Sendai Research Complex

CLASS: Hideyoshi

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 380

Built in 692 AS, four years after the Okinawa system was discovered by Blood Dragon scouts, the Sendai Research Complex was originally designed to house weapon and ship research for the Blood Dragons in an uncharted system, to maintain security and secrecy. Sendai focuses mainly on reverse engineering and adapting smuggled and stolen technologies, acquired by various means. The Nodachi bomber and Kagutsuchi were among the ships designed here, although the latter required the assistance of their Order allies.

Sendai has been an important xenoarcheological laboratory as well in more recent years. When in the months leading up to the Nomad War, house governments banned civilian posession of alien artifacts, such research was forced underground. It was during this time that the Order and Blood Dragons became allied, and many notable Kusari xeno-scientists who went to ground, joining the Dragons. Sendai continues this research to this day, receiving captured cargo from Hogosha artifact smugglers and studying them for any activity or information.

## News

However, with the recent Farmers Alliance bombing on Roppongi seemingly linked to the sudden increase in Cardamine use among Kusari's businessmen, New Tokyo's residents have expressed sympathy towards the perpetrators, speculating that the Alliance's blatant admission to such a vicious act is not to be taken as a boast or a threat, but as a sign that they will not allow their friends and families to be preyed upon by the greed of corporations that, "do not belong anywhere near our home", said Katsuyori Ichihara, Samura Industries financial consultant, and survivor of the Roppongi attack. "I don't blame them", Mr. Ichihara continued, "that vile drug destroys families."
Due to recent events, Samura Industries has taken it upon itself to act as a substitute for Interspace Commerce within the insurance market and many citizens have already expressed gratitude to Samura and their willingness to provide more financially preferable contracts than what the old management offered.

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.

## Rumors

* Bounty Hunters - the scourge of Sirius has begun to encroach upon Kusari. It sickens me to think of how these lice-ridden dogs penetrate all that was once tranquil and peaceful - even now, they taint Okinawa, and are so audacious as to be sighted here in Kofu from time to time.

* I miss my wife. She is back on Kyoto base, working in maintenance on Blood Dragon fighters. I spend six month shifts out here onboard Sendai and while I enjoy my work, I wish she could be here with me. She comes to visit once every few months , but the journey through Kusari is dangerous. I wouldn't know what I would do if she were killed or sent to Fuchu prison.

* There has been troubling news out of Tohoku lately. Nomad activity is increasing, and we have reason to believe that Tekagi's Arch is inhabited once more. Our forward base at Ryuku has been reactivated and patrols sent out. Perhaps we will be able to stop the problem before it becomes too severe this time.

* Noriko Sato, a fighter ace of the Chrysanthemums, frequently docks here. She's a credit to her sisters; there's many a Dragon that could learn something from her. The Naval Forces have placed a sizeable bounty on her head - well-merited - but she's escaped or destroyed all pursuers to date. I doubt she'll ever be caught; she's far too agile and alert.

* We've had an alien biology division aboard Sendai for over half a century. Though the Blood Dragons own and operate this base, we have a surprisingly large contingent of Chrysanthemums here; many were educated and trained as brilliant scientists and the work in xenobiology and xenoarchaeology we offer is the only alternative to a life of crime due to the corrupt, Samura-backed government.

* A Libertonian Bounty Hunter, Luke Grafton, was shot down and subsequently taken prisoner towards Kofu's western edge yesterday morning. I saw Grafton when he was brought in; I'd expected a crude, loud-mouthed boor, but encountered an honourable foe, courteous in defeat. As far as I know, he's being treated for his various injuries; his ship was swallowed by the dust cloud, and may yet retain some of its equipment.

* Samura's not present in person in Okinawa, but their pathetic lackeys, the Hogosha, have a base here - somewhere in the Hasuda asteroid field - and constantly attempt to find Sendai in a misguided bid to displace us from the system. The Hogosha are amateurs, their vessels weak, their pilots inferior. Perhaps they can kill the occasional Chrysanthemum, though even there, they're outmatched, but never a Dragon.

* Okinawa was colonized in 692 AS, four years after the initial Blood Dragon scouts penetrated via the Honshu jumphole that the Matsuda guards today. Even then, this system wasn't entirely safe; the Mintaka field was as explosive then as it is today, and several of our scouts were lost where scanners did not function properly. Naturally, any salvagers would have encountered the same dangers - it's conceivable that wrecks over a century old yet drift in the mire.

* An over-eager Hogosha pathfinder entered the Kofu cloud several weeks ago, striking out on his own to look for this base. It appears that luck is with the foolish, as the pilot penetrated to Sendai's very perimeter. At that point, however, his good fortune left him, as he was lamed by a shot from our automatic defences and then hunted down by a fighter wing. We decided to leave the wreck in place, as a warning to others; it lies to the southeast.

* It is well-known that there were once Order here at Sendai; Order scientists were crucial to the efforts of the Blood Dragons in not only monitoring the actions of the late Governor Tekagi, but also in unravelling the gruesome secret behind his vile actions. No Order researchers remain aboard Sendai these days, however, and they won't be returning, they've allied themselves with our foes, the Corsairs, in the Edge Worlds.

* That gaijin bounty hunter Luke Grafton really earned his nickname! When we engaged his lone vessel, we outnumbered him by eleven to one. He took out four of us before we finally crippled his vessel. The unusual thing is, most bounty hunters that we encounter tend to fire on our escape pods rather than risk us being rescued by our own, but Grafton let them be. It seems that not all bounty hunters are honourless scum.

* We captured a bounty hunter called Luke Grafton out in the Kofu Cloud recently. He was in bad shape when we brought him in, with multiple internal injuries and several broken bones, but he survived. I was always lead to believe that all bounty hunters were ex-criminal gaijin who were only in it for profit, but Grafton seems to be a well-educated idealist who joined to fight crime and injustice. If all humans believed in freedom and justice like he does, we wouldn't be having to fight them in the first place.

* It is well-known that there were once Order here at Sendai; Order scientists were crucial to the efforts of the Blood Dragons in not only monitoring the actions of the late Governor Tekagi, but also in unravelling the gruesome secret behind his vile actions. No Order researchers remain aboard Sendai these days, however, and they won't be returning, they've allied themselves with our foes, the Corsairs, in the Edge Worlds.

* Bounty Hunters - the scourge of Sirius has begun to encroach upon Kusari. It sickens me to think of how these lice-ridden dogs penetrate all that was once tranquil and peaceful - even now, they taint Okinawa, and are so audacious as to be sighted here in Kofu from time to time.

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