We Serco find it exceptionally funny how you Itani honestly don't believe your government maintains an active military. The Akanese aren't some sort of mysterious cultural spinoff (whose departure is for some reason in none of the history books).

We wonder if it's a discipline of your meditation, this ability to studiously look the other way and pretend your navy doesn't exist, or that they're some different culture entirely. I wonder how much they appreciate being ignored by the very people they would gladly give their lives to protect.

We on the other hand understand the immense sacrifices our military makes to keep us safe, and repay them with our fealty.

Would you owe fealty to terrorists, ctish? The akanese are little more than that, essentially a separate nation apart from the Itani government. Attacking helpless civilian populations isn't war, it's murder.

However, so is attacking unarmed ambassadors and unarmed ships, a la Serco "first contact". Remember that the Serco initiated the military conflict and in essence created the need for the Akanese which you so despise. So next time you're trying to place blame, take a look at your ancestors, and lay it there, where it belongs.

War and military matters are so ingrained into your society that the Serco have become inherently dangerous not just to those who must occupy the same galaxy as you, but to yourselves as well.
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to treat every problem as if it were a nail" -- paraphrasing Maslow, an ancient old Earth Philosopher.

That is why you must be humbled, and be shown that you cannot solve your problems simply by bullying. If the Akanese have brought terror and weakness to your populace, then that is appropriate. The majority of true itani do not condone their methods.

Pirates for the win.

Again, there it is. You fail to acknowledge that without the Akanese, your little "nation" would be dust beneath our bootheels. And yet here you go calling them terrorists. They are your saviours, the most upstanding members of your society, and you spit upon them! Shame on you for your lack of patriotism! You cannot look beyond the tip of your own nose to see the shape of the world.

Also, your history of 'first contact' was so egregiously wrong that I wonder at your society's ability to swallow such a lie. Would it not stick in your educated craw, this idea to send an ambassador in an unarmed ship to meet a people the Itani knew to be violent and warlike?

You pride yourselves on wisdom, and the Abbot was said to be the wisest among you. Either he was insanely idealistic, or you're not getting the whole story from your history books. The Abbot's ship was no unarmed transport tug. It was a diplomatic yacht with a full complement of defensive and offensive armament. This much is on the record, or... does the clergy not permit you access to the tapes?

The only reason the Serco are now able to defeat the Itani is that we the UIT shared our technology with them.

So for Teh Win, Look to the Gold.

The Union of Independent Territories: We will PWN J00

Keep your nose in your billfold where it belongs, cowardly neutral pig. The real nations are talking.

I have to agree with Jex on this one. Serco would be very screwed right now but for the UIT.

Likewise, the Itani people would be screwed had it not been for the Akanese. So it seems each side has an outside party to thank for their continued existence. ^.^

Also, the Itani and Akanese are two seperate peoples. If anything, the Akanese are closer to Serco than to the Itani in their views of the enemy.

Matriarch would like to inform you, that UIT help or no, She will quite definitely blow you out of the sky for suggesting that the Serco OWE they UIT anything.

The Serco had the money, the UIT had a product. We made a deal, we don't owe them squat.

Who are these UIT to which you refer? I only know of people occupying eastern Serco space who delude themselves with the idea that they're actually an independent nation.

So, uh, Moldy, if the Akanese are different from the Itani, why is it that there is no mention of their splitting off from the main body of the culture in the history texts? Why is it that they are always there when needed most? Why do they work to protect you when you care nothing for them?

Are you that blind? It is a badly-played ruse to reconcile a standing army with a pacifist society, nothing more.

Reagardless of your "interpretation" of the events regarding the day of first contact, you cannot deny that there were many Serco ships to a mere one Itani ship. Where was your warrior honor then? It was mere words then, as it is mere words now.

You fail to realize that there are alternative methods to achieving victory than through aggressive means. By focusing yourselves solely on a military solution, you merely hasten your own defeat.

I look forward to the day when the Serco have learned who their betters are.

