|Viraliv|[20-14]Sliue-Ececs|Ora’s Eye|Tepi|Tepi-3|

11,163,955,738cy

Terraformer Station ‘Favala’, Low Tepi-3 Orbit

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#Medentis Faction Conference

Many individuals sit around a table in a dark, yet luxurious room. In any other outings they would be the center of attention however, in thai situation all of the attention is elsewhere. Their attention is instead captivated by a commanding figure on the other side of a large screen, the leader of the Medentis faction. Few have met them in person, and only one person knows their true identity. Everyone present is masked, more so for the tradition of the group but it also serves as a last line of protection against any unwelcome elements trying to get the next hottest scoop. The topic of discussion is the most recent decision of the government to allow political parties. The mood is generally jovial but also determined as this is what they had wanted since their formation, and with this they can move onto the next step of their plans.

The faction may be mysterious and dark, willing to manipulate the civilian population and use the military to defend its interest. But by no means is it intending to harm the colony, simply put their goal is to exercise their beliefs on the colony. The beliefs that they think will benefit the colony the best, in the long run even if in the short run it’s a detriment. To do that, the best way was democratically. Although if democracy was not on the table, for instance if the Captaincy decided to intertwine with the government, they would simply rouse the people and military personnel to their side.

Luckily it seems that this captain, Captain Simiffin, is worthy of a more diplomatic approach; at least until proven otherwise. Indeed, while war is a speedier way into power it does come with the risk, not to mention that without popular support it would go against the beliefs of the Medentis faction and cause its plausible dissolution. Personally the leader of the faction would prefer working within a political environment and being elected by the people. A way that promotes little to no bloodshed and something that the people decide, they understand politics as well and don’t shy away from coercion or other shady practices; an element impossible to remove from any system involving biologics.

As such, the leader is in full support of the recent decision led on by the Captain. The leader’s decision was swiftly made and the followers were just as swift in following those plans to the letter. The formation of the political party comes first, an easy yet important first step. The vote was an almost assured thing, the amount of followers they have under them even as an underground faction is enough to push them past the criteria to become a full fledged party. All that is required now is for the votes to actually happen. However, their aspirations are far more ambitious. With the amount of careful effort and practice, a simple political party lost amongst the throngs of the other parties will not do; no, they want to become the political party that the government relies on the most. And to do that would require the people.

It only took a few days for a solid foundational plan to be written up, quickly approved through faction leadership, and come into action. The followers of the faction rushed out into the early morning to spread the word of the party, its ambitions, and the important people behind it all. Except for the faction's leader who remains unknown. In fact while the party was being born, they never planned to kill the faction. The leader decided that it was best to have a public and private face, a way that allows the Medentis to attack in two different directions. The party would be the face of the movement, not allowing themselves to do anything that might ruin their reputation. That would be the job of the faction, to do all of the dirty dealings necessary. And should the faction become known, then the party would simply denounce and cut them off.

The leader would remain unknown however, even to their own operatives. In fact, many in the faction believe that Ishinah, the leader of the political party, is also the leader of the faction as a whole. Again, this is a situation that favors the true leader and Ishinah herself is fiercely loyal to whoever this puppet-master is. The leader also seems to not care about being the president directly, so long as they can use the presidential powers to get their way.

Once the larger ideas and plans were finished being discussed, the conference moved onto the task of smaller importance. At this time the mysterious leader disconnected from the conference, their view winking out. They’d get a detailed report of everything that happened after their absence but they wouldn’t need to be directly involved in the small matters.

Once the screen had winked off, the mysterious leader let out a sigh and swooped one of their wondering hair tendrils out of the way. They very quickly shift into a different mindset, like they’re switching out a mask. This mask is not the mask of a mysterious and powerful leader but of a proficient worker in their well-paid industry. They stare out of a window, a rare commodity in the colony, to see the bright rays of the yellowish sun as it lavishes the planet below. A familiar knock sounds from the door.

Stolen story; please report.

#

At the same time, somewhere deep in the colony, a child can be seen huddled in the corner looking at some pictures on a glitching device. The display shifts through pictures of the various planets, flora, and fauna, at every twitch of the child's digits. Some pictures also display faces familiar to the child, something that gives the child a small precious warmth in the otherwise chilled, leaking, room. The only reminder of their parents, the device they had used in their youth while they were out exploring the sector. That and the faceless steele that provides no comfort for the child and located too far away to even see in person.

