Barrier Gate Station B

CLASS: Makeshift

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 4K

Barrier Gate is one of the few privately owned space stations in Sirius. Freelancer George Tinsley made a name for himself in underworld circles when he discovered the "Barrier Pass", a shortcut between Tau and Liberty space that completely bypasses Bretonia. Knowing full well that his secret would not remain that way for long Tinsley called in favours and invested his entire fortune into having a rock on the edge of the Barrier Ice Field hollowed out and turned into a base. When the Independent Miners Guild (IMG) workers he had hired finished, Tinsley began to tell his peers about the new passage.

Although retired from freelance piloting, Tinsley has become the administrator of Barrier Gate, which has grown steadily over the last decade. The station is ocupied by a motley crew of Rogues, Hackers, Outcasts, Bounty Hunters, IMG, Colonials, Zoners and various Freelancers all looking to trade or lay low for a while. Most of the revenue on the station is generated by smugglers and pirates, although the IMG use the station as refuge from the cold conditions on Pecos.

As Tinsley planned, Barrier Gate has become a place where the Outcasts exchange Cardamine with the criminals of Liberty, producing astounding profits. Not that his plan hasn't been without its problems. Tinsley is constantly fighting subtle attempts to take over the station from the Rogues, Junkers and the Outcasts themselves. In addition, the publication of the Barrier Pass and the new station earned Tinsley several large bounties from Molly gangs who have lost most of their cardamine smuggling business, which have thus far gone uncollected.

The arrival of the Crayter Republic in the system has presented the station and it's inhabitants with a quandry of possibilities and concerns. The Republic has not stated its intentions in regards to the station and so poses both a potential grave threat but also a potential market for the Gate's many amenities.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Zoners
* Outcasts
* Independent Miners Guild
* Crayter Republic
* Independent Pirates
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Lane Hackers
* Liberty Rogues

* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Outcasts
* Independent Miners Guild
* Lane Hackers
* Liberty Rogues
* Crayter Republic
* Zoners

## News

Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection.
Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source.

Professor Nagel and her team are certain the Pulse originated from outside Sirius, but are otherwise no closer to identifying its source or mitigating a future Blackout event. "Following the Blackout, we began to see immediate signs of jump hole destabilization in multiple different regions, with many ultimately falling out of phase alignment altogether", she commented. The dramatic upending of Sirius' jump hole network has already prompted many groups to abandon stations and withdraw from systems that appear to risk being cut off.
While months-long trips between the stars are possible thanks to the Liberty Engine and many centuries of innovation, few ships are designed or provisioned to make such arduous journeys. Those who were displaced by Sirius' redrawn map hope that system connections will return, while adventurers and explorers rush to discover new routes.

Over the last few days, Archer-class siege cruisers have been deploying their massive coaxial cannons to suppress military infrastructure on the planet, systematically targeting the very last bastions of the Insurgency. First to be destroyed were the planet's few remaining ground to space weapons installations, quickly crippled by bomber strikes from the Ohio herself, before the remaining desolate ground defences and deserted infrastructure were reduced to rubble, their populations having already long fled the world.
A small service was held on the Ohio as the bombardment drew to a close in memory of Rear Admiral Dylan Brandt and those thousands of sailors and marines who had given their lives in the name of Liberty; fought their own lost brothers-in-arms so that others may not live under their misguided yoke, and many more who had their lives irrevocably changed as a result of the evils the campaign sought to end.
The announcement also confirmed identical monuments to the Insurgency campaign would be erected on every world in Liberty, from Planet Houston to Planet Erie, each monument an obelisk carrying the names of every serviceman lost in the conflict and serving as a reminder that Liberty is stronger when it stands together.

For some time, it had been alleged that Insurgent and Xeno-backed cells had been stirring trouble on Erie, inciting violence in the population and seeking to turn the planet into a second Veracruz. Never, however, had such open acts of terror been visited upon the governing Libertonian forces.
The response was quick and decisive. In coordination with the LSF, Vice Admiral Hamish aboard the Battleship Alma lead a Liberty Navy task force directly into the system in Operation Pesticide, escorted primarily by Siege Cruisers, Gunboats and fightercraft, with many of the Navy's capital warships tied in the Vespucci campaign or ever watchful at Liberty's borders. They were met by Zoner Q-ships based from Bethlehem, with many coming from as far as Galileo or even the Sigmas, accompanied by a motley assortment of freelancers and other anarchist elements. Leading the Zoner line was a Aquilon-class carrier, the Pinnacle.
While the Pinnacle came under heavy bombardment from the Alma and her task force, supplies quickly gathered onto Zoner transports from Erie attempted to run the Navy blockade. While some transports were lost to Navy bombers, others yet escaped to parts as of yet unknown. This 'victory', however, came at a heavy price. The Pinnacle was lost with most of her hands still on board and the rest captured, while the Liberty Marines landed virtually unopposed, quickly securing population centers for both the safety of Libertonian assets and the civilians on Erie itself. The Alma is settled now into the low orbit of Erie, a constant reminder to those below that they are under the protection of the Liberty Navy. A comfort to some, a dire warning to many more.

