IMP66

==Chapter 66 - Important People==
Office of the Archon, Triad
Tharkad Star System
Lyran Commonwealth
January 30th, 3098
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"Well, to me it looks like they're using push-polls."  Elizabeth was sitting with the Archon's council of advisors. 
"Push polls?" Syndia MacAllan, the Archon's press secretary, asked.
"You know.  It's a standard tactic in electoral politics." Liz said quietly.  "We see it on Kowloon with the civil government all the time.  To influence voters before an election, you swamp them with polls that suggest an answer without stating it outright.  It's how the Social Democrats won District Eleven on the Plateau.  You ask questions which suggest an idea instead of seeking an answer.  You do it enough times, then publish results and you can make polling say whatever you want... sort of like if a poll asks 'do you favor civil chaos, or do you favor strict arms controls?'  The normal person will not be in favor of unrestricted violence and chaos, so the pollster then publishes their outcome as a majority favoring disarming citizens.  You can't really have laws against it, not without laws restricting free speech, and it generates something called 'bandwagon effect'." 
"I know what a push-poll is.  You're sure it's being used in the Skye region?" 
Daphne Rowe chipped in.  "Pretty sure0" she said.  "It's part of a coordinated effort though.  The push for weakening the security on the ballots is part of the same activity, and it's being coordinated with the demonstrations and the rioting." 
"Rioting, not 'mostly peaceful protests'?" 
"It's rioting and they're doing it to intimidate people." Daphne replied.  "Remember that not too long ago, Free Skye was blowing up hospitals.  These guys are operating halfway palms-up with a wink-and-a-nod from a lot of the Victorist leaders in the region, along with a lot of the nobles and officials whose history shows ties to Free Skye.  I can't even recommend arrests.  We don't have enough prison cells for the number of suspects involved here." 
"You're saying 'suspects', not 'perpetrators'?" Archon Andrew Steiner noted with a question in his eyes. 
"Yeah. We can't prove links." Daphne stated.  "Part of that, is that most of the local Lohengrin were put in place by the same bunch we cleaned out here on Tharkad after the attempt on your life, Highness.  I'd say better than three-fourths of the Domestic branch in the Isle of Skye region is at minimum sympathetic to the Victorists or Free Skye, and that's being conservative.  We're not getting good information in or out... but I can tell you this. The 'spontaneous demonstrations' don't show up with prepared military hardware. The peaceful protesters don't burn down whole stretches of cities. The governments that are doing their job don't sit on their hands while their citizens lose homes and livelihoods to civil chaos." 
"It's like the run-up to the Word of Blake's declaring war on humanity." Elizabeth stated.  "The most impacted worlds are the same ones Stone wanted your father to sign over, and at least two I see here have either the Nobles missing, or 'sequestered after injuries' with senior civil servants not doing their jobs." 
"Local coups?" Andrew asked. 
"Seems likely." Elizabeth nodded. "But if Daphne can't prove it, it's going to be hell if we send military in to straighten it out without good information on what's really going on." 
"You always oppose using military forces for riot control, Liz!"  Marshall of the Armies Rebecca Simmons snarled. 
"Yeah, I oppose using military hardware to kill civilians." Liz snapped.  "Especially domestically.  Archon, if you order me to send Marines, you'll have my resignation in your hands before the last syllable leaves your lips.  I am not a butcher." 
"You blew up a city!" Simmons scoffed. 
"Yeah, I don't want to do that to Lyran citizens!  I won't order it, I won't stand by and let it be ordered without comment." Elizabeth stated. 
"We might have to," Andrew said quietly.  "But not today.  My father pledged to let them hold their vote.  I'm inclined to let it happen, and honor the results... if the election is fair." 
There was stunned silence around the table, interrupted after a few seconds by Elizabeth Ngo clapping. 
"That's going to put a hole in the Commonwealth!" Simmons argued. 
"Yeah." Liz said.  "But not one that results in fratricidal war with War crimes. We can compensate for the lost territory... and if we let them go peacefully, then they'll welcome us back once they get a taste of Dave Lear's idea of 'civil administration'.  I read his book. Highness, you and I and everyone at this table knows this is going to be a rigged election.  I say 'let them rig it', because they can't keep it up permanently." 
"WHAT?" General Simmons was livid now.  "YOU... I can't believe you're saying that!!" 
"It should be completely obvious, General Simmons." Andrew's voice cut through whatever his ground forces commander had to say next.  "We're being presented with one of two choices; a civil war or fighting a war of liberation.  One of those is a Just War, the other, Just Another War.  If support for secession isn't truly supported by a majority, then the people pushing this will have to be brutal to keep control.  If it IS, then we'll have to be brutal to prevent it, and I think we've all studied enough history to recognize that's a losing proposal.  I'd rather have the next generation of clever, violent rebels see the Lyran Commonwealth as friends and liberators than as invaders and occupiers.  And even with what you've laid out, they can still lose.  If we're going to honor the election results were we to win, we have to accept them if we lose... but that doesn't mean we can't do so with our eyes open, and have something ready to deal with the fallout."
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