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Sonic Glitch wrote:

stitch626 wrote:We are curious how they did get a hold of such weapons. They are traders, and rarely build things of their own. And the sale of weapons of mass destruction has always been a rather worrying area for this administration.

[Romulan delegate poorly hides a snear] Hm... Perhaps they acquired such weapons by trading?

If these allegations are true, they imply a disturbing truth: The trade and black market sale of Weapons of Mass Destruction is indeed alive and well. If no nation will admit to selling or giving this weapon to the Yrridians and the Yrridians do in fact have a weapon, it brings to light an illicit and evidently unchecked weapons trade.

If these allegations are untrue, they demonstrate a disturbing truth of the Tholians: That they are willing to make up excuses to provide justification for unchecked military expansion. We would hope that our friends the Tholians would stoop to that level. We are inclined to take the Tholians at their word, but as a human once noted: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

We must echo the comments of our distinguished Romulan counterpart. Such claims by necessity must be proven. It seems curious that the solution rather than being a simple removal of the weapons appears to involve Tholian occupation of the territory for all time.

It is essential that the Yridian government be allowed to speak on this matter and that the communications blackout of embassies located on their capitol world be lifted without further delay so that all powers may ascertain to the best of their ability what is going on here. We again call on whomever is causing this blackout to cease their jamming activity immediately.

As for the non-Tholian traffic, that decision is not yours to make. Forgive us for not taking you at your word, but if a Klingon citizen in Klingon territory is threatened by your little war then the Imperial Guard will retrieve them. Neither you or the Yrridians can decide otherwise.

AS OF YET, WE HAVE NOT FOUND THE DEVICES THEMSELVES. WE HAVE HOWEVER, FOUND COMPUTER RECORDS OF THE POSSESSION OF A "CODENAMED" DEVICE AND A DEPLOYMENT PLAN.

AND YES, THE EMPIRE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COMMUNICATIONS BLACK OUT AND NO, IT WILL NOT BE LIFTED. WE WILL NOT ALLOW THE YRRIDIANS TO CONTACT THEIR ALLIES.

AND WE MUST BE VERY CLEAR HERE. ANY MILITARY VESSEL FROM ANY STARFARING POWER ATTEMPTING TO ENTER THOLIAN OR YRRIDIAN SPACE WILL BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE HOSTILE INTENT AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH. ANY NON MILITARY VESSELS THAT DEVIATE FROM THEIR PRE ASSIGNED COURSES WILL IMMEDIETLY BE SEIZED, IMPOUNDED, AND THEIR CREWS WILL BE SUBJECT TO INTERROGATION AS SUSPECTED TERRORISTS.

QUITE SIMPLY....WE HAVE LITTLE TO NO REASON TO TRUST ANYBODY AT THIS MOMENT. WE CAN THINK OF SEVERAL POWERS THAT WOULD BENEFIT FROM THOLIAN INSTABILITY AND WOULD OPERATE VIA A THIRD PARTY TO KEEP THEIR PUBLIC FACES.

We will secure our representatives as is our discretion. We will not interfere with the conflict in question, for it has little to do with us.

Mark wrote:AS OF YET, WE HAVE NOT FOUND THE DEVICES THEMSELVES. WE HAVE HOWEVER, FOUND COMPUTER RECORDS OF THE POSSESSION OF A "CODENAMED" DEVICE AND A DEPLOYMENT PLAN.

AND YES, THE EMPIRE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COMMUNICATIONS BLACK OUT AND NO, IT WILL NOT BE LIFTED. WE WILL NOT ALLOW THE YRRIDIANS TO CONTACT THEIR ALLIES.

AND WE MUST BE VERY CLEAR HERE. ANY MILITARY VESSEL FROM ANY STARFARING POWER ATTEMPTING TO ENTER THOLIAN OR YRRIDIAN SPACE WILL BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE HOSTILE INTENT AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH. ANY NON MILITARY VESSELS THAT DEVIATE FROM THEIR PRE ASSIGNED COURSES WILL IMMEDIETLY BE SEIZED, IMPOUNDED, AND THEIR CREWS WILL BE SUBJECT TO INTERROGATION AS SUSPECTED TERRORISTS.

