Nothing is as it Seems
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>CAPTAIN FREEFALL Strikes again!
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Nothing is as it Seems: A Story of Ares and Horizon
By FirstOnTheScene
I'm sure by now that all of you have heard about the Blake Island Firewatch Memorial explosion. According to Horizon, 'Criminal Agitators', suspected to be manipulated by the 'Bug Spirit Menace' bombed the memorial in insult to the men and women who died in the conflict with the bugs. They then slapped a great big D-notice on anyone who said otherwise, and backed it up with defamation, bankrupting tactics and even assassinations. Knight Errant itself went and published an Internal Memo after this incident, and a few other targeted strikes against Project Pyro and Firewatch installations.
However. As is so often the case with Horizon, this was not the truth.
The truth is that the Ares Macrotechnology we knew, the Ares we bought our guns and armor from, is gone. Infected.
The Blake Island Firewatch Memorial was a joke. The Bug Spirits spitting in the eye of everyone who knew the truth. The truth that Firewatch lost.
So, let me tell you the true story.
It's the fifth of May, 2080. On this day, Ares Firewatch opened their Blake Island Firewatch Memorial, to gloat over those who had died in the conflict. At midday, they tridcast live the opening ceremony. The mason hadn't reported the last minute touch up that had been done to the flagstones the night before. The reports of an intense gunfight nearby the previous night had been suppressed. So nobody was expecting it when, during the wreath-laying ceremony, the monument simply exploded. The forensics team reported that a significant portion of epoxy explosive had been planted under the flagstones, triggered by a radio detonator that had been found in the crowd. No evidence had been found on the detonator remote. That's where the 'official' report ends. Those that were there, like myself, saw two more important things; Grenades of common insecticide, which only caused harm to some of the Knight Errant honor guard, and a massive ARO casting the words "Remember Chicago. Down with Ares!" across the sky.
It's not hard to draw a slightly different conclusion here. The runner team, who I commend for their cleanliness, made a strong point before the feeds were cut. Ares was gone. The bugs had defeated them. We had to keep the fight up ourselves, or the Bugs would win entirely.
Now, There's one more important point about the Memorial Day Bombing. It's only mentioned as a footnote that there was a single casualty. Amalia Townsend was not the first, nor the last person scheduled to lay wreaths. So why had the the monument exploded at the exact moment she stepped up to the plate? I'll let you draw your own conclusions, as that is straying from the confirmed truth.
Now, I wrote this story on the day of the fifth, and had it ready for posting before KE had managed to clear the site of the explosion. However, Horizon had already issued a D-notice concerning any story that didn't conform to their ideal of the truth. This has happened before, but it's not common. Usually they just publicise their take on the story and drown out any other media.
So here I was with a story that my editor, Jules Harkon, refused to run. But it was in the host's archives, and Horizon was having none of that. First came the warning. Harkon quite clearly stated that no such article was going to be posted, and that Horizon should refrain from investigating our host. Then came the defamation. Horizon posted quite the scandal about Harkon, claiming that he was using blood magic to get his news. They had quite an impressive amount of convincing evidence too, considering the man had never awakened, and tends to faint at the sight of blood.
Then our accountants started noticing something odd. Our site was losing revenue. All advertisers had stopped renewing with us, our sponsors were drying up, and it looked like someone was embezzling our capital. Within a week, the site folded. Which is when our host was decommissioned, and the report I wrote became public domain in the Seattle Archival Host. Two days later, my car exploded when someone tried to steal it.
Now, I know I'm not writing news to anyone here. I'm done writing the news. I'm here to deliver you all the truth.
This is FirstOnTheScene, ShadeTruth Media. Stay safe out there.