Jonathan Seabourne here, Caption of Breezewood and chairman of OS&C. I don't know who told you that Orbital's in a "good economic situation" but I felt it would be disingenuous to take you on without ensuring that you know the score. You're right that Orbital treats its crews and captains better than most corporations. Partially that is do to wanting to build a true sense of a corporate family, but we sell it to the shareholders because our crew are always visible to our customers. We require a lot out of them. They need to be friendly and well kept and alert at all times least some drunken socialite leave us a bad review. They need to be as chipper when starting their shift as when coming off covering for a colleague and spending 16 hours on watch. We don't have the luxury of military justice to enforce those standards, so we revert to very expensive carrots for lack of a stick. In the long run, retaining crew members is probably cheaper than constantly burning them out and hiring new ones (Orbital has the 2nd lowest pilot turnover rate in the sector), but it isn't cheap. Liners are easy to lose and expensive to replace, and for every cash cow like Curacao there's a money sink like Baden Baden. Call it a wash, with a slow trickle of funds going into our war chests and rainy day funds for the inevitable next catastrophe we have to navigate.
Speaking of Catastrophes, yes our inter-house status and corporate neutrality spares us a lot of of the flak of the sector. It also makes us a target. While our partner house navies nominally have our backs, I am under no delusion that Orbital is considered a "foreign" corporation to most of them, and even Liberty only views us as a slight step up on its lists of priorities. The only way that groups like us or the Zoners or the GMG survive is by being useful to the big boys and worth the trouble of protecting, least presidents and parliaments simply decide to cut bait. For all the grand standing about the sacrifices of Yukon, both Liberty and us know that the only reason they were willing to push into Cortez during the war was so that the fighting wouldn't take place in California. We are enmeshed with every house, even Gallia, which means their problems often become our problems, and it requires a lot of careful diplomacy, public relations, and sympathy to keep our birds flying. The Rheinland Civil war threatens nationalization of Baden Baden. The Kusari-Gallia conflict has resulted in a resurgent Enclave with a bone to pick with our liners. Pirate attacks kidnap and ransom our liners wherever there's a gap in police coverage. And LPI's on my back over some Gallic Intelligence officer who tried to use one of our races as a cover to get entrance into New York. But those are problems for White Star Lines and her very overworked Sub-Director.
What I'm saying is that Orbital is certainly a unique experience, especially for a citizen of the sector. But it comes with its dangers and most of that fancy paycheck you bring in will be immediately consumed by crew wages and vessel upkeep. If you want a lot of credits with little risk, you'd be better off flying a freighter full of Helium. But, if you're willing to take less money to ship more annoying cargo through incredibly dangerous space just so you can score a photo-op for some Outcast trendsetter's Quinceañera, have I got a spiffy Green jacket for you.
Welcome aboard, I'll be in touch about next steps over a more direct channel.
Regards,
Jonathan Seabourne
Captain, OS&C|Breezewood
Director, White Star Lines Division
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Orbital Spa and Cruise
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