QUITE SIMPLY....WE HAVE LITTLE TO NO REASON TO TRUST ANYBODY AT THIS MOMENT. WE CAN THINK OF SEVERAL POWERS THAT WOULD BENEFIT FROM THOLIAN INSTABILITY AND WOULD OPERATE VIA A THIRD PARTY TO KEEP THEIR PUBLIC FACES.

We seem to be going well down the road of dangerous implications here. Are you implying that someone would provide them with a weapon of mass destruction to create instability within the Tholian Empire? What purpose would this serve anyone who boarders you? None of us has anything to fear from the Tholian Empire given the present alliance structures and the relative balance of strength in the area.

The decision to block all communications is troubling as well. The Tholian government must know that it would be an act of war to forcibly remove anyone from another nations embassy. It also seems callous in the extreme to deny other governments the ability to evacuate their personel from harms way in a war that for lack of a better term amounted to a surprise attack. Given no notice to do so beforehand we could hardly take action then.

If the Yridian government wishes to deny ships passage then so be it, that would be their business. But we must object to the Tholian position on this issue. What is proposed makes little sense.

One the one hand you say the Yridians are prepared to use a WMD against you to stop your colonization efforts, yet they have not used one even as you invade their space. If they were willing to do the former then surely they would do the later. You have no weapon as physical proof at this point but logically if it existed would it not be used? Even the basic logic of their plan seems flawed on a basic level. What good would destroying a colony be other than to invite the wrath of the Tholian Empire and do so in a manner that would ensure the Yridians would receive no help at all? It would in fact be more credible if the claim were that the Yridians planned to destroy all major Tholian worlds. At least that plan would logically acheive their supposed objective rather than simply ensure their own destruction at the hands of the Tholian Empire.

You say you are moving against them to staunch a threat posed by a WMD but your plans clearly call for an enduring occupation.

You claim to have proof yet you share nothing with anyone else and go out of your way to deny communication with the Yridian government so that they might answer your claims.

Most distubingly you now not so subtely imply that other powers would provide such weapons, which you cannot locate, to the Yridians, so that they can implement a plan that appears to make no sense, and in doing so that the supplying power would willingly violate a major international treaty AND be responsible for millions or billions of deaths?

If you really believe that to be the case then the Empire should simply name who they believe supplied a weapon and detail the type of weapon so that the veracity of your claim may be examined fully.

IF THE EMPIRE HAD A SUSPECT, THEN THE WARRIOR CASTE WOULD ALREADY HAVE A STRIKE FORCE DEPLOYED. WE ARE STILL INVESTIGATING, AND AS WE FIND MORE DATA AND/OR THE WEAPON, MORE WILL BE REVEALED. AT THIS POINT WE HAVE ONLY SECURED ONE WORLD OF THE YRRIDIAN PEOPLE, AND THERE ARE THREE REMAINING.

THE DECISION STANDS WITH THE KLINGON GOVERNMENT. SHOULD ANY SHIP INVADE THOLIAN OR YRRIDIAN SPACE, THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED TO BE IN LEAGUE WITH THE YRRIDIAN THREAT, AND WILL BE AN ACT OF WAR.

AND EXACTLY WHAT EXPLINATION DOES THE THOLIAN GOVERMENT OWE ANYBODY? AS A COURTASY, WE NOTIFIED THE JACORN OF OUR INTENTIONS, LEST THEY MISUNDERSTAND A MOBILIZATION NEAR THEIR SPACE, AND TO MAKE THEM AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DANGER. AS FOR THE FEDERATION, YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS REPEATEDLY SNUBBED DIPLOMATIC OVERTURES FROM THOLIA, SO WE ARE NOT SURE WHY YOU ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT ANYTHING IS OWED BEYOND THE COURTESY ALREADY SHOWN.

THIS IS NOT A TRIAL TO BE DETERMINED BY A COURT OF NATIONS. THIS IS A MATTER BETWEEN THOLIA AND THE YRRIDIANS. IF YOUR GOVERNMENTS WANT YOUR DIPLOMATS REMOVED FROM THE WARZONE, WE ARE WILLING TO REMOVE THEM AND RETURN THEM TO YOUR GOVERNMENTS. IF NOT, THEN THEY CAN STAY WHERE THEY ARE. IT IS YOUR DECISION.

