Durham Outpost

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Durham Outpost
Br04 04 base.png
Owner
Border World Exports
Location
E-6, Leeds

CLASS: Eden

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 120

The aftermath of the Gallic War left the Leeds system devastated, rife with piracy and ruined infrastructure that quickly drove it to become one of the most dangerous systems in Sirius. Working quickly in the aftermath, Border World Exports established Durham Outpost to act as a waystation and safe haven for convoys departing and arriving in Bretonian space. As the first inhabited (legal) installation within the Leeds system since the Gallic retreat, Durham quickly took on a second role as the hub for reconstruction efforts throughout the system, with detached squadrons from the Ark Royal being posted to the facility to ensure the safety of convoys heading through the system.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes
Missions


Commodities

Imports
Commodity Price
Energy Field Equipment 45$
Medical Equipment 26$
Detroit Light Arms 62$
Solar Panels 23$
Silver 139$
Alien Organisms 28$
H-Fuel 93$
Mining Machinery 16$
Pharmaceuticals 24$
Hull Panels 26$
Terraforming Gases 14$
Daumann Side Arms 107$
Gallic Enfer Blasters 74$
Ageira Gate/Lane Parts 736$
Munitions 35$
Passenger Cabin (Bretonia) 14,182$
Uranium 7$
Xeno Relics 214$
Exports
Commodity Price
Deployable Mining Container 50,000$
Robotics 25$
Gin 34$
Titanium 20$
Crew 214$
Hydrocarbons 17$
Oxygen 8$
Water 8$
Food Rations 19$
Fertilizers 20$
MOX 18$
Basic Alloy 30$
Super Alloy 47$
Construction Machinery 38$
Polymers 28$
Consumer Goods 32$
Industrial Materials 35$
Xenobiotic Filters 55$


Ships sold


Ship Class Price


News

[834 AS] Notorious privateer released from prison

NEWGATE -- 834 -- Henry King has been released from Newgate Prison on parole, having served a 5 year sentence. Leading a squadron of privateers, King rose to fame for daring strikes on Gallic supply lines across the Taus and even Languedoc. It is believed that King had the largest personal bounty in Gallia for his exploits, which were recently adapted for holoreel in the feature-length hit, “Blade and Blaster”. King continued to attack Gallic Confederacy targets after the war’s end, and was arrested for piracy upon returning to Bretonia. When asked for a statement by journalists, he replied “444” before climbing into a waiting shuttle and departing.

[834 AS] Cryer Delegation Arrives at Harris

PLANET HARRIS -- 834 -- Cryer Pharmaceuticals location scouts have arrived on Planet Harris, amid speculation the medical giant will establish a facility on the remote planet. With the destruction of Atka Research Station, Cryer lost the primary production facility for their flagship drug -- Stabiline. Harris is believed to be a front-runner candidate for a replacement lab due to its strategic location in the Tau Border Worlds, BAF security perimeter, and option to tap into local supply lines. Liberty is believed to have provided significant diplomatic backing for Cryer's proposal, which is demanding complete legal autonomy for the site. Bretonian officials have declined to comment on the proceedings.

[833 AS] Gold Insecurity Invites Crisis

WATERLOO -- 833 -- Interspace analysts have published a report on the continued volatility of sector-wide Gold supplies, claiming that further instability invites disaster. The reports note the pressures placed on advanced Optronics, Bio-Neural Processor and Quantum Multiplexor manufacturing were already causing spiraling cost increases in adjacent market sectors. Market analysis also indicates that the bulk of Bretonian exports now consist of recycled and in some cases adulterated materials, likely indicating that stockpiles are running low. Interspace has called upon House authorities to collectively find the means of addressing the Dublin question before economic crisis becomes inevitable.

