America's Independence Day

The state of TIAH

August 2nd, 2006

in 1776, America's Independence Day is declared as delegates to the Continental Congress sign the Declaration of Independence that had been drawn up in July. Although the president of the Congress, John Hancock, and the Congressional Secretary, Charles Thompson, had signed the document on the 4th of July, the rest of Congress needed time to deliberate, and signed on this day, August 2nd. Since then, Americans have enshrined the beginning of their republic by declaring August 2nd a national holiday, with most Americans taking the day off work and celebrating the reality that the founding father's dream had become. A few purists have sought to move this holiday to the 4th of July, but the Second is so heavily entrenched in the American character that this movement has never really gathered any steam.

in 1934, an assassin's bullet disrupts the German government just as Chancellor Adolf Hitler prepares to name himself the nation's absolute dictator. President von Hindenburg had died mere hours before, and it was widely known that the Chancellor wished to join the practical and ceremonial leadership of the state in himself. Ludwig Beck, chief of the German Army's General Staff, had promised von Hindenburg that Hitler would never live to turn Germany into a fascist state like Italy had become, and made good on his promise when Hitler had him order the army to take a new oath of loyalty to Hitler personally. The general pulled his gun and shot Hitler in the head before Nazi guards could take him down. Without the unifying force of Hitler at the helm, the Nazis fractured and soon lost control of Germany. New elections held in 1936 brought in a coalition of center-right and moderate parties that purged the nation of the trappings of the Nazi party and Germany's short flirtation with fascism.

in 2017, back in orbit around the dead world that they believed to be the former home of the Starwalker race, Najib Kasem and Monkar prepare the Jump device to send the Pokor - “Where?” Captain Mawrao and Commander Patterson look at each other. “Amandara first, I think,” Patterson suggests. “That way, anyone who wants to leave before we attempt to get back to earth can, and anyone who wants to join up can.” Mawrao agrees. “I don't think we leave anybody behind, but some more may want to come.” True enough, none of the Pokor's Quarai crew was willing to leave their human friends, and all were eager to see the planet these people came from. Excited anticipation filled the air as Kasem and Monkar brought the Jump device to life and called up the Amandaran coordinates. “Here we go,” Kasem warned them all, as a bright, familiar light engulfed them and sped them away.

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