Mark wrote:IF THE EMPIRE HAD A SUSPECT, THEN THE WARRIOR CASTE WOULD ALREADY HAVE A STRIKE FORCE DEPLOYED. WE ARE STILL INVESTIGATING, AND AS WE FIND MORE DATA AND/OR THE WEAPON, MORE WILL BE REVEALED. AT THIS POINT WE HAVE ONLY SECURED ONE WORLD OF THE YRRIDIAN PEOPLE, AND THERE ARE THREE REMAINING.

THE DECISION STANDS WITH THE KLINGON GOVERNMENT. SHOULD ANY SHIP INVADE THOLIAN OR YRRIDIAN SPACE, THEY WILL BE CONSIDERED TO BE IN LEAGUE WITH THE YRRIDIAN THREAT, AND WILL BE AN ACT OF WAR.

AND EXACTLY WHAT EXPLINATION DOES THE THOLIAN GOVERMENT OWE ANYBODY? AS A COURTASY, WE NOTIFIED THE JACORN OF OUR INTENTIONS, LEST THEY MISUNDERSTAND A MOBILIZATION NEAR THEIR SPACE, AND TO MAKE THEM AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DANGER. AS FOR THE FEDERATION, YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS REPEATEDLY SNUBBED DIPLOMATIC OVERTURES FROM THOLIA, SO WE ARE NOT SURE WHY YOU ARE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT ANYTHING IS OWED BEYOND THE COURTESY ALREADY SHOWN.

THIS IS NOT A TRIAL TO BE DETERMINED BY A COURT OF NATIONS. THIS IS A MATTER BETWEEN THOLIA AND THE YRRIDIANS. IF YOUR GOVERNMENTS WANT YOUR DIPLOMATS REMOVED FROM THE WARZONE, WE ARE WILLING TO REMOVE THEM AND RETURN THEM TO YOUR GOVERNMENTS. IF NOT, THEN THEY CAN STAY WHERE THEY ARE. IT IS YOUR DECISION.

We ask the Tholian government to name the overtures from them which have been "snubbed" by the Federation so that this conversation might do more than wallow around in unfounded and ill-defined accusations.

In our eyes this war carries little or no legitimacy and therefore we will not recognise the Tholian embargo on Yrridian space.

Do not be so hasty to throw around your words. You sit on the borders with the most powerful allied combat force in known history. Remember that as you merrily run around shouting your ill conceived threats to the 4 winds.

Now now, is this posturing really necessary? You all want your citizens to be safe, and the Tholians have offered without argument to send them out. All they are asking is for others to not interfere with a private matter between them and another race.

We are Klingons. The words of a race whose interest is rightfully only their own carry little weight with us. We do things our way, or not at all.

stitch626 wrote:Now now, is this posturing really necessary? You all want your citizens to be safe, and the Tholians have offered without argument to send them out. All they are asking is for others to not interfere with a private matter between them and another race.

While we appreciate the peace making efforts of our Ferengi friends and agree that this situation should not rise to open threats of conflict there are practical issues with the Tholian plan.

Embassies are sovereign territory. Until such time as those places are able to communicate they would not heed any notice by a foreign government to leave. So absent communication it will be impossible to instruct them to close down their operation and accept such transport. Even if the Tholians were given permission to evacuate personel from another nations embassy absent direction from a proper authority any attempt to remove them would likely lead to a conflict and possible loss of life over the issue.

Absent communication with our citizens and officials in the Yridian capital and given the admission of the Tholians that they are responsible for that lack of communication we seem to have little choice but to hold the Tholians wholly responsible for the safety and integrity of our people who for all we know at this point may either be blithly walking around knowing nothing of the conflict or may be dealing with a flood of Yridian citizens looking for refugee status.

