Marsin Visits Raid Victims

[DeJaVu]

(09 September 3075)

Baranda [Villareal Life and Times]— Patients at Tom Rollat Memorial Hospital were surprised this morning when Major General Raymond-Roger Marsin made an unscheduled visit to speak with victims of last week's pirate raid. Trailing an entourage of aides and press agents, General Marsin spent nearly two hours in the hospital's east wing burn ward, where he met individually with each of the thirty-nine patients brought in after the raid on the Kaplan Kraft textile factory. Afterwards, the General convened an impromptu press conference in the hospital's arboretum and attacked the federal government over their perceived lack of concern:
"It hurts my heart to see the people of the Federated Suns suffer the predations of these subhuman scum. That New Avalon has yet to respond to this latest affront is inexcusable. Does the Princess Regent not care about all of her people? What will it take for our rulers to loosen the purse strings and invest in the security and future of our nation's neglected citizens?"
Amid an appreciably favorable reaction from the crowd, Marsin continued by pledging his personal support:
"Well, if Yvonne won't do anything about us, we'll just have to take care of ourselves. And to start, I hereby pledge 700,000 pounds of my own fortune to rebuild those homes and businesses that have felt the sting of piracy and wanton destruction. It's not enough to simply defend Baranda, I want to help this world get back on its feet."
Though this pledge was met with approval by the media and the populace of Villareal, some critics of the General's presence were not as pleased. "Marsin's just another militarist trying to build his own power base here in the Outback. He can stick his money up his backside for all I care," said local barkeep Miles Waddell. "Once he makes a name for himself, he'll abandon us. And then what will we do about the pirates he's pissed off? He may fight them, but we gotta live with them. They're not going away."