"Tales From Where Angels Fear to Tread" A White Star Lines Publication, A Division of Orbital Spa and Cruise 26 July 827 A.S.
A Bretonian Booze-Run
Orbital Spa and Cruise takes pride in our vessels' ability to take the scenic route. For most liners, our passengers are paying for the journey, not the destination. News of delays in flight bring cheers, not moans from our passengers who welcome the extra few hours of high quality VR enhanced entertainment, worlds-class dining options, or simply one last chance to take to the observation deck and stare into the void to see if anything stares back. For an intrepid group of pilots flying Orbital's most recent sanctioned event, however, time was of the essence.
Orbital's James Blackwood has organized the Community Culture Rally, a multi-part race celebrating the one thing that unifies all of Sirius: alcohol. Racers start each leg from an Orbital property and race to procure the proprietary drink of each house before returning. In a way, the race is an homage to the roots of terrestrial automobile racing's start in "bootlegging" illegal alcohol past police officers. The Bretonian stage saw four racers making their way from luxury liner Shetland in Poole to New London to procure her Majesty's signature beverage: gin.
The hefty prize pool was provided by the stage's corporate partner: Border World Exports. Bowex's defining corporate credo of "On Time. On Task. On the Move." served as an inspiration for the stage which strived to be as professional and speedy as its chief sponsor. "On time" manifested in the timing structure of the race where pilots were spaced out in 1:30 increments to start their runs, managed by Blackwood himself aboard the liner Tierra_del_Fuego. "On task" in the cargo that all pilots were tasked with procuring and returning to the start. "On the move" in how the racers blitzed through the course at a speed that would make the crown's preferred shipper proud.
Four intrepid pilots took up the challenge: Erwin Tobin flying the Korsuner's Luck, Kaworu Sato in the Silver Ronin, Anthony Stout in the Pacesetter, and Orbital's own Stan Stone flying the creatively named Orbital Racer. In the end, a stray corsair camping the tradelane doomed Sato's chances while some planetside docking mishaps knocked Tobin's time down. Only Stone managed an uneventful flight and took home top prize of 25 points in the standings and 25 million credits. Perhaps now he can afford to hire out Orbital's marketing team to come up with a new name for his ship!
The next stage will take place in Rheinland. Potential racers are invited to stay tuned for more details and enter their names for the next leg. Even if the grand prize of $450 million credits is harder to procure with one stage completed, individual stage prizes are still available for all of the sector's boldest pilots. Worst case scenario, you're at least guaranteed to finish the race with a beverage suitable to celebrate your victory or drown your sorrows with!
A Stylish Slaver
The OS&C Liner Breezewood, flagship of White Star Lines, has carried myriad types of passengers in her years of service. Like all Enterprise-class liners, her adjustable cabin walls allow for multiple configurations from sprawling multi-room suites to economical micro-berths. As a result, many across Sirius have graced her halls. Countless VIPs, tourists, vacationers, courtiers, ambassadors, pilgrims, refugees, settlers, scientists, socialites, and and even casualties have a Breezewood ticket stub in their scrap books somewhere. After an incident in New York, Captain Jonathan Seabourne can add another class of passengers to that storied list: slaves.
"I was carrying VIPs to Bethlehem where I found myself shooting the breeze with LPI-Isla.Nazumaki[Lt] at West Point," said Seabourne. "The officer's complaints about New York being quiet seemed to reach the ears of the gods of irony, for out of the Badlands tradelane came an Albatross filled to the brim with slaves."
The transport Hero_of_the_year was stopped by Lt. Nazumaki at which point Breezewood offered her services to help off-load the contrabands back on Manhattan. A quick jaunt through the tradelanes to the capital world gave the liner a chance to offload her VIP passengers while Orbital's front office arranged new connecting flights. A newly emptied Breezewood returned to the "scene of the crime" where she picked up on over 700 slaves. Nazumaki then provided an escort back to Manhattan where the formerly enslaved persons were transferred over to LPI medical for processing.
