Goverment Expansion, New Defense Minister, Treason and Murder attemps rattle Araxes.

Araxes,
By order of the Sovereign, The Laandsrat is ordered to expand its membership to include houses of political and financial means. The newly expanded Landsraat Council, in order of their seating:
Dr. Eliza Karsadia Deerhunter, Regent of the Hoto Nagi Zion
Khaliifa Rashad of House Morloch, Desert Born and a House for two thousand years on Araxes.
ProConsul KrakkenAres Pleides of the Myrimidon Order.
Commandant Lux Umbra, of the SSFS and her fleets.
Calina Tereshchenko, House Shanjian
Lady Joan Al Jofar, Chief Magistrate
Khan Jubilynn Lane, Emissary of the Hengeyokai
Lieutenant Laser Rainfall of Starfleet Outpost Ouraios
Registered Companion Fā-Le Yán, Chief of Staff of Bó'ài Hónglián House.
Lady Zenobie Augusta Baxton, Countess Walsingham, House Zenobia of Albion, Union of Allied Planets
Lady Ariadne Fall, Reverend Mother of the Sinisterhood.

The Beit Dawla passed a motion to expand the number of elected delegates from four to six. The Landsraat confirmed the motion. Elections will be held in one lunar cycle (the big moon's cycle, not the little ones).

Doctor Issacs, renowned USD Scientist and longtime resident of Araxes was nominated by the Beit Dawla to be Araxes Defense Minister. The newly expanded Landraat Council confirmed the appointment. The Defense Minister is charged with organizing and regulating the armed forces for the purpose of planetary defense but not to act as a police force, but does not command said planetary defense force. Khaliifa Rashad of House Morloch and Registered Companion Fā-Le Yán of Bó'ài Hónglián House abstained from the vote. ProConsul KrakkenAres Pleides of the Myrimidon Order and Commandant Lux Umbra of the SSFS and her fleets voted nay.

Chief Magistrate Joan al Jofar announced that she was able to secure a peace agreement with the invading Ta'Seti. The Chief Magistrate is still negotiating but believes that the Ta'Seti will be purchasing approximately 75% of the Araxes Desert Spice production. This would be a great windfall to the Great Houses. Drawbacks were discussed about possible shortages, price surges, and the injuries and deaths of miners as a result of increased working shifts.

Dr. Eliza Karsadia Deerhunter of the Hoto Nagi Zion explained that the Ta'Seti require the spice to save their lives. The research is still in development and the regeneration is 2/3rds effective at this point. The Hoto Nagi Regent disclosed that she sent out a messenger to them that if they stopped attacking we would help them as they had promised, but has not received any response from the Ta'Seti.

ProConsul KrakkenAres Pleides of the Myrimidon Order, speaking on behalf of his Ta'Seti cousins claims that the Ta'Seti does not care for the spice, but merely with the distribution of the spice to humanoids reduced to 30% of production.

Registered Companion Fā-Le Yán of Bó'ài Hónglián House counseled:

And that is called paying the Dane-geld;

But we've proved it again and again,

That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld

You never get rid of the Dane.



Lieutenant Laser Rainfall of Starfleet Outpost Ouraios stated that although the Federation believes in a peaceful solution before taking any military action, but that we should not be surprised if there is a heavier Federation presence in this system as a result.

Chief Magistrate Joan Vhargon in a gesture of good faith has directed the spice masters to direct 75% of the spice crop to the Ta'Seti claiming that she can do so for up to 90 solar days without government approval.

House Zenobia proposed that Pro Consul Lord Krakken be charged with treason and that the session adjourn for preparations for his trial. Lieutenant Laser Rainfall of Starfleet Outpost Ouraios and Registered Companion Fā-Le Yán of Bó'ài Hónglián House seconded the motion.

Chief Magistrate Joan Vhargon banged her gavel on the table and commanded order in the chamber and with a mention about reports of an increase in smuggling to and from Araxes, called the meeting to adjourn.

A representative of the Space Navigator's Corpus briefly made an appearance.

Lani Yuhara handed out leaflet notices of "PACEA (Political Atmospheric Collection & Exportation Apparatus) Notice of Imperial Contract", as the public starts to leave the room about her company's new project to collect Atmosphere and export it.

However, all these events have now been overshadowed by the recent attempts of murder on those purposing the investigation of ProConsul KrakkenAres Pleides.

