~ Incoming Transmission from Planet New London (48.78.12.44.63.107.22.249) ~
~ Date: 10. April 819 ~
From: Jan Peters To: Bowex Administration Encryption: S/MIME+ Topic: Progress on supplying King's Cross Station
I'm happy to inform about progress on supplying King's Cross Station with the resources required for the Level 2 Core Upgrade. Among numerous Bowex employees performing traderuns from Lancester Trade Center to the base, I managed to transport little over 16000 of such Industrial Materials in four runs myself. While the supply of King's Cross Station seems to be making good progress, I'm happy to contribute wherever I can and I would be thankful for instructions on which resources need to be delivered in what quantities.
Also, when I returned from my second trade run, I saw a huge Outcast Battleship suddenly appear at the Cambridge jumpgate next to KCS. After initially struggling with his position in relation to the Kensington trade lane, he fired a single shot which looked like a Battle Razor, likely to test the station's defense systems, and as expected, the shields went up instantly. I'm unsure if the base suffered any damage from the attack, and god knows what the Battleship was doing in New London, but while it may not affect the Bowex directly, I didn't want to leave it unmentioned.
This message is intended as a personal log for Taylor McKinnis, CO BES - Daisy.
I don't know where to begin, really. This is all so new for me, and exciting! I've spent some time shaking out my newly purchased Percheron class transport, Daisy. She's a fine old gal, and me Grandmother and sister would be proud of their namesake. We're still getting acquainted, but I suspect it's a love story from the start.
There hasn't been much to report, besides the usual bugs in a new vessel. Oddly, some of those bugs turned out to be actual bugs. No one is sure how they came to stow away, but it seems there was a type of insect in our engine room, slowly picking away at some wiring. We tried everything we knew to rid the place of them, but nothing worked. We'd think they were all gone, then they'd be back, sure as rain. I even stopped in Leeds and purchased a type of mongoose famous for hunting these beetles, but to no avail. I know some of you boys like to keep cats, so I've decided to keep the Mongoose. He's called Sparky. He's a bit... twitchy, but I've grown fond of him. Anyway, we eventually just sealed the engine room and the adjacent corridor and fumigated the whole thing. So far, so good.
There was one item of note. We were cruising along in New London System. We'd just picked up as many passengers as we could fit, and were headed towards Scarborough Station. Many of the passengers were refugees, and I felt a mighty pity for each and every one. The amazing thing was our other passengers. These people reminded why I'm so damn proud to serve the Queen. Where others might have turned their nose up at the refugees, and felt quietly smug that they were doing better, our citizens stood up and made themselves useful. The entire first class accommodation was converted to a nursery, so the parents and adults could rest in peace. Some of the passengers tended the children while others helped as best they could. It was a sight to make your heart sing. By the time we were underway, I was in the best mood I can remember.
We made the jump through the first Trade Route in New London in perfect order. I wasn't even expecting trouble, to tell the truth. Leeds System has posed a far greater threat recently. Just as I turned from the controls to refill my tea, the ship shuttered violently. One of the accelerator rings had been sabotaged, and we were at a full stop between it and the next in line. Expecting an attack, I quickly scanned the space around us. I was not disappointed, of course. It seems some bloody Corsairs had taken the accelerator ring down, and were intending to do the same to me! Knowing I had few options (given the amount of human life in my hands) I hailed the lead ship, ready to pay some ridiculous ransom for our safety. Without bothering to respond, he opened fire. Seeing no other options, I began moving at thruster speed towards the next active accelerator ring. Returning fire, I was very quickly impressed by Daisy's teeth. Grandmother would be especially proud the old gal can slug back. One of the small fighters was down nearly immediately, leaving only two left to harass me as I made my way towards the relative safety of the Trade Route. Firing desperately, and losing shield integrity by the moment, my turrets found home once more. The last fighter seemed to decide that they had indeed bitten off more than they could chew, and scurried away.
We've now made it to Scarborough Station, and a grateful load of passengers have made their way onto the station. I hope they find the new life they're looking for, or whatever happiness there is in this world. I've found mine, and they should be so lucky.
We're bound for New London once more. I hear the shipyard there needs alloy, and I happen to have aquired some at a bargain price.