While the offer was made in the name of humanitarian interests, Nazumaki went on to compensate Breezewood for her time, unsolicited. "It's always a good idea to endear ourselves to house navies and law enforcement," said Seabourne of the gift of several million credits, "but I will never say no to extra credits if it means getting to do the right thing, too."
"Plus, for a single tradelane journey, Breezewood got to be the most stylish slaver in the sector. Yet another title to throw on the old girl."
An Authentic Experience
While Breezewood can claim the title of the most stylish slaver in Sirius, those looking for a more "authentic" experience now have a new option courtesy of Triton Expeditions, Orbital's more adventurous division.
The Stagecoach is a wonderfully storied Pilgrim-class liner that has been cruising around the sector for nearly 400 years. "We've found some documentation indicating that the Liner was initially constructed to assist in the exploration of the Ontario System," said Captain Charles Boles, the ship's newest master. "Her maintenance log abruptly ends in September 650 AS. Record keeping, or what passes for it within the Junker Community, picks up again with the former owner in 821 AS. She resurfaced as a miner transport in the Great Humboldt Silver Rush."
Like all ships that have spent time in Junker hands, Stagecoach is a mishmash of modifications, retrofits, and questionable upgrades. To meet the more exacting standards of Orbital Spa and Cruise, she was towed to Baltimore Shipyard to give Deep Space Engineering's specialists a crack at getting the vessel fully operational again. "We can see that the previous owners have tinkered with the reactor core," said Harus Burke, President and Director of DSE. "And by 'tinkered' I mean it's been thoroughly messed with to the point of almost being inoperable. We've attempted to figure out why this was done, and the only thing we can think of is a possible insurance scam gone wrong."
Fortunately, even the best laid schemes of Junkers pulling a fast one on Interspace are no match for DSE's expert engineers. After many hours of repairs and a new fusion core, Stagecoach was able to leave Baltimore with fully powered systems for the first time in centuries.
Passengers looking to capture the feel of early space exploration without the constant threat of losing atmosphere are invited to book an excursion in the Stagecoach's 3rd class accommodations. Individual sleeping berths, communal toilet facilities, and even water rationing allow Stagecoach's 3rd class passengers to experience the perils of deep space flight in an age when surviving to one's final destination was the exception rather than the rule. Shipwide entertainment options hearken back to a simpler time, with an extensive library, spacious verandas, and a game room that encouraged early passengers to gather together and make their own fun. Stagecoach promises a unique human element to all of its offerings, helping to recapture the magic of forming a "family of strangers" for the weeks of a flight only to go your separate ways upon reaching your final destination. For all their holoprojectors and fine dining, no other vessel in the Orbital fleet can quite capture the magic of these ephemeral social groups.
Of course, those desiring more amenities can upgrade their staterooms to ones that feature more of the accouterments of passenger spaceflight in our more "civilized" age. But the charm of Stagecoach lies in the unique ways it brings people together, and her passengers would be well served to forgo the temptation to spend the flight in their staterooms.
A Worthy Cause
The fallout of Bretonia's over-expansion during the Gallic war continues to create ripples in the sector's hospitality industry. Gran Canaria, a neutral zoner planet well known for its famous Safaris and pleasing climate, was a natural site for many organizations to host conventions while avoiding political implications of a house host. Being equally inaccessible to all, the planet became known as every organization's back-up plan, with the construction of Grand Vista Orbital further facilitating large gatherings. The trade platform's warehouses could easily and quickly be rented out, and many conferences and talks were given in orbit or on the ground in Omega-49. Even with Bretonian occupation, the intense focus on infrastructure investments gave hope that what the site lost in neutrality would be gained in ease of access. Alas, with the crown "taking its ball and going home," the insurgency ravaged planet is left in an even worse state for hosting duties than before. This leaves the conference organizers of Sirius looking for new alternatives.
