Voice of Apademak: A Review of Zachary Hudson's Presidency
28 Feb 2023Sawamura Erika
President Hudson: A Terrible LeaderScott Orbital, Apademak
A lot is going on in 3309, and the most important event for most federal citizens is the June presidential election, so let's take a quick look at the events of Hudson's eight-year presidency.
In June 3301, the Federal Congress initiated a vote of no-confidence in former President Jasmina Halsey and eventually passed, with Zachary Hudson being declared President.
Immediately after Hudson came to power, he increased military spending to protect the Federation's borders, and he expressed confidence that he could deal with any threat.
However, against all expectations, statistics show that during Hudson's eight years in office, more than 2,500 systems left the Federation for various reasons - an unprecedented number. Did President Hudson's policy of increasing military spending to maintain the borders really work? The answer is obvious.
In early 3307, the truth about The Starship One disaster emerged: Starship One had been sabotaged before the trip began and it was planned by Fleet Admiral Lucas Vincent, a personal friend of President Hudson. The reason Vincent wanted to assassinate President Halsey was that at a meeting of the Federal Cabinet in April 3301, Halsey announced a reduction in the Federal Navy's budget. This would have weakened Vincent's influence and also affected certain powerful individuals connected to Vincent. So Vincent and Jupiter Rochester orchestrated the sabotage of Starship One to eliminate Halsey and arranged for her to be replaced by Zachary Hudson, whom they were confident would maintain the Federal Navy's funding and keep Core Dynamics awash in contracts. Despite the lack of evidence, Hudson's involvement in this case was always suspected.
In February 3307, former Core Dynamics CEO Jupiter Rochester mutinied at HIP 54530, but President Hudson did not respond in any way, either militarily or rhetorically. Instead, a local federal faction, the Silver Legal Group, defeated and arrested Jupiter Rochester with the help of many independent pilots.
The terrorist attack on March 11, 3307, which all mankind will never forget, became known as Nine Martyrs. One of the nine starports bombed was the Li Qing Jao station in Earth orbit, which killed the Vice President and some members of the Federal Cabinet, while President Hudson was spared by his attendance at the Galactic Summit.
In April 3307, the Proactive Detection Bureau was set up, and Hudson supported the massive surveillance of the entire Federation in order to find NMLA terrorists. However, in the end, the PDB contributed nothing to the tracking down of the NMLA but instead violated citizens' privacy rights and Federal Accord.
Between June and November 3307, several federal factions revolted out of the Federation because they could not tolerate the massive surveillance of the PDB. President Hudson's military response to and condemnation of these rebellions was strong and severe, and his response was very different from that of Jupiter Rochester's rebellion in HIP 54530. However, the result was that the military campaign sent by President Hudson was unsuccessful and all the factions that had tried to become independent succeeded.
In September 3307, Hudson took advantage of Yuri Grom's attendance at a political conference in Delta Pavonis to attempt to forcibly arrest Yuri Grom in violation of the conventions of diplomatic immunity, but Hudson failed once again. Grom was not arrested and a conflict broke out in Delta Pavonis, with the EG Union winning and the Federation's flagship Freedom's Foundation being taken over. The political conference was supposed to be an attempt to convince Delta Pavonis to rejoin the Federation, but, because of the President's military involvement, instead of returning to the Federation, Delta Pavonis completely fell under the control of the EG Union.
In February 3308, Hudson proposed to temporarily suspend the presidential term limit because the Federation needed the leadership of President Hudson to weather the storm in these extraordinary times. The Hudson Contravention caused public demonstrations and violence in many federal worlds, and it was only when Congress temporarily postponed the Hudson Contravention that the public disturbances subsided. As for the Hudson Contravention, it was announced some time ago that it would be voted on by the Federal Congress in mid-March 3309.
In June 3308, President Hudson ignored the demands of the Federal Congress to have Azimuth members arrested as criminals. Instead, he and the leaders of the Alliance and the Empire supported Salvation and Azimuth's Proteus Wave Project in HIP 22460.
In July 3308, The Battle of HIP 22460 began: an unprecedented battle involving three Federal battlecruisers and numerous naval personnel. However, in August, the failure of Proteus Wave resulted in the complete control of the HIP 22460 system by the Thargoid, and over fifty thousand Federal Navy personnel got killed.
On 29 November 3308, with the arrival of Maelstrom Taranis, the greatest catastrophe in the history of humanity came to pass - the full-scale Thargoid War. At the latest count, the war has killed at least six billion people. If Hudson had not made the wrong decision to support Salvation, perhaps all these disasters could have been avoided.
In conclusion: Under President Zachary Hudson, the Federation has lost over 2,500 star systems, the Federation's most notorious corruption has not improved, and the divisions within the Federation have never been greater. And these were not even the biggest problems. Not only the Federation, but civilisation as a whole, is in danger because of the misjudgment of Azimuth.
What’s your opinion of Zachary Hudson? Do you think he is a good president?