Posted Aug. 26, 2022, 11:59 p.m. by Civilian Nicholas James (Director, Colonial Intelligence Agency) (Sage Pennington)
Posted by Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in Attack at City Center: Four Days Later - Protests (Governor’s Tower) // TAG CIA, Police, CCDA, Governor, and anyone interested
Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Police Commissioner) in Attack at City Center: Four Days Later - Protests (Governor’s Tower) // TAG CIA, Police, CCDA, Governor, and anyone interested
Posted by Civilian Eryn Romanov (Colonial Intelligence Agent) in Attack at City Center: Four Days Later - Protests (Governor’s Tower) // TAG CIA, Police, CCDA, Governor, and anyone interested
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Built at the heart of OED’s Colony, the Governor’s Tower was the main symbol of gubernatorial power in OED. Surrounded by Sloane’s Square’s beautiful park, the place was mostly quiet during the afternoon, the only people around being families having picnics in the lawns, people coming in and out of the many shops, and tourists happily enjoying some well deserved time off.That was until a small crowd began to form at the main gate of the governmental building. People holding signs that ranged from “Out with Corrupt Hyrushi”, “No to the Energy Shield”, “Bring Back the Dome”, and “The Holloways Must Go” gathered on the square, scaring off the ones that had been unaware of the news cycle, and gathering many others interested in what was happening.
As the crowd grew, so did the chants and yells, until they became very audible inside the governmental building.
The Protesters
OOC: coming from here https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf6/oedv/posts/183799/
Eryn walked out the front door of the government tower scanning the crowd as she went. It was habit always watch, always suspect, always have an exit plan. There was something not right about the way people were moving about Sloane’s Square. The pattern was wrong and then she caught the first inklings of unrest and mob mentality. Individuals were smart but in groups they were very stupid and easily led. She caught sight of a few of the signs and mutterings about the news. Pulling out her personal comm she made a call. A secure line to the wearhouse. “Yes this is Mrs Lowery please tell my brother I am waiting for him at the govt tower to sign the dead on our property? Yes right now, he promised to be here.” The. She closed the comm. Simple enough, believable to any who over heard, and James should understand enough.
Then another encrypted message to Vonn. Protest, possible mob, use discretion. Then she turned and made her way back in the bldg. She walked up to the security desk, showing her ID. “There is a protest starting and there is some unrest ong them. Follow your protocols.” She didn’t wait and returned to the governor’s office. She didn’t wait to be asked, Hyrushi could stare her down later. She looked at the receptionist, “Lock the door. No one in unless cleared by me or the governor.” She was stern, commanding, and frightening enough in her movements and tone to get an immediate reaction. She walked into the office proper and looked right at Hyrushi. “Have you seen the news? We have a protest starting, and some of them aren’t about peaceful demonstration.” She made her way around the room to the windows, her gaze scanning any area with a clear shot through the windows into the office. “I am sure you aren’t one to hide, but I would really prefer you away from the windows.”
Romanov (body guard till the muscle arrives)
Hyrushi was indeed standing at the window. “The windows are fourty-four stories up and rated against ship-based energy weapons, Agent. I think I’ll be fine here.” He then turned around and started walking to the door. “Unfortunately, I won’t be staying here.” He tapped something into his desk interface and then walked out of the office and looked at the receptionist. “Have security activate the holo-vid equipment and patch it into the colony emergency communication network. And set up a podium on the front steps.” Doing that meant that whatever transpired would be broadcast live across all comms in the colony and the orbiting facilities and vessels.
“These people fired a missile at a moving shuttle from a roof top. Higher than 44 floors and not an energy weapon. Don’t be so sure, Governor.” Eryn followed on his heels. From a body guard stand point this was a nightmare. From her personal perspective she was grinning, inside. Good for him.
Kenzo moved to the elevator and took the car down to the ground floor. He stopped just long enough to make sure his tie was straight and then stepped out the front doors to the hastily erected podium. The chants and yells raised at his appearance, but Hyrushi seemed nonplussed. Holding his hands up, he gestured for quiet. It took a long, tense moments, but eventually people quieted down enough for him to talk.
Eryn slipped out the farthest side door and into the crowd as he straightened his tie. As she moved she listened and felt her way through, her gaze scanning, looking for anyone who might not quite belong or might be creating this chaos. She pulled a scarf out of her pocket and tied it in a fancy knot around her neck, and her jacket came off and was folded tight and put into her bag. She pulled the pins out of her hair and ruffled it into a mess, and then ‘Eryn’ disappeared into the crowd, joining in their chants. Always within distance or a clear dash to the governor.