~ Incoming Transmission from [Space near King's Cross Station] (105.8.43.52.52.120.117.64) ~
~ Date: 12. April 819 A.S. ~
From: Jan Peters To: Bowex Administration Encryption: S/MIME+ Topic: Report and issues
I'm sending this transmission to report a couple of issues I've been confronted with, as well as to provide a little update on my recent activity in general. To get to the important things straight away, I will start out with the former.
I'm happy to hear my application to Bowex has been acknowledged and is being reviewed. Surprised and equally pleased about the quick personal transmission I received in response, I immediately followed the request to provide my Skype protocol contact details. I do by no means intend to cause any stress, but the lack of responses both on my personal channel and the skype protocol channel - even after sending a second personal transmission the day after -, as well as the lack of any entries in my "sent transmissions" folder has left me with the strong suspicion that both transmissions never actually arrived where they should have. Consequently, I will use this opportunity to inform you about my contact details.
Skype: redon_
11. April 819 A.S.
In the mean time, I've been busy supplying King's Cross with essential goods and materials for the core upgrade. Yesterday, I was greeted with a warm welcome by the roughly 200 employees stationed on King's Cross as I shipped in a delivery from Planet New London, containing 2000 units of food and water respectively. They sure seemed hungry! After a nice talk with local engineers, I decided to do a second run as I started my engines and began the undocking process, this time bringing in 1000 units of Oxygen and 3000 units of Basic Alloy. I hope this will keep them provided for a while.
Later that day, I met up with several Bowex employees and offered them my help, and we departed for the Stokes mining field shortly after. I watched the BMM miner work diligently, as the captain of the BES Farset got us a nice deal of 3500 credits per unit for the Niobium Ore that was slowly filling up our cargo space.
Not only once, but two times our work was disrupted by pilots of the Gallic Royal Navy. While through cooperation, we managed to defend ourselves fairly well against the fighter and watched him run off with heavily damaged engines, a short while after, we docked on Stokes as quickly as possible when we discovered a cruiser of the GRN approaching the asteroid field.
As the attacker was dealt with by our escort, several other Bretonians and eventually one of our traders, the BMM miner and myself continued our work and filled up the last cargo. With heavy losses, the brave defenders finally managed to destroy the cruiser. I heard one of them getting angry at the BAF over the comm, for not deploying any battleships. Either way, I'm glad it all turned out alright, and we were able to enter our convoy formation shortly after.
Surprisingly, the flight to our destination went off without a hitch. We sold the cargo at Planet New Berlin, and proceeded to Munich to meet up with a Daumann contact. After the mining employee finished loading up our cargo with Aluminum Ore in a much more peaceful seeming asteroid field, we prepared for another journey through the dangerous Omega systems. We made it up to Aland in Omega 3 without interruptions, when our ExSec escort Kiriko Hidamari reported contact with a hostile bomber at Freeport 1. While she tried to keep him busy with conversation, all of our transports managed to arrive at the Cambridge jumpgate safely, making a detour with a safe distance to Freeport 1.
Finally arriving at Stokes a while later, we sold our Ore for a good price, paid our spirited escort a well-deserved reward and flew back to the New London System. Saying goodbye to BES Farset, BES Miranda and Kiriko Hidamari after congratulating each other on the successful trip, I decided to call it a day and return to my home on Planet New London.
12. April 819 A.S.
Today, after finishing some work on my homeplanet, I was excited to supply King's Cross with yet another delivery of 1000 units of food and water along with 2000 units of basic alloy. I was greeted nicely as always, and I had a little talk with the local manager in charge of looking after the base, who pointed out to me that they had more demand for resources such as Optronics, Polymers or Ship Hull Panels than for basic alloy. After enjoying a lunchmeal at the bar of King's Cross Station, I decided to head towards Leeds with some Basic Alloy for personal profit, and use the run to bring along some supplies on the way back.
As I arrived at Stokes to pick up a delivery of Ship Hull Panels, I encountered a rather unfriendly welcoming party, organised by a (//NPC!) cruiser, two gunboats and two fighters of the Gallic Royal Navy. I recognized the opportunity to test my new type 4 turret equipment I had acquired earlier, and assisted Stokes in taking all of them out within minutes, before taking 2000 Ship Hull Panels back to King's Cross.
