Issue #44
Monday, November 21st, 2005THE WAR THAT NEVER HAPPENED
Over the last few weeks, there’s been a ‘slight’ disagreement of sorts between some FHA bounty hunters (thus FHA in whole) and MERC. Below is an account of the conflict and happenings from one Dr A. Gaurang.
The conflict started when a few FHA bounty hunters destroyed 2 buildings of some business associates of MERC’s in Cemies (an M class system that supplies Paan installations with some basic raw materials like chemicals, food and water). As you might think MERC leadership reacted with a great deal of passion as they rely on those supplies and paid for those buildings to be set. MERC demanded reparations paid in credits and in response FHA claimed to be legally collecting bounties placed on those buildings and refused to pay anything. After another building was destroyed MERC went to pay a visit to nearest FHA installations - in Vewaa. MERC attacks there destroyed defenses on many buildings, raided them, and killed FHA leader Tareldor himself.
FHA responded with a fury of diplomatic statements and demands. And finally threatened to attack Paan (MERC’s stronghold). FHA pulled their forces together, hired the Scorpion Guard, and pulled some favors to gather more Imperial fighters from Skaara cluster.
Meanwhile MERC planned strategically how to best throw the proud seniors of FHA to their knees. The group most interested in helping was, to little surprise, the gathering of pirates. The Pirates were interested in having the MO defended path to FHA sectors opened to them. Hardly anyone has doubts as to their intentions there.
MERC started preparing for the defense of Paan as FHA fighters were spotted in sectors nearby. Without announcing anything they started ambushing on their own MOs. The fact was quickly discovered by some unfortunate FHA allies like IoP leader Aerre , Scorpion Guard’s veteran pilot Vetster and some more highly experienced fighters as they met their doom upon entering MO area in Paan.
Meanwhile negotiations continued. FHA bordered by their vast amounts of credits pressed MERC to accept their terms but it seemed that MERC being an alliance of battle hardened fighters are ready for some serious action to prove their strength and position in galactic politics.
As tension grew higher and both sides gathered forces MERC threw a big party to celebrate the coming war. I was one of the invited pilots outside of MERC ranks. It was one hell of a revel. While the party was getting heavy more MERC came in back from their missions with tons of droids and metal that they produced from sources unknown. No one was asking about the origins of the contraband but the defenses were being installed through the whole long Paan night. In the last day when any negotiations were still possible as the conflict was getting ready to erupt on a big scale a notorious pirate and warrior - Freewind appeared from nowhere and started his usual rounds of mayhem and slaughter on any target that he judged worthy of his attack. Well actually that “nowhere” was my personal invitation for I knew his presence would surely spice up any public gathering. Allow me to use this little line to thank him for coming on such a short notice.
MERC war-ambushes proved to be more than a match for him as he was defeated on his first attempt to check the entrance to Paan Stronghold. His attacks did however cost MERC the defeat of two of their younger pilots. As Freewind’s comment “There was no one else around to kill, pretty boring ;-)” might suggest, not much happened after both FHA and SG found out that MERC is more than ready to defend their own hold.
Meanwhile the pirates secured some good retreat points and came to Keldon after their adventures in South Pardus Rim and some juggling around with Sadist Faction fighters and their building content. One of the incentives to leave could have been the much dreaded Liberator “Life Siphon” piloted by one of the most notorious pilots in Pardus - Anubis , himself. Either way they came as planned and stood ready to wreak havoc upon the soft belly of FHA - Wolf, Vewaa region. I was there with a few opportunistically oriented friends, waiting for any further development of the whole affair.
Later on that day Tareldor , now the leader of FHA, succeeding Lordmoore, tried his last attempt at ending the conflict through diplomacy. Whether due to his peaceful nature (to which I have some deep grounded personal doubts) or his realization of possible costs of waging warfare on professional mercenaries - he tapped his long time friendship with one of MERC’s better fighters and channeled through him a bold offer of FHA - MERC mutual support treaty. I was asked to translate the message to Keldonish and I assure you - it was written by someone who strongly tried to make the impression he had all the aces in his hand, which as you might deduct was not the case. This devious diplomacy was nothing MERC leader Wuja Martinez was going to accept. As the day drew close to an end a counter offer, hard, as you might expect from a war-ready mercenaries, was accepted without questioning by the FHA leadership, which was clearly happy to see an end to the “war that never happened”.
