From: 'Countess' Source: Tau-29 To: Republican Provisional Assembly Subject: An Asset in offering.
Salut, Mollys.
You've been busy. I'm contacting you using this old comms signature because i'd wager its signature might be just antique and curious enough to catch your attention. And dis-used long enough that it should slip by the Houses. Just for now. Heh, as long as an old friend hasn't ended up in the MND.
Dublin liberated, one jump gate destroyed, and possibly Sirius-wide catastrophic event as a result. Of course, the jury is still out on that one, non? Just as likely this 'Pulse' scientific circles are talking about.
I've got an offer for you, as of late my business interests in the border worlds have come down around me. The Blackout crashed an already fragile endeavour, c'est la vie, i suppose.
So. I'm already of dubious welcome within Bretonia, what contacts i had collapsed due to some disputes in the Breton Militar, and i already hold a criminal record that, while old, would still be enough were they in a distasteful mood with moi, which means i have little issue risking greater records against me.
I will be straight forward with you, Dubliners. I am offering you a Carrier, Bustard-Class, fully equipped and recently refitted with military line sensor suites, and a temperamental though functional jump drive system that you need no worry about the origin of. Her name is irrelevant, it has been changed before, it will be changed again should you accept.
Her crew are battle tested, an eclectic mix who have grown well together, and myself and the Executive Officer both with Capital Ship experience.
As you can probably infer, i am not offering to simply sell you the ship, this vessel is quite laden with... sentimental value? Oui. Sentimental value, and it has a history i am not inclined to divulge at this time. What i am offering is its services as a mercenary asset, one that will happen to maintain a freelance transponder. In return i ask two things. Access to your dockyard facilities for maintenance. And of course, the one thing you hold in abundance, gold, an asset the crew and i can safely sequester away to exchange at quite favourable rates in the rest of Sirius.
Let me know what you think, Dubliners. Oh, and you can just call me Countess, or we can agree on simply Capitaine if you find the dressings of nobilite that distasteful.
From: William Harris To: The Countess Subject: RE: An Asset in Offering
Good day, Captain.
It's true that our movement has made gains recently, but we don't claim credit for the Blackout. It's too convenient for Ageira to have a scapegoat for their failing technology and pin the whole bloody thing on us. There's talk of all sorts of stuff going on in Alaska, but that's not relevant right now.
Your offer comes at an opportune time. The Republic does not discriminate based on ethnicity or class, nor will we look a Bustard-shaped gift horse in the mouth - we'd be fools to. You say you're no friend of the Crown, and that's good enough for now.
Make your way to Arranmore. Our dockyard will be made available for your ship, and you have permission to purchase gold from us as well.
Report to Admiral O'Sullivan for your first assignment. Expect to see combat before long - although Dublin is ours, the so-called Corsair Empire wishes to challenge that. But we intend to open their eyes to the scale of their blunder.