An attempt was made to murder Lady Zenobie Augusta Baxton, Countess Walsingham, House Zenobia of Albion, Union of Allied Planets.

Lady Baxton is recovering from the poisoning in an undisclosed location.

Zenobian authorities are investigating several leads.

Speculation is this was meant to prevent her from participating in the proceedings regarding Treason Charges against Myrmidon ProConsul Krakken Ares Pleides.

Myrmidon Attack: A Report from The Constable's Office

My Fellow Offworlders,



Yesterday a large fleet of ships entered the Mu Draconis system. We now know that these ship belong to The Myrmidon Order who intended to forcefully establish a base of operations on the planet of Al Raqis. Fortunately, messages concerning the intent of said fleet were received and those space craft which were able to put up resistance as the Myrmidons entered orbit, did so. It is due to the sacrifice of these crews that the Myrmidon Order were unable to land their full invasion force.



The Myrmidons did however, mange to land an assault group at Al Raqis North Lowport, the area known to many of you as 'Splintered Rock'. They no doubt have numerous reasons for assaulting this area. The Lowport provides a perfect staging area for landing an invasion force, it is also close to the spice refining facilities. However, it seems on this occasion their main target was the newly reconstructed outpost of The Federation forces. This felt the full force of the Myrmidon assault and was badly damaged. Were it not for the intervention of the United Systems Directorate from their nearby base I'm afraid to say the Federation Outpost may well have been completley in Myrmidon hands.



Forces of The United Systems Directorate were able to push back the Myrmidon assault and drive them from the Lowport area. The Myrmidon assault force retreated to the desert and remains at large. All citizens should be vigilent. Of the utmost concern is that regular offworld spice shipments have been halted by these events. I am appealing to any Merchant Ship Captain with a vessel landed at Al Raqis North Lowport to contact me. Special Licenses to carry spice will be issued to any captain brave enough to run the Myrmidon orbital blockade. Spice must be delivered to the Universe!



Long Live Emperor Palpatino!



Constable Werribee

UFS and Orions battle again on Al Raqis/USD changes stance..

Splintered Rock, Al Raqis,

The conflict between the UFS and the Orions continues. On Friday, the UFS launched an attack on a Mining platform above Splintered Rock, alongside heavy street fighting in the town. After a pitched 2 hour battle, the Orions lost their mining platform for 7 UFS Fighters shot down. Experts say that this was a crippling defeat for the Orions and that it seems that things are not turning to the favor of the UFS.

Shortly after the battle, a indecent between the USD and the Mydrion Order put a strain to the relations between the 2 factions. According to official reports, the Mydrions attacked a USM Soldier that was out on patrol with his officer. The attack happened, when the USM Trooper hurried to the crash side of the UFS Fighters to give them medical aid.

After dispatching several attackers, he managed to take cove in a nearby cave system where he was later extracted from and bought into the medical facilities. For his heroic actions, the High Command is currently considering to award him with the "Lighting Star" medal for heroic actions during the crisis.

As of now, the Military Leadership has pressed the High Council to finally take actions and step out of the neutrality, which would result in a full involvement of the USD in the ongoing conflict on Al Raqis.

How these actions will look like, is currently unknown, but one thing seems to be clear: the time of neutrality is over.

Brooding conflict on AL Raqis between the Federation and the Orions.

Splintered Rock, Al Raqis,

Yesterday, the peace and tranquility of the Landing pads was disrupted by the sounds of weapons fire when the Myrdion Order and troops of The Federation clashed together when the Federation refused to leave the planet after the Orions had demanded it. The origin of this conflict seems to be vague, but stems from the fact that the Federation plans to increase its presence in the Mu Draconis system and the Orions declared their "benevolent protector" status over Al Raqis. Rumors say that the Orions even managed to sing treaties with the local Government,which can only mean the various house and not the Imperium.

The Orions released a statement stating that they will not allow the Federation to land on the planet and will do security checks if anyone is part of the Federation. The United Systems Military forces in this sector have been set to full alert after yesterdays clash and several ships are on its way, with the "USM Vanguard" already in place. According to reports, the 3rd Fleet is on its way, which include the Prometheus as the flagship.

Right now, the USD adopted a stance of "armed neutrality" making sure that its forces have access to the landing pad as well as ensuring the protection of the USD citizens already on the planet.

For now, peace has returned to Al Raqis, the question is, how long this peace will last.