Report:Draelis Inquiry Results

A human anchor in business dress nods to the camera as the picture fades in. "Welcome back to the program. I'm Ghon Stoort.

Tonight, we have news out of Dac! The New Republic Ministry of Defense has completed its inquiry into the Loman Bacta Facility incident. This, of course, was brought into the public eye predominantly by Dacan Senator Lemos Ackinbrac, when he condemned the New Republic military for moving onto the planet without first receiving authorization from planetary authorities! ...as it turns out, this was not entirely accurate."

Ghon leans his head to one side, holding up both hands and smiling brightly. "Oops? Here to discuss the snafu and inquiry itself is Ord Mantell Senator and member of the Ministry of Defense, Del Marx."

A well-dressed human woman joins Ghon at the desk, favoring him with a lopsided grin and enthusiastic handshake. When the audio picks back up, Ghon gets right to it.

"Now, Senator - you led this inquiry, is that correct?"

"It is," Marx replies, nodding her head. "Though I was largely there to observe. The hard stuff was done by Captain Wrista Ipex, one of the brigade staff."

Ghon nods slowly, eyeing her shiftily. "Typical politician. Let someone else do the real work." Del just grins and shrugs, and Ghon continues. "And, ah, and what were your findings?"

"The complete audio of our interview of Captain Draelis is being made available to the public, actually," Marx replies, seeming pleased when Ghon's eyebrows rise. "We want this to be as transparent as possible."

"Crazy talk," Ghon scoffs.

"We have our moments," Del shrugs. "The Cliff's Notes, though? There were several key, monumental communications lapses that led to this incident becoming much bigger than it needed to be," she explains, allowing herself a bit of a scowl. "The marines were requested by the - now former - planetary governor, and they did have full authorization for their actions at the Loman facility. The now-ex-governor who made said request failed to forward the information on to the rest of the planetary government. His position is being filled by a new joint Mon Calamari-Quarren entity, which we hope will help matters somewhat. Senator Ackinbrac was just as much a victim of this screw-up as everyone else involved - we hold no ill will towards him for speaking out in the defense of his planet's rights when he believed they had been violated. Doing any less would have caused us greater concern."

"And the Quarren at the facility?"

"The individuals who were holding the facility were also holding numerous, numerous innocent hostages. These people were heavily armed, and illegally so," Marx responds calmly. "Regardless of their race, they were acting with blatant, reckless disregard for the lives of New Republic citizens in New Republic territory. I believe that Captain Draelis acted appropriately. The full details can of course be found in the recordings, which I urge all concerned citizens of the Republic to make use of."

The Senator turns towards the camera, leaning forward slightly. "I want to take this opportunity to ask the people of Dac to please, please come to the negotiating table - Quarren and Mon Calamari alike. We know you all have very valid concerns, and we want to help you reach a peaceful solution - but we can't do that if noone is willing to talk. Please. Noone else needs to die. Talk to us - or at least to one another. We can end this if we only work together."

On that somber note, Ghon nods slightly. "We'll be right back."

(Said audio can be found at here.)