The child puts away the device and starts to put on clothes. They could go to the orphanage. There are similar cases to them, but they refuse to leave the home of their parents. Except for when meeting up with the other child, who for various reasons decided to become street urchins. They easily found each other and now seem to gather up as a pass time, and as a way to escape whatever the reason is that they find themselves on the streets. There are many such reasons, especially in the more destitute and disconnected hubs of life in the colony. Most of this has been caused by the recent focus of the colony being on the conflict of the factions, hopefully now that everything is under control these parts of the colony can be fully brought into the fold again.

Until then, these hubs are somewhat wild and often contain all manners of corruption riddling them with further issues, causing them to become resource drains to the colony. In these hubs, the hungry, desolate, and wandering are a common site. The buildings are already marred by lack of maintenance, or parts missing due to scavenging and embezzlement. Amongst those wandering faces are those that the child recognizes, their friends. Some are in a worse state than others but ultimately all are better off with each other. It’s likely that was the reason for the formation of their ‘gang’ but eventually it bled into something like friendship.

The common question that they ask is what they want to be, or do, in the future. Most answer “wealth” but a few have greater aspirations. The child wishes to be a scientist, their head full of the images that their parents had taken and full of the knowledge that they live on a barren planet not measurable to what their parents had seen. Problem is, going back to school would require the involvement of the now-absent parents. And it’s unlikely that any government official comes and inspects this hub and discovers the sad state of it, they’re too preoccupied with more attention grabbing things.

Many people have dreams, only to forget them or give them up. It’s the few that follow their dreams while others say it’s impossible, or to give up, that have a chance of succeeding. What will this child do, who dreams of a planet full of life and how will they get there?

#

With all of the recent chaos the terraforming project has entered somewhat of a standstill. The factories are still burning though, something that would only stop if the colony were to die; or worse, decivilize. Those factories are steadily pumping various gasses into the future atmosphere, which has yet to become visible. In due time though, especially with Favela's massive ability to turn out gasses; though that’s not something you should say to it in person.

Other projects have come to a standstill as well, due to the government being run by essentially a skeleton crew; something that will hopefully change soon. Namely, Simiffin’s personal project to mine into the under-cavern. Simiffin recently, and silently, canceled that project since it’s no longer needed to show the people that he’s a capable Captain. That freed up more labor and resources towards improving what they already had. Something sorely needed, only the first vault and the preceding vaults to the heart of the government are what’s expected from a colony. If a federal inspector came they would be very shocked by the state of the vaults on the outskirts of infrastructure, shocked enough to maybe request that the colony be downgraded to less importance due to mismanagement.

Speaking of the TFS government, the expected time for the transport has come. It came close to a month ago actually, an error of punctuality that is very worrying for those in the know. The reason is never good, especially on a project like this. Possibly the worst would be if pirates managed to intercept the convoy and got their hands on the navlogs. That would point them right towards the Tepi system. And those pirates would likely be curious on why a convoy carrying such expensive equipment and resources would be traveling to some off-map point. That would only result in a pirate owned terraformer, though unlikely that they could use it to full capacity it’d still be enough to give the pirates some footholds.

Luckily such an event has never happened before but it is one of the most unsettling nightmare for anyone involved in this project, especially the top minds back at the TFS.

And then there’s Simiffin, still stewing in his own inability to do anything. Not out of incompetence but because there’s nothing for him to do anymore, except for worrying about things that he can’t do anything about of course. As is natural, he brought this up to Shanak’Ti, to which she suggested that he find a hobby to do or to join some group or to regularly do something with his friends.

At least it’s something to keep his mind off of things. Still not the fulfilling work that he’d rather have. At night, he lays awake thinking about the future of the colony and what impact he’ll have on it. Like a cold shower the thought that he’ll be in the history books, should the colony take to the planet of course. He can’t imagine all of the energetic children reading about his feats and failures, all of the historians critiquing his every move. Just like the ones he studied under during his time in higher education critiqued the historical figures of Tarmon. The wondrous future in his mind is something that he’ll have to fight for, he knows that, just like the fight he just fought; perhaps even worse though.