Deaths| To the Junkers Congress

[Rudo]

COMM ID: Arbiter Hannibal Bishop
LOCATION: Vieques Shipyard, Puerto Rico

Salutations;

Colonel. I'm curious as to what, exactly, the Congress has to do with this. The Congress does not own the stations, nor the scrap fields. No singular party has total ownership over any Junker establishment except for Puerto Rico, which is ours and left open to visitors who play by the rules and acknowledge all risks. We are simply a party acting toward the benefit of those Junkers who do not hang themselves with their actions.

While I am aware of the Lobelia, that vessel is the property of the captain and his crew. We had no say in the acquisition of that ship, and we will have no involvement in the storm that will erupt when the Hessians decide they want it back. When the doings of that ship negatively impact our objectives, then we will take action. We do not restrict the freedoms of the individual Junker to seek their own path, whether that be to find one's own riches or to condemn themselves to a cell or the cold expanse. Rather, the core principle of the Congress is to reinforce those freedoms.

A Junker who jury-rigs Corsair weaponry to a Liberty Rogue vessel is a Junker who will learn the cruel lesson of hardwired no-tamper destructive sequences sooner or later, if not simply drawing the ire of the Liberty Rogues, the Corsairs and the local law all in one master stroke. A Junker who through bargaining or treachery finds himself 'owning' a Hessian Cruiser, will quickly find himself owing the Hessians more than the base price and more than such a ship could earn or ever be worth. Those Junkers will pay for their mistakes and our hands will be clean. It's a fact of life; pirates are bastards and so am I.

Now, regarding this treaty: Why do you speak as though the Deaths| usage of Puerto Rico is of benefit to any party besides the Deaths|? We have adequate markets for our weaponry, and our shipyard has enough work to keep our crews busy. If I recall correctly... you sought us out, because there is no other safe harbour in Liberty for your organization. You have nothing to offer us. We do not need your protection through your service, nor do we need protection from you. You may see your organization as something different, but to us you're all just another group of warmongers looking for a reason to fight. Nothing special, and nothing we haven't seen before. We have held Rochester with CSVs against the Xeno movement for decades. What makes a band of freelancers any more of a threat than that?

In regards to Puerto Rico, as was said before: the stations and shipyards are there to be used by anyone who knows what to do. Pay the station handlers, assume all risks, provide reason for why you should be allowed to ever be seen outside Puerto Rico again, and watch your back. That goes for you, that goes for people we've had better work relationships with, that goes for everyone except other Junkers.

As for the Legacy Junkers, and every other "junker" who has taken our tag and exploited its good reputation for poor behaviour and a safe haven in every corner of explored space: they are not our problem. If there is to be Junkers spilling Junker blood, the Congress will only act if we ourselves are directly threatened either through a deliberate splintering and betrayal, or if acts of blind stupidity start doing real damage. I would suspect the latter will happen well before the former.

To close; we grow tired of the bickering here. This is not our problem, you only further hazard your already rocky position with us by insisting we punish Junkers for actions against non-Junkers. They may be stupid, but they're Junkers.

You need to learn how our culture works if you want to use Puerto Rico and not end up a corpse. That's free advice.

- Bishop

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