Ahh my mistake, thank you for clarifying the route for me.
Still, my original point stands. My client was interdicted outside of mandated jurisdiction or the SRD, and treated with the same level of firepower Bretonia brings to bear on Kusari warships, against a trade vessel.
If that isn't the very definition of Excessive Force, what is?
Reading the paper is not often this interesting...
In my service as the chief commissioner of the BPA, I have to say that instructions on the role of the Special Response Division were crystal clear: to be used to defend Bretonia in the emergency case of Capital Class Warships in our role as Bretonian Militia. In the perspective of space craft cost, Havok II and Challenger Bombers are far more expensive than Hussar or Paladin fighters in terms of both hull and fueling costs. The fielding of such craft on an everyday basis was deemed to be an extreme waste of public resources. In this day and age where Kusari continues to sap MOX shipments through the gauntlet and Rheinland H-Fuel prices continue to sky-rocket, I can only cringe at the corruption inherent at the Hub if such a policy has changed.
I do not know when the manual on Special Response Division craft was amended to allow provide for the patrolling of Dublin space, but its wording is the most ambiguous piece of literature I have read to date. "Halt any smugglers coming through" implies that it means Dublin. To use the SRD in any other space in a capacity that is not the emergence of an enemy capital threat in the absence of BAF assistance is, again, a gross waste of public resources.
The Commerce Control Division on the other hand was designed with exactly this situation in mind. If indeed Mr. Jethro was malicious in his intent, Constable Hone would then have been able to not only neutralize his threat to the Bretonia Empire, but also salvage the much needed war goods protecting our pilots from solar radiation. In this case, because he was misusing his flight abilities in the Special Response Division, up to 5,000 units of precious gold has been lost in the vacuum of Edinburgh.
So if the administration of the BPA has not changed dramatically since my tenure, which in reading the manuscripts provided, it has not, then not only is Constable Hone in breach of using excessive and unnecessary deadly force on a vessel which has submitted itself to political asylum on Waterloo, but also is guilty of wasting public resources, the waste of vital war material, contributions towards corruption for personal gain, and the breaking standard procedure in flight regulation. In fact, he is not the only one at fault in this situation, but also the flight crew which allowed him to launch and his supervising officer which allowed the patrol mission to proceed.
Thank you for letting me speak,
~Douglas Palmer
[8:32:45 PM] Dusty Lens: Oh no, let me get that. Hello? Oh it's my grandma. She says to be roleplay.
[12:49:19 AM] Elgatodiablo: You know its nice that you have all that proof and all, Bacon... but I just don't believe you.
Comm ID: Director Regis Lawson Location: New London, Home Office of Military Intelligence Encryption:High
Constables and Officers alike can use lethal force on a trade ship if they believe the vessel is refusing to comply with orders or is smuggling to Kusari space. While the ship itself was coming from Dublin space, the SRD can still mobilize to intercept the vessel in other systems. Why would the Police Authority waste money on a division if it's not going to be used anywhere else in Bretonian space? They wouldn't.
'Bretonian Interstellar Charter' Wrote:IMG and Zoner ships may carry cargo through Bretonia and as far as their holdings in the Tau systems. IMG and Zoner ships found moving goods through the Taus into Kusari will be fined 5 million credits.
BAF and BPA pilots have the right to demand the destination of the traders and confirm it via intel. Traders found to be trading with Kusari must drop their cargo or sell it at Bretonian bases. Traders found to have lied about their destination will be treated as enemies of the Crown.
I'm pretty sure we're still waiting on a statement from the Colonial Republic regarding where that shipment was heading.
Signed,
Director Regis Lawson Home Office of Military Intelligence
Indeed we are. I have successfully proven my case of excessive force and the only avenue of defense that your Officer, Hone, has, rests with the Colonial Remnant denying that we have a standing trade deal, which I have already proven with Neural Net logs, communications codes, and shortly they will confirm verbally.
