*** Incoming ***
We will gladly take the suggestion to use Captain Carlton Lewis services, every Zoner should be able to use his ships, be it for trade or for defense. And a far preferable option than to constantly depend on mercenaries.
And taking the words of Countryman Malaclypse, why should in fact, we along with our allies produce and develop these excellent weapons, only to see ourselves at the end of their barrel...
Our ports are open to all "lawful" and "unlawful", but it makes no sense that our merchants sell weapons so powerful to people who wouldn't think twice about unleashing their damage against us.
An embargo against certain entities should perhaps be implemented on major Zoner weapons selling points like Freeport 11, Planets Gammu, Primus and Gran Canaria.
Then let's see how they conduct their petty wars without supernovas, top armor upgrades or razors.
rec. 8451AF45
Sommerset, ZR Citizen
*** End ***
"Gentlemen, I appreciate your ardor in wishing to show a strong front to the Bretonians; but I also would urge some restraint until this matter is discussed further," replied Malaclypse to the present and remote Delegates.
"Let our other Members weigh in. If we then decide on a proactive response, the first step should be the opening of a dialog with 'whoever is in charge' up in Bretonia. Let us not risk a shooting war until diplomatic efforts have been completely exhausted.
"I believe the Senior Officer present from the QCO during this "altercation" was Captain Stuart. The only SF individual present that I recall, (although he made enough noise for six people), was the pilot of the SFF-Ronny. I do not know his standing in the SF's command structure; but I hardly think he is very high up.
" I made a request during this brouhaha that an official list of these 'proscribed' commodities be sent to me over private channels. I have yet to receive a response form either the SF or QCO regarding this. Perhaps a direct letter to SF and/or QCO Command will have to be made to get to the bottom of this."
Isaac had remained quiet during the discussion so far, appearing thoughtful and unusually thoughtful. He finally sighs and rubs at his forehead, then speaks. "I'm torn, friends. As is rather obvious, my heritage is Bretonian," he says with a wry smile, his accent unmistakable. "Yet I have forsworn any old House or corporate loyalties I may have had before accepting the Zoner way of life. So while I sympathize with the BAF's desire to limit certain commodities, particularly deuterium, from being hauled into Kusari, restricting the sale of diamonds and other harmless commodities is completely absurd. Lasers? Bloody hell, do the Kusarians even use lasers?!"
He pauses to pour himself a glass of water, then continues after taking a sip. "I agree that denying those who threaten or harm our brothers and sisters access to our bases is our best course of action, as well as placing generous bounties on those who dare to attack us... However, it may prove difficult to convince those who run the individual Zoner installations to deny certain people or groups access, as it is standard practice to let nearly anyone dock."
"As far as lawful forces go, specifically the Bretonians, I believe we should open up diplomatic communications... Perhaps invite a delegate to join in on a council meeting so that we may all discuss things face-to-face."
Message to: Council of Zoners, Port Canaria
Comm ID: Waverly, Oro.de.Veranda, Planet Gaia
Gentlemen,
While trading in Bretonia today, I was contacted above Planet New London by the SF Gunboat Tempest, commanded by none other than the Admiral of SF himself.
During our discussion, there was some indication that the Bretonian Forces are deliberating over the current "tensions"; and may be willing to offer some sort of licensing to TAZ vessels for the transport of various commodities through Bretonia.
I recommended to Admiral "Hyperwave" that after these discussions, he should contact the Council directly.
It's amazing what the aroma of good coffee can accomplish. Now I can't get these bloody VIPs to leave my ship.
Regards,
Reggie
Well...I reckon I might've overreacted a smidgen there. Just the straw that broke the armadillo's plate, y'know? I'm gonna spend the weekend at the Geode, need to absorb s'more of them good vibes there...just chill there with the Nayehiya, Kali asleep in my lap.
Anyhow, 'till this mess is all straightened out, I'll just be avoidin' Bretonia all I can. Don't wanna cause an incident...an' I gotta say I'm glad it looks like we might be reachin' a peaceful resolution soon.
