2175 C.E.

VI: Pray to the Stars

My dearest Eglantine,

Today, we were forced to flee from Ghana. It has been a difficult few days; I have barely had time to write since we have been on the run for so long from the Hegemony. The armies of China and Europe stormed the beaches of Africa four days ago, and their machines have torn through the landscape, leaving all the greenhouses and hydroponics farms that were set up along the border in their wake. We have tried to avoid their wrath as best as we could; Alexandra Troy has helped us as best she could to travel with stealth during day and night hours. She has told us that the Asian man that followed us from the Ambience laboratory could be vital for the war, though she has not told us why. But she has been on edge. We are being hunted, so she says, by elite human commandos. Ambience has invested great resources into retaking this man whom we have sheltered these past few days, and they need only to find him.

I know what you would say to me if you were here; that we must break away and allow Ms. Troy to extract this target and hide ourselves away. Well, perhaps you would counsel me to do so. My heart certainly would. But Ms. Troy tells us that there would be no use; the Hegemony would catch us and torture us, probably install and Interlink into all of us. The cost would be too great. So, we must continue to run and hide.

And yet, I am not ashamed to do this, as I was when Ambience came to our home. Now, I am doing something, I am contributing to the war effort in a tangible way; no more am I subservient to the whims of the Hegemony.

In love,

Chinwe.

[Letter not sent, dated 08/19/2175]

Speech Delivered by Almarith: Grushan Senate Forum Floor: 08/20/2175: Translated by Shomarith

Esteemed members of the Senate, People of the Federation here and abroad,

It is my duty to perform the role of Mathin Rezhmarith of old and report to you whom I serve and say with nobility and truthfulness whether the war can continue. This has been the duty of the Praetor since time immemorial, for when the one sworn to serve his people in their defense has failed so utterly to do so, people must question his ability to serve them. If they found him unable to do so, then it fell to them to take his place, or to surrender, or to flee to the hills. So I appear before you now. I must lay out my mind and the place of the Federal Grushan Star Fleet before you and ask you to decide. If upon hearing me, you choose to seek peace with the Terrans and the scourge of God which they have awakened, then I may not prevent you from doing so. But you must first hear me speak. So it was that the army was checked from destroying an empire to win a battle and a people was shown how to win an impossible war. I must speak before the decision is made.

Hear now my words. I speak no lies; the plight of the Federal Grushan Star Fleet is dire. Were it not for our Novan allies, we would have little chance against the Terran fleet alone in open battle. As for the invincible black ship, for the moment, there is nothing that we can do to stop its advance into the Federation or the destruction of more worlds as it so chooses. Our fleets are scattered in hopes that their doing so will delay their immediate death at the hands of the Zaha-Katchem. Terran missiles could strike our worlds at any day, before even the black ship reaches them. If the Terrans choose to land armies on our colonies, they can do so. We have delayed this event by eliminating Terran warp stations, but if they choose to do it, then they need only wait to have temporary stations built. The black ship does not seem to be limited by gate access; it may be able to generate its own spatial warp waves or achieve interstellar travel on its own warp power. I say to you again; we are in dire straits. It may be your judgment that as Praetor I have failed the Federation, even if it were through no fault of my own, and that to continue the war would be paramount to doom for millions more loyal innocents, and that our only remaining option is surrender. Such a judgment would seem to go along with the harsh truth of war that we face.