NationStates Jolt Archive

This was it, Jennifer told herself. There would be no better time. This speech, this day.

She took a sip of water, put the glass down, and walked onstage to the podium. There was only a small crowd. Most of the population would be watching this in their homes. It was very inconvenient to move between the massive cubes that made up the nation. There were more cameras than people.

"Hello," she began, "and welcome to our monthly state of the nation review. We'll start with some of the porjecys that out country has active. The fleet design is progressong nicely. You've probably seen that artist's conceptions of some of them. Our economy is not in a downward spiral, despite the opinion of some of our less reputable newssites."

This elicited a titter from the audience. A few tabloids had been making dire predictions lately.

"It comes time for another Senate election, and I have some rather more important news regarding that. The Senate is being downsized. It will consist of only ten people, as of the next election. This will be a part of a massive restructuring of the government. Your local newssite will contain a breakdown of exactly what this means tomorrow. A main part of this is the extention of the presidential term, to the president's 80th birthday, or upon resignation."

The audience looked rather shocked.

"Are there any questions?"


OOC: While I do have plans for later posts in this thread, you could have members of the audience ask questions.

bump

"This is it," said someone at the head of a group of maybe twenty people. "We knew that this would happen. She's taken over. We must do something to stop this. We have the bombs planted. Who can get to the right cube?"

"I can," said a man in the back.

"Good. This is our time. We must fight for TRUE DEMOCRACY!" His voice rose to a shout, and the group cheered.

bump for questions, views, IC replies . . . ?

bump

You'd think that the world community would give a damn...

bUmP

BuMp

Hello? Anyone there?

tag-o-lishious!

*grimaces*

That's it! Nothing blows up until you post!

BUMP

bump

If you knew my storyline, you would know that a murderer just became absolute ruler of my nation.

"Excuse me? I have a question! Did you just declare yourself a president for life? What the hell, you're turning us into a dictatorship? *** you! I will not stand for this!"

He gets up, moving towards the exit and reaching into his pocket as he moves

"Excuse me? I have a question! Did you just declare yourself a president for life? What the hell, you're turning us into a dictatorship? *** you! I will not stand for this!"

He gets up, moving towards the exit and reaching into his pocket as he moves

"This is not a turn from a republic to a dictatorship," Jennifer sain into the microphone. "This is merely a change. Your human rights will not go away. The Senate will not vanish.This is a move for solidarity and continuity."

As she spoke, two guards moved toward the man who had spoken. They drew their guns.

"What? Hell no! You're just setting us up for a complete turnover! What next, will you suspend the senate entirely because of a "domestic crisis"? Then a state of emergency to declare martial law. We've all seen this before!"

He slowly began to draw an object out of his jacket

"What? Hell no! You're just setting us up for a complete turnover! What next, will you suspend the senate entirely because of a "domestic crisis"? Then a state of emergency to declare martial law. We've all seen this before!"

He slowly began to draw an object out of his jacket

One of the guards motioned with his gun.

Jennifer continued talking. "I don't have any 'domestic crises' planned in the forseeable future. I repeat that this is not a turnover."

"Bull****! If the rest of you sheep (to the rest of the audience) want to buyt his, go ahead! But just you wait, in a month she'll have us carrying pass books and paying to take a ****! We need to stop her before she gets to out of control!"

He yanks whatever he's carrying out of his pocket in a sudden, swift movement

One of the guards, fearing an assasination attempt, shot the man. He was a professional marksman, and seldom missed.

frutilicious

frutilicious

WTF?

The bullet strikes the man in the chest, dropping him like a sack of overpriced manure. As he tumbles his hand opens and out falls ........ an inhaler, taken out for use in the asthma attack that the old man felt coming on.

"god......what......what just happened? I can......i can....I *COUGH* can't feel my legs....."

as the life pours out of him he reaches for the dropped inhaler, points it at the president, and depresses the button added into the bottom. The security device he'd had installed a year ago kicks in, and with a barely heard whoof a bullet speeds out of the end.

