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To: Bowex InfoNet; DO's office; Captain MacFarlane. From: Flight Instructor Andrew Peterson. Ship: Bowex)Leeson. RE: Infiltration.
A valid point. I'm going to personally veto the Lass' deployment, however. While I'm sure you could pull the job off, we'll need the Brigade at full strength in case we are intercepted. Then there is the fact that our Clydesdales are faster than the Percheron - we'll need that speed to effectively get in, then extract ourselves safely. Of course, the final decision rests with DO Adama, so it's him you need to convince.
I'll be placing a mission briefing in the Brigade comm-hub momentarily. This briefing will be periodically updated as new intel becomes available. Your point about the extraction plan has been noted. I'll place some strict orders for combat protocol and retreat. I don't want the Brigade losing any ships on this operation. We'll have to do a run-through rehearsal in order to square that away.
The week-delay should give us time to refine our tactics to 'well-oiled-machine' status.
A fancy old breakout? lovely. Count me in. Any chance we can stop by planet stuttgat for some of that Rheinland beer? The stuff is quite the blessing for the tastebulbs.
Incoming Transmission NL819 86593002Z Encryption Level: SECURED T145 CommID: MacFarlane: NL:DH 8764501 Message Target: Bowex Board of Directors, Director of Operations. CC: His Grace, Lord Norfolk, BAF High Command, BPA Chief Commissioners Office, Bretonia Trade and Transit Authority Message Source: Private Terminal 8033956, Devon Highlands, New London Subject: Bowex-lead Convoy 819-7-12-A and the attempted "heist".
-------->Message begins, text only.
Sirs,
As requested by direct coms, I make the following report: I apologize for the delay, but as you know, things have been rather busy today.
First allow me to apologize for not being more forthcoming with this issue as it developed beginning some days ago. I realize that I have kept the Bowex leadership completely in the dark on the developing situation and did not report the entirety of my suspicions before, only giving small... "tid-bits". I'm afraid it goes much deeper than that.
I have willingly and knowingly deceived the Board and the Director of Operations, including Brigadier Petersen and other Bowex employees.
How and why you ask? Well the why is easy. The how I will explain. As for the why: I had reason to believe that the very real possibility of security leaks exist within our own corporation. Some employees have had contact, and maintain contact, with persons of rather dubious nature. One of which I swear is a Jerry sympathizer! (OORP: //I was concerned about metagaming) As you all know, I have put a great deal of effort, on my own time, into this endeavour. In addition, it is not only our security that concerned me, but also the security of our very nation. Bretonia lives on our ability to ship what is needed by Her allies and return with what She needs. Or, She will die due to our inability. There is little wiggle-room for error, and scarcely room for chances, although I admit to taking a large one today.
So what happened? As you already know, two scalawags attempted to abscond with the Queen's cargo after being hired by Bowex under wartime contract. I have been told that these things will happen, that it is unavoidable. I'll be damned to Malta if I subscribe to that notion!
The two men in question registered at the Bowex's offices some days ago. I became immediately suspicious of their registration due to certain....... reports in the past. However, I thought it imprudent to simply reject their registration out of hand (OORP: //The "Smelly 'Ol Pete" sig set me off right away, but rejecting them would have been metagaming), until more data could be gathered. I paid attention to the com boards, but saw nothing suspicious coming through Bowex channels. I paid close attention reports of pirate activities and movements, as well as BDM movements. I saw nothing that immediately tipped me off, so I fly out into the border systems myself to see if I could goad a reaction that would giveaway a possible scheme. Again, nothing. I had almost begun to consider that I was being paranoid. However, I have found that my paranoia has served me well in the past, and thus stuck with it. Some days later, my diligence paid off.
After making arrangements to have a miner droid on standby at Graves Station to direct load Convoy shipping for the scheduled movement, the two vessels in question did indeed report to be filled. However, unbeknownst to them, and in fact every vessel serviced, I had direct communications with the droid and was witness to every action, and every transmission. (OORP: //The droid was operated by my wife) My suspicions were heightened when they initially contacted the droid on long-range coms using a Rhineland based trace-marker, indicating that they were in fact in Rhineland at the time. Then, once arriving on station for service, the droid noted on its sensors that one of the vessels was a Camara Freighter. I found it very odd that such a ship would be willing to undertake such a hazardous enterprise, especially when every other ship that registered or expressed interest was a full-size transport. In addition, I had never seen this ship's transponder name before that immediately set my ears tingling. Of course I am suspicious of every ship I see that I don't know, but that is another issue entirely.
