I appreciate the efforts made to get in contact with us, and I did in fact receive the relayed information. I have been focused on making the necessary arrangements for the equipment you have requested, and have lined up a captain to make the fuel delivery.
I take it there is a reason that our dealings are no longer with Ms. Hunter? I assume she simply has been busy with other pressing duties which are none of my business. Please give my complements to Ms. Hunter, and my desire that they may find her in good health.
Now as to the equipment. I do have one lined up for your use. However as I am personally responsible to the owner for this loan, and that our relations are not upwards in the realm of Best Comrades, it seems reasonable to require a deposit be made and fully refunded once this extremely valuable piece of equipment has been returned.
Now I do not wish to be unreasonable and dogmatic so as to make demands while you folk are helping us to make this project happen. So I will leave it up to you to propose a reasonable collateral while I make the necessary arrangements for this transfer.
Acting Deputy Arbiter your wishes to Mrs Hunter are noted. As the Senior Professor of the Lane Hackers she is an extremely busy person.
Your sudden distrust towards our organization is surprising. Have you not asked us to construct you the best Communications Arrays in Sirius? Such requests are not being made to people that you do not trust. I am not sure if you are relatively new in the Congress but our history stretches back many years with zero incidents so your concerns are both unfounded and out of place.
Of course on the event that the Hyperspace Scanner is damaged, I give you my word that the Lane Hackers will fully cover the repair costs. That's expected and normal. But not what you ask.
As mentioned in my previous missive, mass production of the Arrays will begin once they succeed in the field tests. We have finished all preparations, and we are currently awaiting your deliveries in order to begin the tests.
Of course it is not a matter of mistrust on my part as a Junker. If the module was from a Junker ship I would not have even made a mention of a deposit. However you expressed a mutual desire for speed, and Mk 3's are not exactly common for Junkers. We usually have no need for such precision. Now we could of course build one, but that would take time. So I myself am *cough* renting one from one of my contacts who's own ship is currently in a slip undergoing its twenty-year maintenance refit. He is naturally a bit nervous about having gear loaned out to an unnamed third party. Something about facing criminal misappropriation charges if something unforeseen were to happen.
Now I have made my personal guarantee that he has nothing to worry about. I also asked what would be reasonable, Mr Yoshida, because I wished to know your idea of what that might be and what kind of man you are. Given that I am personally responsible to a non-Junker in this respect, and that you and I have never spoken before, I don't think that is an entirely unreasonable thing to inquire about.
Surely you understand how valuable one's reputation can be, and that I am trusting you with my own reputation and honor. Something more valuable and less repairable than some piece of metal, especially for a Junker. I don't require much more than a gesture on your part, and leave what gesture that may be up to you. A favored sidearm, for example.
Strange then that you attempted to explain it by saying that our relations are not so exceptional.
Anyway, since this matter is settled, let's proceed with the delivery. You can contact me privately in order to arrange the exact time that my men will meet you and take the scanner.
The fuel is now on our storages.
One last thing which I would like to clarify, Acting Deputy Arbiter. The Lane Hackers are primarily dealing on information. Which means that trust is an exceptionally valuable commodity in that business because, if we are untrustworthy, our clients would not entrust us or consider our information real or accurate.
Using an undercover status our operator flew inside New York system. A civilian transport was hired on spot to transfer the fuel to the Corvo, while each scanning process took more than 12 minutes. We conducted field scans in the two most secure locations of New York, the area around Norfolk Shipyard and Zone-21.
Shortly afterwards we assembled all the prototypes inside the Badlands near Buffalo Base. With the newly acquired coordinates we sent multiple highly-encrypted pulses, messages and signals to those two locations.
Our estimations were correct and the transmissions exited those two locations without being successfully intercepted by Liberty's Intelligence. I should also mention that with the remaining fuel we conducted a third scan in Manhattan area as it was initially intended, however it was eventually deemed unnecessary considering the total success of the previous two tests so we it cancelled shortly afterwards.
Subsequently I am very pleased to announce that the state-of-the-art Communications Array along with the computer software are ready to begin mass production and be attached to your new vessels. Within the next few hours the hyperspace scanner will be safely unequipped from our Explorer and then the Acting Deputy Arbiter will be contacted privately in order to arrange the exact time for the equipment's pickup.
I do hope this communique finds you in good health. As usual, I am deeply impressed by the finesse and ingenuity Lane Hackers display, turning design into a work of art and testing into a act of defiance in doing so right in the middle of their secure space. You folk have my respect.
I received word that the Scanner was returned in better shape than when it was loaned out, and I wish to pass on the owner's anonymous complements. As all the legwork has been completed, I will be passing on this section of the Transport Project up to the Acting Arbiter's attention.
Please send along my personal thanks and appreciation to all your people who worked on and contributed to this project with such excellence and technical pride. If there is something we can do for you, please do let us know.