“You’re going to want to sit down for what I am about to tell you. It’s massively entangled the geopolitical circumstances.
Hunter Wolf was a twenty two year old enterprising young man detailed to the Pacifica front from the Unioner’s Munich cell. He was descended from a multi-generational Unioner family and was widely uninformed as to the geopolitical status of the front. He was highly idealistic and individualistic in a manner you will not see from the more integrated western cells, where the majoritiy of the underworld throughput occurs. Wolff was neither vicious nor Utillitarian – he believed readily enough in the necessity of anticorporatism, yet he was always a believer in the immediate armistice – that peace with the Seperatists was worth any cost, even the abandonment of Pacifica and the spiritual heart of what we are as Unioners. Wolff intended to see the sector, as young men are prone to, and build himself a life. He was an able pilot and a natural threethinking diplomat. Whilst our people have a reputation for self-interest, Wolff was a man who saw the larger picture. In twenty or so years, he would have been a valuable addition to the directorate. He was a component of my personal guard during the Lane-hacker held peace summit at the Tanner rim, between the Hellfire Legion defectors the Atacama Cohort, the Lane Hackers, and myself. I believed in Wolff. I still believe in him.
As you know, Yoshida brazenly confessed. He confessed to debating the terms of the peace agreement as outlined by the Hackers with an Internal Rheinlandic entity. This is why we pulled out of the peace treaty, as, obviously, we couldn’t be party to an agreement that the Rheinlandic Government was given consultancy over. Various Lane Hacker operatives then indulged in various threats against my own life. They were careful to differenentiate their aspersion between myself and the Unioners – declaring hostilities against me, but not against the organisation. They were taken seriously.
There’s a historical pattern of Unioners who have succeeded in siezing the directorate by force, or underhandedly play the Caesar by steering the movement through brinkmanship. Schilder’s creation of the Bering conflict is the most notorious example. It’s a common feature within the upper echelons of our movement due to the fractious nature of the Rheinland underworld – but apart from such historical figures such as Garen and Abendroth, they’re rarely successful. Even then, they guarantee themselves a bad end, and the wider movement harm. Either the Unions themselves hold them accountable, or the Union operates through third parties to assure its own stability. Successful labour directors resign, Kane. When I heard of Lane Hacker overt support to diminish the Unioner deterrence campaign, I was forced to return to Hamburg, to conceal myself, till the war had reached a point where the Seperatists were prepared to entertain a restoration of relations without the Lane Hackers themselves dictating terms. The fate of Bering should be decided by those who occupy the territory, never a third party. Continuing the war for another month would save the later human cost of a continued simmering rage. Lasting peace would be the salvation of my people.
Hunter Wolff was privy to Admiral Schultzky’s deployment of the Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon at Marshal Station’s airspace. He watched the bombs detonate. When I was forced to conceal myself, he searched for answers outside of the movement. This included in alumni of the alien and, predictably, the Lane Hackers themselves, who had been sending observers into the theatre to prove for pressure points. They found one in Wolff. By painting me as an instigator of the conflict, they managed to subvert Wolff, one of our finest young Arbeiters, into an unknowing saboteur to his own people. Rallying a base of outsiders that had either been rejected or had lost favour with the Union in the past – including Corsair rebels, Wolff found legitimising entities for a coup. In the meantime, the Lane Hackers attempted to promote Wolff’s image by construing him as a hero in propaganda broadcasts.
Wolff was may things but he was also a twenty-two-year-old. He was idealistic and naive. Upon attempting to recruit cell-leaders and commanders of the Pacifica defence force to his insurrection, he miscalculated the value of Pacifica to the western cells. To the ancestral spirit of those who have hewn for centuries with drills and hammers to carve survival from the belt. Wolff was shot, three times, before he could be arrested, but not after confessing, on record, to his plot, including a number of his major backers. Including the Lane Hackers.
He’s been supported by outside entities. I’m aware of the identity of three of them. He worked through the Union’s allies and those who perceived a benefit of removing me from the board. What I am not aware of is what promises he made, to whom, and why. My concern is less the attempt on my life than the attempt on the Union’s credibility. Stability is paramount.