-Koios
*** Incoming ***
Council Members, I have have further developments regarding the recent incidents with the Junker En'Rath and his group.
Yesterday at 22:48 after checking the trade inventory of the day, i went to join the ZR Zeta Heavy Wing that were on patrol near Freeport 4.
I tried to communicate at distance, but got no reply, sensing some imminent danger i sped to join them. When i arrived the situation was chaotic, metal debris where floating everywhere... a scene of battle certainly occurred there.
This is the textual report from the captain of the ZR-Renegade:
"Heavy damage... we lost the ZR-Ke'Thor... one enemy down... others severely damaged... possible truce negotiated..."
First i checked Freeport 4, and made sure all the crew of the ZR-Ke'Thor was safe, fortunately no casualties, and the cargo was securely tractored in by the Freeport 4 personnel.
The Cptn. of the ZR-Renegade still visibly shaken by the battle, reported me his achievements and the negotiations that occurred at the end of the battle. I left him in command of the ZR-Ke'Thor repairs while the Cptn. of the ZR-Ke'Thor recovered.
I pursued the En'Rath and opened a comm channel with them to continue the negotiations ZR-Renegade initiated.
I warned him that his course of action would only bring misfortune to him and his people, the Zoners certainly are not the best military pilots out there, but we are many, and we have more than enough resources, so in the fullness of time every Zoner and every bounty hunter, mercenary, and cut-throat imaginable would be in his pursuit. He didn't seemed much frighted by this, but i knew well enough that he also foresaw the implications of a larger scale war with the Zoners as a block, and that some of his companion were unhappy for having to shoot Zoners.
(as TAZ-Oro.de.Veranda well knows, we have agents who have privileged access to certain informations, so we can confirm this).
After some debate, we have managed to secure a formal truce with them via a duel (apparently these pirates still take this sort of things very seriously) between ZR-Renegade and En'Rath himself.
Now the situation stands as follows, truce has been agreed between ZR plus all other independent Zoners except the TAZ.
According to En'Rath members of the TAZ insulted him and called him (in his own words) "an idiot", and he is much offended by this, i counterargumented that, harsh words were said maybe, but ships and goods were lost on the other side.
I proposed that he abstained from attacking the TAZ ships, but had no concrete answer, only a request for a "cool down period".
As a personal note, these pirates are all full of honor codes, to settle the situation maybe challenge the En'Rath for a one on one duel with our best pilot, that would impose some respect (and a warning to other would be Zoner pirates) and possibly clear the contend definitely.
Now these are the informations i have, i ask the Council their opinion and deliberation on them.
rec. 8441AF75
Sommerset, ZR Citizen
*** End ***
## Transmission type : encrypted level 1 ##
## to : all zoners and allies ##
## from : T.Anderson, Star Trading Corporation. ##
## current location : Freeport 2, Bering system. ##
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* holoscreen shows the bridge of a brand new "fearless" class cruiser, engineers are running all over the place, connecting wires and optronics circuitry to sensors and hi-tech equipment, Anderson sits on the command chair, looking tired, with his un-avoidable canarian coffee.
"Ah! finally we have signal, good! thanks chief engineer!" *
Hi folks,
you may have noticed we have a new ship, the "Estrella.Lejana", named in honor of a ship in an old Asimov novel i read when i was a child.
Ok, to subject : why such a big warship for a humble trading corporation?
well, things keep happening. Yesterday our good friend Sr. Bahi was shot down in his whale by unioners, right in front of the Freeport 2, after he refused being pirated when approaching the station.
It would appear that unioners have made the space around the freeport "theirs", and after Bahi advised them to keep a minimum of 15K distance to the station when pirating, they told him "no way, why should we?". He told them that a freeport is a resource to both lawful an unlawful factions, but my guess is they won't listen.
The Estrella.Lejana is not completely set up yet, it is missing some armour platings, and the weapons consume more energy than expected. At least the sensors seem to be working OK, and the communication systems are getting there...
