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Good evening, Sir!
It's always amazing how different the same situation can look if viewed from different angles - just to keep this answer neutral.
As I realize that my complaint won't be getting anywhere, I'll just point out to you that however you interpret the course of events, you were directly or at least indirectly responsible for two situations in which IMG lost sums of money that are way beyond the "forget about it and move on" borderline.
I realize that you are not the only person responsible, though. The traders you incriminated will get their fair share of blame.
I'm waiting for the clarification of your legal status with the Garda before deciding on how (or if) to proceed further in this issue.
Sincerely,
Jack Henderson, Independent Mining Guild
[color=#CCFFFF]*** TRANSMISSION STANDBY FOR ANSWER ***
Firstly, I can confirm that the monies have been received by the Garda Bank Tellers, and are at the moment counting it carefully. They have so little to do, that I feel that I do not have the heart to tell them otherwise.
There can be no doubt as to the chosen profession of Mr Lon Silver. He is a Molly, a true Molly. He risks his life every day combating the aggressive, expansionist corsairs, who would gladly kill, rape and murder every man, woman and child in Bretonia - and then have them for dinner.
The man is a Pirate - and that is meant as an honorific. He has eschewed the life of the mundane and humdrum, no easy profits for him. He is first into the fray and last out of it, and I say to you this:
[color=#CC0000]You would dare to judge a man who steps up to the line and says "Here I am, if you want to harm these miners, ye have to go through me"?
This man is a Warrior, in the truest sense of the word. I'm merely a Civil Servant who can wax lyrical. I may head the Garda, but the Garda follow the diktats of the Molly Council, and they have already spoken. I both fear and respect Mr Lon Silver, for he dares to do what I cannot. Protect the ungrateful. All those miners who refuse to countenance Mr. Lon Silver's reasonable requests clearly demonstrate by their refusal that they harbour sympathies for those opposed to the Molly cause. Now, what should we do with refuseniks? Allow them to continue accruing wealth and distributing it to those who would turn that wealth into weaponry and aim it at your loved ones Mr Henderson? What would you have us do? Smile and turn the other cheek?
Nay. Mr Lon Silver has the right of it. He nips that cancer off in the bud, before its roots take hold. Unfortunately, the methods that he is forced to employ closely resemble those that are used by the terrorist Corsairs, and so, we come back full circle to the nomemclature.
I called Mr Lon Silver a pirate, because he is skilled enough to pirate anywhere he chooses. And I would rather have him inside the tent, pissing out, rather than outside, pissing in.
Dubhlinn is a system of many surprises. Tents are one of them. Sometimes we can say that things are In-Tents, which is to say, that someone is outside, trying to piss in.
If you're looking for the tent, scoot over to the Hood from the Gate, hang a left past the Sun, and dodge the rocks and the mines until you come to a quiet haven we like to call home. Stop on by for a pint. There is a wide range of choice, including Guinness, Guinness and of course, Guinness. Meg does a passing good cheese and ham sandwich, if she's in the mood.
Regarding this incident involving Mining_Drone_alpha, I would like to clarify some details. I have here the data uploaded from the unit throughout it's entire service:
Firstly, I would like to point out, Mining_Drone_alpha made a donation of 5million credits to a member of GARDA: Dominic.Holt. In addition, it also donated 1 million to Long_hon_silver and yet another 5 million to another GARDA in a light fighter. Well above what it was required to do so by Molly guidelines, but it has adapted it's programme to maintain good relations with all Mollys.
The drone in question was a maffic type vessel, with insufficient cargo space of it's own. Therefore, the drone is completely reliant on the trading vessel for commodity security. Furthermore, I'm sure I don't have to mention that a drone has no control over it's sentient and free-will-ridden employers. The drone submitted several comms to Long_hon, regarding possession of the ore, as did Ercon: most of which were simply ignored.
