(cut to some NHK news program.  A reporter in a grey suit is talking to
Admiral Kano Nagisa of the Ctholon Militia, who is wearing a full dress Dark
Kingdom Marine uniform)

NHK:	Four years ago we asked you about the Dark Kingdom.  Has your
	opinion changed since then?  Any surprises?

KN:	No, not really.  They have proceeded a little faster than I
	expectected, and I really had not anticipated the sharp reaction to
	their little coup raid.

NHK:	Do you call a sudden, unprovoked and unleaked attack on every military
	force on the planet, at once, a "little raid?"

KN:	Knowing what I do about their capabilities, I do.  And they were
	careful to use biodegradable capsules and paint for their ammunition.

NHK:	Is there any truth to the stories that King Serenity herself
	participated?

KN:	Yes, she was part of the flight of Julias that bombed the US Pentagon
	building.  I think there are parts of the building where they have
	yet to scrape the green paint out.

NHK:	How many ICBMs were launched?

KN:	The Dark Kingdom launched ninety three Sysiphus(sp) submarine launched
	ICBMs, each equipped with a "boulder" pod containing three marines and
	their powered space armor.

	Each marine intercepted an average of fourteen warheads, and examples
	of twelve different types were catalogged.

NHK:	In other words, you aren't telling.

KN:	I've been asked not to.  Apparently the various powers consider the
	information privileged.

NHK:	Why do you think nuclear missles were launched in responce to the
	raid?

KN:	I have no idea.  The probes launched in late 1994 firmly placed
	{DKCC}* on the main northern continent of the fourth planet of Alpha
	Centauri**.  Most of them were aimed at their traditional enemies, so
	I'm thinking that it was sheer panic.

	After the incident with Kathrine Dawn I'd think they would have
	expected it.

NHK:	Why do you think that?

KN:	As you recall, Kathrine Dawn is one of the Dark Kingdom's Typhoon II
	ballistic missle submarines, and about four months before the coup
	raid, her captain counted coup on a US attack submarine, I think it
	was the Los Angeles, and then ran away.

NHK:	At thirty knots submerged, and a hundred and twenty five, porpoising
	with the afterburners on.

(footage from a Dark Kingdom press pack.  Those who care can recognise the
ship as Janice)

KN:	Dark Kingdom MHD drives are pretty nice.

NHK:	What is the construction south and east of Yokohama, in the Pacific?

KN:	It belongs to Orion.  They are building a large scale launcher, which
	will be able to boost their ships through the energy-critical first
	stage, between zero and eight kilometers per second, at which time
	they will shift to the pulse engines.

	Or at least that is how they launch things on Wonderland.

NHK:	Any thought as to why they haven't made any announcements?

KN:	This is Orion.  Barak Netath is a devout Discordian, and a little
	paranoid about anouncing anything before it has been tested five
	times.

NHK:	Barak Netath is CEO of Orion Orbital Services, right.

KN:	Right.

NHK:	What can you tell us about future annexations by the Dark Kingdom?

KN:	The negotiations for western siberia are proceeding normally.

NHK:	Anything else of interest?

KN:	The Amazon reforestation program is proceeding apace, and has
	stabilized the basin.  For the first time in twenty years not a single
	species was lost.

NHK:	Thank you Admiral.

KN:	It was a pleasure.

(cut)

* Well, pretty close, anyway.  It could also be heard as `Your mother smelt of
  splatterberries'***

** Alpha Centauri four was magically terraformed about 20 million years ago, and the
   extremely high levels of magical radiation has lead to a high mutation rate.
   It is known either by its moon kingdom designation of `Colony fifty-three'
   or the more modern appellation of `Wonderland,' in reference to both the
   Larry Niven stories and the fantastic variety of life.

*** A splatterberry is a fruit native to Wonderland.
    They are quite toxic until the seed-shells have fully ossified, at which
    point they turn from a pale green to a pale red.
    They propogate either by having the fruit eaten and the very hard shelled
    seeds carried elsewhere or the fruit exploding, and scattering the seeds.
    As they continue to ripen they get darker, and more volitile, eventually
    reaching the point that a creature walking past or a firm breaze will
    cause them to explode.
    When they first ripen they are about as volitile as plastique, and as
    powerful.
    There are stories that the original blasting to build {DKCC} was done with
    splatterberies.
    As the splatterberries continue to ripen they gain a tiny bit of power,
    and become much less tart.
    They have a very high magical density, and make a good supplement for
    persons with high magical requirements who live in low magic areas.
    Many people claim that they reach their best flavor when they are almost
    black, a point when they are only slightly more stable than nitroglycerin.

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log:
3167 Chaos 19:	plot finalized, started