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Barrier Gate Communication Node
May 1st, 830 A.S.
Sender:Sarita Ybañes. Recipient:Mactan and Leiden Hackers. Topic:Relatively routine work.
Good day, esteemed allies.
My name is Sarita Ybañes, and I am an Outcast pilot currently working as a free agent. I don't believe I've done business with your organization directly in the past. However, your people have long been good friends of Malta, and do some excellent intelligence work—intelligence work which I find myself in need of.
As I understand it, your primary business is in hacking pre-shipping manifests to identify the intended routes of corporate transports and then selling this data to interested parties. I'm presently engaged in a venture which requires something in the area of two thousand pallets of industrial-grade xenobiotic filters, the kind used in precision manufacturing environments such as planetside chemical facilities or advanced modular spaceside installations. If you could provide me with the time and location of any such shipment within Liberty or its northern border worlds, I would be able to pay well in credits or in kind with an exchange of other goods—perhaps a few shipments of the highest-quality cardamine, or of foreign-manufactured firearms, although I'm flexible here.
I'm not necessarily asking you to retrieve the filters, only to let me know when and where to interdict the cargo myself. However, if you wanted to spare me the effort, I would naturally be willing and able to pay significantly more for the service. Do let me know if we can do business.
And of course, with this task, the sooner the better.
I do not know who has interfered with my contact delivery such that external enquiries continue to be routed to me, but I will find them, and I will deliver them said external enquiries.
You are correct that such information is our core business. Usually, this is operated through a pay-per-use platform accessible via the Mactan Network, via the neural net, as manual dispensation of every interesting shipment would be a laborious overhead. This platform is sometimes known as "O.F.", short for object finder. I would strongly recommend enabling push notifications from O.F. to ensure that you are made aware of any important targets as soon as possible.
Out of respect for our relationship and that you are not simply some freelancer invalid, I have gone beyond the use of this system and analyzed all data available to me. As you are likely aware, Planetform Inc. maintains a strict monopoly over your cargo of interest, selling stock practically exclusively from Cold Bay Depot in Hudson. Beyond public knowledge now, it seems that at this time, there are no routinely scheduled no-particular-carrier shipments of xenobiotic filters. This suggests that the only shipments of xenobiotic filters currently are arranged on an ad-hoc, and therefore harder to predict basis. As a result, you are likely to need to stake out any targets, or be able to respond to the target on short notice from a nearby rendezvous.
Our data also indicate that most traffic in the area around Cold Bay is house military, and these are likely to represent harder targets. What remains seem to be mostly independent freelancer shipments, and I am glad to say that almost all of that traffic routes directly back into Texas, and then New York, and from there elsewhere. Depending on where you would prefer to establish yourself, I may be able to provide greater specificity for target routing. I would personally recommend interceptions in Hudson, assuming border patrols remain outside of the independent world. Failing that, the lanes of Texas are viable, and you could operate out of the stationed Drunken Codger, if you have the patience for Rogues. Avoid the Grande Negra; the radiation is dangerous enough without an extended exposure while awaiting prey. Interceptions in New York would carry all the risk you can imagine. While normally in accordance with the spirit of past treaties we would discourage Outcast piracy within Liberty, I believe we could make an exception for specific targets carrying xenobiotic filters.
I will offer your cargo of interest as a target to the rank and file, who may then, on acquisition or prior, make offers of their own around pricing of the goods. Pending operational availability, we may also render direct assistance in intercepting said goods. If you should struggle to intercept the few shipments there are, the simpler, if more expensive alternative, is to acquire the filters by paying a smuggler operating through a cut-out. Do contact us if you need assistance using that method, or if I have left any of your questions unanswered.