First Baffin Zoner Zummit at The Zenarch, Malaclypse Freeport

[Quiron]

While listening the speech of Dr. Mojo, Quiron had a sudden impact. What the... Phoenixes? I didn’t state publicly that we have doubts about the Confederation. His paranoid side came out to the surface leaning very close to Parkes’ ear and carefully whispered. “I think we are eavesdropped, Mr. Parkes. First, Mr. Holliday interrupted us from the nowhere, after that Mr. Cole's speech about the Gauls in the Omicrons, and now Dr. Mojo. Could it be they planted some microphones under the seats?” he slowly started to search with his left hand for any devices beneath him, but unsuccessfully.

---

[Enkidu]

Achille grinned mirthlessly at Voncloud, discreetly twisting the head of his cane as he did so. “Piracy in the Omicrons eh? It does appear that Zoner neutrality counts for little in these turbulent years; especially as our kind... well the Zoner kind...” Achille rephrased quickly; “...Are now considered major players within the sector. “To completely candid with you...” Achille leaned in, realising his opinion wasn’t exactly going to encourage respect if overheard; “I blame these blasted Nephillim contraptions that Livadia appears to flog to any member of the Sirian bourgeoisie without the slightest degree of background checks. And what exactly is their function?” Achille smiled contemptuously, disdain flooding his features. “As a colony vessel. Indeed, that was what they were designed for; as a mobile Freeport. Instead, every imbecile with the wealth to do it is utilising one as their own personal testicle extension. I’ll tell you...” Achille puffed, genuinely angry now; “It is more difficult for me, a Zoner, to purchase a Zoner capital ship than it is for me to legally obtain a ZXBT transport without being shot down at every port of call. Madness!” Achille spat. “Personally I’d scrap most of the fleet. Surely you must be aware of the difficulties involved with supplying large bodies of vessels? A logistical nightmare. Anyway...” Achille breathed; “I was wondering how such a... and please Sir do not take offence at this... a being as atypical as you are manages to become the head of OSI? Your biochemical genus appears to be... novel”. Achille pondered, buying time for the ultrasound scanner built into his cane to map Voncloud’s physical structure.

---

THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)

Information | Recruitment | Message Dump |
Feedback | Diplomatic channel

(Links pending redevelopment).

[n00bl3t]

Parkes had a slight chuckle before responding, "No Mr Lacroix, it's your presence next to me that gives off doubts. And the fact we haven't spoken yet. A very astute guess."

"If they planted bugs, it wouldn't have worked anyway. There's no signal within nine metres of us." Parkes said, raising a scanning tablet out of his coat pocket. The ambient noise would make bugs out of this range pointless.

"Either way, my time to shine has come. I didn't come this way purely for Gallic wine and to get a flight in my fighter. It's good to have made a friend along the way, though Mr Lacroix." Parkes said, rising once more.

"Dr Mojo, I would like the floor as the representative for Freeport 11, at your convenience." He waited for a response.

---

Anything I say is not intended as offensive, and to try and deliberately misinterpret it as such would be an attempt at trolling via misrepresentation.

It's not a conspiracy, it's localised bias. They're not intelligent enough to form a conspiracy.

[Aazalot]

Looks rather bluntly at Achille , he was saying alot, but to his mind, was showing how little he seemed to know, but he let him carry on chatting for a while, unaware of the canes secret.
Vonclouds anatomy would be very similure to that of a human, the rough positions of his organs, bone structure so on, but with the added benefits, strengths and evolutions of a fox, his adrenal glands would be larger, his heart stronger, his lungs, a larger capacity, a lack of sweat glands his leg muscles adapted and shaped to his digigrade legs. As the scanning was going on he decided to reply

"How did i come to run OSI? well thats simple"
*The fox grinned, baring his teeth at the same time*
"I killed all those who were above me, until the next person in line, was myself"

His face was as Serious as it could possably be, his eyes fixed, staring into Achille's eyes, all the while inside, he was laughing waiting to see the reaction

---

[Gypsie]

Dr. Mojo nodded to the Delta leader.

Of course Mr. Parkes, the stage is yours.

Then he stepped down to make room for him.

