ICC lifts immigration fees for Rubi-Ka

In an unexpected move the ICC remove immigration fees for travel to Rubi-Ka allowing a new influx of citizens to make their home on Rubi-Ka.

December 16th, 29478

(IRRK) -- The Interstellar Confederation of Corporations (ICC) has announced today that taxes and surcharges usually levied on applicants for official Rubi-Ka citizenship have been removed as of midnight yesterday.

This allows immigrants and explorers seeking a new life on Rubi-Ka to arrive planet side with a minimum of red tape

An ICC spokesman said last night: ·We feel that given the pressing danger presented by the alien forces currently attacking the planet, and the fact that diplomatic communication with that enemy has not been forthcoming, we were obliged to accept a petition made last week by the Omni-Tek Corporation to lift the current restrictions on individuals being granted Rubi-Ka citizenship.·

They did confirm though that the required additional licenses to mine notum, own cities and enter the Shadowlands would still remain in place.

The spokesman was not able to release the exact details of the petition sent by Omni Tek, but it is understood to have included further demands that the ICC did not feel were warranted, sources close to the ICC suggest that Omni Tek may have even requested permission to move an expanded military force onto the planet, but the ICC after careful deliberation felt that this was not warranted and that Omni Tek had sufficient resource on Rubi-Ka to defend itself, but had no objection to accepting the request for allowing easier access to the planet for their employees.

The clans are understood to have expressed deep concern to the ICC representatives on Rubi-Ka regarding the military aspect of the petition and a last minute addendum to only allow registered Omni-Tek employees onto the planet under this new waiver was rejected, presumably because the ICC feared reprisals from clan forces if they were seen to be allowing Omni-Tek to use the alien threat as a cloak for a major redeployment of military forces on Rubi-Ka.

Despite the diplomatic wrangling the waiver was agreed, and got a cautious welcome from Clan leaders when questioned.

Ramon Bauer of the Vanguard read a short pre-prepared statement from their leader Alan Jacobi:

·We welcome these new citizens to Rubi-Ka, and should they make the correct declarations and choose not to join Omni Tek then they are most welcome in the city of Athens and we look forward to trading with them.·

Sentinels leader Simon Silverstone, speaking from Tir was more to the point:

·Waiver or no waiver, my rules remain the same, only those who declare themselves loyal to the clan cause are welcome on the streets of this city, I don·t care where they come from, or what political manoeuvre made it easier for them to get here, as long as they are able bodied and ready to bear arms against Omni-Tek then they are alright by me.·

Omni-Tek officials expressed their gratitude to the ICC and denied that any additional demands had been made. The official statement from Omni-Admin read:

·Omni-Tek welcomes all new employees to the planet of Rubi-Ka in this hour of need and is grateful to the ICC for granting our petition to waiver the immigration levies against new citizens.

·We are saddened by the fact that at a time when all the citizens of Rubi-Ka should be showing solidarity against a common enemy that our political adversaries would seek to make ground and sway public opinion against us over an issue such as this·.

"There were no additional requests in our petition to the ICC and of course citizens arriving on the planet have freedom of choice and we in no way wish to influence their decision to join us here at Omni-Tek. We feel that our reputation speaks for itself and in terms of job security, safety, accommodation and reward a career with Omni-Tek is the best way to spend your life on Rubi-Ka.·