> OPENING SECURE FIRST ARMADA CHANNEL...
> LOADING RESOURCES... > COMMUNICATION FEED: LIVE
Sender name and rank:Genoveve Black, Enlisted Clerk Recipient:NHI-T>Nightshade Subject:Fine Issued
Greetings,
You are hereby issued a symbolic fine of 400,000 Sirian Credits payable to 1st|Bank and asked to reply confirming you understand and will abide by the Laws of Liberty and the rules of the Licence Requisition Centre. Failure to do so within 24 hours of this fine issue will lead to consequences.
Law breaches:
5.0 Obstructing Justice (failure to follow instructions of an Officer)
4.1 Restricted Equipment - Blackmarket technology (L'ane)
Sender: Alexandre Cartier Recipient: Genoveve Black Origin: Undisclosed Encryption:Zulu-Charlie-Bravo-Foxtrot-Dellaware
Bonjour, madame Genoveve,
Allow me to express the shock I had seeing the sender of this message. The First Armada, oh la la! It's the first time I see Liberty using this term to define their naval forces. Tell me more! Why Armada and not fleet? The Armada is the first higher echelon of a fleet? What's special about you?
Enough curiosities, let's proceed to the matter at hand. Madame Genoveve, as far as you're concerned as an Enlisted Clerk, I took your advice to reread the Laws of Liberty and I hereby agree to pay the issued fine. However, I will do so after some concerns that I have will be answered by a superior officer of your Armada. Regardless of the answer I recieve, the fine shall be paid. Therefore, please forward the following concerns:
1. I'm a bit confused about the role your Armada has within Liberty. By the interaction I had with your representatives it's safe to say you execute policing activities. Is this a normal thing in Liberty? In Gallia we have the Gendarmerie for this kind of duties, while our Navy safeguards our borders. Also, is it common for Liberty to deploy battlecruisers to perform policing on civilian traffic? Is this one of the reasons that you're an Armada and not a fleet? Excuse-moi for the misunderstandings, but I was expected to be contacted by the Liberty Police. But rest assured, I learned my lesson. Now I'm fully aware that the First Armada is the police force of the House of Liberty.
2. I'm also a bit concerned about your staff. The representatives that I have met are substandard, to say the least. For some reason they took my lightly armed transport for much more than it actually is. For a moment I felt that I'm in command of a dreadnought! This is a sign your pilots might suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Their attitude towards me also shows that. By chance, are they war veterans? To threathen with destruction a transport carrying Iridium Ore is a tiny bit too much. It's obvious that they're doing their policing duties with a fiery passion, but their actions were overzealous. Consider discharging them.
That would be all. Looking forward for your reply.
Tous mes voeux, Alexandre Cartier Captain of the Nightshade
> OPENING SECURE FIRST ARMADA CHANNEL...
> LOADING RESOURCES... > COMMUNICATION FEED: LIVE
Sender name and rank:Genoveve Black, Enlisted Clerk Recipient:Alexandre Cartier of the NHI-T>Nightshade Subject:Awaiting Fine Transfer
Greetings Alexandre,
Our ledger does not show the symbolic fine of 400,000 transferred to 1st|Bank. Please make the transfer and provide me with confirmation in your next reply to avoid further processing. I consider the requested confirmation of knowledge of the Laws of Liberty as fulfilled, all that remains is the fine. From this point I am expressing my personal opinions from the rank of Enlisted Clerk
It seems like you are one of the newcomers from Gallia! I checked the Neural Net encyclopedia, and it says that the Gendarmerie is "a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population". In Liberty things work a little differently - The only House-run enforcement agencies are the Liberty Security Force and the Liberty Navy. We don't have an enlisted military force that would do our policing so to speak. That job is done mostly by a private for-profit corporation - the Liberty Police Incorporated.
As someone used to a fully state-run military policing agency you can imagine that we do like to supplement the private corporation with our own patrolling duties, especially in times like these when smuggling is at an all-time high in Liberty. Between us, you are lucky our officer found you and offered to escort you out of Liberty until such time the Licence Requisitions Office legalizes your vessel. The LPI wouldn't be so lenient, the fine would not be symbolic as the one I have issued is.
You were caught in an illegal transport, maybe you do not know this but the Government outlawed it because it has been used by smugglers in the vast majority of cases - I suppose it's a preventive measure. If you are an honest trader, and it seems like you are based on making my job relatively easy, I am sure you can prove it to the Government, get your ship licensed, and not add to my paperwork!
Sender: Alexandre Cartier Recipient(s): Genoveve Clark Origin: Undisclosed Encryption:Zulu-Charlie-Bravo-Foxtrot-Delaware
Madame Genoveve,
You seem to be a big fan of fines and their receipts, so here is mine, despite your superiors failed to come up with a point of view regarding the concerns I raised. Then I take it that such behaviour is tolerated and even encouraged within your Armada. And please, don't mistake me or any New Horizon Industries pilot with the smugglers you're so concerned about. I could've easily run away from your Raptor-pilot, but instead I decided to be a complying citizen. He was THAT slow in hailing me that I managed to complete the lane jump procedures faster. No wonder smugglers slip through, and tasking battlecruisers to policing activities won't change a thing. Perhaps some big holes in your budget representing it's operation costs, and zero achievements out of it's deployment.
Alas, you did mentioned something of interest. New Horizon Industries is not involved in any illegal activities, despite using "illegal transports". We started doing business in the Republic with L'ane transports long before your government outlawed such technologies. To this end, I'll ask the Chief Executive Officer of New Horizon Industries to contact one of your senior officers to discuss the matter. It's a good opportunity to provide transparency to your government's representatives, and prove both to the Armada and your government that New Horizon Industries's businesses within Liberty are beneficial for the Republic.
It was a pleasure, madame.
Tous mes voeux, Alexandre Cartier Captain of the Nightshade
SENDER: Genoveve Black
SOURCE: Alaska, First Armada HQ
RECIPIENT: Alexandre Cartier of the NHI-T>Nightshade
SUBJECT: Reminder
Alexandre,
Fine received, case resolved.
The fact is, Liberty has been like a leaking sieve. Smugglers, heck even our own corporations think the law doesn't apply to them, well... well because nobody enforced it. You wouldn't believe the cases that go through my hands that I have to process. You are not the first or last person to call the First Armada Hawks. We are bold. We are creative. We are modern, decentralized, and dynamic. Some say reckless. That's why we are not a conventional fleet.
From what I understand, VANGUARD, the patrol commander of the Raptor patrolling squad has nearly unlimited backing of our command officers as the law and any danger to smugglers seem to have been forgotten about in Liberty before he took charge. Your arguments sound reasonable, but the fact is that you have broken the law and then refused to be escorted out of Liberty with the currently illegal vessel - the only way to assure you wouldn't have been continuing to break the law. VANGUARD didn't even issue a fine in the first place, he acted fully in line with protocol.
I wish you good luck in legalizing your vessel, until that time I would seriously recommend following the on-site instructions of our officers, so your case doesn't end up on my desk again.
Kind regards,
Genoveve Black - Enlisted Clerk - The First Armada