I apologize if this message comes as a shock, given the extensive length in time since our last contact. However, honor compels me to consider a deal a deal unless renegotiated via explicit mutual agreement. Our first of two deals was that your organization would be provided a certain set of commodities, and in exchange you would, I believe the exact wording was, "pick somewhere on Ouray that's out of the way, put one of our server boxes there, turn it on, and don't touch it". No mention was made of you ever turning the server box off, as indeed we supplied it with several high-dura batteries. By my calculations, given the requirements of the hardware, the extremely low computational overhead of the software processes, and general performance expectations of the particular model of battery provided, the server should have been able to remain continuously powered without recharging until at least 837 A.S.

However, it has been offline for some time now. The only conclusion left to me is that you turned the server off for some reason or another.

Perhaps there was confusion regarding our second of two deals, involving among other things a monthly transfer of an approximate quantity of living human souls to our care. Indeed, the mutual satisfaction of this second, separate deal's obligations lapsed a considerable time ago. I am willing to, generously, view your failure to fulfill the first deal's sole obligation as the result of miscommunication, some imputed connection between our two separate agreements. In the spirit of treating occasional hookups with more consideration than one-night stands, to revive an earlier-used metaphor, I pose a few questions.

Do you still have the servers in your possession? Are they still at Ouray? Did you touch, deactivate, or in any way tamper with them? Why? And, most importantly, where do we go from here?

Let's say we wipe the slate clean and forget about the old server. Allow me to install another one under the same circumstances as the first. Ouray, I provide batteries, you turn it on and forget about it. The connection does not go dark again. I follow your Kepler Accords to the letter and ensure a non-trivial supply of cardamine and guns to you, and if you need batteries in the future, I'll acquire some for you at a discount. The more cardamine comes in, the more we make Liberty's porkocrats squeal.

What do you say? Server box for a felicitous lowering of the eyes and some high-value goods sound fair?

I'll be bringing you cardamine and precision weaponry suited for ship-boarding – such as GMG-made laser pistols, medium-power Daumann kinetic snipers, and Detroit-made needler rifles, subject to change based on your men's needs – as well as hardback and paperback literature of all kinds in exchange for whatever Detroit arms your people have no use for, platinum and excess supplies at the end of the month, and credits. When I secure a new source of weaponry, I'll let you know in advance so that you can arrange for its delivery to the proper units rather than having it clog your cargo bays while last-minute paperwork is done. For now, assume that you'll be receiving roughly a 70:30 ratio of personal sidearms and kinetic snipers. The needlers will come later.

Unfortunately, about half of the one-ton pallet of paperbacks I dropped off for you at Ouray earlier is in either Spanish or Italian. I don't imagine you or your people can read either language, but the bright side is that multilingualism is good for the brain and helps prevent all sorts of neurodegenerative disorders that non-Outcasts seem to be prone to – cardamine use, of course, is even better for the brain, consider that none of our people have ever contracted cancer or dementia – but I don't imagine that'll persuade you to start using. The literature in English is mostly fiction and poetry, but there's some technical manuals in there for, primarily, equipment you may or may not be familiar with, mostly CTE-line ships and some older machinery that once found use among the Zoners and other small-time independent manufacturers. I'll see about getting a wider array of books for you in the future.

Along with the box containing the server units for you to have installed, there's a special package just for you. Just in case you're interested. If not, feel free to toss it out.

Your Kepler Accords are agreeable. Consider me a party to them. Until next time, señor Cobra.