#21 by Carnifex

"That's exactly what I'm trying to ensure," replied Carnifex to Kakera, "The bombing of the Libertatum was a demonstration of our ties to the Blood Empire. They are a nation now, not a wet behind the ears power anymore,” Carnifex paused and sighed.
“If we remain neutral and the worst case for the Blood Empire does happen, with Liberty swarming all over Kusari, how do you expect that to end for us?”
“With a triumphant procession leading all the way to the Sugarland, with you in irons,” she replied in a frank tone.
Carnifex chuckled, “Always the optimist Kakera. Don’t you agree that it makes more sense to throw our weight behind the Blood Empire now, when it will make more of a difference, rather than later?”

“If Grayson hadn’t sold us out so quickly we’d still be on good terms with Liberty and we wouldn’t be in that deep,” Carnifex said thoughtfully.
“You mean sold you out,” said Kakera, “The Gunpowder Regret isn’t the safest place to divulge secrets.”
“Too true, but if Liberty does make it into Shikkoku then they won’t need a signed confession from me to attack Deshima. As for the LWB, it’s inconsequential. I don’t plan on making any friends in their ranks, jobs against them dropped off after the Dawson CM is all. Also, explaining the fight in Rheinland won’t be a problem at all. Those pilots we killed were Nighthawks, the Nomad infected kind. No one in Sirius will question that,” Carnifex concluded dismissively.

Kakera seemed thoughtful but unmoved by Carnifex’s explanation. As she looked at him stonily the two, having left the hanger, walked in a business like manner toward the Deshima League HQ where they would be able to view all the information about the jobs and general deployment of League pilots. When they reached the first security checkpoint Kakera found her voice again.
“Why did you do it?”
Carnifex raised an eyebrow, “I assume you’re referring to the bounties on Liberty pilots that I gave the GMS and which put us into both of their bad books in the first place. Well…” he paused uncertainly, “I wanted to put GMS on the back foot and I was planning on pinning the bounties on Rheinland. When Stuttgart went to the dogs Liberty stopped its investigation and the trail had stopped with us. I guess it backfired more than I expected.”