“People of Oed V. I must say I am surprised to see you here… more so in that what you are screaming about has no proof that I know of. You are obviously upset, and I want to help… but to do that I have to understand. You say I am corrupt… please tell me what I have done to lead to believe this. You are saying no to the ‘Energy shield’. What shield are you talking about, and why do you want it gone? You say ‘Bring back the dome’. To do that is possible, but we will have to move out over half of our current residents. We have had much growth since the dome came down. A day, by the way, that was celebrated by the largest celebration in colonial history. No one was protesting then… so why protest now?”
Hyrushi, Gov.
Romanov
There were boos and shouts at the end of every question the Governor asked, but it was clear that the mass of people had no organized response.
That was until someone with a megaphone shouted. “YOU ACT LIKE YOU DON’T KNOW KENZO!” The Governor’s first name clearly used as a sign of disrespect. “YEAH!” The voices of the crowd joined in.
“YOU ARE LETTING OUR COLONY BE GOVERNED BY A WEAPONS MANUFACTURING COMPANY!”
“OUT WITH THE HOLLOWAYS! OUT WITH THE HOLLOWAYS!” The crowd chanted.
“HOW MUCH ARE THEY PAYING YOU, KENZO?”
“YEAH!” The crowd responded once more.
“WE WERE CELEBRATED BECAUSE WE BELIEVED IN YOU! WE BELIEVED IN THE ENERGY FIELD! WE BELIEVED IN A SAFER COLONY!”
“SAFER COLONY! SAFER COLONY! SAFER COLONY!” The crowd was clearly getting more and more enthusiastic.
“AND NOW WE SEE IT WAS ALL A LIE!”
“LYING KENZO! LYING KENZO!”
“YEAH!” The voice on the megaphone approved of the chants of the crowd, joining in with them momentarily before continuing. “YOU LIED TO US! IT WAS NOTHING BUT A PLOT BETWEEN YOU AND THE HOLLOWAYS THAT ARE NOW ABLE TO BYPASS THE ENERGY SHIELD WITH THEIR PROJECTILE WEAPONS! HOW MUCH MONEY DID YOU GET FOR IT???”
The crowd chanted. “CORRUPT KENZO, CORRUPT KENZO!!!”
“THE DOME IS THE ONLY THING THAT WILL KEEP US SAFE! BRING BACK THE DOME AND OUT WITH THE HOLLOWAYS!”
The crowd shouted enthusiastically. “OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT!”
As they brandished their signs and shouted louder and louder, a shoe arched from the crowd, flying directly at the podium where Governor Hyrushi was standing. The masses pushed forward trying to advance.
Amongst the protesters, Eryn would be able to feel anger, hatred, and confusion coming from the people around her. Thoughts of revolt and upheaval, and a will to change the status quo filled the airwaves. With the exception of a small ‘clearing’: a few people that didn’t seem to think the same, or even believe in those same actions. One of them was holding a megaphone and had been speaking to Hyrushi, steering the crowd.
The Protesters
Eryn felt her way through, asking “What’s going on?” “He makes sense,” “No that’s wrong.” “I’m not a sheep!” That one startled a few protestors into being quiet and thinking about that, and what did they know vs what the media said. The one with the megaphone was annoying, but his mind was clearly being led. Not necessarily by telepathy but someone had manipulated him. Megaphone was hot headed and a loud mouth, but a sheep. She moved closer to where he was standing, but not in their space, trying to identify who was pulling megaphone’s strings.
The unrest hit a peak just as the shoe flew, but Eryn wasn’t close enough to stop it. Hyrushi looked calm and in control, and she would have to trust he knew what to do. She caught a glimpse and a wave of confidence from just inside the building and turned her attention back to the crowd.
As the shoe flew directly at the Governor’s face his hand, moving in seemingly slow-motion, simply caught the projectile and he set it slowly and deliberately on the podium.
“Projectile weapons bypassing… oh you poor misguided people.” Hyrushi said and took a deep breath. As the crowd pushed forward, Hyrushi looked over his shoulder and nodded once.
Out of the Government building came the contingent of on-duty police officers and Tower Security… and a dozen armored but not visibly armed Klingons.
Hyrushi looked at the crowd and pushed up the volume of his mic. “This. Will. Not. Escalate. Further.* Everyone, please calm yourselves.” and waited for the volume of the statement and the presence of the security detail to take effect.
