To: Comandante Luke Orsini | The Contari Lance High Command [Highly Encrypted]

[Squad]

Estimados señores of the Familia High Command,

A few days past, I had the distinct privilege of meeting with Monsieur d’Antoine, the leader of our proven friends, the Commonwealth. After an exchange of the pleasantries they are quite known for, Monsieur d’Antoine proposed a most interesting plan for distributing our commodities throughout Gallia. Given the continually shifting political environment of Tau-37, I believe its clandestine nature will greatly benefit Lance operations in the Taus and help the Commonwealth maintain their “independence” and flexibility with other organizations.

The Commonwealth proposes to share their knowledge of Gallic patrols in the Orkney system. Though unfriendly with the Gallic Navy, the Gauls pay them little attention as most of their forces are engaged elsewhere. They have offered to “distract” patrols tasked with guarding the jump hole into Gallic space by reporting a smuggling vessel on civilian frequencies and sacrificing a ship within the minefield to give the appearance of an unintended “wreck.” Meanwhile, they have agreed to task a group of trusted associates to transport the true shipments of cardamine through Omicron Alpha and into Gallia via Lorraine. I am more than willing to oversee this operation in Alpha and even into Lorraine myself in one of my personal craft. The plan hinges on the fact that Gallia’s borders are vast, and the Gauls’ habit of concentrating forces in areas of incident, shall we say, will keep their eyes from Lorraine whilst Orkney appears to be the smugglers’ gateway.

Politically, operating through an intermediary and via Maltese space distances the Commonwealth from any stigma associated the smuggling activities themselves. The Independent Miners Guild and the Colonial Republic will also lack knowledge of these activities – the most they will see is the occasional group of Commonwealth ships transporting goods of their choice through Tau-23 and into Orkney from Freeport 10. By maintaining the appearance of propriety, their willingness to help Malta spread her influence into Gallia will not threaten to disrupt their current inter-organizational relationships.

I welcome the opportunity to hear concerns or suggestions regarding this operation, and I hope a proper deal may be approved shortly. The Commonwealth are eager to begin a more in-depth relationship with the Lance, and they have been very generous in my interactions with them thus far. We both eagerly await the Familia’s decision.

Para la gloria de la Nación

Mansel Alcantra

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[Luke.]

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Signore Alcantra,

I must say, you're an independent man with great initiative. Coupled with the brains of the quirky Commonwealth organisation, it makes for a big spark that can lead to huge things, most of which for our benefit. So first of all, grazie.

This proposal is big and furthermore very ambitious. However, as long as we have the intel what kind of defence the Gauls can throw at us, I see no reason to halt this operation before it has begun. We have the numbers and our pilots the skills to carry this out effectively. Though experimental at first due to our lack of knowledge of Gallia's..."layout" if you will, once such knowledge is gained I believe this will be of a large benefit to the Cardamine market and Gallia's business as a whole. So perhaps some reconnaissance prior to giving it the go-ahead?

Once the aforementioned concern has been dealt with, I will entrust you with finalising these operations alongside signore d'Autoine but I, alongside my close associates, will be overlooking them. As i'm sure you realise, failure is not an option. If any of the Commonwealth have any further questions, tell them to direct them to Contari High Command. Pass on my appreciation for their efforts while you're at it.

Grazie per il vostro tempo
Comandante Luke Orsini-Contari

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[Squad]

Comandante Orsini,

Muy señor mío, after several weeks of consideration and gathering resources, I formally recommend adopting the Commonwealth’s proposal. Several of my contacts operating out of Kirkwall in Orkney have assembled a detailed chart of Gallic patrol movements throughout the system. Given the substantial amount of time they have invested in their intelligence-gathering activities, I have great faith that this represents the most complete picture we can gather of enemy patrol and deployment operations. What’s more, this information matches perfectly with the bits of similar intelligence the Commonwealth has shared with the Lance up to this point. I believe this shows their trustworthiness and commitment to our proposed operation.

Kirkwall will be relaying their findings shortly to Malta for the High Command’s review. In the meantime, I will be doing a bit of my own intelligence gathering on this side of Gallic space – namely, we must know the routes, timing, and speed between Orkney and Lorraine via Malta as well as we do the Gallic patrols in Orkney itself. This information is, all-in-all, secondary to green-lighting operations, but the Lance should be apprised of all available information whenever possible.

Para la gloria de la Nación

Mansel Alcantra

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