HELION DISPATCHES 06

INTERLUDE: PILGRIM’S PURSUERS

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[SIGNAL LOCK]

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[BROADCAST WIDE CHANNEL]

[ORIGIN: PILGRIM SEED]

[VECTOR: STARWARD]

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[TRANSCRIPTION ACTIVE]

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[NOISE]

…Heli…

[NOISE]

…signa…isola…

…Con…tracki…relent…

[NOISE]

…you are…ference…that’s why

[NOISE]

Kimbal? How is that realignment going? The signal is coming through?

[NOISE]

Impressive. Forget all those terrible things I said about you earlier.

[NOISE]

I’m joking.

Pardon our dust Helion, things are getting a little fuzzy out here. As far as I can tell, we have re-established our broadcast, and you should be able to hear us loud and clear, but apologies for those still having difficulty. I’d love to say it was down to our own technical limitations…

[NOISE]

No, Kimbal, I’m not blaming you.

In fact, dear listeners, it’s quite the opposite. It seems Conway Extractions, in their ongoing expansion through the system, have taken issue with our little pirate radio station and have been trying to silence us.

Not only that, but the Pilgrim Seed’s crew have reported close approaches by unmarked craft. The most recent of those approaches culminated in the following public broadcast on the wide channel:

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[SIGNAL SWITCHING…]

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[TRANSCRIPTION BEGINS]

[RECORDING // CONWAY BROADCAST WIDE CHANNEL]

MESSAGE BEGINS. Occupants of unclassified and unregistered craft, you are transiting through a controlled region of the H1 system, and we ask that you immediately make contact with our agents so that proper process can be followed and any and all needs be assesed. CONWAY EXTRACTIONS, operating in this system as the H1 CONWAY COMBINE under core legislation SS ET 31, consistent with claim 43782 [in process] which renders H1 under our supervision until proper resolution is reached, posses the sole authority to grant authorisation to transit within this region. Unauthorized transit within this controlled zone will be considered, in principle, illegal in nature, and furthermore unless an identifiable transponder is detected any such vessel will waive all rights of movement within the surrogate systems. This message will repeat on all frequencies for a duration sufficient to guarantee receipt by your vessel. After this period your vessel and occupants will be considered to have been informed of the above, and the H1 CONWAY COMBINE asserts that its responsibility of communication has been completed in the fullest possible manner, as required. After this point any vessel and its occupants continuing to transit through the controlled zone will be considered in active breach, and classified [in absence of mitigating action] as possessing malicious intent. Conway Combine reserves the right to exert all and any neccessary force to nullify such malicious intent and will do so as is determined appropriate and commensurate. This assertion is made under the full and true protection and facility of core legislation SS ET 31, consistent with claim 43782 [in process] from which the authority of CONWAY EXTRACTIONS operating as the H1 CONWAY COMBINE does derive. This broadcast is automated and no return broadcast or negotiation will be entered into. MESSAGE CONCLUDES.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

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[SIGNAL SWITCHING…]

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So as you might imagine, things are getting tense in this big tin-can of ours.

We still have a significant distance to the Starward Belt. Not that there’s any likelihood of us turning this thing around, even if a few on board have started to grumble about adhering to the stream of legalities we are currently being assaulted with.

The bigger concern is this: You’ve heard for yourselves, right here, that SenetSat have taken Cinza and the other sisters, meaning they have a presence in Ember’s orbit. The inner system, that ashy rock Stoker and the KAN channel that has been sending flux waves through the system, is SenetStat’s as well.

Meanwhile, last broadcast we heard of Conway’s control of Ember’s Hearth and, most likely, Song and Step will soon be swarmed with drones. With SenetStat and Conway both settling in around Ember, we are looking at a conflict around that vast, marbled giant. Finally, out here, between Sunward and Starward Belt, Conway are setting up a controlled transit zone. If you can’t map this all in your head, I wouldn’t blame you, but the message is that Helion is being dissected by lines of power. The kind of lines that kill when you cross them.

There’s something I’ve seen in all these years I’ve been around. There’s danger in power, that’s for sure, when a captain or an administrator sees a chance to consolidate whatever grip they have on a system. But the real danger? That comes when someone starts drawing lines, making judgements, be that legal or philosophical. At that point, any action can be justified, contemplated, carried out, because it is an action in service to a higher power.

So, when I see zones being sketched out across our system, territories drawn, I know that what comes next is the justification of those territories, the ascension of them to a position none of us can be measured against. Conway, Senetstat, they now have something higher to serve—the logic of borders, of territories, of sovereignty. And in the name of those logics, they would, with the stoic grimness of those who consider themselves to be enacting the law, end all of our lives at any moment of their choosing.

We’ll be going dark now for a spell, while we try to evade the Conway drones on our tail. I don’t know when we will broadcast again.

Wish us good luck and clear passage, and wish that those proxies following us have poor signal quality and as many system glitches as might befall a bad drone in our good system.

See you on the other side, Helion.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

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[SIGNAL LOST]

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[TRANSPONDER [PILGRIM SEED] DEACTIVATED]

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