New Washington Daily Telegraph From Aug 1, 2584 Headline reads:

SECESSION!!

Following the results of yesterday’s first galaxy-wide general election, seven Southern Systems have declared their intentions to secede from the union.

“On the 1st day of August, in the year of our lords 2584, the Governorship of Filtair Prime states that the South shall be excluded from the common territory of the Einberry. We solemnly declare that the Union heretofore existing between this System, and the other Systems of Northern Einberry, is dissolved, and that the System of Filtair Prime is a separate and independent System: with the power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which an independent System may of right do.”

The Systems of Filtair Prime, Polchebel, Broultdyn, Therunia, Hat’eto, Daninei I, and Daninei II have seceded from the United Systems of the Einberry, effective immediately! The senate and houses of each System worked tirelessly into the night passing resolutions seating Governor Markus Ashwater as the first President of the Confederate Systems of the Southern Einberry, and making Filtair Prime their designate Capital Planet.

Condemnation by federal officials, including a statement from president-elect Lincoln calling the move illegal and anarchistic. “Secession is an illegal act, by which the Southern Systems have declared only an attempt at anarchy, not their own depiction of democracy. The people of the South are merely afraid, but forget that it is only that fear which they need abolish. Remember, we are not enemies, but friends. We must NOT be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”

The President-Elect has declared that all Fleet ships and bases in the Southern Einberry is still Federal property, and has ordered all Fleet personnel North of the declared “confederate border.” While most fleet ships have flown to the border for patrol, Fort Sumter, a heavy-weapons complex in Filtair Prime, remains the only Union fort in Confederate territory. Located on the northern tip of the Aleskel Belt, Fort Sumter lies in the heart of the system’s main bodies. The base is home to 2500 men, women, and children currently waiting for relocation north of the border.

“These personnel are now an occupying force in a sovereign country,” said Attorney General Tinvec, of Filtair Prime. “It is our responsibility, to the people of F Prime, to ensure no rouge elements threaten the stability of our beloved capital system.” Tinvec, now Attorney General of the CSSE, expressed the Union’s need to respect their sovereignty, “Legality is not an issue when the very government sworn to protect systems’ way of life, is the very threat those systems need fear. When the future of our systems is jeopardized, a people must rise up to change the thing that has put them in jeopardy.”

A Confederate Fleet has amassed around Fort Sumter in Filtair Prime, mostly made up of AshCorp-produced capital and support ships. The question now remains, what will happen in the new capital system? Will the CSSE see Fort Sumter as a threat and make an attempt to take it for their own purposes? Or will the confederacy allow fleet operations to continue in their capital?

With tensions at their highest point after centuries of peace, a Federal spokesperson assures us that all diplomatic efforts are being exhausted in finding an end to this stand off.