South Shields Refinery

South Shields Refinery

Owner

Independent Miners Guild

Location

C-3/4, Newcastle

CLASS: Loch Ness

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 570

South Shields Refinery is a large refining complex orbiting the planet Hartlepool. The Independent Miners Guild was the first to discover the Newcastle system, in mid 588 AS, and started construction of South Shields in 590 AS, when Bretonian corporations were only just starting to explore Newcastle and evaluate its resources.

The refinery mainly purifies water and oxygen from the nearby Galloway Ice Cloud, seperating the hydrocarbon impurities and reclaiming them for further processing. It also manufactures a small amount of Deuterium and H-Fuel, using resources mined from the atmosphere of Hartlepool.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes

Gateway Shipping Independent Miners Guild Bounty Hunters Guild Gallic Navy Mollys Border World Exports

Missions

Independent Miners Guild Bounty Hunters Guild

Commodities

Imports

Commodity Price Gin 39$ Food Rations 38$ H-Fuel 187$ MOX 23$ Mining Machinery 32$ Pharmaceuticals 35$ Consumer Goods 20$ Synth Paste 20$ Xenobiotic Filters 56$ HazMat Canisters 50$ Passengers (Bretonia) 349$

Exports

Commodity Price Deployable Mining Container 50,000$ Toxic Waste 20$ Hydrocarbons 17$ Oxygen 5$ Water 5$ Crew 307$

Ships sold

Ship	Class	Price
Lhotse	Very Heavy Fighter	27,879$
Manaslu	Light Fighter	13,602$
Nanda Devi	Bomber	72,976$

News

[833 AS] Cambridge on the Line

NORFOLK -- 833 AS -- The number of recorded Corsair incursions across Cambridge has increased by 193%% in the last 3 years. According to Captain Edwards of the Battleship Norfolk, this is simply a result of the successes in detecting and reacting to attacks. "You can't respond to a Corsair you don't know is there," he noted. "The Cambridge Line ensures we know when and where to deploy our resources for maximum effect." Retired Major Jane Gilliam disagrees. "The Line was never fit for purpose," she says. "The Regents lobbied London to keep it, and so the pantomine continues." It is speculated that the spike in Corsair raids may have been prompted by increased resistance elsewhere, or a shift in their internal politics. Regardless of their true motivations, Interspace Commerce has recognised the elevated peril and adjusted its premiums accordingly.

[832 AS] Corsairs on the Rise

FREISTADT -- 832 AS -- While the northern Tau territories of Hispania are grappling with the relentless advance of the Outcasts, the situation unfolds quite differently in the Omegas. Here, the Corsairs, another faction bearing the legacy of Hispania, are steadily gaining momentum and expanding their influence. This shift has been particularly evident in recent events, as the Corsairs grow increasingly assertive across the Omegas. A stark example of this newfound vigor occurred when the famed space bazaar, the Battleship Hood in Dublin, met a merciless end at the hands of a Corsair battlecruiser. Furthermore, the once-unassailable Red Hessians now find themselves locked in a fierce struggle to safeguard their positions in the Dresden system against the relentless advance of the Rheinland Military. The Corsairs appear poised to intensify their pressure on all independent and free-spirited individuals in the Omega Region, spurred on by the defeatist sentiments expressed by certain Zoners and independent miners who might consider Corsair protection if it promises safety. Despite the imposing presence of our pivotal IMG station, Freistadt Base in Omega 7, which remains under the watchful guardianship of the formidable Elbe Border Fortress, the situation in the deeper reaches of the Omegas portends increasing complexity in the years ahead. Combined with the diminishing influence of Bretonia in the region and the resurgent Rheinland's efforts to reclaim its lost Dresden system, the Corsairs' audacious pursuits are set to escalate.

[831 AS/747 AGS] Gate Corps Clash Over 'Blackout'!

ABBEVILLE -- 831 AS/747 AGS -- EFL's 'Resilience Taskforce' today reported its findings on The Blackout, claiming to have gathered forensic evidence that proved the cause as Ageira negligence. A spokesperson claimed that the destruction of the Dublin jump gate by Molly separatists had created a hyperspace feedback loop that was propagated and amplified through the Ageira gate network. Ageira disputed this finding in their own press release, calling EFL 'fantasists' and countering that their own scientists had narrowed the cause to a rare 'hypernova' stellar event that originated outside the Sirius sector. Both corporations claim that network-wide hardware safeguards have been implemented that would prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Independent researchers have sharply criticized the corporate announcements, accusing both of self-interested misdirection. Professor Sophia Nagel from Heisenberg Research Station called EFL's accusation 'incoherent' and the hypernova explanation 'nonsense' that did not explain the characteristics of the 'Blackout Pulse'. Despite multiple different Pulse recordings being widely disseminated across the neural net, public efforts have so far failed to triangulate its source.

