You have crossed beyond the boundary of disloyalty and entered the forsaken lands of betrayal. You have committed the most heinous of crimes one can conceive against the Lane Hackers. Our spies have informed us that you are using classified Lane Hacker technology in order to secretly construct what Taskmaster Kane himself calls a "Spyglass Mk II".
Yet we are not surprised. Ever since Hellfire Legion's betrayal, you have schemingly abandoned all former treaties and affiliations. Behind those smiling and reassuring faces you have become opportunists, not idealists as you once were, using everyone and everything for your advantage. Yet despite all these affronts, your redemption rests upon the merciful fact that the vengeance of the Lane Hackers is not spiteful.
As the Senior Professor of the Lane Hackers I am willing to give you one last opportunity. Abandon your treacherous course immediately. Sign a new alliance pact with the Lane Hackers and, among other opportunities, we mutually will combine our technological prowess to construct the next generation of Spyglass Battleship, which like its predecessor, will establish new benchmarks for ages to come. Refuse this magnanimity, and we will have no choice but to defend our rights and honor by any means necessary. This will include the interdiction of all of your trade in House Liberty, as well as using our consultation and support with our Crayterian and Hogosha contacts against you. They understand the threat that you pose and are ready to undertake all necessary measures against you.
Identification: The Taskmastership Affiliation: Natio Octavarium
To: Senior Professor Moriarty, The Lane Hackers
Subject: A return to form Encryption:Beyond a reasonable doubt Location: Everywhere
Senior Professor Moriarty,
Above all else, we are grateful to hear from you directly and hope that you are in good health.
The Taskmastership has convened ahead of your communique to discuss the future of our organization and its ties to yours. While we understand your concern about the conceptual Spyglass Mk II as theorized by Taskmaster Kane, we would like to stress that the concept was brought up solely in a theoretical capacity and in preparation for outreach to the Lane Hackers. We as a group have his assurances that no research and development went into the project beyond conceptual design drawings based off of Spyglass Mk I documentation, and we believe this to be true, as we have no place in which we would be able to construct such a vessel.
The point of contention that we would like to clarify is that our idealism extends only to our future goals for our civilian entities, well far away from our primary zones of conflict. We are practical men and women, and as we see it, that was the strength of the historic alliance between the Vagrant Raiders and the Lane Hackers. Your side of the alliance had the connections to liberate talented and brilliant engineers from Ageira's clutches, and ours provided battlefield insight and strategic deployment. We were not the same, but our strengths complimented each other.
Having read your proposal, the Taskmastership agrees with your assessment and believes that our errors in judgement and the actions performed because of them, while certainly severe, are errors of the past and are not reflective of our intents and goals going forward. We would like to thank the Inner Circle for the opportunities we have been given as part of the proposed re-establishment of alliance between the Lane Hackers and the former Vagrant Raiders, and we find them more than acceptable. We believe that we can once again be a valuable addition to the lineup of close partners of the Lane Hackers, and that our experiences over the past half decade have given us new insights that can be used to strengthen our future together and propel our combined technological and logistical might to new heights.
We are more than happy to reforge an alliance between our organizations, though we are unsure as to what the terms of said alliance are. We have made plenty of agreements in the past that have backfired on us even with properly stated terms, and none of them have been as strongly-worded as "alliance". We mean no ill feelings or intend no offense, and cast no doubts as to the seriousness of this offer, but we do wish to make an inquiry as to the complete terms of the treaty as you would lay them down before we commit digital ink to virtual paper.
In summary, we are very interested in restoring the alliance, but you have not yet told us what you stand to gain apart from our partnership and all which that entails.
To the future, Taskmaster Rodney Miller Taskmaster Escher Taskmaster Harold Kane
Ministries of Relations and Intelligence, Natio Octavarium
We wish the terms of alliance to be as honest and mutually beneficial as possible, for if they are not, this project will inevitably fail.
Proposed terms:
The Lane Hackers and Natio Octavarium will combine their most cutting-edge technologies, technicians and logistic supplies in order to design and construct the Spyglass Mark 2 Battleship.
The Lane Hackers will recognize the territory of Natio Octavarium as their sovereign contested space and will abide by Natio's rules whenever they are within. Similarly, Natio Octavarium will do the same within the Lane Hacker contested territory. However in order to incorporate it in the alliance declaration we'd have to be more specific, so we welcome proposals on the exact territories that Natio Octavarium lays claim.
