Padua Base

CLASS: Mire

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Limited

CREW: 360

Undoubtedly the most veiled and well-hidden of all Liberty Rogue hideouts, these murky tunnels, roughly cut from the core of a massive, deformed asteroid in the centre of Galileo's Reppu dark matter cloud, have housed perhaps the shadiest and most dubious elements of the Rogues for over a century, ever since the base's construction in early 602 AS Copiously dosed with pharmaceuticals to counter Reppu's constant radiation, Padua's murderous population subsists by striking at and hijacking trade between Kusari and Liberty.

The Reppu cloud scatters most known scanning devices. The Rogues use this effect to strike from the nebula unexpectedly, and often vanish into the murky mists once law enforcement shows up. Rogues generally waste no time in travelling to Padua once in the Reppu, as the disruptive effects of the nebula will quickly erode most normal matter, including their own spaceship hull. The Kusari and Liberty navies are reluctant to enter the nebula for this reason, although Bounty Hunters will sometimes follow the Rogues in.

Padua is also frequently visited by the Lane Hackers from Leiden. The two groups have an informal division of their influence in the system, with the Rogue turf being the south part of the system, and the Lane Hackers staying up north. The two factions trade frequently, as the availability of goods on both bases tends to depend on what their raiders are bringing in.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Hogosha
* Lane Hackers
* Liberty Rogues

## News

Once they had captured the Outcast, the Rogues broadcast a message to their cartel, threatening to kill the hostage unless they were promised regular Cardamine shipments to keep turning a profit. The response was quick, and far more brutal than they could have anticipated. All six of the Rogues were found killed after several days of silence, with no Outcast hostage in sight. While it is unclear exactly what happened, the message was very clear to any who might tug at the Outcast leash; the reprisals would be unforgiving, and serve as a reminder that anyone can be replaced.
While many other Rogue groups have sought to distance themselves from the actions of the young and brash, grumbles of discontent have nonetheless been heard around our bars and bunks, and it is unclear if this is truly the last we will hear of conflict between us and the Outcasts.

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.

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.

## Rumors

* Rochester has plenty of Side Arms to sell, so we pick them up and run them here. The Side Arms we bring in usually head on over to Leiden, where we trade the Lane Hackers for cash or info on ship cargoes headed through the system.

* We make a run to Leiden every third week to pick up the essentials that keep this base going: Food, Consumer Goods, Oxygen, and Water.

* The Lane Hackers' Leiden base provides us with all of our supplies. Their base is located in the Komatsu Cloud due north of the Reppu Cloud that hides this base.

* Watch the black matter in the system. If you fly into some, you aren't gonna fly back out. Black matter is what led to all the Trade Lane trouble with Ageira and the corporate venture that blew up in its face. To pin it on somebody, Ageira canned a few of its top-level execs and a development team; those guys now operate the Hacker base in Leiden.

* One of our guys was gonna rat the Hackers out to a Hunter that had credits to burn. He didn't make it to the rendezvous. The Hackers are too valuable to us to scrape for some temporary cash. Too bad I was the one who had to smoke one of our own.

* We don't like dealing with the Hogosha, and they don't like dealing with us. But we get along with the Lane Hackers alright, and they cut us into the Artifact trade.

* There are two Jump Holes in the Komatsu Cloud, which hides the Lane Hackers' Leiden base. The northern Jump Hole leads to Shikoku, the other to Kepler.

* The Lane Hackers appreciate the good things in life -- the Cardamine -- just like us; difference is, they got things all figured out. Me, I'm just having fun. After my last trip through the Huntsville I didn't really care what happened to me, I only knew I'd be damned if I was gonna play by the rules anymore.

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