NationStates Jolt Archive

MNN EVENING NEWSFEED

The Imperial Council of Mangala announced today it's decision to celebrate the news that the national population now exceeds 1,000,000,000 by commencing the construction of a grand canal from the Hellas sea to the Great Northern Ocean, in association with the Kinslayer.

Said the Voice of the Council, "We wish to create a symbol for all of Mars, to open new avenues for on and off planet commerce and tourism, and show the rest of the Sol system that Mars is a fully developed and advanced planet, on par with Earth."

Recent comments regarding the dangers of undertaking such a large project while relations with the south are so tense were shrugged off by the Voice, who claimed that they were "overblown and exaggerated."

The Voice declined to comment on rumors of a military buildup across Mangala, and of reports of Heavy Armored units in the vicinity of the proposed canal site.

A noble project and quite symbolic. This grand canal is ambitious and displays much hope for the future, two traits we should keep in our hearts.

President Villanova

OOC:
Hmm. . .

Quite inspiring.

Would it be feasible to begin negotiations with Kajal to constroct a system of tunnels, causeways, artifical islands, and suspension bridged from Ares Vallis (in fact protctedby a dike) to the Kajal coast. This could open up land trade with Sunset and Enqcir most directly, and whe somebody moves in between Qaaolchoura (Qaaolchouraav Mars is De Jure an integral part of Qaaolchoura) and Mangala the entire equator would be connected?

Or is there even settlement in the southern fronteir of Tiburon and Snel already?

(I already have a similar system from Ares Vallis to Qaaolchoura's coast)

Mangala today released new information about the construction of the planned "Martian Grand Canal."

The actual construction of the canal itself is fairly straightforward," Mangalacorp engineering spokeswoman Artemis Kajal announced today.

"A solar lense will be constructed in orbit, and will focus Sol's rays along the designated path of the canal. The tricky part is, of course, making sure that the command/control systems function properly, so we have a straight burn in the corrrect place. Once the lens is constructed most of the canal can be constructed in a matter of hours. After this the two ends of the canal will be completed by conventional methods, allowing the canal to fill slowly."

"The fourth and final step in the construction process will be the construction of what is essentially a massive esplanade along the waters edge. Mangala expects most of this process to be handled by private groups and co-ops."

ooc: as far as other canal systems are concerned, Mangala doesn't plan on any but we're open to suggestions. regarding tunnels and such though, remember that the surface of mars is not really all that stable when it comes to digging through it (unless some cool new technology was created?), and the watershed is a nightmare-like maze.

The focused energy of the sun seared across the surface of mars, melting a channel in the regolith. At either end of the burn path a series of locks were being constructed by robotic workers. Erosion would be a probelm here at the ends of the canal, because it was being dug out of the regolith and was not glassed over like the rest of the canal.

A flooded crater was located between the Hellas sea and the start of the canal, creating a beautiful lake at the start of the canal's path. Workers and autons were busy working on the small and often unsung details of terraforming, planting trees, adding nutrients, and dumping synthetic soil. Nearby, the first storefronts were going up. A waterskimmer captain stood arguing with a foreman about the placement of a new dock. The area swarmed with activity.

After several years work, at last the Grand Canal was nearing completion.

ooc: I'll be doing an opening ceremony soon, anyone on mars who wishes to attend is welcome.

Governor Dzawiea saMeridani wishes to attend as do several of the territorial governors.

Units of the Mangalan Air Defense Force overflew the scene, in perfact formation. The opening of the canal was to be marked by a short series of speeches, followed by a massive street party. In reality the party was already well underway, and had spilled over onto the flotilla of watercraft that filled the area near the canal's first lock.

High over the scene, The Voice of the Council stepped out onto a raised platform. She was dressed in crimson and gold, and a set of small silver sparkles danced around her head in decorative orbits. She stood and waited for the noise to subside somewhat, then began to speak.

"I do not greet you all today as different beings! I do not, today, single out the citizens of Mangala, of Kinslayer, of any one nation. I do not speak only to the humans present, or any other species. I do not speak only to those who live in the north, to those who live in the south, to those who have journeyed here from across the system, or farther, or to those who have lived here their entire lives."

"Today we are not seperate, we are united! I greet you all today, as MARTIANS and I welcome you to the opening ceremony for a project that has been planned, built, and will soon be enjoyed by Martians!"

The crowd cheered at this, until the Voice cut through it's cheers.

