All the info you need to know. This is the Sirius News Network.
Early yesterday, Aug 06 old Earth time, an energy wave crossed into Sirius space. The event came onto the sector without warning, striking from above the established stellar plane. The size of the phenomenon is one of the highest on record. As it approached from above the plane of the system, it struck each system almost simultaneously, with minor variations for each system's relative position. The wave disrupted almost every system aboard every constructed installation or vessel throughout Sirius. Planets were even effected. The electromagnetic elements of the event disrupted optronic systems and froze many mechanical elements. Planets experienced turbulent weather patterns, earthquakes (most of which were minor), and oceanic events on planets with sizable oceans.
Space side, things went to pieces very quickly. Damage reports have not been fully compiled, nor has a casualty list from the event's passing been finalized. Specific instances reported thus far are wide spread comms failure, AI impairment or shut down, greatly slowed dock and jump times, and these are just the minor problems. Far more dangerous situations arose during the passing of the storm. Trade lanes failed, either not allowing entrance or shooting ships through the lanes on unstable trajectories and unsafe speeds. Several vessels were damaged or destroyed as they were flown apart or violently ejected into hazardous space at extreme speeds.
Some jump gates were locked in active position, but with navigational software compromised some entering ships were launched into remote parts of Sirius. Many ships were lost before gates were shut down. Miraculously, the 2 Transports of the Cryer 642 convoy bound for New London were expelled into the Cambridge system after entering the Cortez jump gate in California. The medical supplies aboard slated for use for civilian injuries in the Kusari-Bretonia conflict survived intact.
Sadly, other parts of space weren't so lucky. Chaos spread to all corners of settled space. In the border worlds, Zoners report a conflict between the Corsairs and Outcasts turned into an insane cluster of fire when targeting scanners were critically impaired and ships started firing on allies. Capital ships avoided being fired upon for obvious reasons of visual identification, but several snub fighters were lost to friendly fire when they were not easily seen by the naked eye as friendlies. The engagement dissolved with both sides retreating to ride out the storm.
The LNS Harmony exploded in the atmosphere of Planet Manhattan, leaving escape pods and wreckage strewn in orbit for hours after a fatal navigation error by compromised software. The Liberty dreadnought had served 8 years of distinguished home guard duty that ended with this tragedy. 16 crewmen and the second officer, Commander Douglas Winston were killed in the accident. Memorial services are set for sometime next week. Thankfully, all harmful elements of the Harmony's construction either burned harmlessly in the atmosphere or were recovered by fast acting rescue and repair personnel.
4 Kishiro Transports were lost when they tried to dock with the Planet Kyushu mooring fixture and collided with it. Automated and manual docking procedures failed when the docking clamps did not lock and the mooring fixtures stabilizing jets failed during the collision. An emergency shut down of the engines aboard the ships failed to avert the loss of the ships and cargo as the heap of ship and mooring fell into the atmosphere. The crews safely ejected, but all material was lost. Luckily the mass of molten metal fell into one of the planets oceans. Cleanup is now taking place and the Kusari government issued a statement that while the event was startling, all involved are handling the incident with due professionalism and the situation is under control.
Rheinland also was effected by the storm. A courier taking passengers to Planet Stuttgart managed to bring several photos to the news service once the wave had passed.
You can clearly see his ship colliding with a Rheinland battleship's docking bay doors during a failed docking procedure. Luckily the ship suffered minimal structural damage. Engineers managed to manually open the bay doors to admit ships in need of service.
In this photo, the Berlin--Stuttgart Jump Gate was locked in the open position for nearly 5 minutes. The courier seriously considering evacuating the area for fear of an overload in the gate. Luckily such an event did not occur and he was able to make a safe jump.
In this shot, which has brought heat from the Rheinland Military, a cruiser patrol lost engine and navigational reliability. The gunboats in the shot are actually drifting sideways, and the fighters are in an non-powered flat spin. The cruiser itself also lost power, but due to it's size remained largely on course, though some maneuvering thruster misfires caused it to appear flying at an odd angle. The patrol recovered operating ability quickly and professionally, just as one would expect of disciplined Rheinland military personnel. There was no damage reported, a statement mirrored by our eye witness.
In the Edinborough system, the Gaians took this opportunity to attack. Partly shielded in the Islay cloud, their ships launched an assault on ailing ships in the Planet Gaia area. Some Gaian pilots were heard over comms saying it was a divine sign of their righteousness. Few agree with the sentiment as 63 civilian and security personnel were killed in the onslaught before Bretonian military ships arrived and destroyed 23 Gaian fighters, forcing them to retreat.
Eventually, as the peak of the storm neared, all ships took refuge aboard friendly, neutral, and even some hostile bases, while ships too far out sought shelter in any nebula or asteroid field that would protect them. The Liberty debris fields picked a poor choice for some ships, as a massive electrical charge turned the metal debris into a web of lightning, damaging low powered ships and severely shocking or fatally electrocuting crewmen. The gravimetric distortions also knocked many ships off course quite forcefully. 2 ships were destroyed by gravimetric sheer that tore the vessels apart.
This staggering event will be long remembered in Sirius history. The Cambridge Institute and the scientific Museum of New Berlin are currently working in tandem to determine the origin of the event and plot it's course throughout the rest of monitored space. All government and civilian agencies and companies are advising caution in the uncertain aftermath of the damage. Needless to say the cost is rated in the 10s of billions, and still counting.
(OOC: Just another fun in-RP explanation for an oorp technical happening! Any reviews of this story would be most welcome.)