"This is hardly much of an issue as i see it" he said quietly, "If these people are supplying us with Goods that we agree we need to be supplied with, why would they need protection in our space at all? - at least not from any Corsair ship which has an ounce of respect for their own people."
Looking to Jose El Nino he nodded and said "...but the Elder has made a good point, are these people supplying the houses with goods as well? - this is no small issue as we are in open conflict with Brettonia, we are in unspoken conflict with Liberty as they directly interdict our artifact shipments and so we all know our people have no issue with destroying Liberty shipping, and lets not even talk about Rhienland....." he nodded to Sephardi, recalling the not so distant conflict between the Corsairs and this house.
"So, if these people are supplying goods that we need, and are in our space, whats the issue? But i must point out the reverse, if they are supplying goods to houses, and they are not in our space... then as i see it they cannot have it both ways, and in that situation i would consider them open to our taxation policies, or the policies of the individual pilot in question."
There were a few murmurs and he held up his hand to gesture for a little more time. "I must point out here, that i myself employ certain parties in this exact capacity. One of them was "taxed" by one of our pilots in Omega 3 and a protest was launched. He was however supplying goods to Brettonia so he received no compensation from me, instead i made him aware of the risks he took. However, had that event taken place inside our space with a cargo we needed, i would consider a different response."
He picked up his data pad and transmitted a page to everyone assembled: "I bring this to your attention once again" he said. "This list was agreed upon by most of us some time ago, and i believe it should be amended again to address the current economic climate, it can serve as a basis for our taxing policies in our own space should it be so wished."
