Even with the homicidal tendencies I've started to like this thing, so I'd like the first option for now. But if it tries to hit itself with antimatter again, you can take the ship and do what you want with it. I'll be at Canberra soon, I'll leave it in your area.
As ordered, I have arrived in New London to assist in repelling the Enclave.
I would like to reiterate my previous concerns about retaliation, however. Even if we do use YERSINIA to retaliate, there would still be significant damage.
Thank you for your concern. We tend to agree that it is a last resort, but depending on the scale of what we end up against it may be necessary to protect our people. We've faced extinction at the hands of Royalists before; I'd rather not face it again.
Kane
OR&D Board of Engineers:
There's a lot of traffic in New London right now, and attention has been drawn away from the debris left behind by the Battle of New London. There are a few choice wrecks in there that were never removed. Send some of those Salvagers we acquired down there and start scanning the things for good places to start slicing and dicing; you know which ones I'm thinking of.
If Bretonia asks (which they probably won't... probably) just send them an invoice for all the ships we're having to rebuild due to all these Enclave incursions and pro-rate it down to zero with a credit labeled "one big jammy bastard". If Liberty asks, tell them to submit a complaint form and then I'll respond to it six weeks later requesting an additional form.
Paracusia, I appreciate you sending jobs my way, but please, include some intel next time. I had to ask some miners on the Hood to find this base, then deal with some Bretonian patrols asking me why I was flying into a Molly asteroid field with guns. And then I had to dodge mines left and right just to get to the base. I don't really know who the Mollys are and I didn't know what to expect, but, just a bit more information in the future.
I've commandeered two of the old Revision 2 Broadsword fighter-bomber systems from the Fleet, since we've been replacing them with the new standalone Broadswords and revision 3 Falchions. They will be of use in certain diplomatic efforts I am engaged with.
I'll be sure to divert compensatory funding or equipment in this month's budget. Do let me know if you have any specific needs.
The officer's mess needs an overhaul. If this is the kind of "diplomatic effort" we usually get involved in that involves us scrounging up some uncommon examples of somewhat-old combat spacecraft technology we have laying around from a bygone era, then considering the impending Kusari mess, I think we'd be best off considering this money as if it were a sack of cash that came out nowhere and as such we should put it towards improving the overall morale of the Fleet.
Since my Guild card is still current, I received a copy of your message to our civilian traders. While I'm reluctant to involve civilians in a war, Her Majesty's Government has had a great deal of success with independent privateers. Given the backgrounds and "skill sets" of many of our citizens, I see no reason we couldn't replicate their success. My staff is busy drafting a bill for the Senate to do openly what you're already doing covertly. Though functionally similar, operating under a state-sanctioned Letter of Marque will protect our people in the event they get captured. After all, a captured pirate is a criminal, potentially facing years in prison. Or execution, if the judge is in a bad mood. A captured privateer, on the other hand, is a POW that gets to go home after the war.
I was hoping that the Commission could continue to support civilian Privateers as they're already doing. Minister Ogden tells me the Fleet can handle the job, but I think Taskmaster Flores has quite enough on her plate as it is without organising civilian efforts as well. Please, let me know what you think at your earliest convenience.
Yes, I imagine the Fleet has their hands full. A reasonable request, then. And the legal protections are a valid point, even if many of us are used to the threat of execution.
Coordinators Paracusia and Mindcrime have been assigned to manage Commission cooperation with Octavarian privateers. Their experience in similar operations should prove invaluable, and this lets ISA keep their focus on defense.
I've asked Paracusia to reach out to their usual contacts for supplies and equipment. They'll be in touch soon, I'm sure.
Finance is in the process of making a deal with a major new client for the Nassau initiative. If we actually manage to land this whale, it's going to massively increase my people's workload. If the Planetform contract works out to the satisfaction of both parties, as I expect it will, I fully expect other megacorps to sign on in turn.
To ease the workload, I'd like to commission a new Lovelace AI to handle the heavy lifting. The alternative is a frankly unrealistic expansion of Finance's staff. I'm not sure what preparations you need to make, but I wanted to at least give you a heads up. Once the ink is dry on the Planetform contract, I'll transfer the necessary funds out of Finance's budget.
Administrative AI for finance shouldn't be difficult. Numbers are far easier to work with than people, fewer variables, relatively simple math.
We don't currently have one seeded; we may be able to accelerate production some, but if we do odds are she'll come out a bit... cold. But for Finance purposes, that's probably for the best.
![[Image: pyBjInU.png]](https://i.imgur.com/pyBjInU.png)