Battlecruiser Tercio

CLASS: Hasta

CREW: CLASSIFIED

ARMAMENT: CLASSIFIED

Battlecruiser Tercio is a new ship fresh out of Valetta, and was specifically designed as a mobile base rather than an assault ship. The Tercio was sent to the Sigmas with a flotilla of fighting ships, with the intention of raiding GMG holdings that had been weakened by the war with Rheinland, and any other target Malta feels worth attacking. Her crew is made up predominantly of experienced raiders that skew young and ambitious, chosen in the hope that they will act swiftly and aggressively against the enemies of Malta.

## News

Fortunately for the Outcasts, the Dons had prepared for this eventuality from the rebellion's outset, and so, our distribution networks were immediately put into "maintenance mode", where maximum emphasis is placed on supplying existing customers, and the existing Cardamine stocks are distributed on a key-by-key basis in order to prevent the network's collapse.
Despite these measures, panic reigned, and demand for Cardamine skyrocketed, triggering armed conflicts between the various network participants and driving the prices to dizzying heights. Although Cardamine has now fallen from its record prices thanks to the lobbying of the Outcasts themselves, this price shock is sure to leave markets uncertain.
The Dons expect production to return to pre-rebellion levels over the next four years as they rebuild the rebel-destroyed on Malta.

We of course speak of the Corsairs, who exploited our people's moment of tragedy to seize Freeport 9 as a forward base. The Corsair occupation of the Freeport represents an existential threat to the Maltese people, and their raids upon our very home cannot and will not be tolerated. The Battlecruiser Augusta has led a force into Omicron Theta with orders to destroy the station and its biodomes, disrupt the Corsairs, and annihilate the Artifact trade that funds them.
Already we have won a great victory by striking down the Battleship Fes, with the Battleship Delos surely soon to join it in the grave. The Dons have promised a handsome payment to the cartel of each pilot that kills a Corsair in Omicron Theta.

Ibiza Station has been reinforced with additional guard squadrons and placed on high alert, in case this is the precursor to a larger Corsair fleet movement. Once the current disarray on Malta is resolved, the Cartels will turn their attention to matters of security, and the fleets will be free to strike terror into the hearts of our foes once more.
The Corsairs may feel they have won themselves a great prize in Omicron Theta, but the Freeport is no fortress and a biodome is a fragile thing. The Corsairs say they were forced to act to secure their territory. Soon enough they shall learn that men in glass houses should not cast stones.

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.

While it remains unclear how the rebels learned of the orbital installation locations, it is possible that some of the more benevolent masters did not consider their slaves to be a serious security threat and allowed them access to portions of critical infrastructure. The Dons do not know how they will approach this pressing fact, but it is clear that the laxity of their brothers and sisters has allowed the rebellion to put up unexpectedly strong resistance.
Despite this, the slaves themselves seem to realize the futility of their struggle as Outcast forces in Omicron Alpha have managed to disable most of the IMG and CR ships that attempted to smuggle aid and reinforcements to the besieged rebels. As the Outcasts succeed in gaining tactical and strategic superiority and their forces regain lost territory, the end of this rebellion is only a matter of time, blood and sweat.
As a final act of revenge, the slaves aimed their weapons not only against the Outcasts themselves, but also against the reason they were brought here: Cardamine. As such, plantation fires stretch from horizon to horizon across the rural regions of planet Malta.

The slave rebellion itself began in the mines of the planet Albegna when the Benitez Cartel executed 200 slaves for sabotaging a mining facility. This cruelty resonated throughout the mining colony, even among the usually trouble-free slaves, and they quickly gained control of the mining facility, including Don Juan Benitez himself, who was to oversee the execution. When the Benitez Cartel learned that their Don had been executed by the slaves instead, they ordered the liquidation of the mining colony.
Although the Albegna mining colony revolt was resolved in less than two weeks, promises by other Dons of 'precautionary measures' across the board, which most slaves interpreted as more mass executions, sparked a widespread slave uprising across Malta. Although the slaves themselves would hardly have been able to resist the well-armed Outcasts, the rebels had the element of surprise in the form of caches of smuggled weapons and other military equipment.
As war rages on planet Malta between desperate slaves and their surprised masters, all Outcast forces from Sirius are recalled to planet Malta to quell the rebellion as quickly as possible. With the IMG and CR taking advantage of weakened Outcast influence in the Tau Region, the question arises as to whether this was all planned by their neighboring foes.

