these Blufordites really want, then get them in the same room."

"Er, it's just a suggestion George, but..." Feng started to say, before hesitating.

"Yes?" Rowan asked, putting down the bite of food he was about to eat.

"Well, John's got lots of connections. He could tug on some threads for us as well, indirectly, of course," Feng said.

Rowan set his jaw and looked at him a moment. The rest of the room glanced between the two a bit nervously. "Good idea. Maybe he'll know someone who knows someone or something, that sort of thing."

The tension in the room dissipated as they discussed the particulars.

[Hittanryan]

National Assembly
New Laconia

George Rowan had a number of dependable allies in the Assembly, although only a few which he trusted implicitly. Travis Reid was one of them, and sat on the International Relations Committee. Women who saw him only on camera found him quite handsome, with a well-groomed head of dark hair, chiseled jaw, and nice eyes. In truth, Reid was a textbook case in image management; no one but his constituents and colleagues who knew him in person had discovered that he was actually 160 cm in height and was really rather scrawny. More than one hopeful woman had been disappointed when they found themselves literally speaking down to him.

Reid managed to arrange a meeting through Sarah Garcia, a sitting member of the Commerce and Trade Committee who would represent and speak for the disgruntled leftists as a whole. The majority of the leftists themselves would also be in attendance at Reid's request, so he could judge their reactions and see if any names were unaccounted for. Disturbingly, however, Garcia insisted that someone else be present: Green Party Leader Merrill Eddings. It was clearly meant to either bluff or send a real message: they might already have one foot in the Green door.

When Reid alerted Rowan to this, the SDP leader swallowed his pride and asked his former rival for a favor. Pendergast tugged on his strings and apparently hooked a pretty big fish. As Reid was putting his things together to meet with Garcia, an aide knocked on his door and called in "Uh, Assemblyman?"

Before he could respond he looked up and saw a rather attractive, young but serious-looking woman with jet black hair in a stylized bun, wearing a black woman's suit jacket and a pencil skirt. He did a double take and said "Uh...Secretary Rhee?"

"Assemblyman Reid," DeGroot's Commerce Secretary replied far more crisply, entering and offering him a handshake. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Reid said, shaking her hand firmly. "Must admit, I wasn't expecting a Cabinet Secretary." He also had to consider the implications of Pendergast having that kind of pull. Was he showing off?

"Well, desperate times and all that," she said with a rueful smile. "Considering we might be looking at a split in the party over trade, I guess we'd better show we're serious, eh?"

The two made their way to one of the larger conference rooms in the back of the National Assembly building, where a number of the leftist caucus was already present, including Sarah Garcia. Once all were present and accounted for, they began.

"First off, thanks everyone to agreeing to talk this out before making any rash decisions," Reid opened. "Whatever differences we have on trade, I'm sure we can work them out in service to the greater good. Secretary Rhee is here to provide some input from the Commerce Department as well. Now, we've all heard your general grievances but I'm not sure there's cause to bolt the entire party. Let's try to meet in the middle somewhere."

Garcia was a short-haired, thoroughly pear-shaped middle-aged woman who didn't look like she suffered fools gladly. "First, I'd like to thank Secretary Rhee for being here. It's hopefully reassuring that our new party leader is taking us seriously, which is really at the heart of the matter. Mr. Rowan talked a good game in the caucuses, but since then has not fully committed to any of Al Bluford's platform."

"Mr. Rowan is planning on making Al Labor Secretary, and Amy Bailey Secretary of State," Reid pointed out. "I don't understand how you think he isn't committed to your issues."

"He himself has not openly stated that he will incorporate Al's platform into his," Garcia said. "In times such as these, we need reassurances."

"What do you mean, these times?" Reid asked.

"We are going into a serious economic downturn here. You know who always pays the price for recessions the most? Working families, the middle class, not the millionaires and bankers who start them by playing roulette on the stock market," Garcia said.

"You don't have to tell me that, Sarah, I agree with you," Reid said.

"Then we need to end this free trade business once and for all. A quarter-century is long enough," Garcia replied. "And we need to hear that from George Rowan."

"Listen, I don't like losing manufacturing jobs any more than you do, but why do you think it's been so hard to reverse? Trade keeps prices low," Reid argued.

"Only because the costs of externalities are not factored in," Garcia pointed out. "I'm talking about the true costs of public health crises, workplace-related injuries and illnesses, environmental damage, and countless other costs to society which don't have a price tag on them. Labor in, say, the Imperium is only cheaper as long as the costs of those problems is not borne by the manufacturer in dollars."

"Yes...and let's face it, they're not going to be," Rhee said.

A number of Greens and the leftists started grumbling, but a man spoke up in a clear, confident tone, saying "Well, they won't be imposed by the Imperials, certainly, if that's what you mean." Rowan's people turned towards Merrill Eddings, the urbane, sophisticated new Green Party Leader. "That is why my party instead proposes a fair trade tariff."

"These sorts of things have been proposed before, Mr. Eddings," Rhee said rather pointedly. "They've always been the sort of thing which sounds nice in theory and makes for a good campaign promise, but falls down in practice, especially when it comes to enforcement, legal definitions, and economic impacts."

"Well, then you'll be happy to know that we have based this latest proposal on the recommendations in a recent review by the Adiran Sustainability Alliance," Eddings said. Rhee stared at him while he expounded. "The long and short of it is that companies which outsource their manufacturing to developing nations with inadequate labor standards and environmental protection would have their goods subjected to a special import tariff. This tariff would be designed so as to remove the financial incentive to outsourcing."

"Who would set this tariff? How would this tariff be determined?" Rhee asked.

"Well, the companies would need to submit to an audit so that their estimates of savings could be verified," Eddings explained.

"You're going to do this case by case? Have a different tariff for every company looking to outsource?" Rhee asked incredulously. "Mr. Eddings, with all due respect, do you realize just how much of an absolute boondoggle that would likely become?"

"I didn't say it would be easy, Secretary. Likely a new bureau would have to be formed in the Department of Commerce and Trade, reporting to a new Assembly special committee," Eddings explained.

"Oh god..." Rhee said, massaging her temples.

"Listen, this just isn't the time, Mr. Eddings," Reid said. "There's just been a stock market crash in Novitera. Is that our fault? No. Is it fair that Adiron has to suffer for their short-sightedness? Absolutely not. But we need to focus on what will help the Adiran people get through this." He saw some nodding heads, although some stopped when glared at by their less-inclined fellows.

"Huge price hikes on consumer goods, which is what this tax will cause, won't help anybody," Rhee added. "It will hurt ordinary people the most."

"So will having their jobs shipped overseas," Eddings countered. "In a tough economy it'll be more tempting than ever to outsource. It might even become a necessity just to stay in the black."

"Surely if outsourcing is the only way a business can stay afloat, it wasn't doing all that well in the first place?" Reid asked.

"Let's not get too deep into hypotheticals," Rhee said, raising a hand. "Eddings, you understand that price hikes will drag down everyone in the country, right? Fewer sales will lead to cutbacks and layoffs. Higher unemployment will hurt sales even further and spread the impacts throughout the whole economy."

"Free trade negatively affects some people, but the opposite hurts everyone," Reid said. He noticed some stirring in the SDP dissenters, but couldn't tell what it meant.

Garcia then stood and concluded "Well, thank you for hearing us out, Secretary, Assemblyman. We are going to need further deliberations, unless of course Mr. Rowan can publicly get behind the progressive agenda."

Reid would report back to Rowan that the true believers were apparently ready to leave barring a public commitment, but there seemed to be some dissent in the ranks. Snyder and Cruise in return asked for names, and determined that these fence-sitters all hailed from heavily Bluford-leaning districts who were probably more concerned with keeping their seats than waging an ideological crusade. Rather than caving to Garcia and tying himself to the Greens' sinking ship, Rowan's advisors recommended that he find a bone to throw to the less-committed leftists. The question remained what that would be, however.

[Hittanryan]

20 Hill End Street
New Laconia

The Feminian Crisis was moving at something of a breakneck pace for the Adiran political scene. Still working to come up with a response to the stock market crash, Feminia had been relegated to something of a side-issue. Political analysts were sure this border incident would blow over as it usually did. George Rowan's staff assured him so. "Nicanor's not wasting any time. There's already a border dispute with New Feminia. The Edomites have accused their forces of crossing the border and attacking Edomite troops," Kevin Martin explained, periodically looking up from his phone.

"What?" Rowan asked.

"Probably nothing to worry about, this has happened before," Martin explained. "The usual pattern is that something happens on the border, Fineberg makes demands of Femis, then once the Jedorians inevitably threaten to intervene, they reach a compromise. It's practically a ritual by now."

"I thought the Jedorians were practically imploding," Rowan said.

"Not their military, and that's what counts in this case," Martin said. "The Edomites won't really want to tangle with them."

Within a matter of hours, however, news was spreading that the Edomites had crossed the border in force. Rowan quickly called Ferrain and Martin for an emergency meeting.

"I thought you said this was routine?" Rowan asked Martin.

"I was wrong. I thought the Jedorians would've raised holy hell by now," Martin said, rubbing his head.

"So where are they? What are they doing?" Rowan asked.

"There's nothing. Nothing out of Strana Mechty," Martin replied.

"What do you mean nothing?"

"I mean zip, zilch, nada, nothing. Didn't back the Feminians up when things got heated diplomatically, not backing them up now that troops are on the move," Martin explained. "I think you might've been right. The Jedorians might be on the verge of collapse. They sacrificed everything to try to pump up their military, and the strain could've easily been too much, especially with the stock market crash on top of it all."

"Hold on, we don't have good intelligence over there," Ferrain cautioned. "Could the Jedorians just be keeping their cards close to the chest? That fascist government of theirs has been as airtight as it has been erratic. It is possible they have in fact mobilized and staged deception operations to conceal them, just as the Imperium does."

"If they have...we're looking at the start of the next Edomite-Jedorian war," Martin said gravely. Rowan's face fell. "If they haven't, the Edomites will completely roll over the Feminians."

"New Feminia was some bizarre social experiment gone out of hand as I understand it. What chance do they really have?" Rowan asked.

"As I understand it, the Feminians relied on Jedorian protection," Ferrain explained. "On their own, the most they can hope for is to wage a partisan campaign. The Jedorians could be waiting for the Edomites to bog down. Even then, the Edomites have years of experience in counterinsurgency, and the Feminians by most accounts are inexperienced and very poorly-equipped. The country is also small, fewer places for guerrillas to hide."

"Maybe it's what the Jedorians wanted: for the Edomites to make the first move," Martin speculated. "Then the Jedorians come in as liberators who never go home."

Rowan sighed. "And meanwhile we sit here not in actual government. I'll need to talk to Snyder about how we handle this publicly. Thank you both."

[Hittanryan]

Allen Convention Center
New Laconia, Adiron

General election debates in Adiron were varied. There was always one which involved every party that gained a seat in the Assembly, but most didn't. There were usually a couple of four-way debates, involving the four largest parties in the Assembly, the SDP, Liberals, Greens, and Libertarians. The first debate in this election cycle was a SDP-Liberal debate. In the wake of the Noviteran stock market crash, the Imperial letter, and the Edomite invasion of New Feminia, both George Rowan and Howard Saito had numerous potential openings and weaknesses.

The debate was to take place in the Allen Convention Center, where the SDP and Liberal National Caucuses had both been held. The main floor was not packed full of delegates this time but taken up by a large stage. There were two podiums in front of a blue background. Large TV screens allowed people in the nosebleed sections to see the candidates' faces. The two moderators, Party Chairs Erina Madrigal and Dan Lutz, emerged from backstage first and sat at a table in front of both podiums. The two sat next to each other politely but exchanging few words.

Madrigal spoke first, looking rather upbeat, although she may have simply been contrasted with the elderly Lutz. "Welcome, everyone, to the First Presidential Debate of 2016. Tonight we're going to be hearing from the leaders of the two largest parties in the National Assembly, who in a few weeks time will almost certainly be President and Opposition Leader. Please join me in welcoming George Rowan of the Social Democratic Party and Howard Saito of the Liberal Party."

Rowan and Saito emerged from both sides of the stage to an enthusiastic applause. Saito was smiling brightly, Rowan a bit less so but waving for longer. The two were seen to exchange some kind of very brief pleasantries and then sit down.

"This debate format is open. As moderators we will each field questions and general topics which both candidates are free to discuss and debate openly within appropriate context," Lutz explained rather dispassionately, seemingly affecting a more statesmanlike manner than Madrigal. "Now, without further ado, let us begin."

"For our first question, two days ago the Noviteran stock market fell by over one hundred points," Lutz said rather grimly. "Economic analysts are predicting a serious recession to impact much of the former Cornellian Empire region, including Adiron. Both of you have proposed relief measures in response to the crash. Mr. Saito, you have proposed making cuts to social programs in order to pay for tax breaks intended to ease the financial burden on businesses and homeowners, while Mr. Rowan has argued in favor of maintaining the social safety net and exploring the possibility of a more directly interventionist stimulus package. You each have ten minutes, beginning now."

"Thank you, Chairman," Saito said, seizing the opportunity without hesitation. "A lot of Adirans are rightly worried about what this will mean in the immediate future. I clarify immediate future because Novitera has seen these kinds of market corrections before and has always bounced back. The central issue is how we're going to tide things over until that happens. I don't think the solution is simply throwing money at government programs. Instead, our focus has to be on making it easier to do business in Adiron. The fundamental position of the Liberal Party is that this bear market is bad enough, we don't need to be adding to it with excessive taxation and bureaucracy. After all, after six years of a socialist government, I think things could stand with a bit of pruning regardless."

Rowan paused for a moment before replying "So Howard, is that the long way of saying austerity?"

Saito chuckled a bit and asked "That is a dirty word for your party, isn't it, George? The fact is we must take action to support Adiran businesses in a recession."

"Which businesses, Howard?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you mean small businesses run by working families, or multinational corporations which can easily weather the storm on their own? The former absolutely needs help, but the latter?"

"They all need help, George, if you're serious about doing anything about this recession," Saito replied.

"Help by gutting the social safety net and regulations which help maintain competitiveness in our economy? I fail to see how that helps everyone," Rowan countered.

"Simple. By ending job-killing taxes and red tape, we encourage investment and promote job growth instead of stifling it," Saito said.

"Yes, I figured you might try to argue in favor of trickle-down economics at some point," Rowan retorted. "What austerity really means is ride it out, every man for himself until the market recovers on its own. Easy enough for the rich, devastating to the middle and working classes. As elected representatives, we have an obligation to look out for all Adirans, not just the wealthy. History shows us that austerity does not end recessions. We end recessions when we get ordinary people working again, when entrepreneurs innovate, when everyone is doing well, not just those at the top."

"And how do you expect that to happen when Adiran businesses are being strangled by the taxes and bureaucracy imposed upon them by years of socialist policy?" Saito asked. "You were never in the private sector, George, I was. I know firsthand the sorts of unnecessary hoops Social Democrats make businesses jump through. A smalltime dairy farmer trying to support his family shouldn't need thirty licenses from ten different regulators just to operate. That kind of red tape will just make an economic downturn all the worse for the Adiran people. Businesses will be forced into layoffs by punitive corporate taxes, frivolous lawsuits, and intrusive regulations, all enacted or enabled by your party."

"Businesses will also be forced into layoffs if their sales are too weak, which is exactly what will happen if you gut the safety net and slash everyone's disposable income," Rowan pointed out.

"And yet, like your predecessor and the one before him, you are advocating for a higher tax burden," Saito said, motioning in his direction. "More money out of people's pockets which might have otherwise been invested into our economy, into jobs, startups, and research."

"Listen, Howard, when you talk about cutting social programs to give people tax breaks, you're acting like all you're doing is saving everyone money. In reality, the issues which those programs address don't go away just because you've eliminated the program, and neither do the costs associated with them," Rowan countered. "If you fully privatize healthcare, for example, you might lower taxes, true. Then instead of taxes, everyone just ends up paying premiums and deductibles to private health insurance companies instead. It won't save people money, in fact, in case study after case study, our healthcare expenses would rise dramatically in a for-profit system. The same is broadly true of other social programs. That is what I mean when I say Liberal policies will cut directly into the average Adiran's disposable income."

"Have you heard the expression 'you get what you pay for,' George?" Saito retorted with a sort of smirk. "The National Health Service is a perfect example of a case where the private sector does the job better. The NHS provides no incentives to retain experienced GPs and specialists. It is inefficient, plagued by long wait times and bureaucracy. A more competitive system would solve these problems."

"And if you were in government, how exactly would you plan on making private health insurance affordable enough for everyone? Not just the wealthy, but working families as well," Rowan said, holding up a finger just as Saito was going to blurt something out.

"Simple, employer-based coverage," Saito said quickly.

"During a recession? And with your government promoting outsourcing?" Rowan asked skeptically. "Union jobs, the ones most likely to offer health benefits to working people, are prime targets for outsourcing. Millions of ordinary families would lose health coverage if we did it your way."

"I'm not saying we do this slapdash," Saito protested. "Proper regulations can guarantee suitable employer-based coverage for everyone. Furthermore, I'm not suggesting we abolish our current two-tier system, only reform it so that it is actually competitive. The public system should remain in some form to provide checkups and lifesaving care to families with limited income and resources."

"All of this does not just apply to healthcare, by the way," Saito said, raising a hand. "Employer-based benefits can include health insurance, retirement plans, and tuition reimbursement among other things. Instead, however, our SDP government claims to hand all this out for 'free,' when in fact it is paid for by the taxpayer, in particular anyone with the audacity to try to make their own way in the world. The same kinds of people who made Adiron what it is today. The SDP would apparently prefer that the Adiran people be reduced to dependence on government."

