Note: This news item contains discussion of terrorism, torture, genocide, and suicide. The first – terrorism – is described in detail. The rest are not. THE TERRAN INDEPENDENT
Terra’s Daily Print and Online Source for Trustworthy Planetary News
17TH OCTŌBRIS 2019 E.Y. 2050 S.Y. | VOLUME XLIV, ISSUE 2 | WING CITY, TERRA
]TWENTY-ONE KILLED IN TERRORIST ATTACK AT GOVERNMENT CENTER; SUSPECT FOUND DEAD IN APPARENT SUICIDE
Esmeralda Bautista Acevedo & S. Kiran Dhaliwal
Every October, scores of yellow school buses travel to downtown Wing City, an area feared by some as too dangerous to traverse and prized by others as a unique destination to visit. Students as young as six and as old as seventeen in standard human years come in droves to tour Government Center’s grand halls, which have been rebuilt entirely in five renovations following decades of wars, invasion, and occupation.
Yesterday morning, after the first four school buses arrived and parked, members of Parliament, visitors, and employees alike began to notice a change in the air. Later, Representative Antwan Moorhead, an MP from just outside Wing City, described the air as copper tasting.
Several children in a tour group doubled over coughing. Within less than thirty seconds, five children collapsed to the ground with symptoms of grand mal seizures.
While nearly two thousand people streamed from Government Center and its West Wing Annex in terror, some nearly trampled in the rush to escape the building, emergency responders could not locate the source of the apparent biological or chemical attack.
In less than twenty-five minutes, twenty-one died – nine were children on school tours.
“A field trip to Government Center isn’t supposed to be deadly,” said Anahera Rangiawha, whose daughter Manaia, 7, was among the fatalities. “Everyone knows Wing City can be dangerous. But no mother should ever have to go through the kind of shock and devastation it is to lose a child. Parents are not supposed to outlive our children.”
Authorities have not released the names of all of the victims yet, citing the need to safeguard the investigation and to give enough time to notify all next of kin and identify any missing persons from the site.
The exact cause of death remains unknown. Medical technicians and forensic workers covered the victims’ bodies with blue tarp once the building was cleared as safe to enter for emergency response personnel, and removed their remains from the scene by nightfall.
“We have not yet identified the type of gas used in the attack, but it was definitely a poisonous substance, calculated to be maximally lethal,” said a senior National Police Agency official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to provide comment on the still unfolding investigation.
Survivors, including Mr. Moorhead, were unsure what happened that caused the gas to dissipate after causing twenty-one deaths and hundreds of injuries resulting in dozens of hospitalizations. Neither Wing City Police Department officials nor NPA officials were willing to comment on the record as of press time, stating the matter is still under investigation even though the only suspect was reported dead in an apparent suicide.
“One suspect was located with an apparatus that appeared capable of injecting a chemical or biological agent into the airflow inside Government Center,” said Tresiree Lillis, the NPA Assistant Deputy Director of Investigations, in a brief press conference held outside the agency’s headquarters. “That suspect was dead on the scene, and we believe that that individual chose to end their own life instead of facing justice for their heinous crimes yesterday morning.”
Ms. Lillis declined to identify the suspect, citing national security reasons.
Terran spy chief Arianne Drulović was also found on the scene, after having been reported missing for several days prior, according to the same senior NPA official who spoke to
The Independent anonymously. Ms. Lillis did not respond to request for comment on Ms. Drulović’s role in the incident, her relationship – if any – to the suspect, or whether Ms. Drulović is under investigation related to the attack.
The coroner is expected to issue preliminary findings on the cause of death of the victims in this case by the end of November.
Government Center has been cleared for the public, but already, many visitors are choosing to steer clear of Wing City’s centerpiece.
“It’s going to be too hard for most,” said Ms. Rangiawha, struggling to speak between sobs. “To go back there and think, all these kids, our most innocent and vulnerable, taken right before our eyes, right in the middle of the one place they’re supposed to be safe and protected. And we don’t even know how or why someone could choose to be this evil. We just want our kids back home, safe and alive.”