Our smuggling routes have come under increased scrutiny from law enforcement throughout the Sirius Sector, causing an increase rate of failure for our smugglers. The independent smuggling contacts are also increasingly reluctant to continue their work as the risks begin to outweigh the rewards. That in turn, has a secondary effect of making people turn to the filthy Cryer for their Stabiline, a fake remedy for Cardamine withdrawal that we can only describe as snake oil, filling up pockets with false promises.
Dissenting voices painfully point out that this is the first time in a century where we have seen three consecutive quarters of falling profits, with several minor Cartels allegedly facing bankruptcy amid the disaster. The Dons have quickly silenced such assertions, reassuring the public that the Orange Dream will continue to grow.
To address the situation, the Dons demand ever-greater Cardamine yields, launching unprecedented expansion efforts. Steps will be taken to secure the product's shipping. In addition, they plan to import a large labor force from the colonies to bolster the Maltese plantations. This undertaking will require a coordinated effort from Maltese Navy captains, independent smugglers and subverted Sirian assets to acquire and ship slaves en masse to Malta.

We will welcome any ships willing to explore Gallic space and establish relations with local factions. In exchange for the passage, we ask for guarantees of neutrality towards the Council, its military and civilian personnel. We also warn that any capital ship fleets or other large military detachments will be denied passage, by force if necessary. Our goal is to prevent the war, not to encourage attacks of other Houses who might consider Gallia its enemy. Gallia is no one's enemy, and our task is to prove it. We hope that after our actions in the Gallic Border Worlds the King of Gallia will demonstrate responsibility and discretion by establishing diplomatic relations with all four Houses and by canceling plans of Sirius-wide aggression.
However, even if the relations will be established, we, the Council, will still remain sworn enemies of the Crown, and the Second Gallic War will continue. Our current goal is to hold the passage in Languedoc open for everyone for as long as possible. However, the Royal Navy has assembled an overwhelming fleet in Languedoc that will soon head towards Languedoc. Our casualties has been very high during the recent years of fighting in this system, and odds to win the battles that will follow are very low. Languedoc detachments of the Council, and all civilians willing to escape the prosecution by Gallic government, will have to seek refuge in the Sirius Border Worlds. We are already looking for possible locations where we can build our bases and defensive installations.
We are also aware that Sirius space has its own unlawful factions, much like Gallic Brigands and Unione Corse in Gallia. Since our situation is complicated right now, we might seek help of those factions in order to survive and prevent unnecessary casualties. But we also realize that our equipment, ships and weaponry contain Gallic technologies that many Sirius parties are willing to appropriate. We are not trading or exchanging any of our military technologies. If any attempts to capture or attack Council personnel and ships occur, we reserve the right to retaliate with deadly force.

Where did we get those ships? The Council was aided substantially by using our supply lines from the Core Gallic Systems. Supplying the Council comes for a price, and while they usually avoid dealing with us directly, caring about the "public eye", the Maquis trade with us freely and simply transfer goods that they purchase from us to the Council. While we are not much concerned by the political motives of the Council, we share their hatred for the government, a rotted monarchy that has no sense of style, and corrupt corporations. If the Council needs help, we will provide as much as they can buy. Since money is not the only thing we need, the Council's new factories on Marne provide us a wide range of various goods necessary for a brigand's life, including ammunition, side arms, ship weaponry, and, most important, new ships. Maquis deliver the stuff to our installation of Epernay, and from Epernay they come to many other Brigands' bases all around the Gallic Border Worlds.
Now, as the path to unfamiliar new worlds in Sirius has been opened, the Brigands consider the future possibilities of this unexpected change. While the information on Sirius is now much less expensive than before and is easily accessible from anywhere within Gallia, we still do not have sufficient data on the unlawful groups that most surely exist in the Houses of Sirius and in other populated areas. We are now negotiating with Maquis to see if our survey parties could be granted passage through the mine field to gather intelligence and to find places where we could establish new bases of operations.

## Rumors

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