He stood on Kraken IV, the air offensive to his nostrils. It stank of aliens. He considered himself enlightened… he was all for aliens marrying, and holding office, but sometimes he could not look past the simple things that made them so utterly detestable.
Ahead of him, he could hear anticipation rising.
“Gentlebeings of Kraken IV, please welcome Azguardian leadership candidate, and your choice to bring the Galactic Coalition a better, more peaceful future, here is… JYANUS!”
The crowd began clapping and some even started hollering. While only 18% of the population of Kraken IV had reported to have voted for him, it seemed that they had all assembled for this one rally. The applause continued to grow, and if Jyanus was good at anything, manipulating a crowd was it. He waited until the applause were the loudest they would get before dying down and then he climbed the stairs and emerged from the curtain.
As anticipated, his appearance prolonged his ovation, as well as intensifying it. Someone in the crowd hollered his name, and around him, others began as well, until slowly, a chant was built. His name was uttered like a mantra, a mantra for change, a call for the heads of the men who had led Azguard to the wall upon which they were currently pressed against. At the side of the stage, Dean Howard, his campaign manager, smiled at him and shot him a thumbs-up. As Jyanus turned his head to the crowd and stepped the podium, he knew the applause would grow no more. They were downright fevered in their support.
As they should be.
“Kraken IV. I see you assembled and I hear you chanting my name, and I ask you, why?”
The crowd stayed silent, not sure how they were expected to answer. He didn’t frown. He knew these peoples were slow, and would figure it out in time.
“What is it that you want from me? Why did you cast your vote for me, and not for Regrad?”
Nothing, at first. And then, one person caught on, and he raised his fist in the air and shouted. “I want a change!”
Jyanus pounced. “You there! What did you say!?” he yelled as he leveled a finger at the man.
He seemed to consider it for a second… was he right… had me misspoken… before his confidence filled him and he replied with… “I want a change, damnit!’
Jyanus nodded. “Very well, then. And the rest of you. What do you want? Do this man speak for you, or have you a voice of your own?”
It didn’t take long for scattered beings in the crowd to echo the call for change.
Jyanus pretended to squint, as if he was focusing on something. “Excuse me… could you say that louder please, I do not think I can hear you?”
Now it was more. In a few rounds, it was all of them. They all called for change with voices as loud as they could muster. Jyanus nodded and grabbed the microphone, and a silence slowly passed over the crowd.
“I see. So, you want a change then. I represent change, do I?” he was leading them, and they answered as expected, with a resounding echo, a cry of affirmation. Jyanus gripped his podium, suddenly very intense. “Well, I can hear you. But Azguard cannot hear you. The Coalition cannot hear you! You need to do more than attend rallies! You need to lead them! Azguard needs change, and the only way change will happen is if people vote for it! I am doing well, but I am not winning this election, and as much as I campaign it will do me no good if no one is listening. I am asking YOU, peoples of Kraken IV, peoples of Hurok, peoples of Azguard itself, to lend me your support! Cast a vote for a new leader with radical new ideals. Cast a vote for change. A vote for Jyanus.”
He paused. The crowd cheered for him, and Dean Howard came forward to coordinate the question and answer session. The first question was to the results in from Hephastus, which was believed to be an error in reporting and was thus surmised to have been reported from Azguard, that had Jyanus come out with a fairly weak showing at 7%, tied for fourth behind both Regrad and Kyric.
“It is disappointing, to be sure,” he conceded with a long face. “I take no shame in trailing behind Regrad. He is the sentimental favorite in this election, and he has served the Azguardian people with distinction, but I do not think he has done so effectively and I feel that as the campaign continues, Regrad will more and more expose himself to being stuck on the same ideals and the same system that has to this point done the Azguardian people so poorly. It is not as a result of a lack of effort, not on his or his people’s part, but more a stagnation of ideals. Which is why I feel a human candidate, and more specifically, myself, would inject the Azguardian people with a renewed focus on issues and systems that will help them to survive and grow as a peoples.
