Ames Research Station

CLASS: Cochrane

GRAVITY: Partial

DOCKING: Restricted

AMENITIES: Limited

CREW: 330

Ames Research Station was originally constructed in 773 AS by Deep Space Engineering, to investigate the strange dark matter clouds that were in the eastern areas of the system, and also to study the dark matter storm that was scheduled to pass through the system in 780 AS As it happened, the storm entered Kepler 4 years later than it was expected to, destroying the old trade lane that passed through the eastern area of the system and rendering it extremely dangerous to travel through. Deep Space Engineering incurred heavy financial losses during the construction of the new lane to the Shikoku Jump Gate, and as a result their operations on Ames were scaled back almost completely to the point of abandoning the station.

Having been taken over by the Zoners through a legal purchase of administration rights in 790 AS, the station was run as a Freeport for decades, serving all manner of pilots. This peaceful, albeit uneasy existence was thrown into disarray by a sharp intensification of the dark matter storm's potency. And while Ames had prepared for such an eventuality, life here still hangs on by a thread.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Universal Shipping
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Samura Industries
* Zoners
* Lane Hackers
* Xenos

* Lane Hackers
* Bounty Hunters Guild

## News

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.

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.

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

* The Samura armored transport Nikko Maru was carrying Luxury Goods from Manhattan to New Tokyo when it was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784. It lies somewhere in the Matsuo Cloud along the abandoned Trade Lane.

* A Universal large transport named the McKinley was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784, which destroyed the old Trade Lane through the eastern part of the system. It was carrying a load of Superconductors.

* In the east of this system between the Kuryo and Matsuo Clouds, you can find a Jump Hole leading to Galileo -- and Hacker territory.

* The Xenos in this system are on their way out. We kill and capture more than they can replace; most of them reside in their southern bases on the other side of New York. Besides, they're easy to pick off, and they have to come to this base to get supplies.

* Xenos do a lot of their pirating in Colorado. You'll find Lane Hackers there, too. Going north into Shikoku and beyond, you will run into the Kusari criminals such as the Golden Chrysanthemums, Blood Dragons, and Hogosha.

* The Kobe Maru was making its weekly Artifact run across the Shikoku system when it was ambushed by the Blood Dragons. The ship is presumed destroyed, and its whereabouts are unknown, although it's been rumored to be drifting somewhere in the Shiun Cloud.

* Between you and me, Ageira's been really interested in Kepler after the storm settled. Apparently it's safe, well at least safe enough, to keep the network here online. They've hired us to cull the rabble running around every so often, probably to keep their own teams investigating in the system safe.

* The Lane Hackers in this system are former Ageira personnel who got panned after the Kepler Storm scandal cost IC and Ageira an untold fortune. Now they are making Ageira and IC pay an even dearer price for making them take the fall.

* This system and Galileo are as far north as I like to go unless I'm cruising up along the Edge Worlds. I don't like going into Kusari space, and the Kusari don't like me there either. Their word for non-Kusari is Gaijin, which means outsider or stranger.

* We sell the Xenos the supplies they need. They're different from us -- that's certain -- but we try and get along with everybody. They've been making trouble for Kusari shipping, and I've heard that the Kusari military has been vaporizing them here and there. But they keep coming and getting their supplies.

* A Universal large transport named the McKinley was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784, which destroyed the old Trade Lane through the eastern part of the system. It was carrying a load of Superconductors.

* The Samura armored transport Nikko Maru was carrying Luxury Goods from Manhattan to New Tokyo when it was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784. It lies somewhere in the Matsuo Cloud along the abandoned Trade Lane.

* We call the tunnel that's formed around the lanes here the murky road, should be obvious why.

* The Kamakura Maru, a Samura transport carrying a cargo of Niobium, was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784. The storm destroyed the old Trade Lane route through the eastern part of the system. The ship is believed to lie somewhere in the Matsuo Cloud.

* The criminals in the area use our base as a supply point. Lane Hackers and Xenos come here to buy various supplies.

* We knew we were taking a risk by sticking with our station even in the thick of the storm, but it seems to have paid off. Our biggest concern was that the lull of traffic would make surviving out here tough, but the new dark and eerie form that the system has taken makes it appealing to tourists and explorers. The odd commercial ship will also chance it to save time wasted on the bypass, but they don't always make it.

