Dimension

<-3-> Chapter 2

It was a communique from the Kingdom of Taryia.

Which was immediately suspicious. Only under dire circumstances did they reach out to the Republic, and not vice versa.

And indeed, the circumstances were dire.

It was a report detailing the action of the dreadnought Krra'harr'ti'om on the Union-Assembly border. She was ironically accompanied by Coalition battleship and, unfortunately, a Republic battlecruiser who had identified herself as Alexandra.

The ramifications of this were drastic. If this was indeed true, Buren had -- to put it lightly -- diverted from her assigned mission, but no one in High Command was foolish enough even to consider that she would partake in such an extreme action without due justification.

"The Hand of Her Majesty Krra'harr'ti'om overviewed and moderated proceedings during a confrontation between United Planetary Republic Naval Asset 9101 Alexandra and Coalition of Interior Systems Federal Starfleet Unit Designation 117-1814-873 Walton," the communique read, "during which a Union task force entered close-fire range and began the mass-deployment of drones. As of right now, none of the present parties have engaged."

Why did the Coalition have to get involved, Lyctove thought sourly, envisioning the stacks of paperwork he would have to fill out to open proceedings with the Republic's historically-antagonizing neighbor.

This came at what was likely the worst possible time. With Operation Sentinel finalized and undergoing preparations to enter a terminal stage of implementation, Republic leadership and logistical capabilities were currently being strained to their breaking points. They thus were poised to collapse should something unexpected occur.

Like this.

However -- as agreed most of High Command -- maintaining order over Operation Sentinel had to take a back seat compared to whatever the fuck was going on in Carok.

Lyctove had seven hours before High Command convened, this time with a dozen members of the Major Council present. The Council itself, both Major and Minor, had scheduled to end Session nearly a week ago, but some probably-illegal presidential string-pulling, along with a sizable helping of legislative support, allowed Lyctove to extend Session for another month. Side effects of this have already included several Councilmen and women submitting some highly indecorous complaints, most of which found a home in Lyctove's paper shredder.

Expecting queues of angry Councilmembers outside his office, Lyctove gave orders to his guard to block entry for anyone, with the sole exception being members of High Command. An unintended side-effect of this was that his aides had — for reasons the president had yet to understand — cleared his entire schedule, meaning that he had seven hours in which there was absolutely nothing to do.

Except for think, he supposed.

History was a required course in all stages of the Republic's curriculum. Past administrations had indulged in the power vested in the presidential office to censor the majority of atrocities committed by the Republic, acts that Lyctove had vehemently opposed, and now worked to reverse. For years then -- decades, even -- the citizenry of the Republic had lived blissfully unaware of the destructive actions perpetrated in the name of stability. In the core, it was even worse, with the media frequently prohibited from reporting on the actual condition of Paragon's natural resource deposits.

It was fascinating -- almost like a thought experiment -- to consider how history would be taught in a hundred or a thousand years. Would the Republic be viewed as an evil entity, subjugating others merely out of a hunger to subjugate? Or would the truth be even more hideously warped, with the Republic portrayed as a savior to the peoples of Carok, erasing the buried darkness?