[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] Bretonia Withdraws From Dublin System

WATERLOO -- 831 AS -- Markets are down across Sirius as the sector grapples with the twin shocks of The Blackout and Bretonia's withdrawal from the Dublin system. Molly separatists appear to have exploited a worker revolt on Graves Station to take control of and later destroy the base. Of even greater concern is the attack that crippled the New London jump gate, forcing the Battleship Essex to retreat. EFL have accused the gate destruction and faulty Ageira infrastructure of causing The Blackout, which the Liberty corporation denies. The Mollys have since declared their ownership of Dublin, while Bretonia has imposed a strict blockade, jeopardizing the sector's Gold supply. Gold exports previously made up a significant element of Bretonian state revenue, helping to fund post-war recovery efforts. While the reconstruction of LD-14 in the Leeds system offers some relief, Interspace Commerce has already downgraded Bretonia's sovereign credit rating, citing increased volatility and risk for lenders. Bretonia has confirmed that action to retake the system will be launched shortly, providing assurances to partners in the other Houses.

[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.

[829 AS] Tau In Transition

Freeport 6 -- 829 AS -- Bretonia and Kusari have been quiet in recent weeks as the Tau cluster continues adjustments, partly by design, into a new reality. Kusari has abandoned Tau-53 completely as trade with Gallia is frozen indefinitely, a nearly depleted hydrocarbon deposit seemingly not worth the investment in itself. Misaki Station has seen its manufacturing facilities detached and towed to a new location as Samura attempts to recoup some of its investment in Tau-53. Meanwhile, both Gallia and Bretonia have readjusted their Tau focus to Tau-23 as Orkney descends into chaos. Existing gate infrastructure in Tau-31 and Languedoc have been redirected to Tau-23, and a collective deja vu is felt among Tau denizens and observers from all Houses as the resources of Tau-23 are eyed by competing mining interests. Trade between the houses however, as in Kusari, is completely off the menu. Independent trade factions have also been warned against attempting to cross the divide.

[828 AS] Tau Turbulence

FREEPORT 6 -- 828 AS -- After decades of constant warfare and shifts in dominance - the balance of power within the Tau sector has once again been reset. With the most recent conclusion of a brief yet bitter invasion by Kusari into Gallic space, the Taus have seen a rapid destabilization along the shattered Gallic defenses and Kusari borders. Coupled with a Bretonia still reeling from economic desolation by the Gallic invasion only a few years prior, the Taus have become something of a no-man's-land between the depleted militaries of the Gallic, Kusari, and Bretonian empires. In the aftermath of the decisive end of the Kusari-Gallic war, the once dominant Gallia pulled almost all its strength back to Gallia to repel the Kusari invasion, leaving in their wake a sector more independent than ever.

At present, no house stands to conclusively fill the vacuum of power in the Taus, clouding the future to secure exploitation of its rich natural resources in ambiguity. Following the withdrawal of Kusari from Tau-23 after the final confrontation in Languedoc, the lanes within the system seem to have been subject to sabotage, and Gallia has released a public statement that Orkney would instead be favored over Tau-23 for the route to Tau-31, likely owing to Orkney being the last major Tau system that Gallia holds bases in. Niobium futures have ballooned in response to plummeting consumer confidence in stable Niobium extraction, resulting in vicious multinational corporate and paramilitary competition over Tau resource exploitation. The Taus are now a lawless battleground of conflicting corporate interests, small scale military skirmishes, and pirate incursions, all scrambling for a piece of Niobium.

Given the thorough depletion of military might and expansionist ambitions in the surrounding devastated houses, chances are low that the Taus will find themselves tamed by a lawful house in the foreseeable future.

[733 AGS] Business in Gallic Border Words: Risks and Profits

ALESIA -- 733 AGS -- The Second Gallic War made conducting business hazardous all around the Gallic Border Worlds. New threats are not directly related to the military conflict between Gallia and the Council. Instead, the war gave rise to unprecedented increase of piracy in all Border Worlds, except for Lorraine. Criminal activity is on the rise even in the well-protected Core Systems. Using the war and chaos associated with it, Gallic Brigands, Corse and other groups gained access to new ships and weaponry, and gained opportunities to increase their numbers by rallying recruits from Council-controlled worlds of Marne and Quillan.

