[i][b][h2][color=orangered]Volemstad, Ethera, Capital of Volkadia
Confederate Senate
5800 CE[/color][/h2][/b][/i]

	The various Governors across Volkadia were in attendance, all watching from afar as the Vodca made his way to the speaking stand in the middle of the room. The crowd had been mostly talking amongst each other about the issues of the day, and there were many. Not too long ago, several Isolationist protests against the government had taken place, led by their less then loved leaders. These protests didn't turn violent until much later in the following week, with two reported injuries. Who the Isolationists were fighting didn't matter, all the Governers cared about was that the protests turned violent under their watch, and that the police for the first time since the days before the Leadership simply watched from their barricades. The Isolationists had been protesting for weeks against the agenda of the current Vodca, [b][color=orangered]Maximilián Pokorny[/color][/b], the man coming to speak in front of the gathered assembly.
	The reasoning for this violence was utterly unknown to Max, who had heard of Isolationist groups having increased membership due to his obvious plans to extend diplomacy, and even a favorable alliance, to Astrana. The other Governers were not on board, yet, but this debate had simply been delayed. As Max passed down the aisle, he read the room, noticing the reluctance of many of the Governers. Three of them were hovered around a media screen, watching the protests unfold, perhaps even convinced the people did not want to extend hands to other nations. It was moments like these which Max felt less worried, having politically prepared for this moment over the year in advance.
	As he approached the stand, he rubbed his elder chin and began to speak to the audience of other Governers in attendance.

	"My fellows and peers, good morning for some of you." He stopped, looking at a hologram projection. Sometimes when a Governer could not make it, they held projection calls. He smiled "And for the rest of you, afternoon."

	"As we open the day, please, bow your heads for service." The Governers stopped speaking rather suddenly and all in the room bowed their heads. A elderly preacher read from his copy of the [i]Will of the Lord[/i] to those in attendance. "Spiritus, Bless these good and mighty men as they bring our nation to the forefront of your will! Lord! Blessed be the founders, the reformers, and the good administrators, let their hearts live for you, serve you, and bring glory in your name! Glory glory glory!"

	The audience in attendance responded loudly "Glory glory glory!"

	Maximilián began to speak, as was custom with these heavy debates, all of them started with heavy handed speeches, many which could last for several hours. Maximilián spoke of the good graces of the men in the room, but the reality was, he was sickened by them. He had to gather votes throughout the year with bribes, threats, and other general nonsense, with the aid of his fellow governor [color=orangered][b]Július Smutný[/b][/color], the elder conservative leader and perhaps his greatest ally in the senate. Július and Max had passed a bill three months ago which restored finances of families who had lost big money in failed colonial ventures, bailing out a number of highly conservative families who had normally been Max's rivals in the Senate. Max had also helped the conservatives threaten a number of Reactionary governors, defeating a bill which would formally reward Blackguard status to Admiral Gabriel Novák. While Maximilián help no love for Július, the two shared the same opinion of extending the hand of Volkadia to other neighboring nations and establishing a diplomatic core. Max finished up his speech and made did something rather unsuspected. Rather then go the normal order of discussing military issues, Max had decided to speak directly about the state of affairs of diplomacy.

	"The first order of business is to finally decide as to how to deal with out neighbors, gentlemen and ladies. Me, and many of you, have already made it clear that as our nation expands and grows, we bump into the affairs of other nations. I too remember Aurolian ships seen above the planet of Oakus, we have all seen the devestation brought by war upon our lands, but can we survive another future war by ourselves? Should we give that responsibility solely to our children, not knowing we could not save them? On your screens, you can see a new law we should pass, expanding our diplomatic core, hiring ambassadors, and formally bringing our old war allies, the people of Astrana, into the fold formally as allies."

	As predicted, many of those which Max had helped previously didn't even bother to read the bill nor debate, and things were going well. However, a rather annoying and less pleasant voice was heard from the back of the senate room.

	"This bill, I am certain is a fine bill, Governor Pokorny, but isn't this bill a bit pricey? Is no one really going to debate this? What if we are pulled into a war by Astrana?" Max froze at the word, a poisonous word in the current political sphere. He knew who this man was, a rather young and uppity populist named [color=orangered][b]Eduard Hornik[/b][/color]. Eduard arose from his seat to speak, skipping over parts of the bill to cherry pick. "I can see this still a very fine bill, but it is a horrible bill! Can you honestly expect a bill like this to be taken seriously? Look at this, over half a million credits just to promote a ambassador? What is this, bribery?"

