Plain Truth: Bishop's Betrayal

There’s an old saying that history will be the judge, but I say, why wait.

I’m Parker Terrell, and this is the Plain Truth.

It has been about three weeks now since the ’verse first heard of the attack on Aremis, and I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear my take on things; been wanting to know if I am having the same uneasy feeling and suspicions as you.

Well, I think three weeks is long enough to not only allow the government to have their ‘official word,’ for them to make speeches and promises, but more importantly, it has been time enough for the truth of what transpired that day to begin to come to light as well. Everyone agrees that what happened in Vega was a tragedy, me included, but I think the real tragedy is more than just the horrible destruction and death of that day. This atrocious attack by the Vanduul finally showed us just how corrupt and morally bankrupt our supposed leaders have become.

Before we get into the thick of it, I want to say a few things first. You don’t go around exposing the truth as long as I have without realizing that misfortunes like what happened in Vega are different from a politician lying or a corporation betraying its customers, and need to be treated as such.

Real people died that day in Vega, and I’ll bet that many of you out there suffered a personal loss or know someone who has. The things I’m going to say, I don’t want them to belittle what you all must be feeling. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m trying to imply that the horrible events that transpired on the 5th are somehow less meaningful because of the truth behind them. Brave men and women, civilians, Citizens, starmen and Marines alike sacrificed more than anyone should be asked to, and all too many good people lost their lives along the way. I want to make it clear that what I am about to discuss is not on them. No, the accusations I’m going to make lie squarely at the feet of those in power; the ones who allowed their deaths to happen in the first place.

Let’s looks at some facts, shall we?

Senator Polo does the Empire a huge favor and, for the first time in decades, if not centuries, makes an extremely admirable attempt to curtail out-of-control military spending. After being stymied by the Senate, the true power of democracy comes to bear and the Citizens of our grand political experiment will be given the final say in the matter. Now, just as the voting for this groundbreaking initiative is wrapping up, what happens? A Vanduul Kingship decides to pay the poor people of Vega a visit. I find it interesting that when the Vanduul could have attacked at any time, they somehow managed to choose to launch an all-out assault in the middle of a vote that would slash the military’s overly inflated budget, don’t you? Especially when you take into account that it’s been well over fifty years since the last time a Kingship entered a Human-controlled system. It seems that we’ve had no trouble keeping the invading clans at bay since then, so we as responsible, skeptical individuals have to ask, why now? Why Vega? Was Admiral Bishop under orders to let a Vanduul fleet through so that the military could show unequivocally that the Empire still needs to funnel them trillions of Credits every year?

Think about this. We know from first-hand reports that the 2nd Fleet was already in place near Vega II when the attack happened. Why would the full mass of the fleet be gathered there if they didn’t expect an imminent fight? It seems that the Navy had advanced intelligence that a raid was going to happen, or, as I believe, had planned for it to happen. Either way, if the Navy did know that Vanduul were on the way, why the hell weren’t the people of Aremis warned of the attack earlier? Wouldn’t the military want to evacuate as many people as possible? Instead, we have survivors saying that the raid sirens only went off at the last possible moment, barely giving them any time to react. Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, the military wanted the body count to be as high as possible? That High Command believed the only way to ensure their budget for the next hundred years was to have enough blood spilled that every Human would be rushing to give them anything they asked. It was either negligence or malfeasance that lead to so many deaths on Aremis, and to be honest, I am not sure which scares me more.

Actually, I take that back. I know what scares me the most and it’s this — it is looking more and more like they are going to get exactly what they want. Thanks to the death of those few million innocent people and Admiral Ernst Bishop’s recent fervent plea to the Senate, I am sure that any day now we will be hearing that our conflict with the Vanduul has been escalated to a full declaration of war. Then it won’t matter if the Polo Initiative passes or not. The military will have unfettered access to a wartime budget completely separate from the normal fiduciary constraints and not part of the spending cuts outlined by the Initiative. I can only imagine the next gigantic boondoggle that the Navy will leap to throw money at in the name of defending the Empire.

