Re: Pirates, Privateers and Politics

>   In fact, Azrael Jones resigned from the AE fleet (the Prince Henry
>Corporate fleet, it was at the time) and set up shop as a military
>consultant/provider of mercenary warships, and now offers top-notch
training

>simulations to NSL, NI, OU, IAS and NAC officers.

The relationship between the AE and the OU is quite interesting: a large
proportion
of the AE actually resides in territory notionally claimed by the OU.
But the
OU has neither the resources, nor the intention (in the short to medium
term
anyway), of colonising the many M type stars it claims. Therefore,
having a
large number of expendable, even disposable colonies that are "someone
else's
problem" and that act as caretakers (and intelligence platforms) is a
boon to
the OU. Various financial arrangements with the Alarishi Emperor make
sure that
the OU gets a decent cut of anything valuable. But the Alarishi Emperor
receives
value for money: he gets to call on a dozen fully-armed OU
battlecruisers at
very short notice in case anyone gets stroppy (with more on the way) in
OU space,
plus having access to the complete resources of the OU's considerable
patrol
and re-supply fleet at wholesale (or even at-cost) rates.
The OU's attitude is that if the AE didn't exist, it would be neccessary
to
invent them. The relationship is symbiotic. Of course sometimes there
are commercial
disagreements, and it may be neccessary to terminate the lease of an AE
settlement
that's becoming a public nuisance. But this is more usually done by one
of the
big 4 getting OU agreement not to interfere in a little "hot pursuit",
other
than to salvage any wreckage.
When the AE needs a voice in the UN, the OU can provide it (just as the
OU acts
as a UN catspaw in the outer rim). While the OU has "plausible
deniability"
to spare because of the AE.