"I'm surprised you would be so cliche, Howard," Rowan chided him calmly. "The old line about dependence. What he really means when he says that is that when the chips are down, he and his party would prefer to simply throw ordinary Adirans under the bus." Saito smiled and shook his head.

Rowan continued. "What's the point of having a safety net if we cut it exactly when we need it the most? It doesn't make sense. Relief during hard times is exactly what it's there for. Regulations and the safety net have helped protect ordinary Adirans from the fallout of reckless behavior by corporations and Terranova Street. If you look at Novitera, it matches very closely the Liberal vision for this country, and look what they've done over there. Their boom-and-bust economy devastates them every decade or two; it happened again just the other day. Income inequality has let poverty and crime grow out of control in their inner cities. Their government answers almost exclusively to big business interests, to the point where many Noviterans have started to identify as employees first, citizens second. That is not what we should be striving for here in Adiron. It is not what this country was founded on."

"Time," Madrigal called.

[Hittanryan]

Allen Convention Center
New Laconia, Adiron

Madrigal led the next question. "The Curia released a statement several days ago declaring that it unequivocally rejects the demand by President DeGroot for Cardinal Dawes to be tried on terrorism charges in an Adiran court. An independent investigation confirmed earlier Adiran intelligence linking the Cardinal and the Inquisition to the Bluebrook Station Attack. President DeGroot called this unusual measure necessary to reducing the threat of state-sponsored terror. The Imperium has pledged to conduct a formal inquest into the findings, but questions remain over the credibility and impartiality of such a process, and the families of Bluebrook victims have indicated they will not be satisfied. As President, how do each of you plan to resolve this pressing national security issue?"

"It seems clear to me that the Imperium is not open to further haggling," Saito opened. "They offered relatively reasonable terms to end the fighting, giving us a fleeting window of opportunity which we risk squandering by drawing the process out like this. President DeGroot's attempt to save face was not only counterproductive but dangerous. He risked a collapse of the ceasefire for no practical benefit."

"There would be a practical benefit," Rowan argued, holding a hand up. "Cardinal Dawes as head of the Inquisition bears responsibility not only for the terror attacks but also the Imperium's repressive surveillance policies. Removing him might've opened up at least the possibility of reform."

"Or his successor could be even more extreme. You don't know. Putting Dawes on trial would have been nothing more than a public spectacle and a huge gamble. We cannot play games with Adiran lives," Saito said.

"Such as the hundreds of Adiran lives lost at Bluebrook?" Rowan asked pointedly.

"Such as the hundreds lost in combat on the border," Saito shot back. "It is clear to me and my party that this battle was avoidable. It was the choices President DeGroot made that led us to this. His choice to confront and contain rather than engage did not deliver us the peace that was promised in 2013."

"So, as I recall, you've been saying we should have attempted a reset and simply opened up trade right after the war. Ignoring for now the fact that that would've sold out our working class, I wonder if you've considered this: most of the Curia is unchanged from 2010. Nearly all of the same leaders who planned the Second Burnt Hills War are still in power today. Some have even held their current posts since before 2001. So I have to wonder, Howard, what exactly makes you think they'll change now?" Rowan asked, taking a sip of water after his throat seemed to go dry.

"Their economy, especially in the wake of this stock market crash. Novitera was a key export market for the Imperium. With Novitera in a recession they will desperately need a new export market to offset their losses. They will need us," Saito explained.

"I'm sorry, Howard, but there's no evidence to suggest trade will be the quick fix you claim it will be," Rowan argued. "The Noviterans don't assemble valuable components or finished goods in the Imperium, only basic components and cheap consumer goods. The risk of intellectual property theft is too high. They preferred Jedoria and more recently have turned to the CTO."

"George, you must know that the Imperial economy is dependent on exports and foreign investment," Saito replied with a gesture. "You do recognize that it is in their national interest to have a market for their manufactured goods, don't you?"

"Yes, but not in the sense that you mean," Rowan said. "It's not the nineties. Foreign investment isn't flooding into the Imperium like it was. The Imperium's GDP isn't growing at 10 percent per year anymore. Talk about the Imperium becoming 'Cornellia's workshop' has all dried up. What's really keeping the Imperium afloat at this point is oil. FODE. They don't really need us to make money from FODE. They did force us into a position where oil imports were suspended, after all."

"They weren't making any money off us through FODE when they did that. They had nothing to lose," Saito countered. "President DeGroot had been attempting to undermine FODE by arranging for payments to 'temporarily' be made solely to individual vendors which weren't under embargo. Again, with no trade between our nations, the Imperium had nothing to lose by Secretary-General Reyes taking a hard line."

"But now we are trading with FODE, in the interest of maintaining the ceasefire and ending the energy crisis. That should suffice," Rowan said. "Beyond that, free trade with the Imperium accomplishes relatively little aside from shipping good Adiran jobs over the border and making money for multinational corporations and Imperial oligarchs. If peoples' lives weren't on the line, I don't know that my party would even consider it."

"I'm disheartened to see you've adopted Al Bluford's scaremongering over free trade, George," Saito said, shaking his head. "The stock market crash and increased productivity are likely to be the leading causes of job loss in the manufacturing sector, not trade policy. We will do what we can to get out of this recession, but automation and a general trend towards greater efficiency in manufacturing are good things. They will, however, continue to eat away at traditional manufacturing jobs, which is why we must encourage economic growth to replace them by lowering taxes, encouraging investment, and pursuing smart trade policy as opposed to sanctions which do not work."

"I think the sanctions did work," Rowan retorted. "The Curia reached a point where they felt they had to take drastic action to save their economy. The error wasn't enacting the embargoes in the first place. The real error was assuming that the Curia would be rational enough to negotiate instead of attacking us like they did. No one predicted the formation of FODE, either. Neither you as Opposition Leader nor President DeGroot saw that coming. That's not your fault, but it did allow the Imperium to use oil as both a crutch and an economic weapon."

"But here we are, buying from FODE again anyway after President DeGroot decided to take his moral stand, plunging us all into an energy crisis. What was the point?"

"The point is that we are a nation of laws. The sanctions were Adiran law. They could not be lifted without an act by the National Assembly, where there was insufficient support to do so. Our government can't rule by decree as the Curia does. We must represent the Adiran people. The Adiran public does desire peace now, so we must take that into account," Rowan explained.

"So, George, are you sure we want to send the message to Serrice that if they want us to change a policy, their only recourse is to launch an attack across the border? That we will not negotiate except under the threat of force?"

"Howard, have you had a chance to look at the Imperial diplomatic cables sent to us in the run-up to the Palisades Crisis? We received nothing but blanket denials even when they were presented with photographic evidence of their military presence in the Palisades. Even when we indicated that we would resort to military intervention to resolve the conflict barring serious talks, they only responded with threats and accusations. There was no attempt at genuine diplomacy on the part of the Curia, only misdirection and deception in order to further a military campaign. We were given no other choice by the Imperium."

"Right, we've heard that many a time by now," Saito said skeptically, grinning.

"What would your government have done? Given the Palisades to the Imperium? Let them carve up the whole Confederation using salami tactics? Let them conquer all of Arcologia back in 2014? We can argue about how we respond, but we have to at least recognize that the Imperium poses a threat."

"And what will the SDP do about these talks? Refuse their other terms unless they extradite Dawes? That will lead us back to war," Saito said, pointing.

"We may see if a compromise can be reached, but if not, we must have other assurances of Adiran national security. Border force reductions, for example, would go a long way towards reducing tensions. The Imperium has one of the largest ground forces in Cornellia poised and waiting on our border to invade Adiran soil at a moment's notice. The Curia in their statement claimed that the Imperium is a peaceful nation, let them prove it."

"Time," Lutz called out.

[Hittanryan]

Allen Convention Center
New Laconia, Adiron

Lutz fielded the following question, his tone rather serious and grave throughout. "Sources in Strana Mechty have been reporting serious civil unrest against the Zaharia regime for several weeks now. Despite claims to the contrary in official press releases, as of two days ago Jedoria already appeared to be among the worst-hit nations of the Noviteran stock market crash. It is increasingly clear that the Zaharia regime could not afford the repurposing of much of its civilian industry and infrastructure for military use, and what civilian industry remained was reliant on Noviteran exports that have fallen off sharply since the crash. Rationing has been instated and civilian unemployment is estimated to have reached anywhere between ten to twenty percent. The military was believed to be the last sector of Jedorian society to remain largely intact."

"However, with the Jedorian military largely unable to mount a response to the invasion and now occupation of New Feminia by New Edom, it appears that the junta itself may be on the verge of collapse. New Feminia is now apparently under Edomite occupation, the government in Femis having sent terms of surrender. How will your governments respond to these latest events in Acheron?"

"First off, events in New Feminia unfolded so fast that without reliable intelligence of our own, we still can't be sure exactly what happened on the border," Rowan opened. "The Edomite claims of cross-border raids are directly contradicted by statements by the Feminians themselves. Regardless, however, the fighting appears to have concluded in a matter of hours, with no significant response from Jedoria."

"It's vital that we know two things before acting. First: what does New Edom intend to do in New Feminia? Will the state be occupied militarily? If so, for how long and for what purpose? If not, will the Feminians be granted autonomy considering their fundamental differences in religion, social values, and culture? What will happen to the government in Femis?"

"Second: what exactly is happening in Jedoria? We need to know if the nationalist junta is still able to govern and if it still controls the armed forces. It may become necessary to contact opposition figures in order to determine the real facts on the ground. I think it's also more important than ever to determine the full truth of Victor Raceneau's death."

"There's the classic DeGroot response," Saito said. "We have to make this our business, get ourselves entangled abroad while ignoring problems at home...or distract from them, as the case may be."

"Problems abroad can quickly become problems at home, or have you forgotten the stock market crash already?" Rowan quipped.

"How will this become a problem at home?" Saito asked, his manner just shy of bewildered. "Whatever friendship there was with Jedoria died with Duke Raceneau. The nationalists resent us for convincing Jedoria into border force reductions. The opposition was insular; they felt that even our journalists were sticking their noses where they didn't belong. There is no reason to entangle ourselves in yet another conflict in Acheron when we are not even wanted. This is not our fight."

"How do you know?" Rowan asked.

"What do you mean, how do I know?" Saito asked bemusedly. "What stake do we have in Jedoria or Feminia? The former's an insular fascist state, the latter a bizarre gynocracy. They were not key trading partners or strategic allies."

"Do you know what's really happening over there better than the intelligence community and press corps? I was only suggesting we try to get to the bottom of things in this fast-moving target. Without knowing all the facts, though, it seems like you've already decided on a policy," Rowan chided.

"If I were you, I wouldn't try to pretend that the SDP has been particularly cautious in foreign affairs," Saito said with a bit of a smirk. "Look at Peregrino. President DeGroot tried to use CPO pressure to intervene in the conflict there, only to have to go and personally pay homage to Perrin Pahath-Moab to keep diplomacy from breaking down entirely."

"It's funny that you're advocating for a stronger emphasis on diplomacy, Howard, when you apparently consider a state visit and direct talks to resolve an international incident to be some kind of humiliation. At least I think that's what you're implying here," Rowan said.

"It wasn't the talks, it was why they took place: to smooth over a series of gaffes DeGroot and his government had committed before then. Your party has a poor track record in these interventions, George. Our troops have been exceedingly lucky so far given the messes they've been thrust into," he said, gesturing. "It wasn't just Peregrino, either. Take the CPO Mission to New Edom, where it quickly became apparent that key information was overlooked which would have made it clear from the outset that a ceasefire was not feasible. If not for the professionalism, skill, and quick-thinking of our peacekeepers, it would've been a complete disaster. Considering you supported both missions, I don't think you can credibly lecture me about looking before we leap."

"Let's bring things back to the topic at hand, Opposition Leader," Madrigal intervened, drawing looks from both Saito and Lutz.

"Very well, chairwoman, although to my knowledge Peregrino and New Edom are in south Acheron as well," Saito replied calmly. "We have no real stake in what happens to New Feminia. Jedoria is more concerning, but our options remain limited. To meaningfully impact the course of events in either case would require actions vast in scale and expense--for an unclear gain at that. It is not fair to ask that of the Adiran public. After all, why should we bankrupt ourselves trying to direct the course of distant events in Acheron when we have more than enough to worry about right here in Ceti? Until some kind of concrete threat to Adiran national security materializes, until we have a crystal clear objective and a plan to achieve it, our response must remain confined to the sphere of diplomacy."

"Howard, you seem to have misheard me. At no point did I advocate intervening militarily as you seem to be suggesting," Rowan replied. "I said we need to get a read on the situation before we do anything. You just said we needed to look out for emerging threats. How will we know that a threat has emerged if we don't know what's happening on the ground over there?" Rowan countered.

"It will have to be a clear and immediate danger," Saito replied.

"Could you give us an example? What would that look like to your government?"

"1988," Saito said bluntly. "Jedorian weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of rogue states or terrorist organizations."

"Okay, that would certainly be a cause for concern," Rowan agreed. "Now, all I am suggesting is that we try to identify those sorts of scenarios and have plans in place before they happen rather than just react to them as they come."

"Social Democrats seem to have a lack of self-control when it comes to these plans," Saito remarked. "Intelligence gathering produce troubling reports which snowball into action plans all within hours of each other. I've tried talking your party down after the ball is already rolling, but there is inevitably a great deal of momentum. Interventionism apparently has to be nipped in the bud."

"Agree to disagree, Howard. When it comes to intelligence, better to have it and not need it," Rowan concluded.

The moderators glanced between them. "Any further comments?" Madrigal asked.

"None from me, Chairwoman," Saito said, glancing at Rowan briefly.

"Same," Rowan said, shaking his head.

"All right then, moving on..."

[Hittanryan]

Debate Highlights
Allen Convention Center

The first debate came to a close with supporters from both sides claiming victory. Both candidates had landed hits and weathered problems. After the first big three questions were over there were two more major highlights.

When Saito again referred to DeGroot's foreign policy as having failed overall, Rowan got in a rebuttal. "You keep saying that our foreign policy is a failure on all fronts, Howard. Do you think the people of Lazodiria feel the same way? What about Peregrino, where we helped end a brutal civil war which had the potential to touch off a larger conflict in Acheron? In New Edom, our aid workers and peacekeepers have helped thousands. Most importantly of all, we are not at war with the Imperium today; instead it was stopped in its tracks by a combination of diplomacy, planning, and the bravery of our troops. That is all thanks to the efforts of our men and women in uniform, of Secretaries Li and Deol, and President DeGroot."

Saito quickly followed up with a remark about FODE, but it was one of Rowan's clearest, strongest defenses of DeGroot's legacy so far. SDP pundits now had a firm line from their new leader to counter the Liberal narrative on foreign policy, at least when it came to everything but FODE. Secretary Deol began running more on his record and making media appearances explaining things from DeGroot's point of view. Saito's position was portrayed as cynical and willing to disregard regional affairs for narrow self-interest.

On a debate over environmental policy, meanwhile, Saito managed to corner Rowan. "The Adiran people don't need to have their hands held, or worse, tied, by government overreach," he was saying. "And between the SDP's inability to negotiate with FODE and its support for the Greens' drilling and fracking bans, we are almost guaranteed to have yet another energy crisis in the near future."

"I don't see how you can claim that," Rowan replied.

"Why not? I haven't seen you commit to any real changes in energy policy," Saito pointed out.

"Look, the Shrailleeni Empire offered to resume trade by the end of the Palisades Crisis..." Rowan started to explain.

"They agreed to do that in an emergency, and they are also restoring diplomatic relations with the Imperium. As much as I appreciate what the Shrailleeni did, the Imperium will now hold more sway with them. So I ask again, how will your government avoid a similar energy crisis when you're just going to keep all of the same policies in place? What will happen to working people if there's another embargo?"

"Energy security is going to be a top priority for our government. We're going to be looking at all options very carefully," Rowan said.

"How, exactly?"

Rowan paused for about a second before answering. "As I said during the caucuses, I am open to reviewing certain aspects of our energy policy in light of recent developments."

"Which policies, specifically?"

"Any policies which we determine could be overly detrimental to the economy," Rowan said.

"George, I can tell you're being deliberately evasive. Will you end the drilling and fracking bans?" Saito asked him point-blank.

"I can't say whether or not I will end them without a proper review," Rowan said.

"Say there is a review which says ending these bans could help avoid another energy crisis. Would you lift the bans then?" Saito asked.

"Well, the petroleum industry would also need to demonstrate it can operate without seriously damaging the environment and jeopardizing human health and people's livelihoods," Rowan explained.

"Say that they could, would you lift the ban? To avoid an energy crisis that will hurt millions of Adirans? Working and middle class Adirans that your party claims to look out for?" Saito pressed.

Rowan was trapped. "That's a lot of ifs. If lifting the bans alone would avert an energy crisis, and if the petroleum industry adopted practices to minimize their environmental impact, then I would consider it."

Saito went on to claim that he wasn't as wishy-washy, that he would commit today to lifting the bans today, but that hadn't been the goal. Once again Saito had tried to drive a wedge between the Greens and the SDP. Rowan had been forced to publicly suggest, despite his efforts to avoid the subject, that he would consider reversing a policy backed strongly by his coalition partners. Green pundits called the statement "tone-deaf," saying that Rowan clearly did not understand a key aspect of the drilling ban: combating anthropogenic climate change.

Merrill Eddings didn't muster his outrage, instead playing the adult in the room while the troops below him made noise. Instead he calmly saying that he would of course be willing to discuss things with Rowan. However, Eddings also claimed that the facts were on his side--citing a number of figures afterwards--and that he "had to hope" that Rowan would see reason when confronted with them.

