Saludos. I am Donna Enma de Loyola of Malta, a citizen of the Gallic Crown and loyal servant of his majesty since 741 AGS. Currently in charge of one of the most influential Outcast families. I was working with Isabelle Montlaville de Chanteloup, who at the time used to lean towards intelligence and counter-intelligence ops within the Royal Navy. My ex beloved wife Eliza Valdez, actually ex-wife but not ex beloved, has even signed papers of her being an agent of the Gallic intel.
I have been hosting and protecting two members of the DeFrance family, Charlotte, and Claire. Claire has wished to speak with you lately, but I heard that there was a lack of trust due to her location. Currently, Her Highness is in her quest to restore control over her destroyer as we intend to repair it and put it to service. Council sabotage team has nearly taken over the vessel and I arrived in time to get her out of there.
I've also had a meeting with his highness Joseph DeFrance lately, where we have outlined a certain perspective of either Charlotte or Claire to become duchess of Malta in addition to their existing titles. There are a lot of potential projects to work with, but sadly His Highness has recently lost interest in political matters as it seems to me. Forgive me for my long introduction, I am just well aware of what reaction your officers usually have when they hear "the outcast" so I thought that it would be better to outline some things before getting to the main subject.
I don't like politics, and I assume that you have been sick of it too. Since politics had become the main weaponry against the Kingdom of Gallia, be it whole coalitions of Sirian Houses or traitors of Council and later Confederation. I think we could speak about something more practical, about the strategic situation on the ground and its implications. There's no doubt that you would be much more competent than me at the subject, but I've listened to a lot of competent officers who had planned operations for me.
But still, if you allow me, I would like to share some of my observations of the situation in Taus, Bretonia, and even upper Omicrons. There is a very apparent coalition of Bretonia, Confederation, and "CR" that is aimed against both Outcasts and the Royalist forces. Active deployment of Bretonian forces to Tau-31 is already happening, as they move in right on the back of CR, as I figured out after recently visiting Tau-31.
At the same time, Gallic Confederation is solidifying it's control over Tau-23 and starting to launch raids against our homeworld in the Omicrons. I have no doubt that we could fight back against the alliance that has formed against us in the Taus separately. But it would be more efficient if we could coordinate our efforts at the basic strategic level. Naturally, there cannot be tight coordination on the tactical level, due to the difference in our approaches in tactics and simply bad levels of communication.
In the worst-case scenario, both forces loyal to the Crown, and my people will be isolated and forced out of the Taus. This perspective especially comes apparent if Confederation will decide to move major forces into Taus to assist their "friends".
Regardless of what happens, Malta is heavily considering moving our strongest attack groups into Taus to confront a looming threat. We intend to make severe damage to whatever colonial or military projects Bretonia thinks it can pull into Taus as well as finishing off the "CR". We plan to force a fight and create a strong frontier that would be far enough from Malta, while it must fit for our tactics, space full of asteroid fields is usually the most suitable. Right, if I would like you to take a look at the situation in Taus from my perspective, it seems to me that our interests are clearly overlapping and converging towards a more or less similar goal in the midterm.
I would like to propose to lower conflict between us to a minimum, preferably practically ending up with the ceasefire. Yes, probably we would still have local incidents that would be really hard to avoid considering the history between us. And naturally, I would not want to formalize anything. I am getting sick of the Outcasts signing documents, and word of the officer would be enough.
I think that my proposal is reasonable all things considered. As I am not intended to stay in a way of restoring the legitimate order in Gallia. I think that we could just remove those who stand in the way together since the same people seem to treat Malta and our business if I am reading their plans right.
So let's have a little exchange, we can agree that this could be an interesting conversation.
- Loyal Subject of his Majesty Charles XI,
Dona Enma de Loyola of Malta
Planet Bordeaux, Aquitaine System
19. Mai, 743 AGS
Official Message
The Office of Maréchal Eveline Laroux
Identité: Eveline Laroux, Maréchal de l'Enclave Destinataire: An Outcast Sujet: "Friends"
Madame,
Let me be very clear.