[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.

[831 AS] Bretonia Announces Poole Draw-Down

NEW LONDON -- 831 AS -- The Bretonian government has announced a controlled withdrawal from the Poole system, citing ballooning costs and an increasingly strained state budget. Poole was once of critical importance to Bretonia, briefly hosting a Super Gate to Liberty during the Gallic War, and acting as a launching point for Bretonia's colonial ambitions in Omega 48. With the end of the war and Bretonia's withdrawal from Planet Gran Canaria, Poole's prominence waned. The cost of policing the system and maintaining infrastructure has significantly outweighed collected tax revenue in recent years, with Planetform's Terraforming Gas operations reporting disappointing year on year returns.DSE has already confirmed that it will begin deconstruction operations shortly, with the dismantling of the Cambridge jump gate expected to be completed by 833 AS. Planetform has confirmed its intention to withdraw prior to this point, while settling shareholder anxiety with the announcement of promising preliminary findings for a replacement site in Newcastle.

[831 AS] Slave Uprising on Malta

YUMA -- 831 AS -- A slave rebellion on Planet Malta has sent shockwaves through the region. The Crayter Republic swiftly responded to calls for assistance from the Independent Miners Guild, who urgently requested weapons, supplies, and ships to support a daring plan to smuggle arms to the embattled slaves. Within a week of the IMG's call, the Crayter Republic had assembled an expeditionary force to render aid. Executing cargo drops in Omicron Alpha poses a grave risk, the opportunity to strike a significant blow against the Outcasts is too important to forgo. Our mission is to support the IMG at Falkland Base in driving the Outcasts out of Tau-37, then breach Outcast defenses surrounding Planet Malta and assist the revolutionaries in toppling their foul society.

[831 AS] Bretonian Focus Turns on Mollys

SHEFFIELD -- 831 AS -- The Bretonia Police Authority has announced that the eradication of the Molly movement is their top priority. In light of the loss of the Dublin system and the seemingly connected 'Blackout', the dangerous terrorist movement has leaped to the top of Bretonia's most wanted board. Bounties on Molly terrorists have doubled, with Bounty Hunters flocking to the beleaguered House. Guild Master Tina Hale of Sheffield Station commented that, "this is a good deal for a job that's less dangerous than many of our Edge World boards." Despite this, prospective Hunters should be cautious, as the Mollys are notoriously cunning and brutal fighters. The bounties and Police crackdown do appear to be having some initial effects however, with reports of Molly attacks on shipping in the Cambridge and Newcastle systems falling over recent weeks.

[831 AS/747 AGS] 'Blackout' Causes Jump Network Fail

MANHATTAN -- 831 AS/747 AGS -- Two days ago Jump Gates failed simultaneously across Sirius, freezing commerce and neural net access across the sector. When the network resumed 31 hours later, restored communications broke the news of Bretonia's loss of the Dublin system. This twin shock has plunged the market into chaos, prompting fears of sector-wide economic recessions. Interspace estimates indicate that the stoppage alone caused billions of credits in losses. Gallia immediately accused Liberty of culpability for the outage, claiming the destruction of Dublin's jump gate instigated a cascading failure in faulty Ageira infrastructure. Ageira has sharply refuted the allegation, claiming such a systemic effect would be physically impossible. Independent researchers in Cologne and the Edge Worlds have also announced that a hyperspace pulse of unprecedented strength was detected moments before The Blackout, with data about 'The Pulse' being widely shared across the neural net in recent days. House authorities have remained tight lipped, refusing to comment on their own observatories' data.

[831 AS] Cost of Rebuilding too High?

NEW LONDON -- 831 AS -- Bretonia continues to face a difficult and lengthy recovery process following the conclusion of the Gallic War. The Bretonian people initially accepted this, and quietly pledged to come together and struggle on. While Bretonia is now witnessing an extraordinary rate of growth, it has come at the cost of severe cuts and harsh industrial quotas. Professor Timothy Ball of the Economic Review Institute says, "the recovery we've witnessed so far has been uneven, mainly benefiting Bretonian corporations and Crown agencies. If dividends of recovery are not felt by the average citizen, this inequality could become a major point of domestic political contention."

