∎∎∎ ⋙ An: Orbital Spa & Cruise, Rheinland Populace
∎∎∎ ⋙ Thema: Ransom
Abend,
This shall be the one and only time I will be pleasant. Afterwards, the lives of the hundreds aboard the Martinique will rest on your actions.
My name is Yannick, and the sixty men I have with me aboard this ship are all that stand between these passengers and an untimely death. The Union will not forget those who have wronged us, but we will offer a chance for you to appease our demands and maybe even save these frightened souls.
You see, we right now have over a thousand passengers, and while we've done off with about 47 of them, we're very reasonable. If you'd like to see these people returned to their homes safely, then you will transfer one billion credits to the account of Freidrich.Jensen, or we'll start killing one passenger per hour every hour until our demands are met, and if you attempt to negotiate with us, we'll kill another hostage and raise the ransom. We don't care where the money comes from, so long as it makes it to the provided account.
This government may be fresh, but there are no less the amount of liars and crooks within this Crown as there were with the Chancellory. They must learn that to make progress, some eggs need to be broken. Or legs. Replacing the problem with an equal problem solves nothing. Perhaps this will serve as a message of such.
Oh, and yes. This will be broadcast to the whole of Sirius as well, so that they too may learn of the inadequacies of the people in charge.
Orbital Spa and Cruise has no desire to see more blood shed. We are prepared to meet your demands to ensure the safe return of the Martinique and her remaining passengers. However, we require photographic proof that you are in fact in possession of the liner and her people before we would move on to the next steps of transferring payment and arranging for pick up.
Regards,
Jonathan Seabourne
Captain, OS&C|Breezewood
Director, White Star Lines Division
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Orbital Spa and Cruise
Herr Seabourne.. You humble me with your directness. As with your Ms. Cross just earlier, I admire your dedication to preserving life. If only all could be like your example.
You will find that the Martinique is concretely within our hands, in addition to all remaining 1,847 passengers. We'll be awaiting the ransom, and in light of your dedication, this hour is on me. I'm sure Frau Solenz thanks you for sparing her life.
First, thank you for submitting your evidence. It makes it easier for me to negotiate with the people on my end. Sadly, even chairmen of the board are subject to the laws of interplanetary finance that are just real and inescapable as the law of gravity.
In short, you picked a terrible target for this incident. Martinique, aside from being an aging vessel due for decommissioning, legally was part of an independent subsidiary that was licensing the right to use OS&C livery on a franchise basis. In short, legally we are not liable for her safety, which means such a "discretionary" expenditure has to go through the board. I physically cannot give you what you want without going through IC to free up escrow, and I need signatures of directors to pull that off. They're looking at profit and loss tables and have concluded that the loss of a liner we were about to retire anyway and the resulting PR cleanup for a distracted Sirius don't come anywhere close to $1 billion. I'll need time to convince them, and killing hostages only weakens your position. My board members are operating under the assumption that you plan on killing them all anyway. I need time to convince them otherwise.
Alternatively, I have much more discretion over the funds for White Star Lines, my own subsidiary, but profitability was never our forte. You can wait and see if the board comes around to juggling the Byzantine financial situation needed to free up a billion credits (provided they want to, of course). Or I can cut you a check for 100 million from WSL's coffers right here and now and end this. Hold out much longer, and I'll likely be replaced as chair, which truthfully I would welcome. I assure you that the offers you'd get from my successor will not nearly be as lucrative.
This isn't a negotiation, just a declaration of the facts of the situation. Walk with 100 mil today or hold out for whatever comes tomorrow. Either way, each hostage you kill only reduces your bargaining power.
Regards,
Jonathan Seabourne
Captain, OS&C|Breezewood
Director, White Star Lines Division
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Orbital Spa and Cruise
Herr Seabourne.. Out of respect for your directness, we shall cease our threats of harm to these passengers. While another thirteen were marked off before the decision was made, I'm certain all 1,834 passengers who yet remain are quite thankful for your compliance.
