Galnet News

The election for Alliance prime minister has been won by the incumbent Edmund Mahon, who begins a second six-year term in office.

The Alliance Assembly voted yesterday to elect the new head of state. Mahon received more votes than any other candidate, albeit not a majority of the electorate. Some council members demanded additional checks, causing a delay in announcing the results.

Prime Minister Mahon gave a victory speech to the public:

“It is my great honour to continue serving the diverse peoples of the Alliance. We will hold fast to our principles of democracy, prosperity and mutual defence, no matter what the galaxy throws at us.”

Vanya Driscoll, political correspondent for The Alliance Tribune, observed:

“With the core systems affected by political unrest, terrorist threats and economic turmoil, it is no surprise that the Assembly voted for stability. Mahon is a known quantity, and the Alliance has become reliant on his calm, measured leadership.”

*Pilots Federation ALERT*

As the Assembly votes for its new leader, Prime Minister Edmund Mahon has requested mined tritium to aid expansion.

The new initiative follows on from his successful drive for industrial materials, which resulted in large amounts of ceramic composites, polymers and superconductors. Pilots who contributed to this can now collect their rewards from Dublin Citadel in the Gateway system.

A competing community drive by Councillor Nakato Kaine, Mahon’s main rival in the election, brought deliveries of copper, micro-controllers and polymers.

Prime Minister Mahon’s new tritium mining initiative aims to provide a stockpile of fuel to support the Alliance’s expansion programme. This will involve constructing up to five new starports, which are expected to be operational within a month.

Mined deposits of tritium can be delivered to Dublin Citadel in the Gateway system.

Members of the Alliance Assembly will gather today to cast their votes for a new prime minister. Opinion polls believe Mahon will comfortably win, although acknowledge that Kaine has broad support. The successful candidate will serve as the Alliance head of state for a six-year term.

The Oracle starport in the Delphi system began tumbling out of orbit following a recent Thargoid attack.

The station was already ablaze and severely damaged by caustic enzymes during a Thargoid incursion in the Delphi system. This led to a cascading systems failure that shut down all of the station’s alignment thrusters.

As a result, the entire starport became affected by the gravity of Delphi 5 a, and began falling toward the moon. This immediately endangered the lives of tens of thousands of civilians.

Due to fire damage in the docking bay and the narrow timescale, evacuation of The Oracle’s entire population before it impacted upon the surface was considered impossible.

With only hours to go before collision, independent pilots risked their lives to rescue thousands of trapped civilians from the falling and damaged starport. This allowed the engineers to focus on patching up The Oracle’s alignment systems. The station is now considered to be in a stable orbit.

A spokesperson for Sirius Inc told the media:

“We are immensely grateful to those courageous Commanders for helping to prevent what could have been one of the most horrific disasters in modern history.”

Similar incidents have been reported at other stations that were targeted by the Thargoids, leading to speculation that this may not be coincidental. Unilateral plans to shore up this vulnerability in the starports are now underway.

The Alexandria megaship has been warned that it faces destruction if it attempts to travel to any Federal system.

The Aegis-owned vessel triggered a full-scale Thargoid incursion when it arrived in the HIP 16538 system. This seemed to be a reaction to the huge quantities of Guardian artefacts currently stored within its cargo holds.

Captain Jacob Morales, the Alexandria’s commander, broadcast this message:

“The Federal Navy has instructed us not to resume our scheduled journey to Sol or enter any system within the Federation. They’re treating us like a plague ship! I understand their concern that more Thargoids will follow us, but we have several thousand crewmembers who need to reach safe harbour.”

A strategy was outlined by Admiral Aden Tanner, chief military liaison for Aegis:

“We are attempting to clear the HIP 16538 system of Thargoid vessels, greatly aided by independent pilots and anti-xeno squadrons. The megaship will then jump to a system with a minimal population, where we will offload its cargo.”

Aegis has reiterated that the option to jettison the Alexandria’s cargo is a last resort, since the Guardian artefacts are vital to its research programme and cost billions of credits to acquire.

Evidence that Imperator Hadrian Augustus Duval masterminded the NMLA terror campaign cannot be authenticated, according to ACT.

Inspector Mara Klatt, one of ACT’s joint leaders, delivered this report:

“We have rigorously analysed data provided by the Landgrave of Mudhrid that contains detailed instructions from Hadrian Duval. The content undoubtedly arranges the starport bombings, but its source is inconclusive. It now seems highly plausible that his identity was faked by the NMLA.”

Hadrian Duval made an announcement via the Paresa News Network:

“There can no longer be any doubt that the NMLA planted a false trail in order to incriminate us. They aim to slay every Duval and demolish Imperial traditions, a goal that the Federation is clearly happy to support.”

“Lady Astrid and I are deeply grateful to the Nova Navy, and all the other pilots who helped to defend our honour.”

The Federal Diplomatic Corps confirmed that the League of Mandu, which was defeated by Nova Imperium, will withdraw from the Paresa system but made no reference to ACT’s report.

Praetor Leo Magnus, head of security for Nova Imperium and a former IISS officer, has been seconded to ACT. He will serve as a replacement for the deceased Captain Niamh Seutonia.

