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When the Independence Alliance came to form, it was agreed on that the best way to settle across the galaxy was to establish themselves accordingly to have the most influence that they could. They did not dare risk a conflict with the Interplanetary Forces, their numbers too few.

They had managed to grow sufficiently in recent years, and held enough of people's support to manage their own army. Their technology and training were backed by some of the leading scientists, commanders and mechanics, at par with what the IPF was capable of.

General Sion had been there to see it all grow, and he was glad that all of the things they had yet done, war wasn't one of them. War was still heavily debated as to whether or not the death involved was really worth it for a victory.

He had returned to one of their main bases after his interview. As much as there were few that travelled along to hear a rebel give his perspective over radio, he knew there would be at least one person who would listen. Whether they were swayed towards or against the Independence Alliance, was not for him to decide.

"General? Did your interview go well?" A feline spoke up as he followed behind him, on his way to a meeting. He was slightly shorter than the general, but considering even that, it was still pretty tall nonetheless.

"I'd like to say yes, but it's difficult to find ratings when you haven't got many listeners."

"Oh, that's unfortunate."

A quick glance over to his ID card noted that his name was Marcus Spilde; he wasn't part of the main military operation, but one of the media advisers. "Well Mr. Spilde, give the word to your bosses that though it was a poor choice of coverage, the message was delivered."

"I'll do that. I have to agree that sending you out to do a broadcast in a poorly reached area wasn't the best of ideas."

The cat chuckled to himself and explained himself when Sion stared. "I had insisted on doing this billboard presentation and was thinking about a few of the designs. Don't mind that though, the designs were to say the least, not at all tasteful."

"You'll have to show me later," the General smiled. "What else would you do with those designs?"

Sion soon left the cat's side, and found himself before the meeting room, where everyone else had been seated, save for his own and a few others. A snow leopard stood to welcome the General in. "It's good that you've arrived safely, Sion."

"Good? Mind elaborating to me, General Banks?"

Banks nodded his head. "Major General Dallas is currently not present due to an IPF sanctioned ambush during an interview. She only sustained minor wounds thankfully, and is currently making recovery on base."

"I see. So, what's on the agenda today?"

"Intelligence reports. The IPF have apparently sent a number of documents by hand." He tapped a few keys, and a report projected back onto a screen. "Agent Waters suspected something was amiss about the recent reveal of the hypercharge drive a few days ago, but it was only recently that we can confirm that the IPF have outsourced the work to a company that grew up underneath them."

The next slide were two people he hadn't seen before, a wolf and a Shiba Inu. "Carlos Jarrod and Taylor Lawrencev. These two are the drivers leading the delivery. Neither seem to hold any particular side in regards to these recent tensions, so that keeps our options rather open. They happen to be making use of the hypercharge drive to Wikipaw Publishing, which we have already suspected of being an IPF driven cover story."

The screen flickered off and the lights faded on again. "We need to discuss how we're going to deal with the situation."

There were a few ideas thrown around, including the obvious few ones that could be imagined up just for the sake of formality. Shooting what was essentially a civilian vessel wasn't the best idea they ever had. Of course, they could attempt to intercept, but he knew that their engines were much better. Try to convince them to hand it over? It could work, but that was really unpredictable. Attempt to take the documents from the destination? No, they would most likely have been scattered and hidden among all the stuff that it already had. Trying to siege what was most likely an IPF base would be suicidal.

"I don't think any of these will work," said Sion. "There are too many variables at play here, and we don't know what will happen."

The issue went unresolved, and they were all dismissed as they realised that it was a matter that would require plenty of thought to think about. The Independence Alliance would not make a decision that was uncertain if they could help it.

* * *

Sion could feel the tension of the moment, like there was electricity flowing through the air. Restless, he found himself unable to sleep. He questioned not about if change was possible, he wondered if they could bear with it. He pondered then how others in the course of history had thought of it.

How should one think about what they were doing, a revolution? Not in the useless pretence of a flimsy new piece of technology, but an actual revolution, to fight for what one believed? No one had yet faced such an event yet, except all those years ago back when civilisation of Earth had only just begun, with merely the colonisation of other countries, slave labour, convicts...

The Golden Retreiver gave up his efforts to sleep, and made his way from the bed to his computer, where he looked up at the latest news. Latest news only travelled as quickly as transmitters could send them to the agencies, so all stories by standard always had a timestamp of transmission date to allow them to be viewed in a more accurate timeframe. Sion preferred just to have that displayed on screen rather than sorting them like that, since other stories inadvertently got pushed down or lost as a result.

"Let's see," he spoke to himself, before realising he had said that out loud, instinctively covering his muzzle with his paws in embarrassment. He hadn't been much of a social person up until he had ended up getting involved with the Independence Alliance, and for the most part, he only had himself to converse with, to bounce ideas off of.

The automatic news filters he had set up had cleared up most of the typical drivel that came from the many thousands that had sprung up over the last five centuries. Still, there always had to be a new way of saying the same things over, so once again he cleaned it all away.

'LONG STANDING PIRATES CAPTURED' was one of the only articles that had survived the pruning, and because of that deserved a look at. When Sion looked at it, he was rather surprised to see that it was indeed as he had thought. The crew of Lion's Rage had been apprehended and brought in when a civilian was attacked a few light years off the recommended pathways, and another civilian vessel had come to their rescue.

