Bowex InfoNet (inRP)

[cmfalconer]

CommID: Pete Conroy - Class C Transport Pilot (2000-3000 SCU)
Message Target: Bowex Infonet
Message Subject: Corsair Threat

Well...not so much a threat as an amusing conversation. Lets start at the beginning.

I launched from New London and was greeted by none other than Christopher Wren. We headed from Leeds to Canaria (Sydney?) and from there toward Freeport 11 to resupply the base. On our way through Gamma, we were "greeted" by a gunboat who intercepted and disrupted his train. After a short conversation, we completed our run and were taking the "long route" back to New Berlin.

When Mr. Wren was called away on other business, I proceeded through Omicron 74, and was greeted by a tight-beam transmission from the offending Corsair.



Clearly the pilot had delusions of grandeur. Keep a wary eye out for this one.

Pete Conroy
Bowex|Farstrider - Percheron

Message Send...
...End

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[Funkz]

*** INCOMING TRANSMISSION ***
*** COMM ID: BOWEX | H. V. TRAUNBURG ***
*** SOURCE: SCARBOROUGH STATION, NEWCASTLE ***
*** TO: BOWEX INFONET ***

Greetings!

Since no Bowex convoy needed me today, I escorted three Aves Industries Ltd. vessels from New London to Hamburg and back to New London through the Dresden system.

A rough ride, but worse the credits. The convoy consisted of three Shires and me, later an AIL Roc joined us in Hamburg. A convoy quite capable of self-defense, I might say. An over-confident Hessian gunboat experienced Shire-firepower at the Stuttgart Jumpgate in Omega-7 while I distracted him with my more agile Eagle. Those Hessians get more and more aggressive: On the way back a Hessian VHF attacked our convoy right in front of Alster Shipyard! It took some time and even a Rheinland Military fighter to take him down. That boy was probably crazy but I've never seen a Hessian with flying skills like that.

I charged Aves Industries one million plus 20% of their earnings of the route back to New London for the escort, 7.3 million credits in numbers.

I will head to Waterloo station in the next days to buy some new equipment. I heard of a new line of Flashpoint laser guns, I thought I'll give them a try.

Holger von Traunburg

*** END OF TRANSMISSION ***

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[Funkz]

*** INCOMING TRANSMISSION ***
*** COMM ID: LOGAN SINCLAIR ***
*** SOURCE: SINCLAIR SHIRE SERVICES HQ, PLANET LEEDS ***
*** TO: BOWEX INFONET / DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS ***

Dear Sir or Madam,

I contact you on behalf of Sinclair Shire Services, a small familiy business run by my brother Lewis Sinclair and me, Logan Sinclair. We provide transports for high-risk cargo or cargo that needs the safety of heavy armor and numerous turrets in the eyes of our contractors.

The latest developments in Tau-31 led to critical financial troubles for us. Our biggest customer, Planetform Inc., could no longer renew our contracts to supply the Harris operations. Plus, one of our two ships, the Queen Elizabeth, was severely damaged by a Kusari patrol. Since Southampton is busy with the production of military vessels, the Queen Elizabeth is stationed in drydock at Scarborough Station currently. However, we cannot afford the much needed maintenance at the moment. That leaves us the Queen Victoria as our only ship to make profit.

We tried to set up a contract with the BAF and BMM for the deliverance of engine components from Rheinland but it did not work out the way we hoped. The Liberty embargo on Rheinland forced us to take the Omega route, only to discover that Corsair and Hessian pirates seemed to have specialized on that route, too. The Shire might be quite capable of self-defense, one Shire alone can be taken out by pirates fairly easy though. My negotiations with Synth Foods for the deliverance of supplies to independent worlds failed yesterday. We simply cannot meet their price if we want to cover our costs.

You see, we are in a grave situation. We cannot pay for the maintenance of the Queen Elizabeth, nor do we have profitable routes for the Queen Victoria. We need fresh credits to invest into cargo and to keep our remaining ship running. Therefore we would like to offer Bowex the possibility to buy 51% of Sinclair Shire Services, thus making the company and both of our ships a part of Bowex. Sinclair would operate under Bowex license but we do want to preserve us the right to independently set up contracts or join non-Bowex convoys with the Queen Victoria if the opportunity occurs.

I am sure Bowex and Sinclair Shire Services will come to an agreement concerning our offer. I am looking forward to your response.