Let’s take a break here. I need a minute to calm down, and I want all of you to have the chance to reflect. The truth can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s a bitter medicine we all need to take. When we come back, Jerald Ferv, a survivor of the Fall of Caliban, will join us to give his take on what happened in Vega.

This is the Plain Truth and nothing else.

Es gibt ein altes Sprichwort, dass die Geschichte der Richter sein wird, aber ich sage, warum warten?

Ich bin Parker Terrell, und das ist die klare Wahrheit.

Es ist jetzt etwa drei Wochen her, seit der Vers zum ersten Mal von dem Angriff auf Aremis gehört hat, und ich weiß, dass viele von euch darauf gewartet haben, meine Meinung über die Dinge zu hören; ich wollte wissen, ob ich das gleiche unbehagliche Gefühl und den gleichen Verdacht habe wie ihr.

Nun, ich denke, drei Wochen sind lang genug, um der Regierung nicht nur ihr "offizielles Wort" zu geben, damit sie Reden und Versprechungen machen können, sondern vor allem, es war Zeit genug, dass auch die Wahrheit dessen, was an diesem Tag geschehen ist, ans Licht kommt. Alle sind sich einig, dass das, was in Vega geschah, eine Tragödie war, auch ich, aber ich denke, die eigentliche Tragödie ist mehr als nur die schreckliche Zerstörung und der Tod an diesem Tag. Dieser schreckliche Angriff der Vanduul hat uns schließlich gezeigt, wie korrupt und moralisch bankrott unsere angeblichen Führer geworden sind.

Bevor wir uns in die Tiefe stürzen, möchte ich zuerst ein paar Dinge sagen. Man geht nicht herum und enthüllt die Wahrheit, solange ich es habe, ohne zu erkennen, dass Unglücke wie das, was in Vega passiert ist, sich von einem Politiker, der lügt, oder einer Firma, die ihre Kunden verrät, unterscheiden und als solche behandelt werden müssen.

Echte Menschen starben an diesem Tag in Vega, und ich wette, dass viele von euch da draußen einen persönlichen Verlust erlitten haben oder jemanden kennen, der es getan hat. Die Dinge, die ich sagen werde, will ich nicht, dass sie das, was ihr alle fühlt, herabsetzen. Ich will nicht, dass jemand denkt, dass ich versuche, anzudeuten, dass die schrecklichen Ereignisse, die sich am 5. September ereignet haben, irgendwie weniger bedeutsam sind, weil die Wahrheit hinter ihnen steckt. Mutige Männer und Frauen, Zivilisten, Bürger, Sternenmenschen und Marines haben mehr geopfert, als man von ihnen erwarten sollte, und allzu viele gute Menschen haben dabei ihr Leben verloren. Ich möchte klarstellen, dass das, was ich gleich diskutieren werde, nicht auf sie zutrifft. Nein, die Anschuldigungen, die ich machen werde, liegen direkt zu Füßen der Machthaber, derjenigen, die ihren Tod überhaupt erst zugelassen haben.

Schauen wir uns ein paar Fakten an, oder?

Senator Polo tut dem Imperium einen großen Gefallen und unternimmt zum ersten Mal seit Jahrzehnten, wenn nicht gar Jahrhunderten, einen äußerst bewundernswerten Versuch, außer Kontrolle zu geratenen Militärausgaben Einhalt zu gebieten. Nachdem sie vom Senat blockiert wurden, kommt die wahre Macht der Demokratie zum Tragen, und die Bürger unseres großen politischen Experiments werden das letzte Wort in dieser Angelegenheit erhalten. Nun, da die Abstimmung über diese bahnbrechende Initiative abgeschlossen ist, was passiert dann? Ein Vanduul-Königsschiff beschließt, den Armen von Vega einen Besuch abzustatten. Ich finde es interessant, dass, wenn die Vanduul jederzeit hätten angreifen können, sie es irgendwie geschafft haben, sich dafür zu entscheiden, mitten in einer Abstimmung einen umfassenden Angriff zu starten, der den übermäßig aufgeblähten Haushalt des Militärs zerschneiden würde, nicht wahr? Besonders wenn man bedenkt, dass es weit über fünfzig Jahre her ist, dass ein Königtum das letzte Mal in ein von Menschen kontrolliertes System eingetreten ist. Es scheint, dass wir seitdem keine Probleme hatten, die eindringenden Clans in Schach zu halten, also müssen wir als verantwortungsbewusste, skeptische Individuen fragen, warum jetzt? Warum Wega? Steht Admiral Bishop unter dem Befehl, eine Vanduul-Flotte durchzulassen, damit das Militär unmissverständlich zeigen kann, dass das Imperium sie noch jedes Jahr mit Billionen von Credits versorgen muss?

