Tweet of the Day: Not What it Used To Be
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ANN: Timeline with Richard Garrett
ANN Central Studios, Vancouver, North American Union
Richard Garrett: Welcome back to the program. Now we turn to our regular panel of experts and reporters to comment on this week’s events. With us in the studio are Lydia Mugabe professor of military history and contributor to FORWARD!, the Alliance premier military publication, Jakob Johansen, author of Colonial Commerce and from the Citadel, ANN’s own Amita Quita. Let’s start with you,Lydia. Do you think the Alliance should throw their support behind this new initiative to restore a batarian government?
Lydia Mugabe: While it does pose some risks I believe that, yes, the Alliance should back the new Batarian Assembly. The chance to stabilize the Terminus systems is one we simply can not ignore.
Richard Garrett: But Amita, besides the turians, who else is backing the Assembly?
Amita Quita: According to my sources, the salarians are on board, quietly and behind the scenes. The Citadel Tower is rife with rumors of backroom arms deals and increasing STG deployments into the Terminus Systems.
Richard Garrett: Rumors are not the same as confirmed reports, Amita.
Amita Quita: When it comes to salarians, they are as close as you ever get, Richard. This is the Salarian Union way of saying that they are backing the Assembly without having to acknowledge it publicly.
Jakob Johansen: What really worries me is the news that the Council is investigating Thompson-Ramos Security, the largest security firm in the Traverse and the Terminus Systems in connection with the events of the Imri system.
Richard Garrett: How so?
Jakob Johansen: TRS has security and training contracts with dozens of colonies throughout the Traverse and Terminus systems and was key in defending these colonies against raiders and slavers. If the Council sanctions or forces the Alliance to annul the company’s charter who would take over? I doubt any other security firm will be as effective or as trusted as TRS.
Lydia Mugabe: And to add to Jakob’s concerns, the company’s CEO, Theodore Thompson-Ramos has all but disappeared. That does not bode well for the future of the company or the security of the those colonies that have standing contracts with it. The Alliance can no commit to support the Assembly in any meaningful way if it also has to fill the void left by TRS and deal with other deployments.
Richard Garrett: Do we know more about what happened in Korlus, Amita?
Amita Quita: Only that turian and mercenary forces engaged a batarian force on the ground and in space. The turians do not discuss the specifics of their operations and the government of Korlus has ignored all information requests.
Richard Garrett: So, Lydia, do you think the Alliance should still support the Assembly even if it stretches its resources?
Lydia Mugabe: Yes, I still do. The Alliance can provide training, technical support and other forms of aid. And we just heard from Mr. Jatak that the quarian’s are throwing in the Merchant Fleet into the mix. That alone will give them a powerful logistical advantage.
Richard Garrett: I’m surprised that the quarians would make such a bold statement. Any particular reason behind it, Amita?
Amita Quita: Clout, Richard. The quarians have been vying for a seat on the Council since the end of the war. While the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy are more than willing to grant them a seat, asari and salarians are strongly opposed to the quarian demand that the geth be granted associate race status and full legal recognition along side organics.
Jakob Johansen: The Merchant Fleet is the single most powerful economic entity in the Terminus systems and has made significant in roads into Council’s space commerce after the war. Without quarian and geth assistance, dozens of worlds would still be in ruin, most of them turian.
Richard Garrett: So you believe that this is their way of strengthening their bargaining position with the Council?
Amita Quita: I believe so, yes. Changes in laws governing AIs are long overdue. No one, not even the geth are questioning the need for strict controls when it comes to the creation of new AIs but the geth have been around over three hundred years and have earned the right to join the galactic community.
Richard Garrett: Well, the Council has scheduled another vote on the subject for later this year, we will see what happens then. Thank you to our panel for their time and insight on the week’s new. Now we turn to the last section of the program, News Notes.
(Camera zooms on Richard Garrett)
Richard Garrett: The week closed with a visit by Admiral Shepard to Laranthos Institution. In a rare public appearance with his eldest daughter, Miranda, the Admiral addressed the assembled crowd in the schools auditorium. He praised their courage and vowed that those responsible for the attack on the school would be brought to justice. He then visited Huerta Memorial where Urdnot Krall, the longest serving faculty member of the school, recuperates from injuries suffered during the attack. Mister Krall, as he is affectionately called by more than one generation of asari students, recently celebrated five hundred years of service to the school. Mr. Krall suffered extensive third and fourth degree burns and deep lacerations to the upper torso and arms, injuries that would have killed most krogan or force them into a state commonly referred to as blood rage. Yet, Mr. Krall retain his composure and led his students to safety. Our hats off to Urdnot Krall for his courage and dedication and we join his students in wishing him a prompt recuperation. That is all for this show, hope to see you all next week.
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Neither Here nor There.... 