As a result, most financial institutions refuse insurance for any shipments going to and from the Core Worlds. Even if they do, insurance is so expensive that only a few shippers are able to afford it. As of now, the only efficient way to protect cargo is hiring Gallic Navy escort. Presence of Navy fighters usually scares pirates away, however, the Navy has many other duties to perform. Government promises to increase Police presence in the area, however, increased numbers of Police does not guarantee presence of their ships in the areas where pirates are going to attack. According to the reports from Briancon and Gap installations in Languedoc, some police patrols deliberately avoid patrolling areas where commercial transports are present and where pirate attacks are most likely to occur.

Solar Engineering, the only large space corporation without a significant presence in the Border Worlds, has actually gained profits from the war rather than losses: gaining large government contracts for building up the Core World defenses, its stock value has risen more than 80%% over the last 15 years, an unprecedented rise for any large company listed on the New Paris Stock Exchange (NPSE) for the last four hundred years.


Rumors

Border World Exports
  • The routes are always changing these days, what with the beancounters upstairs constantly trying to find the least expensive trip in terms of insurance. For a while Interspace wasn't even interested in insuring any trips through Leeds, that's how bad things got.


  • I worked on Glasgow Outpost before the Tau War, all the way through to the Gallic invasion. Of course, I wasn't on the station when it was boarded, but it's hard not to be confused by the whirlwind of times. You can still find wrecks of Kusari and Bretonian fighters that skirmished on the outer reaches of the system, and now we're jointly enforcing an embargo together.


  • There's been a lot of Kusari traffic in this system of late. Really seems like they're more interested in building something new here than the Crown ever was. Personally, I'd much rather see a Bretonian Leeds for Bretonia's sake, but I suppose I've always been a little more patriotic than most.


  • While Glasgow used to be our headquarters, I don't think corporate intends to make the same mistake with Durham. It's ended up becoming the hub of sorts for all the reconstruction efforts in Leeds, but that's mostly because there's nowhere else to go with the supplies. I don't think anybody from the C-suite is gonna visit here anytime soon.


  • Leeds has been a lot of things to a lot of people, and very little of it pretty. I remember a gruff old foreman telling me Leeds would eventually choke to death, overcrowded and picked clean of value. Sometimes I wish that was how things turned out.


  • Have you seen what BMM is up to down in the Stokes field? They're really dragging their feet with the rebuild there. LD-14 went from a scuttled wreck to a fully operational facility in the time it took them to put down a couple depots. And all the ships out there now are mining vessels, not construction ships. Looks an awful lot like they're grabbing whatever they can before someone else moves in.


  • I can't help but feel weird about working here. It's like... rebuilding a commercial highway directly over a burial ground. Tune your comms the wrong way and your net gets flooded with memorial messages from low orbit.


  • Looking for Gold? You and the rest of Sirius, buddy. The Mollys locked what's left in their own little slice of hell when they blew the gate, and now we're fighting over the scraps.


  • It's going to be a while yet before the Stokes project is completed, and who knows who will end up actually running that show. For now, we're mainly concerned with bringing in Kusari imports, handling LD-14's exports, and keeping the Ark Royal supplied.


Bretonia Armed Forces
  • Command gave everyone who'd served over Leeds an exemption from having to serve here again, but very few took them up on the offer. I guess most of us aren't so shaken by it anymore, and those that are likely took the honorable discharge and moved on with their lives. It's a little disquieting to think that we'll soon have a generation of pilots that don't remember Leeds before the war.


  • Ark Royal's CAG detached my squadron to Durham as a temporary measure to help secure trade traffic, until enough constables were freed up to take over. That was eighteen months ago. I stopped requesting information on our transition plan last year. Seems like Leeds is going to remain our mess to clean up for a while yet.


  • There's all sorts in Leeds these days, and very few of them friendly. Outcasts, Corsairs, Gaians, Mollys, all sorts of rogues and pirates willing to ply their trade on these shattered lanes. As long as you stick to the lanes and keep your emergency beacon handy, you should be okay.


NOTE: Page generated on the 15/12/2024 at 15:50:59 UTC