Cobra. Is this scuttlebutt I'm hearing really real? I know the boys on Nome and Ouray always talked about dipping our toes into that business, but I never thought it would actually happen. I hoped it wouldn't.
That trash killed my parents, man. Killed mom and dad before I was even old enough to say 'bye'. Hell, that's most of the reason why I'm even here.
Yeah, I'm your resident fuccup, all smiles and laughs while we decom' a base in Hudson or Bering, keeping spirits high, doing a little entertaining, but there's things that get me down. This is one of them.
☠ Incoming transmission.
☠ Signal source: Free Republic relay, Liberty
☠ Opening video feed...
Sender:Alliance Commander "Cobra" Recipient:Gopher Subject:Re: The business
James, actually I'm just going to call you Jim.
Your parents are dead not because Cardamine is available but because Liberty's current system enables it to be directly supplied to the masses. I want you to really consider things for a second, do you think the flow of this will ever end?
There will always be some rich fool on Manhattan who's more than happy to pay off half a dozen radar scopes for the sake of getting drugs. And there will always be Junkers and Rogues more than happy to sell product indiscriminately. It will never end.
Do you know what will change that? If it was in our hands instead, if unlike the Junkers we kept a firm grip on the distribution chain and forced it to Manhattan only but kept our people free of its reach. If we punished the actual people responsible for why Cardamine is so successful and widely demanded. We can never stop the flow, but we can control it and make sure things like what happened to you and your family never happen again.
And not only that, but everyone who enabled it finds themselves under our thumb for time immemorial, getting a taste of their own medicine for just how bad it feels to have no choices left.
Or would you prefer we let the hedonists, Junkers and Rogues get away with this?
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
Blah, blah, blah. You know what you sound like? An idealist. I know what they sound like, because I am... was one.
You're going on and on about making sure our people are "free of its reach", that only Manhattan has to suffer, that we punish the people responsible. Man, I thought, and God forgive me for saying this, the folks on Manhattan were our people. Yeah, they might be a bunch of liberal jackoffs with more emotions than sense, but they're still from Liberty. They're still us.
If you're not going to make that trash available to the masses, who the hell are you going to sell it to? How do you plan on making any money off of it? Where's the benefit?
I'll tell you how this is going to go: you're going to play the brilliant revolutionary, thinkin' you're making life better.
You might ease up a little on the distribution, maybe see a news article about the decline of smuggling traffic or something, think you're doing good!
Then it's going to fall apart. The Outcasts are going to grind you under heel, turn you into the Rogues, screw you around into being their little mule-boys, Accords be damned. They want money, not romanticism, and trying to make things better doesn't bring home the bacon. Not how they like it. They're going to own you just as much as you'd own "everyone who enabled it".
Better make it good, Cobra. I'm not the only one thinking like this. You've got a whole squadron of men who fly with you because of the Outcasts and their drug. Men who've been loyal since day one, never said no, never say die.
They've never betrayed you, why is it all of a sudden okay to betray them? All that money and power finally go to your head? Decided it's your turn to be the big man on the block? "The Hackers and Rogues had their go, now Mom says I get to be the mafia boss!"
☠ Incoming transmission.
☠ Signal source: Free Republic relay, Liberty
☠ Opening video feed...
Sender:Alliance Commander "Cobra" Recipient:Gopher Subject:Re: The business
Taking the drug market from the Junkers was one of my goals during the elections.
People voted me into office because of it, Jim. Using the elitists who profit off the prison stations to fund the LFR's organization, so that we can live beyond their reach.
You're acting like they didn't know about this from day one, or that twenty years ago Barrow didn't make this one of our primary focuses.
It always was.
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
Yeah, Barrow can do whatever. Make it our primary focus, and then the entire plan dies in the crib. I was good with that, the rest of my guys and gals were good with that. Talk is just talk, it doesn't make a damn.
Now you rev that engine right the hell back up, and actually make headway. Push people to the margins, and they push back. You, of all people, should know that. I'm going to speak up, my boys and girls are going to speak up.
And I don't mean talking. Scorpions scream louder than anyone.
☠ Incoming transmission.
☠ Signal source: Free Republic relay, Liberty
☠ Opening video feed...
Sender:Alliance Commander "Cobra" Recipient:Gopher Subject:Re: The business
Your entire problem seems to be that I've made progress and actually made it possible for the LFR to exist in our lifetimes rather than some vague and undefined future?
Have I understood this correctly?
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
My problem is that I don't want your Free Republic. I never did. I want to fix the Liberty we've got, because that's the Liberty I know and love.
The Liberty that fought off the Nomads.
The Liberty that fought off the Krauts. Twice.
The Liberty that broke the spine of Gallia.
The Liberty that saved Sirius a dozen times over.
Whatever else happens, whatever evil tries to exert itself, that's my Liberty, and you're not going to take it away from me. Not while I'm still breathing.
"Liberty or death?"
Yeah. You're about to see what free men can do. Gopher, out.
☠ Incoming transmission.
☠ Signal source: Free Republic relay, Liberty
☠ Opening video feed...
Sender:Alliance Commander "Cobra" Recipient:Gopher Subject:Re: The business
Ironic.
The same Liberty that shut down all Denver's industries in 600.
The same Liberty which gentrified Denver, where our people used to live.
The same Liberty which consumes Cardamine to such an extent this is the most profitable market.
The same Liberty which allowed our people to go die in a war over Bretonia.
The same Liberty which brings in Planetform to ruin Hudson, our chance for a home.
The same Liberty which tolerates vermin like the Junkers.
The same Liberty that empowers the LPI to cage us like animals.
There's no saving Liberty, it died a long time ago. Our only chance at having a home again is if we carve one out for ourselves by any means necessary and that was always the mission. It's a shame you never got the memo and were never really one of us, I'm sure the Guild has ample space for people like you. Years from now, when you look back and see what the LFR's accomplished for people like us, who just want to be left alone, I want you to remember this moment and the fact you gave up on it.
Good luck, traitor.
"Liberty or death."
-"Cobra"
☠ Transmission signal lost.
On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed
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