I have no idea who you are and I have no interest in hearing about your marriage, so kindly refrain from wasting my time with it. If you were somehow under the impression that your little list of turncoats and charlatans was impressive then you are sadly mistaken. While there is little doubt in my mind that the degenerate filth with whom you normally associate respond favourably to masquerades of flattery and deception, I will not be so easily manipulated by your kind.
The movements of Bretonian and associated Colonial fleets are not unknown to us, but Bretonia exists in a weakened state. It does not have the economy, nor the necessary facilities to rebuild what it has lost, and is not prepared to commit to a full-scale reinvasion of the Taus. This state of being is one for which you owe us a great deal of gratitude, as it is one that we were in no small part responsible for. Much as your own kind is, in part, responsible for our own ill-fated condition.
Regardless, for the Bretonians to realise the folly of their constant over-extension they need to be met with effective resistance. The harder it is for them to tighten their grip on the Taus, the more other fronts will slip through their fingers. And as much as it pains me to say it, your pathetic fleets may be of use in orchestrating this demonstration.
A total ceasefire is out of the question. You have your territory and we have ours, but where disagreements persist over where these borders lie we will continue to fight for what is rightfully ours. I am prepared to offer you the following temporary measure: Limited prioritisation of non-Outcast targets in Tau-31 and Bretonia until an effective demonstration has been realised.
This agreement does not extend beyond necessity and actions which are in direct conflict with our interests will continue to be met with hositility. This is not an alliance, and you are not my friend. You are nothing to me but just another Outcast, show your face in Gallia or the Hebrides and you will be wiped out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on Malta.
Maréchal Eveline Laroux, Maréchausée
Gallic Royal Enclave
Maréchal Laroux, I am very pleased to speak with you. So far it's been a truly humbling experience, it's pleasant for me to see those old Gallic traditions of holding negotiations still living. Thank you for making your position clear, it will clearly help to reach understanding. You point out quite a few fair points which would make negotiations more complicated, but it's very good that we found some common ground at a basic understanding of the situation.
My list by no means meant to impress anyone, but rather make it clear that I've been working for the good cause for quite an extended period of time. And while many Royal Navy commanders, even of the highest rank, have turned out to be traitors, I keep true to my word.
I welcome your decision to change target priorities in Bretonia and Tau-31. Our raiders will use Junker infrastructure to reach for New London as in the good old days. You see, to maintain this sort of operation in Tau-31, it would make sense to lift the pressure off two more Tau systems that we happen to "sandwich". I am speaking of Tau-44 which is temporary under Colonial control and Tau-23 which is now mostly taken by the forces loyal to Gallic traitors.
Behind this, there's a crucial thing for my people and 'national' interest if you wish to call it so. While Malta seeks for no territorial gains and is quite far from any colonial approaches, we fight for our commercial interest. As you know, our main export is Cardamine, and the Tau route is meant to deliver this gift to the markets of Liberty and Bretonia. As I understand, you share no love for neither Bretonia and Liberty so I figured Enclave forces could turn a blind eye on our runners, heading in this direction no matter the tonnage of the vessel would be. This will create more problems with their law enforcement and to some degree will level down their defense capabilities. In the light of new developments, it's may very well be in Enclave interests to boost Cardamine sales in said Houses, which happens to be our primary objective on the global scale of things.
Come to mention it, while we appreciated massive depression and neurosis in Sirius coming from Gallic invasion, it surely raised the Cardamine consumption, but outright depopulating planets with the billions of people is making our consumer base thinner. I understand that there must have been some tactical or strategic necessity in doing so, but it had a negative impact on the business.
- Loyal Subject of his Majesty Charles XI,
Dona Enma de Loyola of Malta
Planet Bordeaux, Aquitaine System
20. Mai, 743 AGS
Official Message
The Office of Maréchal Eveline Laroux
Identité: Eveline Laroux, Maréchal de l'Enclave Destinataire: An Outcast Sujet: Re: "Friends"
Madame Loyola,
Trust is earned through deeds, not words, and a list of those whose deeds mean very little will not help you earn it.
Joseph, it seems, has forgotten himself and is no longer the man I once knew. Nowhere to be found as the kingdom fell, now this coward chooses to emerge from hiding, seeking power for himself. But there is no need for a King without a Kingdom, and the new order will do well to eradicate the meddling of gutless poseurs lest they complicate matters.
