BREAKING NEWS: ELECTION'S FINAL COUNT GIVES SPD LANDSLIDE VICTORY
EBC Europe
BRUSSELS Just past midnight of the 7th of September, the results for the 2072 general election has been called in. As analyst predicted in the weeks following up to the election, the incumbent party, Social Democratic Party of Europe, has won in a landslide. Led by Finance Minister Mattew Suri, the party rode the high approval rates generated by former PM Casteaux as he introduced Europe to the Galaxy at large and began forming closer relationships with the Asari Republics.
The SPD has now 55% of all parliament seats, and do not depend on an alliance with the left-wing party Socialist Left, who themselves have lost a good portion of their votes, mostly to the SPD, to form a new government. The left-wing party now controls 8% of the seats share, down from 13% last election. The right-wing Conservative Party came in second, with 30% of seats and the far-right Europa Firma came in last, with just 7% of the vote.
Mr. Suri has thanked the many supporters of his party and promised to "keep doing the work of Casteaux's last cabinet: sustainable growth, social inclusion and amicable relationships with alien partners". Voters, experts say, were convinced by and supported the party's central message of deepening and maintaining the welfare state in Europe and pursuing closer ties with the Asari, while keep acting as a moderator power at home.
The cabinet composition is still being discussed by SPD's inner circle. With Mr. Suri elected Prime Minister, the only other member of the Casteaux's cabinet still in activity is Ms. Julia Koopmans, who is poised to keep her job as the Minister for Extrasolar Affairs, a new position created by former Prime Minister Bianchi to coordinate foreign policy with alien civilizations. Mr. Kowalski, the Minister of Defense has expressed the desire to retire from public life following the elections, citing "old age, and wanting to do something funny with the years that I have left". Ms. Wallerstein and Ms. Nader, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Internal affairs have declined an invitation to switch parties and keep their post in the new government. Both are from the Socialist Left Party. It's speculated that PM Bianchi will assume the Ministry for Internal Affairs.
Treaty of Jakarta to be renegotiated, possible construction of dedicated UN fleet to patrol international territories.
EBC Earth Service
NEW YORK UN Secretary General Fernanda Hernandez has announced today, July 25, 2072, that parts of the landmark Treaty of Jakarta will be renegotiated, following complains about insufficient commitment by the "Big Three" to committing ships to patrol the large border human territories have with the Attican Traverse. After the Batarian withdrawn from Council Space, piracy and slavers raids against human targets have increased exponentially, mostly against ships and small outpost outside Council recognized human borders. The consortium formed by Russia, Mercosul nations, India, Japan, and South Korea, who currently rules the border systems of Shadow Sea and Kepler Verge has lodged the formal complaint with UN authorities.
Ambassador Rostov, the Russian envoy to the United Nations said that "Our fleets cannot hope to patrol the large expenses beyond our borders, not only we maintain a presence in the Solar System to defend the mainland, but we also contribute to the UN's fleets to maintain a demilitarized zone around Earth, defend Arcturus Stream and enforce freedom of movement in Relay routes, but we also have to defend Shadow Sea and Kepler Verge against terrorist elements from the Terminus. The bulk of the defense on Humanity's borders befall on us, and not the Great Powers who posses the greatest military strength."
Sources indicate that Brussels, Beijing, and Washington are, in principle, favorable to a renegotiated deal, having a significant part of their capital ships committed to Arcturus and Earth's DMZ as part of the United Nations Joint Defense Fleet and the idea of ceding control over a portion of their vessels to foreign command never been fully accepted by parts of their militaries. Beijing and Washington maintain that they too have large borders against hostile or lawless territories to defend and shifted most of the blame on Brussels. "Europe's Exodus Cluster is located deep within human territories, close to Council Space, they do not have the same security concerns as we do, protecting the whole southern border against Batarian incursions" said the American ambassador to the UN, Mr. Steve Miller. Brussels retorted that "Europe commits most capital ships than anyone else to the defense of Arcturus, we have three battleships stationed at the system, and another two in reserve at the DMZ in Sol. American and Chinese forces need only to commit three capital ships to the same functions at all times. Besides, we do not posses the same number of cruisers and destroyers, the ships most capable of patrol duties, as the other two powers" said a spokesman of the European government.