< OOC: Dunno where yer goin with this ctishman... lead on!!! >

Lebermac.. why is it that Itani always seem to forget that our ships were dispatched in an attempt to trace the origins of an Itani espionage ship.
We did not know WHAT we would be facing, so it was deemed prudent to send multiple fighters.. We proceeded openly, broadcasting messages of contact with our weapons in standby and were met by an armed corvette class ship with its weapons powered up.
When we made contact it was YOUR representative that dismissed our people as inferior and refused to begin a civilized conversation with ours.

as to the numbers of ships, your 'single' ship was over 300 meters in length and outmassed all of our fighters combined by an order of 10 to 1.

Your government supports the akanese, funding them and protecting them, shrouding the whole sorry state of affairs in a blanket of secrecy and lies. If you want to know the whole truth, I invite you to visit me in the bar in latos hold, If you think you can handle the truth that is.

And only a fool or an itani would believe that the itani would have sent only one ship with their most important "religious" figure on board.

*wipes off the little flecks of spittle vIsitor had been spattering him with throughout his tirade*

What was that? Could you repeat it in a less... projectile fashion?

*hands vIsitor a small sack containing 6 paragraph breaks*

Go ahead. Put them in wherever you see fit.

yes.. please.. i gave up after 3 lines.

Spellcast said: ...why is it that Itani always seem to forget that our ships were dispatched in an attempt to trace the origins of an Itani espionage ship.
It was merely a small science exploration vessel, and the scientists that you imprisoned were as far from spies as you are from being itani, Spellcast. Would spies have been captured so easily? Would spies have agreed to brutal imprisonment rather than risk an intergalactic incident? Your very Serco "culture" is so rooted in distrust, suspicion, intrigue and violence that the very THOUGHT of peaceful exploration of the galaxy around you barely entered your tiny mechanical minds.

The small-minded Serco goes on to say: We did not know WHAT we would be facing, so it was deemed prudent to send multiple fighters...
Obviously, sending combat ships to infiltrate a thoroughly peaceful nation was your intent. Why did you send swarms of your best COMBAT ships to explore the possibility of reuniting with your long-lost bretheren.. unless your intention was it has always been with your kind... warfare and intimidation.

Spellcast openly lies: We proceeded openly, broadcasting messages of contact with our weapons in standby and were met by an armed corvette class ship with its weapons powered up.
There were no weapons on the ship and it was obvious to your pilots.The very thought of having a ship without weapons was unimagineable by your so-called "culture."

Spellcast stretches the truth even further: When we made contact it was YOUR representative that dismissed our people as inferior and refused to begin a civilized conversation with ours.
Untrue. Your representative demanded that we submit, and was in general small-minded, rude, and generally unskilled at any type of conversation beyond "GROG SMAAASH!" We waited to see what might happen, which was a mistake, as we lost many good people that day to your unprovoked attack.

Hence, the Serco are directly responsible for the creation of the Order of Akan, who are as shortsighted as yourselves at times in their singleminded mirroring of the same aggression the Serco first showed us. True, the Order of Akan has saved us from military disaster several times, and for that we thank them.

The one-dimensional Serco culture of militarism cannot hope to overcome the highly advanced technological, artistic, political and spiritual society that the Itani have built up over the years of separation from our lesser brothers. History has shown that even in military defeat, the stronger culture is the one that eventually prevails.

And in that, I am sure the Itani will claim victory.

...Although we'll bring the fight to your door first for your impudence. >:P

""Would spies have agreed to brutal imprisonment rather than risk an intergalactic incident?""

brutal imprisonment? they were held in hotel rooms because we didnt even have a prison on the skycommand station at the time, that was the old one of course.. before your akanese assasins destroyed it with a neuclear device.

""Why did you send swarms of your best COMBAT ships to explore the possibility of reuniting with your long-lost bretheren.. unless your intention was it has always been with your kind... warfare and intimidation.""

best combat ships? swarms? they were our ONLY combat ships, all 15 of them. for that matter they were mostly scavenged from museums because we had NO space program for anything other than mining a few nearby asteroid clusters. We were peacefully living on a single world, quietly working on perfecting our adaptation to the planet we now called home. Who was it again that had expanded to exert control over multiple worlds? oh.. wait.. it was the ITANI.

