Are The Rumors True?
The Orestes Free Press reveals the truth behind various rumors and theories
Orestes Free Press (ALSHAIN) - 30 April 3070
For well over a month, rumors have circulated both within the Clan Occupation Zones, and across the Inner Sphere, about what exactly happened when the Tharkad Martyrs attacked Tharkad. Some reports state that Archon Robert was killed in the fighting, his body so badly mauled as to make positive identification impossible. Others theorize that the Martyrs captured him and are even now, torturing him for the last vestiges of Lyran military and political secrets, before executing him. A final theory suggests that the Clan jumpships that departed during the attack might have actually carried the Archon away to Clan space, a prisoner of the invaders, to be used as an example of the 'decadent Successor Houses' the Clans are said to despise so fiercely.
Recently however, news from across the Sphere, originating from the capital of the Union of Independent Worlds, the planet Arluna, have shed light on the situation, which could be far more convoluted than any of the previous theories claimed. Facts are sketchy at best, as the Jade Falcons(apparently the Clan most involved with the Archon at this time) are not forthcoming with details, but a few choice bits of information have been gleaned through careful questioning on the part of the OFP's reporters within the UIW. The following information, unless otherwise noted, is the best information the OFP has been able to confirm. The strength of these confirmations should be considered fairly strong, but new information will be released as it is discovered.
-Mere days before the Association of Tharkad Martyrs launched their coup, a transmission was sent out by Archon Robert, attacking the motives of the Clans for continuing their assault on his beleaguered nation. It is unknown at this time exactly what the Archon was attempting to accomplish, but he was swiftly answered by a single Clan Jade Falcon jumpship. It has been confirmed, that the jumpship carried an envoy from the Falcons, who was doubling as personal representative of the ilKhan herself. It is unknown what level of contact the envoy had with the Archon before the attack was launched.
-During the attack, barely hours before Martyr soldiers entered the Heidelberg Kazerne, 2 dropships left in quick succession from Tharkad, and made their way unmolested to their jumpships at Tharkad's nadir jump point. It has been speculated that one of these jumpships was indeed the Jade Falcon vessel that brought the ilKhan's envoy. There have been confirmed reports that one of these dropships carried the Star Adder warrior, Charlemagne Steiner(confirmed by sources within the FWLM, who sent a transmission to the Martyr flagship).
-Archon Steiner was seen in the presence of Clan Jade Falcon officers on Arluna, during a closed-doors meeting between various Clans and Sphereoid nations on Arluna. Participants included the Union of Independent Worlds, Clan Jade Falcon, Clan Star Adder, Clan Ice Hellion, and Archon Robert Kelswa-Steiner. Unconfirmed reports state that the Free Worlds League maintains a diplomatic presence on the planet, but it is not known if the FWL representative was in attendance at this meeting. It is also unconfirmed that Clan Steel Viper has a presence on Arluna.
-The Terran offensive into the Dominion was closely followed by a flurry of jumpship and warship activities around Arluna, and the UIW's budding naval hub of Kowloon. It is known that a number of orbital dockyards and warship-capable shipyards are under construction, although reports indicate that the UIW does not have the economic strength to undertake the projects at their current magnitude without substantial foreign capital. Several warships, matching rough descriptions of Clan-esthetic warships, have been seen around Kowloon in recent months, largely believed to be one of the primary naval battlegroups of Clan Jade Falcon.
-Archon Robert has not been seen within UIW space since the Terran attacks into Dominion territory. Also absent has been the Falcon saKhan, who was apparently on planet before the Archon, although he was unable to be identified previously as it was not known untill after his departure he had even been on the planet.
-Reports indicated that Evelyn Mosovich, formerly a General within the LCAF, was sighted returning to her home region, now the Union of Independant Worlds. However, after brief sightings at the spaceport, once a number of weeks ago, and again recently, admist the flurry of activity surrounding Arluna after the Terran-Dominion conflicts started.
Of course, the astute reader will realize that there is not crystal clairity in this report, as many of the bits of information are quite vauge. Assumptions are largely made based on the availible information, and from what has been correlated thus far, it seems that the Jade Falcons have potentially acquired a powerful ally in the Inner Sphere, in the form of the legal ruler of the Lyran Commonwealth. No doubt the illegal Arc Royal Estates General will discount such talk, claiming that they have eradicated the Lyran Commonwealth by conquering Tharkad, and burning the Article so Acceptance. Scholars of history understand that it takes more than such measures to truly eradicate a nation, and we feel that we have not seen the last of Archon Bobby Kelswa-Steiner.
