To: Phoenix Zoner Administration From: Friedrich Kruger, Unioner Diplomatic Ambassador Subject: Foundations of Cooperation & Request for Shipment
Guten Tag, Freunde Phoenix,
Allow me to speak plainly and without ornament:
Your willingness to deliver cargo to us is welcome more welcome than you may realize.
The Unioners are a people of shipwrights and engineers.
Our drydocks on Pacifica operate day and night, fed by whatever materials we can gather or wrestle from the gaps in Rheinland’s economy. The Omicron regions are rich in resources, yet harsh and unforgiving. If the Phoenix are willing to supply us, we have no shortage of demand, and every shipment would be put to use in construction, refitting, and furthering the productivity of our people.
I will state this clearly, so that no words are twisted by outsiders:
Whatever occurs in Omicron Theta does not diminish the respect the Unioners hold for the Phoenix,
so long as our cooperation remains founded on honesty and mutual regard.
We will not throw our allies or our trade partners under the reactor coils to gain favor with anyone.
Our relationships are based on conduct — not on the shifting politics of hostile space.
You and we share more than most realize.
The Unioners survived our earliest years because the Zoners of Freeport Two sheltered us.
We were fugitives, uprooted workers, hunted laborers with nothing left but our tools and our anger. The Zoners gave us station air to breathe. That gesture shaped an entire generation of Unioners.
In return, we stood with the Zoner Militants against the pirate incursion that endangered the Freeport.
We fought at their side, and though Liberty ultimately intervened and stole the station from all of us,
we did not stand idle. We remember those days with a mixture of pride and grief.
Even later, during the long exile of our leadership nearly a decade many Unioners found refuge, once more, in the Zoner movement. The hospitality of your people was not forgotten.
Not by us. Not by me.
Our very vessels reflect this connection.
The Arbeiter that so many Unioners fly today is based on Eagles we once purchased from the Zoners of Freeport Two. Your history is literally welded into our hulls.
Phoenix, too, are shipbuilders.
You have Livadia Shipyard, we have Pacifica Assembly.
Both of us are people who carve survival out of metal and vacuum.
There is a natural potential for cooperation, so long as mutual respect is maintained.
To begin this renewed partnership on stable ground, we request the following:
A shipment of Iridium Ore
Delivered at a location of your choosing, or directly to Pacifica if you prefer the discretion our station affords.
We will, of course, pay fairly and promptly.
If this is agreeable, inform us of the quantity available and the timeframe in which your transports can move.
Let us see if the old ties between Zoners and Unioners might once again carry both our peoples forward.
With respect, Friedrich Kruger
Unioner Diplomatic Ambassador
Transmission Ended
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)
If memory serves, a century ago you fought for a worthy cause. But with the Freeport 2 community dispersed across Sirius, reliable news has grown scarce and what does reach us is… concerning. We don’t claim to know the full story of your civil war, yet your stance on Theta suggests a degree of entanglement with the Corsairs—whom we oppose after the carnage at Freeport 9 and their relentless interference in Zoner affairs.
A word of caution: so long as you are useful to them, you may be spared Freeport 9’s fate—for now. Should they gain a foothold in Rheinland, however, expect to be cast aside. The Imperio does not share. And the artifact trade they dangle before people carries an obvious risk of spreading Nomad corruption.
That said, we won’t squander resources by treating every associate of theirs as an enemy. Our convoys will continue to transit Pacifica when deemed necessary. If you require iridium or deep-Omega materials, Athens and Sparta remain open to all. Save, of course, the barbarous Imperio and the genocidal aliens.
To: Jonathan Cayran, Phoenix Command From: Friedrich Krüger Subject: Re: Transit Permissions & Omicron Affairs
Herr Cayran,
You are correct about one thing above all else: The Freeport Two community scattered, but the memory of those days did not.
Our early survival was possible only because the Zoners of the time sheltered us, taught us, and trusted us in return.
During the crisis at Freeport Two, the Unioners stood beside Zoner militants not out of strategic interest, but gratitude.
That debt remains part of our institutional memory.
As for present politics in the Edge Worlds: The events of Omicron Theta are not our concern, nor our battleground.
We maintain no territorial ambitions and no stake in the ongoing hostilities there.
Our neutrality should not be mistaken for allegiance, nor our transit routes for ideological alignment.
The Syndicliga has no intention of inviting foreign wars into the Rheinland.
Your warning is understood, but unnecessary.
The Union survives because we choose our own path and because we remember the cost of trusting those who believe themselves conquerors.
Our diplomacy is measured, deliberate, and shaped by the lessons of generations.
With that said, your willingness to continue transit and trade is noted and appreciated.
The Omicrons remain rich in materials our shipyards can put to work, and Iridium shipments from Phoenix vessels would be welcome.
If your convoys require escorts or predictable offload schedules, we can coordinate them discreetly.
One final matter of curiosity:
What do you know of the Gammu and the artificial intelligences in the Kappa region?
During a deep Omega expedition, several of our own encountered Gammusian constructs.
Remarkably, and to our pilot’s credit, the interaction was peaceful and even communicative.
Their behavior suggested neither hostility nor Nomad influence, but we lack sufficient data to draw conclusions.
Any insight your people can share technical, historical, or experiential would be of value as we chart our future deep-reach operations.
Until then, Phoenix vessels remain welcome at Pacifica, as they always have been.
Mit Respekt, Friedrich Krüger
Unioner Diplomatic Ambassador
Syndicliga der Unioners
Transmission Ended
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)
![[Image: XTF1d6x.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XTF1d6x.png)
