Islay Base

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Islay Base
Owner
Gaians
Location
G-3/4, Edinburgh

CLASS: Portnahaven

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 325

Soon after tourists began to arrive in Edinburgh in 690 AS, Cambridge scientists voiced their concern over the enormous ecological damage that even the most regulated visits could inflict on the planet. Almost from birth Cambridgers had drilled into them the stories of how New London and Leeds were blighted, so they tended to be very environmentally sensitive. A few of the younger and more militant scientists studying Planet Gaia actually went so far as to begin a campaign to sabotage tourist transports in an effort to discourage visits, but with little effect.

Once Cobalt was discovered on Gaia in 740, BMM began to lobby for the need to establish a mining base there. What had been a quiet, bloodless campaign of active resistance blossomed into full-fledged conflict. Graffiti with slogans such as "GAIA WILL NOT BLEED" were spotted soon after. The eco-terrorist movement had begun.

Eventually any plans to mine the surface of Gaia were dropped -- mostly out of fear that it might cut into the burgeoning tourist industry -- but the Gaians had already broadened their horizons by an influx of radical elements from Cambridge who sought a ban on terraforming technologies. Planetform, Inc. was the natural target. What emerged was a militant terrorist group philosophically opposed to the exploitation of planets, and terraforming in particular. The group enjoyed considerable popular support on Cambridge, funded by the efforts of the legitimate arm of the Gaians called the Green Front.

While the Gaians and the eco-terrorist movement as a whole have made little progress outside of Bretonian space, Green Front propaganda is a common sight in Bretonia. Green Front commentators are often present on the news, and unlike the Mollys, a certain amount of tolerance for them exists in the government from those disinclined to antagonize their Cambridge connections. Over the years, the movement has broadened considerably until the majority of its sympathizers are environmentally conscious individuals from throughout Bretonia.

The sole Gaian base in Edinburgh lies deep within the Islay Ice Cloud at the northeastern edge of the system. With the invasion of the Gallic Navy and the subsequent withdrawal of Planetform and the Bretonian Armed Forces from the system, activity at the Gaian base had decreased significantly.

To say that the hasty settlement and fortification of Gaia itself by the badly battered Enclave has incited panic and fury in the Gaian movement is a significant understatement. The population onboard Islay has skyrocketed and currently outpaces efforts to further hollow out its parent asteroid for more living room. Indeed, activity at other suspected Gaian strongholds has dwindled as many members of their movement have "come home" to defend their unifying ward. Bretonia's opinion of Enclave soldiers and noncombatants could scarcely be lower and as such, the movement needs not concern itself with the methods used against their foe.

Islay has also become host to a number of groups and organizations volunteering their capabilities against the Enclave as the "front line" against its last redoubt - Most numerously among them the Maquis. Aside from increasing the security measures of the base's munitions, some among the Gaians have reservations against their increasing presence in the region, particularly concerning their penchant for collateral damage should their particular brand of terrorism become more commonplace on Gaia itself.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes
Missions


Commodities

Imports
Commodity Price
Criminals 272$
Gin 44$
Medical Equipment 41$
Rheinbier 63$
Light Arms 92$
Vodka 60$
Prisoners 214$
Black Market Pharmaceuticals 47$
Counterfeit Computerware 63$
Oxygen 14$
Food Rations 43$
MOX 20$
Mining Machinery 35$
Pharmaceuticals 41$
Consumer Goods 35$
Black Market Munitions 76$
Black Market Augments 46$
Synth Paste 28$
Munitions 70$
Xenobiotic Filters 63$
Uranium 11$
Xeno Relics 236$
Exports
Commodity Price
Deployable Mining Container 50,000$
Propaganda 100$
Whiskey 4$
Water 4$


Ships sold


Ship Class Price
Eagle Very Heavy Fighter 24,079$
Hawk Light Fighter 14,182$
Roc Bomber 70,176$


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] 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.


