Open Letter to Harkon Thorson

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
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Your foolishness in painting all Amarrians with the brush of slavery has endangered the lives of thousands of innocents. You have sought to attack good, honest people who reside within my Holding, refugees who have made the choice to live on Huola, to start their lives anew within the realm of the Empire.

They were free to make that choice and they are free to govern their own lives as they see fit. They are not slaves, nor do I own any. Cerra Holding of Huola VII is the promise of what the Empire can be, a place governed by God, a sanctuary to those who are in need, and a home to thousands who genuinely wish to be there.

Please know that not every Amarrian is a slaver nor condones such antiquated practices. Some of us hold fast to the ideals of Empress Jamyl who said:

“Out there on the event horizon, a new age races toward us, and it is approaching fast. The Lord in his infinite grace has instructed me that the chains that fetter us will no longer be necessary in this new age of light and reason, neither the chains of hatred that restrain our minds nor the chains of indenture that restrain those less fortunate than ourselves.”

Know, Harkon Thorson, that we have captured one of your sleeper agents within the Holding. This man attempted to blend in with the Octanneve refugees and had plotted against the free people of Cerra Holding. He admits his role in your horrific schemes, Thorson, and for that, his blood is on your hands.

Let this be a warning.

Before God, Empress, and Empire, I have found him guilty of his crimes, for which I have sentenced him to death. On my order, his execution was carried out this morning.

A video is embedded into the message, as follows:

-Feed opens-

The double bow of Amarr appears onscreen, fading to the image of a Matari, flanked by two Amarrian Marines, their sigils, TRFs and rank slides removed, clad in armour coated with adaptive camouflage. The three are about 5 meters from the camera, appearing to be outside in a temperate woodland.

The Matari stands, bare chested and cuffed in a rear stack. He appears tired and subdued but there are no signs that he has been assaulted or tortured. A fourth figure steps on screen; A woman in Amarrian BDUs, wearing a black death mask with a single golden tear below her left eye. She addresses the camera.

“Soldiers of Ushra’Khan. You’ve come to Houla with the stated aim of destroying all here. Of killing Amarrian subjects wholesale, burning their homes and despoiling this place.” She pauses, then gestures to the captured Matari.

“You sent an agent first. An assassin to wreak havoc on the holding of an Abolitionist. His fate is one any Ushra’Khan who step on this planet will share. His mark is gone, his subtly hidden nano-tattoos are gone. He is no one, nothing now.” She walks closer to the camera.

“Come, if you feel you must. But take this advice to heart. You cannot sleep, you cannot rest or let your guard down a single moment. We will always be watching you, we will harry you every hour of your short lives… and when we do take you. We will make you nothing.”

With that, she steps to a side, draws a pistol and shoots the Matari in the side of the head.

End of feed

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Yes, give us reason to execute prisoners…

Nicely done.

:roll_eyes:

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Please, next time, at least cover his chest. Showing nipples in public is not very decent. Thank you in advance!

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Maybe a prisoner exchange or something else…you know, civilized…would have been the answer.

Like Deitra said, well done.

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This constant denial of what is probably the most prominent aspect of Amarr culture by the Amarr is growing stale…

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I can think of no other Holder among Amarrian capsuleers who has been as consistent on the issue of the abolition of slavery for as long a duration as Her Ladyship, Shalee Lianne Cerra.

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Maybe so, but when one defends those who are being injustly enslaved… A bullet to the head. Some abolitionist, seems like a war monger to me. Lay with slavery hounds, catch their fleas. Of she was really an abolitionist maybe she wouldn’t stick her nose in these affairs.

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Sticking her nose in these affairs? Her holding was attacked.

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I’ve definitely shot people for less, in all honesty.

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I can confirm that a contingent of refugees from Octanneve V are present within the Cerra Holding.

For those not paying attention, Octanneve V suffered a massive weather event this past September, and the city of Moisant, which is administered by the Matari Clan Licei, was destroyed. While rebuilding efforts are in progress and many have been able to return home, others have not. This includes the former residents of Last Island. In their case, the island was battered beyond recognition and remains almost entirely submerged. Their island no longer exists.

These individuals were the ones who were residing at Cerra Holding. While their presence is not permanent, it was expected to be long-term.

Lady Shalee Lianne heard of the destruction of Moisant and offered to house some of our refugees. We verified independently that her Holding had no slaves, having all been manumitted years ago, and that Lady Shalee herself holds views that can objectively be called abolitionist, views for which she has been actively persecuted by the Empire.

For Ushra’Khan to take advantage of displaced refugees is beyond disgusting. For them to target the only true abolitionist Holding is amateurish and ignorant.

Clan Licei and Viavant condemn the actions of Ushra’Khan and its agent.

We have instructed our people at the Cerra Holding to root out and expose any other sleeper agents, whether from U’K or elsewhere.

We apologize on behalf of all of our people to Lady Shalee Lianne, Lord Reginald, and the Holding itself. As has been reported, they were already defending against a Deathglow attack as well.

We encourage all associated parties—whether Matari, Amarr, or otherwise—to condemn U’K’s negligent actions and demand explanation.

Finally, I personally commend Lady Shalee Lianne for her restraint in executing the interloper. Had I been present, I would have done far, far worse.

Astaire Irawakeri Quatrevaux
CEO, Viavant
Custodian, Moisant, Octanneve V
44-year resident of Last Island

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Greetings Shalee,

thank you for your kind letter.
I liked your little presentation there and will make sure to send you a few equaly entertaining. Contrary to you I will make sure that you know the ones staring in them tho.
They will of course all have confessed to what ever I accuse them of and as you I will make sure to not leave any marks.
You have to learn a lot if you think fabricating accusations and then threatening the Ushra’Khan will lead to anything but more suffering for you and your kin.
Your Empire is far away and will not come to save you as they are busy losing more and more systems.

