Normally Bowex pilots are law abiding and quite pleasant in zer social antics. zis pilot however, vas rude, obnoxious and plain criminal. he vas hauling a full load of slaves.
I am not used to seeing Bowex ships endavour on zis kind of zings. I do not know if zis captain vas making money on ze side, or if he vas under orders to deal in human misery. however, he refused to drop ze slaves and kept being extremely rude.
I am a patient man. too patient, I haf been told. but zis captain managed to reach the end of my patience. no one talks back zu ze Federal Police like he did. Ve gave him a token of our displeasure.
ze slaves haf been recovered and have been send to Berlin for processing.
to ze point: I do NOT vant to see anozer Bowex ship pulling zis, how do you say, stunt. I am sure you agree zat ve cannot haf a respected company active in slavery in Rheinland space.
as it stands, your fleet is now 1 shire short.
I vill zend you ze bill fur ze SNAC shot later. zose antimatterbarrels are expensive.
mit freundliche grussen,
Gabriel Nibelung
Leitende Polizei Direktor, Rheinland Federal Police
Message, Re: RFP To Bowex, Slaves
Comm: Alexander Kent, Bowex Shipping Combine Relations
Sir Nibelung, I can assure you that that is not a combine ship. I'd ask you to destroy it the next time you see it. The Bowex Combine does not condone nor practice slavery, and I've no record of any Shire registered as Niobe's Requiem as a member of our Combine.
That said, I can offer an explanation: We have, in the last year, lost a number of Shire class transports to the OPG, and other Corsair grous, as well as the Colonial Remnant, and as you are aware, it is not so difficult to muddle with a ship's transponder codes if one has a ship's captian under duress. I'd posit that this vessel is actually claimed by the Corsairs, and is broadcasting an illegal transponder signal, in an attempt to smuggle those people to somewhere in the omicrons.
I find it akward zat ein company such as yourselfs allows ships to be stolen and used by criminals.
still, wether you speak ze truth on zis matter is hardly important.
vat is, however, is to know the scale of zis problem. zis is ze first Bowex IFF-ed ship ve encountered pulling somzing like zis. if you have a list of stolen/lost/sold/traded/lost a poker Bowex ships, can you forward it to me? zat vould make my vork zo much easier.
mit freundliche grussen,
Gabriel Nibelung
Leitende Polizei Direktor, Rheinland Federal Police
Message, Re: RFP To Bowex, Lost ships
Comm: Alexander Kent, Bowex Shipping Combine Relations
While there are a number of ships which do not return home, it is the nature of Combine contracts that many member companies can simply cut ties, and walk away, and it is not the policy of Bowex to investigate the last known location of ships which have ceased to be a combine concern. Those which fail to complete a Combine contract, on the other hand, we do have a list of, but this is not the sort of a list you require. Bowex loses some ships. So does every other shipping concern, and as any commstech can tell you, its not so very difficult to fake a transponder.