Denke darüber nach. Wir wissen aus erster Hand, dass die zweite Flotte zum Zeitpunkt des Angriffs bereits in der Nähe von Vega II stationiert war. Warum sollte die gesamte Masse der Flotte dort versammelt sein, wenn sie keinen bevorstehenden Kampf erwartet hätten? Es scheint, dass die Marine den Geheimdienst dahingehend verbessert hatte, dass ein Überfall stattfinden würde, oder, wie ich glaube, geplant hatte, dass er stattfinden würde. So oder so, wenn die Marine wusste, dass Vanduul auf dem Weg war, warum zum Teufel wurden die Bewohner von Aremis nicht früher vor dem Angriff gewarnt? Würde das Militär nicht so viele Menschen wie möglich evakuieren wollen? Stattdessen haben wir Überlebende, die sagen, dass die Überfallsirenen erst im letzten möglichen Moment ausgelöst wurden und ihnen kaum Zeit zum Reagieren gaben. Ist es möglich, dass das Militär vielleicht, nur vielleicht, wollte, dass die Leichenzahl so hoch wie möglich ist? Dieses Oberkommando glaubte, dass der einzige Weg, ihr Budget für die nächsten hundert Jahre zu sichern, darin bestand, genügend Blut zu vergießen, dass jeder Mensch sich beeilen würde, ihnen alles zu geben, was sie wollten. Es war entweder Fahrlässigkeit oder Straftaten, die zu so vielen Todesfällen auf Aremis geführt haben, und um ehrlich zu sein, bin ich mir nicht sicher, was mir mehr Angst macht.

Eigentlich nehme ich das zurück. Ich weiß, was mir am meisten Angst macht und es ist das - es sieht immer mehr so aus, als würden sie genau das bekommen, was sie wollen. Dank des Todes dieser wenigen Millionen unschuldigen Menschen und des jüngsten leidenschaftlichen Appells von Admiral Ernst Bishop an den Senat bin ich sicher, dass wir nun jeden Tag hören werden, dass unser Konflikt mit den Vanduul zu einer vollständigen Kriegserklärung eskaliert ist. Dann spielt es keine Rolle, ob die Polo-Initiative erfolgreich ist oder nicht. Das Militär wird ungehinderten Zugang zu einem Kriegsbudget haben, das völlig unabhängig von den normalen treuhänderischen Beschränkungen und nicht Teil der von der Initiative skizzierten Ausgabenkürzungen ist. Ich kann mir nur den nächsten gigantischen Knüller vorstellen, den die Marine im Namen der Verteidigung des Imperiums springen wird, um Geld zu werfen.

Machen wir hier eine Pause. Ich brauche eine Minute, um mich zu beruhigen, und ich möchte, dass ihr alle die Möglichkeit habt, nachzudenken. Die Wahrheit kann manchmal eine schwer zu schluckende Pille sein, aber es ist eine bittere Medizin, die wir alle einnehmen müssen. Wenn wir zurückkommen, wird Jerald Ferv, ein Überlebender des Falles von Kaliban, sich uns anschließen, um seine Einschätzung dessen zu geben, was in Vega passiert ist.

Das ist die klare Wahrheit und sonst nichts.

There’s an old saying that history will be the judge, but I say, why wait.

I’m Parker Terrell, and this is the Plain Truth.

It has been about three weeks now since the ’verse first heard of the attack on Aremis, and I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear my take on things; been wanting to know if I am having the same uneasy feeling and suspicions as you.