A minor point, Long_Hon_silver demanded 5 million, threatening to charge 11 million. When offered 3 million by Ercon prior to the deal being finished between the drone and Ercon Long_hon_silver refused. Ercon jettisoned the ore and ran. The ore was subsequently destroyed by collateral fire during the engagement.
The entire point of my argument is that everyone lost because of the greed of Long_hon_silver (as leader of the taxing group) and Ercon (as a trusted trading partner). Long_hon, his partners and the Molly Republic lost out on 3m due to his wanton bloodlust. Meanwhile, Ercon forfeited his life in the name of greed. Consequently, in amongst all this greed, the real losers were the IMG, who lost 30million credits in ore, a future customer as well as their investment on donations and mining fees (since the drone had to be subsequently recalled). As a result of this, Mining_drone_alpha actually brought in a net loss for the entire day.
My only hope for all this, is that the Mollies and IMG can negotiate a fixed rate tariff for their drones which offers protection for the drones 'employer' up until completion of the mining transaction.Let's not let greed leave both Mollys and IMG alike, out of pocket.
Sincerely,
Professor Mark Hughes, Freeport 4 - Research department
P.S. It also just occurs to me that mining_drone_alpha forwarded a request to us from an unspecified Molly. The Molly was requesting the drone to mine for them near Arranmore. However, the drone is programmed to avoid interference in Molly interests and affairs and subsequently declined the request. In future would this be permissible?
I take it that you are the originator of the code that underwrites the behaviour of the drone? In the eyes of the law that makes you and you alone responsible for its behaviour, and not it's temporary masters.
I would hasten to say at this point that the storm appears to be over and we're all drinking from the same teacup again, but you seem desperate to stir the pot. So lets go through this again, perhaps using small words for the hard-of-thinking.
The ore does not belong to the IMG until it is tractored away. Possession is nine tenths of the law, and when Ercon dropped the ore, he relinquished all claim to it. Furthermore, Mr Lon Silver states that he saw Ercon deliberately target and destroy the ore.
Five million is a reasonable sum: that money keeps Mr Lon Silver alive, who can then in turn focus on the job of keeping Ercon alive and your mining drone operational. You are correct that greed was the author of this catastrophe, but you are incorrect as to who's greed it was. I totally, absolutely and without any doubt in my mind whatsoever refute your statement that it was the greed of Mr Lon Silver that caused this debacle. In one breath you whine that the sum of 30 million credits has been lost, and yet in the next you say that 5 million was too much to pay a defender of Dubhlinn?
In short, because you may be a professor, but you seem to have taken on the attributes of those drones that you manufacture; the ore did not yet belong to the IMG, the 30 million was lost over a 2 million difference in expectations. Ercon thought he could insult - yes I did say insult - Mr Lon Silver by offering him the paltry sum of 3million. Mr Lon Silver responded in the same manner that any hot-blooded Molly would, myself included. To be blunt: Insulting a Molly is not good for your health. The only safe Molly to insult is a dead Molly, and even then, don't turn your back.
Happily I can report that Ercon's life pods were fully operational, and all of the crew survived. I am certain that Mr Lon Silver, having meted out his vengence on Ercon when his blood was up, now bears the crew of the Ercon no ill-will at all.
As you seem to have some difficulties reading Standard, I shall re-iterate the role of the Garda: we do not and never will provide payment protection services. The work visas are just that, work visas. Mr Lon Silver is a defender of Dubhlinn. If he asks you for 11million, pay him and THEN complain. Dead men tell no tales, after all.
Quote:This man is a Warrior, in the truest sense of the word. I'm merely a Civil Servant who can wax lyrical. I may head the Garda, but the Garda follow the diktats of the Molly Council, and they have already spoken. I both fear and respect Mr Lon Silver, for he dares to do what I cannot. Protect the ungrateful. All those miners who refuse to countenance Mr. Lon Silver's reasonable requests clearly demonstrate by their refusal that they harbour sympathies for those opposed to the Molly cause. Now, what should we do with refuseniks? Allow them to continue accruing wealth and distributing it to those who would turn that wealth into weaponry and aim it at your loved ones? What would you have us do? Smile and turn the other cheek?
