To: Cobra of the Xeno Alliance

[Jonathan Seabourne]

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☆ From: Captain Jonathan Seabourne

☆ On Board: OSC Breezewood, Planet Baden Baden, Stuttgart System, Rheinland Space

☆ To: XA-Cobra

☆ Subject: Encounter in New York

☆ Encryption: ***Strong***

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Dear Cobra

I never got the chance to properly introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Seabourne, captain of the OS&C liner Breezewood. I was pleased that we were able to negotiate our way through our encounter earlier today near Fort Bush without bloodshed and I hope the Gaian wildlife end up in good homes (again, I recommend against eating them and advise keeping them together in as large a flock as possible to reduce stress on the animals).

However, I must say that the encounter was very unprofessional. It took quite a while for me to piece together that you were the leader and spoke for your "herd of cats," and the conflicting demands were difficult to follow. I know all leadership positions have their struggles, especially for organizations that can't openly recruit in lawful space. And I, a humble liner captain, do not wish to tell a freedom fighter how to do their job. But chaos and uncertainty in encounters like that can lead to misunderstandings and shots being fired. Our organizations do not have ideological or existential conflicts with each other, and I am sure your people do not want to needlessly destroy a Liberty vessel full of civilians any more than we would want to see one of our vessels lost simply because an underling lost their cool while the adults in the room were working out a deal.

I am glad that the Breezewood was empty at the time because it would have frankly been embarrassing to explain to our passengers why we were negotiating instead of fighting with you. If you want to project an aura of an organization rather than a group of thugs, I believe you would be best served debriefing your pilots over this. Then again, for all of your... colorful personalities, you're still the ones holding the guns and I take my responsibilities as a liner captain to ensure the safety of my passengers and crew seriously. I hope in the future your pilots take their missions as seriously as you do so any future encounters are professional with no room for tragic mistakes.

And for what it's worth, I do appreciate you sparing my crew, especially the exotic dancers. Every time they show up on gravometric scans, I always get nervous about the demands that are about to be made of my ship and the choices I will have to make. I thank you for making those choices easy. Cargo can always be replaced, credits can always be written off, but I pray I will never have to hand over those who've served me well to an uncertain fate.

Sincerely,

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Jonathan Seabourne
Captain, OSC Breezewood

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White Spa Lines
A Division of Orbital Spa and Cruise
Planet Curacao, Cortez System

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Orbital Spa and Cruise

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