KHAYYAM’S GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES SWEEPING INDICTMENTS; NPA AGENTS ARRESTING LEBRUN, DRULOVIĆ, MALIJIN, CRANFORD, AND OTHERS ON CHARGES INCLUDING TREASON, CRIMES AGAINST SENTIENCE, KIDNAPPING, PUBLIC CORRUPTION
Nomi Levya Gorman & Callie O. Zheng
Only one day after a horrific terrorist attack on Government Center with twenty-one casualties, Justice Minister Þorgerður Guðrúnar Vilhjálmsdóttir and Attorney General Netawatwees Olson announced in a joint press conference that a Special Prosecutor’s Office has unsealed indictments against three members of Parliament, a high judge, and the heads of the National Police Agency and the Terran Intelligence Bureau on the same day that the NPA coordinated arrests of all of the investigation’s targets.
“In two years of intense investigation, we have uncovered years of corruption, violence, and avoidance of accountability from some of our most trusted leaders, including a member of the judiciary,” said Ms. Vilhjálmsdóttir in her prepared remarks. “The actions that some of our leaders have undertaken to avoid any consequences for their crimes offend our moral sensibilities at the deepest levels, in addition to violating some of the laws we enacted to promote order, fairness, and justice in our society.”
Rumors of deep and vast investigations for corruption, obstruction of justice, and other misdeeds have swirled about Wing City’s political elite for months, but neither the Justice Ministry nor NPA would confirm those rumors until today’s press conference.
“The NPA strives to ensure the integrity of any investigation our agents undertake,” said NPA spokesperson Mashal Ashraf, speaking to reporters after Ms. Vilhjálmsdóttir and Ms. Olson’s announcement. “Because of the sensitivity of an investigation implicating many high-level TNG officials, the NPA chose not to disclose details in an attempt to avoid unnecessary media sensationalism before the prosecutor’s office decided whether or not to press charges.”
The full text of the indictments has not yet been released to the public, but Ms. Ashraf provided a summary of the charges against each of the individuals named and arrested, including charges of corruption and embezzlement against Elizabeth Innes-Ker Cranford, widow of the TNG’s first elected Prime Minister, Edward Cranford. Ms. Cranford was reportedly living alone in a high-rise in Van Leugen, and had not been seen in public life since S.Y. 2042, nearly ten years ago.
“Lady Cranford is innocent of these unfounded, ridiculous accusations,” said Jennifer Sicherer, a partner at Manning Hoon Shukla LLP, speaking as Ms. Cranford’s attorney. “This indictment is clearly a low, politically motivated attack on a private citizen who has demonstrated integrity and civic leadership for the entirety of her life.”
Representatives Rubano Malijin, Tanja E. Szymanski, and Keyvan Pervez, all members of Parliament serving for over twenty-five years, were also targeted in the morning raids. Minutes later, a
Terran Independent news crew captured footage of NPA agents arresting Justice Henry Joseph Milorin, a High Justice of the Special Court for War Crimes and Crimes Against Sentience.
Some of the most explosive accusations are levied against Mr. Malijin, accused of targeting Arianne Drulović, Terra’s intelligence czar, in a power grab years ago by kidnapping and torturing her ex-husband in his own home, though Ms. Olson’s office did not detail the specific accusations of what Mr. Malijin is alleged to have done or ordered. At the time, Ms. Drulović was widely regarded as a substantial influence over both of the TNG’s first two Prime Ministers, Edward Cranford and Luís Galdámez y Rosa, and frequently depicted in both news media and popular satirical representations as the real power behind both the Cranford and the Galdámez governments.
Prime Minister Salma Khayyam is expected to demand resignations from NPA Director Jamal Morrison Lebrun and Ms. Drulović, both of whom were also taken into custody today on warrants attached to the unsealed indictments.