---

Malaclypse Freeport

[n00bl3t]

Tobias Parked hobbled to the stage slowly. His walking cane propping him up as his pattern of three footwork announced his location to anyone not watching. He made it to the stage.

He stood in front of the lectern and microphone, breathed in, and then sighed outwards.

"My name is Tobias Parkes. I am the Administrator and representative for Freeport 11." He began his introduction formally.

"Freeport 11 was for many years run by Elizabeth Tate, who I believe is currently moving between the Theta and Omicron 74 systems for her research, and Marvin Ophelia who went missing some time ago. Since his disappearance, life for us out on the frontier has been even more chaotic. When I return to Omicron Delta, I have my work cut out for me." He gave some history and context of his situation.

"At Freeport 11, we keep the peace between The Order, The Core and the Corsairs. We defend daily against nomad incursions. Ships go missing regularly, supplies run low and we're on the edge of known space. This is our life. The life we chose to be the furthest away from houses whilst advancing the Zoner way. It's a far cry from the bourgeois, if that's how you say it Mr d'Autoine, that I see here; luxury food and drink and a hall that would probably rival the last few budgets our station has made." Parkes continued, whilst looking widely at the architecture and taking it all in.

"This is not to say that such luxuries have not been earned. I am sure you have, with the choices you made. I am very honoured to be welcomed to such a a place. You have made a great home and are great hosts." He closed his eyes slightly and nodded to Dr Mojo and Dr Holliday.

"But that is not the way we do things at Freeport 11. We get by on necessities. Frugality is our modus operandi. It is how we survive. Such is the difference when you're in the Edge worlds I suppose." He wanted to make clear what the situation at the frontier was.

"I have heard many voices in this meeting. I have heard stories of loved ones lost, stories of war and strife. The mistakes of the past, the paths for the future. Tales of hostility by the Gauls and tales of neutrality and trade with this newly emerged house. It is difficult to see what the path is for the future." He looked from Commander Matok, to Sarah John-Kane, from Dr Holliday to Thomas Henrikson, from Dr Van Mojo to Robert d'Autoine before continuing onwards.

"I have heard personally that the intention of Dr Van Mojo is to call the confederacy into action should a Valor ever jump into Baffin. I understand that fear, standing here now, where your home is made. But before I consider any invitation for Freeport 11 to join the confederacy and join them in such an action, you should know this. The only thing that Freeport 11 could offer are the redirection of medical supplies from it's own deliveries at great risk to itself, and space for a small amount of fleeing Zoner refugees. That's it. I put this out there for all of you to know at the forefront, so you know I am not hiding anything." Parkes stopped speaking after this for a moment. His throat was dry and he reached for an empty glass from a nearby table, poured himself some water and sipped a bit of it slowly.

"My apologies, the Gallic wine seems to have left me a little flushed." He laughed nervously.

He cleared his throat and continued, "As I can only give so little, I think it would be unfair for my station to join the confederacy. I have little to offer, and at this stage a lot to gain from the protection of the confederacy. The admission of Freeport 11 at this stage would weaken this new organisation."

"I will for now however, before I decide, weigh in for opinions from the representative for Freeport 2, Sir Isaac Porter who is yet to speak and for other representatives staying quiet." Parked finished his first speech, and hobbled down the stage and back to his seat. He thought he saw Dr Van Mojo returning to the podium in the corner of his eyes, but his eyes were old and could be deceiving him.

---

Anything I say is not intended as offensive, and to try and deliberately misinterpret it as such would be an attempt at trolling via misrepresentation.

It's not a conspiracy, it's localised bias. They're not intelligent enough to form a conspiracy.

[Di'taraAlpha]

Achille shrugged, looking up from the impressively well-angled set of canines which Voncloud appeared to possess; doing his dammest not to smirk at the bipedal fox. Yet the break was only momentary as Achille returned his vision, equally impassively. “Yes…” He uttered; “…yes that is how many people ascend to glory in this universe, rising through the tiered pyramids we set ourselves; seeking glory that we do not deserve”. He sighed grimly before looking up again, eyes fixed and motionless; only the jaws bearing motion; “Yes my animalistic compatriot, I too have buried a few corpses on my way up to the Taus, but yet again such is normative in Gallia, as in Sirius… I tell you, we Zoners, we consider ourselves morally righteous and then we go seeking power as eagerly as the rest of the rabble. Even the great ethicists, the Neo Covenant, TAZ, e.c.t., all are tiered societies, geared around survivalism and isolationism as is the Zoner way. Such is the way of survival; you kill for number one, have your fill and then only give to the vultures, if appreciate my metaphor”. Achille grinned darkly, joviality dying from his face as his cane clicked into the ‘off’ position.

