Planet Houston

DIAMETER: 8,201 km.

MASS: 3.38 x 10e24 kg.

TERRAIN: Desert

TEMPERATURE: -88°C to 100°C

ESCAPE VELOCITY: 9.02 km/sec

Houston is an arid world whose population has slowly increased since settlement; these mostly consist of what Manhattanites would term "the economically undesirable", many of them former inmates of the orbiting prison stations. The cheap labour force has attracted a number of industries, however, including a major Deep Space Engineering manufacturing plant specializing in Nanocapacitor production.

 Houston's biggest industry, however, is fuelled by Liberty's criminal element; the vast majority of Libertonian prisoners are housed in the system and prison gangs from the Huntsville and the Sugarland, as well as rehabilitated former inmates looking to go straight, power Texan industries.

Both the Liberty Police, Inc. and the Bounty Hunters Guild maintain their respective local headquarters on the planet; the Bounty Hunters Guild is thicker here than anywhere else in Sirius. After all, not only forcing prisoners to labour is profitable; capturing them is vital, too. Houston is most often "visited" by (former and current) Liberty Rogues and Xenos.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* RGS Shipping
* Bounty Hunters Guild
* Deep Space Engineering
* Synth Foods, Inc.
* Universal Shipping
* Liberty Police, Inc.
* Cryer Pharmaceuticals
* Orbital Spa and Cruise
* Junkers
* Liberty Rogues
* Outcasts

* 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.

In an immediate show of change, the Federal and Imperial fleets have completely withdrawn from what used to be the battle lines separating the two Rheinland fractions - many have returned to stand-down docks for maintenance and repairs, and off-duty military and civilian personnel have already begun to travel back to their homes.
While details of how the reunification will proceed, or whether it will be successful are yet to be seen, but the Holstein Accords has brought the Rheinland Civil War effectively to a close.

## Rumors

* Not too long ago there was a prison break by some Rogues from a Sugarland work convoy in the East Dallas Debris Field. They fled into the Pequena Negra Cloud, pursued by a Bounty Hunter named Annie "Shorty" Davis. She flew a nice rig called "the Avenger." The Rogues eventually doubled back and escaped through the California Hole. Annie must have gotten confused in there, or maybe her ship was damaged by some enemy fire. Either way, she never emerged from that dark cloud.

* There are all manner of debris fields in this system for the outlaws to hide in, but you have to be careful if you go in, because some of the debris areas contain radiated fields that will cook you and your ship before you can escape.

* If the Outcasts are going to attack a prison, they will attack the Sugarland. That is the only prison that houses them, and truth be told, there aren't many Outcasts there at all. Most of them fight to the death when cornered. The ones who are captured usually die within the first month of incarceration for some reason. Some of them manage to survive, though.

* This base being primarily a Commodity producer means that it is a tempting target for the criminals in the area. So I patrol the Trade Lanes nearby, hunting for the scum who waylay shipping.

* The Xenos are strong in this system; they harass foreign shipping resources on the way to Houston from Kusari and Bretonia, or in the past from Rheinland to the rest of Liberty. Those governments and their corporations are displeased with the lack of action from LPI, so oftentimes we get hired to reduce the Xeno population in the system.

* We offset the cost of housing Liberty's criminals by putting them to work making products for the good citizens of Liberty. If you are on the Sugarland you will be working in the scrap smelters; if you are on the Huntsville, you will be making Consumer Goods.

* From Ft. Bush we bring Consumer Goods to this planet. It's a round about route, for certain, since they are mostly produced at the prison stations nearby here. But that's the reality of distribution and logistics when it's controlled by a bureaucracy.

* The Outcasts bring their dreaded Cardamine to this system and then on to New York. At Cryer we are working on a synthetic form of Cardamine that will not lower worker productivity and will be relatively non-addictive.

* This factories on this planet provide us with a great deal of the Nanocapacitors we use in all our operations in New York. From this base we ship to Newark and Trenton.

* The majority of our operations are found in New York, yet Texas is where you must come if you are looking for Nanocapacitors. This makes us vulnerable to attacks from the pirates and thieves that litter this system.

* A lot of the original LPI employees were police that had worked for the state. When the police went private, the pay decreased, so we had to make up for the shortfall, if you know what I mean. Fortunately, we have a little more latitude than we did as employees of the government.

* Fifty percent of the population living within this system has either served time at an LPI facility or is currently incarcerated. We house all of Liberty's prison population on the Sugarland or Huntsville, or within the penal colony planetside.

* We've got permanent residents at the prison here. They are the ones called NCRs, or "no chance for rehabilitation." In other words, they are going to be staying in Texas for the rest of their lives.

* If it wasn't for LPI, Liberty Police, Inc., Liberty would have been bankrupted by the sheer cost of housing all of her prisoners. But they were smart enough to privatize their department of corrections, and that is how we were formed.

* We offset the cost of housing Liberty's criminals by putting them to work making products for the good citizens of Liberty. If you are on the Sugarland, you will be working in the scrap smelters; if you are on the Huntsville, you will be making Consumer Goods.

* Some of the finest quality Basic Alloys are brought to this base from Beaumont. The income we receive from selling these allow us to re-supply our base from here with H-Fuel and Nanocapacitors.

* We supply the upperclasses of Manhattan with its vanity item of choice: Artifacts from Beaumont. You were surprised? Everyone has bad habits; we just make it easier for them.

* All our patrols originate from the Mississippi. Some patrol the Trade Lane to the Bering Jump Gate, and others fly through the North Dallas Debris Field and along the southern edge of Pequena Negra looking for criminals where we suspect Jump Holes may exist.

* My patrol wing flies through the southern part of the system, along the edges of the South and East Dallas Debris Fields. Our route then takes us along the western edge of the Grande Negra. A ship can only last a few seconds in the dark matter of the Negras.

* We promote commerce in Liberty as well as Kusari. We will ship Fertilizers from Shinkaku to Los Angeles, and then ship Synth Paste back to the prison stations from Los Angeles.

* Synth Paste produced at Los Angeles is imported into Texas to cheaply feed the burgeoning prison populations there.

* Everyone needs Synth Paste, even Kusari. That's why we ship it from Los Angeles to Roppongi. We just have to do something about those crazy Kusari farmers.

* Houston and its orbiting prisons are the primary Consumer Goods manufacturing locations for Liberty, with the distinction of being the cheapest producer in the entire Sirius Sector, thanks to our free prisoner labor. Consumer Goods are distributed by Universal throughout Liberty space from Ft. Bush.

* Just came in with a load of Industrial Materials from Trenton. We'll head out in the morning to make the delivery rounds to Bretonia with Nanocapacitors.

* Our shippers in New York return with Side Arms from Detroit, Industrial Materials from Trenton, and Consumer Goods from Ft. Bush.

* Our convoy just moored a few hours ago. We ran a load of Cobalt in from Omega 7. Rough run, that was. Sometimes we run Copper. Those criminals can smell it like a pack of dogs.

* Universal services all police and military bases in Texas. Only thing we bring back down is off duty Crew from the Sugarland Smelter. They take their shore leave here on Houston. Aren't they lucky?

* The Nanocapacitor industry needs various materials. On return trips we'll deliver Cobalt, Copper, and Basic Alloy.

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