Logan Sinclair
Co-owner Sinclair Shire Services


*** END OF TRANSMISSION ***

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[Unseelie]

*** OUTGOING TRANSMISSION ***
*** COMM ID: BOWEX HEAD OFFICE ***
*** SOURCE: BOWEX HQ, ***
*** TO: LOGAN SINCLAIR***

Mr. Sinclair

The Bowex Corporation has examined your public accounts and found them suitable purchases. 110 Million credits, as Bowex had determined the net worth of the corporation at the time which you forwarded your offer to us, and where we retroactively signed onto the deal which our lawyers, Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe, have forwarded to your lawyers. If you accept the arrangement, you are now a Bowex Sindicated Company, and insured by Bowex Insurance. If not, Bowex will expect its investment returned, plus prime rate interest.

Signed,
Christopher Wren

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[Funkz]

*** INCOMING TRANSMISSION ***
*** COMM ID: LOGAN SINCLAIR ***
*** SOURCE: SINCLAIR SHIRE SERVICES HQ, PLANET LEEDS ***
*** TO: CHRISTOPHER WREN, BOWEX DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS ***

Mr. Wren,

our lawyer, Mr. Thaddeus Magoon, has reviewed your contracts and found them quite generous. Our ship Queen Victoria was moved to Southampton Shipyard for technical adjustments concerning our identification frequencies. By the time the technicians have finished their work, the Victoria will be sending a Bowex-coded beacon. The maintenance teams on Scarborough have agreed to use parts of the severely damaged Queen Elizabeth for future repairs of the Queen Victoria, thus slowly disassemblying our second Shire. This procedure will reduce our maintenance costs for the Victoria by more than 60%, though.

We plan to station the Queen Victoria on Leeds. My brother Lewis will coordinate our remaining shipping contracts from the Sinclair Shire Services HQ there. New contracts will be signed as a Bowex Sindicated Company. I am sure that the possibility to form up convoys with other Bowex vessels regurlarly will open significantally more options of setting up contracts for us.

We want to thank Bowex for saving our familiy business and integrating it into Bretonia's finest shipping and exploration company at the same time. The Queen Victoria and her captain are at your disposal.

With best regards,

Logan Sinclair
Co-owner Sinclair Shire Services, Captain of the Queen Victoria

*** END OF TRANSMISSION ***

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[Funkz]

*** INCOMING TRANSMISSION ***
*** COMM ID: LOGAN SINCLAIR ***
*** SOURCE: BOWEX TRANSPORT QUEEN VICTORIA, SOUTHAMPTON SHIPYARD ***
*** TO: BOWEX INFONET ***

Good day!

Finally I have the time to write my first reports, bloody paperwork. Now, I've talked with the mission operatives at Lancaster a bit about the standard trade routes and decided to go for the Dublin - New Berlin - New London run. I hired a new weapon officer on Leeds and a new maintenance technician on New London. Well, the technician, his name's Joey, messed up my nav-system for a start. He makes some excellent coffee, though. Gotta keep him for that.

--- REPORT 1 ---

I met two independent Albatross captains in the New London system yesterday, commanding the "Keskow" and the "Zer0ed" that wanted to take the same route, so we formed up a convoy. And as three large holds full of gold are rather tempting for pirates, I hired a bounty hunter bomber as an escort for us, Mr. Owen Mcmanaman. A Daumann transport joined our little fleet in Omega-3 and that made him a lucky bastard: A Corsair gunboat from the Omega Pirates Guild stopped our convoy not far from the Omega-3/Omega-7 gate. I told everybody to stay calm but to bring their weapon systems online, just in case. However, those independents got a little nervous and opened fire. That left me little choice. My new weapons officer turned out to be quite skilled, the pirate had no chance against dozens of turrets and our escort. We made it safely to New Berlin.

Just as our convoy approached The Ring, I was contacted by the Rheinland Military battleship "Ravensburg" to alter my course to Brandenburg Border station for a "routine scan". Now, no routines require a battleship. Those two independents got a little scared again but they stayed in line. Our convoy was completely scanned at Brandenburg by two fighters and the Ravensburg, which took a lot of time. They didn't tell me what they were looking for but obviously they didn't find anything.

On the way back another [OPG] gunboat canceled our trade lane between Aland Shipyard and Freeport 1, perhaps as a revenge. We were running late on our timetable because of the Rheinlanders, so the Keskow and the Zer0ed were already through, that left the Daumann ship, the escort and me. Two other Bounty Hunters, Jack and Johnny Tequila, happened to pass us by and that was when things went bad. They pulled off an attack, the Corsair called for reinforcements, two more gunboats and a Titan showed up. Our convoy made it barely out of that mess. From what I heard the Tequilas weren't so lucky.