Later that day, while bringing some consumer goods to Douglas station in Omega 3 and the plan to supply the base with Polymers from Douglas on the way back, I encountered the BES Stirling in Cambridge, and I decided to unload my consumer goods at Freeport 1 instead and join the Bowex employee on his way to Rheinland. Though I wasn't involved in any mining activities, and filled my cargo with light arms from the Ring at New Berlin instead, I joined in on the Bowex escort back to Bretonia. Most of it took its course without issues, despite our convoy being quite tensed up because of recent sightings of pirates in the very same systems. Entering the Omega 3 system, our ExSec escort did run into trouble. After a talk with a threatening Corsair gunboat and a credit transfer of 4 millions, financed by the BES Miranda, he ran off and we were able to arrive in Bretonia without getting our convoy in a fight.
Issue regarding King's Cross Station
However, I was quite puzzled at an oberservation I made, entering New London. The King's Cross Station which I had supplied with goods just hours before was now hostile towards me, and refused to grant me docking rights. While I absolutely understand that as a still unofficial Bowex trader, I do not have a right or demands for access to the station, the hostile approach seems a little over the top to me. I'm in best hope that this issue will be resolved soon.
*Incoming transmission*
*To Bowex Corp. from Andrew Husker*
*This is a recorded message*
*Message plays:*
Greetings to the brothers and sisters in the Bowex Corp. who are working hard at this very moment and keeping the heart and soul of Bretonia alive.
The reason why I "compose" this is to tell you that I am moving from the shipping division to the ex/sec.
Because these resent days our convoys were under constant attacks and threat. Our escorts face the bulk of this aggression and while they are all experienced fighter-pilots they always face overwhelming odds and I end up sitting in my Shire and doing nothing.
Truth is that I'll never be settled down in a big transport and ordering people around. It's time I do something about it. It's time to let money aside and fight again for what is right. These pilots need our support and they need every help they can get.
As for my previous fighter-pilot experience, I missed to tell in my application that I was one a member of the organization know as The Order. But this is information I share only with people who I trust.
I only mentioned to my friends from Bowex, but it's much more complicated then that.
When I was younger I applied for military training in the Armed Forces, but before I could finish and take the oath I got the "calling".
The Order offered me to fight the threat of the Nomads and by doing so I would have protected not only Bretonia, but all of Sirius. More then I can protect from the cockpit as an Armed Forces pilot.
Those days I've witness allot of good people die or sacrifice everything for their ideals and loved ones. But like all wars... This one was brutal and the it reached it's boiling points.
The last battle with the Bounty Hunter's Core and The Order over Toledo. It turned brutal for both sides and both lost so much and now...
The Order is no more. Only a shadow of what it once were.
It was in that day I got shot down and left to draft in space while the battle enraged all over the sector.
From there it's mostly flashes as I remember waking in the New London hospital.
I was lucky to be alive.
Many of my friends who I knew from The Order didn't had the same luck and the ones who survive had to flee, leaving The Order.
I spent my days thinking and taking it easy, but also realizing how much the Core worlds had changed since I was away. But I was glad I was finally home. Got even contacted from my brother Jacob who is now in Liberty.
But enough about that. All I ask now is that I get the trust of my fellow Bowex and show that Bretonia is going to reach a Golden Age again. With the help of such good people as the fellows in the Bretonia Police, Armed Forces and Bowex Corp...
*Message Ends*
Hello! Duncan Moreland here with my first shipment report in quite a while. Since my return to Bowex, I was informed that another trade captain was in use of my old vessel, my Shetland class BES Wolfe. While I was relatively <strike>overjoyed</strike> upset that the gigantic impossible to maneuver vessel which I had once <strike>hated</strike> loved during my previous term as an employee was in use by another, I was happy to discover that the old Shetland was renamed by it's new captain, leaving the name Wolfe available for my new ship.
I was given command of an unmanned Percheron that was being stored on Scarborough, which was previously named the BES York. Obviously, the BES Wolfe is a much better name for such a fierce and formidable vessel, and it has been entered in the ship registry with it's new name. While the Wolfe is in operating condition, it's equipment could do with some upgrading, both the scanner module and countermeasure dropper are outdated and rather ineffective, and that could be the difference between a successful shipment and a failed shipment, as such I would like three million credits put forward to upgrading the outdated equipment.
