To Eldorado Station's Owner, from the Republic of Dublin

[Karlotta]

Raymond listened to Blodwyn’s drunken rant, occasionally cringing at her words. After the message ended, he lowered his head and placed his hand over his face, wondering how this deluded boozer could have ended up in a leadership position. He took a deep breath, and started the next message.

To: Blodwyn O’Driscoll, Republic of Dublin
ENCRYPTION: Unbreakable
From: Raymond Zimmerman, Independent Miner’s Guild

Dia duit.

Forgive my late answer, but I had to oversee the delivery of shipments for what must be the most exclusive bars in Sirius, featuring the legendary never-emptying whiskey bottle of Tipperary. Although it’s understood that you’re a busy woman, I encourage you to take a little more time to understand properly our proposals and the situation at the Hood, and to not make rushed mood-based decisions on matters that are bound to impact relations between the IMG and your Republic. I’ll gladly walk you through it again, quickly.

It appears to have slipped your mind that the Battleship Hood, while being only 4 k from Eldorado, is subjected to the same conditions as we are by the Bretonians. Our base is, after all, just an extension to it with better view of the race track. As I’m sure you are aware… or were… at some point… the BAF, BPA, Bounty Hunters, Freelancers, and multiple corporations are able to dock, trade, and re-arm on the Hood. Your fear of them using a nearby restaurant-and-bar with no re-arming facilities to wage war on you is therefore completely unfounded. I’d wager they even have much better military and re-arming facilities than the Hood, and than… well… your subordinates. Even stranger to me is the idea that you, Bretonia, or Gallia would give their enemies the opportunity to pick off your ships while laying siege to said restaurant-and-bar, which on top of it all is run by a faction that you have friendly relations with. And all of that while the restaurant-and-bar is next to a Battleship of said faction, which –your- people are using as a trade hub.

The statement that you don’t need our goods or credits is somewhat surprising to me, especially since I’ve for several years been shipping goods to the “floating bazaar” that the Hood has become to your people, and I never gained the impression that it wasn’t needed. The IMG is not in the business of turning gold into food, oxygen, water, whiskey, or other things, and thus unfortunately, making things available to your people requires at least neutral relations with the people we buy them from. Most surprising to me is your declaration that you don’t need tactical information or intelligence on the enemy, and frankly I wonder how you ever hope to win a war… especially a guerrilla war… without intelligence or materiel from the informal sector. As for your assessment that bretonian officers won’t break protocol and drink alcohol here, I believe the events during our first encounter have already proven you wrong, as the BPA officers were quite happy to drink the free gin I offered. May I mention again, that our bar has since then become very well stocked.

I know it’s not my place to tell you how to run the republic, and it’s not on my things-I-always-wanted-to do list, but about your laws and build/upgrade permission requests… I think you will find it helpful to hold a written copy of them available to the people you expect to follow them. That way people won’t have to guess, for example, what your momentary stance on racing in Dublin is, as I recall quite clearly that there were other parties than IMG racing here before and the republic didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Without your laws written down, some people could potentially gain the impression that you’re making them up as you go along, which isn’t really a solid basis for business. Such as, when you issue a 48 hour deadline to which we complied, and you then take four days to reply without issuing a new deadline, that somewhat implies your previous deadline is somewhat void. But… I’ve never been one to judge people or the pace they choose.

And now to address the bothersome thing that seems to have caused some misunderstandings. Blame me for trying to “write between the lines”. You understand of course, that I simply can’t officially make “Blodwyn O’Driscoll” co-administrator of this base. The bretonians will think you committed an act of piracy, and have somehow managed to take over this base. But the people that I hire, and I hope to receive those recommendations for local staff, will of course receive certain administration duties, together with uniforms, perfectly legal IMG staff credentials, and… if you can’t find someone without a criminal records… almost brand IMG IDs, together with their Eldorado tag. The IMG staff that dies in the line of duty isn't always missed at home, leaving us with a bunch of IDS of deceased IMG crew. I just remembered there was even one that looked a bit like you.

For starters, those rights will be restricted to short-term black-listing trouble makers. The rights of unilaterally setting prices, appropriating goods on the station, or starting module construction, however, cannot be granted, at least not until I know the crew members well enough. Well… except for bar commodities, as I am already convinced your people hold the necessary expertise in that.

Best regards,

Raymond Zimmerman

Raymond sank back into his chair. Slowly, his eyes wandered from the whiskey bottle to his right, to the message of assurance of the Guildmaster's full support he kept on his desk in front of him, to the window to the docking bays to his left, packed with shipments of armaments and quantum arrays.

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