Freeport 2

CLASS: Dern

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

POPULATION: 850

Built out of the old framework of an abandoned Republican Shipping outpost, Freeport 2 was founded in 650 A.S. by displaced Texas settlers, Hamburg drifters, and a variety of other individuals looking for safe haven. They aligned themselves with the Zoner movement and its open-to-all philosophy, then purchased a series of Synth Foods biodomes for fFood production. The exploding demand for fFood from the adjacent Texas Ssystem and from local criminal elements has provided them with a steady market for their surplus. Aside from the Zoners, Xenos and Unioners also frequent the station.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Republican Shipping
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Liberty Rogues
* Unioners
* Xenos
* Zoners
* Universal Shipping

## Commodities

* Water
* Food Rations
* H-Fuel
* Pharmaceuticals
* Consumer Goods
* Light Arms

## Rumors

* The Unioner base is out there in the southwestern part of the system. You'll know if you've stumbled onto that hornet's nest, believe me. The Xenos and Rogues tend to be more in the northwest part of the system -- guess the Jump Hole to Hudson is somewhere out there.
* It's a good thing the Zoners let us land on their bases. The criminals don't like it, but fair is fair. If the Zoners didn't allow us to land, IC and the Liberty Navy would shut this Freeport down in a second, and the Zoners know that.

* The Unioners have a base out in the asteroid fields in the southwestern part of the system. They visit us frequently to purchase supplies.
* There are two Jump Holes into this system. Both of them lie in Unioner territory, so be careful. The one to Hamburg is in the southwestern quadrant; the one to Hudson is straight across on the western edge of the system.
* Our main activity on Freeport 2 is Food production. Synth Foods brings in Fertilizers from Houston and buys much of our excess to feed the burgeoning prison population in Texas.
* The Xenos visit our base to buy all of their supplies and to purchase Side Arms. They grumble about them being Rheinland made, but buy them anyway. A strange lot.
* Xenos, Rogues, and Unioners attack the Trade Lanes within this system. Bounty Hunters and the Liberty Navy keep them somewhat in check, but it's still not a very safe place to be. We are truly the sanctuary in these parts.
* We run Side Arms in from Hamburg. The senior council of the station is split on that policy, as Zoners do not condone violence. However, it's profitable and it fulfills a need for the criminals that visit our base.
* This station originally belonged to Republican Shipping, who used it as a supply and repair depot before the Trade Lanes were built in 550. In 650 our ancestors drifted in from Texas and Hamburg and refurbished the abandoned station, naming it Freeport 2, the second in the Sirius Sector.
* Zoners firmly believe in the concept of Freeports -- places where anyone, regardless of their criminal or political affiliation, is welcome. Unfortunately, the authorities in the House systems do not subscribe to this philosophy, so there are none within House boundaries.
* Synth Foods has been good for us. They helped install and maintain the biodomes, provided the special seeds, and sold us the processing and flavorant units that turn inedible crops into digestible food. Until they came along, the Zoners and other free thinkers struggled with the starvation caused by the lack of arable planets in the Independent and Border Worlds.
* This system only exists as a way point on the Jump Gate routes because the distance between Hamburg and Texas was longer than the six-light-year limit of early Jump Gates. Before the Trade Lanes were built, the asteroids caused constant problems with shipping.
* We sheltered the Unioners when they first fled Hamburg in the years following the Popular Revolution, but they soon became too numerous for us to support. When Republican hired Bounty Hunters and the Rheinland Military started to harass us, the Unioners left and established their own base at our request. They still come for supplies, though.
* A Xeno patrol got too close to the Unioner base and was attacked a few days ago. Two ships fled back through the Jump Hole, but the third didn’t make it. The Unioners have little use for Xeno weapons, so they probably just left the ship carcass adrift out there in the Tanner Asteroid Belt.

* We're kind of new to the long-distance Food-shipping business. Until we got Stuttgart handed to us by the Liberty government, we had little business outside of Liberty systems. Now we have better ships and escorts, so we can handle these tough Independent World crossings.
* The Unioners and Xenos don't bother us too much here. Nothing like that damned LWB in Stuttgart. The Rogues, on the other hand, are not very discriminating in their targets.

* We left Hamburg for this system after we reformed into the Unioners, but too many of us flooded onto this Freeport. It was an obvious target for the Rheinland Military, so the Zoners eventually asked us to leave. We put our skills to use and carved a hidden base out of an asteroid in the Tanner Asteroid Field.
* The current workers in the Alster Shipyards and Altona hate us for the attacks we make against their manufactories, but they don’t understand the way they are being exploited by Republican Shipping. If only they could open their eyes, we’d have more strong hands to join us in our cause.

* The Zoners run Side Arms from Hamburg to this Freeport. That's a big help for us, as otherwise we'd have nowhere else to get our guns for our base in the Hudson system. An unarmed Xeno doesn't last long in Barrow. Only problem is that the guns are Rheinland made; it's just too hard to get proper Liberty hardware in these parts.
* We like to hit Republican convoys in Bering whenever we can. Those Unioners hate 'em even more. That's what we like to see -- them killing each other off. One day this system will belong to just us and the Zoners, soon as we get the Rogues to see the light and join our cause.