The bullet came to the edge of the stage . . . and bounced off! It ricocheted into a wall, then hit the floor with a ding. The audience members nearby jumped.

Jennifer, clearly under stress, started to talk. "That was why we spent all of that money purchasing the shield technology." To her guards, "Try to get him to a hospital section. I think that that winds up the speech. Thank you." She was notably less confident coming off the stage than going onto it.

"I'm sure that you've seen the news reports," said the man at the hread of the "true democracy" group. "That is an example of why working alone seldom works. We must stay united to bring back the life that we knew!" He ignored that fact that life had not chenged in the short time since they had met. "Did you activate the sequence?"

"Yes sir," came another voice, "it should go off within the hour."

"Good."

bump for ic comments before this all goes b00m

A suite of rented rooms in the center of a cube

All looked reasonably normal in this suite. There was the normal cheap furniture, a few boxes lying around, and what looked like a refridgeratore box in the kitchen. Which was a little odd because refridgerators were not in common use.

There was no digital countdown, no ominous ticking. But suddenly all of the boxes near the seal doors exploded in a huge firestorm.

Blast doors all over the cube slammed shut, and alarms sounded. Then the big one hit. The damaged blast doors malfunctioned, and steel was shattered and bent. Nearby rooms also had explosives in them, and the cube started to came apart. Any rooms with people still alive in them were completely sealed against a vacuum. A final blast tore the cube apart.

Debris silently impacted against nearby cubes, and confusion reigned.

"What the hell is going on?!" shouted Jennifer Knight, still in the same cube where she had given her speech.

"Looks like a cube exloded," came the answer from a sensor station nearby."

"Fleet has been dispatched to pick up any compartments that are still sealed," said someone else.

It seemed that everything was still working in the government.

OOC: Psst . . . this is the part where the world starts caring.

BUMP

bump

OOC: Psst . . . this is the part where the world starts caring.

Aboard the "Mobile White House", Jennifer and her advisors were seated around a table in a conference to decide what to do about the threat of revolution.

"We need to do something, argued Admiral Henderson. "Who knows how many bombs they have planted in our installations?! They could bring out nation down around our ears!"

"But what can we do?," asked Mark Peters, head of police. "We could declare a domestic crisis, declare martial law, and start charging for bowel movements while we search for explosives," he added sarcastically. "Anything we do, the people will scream tyranny!"

"But we have to take that risk," said Jennifer. "We can't have more people killed! There were only a few hundred survivors out of the six thousand that were in that cube! Let's just ask for foreign assistance. For lack of anything better to do, that is."

Official Dimlomatic Communique to IGSA, ESUS, StarCon, and Chromestar Alliance members

Video message

"As I'm sure that you've heard, immediatly after a declaration of a restructuring of government, an attemt was made on my life." Jennifer looked as though she had not slept for days. "A few hours later, terrorists, apparently operating from inside the nation, set off explosives inside one of out habitat cubes, killing 5,430 civilians. We ask for any assistance that you can give us. Thank you." She signed off, looking to be on the verge of collapsing.

______________________________________________________________
Jennifer Knight, President of Independant Pluto

Member: InterGalactic Space Alliance (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=83630&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0)
Member: Extra Solar Union of Systems (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82439&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0)
Member: StarCon Space Treaty Alliance (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=81934)
Member: The Chromestar Alliance (http://invisionfree.com/forums/Chromestar_Alliance/index.php?)
Member: Inter-Stellar Alliance Organization (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82472)

<Message to The Nation of Independent Pluto>
<Message from the Senior Directorate of Indra Prime>

RE: RECENT TERRORIST ATTACKS

What has happened to the civilians of your nation is indeed a great tragedy. We will send any supplies that we can spare at the current moment to assist you in preventing more terrorist attacks such as the one so recently incurred. As for Military assistance, We regret to inform you that you are on your own. Currently the bulk of the Indra Prime Fleet is combating an unknown enemy in sector 216, and the fight does not go well. We will try to help you as much as we can without losing sight of the battle that wages among us. God Speed and Good Luck."