[829 AS] Marauding in Manchester

MANCHESTER -– 829 AS -- Reports from the Manchester system have now been confirmed by BPA and Bretonian intelligence officials: Liverpool Border Station, guarding over the Magellan jump gate and serving as the command center for police operations in the system, has been destroyed in what is being deemed a terrorist attack. Yesterday at 2200 hours SMT, nearby Sheffield Station and Kingston Border Station received automated distress signals from Liverpool, indicating an emergency aboard the station. Guild patrols redirected from Sheffield arrived on the scene within minutes, finding the border station destroyed. Search and rescue operations headed by Guild and BPA units commenced immediately and successfully salvaged several escape pods bearing several dozen survivors, who were immediately delivered to hospitals on New London. BPA spokesperson Sandra Halling held a press conference earlier this morning. According to joint police and BIS investigations, Liverpool was destroyed by antimatter explosives planted aboard the station. Their detonation caused a catastrophic chain reaction, resulting in the station's own reactors melting down and exploding. Of the estimated one-hundred-twenty persons on board at the time of the attack, seventy-eight have been reported as dead or missing. \So far, no party has taken credit for this heinous attack. However, Bretonian police surmises that it was likely perpetrated by either the criminals known as the Mollys or the infamous pirate organization, the Lane Hackers. The attack occurred following a significant redeployment of local Armed Forces units to the Cortez system for the purpose of joint operations with Libertonian security forces. This, says Halling, may have allowed terrorist sympathizers to exploit undermanned BPA patrols and smuggle illegal explosives through Manchester's ice fields, onto Liverpool Station. While investigations continue, Bretonian Police Authority has reinforced patrols within Manchester and established traffic controls at Kingston Border Station and Birmingham Station. Traffic to and from Liberty has been advised to reroute through the Cortez system.

Rumors

Independent Miners Guild

The BMM has been trying to force us out of the system ever since Bretonia built their gate into this system. We're not worried, their lobbying has no chance of succeeding. We were building the first parts of South Shields before Bretonia was even done surveying this system. Bretonian burocracy slows Bowex and BMM down a lot, so we were able to seize an opportunity before they did. We sometimes send scouts into the Galloway ice cloud to look for new deposits of Hydrocarbons amidst the ice, but in recent years it has become increasingly dangerous, as more and more Outcasts have flooded into the area. We believe they may have built a base somewhere in the field, though we don't know where. Gallia has also found their way through, most likely through the Tau-31 jump hole, and has begun probing the Bretonian defenses in the system. At least they won't be able to move their battleships through that way - the Tau-31 asteroid field is far too dense for those massive ships to maneuver through. South Shields primarily refines Hydrocarbons mined from the Galloway field's dirty ice. It's become a little more risky now that Gallia and Bretonia are coming to blows inside that field. The Outcasts also remain a threat, but the Gallic invasion of Bretonia seems to have shifted their focus to them. South Shields isn't running a big profit at the moment, but it has a lot of potential, being where it is. End of the line? A very Bowex way of thinking, that. We're doing what we can to help Bretonia, but the truth of the matter is that we don't have a whole lot to call on. Most of the ships that managed to escape the Languedoc massacre were heavily damaged, and fuel shortages are a big problem for us as well. Bretonia sometimes captures a Gallic supply ship or two - they have no need for that kind of fuel, so it gets sent to us, while the ships get stripped down for raw materials. Hopefully we can adapt our ships to run on Sirian fuel soon. Looks like the remnants of the Kusari fleet are headed home with the help of the Council. We noticed the bulk of their fleet passing by the edge of our sensor range a while ago, headed to Rousillion. I guess that'll mean more trouble in the Taus before soon. I'm glad we don't have many interests in Tau-29. South Shields is one of the largest bases the IMG has constructed to date. So far it's been a struggle to get it to break even, but with the Gallic invasion it looks like we've caught a break. The amount of military forces defending here caused piracy to diminish, we're actually getting a good deal of transports through now. Bretonia also has greater demands for raw materials, which means the Hydrocarbons we produce at this base get used locally. BMM's retasking of Birmingham has boosted the Hydrocarbon demand quite a bit. South Shields is much larger than it needs to be for its current role. It was intended to produce Hydrocarbons, which the nearby asteroids are rich in, to provide an alternative to the BMM. But collecting enough dirty ice has proven a challenge, with two consecutive conflicts making the area a hazard to work in. To use some of our excess capacity, we've tried our hand at H-fuel synthesis. We keep the operation small scale for now - we don't want to step on the Gas Miners Guild's toes - but it's a very profitable thing to do. The war is creating fuel shortages, which drives up H-Fuel prices and offsets the higher production costs easily. South Shields was the first station built in Newcastle. The IMG wanted a foothold in the system before Bowex and BMM would shut us out, and we managed to get in just in the nick of time. You see, by Bretonian law, a system linked to Bretonia by jump gate becomes subject to her law, but any preexisting stations get grandfathered in as permitted structures. We used the same loophole in Tau-23, much to BMM's annoyance. We warned them. The Bretonians, the Kusari. None of them would listen. And now look where it got them, two house fleets all but decimated when they could have stood against the Crown together, and had a fair chance. At least Bretonia realised that Gallia heavily relies on their capital fleets and denied them further progress by disabling the Jump Gates from Leeds. It will slow the Gallic Navy down, but it won't be enough to stop them. Our escort fighters are some of the best in the colonies, rivalling the military in skill. We frequently manage to beat back enemy raiding parties, which is just as well since the Outcasts love to continually launch raids against our operations and convoys. A number of our lads have gone and joined up with the Armed Forces now that Gallia has invaded Leeds. They forfeit their Guild membership when doing so, but we don't stop anyone from leaving if they want to. Unlike BMM, we don't work that way. Folk choose to remain with the Guild. That's one of the things that draws people to our organisation. The IMG were the first Sirians we met when we broke through Languedoc. They have been good to us - a deal with them to settle in Rousillion saved thousands of lives. They were also the only ones to heed our warning prior to the Gallic fleet's arrival. The miners had no chance to stand against them, so their only real choice was to remain neutral when the real fighting started. Good day sir, what will it be? Bretonian Stout? Liberty Ale? Rice Sake? We even have a few cases of wine, brought in by a friendly freelancer. Yes, we do see our share of strange faces at this base. You'd almost think this were a freeport. While I can't remember the last time I saw a Constable visit our station, South Shields does fall under Bretonian law. Folk visiting here should remember that, because the last thing the IMG needs is trouble with the Constabulary. It is not easy to have to exist on both sides of an armed conflict, one that appears to be involving at least four Houses now. Keeping a low profile keeps us safe, and employed. It's all we can do for now. The IMG has their own set of weapons by now. We had to develop them ourselves. Initially, we'd use whatever we could buy from the houses we were in, but eventually, Bretonia and Rheinland passed laws restricting their weapons to their military and police. The "Vampire" series are loosely based on the Bretonian Splitters, but heavily modified so they don't consume as much power. Don't head towards the Barrier wisp east of here. The Armed Forces warned us to stay clear of it, stating it's restricted space. That's enough for me, there's nothing of value in those nebulas anyway. One of the Bounty Hunters mentioned he was attacked in there, by Bretonian military ships. He was pretty pissed off about it too. Most of our pilots come from Liberty and Bretonia. Some Red Hessians or Mollys who don't want to be on the wrong side of the law anymore also join up with us. That's why we have a number of Rheinlanders working in Bretonia and vice-versa. Some people need to leave their home to be safe. The IMG doesn't much care about your past so long as you clean up your act.

