Good morning. In less than an hour, Spaceships from Crusader will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in this history of mankind. Mankind -- that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests against the Vanduul We're fighting for our right to live, to exist. And should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!" Today, we celebrate our Independence Day! Chris Roberts Space Games like Wing commander who came before us made certain that all his Space Sims rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of Complete Immersion, and this generation of gamer does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of Star Citizen in space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to Yela and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile Vanduul flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with Vandul weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all Citizens. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United Earth Empire occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours. There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the Yela? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? We choose to go to the YELA. We choose to go to YELA in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.