There weren't any details beyond it however, so returned to his first task, an attempt to put on some ambient sounds so to get himself calmed down and resting. Of course, he knew that it would eventually come. He couldn't remain awake forever.

* * *

Ruth watched as the tracking beacon was rediscovered by her computer. Lost for a few days, but it looked like their engines had decided not to vaporise the crew and cargo. She dialled on her communicator, finding Anderson among the list of contacts.

It took a few moments before he answered. "Ruth? What is it?"

"Just calling to confirm that this big job you got didn't just explode."

"Well, we've certainly got an edge over the competition now!" He yelled, making her pull the receiver end away from her ear, wincing at the sting. "Not so loud, my ears are sensitive!"

"Oh, sorry about that. But that's great to hear," Anderson beamed. Ruth hadn't heard the old guy being so happy about something, ever. He was sometimes glad, sometimes disappointed, but never this ecstatic before. Of course, she had to be the one to spoil the mood, if only slightly.

"I'm also calling to say that I'll need the next few days off," she said. "That being said, I'm attending a wedding, in case you wanted to know."

Anderson didn't take much offence at all. "Oh, go ahead! I'm glad to know that everyone's doing well, so you just let me find someone to call in then!"

Anderson hung up at the other end, glad to know that they were doing alright. His worries for the moment were no longer present, they were fine. He knew however that the feeling would end, and that he would eventually worry again, but for that moment, he just held it high in the company's history.

Timing happened to be great as a familiar shape stepped into his office uninvited, Faren. His face frowned only slightly, if only due to the fact that he hadn't heard any updates since he had set the job and that people in Intelligence were getting a little riled at the fact there was little to no information at all about it.

"Oh, Faren! What brings you here now?"

"I'd like to know how things are progressing, Anderson. A few of the people in my department are getting... unsettled to say the least."

"Oh, that sounds rather unpleasant," the wolf said, frowning slightly. "Still, we've made quite a bit of progress. They're approximately half way between Earth and Star System Arcturus."

"That's good news to our ears, then," said Farren. "I don't think the rebels can even think about trying to outrun your bunch. Way too fast for them to handle."

Faren's eyes stared into Anderson's, and the wolf froze up. "We're in trying times. The Interplanetary Forces, the Independence Alliance, whoever it may be... It's all very tough times. I'm counting on you of all people to avoid giving them a reason to start an attack."

Anderson laughed it off. "Oh, you don't have to count on me. Just trust that Lawrencev and Jarrod do their job well. With what I've seen, they've got this covered."

* * *

"...I sometimes wonder whether the cause we're fighting for is truly the way things were meant to be. Lives have not yet been lost, except those of the innocent, but can we really change that? The simple thing to say is that there is no way a war like this can have a good outcome. Innocent people will suffer more as a result. We will clash with the Interplanetary Forces, yet for the sake of everyone, let there be one decisive victor. Either win in a landslide, or fall with grace, okay?"

Antonia Ordman sighed as her waveforms were recorded at the terminal she sat at.

"It sucks when you have a husband that happens to be fighting in the Independence Alliance. Well, when it happens to be me. Guess I'll speak to you later, since we don't get much time together any more."

With that, she ended the recording to let the computer send her message. It was a struggle to live, trying to live up to her role as an activist to end the tensions that continued to grow, yet have a husband who was actively doing the exact opposite. The person that she had once married, was Sion really that same person? Maybe would have been her answer. She wasn't stupid to think that people didn't change at all, given reason and time, maybe.

It seemed like a moment of silence was there, but there she was, still working her day job in the local news department. The fox had grown her reputation over time with her opinion pieces, and though she hadn't quite gotten to the point where she knew that she would make it in the big leagues, she knew that with her attempts at dissecting an issue and attempting to justify a perspective, she knew it would only be a matter of time. The onset of war however did worry her much. Guessing what the result would turn out only hurt.

She had once attempted at writing a piece to justify the Independence Alliance's position to declare war, but when she looked back at her first draft, she knew that there was no way she could do so. Not when she knew.

Antonia went back to work, the buzzing of the press around her.

* * *

Another meeting was called, bringing together many of the members from the Independence Alliance. Unlike the previous meeting, officers from most of the ranks were extended an invitation to hold open discussion on what would be done.

General Sion couldn't help feel a little nervous at facing everyone. These people had all joined, some with personal experiences involving the brutality of the IPF, others in hearing of these horrid stories. Stories of torture, unfair imprisonment, false accusations upon layers of evidence that was made up, and the fact that none had ever admitted any wrong doing.

"To bring everyone up to date with our discussions, Major General Dallas was injured in an IPF ambush, but will be returning to service during this week. Concerns were raised over allowing General Sion to undergo a interview himself, but no ill has befallen him. Now with regards to intelligence, we've received a report of the IPF sending intelligence out via a courier company. A few options were presented, but were not determined to truly make an impact without risking lives and reputation. General Sion, if you may present the purpose of today's discussion."

All eyes were upon him now. "Today's board is to come to a consensus on what to do about this intelligence that we've heard of. With all options inconclusive as they were yesterday, the audience was expanded so that we may take a position on this issue as a whole. Now, you should have received an official message on your devices to register yourself to make a vote yesterday, and have done so accordingly."

He paused briefly so as to fully observe the situation. "With me, I hold the results. So here they are..."