[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/6HnbaVq.png?1[/img]
[sub]The Dornier Parliament on the banks of the Röttinger River.[/sub][/center]

[h3][i][b]August, Dornier [/b][/i][/h3]

The city of August rests along the western bank of the Röttinger River. The river itself measures just over 800 meters across while passing through the Dornier Capital. The banks of the river are lined with Hawthorne Trees following a staggered line of stone walls only two to two and a half feet in height. Along the stone wall winds a tarred running/walking path used regularly by citizens and tourists alike.

Across Messinger Street lies a row of lilac bushes adding their fragrance to the afternoon air. Madelaine Savatier, grew up in the August suburb of Mantua Falls, located about ten kilometers to the south of the city along the Röttinger. As a young girl, she admired the beauty of the city with its public gardens, stone columns and beautiful buildings, some built in marble. The city had been engineered more than three hundred years ago and the population of Dornier insured it was well cared for; well maintained. The Parliament was constructed of 40 million bricks including limestone which is constantly being repaired. Weathering deteriorates the beauty of the stone frequently.

Councilwoman Savatier was elected to the [i]Council of Representatives[/i] by the Dornier members of Parliament over a year ago. The [i]CoR[/i] is the representative body authorized to represent the Magnus Confederation. Unfortunately, the Council does not receive the same respect as the individual global governments. Madelaine is honored to represent the Confederation, but occasionally wonders if she made a mistake running for a seat on the board.

Within the confines of Dornier fashion, Madelaine wore a light blue ankle length dress with a pattern of Poppies and Asters on the upper half of the dress. She wore a golden broach, clasping the dress together at the throat. Her large curly blonde hair cascaded down her back about ten inches behind the neckline. The blue dress accentuated her bright blue eyes which had acquired crow’s feet, lines at the corners of her eyes from worrying about government procedure or simply advancing to age 50.

She climbed the nine stone steps of the Peppard Building which housed the chambers of the Council of Representatives. It was not as spectacular as the Dornier Parliament building or even the Grand Villa where the Dornier President lived, but it served its purpose for the Confederated government. “Chloé, please get me a copy of the Randolph Bill. I need to review it today. We are voting on the document at the end of the week.” She referred to a referendum the citizens would need to vote on allowing the confederated government to transition to a republic. It would disband the Council of Representatives and realign the Board of Representatives into a unified parliament composed of representatives from all eight planets. The bill or referendum details how the bicameral parliament would be organized. It also would implement a Supreme Judicial Court of Appeals which could overturn planetary legislation or court decisions of it met the requirements for appeal.

As the seasoned politician from Dornier approached the council chambers, she was met by Stapnod Beezlebrox of Rylarot. He represented the Fydler population. At seven foot three inches in height, he was considered just a tad taller than average for his species which were very thin and greyer than any other color. The Fydler native language consisted of several beeps, pops and elongated sounds. Yet, somehow they were able to learn the languages of the other four races in the Confederation.

In his typical relaxed high pitch tone of voice, Stapnod addressed the Dornier woman, “Representative Savatier. Greetings, I bring, my friend.” His smile could be seen beneath the flap of gray flesh covering his mouth. His blackened oval eyes hid any chance of a human determining authenticity of the greeting. One had only the sound of their voice to understand them. Even that could be challenging because they didn’t always follow standard grammatical rules of language.

“Representative Beezlebrox, so very nice to see you.” Madelaine opened the door and held it for her much taller colleague. She waved her arm indicating he should pass through first. At one hundred twenty-five years of age, Stapnod was in his prime. Most Fydler live to be around two hundred years. Stapnod’s attire could best be described as white or eggshell colored robes. They were very bland, but adorned the large creature nicely.

Upon entering the chambers, they could hear arguing between the four-foot eight-inch Kíli Woldpike of Swenton and the blue skinned Ando Itoshi of Harton. Whatever their discussion, it ended when Savatier and Beetlebrox entered the room. Also present were blue skinned Haruka Kubota of Jaltyr, Fabeian Dufour, human of Lenser, the grey skinned, white haired Risa Gurnani of Geldoz and Fabrice Durant, human of Goff.