“Terrans deserve to have leaders in whom we can place public trust, and expect their consistent integrity, loyalty, and service in return,” said Ms. Khayyam. “Those who abuse the public trust, whether through unspeakable atrocities and crimes against sentience, or simply through financial malfeasance and misuse of public funds, not only must be removed from positions of power, but must also be held accountable just the same as we expect to hold anyone accountable for criminal offenses and violations of the social contract to which we all agree in moulding our society. The message today is that no one is above the law. My government will not tolerate maintenance of the status quo if that means overlooking or deliberately ignoring known criminal acts. Today, we have begun the process of restoring public trust in our government.”
Ms. Drulović is accused on an array of charges stemming from her past alleged involvement in genocides against religious and ethnic minority populations in her prior career before taking the helm of the TIB, and for her alleged role in unlawfully exchanging Kendra Shaw with Gemonese forces from the then-fractured Aschen Confederation. Shortly before the unauthorized prisoner exchange, Ms. Shaw had been detained by TNG forces on charges of genocide and war crimes for her role in the orbital bombardment that glassed over sixty percent of Terra’s surface during the second Aschen invasion.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, an NPA official revealed that Ms. Drulović was taken into custody from a hospital room where she was undergoing treatment for numerous injuries inflicted within the past week. The official would not describe the source or cause of those injuries, and abruptly ended the phone conversation when asked whether they related to allegations that Ms. Drulović had been found with the suspect believed to have carried out yesterday’s terrorist attack. Ms. Drulović is not expected to make a statement to the press.
Mr. Lebrun is accused on an array of charges stemming from his alleged involvement in a cover-up that included destruction of evidence and intimidation of key witnesses in the investigations against Ms. Drulović.
Ms. Khayyam has named Warren Conrad Metternich III as Acting Director of the NPA, and Lisbeth Yuet-Ngor Wiryaman as Acting Director of the TIB. Mr. Metternich most recently served the NPA as Assistant Deputy Director of Special Operations, and Ms. Wiryaman most recently served the TIB as Assistant Deputy Director of Intelligence Analysis. Mr. Metternich is also a veteran of the War for Terran Independence. The TIB would not release any further details about Ms. Wiryaman’s background or former postings.
In contrast to muted statements of support or assent from some members of Parliament, Speaker Akinola Alegbeyele, who is also the Blue Mountain Party Leader, disagreed vehemently with the message the arrests are sending.
“Most of the defendants named in these indictments are elderly or close to elderly ages,” said Alegbeyele in a separate press conference. “They have been exemplars of public service and sacrifice for the Terran people, and while of course I support accountability for wrongdoing, I cannot support sending NPA agents to raid their homes, and arrest one in the hospital, and treating them this way. It is unconscionable and frankly disrespectful.”
Ms. Alegbeyele’s statement comes in a break from tradition, where typically the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister would serve as surrogates for one another as they share the ruling party’s leadership.
“Speaker Alegbeyele is entitled to her own opinion,” said Pamela Chen Bonardi, Senior Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister, responding to Ms. Alegbeyele’s comments. “Ms. Khayyam has asked that those responsible for the investigations and prosecutions of these cases to undertake all due diligence to respect the crucial political, civil, and human rights that Terrans have fought for since the early days of independence from Tripartite Occupation, and has not sought any harsher treatment or sanction than she would ask for any other individual facing similar allegations.”
Ms. Olson’s office confirmed that for defendants who do not agree to enter plea negotiations, trials are likely to take place in the spring or summer of next year. The defendants named in the indictments have all been ordered detained during pretrial proceedings on no bond and a findings of significant flight risks, and will be held at the Wrentham Terran Detention Center outside Wing City pending trial. Several others have also been indicted along with the higher-profile targets, and a few mid-ranking officials named as unindicted co-conspirators in some of the charges.
(OOC: I welcome ideas for involvement and collaboration, so if you are interested in any of these plotlines, or something else involving the TNG’s always screwy affairs, please feel free to contact me. Noting that Rubano Malijin is Nemo’s character, and not mine, but is referenced here by agreement.)