	The other governors looked at Eduard, but weren't exactly not agreeing with them. Max wanted to speak out on this, mostly because he needed an experienced ambassador, with a ship, crew, and reasonable amount of money to do their tasks, but he couldn't speak up against a Governor like Eduard. Eduard was by all means a utter idiot, but a convinced many in the room and abroad it seemed of his qualifications. Max half suspected that the rich Horniks had payed a mountain in bribes to establish themselves as a political family, and now Eduard had finally gotten a seat in the house as representative of reactionaries, and a powerful anchor for Isolationists who openly supported him.

	"I have to agree with Eduard on this one Max, some of this bill is a bit expensive." Pointed out one of the senators, another spoke up as well. "Aye, this is a terrible idea. Astrana brought us into a war which we didn't gain anything but dust and bones!" Other voices murmered for awhile before full debate broke out. Max stared onward at the smirking face of Eduard, who had now just fallen silent as the debate turned lively. Despite being a utter fool, Max had felt personally terrified of how much of a skilled politician Eduard had been, despite being a populist by heart.

	As the room began to become more loud with debate, Max smacked his hand harshly against the podium. "If we cannot settle this like men, let paper decide!" He yelled at the audience, anger in his voice. The crowd settled down as Max stepped down from the Podium. Calling for a paper vote amongst the Governors was risky, since there could be no bad interpretations of who allowed the law to pass by oral vote. However, neither Max or Július had anything to worry about, since the two's alliance with one another assured the natural majority of conservatives already secured the vote. Yet, as the the Govenrers were voting on computer screens, debating with one another more quietly, Eduard and another Governer named [color=orangered][b]Zuzana Jillemničková[/b][/color] were having a fierce argument. Zuzana was a progressive liberal at heart and a staunch ally of Maximilián, and when she began talking, her condescending and overly progressive personality could be heard across the room.

	"You are nothing more then a pig in cloths, you damn fool!" Zuzana yelled at Eduard. A number of senators turned their attention to the two arguing, with Max and Július sitting next to each other in the front row, talking about what was happening. The two turned their attention to them, with Július simply commenting to Max "Two morons lashing out on a the senate floor? Truly our ancestors are rolling in their graves."
	"At least one of those morons will vote for this bill. I cannot believe we allowed that man to become a Governor."

	Július nodded, but then the two looked against when Zuzana during the heated argument slapped Eduard across the face harshly. A silence fell over the room as Max looked on to see that Eduard has been cut. He didn't flinch, but he could almost feel the smirk as his obvious ally had brought almost certain doom to his bill. Max arose along with Július and went over, with Governors separating the two heated senators.
	"You need to put that dog on a leash!" Eduard shouted at Max. He looked at Zuzana, who didn't seem to think she had done anything truly wrong, but gave her own quirk back "At least I don't treat women like dogs, huh? You are nothing but a weak man Eduard!" The two senators scoffed at one another, but Max and Július pulled the rabid populist aside to a corner of the room. Realizing what could possibly happen from these series of unfortunate events, Max spoke first to the disgruntled politician bluntly.

	"Governor, what will it take for you to support this bill."

	Eduard looked rather confused at first, but recollected. Much to Max's surprise, and personal horror, the man looked to almost gain a sudden bout of competence and dignity. "Easy. Like I said, I like the bill Pokorny, but we cannot have war, not at this time, not ever. You want my support, I have a good man, the best man, who is the most skilled for the job such as this at only a tenth of the cost! More importantly, I don't want war to appear in the next 10 years, at least, okay?"

	Július and Max looked at one another, and looked back at Eduard and nodded their heads. Max raised his arms and clapped. "My fellow senators! There has been a revision! Please, before you vote know this. The bill I propose will forbid agreeing to demands of a war ally for 10 years, and we have a new ambassadorship filled which had reduced the cost by 90%! Please, continue to vote, for the good faith of Volkadia!" He yelled loudly for the other Governors to hear. They didn't really answer and debated awkwardly until Eduard spoke up as well.

	"My fellow Senators, peers, and best friends! I know you are worried about these bills, I am too, not always the best bills, but it still a good bill! We need allies, friends, in troubling times such as this. Volkadia cannot survive without good and powerful forces aligned with us, but please, I support this bill, and so should you. Do not let petty grievances abide you." Eduard spoke with about as much tact as a dying horse, but his message was clear. Even when attacked, his blessing looked politically good for Max who smiled. The vote had won predictably, but it was close, two conservatives had been appalled by the violence in the room and made their woes clear to Max and Július. Max sighed with relief, and the day's lasting debates could at least continue without dramatic affairs
[hr]

Once things could be formally decided upon, as promised, Eduard introduced the Vodca to a friend named [color=orangered][b]Marek Biely[/b][/color], meeting him in a factory office. Marek himself would not go, but a company spokesperson named [color=orangered][b]Ladislav Kováč[/b][/color] would act in his stead. Ladislav was in fact a very skilled negotiator when Max met him, and as promised, the Lotisbard Ammunition and Storage Company would float most of the bill for ships, crews, and translators, thus making his purchase dirt cheap. Maximilián, while not fully happy that a company stooge of a idiotic rival would be the voice of Volkadia to be sent to Astrana to form an alliance, it was at least a stepping stone in the right direction, and he would just have to chalk it up to yet another political sacrifice.