Well, I think three weeks is long enough to not only allow the government to have their ‘official word,’ for them to make speeches and promises, but more importantly, it has been time enough for the truth of what transpired that day to begin to come to light as well. Everyone agrees that what happened in Vega was a tragedy, me included, but I think the real tragedy is more than just the horrible destruction and death of that day. This atrocious attack by the Vanduul finally showed us just how corrupt and morally bankrupt our supposed leaders have become.

Before we get into the thick of it, I want to say a few things first. You don’t go around exposing the truth as long as I have without realizing that misfortunes like what happened in Vega are different from a politician lying or a corporation betraying its customers, and need to be treated as such.

Real people died that day in Vega, and I’ll bet that many of you out there suffered a personal loss or know someone who has. The things I’m going to say, I don’t want them to belittle what you all must be feeling. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m trying to imply that the horrible events that transpired on the 5th are somehow less meaningful because of the truth behind them. Brave men and women, civilians, Citizens, starmen and Marines alike sacrificed more than anyone should be asked to, and all too many good people lost their lives along the way. I want to make it clear that what I am about to discuss is not on them. No, the accusations I’m going to make lie squarely at the feet of those in power; the ones who allowed their deaths to happen in the first place.

Let’s looks at some facts, shall we?

Senator Polo does the Empire a huge favor and, for the first time in decades, if not centuries, makes an extremely admirable attempt to curtail out-of-control military spending. After being stymied by the Senate, the true power of democracy comes to bear and the Citizens of our grand political experiment will be given the final say in the matter. Now, just as the voting for this groundbreaking initiative is wrapping up, what happens? A Vanduul Kingship decides to pay the poor people of Vega a visit. I find it interesting that when the Vanduul could have attacked at any time, they somehow managed to choose to launch an all-out assault in the middle of a vote that would slash the military’s overly inflated budget, don’t you? Especially when you take into account that it’s been well over fifty years since the last time a Kingship entered a Human-controlled system. It seems that we’ve had no trouble keeping the invading clans at bay since then, so we as responsible, skeptical individuals have to ask, why now? Why Vega? Was Admiral Bishop under orders to let a Vanduul fleet through so that the military could show unequivocally that the Empire still needs to funnel them trillions of Credits every year?

Think about this. We know from first-hand reports that the 2nd Fleet was already in place near Vega II when the attack happened. Why would the full mass of the fleet be gathered there if they didn’t expect an imminent fight? It seems that the Navy had advanced intelligence that a raid was going to happen, or, as I believe, had planned for it to happen. Either way, if the Navy did know that Vanduul were on the way, why the hell weren’t the people of Aremis warned of the attack earlier? Wouldn’t the military want to evacuate as many people as possible? Instead, we have survivors saying that the raid sirens only went off at the last possible moment, barely giving them any time to react. Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, the military wanted the body count to be as high as possible? That High Command believed the only way to ensure their budget for the next hundred years was to have enough blood spilled that every Human would be rushing to give them anything they asked. It was either negligence or malfeasance that lead to so many deaths on Aremis, and to be honest, I am not sure which scares me more.

Actually, I take that back. I know what scares me the most and it’s this — it is looking more and more like they are going to get exactly what they want. Thanks to the death of those few million innocent people and Admiral Ernst Bishop’s recent fervent plea to the Senate, I am sure that any day now we will be hearing that our conflict with the Vanduul has been escalated to a full declaration of war. Then it won’t matter if the Polo Initiative passes or not. The military will have unfettered access to a wartime budget completely separate from the normal fiduciary constraints and not part of the spending cuts outlined by the Initiative. I can only imagine the next gigantic boondoggle that the Navy will leap to throw money at in the name of defending the Empire.

Let’s take a break here. I need a minute to calm down, and I want all of you to have the chance to reflect. The truth can sometimes be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s a bitter medicine we all need to take. When we come back, Jerald Ferv, a survivor of the Fall of Caliban, will join us to give his take on what happened in Vega.

This is the Plain Truth and nothing else.