Treaty of Jakarta: Amendments (2073)
The treaty has hitherto proposed that UN fleets, compose of ships from member nations, formed the patrols guaranteeing free navigation to all human vessels in systems with a relay. This provision is now void. Each country, or countries, in possession of a Relay System are therefore obligated to provide right of passage to all human ships, except in cases of war.
A fully owned fleet for the United Nations shall be procured in the following years, therefore member nations are no longer required to provide ships to fulfill the treaty's obligations once the International Fleet is ready. This fleet will include no less than EIGHT capital ships, no less than TWENTY-FIVE cruisers and no less than FORTY destroyers. Designs and builders are to be determined by an international panel of experts. Funding for construction and maintenance of the fleet is to be secured by the following criteria: Nations with stellar holdings are expected to contribute with 2% of their GDP per annum, and a variable rate of 0.6% of colonial GDP per system controlled. Nations not in possession of stellar holdings are expected to contribute wit 1% of their GDP per annum. Nations possessing military ships can voluntarily cede vessels to the UN to alleviate their quotas.
As for the manning and command of the fleet, personnel will be recruited directly by the UN, and if voluntarily recruitment fails to fulfill all needed positions, member states are expected to contribute personnel from their own militaries. All UN affiliated personnel will be honorably discharged from their national militaries, if appliable, and prohibited of joining, or providing consulting services to, national militaries for TEN years after the end of their contract.
The UN's fleet mission has been altered: To provide security to the entrance of Sol at Acturus Stream, alongside the Arcturus Space-Fortress, to guarantee the demilitarize zone around Earth, which currently encompasses the area between Mars and Venus and to patrol the immediate vicinity of the Attican Traverse thar borders all human territories against pirate activity.
Addendum 1: currently fleet composition of space faring nations as of 2072
· FEDERATION OF EUROPE:
o 9x Conqueror-Class Battleship (approx. 1100m in length)
o 4x Verdun-Class Battlecruiser (approx. 1000m in length)
o 36x London-Class Cruiser (approx. 500m in length)
o 74x Seine-class Destroyers (approx. 300m in length)
· PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
o 10x Deng Xiaoping-Class Ballistic Battlecruiser (approx. 800m in length)
o 30x Yangtze-Class Cruiser (approx. 600m in length)
o 84x Hubei-Class Destroyers (approx. 340m in length)
· UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
o 14x Barack Obama-Class Supercarrier (approx. 1400m in length)
o 24x Los Angeles-Class Cruiser (approx. 700m in length)
o 96x Zumwalt-Class Destroyers (approx. 350m in length)
· OTHERS
o 73x Various Cruisers
o 267x Various Destroyers
o 400+ x Corvettes and Missile Ships
White House's Situation Room, Washington, D.C, June 2074
The National Security Council waited for their president in a tense mood. Batarian pirates were taking more and more colonist looking for new opportunities outside human borders. In the past month 36 ships and 6 outposts were attacked on the Terminus and Attican Traverse, with an estimated 2845 people taken to be enslaved. The problem was hitting closer to American territories with each attack. As it stood, everyone thought it was a matter of time until the Batarian raided the far-flung colony of Amaterasu, at the Armstrong Nebula. A garden world with mild temperatures, it was ideal to become a farming colony and a retirement home to those who got tired of same old Earth in their old days. It had a decent population at close to 3 million people, somewhere evenly divided between new families looking for a fresh start as farmers, and old couples looking to retire somewhere warm.
And the time had come. Amaterasu was under attack. The news of the raid was transmitted as soon as the first Batarian ships exited the Relay, to prevent a debacle like Shanxi, where communications were lost for days. Now, it was a matter of forming up a response. As the president arrived, everyone stood, and sat right back when she waved her hand, dismissing them. President Judy Menezes was the first Latina to ever become president, wrestling the White House back from the Republicans as Brown's second term came to an end, much because the apathy of the American government, when compared to its rivals, during first contact had deflated the national pride the people still had from back when they used to rule the world.