The point is that absent communication none of us know anything about what situation our people are in, so we can prepare them for evacuation by any means, let alone by a third party whom they would have no reason to listen to such as the Tholian Empire. I would not more expect the Romulan embassy to pack up and leave Earth on the demands of the Ferengi government than I would anyones to up and leave Yridian space on the demand of the Tholian Empire.

The only reason we are given for this lack of communication is that the Tholians fear the Yridians contacting their allies. At present we have been presented with no proof of either the existance of a WMD nor of some vast international plot to destabilize the Tholians that would justify any of these actions. Our immediate concern is the safety of our people on the ground in the way of a war they may know nothing about. It is not an unreasonable request to ask that communications be restored.

If that were granted then we are sure that the conflict would quickly subside and given all our investigative powers working together we could very shortly discover just what is happening in this area.

I see.

Would the Tholian government have any issue with the interested parties sending one ship each to be escorted to and from the embassies for evacuation of their personnel? This would preserve the communications blackout, while also allowing for the secure and simple removal of the involved citizens.

stitch626 wrote:I see.

Would the Tholian government have any issue with the interested parties sending one ship each to be escorted to and from the embassies for evacuation of their personnel? This would preserve the communications blackout, while also allowing for the secure and simple removal of the involved citizens.

Again this faces another fundamental problem.

The Yrridians are unlikely to simply allow a vessel under Tholian escort to transit directly to their capitol system, whcih the Tholians have not yet reached. They are at war after all.

It is necessary not only to speak with our embassies to coordinate this evacuation but the Yrridians to make sure any approaching ships are not mistaken for a threat and vaporized.

Public transmission from the Jacorn President, to Jacorn Citizens:

It is the belief of the government that the following information should be public knowledge and known to every Jacorn citizen, and may be information which is of use to other Nations.

The race known to us as “The Master Race”, it has been discovered, are named the Priori. In the distant past the Priori became obsessed with destroying all heresy, those that did not follow the teachings of their god Oraye, throughout space. They sought to convert all or destroy them, and so they constructed ships, capable of sailing the stars, and they left planet. It is estimated that the Priori split from the current Cloran society some 500,000 years ago to begin their interstellar mission.

It was then, 310,000 years ago they enslaved us. It is in this time that they were building their empire. About 10,000 years later they vanished.. We now know this to be because of the actions of another ancient race, the Thora. They were a peaceful race of interstellar beings, who the Priori attempted to invade. The Thora repelled this invasion, banished the Priori and freed the species they had enslaved, including us. The course of the Priori was towards what is now Borg space, which hopefully means they have been annihilated. However it is my duty to inform you that, since the Cloran society still exists, it is possible that the priori are also still out there.

But there is no need to worry. We are a strong people. When they first arrived we had not even learnt to farm. We are now a strong and powerful people. And we are not alone, we have allies now, allies who they themselves have proven themselves in the face of adversity. The Federation has faced destruction at the hands of the Borg and survived and become stronger, and have, with the Romulans and the Klingons, defeated the Dominion Invasion, who, at their height, were similar in power to the Thorans who drove of the Priori. And we are sure that if we were to ask other powers, then they would have similar tales. If the Federation have become powerful enough to do this, then so can we. If the Priori ever return we will be ready, and we will not need to fear them.

stitch626 wrote:I see.

Would the Tholian government have any issue with the interested parties sending one ship each to be escorted to and from the embassies for evacuation of their personnel? This would preserve the communications blackout, while also allowing for the secure and simple removal of the involved citizens.

WE WILL ALLOW LIMITED COMMUNICATION VIA THOLIAN STARBASE AND STARSHIP RELAY TO YOUR PEOPLE. YOU MAY USE WHATEVER VERIFICATION PROTOCOLS YOU WISH, BUT MUST REFRAIN FROM USING HIDDEN MESSAGES, OR ENCRYPTION PROTOCOLS.

WE WOULD BE WILLING TO ALLOW AN INDIVIDUAL TEAM FROM EACH OF YOUR GOVERNMENTS TO BOARD A THOLIAN VESSEL, AND OVERSEE THE EXTRACTION OF YOUR PEOPLE. THAT PROVIDED SECURITY FOR BOTH SIDES.

WOULD THIS BE ACCEPTABLE?