To: Flora From: Friedrich Krüger Subject: Re: Clarifications
Flora,
Understood — drive module and a compatible reactor. Both are accounted for in our internal planning, and neither will be treated as an afterthought. I appreciate you spelling it out plainly.
As for your point about communication: you are right. If circumstances changed, you should have been informed before any third parties entered the picture. That is a failure of coordination, not intent. There was no attempt to box you in or force your hand — the aim was to keep everything aligned in time, not to spring adjustments on you after the fact. I was not made aware, at the moment it happened, of how far those discussions had gone or how they would surface to you.
Regarding Vascoguoncellos specifically: he is not “our man” in the sense of being Unioner-aligned. He represents Bristol’s interests, first and last. Our contact with him was strictly transactional and exploratory — assessing availability and constraints, not committing you, your ship, or the Union to anything binding. There was no intention to put words in your mouth or present you as a party to negotiations you hadn’t approved.
If there was restraint in what was said to you at the time, it wasn’t to conceal something from you — it was to avoid giving you incomplete information before we had a clearer picture ourselves. In hindsight, that caution came across as evasiveness. That’s on us.
Going forward, I’ll make sure you’re looped in earlier, even if the information is still rough around the edges. I’d rather give you an unfinished truth than let silence breed doubt.
We’re still on the same objective. Let’s keep it clean, and let’s keep it transparent.
Regards, Friedrich Krüger
Unioner Diplomatic Ambassador
Transmission Ends
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)