Battlecruiser Accuser

CLASS: Obstinate

CREW: CLASSIFIED

ARMAMENT: CLASSIFIED

An aged Obstinate that appears battered by war, it has evidently been denied the luxury of proper maintenance checks at a fully furnished shipyard. Despite this, a stubborn degree of effort has been committed towards maintaining some extent of this ship's former regality, perhaps even done by hand to suggest that the traditions it fought for are not yet dead and buried.

But rather that opponents to it will be.

## News

Once a beacon of our national ingenuity, Metz was the site of the experimental Metz Mirror Array, more commonly known as the MMA project. The project was intended to assist the terraforming operations through a sophisticated array of orbital mirrors. The array would redirect additional sunlight onto the equatorial band of Metz, further raising local temperatures on the otherwise icy world.
Decried by its detractors as a "fool king's endeavour", the ambitious project never had the opportunity to prove its capabilities, as the nearly complete array fell victim to Kusari's invasion of Lorraine. With the array gone and supplies severed, the terraforming project and the biosphere it maintained collapsed during the occupation, leading to widespread famine across Metz. Unfortunately, in the wake of King Charles' gambit in Bretonia and the near complete destruction of Lorraine and Languedoc by Kusari forces, the Union government has declared the system a total loss and ordered a full evacuation of the planet.

Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection.
Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source.

Professor Nagel and her team are certain the Pulse originated from outside Sirius, but are otherwise no closer to identifying its source or mitigating a future Blackout event. "Following the Blackout, we began to see immediate signs of jump hole destabilization in multiple different regions, with many ultimately falling out of phase alignment altogether", she commented. The dramatic upending of Sirius' jump hole network has already prompted many groups to abandon stations and withdraw from systems that appear to risk being cut off.
While months-long trips between the stars are possible thanks to the Liberty Engine and many centuries of innovation, few ships are designed or provisioned to make such arduous journeys. Those who were displaced by Sirius' redrawn map hope that system connections will return, while adventurers and explorers rush to discover new routes.

"Director-Regent betrayed the trust and duties bestowed upon him as the King's regent, this is the highest level of treason and the punishment is only death. The motive of such a heinous crime was greed, he simply sold us expecting to get enough money to escape and live luxurious life with enemies conspiring against the people he swore to protect. Luckily, our agents intercepted her data transmission and prevented the enemy from getting it, in doing so proving Director-Regent being guilty. He was executed by guillotine the very same day without trial for he deserved none."
The precedent of the highest ranking nobility betraying the army and the people casts shadows over the position of the nobility in the hierarchy of the Enclave in general. The fact that nobles have often schemed against the interest of the people continues to swing public opinion toward the military command that is already the de facto ruler of the Enclave. Seen as more predictable, reliable, and responsible for the survival of the Kingdom's remnants, the Royal Army remains the basis of the Enclave where every third man is a member of the Royal Army or Fleet. At this point, the factionalism of the nobility previously seen as an inalienable part of Gallic politics is beginning to be perceived as a liability to furthering national goals and ideas and the military leaders of the Enclave keeping in mind the survival of the nation can no longer close eyes on intrigues of selfish barons and counts.
The Provisional Directorate stepping up to become the ruling body of the Enclave, the nobility of Bordeaux is raising concerns that it is de facto a coup d'etat by the army that would stray the Enclave away from the traditions of Gallic Monarchy towards a simple junta.
Because of most high-ranking army officers being of noble blood themselves, the conflict is also seen as rivalry between civilian and military nobility. However, the army allows a talented commoner to rise in ranks and become on par or even surpass nobility based on one's merits while a civilian administration deprives commoners of such opportunity. This allowed the Provisional Directorate to get tremendous public support among the commoners of Bordeaux and the servicement of the Royal Army.
The Provisional Directorate pledged to carry out further investigation of possible traitors among the Enclave nobility and assured that the security of the Enclave and its population is the highest concern of the new ruling body. Saving Gallia from Kusari invasion, restoring stability, and fortification of Enclave's space were listed as the other policy milestones for the nearest future.

"My faithful subjects! We have stood by long enough while the ravenous remnants of the Alliance feasted upon the lands they have eyed for themselves from long before the landing! We know what they did to assure themselves domination, we know that they led Coalition forces to our sleeper launch site so that they may escape like the rats that they are, and take the best of this region for themselves. All their actions must have consequences! Starting from today, they will be running once again. They will run, or they will be included into the rightful control of House Gallia! Hail the reconquest!"
The crowd gathered at Ile du Palais cheered throughout the speech. The first Royal Navy units are expected to reach and pacify Tau-23 within days, officially marking the first step on the road to victory.

The Council leaders claim that their goal is to change the government of Gallia and overthrow the monarchy, in addition to breaking the isolation of Gallia from the rest of Sirius worlds. According to our today's expert Robert Broussard, Doctor of Economy and senior consultant of Solar Engineering and Ile-de-France Shipping, the Council never had an intention to overthrow the New Paris monarchy. "Our information on the Council agenda is mainly based on their own public announcements and press releases. Yet, New Paris is so far from the Gallic Border Worlds that the Council will not be able to overtake the Core Worlds by force, even if all Border Worlds fall under their supreme rule," - Broussard says, - "On New Paris and other prominent worlds of Gallia, public support for the warlike actions of the Council is relatively low, and the Council is aware that the chances to inspire revolts in the heart of our nation are very slim."
Independent analysts estimate black market operations in Gallia rising by 150%% during the last 30 years. At the same time, frequency of pirate attacks had risen twice in the Core Worlds, and more than three times in the Border Worlds. This unprecedented wave of piracy occured mainly because of the demand for various smuggled goods that the Council generates, and because of the overall chaos caused by the war. Royal Police was caught unprepared by this new dangerous tendency, unable to defend corporate and civilian shipments. The pirate groups are expected to grow even larger now that the path to Sirius was breached by the Council in Languedoc. Being able to take advantage of this new development, pirate groups like the Unione Corse, Gallic Brigands, and Maquis now plan their expansion into Sirius, searching for new markets and recruiting more pilots.
The Council supports those pirate groups almost openly, in return for their help against the Royal Navy. Sporadic raids of Brigands and Maquis never cause significant losses, but play a crucial role in delaying Navy operations against the Council. Almost every asteroid field and nebula in Gallia is now swarmed with ships of various unlawful groups. It remains unknown for how much longer the Council resistance will continue, but it is already evident that there are forces within the Council and within the pirate groups interested in using the war as a source of income. For the Council leadership, political struggle and the well being of their own people appears to be less important than gaining personal wealth and power. This is the reason why the Council would never support any peace negotiation initiatives.

## Rumors

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:45 UTC*