To: The Junker Congress | From: The Corsica Intelligence Division

[Foxglove]

COMM-ID: Marietta Mercante
TARGET-ID: The Junker Congress

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Esteemed Congressmen,

For a long time now, the Junkers and the Maltese have enjoyed a pleasant stance of neutrality. In exchange for some of our wealth, they aid us in distributing the Orange Product into the colonies. I am contacting you on behalf of the National Council of Malta with a proposal for potential business that requires a set of skills that our own people lack for the most part.

Recently, a new species of alien organisms has been discovered in the Omicron Beta system, and the harvest of these bacterial cultures has been rather successful. Once word of this travels, science facilities across Sirius will be interested in obtaining these, and in exchange for your servieces, the Corsica Intelligence Division might be able to negotiate a profitable deal for the Congress in that regard. First I would need to know if there even is any interest in an errand that will likely take you all across the Houses, including Gallia.

Marietta Mercante
Administrator
Corsica Intelligence Division

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[Tex.Mex]

>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<
Sender: Tex.Mex
Recipient: Miss Marietta Mercante, Corsica Intelligence Division
Location: Junker's Town, Puerto Rico
Signal strength: Kinda iffy...
Encryption: *SMACK* ok, it's workin' again

Howdy Miss Marie *tips hat*

It's a great and unexpected pleasure to hear from y'all. Great because we consider all Maltese almost part of the family due to our long standin' relationship, and unexpected due to the nature of yer request. Last time I heard of new alien organisms it almost didn't end well fer anyone involved.

We are quite honored to be selected to handle such a delicate task. This definitely won't be a walk in the park given past experiences with organisms bein' ferried through space, however our pilots are some of the best at doin' what y'all need done and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed in yer decision. The different borders shouldn't be much of a problem as we have our ways in and out of almost all areas of Sirius.

We are definitely interested in workin' with ya, Miss Marie. I have done some askin' around and by the looks of things, yer ideals are very much the same as us Junkers'. Bringing peace, safety, and a better future for all is very high up on our list of priorities, as I have heard is the same with you as well. If this has your stamp of approval, we trust what you need done will have good results.

May yer opponents never penetrate yer shields, and yer ship's power core never run dry.
Written from the freshly salvaged and partly irradiated desk of
Tex.Mex.

[Foxglove]

COMM-ID: Marietta Mercante
TARGET-ID: The Junker Congress

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Mr. Mex, you can't imagine how grateful I am that it is you answering my message. I've recently been deliberating how I could repay some of the kindness that was met with whenever in contact with the Congress, and I thought that it should be done via the universal language of Sirius: Credits.

If that is something you're interested in, I can assure you that you won't be disappointed in what I have to offer. First, though, I would need your help. I am not so mighty as to simply give out royalties, and as such, I would first need something to present to the members of the Council to convince them that your commitment warrants the effort. Luckily, I have something in mind that would be directly down your alley, I'm sure, as it requires, well, salvaging.

Recently, the CID has taken interest in technology employed by the enemies of the Nacion. What I need you to do is seek our wreckage in Gallia that can be salaved for technology, be that weapons or anything else for that matter. If possible, we would also welcome it if you salvaged whole shipwrecks of Royal Navy ships of all sizes for us to inspect and hopefully bring back to a functional state, although I realize that it might be difficult to find enough still functioning parts in the far reaches of Gallia and the regions where the Royal Navy frequently engages in skirmishes with Bretonia and Liberty. Depending on how impressive your work is, the CID will, of course, see fit to pay handsomely for those services alongside a discount rate at which members of the Congress may acquire the new alien organisms for even further financial gain.

So what do you say, Mr. Mex? Is that something I can win you and yours over for?

Marietta Mercante
Administrator
Corsica Intelligence Division

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[Tex.Mex]

>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<
Sender: Tex.Mex
Recipient: Miss Marietta Mercante, Corsica Intelligence Division
Location: Junker's Town, Puerto Rico
Signal strength: Kinda iffy...
Encryption: *SMACK* ok, it's workin' again

Well then, a salvagin' job? Ya don't get more up our alley than that now.