"This canal is a symbol of the strenght and unity of Mars, our beautiful home. Today we do not concern ourselves with the past, today we look to the future. Today I look towards the future and I see it is bright and full of promise! This canal links the Hellas sea and the Northern Ocean, but that is not all. This canal links the nations of Mars together in peace and prosperity, a state which we should work only to promote and to protect."

"This is not Earth, and we do not have to repeat Earth's mistakes to make our way here. This is Mars, and we are ALL Martians! In the name of the Immperial Council of Mangala I hearby pronounce this canal to be open!"

The crowd roared as 2 wings of fighters flashed screaming by overhead, trailing colored smoke. Fireworks exploded from around the platform and music began all along the waterfront.

As the party began in earnest the Voice moved to greet visiting dignitaries.

President Villanova attended personally, and enjoyed every moment.

"A very poigniant speech Madam Voice, if I may offer my congradulations. The work accomplished here is quite extraordinary. I hope it will inspire certain factions to see the same greatness and spirit of cooperation shown in this project."

He paused for a moment. He seemed a little sad, though it did not leave his eyes.

"I fear they won't, and they will suffer for it. But now is not the time to speak of such things."

A tall man in a black bodysuit plus breathing mask waved and carefully made his way through the crowd to the Voice and Villanova.

"'Scuse me, who would I have to speak with about acquiring the focal mirror?"

Sacco could see everything perfectly, the revelry, the people enjoying themselves openly. It disgusted him...'commoners' he thought to himself. He saw his target, the bastard. Totally confident that no harm would come to him, thinking himself safe in his worthless world of fun and games. Oh he would pay for what he has done...pay with his life. Sacco hid in the crowd. Waiting for him to get closer.

OOC:

uh oh...an infiltrator, but who is he after?!

Villanova watched the spacer approach and listened as he asked about the focal mirror. 'A project eh? I wonder what they are interested in doing with it. We've had some dealings with them in the past - nothing particularly good or bad though.'

Governor Dzawiea saMeridani looked nervously at the military patrolling the area (OOC: very clever, changing that part after the fact IC:).

The canal was indeed impressive.

It was a shame in a way, that Qaaolchoura currently would not need to use the canal yet.

As he listened to the impressive speech, the governer could not help, but feel overwhelmed with pride. A third, generation Martian from Meridani Territory, his patriotic feelings were instinctively stirred within him.

He joined in the deafening applause, and saw that the territorial governers, and independenat delegations whom had joined were doingthe same, and seemed to feel the same emotions.

Governor Dzawiea saMeridani looked nervously at the military patrolling the area (OOC: very clever, changing that part after the fact IC:).


? - the only post with an edit date is the first one. It was edited two days ago, and having seen the origional post I quite remember seeing the military there.

OOC: Huh. :?

I distinctly recall not seeing anything about the military in there. :?

OOC: Doesn't matter I suppose. On with the story.

IC:

Fidelo was waiting for the spacer's reply when one of the other members of his delegation approached.

"Fidelo - Wilson is at the AF conference. He reported in just before landing." "Right - Two days then. Let's see what they want to say. If anything important happens, pipe it to me."

Sacco saw his time to strike, he drew his blade. A 6 inch poison covered knife, and lurched towards his target. Suddenly his target had disappeared and he was on the ground "What!" spat the operative shocked as to how he had hit the ground. Three gunshots punctuated his words, killing him. The crowd panicked and began to flee...and the target disappeared amongst them.

Daro Aphrigar had been found out.

OOC:

He had no identification linking him to the AF, this was an assassination attempt on a dissident. Not a foreign politician...its linked the the peace conference.

President Villanova did not hit the deck as he heard the gunshots - in fact he did the opposite. All around him security guards were drawing weapons and running towards the incident. He watched for a moment, drawing the rapier he wore on his right hip, then began walking toward the commotion.

Daro ducked into a back alley to avoid the commotion, he had to get to the safe house. There had to be more of them out there.

***

Dirkson shuttered as he felt the death of his comrade, they shared a psychic link with Sacco, they were raised together in the training camps...they made it through the TGK war together. Dirkson wept with rage at this prospect...he would kill that bastard if it were the last thing he would do.

