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Chapter 34 - The Wind at my Back, Stars at my feet[]
[[Timestamp]+[coordinates]]
SENDIDENT: KCG 021104 KCGS MILA WEINTRAUB
RECIPIENTIDENT: KCGNAS SPIDER MOON [[Timestamp]+[COORDINATES]]
[ENCLOSED VID DOCUMENT]
[ENCLOSED VID DOCUMENT2]
[ENCLOSED VID DOCUMENT3]
[ENCLOSURE:TEXT DOCUMENTS 1-75 PERSONAL TRAFFIC]
[ENCLOSURE: TEXT AND AUDIO RECORD LOGS NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 3084 (ESTIMATED)]
[ENCLOSURE:SITREP AND CONDITION, COLLEEN SYSTEM [SEE TIMESTAMP/COORDINATES]
REQUEST ASSISTANCE SOONEST POSSIBLE TIME, CITATION SLDF REGULATION 882.35/4 "HUMANITARIAN RELIEF" AND 039/22/32
"INVESTIGATION OF WAR CRIMES/GENOCIDE" (AMENDED 07/06/2776 BY ORDER OF GENERAL ALEKSANDR KERENSKY, SLDF CINC)
-LT. SG DAIMH, SAMANTHA R.
COMMANDING, KCGS MILA WEINTRAUB
Clan Diamond Shark JumpShip, Tethys
Midpoint from the Veil of the Protector to the Inner Sphere...
"Founder..." Star Commodore Brian Nagasawa saw the rogue message in part, because it hit a relay left by the ComStar people and monitored by his.
"Do we repeat it to the next link in the chain, sir?"
"AFF." he said, "Founder...the backbone they have."
He could admire the raw chutzpah of sending heavily data-encrypted information to a blind relay from that far off, and to him, it looked an awful lot like a distress call.
Or a final testament. The situation outlined in the logs was toned optimistically, but it was clearly not an optimistic assessment. The fact that this request for aid matched heavily with rumors through other contacts still within the Homeworlds underscored the probability of truth. One hundred fifty thousand civilians had one, under-sized, under-gunned, out-numbered and out-matched protector who could not get them out of danger, and likely would not survive.
The personal correspondence looked like last will and testament material. "These people believe they are going to die...and that they will likely fail." he judged.
"What do we do, ovKhan?"
"We forward the message to the Khan and to the intended recipient, and then...we wait." he said.
"Wait?"
"Our Clan's ejection from the Homeworlds was decidedly not gentle but, there is an opportunity here...for profit, and for vengeance." he said savagely, "Better still, it is an opportunity that lends with it the sheen of higher moral law, the 'moral high ground' which makes it ever so much sweeter to negotiate with those who do not have it." he smiled, "Tell the navigation officer to begin plotting a course back toward the Kerensky Cluster."