END TRANSMISSION

<Message to The Nation of Independent Pluto>
<Message from the Senior Directorate of Indra Prime>

RE: RECENT TERRORIST ATTACKS

What has happened to the civilians of your nation is indeed a great tragedy. We will send any supplies that we can spare at the current moment to assist you in preventing more terrorist attacks such as the one so recently incurred. As for Military assistance, We regret to inform you that you are on your own. Currently the bulk of the Indra Prime Fleet is combating an unknown enemy in sector 216, and the fight does not go well. We will try to help you as much as we can without losing sight of the battle that wages among us. God Speed and Good Luck."

END TRANSMISSION

We thank you greatly for your generosity.

BUMP

Back aboard the "Mobile White House", Jennifer couldn't sleep. She kept going over the question, How can this work for me? It was sort of her philosophy. But she couldn't see how this, thousands dead because of her, could help her out.

Anything that she did to tighten her fist because of this would breed dissent, all because of that stupid old man! She'd had him killed, of course. The minimum that she could get away with was to do searches for explosives, and "ask" for cooperation. Probably not even that. They'd cry, "Martial law!" and "Dictator!"

How many of the military forces are loyal to me personally, she wondered. If I were to set myself up as full leader . . .

She got up. The explosives she had of her own would do. At her terminal, she keyed in the proper code, and selected "Standard coffee". A confirm dialogue popped up, and she selected "Yes". It now gave a digital countdown, which she disabled.

Might as well get some rest, she thought, and settled back into bed.

No comments on my RP'ing skill or lack thereof. Gimme feedback.

An alarm awakened Jennifer slightly less than two hours later. Working quickly, she heaved herself out of bed and walked over to her computer terminal. She popped off the cover and took out a small black box. It was connected to the system, and Jennifer just yanked it out, not bothering to disconnect it.

Just as she finished, a soft beep sounded. Jennifer took a small datapad out of her pocket and keyed in a code. All over the ship, doors opened imperceptibly.

Then it blew. The halls were torn up as explosion from all around them flared. Fire-suppression systems failed to operate, and the ship started to come apart. Air rushed out into the blackness of space. Specially designed doors failed to seal off each room, and people died within seconds.

Except for three. Jennifer had chosen carefully who to save among the high-ranking politicians on board. Her door worked, obviously, and so did those of Admiral Henderson and Senator Johnson. They would support her.

None of this was going through the president's mind as her explosives tore apart the expensive ship. All that she was thinking of was holding on, and avoiding being dashed against the walls as the ship exploded in a fantastic flash of light.

The small group of terrorists met again, after the initial news reports of the president's ship having exploded.

"It's time that I told all of you what this organization really is. We are a web of small cells that were formed in anticipation of this event. Another of our cells must have planted the bombs aboard the Mobile White House."

In fact, the leader of this small group was lying. There were no other cells. He had started this group himself.

"Our plans," he continued, "are as follows. We must seize control of this nation. We must bring order out of chaos. We must BRING! FORTH! DEMOCRACY!"

The small group cheered.

"Now, I have here a jammer/subspace radio transmitter. It will deliver our message of freedom to eveyone, including our allies abroad. I will deliver the message."

He turned on the transmitter, and every television, holovision, and audio receiver tuned to IP frequencies went silent. He began to speak.

"We are the Independant Pluto Liberation Army. In response to the tyrannical policies of our leader, we have taken control ourselves. You, as citizens, can cooperate with us as we restore order and democracy to you in the wake of our necessarily brutal methods. Also, we resign from all alliances." He paused. "Now, just to ensure that you know who we are, well, watch. Not your televisions, but your viewports."

He activated a remote control, and another cube exploded. This time, bombs had been planted along the outside supports, opening the cube at its seams. Flames spewed from the habitat.

