To the office of the Imperial Magistrate
CC: Office of the Sherrif LHS 1856
To whomsoever this may be of greatest concern or interest, Sir, Ma'am, M'Lord, M'lady,
I have recently (to my mind) been the victim of a misunderstanding that, while inconvenient at most, may indeed perhaps be a sign of a shortfall in the local judiciary system.
Whilst exorcising my duties to the Empire as a free pilot and carrying out the wishes of the local lords in an adjacent system, I was dispatched to the LHS 1856 system, to one of the outlaying planets in order to dispose of ground based assets confirmed as belonging to a local criminal organization. Whilst on approach to the target installation I was accosted by two rouges whom I assumed to be members of the target criminal organization. As can be evidenced from the appropriate flight data logs and the onboard voice recorder, they proceeded to scan my hold (which was empty at the time) and say something to the extent of "Have you got anything of value for me?" or something like the babble that those knaves usually spout off in a futile attempt to intimidate a prospective victim. They were clearly not in the employ of the local law enforcement agency and had I anything of value for them to extort they would have surely opened fire. However, as usual, I turned the tables on them and disposed of both ships in an effort to do my due diligence in protecting the Imperial spaceways from banditry and mischief. I completed the scans as is properly required, however in the heat of the moment, it did not occur to me until after the fact that they were not in fact wanted in that specific system and I did not have a warrant scanner at the time so I incurred from the local Magistrate two counts of assault and murder.
Now, I may not be of noble birth but I've earned my place in Imperial society through hard work and devotion. I do my best not to throw my rank about like some blue-bloods, but this would be cause for outrage even for a commoner! These two persons obviously intended to do harm and would surely have done so to me, had I anything of value to them. Furthermore, had I left them to their machinations, they may have been more successful in their attempts to waylay some less fortunate traveler or, Lady forbid, they should cause harm or death to some one else. Clearly this was a mistake.
Fortunately I have the available resources to smooth the matter over, by other means (and thankfully without the unnecessary loss of further life) so this communique is not meant to ask of you a favor but instead to bring to your attention a potential problem in the current judicial system that may bare reviewing. I don't know how you personally feel about the matter but for my part: if some random ship comes up behind me, armed and demands to know the contents of my hold I assume the only reason they have to ask is because they mean to relieve me of it and that will not stand. Weather or not I actually have anything of value to be relieved of is irrelevant. The intent is clear that they mean to take what does not belong to them and the fact that they brought a gun implies that they intend to use it. However, if a member of the local law enforcement requests of me to heave-to and submit for scan, then it is my obligation as a member of the gentry, to set the example and oblige their requests and wish them luck in finding all those crooked smugglers out there.
Yours, most humbly,
CC: Office of the Sherrif LHS 1856
To whomsoever this may be of greatest concern or interest, Sir, Ma'am, M'Lord, M'lady,
I have recently (to my mind) been the victim of a misunderstanding that, while inconvenient at most, may indeed perhaps be a sign of a shortfall in the local judiciary system.
Whilst exorcising my duties to the Empire as a free pilot and carrying out the wishes of the local lords in an adjacent system, I was dispatched to the LHS 1856 system, to one of the outlaying planets in order to dispose of ground based assets confirmed as belonging to a local criminal organization. Whilst on approach to the target installation I was accosted by two rouges whom I assumed to be members of the target criminal organization. As can be evidenced from the appropriate flight data logs and the onboard voice recorder, they proceeded to scan my hold (which was empty at the time) and say something to the extent of "Have you got anything of value for me?" or something like the babble that those knaves usually spout off in a futile attempt to intimidate a prospective victim. They were clearly not in the employ of the local law enforcement agency and had I anything of value for them to extort they would have surely opened fire. However, as usual, I turned the tables on them and disposed of both ships in an effort to do my due diligence in protecting the Imperial spaceways from banditry and mischief. I completed the scans as is properly required, however in the heat of the moment, it did not occur to me until after the fact that they were not in fact wanted in that specific system and I did not have a warrant scanner at the time so I incurred from the local Magistrate two counts of assault and murder.
Now, I may not be of noble birth but I've earned my place in Imperial society through hard work and devotion. I do my best not to throw my rank about like some blue-bloods, but this would be cause for outrage even for a commoner! These two persons obviously intended to do harm and would surely have done so to me, had I anything of value to them. Furthermore, had I left them to their machinations, they may have been more successful in their attempts to waylay some less fortunate traveler or, Lady forbid, they should cause harm or death to some one else. Clearly this was a mistake.
Fortunately I have the available resources to smooth the matter over, by other means (and thankfully without the unnecessary loss of further life) so this communique is not meant to ask of you a favor but instead to bring to your attention a potential problem in the current judicial system that may bare reviewing. I don't know how you personally feel about the matter but for my part: if some random ship comes up behind me, armed and demands to know the contents of my hold I assume the only reason they have to ask is because they mean to relieve me of it and that will not stand. Weather or not I actually have anything of value to be relieved of is irrelevant. The intent is clear that they mean to take what does not belong to them and the fact that they brought a gun implies that they intend to use it. However, if a member of the local law enforcement requests of me to heave-to and submit for scan, then it is my obligation as a member of the gentry, to set the example and oblige their requests and wish them luck in finding all those crooked smugglers out there.
Yours, most humbly,
~Viscount Goodfellow
the Mason County
the Mason County