[Hittanryan]

Campaign Trail

After the SDP-Liberal debate there was what was referred to as the "tag team" debate, which featured the SDP and Liberals paired with their largest allies, the Greens and Libertarians respectively. Eddings seemed to take a more hardline position than Rowan on energy and tribal rights in South Ceti, while the Libertarian Harward contradicted Saito on public healthcare, arguing openly for full privatization instead of reform. There was the typically chaotic Assemblywide Debate, which featured every party and saw Saito and Rowan appearing as the adults in the room.

Election coverage ramped up in the media, with the major news outlets covering rallies, meet and greets, and town halls. Any number of ordinary Adirans got their five seconds of fame as reporters and camera crews combed the crowds. There were any number of single-issue voters, NIMBYs, and wonks in the mix talking about one thing or another.

Outside a Saito rally in Sunjiang, an autoworker in his late twenties named Ted succinctly voiced the concerns of many working-class Adirans. The man had a strong, broad-shouldered build, was clean-shaven with a square jaw and short dirty-blond hair, and wore a t-shirt and jeans.

"I don't want a handout, I just wanna be able to take care of my family and keep up with my mortgage. If Saito can promise us that and lower my taxes at the same time, great, he's got my vote," he said.

"What about his trade policy? His opponents accuse him of supporting outsourcing," the reporter said.

"Like I said, if he can promise us jobs, he's got my vote," Ted clarified, shrugging. "I don't know who I'm gonna vote for yet. I'm here to hear Saito out." An older man in line ahead of him seemed to overhear him and looked back in disapproval, but stopped himself before he said anything, seeing both the camera and the size of the man speaking.

Another outlet caught a software engineer named Will at a Rowan rally in the Silicon Coast. Seated on an aisle at the sports stadium used as Rowan's venue, Moore was a round-faced man with a wide nose and hair parted to one side. "We've just had a stock market crash and Saito's basically said he's just going to ride it out. I work at a tech startup and we just can't afford that."

"But Saito's saying his policies will encourage investment. Couldn't that help you out?" the reporter asked.

"Yeah, I know he says that, but we raise money from venture capital. I work in IT, our revenue's definitely going to be hurt by this recession. The uncertainty in the markets and our revenue taking a hit will scare off our venture cap, even with Saito's policies. We're going to need some actual relief. Now that Al Bluford's out of the running, the SDP seems to have a real plan," Will said.

The candidates themselves made appearances not just through the media but in person throughout the country as well. Rowan and Eddings appeared together at the PhiCell Solar Farm in an effort to bridge the gap between them on energy. They managed to set a rather striking scene, the sandy desert stretching out around a vast array of dark blue solar panels. Some darker, sagebrush-covered hills in the distance framed the shot as well. Rowan cited the plant as an example of what the SDP and Greens could accomplish when they worked together. Eddings proclaimed it the nation's future.

Saito was welcomed as a keynote speaker at a Terranova Street black tie dinner. Despite the recent economic turmoil originating in their sector, the financiers, brokers, and executives in attendance dined genially on diver scallops, petit filet, duck confit, souffled potatoes, and fine wines imported from as far away as Belisaria. Classical music played languidly amid the casual conversation. Saito clearly belonged here, dressing the part, demonstrating impeccable manners, and keeping his audience rapt with a combination of insiders' humor and policy proposals as juicy as the steaks in front of the guests.

The first two weeks eventually seemed to fly by, as the candidates traveled across country, living out of suitcases, train cars, planes, and buses. As he did in the caucuses, Rowan would try to reach the middle and working classes. In addition to the more conventional rallies, he made a point to appear far more than Saito at venues like factories, military bases, local diners, job fairs, mining towns, warehouses, and police and fire departments. He pledged to look out for their interests over the irresponsible institutions which caused the stock market crash in the first place.

While Rowan may have tried to cultivate an image as being more in-touch with average Adirans, Saito made his own campaign stops at working class venues where he argued exactly the opposite. He argued that SDP policies were prone to wasting taxpayer dollars and giving handouts to people without the drive to pull themselves up by their bootstraps like real Adirans, like the men and women in his audience. Saito argued that the Liberal Party would give everyone an opportunity to succeed in the face of a coming recession.

Soon the election was a week out, when the polls and projections might actually start to mean something...

[Hittanryan]

National Assembly
New Laconia

The first warnings came two weeks into the election season. It started in the Assembly. A procedural vote on a budget amendment ended up failing to reach a majority by a few votes. Liberals crowed about the SDP's new leader while Social Democrats sent the amendment back to committee for revision. The direct cause seemed to be Green dissenters, led by Sara Paquin, demanding the budget account for some of their issues. They were very few in number, and Eddings had voted in favor. However, a series of mysterious abstentions from the SDP was what allowed the dissenting Greens to swing the vote.

Rowan was just back from the floor when he heard a knock on the door. He saw the long, chinless, flinty-eyed face of Chief Whip George Cullen looking in. "George," Rowan said, a little unused to using his own given name in third person, "what was that about?"

"I checked the rolls. I knew about Burris, he's down in his district dealing with a constituency issue, but none of the others contacted me about being absent for today's vote," Cullen explained as he walked inside.

"None of the others?" Rowan asked, eyebrows raising. "There had to have been at least ten or twenty."

"Twenty one," Cullen said rather grimly as he handed him a note. "There are the names."

Rowan's eyes widened when he saw the first name. "Blevins? He's Energy Chair," he exclaimed. How had he not noticed?

"I'd keep reading," Cullen said.

Going down the list, Rowan quickly realized that they were all members of the progressive caucus, Bluford supporters. Garcia, Mayne, Frazier. "I want a meeting with these Members, George. Find out what their issue is, then track them down," Rowan said. "I'm going to call Eddings." Cullen nodded and left.

Before he tried to reach the Green leader, he called Snyder. She already seemed well-appraised of the situation, with the names and everything. "Twenty one, just under half the progressive caucus. It's a damn fifth column," she said, rather annoyed.

"Apparently we didn't appease all of them after all," Rowan said.

"They're committing political suicide," Snyder said. "The Greens are going to take big losses, and if these hippies make some kind of stand, there goes our majority."

"Surely Eddings is part of the problem? He's encouraging this, maybe trying to keep seats," Rowan replied.

"Oh definitely, this is the start of a defection," Snyder said.

Rowan froze a moment. "So how do we stop it? Or at least delay until after the election when the seats are locked in? What do we offer to Eddings to stop him? What policy will keep them satisfied through the election?"

"We can't change on policy now," Snyder said firmly. "On the economy, we can't shift too far left in a crisis. People won't go for tax increases like Merrill's damn fair trade tariff. It's only popular with Greens. Everyone else is worried about putting food on the table now, and rightly so. On that it's mostly between us and the Liberals for serious recovery measures. We're neck and neck with them on that, and we'll lose the race as soon as we stop sounding realistic."

"So what, then? Foreign policy?" Rowan asked.

"Too distant. Even the human rights thing isn't exactly a bread and butter issue for Greens. Most of their platform's domestic," Snyder said.

"A lot of domestic issues we already agree on. Then what's left? Appointments? We've already given away two Cabinet posts to leftists," Rowan said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"George, I think we need to be prepared to just let some of them go," Snyder said.

"But the progressive caucus is a lot more than these twenty one. If they all defect to the Greens, and then the Greens do as badly as we think they will, we will lose big," Rowan replied. Snyder said nothing on the other end of the line. "If we can't keep all of them, we need to keep most of them."

[Hittanryan]

Cicero
New Laconia

Cicero was the watering hole for the Assembly after hours. The interior was mostly warm hardwoods and brick with a stone fireplace on the far wall with some comfortable chairs. A far cry from a hole in the wall, most of the bar's patrons were suit-clad lawyers, businessmen, and politicians with the occasional professional mixed in. Conversation was polite and subdued, in no small part because they were conducting business and deals of various stripes. Politicians had even started jokingly calling nights at Cicero "overtime."

Rowan had his supporters out in force at the bar trying to get a read on the leftist problem. Travis Reid made a circuit of handshakes, making sure to 'casually' speak to some of the leftists about their races and such. He got a mixed bag, some went so far as to denounce the Busters, others started bugging him about Bluford. Only one of the twenty one dissenters was in attendance that night, Sarah Garcia. Tom Alvarado approached the bar and asked for 'the usual,' which the barkeep knew without a reminder. He'd been instructed to keep an eye on Garcia, keeping an inventory of everyone she spoke to, no matter how briefly. Thoughts of another Sarah kept intruding, necessitating the scotch.

The foot soldiers were a bit surprised, then, when George Rowan himself walked into the room, Dana Snyder in tow. A more raucous table of SDP MAs toasted him, while Liberals and other opposition figures present watched with a sort of smug interest. The crowd started gravitating towards him and he mingled for at least an hour before heading to a back room with a scotch on the rocks in hand for him, and a gin and tonic for Snyder.

They were joined in a few minutes by an apprehensive-looking man in his forties with a lanky build and a widow's peak. He was Victor Hearn, MA from the First Solus District which included Valles Port, who had been one of the abstentions.

"Vic, you didn't get anything to drink?" Rowan asked casually, his expression largely neutral as he swirled his own glass.

"Not yet, though I think I'll need one soon," Hearn said blithely as he sat down across from the pair.

"So, Cullen said you wouldn't talk to him, only to me," Rowan said. "And you missed the vote. So you both ignored the Whip and then rebuffed him entirely. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to make of that, Vic." Snyder glanced between the two men.

"I knew what he was going to say, George. The truth is I'm trapped. My constituency wants a commitment to the drilling and fracking bans. They've made it abundantly clear," he said fairly calmly, although his voice wavered a bit as he continued. "And every time I tried to talk to George, he just lectured me about the party line. So I have had to choose between listening to my constituency to stay in office and going along with this talk about scrapping the ban."

"We haven't said we're going to scrap it, just review it," Snyder said.

"They don't want a review," Hearn said a bit grimly.

"But Vic, we need a new energy strategy," Rowan said. "We're just coming out of an energy crisis, going into a recession, and we have to do something about FODE. We need to examine things and look out for the Adiran people, there has to be a review before we commit to either lifting or keeping the ban."

"Tell it to Mitch Peralta," Hearn said, referring to an incumbent Green from his district. "He's got half of Valles Port convinced you'll open up Norgate if there's a review, so they don't want a review."

"That's unreasonable. You'll have to convince them otherwise. We just want to review existing policy," Rowan said.

"George, they're convinced 'review' is a codeword for 'repeal.' They think you're caving to pressure," Hearn replied.

"It's just a review, Vic. Everyone, including the Greens, will get a say," Rowan tried to explain.

"But it's a slippery slope. They know if we really do decide to repeal, it could easily get through with Liberal support. They know you don't need Greens to lift the drilling ban," Hearn replied.

"So what? What if it is repealed?" Snyder asked bluntly. "It might help people out. Forget the student vote. You've got plenty of people, working folks, moderates, who want Norgate to go forward up in Solus."

"And they're all voting Liberal. We've--I've been committed to this drilling ban since 2010 and everyone knows it. I'm on record as saying I'm for it," Hearn said.

Snyder spread her hands."So get on board with our line. We've never said the word repeal. Face it though: support for Norgate's at an all-time high thanks to the recession and the energy crisis, people are all worried about jobs and fuel prices. Be open to the possibility at least of Norgate happening."

"Moderates don't believe we'll ever approve it while allied with the Greens. The Liberals have the voters convinced, I told you," Hearn protested.

"Vic, you've just contradicted yourself. Before you said people were convinced we would repeal, now you're saying they know we won't?" Rowan asked, puzzled.

"No, I'm saying the real leftists will vote Green because they think we will repeal, and everyone else is going Liberal because they think we won't," Hearn clarified.

"So what, you're going to prove the Liberals right by doubling down? And you're going to catch a ride on the Greens' sinking ship? You know how many seats they're looking at losing?" Snyder asked.

"You don't get it," Hearn said, shaking his head. "Mitch has got most of the VPSU vote and I've got Judy Welch eating into what's left, and the Libs are locking down everyone in Solus who thinks anything remotely positive about Norgate."

"What?" Rowan asked, furrowing his brow. "Where are you getting this from?"

"The Chronicle, ANBC, the Times, they've all got numbers. If I flip flop on the drilling ban, Judy catches up and I lose my seat," Hearn said rather finally.

"They're just opinion polls," Snyder said almost dismissively.

"I know you're worried, but don't you think you could be overreacting? We're still a week out," Rowan said.

"With all due respect, it's easy enough to say that from down here in Clarke. It's not the same in Solus. You weren't at the town halls I've been to. This is my seat we're talking about here," Hearn said.

Rowan raised a hand. "Vic, I'm trying to help you. The party needs an energy policy that fits with the times. We passed the drilling ban in 2010, before FODE. Now, though, domestic oil is more important than ever, especially now that it might provide some relief from the recession. It'll affect too many people. I'm sorry, but I cannot commit to keeping the drilling ban without a review. It has to at least be looked at," Rowan said firmly. Hearn looked dejected. "What I can say is that everyone will get to take part in the review and present their side of the case. If the ban is lifted, it will be because both the SDP and the Greens looked at all the facts and agreed that it can be done safely. I want you to tell your constituency that. And I don't want to hear from the Whip again, understand?"

Hearn nodded, but didn't look happy or reassured in the slightest. They made a cursory bit of small talk about the election, about work, Rowan giving him some last bits of encouragement, and then Hearn bid the two of them farewell. Rowan looked thoughtful a moment, taking another sip of his drink before commenting "He's already gone."

"Yeah," Snyder said, downing the rest of her drink unceremoniously.

[Hittanryan]

Third Rail Parties

Rowan wasn't the only one having problems with third parties. Saito's partners in Opposition had been the Libertarian and Growth Parties. The Libertarians were the fourth-largest party in the Assembly currently, and they typically competed with the Greens for third place. Sharing the Liberals' penchant for laissez-faire economics, they were even more skeptical of government as a whole. In the name of individual rights and freedoms from government overreach, they favored total privatization of not just healthcare but retirement benefits, utilities, education, and central banking as well. They believed conscription to be an abomination in spite of the Imperial threat, and were staunch isolationists in foreign policy. Accordingly they were also in favor of unrestricted private gun ownership, abortion on demand, and amending the Adiran constitution to provide for an unconditional right to bear arms. Libertarians tended to take everything a step farther than Saito was willing, and would vote with the left on certain specific issues.

In theory and on several occasions in practice, the Libertarians could be a major problem for the Adiran left. They offered an alternative to big government while standing up sincerely and consistently for individual freedoms, no matter who it meant siding with. In terms of electoral strategy, Libertarian positions on social issues complemented the more conservative views of the Liberals and tended to line up closer with the left. Libertarians could draw votes that the more traditional Liberals couldn't, chipping away at the SDP and Greens' margins. When it worked well, the Libertarians enabled the Adiran right to even make inroads into what they considered the 'worst' kind of university districts.

However, Libertarian economic policies in many ways were radical ideas. Many hadn't been tried before. Some had been tried before but ended poorly, such as in Old Ceti. Still others were complicated and wonkish. Furthermore, there had just been an economic crash, and Adirans were a bit wary of big changes at this point. The Libertarian Party needed the right salesman to pitch them to the public.

Pat Harward was not that salesman.

He was a bright-eyed old man with a thick white beard and a high-pitched, barely-there rural accent. In manner he was upbeat, charming, and friendly. He was often quick with an anecdote about life in rural Candis. The Libertarian party faithful loved him. Moderates found his discussions on policy at best incomprehensible, at worst loony. Harward's trouble was that he was a goldbug, and couldn't seem to stop talking about it. When asked about the economy in one of the debates, for example, he quickly veered off into monetary policy: "Well, quantitative easing, all it means is the Treasury and the Central Bank are going to do more of what they've been doing all along. The Bank's business is creating new money, believing they can regulate the economy through the manipulation of money, credit, and interest rates. They do manipulate it, but always to a negative. And they always claim that they could solve the problems and they could never admit that they create the problems. They think that if you get into trouble, what you do is print money faster and faster and faster, whatever's necessary to bring interest rates down as low as you can, and that'll solve the problems. It's massive inflation is what they do. Eventually it's gonna come back to bite us all."

"Now if you're on a gold standard, it helps the people. If you're on a paper money system it helps the banks, the corporations, and the politicians who want to spend money and not be responsible for it. Then they can pass the money on in pork or welfare benefits or to continue fighting wars that they shouldn't be fighting. So the people under sound money, the average person benefits a lot because his savings aren't confiscated. Today they say there's no inflation or low inflation, but there's enough that it's difficult to live on a fixed income, so the people always eventually suffer. Now even I don't advocate going to a gold standard tomorrow. I'm just saying if we continue to do what we're doing, the monetary system will default and we'll have to do something."

Saito was at wit's end trying to get Harward talking about anything but the gold standard, however much as his party loved him for it. It wasn't a subject the average Adiran could comprehend unless you were already on board, and it could very easily be made to look absurd. By contrast, many of Harward's social positions were broadly popular across the political spectrum. Unfortunately Harward had won his leadership as a purist, and he would remain one.

The Growth Party was originally a Liberal offshoot. In 1982, after President Lin's economic policies failed to generate growth, the Liberal Party split between protectionists and neoliberals. The protectionists backed a vote of no confidence against Lin, ending his presidency and touching off a full-blown civil war in the Liberal Party. Eventually the neoliberals won the battle for the Liberal Party's soul, with many former protectionists returning to the fold.

A select few did not, however, and instead formed the Growth Party, which continued to diverge from the Liberals in a number of ways. Their protectionist rhetoric became framed in nationalistic terms, putting Adiron first. In the nineties they ran a "Buy Adiran" campaign in response to globalization. They were also rather pugnacious on foreign policy, more likely to make a lot of noise about perceived slights to national honor as they defined it. In spite of this, Growth remained business-friendly overall, calling for privatization, subsidies, and lower taxes on corporations and capital gains. They ran against current campaign finance law, arguing that it was too restrictive and limited free political speech by interest groups important to the Adiran national interest. Opponents were quick to point out that Growth got most of its funding from a small number of wealthy backers, and was therefore likely to be the single party that stood to benefit the most from such a decision.

