COMM ID:Jordan Forbes SUBJECT:Baffin War Talks ENCRYPTION:High PRIORITY:High
Gentlemen.
It seems the Outcast civil war is escalating quickly. I encountered a large group of Outcasts in Baffin as I was on my way to the Skyhook. The CL held some kind of war conference in Baffin near the Skyhook yesterday. The meeting had several CL attending it, along with a flight of VR vessels, a ship with MCS markings and several smaller independent vessels. The ship, MCS|Wrath.of.Malta seemed to hold a degree of control over the talks but I could not stay long enough to find out the entirety of the situation. The Outcast gunboat, Lick.A.Brick, opened fire on me as I tried to dock on the Skyhook to pick up some cargo and repair. It seems they have little regard for the TAZ laws in the region, so I am not looking forward to dealing with them in the future.
Do what you will with this information. My personal suggestion though would be to try and manipulate the conflict rather than intervening directly. While the link between Outcasts and Nomads is a serious issue that we have been working on addressing, I find myself wondering what we can do in this conflict to alter the future interactions between the Order and the Outcasts. Keep in mind that the CL have been revising the laws of the Outcasts, and there are no mentions of Nomads anywhere in them.
If they are uncooperative though, we should look into ways of extending the damage of the war. One method is indirectly hiring mercenaries out on either side and causing more casualties. Other ideas range from disrupting Malta's ship building capacity by sabotaging their orbital shipyard and making them hire mercenaries in exchange for their gunboats to deplete their surplus faster. The VR is already making deals which they are getting paid with Outcast technology, so anything that could be done to further strain their ability to produce and repair equipment should help turn the tide long enough for the Colonials and Corsairs to disable and destroy whatever ships are left after their infighting.
Stopping trade into Omicron Alpha may not be possible. The system is too big and it has too many entry points, and most of the people the Outcasts have been dealing with are smugglers, so they could easily slip past any blockades that may be placed. The IMG and GMG do have heavy presences in each of the two main ways into Alpha, along with the Council having partial control over another. I suggest that we should find a way to get those groups to tighten up their security and crack down on suppliers moving into Omicron Alpha.
Additionally we could use front organizations and start trying to open up trade contracts with the Outcasts, forcing them to move transports and escorts out to vulnerable areas. Mercenary pirates could attack them there, and force them to send more defense ships with the next transport, drawing even more ships out of position and potentially into traps.
Also with the Black List recently reopening to outside contracts, that could come in handy on this situation.