Gateway Shipping

I'll be headed to the Shetland next with a cargo of fresh water. Gallic and Molly attacks make the journey quite dangerous, even with such a low value cargo. Gallia just wants to see Bretonia burn. The Mollys aren't much better than that. It's a shame the IMG chose to remain neutral in the conflict with Gallia. This station isn't in a bad spot to base fighter patrols out of, to counter those Gauls that are coming out of the Tau-31 system via the Jump Hole. It's mostly strikecraft, the asteroid fields on both sides are a pain to navigate, or so the IMG chaps tell me. They must have used that path before. "End of the line", that's what most of the Armed Forces call this station. It is fitting, that the northernmost outpost in Bretonian space is now an IMG station. Still, the chaps here do good work by producing a little H-fuel, some Hydrocarbons, and enough Water and Oxygen to sate the needs of everyone in the system. It saves the Armed Forces from having to have that hauled from New London. With all the Armed Forces now in this system, the lanes have become a lot safer. Well, except the ones south of Scarborough of course, but even the Mollys seem to keep quiet in Newcastle. They're probably wondering if they'll need to defend Belfast again before soon. It's small comfort though, considering the threat of invasion looms over this system like a shadow.

Bounty Hunters Guild

I wonder if the Guild will revisit their policy on not getting involved with inter-house wars where Gallia is concerned. Gallia has proven to be a threat to everyone around it, and away from their big ships, they behave not unlike the criminals that flood through the Jump Holes. I don't fancy the Guild will want to get entangled in the big fights, but flushing the Gauls out of the asteroids here? I'd be game for that. The Gaians took a beating when the Gallic Navy rolled right over them. I'm sure they're just licking their wounds. A straight up rebellion such as the Mollys can be crushed by wiping out their forces, but the Gaians are ideological terrorists. It's only a matter of time before more of them pop up somewhere. I like these miner stations. These guys don't ask too many questions. Don't answer em either. Everyone knows the IMG has got dealings with the Mollys, but they're smart about it, so they rarely get caught. Apart from Mollys, there are also a good number of Outcasts in the area, coming from that asteroid field west of this base. They fight Gallic strike craft coming from Tau-31 in there. Bretonia doesn't seem to be in any hurry to remove the Outcasts, but they sometimes cause trouble for the IMG here. We take some of them out to make the miners turn a blind eye to us nabbing the Mollys.

NOTE: Page generated on the 07/06/2024 at 15:16:42 UTC