Growth also ran more openly on cultural issues, catering to an older, more conservative voter base. They were against the welfare state on general principle, claiming it created dependence on government. Sloth and decadence followed naturally from that, they argued, explaining any number of social problems of the modern day. Growth was one of the few parties which weighed in on sex and family issues. A plank in their platform had been support for the nuclear family, which they claimed was under attack over the years by, variously, feminism, abortion, free trade, gay rights, and immigrants. Growth members argued that the traditional nuclear family was the only way to bring Adiran kids up right. Hookup culture and casual sex was eating away at Adiron's moral and ethical fabric according to Growth. They also wanted to recriminalize many drugs, arguing again that it led to moral degeneracy.

These views set them in stark contrast not just to the left but also their own allies. Some Libertarians openly despised Growth, and even many Liberals, despite personally agreeing with some of Growth's family values issues, felt that legislating them was too intrusive, too big government, and that a deliberate lack of policy on those issues was preferable. The fact that Growth ran on these issues also made it the only party whose members were truly vulnerable to scandal in their personal lives. Tom Alvarado's scandal would have decisively ended the career of any Growth politician, and adultery had in fact brought down Growth's second Party Leader.

Growth's views were rather outside the mainstream for Adiron. They currently held just over a dozen seats in the Assembly, making them the third-smallest party out of seven. Only the single-issue Populists and hapless United Workers were smaller. Rather than having networks and major TV personalities stumping for them, some of Growth's biggest media personalities were in talk radio.

The most popular was Sean Cofer, a stout balding man who was putting on weight as he entered middle age. Straight through the campaign he gave monologues like the following: "After the Civil War we abandoned our values," he insisted on his show the morning after a debate. "Does anyone think today's generation of basket-weaving majors and phone addicts would be tough enough to do what we did? We didn't have the luxury of going out and getting drunk every night at those government-funded daycares they call college. Men worked to provide for their families, and they sacrificed and died fighting for a cause they believed in. Women kept house while they were away, brought children up right, taught them right from wrong. To hear feminists today you'd think it was terrible, so terrible. Yeah, well, it worked, didn't it? For thousands of years it worked, and now we're seeing what happens when you try to abandon it."

"We've got a generation of sluts and wusses. We have an Assemblyman who couldn't keep his pants on long enough to avoid sleeping with a foreign intelligence officer! And this is one of Rowan's supporters? I read the other day about a guy laid off from his job, a good job at a Cabrera plant. He's on the dole now, and he's going back to school. For what? Nursing! Isn't that the saddest thing you ever heard? Honest worker gets laid off and now he's gotta be a nurse. Meanwhile I went to the grocery store the other day and there's this kid, not that young either, looked at least five, screaming at the top of his lungs for candy. The mother's there and she's wearing sweatpants, she's got about two pounds of makeup on, nails done, no wedding ring, and she's got all this organic stuff, booze, and makeup in the cart. I just thought to myself, there go my tax dollars through the checkout aisle..."

The bombastic style of hosts like Cofer and some of the more outspoken Growth politicians more often than not painted a bullseye on the party's back. Saito on several occasions had to deliberately distance himself from the party so they didn't drag him down with him. Ed Fletcher, the Growth Party Leader, was sympathetic to Saito but said his hands were essentially tied. "It's just a bit of tough talk, rally the troops Howard, you know how it is, boys will be boys. I can't shame them for that..."

If it hadn't been for the Liberal poll numbers, Saito's normally-collected and rather scrawny political advisor Bill Reeves could've throttled Fletcher.

[Hittanryan]

National Assembly and Rowan HQ
New Laconia

The media was aflutter in the halls of the National Assembly. Cameras were flashing and reporters were crowding around a tall figure walking down a hallway. It was Vic Hearn, his face care-worn and rather anxious. Eventually they reached a room with a podium set up in front of a stark white wall. There was no flair in it, and reporters crowded into the room.

Hearn spoke clearly in spite of his worried appearance. "I'd like to say that I have been a lifelong Social Democrat. I do still believe in many of their ideals, including their support for ordinary Adirans and regulation of the excesses of big business. Unfortunately, due to certain apparent changes in policy and attitudes in the party leadership, I am announcing that I will no longer be running as a Social Democrat for the National Assembly."

"This was not an easy decision," Hearn said gravely. "I've met with George Rowan, I have a lot of respect for him and I wish him well, but I have an obligation to my constituency. First Solus has made clear its support for the moratoriums on offshore drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and as their representative I have long spoken in favor of both policies. When I met with Mr. Rowan, he did not give me a clear affirmation of support for these policies. Instead I was encouraged simply to push his point of view on the voters of First Solus, despite the fact that they have made their feelings abundantly clear on the matter."

"That is why on Election Day, I will be running as a member of the Green Party, whose policies better represent the will of the people in my district," Hearn concluded.

It wasn't just Hearn. By the next day the SDP was still attempting to focus on bringing Hearn back when they lost another: David Frazier, one of the leftist ringleaders. Claiming that he had grown apart from the party leadership and affirming his deep respect for Merrill Eddings, Frazier also announced his decision to run as a Green. The day after that, they lost a third. At SDP headquarters, the Rowan campaign was trying to deal with the fallout and stop the bleeding. Snyder feared Hearn had been the first domino, and was trying to figure out who would go next. Rowan himself persisted in getting Eddings on the line and finally got through this time.

"Well I don't know what you expected, George. Vic told you the predicament he was in," Eddings said matter-of-factly.

"He was only in that position because of attacks by both Mitch and Judy, your people," Rowan argued. "We're supposed to be allies, not smear each other. I haven't done that to you."

"We did not smear Vic," Eddings insisted rather forcefully. "All we did was point out what you have said, George. You keep saying you want to compromise on drilling and fracking. That's really important to a lot of folks up in Solus. You came down on the wrong side of a controversial issue."

"The wrong side? Eddings, have you looked at your party's numbers recently?" Rowan asked, finally losing his temper a bit. "The Adiran public clearly wants practical solutions, not adherence to dogma. I want to look out for the environment too but not if it means torpedoing our economy and ignoring ordinary people."

"George, I know you're upset. But this isn't my fault," Eddings concluded. They exchanged a few more words and then Rowan went to find Snyder and Cruise, who were working in Snyder's spartan office.

"Well?" she asked.

"Coy as usual," Rowan replied.

"Don't tell me: 'wasn't me,'" Cruise said rather bitterly, shaking her head. "He wants these defections. He needs 'em to keep seats."

"I know," Rowan said. "With friends like these I almost prefer our enemies. At least they make no pretense of trying to bring us down.

"If this keeps up we'll be cannibalizing our own majority," Cruise said bleakly.

"How do we stop this? We need some kind of policy statement to keep the left in the SDP," Rowan said.

"We can't change policy now! The ads have already been running," Snyder said.

"I don't want to change the policy, just stop the bleeding here," Rowan said.

"The main problems with the left are energy and human rights," Cruise said.

"We're already committed to energy. We back down now and we'll not only lose the center, we'll just be pandering. What do you mean human rights?" Rowan asked.

Snyder said "Take your pick. Reform in the Imperium. Investigations throughout the region. The Diols. We haven't really touched it. Too provocative for no real gain. Libs would have a field day, might give the Imps an excuse to release another lovely statement to try and undermine us."

"Don't give them that chance," Rowan said firmly. There was a pause as they stopped to think. Cruise stepped outside and came back carrying the last donut and a cup of coffee. Snyder sat with her head in her hands.

Rowan finally looked up and said "Come up with something on the Diols."

Snyder looked at him. "You really want to kick the Edomite hornets' nest with Nicanor on the warpath?"

"I didn't say to be stupid about it. It's closest to home. And if you're worried that Nicanor is already resolved to be enemies, then I suppose we'll just have to be enemies," Rowan said rather bleakly.

"I...all right. Where's Kevin?" Snyder said.

After being sent for and making his way over to the room, Kevin Martin hung outside the door a moment, phone to his ear. "...again, I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you. Right, reschedule for 3 on Friday. Great, thanks." He then looked at the room and said "Right, human rights in the Diols. I'm really not sure the Edomites will go for anything. All an investigation will do is irritate them."

"It's our backyard," Rowan pointed out. "They wouldn't appreciate it if we were carving a swath through Jedoria or deploying a carrier group to San Carlo right now."

"George, I hate to break it to you, but trying to put the shoe on the other foot rarely works in international relations," Martin said. "They'll always have an excuse ready about how their foot is a completely different size and shape, if you take my meaning."

"Fascinating..." Snyder remarked sarcastically on Martin's analogy.

"We don't want to piss them off, Kevin," Cruise explained. "It's still election season. A foreign policy fuck-up's the last thing we need. What we gotta do is placate some of these hippies before we get any more defections."

"And you wanna do it through human rights investigations?" Martin asked, raising his eyebrows. He then sat down and started thumbing at his phone. "The thing is, they inevitably piss someone off. If they don't outright deny, they'll try to deflect, say 'oh, if we're so bad why don't you investigate X.' Then they'll justify--"

"Hold on," Cruise interrupted, holding up a hand. "What'd you say?"

"That these investigations inevitably antagonize their subjects?" Martin asked.

"No, about deflection," Cruise said. Snyder and Rowan were looking at the portly advisor.

Martin continued. "Well, they'll try to make it all relative. Let's say you investigate...Estoni for forced labor. They'll say something like 'Our program is for violent criminals. Ahara and Hostillia still have chattel slavery!' Then they'll cast aspersions on the investigators' credibility and whatnot."

Cruise was wiping some crumbs from his fingers and had a mouth half full of the last bite of his donut when he said "I've got it. Know what the Edomites have always said? They're protecting shipping from the Arvo. They always bring up the treatment prisoners receive at Arvo hands, right?"

"Yes..." Snyder said. Martin furrowed his brow, Rowan just kept glancing between the two.

Cruise then grinned and said "So we propose to investigate both sides. Edomites and Arvo."

There was a silence in the room, broken by Snyder saying "Piss off both sides is what you're saying? What good would that do?"

"No, no, think," Cruise said. "The leftists are saying we're not doing enough to help the Arvo and that the Arvo are innocent. We all know they're not. The Navy saw for themselves what they do to their captives, the Confederates are fighting them more or less constantly. So what we do is say that there are allegations against both parties, there's too much confusion, and we want to figure out what's really going on from a neutral perspective."

"They'll never go for it," Martin pointed out. "Especially the Arvo."

"Exactly," Cruise said. "They'll make all kinds of noise. We'll have a chance to bring up the allegations against the Arvo, a record of what they've allegedly done, and they'll look guilty as sin. They won't look like the poor natives the Greens say they are if it's clear they used Adiran civilians as sex slaves."

"And the Edomites?" Rowan asked.

"Maybe they'll go for it. Maybe not. Important thing is we take this away from the lefties," Cruise said.

Rowan looked at Martin, who glanced up at him from his phone before checking again. "I don't know that this is the right time, Alan. I think it's more likely to backfire on us than not."

"Oh come on, the Arvo are still raiding, even with the Edomites firing missiles up their asses every other day," Cruise said. "We can use that."

"All right, let's not rush into it. Let's at least take it into consideration," Rowan said. The meeting concluded not long after that, with Snyder trying to identify further weak links in the SDP left while begrudgingly comparing it to a game of whack-a-mole.

[Arcologia]

Virden
Confederation of North Arcologia

The town of Virden was a fishing village situated on the coastline south of Cataran. A long white beach stretched out on either side of the old wooden docks, where dozens of small aluminum fishing boats were parked. The town had grown quickly over the past year, as fishermen from the increasingly crowded waters around Cataran started to move farther afield. What started out as a collection of thatched-roof huts quickly spread into a town of over five thousand. The Isidium Foundation had established a free clinic and had helped them dig wells and establish a rainwater collection program. Recently the town had been hooked up to the growing Confederate electrical grid, which powered the militia headquarters, the town hall, fuel stations in town and on the docks, the nearby cell phone tower, and a collection of small businesses growing in the town center. The main road running through the town and towards Cataran was paved.

Virden's biggest recent trouble had been an epidemic which was still being diagnosed. Dr. Helen Cresswell ran the Isidium clinic and was trying to determine if it was malaria. She was a dark-haired woman who had developed a tan working south of the border. She was in good shape and if she cleaned up could be pretty. While she was working in Arcologia she didn't bother to clean up, and was almost always rather sweaty. The east coast of the Arcologian mainland had a drier climate and the locals did not have an acquired immunity to malaria. The area had been hit by heavy rains recently, which could have easily caused an explosion in the local mosquito population. The trouble with identifying malaria was that its most visible symptoms were rather non-specific: fever, headache, vomiting, fatigue. Unless they showed other symptoms, it could easily be mistaken for flu. Malaria wasn't flu, though. More serious cases were accompanied by life-threatening conditions like circulatory shock, kidney failure, and pulmonary edema. Untreated, malaria could also cause long-term neurological problems. Experts estimated that the combination of loss of life, loss of productivity, and the long-term complications from malaria had cost the developing world untold billions in economic damages over the years. Isidium therefore took malaria seriously.

One of Cresswell's patients, a man named Luis, was drifting in and out of consciousness with a high fever. In his delirious state near the end of the day he said "Doc, I don't know why you ain't found a husband yet...whaddaya say? We're not gettin' any younger..."

"All right, Luis. How about you just get some rest while I make a few calls?" she had said gently. Her aide, a twentysomething nurse named Jane, was tending to a couple of others who were doing better, or at least sitting up. At one point she saw the child admitted the other day, a boy named Terry, start to wince, then sit up.

Jane asked "Terry? You okay?"

"I don't...I don't feel so..." he said as he held his stomach. Jane was already moving towards him at a brisk pace with a paper bag. Helen walked out of the room, not bothered as she heard the boy start to retch. Terry would be okay soon. They had started him on Artemisinin and he was likely to make a full recovery. Didn't make the sound of his pained moaning or the concerned looks on the faces of his parents any easier.

Helen went to her office and seemed to find her phone immediately despite it sitting under a number of reports. Luis' blood smears had confirmed the presence of malaria, and his particular strain needed special treatment which she had to call Cataran to send for as well as report the outbreak.

Offshore from Virden, over the horizon, an aluminum fishing boat was bobbing lazily in the relatively calm Ura Sea. It was manned by five men, wearing tattered t-shirts and jeans. There were a number of similar fishing boats spread out over the area; a trawler could be seen on the horizon. Near midday, they heard a sound that was largely out of place, a much deeper, more powerful engine. One of the men picked up his binoculars, sat up, and looked around.

It was a Confederate patrol boat, originally intended for rivers but forced into this new role. The man spotted the machine gun mounted atop the cabin and the grenade launcher on its stern. He then sat down, lifted up a covering and fished out a radio. He muttered a short string of letters and numbers in a language incomprehensible to most locals, then went back to pretending to fish. After they received a transmission in turn, they fired up the motor and started moving casually to shore.

They didn't go to the docks, however. Instead they went well over a kilometer north of Virden, and pulled the boat far ashore until it was concealed by palm leaves overhead. It seemed to take all five of them to do this quickly. Motioning hastily, they pulled back a tarpaulin, then four of them hefted some kind of long objects covered by burlap onto their backs before moving inland. Eventually they broke off into two pairs, with one man striking out alone until he reached the crest of a hill.

As the sun came down, the patrol boat continued until the crew saw a column of black smoke rising out of the sea several kilometers to the north. It would take them out of their normal patrol route, but they were effectively the Confederate coast guard and were obliged to check it out. As the boat slowed and pulled up to the boat, they could see it was a cheap trawler already consumed by flame. The crew tried shouting over to it, but there was no sign of life. As they pulled around to one side, however, they saw a body floating in the water.

While the patrol boat was preoccupied with this, however, a number of the small fishing boats farther south off the coast fired up their motors and made wide circles. Men in them stood up, binoculars to their eyes, searching the waves for other boats. They then started pulling closer to shore. Once within a few hundred meters they stopped and were seen to cast nets out.

In the fading daylight, more and more fishing boats were coming in. Some men gruffly acknowledged one another, others simply took their catches home with them without saying a word. One group of younger men was seen shaking hands and patting each other on the shoulder, the conversation was something about a kid being born and how they needed to hit the local bar for a drink or two to celebrate.

Just when the sun came down, one of the last fishermen into the docks, a wiry, fully-bearded man named Jim stopped on the docks. Something didn't feel right. Looking out he saw some aluminum were still oddly sitting offshore with their nets out. One was due east, two more were off to the north and south. Then he thought he heard some kind of humming.

"Hey, Lou, who's out there?" Jim called to a man nearby, pointing to the boats.

Lou was a stocky guy with a prominent underbite. "I dunno."

Jim took a closer look at them, squinting hard, trying to get a look at their faces. While he was staring, by chance he thought he saw a dark shape behind the boat, low on the water. It was moving. Another boat.

Scanning the horizon, he saw another, then another, and more were coming into view. "Holy shit..." Jim said. He leapt back into his boat, fished out his shotgun from under the seat, then took off running, grabbing Lou by the arm.

"What?" Lou asked.

"Fucking pirates, or Arvo," he said breathlessly as he took off at a dead sprint for the militia barracks. Lou kept up as best he could, periodically shouting to people on the streets "Hey! Pirates! Arvo!"

Offshore the advance scouts saw a man take off running from the dock, and radioed Mok Ukkadis to step up the pace. They then fired up their motors and darted over to shore, taking their radios with them and running to vantage points at the edge of town.