“You see…” Achille continued; “Most of the people who die in Sirius are little more than roadkill my dear Voncloud; standing still against the tide of progress until progress sees them only as an obstruction and then… poof… they are gone, flattened under the wheels of change. History does not remember them, history remembers those who are willing to adapt as history is written by the adaptors alone. This would be simplistic enough if everyone didn’t have their own opinion of what a reasonable corpse is to kill. Take a look at this crowd for instance…” Achille waved his arm around the room languidly; “If they weren’t all united by the term Zoner, whatever that means to anyone anymore, then they would be ripping each other’s throats out of this Gallic situation. Gallia this, Gallia that… Nothing divides people more than the prospect of a nemesis.” Achille’s eyes scanned the room, no longer fully focused on Voncloud. “Remember my friend..” He spoke quietly, “some corpses should not be buried. There are fools among this room who consider this… tenuous unity between our groups to be sufficient to begin a war of attrition with a house that has spent 800 years developing a fleet for the sole purpose of subjugating us all, purely from a mixture of xenophobia and distrust”. Achille looked back at Voncloud at this moment.

“Perhaps in the future people will treat Gallics as if they were human beings, and not heralds of the apocalypse no?”

[Lucky]

LeRoux caught Matok's eye and gave a quick wink.. *We should talk mate... before you leave if we can... now we're here and drinkin' someone else's beer."

"I can see how you might want to stay away from this Federation... No quarrel. From where FP6 sits, ya might feel happy. But in return, I hope you see my viewpoint with regard to FP10... We're on the front line mate, so, to be able to call on Commonwealth ships and other Zoners in an emergency quickly, is important, so embracing the CoF becomes easy. I won't have time to come back to this committee to debate an invasion, I'll need back up, smart and swift."

"That saying... It's in the interests of both FP10 and FP6 to maintain our strong links. Let me know if ya need anything in particular...

Hope you understand.....It's about time we got together.

[Doc Holliday]

Doc kept his distance from the majority of the delegates, still in the back talking with his right hand, John Rackham.
"Still divided as ever," he commented to Rackham, "these Pheonix people remind me of the Omicroners. I'm wondering about the safety of MF2, Commander DeGarmo with the Moonstone and the medical personal I have staffing FP9."
As they stood, his datapad vibrated. As he looked at it, he grinned.
"The proof I've been waiting for," he smirked.

He then uploaded it for all delegates to see on a viewscreen:

DeFrance1
DeFrance2
DeFrance3
DeFrance4
DeFrance5
DeFrance6

With that, he stood back with Rackham, silent, his point made.

---

[MFE]Med Force One | Tales of Recovery|Med Force Enterprises

[Cmdr. Blaine Chara]

Matok was sitting and listening. Since his feelings were being shared, he didn't have more points to prove. That's about the time on a view screen that pictures of Prince Joseph DeFrance being near FP11. He didn't doubt Doc's credibility and this only made him feel all the better. He still said nothing. He only grinned a bit before catching a glimpse of Lucky LeRoux.

We should talk mate... before you leave if we can... now we're here and drinkin' someone else's beer."

"I can see how you might want to stay away from this Federation... No quarrel. From where FP6 sits, ya might feel happy. But in return, I hope you see my viewpoint with regard to FP10... We're on the front line mate, so, to be able to call on Commonwealth ships and other Zoners in an emergency quickly, is important, so embracing the CoF becomes easy. I won't have time to come back to this committee to debate an invasion, I'll need back up, smart and swift."

"That saying... It's in the interests of both FP10 and FP6 to maintain our strong links. Let me know if ya need anything in particular...

Hope you understand.....It's about time we got together.

"I agree," answered Matok. "Regardless of what decisions we make for our respective bases, you and I do not have neighbors close by. We need to work together. After this meeting, we will discuss this further."

---