Rumors

Gaians
  • Leeds is our greatest example of the ruin that mankind can wreck upon nature -- the sheer destructiveness of pure exploitation. It is also the home of the Stokes Smelter, where Terraforming Gases used to be produced. Now that Gallia has seized it, there isn't much of a point in us going there anymore. Stokes is shut down, LD-14 is a wreck, and the toxic planet is being invaded. It is ironic that Bretonia and Gallia fight over what is essentially a dump.


  • Tau-31 is an important sector for the Gaians. Though terraforming operations on Harris are almost complete, they still need Alien Organisms from the Edge Nebula. The Organisms are crucial in speeding up the terraforming process, thereby making it more economically viable. Destroying any transport with those organisms will slow Planetform down. The longer their operation, the more costly. It will cause other governments to think twice about terraforming expenses!


  • This area has always been hectic for us. It's crazy out there, and if you don't have friends with you then you're as good as dead. Good thing you're with us though. Just don't expect to be told where Faroe is, not unless you've done some serious work for us.


  • These Gallic newcomers... I just don't know what to think about them. On the one hand they've put a permanent stopper in both Planetform and Orbital's expoitation of Gaia, but on the other hand, they might turn around and do exactly the same thing! If that happens, we'll need to be ready for it.


  • Our hope is that one day the corrupt leadership of BMM and Planetform will be exposed for the greedy, shortsighted people they are. They have squandered our national heritage and future after eight hundred years of unregulated industrialization. Leeds is a dead world thanks to their efforts. New London might well follow in it's wake. But not Gaia, not while our movement is still alive.


  • I intend to continue the fight against the corrupt BMM and Planetform with renewed vigor. Right now is the time to bring those despicable organizations to their knees. They treat everything as exploitable. Starsystems, planets... Even people! Go visit Planet Leeds if you don't believe me. But take a gas mask with you if you do. And a rifle.


  • We have information indicating that the centuries-long terraforming operations run by Planetform will never succeed. A top secret government report obtained by the Green Front asserts that the planets will lose their nascent atmospheres within several hundred years of completion of the process due to uncontrolled outgassing. Planets without a natural atmosphere just don't have the density to retain one. Planetform is selling a bill of goods, and Bretonia knows this. But if Liberty also knew, the lawsuits would bankrupt Planetform and cripple Bretonia's economy, so that report stayed buried.


  • I almost lost hope for this system, and for the Gaian cause itself. Was nearly ready to take my Falcon out and make my way to the Crons to live with the Zoners. But with the Enclave extinct and Edinburgh a little closer to what it was before the war, there is hope.


  • Gallia did a number on the Bretonian people. Sure, they kept saying it's the government they were after, and that line fooled some people. BMM, Bowex, Planetform and the Queen's government are all corrupt to the core and that led some people to the Gauls. The Gauls were an unknown. But better the enemy you know.


  • Never thought I'd see the day that the Shetland was evicted from this system. Although I'm not exactly certain if what's taken it's place will be any better in the long run. At least in the short run, expeditions to Gaia will be a thing of the past. That'll give the planetary ecosystem some time to recover.


  • We bring in all of our supplies, other than our locally available Oxygen and Water, from Trafalgar. It is most ironic that the only place we can land is the despised Junker base -- guardians of filth, corruption, and the criminal element. But we do what we must to survive.


  • The new status quo in Edinburgh is nowhere near perfect, but the population of Gaia has decreased rapidly with more leaving voluntarily, or being murdered, daily.


  • I'm not sure what to do right now, and I think many fellow Gaians feel the same. The loss of Lewis was hard on us. I'm worried what these newcomers will do with Gaia once they establish themselves here. Heaven forbid they try to colonize the planet!


  • Terraforming gases are a high-priority target for Gaian attack. They used to be produced at Stokes, but Gallia has put a stop to that. Now Planetform is making newer, more toxic variants at their facility in Poole. We strike at them as often as we can, but it is a dangerous run because of our inability to hide for some stretches of travel through Poole. Usually, only our best pilots make that trip.


NOTE: Page generated on the 07/06/2024 at 15:55:46 UTC