Chapter 8[]
Silent enim inter arma: Tribunals[]
Terra, Sol Star System
Terra Protectorate
3078
[Switching through the Holovid channels on Terra...]
"...protests have entered their twelfth day in dozens of major cities and archologies demanding that 'The butcher of Geneva' be tried publicly. In related news, as night has fallen, a significant portion of the European continent is under lockdown after last night's protests turned violent..."
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"...No possible justification for this! That monster destroyed ten million innocent people with an illegal weapon! she must be brought to Justice!!"
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"...no comment on allegations that Elizabeth Ngo, the butcher of Geneva, is to be released without trial. Human Rights Now officials are asking that the provisional government to reveal proof that the accused war-criminal is in custody. Spokesman Geraldine Ratclive of New South Wales' branch of Human Rights Now said in a statement by the organization that..."
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"...demand that she be turned over for popular trial and punishment!"
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"...mass murderer like Amaris!"
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"...mecca have issued a Fatwa calling for the death of the war criminal Elizabeth Ngo..."
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"...undoubtedly a violation of the laws of war and certainly a violation of standard conventions. She struck here, seventeen times! She destroyed Geneva. What your viewers may not understand is the sheer malice of that act. To understand that you have to know something about history. Elizabeth Ngo is from Kowloon, a world here-" the presenter brought up a map of the Inner Sphere "-in the former Rim Worlds Republic. In 2729, an SLDF ship commanded by a Terran General, the SLS Belleau Wood, was involved in an incident on Kowloon. They were in rebellion against the Rim Worlds, and at the time, House Amaris and House Cameron were allies, proving that to be a traitor you must first be trusted. General Charles Chivington ordered the bombardment of the planetary capital after local defenders repelled two landing attempts by Star League units. The city was destroyed at a cost of fifteen million people or roughly seven percent of that world's total population. An act for which General Chivington was not formally charged despite it being a violation of the then-extant Ares Conventions. Geneva was not a military target, it was revenge for an action three centuries in the past!"