Battlecruiser Bastia

CLASS: Hasta

CREW: CLASSIFIED

ARMAMENT: CLASSIFIED

After being reassigned from Coronado, the Basilica left behind the Battlecruiser Bastia and a group of escort ships to maintain operations in her stead. Its task, the protection of the Cardamine trade. the crew of the Bastia is made up of veterans of past conflicts with Crayter and Gallia and was chosen specifically because of its extensive experience working within the Barrier Nebula. The Battlecruiser is expected to be better suited to maneuvering within the Nebula, being lighter and more agile.

## News

Fortunately for the Outcasts, the Dons had prepared for this eventuality from the rebellion's outset, and so, our distribution networks were immediately put into "maintenance mode", where maximum emphasis is placed on supplying existing customers, and the existing Cardamine stocks are distributed on a key-by-key basis in order to prevent the network's collapse.
Despite these measures, panic reigned, and demand for Cardamine skyrocketed, triggering armed conflicts between the various network participants and driving the prices to dizzying heights. Although Cardamine has now fallen from its record prices thanks to the lobbying of the Outcasts themselves, this price shock is sure to leave markets uncertain.
The Dons expect production to return to pre-rebellion levels over the next four years as they rebuild the rebel-destroyed on Malta.

We of course speak of the Corsairs, who exploited our people's moment of tragedy to seize Freeport 9 as a forward base. The Corsair occupation of the Freeport represents an existential threat to the Maltese people, and their raids upon our very home cannot and will not be tolerated. The Battlecruiser Augusta has led a force into Omicron Theta with orders to destroy the station and its biodomes, disrupt the Corsairs, and annihilate the Artifact trade that funds them.
Already we have won a great victory by striking down the Battleship Fes, with the Battleship Delos surely soon to join it in the grave. The Dons have promised a handsome payment to the cartel of each pilot that kills a Corsair in Omicron Theta.

Ibiza Station has been reinforced with additional guard squadrons and placed on high alert, in case this is the precursor to a larger Corsair fleet movement. Once the current disarray on Malta is resolved, the Cartels will turn their attention to matters of security, and the fleets will be free to strike terror into the hearts of our foes once more.
The Corsairs may feel they have won themselves a great prize in Omicron Theta, but the Freeport is no fortress and a biodome is a fragile thing. The Corsairs say they were forced to act to secure their territory. Soon enough they shall learn that men in glass houses should not cast stones.

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.

While it remains unclear how the rebels learned of the orbital installation locations, it is possible that some of the more benevolent masters did not consider their slaves to be a serious security threat and allowed them access to portions of critical infrastructure. The Dons do not know how they will approach this pressing fact, but it is clear that the laxity of their brothers and sisters has allowed the rebellion to put up unexpectedly strong resistance.
Despite this, the slaves themselves seem to realize the futility of their struggle as Outcast forces in Omicron Alpha have managed to disable most of the IMG and CR ships that attempted to smuggle aid and reinforcements to the besieged rebels. As the Outcasts succeed in gaining tactical and strategic superiority and their forces regain lost territory, the end of this rebellion is only a matter of time, blood and sweat.
As a final act of revenge, the slaves aimed their weapons not only against the Outcasts themselves, but also against the reason they were brought here: Cardamine. As such, plantation fires stretch from horizon to horizon across the rural regions of planet Malta.

The slave rebellion itself began in the mines of the planet Albegna when the Benitez Cartel executed 200 slaves for sabotaging a mining facility. This cruelty resonated throughout the mining colony, even among the usually trouble-free slaves, and they quickly gained control of the mining facility, including Don Juan Benitez himself, who was to oversee the execution. When the Benitez Cartel learned that their Don had been executed by the slaves instead, they ordered the liquidation of the mining colony.
Although the Albegna mining colony revolt was resolved in less than two weeks, promises by other Dons of 'precautionary measures' across the board, which most slaves interpreted as more mass executions, sparked a widespread slave uprising across Malta. Although the slaves themselves would hardly have been able to resist the well-armed Outcasts, the rebels had the element of surprise in the form of caches of smuggled weapons and other military equipment.
As war rages on planet Malta between desperate slaves and their surprised masters, all Outcast forces from Sirius are recalled to planet Malta to quell the rebellion as quickly as possible. With the IMG and CR taking advantage of weakened Outcast influence in the Tau Region, the question arises as to whether this was all planned by their neighboring foes.

Our smuggling routes have come under increased scrutiny from law enforcement throughout the Sirius Sector, causing an increase rate of failure for our smugglers. The independent smuggling contacts are also increasingly reluctant to continue their work as the risks begin to outweigh the rewards. That in turn, has a secondary effect of making people turn to the filthy Cryer for their Stabiline, a fake remedy for Cardamine withdrawal that we can only describe as snake oil, filling up pockets with false promises.
Dissenting voices painfully point out that this is the first time in a century where we have seen three consecutive quarters of falling profits, with several minor Cartels allegedly facing bankruptcy amid the disaster. The Dons have quickly silenced such assertions, reassuring the public that the Orange Dream will continue to grow.
To address the situation, the Dons demand ever-greater Cardamine yields, launching unprecedented expansion efforts. Steps will be taken to secure the product's shipping. In addition, they plan to import a large labor force from the colonies to bolster the Maltese plantations. This undertaking will require a coordinated effort from Maltese Navy captains, independent smugglers and subverted Sirian assets to acquire and ship slaves en masse to Malta.

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.

## Rumors

* No one really knows what disaster befell Corsica, but drilling the shipyard complex into the planetoid's husk saved us a lot of money on station hull plates. First was Corsica, named after the rock, followed by Valletta and Venice is the newest addition to the Outer Sanctum.

* A rumor is circling about a recently found Gate to another world populated by the Great Spirits.

* If you take the jump hole to Tau-37 you will see the wreck of the carrier Hades on the other side. We hauled it as a trophy from Tau-44 to serve as a reminder to those who would dare cross the Outcasts.

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