As I watched my screen, I made note of several other things that were wrong. The two vessels told the droid that all profits would be going to the Queens' War Chest. I found this laughable since both of these vessels were clearly of rough nature along with the men crewing them. I simply could not believe this utter poppycock. When the droid prepared to object to the situation, I silenced it and told it to press on. Later, as the droid labored, the captain of one of the vessels continually accosted the droid for information on the convoy route. No other captain had asked, because all captains knew already that that information would not be divulged until it was needed to be. I instructed the droid to respond that the information was classified under an ExSec security parameter. The droid, confused at first, carried out my instructions. The captain of the vessel became quite agitated at the response and demanded the information anyway, applying some great importance to their vessels being members of the convoy. I found this quite interesting, and at that point my suspicions were confirmed, at least in my own mind. There was no reason for this captain, who had no previous relationship with Bowex, to believe that he was entitled to anything. It became clear that he was merely attempting to bully the droid, which vindicated my choice of using the droid to begin with, his thinking that he could get from the droid what he wouldn't be able to get from a human operator. Now that my suspicions were confirmed, I ordered the droid to taint the cargo with moderately radioactive UD tracking dust in order to allow us to track the ore. As a further precaution, I had it mark the cargos of the other vessels it serviced after that as well.
I now considered two possibilities: One: That the two scamps had accomplices that would be waiting for the convoy on the lanes. Pirates? Smugglers? BDM? I had no way of knowing. My previous efforts to turn up something failed, so I considered the remaining possibility. The mercs that were hired could be part of the scam. Either the ones still on contract, or the ones who had backed out of the contract immediately after convoy schedules were sent out. I believed that it was likely the latter, but chose to take no chances there. I therefore deceived both. How? In a moment,
Two: If not the first scenario, then I considered the possibility that the two ships would simply rabbit, as I had outlined the previous day when I voiced my initial concerns. To cover this possibility, and the former, I secretly hired a merc from my own pocket to shadow the convoy when we moved out. The merc I hired was of dubious origin in Bretonian eyes, so I keep the details to myself per our agreement. However, he comes from a caste of professionals who place personal honor above all else, so I knew I could rely on him.
These safeguards in place, I activated the next deception: I feigned a confused ignorance of SMT (OORP://GMT) time zones in regards to New London time versus Newcastle time and arrived an hour late to RV the convoy. I used this bit to deceive everyone, including Bowex (my apologies), as to the real start time of the convoy. Only my personal guard-dog knew the truth of it, and he wasn't telling anyone. By pursuing this course I accomplished several things: First, I deceived and confused any leaks within Bowex. Second, the mercs who were hired were not even present. If they showed at the time I gave them, I didn't know, but I removed them from the equation regardless. Third, the mercs who had pulled out of the contract immediately after the schedule was set were an obvious leak that this deception plugged. Fourth, any other accomplices our scamps had made arrangements with would be out of position, if present at all. Fifth, if the scamps showed at the new time, refer to Four, if not it gave me more time to defuse the situation with additional precautions. Sixth, and possibly more important, the two scamps went into an absolute TIZZY over the delay. A reasonable man would have simply inquired as to whether something was amiss, but a GUILTY man, who's nerves are in a bunch, and the adrenalin is high with what is about to happen would react exactly as they did. (OORP: //The flood and Skype was crammed with hate for me being "late". Perfect. Is this metagaming? Considering that the attempted deception was both RL and RP, I would say NO it wasn't. If it had been RP only and I had been made aware OORP of the events about to take place, then yes) I had also deceived the other ship captain so he would not be there. I didn't want to risk him in my little gambit. So when we started, there was only my ship and the two scamps. No one else was at risk. At that point I made some show of trying to arrange additional security or getting a BAF escort, as well as brow-beating Bowex employees on company coms (skype) for not showing, when actually I was communicating with my guard-dog and getting him positioned behind us.
We moved out when I was fully prepared and commenced with some chitchat. The rest of those details are unimportant, other than their constant references to the lack of security cemented my suspicions even further and made me smile. If only they knew of what measures I had taken.
