A slightly overweight man appears on the screen, wearing a tattered, dark gray jacket. His neglected, red hair covers his forehead, a sadistic grin is exhibited on his face.
"Guten Tag" - he begins with an even more cruel smirk - "I imagine that in the past few years, hearing this greeting was equal to hearing an insult for the Corsair Empire, as literally everyone who used the German language followed it by shooting at you and your people."
The man sits back, revealing the room around him; an improvised leather couch and a fireplace above which a huge gear and hammer are painted in red, distorting the harmony of the room itself. Two skulls are placed atop the fireplace, their hollow eye sockets staring at the screen.
"Such blatant, reckless foolishness. Neither my adversaries, nor my predecessors understood the importance the Cretan Empire in Sirius and as such, they chose to oppose you instead of working with you for a brighter future."
The man stares at the skulls atop the fireplace and again, flashes a cruel grin.
"Among other reasons, this is why I elected to replace my mentors."
The man leans closer to the camera, again obstructing view with his corpulent body.
"Forgive me for my manners, I have not introduced myself yet and I doubt you have heard of me before. People know me as "Der Schakal", my friends, the Unioners have taken up calling me their leader.... or rather, their Kommandant."
He pauses for a moment and sighs, faking an overly dramatic, theatrical seriousness on his face.
"I am no leader though... or well... not exactly the Kommandant type. I am all but a humble businessman, wishing to invest into risky enterprises, expecting the highest possible return for his money. I believe that your enterprise.... if you can call it that... has a similar corporate philosophy in mind, as thus, I am highly confident that once again, the Unioners and the Corsairs can find the right tone to work together."
His face again shifts into a sadistic grin.
"We have already begun eradicating what stands into the way of our mutual friendship: The useless, populist, propaganda-minded Bundschuh and the rock-brained Daumann. My Händlers are also packing two shipments full of food to be flown to your doorstep, as a token of intent for a renewed cooperation."
He pauses for a moment again and leans back.
"Affirm me that my beliefs are right and I will ask my friends to prepare a welcoming committee for your representatives to one of our bases, where we can talk about our mutual future in utmost comfort.
I await your response and it has truly been a pleasure talking to you."
He smirks once again and presses a button, shifting the transmission into static.
The screen flickers. A small, dirty, yet rather busy dock appears on screen. Der Schakal, in a yellow safety helmet is standing near a huge, green vessel, apparently an "Uruz" class container transport, one tattered by fresh holes. The transport bears a Unioner insignia, painted over the logo of Republican Shipping.
"Hello again" - he smirks - "While I understand you're busy with managing stuff, we're also busy with sending the first convoy your way packed with the latest harvest from Stuttgart."
He taps his hand on the hull of the ship.
"I trust the security of your homeland will be prepared to welcome these fine vessels, even though it may take more time for you to respond yourselves."
He nods and grins once again, the transmission cuts into static.
Hola, honorable Der Schakal. Did I spelt it right? It have been quite some time I last spoke with Unioners. If my memory is correct those guys worn the flag of [UN] or something. We arranged some of the deals but they went silent and dissappeared from our radar shortly after that. Not sure if you are their followers or those who made them dissappear, and I dont really care, if they have been weak to let it happen - so be it.
As you might see, we approve strong allies. Those who can stand their grounds. I am most pleased to hear that your gave some kicking towards Bundschuh, those have made great deal of damage to our plans in Sigmas and Frankfurt. Regarding Daumann however, I want to make you know that not all of them are... how you said? rock-minded? Nevermind, what I want to say is that some of them are quite useful to our struggle with Red Hessians. So be sure you arent hitting one of those guys, or you will make us not happy, especially the poor kids who wont have their evening meal because theur steak delivering ship got blown up.
To the point. Any of your transports are always welcome to bring us anything useful and get back with artifacts. I believe you still have connection with Texas Junker, si? Those guys very interested on our trinkets. Make sure you visit them. The Empire requires pretty much same goods for years - minerals, metal, spare parts, booze and food. We arent poor on money now, so in addition to artifacts you can most certainly to get paid for new fuel and ammo.
As for meeting, I usually send Ronaldo on those. He have head on his shoulders and know how to speak polite, he got this from mother, hah! Plus he knows how to arrive to place without being noted. I only wish he could fight as good as he can drink Rum.
Signed, Elder Raul Lopez
Hasta la vista, la dignidad, el honor, el orgullo.
The transmission shows Der Schakal back in what looks like an office, for Unioner standards, one that is rather elegant. The corpulent pirate leader sits behind a mahogany desk, going over some images in a PDA. The only thing out of the picture is an eerie looking, purple stone set into some weird, orange holder, sitting on the side of the table. As the static clears, Der Schakal puts down his computer and folds his arms, looking at the screen, this time looking more serious than usual.