The group looked less confident, but their enthusiasm returned when their leader began speaking again.

"We ask that you please cooperate. Any attempt to fight will result in more death."

The transmitter was left running with the microphone off.

bump

tag;

Would you like a comment with that tag?

OOC: I'm not sure about the Status of Privatized Corparations, as I know many nations companies are government Controlled, but I'm going to assume that Independant Pluto has SOME degree of Private Industry.

CEO Walter Morgan had just witnessed the biggest explosion in his life, it was all over the news, all of a sudden, cubes had just started exploding, then the Presidential Command Ship was incinerated as well, then another Cube blew. An organization called the Pluto liberation Army had taken credit for all three of these attacks.

Morgan picked up his phone and set in motion a metting of a new faction in this new struggle.

Hours later

Morgan sat at the head of a large table surrounded by many important looking people, all of them were owners or majority shareholders of the large companies of Independant Pluto. "All of you have take the time to come to this metting" Started Morgan "As you may well know, our fine country is entering a state of uncertianty, due to last nights presidential speech, the country had been turned into a friendly dictatorship, and the public is becomnig uneasy. This is our chance to shape the new Pluto that rises out of the ashes of this turbulent time. Armed with the equiptment from our Defensive Allies, (Weapons Contractors) we shall offer our services to ourselves, or either side with enough money, and willing to share power with us! We shall become the third wheel in this political drama that is unfolding, which can be used to turn the tide in any battle, from this day forth we shall be known as the Plutonian Corporate Army!"

Morgan sits down, all of the table claps and shakes hands.

OOC: Alright, with the Permission of Pluto (I'm not sure if you have a plan for this) I'm playing as a third wheel in this conflict, practically like a mercenary, owning allegance to either or no side, but tends to favor the group that takes on this most "Pro-Bussiness" outlook (Current Government [I think]) Also, Pluto you piked a bad time to start an RP, Christmas, very few people are on, although I'm pointing out the obvious, no one has seemed to tell you this, most of the three pages are tags and Bumps! :lol:

OOC1: We've got those. They design and build our space fleet and sell to exclusively us. You have the designs for all of our ships, and the facilities to make them.
OOC2: Go ahead, I don't mind. Yes, all of my RPs do that. Nobody responds.
OOC3: Briefing: We have a whole bunch of five mile^3 cubes floating in the Kuiper Belt. The current government controls a sizable space fleet that's a little outdated. The corporations are designing a new fleet, but only prototypes have been built so far.

IC, Finally:

Small freighters were poking around the wreckage, looking for the survivors that there would surely be. But so far, it seemed as though the explosion had completely shredded the ship.

"What happened to the fire-suppression systems?" asked the pilot of one of the freights idly.

"I dunno. Maybe the engineers were lazy," replied his copilot.

They began to move away from the site of the explosion for compartments that could have been thrown.

They found a compartment that was still sealed. The pilot flashed his lights as a signal, and started to move back to base.

They only found one more compartment--that of Admiral Henderson.

Morgan Paced himself, He hadn't slept all night, the video meeting that he was going to stage would be like nothing he had done before.

He sat down, and Opened a message to Jennifer Knight, President of Independany Pluto, he sent it through a untraceable address so they couldn't track him down, as this message would go through the regular screening process.

Message to Mrs. Jennifer Knight, President of Indepentant Pluto
Encrypted Channel
100.243.23

Mrs. Knight, we would like to offer you a chance to strenthen your platform, we know that this nation is entering a state of unrest, we can help you stabilize it, if your intrested, please respond to this message. We can arrange something.

Jennifer was now safely (if the word could be used any more) on a cube, with a few of her advisers and Admiral Henderson.

"It's clear that we need some way to fight back against these terrorists before they kill more of our citizens. The only ting that we can do is order a search for explosives."

"Mrs. President, we can't even do that. The only inter-cube communication we have is by courier," said an aide.

