TADJ12

==Chapter 12 - The Adjudicator==
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"...we have forgotten so much, we don't even have proper names for what we've lost...or what's been taken from us."
-Elizabeth Anne Ngo, Duchess of Kowloon, 3065
August, 3159
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Office of the Exarch
Geneva, Terra
Sol Star System
August, 3159
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Was any of it real?  Were any of the dreams his own?  Devlin Stone looked at the thick file on his desk, provided by faithful men in the Intelligence service.
Was any of it really real?
The outline was damning.  Every policy, every speech, his memories of the Kittery escape, the crushing war, the dedication, the commitment to never let it happen again...was any of it real?
He had come from nowhere, a unifying force.  Was that...was this all an illusion of a montebank?  He'd reached out to the Clans because the States had turned on him, but was that me, or the programming?
A doubt nagged at him. Clouded by certainty he didn't feel anymore. Clarity he couldn't quite grasp.
Flashes of memories he didn't have.  Documents signed as Exarch, the quiet disappearance of Blakists from custody, even the pardons...
Was it me or the programming?
"What do you want done, sir?"
Devlin Stone looked up from his rumination.  "Pardon?"
"About the Lyran mission? What do you want done about their sending special operatives to Kittery?"
Better the lies that exult us, than a thousand truths!
"Take care of it." he said, "Use discretion this time."
Regardless of the source, the Dream was all.  Peace, unity, an end, a prevention of the blindsided slaughter, and runaway arms race.  
It has to be restrained. We need to restrain it.  The truth...
"We must keep a monopoly on truth." said Devlin
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