A Leak Rocks Anthony Bancroft's Campaign, Secret Dealings Exposed?
April 4th, 2492, Cocoon Station, Grant Jones
As we find ourselves six days from the Lunite Governor Election, and with Anthony Bancroft's comfortable advantage over Wayne Thomas Russell, many were starting to think that we would see six more years of Bancroft, however, a recent leak by an individual simply identified as "Tengu" may prove damaging, if not damning to the incumbent Governor.
The entire Sol System was dealing with a potential Extinction Event with the Crisis of Jericho V. For those who, for some reason, are not in the loop: Jericho V was a large floating city that was struck with a strange nanovirus identified as "Ghostwalker", causing individuals with even the slightest augmentations to be infected and rendered aggressive, violent, and extremely hostile. Jericho V was then hijacked by unknown assailants and was intended to be used as a massive weapon. Advanced Research and Experimental Systems, working together with Arc Systems, determined that the best way to deal with a massive weapon like that would be to deploy tactical warheads on different spots on Jericho V and detonate them. That wouldn't solve the problem entirely however, as now smaller Fragments with surviving infected were heading towards different locations in the Sol System. One of those locations was Luna Colony.
Now as we know, both the Matsumoto Corporation and a combined effort managed to repel and protect Luna Colony during this crisis, there wasn't much mention of the Governor other than that he was issuing orders and keeping a close eye on the situation, however this leak lands both Matsumoto and Anthony Bancroft in hot water and turmoil as the leak implies that the so called "Redlist" included only key executives to Matsumoto Corporation, key politicians close to the Governor, and just a select group of Lunite Citizens, leaving about 80% of the citizens to fend the crisis on their own.
ONN has requested a statement from the Governor's Office but at the time of publication, they haven't issued any statement or comment at all. Anthony Bancroft's schedule showed a brunch with industrialists and artists tomorrow at the Revenant, however, it's been swiftly and quietly cancelled.
Wayne Thomas Russell has taken the opportunity to issue his own thoughts on the matter.
"The only thing this scandal proves is that the way Bancroft does things is not only immoral, but it also shows he has no loyalty or allegiance to the citizens he is sworn to protect and watch over. 80% potential casualties if things had gone wrong is not only unacceptable, it's criminal. And while the Matsumoto Corporation is not without blame, they at least deployed operatives to contain the danger. This is the kind of corruption I want to fight, and the kind of disease I want to cure. Lunite Citizens deserve much better, and I intend to give Luna Colony only the best I have".
The leaked communication was taken to Argent Advanced Audiovisuals for verification and authentication, and unfortunately for the Governor, it has been proven to be a genuine intercepted communication between personnel on Luna Colony.
If you're looking for the leak yourself, it can be found at a ShadowNET Node following this hololink: https://www.dark-future.net/forum/shadownet/think-carefully
What are your thoughts on the matter? Will this affect Bancroft's re-election bid? Will this turn the tables in favor of Wayne Thomas Russell? Will more shocking revelations be exposed after this? Share your opinions in the comment section below.
Grant Jones reporting.