The Thoughts of Yong An-Hong: Translated by Alexandra Yuan: Copyright 2205, Centauri University Press: Hanson Harbor, Nova

08/28/2175

I have not yet become used to the level of secrecy that is kept around me. When I was working for the Hegemony, not so long ago, I was briefed regularly on nearly all matters concerning the Hegemony, especially national security issues. However, mere weeks after that, I am now told very little. I have been sequestered to a government bomb shelter to prepare for the inevitable Hegemony invasion, and here I sit, many days doing little else besides feeding myself, browsing the impressive library, and consulting with African and Novan security and intelligence operatives on Hegemony tactics and operations. Occasionally, I speak with Mrs. Mwangi or Ambassador Dumarith, who I knew before the outbreak of the war.

From them, I have learned that the war has not gone well for the African Union. The Hegemony's armies, though divided between Earth and Nova, have several advantages in combat. They are, for example, more durable, and less susceptible to fatigue. They do not require extensive supply chains because of their self renewing energy sources. And a machine does not require as much protection as a person; if it has enough system redundancies, it can survive significant damage. And I have gathered that the Hegemony armies are making significant gains against the African defensive armies.

I have noted, on my own, that Africa has struggled to control the information war as well. There seems no way to limit the constant stream of Hegemony propaganda pouring in, and the news censored by HNN pundits has begun to take a toll on public opinion. Many know that the information transmitted by the Hegemony is skewed if not utterly false. However, Ambience engineers have successfully repressed any sort of alternative narratives. If I wanted to, I could go on Congolese television today and tell the world that the President has been replaced by a Zaha-Katchem puppet and the results would be the same as if I had stayed silent.

I have a small hope however. I have considered the possibility presented by the host that was captured in Ghana. Although he has been disconnected from the Mainframe, some Ambience hardware remains in his system. I have never been well educated in the technology of the Interlink, and Ambience's systems, but there are some here who have been. More than that, Congo houses several very impressive engineers, the likes of which I have rarely seen. They were educated abroad within the Grushan Federation; some of them are in fact Grushan. While I was a politician, I met many brilliant people, but the engineers I have encountered in Congo are, though perhaps less brilliant than some Hegemony and Ambience scientists, exceedingly well spoken and creative. These Congolese scientists are innovators, and I have rarely met their like. Perhaps it is something that can be said against the Hegemony.

I have addressed the problem with some of these scientists, and they agree that the prospect of a host, with fully integrated Ambience technology, is an enticing one. I have even shared my hope in the small chance that they may be able to reverse engineer the devices and allow us a chance to infiltrate the Mainframe, or perhaps work around the information blockade that has crippled the war effort. Perhaps with the freedom to communicate, we may even be able to end this war without excess bloodshed. As I once told Alexandra Troy, I have no desire to see the Hegemony brought to its knees. I only wish to right the wrongs committed by the Zaha-Katchem and our own worst impulses.

Personal Journal: William Aucaman

08/28/2175

Olivia Mattingly finally regained consciousness earlier today. Doctors have been working on her physical condition for almost a week by now; they had her stabilized for a number of days, but she was only showing the vaguest signs of recovery the whole time. We moved her down to a bomb shelter yesterday, which proved a good idea, because the old building was targeted by Hegemony artillery not too long after. In any case, Cynthia hasn't really left her side since Rorith came a week ago, and I've been with her for the past couple of days since my hunting party got back to Kinshasa. It was actually an unusually large artillery shell that woke her finally. She woke with something of a shock, and it rather startled me and Cynthia right next to her. She was very scared, understandably, by the artillery fire and the new location, but having Cynthia around seemed to help her a bit, and she eventually calmed down a bit. I felt a bit awkward, since I've never actually met her, but I was glad to be there anyway.

The doctors came almost immediately and told us that now she was awake, there wasn't much more physically wrong with her. They did offer her water and food, and they were nice enough to offer some of their limited supply of ice cream, which the head doctor told us was one of his favorite cure-alls, though I'm not sure how true that is. Olivia was still very agitated though and kept asking where the black thing was. She had a hard time believing us when we told her that it was dead and Cynthia had killed it. She kept getting more and more agitated the more we tried to explain what had happened to her, to it, and to us. She also refused to eat or drink anything we offered her. She asked who I was a lot, and was so suspicious that I felt obliged to step out after not too long.

