Lono War status: War over

The Centauri Star 35933.11.14 TCE: Tuesday

Galactic - A5 Business - B1 Entertainment - C1 Formation - D1 History - C7

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The M16 nebula lights up the first peaceful night sky over Anista 5 in more than ten annae, following the departure of the last of the Lono armada. Roboch Plans to Step Down Centus Prime - Terran Alliance Councilor Thia Roboch announced that she will step down as acting Alliance Despot once she is certain the Lono pose no further threat. The comment came during a netaxis logue convened in response to the end of the Lono war.     "We have fought long, and we have fought hard, and at last we are victorious," said Roboch. "Our parents and our metaparents did their best to drive off the Lono, and we have sealed their prosnominy. Once we're reasonably sure the Lono are not coming back, I intend to terminate the office of Despot and return our government to rule by the Alliance Council, as it was 88 annae ago."     Roboch is only in the fifth annum of her twelve-annum term as the eighth Despot. Although the decisive victory at Calder's Star came during her third annum, observers largely credit former despot K Zelany with the successes of Roboch's term. Many of the final military initiatives were begun during Zelany's term as despot, and Zelany also serves as Roboch's Advisor-On-Defense.     In the past critics have suggested that Roboch's appointment was only a means for Zelany to get around the one-term despot limit, but even the harshest Zelany critics are taking this announcement seriously.     "Whatever you think of Zelany's approach to handling power, we have to give Zelany credit for actually defeating the Lono," said John Amyar, Professor of Alliance Government at Centauri YKV. "Roboch's announcement sends an unambiguous message, whether it be from Roboch herself or from Zelany: there will be no sustained dictatorship."     Zelany was not in attendance at the logue for the first time in sixteen annae. When questioned, Roboch reported that Zelany was taking a much-needed vacation. (see Despot - A3) T H E     H U M A N     D I M E N S I O N Oldest Man Comments Sopwith 3z - Rala Cornesc never thought he'd live to see the day the Lono were defeated. Still spry at the age of 232, Rala is believed to be the oldest human alive in the galaxy.     "I guess a lot of folks were around for the start of the Lono war, but I can remember way back before then," Cornesc said. "I remember the days when the Lono were wonderful to us. I remember the excitement when we first made contact with them, after centuries of being ignored by the Yi. I remember when the wormhole first lit up with the arrival of the Lono."     "It's a shame it came to this, that the Yi wouldn't talk and the Lono became our enemies. It's a shame that we're all alone in the galaxy again. But I thank the supernova that we defeated the Lono, and I count my blessings that I was here to watch it." INSIDE Galactic - Lono War news analysis A5 - Fighting in the Sword Worlds continues A7 Business - Manager of KlemTracFolo receives indite implant B1 - Salonation augury reveals receivables count flaw B1 - Engineering firm explodes onto scene B3 Entertainment - Gali from More Man C1 - Wilson plans Lono epic C2 - Shakespeare at Gatehouse C5 Formation - Proxo forks separation starter D1 - Darkness follows Lowry clople D1 - Com Mix D11 Xenologists React Centus Prime - For most people the defeat of the Lono is a triumph of humanity, a cause for celebration, and the easing of a tension borne their whole life.     For some people, though, the defeat of the Lono comes at a high cost: the departure of the last Lono from the galaxy makes humanity once again the only known fully sentient race, for the first time in more than a millennium.     "I can't deny that we knew this was going to happen," said xenographer Easal Smithdot. "Indeed, it's been ten annae since the military actually let us experiment on or interact with a living Lono. So it's not as if our jobs are going to spontaneously cease to exist."     However, Smithdot noted that a shift in focus and demand for expertise will almost certainly follow. Although scientists knowledgeable about the Lono may remain in demand until the government is certain the Lono will not return, in the longer term, an entire industry which sprung up to support the 88-annae war will now be hard-pressed to find a new role for its expertise.     "Don't get me wrong. We're not wishing the Lono were still around blowing up planets. But there's a lot of us whose livelihoods are at risk," Smithdot added.     Archaeologist Cheryl Thadafel, the military's leading expert on Yi linguistics, suggested a beneficial side-effect. "As our focus in xenological research shifts away from the Lono, we can put more financials into researching the Yi. If you believe, as I do, that humanity will gain far more from studying the Yi than the Lono, it's wonderful news." (See Xenology - B11)

