"Gentlemen. I make this announcement to get ahead of events."

"Several hours ago, a Unioner Arbeiter of the GEIST special operations direktorate jumped through a previously uncharted anomaly in the Cologne system, deep within the Unioner sphere of influence. We believe we are the first Sirians to do so, and that the anomaly has only recently phase-aligned."

"This in itself was unremarkable enough. Jump holes open and close all the time. What is remarkable about this particular hole is that we could not find any constellation fix for the exit position of the fighter, which emerged within a dense, sensor-inhibiting but otherwise harmless, particle cloud of extremely unusual composition. After flying for a considerable distance to attempt to exit the cloud for a LIDAR star-fix, The vessel's neural triangulator equally failed and displayed a stack overflow error. Repeated testing upon fighter recovery revealed no error."

"With the pilot having no certainty of return should he have ventured further, he returned home. I am in the middle of assembling a task force to explore deeper into the unknown system."


"If the gathered data isn't erroneous, we have discovered the longest-ranged jump anomaly in the known history of space travel. It also redefines everything humanity thought it knew about the maximum range of hyperspatial phase alignments."

"For all we know this system could be beyond the Barrier, or the edge nebulae, or in a completely separate sector. It's certainly far enough away to not be in Sirius."

"The Union requests information disclosure to see if any of these star or planetary formations match Octavarium records. Uploading images now."


"We would appreciate if you kept this clandestine. Apart from yourselves, the Union are the only humans in Sirius aware of this connection, and only the Union is aware of its position. We'll try to keep it that way till the nature and position of the system can be identified, although we won't be able to stop every would-be Von Rohe. The word will eventually get out. We'd appreciate the help if you keep knowledge of this anomaly under wraps."

"Till then, we'll continue to recon for contacts. It's too early to say if the system is uninhabited."

"Your people are well-travelled. You've been all over the sector, and known those who have gone further. I'm hoping, however slim the odds, that you might have a better understanding of these star patterns than ourselves."

"I'm taking a risk sending you this information. You could immediately sell it on and there's nothing stopping you from doing so. However, if you don't, my people will consider it a point to your integrity."

"In return, the Union will keep you updated, of course."

"You're going to want to be sitting down."


"Initial recons of the system accidentally left a subspace trace that was too sophisticated for anyone in the local net to pick up, except for those who are deliberately listening to one another's signal intelligence. Naturally Kempetai and the Federal Intelligence services converged on the area en-masse."



"I'm not proud of this fact, but the Union is, per-head, the most voluminous Sirian importer of NOX. It doesn't alter the user's DNA as does Cardamine, and is ludicrously expensive. It's not an active drug, and it can make long-duration space-flight in cramped pressure vessels bearable. It's become a status symbol for the small intersection of cosmopolitan Arbeiters with more money than sense who don't physically run the smuggling bands themselves or engage in manual labour. Which means we have slightly more contact with the Gauls than your average Rheinlander. It is also what has prevented us from backing one side or the other in the Gallic-Alliance war; Gallic Royal Intelligence agents have been spotted all over Bering - the strategic advantage military salvage offers should be self-evident."


"It is also known that the Battleship Harmony and the Seperatists at large have fought alongside the Gallic crown in the battle of California. I could not afford a Gallic lend-lease agreement with the Seperatists under past circumstances."


"But these are not the circumstances of the present. Brace yourself."


"The reconned system is on the far side of, not just the barrier, but the entire Gallic sector. Yes, the Gauls are aware of it. They've developed what we're calling Zurich into a remote, largely unpatrolled system used for scientific and potentially crown-funded military research programs. From what signal traffic we've absorbed - we have a modified spyglass in the region sucking in every signal in the star cluster - They are not aware of the hole, or if they are, it's a state secret."

"This secret will not remain. Both the Kempetai, and the Rheinlandic forces scrambled to stop them, broke Zurich airspace as of two days ago.
We tailed both parties with a fighter wing, but chose not to doom our men unnecessarily engaging special operations personnel in unknown space. Before they could ascertain where they were, the two sides started to maul one another. The Kusarians appear to have endured heavy losses - we found the remains of a cruiser amongst the debris, but the Federals were cut down to a man. It was this point the Kusarians ascertained that we were tailing them, but were too battle-damaged to risk the fight. They asked where they were, and we confided in them. It was the fastest means of encouraging them to return home before the Gauls detected them - House Kusari desires the wrath of Charles less than we do. Our Arbeiters immediately got to the painstaking work of salvaging every piece of space debris larger than a flake of ash from the high orbit of the star, although it's possible that we missed something the area is effectively sanitised."

"I don't need to tell you the ramifications of an uncharted jump connection between Rheinland and Gallic space. It will change the politics of Sirius incalculably. It presents a genuine danger that the Gallia-friendly federal goverment will become Gallia-submissive - there are already pockets in the Bundstag who argue that the Gallic crises presents the perfect oppertunity to settle the Omega three issue, the Hudson issue, every border crises with Bretonia and Liberty in the last five hundred years. Whilst the diversification of Jump Gate and Trade Lane superluminal warp technology has been a dream of the Union for centuries, now that it's finally happening in Rheinland, the person holding the credit roll is ultimately EFL, and, by extension, Charles. "

"Then there is the consequences for the underworld. Rheinland has the most powerful underworld actors in Sirius. Gallia succeeds them - although the Council has been far more successful at crafting a common front than the Hessians, Bundschuh, or ourselves could ever dream of. This is quite apart from their own Corsican mafia, who are the rogue factor."

"I don't need to tell you that the smuggling fortunes crafted by a direct route from Sirius's heartland of industry and corruption, to a Gallia thirsty for illicit Sirian products, will pave a silk road that would make kings. We're naturally moving quickly to ensure those kings are us - plans are already in motion to construct a staging ground on the far side. We may become the first major underworld contacts between the core of House Sirius and the Gallic black market."

"I believe the time of non-intervention has passed. This connection is a threat to the stability of Sirius at a time when only a thin defence cordon of battle-damaged, under-supplied warships protects the remains of the Alliance from slavery. Ultimately the Union is Sirian, and that comes ahead of any other consideration."

"We request that you relay this message, in its entirety, to the government of Bretonia. Tell them that we're willing to sell access to the hole in return for quasi-lawful status in Bretonia. In return, we can ensure that the hole is kept open for agents of the Bretonian Intelligence service. After all - this is the only entry point into Gallia that Charles is not aware of, from a stellar position at which no attacks could be possibly expected."



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