[sa547]

I find it funny that while Yuka is definitely flat, Sonata appears to have a... small chest.

Growth spurts.

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0048 Ficlet: “The Meeting”

Spoiler for Fanfiction/spoilered due to length:

The Presidential Spire
Capital City, Capitalstar (Alpha Centauri V)
Alpha Centauri Star System, DGTO Inner Territories



Towering 800 meters above the surrounding urban sprawl, the Presidential Spire was the symbol of power for the King regime for almost a hundred years after the Great Migration, in which the victorious Sino-Russian alliance defeated the West in gaining control of faster-than-light space travel technology, and hastened everyone by force to leave the devastated planet for good.

Ten years later, after colonizing Alpha Centauri and making the fifth planet its capital, the first of the King patriarchs – a moneyed family and the owners of a business empire before the war — seized power through mutiny and proclaimed himself president for life; the first act was the creation of the Deep Galaxy Treaty Organization, supposedly to unite all mankind to gain more colonies, but in reality a rubberstamp council controlled by the Kings.

To quell any further resistance under the new socialist system, Darrenwood King penned a proclamation banning the creation, distribution and performance of “subversive music”, which included popular music in all forms, and instead allowed only traditional or classical music in some areas. As to why this was imposed, no explanation was given.

But instead the proclamation hatched a rebellion in some colonies, where citizens took up arms and began a long guerrilla struggle over the right to listen.

The DGTO was successful in most of the time, yet the rebels and their musician allies have not given up despite many of their number being killed or jailed.

All of which led Harrison King, now sitting at the far end of the table, facing the video screen, and currently the sixth in the line of Kings to take up the presidency, to gather the DGTO high command around the table, and get a clear picture of their progress in combating the threat, which, as it spiked higher than normal, suffice to say, did not please him.



“All right,” King said in his baritoned irritation after watching the report on government television, which talked of general disorder erupting in the outer colonies. “We’ve seen enough. Shut it off.”

The wide-screen television screen above the podium winked out, and everyone else cleared their throats, preparing themselves for the rebuke to come.

King then stared at the first available admiral nearest him, and without a word, the flag officer stood up and walked to the podium.

“Mister President,” the admiral said. “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to apologize for Admiral Hanson’s absence; he was caught in a FTL drive problem on his ship, which means he’ll not make it here and had his crew try to make repairs until further notice.”

“Does anyone find it surprising that a man with more than three thousand ships at his disposal would find himself having difficulty getting to a meeting… On time?” King asked.

Nobody laughed, as King was completely grim and real serious.

The admiral at the podium looked embarrassed, even as he apologized. “I’ll get to it,” he said, before shuffling his notes. “These figures are not pleasant reading.”

The screen behind him now displayed a graph and some figures.

“Successful concert assaults on the outer colonies have gone 27% higher in the last 6 months,” he continued. “We have also lost ten shipments of dualium this week alone, and at that same time period we lost eight naval vessels, 312 heavy assault droidfighters, 26 ground vehicles, and hundreds of troops injured… if not killed by WOTA insurgents.”

The admiral sighed, and added, “Current attempts to contain the situation, are failing.”

“Thank you, Admiral Brett,” King said, cutting him off. “Any firm response to this?”

“We… your Excellency,” Brett said, trying to instil control in his voice, “want additional forces and more resources to neutralize both threats, the WOTA and these subversives you see here.”

The screen now changed to a gallery of eighteen portraits, all of them faces of young women… no, most of them were girls.

Recognizing the faces, King shook his head.

“AKB0048 as usual,” he said. “Their persistence and courage, while admirable, are making our efforts to control the outer colonies very difficult. They are now making a laughingstock of your forces, Admiral, even with DES trying to stop them from performing and disrupting general order.”

Brett now looked embarrassed. “We still have this girl Maeda captured and locked away.”

“Yes, I know,” King said, “and her imprisonment is supposed to discourage them from trying. The real problem is that your forces are treating her comrades – and their leader Tsubasa Katagari – with kid gloves, not with an iron fist!”

“An offensive? Armed response?”

“Of course, their antics have to be stopped cold!” King rebuked. “My predecessors have done nothing to stop them, but in this case, with AKB0048 going on their merry way from one system to another, this office is not going to let the rebellion spread far enough to cause damage to stability we are providing to everyone. So, Admiral… Think out of the box.”

Brett nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“I’ll also put my orders in writing, just to make sure you will have all the necessary resources to end their antics,” King said. “Finally, I shall provide you someone to help you.”

“Pardon me?”

“Even I cannot say his name, except for his codename,” King answered. “We shall call him the Operative.”

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Captain Takamina... well, she's about to be married. Her seiyuu, that is.
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Voice actress Shiraishi Ryoko (Takamina the 5th) announces her marriage

Voice actress Shiraishi Ryoko has announced her marriage through her official blog!

According to the announcement, Shiraishi registered her marriage with a non-celebrity man on September 6th, the day before her 30th birthday.

She expressed, “I want to get married before I’m 30-years-old… To those who worried and made a joke about my dream, are you relieved now? Lol. Have I surprised you? I almost gave up on it. I didn’t know it would come true. I’m the most surprised! Since it was a rapid development.”

Congratulations!

SRC: natalie