Mactan Base

Mactan Base

File:Iw03 02 base.png

Owner

Lane Hackers

Location

C/D-4, Magellan

CLASS: Deep Blue

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 270

Lane Hackers are mostly composed of former Los Angeles Ageira Technologies employees who created the extremely complex scanning and database system known as USI (Universal Ship Identification). Departing the company rather acrimoniously in 750 AS, they have become a growing problem in the Independent Worlds.

The Lane Hackers in Magellan and Galileo share one common origin -- Ageira. The scandal that erupted within the company after the great Galileo bypass project, which resulted in the unnecessary construction of a hugely expensive set of Jump Gates and Trade Lanes, forced several executives and an elite development team out. This would become the second part of the core of the Lane Hackers, along with the original California scanner group that fled to Magellan.

The investigation continues to this day, but has so far been unsuccessful in locating the Lane Hacker bases. No Hacker leader has ever been captured, although various Rogues in the Independent Worlds have been caught possessing remarkably accurate information regarding upcoming high-value shipments.

Security measures have been added to the software, but the Hackers remain one step ahead, leading Ageira security experts to believe that there are many sympathetic programmers still within the company, possibly being secretly paid off with the proceeds from the thefts. The Lane Hackers prefer to sell their information to others rather than do the dirty work themselves, although they sometimes swoop in and tractor in cargo if it's particularly juicy. Fancying themselves as modern-day Robinhoods, they avoid direct confrontation when possible, unless they are dealing with Interspace Commerce or Ageira.

They like to frequent Freeport 4 and the Ames Research Station, as their asteroid bases within the clouds can become claustrophobic. Their cardamine addiction forces them to trade Lane shipment info for drugs with the Outcasts and the Liberty Rogues at Mactan, although usually it ends up being the Liberty Rogues who act upon any information, and take the fall when anything goes wrong.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes

Lane Hackers Outcasts Independent Miners Guild Liberty Rogues

Missions

Lane Hackers Outcasts

Commodities

Imports

Commodity Price Gin 37$ Liberty Ale 23$ Medical Equipment 34$ Rheinbier 56$ Sake 50$ Light Arms 52$ Vodka 53$ Whiskey 27$ Black Market Pharmaceuticals 29$ Gold 194$ Oxygen 15$ H-Fuel 190$ Mining Machinery 32$ Pharmaceuticals 34$ Consumer Goods 19$ Ageira Gate/Lane Parts 451$ Black Market Munitions 69$ Munitions 53$ Tea 17$ Xenobiotic Filters 46$

Exports

Commodity Price Deployable Mining Container 50,000$ Counterfeit Computerware 47$ Water 9$ MOX 30$ Cardamine 210$ Black Market Augments 59$ Synth Paste 12$

Ships sold

Ship	Class	Price
Dromedary	Freighter	24,266$
Vindicator	Very Heavy Fighter	48,629$
Transgressor	Bomber	82,562$

News

[832 AS] A Different Kind of Heat

HOUSTON -- 832 AS -- A horrifyingly large scale firefight broke out in one of Houston's major city centers - Marlton, hundreds upon hundreds of arrests have been made and dozens of brave officers lost their lives in the vicious attack. The attack itself seems to have specifically targeted the city's dedicated police station, resulting in significant amounts of private property damage. The attack appears to have been highly coordinated, reliant on insider information, and carried out by contractors or former professionals, with one LPI spokesperson going so far as to say that this must have been a bought and paid for terrorist attack. Many of the perpetrators of the attack were killed by officers on scene, or by the Naval Emergency Response Team that responded to scattered reports of small arms fire. The LPI has currently released no statement about the progress of the investigation.

[832 AS] Kusari's Plight

KAGOSHIMA -- 832 AS -- Synth Foods audacity knows no bounds. They use a time of tragedy as an opportunity to bloat their already bloated purses with more ill-gotten wealth. We cannot allow this. There can be no room for Synth in Kusari. They already control too great a share of the market and with Kyushu's food production on a downward spiral after the storm, our intervention is necessary now more than ever. We must commit ourselves fully to our mission for the greater interests of Kusari unless we wish to live under the jackboot of Liberty and its vile corporate interests!

[832 AS] Counting Doses

ROCHESTER -- 832 AS -- The catastrophic crash of the Cardamine market has been tough for all the associates involved in the chain of its distribution, and the substantial drop-off in the quantity of it available for use and resale has caused a new problem in this series of bad episodes. The Rogues and Hackers, former partners in feeding the needs of the underworld are now at each other's throats, unable to meet demands for the drug both by their own and by customers, it seems as if stealing it from each other at gunpoint is the new business model.

