Food Shortages on Crete

[Carlos_Benitez]

---------------Incoming Message----------------
To: Zoner and Neutral Traders of the Edge
Comm ID: Imperator, Don Carlos Benitez, aboard the humanitarian trade vessel Abundantia.

Senors, once again Crete has been plunged into chaos by the reckless and thoughtless actions of your brethren.
At approximately 100 hours this afternoon, a trade vessel aligned to the Zoners headed to Crete. Initially dismissed as carrying a shipment of food or medical supplies, scans later confirmed the ship was carrying over 4 thousand civilian "visitors" to planet Crete.
Going against a direct order to stop, the ship docked with the mooring fixture and had it's cargo transported to the surface.
I find it appalling, and frankly insulting that so-called friendly traders do not consider the well-being of our families on Crete.
Not only could any of these visitors be spies from god-knows which house or organisation, they could at this very moment be committing acts of sabotage. Whilst worrying, this is not our greatest concern.
The greatest threat our nation faces is the situation we find ourselves in. Too many mouths to feed, not enough food. Our small population on the planet is sustained by food taken to them by shipments. It's estimated that the average house-civillan tourist consumes as much food in a single day as a corsair child does in a week.
I'll make this clear to you. 4000 tourists released upon Cretan settlements means 8000 of our people go without food. Hundreds starve.

I am currently aboard my supply train, the Abundantia, making trips to and from Freeport-9, taking overpriced emergency rations back to Crete, and so far have managed to transport 4000 tonnes back... but this is not a sustainable way of managing our economy.

Crete is not a tourist destination. Your civilians, or so-called "VIPs" are NOT welcome here.

My security forces are currently overstretched on the surface, rounding them up and sending them on specially organised transports to the nearest neutral bases, and this is costing our nation further.


Regardless of tag or ID, if I see any cargo vessels carrying tourists or VIPs to bleed our planet dry, they will be obliterated before they reach the docking ring.
If any ships do breach the blockade and land, all tourists will be rounded up and one tenth will be executed to set an example to the entire sector. Two tenths of the second group will be executed, and this will continue until Crete is no longer considered a tourist destination.

---