I´ll give you some time to think about the position you brought yourself into and once my schedule allows for it I will visit you personaly…

Best regards
Chief Harkon Thorson
Ushra’Khan

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House Cerra has been honest and forthright. You and your alliance, on the other hand, stepped into a shady proposal with your supposed enemies in the warzone, then declined to elaborate on the terms of engagement for that deal while speaking at a Standing Place before your peers.

Your disinterest in addressing the refugees of Moisant on Huola VII not only here but in other threads regarding U’K’s actions there tells me everything I need to know:

That you care nothing for the civilian cost, Matari or otherwise.

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Did she speak out against this proclamation in any meaningful way? No? Then why is someone living within reach of the fighting not expecting to be attacked? If you live in the area and aren’t in support of us you are against us. You can call yourself or her an abolitionist all you wish. Your still not standing up to it in any meaningful way thus you are the scourge we are fighting.

Again, lay with slaver hounds, catch their fleas.

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Ms. Vess, your argumentiveness on this point does not serve you well.

Lady Cerra has openly spoken against the Proclamation and signed our Petition. She has housed Matari refugees. She is a signatory as well to both prior efforts to remove slaves from the SCC Markets. She has provided the resting place for a prior peacemaker who was assassinated, Dr. Arkon Sarain, who famously convened the Pakhsi Peace Conference.

While she and I are both of the faith and loyal to the Empire, we do not always share similar views. Be that as it may, I respect the fact that she has ‘walked the talk’ for a very long time with respect to her views, even being forced to go ‘In Exile’ from Empire high security space into low security space and being in open disagreement with entities such as the Praetoria due to her views.

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Admittedly I was unaware of this,

@Shalee_Lianne_Cerra My sincerest apologies, though I will stand by saying I do not agree with your actions as it most definitely be used as a justifications for retaliation.

Lunarisse, thank you for bringing this to my attention.

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I’m disappointed that the fact that there are Matari refugees there was not enough to persuade you.

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I’m not going to condone or decry the actions of U’K in this instance.

But our people being in the line of fire is something that we have to expect when fighting against the Amarr. If we balk at shooting at our own kin then we have already lost. They crew their ship, staff their arms and munitions factories, and are the front lines of their armies. If you’re looking for something to be disappointed about, be disappointed in the Amarr for using cowardly tactics.

U’K not batting an eye when attacking an Amarrian position where our people are present is to be expected.

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And what schemes would those be?

I mean, look, I’m certainly not going to suggest that we should be going around attacking civilian populations, but let’s look at what we actually have, right now.

We have a release of staged footage where a dramatic statement is made, and then a man is fatally shot. Then threats.

Do we have actual evidence of anything being claimed in this footage?

Lady Cerra claims this man was an agent of Harkon Thorson. Where is her proof?
She claims he admitted to a role in ‘horrific schemes’. What are they? What role was that?
She claims he was a sleeper agent who blended in with the Octanneve refugees. How? When did he infiltrate them?

I mean, I’ve been looking at the news articles. I’ve been reviewing these boards. There’s been no previous mention of the Octanneve refugees going to Huola. So how did he know where to go—ahead of the disaster, no less, so he could be in among the refugees—to just happen to end up on Huola VII? Gotta say, that’s some damned good pre-planning, putting sleeper agents into backwater cities of 400k ahead of a natural disaster so they could be rescued and evacuated to target systems in a warzone.

Look, we all know what Harkon claimed about Huola. We’re also all capable of looking the system up (if not flying there) to see that hey, look, there’s more than one planet! In fact, there’s 4 Barren[1] and 1 Oceanic planet, which we all know have colony infrastructure, and Holders. But we’re expected, with no additional indications, to believe that Harkon was talking about hitting a Holding with a history of public support for abolition.

And it was a Deathglow attack. How convenient, then, that a chemical weapon we know the Blooders have been using against rivals and enemies of Alar Chakaid should be used on a Sarum world… and Ushra’Khan blamed for it.

We’ve seen no proof from House Sarum, either. But they say it, and we’re just expected to believe it, I suppose.

Is anyone buying this? Seriously?

So let’s see it, then, @Shalee_Lianne_Cerra. Let’s see the evidence you have, beyond the word of a man you’ve conveniently killed, that this is really Harkon’s plot, and not just a bit of lovely dinner theater you’re indulging in.

You know, I prefer an honest slaver like Mitty to someone who makes a show of using ‘abolitionism’ as a shield while threatening genocide.

1. Including Huola VI, where we know the Thukker Seykal Clan recently attacked.

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Goodness. Waking up from retirement certainly was the right decision. Things have certainly become interesting!

Keep on keeping on, Shalee. From the day I met you so many years ago, I knew you’d be one to change the Empire.

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Your making excuses for them is more than enough to condone their actions.

These are civilians who recently lost everything. If you think it’s all right to trample on people like that for any reason, then it’s easy to tell just who you are.

No one has said that U’K’s plan was to infiltrate the refugees. Based on the reactions to descriptions of Lady Shalee Lianne’s work, I’d venture to guess U’K saw a holding and decided to infiltrate it. Our presence was just a happy little coincidence.

Likewise, no one has blamed U’K for the Deathglow attack. In fact, evidence points to that attack having been executed by—you guessed it—the Blood Raiders. (And I’d happily bet that Chakaid took the chance to take potshots at an opponent.)

You’re conflating two different pieces of Scope news: the one about Deathglow attacks on Huola VII and the one about U’K agents being found on the same planet. Correlation does not equal causation, and while I do believe Lady Shalee’s claims about finding a U’K agent among the refugees, I am not blaming the Deathglow attack on them.

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