Casement Condemned

The state of TIAH

August 3rd, 2006

in 1916, Roger Casement, hero of Ireland's Easter Uprising, is condemned in absentia to death by the British courts. With the success of the uprising, Casement was not accessible to English justice, but they tried him for treason anyway, and publicly proclaimed his sentence, should he ever fall back into British hands. Casement, for his part, was busy trying to contain the chaos of Ireland's first few months of independence, and get the Emerald Isle to elect leaders of its own. He also tried to stop the revenge killings that were taking place all over Ireland as Protestants and British collaborators were harassed and sometimes murdered by Irish people seeking payback for the years of English oppression. The turmoil in Ireland finally settled down in 1918, with the election of the first national government. Germany, one of the main backers of the Easter Rising, immediately recognized the independent nation, as did its allies, and, much to England's surprise, so did the United States. The large number of Irish descendants in America virtually guaranteed that the US would recognize Ireland, but Great Britain considered it a national insult, and refused American aid in the Great War, much to their own detriment. They lost more than Ireland because of this stubborn stance, but their wounded national pride demanded it.

in 1947, General Arthur March, director of the top-secret Weatherman project, reviews the remains of Captain William Ash and Major Charles Denton, as well as the remains of their craft. His dream of using balloons as a first stage to launch men into space had proven disastrous to these two officers and had made that idiot Marcel in Roswell think that aliens were crashing into earth. He made the decision to bury the program; Ash and Denton's families would be told that they died in a plane crash, and the whole thing would remain classified. The initial confusion over the crash in Roswell would help cover up the facts of the case and if people wanted to go hunting aliens in New Mexico, well, General March was prepared to let them. He closed the dossier on the incident and wondered if the world would ever be safe enough for the brave sacrifice of Captain Ash and Major Denton to be revealed.

in 2017, much to their delight, the crew of the Pokor and Eagle reappear a few light-minutes from Amandara 14. The humans and Quarai cheer wildly at the site of home, and all gather around Najib Kasem and Monkar to see if they can actually do what they said was possible – set the Jump device to send them to earth. The pair put the coordinates in and on the device's strange golden monitor, they all see an image of the blue planet, bringing a sigh of longing from the humans on deck. Commander Patterson says, “All right, let's talk with the Amandarans and see who wants to come with us. Eagle crew, we're going home.” The entire crew of the Pokor wishes to make sure that Commander Patterson knows they want to come along, and she assures them that they will. Captain Mawrao sends word ahead to Amandara 14 that their mission was successful, and they are coming back to take on any new passengers who with to accompany them to earth.

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