[Alliance] Information Leak Causes Widespread Consternation

Information Leak Causes Widespread Consternation

Late yesterday, an information leak revealed that Kharog Ab'Arohth, a notorious batarian pirate, was secretly pardoned by the Systems Alliance during the Reaper War.

Ab'Arohth had a bounty of nearly half a million credits before he was pardoned, and was wanted for piracy, murder, rape and conspiracy to enslave sentient beings, among other charges. His most famous crimes include the burning of the colony of Caernabog and the assault on a colonial flotilla in 2171 that resulted in almost 300 men, women and children being captured and sold into slavery. His last known offense, the Haven Convoy Robbery, was in 2178 after which he disappeared off most galactic records. He reappeared for the course of the Reaper War, during which he received his alliance pardon for assistance in creating trade routes and moving supplies through the Terminus, but participated in no combat operations and disappeared immediately after its end.

Already thousands across Elysium and Terra Nova are condemning the pardon. Bogdan Senko, a prominent political activist who escaped enslavement by Ab'Arohth called the move "an immense betrayal" and "a travesty that shames the memories of the thousands of lives Ab'Arohth ruined throughout his career". There are calls for investigations into the pardon, with demands that those responsible lose their jobs at the least and that the pardon be repealed from many groups across the Verge, most prominently many pro-independence political organizations. Several groups have posted new, independent bounties for Ab'Arohth, a press release by The Citizens for Free Elysium, who posted a 50 thousand credit bounty for his death said, "Some of us will pursue justice, even if SATAE has given up on the concept".

Our reporter spoke with Jerome J. Johansen, a man who lost his wife and daughters in one of the raids, who claimed that the pardon was a 'travesty' and 'a betrayal of the ideals of the Systems Alliance'. He called for the bounty, at the least, to be reinstated, and for the pardon to be reversed, reminding us of all the people who lost friends and family to death or worse at Kharog's hands. He claims that his desire to see the pardon reversed is not brought on by revenge, but 'because of the...sincere belief that justice must be done in this galaxy, and men....like Arohth cannot be allowed to roam free because they threw a few trinkets towards alliance politicians'.

SATAE has given no comment as of publication.

Come back on your word publicly once, and you'll never make another deal. No matter the person in front of you.

I wonder if the guy who gets him will be smart enough to divide up the parts to cash in multiple bounties. Send his skull to one, his brain to another, his heart to a third his body to a fourth and so on...

All I want to say is that this is the first time I've seen "Consternation" in a headline, and that fact makes me fucking giddy. :D

xemna shit

there's no pardon in this life or the next

You know? I think it would just be a good idea to simply wipe everyones record clean when it comes to war crimes in regards to the reaper wars. When you're backed against the wall like we were you don't look twice if you're handed an option that might help get you out of it.

Seems like people are awfully quick to forget that a few billion people were processed in meatgrinders not too long ago, and that deals like this were being struck to prevent just that.

I can fully understand why this is an unpopular decision but there's a reason it was done. The Alliance had its collective back to the wall during the war. We were a fleet without a homeworld, without an industrial base. We simply couldn't support ourselves. The Terminus was the only place we could turn to as CSpace began to fall.

And sure, they were pirates and slavers-our enemies-but our species was truly threatened with extinction. So we pardoned enemies. Enemies who supplied our ships, gave us intel on Cerberus and the Reapers. And sure it's morally repugnant, but there was no other choice.

So hence pardons. And if you go back on those, you think that we'll get other defectors? That if the Alliance wants to deal with Terminus factions again they'll talk?

They won't.

I understand the logic of desperate times, and MAYBE this pardon should be upheld. But what irks me is something else.

If this was the right call to make, be honest about it! Don't make us wait for some whistle-blower to leak the information! Make the case that this had to be done. Basically show some goddamn back bone.

This is either highly unprofessional, or someone made an enormous miscalculation.

Amusing, regardless.

You're expecting transparency from the military? thats a good joke.

Expecting? No. Thinking they should be more transparent? Hell yes.

...there is a reason the military isn't transparent.

wasn't saying that there were no reason ma'm.

Talking to the civvie, Gestran.

I'm not asking them to tell me the one spot on their dreadnoughts that a shot from a water gun would cause it to blow up. This is embarrassing but hardly seems to effect the military's ability to do it's job. Don't the victims of this bastard deserve to know why he's being let off the hook from those who did it?

Welcome to Disingenuous-Mechanic's first class on how not to be a blithering idiot. Lesson number one, never assume that people will be any less outraged just because you told them up front. Seriously. People like to be outraged and angry. Why do you think you only hear negative shit from the news? Because good news is booooooooring.

TL;DR they would have been just as pissed off if the Alliance told them up front.

I don't know about that. Yea they'd be pissed either way, but I can't imagine hearing about it from a leak helps.

If you break my omnitool then I'll be mad at you, but if you break my omnitool, lie about it, then I find out later I'll be even MORE pissed.

Children, children: do you honestly believe that going back on their word would be a novel and frightening departure for any government? They do it all the time, are sometimes even publicly seen to do so, and still get defectors anyway- and will keep receiving them, no matter how duplicitously they conduct themselves. It is simple game theory.

Certainly it is not high-minded idealism that is the obstacle. It is difficult to believe that a government that found it politically expedient to pardon such people in the first place would now find it not so to throw them to the wolves. Lack of will is the only thing holding SATAE back from reneging on these agreements. One can only speculate as to why, looking at the unsanitary backgrounds of some who are now highly-placed in the administration. Rats covering for the other rats. Fine foundation for government!

Eh. Ya'll ferget about this in 'bout a month ennyways, an' th' dude'll still walk free. Don't getcher panties inta knots over this. Shit like this happens alla time. Only reason this is different is b'cuz it made th' news. Universe don't work th' way y'want it to, an' idealism's dead. Long as shit gets done an' ends in yer favor, y'should be happy t'be alive.

B'sides. Ain't like th' Alliance ain't as dirty as th' other gummints of the galaxy. You believe otherwise, yer foolin' yerself.

Why the hell are you typing in your accent?
Failing that, Why isn't your speech to text making your text readable?
But, what you say is true. The man is gone. Nothing we can do.

Hey, speech t'text, man. Ain't my fault these damn keyboards ain't krogan-sized, you fuzzy monkey.