Those Gallic peoples sure don't enjoy strange people wanderin' about their space, even less so when they think them people's out to steal from them, so we will have to tread lightly and leave little to none footprints when we enter there. I have shaken the grapevine of scouts and informants we have over there and consulted some of the almost extinct Gallic Junkers that have joined us on this side of space after things got a bit too hot for them over there.

The list of known wrecks ain't as impressive as you would think after their ongoin' war which just goes to show how tough it may prove to be gettin' in and out alive. They have some truly respectable pilots in their navy. It will be a true test of skill to do what ya want of us, which is why we accept without a second thought! Mostly cos givin' it a second thought we'd probably realize how much of a suicide mission it may turn out to be. We have ships and peoples ready to leave within the hour to go see what we can find there and bring it to you. We will take guncam shots of the wreck and then again of us deliverin' the salvaged items to you, at Valetta I s'pose? We'll be fittin' as much as we can into our cargo's before leavin' Gallia though so as to lessen the chances of getting caught and them goin' on over to Defcon 1 around all our routes.

I would just like some clarification on a little sumthin'. You speak of, if possible, salvagin' whole wrecks. Does that mean if we can, in a perfect situation, find one of them Valor type battleships floatin' around out there, we get it into a flight capable condition, and manage to tippy toe it all the way back to Valetta, yer willin' to pay us for that? Is there a size limit to the whole ships ya may accept, or rather, a depth limit to yer pockets? Say one of our cousins does happen to run into a luck like that, and risks life and limb deliverin' it to ya, I sure would hate to see such a ground breakin' experience turn into sour grapes. Would sumthin' like that be viable for us to try and do, or would you rather us dismantle the battleship there, bring what we can with us in our Salvagers and have yer engineers piece it together again?

As you read this we should be well on our way to the first located wrecks, and able to start salvagin' before the day is done.

Best wishes to you Miss Marie, hopin' to be blessed with the joy that is yer company again soon.

Tex.Mex.

[Foxglove]

COMM-ID: Marietta Mercante
TARGET-ID: The Junker Congress

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I have to admit, you surprise me each and every time, though not in a bad way at all. It just goes to show that I was right in confering with you in this matter. Reading the transscript of your message, because, with all due respect, it is sometimes difficult to understand you, you displayed just why you are the perfect choice for this. You have the methods, contacts and experience, while those under my care do not. There is no shame in admitting when someone is better than oneself at something, and the art is swallowing pride and trying to learn.

In regards to your questions, the dock masters on Valetta have been informed of your arrival. However, I need you to deliver all technology salvaged to one of our operatives personally, preferably in space. I can assure you that you will be compensated for any time lost in wait.

This brings me to the second point: You will be paid in full for anything. So, if you were to find a burned out Valor somewhere, which is so unlikely it borders on being ludicrous, be assured that you will be paid for that. However, such considerations are far from reality, and it is way more likely for you to find snubcraft or maybe gunboats, since those can be difficult to find in debris fields, which makes it possible for them to be overlooked. Trust me when I say that I speak from experience there. The manner of transport, whether you disassemble your findings or not, is up to you to judge, since I do not dare assume I know the job better than you do. If you think there is merit in doing it this way, then you may, though the optimum would be to deliver them as you encountered them.

I hope that clears up any confusion left. Visual evidence of the wreck in question and the delivery to Valetta is still highly encouraged for book-keeping purposes.

Marietta Mercante
Administrator
Corsica Intelligence Division

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[Tex.Mex]

>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<
Sender: Tex.Mex
Recipient: Miss Marietta Mercante, Corsica Intelligence Division
Location: Junker's Town, Puerto Rico
Signal strength: Kinda iffy...
Encryption: *SMACK* ok, it's workin' again

Was just passin' through Leeds on our way to Gallia when we stumbled on a very unexpected find. Hopin' to find a couple more of these here beauties over in Gallia for ya, but hopefully a bit more rusty so we can actually get some salvageable parts. This one weren't yet ripe for the pickin' yet so we'll return to it in a coupla years.