Once they have done so, which is an inevitability, I will again make my case for assualt, and start civil litigation to sue for appropriate damage compensation... I believe Mister Jethro has whiplash...
Comm ID: Director Regis Lawson Location: New London, Home Office of Military Intelligence Encryption:High
Tau-31 is Kusari space currently, with the loss of the Leeds gate. While yes, we do own a small portion of areas that Kusari has yet to take in Tau-31, the system is still under heavy Kusarian influence. Mister Palmer said that SRD were only to be used against Kusari forces. But moving goods into the Taus without prior permission by Bretonia designates the smuggler as a combatant and a Kusarian, until proven otherwise, thus making the use of SRD craft justified.
Seeing as we couldn't settle this issue between myself and you, I'll be bringing in a state attorney to act in defense of Sergeant Hone. Mister Nicholas Barnes, whose been given access to use these channels.
Signed,
Director Regis Lawson Home Office of Military Intelligence
Very well, and I will proceed to gather more expert witnesses concerning this case, focusing on the role of the SRD, and what constitutes excessive force, as now, it seems, you believe that Transports are Capital Class Kusari Warships...
I'm sorry to interject and at the risk of being held in contempt, I must correct you on my words.
I stated that SRD vessels were to be used in the event of an enemy capital emergence. Unless an IND transport is to be considered a capital class vessel of Gunboat, Cruiser, or Battleship classification and is deemed an enemy combatant (which means not submitting to political asylum and questioning on Waterloo) while no BAF vessels are present to deal with the overwhelming threat, then yes, the SRD vessel is justified. I actually stated that because constable Hone was not flying the proper vessel for the space he was patrolling or the role he was committed to, he (and by extension his entire flight crew) was in breach of proper flight procedure and because he fired on a ship that had submitted to political asylum and questioning on Waterloo, he was also guilty of submitting unnecessary and excessive deadly force, as well as the plethora of other crimes of public corruption.
[8:32:45 PM] Dusty Lens: Oh no, let me get that. Hello? Oh it's my grandma. She says to be roleplay.
[12:49:19 AM] Elgatodiablo: You know its nice that you have all that proof and all, Bacon... but I just don't believe you.
NSY CommChannel Status: OPEN
Incoming Transmission...
Priority: NORMAL
From: Acting Commissioner Lucy Silsbury
To: All members of this channel
Subject: The Incident
Dear Sirs
I am the acting Chief Commissioner for the Bretonia Police Authority and I will be speaking on behalf of the Sergeant in question.
Our prior dealings with the Interspace Neural-Net Division have unfortunately made us rather suspicious of all vessels bearing the [IND] identification, need I remind you of the incident of Lord Bayliss requesting a blind eye from the BPA when he and his associate were caught carrying a substance believed to be illicit.
As such, Sergeant Nathan was well within his rights to call the vessel to an inspection point and interrogate the pilot.
The general manner of Mr Jethro and the claims made by another captain put doubt into the mind of the Sergeant (as well it would).
In such situations if the true destination of goods could likely be towards a base prohibited by the blockade then at the Officer's discretion a flight can be halted etc.
Mr Jethro's mistake was to simply turn and fly away before being given clearance by the Officer on the scene. Failure to stop resulted in the destruction of his ship. We would not be a very efficient police force if we just let possible smugglers fly away whenever they wanted, protocol must be followed.
The IND should realize that we of the Bretonia Police Authority cannot be bought, bullied or bent to any groups will, we serve Bretonia and no other, we do not make special allowances; if you are breaking the law, you are the same as a criminal in the eyes of the law enforcers.
Might I direct your attention to the excerpts from our Charter of Interstellar law provided by Director Lawson.
It's fairly self-explanatory, the pilot did not provide sufficient evidence to make it justifiable in the Sergeants mind to let him pass, the evidence provided to him in fact made the pilot's intentions seem suspicious; however Mr Jethro should have then waited for further instruction rather than making a dash for the core planets (so we assume).
