Nome Base

CLASS: Thunderhead

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Limited

CREW: 570

Located in the hazardous Denko Darkmatter Cloud in Kepler, Nome is a desolate base that serves two roles: a fallback for the Xenos of Ouray, should pressure in Colorado get too high, and a staging platform for raids on Kusari shipping moving into Liberty. Constructed in 710 AS, Nome relies heavily on the Zoners of Ames Research Station for it's survival. Radiation treatment Pharmaceuticals, Food, H-Fuel and Water pass mostly from Ames. To pay for these, the Xenos generally offer whatever cargo they have taken from mainly Kusari transports headed to Liberty. They also generally leave the Zoners be, and in turn, the Zoners generally give the Xenos preferential treatment when it comes to trade, a fact that has annoyed the Kusari and Liberty navies.

## News

The Outcasts and their most loyal agents stepped in almost immediately in anticipation of something like this happening, and set new rules for distribution according to set keys. A small group of Liberty Rogues defied them and followed their own rules of distribution, but they didn't fare too well - the Dons, despite the ongoing crisis in Malta, do not tolerate insubordination.
For this reason, several powerful Junkers and Rogues immediately decided to dilute Cardamine instead of redistributing ostentatiously against the wishes of the Outcasts at the expense of their clients, thereby raising their own shares. Fortunately for these savvy businessmen, word did not reach the Outcasts until some time later, and thanks to an improved network of cooperation, most of the organizers were able evade Malta's assassins.
However, all these measures had only limited effectiveness. Many end-clients and casual Cardamine users have been forced to seek medical attention due to their deteriorating health due to potentially fatal withdrawal symptoms. It is not known how many Cardamine users eventually died because of the shortage, but it appears to be in the order of single-digit percentages - much to the very verbal displeasure of the Outcasts themselves.

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.

Some combat veterans and pilots filtered directly into the Xeno movement proper, while others fight for our cause or otherwise contribute to our goals in other ways, blending into the oppressed population of Planet Erie or operating in our cells on other Libertonian worlds. Many of the Insurgent's former intelligence operatives have been repurposed in the Xenos' ever-growing cardamine business, allowing the movement to consolidate and grow its strength with fresh injections of credits.
If there is one thing that can be taken from the Insurgency, however, it is that Liberty cannot be contested in a direct confrontation of military strength. To think otherwise would be folly. Instead, we will expose the rot inside the government and let the masses decide the rest for themselves, so that we may all enjoy a better future for ourselves and for the Republic we love.

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.

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 vile Bounty Hunters are everywhere in this system. They're worse than the LPI because they follow only one rule: Secure proof for every Xeno vaporized. They evidently know about the Jump Holes and always hang out in the no-fire zone around Ames. They often ambush us on supply hauls, so we usually send rookies to limit our losses.

* We're unable to establish the exact location, but we think there's a Jump Hole between the Kuryo and Matsuo Clouds. That's how the Lane Hackers get into the system. We'd love to shut it down, but we have to find it first. A lot of Bounty Hunters are out there, which makes poking around difficult.

* The Liberty Navy closely patrols the southern Trade Lane in this system; it's risky to attack too near the Gate. The best spots are about halfway between the Shikoku or Colorado Gates and the Ames Station. Not too many Bounty Hunters or military in the middle -- plenty of time to escape.

* We might not have the best equipment or ships, but we're a lot better organized than we were. It was getting so bad that LPI and the navy almost won and ripped us out of Colorado. Now we have a focused agenda: we lift supplies from Kusari shipping, a little extortion here and there, switch out tired combat crews from Ouray, and then give them the supplies they need to continue the fight.

* This area is real stormy. The cloud has moved a lot since we carved this base out of the rock. Lots of dark matter in the area, so ya got to pop those Cryer anti-radiation pills daily. Good thing we can occasionally steal shipments, otherwise we'd be broke and the Zoners on Ames very rich.

* This base serves as our strategic center of operations for the northern Xenos. Not exactly the most scenic place, but us Xenos can tough it out. Periodically Ouray ships us stolen Side Arms.

* A lot of the Xenos you see here in Kepler have spent time in Texas making toys while we serve our time at "The Walls" -- that's what we call the Huntsville prison station. But once we got released, we came back here. The Xenos in Texas and Hudson do an alright job attacking Rheinland, but somebody's gotta be up here stopping the Kusari from getting into Liberty.

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