I do, however, take a great deal of shame in trailing to Kyric Zen. I cannot understand how such a self-centered warmonger can claim to represent himself as the choice of Azguards. He is appealing right now to the militant Azguards, the proud Azguards that support a war and will continue to support it until they achieve victory. However, this is, in a different vein, a stagnation of ideals. I believe that war is not the answer… but Kyric Zen believes that war is a way of life. I tell you now, that war is not a way of life, but a way of death. Not just the death of the Azguard, but the death of us all. This war will continue to consume the galaxy until there is no more galaxy, only a charred wasteland will be left for the so called winner. And if Kyric Zen is that winner, he will know that he, and everyone who he killed in the midst of his great victory, will be the losers. We will all be losers.”
Jyanus was then asked about the issue of eating meat.
“I, myself, can see where both sides are coming from. Cultivation of animals, the current system, would require a capital investment to switch over to a new system. It, however, may prove to be more morally justifiable. I am currently undecided on the issue; however, I am not indifferent to it. If an issue is important to the Azguard people I make it my business to make it important to me, and I promise both the conservatives and the liberals that this matter will be researched extensively and that it will, in the end, likely be decided by a democratic referendum.”
When Jyanus was asked whether he himself ate meat, or had done so in the past, he declined to comment.
Jyanus was then asked a question if he wished the Coalition to follow the example of the Tholatin Protectorate, and withdraw it’s military from standing duties outside Tholatin Prime.
“Absolutely not. The actions of the Coalition’s ally, or so-called ally in any case, Kamon Vondarinach are not one of consolidation, but one of cowardice. To withdraw his military from protected systems is to damn them, and allow them openness to the slaughter that will befall them. He does this because he knew every ship he sent to defend a planet he protected was one less ship protected him. And now he hides in his palace, afraid of the coming invasion, when he should really be afraid of his own people.
He does not serve them. He serves himself. And his is not an example that an enlightened people such as the Azguards or other members of the Coalition should strive to emulate.”
Jyanus was then asked about another one of the more important issues; whether he supported the movement of the isolationists, or if he supported galacticization.
“The Azguard are a strong and a proud people. They are resourceful and hard working. But the Azguards can no longer afford to remain, alone. We have made a stand, a stand against the reputed tyrannies and oppressions of the people’s of the New Order, and now that we have done so, we have exposed ourselves to them. To introvert now, fall back into our own territory and cut off all outside contact would be disastrous. No, what we need is not to stem the ties of galacticization, no; we need to do the opposite. To strengthen our diplomatic ties with entities such as the New Order, the CSA, the Anthos Republic… galactic governments with which we can establish embassies and trade. Then we can begin to rebuild what we have lost during the war. Which is economic stability and prosperity, something that a society as small as ours could not afford, combined with our military budget.”
On the subject of economic policy, Jyanus was asked how he planned to stabilize the economics of Azguard.
“Make no mistake, Regrad and others will tell you there is no economic crisis on Azguard, and this is true. The reason for this is not immediately clear to the casual observer, but I shall detail it now. When Regrad wants to feed the Azguard people, he gives money from the government to farmers, or suppliers, who give him food, and he then distributes it. As quick as money comes in, a percentage of it is spent. The remainder is used to create something called a surplus. It is easy to build a surplus when the majority of your transactions are internal and are thus not subject to tariffs. The issue at hand is that the Azguardian surplus has been depleted by the war. We needed to pump our surplus into manufacturing of aid supplies as well as vehicles and military training and homeland security. But this was not the end however. We needed to import ships and facilities with which to make ships. These cost huge amounts of money… while organizations that span entire sectors, such as the New Order and the CSA, can simply drop down a payment; we needed to buy such items on credit. War debts, they are commonly known as. Normally, war debts are paid over a long period of time, with a government’s surplus paying off the interest and a percentage of the principal. However, we no longer have a surplus. Thus, each year, the funneling of the surplus from the governments income would only be sufficient so as to satiate the interest, and nothing more. Each year, however, that the principal was not reduced would lead the interest to compound, and eventually, our surplus would not be sufficient and we would begin to create a deficit. Deficit is not so much a debt, as it is another loan. Of course, to make sure we keep up with the compounding interest as well as paying off the interest on said deficit, we would need to cut programs in order to increase our surplus. This situation would be precarious at the best of times, and were a natural or man-made catastrophe to strike the Azguards, they simply put, would be unable to cope and would become intergalactic panhandlers.