As to the testimony by the civilian Douglas Palmer, we do not patrol Dublin space, the Sergeant in question was withdrawing his Special Response vessel to berth at Durham border station after a large battle with the Kusari navy and the group known as The Indians. He was hailed by an individual who informed him of a possible smuggler.
Rather than let the vessel escape into Tau 31 and beyond whilst waiting for a CCD ship to arrive, Sergeant Nathan was proactive and prevented the ships departure using what he happened to be flying at the time.
Need I remind you Mr Palmer, that resources are stretched thinly, the SRD have an increasingly important task to do, and no Bretonia Armed Forces bombers were available for the confrontation with the KNF, so we stepped in to help.
Your accusation of corruption with The Hub is puzzling, however I can assure you that fuel consumption is not directly linked with corruption. I have overseen the refit of the Challengers with modified engines for increased efficiency (due to the large amounts of unnecessary coolant flush in the starter engine), also I finished my fuel recycler design and installed those too making the SRD Challengers much more fuel efficient, especially at start-up.
Might I point out that shifting the SRD ship was necessary as it was being repaired on The Derby and just leaving it there would have been unnecessarily inconveniencing the docking crew by filling up hangar space; we also like to keep our ships close to home where pilots can access them.
Unfortunately the CCD vessels have not received any attention in the engine department and they would undoubtedly create more fuel wastage having to start, leave the atmosphere and fly to the vessel (which would have escaped) than having a craft already in the air re-route to investigate a situation.
Though I hardly see how fuel consumption impacts on this case, I hope that this has cleared some things up.
I am afraid this has hardly clarified anything, but merely confirms that a SRD vessel assaulted an innocent vessel based on 'speculation' and conjecture. No, this opportunistic officer saw a gold shipment, and instead of waiting for the appropriate authorities to arrive, took matters into his own hands and acted as judge, jury and executioner.
I have to question what kind of authourity allowed this pilot to pass the AFO process in the first place. He is obviously ill trained, and far too ready to resort to his guns.
Mister Lawson has conceded that the best thing for Sgt. Hone to have done was to escort the vessel to New London. You, Madam, said he should have waited for the CCD, your former Commissioner Mr. Palmer has stated that this officer was acting outside of his mandate...
Given that all three of you AGREE that this officer acted out of turn, I again demand that disciplinary actions be taken! There remains no EVIDENCE of any smuggling on the part of my client, on the contrary, none exists. No, I fear what we are witnessing is a deliberate and institutionalized bias against the IND here, you suspect us of something, but with no proof you have decided to condemn the whole organization.
It is, frankly, illegal behaviour on your part to assualt legitimate cargo transports in this fashion.
Incoming Transmission
Comm ID: Nicholas Barnes
Origin: New London
With the involvement of the Royal Courts, this is now an official legal matter, and all logs, past, present, and future will be logged in our systems.
I will give a quick overview on the current case, as I understand it, to make sure we all, including myself, have a clear understanding of the claims, charges, and evidence.
Sergeant Hone, on a Special Response Division bomber, was notified of an IND transport with a large quantity of gold in its hold, heading for the Edinburgh system. Sergeant Hone attempted to catch him in Edinburgh. Sergeant Hone told the vessel to move to Planet Gaia for inspection. The IND vessel did not, and was found by Sergeant Hone at the Tau-31 jump hole. (Evidence #01) The IND vessel, piloted by Otis Jethro, answered the request for destination with the Colonial Republic. [color=#FF9900](Evidence #02)
Sgt. Hone notified Mr. Jethro that transporting goods through the Taus required a license (Note: Exceptions of IMG and Zoner vessels carrying goods to their respective Tau stations), and asked if Mr. Jethro possessed one. Mr. Jethro claimed he did. [color=#FF9900](Evidence #02) Shortly thereafter, Mr. Jethro claimed that no such license or law existed, and as such he didn't need a license for carrying goods into the Taus from Bretonia space. [color=#FF9900](Evidence #03) Bretonia does, in fact, require corporations to be approved prior to entering Tau-31, by the Crown, as noted in the Charter of Intersteller Law. (See: Bretonian Charter of Intersteller Law, Section; Trade and Cargo, Subsection; Cargo Transported to the Tau Systems, first passage, second sentence.)
