Peace in Our Times

[Nightfall]

My Mal-sided fellow, you're trying to play on both sides of the fence. 'Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart.', I'd quote the Bard.

I will be honest, I find your petty meddling rather distasteful, but that was what you were always doing, you seem incapable of better. You have been tolerated too long. On top of that, your true colors are showing, or a shade of Kusari gray is showing, to be precise. You're falling into your own traps. Hell is empty and all the devils are here.

My questioning of 'competence' and 'virtues' and my notice of the 'arrogance' is based on what is shown. The Madam is an obvious puppet in the hands of the corrupt Kusari government. Her ignorance and naive beliefs clearly show that. The outburst of rage... not a diplomatic quality, more a quality of an insecure woman defending herself by appearing dangerous, over-defensive, you have the years of experience. I might consider inviting her to the Sanctum for a... private show; maybe she agrees to become my marionette, a lot of benefits to that for both sides, but I digress, as the Bard said: 'Beauty is all very well at first sight; but whoever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?'

Long time ago, after we made planetfall on Malta, the first several years were touch and go. Many people starved; others simply gave up and died strung up on Cardamine. They would stare into the distance -- all hope gone from their faces and purple juice dribbling from their mouths. I've heard stories of the Corsair Vandun line. They gave themselves up for butchering to feed the starving families. The line doesn't exist anymore. Yet every Corsair will say that he/she is part Vandun. The Corsairs have strayed from the righteous path, but that is not the subject here. You simply have to understand that the bad blood between the Children of the Hispania and the Houses can be remedied by one simple step - the recognition of the Hispania as a legitimate House.

The Kusari promise of Tau-31 to our enemies, of Tau-31 which is not Kusari's to give, is a step into further bloodshed. Such blatant disregard will not be tolerated, not only by the Outcasts, but by no one. In the end, it can only push the sector into an all-out war. Your lack of vision surprises me. Or was it what you were planning from he beginning?

However, as the Great Bard once said: 'If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer men, the greater share of honor.'. We are ready, are you?




With the little respect left,
Bernard Fokke, Outcasts, Duke of Corsica

---

If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God? - from 'Nightfall' by I. Asimov
The Outcasts consider Siniestre Nube a sacred place for several reasons. Early explorers discovered a jumphole within the depths of the cloud that leads to a strange world of ringed stars and strange craft. All ships in the burrial ground are placed facing that hole to honor the Alien Spirits. - An Outcast rumor