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.

Claimed by the OU Revisionist History department.   The Prince
Henry Corporation ("PHC"), chartered in the EU, outfitted survey
ships as soon as EU regulations (plus a little well-placed cash)
permitted building FTL vessels by anyone other than the EU--the
PHC actually operated some of the first "PAU" and "IF" ships,
charging an incredible fee for exclusive rights to the survey
data.  The survey vessels took 40% losses but mapped the routes
to the stars now claimed by PAU and IF.  In accordance with UN
regulations, the PHC itself did not lay claim to any habitable or
terrformable planets.  The PHC did claim three uninhabitable
systems (now known as Alarish, Huy Braseal, and Coronado), and
was later given a share of a fourth system by the Islamic Fed
(this was pre-revolution, of course).  The OU, of course, never
had a claim to this.

Now, there are a number of AE sovereignities dispersed throughout
human space, and if you count "a star system with one ship or
habitat" as "occupied" and if you regard as valid the OU's claim
to every M star around, then I suppose you could say that most of
the territory occupied by the AE is actually OU.

> 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.

Mercenary intel gathering is something we're quite good at--the
Night Vision recon corvettes (and variants) were built for
exactly that purpose.

>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,

Amazing, how those OU battlecruisers look _just like_ NSL
battlecruisers. :-)

> 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.

AE sovereignities outside the three AE systems know they'd better
not become a public nuisance, because the Empire isn't likely to
bail them out if they get into trouble.  The prevailing attitude
is "you're free to do whatever you like--and if it gets you in
trouble, well, that's evolution in action."
That being said, it should also be pointed out that the last time
the FSE sent a squadron into AE space--roughly 60 years ago,
IIRC--rather less of it came back.

> 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.

The AE doesn't deal with the United Nations and doesn't recognize
the UN as having any legal jurisdiction over anything whatsoever.
And that's on the days when we're feeling polite....