BETA SIM IC THREAD

[Mark]

THE THOLIAN EMPIRE CURRENTLY HAS IN CUSTODY TWO KLINGON OPERATIVES THAT WERE DISCOVERED ATTEMPTING ESPIONAGE AGAINST OUR GOVERNMENT. THE GUILT OF THE KLINGON EMPIRE IS A FOREGONE CONCLUSION AS THESE OPERATIVES WERE QUITE LITERALLY CAUGHT "RED HANDED" AS THE HUMANS PUT IT. BOTH OPERATIVES ARE ALIVE AND RELATIVELY UNHARMED, AND WE ARE WILLING TO NEGOTIATE FOR THEIR RELEASE.

THE PROBLEM THAT WE FACE IS THAT SUCH AN ACTION TECHNICALLY CONSTITUTES AN ACT OF WAR. HOWEVER, THE THOLIAN EMPIRE DOES NOT WISH SUCH AN UNNECESSARY LOSS OF LIFE.

WE REQUEST OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE IN THE NEGOTIATION OF REPARATION AGAINST OUR GOVERNMENT.

[Tyyr]

The Cardassian Union is willing to attend the proposed talks.

[BigJKU316]

The Federation feels the first and most pressing issue must be the issue of the Breen freighters. This issue of confidence in our commercial system must be addressed, lest trade grind to a halt across the quadrant from lack of trust. We invite the Cardassians to speak first on this matter as it has most directly impacted them and they would have the most information that might be of use here.

[Tyyr]

I thank the Federation for the opportunity to address the conference first. The issue of civilian Breen traffic within in the former Breen territories is one of significant concern to the Union. Within the last four years we have seen numerous instances of civilian freighters being used as weapons, both as traps for ships offering aid and as automated missiles to be launched against civilian populations.

We consider ourselves to have been extremely lucky. The Cardassian navy has been able to intercept these automated missiles before they could strike our worlds potentially killing billions. In fact my chief of naval operations has informed me that the Federation has also managed to intercept at least one of these attacks for which they have the Unions eternal gratitude. We also thank the Gods that to date no Federation or Cardassian ship has fallen prey to the attempted suicide attacks of those who would pretend themselves to be in distress only to try and murder those who come to their aid. We do not believe our luck will hold though. Space is vast and our enemy determined. Our navy will do what it can but we must be proactive in stopping these attacks.

This is why the Cardassian Navy has been enacting a blockade against the Breen worlds. We have been stopping and searching every ship that we can in order to deter our opponents. This has had a negative impact on shipping in the area but we cannot allow our enemies to operate with impunity. We realize that this is undoubtedly a source of animosity between the Breen and us which is why we have a proposal.

The shipping inspections will continue, but by a third party. Rather than Cardassian or Federation ships enforcing it a third party such as the Klingons or Tholians could patrol the remaining independent Breen worlds and inspect shipping in order to prevent the transfer of weapons, weapons of mass destruction, or the use of freighters as weapons. The Union would be more than willing to supply these third party ships from our own starbases so as not to over extend them.

[Reliant121]

The empire would consider it an honour to deploy vessels to this space to deter the Breen from their dishonerable tactics. We will investigate with naval advisors about numbers and classes with which we can police the Breen peta'Qs.

[Mark]

THE THOLIAN EMPIRE IS ALSO WILLING TO PATROL SAID AREA. WE CURRENTLY HAVE A LARGE FORCE OF SHIPS PERFECTLY SUITED TO BLOCKADE DUTY.

[BigJKU316]

THE THOLIAN EMPIRE IS ALSO WILLING TO PATROL SAID AREA. WE CURRENTLY HAVE A LARGE FORCE OF SHIPS PERFECTLY SUITED TO BLOCKADE DUTY.

In reference to this matter the Federation must pose a question to the Tholians it normally would not. As the Union ambassador noted we have indeed captured a freighter engaged in one of these attacks.

Most interestingly the ship had a cloaking device of Klingon origin but we do not believe it to be of Klingon constrution. We have extensive experience with Klingon devices through a variety of joint operations and officer exchanges over the years and our technical experts believec the design, while derived from Klingon technology is not built by them.

The Klingons have informed us the technology was transfered to your empire in a transaction some number of years ago. We have no reason to suspect that the Assembly was invovled in these actions but are simply attempting to trace the cloaking device back to its origin.

We would ask whom the Assembly has further transfered this technology to, if anyone, so that we all may address this the threat posed by these suicide tactics accordingly. We harbor no ill-will towards anyone for the transfer of technology, we wish simply to track down those assisting the Breen extremist as rapidly as possible.