Jim and Lou didn't make it to the militia barracks before the sound of outboard motors started to get louder and louder on the water. By the time the alarm was raised, the Arvo were clearly in sight. Although it was hard to judge their distance in the fading light, it was unlike anything the militia had heard of. There were dozens of small craft buzzing towards them, far larger than the typical scale.

A militia squad leader, Philips, heard his men start to exclaim curses, saw scared faces. "Quiet, all of ya," he hissed. "They're sitting ducks out in the open water. Remember where we set up last time? Milani, Kornet, set up there and pick 'em off as they come, keep it loose. Come on, move it! The LT already called in the air cav, we just gotta hold out."

One of the team leaders visibly swallowed nervously, but they fell out in good order. As they headed into the jungle, however, there was a sudden clatter of rifle fire which whipped through the leaves and shattered a nearby window. Philips' men went to ground and returned fire more or less instinctively. They had stumbled upon some of the scouts, who were now determined to slow down the militia response while the rest of the war party made it ashore.

Dr. Cresswell had heard some kind of commotion, but didn't stir until she heard the gunfire. It sounded frighteningly close. She stopped what she was doing and tried carefully to look out the window from the side, but all she saw and heard was a truck roar by, headlights briefly shining into the room. Jane burst into her office in a panic, asking "What do we do? Oh my god, what's happening?"

The Arvo boats were nearing the shore quickly. Mok Ukkadis was a rather unconventional Arvo leader, derided by some for a supposed lack of honor and courage while respected by others for the results he achieved. Most Arvo would prefer to rush in and engage in a fierce melee, while Ukkadis preferred heavier use of infiltrators and scouts. He gave an unusual amount of authority to his lieutenants, who were mostly his sons and had been brought up to understand his intentions and way of fighting. Virden was Ukkadis' target, which he knew had ample supplies of food, fuel, ammunition, and weapons, all of which were in increasingly short supply thanks to the Edomite devils. A mere year ago, the Elders believed him foolish for spending months planning an attack on a village so close to Cataran, but now they had little choice. He observed the proceedings from the middle of the pack in a nondescript RHIB, indistinguishable from the others.

Gunfire erupted from the shoreline, but it was sporadic, not the concentrated hail that had decimated other raiding parties. The scouts were doing their job, delaying the militia's defense. More importantly, they also reported on the militia's movements. One group of boats north of the village fired a semiautomatic grenade launcher into the woods, the blasts tearing through the militia there and silencing machine gun fire that had cut down a few warriors. An RPG slammed into a shoreline warehouse before a squad of militia could open fire. Machine gun fire boats raked the windows of a shoreline house after they spotted muzzle flashes.

The sporadic fire from shore couldn't stop the tide. The Arvo RHIBs and speedboats had barely pulled ashore when their warriors started leaping into the surf and running ashore, rifles, machetes, and Molotov cocktails in hand, war cries on their lips.

[Arcologia]

Virden
Confederation of North Arcologia

Soundtrack

One of the militias abruptly slumped to the ground. Philips whirled around and saw muzzle flashes coming from a new direction. "Left! Left!" he shouted over the din to his squad. His men were trying to reposition when he saw the wounded man still moving. Philips took a few shots before he saw someone prone next to the wounded man checking him. "Get Pinto outta here!" he shouted.

"Gone, sir," the man shouted back. Just then Milani, one of his team leaders, was hit in the arm.

"Hit!" Milani grunted through clenched teeth.

Shaking his head, Philips realized they had no other choice. He picked a grenade off his belt, primed it, and hurled it with a shout of "Frag out!" Though they weren't supposed to use them this close to civilians except in case of emergency, this sure as hell seemed to count as one.

Some of the gunfire seemed to lighten up, and he thought he heard a brief cry. Good Arvo didn't beg for their mamas or moan, but Philips was sure he hit at least a couple. This was their chance. "Fall back! Fall back to Main Street!"

As they made their way back towards the city center, they were retreating in as good order as best they could, but at one point Philips had to call after one of his men to slow down and do it right. When they came to an alley they stumbled onto nearly ten Arvo rushing forward through it. Philips' men cut them down with an LMG and left them for dead before moving on. Eventually they came to a militia roadblock. They had pulled a couple of Humvees with mounted machine guns across a road and stacked some sandbags up on either side of it. Militia were using the sandbags and vehicles for cover as bullets whipped by.

Philips' squad was one of the luckier ones. Another group which had tried to defend the shoreline got cut off by the main body of Arvo troops when they tried to retreat, and were cut down to the last man. Another squad lost half its men trying to evacuate civilians to the barricaded town center.

Jim and Lou had been caught out. They'd been with a militia patrol that was all but wiped out by an RPG, and were now trying to sneak through the outskirts of town. Passing across the street from one house, they heard gunshots, then saw a sobbing woman being dragged out by a group of warriors. Fires were starting. From a distance they could see Arvo hurling Molotov cocktails into a collection thatched roof hut. Jim caught a glimpse of looting. He saw an entire team emptying out their food stores, saw men carrying propane tanks and large gas cans away from the fuel station. Down at the docks they were also filling up entire drums with marine fuel.

At the clinic, Helen and Jane were desperately trying to evacuate. With the lights out, Helen almost threw a first aid kit at Jane, who was with a group already walking. "The man said they're barricaded up at Main Street. They'll probably have wounded, do what you can for them but don't do anything you're not sure of."

"What...you're coming with us?"

"I'll meet you there, all right? Go, go now! Go!" Helen said, shooing her out the door. Jane hesitated only for a moment before beckoning the other patients to take off as fast as they could manage.

Helen darted over to Terry, the boy. "Okay buddy, I'm gonna have to carry you."

"Where's mom?" he asked groggily, the fear still evident in his eyes.

"She's safe, Terry, we'll see her again," Helen said, picking him up. She then went over to Luis.

"Luis, you need to get on your feet,"

"Miss, leave me. They're comin', I can hear 'em. Get out while ya can..." he muttered.

"I'm not leaving anyone," she said, setting Terry down. "Come on..." she said, trying to heft Luis up on her shoulder.

Just then the door to the clinic exploded inward. Helen spun around and saw two dark figures rush in, one with a rifle trained on them, the other brandishing a machete.

Terry cried out and started to run. The figure with a rifle fired twice, and Terry fell. Helen screamed as she saw him hit the floor, blood pooling. One of the Arvo shouted out orders in their language, pointing to Luis with his machete and then motioning downward.

"Bastards!" Luis yelled.

The Arvo with the machete approached. Helen saw no compassion, no understanding in his eyes, only the cold, curious gaze of a predator. He was covered in intricate black tattoos.

Suddenly she felt something slam into her stomach. Fighting for breath, she started to go limp, and then fell into darkness.

North of Virden, a pair of UH-1 Hueys were speeding towards the town. They had received repeated urgent transmissions that the militia were being overrun, that the Arvo were taking dozens if not hundreds captive, and they needed immediate air support. As they came within range, however, warnings started sounding out in the rear helicopter. A missile was streaking up at them, launched by the five man team who had made their way ashore at midday. The rear bird had to break off its attack and start dropping flares, which managed to throw off the missile lock.

He had barely had time to send a warning to his wingman when a second missile shot up at the lead aircraft. This one wasn't so lucky. Despite dropping flares, it was a matter of seconds too late to really throw off the lock. The missile detonated near the rear of the aircraft, sending fragments through the fuselage, rupturing hydraulic and power lines. The helicopter continued on for a time until the tail rotor started to fail and the main rotors started to lose power. It went into a spin and eventually made a hard landing on the plains below. If they had been flying higher, the crash would've been fatal to everyone. Instead, some were still on their feet, but others were wounded, one of the soldiers badly.

The rear bird circled around and opened fire on the smoke trails' apparent point of origin, but had to report to Cataran that there was a previously-unknown SAM threat. They had no idea that there was only one team. The cavalry was thus delayed.

At the barricade, Philips and his squad was trying to provide some covering fire for civilians fleeing the outskirts when they heard a loud bang to one side. One of the Humvees had been completely gutted by an RPG and was now ablaze. Eventually the machine gun fire from the second Humvee cut out as well, the man had gone limp in the turret and slumped down. There appeared to be confusion in the ranks as Arvo started rushing forward, hurling Molotov cocktails and laying down covering fire from their PKMs.

Philips left his squad to do their work and found a man he knew among some other squad leaders. "Hillman...Hillman! Who's in command?" he said, pulling him aside.

"Captain was hit by sniper early on, the LT was in that Hummer," the man said.

"So who's in command?" Philips repeated himself.

Hillman looked at Philips blankly and said "I guess you are, sir. You're senior, right?"

'Shit...' Philips thought. He looked around. The barricade was damn near useless now, most of it was on fire. "Ugh...you, fall back to the intersection of Main and Palm, get some MGs on the roof or the second floor of the pawn shop and O'Connell's place. Hillman, you get your guys and mine, and we'll cover from the sides of the street here. We'll fall back when the MGs are set up. You, keep those civilians moving back! Get 'em outta the school! Go!" A bullet split the air just over their heads as if to signal the end of this committee.

'Where the fuck's the air cav?!' Philips thought as they managed to catch the Arvo in a crossfire while trying to clamber over the barricade.

Jim and Lou had luckily managed to sneak through the fighting. The Arvo weren't exactly quiet or subtle. At one point, however, Jim heard a shriek from around the corner of an alley and the sound of running footsteps. There were shouts in an unknown language. Abruptly he saw a woman run past, heard heavy footsteps behind her. Readying his shotgun, he tried to hear, waited until the footsteps got louder. Then leaned out from behind the corner, saw the shocked, tattooed face of an Arvo warrior, then fired at him point-blank. The warrior seemed to stumble and then collapsed like a sack of meat. The woman turned back, saw Jim and Lou running up behind her, who both motioned for her to keep going. All around them there were shouts in the Arvo language, but the trio managed to make it to Main Street where the machine guns had been set up on the roof and had the bulk of the Arvo either pinned down or dead.

Crouched in a dockside warehouse, Mok Ukkadis was watching the battle intently through binoculars. Although night had fallen, the ample fires gave enough light for him to see Main Street from his perch on the second floor. Just then one of his sons, eyes cast downward as was proper, said "We have the fuel and at least a month's worth of food for three villages. We think there might be more father inland. We have not taken the armory, but we did manage to take many captives of good stock, men and women."

"It's time. Take the supplies and captives back," Ukkadis said.

"But Father, it is too soon..." his son started to say, daring to look up.

Ukkadis looked at him hard, prompting him to look down again. "Soon death will come from the sky. It is already on its way, and would be here now if not for your brother. We have what we need."

Ukkadis then produced a flare gun, opened a window, and fired it upwards over the water. On Main Street the warriors started falling back from the newly-entrenched position, but as soon as Philips started trying to press them he ran into a rearguard action. The Arvo themselves were now positioned on rooftops, having apparently brought ladders up or climbed the structures somehow. Piles of tires were set ablaze behind the Arvo as they retreated. Soon Mok Ukkadis was gone with his plunder and captives. By the time a second flight of Hueys was scrambled, they only managed to catch the last of the rearguard fleeing in boats, who had set fire to the docks and smashed up the fishing fleet.

Virden was devastated by the attack. The militia hadn't been prepared for an attack of this scale or sophistication. They had been aware of the Arvo's usual tactics and had been well-prepared for that, but Ukkadis' strategy hadn't been seen before, with small units operating independently as scouts, anti-air, and ambushers prior to the main landing. Three hundred Arvo warriors had done their best to strip the town bare of supplies while taking almost double their number in slaves. They were apparently prepared for this; Ukkadis had brought a number of boats which he kept largely empty, and they were more than willing to pack the captives in tight places. A further two hundred fifty residents perished in the attack with a further one hundred wounded. Almost a fifth of the town's entire population were casualties.

Jane went back to the clinic. She didn't notice the supplies which had been looted, since the first things she saw were the bodies of Luis and Terry, both shot dead. Jane broke down sobbing over them, collapsing into a chair, until a look of horror dawned on her. Looking around, she couldn't find Helen's body.

[Hittanryan]

Virden Aftermath

One effect of Adiran involvement in Arcologia was greater press coverage south of the border. Under the Conglomerate the lawlessness outside of company towns tended to deter all but the most determined or desperate journalists. That still tended to be true south of the Confederate border, although word was filtering through the grapevine of fighting and increasing concerns over food. The Imperium also in practice denied the Adiran press access to the Union. The Confederation, while there were still some areas where it might be inadvisable to travel, was broadly open to reporters.

The Adiran public therefore saw the bodies lying in the streets of Virden the next morning. Most were simply left where they fell, but a group clearly seemed to have been lined up against a wall. Another photo saw a man on a stretcher with a bandaged bloody stump where his foot used to be, the victim of a machete attack. A young boy with a thousand yard stare sat on the charred remains of his home, seemingly not acknowledging the camera. Some men were seen standing outside the looted remains of a general goods store, its windows smashed, the interior a shambles. One of the militia, standing on main street carrying an assault rifle, looked at once defiant in the face of tragedy while at the same time utterly exhausted. The wrecked Humvee was behind him, and shell casings littered the ground near him.

On top of the devastation, an Adiran citizen was missing. With her remains unaccounted for, it was feared that Dr. Helen Cresswell, an aid worker with the Isidium Foundation, had been taken prisoner by the Arvo. Accounts by other previous captives, including from the Cora Nevis and Persephone, stoked fears of her fate. Jane was interviewed, who choked back tears while saying "...the last thing she said to me was...I'll meet you there..." At that point she broke down. Cresswell's parents didn't even make it through the statement that they had prepared.

The gruesome images captivated the Adiran public enough to convey real outrage. Support for the Arvo was no longer an easy, trendy means of virtue signaling to progressives. Claims of their atrocities by other South Cetan tribes, Confederates, and even the Edomites seemed all the more credible. Families of aid workers in the Confederation were calling their MAs demanding to know how their loved ones could be kept safe. MAs who had expressed sympathy for the Arvo were now walking their statements back or facing outraged calls at their offices and attacks by their opponents.

Rowan beat Saito to the punch, immediately making a press release at his campaign headquarters. His manner was solemn, no humor whatsoever in his expression. "There is no justification for the kind of wanton savagery we saw in Virden. This attack has completely disrupted a growing, productive community that was an example to all of south Ceti. Hundreds of civilians, including at least one Adiran citizen, have been killed or taken captive and enslaved by forces of the Arvo Nation. Women, children, the elderly, the sick, aid workers, none were spared."

"Hundreds of witnesses, verified by experts, have confirmed that the attackers were Arvo. The bodies identified, the languages heard, the styles of dress, the tactics employed, all indicate that it was the Arvo. This attack was on a scale rarely seen and with a sophisticated battle plan. It involved several hundred men, with dozens of small watercraft, reconnaissance units, and surface-to-air missiles. The local militia were overwhelmed, cut off from their normal air support, and nearly overrun entirely while the Arvo looted the town and took captives into slavery. According to the intelligence community, it is 'highly doubtful' that this attack could have been planned and executed by pirates, brigands, or outlaws."

"The situation has clearly gotten out of hand. We can no longer sit back. Our allies face a new kind of threat, putting thousands of Adiran and Confederate lives at risk. The development and growth of the past two years is once again jeopardized. An Adiran citizen may be held captive under appalling conditions, and she must be accounted for and released. What we need now is to take steps to protect southern Ceti."

"To that end, we must have the truth. Accusations have been leveled at all parties involved, with at least some credible evidence to support virtually every point of view. There is far too much confusion in Arcologia, and in that confusion, it's the people who suffer most. That has to end. If elected, my government intends to launch inquiries, through the CPO HCR, into the conduct of the belligerents of this conflict. It is time we pulled back the veil in south Ceti. There must be accountability. We will also closely examine what happened in Virden, and take appropriate measures to ensure this kind of horrific attack cannot be repeated. There must never be another Virden."

Saito later released a statement of his own unequivocally condemning the attack and calling on the Arvo Nation to account for it. Like Rowan, his statement was largely apolitical. Unlike Rowan, his statement didn't have an immediate effect on his coalition, who had largely agreed with the campaign against the Arvo.

To the Green and leftist politicians demanding support for the Arvo, the attack on Virden was indefensible. So far they had tried to argue that their battles with the Edomites were born of self-defense. They had to fight back or they would be wiped out, which was disproportionate retribution for the actions of a few outlaws and criminals deliberately hiding among civilian populations. Between the news articles showing the scope of the destruction and intelligence made public by Rowan himself, these arguments seemed increasingly hollow. The Confederates could easily defend against pirates. What the Arvo had done was launch an amphibious raid two companies strong with a plan to disrupt, confuse, and overwhelm the defenders. The Arvo Nation, having been pushed out of the Lesser Diols to the south, appeared to be turning its attention north.

Rowan later had Travis Reid meet with representatives of the SDP's progressive caucus again, this time with the AIS' Head of South Cetan Affairs, Theresa Cao, in tow. Despite having a rather slight stature herself, Cao still sat noticeably higher than Reid. Sarah Garcia was not in attendance this time. The leftists were instead led by Michelle Swan, the Foreign Relations Committee Chair and a key architect of the CPO HCR. Cao presented the intelligence they knew so far, which indicated a coordinated attack using pickets, distractions, radio communications, air defense teams, and infiltration.

"Why did they do this? Virden wasn't a threat," one of the MAs said after she had gotten through her summary.

"It was an opportunity," Cao replied. "Whoever was in command of these Arvo forces must understand the Confederates' standard operating procedures and exploited vulnerabilities."

The MA looked confused. "But Virden wasn't a threat..."

Swan held up a hand and asked "What do you mean they exploited vulnerabilities? What vulnerabilities?"

Cao listed off what the Arvo did. "They lured away a local naval patrol boat by faking a pirate attack. A surface to air missile team was positioned north of the town well in advance of the attack. Instead of rushing ashore on a defended coastline, they sent infiltrators in fishing boats to delay the local militia. Estimates suggest that the Arvo sustained...fifteen to twenty percent casualties."