Well the two boys jumped the lane in Cortez and made off towards the Inverness jump hole. My merc was alerted and was hot on their tail. I made some noise of warning them that BIS officers would be waiting to intercept them. This was yet another deception, designed to divert their attention away from what was coming up behind them. If they saw something and it wasn't a BIS agent, I considered that they would relax their guard. I am not sure if this ploy worked or not. We'll never know because my merc was intercepted by lower caste Lane Hackers (NPC's) that held him up just enough for the scamps to get away from his sight. I had seen earlier that a few Reavers were in the area, so I had put it into my mind that I would contact them if something went wrong. Something had, so I contacted Silver right away and contracted her to pick up the missed intercept. She succeeded in destroying one vessel in Leeds a few moments later. In the meantime, the scamps had made some noise about making for Rhineland as they ran away from me, and the Lane. I had instructed Silver to make doubly sure that the cargo be recovered, or destroyed, before that happened. However, when she told me that she was on one in Leeds, I realized that the Rhineland bit was a deception. One does not go backwards to get to Rhineland. Having not known of my tail on them, if Rhineland was their true goal, there are far more direct routes to take. I informed BAF Commander Woodrow of this when he contacted me and inquired if there was a problem. Just like the uniform services to contact you after a problem has occurred. Anyway, I made a short report as well as voicing my suspicions that the Rhineland gag was just that. Unfortunately, all the officer could think of to do was to lecture me on the anti-virtues of hiring Reavers. I did 14 years in the BAF, as well you know, and I must say'¦ aww forget it. What's the point anyway?
As it is, both my merc and Silver lost the second contact in Cambridge where he went to ground. We believe on Lisburn. The tracking dust is giving off a strong signal from that general area, which will become more precise the closer pursuit ships get. As you know, it is extremely difficult to remove and will spread to the entire cargo-hold of the vessel.
In the end, very little was lost. The ore covered by my own pocket, and insurance has already covered that. The vessels in question have been removed from registration, and stronger security methods will be in place.
I hope that this will indeed result in the BAF re-considering its position on supplying security escort for this effort.
Report for: Convoy 819-7-12-B
The second convoy for today consisted of the Bowex)BES Lennox, Bowex)Walpole, Gateway)Trafalgar, and the Harry.Dresden. Again, no security was present, and no mercs or Freelancers had signed up for this convoy. However, with two Shires, a Perchy, and DL, there were enough guns for me to take the risk.
We departed at 2000SMT from New London carrying ore and hull panels bound for Liberty. The exact route and stops are classified ExSec Delta 087 and are available by secure trans on request.
The effort was mostly uneventful, despite the skies being filled with ships in Liberty. We saw nothing note until we were mid-way through the run when we sighted a massive Liberty Navy battle group going the other direction. To engage the Jerries no doubt. Soon after, near West Point Academy, we spied a lone Rogue vessel, a VHF. He wanted no part of us, and was immediately set upon by three LN fighters. On our outbound turn from Liberty we spied an unknown. He turned out to be an indie pirate in a VHF who kept his distance from us. I attempted to goad the little bastard as the rest of the convoy moved on to the jump gate, but he made it perfectly clear to me that he wanted no part of two Shires and whatever else we had.
The convoy pulled into Leeds as our final stop. Final total earnings for Queen and County: 98.3 million SC profit. No losses of shipping or cargo. No damage to report other than some Shire bumps and grinds, and'¦ I'm still trying to get the offensive Gateway stench out of my flight computers. Mr. Gordon and his team should have that sorted out by morning though.
All in all as very successful convoy run.
In closing, I again make request of BAF support of some kind, even if it is one Ensign in a VHF. I also request official coms to Liberty to make similar arrangements. I can, of course, attempt to do this again myself, but coming from the Foreign Ministry would lend it more weight.
Yours in Service to the Queen, now and always,
Master Scott MacFarlane, Clan MacFarlane
Captain, BES Lennox
Duncan Moreland here, I'm applying for entry into the Clydesdale Brigade. There is not a day that goes by here on Scarborough where the exploits of the heroic and skilled employees who make up the Brigade are not the main subject of nearly every discussion. It is apparent to everyone here that the Brigade is the newest effective and practical decision made that will benefit both BowEx, and the entire nation of Bretonia. I would like to be a part of this beneficial aid our company and homeland, the glory, and fame within BowEx is certainly welcome as well.
I understand that you cannot just admit any applicant into the Clydesdale Brigade, so if there are any requirements you'd think necessary for me to fulfill, just send them back to me, I await your response, Mr Peterson.
