CANTERBURY STATION - As of late, Bretonia has found itself in dire straights - between the fall of the Taus and the invasion of Edinburgh, the beleaguered House has seen more than its fair share of well publicised suffering. More so than many others, Planetform Incorporated has born the brunt of these defeats, with the fall of Edinburgh resulting in the catastrophic loss of Perth Station and Planet Ayr.
Planet Ayr was the terraforming company's third project, being initiated behind Planets Harris and California Minor. With the terraforming process beginning in 752 A.S., a working completion date was established for 900 A.S., almost 150 years later. Despite this, the project had faced a myriad of set-backs, ranging from supply and transport issues, to attacks from the notorious Gaian terrorist movement.
Over the last few days, an anonymous source within the company leaked several confidential files to members of the press, illuminating many of Planetform's progress reports and schedule updates in the months prior to the lightning-quick Gallic advance. These documents allow the reader an almost unprecedented glimpse into the progress of Planetform's projects, a factor about which the group has previously remained purposefully vague.
According to the release, progress on the Ayr project had been fundamentally sped up by the use of experimental microorganisms pioneered by Planetform and Cryer scientists, as well as innovations in the structure of the Edinburgh branch transport fleet. As industry professionals eagerly pour over the cache, Planetform officials have today admitted the released documents are genuine, after being advised by lawyers that forcing a legal recall would be impractical to impossible.
'Several of our new products, namely a groundbreaking strain of bacteria genetically engineered at one of our facilities in Liberty, were a fundamentally game-changing factor,' spokesman Gregory Parsons said. 'Efficient business practices and cutting edge technology had allowed us to overtake our initial progress estimates for the first time in just over a decade. This of course simply reinforces the tragedy of the Gallic invasion. Sadly, the terraforming process was entering a critical phase; the GRN occupation could do untold years-worth of damage.'
Time remains to tell whether or not the ill-fated company can match Ayr's results with their other projects all over the rest of Sirius. Many hope that today's confirmation that Planetform is still a viable business will go some way as to stabilise the corporation and appease its understandably worried shareholders. Planetform has expressed disappointment that one of their employees would disclose confidential data, and will be launching an internal enquiry to fully evaluate the situation.