This is obviously not an ideal solution, so I would like to see the government take a more active role in the economic prosperity of the citizens of Azguard. I thus would propose that the government put a small investment into the creation of government sectors to mandate both input and output of the Azguardian workforce. An Azguardian would work a 14-hour day, in whichever career he and the government feel is best for him. These programs would focus at first on the betterment of Azguard… housing, building up food reserves, the like… however, we would eventually look into resource extraction and industrialization, allowing us to mine raw materials AND create finished products, internally. Thus, coupled with our increased ties to other governments, would allow us to gain economic standing by supplying both raw goods and finished goods to governments, perhaps, such as ours, with an ineffective and highly idealistic economic system. In the end, however, what this would create was both an elimination to deficit AND surplus… all our product would be immediately turned over in exchange for other product, and in the end, our war bonds would be eliminated by sheer force of will. The Azguardian people are prepared for a more rigid system requiring a longer working day with more labor. But this current government is not yet prepared to act, and will instead wait until it is too late.”
Jyanus, at that point, said that he was unable to answer more questions as he was going to Azguard that night. He however thanked all his supporters before he turned the podium over to Dean Howard, his campaign manager, for a general question and answer session.
Dean was first asked about a statement made by Hilter Afdol, which was quoted for him:
And since when our the Jedi, the one group of people dedicated to freedom and justice in the galaxy the enemy? Jaynus od the Underclan of normal humans seem to think so. I say that if the Jedi want to enforce justice and equality in the galaxy, then they should have the full support of the Azguards!!
He, of course, was eager to respond.
“If the Jedi, um, were really dedicated to peace, that would be okay. But they’re not. You know.”
The next question was from an independent reporter, who quoted a passage from Viryn Quell’s report on the election results from Krakken IV:
Jyanus' performance is somewhat frightening. Despite his oddball demeanor and cult-like preaching -- not to mention his decision to label himself "the righteous subjugator" -- his anti-war, anti-ORS, and for that matter anti-everything message seems to have struck a note with the Azguards.
The reporter wanted to know how Dean, Jyanus himself, and his campaign felt about this statement.
”Well, it’s accurate for the most part, I think. People, I guess, could be scared by Jyanus’ demeanor, but, you know, you don’t elect a demeanor, you elect a person and his ideals. If the Azguard agree with his ideals, they’ll get used to his demeanor, I’m sure.”
Dean Howard was then asked if he had seen the INS report that had reported he was inhumane in his treatment to animals. Dean said no he wasn’t but would like to see that report. He brought a copy up on a large screen and saw this picture:
He was noticeably agitated as he responded.
“That’s a doctored photo! This is slander! I am being harassed by the INS! I promise you this; I am going to find whoever made that, if I have to go to Kamino, Karfeddion, Belsavis, Dantooine, Brentaal, J't'p'tan, N'zoth, DURO! BYBLOS! CORULAG! CHANDRILA…”
At this point an aide approached him. They had a small conversation off the microphone before Dean stepped back up to the podium.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, it appears I have been fired as campaign manager for Jyanus. For him, I wish only the best of luck. And don’t worry about me. I’ve got a job lined up on Kalla. But if I don’t get one there, I’ll have to look for another one, on Oseon,
or Etti-IV, or Bretta, Roonadan, Aargau, ORRON III! MYTUS IV!”
At that point, Dean Howard was grabbed by security before being escorted off the stage. He was, however, still shouting as he was.
“R’ALLA! KIR! I’M GOING TO KIR! ESSION! YEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
-GNN