* Beware of the dark matter clouds. They have radiation and hide criminals. The Matsuo Cloud is named after the original Kusari explorer of this area, long before Jump Gates and Trade Lanes.

* Langley Research Station was established by Ageira in 550 to study the Kuryo Anomaly in preparation for the construction of Trade Lanes by Deep Space Engineering. Jump Gates couldn't bypass this system because of the danger in traversing the dark matter clouds of the Anomaly -- a lesson painfully learned in the Texas Incident. Langley was destroyed during the Dark Matter Storm of 784. Its remnants still lie somewhere inside Kuryo Cloud.

* The Trade Lane path through the sister system of Kepler, Galileo, was constructed mainly as an insurance policy in case the Kepler Trade Lane was ever severed, something that Liberty and Kusari could not allow to happen. Guess they were right to build it, huh?

* Explorers and salvagers are a common sight here nowadays. They don't always stay around long and some of them don't even come back at all, no idea what it is they're looking for. Maybe they want to see if this storm dragged anything in with it? More likely they're just insane.

* The Bounty Hunters here are a rough lot. I heard them joking about how they killed a group of Xenos in the Denko Cloud a few days ago. It sounds like Bounty Hunters really enjoy doing their job; it's just frightening how much they enjoy it.

* The Zoners occupied the research station soon after it was opened and eventually took over its operation when the research phase was complete. It's a difficult place, as the clouds are constantly on the move and could someday engulf the Freeport.

* The Kobe Maru was making its weekly Artifact run across the Shikoku system when it was ambushed by the Blood Dragons. The ship is presumed destroyed, and its whereabouts are unknown, although it's been rumored to be drifting somewhere in the Shiun Cloud.

* We make supply runs to Deshima for essential Commodities such as Oxygen, Water, Consumer Goods, and Food.

* Lane Hackers partly owe their origin to the Ames Research studies, which predicted that a huge storm would disrupt the system in 780. On the advice of Ageira technicians, Liberty financed a costly alternative Trade Lane through Galileo. When the storm didn't materialize, Ageira tried to redeem itself by ruthlessly ousting an elite development team and several executives, who re-emerged as the core of the northern Lane Hackers.

* The Ames Research Station is the main supply source for our base in Galileo. We ship all the essentials like Food, Water, Oxygen, and Consumer Goods there.

* Ageira thinks they're being clever with that retinue of Hunters they've let loose on our operations in the system. But their successes are few and far between, our eyes and ears on the other side of the corporate veil warn us when a trap is going to be sprung.

* We like to hit Niobium and other high-value shipments coming through this system. Unfortunately, the misguided Xenos and scumbag Bounty Hunters are often lurking, so we have to be careful -- especially when we leave the no-fire zone around the station.

* System is rife with opportunity these days. But if you want my advice, stick to the lanes and run like hell if anyone pulls you out of them. You won't last long trying to run off grid, and if you get stranded out here you might never get found.

* I just made the run from Denver with some Consumer Goods. I'm turning around and heading right back out before any of the bad guys have time to set up anything. They prefer stealing their personal items to buying them. Then they usually torch the ship anyway, just for grins.

* I hate flying through here, even if the infrastructure leading between the two gates is safe enough. My eyes keep playing tricks on me, seeing things out in that big dark nothing, shapes stirring in the black. I try not to stay out here too long because of it.

* I'm a pilot for the Universal ships that come through this area. They usually just need me on the stretch from Deshima to Ames, with the clouds and all. It can get really bad through here. Depends on how hungry the Hackers are. They tend to strike from the east side of the Trade Lanes, Xenos from the west. They don't bother us much.

* Samura and Kishiro make lots of supply runs through here, inbound for Colorado. Universal makes Side Arm shipments sometimes; that's the only time we get interested in Liberty shipping.

* This base keeps the northern Xeno alliance alive. Those Zoners are our saviors, although they share the base with those vile Bounty Hunters -- the scourge of the Sirius Sector. We ship supplies from here to our Denko Cloud base -- basic needs, such as Food, Oxygen, Software, and Water.

* We share this system with those posh Lane Hackers. They attract the Liberty Navy 'cause Ageira despises them. It's a nice dark system -- lots of places to hide. But you gotta have a decent shield if you want to hang out in the clouds 'cause of all the radiation from that dark matter, or whatever they call it.

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