I have to assume you've been keeping a watchful eye on current events. Wouldn't be very good at your job if you haven't.
Figured you ought to hear it be said bluntly at least once. But this entire thing about Erie? You're next. All the little pieces Liberty would need to arrange this are already in place. It's just a matter of whether you and I want to be honest about why the Yellowstone's in orbit of Yuma.
Personally, I can only hope your peers are the cynical sort and are accounting for this eventuality.
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
I never fully trusted the ship being there to begin with, really, though even I have my doubts that another Erie is the only reason it's there. Some legitimacy is needed for subversion to work, after all. Still, I can assure you the Military has had contingency plans in place since the ship arrived, and I'm fairly certain Erie allowed for adjustments to be made given the widespread coverage of the action in orbit.
It's just a bit shaky, since I'm sure those Zoners were giddy or high as hell.
Safe to say they won't find any easy excuse like they thought they had with Erie, either, but I'm sure the LSF will be game to try it anyway. Just hope they don't get any ideas with another satellite.
Your Government doesn't appear to understand the importance of independence. I can see no concerted effort to even try and secure leverage against either of the Great Houses that pincer you. Are you so determined to remain a watered down vassal doomed to circle the drain and die? To consign your individuality for promises of safety and prosperity? You gain nothing - you have gained nothing - you will gain nothing.
In the colonies we know you for your reputation of being easily bought out, swayed into complacency, and your storied history of failure.
You keep with tradition well, if nothing else.
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
We are launching a counter-offensive into Inverness.
Consider this heads-up a final favor, especially in light of the fact that our primary targets will be any and all ships associated with the Technocracy.
I think mutual ignorance might do us both good. Let the LSF take the heat if they're so inclined but keep your people out of our way as far as possible.
The freedom of the Independent Worlds is at stake.
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
To: Alliance Commander "Cobra" From: Agent S Encryption:Judge
Alliance Commander Cobra, Agent Verniers has been elsewhere. I am Agent S of the CIS, I've been investigating interests in Inverness for some time now. I'll be sure to inform the Crayter High Command of the Xeno Alliances attack.
That's quite the heads-up, I'd describe that as a declaration of war on the Technocracy of Auxo. Though I doubt you'll be declaring anything, getting straight to the point with a gun seems to be your way. I won't question your methods but what has the Technocracy done to anger the Xeno Alliance to war? Or is this not war but merely pest control while we crush the nest?
As for the LSF, they are stuck until they get themselves out. There is a whole system of peoples who are spiteful with Liberty in-between them and any semblance of safety. Whatever they've been investigating about out there, I want to know what they found that could have gotten Auxo into such a fury. So I need at least those LSF ships databanks intact. Anything else is up to chance.
This is a war, one we declared quite some time ago.
The motivation for why is at this point a pointless focus for us to exchange words on. So I'm going to focus on what actually matters for the next few minutes. I'll admit I'm a little surprised that you're asking me to perform postmortems on LSF ships to get you answers.
It's a definite change in the approach I'm used to from your side of the fence.
It almost makes me wonder if the idea that one day we might be Republics that stand together. Stewards of the Independent Worlds to keep bickering Houses at bay, and to thwart the schemes of more insidious foes such as the Technocracy.
But until this becomes a more consistent trend, I'm going to view such a grand picture as being little more than a pipe dream.
What can I expect in terms of reasonable cooperation for now, agent?
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
I never wanted to reopen this channel. And truth be told there was no real way to even do that before. The sector's biggest laser pointer was frying all our relays so bad that I would have had better luck communicating with you through smoke signals.
But you've got everyone on Barrier Gate talking about how you've gone and done it now.
And what you've done is either very brave, or very foolish. It also begs the question.
To: Alliance Commander "Cobra" From: Agent S Encryption:Judge
Alliance Commander Cobra,
Yes, very mysterious in what you mean as always Cobra. Funny you mention a giant laser. Because we just had a giant laser hit one of Sierras frakking moons, frying our relays over here! The smoke signals might have worked better!
How'd the laser come by your group to do such damage, and can it happen again? Another occurrence of this phenomena would seem to pose a threat to the foundations of both of our institutions. On top of the threats posed by the cesspit of Inverness.
The technocracy has been mostly quiet since the last incident, but there has been a surge of alien activity across the independent worlds since then. I'm sure you've notice it too. Efferts to contain it has been deemed necessary.
I'll return the question, what now?