Dirkson could see the panicked crowd come around the corner, he had to be in there somewhere...suddenly, there was movement to his right. He turned suddenly. 'Its him!' he thought. Daro Aphrigar looked directly at Dirkson and suddenly he was knocked to the ground. Three shots rang out...the crowd went wild with panick. Dirkson managed to avoid them, shielding himself from the bullets with a young women that tripped over him. Dirkson fired back, his machine pistol ripping into the wall behind Aphrigar lept into the air may'be 15 metres to the roof of an opposite building. "For the love of..." muttered Dirkson, his target was more powerful than he thought.

ooc: the military buildup was in there from the beginning, the edit was a spelling change. Originally of course it was because the canal was being built at the same time VC was ranting about invading, and we are not so far from their border. Sabotage was also a concern, which we wished to avoid. I suppose I should mention here that while Mangala is trying to make a statement about peace in this event, the area is absolutly crawling with security, considering who's present and the fact that the whole thing must be a sucess. Also, i don't wanna say anything binding in character but the expression on the Voice's face is only the external description. inside she's probably wondering if the council could get away with "accidentally" letting the guidance systems on the focal array fail and melt whoever is behind the attack.

IC:
The Voice exchanged pleasantries with Villanova, and chatted for a bit with the man in black about the solar mirror.

"Moving it to another location would actually be a fairly simple process, the only real concerns for Mangala are the price and the fact that some of the technology is not yet widely avaliable. A consortium out of Mangala (the capital city, not the country) owns most of the project, but we could probably set up-"

A disturbance and the sounds of gunfire cut her off in midsentence, something that did not usually happen to the Voice.

Green uniformed security troopers hustled the Voice back into a concealed exit from the platform, one pausing to take care of the black-clad man in response to the Voice's shouted order.

"Don't worry sir, I'm sure she'll get back to you..."

At the same time green uniformed security men flooded the large plaza where the gunfire had come from, stopping anyone from moving in or out. A hovertank had appeared from somewhere, a a couple of mechanized walkers were also closing in rapidly.

An officer snapped orders into his control helmet while simultaneously trying to review the security cam's view of the scene five minutes earlier. Dammit this was supposed to be a quiet duty...

Villanova watched for a minute - it was always thrilling to see a well-coordinated military force in action. Then he walked over to the body of the fallen man. Mangalan security was already securing the scene of course - he wanted to get a glimpse of the man though.

'No one I know - and I certainly know a few.' Villanova had been head of the Intelligence branch of the SDF before becoming President, so he was in a good position to know opposing agents.

Trooper Dirkson knew what he'd have to do now, in case of failure he was to report to local authorities and warn them of imminent attack. He dropped his weapon on the ground and proceeded to the troops who were securing the area and stated "Iam Trooper 1st class Samael Dirkson, I have information that will interest your superiors" he locked his fingers behind his head and prepared to be arrested.

The small area that had been roped off by security gradually became an island surrounded by a renewed street party. There were some in the crowd who would say that a little gunfire was really just what the party needed.

A security patrol skimmer sped off, lights flashing, closly followed by the hovertank. [ooc: and Trooper Dirkson went with it]

The bodies were loaded into cryo packs and lifted onto a gravpod gurney, finally being slowly taken away by a second police craft.

By and by the obvious security presence lessened, finally fading away except for a few normal street patrols. Security was still present, but now it was again as unobtrusive as it had been before a shot had been fired.

As dusk fell and a light show began most people had forgotten about the incident.

The Voice of the Council had eventually freed herself from a clinging security detachment and was looking for the man in black she had been talking to earlier.

Meanwhile, in a secured bunker in the city of Mangala, Trooper Dirkson was being interrogated. A hardnosed man in full dress greens stared at the restrained prisoner across a table. He was tall and forbidding. Four men stood by, along with a recording auton.

The officer's eyes narrowed, "So tell me again what it is you claim is such valuable information."

OOC:
Hmm. . .

Quite inspiring.

Would it be feasible to begin negotiations with Kajal to constroct a system of tunnels, causeways, artifical islands, and suspension bridged from Ares Vallis (in fact protctedby a dike) to the Kajal coast. This could open up land trade with Sunset and Enqcir most directly, and whe somebody moves in between Qaaolchoura (Qaaolchouraav Mars is De Jure an integral part of Qaaolchoura) and Mangala the entire equator would be connected?

Or is there even settlement in the southern fronteir of Tiburon and Snel already?

(I already have a similar system from Ares Vallis to Qaaolchoura's coast)

OOC: Sounds like an excellent idea. This would make it easier for us to trade with Qaaolchoura as well, methinks, because transporting goods by sea is a bit more expensive...

The Voice exchanged pleasantries with Villanova, and chatted for a bit with the man in black about the solar mirror.

