Planet Denver

DIAMETER: 12,211 km.

MASS: 5.54 x 10e24 kg.

TERRAIN: Terrestrial

TEMPERATURE: -68°C to 59.1°C

ESCAPE VELOCITY: 10.02 km/sec

Originally home to miners, smelters and shipyard workers, Denver has always had a sizeable population, but during the economic collapse of the silver industry in 600 AS, many of the workers were put out of jobs and either left the system or ended up joining the nascent Xeno movement. The planetary population plummeted, with the remaining people left to scratch a living on Denver's farmsteads, and also in the small, but profitable, tourist industry.

With the California water shortages continuing unabated, the wealthy elite of Los Angeles began to search for an alternative holiday destination and place to call home, and they found it in the guise of Denver's rough savannahs and beautiful, pristine beaches. The resulting emigration injected new life into the planet's economy, reviving its fortunes, even as the newly arrived upper class were in the process of systematically taking control of the local government authorities.

Nowadays the planetary population of Denver stands at a healthy number, and is the second most populated planet in Liberty after Manhattan itself. Such is the attraction of Denver that Cryer Pharmaceuticals maintains one of the largest medical research facilities in Sirius, just outside the capital city of Crichton Springs, while the headquarters of the Ageira Technologies corporation and several manufacturing plants supporting its operation on Pueblo are also located on the planet. It is widely known that the Liberty Police are paid handsomely by the wealthy residents to ensure the continued peace and security of Denver.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Cryer Pharmaceuticals
* Universal Shipping
* Ageira Technologies
* Border World Exports
* Gateway Shipping
* Planetform, Inc.
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Kishiro Technologies
* Samura Industries
* RGS Shipping

* Bounty Hunters Guild

## News

In a case which has gripped the nation, Sorderi's death due to Cardamine withdrawal was ruled "expected and calculated" by Cryer due to the treatment plan presented by them, which Sorderi had followed. The case now moves to the Manhattan Planetary Court.
Sorderi's family has expressed disappointment at the decisions, her mother stating: "This is an endless battle, and we don't have endless ammo! Our girl's dead because of them and they're just going to keep this going forever!".
Sorderi's fans, also known as "Rosebuds" for her net alias "Bloodrose", have vowed to continue fighting and are planning protests before the Manhattan court. Clashes have already been reported in Sorderi's home town of Opera, JN, as police were forced to use tear gas against enraged followers of the star who feel the trial is becoming lost in bureaucracy.

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.

Sorderi had made a name for herself by, among other things, speaking candidly about her Cardamine dependency and her attempts to overcome it by alternative pharmacological means. Though the circumstances of her death remain uncertain, theories abound which implicate the products of Cryer Pharmaceuticals that she had long championed as the future of Cardamine-dependent persons in the colonies.
"Cryer killed our baby!", says father Ernest Sorderi. "They used her as a guinea pig for their unproven treatments, and the reality was a family losing their daughter! We will pursue ALL legal means to find justice for her!"
The Neural Net is awash with an outpouring of sympathy from Sorderi's fans and scrutiny surrounding her sudden death.

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.

Presenting the potential for cataclysmic damage to personhood and proprety prompted Ageira to shut down the gates leading into the system, as well as the respective trade lanes. In the time since then however, Ames has relayed a stunning report that the storm despite being violent at first, has now settled into quite a passive albeit looming stance over the system. Perhaps more surprising than even this is the phenomena regarding the storm's interactions with the established lane and gate network in the system, seeming to bend and contort around the structure rather than engulf them. This stellar formation has produced the spatial equivalent of a tunnel that travelers into the freshly reopened Kepler have taken to dubbing the "Murky Road", prompting a small degree of sensationalized tourism into the system. Which comes as a small positive after the harsh loss of the otherwise frequent traffic.
This news comes at the tail end of previous publications that cited the storm as having origins in Alberta, supposedly arriving via some form of leakage through the jumpholes in the system. Newer research has allowed for discoveries which now suggest the contrary and this has in turn reinvigorated research into these storms and their enigmatic natures.

## Rumors

* We bring in Super Alloys from Pueblo. We then ship Superconductors off to Kusari. We purchase basic supplies for the return trip, like Water, and provide a lift for workers returning to Pueblo as Passengers after their holiday.

* Just came in from Detroit with a Side Arms shipment. Colorado is one of our toughest runs. All those damned Xenos. We get attacked almost every time in the Silverton Field.

* I just got back from a tough run into the Alamosa Field. It was swarming with Rogues and Hackers. They must have a Hole somewhere up there. Bagged me two Rogues, though. Not a bad day's work. Way better than my old job at LPI.

* The Xenos have a base down in the Silverton Field. Pretty easy to bag 'em around there, but the bounty isn't that good, so I don't bother. Guess they don't piss off the powers that be enough.

* I've heard the Rogues make smuggling runs from the Galileo Hole across the east side of the system to the New York Hole. If you figure out their route, you can ambush them pretty easy.