With the newly christened BES Wolfe under my command, I began my first shipment. While I've no evidence of the start of the shipment, I believe the quartermaster of King's Cross should have logs of the cargo I've picked up. I departed from King's Cross with 2400 units of unrefined beryllium ore. The beryllium was delivered to one of our clients on Pittsburgh and I left with a shipment of boron. Evidence of the boron making it's way back to Scarborough can be seen below.
This is Duncan Moreland, signing off.
User was banned for: Unacceptable behavior
Time left: (Permanent)
:::::Incoming transmission:::::
:::::Communications link with BES Rutherford: active:::::
:::::Audio link active:::::
:::::Video link active:::::
Good to see you back in action Duncan.
Sad to hear you couldn't take command of your previous vessel, but it is nice to hear you were able to take command of a spare Percheron. Here's hoping my boys at Scarbs gave it to you in good knick.
Anyways, nice to see you back.
Keep up the good work.
Let us know if you needing any help.
- Stew Wolfe
:::::Video link closed:::::
:::::Audio link closed:::::
Communications link with BES Rutherford: closed:::::
:::::Transmission ended:::::
Posts: 6,548
Threads: 360
Joined: Aug 2007
Staff roles: Story Dev Economy Dev
To: All Trade Combine personnel. From: Andrew Peterson, Trade Manager. RE: Rheinland.
Right chaps, I've got some bad news. Rheinland appears to have tanked its stock market by annoying Interspace Commerce. Something about some ill tempered Hessians, a Rheinlandic politician and a hunk of metal. All sounds rather sordid to me. In any case, their finances are going haywire as people panic buy and attempt to withdraw their savings, as the nervous are wont to do.
As the situation stands, it's not the sort of environment the Board wants us operating in. We'll be staying out until the market settles and finds a bit of stability. Hopefully our contract prices will return to normal levels at that point. It simply isn't as profitable as it was to work there now. Consequently, we'll be transferring the bulk of our Rheinland fleet to Liberty for the duration of the troubles.
Line managers can give further details as they are made available. Contact your supervisors for additional clarifications. HQ is suggesting employees invest in new routes aimed at our central allies, with a focus on minerals such as Beryllium and Niobium. Both are good sales out there. So, to clarify: flights to Rheinland are temporarily suspended, save with a manager's explicit permission.
~ Incoming Transmission from King's Cross Station, New London (42.102.32.51.214.28.91.9) ~
~ Date: 20. April 819 A.S. ~
From: Jan Peters To: Bowex Management Subject: Munitions for defense module
Last night, I received a hint from a hard-bitten trader in a bar on Planet New London. After refusing to tell me more about the munitions deal he had been bragging about, I finally got him to spit out some information under the influence of a few more drinks. Today, after completing a gold ore trade to New Berlin, I returned to King's Cross, granted myself a coffee break and talked to a few people here and there. When I learned that the managers and traders had difficulty trying to find munitions for a new base module, I decided to go after the hint I had received the day before ' for the sake of King's Cross.
The description he had given me led me through a series of systems past Newcastle into what appeared to be the homesystem of 'the Council', a strange gallic resistance group. Although I have a certain animosity against everyone coming from Gallia, those council folks did seem like a fairly nice bunch compared to the sneaky pigs from the Royal Navy! I didn't get shot at, or even insulted! Instead, they welcomed me as a guest, which still gets me thinking now, I must admit. I managed to negotiate a deal with them, and they supplied me with a cargo full of munitions! 4000 units it was, to be exact.
After a painful experience with my autopilot's inability to tell the difference between open space and a minefield, and turning a quite inexperienced Corsair's attempt to rob me for 10 million credits as well as all of my cargo into the worst day of his life, I finally arrived back at King's Cross. After initial complications with the commodity restrictions, they gladly accepted the munitions I had brought. You should have seen the cargo manager's surprised face! While I realize that this can be considered quite a shady deal, I think it's possibly the best opportunity we have, considering the alternative: buying it directly from our greatest enemies, the gauls. Should you agree with this point of view, I will gladly continue to supply the base with munitions until the module has been completed. Otherwise, I will stop the expeditions to Roussilon and leave the provision of munitions up to you.
