Hola! I am sorry for my absence. School is taking up a huge amount of my time.

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***FROM: COMMANDER MEKOIDES, EXTERRA COMMAND***

***TO: INITIATIVE COUNCILORS AND ROYALTY, TOLMEKIA PRIME***

***SUBJECT: QUARTERLY REPORT, JANUARY 01, 2230***

Cmdr Mekoides:

  I'm sure you've heard the news by now, councilors.  It seems our friends the Gnolams have run out of patience for the Yor.  I don't suppose we can blame them, but now we have to decide what to do with the situation.  As you could see from the news coverage, neither side seems to have a formidable fleet, so it's not imperative that we interfere in any way for the time being.  There are, however, opportunities that present themselves should we opt to pursue them.  We can continue discussion of the matter after the report has been given.

  Territorial lines have remained stable.  No additional planets were claimed for the Initiative and we're not sure if any others were claimed.  The fact is that there remains a handful of unclaimed planets at best, all of them in unexplored space.  Increased tensions and the outbreak of hostilities are sure to follow now that the race to dominate this region has shifted completely to the next phase.

  Analysts have  moved us up considerably in the galactic rankings, no doubt due to our growing military might.  Thanks to the efforts of our research team, we are now rapidly producing frigates armed with MkIII lasers.  The Gnolam are not shown, but are ranked at #8, just below the Yor.

The Krynn have yet to build any fleet of significance, and remain ranked very low due to their vulnerability.  We did sell them weapons technologies, but whether they make use of them is another matter.  The great distance between our territories leaves us little means to provide meaningful aid if their neighbors decide to act against them.

  We're not the only ones boasting frigates.  The Korx perfected medium hulls early on; however, our Vigilant class frigates are clearly superior.  The Korx would be pressed to defeat our ships even at a two to one advantage.  From what I've seen, other warships have similar armaments to the Korx.

  Finally, some of the routine affairs of managing the Initiative.  We have done our best to accomodate alternative lifestyles in the Initiative and also sent a stern message against the growing threat of piracy targeting trade and luxury vessels.

I'll allow the staff to present their reports, then return and conclude our discussion.

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Minister Sune:

  Our discussion last quarter turned out to be well timed.  Within weeks of the last session, reports came in of foreign agents acting against the Thalans.  Seeing the ideal opportunity, we dispatched our own agents to take advantage of the chaos.

   With foreign agents attacking Thalan manufacturing and research, our agents moved against Thalan morale.  Overwhelmed, the Thalans have been unable to neutralize our agents.

We also discovered an agent on Exterra, but quickly neutralized the threat.

  Treaties and relations.  Mostly unchanged, though our relations improve along with our stature in the galaxy.  The Iconian economic treaty an Drengin research treaty remain uncommited.

Construction of critical projects continues across the galaxy.  The native races in particular have excelled this quarter, finishing major construction in an attempt to remain peers of the major powers.  Also of note is our completion of Xinathium Hull Plating and Micro Repair bots.

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Cmdr Mekoides:

  Alright councilors, let's wrap this up.  The past quarter felt like a year and the session seems to be going on forever.  The greatest question before us is what, if anything, shall we do in response to the Gnolam-Yor conflict.  As a precaution, we have already begun moving assets north.  Our northernmost colonies are currently undefended and lack the means to construct their own warships, which takes us back to Dr. Malar's mention of aquatic world colonization.

  Marked on the map are our five aquatic colonies.  Kwilas and Alioth are far to the northwest, bordering hostile territory, while Kriston rests east of Exterra on the Thalan frontier.  They are all of crucial strategic value, but too far from our core worlds to rely on our support.  We need to get them up to maximum production as soon as possible and start shipbuilding operations.

  It is also worth remembering that the Yor control a valuable military resource between Kwilas and Alioth.  Any involvement on our part must include it as a target.  I'll let the council consider the situation.

Before we end the session, some final remarks.

   Senate elections were held last quarter, with the Federalists retaining a sizable majority.  We have no fear of political instability for the time being.

  Increased tensions are leading to petty border disputes.  It was in our interest to seek high taxation on foreign planets in our sphere of influence, but ultimately the lowest penalty was decided upon.  The new law brings us 2bc per week.

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Councilors, commander.

As their trading partner and friend, I feel it is our obligation to support the Gnolams against the Yor. However, I would oppose military involvement at this time. The Yor, at present, do not pose a particular threat to either our civilization or the Gnolams, and I do not at present see a need for us to send our forces to fight them. However, I do strongly support providing technological, monetary, or other non-military forms of aid. Should we receive a formal request for assistance from the Gnolams, we can reopen discussions on this issue, but at present I oppose military action against the Yor.

On a related note, and relevant to the subject of technological research, I notice we have currently researched no defensive technologies. I would therefore take the opportunity to ask Minister Sune and the intelligence ministry to provide information on what types of weapons are being used by the other major powers. If any weapon type appears particularly dominant, I would advocate that we research countermeasures.

I will hold my other questions for the moment, but I would like to further the inquiry by Councilor Noctilucus into what use our surplus funds are being put towards.

Fellow councilors and Commander,

Support for the Gnolams should be economic and technological as everyone else has said, with obsolete ships if they begin to struggle. Just don't hand them too much money or important techs that we should keep to ourselves.

A constructor should be sent to hold position next to the Yor starbase to acquire the resource if the Gnolams introduce the current base to a Sparrow missile.  We could even place a fighter with one laser next to it and gift it to the Gnolams to "accelerate the process."