"Good point. What we need to do, then, is send out messengers to the guards on each cube. Admiral, how many shuttles do we have on this cube?"

"Perhaps twenty, forty if you want to use the freighters," replied Admiral Henderson.

"We do. Send out messengers that you can trust. Instruct them to deliver the search order and then move on to a different cube. Without explosives on our habitats, we're in a much better bargaining position."

"You should tell them to search for a jammer, too," said the same aide.

Henderson nodded, and went to a terminal to send a summons to some officers.

OOC: Cookie if you know why I didn't respond to your message.

OOC: I'm not sure, Isn't it because Inner-cube transmission is Knocked out, so the only way they could respond to the message, is if I had sent it by Courier? OR I didn't specifiy a address to send the message to.

OOC: I'm not sure, Isn't it because Inner-cube transmission is Knocked out, so the only way they could respond to the message, is if I had sent it by Courier? OR I didn't specifiy a address to send the message to.

OOC: The former.

A short distance away from Independent Pluto's gravity well, the LRRSV Spruce Head, a Rockland class destroyer, drops out of hyperspace. It then heads for Independent Pluto at maximum accelleration. Aboard the vessel are a group of 10 RBI (Regional Bureau of Investigation) agents, armed with plasma rifles and a wide variety of other weapons.

The Destroyer enters orbit above independent pluto, and contacts the IP defence fleet.

"Independent Pluto vessels! Your government has been taken over! We implore you to aid in restoring democracy! If your commanders disagree, mutiny is an acceptable course of action, as many of them are interested only in power and personal glory!"

The RBI team prepares for planetary insertion, and boards the destroyer's corvette.

OOC: YaY a Cookie for Me! Yum. Anyway, back to the story.

Morgan Sat inhis office, anxiously waiting for the response from Mrs. Knight, then it hit him, if the Cubes were so damaged it would be natural that the intercommuncations system would be knocked out!

"Of Course!" Morgan Yelped as he jumped from his chair, he quickly downloaded the message he had orginally sent via the Intercommuncations system, and placed it en route to the Cubes Via the Companies offical courier, It would arrive in a matter of days, nd then he would get his response.

Jennifer and Admiral Henderson were in a conference room. Guards were posted around the perimeter, and the room had been certified free of listening devices.

"How goes the explosives search?" Jennifer asked Henderson.

"One of the ships has completed its message run. At the predicted rate, the nation should be searched completely in about three weeks."

"I hope that this cube has been searched, at least."

"Of course. It was certified free of explosives and jammers."

"Good. At least something's going right. What's the fleet status?"

"The first cube explosion was primarily a hanger. That's why it exploded so spectacularly. It had fifty Missile and Patrol Boat pairs inside, and forty Escorts. It also had a few convoys of liners nearybe, waiting for escorts."

"What does that leave us with?"

"With that loss, plus collateral damage from both explosions, we have maybe two dozen Escorts, and twenty Patrol and Missile Boats pairings. It's all estimated, what with no radio check-ins."

"What about the freighters and liners? We must have more of those."

As they continued talking, other things were going on...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Randy Dodinas was beginning to think that that crazy old man and the Liberation Army were right. Maybe the president needed to be stopped. These thoughts were only enhanced when he heard over the intercom, "Explosives search. Open up."

Angry now, he punched the "Door Open" button. He placed himself in front of the door.

"Whaddaya think you're doing here?!" he demanded

"Sir, we're only--"

He cut off the guard. "I am a respectable citizen of this nation. You have no right to search my rooms!"

"Yes, sir, we do," said the lead officer. "We have authorization from President Knight herself."

"I won't let you in! I WON'T, d'you hear!"

"Yes you will." A guard stunned the man, and they filed inn to begin searching.

The RBI team boards a corvette, which takes off from the Spruce Head. It descends towards the surface of Independent Pluto.

"IP traffic control, this is C-1239 from the LRRSV Spruce Head. We request landing clearance, over."