Last Lono Ships Leave Galaxy Anista 5 - Terran Alliance warships drove the final surviving Lono spacecraft back through the Anista Wormhole today with minimal combat and no losses for the human forces. One Lono ship was disabled in the fighting and subsequently destroyed.     Fleet Commander Slen Priex formally announced the cessation of hostilities several hours after the wormhole closed behind the last Lono ship.     Despite the official end of the war, the fleet will remain in Anista. "Although the war is over," Priex said, "the fleet will continue to stay on full alert to guard against further intrusions until we can find a long-term solution to the problem of the Lono wormhole."     The final day's conflict started with an attempted breakout by several Lono warships. Although surrounded on all six sides, four Lono heavy cruisers tried to escape towards the galactic core. One cruiser was disabled before the others were driven back. At the same time, a significant number of Lono ships entered the wormhole, prompting observers to suggest the escape attempt was some sort of diversion. (See Wormhole - A3) Prize Provokes Debate Scientists Question Ethics of Challenge Solar City - Scientists, engineers, and mechanists are divided over the new direction of research the Terran Alliance is promoting with a trillion credit reward: collapsing or otherwise disabling the Anista Wormhole.     Many arguments against the research effort are offered. "Time and again, humans have forgotten their place in the universe," said physicist Sallée Të by netax. "The wormhole is not our toy." Others are more pragmatic. "The Yi didn't want the Lono following them, so if they could have disabled the wormhole, they would have," commented Oleph Sanjun, Director of PXTA. "If it's not within the Yi's technological means to disable the wormhole, it's not within ours."     But not all opinions are against it. "We have no way of knowing if the Yi could close the wormhole," stated Do Filpel in reply to Sanjun's remarks. "For all we know, they left them open so they can return home someday."     Some challenge destroying the wormhole because of the cost to science. Bill Braalu, an expert on mechanisms, said "Who knows what we could learn from the wormhole if we didn't destroy it? It is nearly the most complex engineering effort ever, save the Yi-Lono-Mordel," referring to a multistellar Yi artifact believed to be a weapon and the subject of a previous 100 billion credit prize, canceled when the military took over the investigation.     "The Yi have disappeared, so there must be a new wormhole around here somewhere," responded Filpel. "We can learn from that." (See Prize - B11) What Now, Lono? by Jah Smolin, sixth despot     As was widely predicted by industry observers, Terran forces succeeded in driving the Lono out of our galaxy before the New Year. But those same observers are divided on what next to expect from the Lono. OPINION The military isn't taking any chances, of course. Pundits far and wide have opinions, but even those who believe we've heard the last of the Lono aren't in any hurry to disband the fleet, as they say, "just in case."     The government's prize for wormhole research makes their plan clear: shut the Anista Wormhole down, and we'll be better off. But would that be the end of the Lono?     Archaeologists say yes. Every scrap of evidence we have indicates that the Lono are incapable of an engineering project like creating a new wormhole, and even if they could, it seems unlikely they'd be able to aim for a specific galaxy, such as, say, ours. So if we could shut this wormhole down, that'd be it, we'd be done with them. Right?     The Lono followed the Yi through Anista into our galaxy, apparently replaying a scenario that has happened hundreds or thousands of times before. Every single time they followed the Yi to a new galaxy, the Yi built a wormhole and left, and every time, the Lono followed them.     These are frighteningly tenacious suckers.     If there was one thing I learned about the Lono during my term, it's that you can't understand them. I can't understand them. So maybe I'm wrong, being paranoid about them. Maybe we have heard the last of them.     But above all else I learned that you can't predict the Lono. What we could do, and what we did do, and it worked out in the long run, was simply account for anything they could possibly do within their technological limitations, no matter how stupid it was, and have a plan no matter what they did.     A lot of people are saying, "Hey, if they have reinforcements back in that other galaxy, why didn't they bring them out while they were losing? Why would they start a second initiative at a disadvantage?" They're taking this as evidence that the Lono are gone for good.     I don't have a good answer to those questions. But I do know that thinking like that is unrealistic. They're bizarre, freaky aliens. Don't fool yourself that you can get inside their heads.     They don't even have heads, anyway. Timeline of Lono Conflict