Postcard from the edge

We may or may not need to use radio silence as we move closer and inside to Gallia. No tellin' what kinda trackin' technologies they have. We'll be sendin' comms whenever we can to keep you updated on the progress though. Hopin' to be back soon and in close to one piece.

You have a nice day now Miss Marie.

Tex.Mex.

[Foxglove]

COMM-ID: Marietta Mercante
TARGET-ID: The Junker Congress

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Excuse my surprise at this, but I had to take a double take at seeing this. Are they really so careless as to leave this sitting in the orbit of a — one would assume — quite well-visited system? It really goes to show how much disregard there is for anything not functional. Just make sure you'll be around when it's time to return to this one, Mr. Mex. Regardless of what you may or may not find over there, I wouldn't want you to get into harm's way needlessly. I simply don't think some abandoned parts would be worth that, not that I need to tell you how to act.

Maybe we'll get the chance to meet face-to-face after this. Treating you to a small dinner would be the least I could do. Let's see how things go.

Marietta Mercante
Administrator
Corsica Intelligence Division

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[Tex.Mex]

>>>INCOMING TRANSMISSION<<<
Sender: Tex.Mex
Recipient: Miss Marietta Mercante, Corsica Intelligence Division
Location: Tripoli Shipyard, Omnicron Alpha
Signal strength: Kinda iffy...
Encryption: *SMACK* ok, it's workin' again

Howdy again, Miss Marie *tips hat*
Now you listen here, missy. I don't know what your plan was sendin' me to Gallia, but...I can't even begin to thank you enough! I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Goin' by the reports we got in I thought this is gonna be a simple milk run, go in, grab what I can off of a coupla wrecks, and get out, but after doin' my own recon of the rumours that I got, I almost didn't come back again. If it wasn't fer the fact that I'm a man of my word and I promised you I'd bring you the stuff you wanted, I'd probably still be there, happily rummaging through wrecks, navigatin' my way through scrap fields the size of which I can only compare to our Negra fields back in Texas, visitin' with far away business connections of the Congress that we don't get to see much of.

Durin' my recon though, I also found the perfect base to host my operation from. I can't think of a more homely place for a Junker to operate out of, specially with the mission at hand. The Council people was real considerate, leavin' me to go about my business without any interruptions. Gallia is an absolute treasure chest of discarded items. I found Heavy Fighters, Very Heavy Fighters and bombers filled with useable weapons and equipment basically everywhere. Some have already been stripped, I can only assume by the local enemies of the navy, to be converted into weapons for their own ships, but I do believe I found a little somethin' of everything that the navy uses for you to use as samples to build your own, or modify with your own technology to produce weapons superior to theirs. I had also collected some equipment from the of the GRN's enemies so you can have a better idea of what they use to effectively fight against the GRN. After all that salvagin' though, the tractor beam on my CSF started malfunctioning though, causing me to end my salvaging, and return to Courville.

As I was diggin' through the salvage back at the base, a thought came to me. I have found all these interesting stuff, so surely somewhere out there I could fix a ship up to bring to you, as you asked. I went lookin' and after visitin' a couple of bars, greasin' some palms fer info, Fortune struck. I came across a GRN gunboat in such good condition that I could basically hop in and fly away with it. Some brigands however was busy strippin' it fer spares as well, but after a trade they gladly left me the ship and everything they had already started stripping off so I can get it back in operation again to bring to you. After some piecin' together I parked the ship back at Courville so that no one else would try and strip it down again, then went huntin' fer more ships fer y'all. Over in Burgundy I stopped by the Macon base and a shady feller hangin' out at the local haunt gave me some info on a GRN Very Heavy Fighter that he saw driftin' around not to far from the base. It took a while to find it but I eventually came across it. The ship goin' by the name of Brave had a coupla dents and dings, but nothin' some re-assemblin' couldn't fix. A little bit of elbow grease and she was good to go to Courville, and basically anywhere else I could want to take her.