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Trainee Duncan Moreland here, pilot of the Bowex)Wolfe, I've just concluded my final shipment for the week. Nothing too exciting occured, other than the fact that I didn't get a single extortion attempt, that's something to be celebrated I suppose. The route I was assigned started of course, at our very own headquarters, the cargo destined for our friends over at Baltimore Shipyard in New York was Super Alloy, as seen here.
From there I purchased Luxury Consumer Goods at Liberty's capitol planet, Manhatten. That shipment was destined for some very enthusiastic gentlemen, more than willing to pay extra for the express shipping service that Bowex has to offer. I picked up some Basic Alloy on New London as well, and headed back for Scarborough, the return shipment can be seen here. I have been assigned to this route again, for next week, how dreadfully monotonous, I suppose the pay is more than worth it however. Signing off.
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To: Duncan Moreland. From: Flight Instructor Andrew Peterson. RE: The Brigade.
I have no problem with employees entering service with the Brigade. I'll forward your details to the Scarborough flight crews and tell them to prep a ship for your use. We can prepare your loadout and ordinance as we go. A trip to Port Jackson may be in order.
Despite this, we will have to run some basic training before you can take up a position as fully-fledged member. You see, the job role of a Bombardier and that of a transport captain is entirely different. You will have to undergo rigorous training in escorting, scouting, basic combat, evasion, racism, witticisms, daring-do and invincibility.
Despite a bit of a rocky start this morning.. err'¦ afternoon for those of you on that other side.. today's convoy movement went splendidly!
Assigned to today's convoy into Liberty were:
Bowex)Lennox
Bowex)Leeson
Bowex)Wolfe
Bowex)Cook
Bowex)Hume
Bowex)Godber
The.Kristol
And some Gateway rattle-trap
We also had hired one mercenary.
Well, things went kind of pear-shaped right away as the Leeson had engine difficulties and the Godber was hung up somewhere off the grid. I think her Captain was visiting Miss Hamilton again but Shelly refuses to say. Also, our Mercenary did not show despite a generous offer and of course the Gateway rust-bucket was nowhere to be found.
As it was, we had pirate troubles right away as we attempted to fill those shirkers with ore who did not come out to be filled earlier in the week. Little of worry however, as I flew out the new BMM transponder to their newest Barge I spied many BAF in Dublin and on the bounce. The pirates were quickly made a mockery of, and of course, were promptly replaced by Reavers. Fortunately, we saw none of the codgers and did get our convoy ready for travel.
As always, the exact route is classified ExSec Delta 087, but I can say that we met a BHG Bounty Hunter by the name of Sadow along the way who was willing to watch over our flock. The good chap did scout for us rather professionally, although he did absolutely butcher the Queen's language in the process. Meanwhile, I had Mr. Moreland take point in his Wolfe as it is a Shetland transport that his crew is still adapting to. I had the Kristol ride short-shotgun on the Wolfe, being a Salvage Frigate, it had the guns needed to back the vessel if things went sideways. I, and my crew, pulled shepherd duty at the rear in the Lennox
We did not really see any trouble on the entire trip. The Liberty Navy was on the bounce and keeping the trade lanes clear of trouble. Hardly a hostile contact could be seen anywhere. That was good because distractions where the last thing the crew of the Wolfe needed as they struggled to get her docked into the trade lanes and her Captain continually swore hatred for the vessel and a desire to be reunited with his beloved Firefly.
Making our final turn coming back into Bretonia, our BHG escort did hand us off to a rather peppy and enthusiastic BAF Ensign who was more than happy to take us the rest of the way. And then a Reaver showed up. The Reaver however wanted no fight with us or the Ensign, and after the Ensign gave the mercenary a stern, tachyon-threatened warning to stay away from the convoy, the Reaver made it perfectly clear that he wished no trouble with Bowex shipping and had no desire to face off with the Ensign either. He simply wished to be left alone to go on his way. Yes lads, every jaw on the bridge of the Lennox dropped open in amazement.
As we made our final stop in Leeds, I can report a total profit earnings of 168.8 million creds for Queen and Country, with 20 million paid in security fees, earnings were nearly double the last convoy movement.
Well, chaps I encourage those of you who are shirking to get on the bounce. There is money to be made!
