Why do you want prisoners? Do you know what you're asking?
We do not sell people; that would be slavery. What are we to gather from your request for prisoners, if not that? I'm sure you could enlighten my colleagues and I.
Yours,
- William Hawthorne, Secretary of State for Trade and Economics.
To: The Republic of Liberty.
From: Kami Aiko, GMG CEO
Mr. Hawthorne
Your confusion in the matter is entirely understandable, as the message issued previously was the result of a beyond malfunctioning translation device and a, now, rather terminally unemployed clerk.
We appreciate your gracious offer to recommence communications in attempt to clarify our proposition and position.
The Gas Miners Guild has, as you are doubtless aware, been in the unfortunate position of maintaining a waiting game with the nation of Kusari. We are to understand that the Republic of Liberty has encountered a number of, ah, encounters with Emperor Jien Kogen as well.
We were of a hope that the conflict between the guild could be resolved by political efforts and the blockade currently placed against us by the Emperor could be lifted amicably, however the stonewalling and military force employed against us thus far has convinced our board that the only circumstance forstalling outright war to see our holdings absorbed by the Samura controlled Shogunate is the current conflict the Navy maintains with the Nation of Bretonia.
In short. While we hold ourselves true to the idea of our parent nation, we can no longer maintain the delusion that enabling our current circumstance through complacency will result in any outcome but our eventual destruction. Nor that idly standing by while the majority of Sirius is starved of fuel to the point where paying Samura bandits will serve as the only viable source of relief.
So we are acting in defiance of the blockade.
We understand that the pressures of your own war has placed on your shoulders the unfortunate position of being unwilling to jeopardize your diplomatic and commercial relationship with Kusari. Samura and their fool Emperor seemed content with their relationship with Rheinland and are well willing to sacrifice Libertonian ties under the foolish notion that they will be able to simply starve Liberty out as they did so many hundreds of years ago.
This is a situation we seek to avoid for the sake of all parties.
To this end the Guild seeks to establish a trade contract under the guise of plausible deniability with aims towards supplying Liberty's military and commercial fuel needs without the need of traversing both Rheinland and Bretonia to do so. In short, your private consent to circumvent the blockade at total risk to ourselves without Libertonian intervention either in support or practical opposition.
We will manage the delivery of fuel. You need only receive it and make what diplomatic efforts on your end to ensure your own trade lanes stand clear should the Emperor "rattle his saber" should he come to suspect our movements.
Now. To the unfortunate issue of "slavery" as so horribly butchered in the previous message.
The Okinawa system, as you are doubtless aware, serves as a source of plutonium for our Guild. When the question of extracting this resource first came to light the Kusari government provided the manpower in the form of persons who were due tribute of labor to the state for crimes committed. We are in the unfortunate position of being nearly totally reliant on such labor due to the heavy buildup of infrastructure designed to maintain such a labor pool and the unfeasible nature of restructuring our workforce in a time of war and blockade.
As such it was our ambition to cooperate with the Republic, whom we understand operates under a rather remarkable form of for profitable social return from persons whom have disrupted civil order, to employ the same as a workforce for our own plutonium mines. Representatives, as covert as you wish, from the Liberty Police or your own military forces would be welcome to supervise the well treatment of any persons transmigrated for agreed terms between Liberty and the Guild.
Hardly slavery. Simply conducting their terms of labor in another location.
We would be more than willing to cooperate with both the Liberty Police and the Republic to ensure that there would be no loss in returns per head.
We can only hope that the above has assuaged your concerns over the extremely unfortunate initial missive. The numerical quantities inferred stand correct as an initial summary of transfer. While the volume of exchange can doubtless be adjusted at a later date it seemed an agreeable starting point while we test the Emperor's resolve.
You must've hired a very learned clerical assistant in the wake of your previous transmission; this communication is unrecognisable to your first attempt. I am very happy to see that the meaning of your previous offer was lost in translation, so let the past stay the past.
First of all, the Republic of Liberty sympathises greatly with the position that the Gas Miners Guild has been forced into by the ill-advised actions of the Empire of Kusari. This is in no small part to their insistence on a conflict with you introducing significant levels of instability into the Libertonian economy.
As the Republic is founded on the free-market, we collectively abhor the attempts by the Empire of Kusari to strangle the supply of any commodity. What you are proposing in theoretical terms, that we only receive the fuel and do what we can to keep our trade lanes free of problems, is something we are willing to do. Our mutual economic prosperity is what sustains both the Republic and the Gas Miners Guild in favourable positions relative to the rest of Sirius. Our influence on the route that I imagine you'd take is limited to Galileo and Kepler, but I am sure that it will be easy to convince the Liberty forces to fulfill a mandate to protect civilian shipping against any threat in the area. Of course, I will need to liaise with their command; there is a war on after all.
Moving on to the details of the proposal, you are absolutely right about the social reform policies that the Liberty Police Incorporated utilise to correct the behaviour of miscreants that are in severe breach of our laws. The labour power provided by the prison population in Liberty helps to alleviate the social debt that each and every inmate incurs when they commit a serious crime within our borders.
If such inmates, which are often dangerous and unruly, are to be moved to do their time in a Gas Miners Guild facility, you will need to be adequately prepared for the kind of unrest that they are able to create. The criminals in Liberty are, I would think, quite different to those of Kusari. I will need to speak with the Chief of Police on the issue, but I imagine he would be quite happy to ease our burgeoning prison population and serve a national interest, keeping our economic and military might fueled, at the same time.
It goes without saying that such labour is temporary in most cases, though depending upon consent from the Chief of Police, we will endeavour to provide you with inmates on death row or serving life sentences. There may also be a need for a small administrative team from the Liberty Police Incorporated to make sure the treatment of Libertonian inmates is of an acceptable standard.
Therefore, in principle, I find myself in agreement with the terms of the first exchange. However, it would be appreciated if you could hold off on the first shipments until I can secure the compliance of the individuals and organisations mentioned above.
In the future, I may also contact you again about a slightly different matter. As you may or may not know, we are working to diversify our fuel dependencies in order to offset the instability that the Empire of Kusari seems intent on introducing to our economic model. This may sound bad for business for the Gas Miners Guild, but depending on how some things turn out, we may have a need for the respected expertise that the name of your guild implies.
Yours,
- William Hawthorne, Secretary of State for Trade and Economics.
To: The Republic of Liberty.
From: Kami Aiko, GMG CEO
Mr. Hawthorne
I am very happy to see you have reconsidered the offer and we have transports ready
and waiting for you to procure approval from the individuals you mentioned.
So once you are ready for us to start moving h-fuel and plutonium into liberty just
send a transmission my way and i will start sending them your way.
I have made the necessary inquiries with mixed results.
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, the Liberty Police Incorporated have consented to the relocation of parts of their correctional labour force. This means that you are free to start shipping prisoners from our facilities whenever you like.
However, upon contacting Fleet Admiral Hale about the possibility of increasing our presence in Galileo and Kepler should your vessels find themselves under fire, I was met with dismissal. He did not commit to either increasing our presence or not, but he did not want to answer the question which was put to him multiple times.
Therefore, you will have to contact him yourself about security, if you wish assistance from the Liberty Navy above what they are already bound to provide.
Yours,
- William Hawthorne, Secretary of State for Trade and Economics.
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