--- REPORT 2 ---

Took the same route today. I was intercepted by an [OPG] again, though that fellow didn't seem to be the brightest of all pirates out there. He piloted a Titan, so he was no real danger. However, I paid him. Can't afford to have the whole [OPG] looking for my ship or - worse - Bowex ships in general just because of the troubles from yesterday. Nothing else to mention on that trip.

---

That's it. The Queen Victoria is currently in dock at Southampton to resupply and to repair the nav-system that Joey messed up.

Logan Sinclair out.


*** END OF TRANSMISSION ***

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[P*Funk]

*** Incoming Transmission ***
Comm ID: Ulrich Wagner
To: Bowex Shipping Division

Today's business began somewhat unusually. I woke today at Baltimore Shipyard after having made a long run the night before. Once I had finished flight checks I set out for Planet Pittsburgh as I knew I could fetch a good price for Boron at Thames station. While the dock workers were busy loading my hold I overhead an emergency comm signal warning of some attack near Manhattan. As I left the atmosphere it was confirmed that 2 Keepers were near Manhattan and were being engaged by local fighters. I couldn't help my curiosity as I entered the trade lane which would bring me past the action. Luckily the ships had maneuvered so that they were a fair distance from the planet, but the explosions of light from weapons fire was so intense it was clear that the fight was far from over. When I entered the California system I warned anyone heading for New York to be on guard.

After landing at Thames Station and unloading my cargo I picked up VIPs and headed for New Berlin. Little of note on that trip though I managed a to have a friendly discussion with an IMG trader, very much helped pass the time.

Expect another report tomorrow.

Wagner out.


*** Transmission Terminated ***

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Out of hibernation. Gauging the winds.

[Unseelie]

Comm ID: Christopher Wren
Shipping Combine Memo, Re: Liberty Irony.

The House of 'Liberty' is ironically policed by a private corporation, and its security force, the LSF, is little better. The bullying of its people, and of foriegn nationals, by the afformentioned 'security force' is abominable. Just this afternoon, I was accosted by a poorly disguised agent, calling himself 'Phate' and refusing to justify his authority, on pains of its secrecy. Yes, I do know that 'Phate' is a well known Lane Hacker, but I'd argue that, given his behavior, he is more likely a Liberty Agent, and likely accruing a masive private fortune under the auspices of his undercover activities. This is typical of the general state of Liberty's corruption, that I can arrange with one party of the government for a shipping window in the Rheinland Blockade, or so cheaply counterfiet my shipping manifests.

I'd argue that our connections with Liberty constitute Divsion Seven's greatest success in influencing a corruptible nation, and yet..
I cannot shake the feeling that Bretonians are the last reasonable people of Sirius.

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[Dashiell]

::Incoming transmission::

comm id: Mart Bellock, captain of the Wheatstone
Loaction: Ames Research Station, Kepler

message begins:

well, been a while since me last report so here goes:

I`ve been all over the place. I`ve been shot at, yelled at, denied docking, rammed by tankers, shot at some more and crashed. just this afternoon me, the Underbridge and the Woodword were passing through Gamma when it went bent for the first time in ages for me. the Underbridge and Woodword were destroyed in a fight. My Shetland, being unarmed, had to run for it. I slipped away and made it to Freeport 11. still, it left a very bitter taste. not being able to help.

I therefor bought back my old Advanced Train I used when I joined Bowex first. Oder still had it lying in dock. the guy selling it said it looked so battered and used no one wanted it. ppff, what does HE know? so now that me and my trusty old train are reunited, I can fight back seeing as I have some turrets again now. I made my way to Port Jackson where I met up with Bruce Hardley. he had managed to obtain a fairly good armor upgrade. so we had it installed. we then left for Ames with a full load of deutorium.

I`m now at Ames, waiting for my old gun crew to arrive by shuttle. should be fun to be reunited once more.


Mart Bellock


end of message.

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[11of10]

###Incoming message###
###Identification: Bowex)Richard-I
###Vessel class: Clydesdale
###Captain: Ian Wills

Greetings gentlemen.

I am reporting my presence on Bowex Infonet as a new employee. My name is Ian Wills, and have been designated to a Clydesdale class freighter.

Ship's computer block, navigational array, and appropriate subsistems identifiy it as Richard-I. It has structural reinforcement commonly known as Mk VIII armor, Barrier Class 6 energy shielding, cruise distruptors and enhanced counter measure system. Weaponry mounted on this vessel currently is of lesser performance than the powerplant can sustain, and will be updated shortly.

Sincirely

Ian Wills

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Be excelent to each other!