"Moving it to another location would actually be a fairly simple process, the only real concerns for Mangala are the price and the fact that some of the technology is not yet widely avaliable. A consortium out of Mangala (the capital city, not the country) owns most of the project, but we could probably set up-"

...

The Voice of the Council had eventually freed herself from a clinging security detachment and was looking for the man in black she had been talking to earlier.

The Spacer was somewhat dazed by the sudden commotion, but, remembering the statement of the green-clad security dude, he stayed put and waited for it to end. Once the excitement had died down a bit, me carefully made his way over to the new position of the Voice.

"Planets... silly, disorderly things they are. Can't understand why people fight over them... Ah, yes, miss Voice. I represent the Ringmasters, from Guild Phoenicia. As you probably know, we control the solette array. We've been having problems with efficiency lately, ever since the sea started to form and reflection went up. The reflective ice keeps enough heat from being absorbed by the planet. We intended to fix the problem with a fleet of microwave sat's, but just buying your mirror would be much easier, if that can be arranged."

"The spacer guilds are located above Venus are they not?" The Voice questioned the spacer.

"A useful economic deal with Venus could be very profitable for Mangala... You don't really want to talk to me however. Contact the Minister of Economics... no... they'll run you through the red tape meatgrinder."

The Voice thought for a moment, then gestured to a nearby official.

"John, bring this man to Tyrone's office. I'm sure he can take care of you, Mister, ahh..."

The Voice paused expectantly.

OOC: Kajal, Qaaul - start a thread and post it on The Planet Mars regional board. A 'Planetary Infrastructure Connection Treaty' sounds like a good idea to me. We can use it to standardize border crossings and such as well.

IC:

Villanova sheathed his sword as the action calmed down. Looking around, he made his way back over to the Voice, just in time to see the Spacer being escorted away by an officer.

"Things went well, I hope? Your security is excellent, if you don't mind my saying so. I'm sure you know my history, so when I say I don't know who it was you know what I likely mean. No one with a significant flag on him, at least."

"The spacer guilds are located above Venus are they not?" The Voice questioned the spacer.

"A useful economic deal with Venus could be very profitable for Mangala... You don't really want to talk to me however. Contact the Minister of Economics... no... they'll run you through the red tape meatgrinder."

The Voice thought for a moment, then gestured to a nearby official.

"John, bring this man to Tyrone's office. I'm sure he can take care of you, Mister, ahh..."

The Voice paused expectantly.

"Venus is Guild Mycenae's territory. Phoenicia inhabits the Martian Trojans. And call me Cade."

The officer's eyes narrowed, "So tell me again what it is you claim is such valuable information."

"I dont know if you'll believe me, but Iam an agent sent from the Vascilian League. An Anti-Midas terrorist group has infiltrated your country with the intent to destroy your Canal...how I dont know, but thats the intelligence were running on." Dirkson reached unto his mouth and pulled out a false tooth and removed a micro-chip from the roots and handed it to the security officer..."this chip contains all the information that you 'need' to know, it has pictures of the targets and possible targets of attack that we have identified." he stated.

"What you will see when you run that through a computer is a man by the name of Daro Aphrigar, a Tannelornian by descent, the man was originally a military specialist in their armed forces, he was put through tests and genetically modified. He is the most powerful pysker in the Vascilian league and possibly all of Mars, not to mention his increased physical and mental capacity that he aquired through the modification process...The Theocracy of Anti-Funitism ended the project after we realised how dangerous it was, the Tannelornians were supposed to terminate the test subject, obviously they didn't." explained Dirkson.

The Voice saw Cade off (ooc: send me a TG with all the details, I'm sure we can work it out) and turned to Villanova.

"Thank you for the compliment. I know rather more about your past career than your government might hope, and I know what a compliment it is. We did exert ourseleves in terms of security tonight."

She paused for a moment, as if listening.

"So tell me Mr. President, what do you know about psykers, specifically ones that have to do with V.C.?"

-elsewhere-

The officer motioned to a deputy, who took the chip. "use a secured machine to acess that... we can't be sure just what is on there and I do not wish to be responsible for letting a virus onto MSec's net." Turning back toward the incarcerated trooper he grimaced. "Why are you telling us all of this, what do you hope to achieve?"