Natio Octavarium as the legal and full successor of the Vagrant Raiders will finally correct the record and denounce Hellfire Legion's betrayal which resulted in the collapse of our initial alliance and fulfill their old obligations by notifying the Legion that they are now enemies.
The Lane Hackers will immediately begin work on adapting and integrating Lane Hacker military technology with the ships and equipment used by Natio Octavarium for the purpose of removing all powercore deficiencies caused by usage of incompatible technology.
In an effort to strengthen our trade and economic relations, the Lane Hackers will sign a preferential trade agreement with Natio Octavarium in which cardamine imports from the fields that Natio owns will take priority over other cardamine imports. Similarly, Natio Octavarium will export from Lane Hacker bases a negotiated amount of counterfeit software each month.
The Lane Hackers and Natio Octavarium will form joint patrols within the Barrier Cloud in Coronado in an effort to protect the cardamine trade which is a major source of income for both organizations. It should be noted that in our peace treaty with CR we retained all shipping rights within their territory except the transportation of Maltese workers.
In regards to mutual enemies and a possible defensive alliance, we see no visible benefits by adding such clause within the proposal. We know that the Natio Octavarium is currently hostile only to the Gauls and Corsairs while we have major enemies throughout the Colonies.
Identification: The Taskmastership Affiliation: Natio Octavarium
To: The Lane Hacker Professorship
Subject: RE: A return to form Encryption:Beyond a reasonable doubt Location: Everywhere
Professors,
We find these terms to be agreeable. We would like to propose amending the fourth point for reciprocity; if Natio Octavarium's military research and development division begins production of any native military equipment, which is a likely course of events, the R&D teams involved will develop support for power distribution systems of Lane Hacker ships into that equipment.
Strong words are being drawn up to fulfill term number three. You will receive a read-only backdoor into the transmission sent to the Hellfire Legion when it is sent. Taskmaster Kane in particular has been looking forward to, quote, "telling them exactly what to shove where", and he would like to thank you for the opportunity.
In arms, Taskmaster Rodney Miller Taskmaster Escher Taskmaster Harold Kane
Ministries of Relations and Intelligence, Natio Octavarium
I am very pleased to see that we have an agreement. The Alliance declaration is compiled as we speak and it will be presented for signing once term number three is fulfilled. While not required to be executed immediately we expect Natio Octavarium to support and prove this strong-worded letter with actual deeds on the battlefield.
For formal reasons we would like to inquire which of the Taskmasters is the most senior and thus most suited to place his signature next to Moriarty's. Finally, we are curious to know if Mr Oda informed you of our request since we haven't heard anything back from you regarding this matter. To be more precise the extent of The Order's attack on Planet Malta itself as this is an extremely concerning matter to us.
Identification: The Taskmastership Affiliation: Natio Octavarium
To: The Lane Hacker Professorship
Subject: RE: A return to form Encryption:Beyond a reasonable doubt Location: Everywhere
Professors,
You will find in your general inbox a blind-carbon-copy of our declaration of hostilities to the Hellfire Legion, with an attached read-only backdoor into the communications chain. We have a few lighter military assets in the western Independent Worlds that we we can use to hit Hellfire targets of opportunity, and we will move a second wing and associated support craft down to Coronado to stage sustained pressure against Commonwealth and Legion assets.
Taskmaster Escher is the most senior member of the Natio, and so his signature will represent the Natio in our alliance. His tenure with the Vagrant Raiders dates back long enough that he has held his current rank since before even Taskmaster Kane was a fresh, green Bandit.
Mr. Oda did indeed relay your request and we made a few calls. The Octavarium Intelligence Commission's contacts in the Order reported that the Order Overwatch under Admiral Golanski did in fact make moves against Malta, putting the greater Maltese society on its, quote, "no-tolerance radar" in response to renewed Nomad influence in a few minor Maltese spirit-cults. We were also informed that while Golanski and his men are on a crusade, the Legacy of Orillion cell is currently committed to a self-defense stance when it comes to the Outcasts. Our conclusion is that the Overwatch is indeed making moves into the heart of Malta's sphere of influence.
For prosperity, Taskmaster Rodney Miller Taskmaster Escher Taskmaster Harold Kane
Ministries of Relations and Intelligence, Natio Octavarium
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