"So they did take substantial losses?" Swan asked.

"Assemblywoman, those casualty figures are nothing to the Arvo," Cao pointed out, furrowing her brow.

Reid spoke up as well. "And it hardly matters. The problem here is that the Arvo are learning how to overcome the Confederates' defenses. They're our allies. They're doing what they can with what they have, but they don't have much."

"Is there any chance that this was some kind of mistake, then?" Swan asked.

Reid gave her a bewildered look. "What does it matter? Would this have been any better if it happened to a village that wasn't Confederate?"

Cao, however, simply gave Swan an answer. "No, Assemblywoman. This was not some spontaneous attack of desperation. It had clearly been planned for months. It was too large, too well-executed to have been anything but a deliberate attack intended to take slaves and plunder."

Swan nodded gravely, and Reid saw her looking at him intently. He realized that she was prompting him. "And...it was unprovoked," he started, "the town posed no military threat. Overwhelmingly the raid targeted civilians, not even sparing international aid workers."

Although she waited longer, hoping for something that she could use even better, Swan eventually concluded "Then I think it's clear. The Arvo pose a significant military threat to not only our ally but Adiran citizens as well. We in the progressive caucus may reserve concerns about the treatment of indigenous peoples, but two wrongs don't make a right. The Arvo do not have justification for unprovoked attacks on civilians, and no one has a right to slavery and torture of prisoners. We will have to speak to tribal rights leaders about this in greater detail."

Swan proved to be sincere, with a number of tribal activists being called to account for previous statements. Members of the progressive caucus started coming out in support of Rowan's call for a CPOHCR investigation into the Diols. Several pulled an about-face, saying that the Virden attack was the first real piece of verifiable evidence of Arvo atrocities. Others simply condemned the attack, calling it indefensible and in at least one case 'incompatible with Arvo values.' Tribal activists who attempted to rationalize the attack away not only faced considerable backlash, but rebukes from a number of leaders.

Predictably, Arvo leaders scoffed at the notion, claiming that their alleged supporters in Adiron were proving false. An investigation, the Arvo leaders claimed, was simply another form of attack against the Arvo way of life. The only party who deserved that was New Edom. On Virden specifically, however, the Arvo elders were silent.

Over the next few days, there was but one more defection to the Greens: Sarah Garcia. It seemed as though tragedy in Arcologia had stopped the bleeding for the SDP. The election was mere days away now, with the future of the country hanging in the balance...

[New Edom]

To: Secretary of State Joseph Deol
From: General Ramoth, Ambassador from the Allied Statesof New Edom
Subject: Attack on Confederate Territory
Encryption: Moderate

---

Dear Mr. Secretary,

I hope that you are well and all your family too. May God continue to bless and keep you, your state Department and all your family and all your office and person concern.

I heard with sadness of the attack on the poor town of Virden. Unfortunately those who suffer most in war are the ordinary people. The Arvo are savages, and must be brought to civilization by the best means necessary, or else be wiped from the face of the Earth. I am sure you agree.

My office is publishing prayers for the living and the dead, and the hope that your missing citizen will be found soon. I am dutiful in responding to my government's desire that I should offer all necessary help in the dire circumstances at present, but of course my personal honour would demand that I do so even if I did not hold my current position.

I also urge that we take the opportunity to begin to ramp up pressure on the Arvo for negotiated settlements on territorial boundaries. We have thus far met with some measure of success in the Lesser Diols--perhaps the rest of the Ura Sea could be made safer by this means. After all, even the Arvo must know that the victory of civilization over savagery is inevitable.

Please do not hesitate to call upon me if there is anything you need.

I have the honour to be
General Sebastian Ramoth
Ambassador for the Allied States of New Edom

[Hittanryan]

Grandview Hotel
Puerto Rojas

Tom Alvarado lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of his hotel room in the early hours of the morning. He thought about the last night he'd spent with Sarah Wendt over a month and a half ago. Her saying that they needed to break up for now, touch base later. Where was she? Knowing New Edom it was probably godawful place with self-flagellation or something. Why had he made the decision he did? He tried to rationalize it away. If he had married her on the spot, he might've ruined her life. Her career, her family, in a stroke it would've all been gone. That wasn't fair, right? If they were going to do this, they needed time to think, right?

How the hell had she gotten pregnant, anyway? They weren't stupid, they'd always been careful, used protection. The only way they could've been safer was if she'd been on the pill, which the Edomites and their damn prudishness didn't approve of. He should've pushed harder.

Turning to one side, he saw mussed brown hair and supple, smooth skin. Her expression was one of serenity and content. One of her breasts was exposed innocently, rising and falling with her bosom, the tip rather firm.

That's about when an alarm rang out from her phone. Tamara "Tammy" Lemmon stirred, rolling over and picking it up. The sound cut off and she checked a couple of things, rubbing her eyes as she did so. After a moment she looked over and saw Tom was awake. She smiled at him somewhat groggily and said warmly "Morning..."

"Morning," Tom repeated, convincingly mirroring her affection.

"I had a great time last night," she said, propping herself up on one arm and tracing her finger along his chest.

"I could tell," he replied, giving her a bit of a pinch. She gave a little gasp and then smiled more brightly.

"I can't wait until the election's over, we could at least go out for breakfast after," Tammy said wistfully, sitting up and letting the covers fall off of her. She stretched a bit, letting Tom take in the sight of her.

She looked over her shoulder and her expression fell a bit. "Well, I've gotta run home before work. Come on, let's take a shower," she said, giving him a peck on the cheek and taking his hand.

It was hard to say if Tammy would be more or less complicated than Sarah. Sarah was a foreigner, a military officer who could be deployed at any moment, had issues procuring contraceptives, and had superiors breathing down her neck over her private life. The sheer culture clash they found themselves in had resulted in their current separation. They also had a deep affection for one another, had a mutual sense of humor, understood each others' motivations in life and in their careers, and enjoyed simply spending time together, even if they weren't doing something.

On the other hand, Tammy was an Adiran girl with Adiran sensibilities on relationships and sex. They had fun together, although she lacked some of Sarah's sensuality. Would she click on a personal level the same way Sarah did? Would they have a great deal in common? Maybe not, but it would be far simpler to get together with Tammy. At least it would be, if not for one problem: her father. Tom's past judgment had nearly cost him the support of Art Lemmon, and now he was sleeping with his daughter. Without the ALA's support, there was a good chance he would be losing right now.

The shower was pleasant enough, with a fair bit of teasing and some brief moments of tenderness as they washed each other. However, they didn't have a great deal of time, in fact Tammy only rinsed her hair, saying she didn't have time to wash and condition it, and would have to run home to do her face as she put it. The pair left and dressed out in the bedroom. Tom had a fresh suit, while Tammy pulled on the slinky black cocktail dress she'd worn the previous night. She also had a trendy fall coat which would cover the whole thing up, avoiding the walk of shame as she put it.

Just as Tammy finished dressing, however, the phone rang. She looked at Tom and put a finger to her lips. He grinned and nodded. When she answered she put it on speakerphone so that she could keep working on her hair. "Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, honey, it's Mom, what are you up to?" Tom heard. It was the voice of Liz Lemmon, Art's wife who he'd also met.

"Hey mom, you're calling early. I'm getting ready for my run," Tammy said.

"Oh, where are you?" Liz asked.

"At home, just about to head out the door," she said, flashing a bit of a grin at Tom.

"Really? You're sure you're not at the Grandview Hotel?" Liz asked innocently.

Tammy froze, her eyes widening. All she managed was "Huh?"

"Well, your aunt Rita saw you in the hotel lobby last night," Liz explained, still nonchalant about it. "Said you rushed by, didn't even say hello. Said you were wearing a real short skirt...and that you had a man in tow,"

Tammy's face reddened and she sat down, looking worried. She said in a nonchalant way "Mom, I don't know what you or Rita are talking about. It must've been somebody else."

"Your Phone-Finder says it's in the Grandview Hotel," Liz said matter-of-factly.

Tammy winced, looking at Tom apologetically.

"Sweetie, listen, it's your life," Liz said, her tone now firm. "You're a grown woman now, I don't want to treat you like a little kid, but I got a whole big earful from Rita about what you've been doing since you graduated, are you working full-time yet, are you ever gonna settle down, all of this. And then I start getting the whole lectures on what Keith and Diane were doing by your age, what I should've been doing, what we need to do now..."

"That's none of her business," Tammy said defiantly.

"I know that. I tried to cover for you," Liz replied. "I'm just saying though, this reflects on me too, you know? I mean you know Rita, she might blab to the whole family. What kind of example does it look like I'm setting if your grandmother hears--"

Tammy abruptly picked up the phone and took it off speaker. She mostly gave monosyllabic responses after this.

Tom, meanwhile, wondered if he deserved this. He'd betrayed the trust of the woman who loved him enough to throw away everything for him, who he'd put in an impossible situation. Now, he suspected, he would pay for it with his own career. More than likely, Tammy's family would put two and two together. Art wouldn't be happy, some sordid details would leak out to the press. Sarah would probably see it too, and that would be that. He'd gotten greedy. He'd been weak again. Now he'd lose both women and his seat.

Eventually Tammy ended it by saying she had to get ready for work. She looked over at Tom, looking rather glum. The first words out of her mouth surprised him though. "Tom, I'm so sorry," she said sadly. "I thought we could just, you know, have some fun, nobody needed to know. I knew you had the election coming up and everything, but..."

"Sure," Tom said, putting on a brave face. "Well, not a whole lot we can do about it. Guess we'll have to face the music."

"God, my aunt, that bitch! She even described what you looked like," she said, clenching a fist rather feebly. "You don't need this. Look, tell dad...it was my fault. I mean, it was. I led you on. I knew what I was doing."

Tom was surprised at how honest she was being. Other women he knew might've fled the room right after the phone call. However, upon further consideration, Tom said rather wryly "Uh, yeah, I'm not sure that's exactly what Art'll want to hear about his daughter."

"I'll say something, then," she offered.

Tom shook his head. "You know your dad. He's a straight shooter. I doubt he'll buy that we both didn't know exactly what we were doing somehow."

"Well maybe if you leave town right now we can convince them it was somebody else..."

"Tammy, the last thing I want to do is lie to Art right now. It sounds like we're pretty much busted already," Tom said. "No, I think I'll be better off coming clean."

"But you were saying how close the election is, and I know you need dad..." Tammy protested.

"I already owe Art a lot. The least I can do is be honest with him in return," Tom said. At this Tammy's eyes softened, and she sat down beside him and took his hand.

[Hittanryan]

Weathervane
Puerto Rojas, Adiron

The Weathervane was a restaurant in Puerto Rojas which was somewhat famous for its view. It was perched on a lush hill overlooking the ocean and the beach, which stretched over towards the city. Large beachfront houses could be seen from the balcony, and in the distance so could the city's skyline. The restaurant itself had once been a Spanish Colonial-style villa, with warm-colored stucco walls, terracotta tile roof, and wrought iron trim, including the weathervane which gave the restaurant its name. The interior kept with the overall theme, with off-white walls, large windows which could let in plenty of natural light, hardwood floors, and dark wooden beams across the ceiling. Accordingly, a number of movies filmed scenes either in the immediate area or in the restaurant itself.

The Weathervane's usual clientele was middle class and upper middle class. It was a nice semi-formal restaurant, nothing too fancy but not casual either. Its specialty was seafood, getting a wide variety of it fresh from the local suppliers. Today, Tom Alvarado found himself invited for a business lunch with Art Lemmon. He had a good idea what it would really be about. Tom was the first to arrive and was shown to his table. Eventually he saw the aging but still reasonably fit form of Art Lemmon coming towards him, unsmiling.

"So, Tom, we've got a problem," Art said as he pulled out his chair and sat down, cutting straight to the chase. Normally there was banter, talk about football, quips about the election. This time, nothing.

Tom braced himself, but then Art fished out a flyer that looked like it had been rolled up and tossed it in front of him. "Claire's trying to panic everyone over this damn stock market crash," Art said, referring to Claire Lewis, Tom's immediate Liberal opponent. "They've been sending these out all over the district, been posting bits of them on the Internet too according to some of my guys."

Still waiting for the other show to drop, Tom looked down at the glossy flyer. It had pictures of a "closed" sign at an industrial-looking site, a depressed-looking foreman wearing a hard hat, and a ticker-tape with lots of stock symbols next to red numbers. The text was relatively large, with several words highlighted for emphasis. It read:

Middle class families are struggling to pay bills and make ends meet in the face of a collapsing stock market and uncertain future. Experts estimate that over 500,000 jobs could be lost within a month. Home values could fall by 10 to 20%

As members of the SDP, George Rowan and Tom Alvarado supported policies which have already cost us thousands of good-paying jobs. Bureaucrats and red tape have smothered growth. Taxes are killing investment in our economy. Green politicians and well-funded environmental groups are using scare tactics and junk science to push policies that increase the cost of energy.

Don't let them run more jobs out of Puerto Rojas. We can't afford it. Extreme socialist regulations will only worsen the recession and make it harder for Adiran businesses to compete.

Lewis 2016

After giving it a read, Tom flipped it over and tossed it back on the table. "Where are they getting these numbers from?"

"Something from the Adiran Enterprise Institute, best I can tell," Art replied.

"Ah, not worth the paper it's printed on, then," Tom said with a grin.

Art didn't smile in return, and Tom's own expression quickly faded. Art then explained "Yesterday the Puerto Rojas Red River distribution center announced over 1,000 staff would be laid off. Home values are dropping. Even if this is from the AEI, it's convincing enough. Saito's tax breaks and business policies are looking awful good to some people."

Tom's expression quickly sobered. "All right, so we need something last-minute to counter this, right?"

"Right," Art said, looking Tom in the eye.

"We'll squeeze something in, I'll talk to Ed," Tom said, trying to think. "What talk shows run before Election Day...what about job fairs?"

"There's one tomorrow. It's at the West Shore Plaza," Art said rather tightly.

"Perfect," Tom said. "As for our message. This isn't anything new, not really. George's line has always been 'Saito's cutting taxes so he can cut your benefits.' There's also the free trade thing. You know, 'if Claire cares so much about your job, why is she supporting outsourcing?' Really the Libs aren't offering much of anything, just telling people to wait and see that they'll definitely fix the economy just because they aren't Social Democrats."

"Not everyone sees it that way, obviously," Art said.

"Well, that's the gist anyway. Anyway, once we're done here I'll get hold of Ed to do start prepping for tomorrow," Tom offered.

Just then the waiter interrupted and asked if they wanted any drinks. Art just wanted ice water much to Tom's dismay. He had decided beforehand that he would follow suit.

"So, that's our first problem. The other problem is that, best I can tell, you've been fooling around with my daughter," Art said, stone-faced.

Tom for a moment thought of laughing it off, trying to delay the inevitable, he just needed to make it another couple of days with Art's support. Instead, however, he inhaled and said "Yes."

Art finally dropped the act and lost his temper a bit. "Damn it Tom, when Ed and I suggested you move on with a girl closer to home, I didn't mean that close! When did this start?"

"Past couple of weeks," Tom said.

"After you broke up with the Edomite girl?" he asked intently.

"Of course," Tom said defensively.

Art seemed to mull this over. "Well, at least you're not a two-timer," he said bluntly. Tom felt his stomach wrench at that. "Still, that's my daughter you're using on the rebound."

Tom started to say "Art, it isn't like that..."

"No, I was young once, I know how it is," Art said, interrupting him. "A few weeks go by after the breakup and you're chomping at the bit. That's you right now. Look: what did we talk about at the start of the campaign, Tom?"

"Judgment," Tom said.

"Well, from where I'm sitting you can barely control yourself, although I guess you were discreet this time, even if it was from me," Art said a little bitterly.

"Art, I'm coming clean with you now. We weren't trying to hide anything," Tom tried to explain. "We didn't do anything we thought we needed to conceal from you or Liz. I mean, who was it? Liz's...sister? She saw us in the lobby, we weren't sneaking around. Plus you did introduce me to Tammy originally back in my first campaign."

Art looked thoughtful a moment and said "You know, she tried to cover for you."

"I asked her not to," Tom explained. "I wasn't going to lie to you."

"Not the point. She stuck her neck out for you. Talking about the election, how you're a good guy who deserves our support. Even said she started it when she bumped into you over at the office. I don't know about any of that, but whatever's going on with you two, she does like you," Art recalled. Tom started to feel increasingly disgusted with himself. "So I want you to know, if you break her heart, we're through. Clear?"

"Crystal," Tom replied. Damn it, now he had really stepped in it.

The waiter then arrived with their glasses and a pitcher. Perhaps sensing the mood, he asked if everything was all right, to which the two men said things were fine. After the waiter left, Art took a sip and said "All right. Let's keep further drama to a minimum at least until after Election Day. We've got a seat to keep."

Tom blinked and said "You're taking this better than I thought you might, actually."

"What were you expecting, Tom? Me chasing you off my front porch with a shotgun into a cornfield like some redneck in Candis?" Art asked, joking for the first time since he sat down. "My daughter's grown up and out of school, she can think for herself. Never gotten herself in any serious trouble so far."

"Sure, she's great," Tom added quickly.

"Of course, now at home I won't hear the end of Liz going at it with her sister," Art said.

"What?"

"Oh you know how some women can get with this kind of thing. Gotta make everything their kids are doing into a competition. Feels like I never hear the end of it..."

Much to Tom's relief, Art started to drift gradually off the subject of his daughter by the time the waiter returned to take their orders.

