' Wrote:**** Incoming Transmission ****
From: Johnathan Sanders
To: Kruger Mineralien, Essen Station
CC: Rheinland Federal Police, New Berlin office; Rheinland Military
Subject: Demands
Encryption: Standard
Mr Westritter,

You've provided little more then "we've already proven it" as a motive for your accusations, yet aside from one count of vandalism (for which reparations have been made, and the perpetrators disciplined), all your evidence has been dismissed as either unsubstantiated or outright false.
To address your points, one final time:
I dare "speak like that". Your company does not intimidate the Guild, no matter how hard you try. The words I am insinuating are the communication logs your now conveniently reencrypted message contained in regards to the mining platform incident. It clearly showed the artificial intelligence of the vessel insinuating the IMG associates with pirates. Seeing as we don't, the claim was unsubstantiated. That is called slander, sir. Furthermore, your continuous unproven branding of our workers as criminals, is slander as well. A blantant generalization - sure, there's a few rotten apples in any organization, but given we've had our own issues with Kruger employees taking agressive action towards us as far as the upper Taus, I'd hardly say that is something unique to the IMG. The lack of respect? Your demanding tone of writing, your unilateral decision to re-encrypt your original transmission, your 36 hour demand in a time that people are not likely to be available to respond to it, and your assertion to be an authority that can make demands of us, are all good examples of this.

The right to defend yourself against agressors is not in question, but I fail to see how it applies here. If anything, the lack of any human supervision is what incited some of our less disciplined guildsmen to play around with your automated platform. Theft of it would have been pointless, as the IMG does not believe in automating asteroid mining. It replaces human labor, and thus takes away from our goal of providing labor for those who seek it, as much as we can. Any information on it would also have been trivial. The Hegemon class heavy asteroid miner is a class of ship we're quite familiar with, seeing as Aland produces this class of vessel. Removal of life support to cut operating costs, and have virtually the entire ship operate with a centrally controlled AI, and a small complement of service droids is something that is well within our capabilities to put together, but frankly, I've stated the reason why we have no interest in that. Aside from the artificial intelligence itself, there is nothing on your mining ships that we ourselves do not already know of.

As for Rheinland's economy - a substantial portion of the resources we mine, both in Omega 7 and in other parts of Sirius, ends up at the ALG smelters on Dortmund and New Berlin. Given that we're primarily producing raw and refined minerals, and leave the fabrication of more specialized goods to other companies, I dare say that we are a boon to the Rheinland economy overall. We're a competitor to -your- company. But -your- company does not constitute the Rheinland economy as a whole. Not by a longshot. And incidentally, the Rheinland economy is still recovering from the tailspin the 80 year war sent it into. A war Kruger was directly responsible for. So stop blaming us for the mess your own company has made. The state of the Rheinland economy is not our doing.

As for disrupting your contracts with other companies, it's called a free market. If you think you can deliver a better product or service, then open trade negotiations with those parties you wish to partner with, and attempt to get exclusive contracts. However, considering most the materials we compete in are basically just (refined) raw materials, becoming an exlusive supplier tends to limit the options of a company. In the chaotic state Sirius is in, few companies choose to limit their options. All our own contracts are nonexclusive as a result. If that business model is not compatible with your own enterprise, then I suggest you either offer your partners a better deal, or restructure yourselves. Offering another company a, in our eyes, superior service is not against any trade law; That you call it illegal without substantiating that any trade law is actually broken by this, is in itself slander from your end.

As for stepping out of line, your comment that you would "take matters into your own hands" is the basis for that. You did not ask for the "protection of your rights", instead you made a direct, and excessive demand of us, mostly based on false claims. To my knowledge, the Rheinland Military enforces order in the Omega 7 border world. You, like ourselves, are a civilian entity. In short, you have no mandate to "take matters into your own hands" - that falls to the Military, who, if my knowledge of Rheinland law is accurate, will chase down individual criminals that have been branded as such by a Rheinland court, or individuals that are part of an organization that has been branded illegal by the Rheinland law. Neither of these scenarios applied to the current situation - the Rheinland Police acted as an arbitrator, to try and mediate this dispute before the courts were needed. I'm satisfied with their arbitration.

As for being in Rheinland space, the IMG established itself in Omega 7 years before either Kruger or Daumann, and years before Rheinland started to annex the system. At the time, the military patrols were sporadic, and generally confined to the trade lanes. Your company at the time was quite keen on staying in the safe confines of Dresden, but successive stripmining operations have either exhausted or destroyed mineral production there. We're not "guests" as you put it. Von Rohe may have found the system, but we were the pioneers that found the wealth within. If anyone is interloping on existing claims it would be your company, on the fruits of our prospecting. Be grateful that we did not oppose you as the GMG did, as that was certainly within our right. I will say it again: The resources in the Omega 7 region of the Walker nebula are vast enough that we can all profit from it.

Finally, two words of advice on a personal note.
1: Using emotion icons in official communications looks... unprofessional. Please refrain from such.
2: When making claims, substantiate them, always. There is a famous quote from an old Sol universal archive, that applies quite well: "Citation Needed".
Regards,
- Johnathan Sanders, on behalf of the Independent Miners Guild

**** Transmission Closed ****