To the House Speaker, Marquess Shimamori Masahito.
Normally you would be contacted by Commodore Storgen. However, he had lost his life dedicating himself to greater duty than any human would have been expected to fulfil. You can be assured he has been honoured in the best way we could conceive within our specific culture. However, this is not the reason why I am contacting you. As the protocol dictates: Storgen’s files, contacts and assets are handed over to his successor or commanding officer. As it turns out, The Order needs further information that you may be in possession of.
Recently, Kusari Empire had announced an effort to recruit a team of independent researchers for the purposes of the first public test of a jumpdrive. Truly marvellous feat, I have to agree and perhaps the first step to unshackle humanity from the method of FTL travel we glimpsed from ruins of civilization that left us the artifacts. If I were not technically an outlaw and foreigner to your society, I would have congratulated your scientists in person if I could. However, back to the point. We’ve had a scientist agree to observe this event, perhaps to advance our own sciences if possible. It is in our interest to be kept informed on events of Sirius and we had no ill intent. However, we had lost contact with the scientist we enlisted after KNF enacted information blackout and presumably disappeared from the face of Sirius as we know it.
What I want to know is, where this expedition went. Are they safe, where they could possibly go and what went wrong if anything. Specifics of technology concerning its operation and to be more specific: safety, margin of error and considerations of this new technology under duress, stress, human error and maintenance. Just to be perfectly clear, I do not request you to commit treason against the House of Kusari. I will take as much information that you are at liberty to disclose, for the intent of ensuring The Order may continue its vigil. If you are still interested in cooperation, we will remain in touch and offer to disclose any information that may have an impact on the safety of Kusari.
The fact that such a presumably important person in the hierarchy of the Order contacts me is a humbling experience. I wish you a good day and must apologise for leaving this letter unanswered for so long. I am saddened to hear about Commander Storgen's fate but at the same time comforted by knowing that there are people still willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of mankind and stare death right into the eyes, not flinching. My Clan and I will surely honour Commander Storgen's sacrifice in the way of my people.
Nevertheless, the enemies of mankind are many and they never relent and despite the sorrow that your news about our mutual friend incurs, we need to remain strong to avert more such tragedies. The nature of your inquiry is... sensitive to say the least. The Empire is protecting its newly acquired edge over the other Houses with utmost dedication and sharing anything related to the technology would be a treason of the highest order. Not that I personally know much about the principle of jumpdrive's work whatsoever but I do have scientists at my disposal who were at the start of the whole breakthrough. Keeping the events secret, however, is not something that I need to abide by. I did not, personally, participate in the expedition that followed the trial of the new jumpdrive but my vassal, fudai daimyo Kinoshita Akechi represented the clan aboard his flagship, "Zuikaku". From the reports I have received, Kusari Naval Forces aided by accredited freelancers and independent researchers as well as guests from Rheinland and Bretonia reached a new system, now commonly referred to as "Earhart". There they witnessed what appeared to be a graveyard of ships, seemingly of Libertonian design. There were also ancient structures of non-human design of unknown purpose, presumably some sort of energy generator. The events took an unexpected turn when the expeditionary forces encountered a big fleet of Liberty also accompanied by some freelancers. It is difficult to figure out now what exactly happened but the fleets exchanged "pleasantries" and engaged in a skirmish, the results indecisive. It appears that Liberty has also achieved some sort of progress in hyperspace travel that, despite all the odds, led to the same system we managed to pierce into. It is possible that those alien structures are some sort of hyperspace beacon that allowed such statistically infinitesimal coincidence as two fleets bumping into each other in one of many thousands of yet uncharted systems to happen. This is what is known to me, you are free to interpret this information differently. If you need more information, you may contact Kinoshita-dono directly. He has recorded the encounter and I do not think he will mind sharing it with the Order as well.
As for long-standing cooperation, I am open to it. Mind, however, that my position puts me in a precarious situation when it comes to cooperation with a formally designated "terrorist organisation". Whatever they call you, I have seen what you are up against and you have my sympathy. Some limited exchange of information is possible, as well as your lobbying within the Empire. Keep your profile low, however. The KOI are good at its job.