The RBI team boards a corvette, which takes off from the Spruce Head. It descends towards the surface of Independent Pluto.

"IP traffic control, this is C-1239 from the LRRSV Spruce Head. We request landing clearance, over."

Surface? We don't have one anymore. Ditched Pluto for the Kuiper Belt.

Also, our defernse fleet is automated, and communications are down.

The RBI team boards a corvette, which takes off from the Spruce Head. It descends towards the surface of Independent Pluto.

"IP traffic control, this is C-1239 from the LRRSV Spruce Head. We request landing clearance, over."

Surface? We don't have one anymore. Ditched Pluto for the Kuiper Belt.

Also, our defernse fleet is automated, and communications are down.

Oh. Make it the nearest habitation cube then.

Another little group of guards, by this point hopelessly bored with searching for rooms, was in the same cube as the "Liberation Army". At first, they had joked about being heroes if they found anything, but silence reigned after almost half a day of solid searching.

One of them punched an intercom panel. "This is a search..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mastermind of the Army was in his rooms alone. He was tinkering with the little jammer/radio, and had a bunch of little tools strewn across the floor. He set it down, obviously satisfied, just as the intercom sounded.

"This is a search for explosives. You are expected to cooperate."

He smiled, and opened the door. "Come right in," he said, "I have nothing to hide."

Actually, this was almost true. He had sent his entire "Army" to other cubes in private vessels to make preparations for this. All he had in his apartment was the radio.

A pair of guards stepped into the room, with the third in the group standing watch outside the door.

"What's that, sir?" said one of the guards.

"That's a device that is designed to jam all normal channels of communication to and from this area. It also doubles as a transmitter." He continued smiling.

"In that case, please come with us."

The second guard inside walked over to the jammer, picked it up, and turned it off.

Silently, the man counted. One, two, three

Thirteen of the cubes exploded in a massive fireball.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jennifer was in the liner with the rest of the essential members of the government. There was nothing to do but watch all of the fleet that they had assemble. They made a surprisingly large fleet, considering how small the numbers had sounded before.

She pondered what she had caused. By adding to her personal power, she had killed tens of thousands. There was a little pang of guilt...

She dismissed it. Ever since that teacher- That wasn't the same, though. That wasn't killing. Then it had started with the Fleet commander. She had killed him because he was smothering her. And the President- he was useless. IP needed someone strong in power.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by a sudden burst of sound.

"We request landing clearance, over."

Her mind raced. The jamming was off, someone was here--at least it's an ally, or someone of LRR frequen--WHAT THE HELL?

Her ship was slammed with a massive shock wave. It tumbled end over end, and it was a few seconds before the gravity compensated. Jennifer got up--and immediately fell down again. A sharp pain ran through her leg. Probably broken. Along with a few ribs. But the box! It was undamaged. Around her, in the viewport and screens, she saw that almost all of even the fraction of a force that was assembled had been too close to the explosion had been destroyed. Along with the cubes. There looked to be a hole taken out of the heart of the cluster of habitats. She estimated about thirty gone.

bump

Aboard the destroyer, the captain prepares to communicate to Ms. Knight. The destroyer's shield is powered up to maximum, and its weapons systems are put on-line.

"The jamming's subsided. There's been a sizeable explosion around, looks like the liberation army's been at it again."
"So it seems. Too bad they have to resort to violence."
"Communications are up with Ms. Knight's cube."
"Ah. JENNIFER KNIGHT!!!!!! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY!!!! PLEASE RELINQUISH CONTROL OF INDEPENDENT PLUTO AND PREPARE TO BE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY!!!!!"

The corvette nears the cube, and its 10 occupants prepare to disembark.

Jennifer hopped over to the nearest control panel and activated the intercom. "Anyone who can move in this ship, get to the main viewing bay! Repeat, get to the main viewing bay NOW!"