"Ladies and gentlemen", said Menezes, "I believe everyone here is informed of the situation currently occurring in Amaterasu. The alert came just 1 hour ago, and we lost communications with the system only 30 minutes ago". She took a pause and looked to her ensemble staff. Directing her gaze to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, she asked. "What kind of assets do we have in the region? And how long would they take to respond"
Vice-Admiral McKiney rose to answer the question. "Madam president, we have the Task Force Carter ready at the Aldrin System, but since the colony is in the Vamshi System, it will take approximately 24 hours for our ships to arrive"
The president sighed, why did Brown think it was a good idea to colonize a planet so distant from the main system of that nebula was beyond her. Ships concentrated on Mass Relay junctions and traveled at low FTL speeds or even subluminal speeds everywhere else. "How could a slaver flotilla pass through the Armstrong Relay unnoticed by our forces there, Admiral?"
"Madam, latest intelligence suggest that they didn't came through the Armstrong relay, instead, they travelled through the galactical medium from either the Voyager Cluster or the Nubian Expense"
The Secretary of Defense, Mark Chen, seemed impressed with the information. "But a voyage such as that would take at least a month and a half! There's no place for them to discharge their cores if they are travelling at FTL speeds"
The Director of National Intelligence answered him. "It's possible, because they'd be travelling most of the time along the arms of the galaxy, plenty of unknow planets to discharge their drives. They must have charted the region"
"How they got there is useless to our current situation, we need to know what we can do to stop them from taking everyone from the colony!" Vice President Taylor almost screamed at the men discussing technicalities at such a moment.
"It does matter, Mr. Vice President, if they are to escape using the same tactic, our efforts to give chase and get our people back would be severely hampered. If they are hoping to be able to fool us and use the Relay, then we need to keep part of our force guarding it." Answered the Vice-Admiral.
"So, we have two options: send in all of our task force so that in the event of them heading towards dark space, we have more ships to cover a wider area, or keep part of our forces in Gagarin, hoping they would try and jump through the Relay?" asked the president.
"Pretty much it, madam President", answered the Director
"And Vice Admiral, what kind of forces do we expect to be facing in this attack?"
"Standard slaver formation, ma'am, several barges, one or two frigates and a couple of corvettes, nothing our boys and girls can't handle, even if we split the force"
"And what forces do we have at our disposal?"
"Standard Carrier Task Force formation, ma'am, one super carrier, four cruisers and twelve destroyers"
"So, divert part of the task force to Amaterasu, and keep the other part near the Relay, I don't see a better option"
"Aye ma'am, I'll be sending the Carter alongside two cruiser and six destroyers to intercept, the rest will stay put in Armstrong System"
"It's done then, let us pray that the colonists can hang on until help arrives"
A/N: I highly doubt that China would have a dude named "Willians" as one of their generals so… no Willians curse from First Contact. But I like Ash, so she's showing up! Just with a different background.
As for the number of capital ships humanity has: the Treaty of Farixen limits "dreadnoughts" by the size of their main gun, that's the reason humanity made carriers in cannon and got away with it. None of the human's capital ships use spinal mounted guns, so they are technically outside the treaty's restrictions. Various council races are also happy to ignore for now the growing power of their new found allies.
Also, I'll use the author's notes to post little sidenotes to the universe. Bits of trivia, general information and such that don't necessarily fit the main story. They'll have the same format as "in-universe" media: news stories, scholarly articles etc.
Breaking News: First non-human, European natural citizen is born
EBC Europe
PARIS Earlier today the first non-human natural citizen of Europe was born. Camille Villenueve-Menoris is the asari daughter of Ms. Clementine Villenueve, 38, and Ms. Rissa Menoris, 372. Ms. Villenueve met Ms. Menoris in Paris six years ago, as the latter began working in the asari consulate to France. The couple married two years later. Sources in parliament say that lawmakers are scrambling to revise laws pertaining to childhood protection, legal age for driving, drinking etc. and more to account for age differences between humans and other species. Pundits say that electoral rules may be changed in the future, as the possibility of an asari, or krogan, citizen becoming Prime Minister for centuries cannot be ruled out.
The mayor of Paris has hailed the news as living – literally – proof of Europe's motto since the days of the European Union: Unity in Diversity. "She's a Parisian and a European citizen, no matter her race, she'll have all the rights and duties as I myself have" said the mayor in an interview just outside the hospital in the VIe arrondissement, where he stopped earlier today to congratulate the new parents.
Although she was the first non-human citizen to be born in Europe, little Camille is by no means the first alien to receive citizenship. Her mother is legally a European citizen since her marriage with Ms. Villeneuve and thousands of others have gained citizenship since first contact was established in 2066.