"Tales From Where Angels Fear to Tread" A White Star Lines Publication, A Division of Orbital Spa and Cruise 20 June 827 A.S.
A New Neighbor
Freeport 4, the IMG base in Magellan, was one of the many victims of the Gallic incursion into the Independent Worlds during the war. While orders of magnitude smaller than the tragedy of Leeds, the destruction of the base would be a dark premonition of the losses to come. Yet while New London has slowly re-built or replaced her shipyards and California continues to buzz with activity despite the lack of San Diego, Magellan remained a ghost system, her icy clouds standing silent vigil for the fallen station. But Magellan will be quiet no more.
Universal Shipping has officially opened Cordova Shipping Platform for business. USI with rumored help from the Liberty Government successfully outbid their Bretonian rival Bowex for the lucrative location. The layover stop between Liberty and Bretonia will likely see a dramatic uptick in interhouse traffic not seen since the days of desperate convoys running badly needed medical supplies past omnipresent Gallic patrols. Of course, more traffic in Magellan means less Bretonia-bound freighters flying past Curacao, which benefits both parties.
"We're a luxury world, not a bus depot," said Captain Jonathan Seabourne. "There were few things that frustrated me more than having my passengers' fist gaze of Curacao be interrupted by some retrofit transport puffing a load of ore to some smelter. Keeping the riff raff out of Cortez keeps everyone happier."
The transition still isn't fully complete. Captain Caitlyn Cross noted that the navigation infrastructure has yet to be updated to reflect the new destination. "The lanes still say Freeport 4 Wreck," commented the leading lady of the Red Velvet Club. It's an ominous oversight, almost as if Universal's new station is tempting fate to see if lightning does indeed strike the same place twice in the Independent worlds.
A Curious Constellation
Curacao is well known for its low light pollution contributing to beautiful starlit skies at night.
Recently, the denizens of Orbital's premeir luxury planet were treated to a new constellation in the sky: four bright, evenly spaced dots in a row. Those planetside have jokingly called it, "the chorus line." From orbit, however, it becomes clear the formation is less theatrical and more martial in nature.
During the Gallic War, a desperate and cash-strapped Bretonia begged Liberty for more millitary aid. Liberty, eager to see the Gallic conflict fought in someone else's systems came up with the Lend-Lease system, whereby Liberty captial ships would be "loaned" to a BAF that could not afford to buy them outright. For whatever reason, four of the beheamouths are now docked in tight formation in Curacao's orbits, their hulls facing towards the tradlane to California, proudly flying the colors of the Bretonian flag.
While the Treaty of Curacao and other NATO legislation does allow for Bretonia to temporarily deploy fleet assets to the Independent worlds, there is much speculation as to why four of Bretonia's fiercest vessels would be paying a visit to Cortez. None of the crews have (officially) come down for R&R, leading to mass speculation. Theories range from Bretonia attempting to return un-needed hardware to fleet exercises for a potential war with a resurgent Kusari to a pusch for annexation of Orbital's premier resort world. None of which, of course, has a shred of evidence to support it one way or the other.
Curacao Completely Unsuited for Refugee Resettlement
On a completely unrelated topic, Wanderlust wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the many amenities that make Curacao such a truly unique planet. The planet spanning ocean is only interrupted by a few hundred islands and atolls, all of which are practically filled to capacity by the 300,000 employees and 100,000 VIP's who call the planet home. There is barely enough space to accomodate half a million people, unlike the millions who made it off Leeds. The water, though beautiful and luxurious, is incapable of supporting any known fish species. Even algae fails to grow in the curiously antisceptic seas, leading many to feel that the water of the planet would be unable to support widescale agriculture even if there was land to support farming! And that's not even factoring the desalination needed because Curacao is one of the few inhabited planets to feature no natural freshwater sources whatsoever!
Did we mention that Curacao is inhabited by 100,000 or so tourists at any given time? These VIP's are the elite from all over Sirius and Gallia, all of whom take special delight in recording and broadcasting their vacations in real time! Curacao is one of the few places in Sirius outside of a Freeport where you see people from myriad factions co-mingling. Any sort of accident or use of force would result in injuries to the movers and shakers from all sorts of different corners of the sector. Could you just imagine the PR nightmare of being held accountable if something happened to the children of all those factions leaders enjoying their vacations? Especially if those events were being live streamed by beach goers and revellers?
Of course, one should not forget that Curacao is closely positioned, both historically and geographically, to the Liberty Navy. Naval officers frequent the planet for their precious R&R, which is no surprise as California is the only civilian system outside of New York to feature a permanent naval installation! Could you imagine how easy the logistics would be for Liberty to quickly deploy to Cortez as it did during the Gallic war? And we all remember how hotly they contested the Gallic offensive into the Independent worlds, even going so far as to sacrifice a captial ship to keep the system clear of foreign threats! In the process, of course, the Liberty war machine managed to push back the gargantuan captial ships of the Gallic navy. I'm sure any house fielding lesser hardware would think twice before staking claims to Curacao's economically useless beachfront property, whose only value can be derived from open tourism!
So come visit Curacao! Enjoy our beaches! Take in our worlds-class entertainment and dance the night away under our moonless skies. And then return to your myriad ports of call, content in knowing that while Curacao is a wonderful place to visit, there's just no place like home!
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OS&C|Breezewood
Captain Jonathan Seabourne, Editor-in-Chief, Wanderlust Magazine
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