Greetings to all Hunters, Liberty Navy, and fellow Junkers....
It has come to my attention through the salvaging of the wreckage of several Junker trade vessel black boxes that the BHG is hunting any and all junkers under the employ of the Kusari Government.
It is surprising that this illegal act of assault on Libertonian Citizens by the BHG is going unpunished - and even more so that the BHG is stooping so low as to accept illegal bounties (bounties which clearly violate the law of Liberty).
Do not be mistaken. This bounty on all Junkers within Sirius is an ILLEGAL one within Liberty as it calls for the unprovoked assault on innocent civilians - something which is outlawed in the republic of Liberty.
To the Hunters, I urge you to cease and desist your hostile actions against innocent civilians - the junker vessels that were subject to black box salvaging were of a non-military nature. I hope that you are above shooting at the innocent and defenseless.
To the Junkers, we must mobilize to meet this threat head on. We are being persecuted once again; we are being hunted for nothing more than our way of life, killed for nothing more than a handful of credits, we are being systematically wiped out. THIS WILL NOT STAND.
No longer should we sit idly by as our fellow Junkers are dying for nothing more than ignorance and hatred inspired sport.
For too long have we borne the assaults on our personage as a burden to be taken in silence - but no more. This is a call to arms - lay down your ships of peaceful scrap gathering for the recyclers of war! Defend yourselves and each other, and those that seek to victimize us will find us to be victims no more.
To the Liberty Navy, a foreign power calls for the illegal persecution of the citizenry of Liberty - the same citizenry to which you swore an oath to protect and serve. This is an act of war. Treat every hunter that would attack the innocent civilians of Liberty as not a mere criminal, but an enemy combatant to be shown no mercy.
In closing, I would like to say that we have not fired the first shot of this war, but I will personally seek to fire the last one. I vow to never rest in hunting those that would seek to harm me and my bretheren for nothing more than sport. To those who wish to join me, seek me out! For those who wish to oppose me, flee now lest I mark you down for destruction!
On behalf of myself, and the several other Independent Junker ships who were attacked in Liberty Space...I humbly thank the Navy of Liberty for looking into this matter.
We hope that in the future, this incident will not be repeated by those of the BHG...
Regards,
Captain of the Maverick.IV---Bret
-"If we do not learn at least one thing a day....Our minds turn to stupor"- Kyle Sparrgrove -2005
Transmission; Start
Identification: Commodore Christina Robinson
Location: New York system, Planet Manhattan, Fort Bragg
The Bounty Hunters Guild and the Junkers;
Firstly, and let me make this absolutely crystal clear for everyone listening in on this channel:
Anyone who is seen to be breaking the law of Liberty, regardless of religeon, race or creed, will be dealt with as specified by the law.
Next, the accusation that the Bounty Hunters Guild is breaking the law by apparently assaulting without cause can hardly be proven by pointing to the bounty submissions to the government of Kusari. After all, Kusari is not looking for infractions against the law of Liberty, so why would bounty submissions include evidence of this? The fact that these submissions do not contain evidence of the law being broken is of no consequence, since it is not a submission to the government of Liberty and is hence not a requirement of the submission. Therefore the 'infolink' you provided would likely only represent a small part of the evidence gathered during an inquiry. I imagine that statements from both the accused and the victims would need to be taken. Jumping to conclusions in such a manner as you have done, whilst understandable, is not something that we, the authorities, will partake in.
However, assuming that the Junkers being 'collected on' are not breaking any laws of the Republic of Liberty, this bounty is in fact illegal.
On that note, I would ask the Junkers to file a formal complaint, as opposed to a declaration of war, against the Bounty Hunters Guild to the relevant authorities, those being in this case the Liberty Police Incorporated. We do not allow civilians to take the law into their own hands unless very specific sets of conditions present themselves, and that will not change to accomodate the frustrations of the Junkers.