As to the request for permission to mine in the Molly field, I strongly suggest that you forward this to the Molly Council. I am not yet authorised to hand out licenses for that field, and until I am, all that will happen is that non-Molly affiliated miners will be forcibly ejected from the field. Molly miners who hire outside help may do so, but they are entirely responsible for their safety, security, work visas and Donations to the Defenders of Dubhlinn.
I trust that this letter answers all of your questions concerning the events of that day. If you have any more questions please address them to my private terminal. No further correspondence will be entered into on this public channel.
Sir, please do not take offence at my last letter. Indeed, stirring up the Molly Council is the least of my intentions, or for that matter, far from being in anyone's interests. Hence, why I myself didn't bother starting this forum.
Firstly, I would like to point out that Mining_Drone_alpha, whilst appearing rather basic as AI s go, is a very advanced piece of programming. In layman's terms, our team of researchers developed the core programming, from which each Drone then programmes itself according to a core set of variables and collated data from it's lifetime. This allows us to develop AI s specified for each environ whilst reducing costs significantly. However, it does mean that besides any orders a present IMG vessel may give it, IMG in fact have no direct control over it.
Just to clarify, in case the purpose of my last letter escaped you; IMG do not blame either Long_hon or Ercon on a personal level for any losses that day, such behaviour is but human nature. However, I do feel a degree of pragmatism would of been profitable for all in this matter; Once each transaction has been completed, the drone is programmed to make a donation to the nearest Molly anyway (as it had been doing so all day). My last letter, was merely a supporting argument for the visas I proposed.
Furthermore, I would recommend you read my last letter. At no point do I suggest or imply that 5 million was an unreasonable demand. I have no delusions as to the risks involved in the Molly lifestyle. That paragraph was an attempt to highlight just what you have now said; a difference of opinion between two mutual enemies, to the sum of 2 million, resulted in the loss of 30 million to IMG. IMG were caught in the crossfire, as it were.
Whilst, I am disappointed that a mutually beneficial arrangement regarding visas could not be reached, Mining_drone_alpha will have already recompiled it's programming in an attempt to avoid such situations in future. I can only postulate that, in practical terms, this means mining_drone_alpha will be submitting reduced donations (and submitting those donations only to Garda Mollys) for the foreseeable future, in order to reclaim costs.
*** Incoming transmission ***
From: Johnathan Sanders
To: Open channel
Subject: Damned drones
Gentlemen, I have another suggestion. If these drones are incapable of dealing with Mollies, which, considering they don't drink, laugh or have a sense of humor in general, does not surprise me, I would suggest relocating the drones to an area where they can be more useful. The upper Tau region, Cambridge and Omega 7 come to mind. A flesh-and-blood miner is more capable of handling diplomacy then a bot.
Regards,
Johnathan Sanders
*** Transmission closed ***
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
[font=Impact]*Incoming Transmission*
*Encryption Level: PIGGYBACK*
*Establishing Visual Link......................................................................
*VL Established*
*CptHone of the Mollys*
Ok enoughs bin said - thanke for t support garda - an this seems t be windin down, So its time f me closin statement:
Firs things firs, tha USS fella, now; the ore was in is hold, looked like his t me, if it WAS IMG ore, I didn take it after I toasted tha fella, so IMG was free t reclaim it.
Second this "greed f 5 mill" tha i'm spsosed t have, that wern jus f me, there wa 3 o us tha had t share roun, an we said ercon coul pay 4 mill cos e was workin wi IMG.
Thir, ercon destroyed t ore BEFORE the figh, we attacked COS e destroyed t ore.
An jus t close up an poin out; there are mollys in cambridge too mate.
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