The republic leadership know that something big is coming over the horizon. Bretonian naval activity, in addition to the cooperation with their previous sworn enemies, paints a grim picture for the continued independence of Dublin. As the blockade continues to slowly choke the lifeblood from existing ventures before the final blow is delivered, the Mollys know that they only have a few more months to stockpile before the inevitable.

In addition to substantial benefits provided to local enterprising captains, the Republic has called in its external favors to get its allies all over Sirius involved in braving the blockade. Any hull able to carry the precious "yellow credits" has been encouraged to do so, exporting gold to offloading points operated by Junker and Hogosha insiders. With only a single stable point of egress being available to date, everyone knows that it's going to get hot out there, but the Molly war chest must be stocked by any means necessary.

While Bretonian authorities are aware of the progress of the closing vise, but not everyone believes that the situation will be resolved definitively after it is all over. The most pessimistic House projections predict the necessity of dealing with the Molly Republic to acquire a steady gold supply with homegrown industries. In order to alleviate investor concerns and counteract Molly interests, the Bretonian government has injected its own stimulus into gold extraction operations. Even the constant rivalry of Bowex and Gateway is expected to be put aside in order to maintain a steady supply to foreign buyers, though the main concern is always on BMM's ability to export the raw materials themselves from Dublin.

Due to the volatile market estimates and supply/demand schedules, both Republic and Bretonian interests have chosen to rely on the smaller but more efficient co-op refineries to deal with the uncertainty. The ability to scale up supplies based on day-to-day, and sometimes even hour-to-hour demand requires smaller, modular, operations that are both easy to set up and modify. While such efforts are often more vulnerable to interdiction efforts of their enemies, both sides have pulled out all the stops to ensure security during extraction and refining operations.

The increased activity in Bretonia and Dublin has not gone unnoticed by the Imperio, who have yet to definitely support a side in the coming conflict. Current predictions place Corsair elements at continuing to disrupt any and all operations in order to draw more forces and investment into the conflict from their enemies. While the Imperio do not currently concern themselves with the actual extraction of local materials in Dublin, insurance rates have skyrocketed even beyond expected wartime rates due to their involvement in blockading and raiding efforts.

The Gold Rush, as has been dubbed by many simpler commentators and participants, may be the last chance for any local entities to acquire supplies of the material. With the political landscape on the verge of being rewritten and no true way of knowing who will come out ahead, everyone is clamoring for a piece of the profits available to those brave enough to claim them before they're locked forever behind the thick walls of bureaucracy.

Story Note: This event is used to play out the ongoing Bretonia-Dublin storyline. Though its outcome has little-to-no effect on what will happen, it may add some flavor to future write-ups.