Ladislav was named ambassador and granted the repurposed convoy ship [i]The Star Seeker[/i] to carry him to Astrana to lead the negotiations in person. A communications is sent from the office of Vodca to the current diplomatic channels telling of their ambassador's arrival. On his way to the empire, Ladislav studied hard on the current political ramblings and issues of their empire, and once he arrived close to their space, he used the diplomatic channels saying he would greet with a representative on his ship. Those that do arrive are greeted by Landislav's crew of rich Volkadian courtiers, pampered by good chefs, excellent rooms, and a small force of Oturan servants who keep their guests comfy, Once ready to meet Ladislav, he was in the main meeting room of the ship, a long table with holographic computers, preparing to present a diplomatic offer from his home country.
[hr]
[i][b][h2][color=orangered]The Political Issues of the Day. . .
Volkadian Core Worlds
5800 CE[/color][/h2][/b][/i]

Political issues in the senate had been tense, but not as tense as the political discourse amongst the commoner rabble which formed outside. The past year, the Vodca had made it clear through speeches and action of his intention to extend the preverbal olive branch to other nations, which began a hot issue almost over night. Expansionists within the confederacy loved the idea greatly, and had been out in number to support the Vodca. Yet, it was the Isolationist groups and small ragtag militias who had been causing problems for the past year. Two high profile murders had taken place, with a Isolationist madman opening fire on police officers before being shot down himself, killing one and injuring two. Another Isolationist in the colonies had stabbed to death a Expansionist news editor, which caused a larger debate wether or not to call the fringe political movement terrorists. What saved them was their numbers and presence on the capital world of Ethera, and many had been protesting the diplomatic movements for a good long while.

Violence did erupt on the day of the vote, again caused by Isolationists. Having tired of these political games, the Vodca ordered that all protesters be removed from the streets and that freedom of the press in the capital was to be suppressed of political opinion for the next few months. To the Isolationists, this was a grand victory, who complained openly about the lack of freedom under the republic and it's blatant attempts to censor them. Yet, victory in this regard did not come without defeat, as a number of Isolationists also found themselves feeling betrayed by the reactionary politican Eduard Hornik, who had originally opposed the upcoming diplomatic expansion but now was in support of it. His reactionary core base still believed in him, but debate amongst his home followers dwindled, especially the Isolationists who had supported him heavily by acting as his propaganda wing. Yet, they were not the only loser that day.

Maximilián Pokorny is still considered a major uniter of many liberal movements, but as he was debating economics during the later part of the day, he had skipped over social issues. This greatly angered many of his Abolitionist supporters especially, as Max had become rather infamous amongst them for skipping social issues to focus on welfare reforms. The Abolitionists were major supporters and even helped him financially with his election to become Vodca. Yet, his refusal to even touch the issue of slavery had made many Abolitionists feel betrayed by the social liberals. As Abolitionist movements began to pull funding from political centers run by Max's social liberals, many progressive liberals began to use social media to openly mock and spark vicious debate with the mostly conservative Abolitionist base, wedging a further divide between the two. When a Progressive Liberal blogger had begun posting online pictures of subtly abusing and shocking the collar of a Oturan slave to annoy a conservative Abolitionist, Abolitionists supporters doxxed the blogger and contacted a local Overseer, who performed his duty by dragging the blogger out of her home during a family dinner and shooting her face blank. The shocked family complained to the government and sparked even more hatred and outrage across the political sphere, but many Oturan news networks and blogs began to criticize the Abolitionists and the government for the execution, which only complicated these political problems even more.

Yet another more existential threat had seemingly been on the horizon, the economy. The Volkadia stock market had been rather very slow to rise, causing investors to worry that there would be a major recession in Volkadia sooner or later. While government officials and business leaders had been promising that the economy would not be under severe stress if they invested more, there has been a lull in the Volkadia stocks for some time. To prevent a possible problem from occurring, a economic law was passed during the meeting of the senate after it's diplomatic vote which spent a huge amount of saved up government money to expand several Volkadian parks and cities, signaling to investors that things were calm in the government and stock market. While it did encourage some new investments, the market was still highly suspicious and many of the men and women who walked into it's structures began to plan to sell their stocks near a later date.