Java Station

CLASS: Chesterton

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 420

The Independent Mining Guild established Java Station in order to lay claim to the rich mineral resources present here. Originally, the Guild met stiff resistance from Bretonia Mining and Manufacturing, but the arrival of the Gallic Navy in the Tau borderworlds effectively ended Bretonia's attempts to pressure IMG out of the system.

Java Station was expanded with a refinery module purchased from Kishiro. Able to refine both Niobium and Beryllium, Java has become a large supplier of these metals, both to Kusari and Gallia. An EFL-supplied Gallic mooring and refueling facility has been added to the station to accomodate Gallic ships coming to make a purchase.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Independent Miners Guild
* Gallic Navy
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* EFL Oil and Machinery
* Gallic Metal Service
* Zoners

* Bounty Hunters Guild

## News

This shift has been particularly evident in recent events, as the Corsairs grow increasingly assertive across the Omegas. A stark example of this newfound vigor occurred when the famed space bazaar, the Battleship Hood in Dublin, met a merciless end at the hands of a Corsair battlecruiser. Furthermore, the once-unassailable Red Hessians now find themselves locked in a fierce struggle to safeguard their positions in the Dresden system against the relentless advance of the Rheinland Military.
The Corsairs appear poised to intensify their pressure on all independent and free-spirited individuals in the Omega Region, spurred on by the defeatist sentiments expressed by certain Zoners and independent miners who might consider Corsair protection if it promises safety.
Despite the imposing presence of our pivotal IMG station, Freistadt Base in Omega 7, which remains under the watchful guardianship of the formidable Elbe Border Fortress, the situation in the deeper reaches of the Omegas portends increasing complexity in the years ahead. Combined with the diminishing influence of Bretonia in the region and the resurgent Rheinland's efforts to reclaim its lost Dresden system, the Corsairs' audacious pursuits are set to escalate.

Within a month of the IMG's plea, the political leadership of the Crayter Republic unanimously concurred on the imperative need for assistance. Simultaneously, several of our courageous pilots volunteered to become supply carriers destined for the strife-torn planet Malta. While executing cargo operations in the perilous Omicron Alpha system posed a grave risk, the opportunity to strike a significant blow against the Outcasts on their home turf was deemed too compelling to forego.
In tandem with the preparations for breaching Outcast defenses on planet Malta, our fleet took the bold step of extending emergency military support to the IMG at Falkland Base. The ultimate objective: to drive the Outcasts out of the Tau-37 system once and for all.

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.

The most ambitious project was by far the Metz Mirror Array or MMA, which consisted of a vast phalanx of reflective satellites in orbit of the planet meant to increase the sunlight during Metz's 28 hours day. Contracted by EFL, the project was about to be finished when Kusari began its invasion of our Home. Most of the MMA satellites were spared during the earliest hours of the war as the initial fighting occurred around the stations of Roanne and Montigny. Unfortunately, the rest of the MMA was completely destroyed by the scorched earth tactic of Kusari's retreat.
On the planet's surface, the 70 million inhabitants suffered the long six months of the war. Being unsupplied, the oil reserves necessary to provide energy to the generators of the water reclamation facilities were dry by the end of the summer. As consequence, the quantity of water collected for agriculture was well below the required quantities for sufficient production. This was also coupled with a very early winter, with the first frosts in the equatorial regions by the end of September. These multiple factors resulted in serious consequences on Metz's food production and reserves, to the point that the possibility of famine was even evoked.
While this statement is revealed to be false, the food situation on Metz is more than worrisome and the confusion created by the end of the war and the Reunification makes the Metz supplying mission in food even more complex.

At present, no house stands to conclusively fill the vacuum of power in the Taus, clouding the future to secure exploitation of its rich natural resources in ambiguity. Following the withdrawal of Kusari from Tau-23 after the final confrontation in Languedoc, the lanes within the system seem to have been subject to sabotage, and Gallia has released a public statement that Orkney would instead be favored over Tau-23 for the route to Tau-31, likely owing to Orkney being the last major Tau system that Gallia holds bases in. Niobium futures have ballooned in response to plummeting consumer confidence in stable Niobium extraction, resulting in vicious multinational corporate and paramilitary competition over Tau resource exploitation. The Taus are now a lawless battleground of conflicting corporate interests, small scale military skirmishes, and pirate incursions, all scrambling for a piece of Niobium.
Given the thorough depletion of military might and expansionist ambitions in the surrounding devastated houses, chances are low that the Taus will find themselves tamed by a lawful house in the foreseeable future.

