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                                                                 Galactic - A5
                            The Centauri Star                    Business - B1
  Lono War status:                                          Entertainment - C1
      WAR OVER          35933.11.14 TCE: Tuesday                Formation - D1
                                                                  History - C7
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                  V  I  C  T  O  R  Y  !


[image: view of M16 nebula from Anista 5]
[caption: The M16 nebula lights up the first peaceful night
 sky over Anista Five in more than ten annae, following the
 departure of the Lono armada.]


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)


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)


*Opinion*
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.
   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.

       
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 Sallee Te 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 appears to be 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)
    
    
** 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."

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)
      
[graphic:                                    ]
[                                            ]
[    Timeline of Lono Conflict               ]
[                                            ]
[    34699  Yi appear from Anista Wormhole   ]
[    35221  Yi destroy Terran probes         ]
[    35722  Lono appear from Anista Wormhole ]
[    35798  Yi begin disappearing            ]
[    35843  Lono blockades Terra 2           ]
[    35845  Lono War declared                ]
[    35931  Battle of Calder's Star          ]
[    35933  Lono War ends                    ]
      
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
