Albert remained silent as the minister spoke about the gold distribution plan, mulling over the possible problems and logistics required to pull off such an operation under the Crown's nose. As he listened to Lathrop's opinion on Rheinland, he nodded at the mention of the treaty but eventually interjected.
“Sorry, Mr. Lathrop, but I must disagree with you on the topic of Rheinland. While the Guild currently has a treaty with their military, it was only possible because Großadmiral Henze is a sensible man willing to avoid bloodshed. They may yet move in to support the Crown against the Assembly, although I hope you're right.”
He paused, taking a swig of whiskey before continuing.
“But you are right about Liberty. They probably won’t be supporting Bretonia, at least not militarily. It's more likely that Liberty will try to contact the Republic in some capacity at some point, but that’s just my guess.”
The Guildmaster shifted in his chair, leaning forward and looking at the director.
“Then we have Kusari, the wildcard. While the Kusari government has little empathy for the Crown, especially after the war fought over the Tau star cluster, they still need gold—particularly Kishiro, whose main product, optronics, requires it in obscene amounts. Minister, you may see them intervening in some capacity. But as you asked, Mr. Lathrop, the Guild has had no major issues with Kusari, and we have worked with Kishiro on multiple occasions.”
“Your concerns are more than valid, Director. Moving large amounts of gold through their blockade in the New London system would be difficult, and they will catch on sooner or later. It may be wiser to collect the gold outside of their jurisdiction in the Omegas or the Taus—maybe both. As for what they will do without evidence? Not much. But I can see them outlawing us again or even outright banning all gold not transported by those rotting Crown corps.”
Matthew listened to IMG representatives lay out their concerns attentively. When Albert finished speaking, the minister took another drink, draining his glass.
"The plan is to have the Guild act as the public distributor of our gold, as you have surmised," he said calmly. "Nothing more, nothing less. While you could try to negotiate on our behalf, I fail to see how that would accomplish anything except outing you as collaborators to a known terrorist organisation. We would not want to do anything that jeopardises the Guild's legal status, as we intend to use that to our advantage. And a large number of IMG ships visiting Dublin in spite of existing laws is bound to cause an incident. In fact, the Kingdom will surely outlaw even approaching the Dublin jump hole without a permit from the Armed Forces, if they have not done so already. So the guise of running your own mining operations in Dublin will not work."
He leaned back in his chair. In truth, he was not entirely convinced that his plan to drip feed gold into the Houses to dissuade them from supporting Bretonia in the Dublin Crisis was going to work, but it seemed like a reasonable course of action. If the Crisis was not as severe as expected, they may commit less effort to dealing with it. And of course, there was a matter of profit - profit that would go into the movement's coffers and not the Crown's.
"What we could do," the minister continued, "is deliver shipments of gold to IMG supply points out in the Border Worlds. Our own Free Dublin Shipping Company will be able to handle such an affair, as they are experienced blockade runners. We can even stamp the ingots with the Crown's royal seal to make them appear legitimate - we still have the old BMM moulds from Graves. Once the gold changes hands, IMG transports can handle the delivery to the House markets without legal troubles. Honshu, Colorado, Frankfurt - these systems desperately need gold, they will not ask too many questions from kindly IMG traders. As far as they will be concerned, you bought it from the Crown. Do you have any bases in mind that could be used as staging grounds for our purposes?"
The Syndic now finally broke his attentive silence as the focus of the conversation shifted towards the mention of blockade running. The previously energetic, and borderline cocky voice now adopting a more serious and focused tone.
In order to sate the demands of the other houses, a sizeable surplus would not only need to be mined, yet also smuggled out and to whatever distribution hub we set up. Which is, if we are being frank, a daunting task for a nation still barely taking it's first steps, not to mention one that comes with a high risk for your runners due to the sheer number of trips that will be necessary.
Alex paused a moment, as if to collect his thoughts as he idly rotated the empty glass in his hand, before continuing on. His voice still carrying the more serious and thoughtful tone.
Furthermore, those BMM seals may raise eyebrows as to how the Guild got BMM mined gold in the first place, assuming they are even still up to date in the first place.
Now we Syndic's don't mind doing a little gray or black market dealing, game's the game as those bloody Lib's may say, but...
His free hand waved across the table towards Lathrop and Schulze as he spoke.
but for the rest of the Guild, it might prove a problem, one with potential legal ramifications despite your effort to avoid them anyhow.
Despite his seemingly careless attitude, it was clear their was thought put behind these concerns, calculating the potential blowback even on points that may not seem to be of major concerns to his lot, but for the Guild as a whole.
"You are right, of course," he said. "But we need to take steps towards building a supply network that extends beyond Bretonia if we are to outlast the Kingdom's inevitable counterattack, and IMG outposts in the Border Worlds would be most helpful in that regard. I know it is no simple request."
The minister pushed a button, and a screen hummed to life, showing a map of the New London system. A red line extended from the Dublin jump hole towards the Leeds jump hole, and another towards the Cambridge jump hole, cutting through several trade lanes. Then a blue circle with an image of a Dunkirk enveloped the Cumbria field, intersecting both lines.
"This is what we are dealing with. If you have some tricks as to how the IMG convoys can bypass the Kingdom's blockade unnoticed, now is the time to share your ideas. Otherwise, the burden of delivery will be entirely on us."
From his tone, Burns was skeptical, but inwardly he hoped that his guests could disprove his expectations.
Shifting in his chair, Albert shot a quick gaze towards Alex, the Kongsi representative, as Minister Burns revealed the gold distribution plan and the use of IMG-owned installations as collection centers.
"I see. Would this plan require the construction of new collection stations, or should we use the already existing ones?"
"And yes, using the BMM stamps will cause a problem in the future, but we could alternate using the IMG stamp that we used for the Hood. If questioned, we can always say that we had these before the start of the embargo. The desperate situation that the buyers are in will surely make our story more believable. The IMG and the Mollys used to have a similar deal before."”
After finishing his sentence, Albert took a swig from his glass again, letting the implications of his words sink in.
“It is a fair point and, of course, they probably will still aid the Crown in some fashion. Ours is an exercise in reducing their commitment less than staving it off entirely”, Mark responds with a smile. “In any case, no need to apologise. We need the whole picture.”
Otherwise Mr. Lathrop stays his tongue for a time, allowing the others assembled to say their respective pieces.
There’s a nod towards the Kongsi representative at the noted problem with the BMM stamps. “A problem well spotted. One with ways around it in theory too, if we know anyone capable of falsifying purchase and supply records. Personally I prefer the options to use the old Guild stamp. It's entirely plausible that the Guild would have foreseen a crisis on this level and stockpiled accordingly. Profiteering on this level might get us a few dirty looks, but presently no one is exactly in a position to complain when we’re able to actually supply. Up to you really, Guildmaster. I support the proposed ‘mixed approach’ though.”
The plan seems good enough so far, to which end Mark mostly leaves things there for the time being. In many ways his interests extend further and to other things, matters that no doubt will come up in time.