The most notable of these figures is the former Marquise of Marseille, Renée Hennequin d'Avignon, who retreated from the Provence system during the Minarchy's uprising. d'Avignon, who records now show to have been the head of the Crown's spy network on Planet Marseille, possessed close ties to both the upper echelons of Royal Intelligence and high ranking Gallic nobility. The displaced Marquise claims to be acting under authority of King Charles XI himself, citing a letter of regency allegedly left in her care during the final days of the war.
While such a decree, if legitimate, would make the former Marquise Queen Regent of the Kingdom of Gallia, d'Avignon has rejected this title, instead fashioning herself Director-Regent. This is likely a calling to her position of Director within the GRI, which she rose to near the end of the war, as well as an attempt to garner favor with the unusually robust military demographic of the new state.
d'Avigon's first edict as Director-Regent of the Royal Enclave was to declare the authority of Grand Duke Trintignant null and void. She has also issued the immediate expediation of construction efforts on Planet Bordeaux, the Enclave's capital. Flooded with hundreds of millions people, primarily displaced nobility, servicemen, and Bretonian serfs, the incipient nation-state currently faces a great food and housing crisis. The Director-Regent has authorized the use of whatever means necessary to clear arable farmland and extract resources needed for the erection of more permanent housing in lieu of Bordeaux's tent cities.
Despite these challenges, the Royal Enclave refuses to surrender to Bretonia, and the three system state maintains a military disproportionately large to its small size. Analysts have surmised that the Enclave's position within the Hebrides is a tenable one, should they be able to resolve their present issues and avoid succumbing to civil unrest. The Enclave's fleet has shifted to a more defensive posture, and it appears that the only system outside their borders which they presently have a vested interest in is Dublin, where Enclave patrols have been seen engaging Bretonian forces on roughly equal footing. Elsewhere, the Enclave's military activies appear to be limited to smaller scale anti-shipping raids and hit and fade strikes on soft targets.
While it remains to be seen whether or not the Enclave will stand the test of time, it appears that if so, they could remain a thorn in Bretonia's side for years to come.

## Rumors

* Niobium is an important Commodity that can be used for several things. That's why we come this far to get it. Once we bring it back here from our mining operations, it is shipped to Freeport 6, and the Zoners take it from there.

* Lots of people who come here think we are a pretty strange breed. It's true we are loners, but if you want to meet some strange ones you should check out the wackos in Tau-37. Those guys get a rush from knowing that Outcasts might kill them at any time.

* More than anything else, this is Outcast space. You have to respect that or else they will bury you. Don't underestimate the Outcasts. Generally they leave us alone, but that is because we are smart enough to stay out of their way.

* The IMG freighter Barossa is believed to have been ambushed by the Outcasts in the Malvinas Cloud while making a routine shipment of Niobium to Java. The Outcasts left the ship adrift after the fight, as a warning to others in the system. The Outcasts have no need for Niobium, so the ship might still have it's cargo.

* Sure, the Outcasts attack this base every once in a while, to disrupt our operations. Their real focus however is on the Gallic Navy now that they've moved in in force. Still, it's kind of a rush, knowing that an Outcast might be sitting there, in the Niobium field, waiting to smoke you. I always get goosebump when I get sent out there, so I guess I like it!

* The IMG has gone deep into the riskiest areas of Sirius space looking for valuable minerals. The most dangerous post you can man for the IMG is Falkland, which is hidden among the asteroids of Tau-37. The Outcasts do not know its location, or they would have destroyed it for certain.

* It sure is good to see someone who isn't a miner around here. I know there are Gallic and Kusari folks here too, but company staff are usually jerks who can't wait to get out of here. They all think we are weirdoes. You don't think I'm strange, do you? I've been out in the Edge so long I don't even know what's normal anymore.

* After the Gallic Navy overran the Council in Languedoc, a lot of ships passed through Tau-23, heading south. It was a hush-hush operation but the size of it has thrown off a lot of rumors. One of them is that an entire planet was evacuated, but I'm not sure if I believe it. Where would you leave that many people?

* We operate this base here because of the rich Niobium deposits. Once it is mined, our pilots ship it out to Holman. From there we don't really care what happens.

* This is dangerous space out here, and the other guys you see here in the Border Worlds are veterans. Anyone who comes here before they are ready doesn't last very long. If you are a Zoner it's a little different, but then the miners you see out here are a different breed, too.

* The IMG has treated Gallia just like any other house. We offer to sell them the Niobium and Beryllium we mine in this system. I think Gallia's just using us in that respect, not wanting to risk their own miners against the Outcasts. Those brutes attack us at any chance they get. They're nothing new to us, but the Gallic companies have never come up against such a vicious enemy, I'd wager.

* The IMG signed a nonagression pact with Gallia mostly because we were pressured into it. The Guild also didn't warn Kusari or Bretonia about an impending attack. I doubt they would have listened, the Council had sent the same warnings months ago and were ignored.

* It takes a lot to keep an operation like this running. One thing we always need more of is Mining Machinery. We pick it up in Holman, and the surplus is shipped to Falkland.

* The new jumpgate makes this mining operation very interesting for IDF Shipping. These miners used to ship a lot to Bretonia, and that surplus is now going to Gallia instead. If we'd needed to conquer mining bases like these, it would have been years before they would be operational again.

* It's helpful to have an EFL refueling post on this station. Most of the Sirian stations do not carry our fuel, and once in a while our fuel tanks get hit in an Outcast ambush. This system is not a place you want to go dry in.

* The miners here have given us tours of this facility per our request. Much of this station was built using Bretonian engineering principles, which isn't surprising. Studying this operational base helps us to learn how Sirian base systems work, lessons we can then apply in repairing the stations we have captured.

* Our refueling post on this station was finished in late 754 AGS, almost a full year before the Navy's glorious invasion. These miners were smart to cooperate before that time, if they had opposed Gallia, our Navy would have blasted this base into oblivion.

* These miners don't often post big bounties, but their stations are one of the few bases this far out in the borderworlds that we can safely use. In return we take the few bounties they post to earn a bit of scratch on the side while waiting for the real marks. Everybody wins. Well, except my targets.

* Only the most elite Hunters venture deeper into the Taus then this system. Beyond Tau-37 lay the Outcast home systems. It's near suicidal to head that way, but if you need to find specific marks who've managed to get back to their home system, it's the only way.

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:45 UTC*