Deviation Actions
Description
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Her grandfather had said it seemed like the end of history. Almost eighty-five years ago the colony of Khafra had held a plebiscite and voted to secede from the United Earth Federation, as the treaty ending the last war with the Coalition of Independent Worlds had given them and all Earth colonies the right to do. The Earthlings were not pleased with this decision and made their disdain clear during the months they evacuated their forces from the planet: the equipment and resources they didn't take with them they destroyed as thoroughly as possible. Her grandfather used to say that they probably would have knocked the moon from its orbit if it was within their power. Most of the infrastructure that was devastated was military in nature, but the problem was that the military had also overseen the construction and operation of several institutions that civilian populations had grown to rely on. Power plants, irrigation systems, and hospitals were among the services that suffered under Earth's scorched earth decolonization policy. The colonists were not left with nothing, but what they were left with wasn't nearly enough to support them. In the years immediately after the withdrawal of the Earthlings there was famine and outbreaks of disease, but at least the people were free.
Khafra was far from both Earth and Coalition space and wanted, for the time being, to simply develop in peace without outside interference or influence. After the Earthlings had left Khafra for good a democratic provisional government was established until a permanent constitution could be agreed up and ratified. The colonists elected Tumelo Marques—a prominent political thinker and advocate for independence—as their first chancellor. Marques was the natural choice, and the only choice. At the time he was a thirty-eight year old man who had vocally criticized Earth's colonial governance policies since his late teens. In his mid twenties he led the movement to have Governor Laura Luca impeached following the Khafra Transit Authority scandal and the subsequent famine. After Earth declared martial law following the outbreak of riots due to her exoneration it was Marques that began organizing protests. Planet-wide strikes, demonstrations, marches: Marques was a champion of peaceful civil disobedience. Once he was arrested he became the face of the resistance. Posters with his name calling for armed rebellion and independence were plastered on every street corner and stencils of his face were painted in every alley and abandoned building. The war with the Coalition was already underway and at its conclusion Khafra was able to obtain its freedom. Marques was released from jail and people cheered his name in the streets as celebrations erupted in every city and town. Marques was the natural choice, and the only choice, to lead Khafra in this bold new venture. How could any of them had known that beneath his peaceful visage he was a monster?
