West Point Military Academy

CLASS: Clinton (Upgraded)

GRAVITY: CLASSIFIED

DOCKING: CLASSIFIED

AMENITIES: CLASSIFIED

CREW: CLASSIFIED

West Point Military Academy has been training the best and brightest officers in the Liberty military for over 600 years. Completed in 189 AS and formally opened a year later, the current commandant of West Point is Admiral Matthew Evans, son of the former commandant, Walter Evans. West Point has had many famous personalities who have both trained at the Academy and served on its teaching staff, including decorated veterans such as Captain Jason Findley, Captain Marcus Walker and Commander (now Rear Admiral) Jun'ko Zane.

Utilized as the primary military training center for the Liberty Armed Forces, almost any pilot and commander within the Liberty Navy, LSF, and even some within the Liberty Police have gone through the station's training regimens. After the Gallic war, an expansion project was initiated which actually saw the Academy close for the entire month of January in 827 A.S., the first time in over six centuries, with supporting training taking place on Richmond Military Academy in Virginia. These renovations were completed a few months later, with new intructional wings being completed on the underbelly of the Academy. In addition to these new wings, mooring berths for retired warships were also added, allowing for warship crew in-training to serve aboard a physical model as opposed to a digital model via virtual reality.

Following her decommissioning after 82 years of valiant service, the first ship to occupy these new berths was the aging Battleship Mississippi, a welcome sight to station staff and travelers alike. For some who go through warship training at West Point, training aboard the Mississippi has even become a point of pride, defining a new era of post-Gallic war officers and enlisted.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Samura Industries
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Border World Exports
* Gateway Shipping
* Liberty Police, Inc.
* Cryer Pharmaceuticals
* Deep Space Engineering
* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Universal Shipping
* Ageira Technologies

* Bounty Hunters Guild

## News

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.

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.

## Rumors

* The navy doesn't get it; you can't just patrol for the criminals. Sure, that helps, but if you want to solve the problem you have to seek them out -- hunt them at their lair. And once you're there, you kill them all, every single one. That's how you solve the problem.

* If I were one of these stuck-up navy captains, I'd just roll the Missouri right into the middle of the Badlands and start cleaning house. They say it's impossible logistically, but that's a politician's word. Just go in there and kill them -- it's that simple.

* Fighting an Outcast is like fighting a Corsair: they're both armed to the teeth, mean as hell, and can pilot a ship as well as anyone you're gonna find. That's why it's best to take them on with two-to-one or better odds. And if the guy you're flying with gets popped, that means more money for you.

* The Junkers are a crafty bunch of scumbags; they know the dirt on everybody -- and they're willing to talk if the price is right. It's not my money that pays 'em off. That's part of my bill for offing my mark. Give me a little bribe, some gas money, and a reward for completion of assignment, and I'll smoke anyone you want.

* I've killed Red Hessians in Rheinland; Rogues, Lane Hackers, and Outcasts in Liberty; Mollys in Bretonia; Hogosha and Blood Dragons in Kusari; I've even bagged a few Corsairs. But I've never brought any of 'em in. Bounty Hunters aren't paid to capture criminals; we're paid to kill them.

* Liberty Navy Patrol 27 flew into Badlands two weeks ago on their regular route, and then disappeared without a trace. An extensive search by authorities has not turned up anything so far. The patrol comprised three elite fighters.

* The navy has secret research stations in the Badlands. I think they are there to study anomalies that occur within the area. Of course it could also be a cover for covert operations there.

* This academy also serves as a supply point for the remote stations within the Badlands. We also carry supplies for the ships entering the system through California that might be running low on Water, Oxygen, or Food.

* The navy sends a patrol wing into the Detroit Debris Fields. There is a lot of illegal traffic moving through there. Criminals use the debris to hide in as they jump from debris field to debris field through Liberty space.

* Outcasts killed some of our boys last week. Our intelligence showed that our training wing's operating area was supposedly unpopulated by Outcasts. Well, Intel was wrong and we lost two cadets. The instructor was able to bag a couple of Outcast ships before they escaped back into the Badlands.

* I've been waiting to get into West Point my whole life, but now I don't know if I'll be able to handle it. Last week my dorm mate and best friend died on one of our patrols sweeping the outer edges of the Badlands. Outcasts weren't supposed to come through that area, just Rogues.

* The recruits here are good boys from the top families in Liberty. One day they will lead Liberty's military and keep our space safe from enemies.

* We teach these cadets the importance of estimation. An officer must never overestimate his own capabilities, or the capability of his men or his ship. Overestimating our forces was the darkest lesson that the Liberty Navy ever had to learn.

* I was the marine commander aboard the Missouri for many years. Now they have me teaching these little runts about ship-boarding operations and planetary-invasion scenarios. I miss being back aboard the "Iron Miz." I suppose it's my duty to train whelps now.

* The tactics that the cadets here are instructed in cover all manner of scenarios, from defending our space from foreign invasion to small-operations tactics. The best of our graduates go on to captain dreadnoughts and other capital ships. If they have good, fast-twitch reflexes and lightning-quick decision-making abilities, they might end up piloting a Liberty Heavy Fighter as leader of an attack wing.

* This academy is near the California Jump Gate. California is a favorite hangout for the Lane Hackers. Lane Hackers were former Ageira employees who turned to crime. They're smarter than most of the criminals you'll go up against.

* Right before graduation the cadets here are sent into the Badlands to kill some criminals. It's the last part of their training, and they go without an instructor. By that point they should be able to handle themselves reasonably well, even if they are still pretty green.

* We run patrols along the edges of the Badlands and the Trade Lanes leading to California. We intercept Rogues trying to make the run between the Detroit Debris Fields and the Badlands.

* Universal ships Water and Oxygen from Manhattan; Synth Foods brings Food in from Los Angeles. It's a good thing that I run supplies to the academy. I was in trouble on my way here a few weeks ago until a training squadron came in from nowhere and wiped the Rogues on my tail.

* We ship Consumer Goods from Ft. Bush to this base. A lot of cadets show up with little more than the shirts on their backs. It can be treacherous to make this run, because a lot of dangerous criminals like to attack this Trade Lane. It lies right outside the edge of the Badlands, so there are plenty of places we can be ambushed.

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