"Grüße an Sie, Herr Lopez. It is truly an honor hearing from you, my friend."
He gets back to pushing the screen of his PDA, while continuing to talk.
"Our convoy of food arrived to Crete successfully yesterday, I assume you have heard of the said event already, if not, let me forward you some pictures my friends made on their journey."
He puts down his PDA and starts to grin into the camera while talking.
"With the help of your skillful colleagues, we picked up some of these trinkets on our way back" - he continues with a nod towards the artifact on the side of his table - "little did we realize that both the BDM and the Liberty Navy would try to intercept us on our way to our /other/ business partners."
With an inhumane grin, he adds:
"The risk was of course... well worth the return."
He comfortably leans back into his leather couch and puts his hands behind his neck.
"Herr Ronaldo is more than very much welcome to visit us in person. Thanks to the immense profit we earned yesterday on Rochester, we can welcome him with the finest luxuries we can get our hands on. I think Leipheim base will be more than suitable for him, I can prepare a welcoming committee including myself, at 822/06/14, 17:00 SMT."
With his hands, Der Schakal pulls himself closer to the camera, forcing an unusually friendly smile on his face.
"There are but a few hours left for the scheduled time.... tell me if I can expect you; making arrangements requires more than a few hours of preparations."
Comm ID: Ronaldo Lopez Source: Cadiz Base Security: High Target: Der Schakal
:::Message Begins:::
Hola. This is Tribune of 'The Brotherhood' Ronaldo Lopez.
Don Lopez have said me of your interest on meeting with me. I am currently free from most actions because of a long time without rum, which suddenly got missing from my ship, I find little joy pillaging the cowardly bretonians. Making trip to Rheinland for some difference sounds more then interesting. And it have been quite some time I last visited your turf as well. That will be very interesting meeting I suppose as well. I only hope it will not be another ten hours long boring discussions but something indeed productive, si? Dont get me wrong, I like to chat but most of diplomatical meetings are most boring type of chattery.
Once I shall load fuel into my Centurion I shall arrive to your station somewhere around the time you wanted.
ID: Der Schakal, |U|NIONERS
SUBJECT: One last thing
The deck of a cruiser appears behind Der Schakal, behind him is a huge map of Rheinland, with small points of various colors and various inscriptions moving all around the screen.
My friends! I am truly delighted to call you as such, as since yesterday, the two organizations, two Empires we represent can be called ALLIES.
The Unioner continues with his hellish grin.
While the meeting with Herr Lopez was truly fruitful and we both managed to realize that we are in fact, two very similar people as well, there is one detail that we could not iron out, which he redirected to your attention. I am sure that other details, including our military assistance have been forwarded to you by Herr Lopez during his return.
This area is one that is related to technology and weapons: Namely, we require the blueprints of your vessels below battleship class, to be able to work efficiently.
We work with many former Republican engineers, so we can reproduce your weapons and ships with 90% efficiency, assuming we have the right plans for the said vessels.
In exchange, we are of course willing to do the same gesture towards the immortal Corsair Empire. Our Arbeiters and Solidarität bombers are both the works of our finest engineers and belong to the group of the most formidable small craft inside Sirius.
Hola again, Der Schakal. Ronaldo gave me pretty detailed report about his talk with you. It took some time for Elders to discuss your request and figure out our future plans and your role in them. Consider everything what Ronaldo said to you as our plan for Rhinland currently. Elders have no objections on your rightful claim of Rheinland Artifact market and glady met the opportunity to fight alongside with you in our conquest for Frankfurt.
I have spoken with our lead engieneers regarding blue-prints and they can give you copies of some ours not most up-to-date ships. Everything from simple Decurion up to fearsome Imperator. You mentioned that you dont want battleships but only cruiser, however The Brotherhood policy towards capital vessels is very strict - blue-prints of cruiser, battleship and dreadnought are not to be shared. We produce capital ships in secret location in The Brotherhood secret system. If you'd bring us material we could build you one, but blue-prints is property of Empire. Also keep record on every ship that will fly under your flags and give us access to it, so we keep all in order and written down. We will do same regarding any Unioner ship or weapon we shall aquire.
Oh and last thing - just one simple rule when your people will fly our ships - dont do anything that Corsairs wouldnt do.
Signed, Elder Raul Lopez
Hasta la vista, la dignidad, el honor, el orgullo.
Thank you, Herr Lopez. We will maintain contact with you and your colleagues to keep each other up to date on how we will be conquering the unlawful markets of Rheinland together. For the blueprints, we are also appreciative, naturally you can expect the same gesture from our organization.
About the cruiser plans, I will talk to my engineers. I will be honest with you, what we currently lack is not the brains nor the fists to perform work, but the materials for building. We'll get back to you with this once it becomes actual.