While I appreciate everything your countrymen did to bail out the Atum, I think you made a glaring mistake by doing it so visibly - and without any room for plausible deniability. International politics is always about finding the easiest virtue to signal, which in this case means pretending that none of the other “Great” Houses sponsor terrorism.
I understand why you did it, and I can even respect it. It’s the first time I’ve seen your Republic exercise real agency - making a choice that aligns with neither of your so-called “friends” on either side of the border. But they’ll make you pay for it one way or another. That’s always how the story goes. And I’m personally sick of it.
Yes, alien activity spiked, coinciding with the giant beam I mentioned earlier. Now that the beam has “shut off” on our end, that activity has plummeted - as if it simply moved on, following the beam’s trajectory to your side of the fence. Despite this lull, however, there’s been a constant stream of unidentified ships raiding our territory with no discernible motive.
Certain benefactors tell me these scattered, utterly erratic agents of chaos are thralls - slaves to the creatures that shifted their focus elsewhere, but who still want to ensure we don’t recover from the recent battle too quickly.
It’s clear to me that both our Republics must survive if the Independent Worlds are to retain even a semblance of autonomy. The real danger is the ever-present threat of Great House hegemony - especially if they grow desperate enough to form alliances of convenience in pursuit of conquest. These arrangements never last; they always collapse under mutual distrust and the ambitions of men who dream of ruling everything. Still, I doubt any of us want to live under subjugation while they run their course.
I’m willing to do whatever it takes to avert that outcome. There will be a time and place for my successors to put on a civilized face and play the familiar games of intrigue and negotiation. But this era? With the cards we’ve been dealt? It’s do or die - and I intend to do.
You need to pressure the other powers before they can muster the collective political will for the next grand, sector-spanning scheme. Off the top of my head, there’s plenty your leadership could say about Erie - after all, those people quite literally had the sky stolen from them by an army of jackboots funded by oligarchs.
Before long, they’ll be deep in your affairs, telling you how to run the show - because Jericho is now a burning world that’s set space itself on fire. And we wouldn’t want our children to grow up and think we were cowards, would we?
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
To: Alliance Commander "Cobra" From: Agent S Encryption:Judge
Alliance Commander Cobra,
The Atum was going to be seen whether the Crayter Republic walked them in on a red carpet and praised as a golden bull or not. The Atum is in a dire situation. Both in conditional operationality, and situationally. It'll need to sit still to repair and become of any use. The Atum barely made it to the dry docks of Sabah and majority of heavy escorts nocked into critical condition including the prototype battlecruiser LNS-Akhetaten. Who is sitting next to the Atum in dry dock. Can you imagine a more awkward meet n greet?
The LSF left after what happened in Inverness and the LNS-Tuscaloosa returned to Liberty.
Whatever LSF that remained operating in Coronado where gone in the blast when the Jericho Burst hit our system. They were with a cruiser where the husk was retrieved with all operating systems fried. Independent spacecrafts so close to Jericho didn't stand a chance against the Burst. The remaining Liberty Naval influences is a contingent of the 46th fleet supposedly operating independently of normal naval command and are with the Crayter Republic admiralty for the time being. Liberty is the one who holds plausible deniability. They have grander opponents to be looking at with the Empire of Kusari. Perhaps trying to vet their men through lighter conflicts before aggression peaks again and before lines are drawn.
It's no secret anymore things between the great houses will escalate. We've finally ended Liberty's direct occupation with the LNS-Yellowstone a year ago and they will be drawn out the door by more fascinating things or squeezed out by unfortunate happenings. It's been assessed if Liberty might seize the barrier pass, which has become turbulent and unstable after the jericho burst. Making it unsuitable for mainlining travel into possible kusari territory.
As for external threats to the crayter republic, the Gallic Union is of much higher concern for us than liberty. They have been making aggressive declarations and will likely make a move in the Taus soon.
![[Image: Lc48rCo.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Lc48rCo.png)
![[Image: 2NPuoLa.png?1]](https://i.imgur.com/2NPuoLa.png?1)
![[Image: g3e7Byz.png]](https://i.imgur.com/g3e7Byz.png)
![[Image: GAy6bGA.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/GAy6bGA.gif)
![[Image: 642ZUm4.png]](https://i.imgur.com/642ZUm4.png)
![[Image: 6405f0ef62c9e18bd7d44cde0e8bf63e.jpg]](https://i.gyazo.com/6405f0ef62c9e18bd7d44cde0e8bf63e.jpg)