I also noted someone mentioned Vixen on this channel as an example of a victim. Unfortunately, said person is no longer protected by the law, having threatened a member of the LPI with action that could result in death. As such, using her as an example is irrelevant.
I apologize for any misunderstanding regarding my manifesto. I do not wish to start a war with the Bounty Hunters Guild, or any other organization as a whole - our quarrel is with any who would antagonize our kind for simply being a Junker by occupation and creed.
As you may have seen from the infolink... we are hunted for the mere reason of being Junkers. This indiscriminate targeting of Junkers constitutes GENOCIDE as it is a systematic attack of an entire people.
Whether or not certain individuals are protected by the Liberty Navy is inconsequential compared to whether or not a law abiding people residing within Liberty may live free from fear of ignorance, hatred, and tyranny. We acknowledge that as citizens of Liberty, the Junkers of Liberty have certain inalienable rights - these are those of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... among other things. It is the responsibility of the great Republic of Liberty to protect the rights of her citizenry, just as it is the right of the Junkers to defend ourselves from the ever growing persecution that we are subjected to each day.
On that matter, we simply wish to convey our thoughts regarding the unethical and ILLEGAL nature of certain Bounty Hunters' contribution to Kusari's GENOCIDAL campaign against the Junkers. As citizens of Liberty, we request for political amnesty and protection from these individuals. We also request that our right to defend ourselves to be recognized by the Liberty Government.
As ever, we shall endure. We have survived before, and we will continue to do so even in the face of these adversities. We ask only that justice be issued not by the furious hands of our vengeance, but by the impartial law of Liberty.
As per your request, a formal request for asylum is being drafted for the Republic of Liberty, as well as a formal protest for the Bounty Hunters Guild. Hopefully, this matter will be resolved with minimal bloodshed and struggle - here's to hoping.
Transmission; Start
Identification: Commodore Christina Robinson
Location: New York system, Planet Manhattan, Fort Bragg
The crew of the Lohengrin;
If you do not want to start a conflict, then talking about war is probably not the best thing to do, which is what you've done:
Quote:For too long have we borne the assaults on our personage as a burden to be taken in silence - but no more. This is a call to arms - lay down your ships of peaceful scrap gathering for the recyclers of war!
Genocide is also a powerful term to be using, when being a Junker isn't a nationality, it's an occupation. Unless that has changed in the last few years, in which case I missed the memo. It's similar to me saying that the Rheinland Military wants to commit genocide against the Liberty Navy... the Navy isn't a civilisation, and neither are the Junkers or so I'm led to believe.
Quote:Whether or not certain individuals are protected by the Liberty Navy is inconsequential compared to whether or not a law abiding people residing within Liberty may live free from fear of ignorance, hatred, and tyranny.
I was simply calling into question the use of Vixen as an example by one of your comrades. At no point did I state that the Junkers, like all other civilians in Liberty, are to be subjected to those conditions in which you describe. That is after all, what we, the forces of Liberty, work against.
Quote:We acknowledge that as citizens of Liberty, the Junkers of Liberty have certain inalienable rights - these are those of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness... among other things. It is the responsibility of the great Republic of Liberty to protect the rights of her citizenry, just as it is the right of the Junkers to defend ourselves from the ever growing persecution that we are subjected to each day.
We don't need you to tell us what your rights are; trust me, we already know. The protection of the rights of those within her borders is our job, after all. As a broad, sweeping statement, whether you are a citizen of Liberty or simply a civilian, perhaps even a citizen of Rheinland, this does not effect your treatment by the law. Citizenship is not mentioned anywhere in the law, after all.
The Republic of Liberty Wrote:
III. Assault.
The assault of any member of the Liberty forces for any reason is illegal, unless specific verbal exemption is given for a particular instance by a member of the high command structures of the primary fleets only.
The assault of any civilian for any reason, including the collection of bounties, is illegal. The only case that this is allowed is if that civilian has breeched the law, or if permitted by a representative of the forces of Liberty.