Jill Xi of Med Force Enterprises is one such organizer who has found a novel solution. MFE is hosting an upcoming Sirius Wide medical conference in Omicron Theta from August 24 to 27. "We have an amazing group of speakers ranging from medical professionals, scholars, pharmaceutical engineers and many more," said Xi. "Also, besides from having great speakers we have two separate tracks you can follow and we therefore invite all you enthusiastic people whom are willing to learn, experience and absorb the knowledge shared to sign up for this amazing event at no cost thanks to our great sponsors."
Xi expects crowds too large for the local Freeport to handle. Life on the edge of civilized space is harsh with little room for error A sudden influx of hundreds of doctors and scientists with their accompanying demands for berths, water, food, and oxygen is simply too much even for the venerable Freeport 9. Fortunately, Orbital Spa and Cruise specializes in transporting slivers of hospitality to the most inhospitable corners of the sector.
The Red Velvet Club, the storied Triton Expeditions flagship, will serve as the host of the conference. Captain Cross's Palace-class liner will easily accommodate the dignitaries of the conference and their guests in the luxury afforded to their station. The vessel offers Xi and MFE the best of all worlds: A convenient neutral site for the medical professionals of all of Sirius to gather free from political concerns, luxurious accommodations, and spectacular views of the system. Interested participants are invited to sign up for the conference today. The opportunity to cruise aboard the Velvet with such illustrious and altruistic company is alone worth the trip.
A Wandering Nomad
Orbital's transport and resort options are well known across Sirius, but the corporation's fine dining options also rival those of any planetside restaurateur. This is all the more impressive when one considers that terrestrial chefs don't have to deal with the hazards of cooking in space. Many orbital chefs have started to prepare for the dinner rush only to find that the water supply has been diverted to cool ship systems or that gravity has to be taken temporarily offline.
Or that hostile aliens are broadcasting directly into one's mind.
The culinary cruiser Beefmaster under Captain Hilda Weingarten was returning from the Borderwolds with a load of Iridium to finance one of Orbital's finest future chef's dream kitchen when the trade lane dropped in Frankfurt. Staring down the transport was every pilot's worst fear: A Nomad.
Nomads, the enigmatic and omnicidal alien residents of the Omicrons, rarely negotiate. Their "communication" mostly consists of broadcasting images of terror telepathically into the minds of their victims before unleashing their overwhelming firepower. Usually, the best one can hope for is to be left alive with a thin sliver of hull as a "warning" to the rest of humanity. Sometimes, however, there is a deviation to their strange behavior.
"The little one communicated with me first and showed me an injured pilot I didn't see," said Weingarten. "I think the Nomad shot down the poor girl himself, and the pilot was in bad shape. But we managed to bring her to Manheim,"
Having made the pickup, Beefmaster had hoped to continue on its way, but the Nomad had other ideas. "As we departed for the New Berlin jumpgate, he stopped us again, but this time the little one wasn't that friendly. He threatened us and opened fire, and had the Rheinland Battleship Ernemia not showed up, I am sure my ship would have been destroyed."
The combined firepower of the battleship and the transport were enough to drive off the alien, allowing Beefmaster to finish her flight without further incident. Orbital once again extends its thanks to the brave men and women of our partner house Navies for keeping our tradelanes safe and our shipments arriving relatively ontime.
Service Notification
The OS&C liner Baltic Sea is indefinitely removed from service. Passengers with tickets for voyages on Baltic Sea will have their trips serviced by other comparable liners to be announced. Those instead wishing for full refunds are welcome to contact their respective Orbital House Office on Manhattan, New Berlin, New London, New Tokyo, or New Paris. Interhouse patrons should route their concerns through Orbital's corporate offices on Curacao.
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OS&C|Breezewood
Captain Jonathan Seabourne, Editor-in-Chief, Wanderlust Magazine
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