The ship will stay on Freeport 2 until this matter gets resolved, hopefully in a diplomatic way. In any of you knows these unioners, please tell them it's not very nice to pirate those who offer them a safe place to land, and even less nice to destroy their expensive trading vessels.
Then, about the combat training with Capt. Lewis, we are equipping ourselves with Viper Mk2 class fighters and will be very happy to get trained, i will inform the council when we're ready, and i'd like to know where and when it is best to find him.
I think that's it for now, i have a holo-meeting with a customer that is complaining about the cut of deuterium supplies to power his factory... i'll see you later!
Anderson out...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
## End of transmission ##
*** Incoming ***
Countryman Anderson, please indicate the name of the Unioner offenders so we can either come to terms with them..or not.
Also I'd like to report for the Councils consideration an unfortunate incident which took place on our present base of operations Planet Gammu.
A group of ships identified as [M] who i presume to Mandalorean, savagely attacked and destroyed one of our ships while screaming on the open system comms "The Republic will fall"
...starting from the principle that [M] stands for Mandalorean Mercenaries and not Marauding Monarchists, i really don't see the why of this incursion into out space, the destruction of one of our ships and this bile against the Republic...
Has the Zoner open season begun, or I'm i missing something on the broader picture.
rec. 4471AF73
Sommerset, ZR Citizen
*** End ***
Sigh.. On old Earth, I believe it was called the "Silly Season".
Alright, if I can summarise:
En'Rath needs either an apology from the TAZ, or some fort of face-saving, dung-throwing, finalizing "duel".
Comms will be sent to Carlton Lewis to see if he would care to do the honors. Meanwhile, if you are out there, En'Rath, we apologize for questioning your IQ. We merely question, as did Sommerset, the wisdom of attacking those who on a daily basis open their Freeports to all and sundry, including your merrye bande.
There are Unioners violating the space around Freeport 2, and Mercenaries blantantly attacking our ZR friends in Kappa. I for one would be very interested to see whatever contract the Mandaloreans are working under; if they even have one. If they do not have a proveable mandate for Mercenary action against the ZR, then they are acting as mere terrorists, and appropriate bodies may need to be notified of this infraction of the Mercenary code. As to the Unioners, I am glad Sr. Anderson has stationed STC's new flagship at this important Zoner hub, where all new Zoners go to apply and complete some of the necessary work to become Zoners.
What else... oh.. still no word from the Bretonians on their stance regarding proscribed commodities. I would recommend that a letter be sent to both SF and QCO, inviting them to send delegates to this council for further discussions on this matter. If they do not respond, then I think we can safely assume that it was just an incident of overzealous interpretation; and continue our normal and legal trading habits.
Finally, we should request updates on the nomad situation from Ms. Tate, Ms. Spire, and Brothers Tannik and Fenning. It has been disturbingly quiet of late from Omicron Delta. I worry somewhat that this might be the "calm before the storm". We should be prepared for any eventuality.
I yield the floor.. Pardon my longwindedness.
Samantha Windsor walked into the hall, rather hot and bothered.
She looked at the chair, "May I, sir?" and without waiting for permission, swept the floor:
"Sirs, Madams, and Globes, there has been some sort of misunderstanding. The Queen Carina's Own, her Majesty's Fleet, is not a division of the regular Admiralty, as is the SF. We are a proactive military force, and our operations generally take place outside of Bretonia. While I apologize for what the SF did, recently, and I disagree with their actions...They do not operate inside the purview of my uncle, nor are their operations our operations. We do not police Bretonia, and as far as we are concerned, you can sell cardamine to the Queen's daughters. What we care about, is you moving things through the tuas to Kusari. We would rather you didn't do it at all, ever, and let them starve, but that would be excessive and unbretonian, so we are blockading everything that they could use to kill our people, so, if you transport guns, or fuel, or military grade diamonds to kusari, well, you will be asked to turn around, and if you don't, we will blow you to hell, and commandeer those goods for the war effort."
She looked the court up and down, panting.
"Any questions?"