We will settle with your offer of one-hundred million, and we will expect it soon. Once we have confirmed the transfer of the credits, I will instruct the captain to retake the helm and sail your precious Martinique back to your hands, but only after we have confirmed the transfer. It is needless to say what may happen if we find you've crossed us, Herr Seabourne.
We await the transfer. Submit evidence, and we will return your treasured ship.
Herr Seabourne, I can confirm the dispensary of the credits. Well done. As an honest man, we will hold our end of the bargain. The Martinique will be arriving at 20:00 hours tomorrow at Planet Neu Berlin, where we will return her to the proper authorities in good stride.
I look forward to ensuring that each of these frightened people return planetside with haste. Oh, an naturally, you don't find us aboard the ship either.
Auf weidersehen, Herr Seabourne. May this exchange be a lesson for those you live under.
Sender ID: Gunda Riehl Tacname: Hellion Positional group: Volenteer Flight Arbeiter, Union Raiders and recovery Location: UN|Hellion, Bering System, beyond the Tanner Belt. Branchgroup: Unioners
Gunda Riehl comes through with a certain amount of guarded intrigue.
A big heist. Lots of murder to set yourselves up. Show that you're the new kid on the old block. Reminds me of when the Unioners took a couple of tonnes of HCN formonitrile canisters to the life support and circulation systems of alster's shipyard's executive offices. I was a part of that raid - I'm never getting my freedom back. I'm never going to get to fill the mag-boots of the Unioner idyll; I won't get to live that blue-collar life.
Four years later, people are still using it as a justification to kill Unioner noncom's. Pacifica was nuked, twice, by paramils' sharing that piece of agitprop. That's a pain you and I both share. That bodycount will be writ large. It pushed our cause back by several generations; we had to kiss goodbye to any sense of the moral highground for a while. Our people forgot that feathers matched with lead - you can't lead with just lead - or, in this case, cyanide.
The Alster Raid also got the previous Arbeitsdirektor killed. He couldn't take the heat it drummed up.
This heist is gonna' be your opening, defining statement. The way the siege of Vierlande was for the Alster Union, or organising the DHC labour action back in January. You'll need to take the consequences.
The Alster Union would be pretty darn' interested in figuring out how your cell operates, what resources your posse needs, and what your ROE are. You look like hardliners. The Alster Union's swung moderate nowadays, but not all of us get a chance in the sun. That's the price we've spent. Non-overlapping goals and roles make for strong siblings.
About three years ago, we had your politics, your beliefs, your methods, too. We changed - or most of us did. I figure we wouldn't be here having this exchange if it was a clean break.
I guess you could say that whilst I'm a wee little Moderate sympathiser, I can understand your position, Arbeiter Starck. I, like you, have got a little red on my epponage.
Brother Arbiter to Brother arbiter - what's the name of your Union, buddy? Which system are you based out in? I figure you know about our ops up in Zurich, Bering, and Hamburg. We go back.
We've set up a secured Intranet line using the UNITY Encryptor. I'm figuring that you've used it before. <<UNITY Inter-Union network ping>>> Labour Director Frei is probably gonna' wanna' hash out the brass-and-fast with your own Labour Director, if you aren't the head honcho himself, in the bonafide bonework. For now? Consider us your piggy-bank. Raid us if you need material resources. The ALU has access to hardware and ordinance that you won't see on the underworld's main street.
You're a ballzy Unioner, Yannick. Sirius needs a few of those.
Call me an interested sister.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's Shipping Unions, retired from a life of piracy.)
I'm not a religious man, but I sincerely hope there is a hell just so I can see you there. It'll be nice to have the company after what you made me do today.
Regards,
Jonathan Seabourne
Captain, OS&C|Breezewood
Director, White Star Lines Division
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Orbital Spa and Cruise
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