I will remind you that it was an ITANI.. a man by the name of akan, you've heard of him perhaps.. that started the colony wars you refer to when you imply that
""your intention was it has always been with your kind... warfare and intimidation.""

""There were no weapons on the ship "" really? then you expect us to believe that a 300 meter long ship of ANY kind in those earier days of space travel went ANYWHERE, on voyages that could take weeks or even months as there was no jump drive then, without any means of protecting itself from even the smallest asteroid cloud that might cross its path?

""Untrue. Your representative demanded that we submit""
i dont know what you are tought in that brainwash academy that the monks call an education system.. but your so called abbot didnt even have the decency to say hello before he began to accuse our pilot of "abusing" your "explorers". explorers who had detailed telecopic pictures of EVERY serco city and asteroid facility.. all on a ship specifically designed to be as hard to detect as possible. Peaceful explorers with nothing to hide... right.

""Hence, the Serco are directly responsible for the creation of the Order of Akan,"" you are severely clueless apparently..

so the itani send spies to OUR planet, refuse to speak to our representative as if he were anything other than the lowliest of servants, and plan a nuclear raid on a spacestation that has nothing more powerful than a few asteroid clearing defense mounts on it.. AND WE are to blame for a group of your society that even your precious deluded order of EO claims thrived in secret within your nation from the time of the ark...

The order of Akan is funded by your government.. I feel nothing but pity for all itani who live in a state of delusion.. happily believing the lies that your government has fostered in the name of EO.. mostly to keep the populace from realizing the thruth of what theier own government is doing.

You know nothing of our culture.. i've read copies of your precious chronicles.. about the only thing you managed to get correct was the date that contact was lost with old earth.

Hence, the Serco are directly responsible for the creation of the Order of Akan We? What a pathetic excuse for covering up your lies. Obviously you are not able to handle your own people. How do you explain your pathetic/coward attacks on our civilian population? Weak....

Just laying blame at the root of the problem, Blacklight...

Spellcast spins the truth again: Who was it again that had expanded to exert control over multiple worlds? oh.. wait.. it was the ITANI.
There is absolutely nothing threatening about peacefully expanding to other planets. Until the Itani took it upon themselves to contact the Serco, you were blissfully ignorant of a great many things. Only a Serco would take exploration as a threat.

The Serco stooge demonstrates his utter lack of perspective even further: you expect us to believe that a 300 meter long ship of ANY kind in those earier days of space travel went ANYWHERE, on voyages that could take weeks or even months as there was no jump drive then, without any means of protecting itself from even the smallest asteroid cloud that might cross its path?
Inded we did. It is important to note that you cannot fathom any vehicle that does not bristle with weaponry. What had we to fear but the stars and the black sky of possibilities? The pure hatred and warmongering of the Serco taught us that, at least for the moment, the Itani must learn to defend ourselves.

Spellcast goes further in demonstrating that his argument has no basis in reality: Peaceful explorers with nothing to hide... right. It was obvious to any fool with half of a brain (which describes most of the Serco population) that we had no weapons, otherwise, how could you have taken us by force? Your statement further demonstrates the suspicion, duplicity, and mistrust that is ingrained into every Serco from the day they begin their miserable lives.

You further spout the falsehood that the Akanese attack upon your homeworld was unprovoked. It was in retaliation for beginning the war and firing the first shots that killed our Abbott. Remember that if you care to respond, mechanical mongrel.

In their belligerence and depravity, the Serco started this war; yet the Itani shall finish it.

###

< OOC: Um, Where's this going? ctishman, help? >

There is absolutely nothing threatening about peacefully expanding to other planets.
Simply the act of expanding your empire to multiple worlds means that you are exerting your control on those worlds. Don't try to hide behind doublespeak.

Inded[sic] we did.
Then you are as foolish as you are ugly.

the Serco started this war; yet the Itani shall finish it.
In whose history? The hostility between our peoples began with the cowardly attack by Akan on unarmed colony domes.