I am Pope Cabrera. I speak, as much as a man can speak for on behalf of a spirit, for the Church of the Bull. Do not let our ecclesiastical demeanour throw you, you will find we are are realists. Spirit is to action as bearing is to power.

You're not a Bembelequera, Anderson - and you're no man's fool. You are correct that the battle lines will be drawn at Kusari and Gallia. Our people have been at war with the Prodigals since they, impelled by false light, blasted the number two Tokamak of our mother Hispania out into the naked black.


Your people have not fought the Prodigals - the Outcasts, for as long as we have, for you are not of their blood. Commit this fact to institutional code; the Outcasts are inhuman. The Cardamine they consume is more than physically and mentally symbiotic. It is more than a parisite - it rewrites the RNA, glial tissue, glands, and organs - even the minds - of the consumer from the moment the first trace enters the blood stream. Children inherit the mutagenic properties, stacking from generation to generation. But mutation alone is not the source of their inhumanity. No. The Outcasts are treated... differently... by the alien curse, and those subordinate to their thralls. Outcasts have no means of continuous reproduction. Their population is unsustainable at any volume. Their intergenerational mutagens mean that cloning is not a viable means of preserving themselves. Outcasts are irreversibly sterile - only the slim minority can breed. The changes cardamine create in the genome standardise the ancestral patterns within ten generations. They would be hopelessly inbred. In a state of nature, or by their own wits, they would wither and die.

But they survive regardless. They survive, by enslaving others. Their entire society depends upon Slavery. As they cannot sustain a minimum viable population, they must reap the souls of others to create monsters. We Corsairs exact justice on Sirius by claiming a portion of its luxuries - luxuries that the Profligate Alliance houses took from us by the switch of a detonator. As a Gaul - a people who were, yourselves, betrayed by creators of the Bretonia, the Liberty, the Rheinland and the Kusaria, I am certain you can understand our plight. But the Outcasts are a devouring conformity - they would turn all of Sirius into a mirror of themselves.

They are not inhuman by accident of birth. No. They are not the victims of Cardamine. They are monsters by their own choice. It will be blessed and just to see the orange sunrise burn red with the fire of fusion warheads.

The Tauri stand with you, Anderson.

Our faith unifies the grand artefact cartels of Crete. Most of the regular convoys carrying the fruits of the Malvalda have Tauri markings, and faithful captains. We have been hard at work to rebuild the Corsairs presence in the Black Market - a market that funds and provisions the Outcast war machine that keeps us from razing their planet to the crust. For many centuries, our people have tried to combat Malta through proxies alone, and yet, Malta has thrived.


Liberty, with the exception of the Xenos, who value their freedom more than Malta's pyrite, has been lost to Outcast influence. The house constantly produces unlucky souls who become addicts, feeding the demand for the orange dream. In Rheinland, none of the local pirate factions tolerate Cardamine. The Outcasts have no market there. In Bretonia, the government's ties to Malta have started to wain. The Outcast influence in Gallia directly stems from Kusari - sanctify Kusari, and Malta will fall like a man in quicksand.


Kusari is the fulcrum of the war. Our influence is matched evenly between ourselves, the Hogosha, the Farmer's Alliance, and the Golden Chrysanthemums who are a direct extension of the Outcasts. We have the a numbers advantage and strength on the field - a colossal market for artefacts through Orbital Spa and the Hogosha - but the Golden Chrysanthemums enjoy cosmic proximity to Malta. Supplies and reinforcements can react quickly to our advances.

An effort from the West by your Corsicans would place pressure on the artery that keeps Malta and Kusari tied together. I cannot stress enough how vital your influence could be. If the Outcasts find their flow of cardamine contested, markets all the way to Liberty will stagnate and die. Malta's allies, dependent on cardamine, would hoard the Orange Dream for themselves. Little would reach the customers downstream - and Cryer Pharmaceutical's stabline would fill the gap.

One determined offensive, and Malta would shatter. The Orange nightmare would break to dawn.

Pégate al agua, Felo. All sermons belie the actions of the believer.

Anderson. Our people have a grip on the Sirian black market weapons and artifacts trades. We are always in need of medical supplies, human organs, infotainment systems, and spaceflight technology that we can reverse engineer against the Outcasts - it is how our people have stayed ahead of the Houses for centuries. I hear that the Corsicans have vast over and underworld connections in the Gallic sector. Tell us what you need and the Tauri will ensure that you shall receive it.

The men of Gallia are the only humans in documented history to crack a planet to the core, to turn topsoils to glass and cities to ash so completely. Help us, in your own way, bring this fire to Malta - and humanity will rise from the flames.


I look forward to a long and burgeoning relationship, Emily. May you walk in plenty. If your operatives ever reach as far as the Omegas, like the Freelancer John Brown all those years before, we will regal them with our treasures.


I turn my chair over to the other assembled men of the Empire. Our people are a multitude; they will hold insights that I cannot.