He should run along to the Duchy and reunite with his spineless compatriots among the nobility if he wants to be welcomed with open arms. He won't however, as he fears the wrath of the conceillards, pitiful.
At any rate, your counter-proposal troubles me greatly. Tau-23 and Tau-44 are much closer to home than I would like, but I may be prepared to extend the terms upon reiterating that my generous offer is limited in its nature.
Outcast vessels within the Sumatra field or its immediate surroundings in Tau-44 will be destroyed, regardless of intent.
Outcast activities that interfere or otherwise conflict with Enclave operations in the absence of Bretonian or Colonial forces will be met with hostility .
Ships transporting Cardamine through Enclave territory are subject to standard shipping tariffs in return for passage. This is non-negotiable, failure to comply will result in destruction, the merest hint that a vessel is carrying your poison to Gallia or the Hebrides will be met with swift justice.
If you are willing to accept my conditions, then I am still prepared to forgo further hostilities in favour of our shared adversaries.
Maréchal Eveline Laroux, Maréchausée
Gallic Royal Enclave
*The Commandant's tone and expression are markedly formal, without any trace of emotion.*
The Admiralty Board delegated it to me to reply to your inquiry.
First of all, I am to make clear that under normal circumstances, any and all Outcast activity in Gallia or its protectorates is subject to prosecution, or, failing that, termination. If the circumstances weren't... unusual, we would not be having this talk right now. As soon as order in Gallia is restored—along with our rightful control—eradication of the black market and Cardamine trade in the Kingdom will become one of our main concerns.
But your assessment is correct. For the moment, our main concerns in the Taus are Confederate forces, the Crayterians, and the resurging Bretonian influence—regardless of how much they had to overextend themselves for that. Diverging our forces to engage the Maltese attack groups would be detrimental to our current objectives. Especially while Maltese forces regularly engage our enemies—in that case it would be a poor tactical decision.
Naturally, everything I've said applies only as long as the Maltese forces don't act against the interests of the Enclave in the region. The region being Bretonia, Leeds, and the Taus. Gallia and the Hebrides remain off limits for any and all Maltese vessels. Hauling Cardamine to Gallia and Hebrides remains a major offense. However, it is not our job to secure the borders of Bretonia and Liberty against that poison. It could have been ours, had the sector seen the benefit of Gallic rule.
Maréchal Laroux,
it sounds like your final word to me, we have an agreement there. Thank you for your wise decisions, your excellency. I am sure that future generations will honor your outstanding role in restoring the legitimate rule in Gallia.
Commandant Gauthier,
the outline you suggested is actually something that I had in mind. While I have personal sympathy for the Gallic Royalist movement that extends much further, this is the best I could hope for at this stage, all things considered. You have my word that I will do best to my ability for those conditions to be met.
I will make sure to deliver the following terms to other influential groups of Malta. Pretty sure we will stand more or less united for this one. Once again I would like to thank you both for productive work and suggest to keep this channel open shall we need some exchange.
- Loyal Subject of his Majesty Charles XI,
Dona Enma de Loyola of Malta
A little update. Our internal negotiations are going quite all.
As of now, the following factions has agreed to maintain the ceasefire for the sake of defeating the common enemy:
Loyola Guard LG|
Coalición Imperial Maltesa -|-
Legion Maltesa L\-
We can call this result a consensus. I'll hang up til the next updates.
- Loyal Subject of his Majesty Charles XI,
Dona Enma de Loyola of Malta
Battleship La Riche, Edinburgh
November 11th, 743 AGS
Sender: CC Perrine H. Clostermann, Enclave Defence Authority. Recipient: That confused women. Subject: The news.
Loyola.
Your confusion is easy to resolve: we, indeed, have the same adversaries, and The Enclave stance on entities in question will not change, as we intend to keep dragging them through mud at every possible occassion. Keep doing the same and avoid confrontation with our forces and the consensus reached earlier will be held sacrosanct.
That is all.
Transmission End
Peace, being the distant dream it is, comes inevitably, and goes hand in hand with justice.
Cursed be the war.