Fort Bush

CLASS: Goliath

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 1120

Ft. Bush was one of the earliest outposts established during the settlement of Liberty. As Liberty expanded, Fort Bush became a popular jumping-off point for any number of wild business ventures as explorers set out to make their fortunes among the stars. Today Ft. Bush provides a haven for traders from all over Sirius who have business to conduct in Liberty. A branch of Liberty Police, Inc. (LPI) headquartered aboard the station helps maintain the peace necessary to a free economy by suppressing pirate activity in the debris fields and maintaining the automated weapons platforms that defend the nearby Trade Lane junction.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Deep Space Engineering
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Universal Shipping
* Ageira Technologies
* ALG Waste Disposal
* Border World Exports
* Gateway Shipping
* Kishiro Technologies
* Liberty Police, Inc.
* Synth Foods, Inc.
* RGS Shipping
* Samura Industries

* Bounty Hunters Guild

## News

While this troubling trend is observed throughout the Sirius colonies, Liberty is bearing the brunt of the crisis among the four major Houses. Remarkably, even Rheinland, where historical data indicated low Cardamine consumption, has witnessed a notable rise in medical cases linked to the illicit narcotic. Experts postulate that the extensive black market responsible for Cardamine distribution might be facing a shortage, or worse, that Outcast factions deliberately curtail the supply to bolster demand. Regrettably, no law enforcement agency has been available for comment on these concerns.
The long-standing debate over Cardamine's controversial nature, juxtaposing its euphoric and purported medicinal qualities with the genetic alterations it inflicts upon long-term users, continues to echo. A key point of contention revolves around the plight of innocent consumers caught in this crisis. Yet, according to independent polls, a substantial majority of our viewers maintains that the substance must remain banned.
In response to this escalating crisis, Cryer Pharmaceuticals has announced a forthcoming press conference. During the event, the company intends to unveil plans for an expanded production of Stabiline, their touted "wonder drug". This announcement promises affordable access to Stabiline for all patients grappling with Cardamine withdrawal, sparking a remarkable 15%% surge in Cryer Pharmaceuticals' stock following the revelation.

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.

In the video, a number of restrained people that have been identified as former residents of Planet Vespucci, board a Dromedary-class vessel registered to a freelance trader Vincent Ruthen. They are under supervision from several LPI officers, who exchange words with the ship's crew. Private investigators have trailed the ship, determining that it did not land at its purported destination of Gas Miner Naha in the Sigma-13, instead electing to travel away from civilized space into the Edge Worlds. The people aboard it have effectively vanished from the colonies.
This is the latest case in a streak of such disappearances, with investigators estimating as high as ten percent of all inmates thought to be awaiting their trial in LPI internment camps have been covertly shipped off-world for unknown reasons. The fate of these people is yet unclear, but theories range from secret trials to unethical experiments aboard Atka. Outraged by what is apparently an LPI-sanctioned human trafficking operation, protesters flooded the streets and had to be dispersed by police riot control squads.
A Liberty Police official has denounced allegations of corruption, stating that "All interned personnel are secured and all prisoner transfers have been done within the framework of the legal code". He refused to comment on the evidence presented, dismissing it as "slanderous fabrication against the good, hard-working officers of Liberty law". Meanwhile, political opposition already promises increased oversight over the law enforcement corporation for the next election cycle.

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.

It is widely speculated that the recent surge taking place in the Kansas system is related. The oddly self named Insurgency has long been categorized as a "Domestic Paramilitary Organization" that is of extremist political nature, in effect making them Liberty citizens with rights as such. The Act recategorizes them as a "Foreign Supported Terrorist Organization", a drastic shift in political standing. Sources have speculated the move is related to the Bering operation that precipitated the formation of the Insurgency as the root cause of the change in policy. Despite considerable cost both monetarily and in terms of material, the operation failed to expunge the organization to the desired level. The Act comes a considerable spending package for future operations and gives free rein to Liberty Navy admirals to take necessary measures to properly remove the long-standing issue.

## Rumors

* LPI has to worry about bringing pirates, smugglers, and thieves in to be tried and sent to one of their toy factories. All I have to do is kill 'em. That's why Bounty Hunters help get the job done when LPI fails.

* The Xenos cause some trouble for the foreign shipping that comes in and flies out of this base. They've put contracts out on some of them in this area. The best part is that some Liberty firms have been paying me to let Xenos go.

* The Rogues that fly this area are a pretty disorganized lot. Most of them feel the prison stations in Texas are like second homes. I prefer to offer them permanent housing in a chunk of space debris that was their imploded ship.

* This base's close proximity to the Pittsburgh Debris Fields, coupled with the amount of traffic that comes through here, makes this an irresistible target for Rogues and the like.

* This place makes me a lot of money, and I don't have to go far to earn it. If I go out along the Trade Lanes or into the Pittsburgh Debris Fields, I'm bound to come across some Rogues.

