Display MorePresident Zachary Hudson has accused the Order of the Far God of being directly responsible for the fate of the Dedicant megaship.
"Our assessment of these Thargoid-worshipping extremists has been proved correct," he told The Federal Times. "Hijacking the Dedicant to deliver it to their alien gods is an act of treason and mass murder."
"I have ordered the Proactive Detection Bureau to root out every deluded individual with sympathies for this twisted cult. Automatic life sentences will ensure that these traitors never again put innocent people at risk."
The declaration brought political pressure on all three presidential candidates to state their intentions for the Far God cult should they be elected.
Vice President Jerome Archer: "I will be pleased to continue President Hudson's policy on dealing with these religious fanatics: stricter controls, increased surveillance and tougher sentences."
Shadow President Felicia Winters: "Regardless of their misguided beliefs, thousands of former citizens also lost their lives during this Thargoid attack. I am lobbying for an independent security review into these tragic events."
Zachary Rackham: "Hear me out. There's a simple solution to all this. When I'm president, only criminals will pay tax. That'll be a far more effective deterrent than imprisonment!"
Dr Alfred Ulyanov, an expert on the Order of the Far God, observed that the cultists had no way of communicating with the Thargoids: "The deeply distressing logs found on the Dedicant prove that the arrival of the Thargoids was unexpected, and certainly not the rapturous experience they believed it would be."
The Federal Intelligence Agency is continuing to investigate the Dedicant in the HIP 19600 system. The Alliance's amnesty programme with the Federation has been officially halted, but the Far God religion remains legal in most Allied territories.