[Mark]

WITH RESPECT TO OUR TRADING POWERS PRIVACY, WE ARE UNABLE TO PUBLICLY DISCLOSE THIS INFORMATION WITHOUT PRIOR APPROVAL. WE CAN TELL YOU THAT WE SOLD KLINGON BASED CLOAKING TECHNOLOGY TO TWO MAJOR POWERS.

[Tyyr]

One of those powers was the Union.

[Mark]

WE WOULD ASK THE OTHER POWER TO OPENLY ACKNOWLEDGE PURCHASE AS HAVE THE CARDASSIAN GOVERNMENT.

[BigJKU316]

We appreciate the honesty of the powers involved and are fairly certain we know who else this technology was transfered to. Assuming that will be clarified soon we feel we must move to how such a device was placed aboard a Breen freighter on such a mission and the reasoning behind this mission.

We see two possibilities.

1. A government power such as any of ours were attempting to create an incident and either inflict damage upon the Federation or Union for purposes as yet unknown by Federation officials.

2. A criminal group transfered the device to the Breen either for a fee or as an agent of another government.

The former would be a matter of grave concern to all powers, indeed such an operation would be of such a degree of lunacy that we can hardly imagine any government now represented in these talks would have engaged in it. That being the case we for the moment will set aside such lines of thinking.

The later is more logical and in many ways more dangerous to overall stability. The Federation has reason to believe that the Orion Crime Syndicate has obtained and is looking to expand its access to high level military equipment either through theft, purchase or trade. We have in fact captured several of their agents in the process of attempting to steal Federation technology. We have tracked these craft to their origin and conducted traffic analysis of their other known bases.

We KNOW that several powers in this region are doing a brisk business with these criminals. We KNOW that they have obtained access to military grade weapons and starships. We KNOW that they are profiting by facilitating deals with a variety of powers.

The question is what will the assembled nations do about it? While they are most certainly convenient cover for a variety of transactions we must all understand that every credit of profit they extract from a deal is put to work in the end bringing harm to law abiding citizens of all nations.

Now we can all work together in regards to containing this threat. We can come forward and be frank and honest about any and all dealings we have had with this element so that the threat they pose may be assessed and dealt with in a reasonable manner or we can all choose to maintain silence on this issue because from time to time these criminals are useful to us.

But let one thing be very clear. The Federation will not and does not recognize a difference between the actions of a criminal syndicate and those who employ or knowingly harbor them. We will grant blanket amnesty to discuss this issue for times prior to these discussions. But if after the conclusion of these discussions a power engages a criminal or terroristic third party to do harm to the Federation then we reserve the right to consider those to be actions of the nation proper and we will respond accordingly.

[Mark]

WHAT DOES THE UFP PROPOSE?

[BigJKU316]

WHAT DOES THE UFP PROPOSE?

We would like everyone to disclose their business dealings with the Syndicate and further agree to not supply them with or conduct business with them in a manner that would potentially give amoral criminal elements access to military grade hardware such as cloaking devices, warships, heavy weapons and other such items. Disclosure will allow us all to assess the damage already done and prepare sufficient counter-measures so that we all may be secure from large threats posed by the group.

We are not so naive to suggest that our collective powers may eliminate crime, but it is one thing if the syndicate is trafficing in ilicit foodstuffs and pornography and another entierly if they are facilitating the sale of military grade destroyers equipped with cloaking devices and warp drives that are capable of wiping out all life on a planet. If they wish to traffic in information then they can be dealt with as spies are. But to have them invovled in the heavy weapons trade is nothing any of us should wish for.

Once those general issues are settled we would propose to return to the specifics of addressing the Breen situation and resolving it for the coming year.

[stitch626]

We will come forward, as the second party to obtain a cloaking device from the Tholians. This one device is safe in our research labs, as its only purpose has been in R&D.

We are willing to work with all powers to bring this troublesome matter to a close. Our investors have become nervous, and profit has dropped.

However, at this time, we will not publicly discuss our dealings, if any, with the Orions. Be assured though that we have not traded out weapons or our one cloaking device. Anyone who wishes to discuss this privately may, and we will answer as best we can while maintaining our clients' privacy.

[BigJKU316]

The Federation has a great deal of admiration for the Ferengi. While we don't always share the same goals we do admire your commitment to secrecy. However we must make sure you are aware that it will be quite difficult for any power to restrain themselves or indeed for any power to come to your aid in the event technology being transferred through the Orion's were....shall we say misappropriated and used for purposes you did not intend. Were that to happen and your business dealings with the Orion's were to bring harm to another powers citizens their wrath would be quick and in many ways justified.

We would only ask if the Ferengi government stands prepared to face the cost and consequence for illegal activity by the Orion's by maintaining their silence on the issue.

To other powers we again ask that they give due consideration to our proposal on dealing with such groups as we believe it is the best manner in which to obtain security for all.