[Intro] [TANGENT] History hour. [DOGS] How long? [GLITCH] Jade wrote it. [DOGS] Fuck. [DEATH] Providence. Freeport. Nine alliances. [DOGS] Better. [ALL] ONE! TWO! ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR! [Verse 1 — TANGENT] CVA gone from Providence, Golden cages off the gate, Fraction builds a freeport there And leaves the docking open late. No tax throne. No border creed. No oath required to cross. Use the station. Trade your cargo. Don't mistake the place for ours. Then the council sends a diplomat: Four hundred million for the lot. [DOGS] How much did the station cost? [TANGENT] Twenty-five billion. [small pause] [DOGS] Oh, get fucked. [TANGENT] That was broadly the response. Pasted text [Pre-Chorus] [GLITCH] You want the station? [DEATH] Come and take it! [DOGS] You want the system? [TANGENT] That's not the same! [ALL] WE BUILT A DOOR— NOT A FUCKING THRONE! [Chorus] [ALL] WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [GANG] NO! WE DON'T OWN THE ROAD! WE BUILT THE FUCKING FREEPORT— WE DON'T OWN YOUR SOUL! COME IN! TRADE! LEAVE! NO BORDER GODS INSIDE! BUT PUT YOUR HANDS UPON THE DOOR— AND WE WILL FUCKING FIGHT! WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [Verse 2 — GLITCH] Let's be precise. Infrastructure isn't sovereignty. Possession isn't rule. Holding one defended structure Doesn't make your neighbour subject too. But “freeport” isn't magic. Somebody sets the docking rights. Somebody owns the guns and bubbles. Somebody chooses when to fight. So test the claim. Who gets admitted? Who gets excluded? Who gets told? The answer matters more than slogans Painted proudly on the hull. [DEATH] And if losing it destroys your politics? [GLITCH] Then your politics became the property. [TANGENT] Exactly. [DEATH] Say it properly. [ALL] IF LOSING THE STATION DESTROYS WHAT YOU ARE— YOU ALREADY BUILT A STATE! [Chorus] [ALL] WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [GANG] NO! WE DON'T OWN THE ROAD! WE BUILT THE FUCKING FREEPORT— WE DON'T OWN YOUR SOUL! COME IN! TRADE! LEAVE! NO BORDER GODS INSIDE! BUT PUT YOUR HANDS UPON THE DOOR— AND WE WILL FUCKING FIGHT! [Verse 3 — DOGS] Right. Nine alliances turn up loudly, Bring their blockade units too. Think the little anarchist station Will fold politely when they do. Problem: They anchor two. Fraction blows one. Attack collapses. They bring more. Then somebody reads the manual— [DOGS] Oh no. [TANGENT] Whoever onlines the SBU first becomes its owner. [DOGS] Oh yes. Enemy brings replacement siege gear, Fraction gets there first instead. Now the people doing the siege Have to shoot their own machines dead. Pasted text [DEATH] That's obscene. [DOGS] That's beautiful. [GLITCH] Mechanically legitimate. [DOGS] Even better. [Pre-Chorus] [TANGENT] YOU BROUGHT THE SIEGE ENGINE! [GANG] THANK YOU! [GLITCH] WE READ THE FUCKING MANUAL! [GANG] GOOD FOR YOU! [DEATH] YOU WANTED THE SYSTEM! [DOGS] WE TOOK YOUR FUCKING TOOL! [ALL] DON'T BRING ANARCHISTS MACHINERY IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE RULES! [Chorus] [ALL] WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [GANG] NO! WE DON'T OWN THE ROAD! WE BUILT THE FUCKING FREEPORT— WE DON'T OWN YOUR SOUL! NO KING! NO RENT! NO TERRITORY DIVINE! YOU CAN USE THE FUCKING STATION— YOU CANNOT CALL IT MINE! [Verse 4 — DEATH] Quick question. Who actually killed the alliance? Bombers? Wardecs? Station guns? Or four hundred people slowly asking: Why am I still doing this? Corporations start departing. Leadership begins to run. Tower starves because the haulers Don't believe the war is fun. Four hundred down to fifteen. Not defeated only in space. Sometimes institutions disappear When nobody wants their place. Pasted text [DOGS] So the weapon was annoyance. [GLITCH] Attrition of participation. [DOGS] Weaponised annoyance. [DEATH] Fine. [Bridge — stripped] [TANGENT] And they knew they might still lose the station. [GLITCH] Important. [DOGS] Then why defend it? [DEATH] Because temporary things can matter. [TANGENT] A freeport does not have to last forever— [GLITCH] —to have been free. [small pause] [DOGS] That's annoyingly good. [DEATH] Keep up. [TANGENT] And then they did something extremely intelligent. They identified obvious cyno bait. [GLITCH] They explicitly called it obvious cyno bait. [DEATH] They prepared for the obvious cyno bait. [DOGS] And shot it? [TANGENT] And shot it. [ALL] OBVIOUS! FUCKING! CYNO! BAIT! [band crashes back] [Final Chorus] [ALL] WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [GANG] NO! WE DON'T OWN THE ROAD! WE BUILT THE FUCKING FREEPORT— WE DON'T OWN YOUR SOUL! YOU CAN COME! YOU CAN TRADE! YOU CAN LEAVE WHENEVER YOU LIKE! BUT IF YOU COME TO TAKE THE DOOR— EXPECT A FUCKING FIGHT! NO MASTERS! [GANG] NO MASTERS! NO OWNERS! [GANG] NO OWNERS! NO FLAG CAN MAKE THE VOID ITS PROPERTY! WE BUILT A PLACE— NOT A COUNTRY! WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [GANG] WE DON'T OWN THE SKY! [Outro] [DOGS] Four hundred million? [GLITCH] Still thinking about that? [DOGS] Twenty-five-billion station. [DEATH] They also brought their own siege equipment. [DOGS] And lost that. [TANGENT] History hour concluded. [DOGS] Providence seems educational. [DEATH] Mostly for the survivors.