[831 AS] Lack of Cardamine, Liberty's Underworld Burns

When the convoys heading from Cali to Mactan and Buffalo thinned out - and even stopped for a brief moment - the underworld in Liberty literally imploded. Previously close alliances quickly fell apart to the displeasure of the Outcasts, and every part of the underworld in Liberty was desperately trying to get as much Cardamine for themselves as possible. The Outcasts and their most loyal agents stepped in almost immediately in anticipation of something like this happening, and set new rules for distribution according to set keys. A small group of Liberty Rogues defied them and followed their own rules of distribution, but they didn't fare too well - the Dons, despite the ongoing crisis in Malta, do not tolerate insubordination. For this reason, several powerful Junkers and Rogues immediately decided to dilute Cardamine instead of redistributing ostentatiously against the wishes of the Outcasts at the expense of their clients, thereby raising their own shares. Fortunately for these savvy businessmen, word did not reach the Outcasts until some time later, and thanks to an improved network of cooperation, most of the organizers were able evade Malta's assassins. However, all these measures had only limited effectiveness. Many end-clients and casual Cardamine users have been forced to seek medical attention due to their deteriorating health due to potentially fatal withdrawal symptoms. It is not known how many Cardamine users eventually died because of the shortage, but it appears to be in the order of single-digit percentages - much to the very verbal displeasure of the Outcasts themselves.

[831 AS] Jump Hole Upheaval Causes Chaos

HEISENBERG -- 831 AS -- Jump holes across Sirius have become increasingly volatile and chaotic over the last year, with Professor Sophia Nagel from the Heisenberg Research Station linking the unusual phenomena to the Pulse. The Pulse was an unprecedented blast of hyperspace energy that was detected immediately prior to last year's jump gate Blackout. Professor Nagel and her team are certain the Pulse originated from outside Sirius, but are otherwise no closer to identifying its source or mitigating a future Blackout event. "Following the Blackout, we began to see immediate signs of jump hole destabilization in multiple different regions, with many ultimately falling out of phase alignment altogether", she commented. The dramatic upending of Sirius' jump hole network has already prompted many groups to abandon stations and withdraw from systems that appear to risk being cut off. While months-long trips between the stars are possible thanks to the Liberty Engine and many centuries of innovation, few ships are designed or provisioned to make such arduous journeys. Those who were displaced by Sirius' redrawn map hope that system connections will return, while adventurers and explorers rush to discover new routes.

[830 AS] Troubles in Erie's Paradise

ERIE -- 830 AS -- It was the early hours of the morning when a missile was launched from Erie's surface; A missile that struck its target of an LSF satellite in orbit of Erie. The attack was claimed to have originated by militant Zoners seeking to separate themselves from Libertonian governance, and proved to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. For some time, it had been alleged that Insurgent and Xeno-backed cells had been stirring trouble on Erie, inciting violence in the population and seeking to turn the planet into a second Veracruz. Never, however, had such open acts of terror been visited upon the governing Libertonian forces. The response was quick and decisive. In coordination with the LSF, Vice Admiral Hamish aboard the Battleship Alma lead a Liberty Navy task force directly into the system in Operation Pesticide, escorted primarily by Siege Cruisers, Gunboats and fightercraft, with many of the Navy's capital warships tied in the Vespucci campaign or ever watchful at Liberty's borders. They were met by Zoner Q-ships based from Bethlehem, with many coming from as far as Galileo or even the Sigmas, accompanied by a motley assortment of freelancers and other anarchist elements. Leading the Zoner line was a Aquilon-class carrier, the Pinnacle. While the Pinnacle came under heavy bombardment from the Alma and her task force, supplies quickly gathered onto Zoner transports from Erie attempted to run the Navy blockade. While some transports were lost to Navy bombers, others yet escaped to parts as of yet unknown. This 'victory', however, came at a heavy price. The Pinnacle was lost with most of her hands still on board and the rest captured, while the Liberty Marines landed virtually unopposed, quickly securing population centers for both the safety of Libertonian assets and the civilians on Erie itself. The Alma is settled now into the low orbit of Erie, a constant reminder to those below that they are under the protection of the Liberty Navy. A comfort to some, a dire warning to many more.

