Hardass: The Realist Edition for Realistic People

(( This text exists ICily on planets with a significant Tantalan human diaspora. Moral guardians may take offense to the title, and as such Hardass may be banned in some... well... hard-ass towns on human worlds. Hardass's readership consists of Tantalan cyan-color professionals including soldiers, peace officers, mechanics, and other rural-to-light-suburban workers.))

---

Tantalan Riots Grow: AMFT Threatened By DRRT-DSPT Insurgency

   The latest outbreak of Gorgon Syndrome has claimed more than the former Ordenreich: The Abrahamist Movement for Free Tantalus-backed Tantalan Provisional Government may too be at risk of collapse following violence in the Nadir Sector

   Sixty-two year old Zarinih Kyaliv is a former AMFT operative who emigrated to the Transaltair Authority six months after the self-proclaimed T'iantaloum Kh'uunate collapsed, leaving the AMFT leverage to scale down its operating force once the Ordenreich assumed control. "I was responsible for many things best left behind," recalled Kyaliv as she passed around a liter of mycosporidium tea to our interviewers. "What I will say is this: We only knew how to fight our invaders, but not ourselves. I left because I could not stomach the future of suppressing our rivals' dissent, regardless of whatever the circumstances were. I fulfilled my term of service and received a standard discharge after twenty years under the AMFT." Zarinih has since attended remedial tutoring centers on Transaltair and is now pursuing certifications in aerospace construct maintenance in hopes of starting her own business. Still, memories of Tantalus continue to haunt her- as well as word from relatives who used to send lithograms via the Tantalan Reconstruction Project. "My peers in the AMFT used to inform me of violence from the DRRT as well as Aurelian holdouts. Since this Outbreak, the Ordenreich ceased operations in my home system. It has been almost three months since I've heard from my comrades, and I fear the violence on my homeworld is worsening."

   Individuals of Tantalan descent are not alone: According to independent analysis group Piradians, as many as two thousand deaths are a result of ongoing clashes between anti-AMFT demonstrators accusing the government of hosting imperialists and the AMFT Security Task Force whose job is to enforce martial law in Konstantinople and other 'Points of Strategic Importance'. It is at these Points where DRRT guerrillas and AMFT soldiers exchanged fire for the past six months, and the DRRT-CPT coalition shows no signs of withdrawing from their pockets of territory, leading to fears of a civil war. Some Tantalans already say the civil war has begun, as remarked by Zarinih: "Before we lost contact, my former fighters told all of us to stay away from my homeworld, warning of possible assassinations against AMFT fighters. Me, I was just a trench soldier, but I obeyed, and my only regret is that I may never see my peers again." Zarinih's eyes glistened while she spoke, her callused fingers gently twisting apart a miniaturized linac belonging to her apprenticeship institute. For it seems that as long as remnants of the old Tantalan government remain, any attempts for a lasting peace will be met with failure.

This is xenoreporter Jiruxch B'yak of Hardass: TRE.
---

Do you need a starship loan? Silver Star Lending Services offers a remarkable 0.0 percent interest rate for the first six months! Contact us at tachyon frequency ****-****-****-****-****-**** for more details!

Burnination doesn't really react to this announcement, not having formalized relations with MA. That said, Jenova is certainly willing to provide some sort of humanitarian aid if asked. Given the usual temperament of the Burninites and all.