So.... can I pass through with my 100c of helio from Helios to Ukari?

PLEASE don't tell me your roid-heating escapades only got you 100cus!

I mean, Joyce mines five times that much Heliocene everyday without heating anything beyond 100K...

Hey TGFT, if you want to keep your neutrality, I would suggest that you stop promoting the war effort, on either side.

Sure, the market ALLOWS you to sell phase arrays to either side for a profit, but if you do so, you are fair game in the engagement.

You're not a backwater nation, you're a leech IN a backwater.

I hauled about 1000c already from that station.

thats just the 'last' ore I had.

Shape, I would suggest you stop accusing TGFT of doing something without any actual basis for making the claim.

My refusal to drop my cargo for inspection the other night was one of principle.

Then you do refrain from selling weapons parts to Itani or Serco held regions?

Can we take that as an official TGFT statement?

My impression was that TGFT went to the highest bidder, if it is otherwise, then I happily retract my previous statement.

However, the UIT nation as a whole clearly DOES take an active role in supplying weapons parts for the Itani and Serco, as is evidenced by the Purified Xith shipments that they transport to each side.

The Purified Xith comes from Ineubis & Xang Xi, not the UIT nation as a whole. The UIT do next to nothing as a whole.

Beolach is totally right. Xang Xi and Ineubis are seceded corps, which is why they exist solely in greyspace. And the Union ingame does nothing as a nation; on the other hand, neither TGFT nor VPR can be said to speak for the rest of the Union players, so if they end up selling themselves to SKV that doesn't add a shred of legitimacy to SKV's blockade.

So do as Shape suggests and drop all this "we're legit" stupdity and change it for a more honest "we're doin' it coz we can and coz we're badasses". Works best for everyone and will stop much of the PR fallout on SKV.

I agree. They are badasses. And since they're on my team, I say we let em blockade away.

Now when [BLAK] finally gives up the charade and re-incorporates, I'll whine and complain about THEM blockading a WH because it is my dev-given right to do so.

SKV is not hiring Viper to speak for anyone. We merely would like them to watch over the operation to ensure traders are not being mistreated. The intention of Viper watching, not assisting, in the blockade is to provide traders with a feeling of safety.

oh so [VPR] can oversee the blockade but when i try to do the same thing you declare me KOS

-M'at

Grey space IS uit space, according to the devs, its just not monitored.

But if you disagree on that point, its quite easy to make another one, what about the shipments of Xirite?

Shape, I'm not stating that TGFT does or doesn't carry a certain type of cargo. What I'm saying is that you just accused us of doing something without any actual knowledge that we are. That's reckless and endangers our pilots without cause.

Put another way, I could say that you sleep with a teddy bear and suck your thumb. If taken seriously, that would probably result in you getting into a few bar brawls with the patrons in Corvus Hold. However, I don't know that to be true, so I don't make that accusation.

Jex is correct in pointing out that TGFT does not represent the UIT government or UIT citizens in particular. So why, then, did I start this post about Free Trade and the UIT? That's simple...

1) Based on their own statements, I consider SKV and SCAR to be branches of the Itani and Serco military, respectively.

2) I am a UIT citizen and I object to attempts by the Itani and/or Serco governments to impose their will on me, under threat of force, in territory that is not theirs.

3) As a representative of The Guild of Free Traders, I feel it necessary to speak up when someone attempts to impose restrictions on free trade.

The mere fact that I am defending these freedoms does not imply that TGFT has no morals. For instance, we recently refused to transport a load of dolls to Itani orphanages after we discovered that the plump man in the red suit was actually a certain doctor that had rigged the pull-to-talk strings to grenade pins.

@Ghost: I was not advocating a war between UIT and other governments, nor between TGFT and other guilds. Instead, I was pointing out the serious potential for this to escalate.

Okay M'at, listen to me because this is the last time I am going to say this. I have already said it in almost every single one of my posts to you, you must just not be listening. You were declared K.O.S. because of your announcemnt on 100 to assist people in running the blockade. A public offer like that can't just be taken back.

Screw, you either do transport that cargo, or you do not.

If you do not, then I will take any TGFT pilot transporting those goods as acting outside the framework of TGFT protection and act accordingly.

If you do, then I am forced to question your neutrality. Helping both sides equally is not the same as being neutral.

Now, I'm not saying that you kill children, if that were the case, others besides expat itani would complain. However, if you supply a need for weapons parts to nations at war, it is a reasonable assumption that they will be used for said purpose.

I said no more than this.

I am not a member of the Itani or Serco government, and I am not attempting to police you, but I will personally take actions against those who further this war.

I am asking for restraint on the part of TGFT, and what is lost in revenue, may be gained in the safety & security that comes with a universe in which conflict is more difficult to sustain indefinitely.

But "a universe in which conflict is more difficult to sustain indefinitely" is BOOOOO-RING!!!

Bring on the arms races, the conflicts and the WMDs!!

Just don't like, do it while I'm on and trying to make a profit, that's all I'm saying.

From the desk of Seta Ralel:

The Council discussions continue. But, frankly, without representatives from *both* sides at these so-called blockades, [VPR] finds it difficult to "oversee" the actions of *any* Guild actions... doing so could be misunderstood as support towards those intentions.

We have a published mission statement. It has *always* been, and will remain, in clear view... we simply do not involve ourselves with the Itani/Serco wars. Ours is a mission of supporting "free trade", and maintaining free passage for those trade routes. *All* trade routes.

While [SKV] has an honorable request on the table - not to be involved, but to oversee their actions towards participants in-sector for the purpose of "validating" actions towards those involved (rather like the UN of old) - [VPR] finds it difficult to comply with their request because, clearly, it is one-sided...

Seta Ralel
Council, The Vipers

[excerpt from Council log 4485-021 submitted pre-scrubbed]

So is [VPR] gonna go after [SKV]? This I GOTTA see...

I am not a member of the Itani or Serco government, and I am not attempting to police you, but I will personally take actions against those who further this war.
-Shapenaji

Does this mean Shape is gonna kill me? Oh noes!!! *Zoras runs away as fast as his centaur mkiii will let him*

The Energy demon is coming! The energy demon is coming!!! And I think he's bringing the wombat too!!!

Feh. Shape, like Matriarch, are nothing but lone pirates that can be easily avoided by the expedient of not being on at the same time they are.