GotM 2010 02 "What would Pravin do?"http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=114Peace In Our Time - U.N. SuccessionDatalinks: Aphelion Meet (redirected from 10-10-10 attacks)
1. Diplomatic context: Initial projections assumed a period of four to five decades before a full Council could meet. These projections came from calculations based on limited faction motility, helial radiation disturbances, and the slow adoption of ionosphere broadcasting tech. However, the projections failed to account for the presence of Unity resupply pods littering Chiron's surface, many containing data key to sending/receiving commlinks. After establishing face-to-face contact with Believer and Spartan factions, the U.N. communications directorate pieced together enough data from recovered data files in Unity pods and inter-faction transmissions to reestablish ties with all existent factions. The final official "first contact" brought the Hive into U.N. communications in MY 2108.
The quick pace of interfactional contact allowed for global scrutiny over any border disputes, forestalling the worst-case scenario of internecine conflict. An uneasy truce governed the standard year between full contact and first summit. In MY2110, delegates of all council member factions met under U.N. auspices at the Neutral Zone to address the Commissioner's proposed New Charter. The summit drew its name from the Aphelion of Chiron from Hercules B, considered an auspicious timeframe due to reduced native life activity.
2. Aims of the Aphelion Meet: The U.N. agenda planned for the meeting included the following unresolved binding goals: establishment of multiilateral military communications; clear demarcation of border and territorial claims; an up-down vote on adoption of the Unity Charter. The agenda included the following unresolved aspirational goals: opening round of talks to set a cross-border trade regimen; initial outlines of a human rights code; discussions on a universal energy standard; and humanitarian technology-sharing for research vital to Chironside survival.
Gaian agenda: The only other faction to submit a full agenda was the Gaian leader Deirdre Skye, whose agenda mirrored U.N. interests in key concerns, but introduced several measures of binding multilateral limitations to avert the heavy man-made environmental concerns of Earthside industrial development through history. Skye also emerged as a strong supporter of native biomorph research, nominally outlawed under the U.N.'s interim preservation doctrines.
3. Diplomatic results: The meeting successfully achieved several key goals: establishing a common commlink protocol; affirming the Charter's central tenets while leaving key provisions open for revocation at a later date; and the re-establishment of Earthside "energy credit" currencies for uniform economic liquidity.
Surviving records show that the meeting was due to begin a second schedule of talks addressing military cooperation and resolving territorial disputes. The Meet participants were unable to reach consensus before the 10-10-10 Attacks, which claimed the lives of all faction leaders and Meet staff.
4. Terrorist attack: The 10-10-10 Attacks comprised a series of coordinated attacks on the Neutral Zone complexes. Together, they eliminated all seven faction members and resulted in the death by exposure of more than five hundred identified victims. Piecemeal records suggest that the initial attack occurred inside the Meet Hall, with an intentional fire or chemical alarm. This caused automated and manned systems to seal, and to activate oxygenation. Chemical tests from the site show traces of isotopes, likely pumped into the air supply from points inside the security perimeter. The initial contamination gave a lethal dosage of radiation to more than half the Meet staff. Adding to the confusion, many of those lethally affected from outset were key personnel, and thus received a disproportionate amount of first aid and support systems when no remedial effects were possible.
By 2110-10-11, a small remnant of staff were suited against the atmosphere, attempting to overcome the failsafes and possibly dealing with armed aggression. In the evening of the second day, vehicle fire directed by people or persons unknown destroyed the central hall and dormitories. The last eyewitness account recovered comes from U.N. Security Detail Pvt. Nova Sudiwikarmi, who recorded that men in his squad had attempted to exit the compound and come under fire from vehicles commanded by unconfirmed, and seemingly contradictory, factions. Sudiwikarmi surmised that the confusion after the terrorist attack caused many legitimate security personnel to use force in self-defense, at which point distinguishing terrorist from soldier became impossible. Sudiwikarmi's last transmission in the evening of 2110-10-11 describes an attempt to regroup and take control of one of the few mining rovers present as perimeter defense. Sudiwikarmi's body was recovered along with several civilians approximately 13 km from the Meet: each had signs of death by nitrogen asphyxiation save one, U.N. Minister of Education Simi Rosan, who died of a firearm injury and blood loss.
5. Aftermath and global condemnation: U.N. patrols were the first to arrive onsite, owing to border proximity, but were slow to respond to other factions' demands for information. By 2110-10-13, Acting Secretary Sarita assumed ministerial powers in accordance with U.N. succession directives. Sarita released full decedent lists to all factions, but held details of the attack confidential. She also initiated a full-scale review of security measures and numerous depositions to determine terrorist complicity within the U.N. These measures, though justified under the Police Powers act, brought U.N. internal functions to a standstill, further delaying the release of key facts to other faction representatives.
Factual findings of the U.N. investigation were made public 2110-10-15, along with a call for unity in condemnation of the perpetrators of the attack and in resolution to bring them to justice. Sarita relinquished her position after the Electorate ratified Prashanti Lal, sister to predecessor Pravin Lal, as Interim Commissioner. Her first act was the repeal of the Police Powers and the normalization of citizens' personal freedoms. Less than two days later, the interim Spartan military command officially revoked the state of truce between their faction and the U.N., and advised that U.N. personnel encountered on Spartan claims would be subject to imprisonment without trial. One week later, forces under Believer command attacked and overran a U.N. border depot, seizing sensor technology and materiel. Local reports indicated that the depot now broadcast the religious agenda of Reverend Manuel Godwinson. Despite these hostilities, Interim Commissioner Prashanti Lal on 2110-10-33 formally declared her intention to preserve civilian freedoms, even as she passed the bill mobilizing unprecedented forces to defend U.N. borders.