Rumors

Lane Hackers

Since we know what ships are hauling what, we can hit the Gold freighters and sell the Gold to the Rogues at their Montezuma base in Cortez. This keeps the Rogues pretty happy with us, and oftentimes they do our dirty work, which leaves more time to pursue our own diversions - like dropping Cardamine. Our founders designed the entire USI software system to track ships and their contents throughout the entire Trade Lane network in the Sirius Sector. Ageira didn't give us a penny extra. So they left and started the Lane Hackers, along with a scanner hardware development group from Colorado. IC uses the USI system to calculate precise shipping insurance rates. With USI there is no cheating, like there was in the old days. The shippers hate it, but they have to insure their shipments. Since we have access to the data, we know the precise cargo each ship is carrying, along with it's position on the Trade Lane network - so long as the ships are using the Lanes. There's a Jump Hole into Manchester just to the west of this base. Our raiders often pop through and hang out in the North Sheffield Field, waiting for an unsuspecting Bowex Gold shipment on the Trade Lanes. It's easy to intercept them when you know when they're coming. The Outcasts use our base as one of their waystations on the long journey into Liberty from the Edge Worlds. We trade information for Cardamine, which we need on a daily basis. Funny, we didn't use to need it all the time like nowadays. We have to take Cardamine with us any time we leave base, as we start to get sick pretty quick otherwise. No actual Lane Hacker has ever been captured. Sure, some of our lackeys have gotten tagged by the police or military, but nobody ever knows enough to finger the Lane Hackers. It just goes to prove that we're smarter than everyone else. That's why we left Ageira. We didn't get the recognition and money we deserved. The executives thought they could get fat and rich on us carrying them, but now they have to spend billions on upgrading their security with new, cheaper "experts", only to find we are always one step ahead. Being a Lane Hacker is a commitment to a way of life. I guess some would call us hedonists -- maybe we are. We live for pleasure and the moment. I used to work for Ageira and I can tell you that this is a much better way to live. We enjoy the finest things in life -- we eat the best foods, we wear the best clothes, and we have the best toys. And the Cardamine. As much Cardamine as you want. If we could just land on Curacao, life would be perfect. The Outcasts are holding out on us, no longer providing us the quantities of Cardamine we used to regularly receive, surely they realize our friendship is worth the investment? Unless of course they want to lose access to our ability to pinpoint the nicest, and coincidentally, most vulnerable convoys. In this system we make plenty of raids on valuable shipments traveling between Liberty and Bretonia. We use the Jump Hole to raid shipments in Cortez that may be trying to bypass Magellan, and the Jump Hole from Cortez to California let's us get back to our beloved homeland. Financial freedom has its costs, I guess, but it's quite the adventure being out here. It's certainly more exciting than that stuffy lab on Pueblo Station. The Outcasts are a pretty odd lot. Can't figure them out sometimes. They wear those funny breathers that act as Cardamine inhalers. In the heat of battle they can give themselves a Cardamine booster with a flick of the wrist. Maybe that's why they're such awesome pilots. The Outcasts run Cardamine in here from somewhere out in the Tau worlds. They ship it out from here into Liberty, with the Rogues handling much of the dangerous work in New York. We pay a pretty high price even here. If you wanted to make a killing, get in close with the Outcasts and buy some Cardamine further up the stream, closer to the source. The Rogues keep trying to make deals that would see us share the Cardamine we receive from the Outcasts. I don't see how their shortages are our problem, if they want to avoid the risks of dwindling supplies, maybe they ought to do a better job of rationing it.

Outcasts

If you want to get in with us, you'll need to take some Cardamine on a short run. Be friendly to the Hackers and Rogues; stay away from those Corsairs, though. Bad news. The Corsairs came here on the same sleeper ship as us, the Hispania, but decided to abandon the ship before it arrived at its destination. We had to build our fortunes with less then half the resources the other Houses had. I'm starting to get sick - guess I've been away from home too long. These runs to Liberty can be taxing. The inhaler masks aren't a long term substitute for the Cardamine-infused biosphere of Malta, and the concentrated Cardamine doses we sell to the Rogues and Hackers aren't suitable for us. It'll be a week or two before my condition gets critical. I plan to be back home well before then. I've just completed a Cardamine run from our base in Newcastle, Gibraltar. Unlike Liberty, there aren't many places to lay over in Bretonian space, but that's allright. The main route into Liberty doesn't go over Magellan anymore, but passes by Baffin and Coronado. Of all the factions in Sirius, these are the ones that know what they want and how to get it. They have more money than they need, and all the information they need to get more. We are blessed that the Hackers are so willing to spend their money on our Cardamine. Their intelligence helps us nab the goods we need back home, so once we deliver a load of Cardamine, we're always eager to fill up our freighters again before heading back. We often make Cardamine shipment transfers at the Rogue base in the Cortez system, or here. I'm heading on to the California Rogue hideout with my Cardamine - I can make more money with only a little more risk. The Rogues can then handle the last leg into Liberty. I don't like going there, too many Bounty Hunters. The Lane Hackers Trade Lane technology access is truly remarkable; Hackers give us specific information regarding ship manifests. As payment, they often alert us to high-value cargo coming through the system in return for our Cardamine shipments. If we could only get our hands on their technology...

NOTE: Page generated on the 07/06/2024 at 15:55:47 UTC