* I'm heading off to Galileo after I rest up. Now that's some intense action up there. All those dark matter clouds, crawling with baddies. You definitely want to have a good shield and a killer ship in the Indie Worlds. This is child's play here in Liberty.

* My buddy works for the LPI. I used to, but it was lousy pay and a bunch of corporate crap. I prefer the freelance life of a Bounty Hunter. You can make a killing at this, if you don't get killed first. He'll still be doing time with LPI when I'm retired and sipping a California Breeze on the beach in L.A.

* We have several other research and limited-production bases. One is out in Sigma-17. Rough area, that is. Outcasts and Corsairs. Company pays very well out there -- takes out big life insurance policies on anyone that gets assigned. They prefer single types.-- less to pay out, you know.

* We just arrived from Los Angeles with a load of Optical Chips for Pharmaceutical production. Yes, our operation is really that high tech. Thought I'd catch a drink before headin' back out. At least Liberty is relatively safe. Some of our research stations are way out there, in harm's way.

* Denver is home to Cryer's headquarters and largest drug-production facility. We distribute the Pharmaceuticals ourselves within Liberty to Houston, Manhattan, and Los Angeles.

* Caught myself a Rogue smuggling Artifacts behind Denver in the Cheyenne Field last week. He tried to run for it but smacked straight into an asteroid. Gotta tell ya, it cracked me up watching that ship explode. Stupid Rogues.

* We've cleaned out almost all of the economic undesirables from this planet. Still a few hanging on up in the hills, but we'll root 'em out and put them to work in the Texas prison factories soon enough.

* The Bounty Hunters handle most of the asteroid fields. One of my nutso buddies decided he wasn't gettin' enough action with LPI, so he went and joined up a couple of months ago. Keeps bugging me to join him. That's not for me, I got a family and a life to go home to.

* We got a short-term holding tank for any low-lifers that we round up here. Prison convoy leaves once a week, bound for Sugarland. It's getting harder and harder to find undesirables on Colorado to fill it. Gotta fill that quota and keep the factories hummin' -- that's what HQ says.

* Those Xenos are kind of crazy. Rogues, I can relate to them. Just trying to make a living on the wrong side of the law. But Xenos, they hate everybody. Even the Rogues can't figure them out. Who cares about foreign shippers anyway? They still have stuff to steal.

* Sometimes I think the rich folks here in Denver don't really appreciate all we do for them. We don't really get paid that well, and we take care of all the dirty business that they don't want to deal with. Sometimes it gets kind of dicey, coming up with a reason to arrest some crazy loner out in a shack, just for being what he is.

* They're always trying to cut costs at LPI, make everyone meet their criminal quotas of the week. Guess that's what you get with privatized police. I heard they don't do it that way in the other Houses. Those guys seem pretty happy. Go figure.

* We don't stray too far from the Trade Lanes most of the time. They don't pay me enough to risk my neck going into assault patrols in the asteroid fields. Some of those young bucks get into it, though. They do a daily into the Cheyenne Field, and do a quick pass into the southern Alamosa.

* Those cursed Xenos are a serious problem for us in Colorado. We've lobbied the Liberty government to step up patrols, but that has proved unsatisfactory. The Xenos seem to attack only Kusari ships, not Liberty commerce. We don't understand their hatred for us.

* We ship Pharmaceuticals produced here to Deshima, along with Superconductors bound for our Yukawa commercial shipyard in Honshu.

* We nailed a Xeno raiding party in the Copperton Field the other day. It was a turkey shoot. Normally we don't even bother with them that much, but the Kusari government had been raising a stink about Liberty not taking the Xenos seriously enough. It's true, outside of an odd Side Arms shipment, they don't really harass Liberty shipping.

* I'm on R&R from the *Rio Grande*. That's the battleship out by Gunnison. If we weren't around, those worthless LPI drones wouldn't even bother to patrol the areas they do. We take care of the Independent World patrols, too. That's another story. It's no joke out there.

* We ship Pharmaceuticals to Tokyo, which supplies all of Kusari. Less frequently we haul Superconductors for ship construction in Yokohama.

* I can't stand this Synth Paste you Liberty people eat everyday. In Kusari we have superior Food grown by the dedicated farmers of Kyushu using traditional methods. It may cost a bit more, but it's worth it.

* The corporate plan is to eventually handle Food production for all the colonies. We got Rheinland in the bag. Right now, Kusari is proving a bit more of a challenge, mainly Samura and their Farmers Alliance henchmen. Bretonia will have to wait.

* I'm running a load of Synth Paste up from Los Angeles to the biodome operation on Deshima, and then on to Roppongi. I'll sure be sorry to leave Liberty. Gets pretty hostile up there in Kusari space, especially with that Farmers Alliance.

* We ship Superconductors out of here to Cambridge. The planet and the research station both purchase large quantities.

* Came in from Newark yesterday. I'm delivering Passengers for a visit on Denver. Then we're bound for Roppongi in New Tokyo to deliver Luxury Consumer Goods. Gotta cross Galileo first, which will be the usual white-knuckle affair.

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