Adressed to the Council of Zoners

[SigCorps]

**Incoming Transmission**
**Decryption Process initiating**
**Clear text reads**

To: Harrison McRemitz
The secretary of state for foreign affair

From: Samuel Nichols, CEO Omicron Supply Industries,
Representative of the Council of Zoners

Message reads:

Mr. McRemits,

I will be happy to clarify those points for you.

From my current understanding, what you seem to have said in your previous transmission is that:

* The Forces of Liberty can continue a chase into the no-fire zone unhindered by Zoner intervention.
* The Forces of Liberty can make the arrest of the fugitive inside the no-fire zone, if neccessary, with force.
* Afterwards, if requested by the Council of Zoners, proof of both the chase outside the no-fire-zone and inside that zone would be provided.
* If the suspect escapes or reoffends, you will deny the use of your facilities to the individual in question and take away the safety of the no-fire-zone for said individual.
* This will allow us to again attempt the arrest of that individual without being hindered by the restrictions of your no-fire-zone.

Agreed, but let me stress that they must have the proof ready to submit if asked for. This way if there are any complaints we can supply the evidence to the opposing parties.

The fugitive could be a violent criminal in a bomber, for example, or a smuggler with slaves, again for example.

And that:

* If the Forces of Liberty encounter loiterers around a Freeport, we can request them to leave without the use of force.
* If there is prior proof of the crimes of any individuals who are loitering in the Freeport no-fire-zone, then we are free to make an armed arrest of those individuals inside that zone.
* If previously unconvinced accomplices of the criminals assist said criminals, then we would arrest them too and provide evidence of their aggression inside the zone on request by the Council of Zoners.

If you encounter a loiterer on a patrol, that is specifically wanted, meaning can not be a subject of a blanket bounty. Then yes the LN or LSF can then enter the NFZ to apprehend. If they have compatriots and they try to assist their associate, then by all means defend yourself.

Non wanted loiterers can also be instructed to leave by either of these Liberty agencies, just with out the use of force. Although pictorial proof of the loiterer ignoring the request should be posted to our NFZ violation message dump, so we can deal with the offender.

An example. You see Phate the notorious Lane hacker lounging about in the NFZ of Ames Research station. Now there are specific bounties on that individual. You can feel free to announce your intent and engage him. Now if it was just some unknown Lane Hacker that has a decided to rest in the NFZ, then he can be asked to move on or dock, not engaged in combat within the NFZ.

While we do not mind if the LN and LSF pass by our stations on patrol we would also like to point out that they are not permitted to loiter either.

One addendum we would add is to allow the LPI to have the same privileges for Bethlehem station in Pennsylvania.

Surely the Council of Zoners does not support nor condone acts of violent aggression, piracy or terrorism, even within its "lawless" space? A rhetorical question, of course.

I think that a majority of Zoners would agree with you, although, there are some that do not care as long as it does not affect them.

In this instance, the officer issued a warning and was ignored. Having already initiated the docking sequence with the lane and staying in that sequence, there was no way for a lone bomber to stop that transport. However, the officer followed as you can see, straight to Freeport 2 in Bering.

What would you consider this kind of evidence to be? Proof, or not enough of a justification? What action, if any, would be taken by yourselves, and what reasons would you give for any actions taken?

This example is a bit rough, since as a whole we do not condemn nor condone slave trading. Now the Zoner faction ZAS is set to stop slavery all together, and would gladly help Liberty track down and stop every last slaver in existence.

Now while this evidence is sufficient to prove the pursuit started outside the NFZ, it does not show the junker trying to escaped into the NFZ. Yes he will be entering it but he may just be trying to get to the next trade lane. A picture of him actually in the NFZ would be required. So it the officer had snapped a picture once he exited the trade lane showing the junker still in the NFZ, then that would have been all we required for our proof and the officer could have engaged the junker at their discretion.

Basically if the offender running through the NFZ and exiting again on the other side, but not seeking to use it as a shield, we would not be at issue with that. If anyone retreats into the NFZ to use it as a shield from pursuit then they have violated our laws.

I hope this helps clarify things for you and that from this we can move even closer to some agreement.

Sincerely
Samuel Nichols
CEO-OSI
Council of Zoners representative

** End of Transmission**

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Formerly Sam Nichols, creator of OSI