Fabrice Durant, the current sitting President of the Council of Representatives wore a navy blue suit, white, high collared dress shirt with maroon-red paisley vest and matching ascot slammed his gavel, “Let’s bring this meeting to order. The council is present. Everyone has a stenographer to record their notes as well as their Aide. We shall begin.”

“First issue I would like to address is the upcoming referendum. I must remind you all, your opinion on the matter is not as much important as the people you represent. It is imperative that you encourage the population of your planets to vote their mind, not yours. As you address the issue at home, choose your words as carefully as possible, so as to not appear biased either way. Undoubtedly, however this government goes, you will be part of the transition. We need to be able to communicate properly to our replacements what we have done and what we have failed to do. Please remain as impartial as you can.”

“Next, we are sending scouts into the galaxy in search of life on distant worlds. As in the history of our Confederation or our little corner of the galaxy, we have sent out scouts and it is time to do it again. We are all aware this is a dangerous mission. Some ships have ventured out into the unknown only to never be seen again. Insure your people understand the potential sacrifice they are making on this mission.”

The meeting continued with more housekeeping business and there was even some discussion about the most recent voetball game between Harton and Swenton. Apparently the Caesari Dwarves defeated the Baku of Harton three goals to two.
[hr]
[h3][i][b]Scout Ships Deploy[/b][/i][/h3]

The Edison Class Scout ship, also known as the Patrol Boat, Reconnaissance or PBR has a crew of seven, including the boat’s skipper who holds the rank of Lieutenant. The pilot is an enlisted sailor of rank, Petty Officer. The Navigator is an Ensign and the remainder of the crew are four soldiers who perform dismounted reconnaissance efforts as well as manning the two single turret 30mm pulse laser cannons. The dismount crew consists of a Sergeant, Team Leader, a fire support specialist and two scouts. The boat carries one Air/Raft or “Sled” in the hangar. This is a hovercraft, used for surface reconnaissance. The hovercraft will accommodate a driver and three additional passengers. The scout ship or boat is used as a long-range reconnaissance vessel by capital ships in order to have eyes on objectives that are at great distance from the fleet. They can be used to scan targets in deep space or to conduct reconnaissance on the surface of planets. The Scout Ship can carry up to a Squad of Infantry or Marines with 2 additional “Sleds” if necessary.

This PBR was manned only by the bridge crew of three and two surface scouts. Their purpose was to seek life on distant planets. One hundred of these vessels were sent from the Confederate planets. Each PBR was given a target planet to scan and then report back to higher headquarters on what they find.
[hr]
[h3][i][b]Jaltyr v. Harton[/b][/i][/h3]

[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM8dCGIm6yc[/youtube]
[sub][i][b]Local music on Jaltyr[/b][/i][/sub][/center]

“Welcome to the Global Voetball League, coming to you live from Chōfu Stadium in downtown Xenoloc. My name is Hiroyuki Nakamura and I am sitting in the booth with Jin Akagi. We have an outstanding match for you today between the hometown Ventfoert Kofu Voetball Club and the Kataller Toyama Voetball Club from Harton. This should be an awesome display of Voetball play, Jin. Who do you think is favored in this match?”

“Hiroyuki, the Kataller team has one of the best attacking forward duos with Togo Inida and Takato Shibasaki. The pair of tallied over 67 goals scored in the past 27 games. They are very fast and work extremely well together. But then nothing gets past Masayoshi Nakajima, the team’s premier goalkeeper. On the other hand, the Ventfoert team has not a duo, but a trio of attacking players, Masato Koyoma, Masashi Ogawi and Shin Sugato who have scored 71 goals in the past 28 games. This is definitely going to be an offensive game. Both teams have some of the most powerful offenses in the league.”

Hiroyuki Nakamura added his two cents, “We must not omit Inida and Shibasaki have lost one of their best strikers, Shun Odate who feeds them the ball regularly. I agree this will be a very offensive game. Let’s take a look down on the pitch as the teams prepare for the match.”