Witness testimony says the IND claimed to make two thousand credits profit from each unit of gold he carried. [color=#FF9900](Evidence #04) Minato Harbor's registered payment for gold shipments is at 1,841c. Graves Station sells gold publicly at 400c. This is a profit of 1,441c per unit, a rather large distance from 2,000c, and not easily mistaken, nor rounded, to that value. Planet Honshu and Osaka Storage, according to publicly available gold payments, is at 2,502c and 2,451c respectively. This is a profit of 2,102c and 2,041c respectively, which seems to correspond with the IND trader's claims of profit. Sergeant Hone, acting on this information, concluded the IND was taking this gold to Kusari. Sergeant Hone, based on this information, took the stance that the IND was lying about his destination, which, by Bretonian law, designates him as an enemy of the crown. (See: Bretonian Charter of Intersteller Law, Section; Trade and Cargo, Subsection; Cargo Transported to the Tau Systems, last passage, last sentence.)
Mr. Jethro acquiesced and started heading towards the Leeds gate, and by his testimony, was heading to New London. Sergeant Hone demanded he cease movement, which is standard procedure for all law enforcement vessels dealing with suspected or known smugglers. Sergeant Hone gave repeated orders for the IND vessel "Jethro's Jewels" to cease movement, or he would open fire. [color=#FF9900](Evidence #05) Mr. Jethro refused to comply, so Sergeant Hone opened fire on his vessel and gave one last warning for him to stop. This demand was ignored and Sergeant Hone destroyed the ship. [color=#FF9900](Evidence #06)
In the course of refusing to comply with a police order, Mr. Jethro stated "Please destroy my ship, it will only give my report more weight." [color=#FF9900](Evidence #07)
Mr. Riche, legal counsel on behalf of Mr. Jethro and the Independent Neuralnet Division, claims Sergeant Hone was using improper equipment in the course of this event, notably a Special Response Division Challenger-class Bomber. Testimony by former Commissioner Palmer is that instructions he gave to the SRD were different from their current use. It has been noted by current Commissioner Silsbury that Challenger engines, after getting past the prototype stage and now being mass manufactured, have had extensive renovations and use far less fuel than their first designs. It is also to note that the current war against Kusari has reached a stalemate, with neither side gaining ground, and that trade with Liberty and Rheinland has risen sharply in the aftermath of the Curacao and Omega treaties, allowing more fuel, such as Rheinland's MOX, to supplement that which is produced by LD-14 in Leeds.
This allows the use of Challenger bombers to a greater extent and range. This point is moot, however, considering the SRD craft was not being utilized specifically to track smugglers from Dublin, even though their charter allows it, and the gold aboard the Jethro's Jewels originated from Dublin, meaning their mandate covers the use of SRD craft in the current situation. The SRD pilot, Sergeant Hone, was contacted in the midst of his relocating to a new position after a battle, and acting on that information, went to find the suspected smuggler in the absence of other police forces, which is also action covered by their mandate as appropriate use of SRD material. (See: Bretonia Police Authority Charter, Section; Organization, Subsection; Special Response Division)
These are the facts according to the currently available evidence.
Regardless of the destination of Mr. Jethro's shipment, it is my stance, based on this evidence, that he broke a written and documented law prohibiting unapproved corporate and unaffiliated transports from taking any goods from Bretonian space to the Taus, as noted in the Bretonian Charter of Intersteller Law. After being caught doing so, and informed this act was illegal, Mr. Jethro refused to comply to a police order to relocate to Planet Gaia for inspection, lied to the police about his possession of a license, then refused to comply to several demands for him to halt his vessel, which were responded to by appropriate police action to destroy his vessel on suspicion of smuggling and proven refusal to obey police orders during the course of an investigation.