Bonn Station

CLASS: Cathedral

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

POPULATION: 3K

Bonn Station was constructed soon after agreements had been reached with Liberty regarding the disposition of Trade Lanes and Jump Gates in sovereign Rheinland space, providing a headquarters for Interspace Commerce (IC) to oversee the transition of the Jump Gates and Trade Lanes to national control. Now IC works closely with the shipping companies to insure shipments throughout Sirius.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Kruger Minerals
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* ALG Waste Disposal
* Gateway Shipping
* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Republican Shipping
* Universal Shipping

## Commodities

* Water
* Diamonds
* MOX
* H-Fuel
* Mining Machinery
* Pharmaceuticals

* Copper
* Food Rations
* Fertilizers
* Gate/Lane Parts

## Rumors

* If you want a real challenge, head out to Solarius in Omega-11. Daumann needs Bounty Hunters to help them with basic security. It's a rough post, but you can go Diamond mining while you're out looking for Hessians and Corsairs.
* There's a simple reason that the main areas of criminal activity in Berlin are in the Ruhrfeld and Saarfeld: That's where the Jump Holes are. The Hamburg Hole is in the northern part of the Ruhr; the Saar Hole leads to Dresden.
* There's good business for the Guild down in Dresden. Daumann and Kruger are both looking for Bounty Hunters to guard their operations. Kruger is the better one because you can always go Diamond mining when no one is looking. You'll earn your keep, though. Plenty of Hessians to go around in Dresden.
* Beware of the radioactive areas in the Ruhr. They're up in the mid-section, north of the Junker Debris pocket. The Ruhr used to be Rheinland's center of uranium mining and processing.
* This sure beats the police. I hadn't been paid in two months. The rest of my post had turned to "Trade Lane tolls" that they forced passing ships to pay. Berlin got wind of it and sent the lot of them to Vierlande to discourage others sharing the same thought. I decided to change professions and try to earn some legitimate money.

* We do day runs to Dresden as needed to repair rings. It's a hell of a place to have Trade Lanes, I'll tell you. The system is an inferno, full of lava asteroids and hostile Hessians.
* Had to send out a crew to fix the Omega-11 Gate in Stuttgart last week. Hessians got into it with a Daumann Armored Transport coming in from Solarius. The ship tried to re-enter the Gate, but was caught by the raiding party while docking.

* The Rheinland government asked IC to leave after the trade dispute of 521. We were not able to return to New Berlin until the agreement between Liberty and Rheinland following the Eighty-Years War. Liberty companies were granted free access to Rheinland space at that time.
* Rheinland and its adjacent Border Worlds now suffer the dubious distinction of having the highest shipping insurance rates in the Sirius sector. We have advised the Bretonian and Kusari militaries of the situation in the hope that a special arrangement can be made to keep the Border World Trade Lanes operating in this area.
* Bonn receives most of its basic supplies from New Berlin, with the exception of food. That's brought in from Stuttgart by Synth Foods. This station is also the exclusive Rheinland distributor for spare Trade Lane parts -- always in demand in the Omega systems.
* Rheinland is plagued by a wide variety of criminals, some political, others engaged in common piracy. It is the latter group that interests us. Excessive insurance claims made by shipping companies and damage inflicted to the physical Trade Lane infrastructures can lead to decreased profits.
* The Eighty-Years War was a colossal mistake for Rheinland. The nation was fairly self-sufficient and prosperous, yet Kruger was not content. They had fallen behind Daumann, and hoped that the gases of the Crow Nebula would be their salvation. It was Daumann that actually persuaded the government to step in, for reasons of cynical self-interest. They knew that fat military contracts would head their way once the fighting began in earnest.
* We will issue a decision on the Omega-7 system shortly. There are field agents assessing the situation. IC may no longer insure cargo in that system, as in Dresden after the rise of the Red Hessians. This would significantly increase the exposure of area shippers to catastrophic losses.
* IC is very concerned that the Rheinland Military has proven unable to patrol the Omega-7 system satisfactorily. That is a crucial shipping route between Rheinland and Bretonia. Many of the precious metals in the Sirius sector are found there. In particular, the future Copper supply for Ageira's plant in Colorado.
* The Sigma-13 Trade Lane attacks have attained crisis status. The Corsairs and Outcasts grow stronger with every passing year, and the GMG seems to be unable to effectively defend their territory as they did during the Eighty-Years War. The Edge World pirates have proven to be far more formidable adversaries than the Rheinland Imperial Fleet.

* Gateway and the IMG haven't had nearly the problems with the Red Hessians that Kruger and Daumann have. We try to tolerate them as much as possible, which specifically means not hiring Bounty Hunters to chase them down.
* We're doing very well on this route since Liberty decided to use us as a secondary source of metals for their factories and smelters. Word was that they didn't trust Daumann anymore and were concerned with the Hessians shutting off the flow of Copper through Dresden.

* The LWB was getting a lot of flack from the Rheinland public for attacking their food supply. So now they've switched to Fertilizers. They figure if our costs get high enough, we'll have to reconsider the current assimilation strategy of Stuttgart. They may have a point.
* Stuttgart may prove to be the undoing of Synth Foods. Nobody imagined the ferocity with which the LWB would strike back. Nor did we realize how challenging the criminal situation was in Rheinland. Our Fertilizer ships have to be specially armed just to survive the trip from Houston to Bonn. Escorts are required on all runs to and from Stuttgart.

* Bonn is burning through the Trade Lane spare-parts supply pretty fast. Deep Space is out there in Omega-7 or Stuttgart every other week. Looks like we'll have to bring in another load sooner than expected from Trenton.
* This is the end of the line for Universal. Management says that it's not worth it to go into Stuttgart. Too many problems. Just look at Synth Foods. Their security costs could bite them one of these days. Maybe the LWB will actually defeat Goliath.