[Hittanryan]

To: General Ramoth, Ambassador from the Allied Statesof New Edom
From: Secretary of State Joseph Deol
Subject: Attack on Confederate Territory
Encryption: Moderate

Ambassador,

I thank you for your words of sympathy for the people of Virden. My government has hoped for some time now that the Arvo would open negotiations in good order. From a military perspective we assumed they would see the futility of continued fighting. Instead, however, my government now fears the Arvo intend to simply focus their efforts elsewhere. As Badlands Security did, the Arvo may seek to pressure our government into tacit approval by threatening the lives of Adirans and our allies. This is wholly unacceptable.

The Acting President has made it clear to me that we cannot reward the Arvo for taking civilians hostage--Adiran, Confederate, Union, Edomite, Imperial, or otherwise. We cannot communicate that they can influence policy in that manner. Due to the timing of this attack, so close to an election, my remaining time is somewhat limited. I can generally promise to set certain things in motion and make strong recommendations to my successor, whoever that may be. I am confident that these recommendations will be followed regardless, due to the gravity of the current situation in Arcologia.

Among those recommendations will be to directly pressure the Arvo to come to a negotiated settlement, especially given that the Arvo Nation does not appear to be taking our recent responses to Virden seriously. If the Arvo continue to refuse negotiations, continue to threaten Adiran citizens, and continue to stage attacks throughout the Ura Sea, then my government will unambiguously pledge to support military action against the Arvo until they either negotiate or cease to be an international menace.

When it comes to the immediate situation on the ground in Arcologia, the following is known. As your government is aware through communication with Rear Admiral Franklin, the Confederates do have a general response plan to coastal threats such as Arvo raiders. Ordinarily each village has an evacuation plan, and local militia work in concert with naval patrols and air support to repel landings. Apparently the Arvo have adapted to this, developing more sophisticated tactics to disrupt the defenses at Virden. Instead of the mass attacks your government is undoubtedly familiar with, the Virden attack involved monitoring and distracting naval patrols, using surface to air missiles against Confederate helicopters, and sewing chaos in the landing zones prior to the main attack.

The War Department and AIS have made a number of observations and recommendations. The attack must have been launched from the Arvo mainland just south of the Confederate frontier. The small craft used would not have had the range to have launched from anywhere else. Furthermore, a force of that size could not have avoided detection at sea for very long even with advance scouts monitoring naval patrols. We therefore intend to push for the release of Dr. Cresswell and other captives, begin collecting intelligence in that general area of Arcologia to conduct a rescue if possible, and shore up vulnerabilities in the Confederate response plan.

As far as the talks themselves are concerned, in addition to the main issue of territorial boundaries, my government seeks additional conditions. All persons abducted by the Arvo from foreign lands and vessels must be accounted for. Damages and compensation should be sought given that these prisoners were often murdered, raped, tortured, starved, worked to death, degraded, and otherwise had permanent physical and psychological harm inflicted upon them. To that end, my government further believes that a general inquiry into the treatment of prisoners in this conflict should be launched to assess the scope of these damages, given the gruesome accounts we have received so far from survivors such as those rescued from the Persephone and Cora Nevis.

With that being said, Ambassador, although their attacks on civilians are unconscionable, the Arvo are in many ways a desperate people. You must understand that from their perspective, their traditional way of life has been under attack for going on two centuries now. The raiding is not part of Arvo custom so much as a response to attacks past and present. In some instances, as in the case of the Free State of Ceti's Tribal Resettlement Program, there was a concerted effort to wipe them out entirely. In other cases the damage was unintentional, such as commercial fishermen carelessly depleting fisheries that the Arvo rely on, resulting in hunger and famine. That is a key underlying factor in their hostility. It is important that this be understood when entering into negotiations if we want talks to be productive.

I again thank you and your government for its efforts in the Ura Sea and for your words of support in this challenging time.

Sincerely,
Joseph Deol

[Hittanryan]

Fourth Luzhou District
Puerto Rojas, Adiron

In the heavily left-leaning Fourth Luzhou District, Assemblyman Kenneth Faulk had done the heavy lifting against the Liberals. A veteran politician, Faulk was running alongside a newcomer, former journalist Holly Lemay. Her staff, namely her campaign manager Stephanie Pauli and political advisor Justin Hoover, were seeking to lock Holly in as the second choice for SDP voters in the Fourth. They knew that Faulk was broadly popular and that if he endorsed Lemay, there would likely be enough second choice votes left over for her to reach the twenty percent victory threshold. It took an unlikely debate win against another SDP candidate Anne Caudill and a string of phone calls and meetings to convince Faulk and his campaign staff to hear them out.

Pauli finally got a one-to-one with Faulk's own campaign manager Bruce Lassiter. They met face to face at Faulk's office, with Lassiter at his desk sitting across from Pauli. They exchanged pleasantries, until not long after Lassiter asked Pauli for her elevator pitch.

"You know Harry's reputation's in tatters," Pauli started. "He was the old boy in the backroom with the cigars getting his palms greased by Tai Yong Medical when he was supposed to be regulating them. Our girl's the opposite. Complete opposite."

Lassiter had been unimpressed. "The opposite of a ten year veteran too," he'd said bluntly.

"But that's the thing. She's an outsider. She's young and she's got a big heart. She'll clean up the mess in Harry's office," Pauli pressed.

"Does she know she's going to do that?" Lassiter retorted.

Pauli narrowed her eyes at this. "What are you getting at?"

"If we stick our necks out for some unknown who turns out to be incompetent, that reflects poorly on us, you understand?"

"We're on the same side. Are you telling me you're still going to leave us hanging going into the second week of the campaign?" Pauli had argued.

"I didn't say that. We will endorse, on two conditions: The Assemblyman wants your candidate to make an impression on the district on her own merits. Have her make real appearances, put herself out there so we're not just endorsing an empty suit. Second, your gotta get her talking about policy. The fluff and dodging you've had her doing isn't gonna cut it forever. People will figure your game out. We're lucky that happened to Donahue."

"I dunno, we might've been better off with an incompetent Liberal Party leader," Pauli quipped.

"I'm serious. We're going into an economic crash. People aren't going to care about the frilly, flowery stuff like international aid," Lassiter said coldly. "They're gonna want to know where their next paycheck's going to come from, if their benefits are going to be cut, and what exactly their government is going to do about it. Hell, they'll also want to know if we're going to be at war."

"We're going to back up the party line, of course. What do you take us for?"

"A risk," Lassiter had said bluntly. "Let's be honest for a second. If our situations were reversed, and I came to you with your candidate looking for Harry's endorsement, you'd be careful, wouldn't you?"

"I'd hear you out. Look, who are you gonna back instead to keep Harry's seat? Caudill? She's imploding. You see that press conference she gave? She's totally lost her touch. Harry's seat is on the line here and our girl's the best bet of keeping it. We gotta keep every seat we can to keep the majority, if the Greens' numbers are right," Pauli had argued.

"Oh, I agree, but the Assemblyman himself was clear on this matter. You're still arguing, does that mean you can't accept these terms?"

Pauli had been cornered, and she accepted Faulk's conditions knowing the risks. Putting Holly in front of a town hall crowd who was likely to come prepared and know far more than her was likely to be a disaster. So would any hard-driving policy interview. Yet she still needed publicity to get Faulk's endorsement...

The yellow lab looked up at her, panting happily. "Oh and who's this?" Holly asked in a friendly way. She was wearing a blue sleeveless dress with a high neckline, and was among a crowd of people under a pavilion at Nevitt Park. The smoky aroma of barbecue saturated the air around them, and they were surrounded by greenery. Frisbees were being tossed and kids were playing tag some distance away. Holly was speaking to a rather thin middle-aged woman.

"Her name's Belle," the woman said with a smile.

"Aw, she seems like a real sweetie," she said, reaching down to scratch Belle's ears. Belle first watched her hand a bit curiously but quickly acquiesced, eventually moving closer until she was rubbing up on Holly's leg. "How old is she?"

"Eight going on two, she's just a big puppy," the woman said. As Holly got distracted, Belle gave her hand a couple of licks.

Fall Equinox had luckily been just around the corner when Pauli met with Faulk's campaign. Traditionally a community harvest feast, in modern cities it was usually more of a potluck and block party. In cities like Puerto Rojas the weather was usually still nice enough in late September to do it outdoors. Whole neighborhoods could simply turn out and head to a venue somewhere. It was the perfect opportunity, Pauli reckoned, to get Holly some exposure in a casual setting where people probably wouldn't want to talk politics. That's why she booked Holly for several Equinox barbecues and block parties all around the district that day.

In this, they were largely successful. When it came to small talk, chit-chat, and topics of no real consequence, Holly was a master conversationalist. People, at least many of them, seemed to be convinced that she was just there to enjoy herself instead of blatantly hunting for votes. As far as Holly was concerned, she actually was enjoying herself, getting a chance to talk to all kinds of people. The one person she missed was Chris, who was in the capital covering the Green defection story as it broke.

Faulk was partly satisfied by this, but still expected policy out of Holly. The stock market crash turned out to be an oddly lucky break. As the political discourse turned to the discussion of benefits and stimulus, Holly was steered towards a perspective she could understand. Her message came across nice and simple in a statement: "We have to help everyone affected by the crash. We need public healthcare, unemployment benefits, and support for vocational education to keep everybody afloat. I can't believe that anybody's thinking of cutting all of that right when people need it the most." That message, topped off with anecdotes from people she spoke with on the Equinox, gave Faulk the confidence he needed to endorse Lemay and start making appearances with her, and not a moment too soon.

[Hittanryan]

Election Day, 2016

Not everyone was vocal about their politics in Adiron. Loud voices got attention, but weren't necessarily representative of the body politic. As Election Day neared at the end of the three week campaign season, however, people started to get into the spirit of things. Rally turnouts tended to increase as the campaign season continued. Ratings on political news coverage followed an upward track. The campaigns spent the remainder of their advertising budgets one way or another.

Ordinary people were more willing to open up. In a Puerto Rojas taxi cab, the cab driver had made a comment to his passenger, an accountant, about "Election Day's coming up, huh?"

"Sure is, gotta hope that we can get some change finally," the man replied. The driver enthusiastically agreed, having felt him out. They started to commiserate over the SDP.

"I tell you what though, I'm one of the lucky ones, the agency had to let people go because of fuel crisis. Saito wouldn't've been locking horns with FODE. He'd have signed off on that border agreement with the Imperium years ago," the driver groused. "Not like that fool DeGroot."

"Oh that's not the half of it," his passenger replied. "I lived in Novitera for ten years. It's bullshit here. Fourteen month waiting lists to sign a lease for a house; fuel rationing, waitlists at hospitals. Bullshit! Funny thing is Saito would be almost a socialist by Noviteran standards." When they reached their destination, the driver and the accountant parted in good spirits.

Ted at the Corsair plant in Sinclair was looking at a decidedly uncertain future. He had gone out to a bar with a buddy down in accounting who didn't have good news. "I gotta be honest with you Ted..." his friend had said, staring into his glass, "yeah, those rumors are true. Orders are getting cancelled. A lot of them."

"Well. Damn," was all Ted managed to say.

"You know how it is. People have been trading in Corsairs for C6's or Solaras ever since the energy crisis, and now the damn stock market goes belly-up. People are learning to make do with a little less car if it means paying 16 or 17 instead of 30."

Ted was not an ideologically committed voter. If anything he leaned a bit Liberal, as he despised the idea of going on the dole as a matter of pride. He wanted to pay his own way and would prefer it if everyone else did the same. However, he kept hearing worrying things from the Liberal side of things. As much as they encouraged private enterprise and self-reliance, Saito was far too quick to talk positively about free trade. Was he going to be replaced by an Imp working for pennies an hour? Liberals were also enthusiastic supporters of automation. They touted it as the way of the future. Ted instead saw it as his job as a metalworker being made obsolete by a robot. The assembly line work already was, mostly. In the end, Ted had a family to feed, and Rowan's support for organized labor might help the union keep jobs in Sinclair by his reckoning.

At midnight on Election Day, all campaigning and political advertising came to a close by law. Election Day was a binding national civic holiday, always on the second Sunday in October. Businesses operating on weekends could not compel employees to work on Election Day, and if they worked voluntarily they were entitled to overtime. Communities and NGOs organized transportation to polling stations. Once at the polls, one only needed to show their national ID to vote.

None of this meant that work halted at the campaign offices, naturally, although it was certainly a step down from the previous week. For weeks now the SDP and Liberals had been sending candidates and activists door-to-door and to town halls in far-flung parts of the country. Since the start of the caucuses, both Rowan and Saito had been back and forth across the country at least ten times each, from Luzhou to Adir, Couloir to Rizal. They'd spoken in vast metropolises, neat suburbs, and small towns. They'd been among palm trees and subtropical humidity in the southwest, the arid heat of the Hellas Desert in the southeast, and the brisk fall weather farther north, where the leaves were already off the trees. They slept in planes, trains, and the occasional hotel. Neither of them went home more than twice in that span of time.

Now there was little left to do but wait and see. Advisors like Reeves and Snyder were waiting for exit polls and keeping in touch with activists working on getting out the vote. Polls would close at the same time, 8 PM in the west and 9 PM in the east. That's when things would really get interesting.

The candidates spent the day as they saw fit. Saito decided to play a round of golf at San Rafael. Despite running into other players on the tee or on the green, he naturally kept silent on the campaign. Occasionally he would check his phone for updates from Reeves. Rowan spent about half the day at home in total media blackout. His son Hank was waiting for him in the driveway with a smile. When Rowan returned to the campaign office he brought Hank with him and made introductions to Ober, Snyder, Ferrain and the rest. Eddings was much more hands-on, asking to be updated as things came in. This may have had more to do with his party's declining popularity; despite his unflappable appearance, Eddings would be foolish to ignore the warning signs. Pat Harward, on the other hand, wasn't even in the capital. He was riding his horse with his grandkids at his ranch in Candis.

[Hittanryan]

Election Night 2016

Comparisons and contrasts to 2010 were already being made by media pundits. In the 2010 election, DeGroot had closely coordinated his strategy with then-Green Party leader Bill Summers. Between innovative Internet campaigning and a carefully-designed policy platform, they managed to guarantee that Greens and Social Democrats alike named each other their second choices across the country, giving them a commanding majority in the Assembly. Rowan hadn't been so lucky with Eddings. He instead had to work with a Green Party desperate to hold onto seats in the face of economic concerns badly outweighing their core issues. The Greens were so desperate that they had even poached a total of eleven MAs from the SDP during the election season. The goodwill and spirit of close cooperation between the parties in 2010 had all but evaporated. Social Democrats were increasingly fed up with the Greens' uncompromising positions, and the defection affair only added salt to the wound.

There was plenty of speculation about the other side of the aisle as well. The defeats suffered in the 2010 election caused a loss of faith in the Liberal Party leadership which led to the eventual rise of Howard Saito. The discrepancy in seats was such that Saito's Opposition was left with little room to maneuver. Whatever meager dissent Saito might've been able to stir up within the governing coalition, it was never quite enough to overcome DeGroot's majority. Saito had resorted to driving a wedge between the coalition partners in 2014, which caused some lasting bruises and hairline fractures in the coalition but not an outright break. This lack of success had seen a spirited if fumbling challenge to Saito's leadership in the caucuses by Troy Donahue. Saito's own potential coalition partners were nothing spectacular either. One was led by a crank and the other was fringe at best. If Saito didn't gain a majority, would he face the same fate as the men he defeated for the party leadership in 2010? Or would the Liberal poll numbers prove true and see them pick up seats?

As a general rule it was a strange district indeed that didn't send one Social Democrat and one Liberal to the Assembly by the time the first choices were allocated. However, in Adiron's relatively short history so far, no district had ever allocated all five seats based solely on first choices. Second choices always proved decisive, third choices often did as well, and it wasn't unheard of for fourth choices to get a candidate elected if they were on the cusp. The parties were well-aware of this and always ran multiple candidates in each district. STV reduced the potential vote-splitting this might cause. If one of a given party's candidate was far more popular than the other, the second candidate could still hope to pick up at least some of the excess votes from the first. The parties did have to be mindful of their potential coalition partners, however. Too many SDP candidates, for example, might spoil the field for the Greens. After all, candidates were eliminated from the running starting with those who received the fewest first choice votes.

The structure of the elections meant the returns always came in waves. First choice came first, naturally, being quick and easy. Anyone who reached the threshold on first choice votes alone was awarded a seat, no questions asked. This was usually the realm of incumbent and senior Social Democrats and Liberals. If a candidate was over the threshold, the extra votes would go to their second choices, typically the more junior candidates from the same party or coalition partners. These were usually the second returns to come in and held relatively few surprises most of the time. It paid for freshmen to run in a district with a popular, long-serving MA. Rowan and Saito would both win re-election in their districts by huge margins by Adiran standards, after all. With the right endorsement, the junior member could coast to victory on second choice votes, just as Holly Lemay's campaign hoped to do.

After the first choice votes were in and the excesses tallied--assuming there were any--the eliminations started. This was the point at which the election returns became a horse race, with the eliminated candidates' votes being divvied up between their second choices, third choices, and so on and so forth. It was also the breaking point for many a minor party candidate. Some criticized the system for that, arguing that the small parties like the Populists, United Workers, and Limited Government were underrepresented in the Assembly as compared to their share of the nationwide popular vote. In truth the mismatch would usually only account for one to two seats. There were also no joke MAs taking up space in the Assembly representing such illustrious organizations as the Pirate Party, Fed-Up Party, Stag Party, or Beer Lovers' Party.

At Rowan HQ, Rowan, his son, and most of the staff were huddled around a TV they had brought in. There were two exceptions. Ober was walking around the office at a brisk pace. "Anyone seen Dana?" he kept asking. Nobody had. Snyder had gone missing just as the first choice votes were about to come in.

Rowan himself seemed to be paying particular attention to his supporters. At a couple points before the return came in, he asked Cruise "How's Travis doing?" referring to Reid.