* I'm returning to Ft. Bush after dropping off a load of Prisoners at Sugarland. It's not too bad here in Liberty space. At least there aren't any of those pesky Corsairs. I refuse to do any Border World runs anymore. It's just not worth it.

* Normally I run Luxury Goods from Newark to New London. That is a cargo more befitting of a senior Bowex captain. Unfortunately, I lost a recent shipment in Magellan to Lane Hackers, and was promptly demoted to the Pittsburgh to Stokes Boron run. Maybe it's a hint that I should get out of the shipping business.

* I'm here to pick up Crew who spent the day here negotiating supply contracts with the LPI. Once I get them back to Denver, I'm heading out with Pharmaceuticals.

* At Cryer, we feel your health is our top priority. That's why we're shipping our Pharmaceuticals throughout Sirius around the clock. From hypo-sprays to bionic eye replacements, Cryer is ensuring a healthier life for everyone.

* This is the main transfer point for Prisoners in Liberty. The LPI processes many of them here and conducts interrogations before shipping them off to the Texas prison population, where their fellow inmates instruct them in all the fine arts of extortion, piracy, kidnapping, murder, you get the idea. Sugarland is like a PhD. program for crooks. What a glorious system!

* One of these days they'll have all the Rogues in prison, and the debris fields will be gone. Then all we'll build is cruise ships, and they'll shut this place down. Yeah right.

* Let me tell you, never stray into Zone-21. One of our patrols got off course chasing some Rogues. They went straight into the mine field and got heavily damaged. Then the navy flyboys showed up and started shooting, no questions asked. One of the LPI guys didn't make it home that night. No apology or nothing from them military folks.

* Sure, there's a lot of piracy out there, but the LPI is hindered in ways that the Bounty Hunters are not. We have well-defined patrol area boundaries and a company policy that prohibits us from killing outlaws. We are to capture them if possible for rehabilitation at our factories.

* The Xenos aren't really making things too tough on the Junkers over in the Jersey; they don't have the men or the equipment, at least not yet. Personally, I'm kinda rooting for them. They aren't as smart as the Junkers and that means more arrests for us, which means I get a bigger bonus.

* Manhattan says we have to snag a dozen Rogues a day there. That's a pretty tall order. Guess they're getting shorthanded on the assembly lines in Texas. Looks like I'll be hanging out in the Pittsburgh Debris Field for the next few days.

* Ft. Bush has been around since anyone can remember. Plenty of action around here, but not like Texas or the Tahoe Cloud in California. That suits me fine. Kind of miss the planetside life to go home to at night, like the Manhattan boys.

* I patrol the Jump Gate from Colorado, which means I see a lot of Kusari shipping moving through my patrol path. My buddy patrols on the Texas Trade Lane side of Ft. Bush, which means he sees a lot of Rheinland shipping.

* We run regular patrols into the Pittsburgh Debris Fields. Lots of Rogues back there. A few Junkers, but they're not smuggling anything in that area, so we generally leave them alone.

* Caught a Junker stealing some Superconductors from the Baltimore storage depots yesterday. He dropped it and ran. I let him go. Not worth the trouble.

* I'm thinking of joining the Bounty Hunters Guild. They always have the best stories, and you get paid much better to boot. Sure, some of them did time in Huntsville or Sugarland, but it ain't always their fault with all the LPI roundups going on all the time.

* We ship H-Fuel to this base from Okinawa. You will find that it is of the highest quality. We do not have the connections that Samura has gained through its many years of less-than-ethical business practices, so we must rely upon top quality products to win customers.

* You want your ship to run with the best fuel at the lowest price? Then you should try our H-Fuel, which we bring here all the way from Okinawa. Now that the GMG no longer use Osaka and Samura, we will be the exclusive Kusari supplier to the Sirius Sector.

* I would prefer not to venture outside of Kusari space to peddle our products to the Gaijin here in Liberty, but I must pay the price for accidentally breaking one of my general manager's prized Alien Artifacts at last year's Sakura celebration.

* It is obvious to Samura that Liberty does not take our shipping problems seriously. Our shipments are under constant attack from Xenos, but the Liberty government does hardly anything for us. Where is their navy? Ah yes, they only operate in the southern sector of New York, leaving us to be guarded by the LPI.

* This is the halfway point on my route from Los Angeles to Denver. We usually bring a little extra for the bases in this area of Liberty. I'm so sick of Synth Paste. You get it at a discount working for them. Of course, the execs get free Luxury Food from Cambridge shipped right to their doorstep. That's what I call service.

* Our biodomes are flowering up all over Sirius. Our experts are growing and cultivating the finest Tobacco in Stuttgart.

* Universal Shipping is Liberty's premier shipping company. We bring in Light Arms from Detroit; Water and Oxygen from Manhattan; and Prisoners for interrogation from various battleships and police outposts.

* This is a transit point for Spaceship Crews being transported up to Colorado from New York, and for Prisoners headed for Sugarland and Huntsville.

* Pittsburgh receives a large portion of her supplies from this base. Oxygen, Food, Water, Consumer Goods, and H-Fuel are shipped there by Universal.

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