Yeah, hey. Looks like I missed a spell. I'm Tim Rhyme of the Independent Neuralnet boys. My ship's the Invisible Hand, tethered up there unless my people decided to make a run for it and retire.
So what's this about the Sairs? They closing in or is it more of a hypothetical future landing party with all the violence and horror and so on.
"How's about I just save everybody the trouble and show the bare bones of the issue?" Yevan reached into his left pocket and produced a small data disk attached to a key chain.
Placing the datadisk on a table nearby, he tapped a small button on the disk which instantly projected a holographic menu. The menu hovered above the table while Yevan managed his way through a series of options. Finally, he arrived at an entry titled "To Zoner Leaders" and let it play:
Quote:
But to the point of this message. We - the Corsair Empire - have been denied a base in Omicron Theta. SEVERAL TIMES. The reasons behind this are unknown to me, but the reasons for the requests are still present.
Thus - we are willing to forget this whole ‘incident’ with you rallying up people against us. Under the condition, that you leave your Freeport in Omicron Theta to us, AS IT IS NOW.
NO MORE SABOTAGE, NO MORE DISABLING. NONE OF THAT.
......
Even without your biodomes, freeport 9 is important to us. Not as important as it could be, but that's no problem. If you've chosen to sabotage your own stations, that is your perogative. However, it does not diminish the importance of freeport 9 to us, and our reasons will probably be apparent after its acquisition.
.....
That said, we're waiting for the remaining residents of Freeport 9 to organise so we can resume negotiations.
"So there you have it," said Yevan. "The Comm Array is undergoing repairs and is due to be fixed in a matter of days. In that time, we have to come up with a very good solution to our predicament."
Well naturally we can't very well give up the homestead... Has anyone in any capacity rung them back yet? Just in case the hobo council of Freeport Nine has missed out on any progress made in regards to the Corsair Dread Parade.
"The Senior Council is meditating since the TV satelite dish up and died," said Yevan," as for others..."
"Most of the replies I've heard and read come from Indies," he continued. "Half told they'll fight each Corsair to the death. The other half said they'll cooperate. By cooperate I mean anything from, "We'll bring you food supplies that you don't want anyway" to "Sure, take the base, what do we care?" Last message I heard was James Furgenson of the ZTC sending an emotional letter in regards to Corsairs and how they've lost the Zoner trust. Basically, it was a nice way of telling the Elders to _____ themselves with _____ using ____ and ____ ____ ____. Or at least that's what I think he meant having worked alongside James at ZTC for half a year. He's an edjacated type."
Hmm... Might be kinda useful to know what the 'Sairs actually want. I imagine they've gotten a bit tired of the station serving as a way station for organizations that they feel are less than desirable.
I suppose it really comes down to them being convinced that the station is more worthwhile to them in Zoner hands. You know, something practical."
He shrugged.
"Could be worthwhile to see about sending someone in ahead of the pack to drop a suggestion or two to that score."
After docking his ship, Ulterior Motive, Jack Bristow looked around to find someone to talk to about unloading his ship. Having saw no one, he headed toward...well he just walked until he could find someone. After awhile he heard some talking and followed the noise. He ended up in the cafeteria.
Jack walked into the room. "I have some Pharmaceutical here for you. I have 3200 containers in my hold. From what Kal~el told me that is about 3 weeks worth".
"Pardon me for not introducing myself. Bristow, Jack Bristow. I am the captain of the Ulterior Motive" he said.
Walks over to the coffee pot. "You know, one would think that Kal would have told me there wasn't any coffee since he drinks it like water practically lives off the stuff".
Deep sigh. Oh well, lets get started on the offload of those pharms.
This place is a mess. Those Sairs sure did do a number on this place. How can anyone find their way around. Cdr Elijah Jurgen pulls out a flashlight and turns it on. He starts to head down the passageway but as he turns he smacks his head on a broken piece of pipe that was hanging from the ceiling.
He lets out a scream. !@&*(%$&^%!!!! He raises his hand to his head. Pulls it down and sees blood. Then everything went black.
Mannock look to their peers, as these guys may be thinking in Sairs when we have more urgent problems.
"Gentlemen, sorry to interrupt yours entertaining talk, but I must inform you that our reactor must be shut down within 48 hours or possibly neither we nor the Sairs will have nothing to fight, defend or negotiate. We can stay with the auxiliary generator, but it will need a steady influx of H-Fuel. " Well at least I have drawn their attention.
"But the good news never come alone, I have more to tell. It can only be inhabited levels 1 to 6, this command center, a corridor to the docks 1 and 2 and another to the main warehouse. The armour is nonexistent, we stay with the relatively weak structure and shield ... hopefully not have to test it. The life support can be patched using the ships available, but we should be thinking about an evacuation of all nonessential personnel, with vital support of the Geneva and Barcelona does not give us to keep guests. Anyway water is our big problem, we would need a month's work of all staff to implement it. But there is also a positive side, everything has a solution, according to my first estimate we could have all fixed in about 5 months and 1.5 billion less. "
He looked back at his companion one by one, "Any questions or concerns?"
"Oh, I almost forgot, do not open locked doors, I have no desire to recover dead bodies in space. Use only those with the green signal. By the way, I went to Omega 41 for the state of the Biodomes ... I think it would be easier as I'm growing back my hair that retrieval to the Biodomes. "
A bitter smile emerges on his lips "At least they did not kill the messenger" thought.
Ok, I will bring some fuel for the reactor this weekend. I will also come back with the (]c[)Hermes ship which is a Luxury yacht so everybody could have a room.
Considering corsairs, I think we have to assess strength of the zoners coalition. Is it strong enough to threat corsairs empire? how is evolving the conflict these days? how many battle have been won or lost since the beginning?
I don't like the idea of giving Freeport 9 to corsairs. it s too close of omicron-74 jumphole. I would prefer they build their own station or that we give Corfu to them.
Moreover, if we give Freeport 9 or Corfu to corsairs without compensation then it will be perceived as a sign of weakness by all factions. Then maybe in a few months another faction will attack us, force us to surrender and claim a station in exchange of a ceasefire as corsairs are doing now. I think we can't let that happen. It would be better to destroy the station so at least we loose the station but our enemy is not having it and understand it is useless to use force against us.
Rhyme raised a finger, started to speak, paused, furrowed his brow, almost got the 'ol talking motors humming again, paused, coughed and tried again.
Ah, first off.... Why is the main reactor going down and why does the backup run on H fuel of all things... Unless you mean MOX or something equivalent? Or perhaps some good old fashioned nuke generators?
As to handing over the station... Not so much. While I'm sure the old girl has more in her than some here are giving her credit for we're not, at last estimate, going to be able to swing a war to defend it while simultaneously maintaining the Zoner way of life. That's what's really at stake here, the station is just the hinge point. Or domino, if you want to add a little ominous undertone to the whole affair.
If we're going to get out of this one we're going to do it with words and a clever plan. Imploding Crete isn't going to pull our asses out of the next fire, or the fire after that. The one where the Outcasts come calling, or the Hessians, or Liberty.
Truth be told the people up top have butchered this whole affair damn well near to the point where salvaging it might be a hopeless cause... But I elect that we need to use the word war less and clever plan more. Clever plan being the one which convinces them to leave the station in our own control due to being that much more useful to them as such.