The pirates returned to their hiding in the Neutral Zones and I was, although a bit disappointed with the lack of bloodshed, happy to return to my newly established Volunteer Recruitment Center to see to the firewall installation at the courtesy of “The Gurus” hacker alliance.
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An Afternoon with Free Trade Syndicate
It was only a simple suggestion, made to the editor of the Tiacken Tribune, to continue his story about alliances by interviewing each of them. Brackard looked at me. “You think this is easy?” “Yeah,” I responded. “Fine. You take it then.” Brackard smiled viciously at me and ‘escorted’ me into the cockpit of my Piranha. As I pulled away from the StarBase, the intercom clicked on. “Find Aleowyn. Free Trade Syndicate. Federation Space. Good luck. Have your interview on my desk by Friday.” The intercom clicked off.
Having been assigned my first interview for the Tiacken Tribune, I made my way to and then through Federation Space, following what appeared to be massive trade-routes. Behemoths, escorted by a bevy of Hawks, cruised past the cockpit of my ship. My monitors recognized them as belonging to the Free Trade Syndicate, the alliance I was seeking.
Eventually, my ship was flagged down by a member of said alliance. I presented my papers and was escorted to the alliance leader, Aleowyn. I found him immersed in a tome of the ancient history of the Sol system. He looked up, haggard, and beckoned me to sit. His chambers were classy, but far less gaudy than you would expect from the leader of one of the largest trading alliances in the universe. I sat, and began our interview:
TT: Aleowyn, thanks for granting the Tiacken Tribune a chance to interview you about your alliance, the Free Trade Syndicate. As you know, we’re discussing differences in alliances to help new players choose their paths.
FTS: Thank you. We’re happy to kick this off.
TT: Alright, let’s get started then. Apart from the goals stated on your alliance page, what can you tell us about the goals of FTS?
FTS: Our main goal is to enable everyone free and safe passage through space, and that they can follow fortunes way as they find it without being harassed by narrow-minded factions or alliances. Free trade is not about grabbing all the money you can lay your hands on, its about respect and decency between pilots, be they keldon or human, imperial or freelancer.
TT: What does it take to succeed in your organization?
FTS: I would like to say stamina, but that’s not really what’s needed, I have pilots that are much younger than me but they have surpassed me in all aspects save politics. What really matters are a sense of obligation and duty towards the common well-being and prosperity. To be willing to help others succeed instead of putting yourself first is the key in FTS.
TT: Why should a player choose FTS?
FTS: We are big, well connected and we take good care off all our pilots. The sectors where we dominate trade are amongst the most prosperous sectors in federal space. A new pilot will get the backing of the entire alliance, be it building materials, supplies for upkeep, or advice on anything related to the day to day humdrum. We also can offer a training program for fighters.
TT: What sorts of activities can a new member expect to do upon joining FTS?
FTS: That depends on what situation the new pilot is in. Most times they are allocated a building in some sector and are sent off to help out supplying needing sectors or to do missions. Most of our sectors have a regular supply plan where bigger trade ships do all the upkeep, so a new pilots is not expected to do too much upkeep in the beginning. We also have a trader-fighter rotation but that too is subject to the individual pilot wishes.
TT: How does it feel to be #2 in the number of members? It is obvious the being biggest was a point of pride for your organization, as it is mentioned on your alliance page. Triad took the #1 spot earlier in the week. How does FTS plan on recapturing the title of “largest alliance?
FTS: FHA and Triad seem to be able to grab more new pilots than we do but looking over our roster all but three pilots in FTS are active on a regular basis. We don’t really put that much stock in the pilot-tally, Our yard-stick is the overall wealth of the alliance.