Turns out, Rorith was right. I don't know if he did anything when he came not long ago, but one way or another, it seems as if he was telling the truth. I wonder how much he knew and how much he was just guessing. I grew up believing in God, of course. My parents certainly did. But we were never religious in any way, at least not the way this Rorith was. I've certainly never heard of anyone being a real mystic. And, to be perfectly honest, Rorith didn't look like he was doing anything out of the ordinary. And yet, here's Olivia, awake, just as he said. I mean, she's clearly not fully healed; neither was I when I'd just woke up. But she is awake, and right now, that's one of the best pieces of news we've had for a while.

Cynthia came and found me later. I hadn't gone too far, fortunately, and she sat down beside me on a couch near Olivia's room. She told me that Olivia had started to become so agitated that the doctors had been obliged to give her a fairly strong sedative. She's concerned there might be some fairly deep psychological damage. I told her that it would be best to wait and see; it's fairly early yet to tell anything. She just woke up, after all. And she probably will have to deal with some major shit as a result of her captivity.

"But if she's anywhere near as tough as you, I think she'll be all right in the end," I added as sort of an afterthought. She sort of smiled in a tired way. It reminded me of when we were in the interrogation room in Montana.

Then she asked me something I thought was strange. "Why was it us, do you think? You, Olivia, Adrian, Brent and me? Why was it us? Shouldn't it have been one of these leaders here, or one of the Troys who do this sort of thing? Why did our families have to be destroyed?"

I thought about it. It really should have been Alexandra and Damien's family that had to face this; they fight and spy for a living. They would have been ready to deal with this. I finally said, "I'm not sure. Maybe it'll be better that we dealt with it in the long run."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I don't really know," I said. "Maybe we still have something to do that the Troys and the leaders can't do themselves. Or maybe this will all go to shit and the five of us are just more expendable than the Troys and the leaders. I don't know."

We were both quiet for a little while after that. Then Cynthia sighed and told me, "well, if we're just here to die instead of some Troys, I just want to thank you for being the only person I've ever actually known."

Then I laughed a little. "Well, thanks for getting to know me for real," I said. She laughed back. It felt good; I don't think either of us have laughed at all in weeks; not since July, at least.

Official Statement: Terran Internal Justice Commission

08/29/2175

People of Earth and the Terran Hegemony. Let it be known that the court has found Nobuyuki Ito, formerly Admiral of the Terran Star Fleet 6th Task Force, guilty of mutiny and treason against the Terran Hegemony for his insubordinate actions against the Terran Hegemony while in command of his flagship the TSS Alexander Nevsky. He has shown neither remorse nor a desire for reconciliation for this crime. Therefore, he has been sentenced to service at Ambience Neural Processing facilities. He will serve as a cognitive system redundancy for a sentence of forty years, at such time he will be released into the custody of the Hegemony prison system. His neural capacity will be put to good use in this capacity as he is integrated into the Ambience Tactical Mainframe. The Hegemony thanks all for their patience.

Official Transcript: Phone Call: From Damien Troy: To Congolese Emergency Dispatch #1734: 08/30/2175

OPERATOR: You've reached emergency dispatch. How may I assist you?

TROY: I've got about a half dozen Calamity tanks following my ass. Anything you can do about them?

OPERATOR: I'm sorry, did you say tanks?

TROY: That's right. I made a mistake and tipped off a Hegemony patrol and now they've sent six tanks to flush us out.

OPERATOR: That's a lot of tanks, sir.

TROY: No shit. Listen, I need you to contact General Mbaku and tell him that the chicken came first. Do you understand me? The chicken came first. He will understand what I mean. Tell him I'm from Ghana if he doesn't believe you.

OPERATOR: Um...All right sir, I will do my best.

TROY: You're going to have to do better, people are dying around here! [explosion] Shit, I'm going to have to go. Don't let me down ma'am.

OPERATOR: All right sir.

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