Freedoms Legion
General Information
Description: Populist Movement
Member Noun: Legionnaire
Member Adjective: Legionary
Motto: “Malo periculosam, libertatem quam.”
Slogan: “We Are Legion!”
Headquarters: None Identified
Leadership: Shadow Court (Decentralized)
Structure
Based on initial reports, it was determined Freedom’s Legion was a loose network of cell leaders, colloquially called the Shadow Court, which works behind the scenes to stoke the flames of secession in every frontier and core world of the Federation. No one member of the Shadow Court seemed to aware of all others due to their decentralized and ununified nature. Any declared leader would likely be denounced by other cell groups, in part because it is believed that every protest is somehow backed by a different secondary group.
Public Face
Most members of the movement were peaceful denizens of colonial outreach programs and sympathizers from Federation founding planets who sought to spread awareness of the harsh realities of frontier life to the greater Federation. Their particular emphasis was the strain and hardships of wartime actions on their fledgeling societies. Such peaceful protesters were comprised of spaceport pamphlet holders, survey takers in the streets, and outspoken FNS discussion panels, all of whom rallied on behalf of the alleged “forgotten colonies.” It was alleged by Freedom’s Legion protesters that Federation colonialists who spent their lives tilling a field would inevitably be told by a distant Earth that their world and hard work were exchanged in a treaty to another power who wanted them dead a decade before. It would be likely that Starfleet officers had friends, relatives, and colleagues who sympathized with the public face of Freedom’s Legion.
Extremists
Despite the call for pacifism in the Federation, many of the Freedom’s Legion protests turned violent. In addition to protesters who took their own lives to protest Starfleet’s militancy, it was determined that agent-provocateurs carried Starfleet stun batons among the crowd in order to cast aspersions of violence against civilians. The extremist side of the movement secretly connected the disparate cells by providing arms, communications, and promoting the more bloodthirsty elements. Starfleet Intelligence sanctioned investigations to determine the level of influence from foreign organizations such as the Alrakis Pact, the Cardassian True Way, and others.
Manifesto
It should be noted that each protest ringleader often alters the manifesto with personal anecdotes, grievances, and prejudices, but the core message is as follows:
“Earth. Vulcan. Andor. Tellar. Betazed. Trillius Prime. The Federation. All of these must come first, with all other considerations taking a distant second place. The politicians we vote into power use their Starfleet to reaching out a hand to the stars, and say ‘Mine.’
And when something threatens the core, the idea that is the Federation of Planets, it is the hard work of the Fringe that is spent to buy peace for the inner worlds of the Federation.
When the Cardassians threatened renewed hostilities along their borders, to regain worlds lost during the Dominion War, it was not Alpha Centauri or Earth that were given up on the altar of peace. It was the worlds of Blue Box and Casterfell. It was not Cardassian troops who beamed down to the streets to organize a rout of the public, convincing them by force of will and arms to be uprooted. A Starfleet ship might be billed as a tool of exploration, but do not believe the lies. A phaser array blast from orbit can scour a field clean of life, and a photon torpedo can turn a colony into a glass dish a kilometer wide.
If we raise our voice in question to these actions we are called rabble-rousers and troublemakers! If we ask the question ‘Why my world?’ our patriotism is called into question! And if we ever for a second suggest that this manufactured paradise, this utopia of our own making is not perfect, then we are called enemies of the Federation.
We are Federation no longer. We Are Legion!”