She then entered the code for emergency fleet transmission, full encrypt. "All IP ships, this is an extreme emergency. At least twenty-five, repeat, twenty-five cubes have been destroyed by terrorists." Eevn with her more conservative estimate, it meant hundreds of thousands dead. "All ships are expected to return to the Kuiper Belt immediately. All trade missions are canceled." She sent the same message through subspace, to reach any ships that were outside of the system.

By this time, Henderson, a few aides, and the pilot had entered the viewing bay. More were trickling in.

Suddenly, a voice burst from the speakers. "JENNIFER KNIGHT!!!!!! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR PERVERSION OF DEMOCRACY!!!! PLEASE RELINQUISH CONTROL OF INDEPENDENT PLUTO AND PREPARE TO BE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY!"

"Hell," Jennifer muttered under her breath. Out loud, she said, "Henderson, you talk. They know you from the pirate attack."

"Yes, ma'am," said the Admiral. He activated non-encypted communications. "LRR ship, this is Admiral John Henderson, commander of IP forces. President Knight is currently occupied trying to restore order in the wake of a massive terrorist hit. She acted as our elected leader, and modified our system of government. If you wish to bring 'democracy', please try to do it with less oppression and death than the last group that supported 'democracy'. I say again, Ms. Knight is currently busy helping the nation recover from 'democracy', and is thus not availible for arrest at this time."

OOC: She's in a liner, set away from the main cluster of cubes slightly.

"Now don't you play this gamne with us! We know what this will turn into! We've seen it hundreds of times over. First, the 'president' disbands the senate and lower government bodies due to some kind of 'national emergency.' Then, they extend their term until they die! We are aware of the terrorist attacks. President Knight is to be removed from power, and your senate is to be re-established as the governing body until there can be a next set of elections!"

"We are not playing a game here. President Knight shifted the power structure slightly, and minimized the Senate. We said it before, this is not a dictatorial turnover. The remaining Senate members were killed in a terrorist attack. The shift was and is legal. As soon as order can be restored, the planned system will be implemented. Legally."

Jennifer was busy at a bank of computers. She skipped past friend/foe programs, autotargeters, and accessed the firing systems of a Missile Boat. She selected a non-guided nuclear missile, five megatons.

"Admiral, I will begin communications with the vessel." Henderson stepped aside, leaving her to the main communication console in the bay. She ignored it, preferring to use the console she was nearest.

"This is President Jennifer Knight. I ask you to leave our area immediately, or face destruction. If the missile aimed at you is not sufficient to destroy your vessel, rest assured that our defense systems are."

Henderson stepped over to Jennifers console and punched her as hard as he could. She stumbled backwards, shocked. "That's mutiny! Treason!"

"You will not fire on that ship! LRR has been a valuable ally, and is acting in the interst of our nation."

"They'll arrest me! You were just arguing-"

"That was before you threatened to destroy the vessel of an ally. Without them, we would be a pirate outpost!" He grapped her and held her arms behind her.

"Let me GO! You--guard--get this traitor OFF me!" The guards in the room made no move to help her. They did, however, respond when Henderson asked them to open a communications channel again.

"We apologise for that. Ms. Knight was acting irrationally. You are in no danger. The president is now in custody and is ready for pickup by you at any time."

Jennifer was struggling against Henderson's grip, but wasn't getting anywhere. The admiral motioned to a nearby guard, and was given a standard knockout mask. He covered Jennifer's mouth with it, and she was unconscious within seconds. Henderson disabled the fire command and opened a bay door.

"Thankyou, Admiral Henderson. A corvette is on its way."

A small corvette carrying 10 RBI agents lands at Henderson's cube. The 10 agents disembark and head to Ms. Knight's position.

As the agents arrived at the viewing bay that housed Henderson, Jennfer, and the crew of the liner, Jennifer began to come to. One of the guards handcuffed her, but Admiral Henderson ignored the president.

"Here she is. We'll be expecting a full hearing regarding her crimes, if any beyond what we restrained her for."

