From the next morning's news:
WAR ESCALATES!
Olost Defense Ministry Hit by Missile Strike
One General, 16 Others Believed Dead
Citizens of the Olost capital city of Cook's Dell were shocked late last night as their defense ministry building became the target of what appears to be a hit-and-run missile attack. The Olost Ministry of Defense building this morning lies in ruin. The upper ten-or-eleven floors of the heavily fortified building appear to have collapsed to the street below. There are no reports of civilian injuries as of this time, though rescue workers are still combing through the wreckage. This attack marks the first time that either the Kell or the Olost homeworlds have been directly attacked in the ongoing war between the two major powers.
In a statement released by the Olost government, they blame the attack on what they call "cowardly Kell aggression against the innocent, freedom-loving people of the Olost Federation." The statement goes on to say that they have incontrovertible evidence that the missiles were launched by a single Kell fast attack ship from space. "The ship launched its missiles and then was gone," the report reads. "But our brave defenders stood their posts to the very end. All of the building's defensive missiles launched at the attacker, but the cowardly Kells fled the scene as fast as they had appeared."
A spokesperson from the Kell government denies that their military had anything to do with the attack stating, "We condemn these cowardly attacks on a civilian city and we find offensive any implication that our brave troops would be involved in something this heinous. Perhaps the Olost government should look closer to home," the spokesperson had ended the statement with what is believed to be a reference to the various separatist movements within the Olost Federation of Worlds.
When asked if the Olost military was planning any sort of retaliation against the Kell Republic for this attack, President Cummings of the Olost Federation answered that "No attack against the people of the federation will ever go unpunished as long as I remain your president." When asked to elaborate on his planned retaliation, the president only said, to "wait and see."
What happens next in this escalating conflict is yet to be seen. One thing we can be sure of is that the war in the Giant's Backbone Cluster is only likely to get worse as the front line moves from obscure border planets to major population centers.
4 January 2020. 13:55.
© 2020 Sarah McKee
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