After diggin' through quite a few bombers I was almost ready to lose hope in findin' one in a condition that I could safely pilot it anywhere. I searched far and wide, and finally, as I was about to give up hope, I wandered into the Languedoc system. There, close to a minefield, I found a GRN bomber called Sceptre. It seems that the pilot was hapless enough to get caught in the GRN's own minefield trap. The damage on it was definitely from a nearby explosion. It wasn't damaged enough to be totally put out of action, but a piece of shrapnel that penetrated the windscreen, also managed to penetrate the pilot, killing him. As I was busy replacing the windscreen, a GRN fighter appeared and probably thought I was busy stealin' stuff, which technically I was. She proceeded to fire on me, and a couple of well placed shots later I strapped the dead pilot's escape pod to hers and sent them floatin' off fer another patrol to rescue. I quickly finished my work on the Sceptre and got it back to Courville as well to start plannin' my route back.

Goin' over my maps I found the quickest route back would be the jump hole to Omnicron Tau in the Lorraine system. After flyin' out there though, I found a huge minefield encircling the jump hole. I retreated to the Thionville Base to grab some liquid courage to take the minefield on with, and, tellin' the locals of the obstacle I'm faced with, a concerned citizen informed me of a path he found through the minefield once. Followin' his directions I was very happy to see the credits I gave him for his concernedness wasn't a waste, as the path truly existed, and I was able to use it to get to the Omnicrons.

Over in Alpha I was met by the MNS-Aegis who oversaw the safe delivery of the Fortune, the Brave, the Sceptre, and all the salvaged items I had gathered on my trip.

All in all this had been an extremely pleasant experience. I can tell ya now, miss, that if the rest of your needs are gonna be this much to fulfil, ya may just need to permanently employ me. I can see a bright future fer us still. Here's to hopin' that y'all are satisfied with what I managed to bring back, and that the dinner ya was talkin' 'bout does not include any snails or frog legs. Of all the things I experienced in Gallia, those were definitely not my favorite. *raises glass of rum*

The time of my crew, plus expenses, plus danger pay, plus items delivered so far works out to 50 million credits. The fun me an' my crew had on the trip, plus the Outcasts bein' long time business associates of the Congress, plus the fact that I like you, gets y'all a 20 million credit discount. The remainin' 30 million credits can be transferred over to Tex.Bank once the items have been received and I receive confirmation from y'all that you are happy with the merchandise. If not, I will gladly return to fulfil yer wishes.

Faithfully yours
Tex.Mex.

[Foxglove]

COMM-ID: Marietta Mercante
TARGET-ID: The Junker Congress

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Excuse the delay, Mr. Mex, but there are some inconvenient things I 'ave to attend at times and some are more pressing than others. A real shame, because I was quite impressed with the yield, really. The weapons were never intended to be actively yielded, and the wrecks were only really meant to be taken apart to look for potential weak spots, but those seem to be at least remotely servicable. If I'm 'onest, it is more of a pet-project of mine than anything else. It'll never 'ave any practical use, though a girl enjoys 'er trinkets, doesn't she?

In regards to your payment, I 'ave already relayed authorized the transfer to your neural net account, Mr. Mex. I would tell you to relax for now, as I 'ave gotten everything that I need so far, but I think you've found something akin to a Garden of Eden in those mentioned scrap fields, so I won't keep you from them for too long. 'Ave some fun for now. I did promise you a dinner, and I intend to keep that word, so I ask you: Do you 'ave anything specific in mind to treat this lady to? Do excuse me for being terse, but I sort of loathe neural net communications. It's just a certain oddity of mine.

Marietta Mercante
Administrator
Corsica Intelligence Division

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