Bounty Hunters, Mercenaries and Freelancers are allowed to collect against those already part of groups that the Liberty forces consider hostile.
For the full list of entities considered hostile by the government of Liberty, please visit the Liberty Navy Faction Status document, located here.
Self defence is permitted. That is the primary use for civilian weaponry in the house of Liberty.
As you can see, this entire issue is covered neatly by section one, part three of the Laws of Liberty. In fact, there is even a contingency for misguided individuals and organisations that deem it fitting to flout our laws when we're not around, as you can see from section one, part five as below:
The Republic of Liberty Wrote:
V. Reporting individuals flouting the law.
Law abiding corporations and individuals within Liberty can report instances of crime, defined above, where officers of the law were not present to assist civilians against criminal entities. Please follow the instructions listed here to file a complaint against any parties that have broken the law but have evaded detection by the Liberty forces thusfar.
Thank you for the quickness of your reply. It is heartening to see someone care about our plight.
Again, I apologize for any potential misunderstandings stemming from my words. The call to arms was not for an indiscriminate return strike on the factions which most antagonize us - it is a call for us to rise and arm ourselves so that we may better defend ourselves. As you may already know, the target of choice for the cowardly aggressors are vessels ill suited for combat - scrap gathering light vessels and vessels of trade. The call is well within our rights to defend ourselves from our would be assailants - to the level of any other civilian faction that roams about Liberty.
To be a Junker is to be one of a shared heritage; it is more than a mere occupation - it is a mutual understanding of hardships and lifestyles. There is a shared history, a shared lineage, and a sense of camaraderie that grows deep. There are clans of Junkers of which I am a part. My ship, the Lohengrin, was built by a Junker - my great grandfather. The Lohengrin has served as the home of my father and mother, and that of the fathers and mothers before them. As with me, they were born on the Lohengrin and they died on the Lohengrin, just as I will one day die to pass it on to my children. Such is it with all Junkers. It is with this in mind that I say, that the attempt to systematically wipe out the Junker way of life is to wipe out an entire people. That said, the word GENOCIDE is not used lightly.
As a learned woman of a respectable nature and position, you must know of our history of persecution and marginalization from society - of the injustices inflicted upon us in the past. With this in mind, is it not understandable that we wish for a guarantee set in stone on which we can rely?
Thus far, several of our number have fallen victim to the Kusaran GENOCIDE initiative and the members of the BHG morally depraved enough to attack innocent and unarmed civilians. Despite the atrocities committed by hunters cowardly enough to target the blameless and harmless, we have yet to hear of any action dealt by the Liberty Navy... or Government at large. The only things we have heard in our silent anger are the sneers of the BHG, boastings of how easily our helpless bretheren died for little more than a handful of credits. In this channel alone, you have seen the Guildmaster of the BHG, Max DeVirgo mock us and deem us merely sport to be collected for money.
We have always been patient - we shall continue to be patient - but the dead demand action. We merely request that justice arrive swiftly and publicly for all to see so that the blood of the fallen innocent was not spilled in vain.
He went back to reading his comics. It was one of his childhood favourites about Scrapper, a Junker who had acquired extra sensory perception as a result of an accident involving a canister of radioactive isotopes. In this episode, Scrapper had sensed that someone three hundred light years away was contemplating being mean to a labrador puppy, so he jumped in his super-powered Junkmobile with his side-kick, Larry, and arrived just in time to remove the puppy from a hastily constructed water-boarding device.
Graves shuffled in his seat. The comms device started ringing. He cursed loudly, closed the comic and answered the call.
EisenSeele, that bounty is a contract negotiated between two parties, it's details posted for OORP public consumption as per the rules requiring bounties to be on display. However the knowledge contained therein, as per most real world contracts, wouldn't be known to the public much less those against whom the contract is assigned. In short this thread is metagaming, maybe unintentionally, but it is still so. I would ask all parties to disregard this as in character knowledge.
Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.