TT: In your entire roster, there are only 6 females. Rumors of discrimination against the fairer sex abound. How do you respond?
FTS: Sadly that’s more or less an issue of interest I guess. FTS doesn’t discriminate against anyone except pirates and people from certain alliances. I would like to have more females in my alliance, they tend to bring much more order and sense of duty with them. On a personal level I feel that females are more adapted to trade than men are.. and trade is what FTS is all about.
TT: And certain alliances you say? Who is your beef with? Why?
FTS: It has never been a secret that TPI has caused some delays in our medical development sector from time to time. And the relationship between FTS and SG have never been a good one since they broke away and started the Ook conflict.
TT: What is your stance on illegal buildings in FTS space?
FTS: That is an issue that our lobbyists and lawyers have been working on as long as I have been in the alliance. Somehow, the governments of both factions turn a deaf ear to our requests to be able to produce experimental drugs and supply them to faction pilots without being the target of witch hunts.
TT: So, you support the drug trade. What about slave camps? Dark domes?
FTS: We do not support the notion of trade-regulation. So, if a pilot finds interest in dealing with slaves and body parts, it’s the personal judgment and risk of that pilot. We do not support it in the fashion that we wish to see a DL or Dark Dome in every sector, but neither do we see the need of removing them altogether.
As I have said before, FTS supports, and is involved in the manufacturing of experimental drugs to provide pilots with the extra edge against the villains of the universe, and to that extent, we have some labour-camps under the supervision of the local politicians. We provide a service to the Federation in dealing with criminals where they are sentenced to serve jail time in our labour-camps as part of reintegration into society.
TT: A few weeks ago, the Tribune reported pirate activity in Andexa. How was that ultimately resolved? How does FTS plan on keeping it from recurring?
FTS: Our efforts to suppress the pirates in Andexa were hampered by overzealous bounty hunters that provided the pirates with information on our locations so that they could evade the ambushes. In particular, Scorpion Guard made their hostility towards FTS and our allies clear. As a result of that hostility, FTS will now include SG in all of our ambushes to prevent that from happening again. All in all, the menace was removed from the area and not long after all buildings were back to their normal production. As for what steps we have taken to prevent such incidents from happening again that’s military matter and I am not at liberty to discuss that with reporters.
TT: As you are undoubtedly aware, there are alliances that help in the growth and liberation of slaves from class D planets. Orevre II is a class D planet? How would you welcome that sort of alliance to FTS space?
FTS: I would welcome them as I welcome anyone that seek to develop a sector peacefully. I like the work they did in my old sector, Zirr, and if they choose to move to Orevre we will extend our aid if needed.
TT: Is there anything else you’d like to say that we haven’t addressed?
FTS: WE are not out raiding the training facilities for new pilots. We usually contact pilots we see are active and that have made themselves noteworthy in one way or another. Most of our members have joined after being invited by a member.
The only other thing I would like to add is that we have been around since time immemorial. FTS pilots have fought on all fronts and met our enemies face to face. Who remembers OSN? POR? Who dreads Paradis and his Unification? They are but dark memories, but FTS are still here. Still alive and still growing.
TT: Again, thank you for your time in answering these questions.
FTS: You’re quite welcome.
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Tidbit:
TSO made a formal claim to Adaa last week. Future expansion into Adaa by independent or non-TSO traders will need to go through TSO in order to have a healthy… existence there.
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUCEMENT
Time away from slave trading is a good thing. One gets caught up in the daily problems of trading in the market that is human flesh. You only see the issues directly at hand: Have you met your daily quota, are the subjects of satisfactory grade, are there any specimens of exceptional quality that may be pulled for alternative use by someone – somewhere. These are things that we go through on a daily basis. Without time away, it’s possible that we get caught up completely forgetting what our true purpose is.
Fortunately, we were smart enough not to make that mistake. The slaves of Zirr have made their choice, and we have moved on. But make no mistake, we will be back to another planet soon. Zirr taught us many things that will hopefully make our next trip much more beneficial to the slaves there. Whether they grasp at the opportunity we give them remains to be seen…