Intergalactic Summit

A pregnant mother of 250,000,000? Egads, what is she, a termite?

Ideals are nice and all and having a cause to fight for is alright, But in the end the winners of war write the history books and the losers write the songs. I'm just a hired gun, my only loyalty to my Corp, what little remains of my family, and whoever is paying my bills.

I like the service you're offering here Mr. Quaid, you strip away all pretense and whitewash and stab right into the heart of things. Whoever has the most cash is going to get the best guns and the best pilots, whoever gets those wins the wars. No pretense, no "moral high ground." Just business. I look forward to working with you in the future.

While I agree that often "it's just business" is the ultimate insult and while I have much respect for anyone willing to get their own hands dirty to solve their own problems and grievances. I'm not here to debate the merits, or lack there of in some opinions, of Mr. Quaid's venture. I may not have much respect for the men and women who use the services of Mr. Quaid, but I will gladly take their money. Who knows, maybe the person who placed the money was incapable of solving their grievance and needed outside support? Maybe if they had placed the bounty themself they or their loved ones would be at risk? Maybe they were simply to lazy to track the person down? Its not my place to ask or care why I'm being paid, just to complete the job and hopefully right a wrong or two.

There have always been people who practice Quaid's profession. Typically they are a little more... discrete... about advertising their services, but that's really the only difference I see.

As for the recourse available to the targets, they are also as they have always been: self-defense (in traditional or creative modes), avoidance, or outside assistance. Given the nature of Quaid's profession, and the nature of his targets, the implications should be pretty obvious.

While I'm delighted to see people taking an interest in my business--truly, I thank you for the free publicity--the current reality is that I don't profit at all from it. The current transaction fee is 0 ISK.

I protect my clients from retaliatory bounties or hostile action. I am doing it for free at the moment. Please, tell me again how heartless I am. I promise to start losing sleep over it.

I find Mr Quaid's services to be quite the source of amusement.

Whenever I receive one of his bounties, I know it's from someone who lacked the brass balls to simply do it themselves. Such people are afraid of retribution, and afraid of the person they set the bounty on.

Also shows the lack of conviction they possess, that they must hide behind proxies rather than stand cleanly for whatever misguided principles they believe in.

Firstly, as to assertions of defamation, I would welcome you to produce the psychological evidence that my words may have caused such severe psychological trauma and emotional distress to yourself due to the damage to your own personal reputation you were unable to maintain respectability in public. Certainly, if you were feeling litigious that would be at least the bare minimum for a civil legal arbitration to weigh the balance of probabilities in the Federation under most statutory implements of the legislative bodies of Federated Union members.

This would of course discount the extralegal status I enjoy under operating CONCORD regulatory authority that would make a legal suit practically impossible in the first instance, and even if successful I would be certain there would be sufficient Supreme Court precedents covering the constitutional rights to free speech to find injunction, or indeed that I was in the Federation at well when my comments were made at all in order to be within its legal jurisdiction. Even in the State, since you are neither a representative or potential party affected of a registered State corporate entity, then I would welcome you to prove in a CBT court how I personally might have caused a loss of business and earnings requiring compensatory action.

This of course ignores that my comments made no reference to you or in fact any other persons in particular until you, Mr. Bloodbird, made assumption that they were directed to yourself. Unless you in fact believe yourself to be sole representative for an ambiguous section of capsuleers in general. Which would appear to be patently false.

That out of the way, permit me to clarify and enlighten you further, Mr. Bloodbird since it appears that in your reach for passive-aggressive indignation you have misconstrued my sentiments due to their brevity and your own need to cast aspersions upon my thoughts and motivations.

It is, simply put, disingenuous as a capsuleer who is a participant in the current War Economy -- and that is, the majority of us do, unless one has never traded on SCC markets, constructed armaments, conducted deniable asset work for corporate agents, or has participated in private military actions -- to censure a man such as Mr. Derek Quaid for his services on moral or ethical grounds related to the utilization of third party violence with payment for services rendered via intermediary that guarantees anonymity. Mr. Quaid may be said to have been opportunistic with his service, but in truth if he had not done it someone else would have eventually.

The true onus of responsibility rests with the CONCORD Assembly and the DED for having permitted the expansion of the bounty system, and yet I see little outrage directed towards CONCORD as much as Mr. Quaid for merely being creative with the tools provided by the Assembly. A ridiculous state of affairs when one considers that it is CONCORD that also manages and regulates the lucrative artificial economy that is the SCC regulated capsuleer markets that not only provides tangible financial benefits to hundreds of thousands of freelance capsuleers but CONCORD itself through its taxation of the Trillions of ISK worth of armaments transactions made daily via the SCC in addition to the ancillary economic boon made to Assembly signatories that provide the blueprints, facilities and bureaucratic overhead to make their construction possible.

As such, I find that attempting to censure Mr. Quaid as a freelance capsuleer myself would be a gross act of dishonesty and hypocrisy on my own part. Even more so if that censure was on the basis of moral or ethical grounds -- hence my attribution to naivety, delusion or denial by those doing so, far be it myself to call others liars and hypocrites who also operate under CONCORD regulations. Myself, I find honesty refreshing at times even if it might mean being the harbinger of the tides of truth upon the little castles of sand some might attempt to build for themselves with false notions, affectations and pretensions that we are not all perpetrators and contributors of death and destruction irrespective of just how it may eventuate in the end.

In closing however, Mr. Bloodbird, since you are neither a client, an acquaintance or indeed anyone I owe any obligations to, it is quite the simple task to deal with your personal thoughts and opinions insofar as they are completely irrelevant to my business or duties both professionally and personally. After all, that you may prefer saccharine lies to unsavory truths is just as inconsequential to me as the particularly asinine moral and ethical solution you may use to douche your conscience so that you may rest easy at night.

Interesting.

Not that I disagree with you, but if someone is unable to fight, be it due ot a physical, mental, or emotional infirmity. Is it cowardice to want justice done? And knowing that you can do nothing about it yourself, is it cowardice to attempt to get another to fight in your stead?

The reply to those questions depends. No, it's not cowardice to want justice done. But it is cowardice to get others to enact it for you using back doors and subterfuges, not even responding for your own deeds. It may be justified, it may prevent you from receiving further retaliation, it may be reasonable... but it's the cowards path none the less.

And that's for those cases that use this option out of need, not all the others who may do it for much worse and much more coward reasons.