The Gaians under Ailean Skye communicated a statement of mutual bereavement and regret on 2110-10-18, indicating a continuation of formal truce status. No official contacts have been reported from the University, Hive, or Morganites. The state of relations with these factions, and their leadership successions - if any - remain undefined.
* ~ * ~ *
"Sister Lal?" Sarita's soft words brought Prashanti back from her thoughts. "Secretary-General, the meeting is in 20 minutes."
Prashanti turned from the sunset out the window. "Thank you, Sarita. Show them in when it’s time."
It felt strange occupying Pravin's office, being addressed as Secretary-General in his place. Prashanti was no stranger to command; since Planetfall, as Pravin's sister and most trusted lieutenant, she'd issued orders in his name, been his closest counselor.
But with him gone...
Tears began to well again, red in the sunset. The week since the explosion at the face-to-face Planetary Council meeting had been a hectic one. The simultaneous loss of leaders had thrown Chiron into chaos. "Oh Pravi," she thought, desolately.
The task of guiding humanity towards reunification had seemed endless even with Pravin’s resolute hand at the helm, and now... Prashanti wiped tears and opened the dossier on the other new faction leaders.
The faces were all new. Many were taken from furtive angles, or strange lighting, as if the photos were illicit artifacts. Far too little was known for sure - this dark cabinet of humanity's new leaders. Lord Ailean Skye was believed more detached than his late wife; the philosopher of the Gaians. Here was the new University Provost, Iskra Vadima, whose name turned up no results at all in the academic publication archives. Smiling out from the page, the broad face of CEO Chinwemma Morgan seemed oddly out of place, given the solemnity of her rise to power. The Spartan leader, Colonel Sosimo Fernan, seemed oddly friendly for a military man, beaming out from the distance like a jolly uncle, in stark contrast to Manuel Godwinson, whose fiery oratory was already the stuff of legend. And finally, rounding out the seven, the enigmatic mouthpiece of the Hive: Speaker Liren Yang, whose clockwork-regular broadcasts assured the Hive workers - and indeed any other humans inclined to believe her - of the certainty that everything was proceeding to her plan.
Already, these faces were making their presence known in the U.N. corridors of power. Within days, the Spartans and Believers had begun pushing their troops towards Peacekeeper territory, in clear violation of the border agreements. Days when Peacekeepers watched their new leader and wondered if she really had what it took to lead.
Prashanti smiled to herself, despite it all. Turns out, she did. In a democratic civilian government with strong institutions, all you needed to lead in times of war was a damn good general. And Daoud al-Bahraini had been just the damn good general she'd needed. They'd mobilized in mere hours and held the line until the crisis passed.
And people on the holopodes were cheering in the streets, clasping each other and shouting with joy. And chanting. Prashanti brought her hand to her eyes again, but for tears of humbled happiness, not bereavement. They'd been chanting her name.
She smiled and dried her eyes properly. This was no time to be getting soft-headed with pride, or a time to be weeping with despair. Her people were still in peril; they needed her to be strong, sure, and above all, wise.
And as she had promised at the ceremony, she would lead them out of the darkness.
"What," she wondered as always, "would Pravin do?"
Directions
1) download the zip file 1002.zip and place it into your main game directory. usually this is: C:Program FilesFiraxis GamesSid Meier's Alpha Centauri
2) unzip it.
3) start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "GotM1002" and choose the scenario.
4) choose the difficulty level and the game will automatically load with the Peacekeepers.
4) if you liked the introductory story, please enjoy the other files in the .zip- they tell the story of how each of the other factions handled the transition. Feedback would be appreciated. They might help suggest creative directions for your AARs, too.
Changelog:
Carrier Deck special ability moved to Doctrine:Air Power.
FACTIONS
This scenario (and the associated stories) was built around the Alternate Gender Leader Project custom factions- which have all been specially modified to fit a realistic sudden power-vacuum situation, not the simple “same persons with their genders switched” that they began as.
#Objectives:
The PKs must conquer six objective bases in order to capture and interrogate the respective governors.
The six cities are:
- Great Conclave
- Judgement Seat
- Penal Colony
- Spartan Citadel
- Manufacturing Warrens
- Sparta Command
There's no need to achieve a standard victory condition in order to be eligible for the GotM Competition.
The scenario can be played at any difficulty level and even though it doesn't have a time limit, you should be able to finish it in less than 100 turns.
POINTS SYSTEM
The standings will be based on the number of turns needed for completion and of course, the difficulty level.
If we have a tie, then the Alpha Centauri score will be the tie-breaker.
However, the games played on lesser difficulty level won't be able to beat a superior level even if finished in less turns.
Example:
let's say we have 4 submissions:
player #1 victory in 2194 as citizen,
player #2 victory in 2196 as thinker,
player #3 victory in 2175 as transcend
player #4 victory in 2195 as transcend.
the standings will look like this:
Place|Player|Mission year
 |#3|2175
 |#4|2195
 |#2|2196
4th|#1|2194
Have fun reading and playing! 
Edit: have updated the .zip to reflect some minor proofreading and author bylines added to the stories. (For tracking purposes, the previous showed three downloads.) |
[SIZE="5"]
[FONT="Arial Black"]Final standings - February 2010[/FONT][/SIZE]
Player|Difficulty|MY|GotM score|Points||GotM 1002|Points|Rank
Mart|Transcend|2245|- |1||Mart|1|:1st:
Submission for the GOTM1002 are closed, but if you are still playing this sceanrio, you can
submit your save at any time. The result will be entered in the 'Consolation standings'. |