As the agents arrived at the viewing bay that housed Henderson, Jennfer, and the crew of the liner, Jennifer began to come to. One of the guards handcuffed her, but Admiral Henderson ignored the president.

"Here she is. We'll be expecting a full hearing regarding her crimes, if any beyond what we restrained her for."

"Thankyou, Admiral Henderson."

The RBI agents take Jennifer Knight away. They check for any personal force shields and concealed weaponry, and then take her into the corvette, AKSU-74 SMGs trained on her the whole time.

"Ms. Jennifer Knight, you are in custody of the Regional Bureau of Investigation for two counts of murder, one count government corruption, one count disruption of a democratic government for personal quest for power. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court."

She is seated at the back of the corvette, between two RBI agents and facing four others. The corvette manouvers back to the destroyer, which then hyperspaces back to the WWSETI system.

Jennifer remained silent, preferring to think of what they were going to charge her with, exactly. The last two were obvious, of course, but she could probably shake them. But what murders were they charging her with? Certainly not the old president's, there was nothing to connect her with that. Maybe the fleet director. They could find a motive for her there, but all traces of the method she'd used were gone. But if they knew that it wasn't terrorists that had destroyed that ship, then it would be more than two charges of murder. If they got her for killing the president, then the last two charges would be a lot harder to convict.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Henderson wondered how he was going to get the place to resemble anything like order. In the past hour since communications were back up, he'd gotten five separate calls from cubes asserting their independence. It was going to be a tough few months...

The corvette touches down on LRR soil, outside the Maximum security penetentiary, reserved for the most dangerous of criminals. The corvette lands at the LRR fleet base adjacent to the prison. A formation of naval infantry can be seen parading around the landing pad along with a marching band, which plays John Phillip Sousa's Black Horse Troop.

The corvette door opens and the RBI agents are greeted by an LRR police officer, his Vz-61 SMG slung behind his back.

"Ah! Hello! I see you have been successful."
"Yes, very successful. We have her right here. Come on, ma'am."

They take Jennifer Knight out of the corvette, which then lifts off for space. She is taken into the prison and brought to her cell, basically a concrete block with a bed, a seperate but equally drab toliet and bathroom without a mirror. A tele-viewer can be seen about 10 feet down the hall showing an international news channel. A barred window looks out on the landing pad and the formation of infantrymen.

"Here's your current home, ma'am. Meals are provided in your cell at nine o'clock, 12:30 in the afternoon, and six o'clock at night. Board games will be provided on request, specifically checkers, Risk, Monopoly, and chess."

The gaurd walks away down the corridor.

Meaanwhile......

Message to Admiral henderson and the Independent Pluto government:

Ms. Knight is scheduled to be tried this Wednesday in the LRR capitol. We trust you would like to be present. Perhaps you would like to provide prosecution?

-Chief Justice Sillar Idaho, The Spacing Guild of Lunatic Retard Robots

Message to LRR:

We wish to prvide defense. She was only turned over to you when she threatened to attack an ally. She may have done that, but we will defend her against the other charges. We wish that the trial not be done in LRR territory, but in a neutral nation. The jury will be selected from any nations that volunteer to have a juror selected. The fact that she was turned over to you does not make her subject to your judicial system.

OOC: Could the trial take place in another thread?

Message to LRR:

We wish to prvide defense. She was only turned over to you when she threatened to attack an ally. She may have done that, but we will defend her against the other charges. We wish that the trial not be done in LRR territory, but in a neutral nation. The jury will be selected from any nations that volunteer to have a juror selected. The fact that she was turned over to you does not make her subject to your judicial system.

OOC: Could the trial take place in another thread?

OCC: Sure.

IC:

This is ok with us. The prison keepers always get somewhat paranoid when a high-level political figure is brought in for detention. A gaurd with an orange in his pocket was almost gunned down by other gaurds thinking it was a grenade.

OOC: This phase is almost over, so how about I start an OOC signup thread, with rules, and you start the IC thread later?

http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=112165

OOC thread+signups