2175 C.E.

V: Aftermaths

Official Statement: Terran Interstellar Authority: 08/14/2175

In response to allegations of misconduct in the conflict in the Yveran system that resulted in an attack on civilian shipping and infrastructure on the planet's surface, the TIA would like to specify that it had no prior knowledge of a Zaha-Katchem operation to do so. However, it is the policy of the Terran Hegemony to regard any individuals in cooperation with enemies of the Hegemony, whether combatants or otherwise, as enemies of the Hegemony. While the TIA does not condone the actions of the Zaha-Katchem, we will continue with the war effort as if unaltered. Those who would resist this change are advised to examine their stance objectively within this framework and reframe their objections accordingly.

Open Letter to the TIA: Published 08/15/2175: Nobuyuki Ito: Translated by Nara Ito

To those in command of the Terran Hegemony;

I have served in the Terran Star Fleet since I came of age to do so fifty years ago. I have given my time, my talent, my life itself to the fleet; it has been a devotion beyond ambition, beyond duty, beyond fate for longer than I can remember fully. I joined the star fleet because I felt I had a calling, an ancestral destiny, to defend Earth from a foreign malice that had yet to be found, if indeed it had not yet been found in the Grushan themselves. In my lifetime, I have seen it rise from a ragtag of ships with hastily fitted missile turrets to a multilateral strike force to be reckoned with. I gave it all my time; I have never married, except to the fleet; fathered no children, except for those who I have mentored and molded into the best captains in the fleet. I have no legacy other than what I leave behind in the fleet.

But I never thought I would see the day when the fleet itself was turned to so brutal a purpose. The Hegemony have made my legacy, my family, a house of death and torment. We did not pull the trigger that destroyed innocent men and women upon Yvar. The black ship has done that, and for that, the Zaha-Katchem are most rightly to be judged. But we welcomed them into our homes knowing full well what they were and what they could do. Christopher Bouchet, a child of my own teaching in this fleet, was lost, with the crew of the Swordfish. The Shaolin, the Hangzhou, the Orangutan, the Washington, the Invincible, all lost at Alpha Ceti to the black ship. In Sol itself, the Afghanistan, Samurai, Navajo, Sarajevo, Ha Long, Chandragupta, and Sun Tzu, the George Patton, Arthur Pendragon, Shokaku, and Hiroshima all lost. The friends that we welcomed into our home with open arms have killed more humans than the Grushan ever have, and if they are allowed to continue to rampage across the Federation, more humans than the Grushan ever will.

I have seen the animosity of the Zaha-Katchem in battle. They do not show mercy except to send a message; we have been shown that they do not spare women and children. They kill all that they come across. What sort of friends are these? Would we welcome a friend who strangled other people for a laugh if we are virtuous ourselves? Rather, a murderer can only be befriended by another murderer, a thief by a thief, a tyrant by a tyrant. If we befriend those who murder, who care nothing for life itself, how can we be different from them?

I have for many years been loyal to the Terran Interstellar Authority. I thought that the TIA was meant to protect and serve humanity and keep her safe from alien malice and destruction. The destruction of Yvar shows us that we are the alien menace. I swore a long time ago to stand against that menace, the malice from beyond the world's edge, and I will stand by that oath. As of today, my flagship, the TSS Alexander Nevsky, will no longer follow the TIA. If we must stand alone then so be it. I implore you, people of earth, to stand with me. We are the menace, and the Zaha-Katchem are a weapon in our hands. I will not use this weapon. All I ask is that you do the same.