The Guild has already updated the docking permissions after the report was made by the Rheinland Military at the scene. By now, all UEC vessels should be set to no-dockning status.

However, as a caveat, we cannot guarantee complete protection, as these Freelancer ID-transponders are tricky and glitchy. Every new ship that this group aquires could theoretically even dock at Planet New Berlin or the Omega 7 Battleship.

Anyway, you can rest assured that the Guild has no intention to house a group that acts in a hostile way to Rheinland and its Corporations and then expects the IMG to host them. The Guild also relies on a relative stability in Omega 7. We share that interest.

I would ask you to contact me directly in case some issues come up again, however I hope that the presence of the Battleship should discourage enemies of Rheinland to even think about docking at Freistadt.

Furthermore, thank you for taking care of the hunter thread. You understand that the Guild will have to treat those hunters as criminals and we will be taking the necessary steps to defend ourselves against them. When bombers are involved, civilian mining ships and transports cannot take too many risks. I am sure you understand that.

Thank you for the status update on these two hunters.

While I do not understand how there can be doubt about the man's guilt, I cannot order my defense teams to let him operate anywhere near IMG operations. This man has stated his mission to attack and destroy IMG assets and there is no doubt about his hostility. However, we will try not to attack unprovoked.

I understand you have your rulebook to play by, of course. And I also know you do not draw up the verdicts.

Thank you for the message. I guess we will be in contact.

I was curious about how fast you would get back to me, and for sure you proved that you take your job seriously.

These pictures show an IMG transport picking up Food to take it to Cameron Solar Port, an independent base in Omega 9 that was in need of these supplies. Please check the time signatures of the attached images to verify that this is the same flight.

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Technically, a neutral party in a conflict has docking access to both sides of the conflict. Out of respect for Rheinland laws and to keep its neutral status, the Guild does not use Hessian installations inside Rheinland's jurisdiction.

To conclude, these pictures were taken by a highly dubious ship, in a zone far outside of Rheinland's jurisdiction or interest. They show a harmless supply operation of a Zoner installation located outside of Rheinland's influence. This operation has no influence on Rheinland's inter-House conflict and therefore in no way conflicts with the IMG's neutrality stance.

The dubious, seemingly invisible ship could be identified by the crew as the Kruger|KMS-Erwitte because it appeared on scanners for a short moment before getting out of range. Knowing Kruger's troubled past, its involvement in covert and open hostility, and given the corporation's obvious push for conflict in the Sigmas and Omegas, I strongly suspect that this whole affair is a conscious attempt to destabilize the fragile peace and the mutually beneficial cooperation that has been established between the Guild and Rheinland.

As far as the Guild is concerned, such attempts to escalate the tensions must be countered. Sustaining peace and stability in the Omegas must be the common goal towards which we work.

Hochachtungsvoll

I am surprised that these pictures stir such attention and warrant such an investigation, therefore I will try to answer your questions as well as I can one by one.

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Your question: "Are you docking regularly on Hessian bases outside Rheinland space?"

We are not regularly docking on Hessian bases, and we never dock on Hessian bases inside Rheinland jurisdiction, as we respect House Laws and remain neutral in the internal conflict.

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Your question: "Are you buying cargo from them?"

The few shipments we obtained consist of harmless basic supplies. The only shipments registered are those between Omega 5 and Omega 9 and they consist of Food, Oxygen and Water for the Zoner installation.

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Your question: "Are you trading with them?"

There is hardly trade going on between the Guild and if commanders do this, the Guild does not know about it. There are no trade agreements between the Guild and the Hessians.

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Your question: "Don´t you think that your money actually indirectly support these criminals and terrorists?"

The Guild supports the economy of Rheinland by providing vast shipments of Niobium and Beryllium for the New Berlin and ALG smelters, thus contributing a lot more to the Rheinland economy than marginal payments for a few supply shipments contribute to the Hessian economy.

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Your question: "Should Rheinland tolerate this?"

In every political decision, every party has to weigh the advantages and disadvantages. The Guild has been favouring the destinations of New Berlin and Dortmund for raw resource deliveries over more attractive offers so far, thus contributing positively to Rheinland's Gross Domestic Product. On the other hand, the Guild must seem like a source of trouble sometimes. Balancing a decision between political trouble and economic benefit is on the Bundestag to decide.

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In response to the questions concerning the Hessian raid that resulted in the destruction of IMG and Hessian assets and the loss of some transports, I can give the following statement:

Diplomatic stances are in constant flux, and so are conflicts. The conflict that was sparked by the attack was solved by diplomatic means after some more armed clashes. After ceasefire negotiations, it became clear that neither the Red Hessian movement nor the Guild had an appetite for prolonged conflict.

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Your question: "Can Hessian vessels dock at IMG installations?"

Battleship Schwerin has discouraged Hessians from trying it, and I only know of one case* that tried and was arrested after crashdocking and handed over to Rheinland authorities. Freistadt has since had more than 374.000 dockings, none of which were Hessians. I am convinced the RFP can easily crosscheck these records that are doubtlessly also documented on the Schwerin.

Bretonian law forbids the docking of Hessian forces on IMG installations, therefore Hessian ships are not docked on IMG installations inside Bretonia.

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As a concluding remark, I would like to add: Neutrality can be a difficult and tricky concept, and it is hard to uphold. Very seldom all affected parties are happy and the Guild gets their fair share of Hessian aggression, as well as their fair share of Rheinland aggression. For us, it is always the goal to stay out of it as well as we can. Future will tell, I assume.

I regret that you misunderstood my statement. Aggression of Rheinland relates to the Corporations that have been fighting the Guild more or less directly since their arrival in Omega 7.

Around 3 years ago DHC bomber attacks damaged Freistadt's Hangars A and B severely after an Omega 7 inter-corporation standoff. In the standoff, Rheinland warships fired at IMG and independent transports. Kruger Vigilantes terrorized the Guild around 2 years ago and has been involved in direct or indirect aggression ever since. There have been several hot and many cold conflicts over the course of the years.

This is the sort of aggression I am talking of. I apologize if my words were not clear enough.

I hope I was able to answer your questions.