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To: Bowex InfoNet. From: Flight Instructor Andrew Peterson. Ship: Bowex)Leeson. RE: Standard report.
Well, last night myself and some of the chaps took a wander down to Liberty in order to rent out some of their virtual simulation facilities and attempt some war games. After a while training, we decided to call it a night and hit the company accommodation on Planet Pittsburgh. After finding myself suitably rested, I decided I would go out and find some trouble. Failing in that task, I decided I would make some.
Having wandered to Colorado, I decided to complete the journey through to Kepler and visit Ames Research Station. Officially, I was checking to see if we could pinch any of Kusari's H Fuel slightly closer to the source, but in reality I was scoping the area out for Kusari convoys. Deciding I would push my luck, I jumped to Shikoku and took up a position one lane ring away from the jump gate.
Eventually, my patience was rewarded as the SIS-Yamakashi near enough fell into my lap. That'd teach him not to look where he was going. I was going to request he drop all his nanogear, shoot it, denounce the Emperor over system comms, then sing the Bretonian national anthem. He decided he wasn't game for this and attempted to shoot me first, partway through my first demand. Now acting fully within the remit of 'self defence', I went weapons hot.
Of course, they don't breed them smart in Kusari. This pint-sized pinhead was obviously suffering from an intellectual deficit, considering he'd mixed Type 2 and 4 turrets and was attempting to use both at the same time. In the business, this is otherwise known as a 'Really Bad Idea'. I promptly got in place behind him and staved his skull in, with little more than some minor strafe-work being required to evade his increasingly haphazard barrages.
Of course, the chase ended in Kepler, so I was moderately concerned about the bugger reporting me to the Liberty Navy. I thought I had best cover my back, just in case. To facilitate this, I contacted a duty Naval officer, and 'explained' the situation. Of course, I had 'defended' myself from the Samura captain, who had seen my Clydesdale as an easy target. Naturally.
[18.07.2011 12:44:42] Bowex)Leeson: Hullo there! I've just run into a spot of bother in the Kepler system. [18.07.2011 12:45:17] [LN]-Christina.Robinson: That's a bit far from here, I doubt I'll make it in time. [18.07.2011 12:45:31] Bowex)Leeson: Oh, don't worry, it's all sorted now. I just wanted your advice really, ma'am. [18.07.2011 12:45:39] [LN]-Christina.Robinson:Oh, right. What about? [18.07.2011 12:46:02] Bowex)Leeson: Well, I was travelling to Ames Research Station to, rather cheekily, see if I could poach some H Fuel. [18.07.2011 12:46:25] Bowex)Leeson: While I was heading there, I ran across a Samura transport called the SIS-Yamakashi. [18.07.2011 12:46:47] Bowex)Leeson: He was less than pleased to see me and thought my Clydesdale would be an easy target. The brute attacked me! [18.07.2011 12:47:04] Bowex)Leeson: I just wanted to ask what I should do in relation to this. [18.07.2011 12:47:30] Bowex)Leeson: You see, I'm rather terrified of the fact that the brigand may attempt to file a fraudulant report against me with your - [18.07.2011 12:47:32] Bowex)Leeson: - good selves. [18.07.2011 12:47:44] [LN]-Christina.Robinson:You dont need to do anything, but you can file a report to counter the one you think he will file. [18.07.2011 12:48:08] [LN]-Christina.Robinson: Besides, it's not as if Kusari will defend the interests of the independent worlds to govern independently. [18.07.2011 12:48:18] Bowex)Leeson: Righto. I'll see if my guncams recorded any proof. I'm afraid the whole encounter was rather sudden. [18.07.2011 12:48:54] Bowex)Leeson: Still, I taught the bugger a thing or two about unwarranted agression! Last time the cad will be trying that! [18.07.2011 12:48:56] [LN]-Christina.Robinson: Do your best, but I doubt it will result in any rammifications for Bowex regardless of the outcome. [18.07.2011 12:49:19] Bowex)Leeson: Right. Thank you for your time, ma'am. The worst part is, there wasn't even any H Fuel here. [18.07.2011 12:49:48] [LN]-Christina.Robinson: Oh dear... well, it's only a small station after all. [18.07.2011 12:50:14] Bowex)Leeson:Quite. Such a dissapointment. Oh well - such is life. Cheero then! Have a pleasant day. [18.07.2011 12:50:25] [LN]-Christina.Robinson: You too, Leeson.
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