I have been forced to conceal myself since an incident known as the battle of New Providence, the local name for what was Freeport Two, whereupon the entirety of the Seperatist and Unioner fleet detachments within Bering engaged one another to near-total losses on both sides and the severe damage of major war assets. This was immediately precluded by a Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse warhead deterrent strike upon Marshall station; I do not regret the decision. The Hellfire Legion would have simply impacted Pacifica with additional Warheads if we had not illustrated our capacity for deterrence. The strike was overwhelmingly successful.
We’ve had reports of Lane Hackers funding third party mercenaries and repair ships to support the Seperatists in combat. Any illusion of neutrality they are attempting to maintain has shattered apart.
I am now in a position where I am more concerned over what the contacts of Hunter Wollf intended for him, than I am of the Bering war. We know he was fraternizing with known nomad agents at the time of his betrayal – they may also be responsible for the exodus of his family members.
The Lane Hackers actions are despicable, Kane. Their immediate response to a diplomatic impasse was to attempt decapitation of the Union in a time of war. The Hackers believe in puppets, not allies. The only means to shake their control is to act in the manner that they expect the least – to subvert expectations – to nullify the endgame.
The search for Schilder continues. His disappearance remains. We strongly suspect at this point that Schilder is the Hackers’s reserve pawn; a backup ploy now that Wolff’s coup has failed. Wolff’s family members are also unnacounted for – they’ll likely attempt the same, using the next generation of the Wolff clan as their agents. After all, they now have a brother to avenge.
I believe that the Lane Hackers are systematically sheltering Unioner extremists in order to puppet the entire Bering conflict and elevate their own standing in the Libertonian and Rheinlandic underworld over a killing field of bones. I believe Wolff is not the first or the last.
I believe that we are not the only targets of this insidious process. This comes at a most severe time for us; our program to expand the Union’s fuel dumps to extend our operational range to the Vespucci system is almost complete. Yet it is apparent that the enemy within is far more destructive than the external enemy.
Kane. I am prepared to die for my people if it expands the agenda of my people. I will not die to turn my people into slaves.
It gets worse. As I said, one of Hunter Wolff's suspected supporters was a supporter of the infection. The Lane Hackers, by all accounts, knew of this. We have evidence, communications logs, from a Separatist deserter that the Lane Hackers were fully briefed. The Lane Hackers still backed Wolff's coup in full knowledge that he could deliver the entire Rheinland-Liberty cross-border smuggler's network into the control of the alien.
That’s the truth, Kane. The unvarnished, rotten truth. I expect you’ve furthered relations with the Hackers in the meantime – it’s what I would have done in your position.
I don’t want to see your people entrapped as surely as mine were. Nor do I expect you to take anything I state here as gospel. Yet the Natio deserve honesty. And you deserve to know the truth of the Bering war."
"Which brings us to Vespucci. The Hackers do not know of this, and I would prefer if you kept them in the dark over this one, but the Tanner Belt conflict is soon to come to an abrupt close."
"The War in Vespucci is only beginning. Yet the teams are already blurring their shades. "
There's a diminution to Corin's voice. For the first time since first interacting with the aged Arbeitsdirektor he appears.... worn. Not roughened or tenacious. Worn.
"You might wonder why I am sharing this with you. How this risk could possibly benefit me. After all, you could forward the entirety of this message to the Lane Hackers to obvious geopolitical reward. In truth? I do not know. I simply have a gut impression that you, ostensibly, are a good man, Kane. That you will act according to the interests of your people and that you are not susceptible to suggestion or intrigue. That your people will protect you, should the Lane Hackers choose to replace you with a puppet, just as they attempted with me. I ask you to do no more with this disclosure than to keep asking questions. Cross reference -any- intelligence you are provided by the Lane Hackers. Do not attend meetings alone, or on Lane Hacker spacecraft or space stations. Keep a guard around you. I need someone I can trust in Vespucci who has a skin in the game. I have the Gaians. I hope I can also trust in you."
"We live in seditious times. Only principles will see us through. The Unioners have a belief that's embossed into the logo of the Syndiclia. Those who burn Ucagleon's house will themselves be consumed by the fire. The principle is simple; protect your neighbour, from those who would see benefit in burning their neighbours. "
"Good luck. Remain safe."