*Pilots Federation ALERT*

The Alexandria megaship has jumped from Delphi to the HIP 16538 system, triggering a Thargoid attack.

The megaship is carrying large quantities of Guardian artefacts, which were delivered as part of a research programme by Aegis.

Captain Jacob Morales, commanding officer of the Alexandria, has broadcast an SOS:

“This is an emergency! We scheduled a stopover in HIP 16538 for tritium refuelling en route to the Sol system, but Thargoid interceptors came swarming in within minutes. We require immediate assistance!”

Admiral Aden Tanner, chief military liaison for Aegis, announced:

“We believe that the Thargoids are reacting to the concentrated presence of Guardian technology stored within the Alexandria’s cargo holds. Not only has the attack placed its crew and the population of this system in danger, but we risk losing these extremely valuable research materials.”

“Aegis is asking anti-xeno squadrons and independent pilots to help destroy all Thargoid vessels within HIP 16538 and protect the Alexandria.”

*Pilots Federation ALERT*

Prime Minister Edmund Mahon and Councillor Nakato Kaine have launched rival delivery initiatives in Alliance space.

The two leading candidates for Alliance prime minister are attempting to gather public support, although the actual election will be determined by votes within the Assembly on the 27th of May.

Every opinion poll suggests that Mahon’s victory is all but confirmed, which will grant him a second six-year term. However, the outcomes of these community drives will directly affect the successful candidate’s policies once in office.

Prime Minister Mahon is focusing on increasing industrial materials to aid expansion. He has requested that shipments of ceramic composites, polymers and superconductors are delivered to Dublin Citadel in the Gateway system.

Councillor Kaine aims to support local manufacturers in order to boost trade. She has asked for supplies of copper, micro-controllers and polymers to be delivered to Brett High in the Tionisla system.

Whoever is most successful will run a second campaign the following week. Mahon will launch a tritium mining initiative, leading to the construction of new Alliance starports. Kaine will use void opal mining to help stimulate trade, increasing the availability of rare goods in Alliance-controlled systems.

The front-runner candidates in the Alliance election have stepped up their campaigns, amid widespread political and civil unrest.

Prime Minister Edmund Mahon and Councillor Nakato Kaine are touring across the Alliance, gathering public support to sway the Assembly when it votes on the 27th of May.

Attending a business sector conference on the planet Industry in the Zaonce system, Prime Minister Mahon stated:

“We’ve heard a lot of reactionary rhetoric from Councillor Kaine, but it’s much easier to be critical than constructive. She has done little to secure the prosperity of our people and companies, which was my primary focus over the last six years.”

At a protest march on New Caledonia in the Alkaid system, Councillor Kaine addressed the crowd:

“Again, the Thargoids lash out at our presence. Again, we prop up the other superpowers. Again, we pump money into Aegis and Lakon but not our own economies. Nothing changes, unless Mahon is voted out and the Alliance takes a new direction!”

Opinion polls suggest that Mahon has retained majority support, but with a narrower margin than in February when the election was originally scheduled. Many agree with Kaine that the Alliance should not have participated in the Galactic Summit, which led to the ‘Nine Martyrs’ bombings.

The Proactive Detection Bureau, which monitors all civil communications in the Federation, has received a boost from the galactic community.

President Hudson’s campaign for additional data proved so successful that the PDB has dramatically increased the range of its surveillance.

Deputy Director Bethany Blake of the Federal Intelligence Agency announced:

“We are now able to discreetly scan almost every private and public communications network used within Federal systems. As a result, arrest rates have soared and several organised crime rings have been dismantled.”

Shadow President Winters’s efforts to distribute methods of blocking the PDB received considerable support, but failed to eclipse Hudson’s initiative. This was interpreted by the Federal government as a mandate from the citizens to continue its surveillance programme.

Rhiannon Grady, director of the civil rights organisation Advocacy, told the media:

“Since the vast majority of citizens will never receive a visit from the FIA for their activities, the public has no sense of what they have lost. But history teaches us how hard it is to regain freedoms once you’ve given them away. The Federation has taken a large step toward becoming an interstellar police state with little regard for the individual.”

*Pilots Federation ALERT*

Thargoid forces have invaded the Delphi system and several systems in the California, Coalsack and Pleiades Nebulas.

Huge numbers of Thargoid scouts and interceptors have appeared within multiple systems. Aegis has mobilised available defences, but also requested assistance from anti-xeno squadrons and independent pilots in combating the Thargoids.

Shipments of Guardian artefacts were recently delivered to the Delphi system as part of an Aegis research programme. Professor Alba Tesreau has speculated that the Thargoids’ well-documented aversion to Guardian technology may be the reason why Delphi was targeted.

Two starports recently constructed by the Kumo Crew syndicate – California Freeport in the HIP 18390 system and Fort Xeno in the HIP 62154 system – are among those seriously damaged by the assault. Archon Delaine, the syndicate’s warlord, announced:

“I’m not going to let these filthy aliens tear down what we’ve only just built. We need to teach them a lesson that even they will understand!”

All attacked stations have called upon the galactic community for help with rescuing their populations.