I have a report from Agent Synchronicity that I thought you would all like to be aware of, what with the escalation of the situation in Bering and eastwards.
Being that the northern front is rapidly cooling and can soon be somewhat demilitarized except by the Home Division guard forces, the Away Division forces that are currently stationed in the northeastern Omicrons and the Bretonian front are likely to be recalled soon. Since most of them are formations of smaller craft and support ships that are unlikely to be noticed when transiting via jump holes and can be passed off as traders and escorts from a distance if gate and lane travel is needed, I believe the information that Synchronicity has provided me with could be useful.
There is a system called Zurich in southern Gallia. You may remember it as the system we fished Redshift out of. One of the jump holes in the system is a convenient bridge between our neck of the woods and western Rheinland; specifically, to the Cologne system. Cologne is a bit out of the way but has an installation in it belonging to both some non-aligned researchers -- Heisenberg Research Station -- and forms one end of a path of a series of jump holes across Rheinland that drop us off not far from the remains of a station in Dresden that we all remember.
Preliminary scans of the hole suggest there's no upper limit on how much materiel can transit it in a single go, but for a few reasons -- most relevantly, Agent Synchronicity flies an Eros-class interceptor -- we haven't tested that theory. All the same, the ingress to the system via Gallia currently requires transiting a jump gate from Picardy. It's under the control of the Confederal Defense Forces, at least, so as long as we don't look like an invasion force we can get supplies and ships through it while looking just like an exploration party or what have you.
I'm not making any recommendations for plans of action here, of course. That's your collective job, not mine. I'm just passing on some strategic information from one of my people that could be useful if our allies in that region are in need of assistance and we don't feel like transiting half the Barrier, two sets of Independent Worlds, and the house of Liberty.
I trust that you have been monitoring the situation in Rheinland. It's sort of hard not to, what with the news coverage.
We have historical allies in that nation that are being crushed by a coup that is being supported by some former associates of ours -- associates that our closest allies are in a state of conflict with and that are attempting to blackmail certain members of the Fourth Octavarium Fleet as if they were co-conspirators in the Imperialist takeover.
Historically we have not been on good terms with Rheinland. An opportunity has presented itself that would thoroughly get us out of the muck when the Federal Republic is restored. All we need to do is formally denounce the Imperial Party's illegal actions to overthrow the Bundestag and the Federal Republic. We can do our usual humanitarian efforts on this one as well; the recently-finished Zwickau Memorial Residential Wing will do just fine for any refugees we bring in as well as adding a fine point to things.
The statement has already been written. It just needs your seal of approval as leader of the Government.
I've been following the situation closely. Part of me wants to say that Rheinland is too far away to be our problem, but having allies that far afield is useful. As is maintaining our reputation for being faithful friends and allies. Normally, I wouldn't be too sad about the Federal Republic getting overthrown. The corruption endemic in the system was bound to catch up to them sooner or later. Under the circumstances, though, it looks like a new administration was attempting to deal with the problems, and got coup'd for their trouble.
I'd bet you five quid that the same people behind the Bundesrepublik's corruption are the ones behind the Kaiser's sudden rise. If so, playing nice with the Federal remnants could indeed work in our favour should they regain power. You've got my approval to go ahead. I'd appreciate a chance to review any statement made on behalf of Natio Octavarium, though. It's a bit embarrassing for me to learn about our government's actions by reading about it on BBC or Canberra News.
The next time I hear that you've been operating one of my ships under the influence, you can be sure I'll be terminating your lease and having a word with Guildmaster Bloggs about your Master's Certificate. I've given you quite a bit of latitude in your personal activities (knowing merchant crews as I do, there's no point in doing otherwise), but I've been quite clear in the past about what's expected of a ship master in my employ. Do better, or do something else.
John Riley, Riley & Son Shipping
Consul of Natio Octavarium
I have reports in front of me from three transport captains in my employ about a sudden increase in the number of adapted Nomad weapons flooding the open market. I've already inquired with Guildmaster Bloggs, and he's telling me that the OMG's independent traders and escort pilots have reported the same thing. Something feels off about this whole thing, and I'm calling a meeting of the Senate to address it. Unless there's a damned good reason not to, I'm planning to table a bill expanding our current prohibition on Nomad materials to include Nomad-derived technologies, including weapons. Before I go ahead, though, I want to be sure I have all the facts. Does the Commission know anything about the source of these weapons? If not, it may be prudent to make some inquiries with our allies and associates.
Hm. Our best contacts for how to respond to these alien materials have dropped off the radar unfortunately. This leaves Golanski's Overwatch and I'd really rather not.
We need to have a little chat about that sort of thing, Victor. Moving on.
We concur with your stance. Nomad materials have caused Natio Octavarium nothing but trouble. I question our ability to enforce a ban on these weapons for travellers from outside Natio Octavarium, but we certainly have no desire to use the things. Alien material draws undesirable attention.
It should however be noted that most Sirian cloaking technology is also derived from Nomad materials, and said technology is in rather wide circulation. Including, I believe, among our allies. I would recommend limiting us to an internal ban on Octavarian civilians, and only monitor foreign users of these technologies.
I encountered a Montluc Advanced Engineering transport. The captain did not respond to my presence, and continued his trip into Enclave-held regions of Brittany.
This isn't proof, but there are obvious implications. If any Montluc personnel arrive at Canberra, we will move to hold them for questioning.
On our way back from a shopping trip to Liberty, sis and I found some of those AI ships at Manhattan. They seemed very cautious, said that the Navy and LPI had reacted to them with hostility. I think they understand now that we're not going to start shooting them, though.
You maybe should investigate though. Oh, and thanks for picking up my medicine for me last week.
This Broadsword is trying to kill me! It throws out 3 mines at once, the antimatter explodes right after being fired, the shields randomly shut down, I thought you guys inspected this! I mean yea it's really good at taking ships out, but it's like this thing wants to kill me just as much as whatever I'm shooting at!
I'm bringing it back home. Please, this thing needs another lookover.
I was afraid of that. We're talking about a first-generation Falchion frame - the interceptor model, remember. Marrying that to the Broadsword pods was already touchy. Reclamation and repair is difficult enough under ideal circumstances, and the previous operator being Barry... these were not ideal circumstances.
So, here's what we can do.
Option one is, we try again. Darren, Carl, Alexis and I can go over everything in detail and probably not have another mechanical failure.
Option two, and the one I recommend, is we just transfer you one of the model 2, revision 2 fully-integrated Broadswords from the Aquila escort hangar, and either we use Barry's for parts or we see if Harold wants to start a Raider museum.
Up to you. Either way, it's covered by warranty. You paid for a working Broadsword, and didn't quite get it.
![[Image: pyBjInU.png]](https://i.imgur.com/pyBjInU.png)
