Freeport 9

CLASS: Frontier

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 450

Freeport 9 was one of the first human settlements in the Edge Nebula. Built by Zoners who felt they could not be far enough from the influence of the major Houses, it was the most remote civilian outpost in the colonies until the construction of Freeport 11. Despite its location in a system filled with strange nebula and forbidding black crystals, the Freeport would become a relatively busy destination, hosting a range of pirates, explorers and corporate researchers.

The Freeport's open-door doctrine of neutrality was a constant source of friction with the Corsairs and Outcasts, largely due to Bounty Hunters frequently basing from the station. These tensions were managed by the Zoners providing useful services, and the Corsairs and Outcasts keeping one another in check. This situation would dramatically change in 831 AS with Theta's Outcast forces abandoning the system to respond to the Maltese Slave Revolt. The Corsairs acted almost immediately to settle a number of grievances.

The Freeport would be seized when a Corsair transport moored on an alleged trade run to purchase Food. Instead, it would deliver a full cargo bay of Corsair warriors, who quickly seized hostages and key sections of the station. While the Corsairs now control the station, the return of the Outcasts to the system has seen the eruption of the fiercest fighting in decades. The Outcasts appear intent on destroying the station, or failing that, Corsair access to its biodomes.

## News

They cowardly waited for our forces to be dispersed between various theaters, the latest one being the Outcast return to Omicron Theta, and took advantage of our inability to crush them like the pests they are.
Special orders were relayed to Battleship Delos in Theta to coordinate additional patrols in the Amarus Cloud to interfere with their shipments of Gammu materials as much as possible.

The Elders have authorised the deployment of elements of the Omicron Gamma defence fleet to respond to the Outcast invasion and secure our borders. These elite fighters are more than a match for the drug-addled Outcasts and will hold the line until the Northern and Southern Fleets complete their assignments in Dresden and Dublin.
The Battleship Delos has been dispatched to the system to coordinate our counter-attack and avenge the loss of the Fes. The Elders have announced that a great honor will be bestowed upon the pilots responsible for the destruction of the Outcast Battlecruiser Augusta.

The Zoners seem to have prevented this previously by importing Fertilizers from the Houses. Similarly, Crete, Leon and Cadiz are facing a shortage of Pharmaceuticals, complicating the treatment of our casualties. The Zoners now refuse to sell us these goods, so we must look elsewhere to obtain what we need.
The Elders have decreed that the raiding fleets are to redouble their efforts in Cambridge, and make new inroads into the Frankfurt system. Petra Base in Sigma 15 is to be reinforced, and the Fertilizer convoys from Planet Holstein treated as priority targets.
The Corsairs have always prized strength, and we have the strength to take what we need from the weak. Prosperity is there to be seized.

The death of Juan Garcia was but the latest in a line of killings by the Bounty Hunters Guild, abetted by the Zoners who provide them with safe harbor. The Elders have decided: no more. One opportunity was offered for the Zoners to make amends for their transgressions, and instead they chose to ignore our reasonable demands. Last night, Freeport 9 was boarded and the station administration placed under arrest.
From this day forward, the biodomes will provide exclusively for the Corsairs, and the docking bays will admit only those we allow. Fortunately, our ancient enemies the Outcasts appear to be preoccupied with a self-inflicted revolt on their poisonous planet. By the time they turn their focus back to the Omicrons, we will be secure in our conquest.

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.

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.

For decades the Zoners of Freeport 9 have kept themselves safe from Corsair reprisals by offering useful services, with their biodomes providing Crete with respite from the famines that once ravished it. Despite this, outrage has swept Omicron Gamma after a flight of Hunters killed Commander Juan Garcia, before retreating back to the No Fire Zones of Omicron Theta.
The Council of Elders have ordered the administrator of Freeport 9 to attend Planet Crete to hear their demands. Elder Garcia has vowed that the station's halls would "run red with blood" unless the Zoners turned over all BHG aboard the Freeport. The Zoners are yet to respond, likely trying to anticipate how the Corsairs will react.

The Corsairs see the Pygar colony as a direct competitor for the region's scarce resources, with Elder Garcia warning that there would be "dire consequences" should Freeport 9's biodomes reduce or divert their exports to Planet Crete. Whispers of alien ruins and Artifacts discovered below Pygar's surface may also antagonize the Corsairs, who rely on the Artifact trade as a source of wealth. The hardship of Pygar's extreme conditions and the uneasy relationship with the Corsairs has already led many colonists to consider a return to the now liberated Gran Canaria.

"The standing Navy of the Corsair Empire as well as its irregular raiders must do everything within their means to break existing stalemates or make progress. The enemies of Crete have grown arrogant and take for granted that Corsair offensives have lost their steam, this is an assessment which must be proved woefully wrong."
In response to these express instructions, activity across every Corsair installation has intensified to levels that suggest substantial mobilization.

## Rumors

* If you find yourself in Rheinland anytime soon, be sure to get your hands on any Fertilizer you can. Head honchos said we need all we can get to keep the Biodomes running properly, and we're ready to pay handsomely for it, regardless of how you got them.

* Those pesky Zoners were graciously allowed to stay, as long as they continue to work for the benefit of Crete. If you ask me, I'd just space them all but orders are orders.

* I've heard the "New Management" is struggling to keep the Biodomes running properly due to a shortage of Fertilizers. What a shame... \*smirks\*

* I was here in the bar when the Corsairs came. Went in guns blazing shooting everyone in a Bounty Hunter uniform, not caring if there were any innocents in the line of fire... I'm sorry, I need a drink.

* We get many of our goods from the Junkers at Yanagi. Our boats haul Engine Components and Consumer Goods from there.

* Don't ask me where the Jump Hole is that leads to the Corsair homeworld. I've said too much already. The Corsairs would cut my throat if I dared to utter where the entrance to their system is. Just stay away from the Napo Cloud. I mean … it isn't in the Napo Cloud, it's ... I'm a dead man.

* The biodomes we invested in here have paid off in spades. Everyone in this part of space comes here for Food, and we get the profits. Well, us and Synth Foods, of course. We ship Food to Atka in Sigma-17 and Freeport 5 in Omega-41.

* Our brothers in Freeport 5 send us Polymers, Fertilizers, and Consumer Goods. It's a Zoner's duty to help other Zoners where we can. This is a dangerous part of space; only by sticking together can we make it.

* We ship the Alien Organisms found in this system to the Cryer base in Sigma-17. Cryer also needs our Polymers, and we return with Pharmaceuticals.

* We weren't killed when Corsairs took over, but we can't leave either. We're basically hostages here for what feels like years now. How much I'd give to see my family back on Gran Canaria…

* If you've got any intel on the Corsair movements within the system, I've got a contact in the Core that would pay in gold for them. Let me know if you get a hold of anything. Do be discreet though, if our new hosts find out, we're both dead.

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:45 UTC*