Advanced Aquatic World Colonization seems a good idea to me- our aquatic planets are high quality and must be able to defend themselves. 9 weeks isn't a long wait. In the meantime, send a few warships to protect the outermost ones.

That is all I have to say. Thank you for your time.

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Minister Andimus:

  I suppose the question of where our money flows falls to me.  The simple answer is that we have poured our windfall revenues back into planetary development as fast as we have collected them.  There is also the matter of several trillion credits spent on technology acquisition.  After all is accounted for, our treasury is hovering near a trillion credits - 983bc, give or take.

  Activity on our colonies.  We've accelerated the development of our newest extreme colonies by months.  When we finally do perfect our colonization technologies, we'll have  basic infrastructure ready to go on all planets.

  It's not exactly my department, but as long as we're discussing colonization techs we may as well consider our options.  I've been asked to present a potential trade with the Torians that could net us Advanced Aquatic Colonization for a reasonable price.  Minister Sune can go into the details.

Minister Sune:

  Thank you, Minister Andimus.  A trade with the Torians can benefit us in a number of ways.  The most obvious way is by getting the technology we desire without having to develop it ourselves.  We trade only low level weapon and hull technology, and the nine weeks we save by not researching colonization technology could potentially be spent perfecting even more advanced weapon and hull techs, further increasing our advantage.

  Another benefit would be helping the Torians to defend themselves.  The currently have no warships and have only just grasped Missile Weapon Theory. The Torian Confederation is large and ripe for invasion by hostile neighbors.  It would seem to be in our best interests that it not be such an easy undertaking.

  A more subtle reason relates to Councilor qrtxian's concern about defensive technologies.  Our agents tell us that the most widespread weapon type is the Mass Driver.  We and the Thalans have developed Beam weapons, but everyone else is using Mass Drivers - everyone except the Torians, who have developed missile technology.  By providing them with beam weapons, there is a small chance that they will pursue the technology.  That would preclude a possible need to develop point defense systems in the future, should it come to that.

  A final reason is simply that the Torians are our friends.  A measure of their friendship certainly comes from the disparity in our military capabilities, but the fact remains that the Torians have accepted us as no other race has.

  Unrelated to the current topic, I would like to address Councilor Noctilucus's suggestion to research Planetary Invasion.  it is worth mentioning that a number of other powers have developed or will soon have Planetary Invasion technology.  Projection of our power will eventually require us to join the club, so to speak.  It is up to the council, however, to decide when that time has come.

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Given the apparent prevalence of mass driver weapons in the galaxy, I would like to formally propose that we place a high priority on the research of armor technologies. I recommend that we begin research on such technologies as soon as we complete our current effort to develop Research Academies. Advanced Aquatic Colonization is best obtained through the proposed trade with the Torians.

Besides that, I have nothing else to say.

I agree fully.

***INCOMING TRANSMISSION - SECURITY LEVEL ALPHA***

***FROM: COMMANDER MEKOIDES, EXTERRA COMMAND***

***TO: INITIATIVE COUNCILORS AND ROYALTY, TOLMEKIA PRIME***

***SUBJECT: QUARTERLY REPORT, APRIL 01, 2230***

Cmdr Mekoides:

  The galaxy is becoming an interesting place, Councilors.  Four more wars have erupted in the past quarter, including one started by the Torians, who were apparently sleeping giants.  They have gone from no military to speak of to the third ranked power in the galaxy, surpassing our own military might.  They have made no use of our lasers, but are now putting out missile frigates.

  Military ratings and the new  Torian frigates.  Their rating may have surpassed ours, but if their warships only have an attack rating of 3-4, then we don't need to worry yet.

The Torians have declared war on the Drengin, who also have a potent fleet.  The great distance between them means attrition is likely to be low, but they can keep each other busy for some time.

  The expansion of warfare in the galaxy seems to be confined to powers quite a distance from one another.  We don't expect significant action on any front, though the Drath can threaten the Silicoid.  We'll keep on eye on that conflict.  Allowing the Drath to conquer the Silicoid worlds could be a strategic mistake on our part.

  The galactic landscape remains unchanged thus far. Given the spreading of hostilities and growing transport fleets, we could begin to see real casualties as things unfold.

I'll allow the staff to cover the other events of the quarter before our discussion.

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Minister Sune:

   Even as open hostility spreads, covert action is escalation as well.  Our agents deployed against the Thalans have been neutralized by their intelligence service, while we've had to deal with an agent deployed against our precursor laboratory on Fortuna (300%).  There is also a greater  number of foreign agents operating abroad.

  Relations and treaties.  The outbreak of hostilities has resulted in the abrogation of a few treaties.  Our relations with the Torians seem to have suffered in light of their recent militarization.

  While we're talking about hostilities, the movement of forces allows us to get a glimpse of our competitors fleets.  Here we tracked a number of Thalan fleets moving toward Yor space.  The fleets are mostly uniform, and there are more than the four shown here.  We believe that a pair of our Vigilant II frigates compare favorably to these fleets.

  Gnolam and Iconian warships.  Nothing to worry about, yet.

 It seems the Thalans were persuaded to join the war against the Yor.

  Continuing developments throughout the galaxy.

As always, I'll keep the council notified of developments as we learn of them.

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Cmdr Mekoides:

  I don't have a great deal to add before hearing input from the council, other than that I think the time has finally arrived to start building our own fleet of transports.  I can support the proposals to establish xeno banking and a democratic system, but if we haven't acquired Planetary Invasion technology by then, I firmly recommend developing it ourselves.

We await your reply, Councilors.

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