Admiral Brandt was heard to give the order to abandon ship right as the ship's hull could take no more and began to be torn asunder, with hull breaches on multiple decks. Tragically, the armored engines of the Delaware had suffered a great deal of damage, and as the armor and shielding was whittled away, vast quantities of radiation and superheated gas began to flood into the crew compartments of the vessel.
In an emotional announcement, the Liberty Navy officially stated that they consider the Delaware to be lost with all hands, including Admiral Brandt himself. No life pods could be secured in the heat of battle, with the remainder of the Delaware's escort making a fighting retreat back to the LNS Ohio which had herself been caught lagging behind the Delaware's doomed thrust into the heart of the Insurgency. The Ohio now remains with her own escort, augmented by survivors of the Delaware's battlegroup, and will continue as the Liberty Navy's bastion in the Vespucci system, ready to ensure that the Insurgents pay dearly for the toll they have extracted upon one of Liberty's finest Admirals.

Leading a fearsome line of some of Liberty's most advanced warships, the Delaware bore down on the Insurgency's remaining, cobbled-together fleet in the Vespucci system, out of position from dealing with a Bretonian thrust from Magellan. Immediately caught was the Battleship Vanquisher, one of the scant few Arbiter-class Battleships available to the Insurgents. Caught by itself, the Vanquisher put up a fearsome fight but was ultimately unable to stand against the Delaware and its escort, despite its fighter component dealing severe damage to much of the Delaware's own, smaller fighter contingent, as well as the Delaware herself.
With the great Arbiter all but vanquished, the Interdictor-class Battlecruiser Triton stared down the guns of the damaged Delaware and her escort. Outnumbered two-to-one, and outgunned to an even greater degree by the Libertonian heavyweight, Triton and her escorts launched their one and only advantage, their fighter and bomber superiority gained at the Vanquisher's expense.

## Rumors

* Hear much about those Colonials? They came here pretty recently, don't think they are fully set up yet. Still wouldn't cross 'em, anyone who fought the Outcasts to a standstill for years isn't someone you mess with.

* You want to know what is going on around here you had better talk to someone else, unless you are willing to pay me to tell you rumours all night.

* Have a glass of Honshu juice on the house. Just go easy with that stuff; I don't want to have to scrub any stains out of stool cushions.

* The last guy who didn't pay me now has a bright pink rhino with a cute little duck painted on. Now how do you explain that to someone?

* Stay away from Pueblo Bonito, I don't know what those Zoners do there, they just tend to get trigger happy when you get too close.

* Ever had a cardi twister? It's my house speciality, just don't plan on flying, operating heavy machinery or walking with 4 hours of consumption.

* If you have a vice Barriers Gate can satisfy you! Up here we have my bar and few others, down on 14 we have our red light deck, and if you are interested in losing money the Outcasts just finished turning storage area 116 into a full blown casino.

* Shasta is a unique place; it has to be the only trade station in Sirius that focuses on selling homemade crafts and funky crystals. What is even more surprising is that it is so busy.

* We thought our Zoner neighbours in Baffin were going to become competition, but they have surprised us. They tolerate the smuggling through their backyard but have no interest in supporting it.

* If you are offering to take me back to your ship it had better have a big cockpit, I hate hitting my head!

* Tailing Bounty Hunters is not the most sought after job in this joint, but if we don't watch what they are up to we could lose our jobs in a second. There is no paycheck if your boss gets murdered.

* Out with DSE, in with the Colonials. Although we tended to shoot them in the Taus, who knows what will happen here. We can't bring large fleets in due to Baffin, they have their entire military here.

* The Orange decks are getting really crowed. Not only do the all of us Outcasts live down there, we have all the junkies coming down to try and huff our enriched air. Not that it does them any good, the concentration of what we breathe and what they smoke is completely different.

* Tinsley is the guy who owns this place. That man is a bounty hunters dream contract. There are so many people willing to pay to see that man dead I could retire if I nailed him. The problem is that I can't do it alone, the man employs an army of mercenaries for station security.

* See that guy over in corner, he is station security, they have been watching me like a hawk since I got here. The only reason they are tolerating me is because I have assured them I am only stopping over for the night, I am headed to Freeport 3 to meet a contact who has neglected to pay.

* The Crayter Republic withdrew to here after being forced out of their own system in the Taus by the Gallic Navy. They use our Pecos base as a refuge for now, but will likely want to try and inhabit Yuma. But they have to solve the same problems DSE faced in their attempts, in removing the native plant life. I think they have a good chance, they've got more resources out here than just a single survey vessel.

* We are happy to see DSE gone. It is not the corporation itself that had us worried, we work with them all the time.It is the fact that they are a precursor to Liberty annexing a system. We spent 7 years putting Paisley together and are not interested in it being taken out from under us.

* We rotate shifts from our deuterium mining on Pecos so that everyone gets a chance to relax off world. Though with the Republicans settling properly on the planet, even our colony has boomed business wise. Folks come here for the less..legal fun. Watch the casino though. It is really easy to lose a week's pay if you are not careful.

* I'm sure we'll catch the blame for the Armstrong's demise, but what the hell was DSE thinking sending an unescorted survey vessel out this far? Those arrogant bastards have themselves to blame. I hear not a single lifepod made it out, which would account for several hundred dead. I wonder if any of them made it to the planet surface.

* The DSE survey vessel Armstrong was destroyed in a pirate attack. Can't say I'm unhappy about it. We know damn well that this is a prime smuggling route into Liberty, and I think the Rogues were as unhappy with DSE nosing around here as we were. I guess they finally did something about it, which is more than I can say for the IMG.

* This place is making me rich and all it is costing me is a few drinks every night. Once these smugglers get a little inebriated they love to talk about their trips which gives me plenty of good intel to sell back to my contacts in Bretonian Intelligence.

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:46 UTC*