To: The Council
From: Katherine Hyakutake
Encryption: Very
Bonjour, honorable Council!
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Katherine Hyakutake, a woman of wealth and taste who wishes to purchase fine foods and ingredients from Gallia, so that I may open a humble restaurant on Eldorado Station in the Dublin system.
It has come to my attention that you are not unskilled in the procurement and discrete shipment of goods, in particular fine wine, out of Gallia.
If you permit, I would humbly request to have communications or a meeting with your representatives, to see if we can find an equitable trade agreement.
Please accept my gratitude for taking the time to listen to my endeavor.
Initialisation... Intensité du signal:████████__ 080% Encryptage:________███████___FORT Source:________Marne, Champagne Expéditeur:____Premier Maître Henri Croix___________[C] Destinataire(s):Katherine Hyakutake
Sujet:_________Re: - Début de transmission...
Bonsoir Mademoiselle Hyakutake,
Je suis Henri Croix, Premier Maître Du Conseil, and I have to mention that premium Gallic wine is just one of many things we can acquire, although one of few we, as gauls, are quite proud of. Everything is possible for the right price, however I would require more information about yourself, the station and your reputation and political standing in relation to your surroundings - especially the Kingdom of Bretonia - before discussing details, such as the required amount of wine or the exact destination.
Amicalement,
Premier Maître Henri Croix Du Conseil
Chef de Corps Logistique Du Conseil
To: The Council
From: Katherine Hyakutake
Encryption: Very
Bonjour, most honorable Premier Maître du Conseil Henri Croix!
I received your reply with great joy and will answer your questions in a similar spirit.
Although I myself am an unaffiliated freelance Chef born in Kusari, my restaurant is situated on the Independent Miners Guild base Eldorado Station near the refurbished battleship Hood. This is in Dublin's sector D4.
As you surely know, the IMG was forced to accept the yoke of neutrality towards King Charles in the Tau systems. Therefore, it would be required to keep our business dealings strictly confidential, least we wanted to endanger the lives of IMG personell in the Taus or in Dublin.
Through the blessing of good fortune, the owner of Eldorado Station is my personal friend Raymond Zimmerman, who is likewise yearning to free Sirius and the IMG of King Charles' terror. Through less fortunate circumstances, I am not yet sure the local Mollies can be trusted with regard to Gallia, so until that's resolved we would keep our dealings also a secret from them.
For my restaurant I would require the following ingredients from Gallia:
-Cuisses de Grenouille
-Escargot
-Garlic
-Wine
For the sake of discretion, I recommend disguising these fine ingredients as regular food rations, for which we will compensate you with a price worthy of their true quality.
You have aroused my curiosity with the mention of more trade commodities.
For this purpose, I humbly offer to arrange a meeting of you or your agents with Raymond Zimmerman over dinner on our station (link to menu), or a location of your choice. I happen to know of his interest in having his docking bays used to transfer exclusive goods discretely from one ship to another, most prominently Gold Ore, although he's not too particular about the nature of the goods.
I sense great opportunity to advance the cause of Freedom for Sirius through trade beyond the radar-sight of tyranny!
*Katherine takes a short peek at a card and bows while reciting with a Kusari accent:*
Veuillez agréer, Premier Maître Croix, l'assurance de mes sentiments les plus distingués.
Initialisation... Intensité du signal:████████__ 080% Encryptage:________███████___FORT Source:________Marne, Champagne Expéditeur:____Premier Maître Henri Croix___________[C] Destinataire(s):Katherine Hyakutake
Sujet:_________Re: - Début de transmission...
Mademoiselle Hyakutake,
The Guild is a long standing ally of us and the Council understands the compromise it was forced into in exchange for survival within the Tau Region. It is good to see IMG operations are still thriving even under the grip of the Gallic Royal Navy. You can be sure our operations will stay as discrete as possible and necessary.
It would be a pleasure to meet with either you, Monsieur Zimmerman, or both of you. I believe I have some free time on this Saturday, I'd be glad to have a fine lunch with you if it's good for you. In the meanwhile I've done some calculations and would like to propose the following prices for Gallic food and wine:
Due to the nature of the commodities, grenouille, escargot et ail can be masked as food rations. As such, counting in the quality and difficulties of acquisition, I propose a price of $4.000,00 per crate of food.
Wine, on the other hand, as a liquid contained differently by default, cannot be masked as rations of solid food, which complicates the situation a bit, but not so much. Wine shipments will have to take a different, longer but safer route, counting in that along with quality, I propose a price of $4.625,00 per crate of bottles of wine.
I am awaiting your response.
Amicalement,
Premier Maître Henri Croix Du Conseil
Chef de Corps Logistique Du Conseil
To: The Council
From: Katherine Hyakutake
Encryption: Very
Bonjour, most honorable Premier Maître du Conseil Henri Croix!
Your prices appear reasonable, and we are happy to receive you alone or accompanied by a delegation as guests over lunch (link) to discuss the further matters.