I hope this finds you well.
There has been brought to my attention the unfortunate affair of the Sanbourne Obol II around Kara and it's current status as an involuntary ward of your orbital gendarme. I see that your security forces have acted with a zeal which does them credit and have earned our respect, however they have acted without the full picture, and I am concerned of the potential implications it has created.
What is not understood is that the arms and ammunition Sanbourne Obol II was carrying were arms intended for our own Tuchov Voluntary Muster's depot. The possession of such arms were not in themselves illegal to the crew's understanding nor the precepts of free trade, though I understand there may be some provincial theories running counter to this. Our optimization algorithm (TOMAS) determined combining a medcrys trade run with the arms delivery. No one would have expected the response received when the ship was boarded in what anyone would have considered an overreach of standard import protocols and rights.
Both sides claim the other shot first. Yes, two Karatines were killed, but so were three crew members, including a father of four. Unfortunately with the standard Virtual Intelligence Protocol on all BSSU flagged ships, the logs were wiped at the start of the assault, normal procedures for pirate attacks, so we will never know for certain.
I also understand based on discussions with our Volsungs Consulate that there is an irrational belief that the weapons were linked in some manner to the unpleasant agrarian unrest on the major continent of Kara, with rumors going as far as to include some intent to sell. Nothing, I assure you would be farther from the truth. There is no way we would seek to trade in surface to air or surface to space missiles, our technology is proprietary and we would never let it slip into such hands.
I wish you and I had built more time in simpler times to enjoy the refreshments of our two emerging lights in the darkness of these fell times. Wishes are not worth the breath though, and we must think of tomorrow, not dwell on the losses of yesterday.
I fully understand such misunderstandings happen, and as a kin state, we are willing to work through it. However, given the impounding already two days past and the value we place on the freedom of all of our ships, built on liberty such as we are. We will willingly give three more days out of courtesy (24 hour Terran standard) to give an Imperial Semidecimal Week. From that point we will have to accede to the necessity of the Malthusian truths of our time, and charge standard Impound and Blockage rates (8.99% per Cycle). We will, and please understand this is procedure and has nothing to do with you, at this point place the entirety of what we refer to as the Volsungs Reach under Interdict.
Until this occurs I am sure you can understand the need, in the preservation of our sovereignty, to provide at no small government expense, escorts to our ships with craft drawn from our own navy to preserve the safety of our citizens. We can do no less.
I look forward to the rapid resolution of this issue in the spirit of joint cooperation.
Kellim Casyt, Directing Principle, Institution of Trade and Relations, Coreward Division, BSSUVD
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