---Incoming Transmission---
---Comm ID: Solanus Kalenda, pilot and owner, Coruscating.Fire---
---Location: Newark Station, New York---
---Encryption: Effectively none, some encoding for compression purposes.---
Greetings! I've gotten your transmission on this channel through, well, a few of my friends, let's say. I don't directly work for Universal, but I do have quite a few friends there, and my ship flashes a Universal IFF as a result of this.
As one of the witnesses to this, I would like to comment.
1. First of all, BNG, your actions in this case were far excessive of what was called for. Verbal altercations by no means justifies what effectively was a summary execution. You forget that your actions are subjected to judicial review, and there are consequences for blowing up someone who merely had an exchange of words with you.
2. I did hear what was being said. You first accused the gunboat (High-berry, I think it was) of being a drug dealer merely on the ship name. How is this even a reasonable rationale for accusing someone of a crime, when ships can be named just about anything? You know, I'm very, very much tempted to commission a ship named "The.Drug.Dealer" or something, give it a Navy IFF and tag, and see what would happen.
3. Afterwards, you accused said gunboat of carrying Cardamine. That doesn't entitle you to shoot a third party. At the most, you may ask him to drop it and pay a fine, then attempt to destroy him as needed. You then accuse the gunboat of being a drug dealer for carrying 5 units of it. Under no circumstances does 5 units make someone a drug dealer, especially if said person wasn't even trying to sell it.
Anyways, that's my thoughts on this matter.
(Oh, and by the way, Hoban, if you were around for that debacle afterwards.... well, I apologize for my lack of combat skills, getting killed by a lolwut, and for effectively getting everyone killed afterwards.)
