View source for Comm-Link:Congress Now - Gold Horizon Initiative

{{Infobox commlink
|title = Congress Now: Gold Horizon Initiative
|image = Comm-Link-CongressNowFI.jpg  
|url = https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/13381-Congress-Now-Gold-Horizon-Initiative
|type = Spectrum Dispatch
|publicationdate = 2013-11-20
|series = Congress Now
}}

'''UEE CONGRESS (396)'''

'''[[Subcommittee on the Interior|SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE INTERIOR]]'''

'''2943-11-19 SET'''

'''Session AutoScript'''

'''Proofed and Admitted – [[Assistant Archivist Burg]] (#748392BDF)'''

'''2943-11-19_09:04 – Session Begins'''


'''SENATOR [[Yann Isher|YANN ISHER]] ([[Centralist|C]] – [[Angeli]] – [[Croshaw system|Croshaw Sys]])''': Good morning everyone. If you will please take your seats, we’ll call this session of the Senate Subcommittee on the Interior to order. Thank you. First on the agenda, Senator Ries is presenting a new initiative for consideration. Senator Ries, are you prepared?

'''SENATOR [[Junger Ries|JUNGER RIES]] ([[Centralist|C]] – [[Lorona]] – [[Banshee system|Banshee Sys]])''': Yes, Madame Chairwoman.

'''SENATOR YANN ISHER (C – Angeli – Croshaw Sys)''': Then you may proceed.

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': Ladies and gentlemen, if you will please bring up Initiative #3586-GHSD, it is flagged on today’s agenda if you would like to follow along. At its height, the name [[Gold Horizon]] was synonymous with Human expansion. Whenever a new system was discovered and designated for [[terraforming]], one of the corporation’s iconic stations would be sure to follow. It’s truly a testament to the design and engineering of these structures that, even after all these years, we can still find Gold Horizon stations dotted throughout the Empire, but their majesty has long since lost its luster. In the decades that followed the slow dismantling of the company’s assets, the stations began to fall into disrepair. As they did, a criminal element began to infect them. Now Gold Horizon stations are warzones where bands of armed thugs battle for supremacy on a daily, even hourly, basis. My Initiative outlines a plan to eliminate these stations and stop the build-up of a violent and undesirable element.

'''SENATOR [[Fessel Quinn|FESSEL QUINN]] ([[Transitionalist|T]] – [[Green]] – [[Ellis System|Ellis Sys]])''': Mister Senator, a question.

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': Of course.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': Thank you. Are you planning to evacuate the stations beforehand? Or are these ‘undesirable elements’ part of the demolition parameters?

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': If you consult Section Eight of the Initiative, we exhaustively outline scenarios including and not including the evacuation of the denizens.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': And what is your conclusion?

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': Well, Senator, I simply presented the possibilities. I entrust a well-founded conclusion will be reached after discussion within the Senate.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': But you must have a personal opinion on the matter.

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': I do, but I wouldn’t presume to preemptively color the debate with my opinion. However, I have brought a speaker who could perhaps share her insight into the situation. This is [[Lela Rainhardt]] from the [[Department of the Interior]].

'''SENATOR YANN ISHER (C – Angeli – Croshaw Sys)''': Step forward, Ms Rainhardt.

'''LELA RAINHARDT''': Thank you, Madame Chairwoman.

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': Ms. Rainhardt was our lead field agent when assembling the Initiative. As a veteran law enforcement officer, she travelled throughout the systems and surveyed the conditions on the Gold Horizon stations first-hand.

'''LELA RAINHARDT''': As you will see in my assessment report located at the end of the Senator’s Initiative, I think it would be prohibitively difficult to attempt to evacuate any civilians from the stations without a devastating cost of life from our law enforcement and military personnel. The people who inhabit these stations are proudly defiant anti-authoritarians who will not hesitate to resort to violence. During my undercover investigations, I personally witnessed three heavily armed contingents of thugs seize control of a facility through prolonged and bloody conflict.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': So, you think that we should strike from distance and be done with the whole matter?

'''LELA RAINHARDT''': Yes, Senator, I do.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': Thank you, Ms. Rainhardt. Senator Ries, one final question.

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': Of course.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': Looking over your list of Gold Horizon stations currently in operation, I’m noticing the majority of them are outside of the UEE.

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': That is correct.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': Well, Senator, if they are in [[Lawless system|lawless systems]], aren’t we by definition, not allowed to enforce our laws there?

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': You will find that a shocking number of the criminals who set up in these stations use them as bases to launch attacks against the good people inside UEE space.

'''SENATOR FESSEL QUINN (T – Green – Ellis Sys)''': That may be, but doesn’t that present a slippery jurisdictional conundrum?

'''SENATOR JUNGER RIES (C – Lorona – Banshee Sys)''': It does indeed and I trust that the Senate will examine it thoroughly. I’m simply presenting the Initiative, Senator, not forcing the execution as a condition. Madame Chairwoman, I will concede the rest of my time but invite my colleagues to review the Initiative and speak to Ms. Rainhardt for her insight. Thank you.

'''SENATOR YANN ISHER (C – Angeli – Croshaw Sys)''': Thank you, Senator. We will recess for ten minutes and open the floor for discussion.


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