Eventually Cruise pointed at the screen with a finger greasy from potato chips "Hey, there's the Second Hongnan...Reid made it. Twenty eight percent, no sweat." Rowan seemed visibly relieved for a moment, then started asking after another Assembly ally.

Saito was leaning back in a comfortable black office chair, martini on a coaster on the desk next to him. First choices were now coming through on the office TV. "With all precincts reporting, Second Luzhou reports that the following candidates have reached the threshold: John Pendergast, Alice Merriman, and Melissa Hedge. Mr. Pendergast received the most votes, 465,212 putting his share at 32 percent of the vote..."

There was some scattered applause from some of the staff. Two Liberals for one Social Democrat in the first round. It was a good sign. Saito wasn't about to count his chickens though. Pendergast had over a hundred thousand excess votes to be spread around for the remaining two seats in Second Luzhou.

At Holly Lemay's office the tension was much more palpable. Once the first choice returns started coming in, Pauli heard a rapid clicking sound. It was Hoover off to one side with a pen. It came in spurts, sometimes because Hoover paused to write something down. Other times Pauli felt the floor sort of vibrating, and she saw Hoover's leg tapping nervously.

After about a half hour of on and off bursts of rapid-fire pen clicking and foot tapping, Pauli snapped "Would you cut that out? Go get that stress ball of yours. That's what you got it for."

"It popped," Hoover said flatly, puzzling Pauli and distracting her for the moment.

Holly was actually in the break room with Chris. Some were surprised that he wasn't covering the election returns, but Chris was more of an investigative journalist than commentator. Waiting for a board of elections to release returns wasn't the kind of thing to get him particularly fired up.

They were on an old but clean couch that had been donated by one of the staff, and she was sitting close to him. As Fourth Luzhou came up, he had his arm around her shoulder while she clutched his other hand.

Kenneth Faulk received about 447,000 votes, while Holly received about 100,500. Faulk got roughly 30 percent of the vote, making him an undisputed winner. Holly received between 6 and 7 percent.

Holly stared at the screen, then looked at Chris, her mouth hanging open a bit. "Oh my god..." she said, lip trembling a bit.

"No no, listen..." Chris said, pulling her closer and trying to encourage her. "...you're not out yet. You're going to pick up a bunch of Faulk's excess, and then some more after that."

"But, not even seven percent..." she said a bit tearfully.

"Don't think of it that way," Chris said, pulling her closer. "Think of it like this: a hundred thousand Social Democrats actually liked you better than any other candidate, including an Assemblyman from your own party who's been serving for over a decade. You did really well. I'm proud of you."

Holly smiled at him ruefully, dabbing at her eyes, and then kissed him passionately.

Outside Pauli and Hoover were checking numbers. "It's not enough," Hoover said, having run the numbers. "Even if we got every one of Faulk's votes over 20, it's not enough, and they won't all go to us."

Tom Alvarado was looking at the returns at his own office. Ed Schultz was leaning forward in a chair as the words Third Luzhou came on the TV. Tom was standing by with his tie loosened, suit jacket discarded.

Finally the numbers came up. Tom Alvarado: 192,708 votes in the first round, putting him at 12.5%. They had come up almost 50,000 votes short of where they wanted to be.

Tom grit his teeth, started to shake his head a bit, when Schultz put a hand on his shoulder. He met Tom's gaze and then deliberately looked over at the assembled staff, still watching intently.

'Not now, not in front of the troops,' was the message. Tom reminded himself that the night was still very much young.

In contrast to the hand-wringing going on at SDP and Liberal campaign offices, the minor parties were only looking at the first choice votes as a vague bellweather. By this point of the night, Eddings, Harward, and Fletcher had each scored a couple of seats in their usual stronghold districts, but there was little reliable indication whatsoever of how the rest of the night would go just yet. It took a special kind of district with just the right demographics for a Green or Libertarian to be twenty percent of the voters' first choices. Often they relied on being the second choices to SDP and Liberal candidates, which meant it was generally in their interests that their larger coalition partners do well. However, they also often undercut junior candidates from those two parties who were hoping to be the voters' second choices instead.

[Hittanryan]

Election Night 2016

As the excess votes were distributed and second choice returns started coming in, the real excitement started. Saito's people were starting to smile, growing cautiously optimistic as the returns grew more conclusive. "Two in Third Hongbei already, holy shit..." one of them said, referring to a swing district.

"Look, Harding still hasn't even hit 20 yet..." another said, talking about an incumbent Social Democrat.

Saito was making calls to congratulate those who had already passed the threshold, with the exceptions of Kevin Urrutia, Larry Tsai, and Marge Hedlund.

Spirits were generally bright at Saito HQ, except for Bill Reeves, who was watching a number of other candidates anxiously. Not Liberals. Liberals were already gaining seats. It was the Libertarians and Growth that he was keeping tabs on now.

Over at Rowan HQ, Ober had given up on finding Snyder. While the returns were coming in, Ferrain excused himself politely and headed off to the restroom. Opening the door, however, he heard the sound of panting and exertions coming from within one of the stalls. Immediately he stiffened, frowned, and let the door shut. He had a look of contempt on his face as he shook his head and went for one of the other restrooms.

A few minutes after that, Snyder was suddenly next to Rowan. No one had noticed her approach. "Talk to me. Where are we now?" she asked, smoothing the back of her skirt discreetly.

"In the thick of it," Cruise said. "Down in six battlegrounds, holding steady in the others."

"I'd prefer to hear about some actual wins," Snyder remarked. "What about the Greens?"

The mood at Eddings HQ was somber. Eddings looked contemplative while his senior staff were trying to assess the damage. A number of Greens, even senior members of the party, had not yet hit the twenty percent mark. About twenty Green candidates had already been eliminated from the running altogether, including, worryingly, one incumbent. This was a bad sign. "What did Walt do?" one of Eddings' political advisors thought out loud in shock, referring to the now-former MA. "Two percent of the first round? He had nine in 2010..."

Someone in the break room opened the mini-fridge, putting back a bottle of champagne and reaching for a beer. Some of the staffers refused to give up hope. "No, don't worry. Last election Reuter got in after midnight," an older bearded man was saying. "We just have to wait for all the votes."

Another younger staffer tried to be hopeful. "Look, look! Rutherford, she's in!"

"They're onto third choice votes though, she barely made it," someone else pointed out dejectedly.

"Yeah but she started at what, eight percent? Come on, guys, that means there's hope for guys like Qin and Douglas too," the man said, referring to two more Greens who had come up short.

"Shut up, Clay," someone finally snapped.

If it was a bad night for the Greens, it was an even worse night for the smallest parties on the left. It wasn't long into the night that the Populists and United Workers lost all six seats that they held between the two of them. The Populists were a single-issue party focused on income inequality, and economic concerns pushed them from the public consciousness. It didn't help that Social Democrats and Greens already spoke to issues involving income inequality. Normally the Populists relied on getting third and fourth-choice votes off of Greens in heavily left-leaning districts. The Greens' weak showing doomed them. United Workers as usual put forward a muddled, extreme Marxist policy platform that appealed to few outside of certain academic circles. With only a scattered following throughout the country and a Green Party eager to consolidate whatever votes they could, United Workers foundered. By the next day the party would be complaining that in a mixed-member proportional system, they would have got enough votes nationwide to retain a seat or two.

Tom Alvarado was starting to sweat. He'd just gotten about 77,000 votes from Jackie Martinez, the senior SDP MA in his district. She'd gotten 27 percent of the vote, and the majority of the excess votes went to Tom. He still wasn't at twenty percent though. Now he had to hope there were 40,000 more votes transferred to him from Green or other candidates who got eliminated. It looked like there could be, but it was hard to tell.

Two Greens were running in the Third Luzhou, Gene Pitt and Donna Morton. In the first round, Gene got 35,000 and Donna got 28,000. Between the two, there were 63,000 votes to go around, which on paper seemed like plenty. What nobody could tell was whether Gene and Donna's voters would've put Tom in their rankings. If the Greens were purists, then Gene's voters might only pick Donna as their second choice and vice versa. Another potential problem was if either Gene or Donna survived the elimination process and managed to hold onto the district's Green seat, likely using the others' votes to do so. Either way, Tom could be screwed depending on what else happened with the Opposition parties.

Holly Lemay, meanwhile, had gotten a substantial bump from Faulk's excess: about 135,000 votes. She was about 70,000 votes short of the threshold, which would now have to come from eliminations. Eventually Holly went and found Pauli and Hoover, asking "Guys, are we close?"

The two looked at each other. "We're at fifteen," Pauli said.

"And...the incumbent Green, June Dougherty, she's doing really well. She's actually passed us. No way she gets eliminated before we do," Hoover said, clicking away with his pen.

"Wait, I thought the Greens weren't doing good?" Holly asked.

Hoover started to explain "Fourth Luzhou is one of their strongholds. We got a lot of students, a lot of academics. Some of Faulk's people even picked June as their second choice..."

Pauli put a hand on his arm and said "We're close, Holly. Five percentage points will make the difference. But I don't think we're going to know until everything's said and done."

"All right..." Holly said, rather disappointed.

"You should get some fresh air or something. We're gonna be here a while," Pauli recommended.

[Hittanryan]

Election Night 2016

Election night wore on, and the Liberals were making up some serious ground on the SDP. Battleground after battleground, new Liberal freshmen were being swept into office while even incumbent Social Democrats waited anxiously for the final returns. Saito's staff were celebrating, except for Bill Reeves, who continued to pour over numbers for their coalition partners.

Saito's campaign manager Ibarra was talking to the staff. "We're now looking at anywhere from two hundred fifteen to two hundred thirty seats. We may get our plurality. This could be it," she said triumphally.

"We'll still need a coalition, and the SDP has held together," Reeves reminded her.

"If we get a plurality, we'll get our coalition," Ibarra said dismissively. Reeves shook his head in response.

Rowan's people were on the edges of their seats until the later returns started being finalized. Snyder was asked for an update. "Well...Horton's still short, and he's already gotten all the Green votes he's gonna get. All that's left are Libertarian and Growth candidates, and if they all go for the Liberal...that's game set and match for him. That'll make ten seats lost."

"On top of the Greens?" Rowan asked, concern obvious on his face.

"But so far we picked up...eighteen in other districts," Snyder added quickly. "It's a net gain so far."

"Eighteen?" Rowan asked, surprised. "Where were they?"

"Well...they were Green seats..." Snyder explained.

At Tom's HQ, they were watching anxiously after Green Donna Morton was eliminated from the race. By this point in the night, Tom was far beyond feeling sympathy for the loss of a potential coalition partner and just wanted to know where her votes went.

Time stopped just before the numbers were shown. Tom cursed the news' tendency to stretch things out, closing his eyes. When he opened them, he saw that he had received about 9,000 votes, which was a third of Morton's votes. He'd either been a second choice or a third choice after Martinez. Since Martinez already hit the twenty percent mark, the votes passed her over for Tom if the voters ranked him beneath her. All but a few hundred of Morton's roughly 18,000 remaining votes went to Pitt.

A couple of the staff were already busy with scratch paper. "Pitt's still got less than Jackson," Schultz said, referring to a Liberal freshman still in the running. Tom's heart raced. "He's done. Come on, you tree-huggers, give us one for the team here..." Schultz muttered.

Pitt was indeed eliminated next. Tom's team told him they needed just over 30,000 votes and they would keep their seat. Pitt had 53,000 votes by now. The only question was if Tom had been left-leaning enough for Greens to rank him on their ballots at all. That wasn't entirely clear. He'd campaigned with Rowan, who had built a coalition with Bluford to seize the party leadership, but never been publicly rosy on the left's ideas.

Eventually the tension got to Tom, and he went to his office to inelegantly slug some whisky directly out of the bottle. By the time he got back, he was just buzzed enough to take the edge off as they distributed the remainder of Pitt's votes...

42,362 votes went to Tom.

"Fuck! Yes!" Tom shouted as he slapped the table and sprung to his feet, slightly tipsy. Despite it coming from an MA, the staff seemed to simply appreciate it and burst into a hearty applause. Schultz collapsed into a chair with relief. Tom was over the 20 percent threshold; he would keep his seat.

The staff of the Lemay campaign was in a rather grim mood. They'd sent their young candidate out to clear her head (and to get the damn reporter out of the office, as Hoover put it). June Dougherty, the Green, was actually beating them rather badly. It wasn't a huge surprise. She was an experienced incumbent, even had a seat on the Energy Committee. Hoover reckoned that Dougherty must've seemed a better alternative to Holly even if her policies were out there. It didn't take long before Dougherty reached the twenty percent threshold. The remaining candidates were no-hopers, and there was a Liberal freshman named Santoro was sitting at seventeen percent, just out of Holly's reach. In three more rounds, Hoover figured that the Lemay campaign would be over.

Then something unexpected happened. Dougherty's numbers kept rising as the last precincts started reporting. They continued to rise after Anne Caudill and a junior Green were eliminated. By the time this was all said and done, Dougherty had an excess of about five percent.

The excess was divided out piecemeal. Some went to Faulk, others had to skip over eliminated Green candidates, but they were trickling down to Holly. The news flashed a new number, but cut to a commercial.

Holly's staff were trying to figure out what it meant. "Are we there? Is it twenty?" Pauli asked urgently.

"No, no, it's not twenty..." Hoover said, looking down at his paper. The room seemed crestfallen for a second, until Hoover looked up, grinning. "...but we're ahead of Santoro now."

Pauli looked dumbstruck a moment before sitting down and almost shoving Hoover to one side. "Who's left? What do they got?" she asked in a hurry.

"Everyone else is already gone..." Hoover said, smiling widely. "Santoro's the sixth wheel now."

"Ho-ly shit...I'll go get her," Pauli said, standing up. The staff didn't quite have the energy for an ovation but they tried anyway.

Pauli left the room and headed for the front door. Looking around, she saw the couple sitting on a bench outside on the sidewalk. Walking at a brisk pace, Holly noticed her after a moment and said "Steph? Is it over?"

"Yeah, yeah. The campaign is over, Assemblywoman," Pauli said.

Holly stared at her a moment, then looked up at Chris, who couldn't keep the smile off his face. She then lit up and gave an extremely girly squeal of delight, throwing her arms first around Chris and then around Pauli, who was taken utterly off-guard and almost lost her balance.

[Hittanryan]

Election Night 2016

As midnight approached, it was down to the home stretch: the last twenty seats. By now even junior candidates such as Tom Alvarado and Holly Lemay were already celebrating their victory or packing up their offices. The few dozen candidates throughout the country still in the running were on pins and needles; whoever won now would essentially do so by a hair's breadth.

Saito and Rowan were also anxious. Rowan watched as the Liberals took several dozen seats in battleground districts. Right now the Liberals and SDP were in a dead heat, going back and forth as districts finalized their results one by one. The Greens had taken bruising losses with nearly forty incumbents losing their seats. The Populists and United Workers were out of the Assembly altogether. At the same time, Saito's potential coalition partners had not mirrored the Liberals' successes. The Libertarians and Growth held onto their strongholds but failed to attract voters outside of them. In the remaining districts, both parties' candidates had already been eliminated. It would be up to the Liberals to carry the day.

At Rowan HQ, the candidate and his senior advisors were watching the screen anxiously. Feng had just returned, nudging his way to a seat, sniffing loudly. Ober got up to go for a coffee. A pair of staffers was sitting nearby, one of whom had fallen asleep. The other nudged him, and he sat up and tried to look attentive in front of the campaign manager.

"Ugh...what's the score?" the one staffer asked drowsily.

"Libs are up by five, but we've got three districts that are looking good," the other said.

"God damn, can't we just get it over with finally?" the first said.

Those three districts did indeed turn over to the SDP, narrowing the Liberals' lead to 2 seats. Over at Saito HQ, Bill Reeves looked tired and as disheveled as anyone ever saw him: he was resting his head on his hand and had his top shirt button unbuttoned. Working in a conference room with a flatscreen TV, two staffers were hovering over him and he could be heard giving orders.

"Yeah, get me the first choice data from First Sunjiang...no, first choice. Just first choice..."

He then heard a voice. "Bill, you might as well be reading tarot cards."

Reeves looked up and saw Saito standing there. The staffers looked a bit nervously at him, Reeves just had a blank, tired expression. "As soon as I can tell whether we've got a majority, I'll let you know."

Saito shook his head. "Bill, at this point, as soon as you know, the whole country will know. It's too close to call and there's not much we can do about it. Take a break, get something to drink, something to eat. There's still some pizza left in the break room, I believe."

Another district unexpectedly went Liberal. Apparently a minor SDP candidate who'd just been eliminated had attracted a large number of centrists whose next pick was a Liberal. The Liberals now had a 3 seat lead. Sixteen seats left.

Cruise predicted that another seat would swing to the SDP based on the first choice votes, and was proven correct despite the Liberal's small lead just prior. Liberals were back down to a 2 seat lead once again. Down to fifteen.

The next seat went Liberal, but the three after that went SDP. The two blocs in the Assembly were now essentially tied. Rowan abruptly asked to see the remaining seats, and studied them intently.

Two more seats went SDP, followed by a Liberal, then two more SDP after that. The SDP was up again. Rowan was seen to sit back in his chair and stop studying the numbers. Saito was staring at the screen, waiting. The last half-dozen seats were up for grabs, too close to call, the election boards still assigning the last of the transferred votes.

The last returns all ended up coming in at once. There was a rush of arithmetic in both campaign offices, few bothering to wait for the news to announce it, until the final composition of the National Assembly came up as the following:

SDP 240
Liberals 229
Greens 69
Libertarians 50
Growth 12

The Liberals made substantial gains in the 2016 election, but the SDP and Greens managed to hold onto a slim majority with a margin of 9 votes. Barring intransigence by nine or more members of DeGroot's old coalition, George Rowan would be the next President of the Republic of Adiron.