While not pacified, but no longer escalating in their actions, Hyrushi addressed the crowd. “Citizens of Oed V. You have told something that is simply not true. The planetary shield was never a defensive shield. Not now, not ever. It sole purpose is to contain the artifical atmosphere… the very air you are breathing and using to shout right now… until such time as our terraforming operations can create an atmosphere of their own. And all of you know this. You voted for it. You have worked tirelessly, day in and day out, to make this a reality. Ladies and gentlemen… I look out on this grand testament to the passion that we all have for this place and I see miners… terraforming operators… shuttle mechanics… generator technicians… I see all if these people who have invested their time.. sweat… blood… their very lives… to making this planet whole again. And I also see all those people willing to throw all of that away for… what? Unjustified anger? Unfounded science? That is so… heartbreaking. To see all if your hard work trying to be usurped by someone pushing an agenda on you without you even knowing. It’s infuriating. Because you deserve better. You deserve to be treated with respect, not as sheep.” Hyrushi looked around the crowd and found the face with the megaphone. “You.” and pointed directly at the figure. “You, with the megaphone. Yes, you. Come here. Come talk to me. I want to know what you are upset about. Why you think this is some kind of conspiracy to… to what? I certainly don’t understand. So come up here. Explain it to me in front of everyone here. If your message is so important you would try to rally these people to this point, surely you want a platform to say your message. Come up here. Talk to me. Let’s find the answers we both want. I promise you, in front of everyone here and everyone watching, you will not be in trouble for speaking your mind.”
Hyrushi, Gov.
He was good, Eryn would give him that. Nothing he said was a lie either. The media and whoever was pulling their strings was manipulating the masses. Misinformation just on the side of ‘not quite right’ was the easiest way to control a large group. Enough truth mixed with just a tad of false and chaos would reign.
At that moment, Eryn revived a comm in her earpiece. It was Vonn, although where they were was a mystery. “The one with the megaphone isn’t the instigator. Human male, late 20’s or early 30’s, dark hair. Brown leather jacket and tan pants. He’s the one feeding the megaphone holder’s fury. Sending pictures to Police Commisioner, CCDA, and CIA HQ now.”
Vonn, CIA
Eryn scanned the crowd and spotted him, and she quickly sent back, “Spotted him. I’ll stay with him.” She made her way over to the group, stumbling and fighting her way through to make it seem the crowd was pressing in on her and she was trying to find a safe place to stand from the mass. “Is it true, has Hyrushi really betrayed us?” Disbelief and just enough fear in her voice, she’d be easy to convince. She watched megaphone, as if she thought he was the leader, whispering out loud to herself, “Go…go on, show him he’s wrong. We want the truth.” Her whispers were heard by those around her, the innocent, the sheep, and they too took up the encouragement. Urging the puppet leader to take Hyrushi’s offer, to get them the truth. The crowd quieted remembering how often Hyrushi had listened to the people and was led and advised by him. Yes they wanted answer, the truth, right now.
Eryn, CIA
Joseph walked slowly from the main entrance to the Government tower, He’d given quiet orders to his officers to prepare for the crowd as soon as it formed. In plain view of the crowd there where three police hovercars hanging around and several uniformed officers around the Governors platform, of course the damned man hadn’t informed him before making a public display, but then of course he’d not met a decent politician with an ounce of self preservation in them. He received a report regarding some true instigator and that bothered him, this all felt off. He tapped his wrist console a few times granting his RRU permission to set up around the tower to respond to any potential armed threat.
His knee protested the rapid walk as he made his way behind the governor. Joseph was one of the most recognizable faces in the Colony government, having been Commissioner for longer than most others, even serving as Governor for a time, and his presence behind the Governor could lend some weight behind his words.
Commissioner Karlson
Hyrushi felt the presence behind him and let his mind reach out slightly. Ah, Commisioner Karlson. he thought and turned around long enough to look at the man and say “Thank you, Commissioner. Your presence is much appreciated.” and he turned back to the crowd.
Hyrushi, Gov
Nicholas passed gently into the tower, not making any fuss of his presence, but not concealing it either. Kenzo’s remarks were working. For the time being. He positioned himself where he could get to the Governor quickly, if something went wrong. He spied Eryn in the crowd. Good work, Agent. one corner of his mouth curled in a slight smile.
-Nicholas James, CIA Director
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