I've been a Zoner for a long while. I have kept my nose clean and while I have worked extensively with the Order, I always kept my actions there on the QT.
Zoner neutrality is essential to Zoner diplomacy--which is really nothing more than deception and brinkmanship if truth be told.
Knowing that we walk such a fine line, I've never crossed it and have in fact stopped those I have seen who appeared to be doing so...but the one thing I can't live with any more is pretending the K'hara/Wild issue is "contained" and getting so involved in diplomatic gymnastics that we start trying not to offend them. We aren't going to stop a Nomad invasion...no, extinction...fleet by wearing pineal amulets or throwing credits at them.
As a Zoner guardsman, I have a high duty and responsibility but when it comes to human extinction...well..."Zonerism" is going to have to take a back seat. I'll be devious and discrete but the days of politics are done.
I've heard the rumors out of Gallia about royal "infections" and even if that isn't true, Gallia all by itself is a threat nearly as big as the Nomads. Is it a coincidence that we Zoners were at the top of the King's list of undesirables right from first contact? It seems to incredible to be accepted.
Then I've been covertly surveying Nomad, Wild and Order territories. We all know now what happened to Toledo--though most of Sirius is blissfully ignorant...the Nomads have planet killers now and will use them. Wild advances have brought them to the frontlines of Order and Zoner territories--prime spots for launching an assault or invasion.
The K'hara battleships use to go down with the simplest of tactics--now they are smarter, tougher and lots meaner.
The Wild have also pushed hard into Newcastle from their nearby highly developed Tau base. No doubt, what's happening at Gateshead is of great interest to them but I am also thinking that Gallia's thrust into Bretonia has drawn them like a wolf is drawn to the limping calf behind the herd.
In short, the Wild and K'hara are not quiescent...they aren't "resting" or "regrouping". They are building and staging. If they get the assets of the ignorant and arrogant Gallia Monarch's house, there is no hope for Sirius.
If Gallia invades and the K'hara and Wild have already infiltrated and prepared forces, a Nomad invasion will come right as all sides are bloody and spent.
So I have entertained the offer of an insane sounding Gallic and his unconventional allies. His plan might work and at least it will get us intel and a hand at the table.
The ties are too tight between the Order and Zoner command. This one's going to have to be done out of the light and with no chain of command.
Time to act and I am in. Let's hope the rest of the navel-staring Discordians and "peace at all costs" Zoner profiteers figure it out before we're all dead.
Well tonight is the night. I'm taking command of a newly commissioned Aquilon carrier which will replace the cruiser I have been flying.
Thanks to a lot of schmoozing and some high tech finagling, I have been able to hand select every crew member on it. It took a year of preparation for this.
On the surface, I'll just be doing my duties. But as a guardsman assigned to covert recon and survey, I'll have a lot of side work off the books. As long as I don't explode or blow somebody really important up, it should go unnoticed. There's no way to plan Zoner responses like the stock drills and garrisons in normal house space so we have a bit more freedom to be "masters of our domains"--pretty much just as in the days of sail back on ancient earth.
While waiting for the new command to come out of drydock, I've commandeered a repair ship and done some Wild recon with it. Next, it will be time to search some other regions and then get with my unoffcial partners and compare some notes.
So I'm off now to pick up the new command after a quick stopover at planet Gammu.