-next room over, watching the vidfeed-

"Get me the Ambassador to Vascilia County... What do you mean there isn't one! Well get me someone useful! NOW!"

ooc: not that this is obvious to anyone IC, but Mangalan security has been placed on an even higher alert level up and down the canal, and we have recommened to Kinslayer that they do the same for their portion. Using the data from the chip we obtained, as well as our own intel, nothing on this canal bigger than a fly is getting past security without at least a cursory scan, though they might not notice it. Also, Antifun. in a few hours Mangala will sort out it's diplomatic problem and whoever is the face of your government is going to get a fairly irate phone call from the Voice.

Trooper Dirkson went into a violent seizure, he collapsed to the floor, foaming at the mouth. He was under pyschic attack.

***

With a mere thought Daro had killed Dirkson, writhing on the ground in the security station. Hopefully he killed him before he could tell them anything. Aphrigar walked up to a security checkpoint, several guards had approached him. With a wave of his hand and a few soft words they began to ignore him. He continued to his objective suddenly he was struck by a vision. It was his father...and him, they were pleading for him to stop what he was doing. They were nothing...he was the most powerful psyker in the World.


***

Overlord Kint, clutched his focusing rune as he watched the proceedings at the peace conference, he tried desperately not to make a scene.

"Not much - though we know they have developed them. It was during the whole 'super-soldier' craze a few years ago. Hopefully they have realized how stupid it is. If you like, I can contact Fleet Intel and see what they have."

Villanova smirked inside, 'Super-soldiers. Over-muscled bullies with no experience. Youth and strength - why does it always go with no brains either?"

OOC:

Craze? dude we have super soldiers...he was just to powerful haha.

OOC:

Craze? dude we have super soldiers...he was just to powerful haha.

OOC: It was right during the super-soldier craze. Everyone and their dog was rolling them out. Some came to their senses, others didn't. We never bothered.

The officer stared at the crumpled body of the trooper on the floor. Instinctive discipline kicked in, and he did not speak. The officer twitched. Discipline whimpered, and ran to hide behind the legs of a soon to be written interrogation report.

A stream of curses in a surprising variety of languages and regional dialects blasted thourhg the halls of the bunker.

"Someone deal with this! And call MSec Command!"

This was only getting worse.

ooc: mangala doesn't really have overt "security checkpoints" except at borders, but whatever, it isn't that important. Unless the posyker is activly trying to sense anyone following him or even looking at him, however, chances are a plainclothes officer will see him.

OOC:

Then a plains clothes officer saw him...please shoot him quickly.

IC:

Daro Aprhigar could sense it...the he felt rapturous for the first time in his life, he finally had a purpose. He went deep into his mind trying to find something...a command, yes there it was. Suddenly he heard a voice from behind him "Damn!" he cursed, not now, he cant defend himself.

As a rule, Mangalan security did not like to shoot anyone. Indeed the only reason they carried deadly weapons was the presence of forign nationals who were also armed, since the civilan population rarely even owned weapons. A debate raged for a moment in the security trooper's head, as he stalked the terrorist.

He had been ordered to take the man alive. Well good he liked people that way. But then, he had been on the force for 20 years and knew that alive wasn't always what worked. He had just seen this man walk through a checkpoint whose security force had been expressly ordered to detain him by any means necessary, and had done nothing. He had also heard rumors over his com that the terrorist had killed a man without even being present. Finally he made a decision.

"You!"

The man turned, and his face told the trooper everything he needed to know.

5 shots echoed through the sidestreet. Overkill perhaps, but it was best to be sure. The trooper was already on his com, one hand still aiming his weapon at the psykers body, howling for backup.

ooc: if it's important, the trooper shot the psyker as follows:
chest(heart)
head
head
chest
chest

OOC:

Excellent...now the Canal stays open, have you considered the Shared Intelligence Treaty I proposed?


IC:

The Rest of Aphrigars terrorist minions were shocked by the death of their leader, they felt it through the link they shared. They had to abort the mission.

As they tried to escape the country two were arrested by Magalan Security and a third was shot dead as they tried to rush the border in a stolen Automobile. Another group, distraught at the loss of their leader threw themselves into the Canal, killing themselves. The Last group of Terrorists made it back the Vascilia County only to be arrested and publicly executed by Turksilvanian authorities.

ooc: An automobile? On mars? In MANGALA?! Wahahahahaha, what a charming fantasy. Long distance travel in Mangala is by hovercab or the public transportation piste. Or, of course, air/spacecraft. But anyway, it's irrelevant, we are very happy to see this cleaned up. I'll send you a TG re: the treaty.

*Historical Bump*