After discussing this with Mr Peterson, I have suggested that we perhaps send a Scout to the Roussillon system.
We have information from the BAF Admiralty that there is a Jump Hole in the Newcastle system located on the lines of Grid G1 and G2
The Jump Hole is rather close to a BAF secure installation; so you will be required to sign the Official Secrets Act and talk to no one but myself, Mr Peterson or Mr Webber about this.
If you are challenged by any BAF fighters you are to tell them to contact Commodore Charles Davis to verify your mission.
Please avoid contact with any other traffic and especially the Gallic Royal Navy. If you do encounter any GRN you are authorised to defend yourself and prevent them from relaying your location to their fleet HQ.
When you enter the Roussillion system, locate the Battleship Pamiers, this is the Councils HQ.
If you deem the situation to be safe then approach the Pamiers and identify yourself as an Envoy from Bowex and you wish to meet with Gustave Mazuret
Inform the General of our intentions to bring a Convoy to the system with Alloys in exchange for the Munitions.
Following your meeting (if indeed you have one) either return through the Jump Hole or attempt to find another way back to New London, if possible. This is at your discretion, we do not want you to endanger yourself and risk detection by the GRN.
I wish you the very best of luck and remember this mission is classified as Top Secret.
::Connected:: *Cly lit up on the table next to Kiriko as they sat in the canteen on Kings Cross station. Kiriko looked over, Cly had lit up but didn't say anything, which was unusual. Kiriko waited for a few moments yet her friend remained silent, eventually peaking with curiosity Kiriko spoke a little concerned* Cly? is something wrong? *for a few more seconds Cly didn't respond until it had finally dealt with all the precautionary measured attached to the message* ::No, nothing is wrong, we have received a priority message from Mr James Barnes, it was heavily encrypted:: *Kiriko raised her eyebrows a little and looked around, bringing herself lower to the table, whispering to Cly*Barnes-sama sent us a message? what does it say?*an exclamation mark was shown briefly on the screen* ::please lets return to the ship, strict privacy is required for playback:: *Kiriko felt a little nervous at that, she looked around cautiously and nodded, standing up and picking Cly up too* Oh.. alright, lets get back then.. *Kiriko shivered a little and felt butterflys in her stomach, wondering what could be in the message, she walked quickly through the station, taking the stairs instead of the lift despite Cly's objection, eventually arriving in the hangar*
*Kiriko rubbed her arms together, the hangar bays were always colder than she remembered, walking fast enough to almost be considered a half run Kiriko and Cly arrived at the Clytemnestra. The Hussar opened as they approached, Kiriko pushed the Clymini into its slot in the hussar and then climbed up to the cockpit carefully. She shivered again rubbing her arms together, her breath clearly visible in the cold air* Cly.. close now, im inside *The hussar closed and sealed, the temperature soon becoming warm and cosy, the sound of the hangar also blocked out completely, Cly appeared on the screen to Kiriko's left*
::decoding message::
' Wrote:-Message-
*Kiriko shivered again, not sure what to make of the message. She sat back in the seat and thought for a moment, Cly turned off the monitor and the hussar was silent* ::what shall we do?:: *Kiriko rubbed the plate on her arm in a soothing motion* Top secret...*a sad face was seen on the monitor for a moment* ::you arent happy about this? We don't have to do it:: *Kiriko smiled and sat up, shaking her head a little* but Cly.. everyone will be counting on us.. and Barnes-sama never gave us a secret mission to do before..*a question mark appeared on the screen for a second, Kiriko laughed quietly* ::You are happy about this?:: *she nodded and smiled brightly* Hai! its exciting.. Don't you think it is too?*an exclamation mark was seen momentarily* ::It could be, we have not been to Roussillion before:: *Kiriko nods with a smile* I know.. oh.. and Cly.. this is top secret, so.. no pictures ok? *an egg timer was seen on the screen* Clyyy!.. *Kiriko said with a voice meaning she was serious* ::ok.. no pictures or recordings:: *Kiriko smiled brightly* ok! tell Barnes-sama we are going to leave right now!
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