81 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
81 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
We, your friends and archivists, wish you to know: This message was
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originally transmitted over QEC, early in the morning of Friday,
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September 24, 2421, via the "anon.penet.fi" anonymous resender. We
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present it here without further comment.
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~
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TO THE EARTH FLOTILLA NOW CRIMINALLY BOMBARDING AND OCCUPYING MARS
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For decades now, Earth's imperial dominion over Mars and the Belt
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has produced a constant train of abuse, injustice, and
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atrocity. You have enslaved us. You have exploited us. You have
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continually alienated our labor in the service of a regime which
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has proven by its actions that it no longer deserves to live, if
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indeed it ever did.
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In your unquestioned and unquestionable power, you have grown
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complacent. You have permitted us a laughable measure of what you
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consider liberty. Even as you regard us with the lazy contempt of
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empire for its victims, you have withdrawn your attention,
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preferring the elaborate games and perversions of elitism to
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anything resembling concern for the maintenance of your power.
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Even among your military class, the rot has set in and sunk
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deep. Your captains regard Ceres Station and other Belt postings as
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punishment duty, and they are not wrong to do so. Your military
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elite has settled into the habit of sending us their least capable
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officers, their least ready ships. While here, those officers and
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those ships treat us with the contempt their masters teach
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them. They know we are not their equals, in might or in rectitude,
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for they are after all our masters, and we merely their servants to
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be policed. As best they can, they ignore us entirely, again as
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their masters have taught them.
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They can no longer ignore us. Nor will you.
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We have captured your Marine garrison on Ceres. We have destroyed
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the frigate ENS St. Louis and seized the cruiser ENS Brooklyn, both
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formerly of Ceres Station. At a single stroke, we have decapitated
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Earth's military presence in the Belt.
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We intend soon to properly declare ourselves among the independent
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nations of the Solar System. But we have no time for such niceties
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just now. Our brothers and sisters on Mars remain, for now, under
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the bootheel of Earth. We are coming to their aid.
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TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS ON MARS: We know how they are killing
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you. We know the desperation you must feel in this moment. But hold
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fast, comrades! We are coming. When we arrive, we will smash the
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Earthers in orbit. We will smash the Earthers on the surface. We
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are coming to relieve you. Defend your domes and caverns, husband
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your strength and your weapons, and hold fast! We are coming. We
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will be there soon to help you free yourselves, as we have done.
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TO THE FLOTILLA OCCUPYING MARS: We warn you once, and once only:
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Recover your troops from the surface and depart Mars orbit at
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once. You are in orbit, we are not: We have the advantages of
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position and velocity. If you do not heed this warning, we will
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fire into and destroy your ships as soon as our weapons range on
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you, and before yours can range on us.
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You may doubt our capacity to do this. You may think that, even if
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we are not lying, we have only one cruiser, and you thus outnumber
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us. We warn you against such foolishness. We of the Belt have more
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weapons than you know. Underestimate us at your peril. If we find
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you in Mars orbit when we arrive, you will learn of our
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weapons. You will not have much time to gain wisdom from the
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lesson.
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We do not offer you this warning out of kindness. You have for all
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the decades of our servitude been the mailed fist of Earth, the
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hand that held the whip that scarred our backs. You have oppressed
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us, and we hope very much you will give us the opportunity to repay
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you in kind for all you have done. But we do not wish the birth of
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our new nation to be attended by unnecessary bloodshed. So we warn
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you, this once:
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Leave Mars, or we will kill you all.
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You have twenty-six hours to comply.
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