| Halifax Freeport
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- The crumbling of the Bretonian state is ironic, perhaps, but not unexpected. They allow the workers to wallow in indentured servitude until they see no other option but rebellion. The success of the Molly movement is just the start of a brighter future for all of Sirius.
- The Coalition is alive and well, my friend, and you would do well to hear the call. But I am not here to talk politics - share a drink with me, would you? Let us toast to the dead, for even if they were the enemy, none deserve a fate so grim.
- This is about as far as we take our crews - the lawlessness in the Omegas is our primary concern. Maintaining relations with the Molly movement - especially in light of their recent successes - remains an important cause, however, and a deep reconnaissance mission like this offers many other opportunities to take advantage of.
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| Zvyozdny Gorodok
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- Have you seen what passes for the news in the Houses? Sometimes we catch broadcasts of their "free press" and they're so profit-driven and full of fearmongering. You have to watch hours of ads to get to the actual news and then they show how awful everything is over there to distract the people from looking inward.
Our state-run broadcasting services have strict guidelines to make sure only informative news and quality entertainment programs reach our citizens. Yeah, I saw the Premier's latest speech, why do you ask?
- I see Volgograd every day, but I haven't been down there in months. I hope I get approved for some time off to visit my family soon. I understand why we have tight security, but it gets overbearing at times.
- I'm told our vodka is actually popular in the rest of Sirius. You know how to tell good vodka from cheap engine room swill? Good vodka has a very faint alcohol smell, and warms you up rather than burn your insides.
- They say our ancestors hitched a ride on the Hispania to get to Sirius. Bet they'd regret that decision if they could see what a sorry state this place is in.
Just look at the Houses. Liberty is a giant corporation that runs on prisoner labor. Bretonia abused its own workers so much they revolted. Rheinland didn't want to be left behind, so they did the same thing, twice. And Kusari have actual organized crime syndicates in their government. I'm glad to serve the Coalition and it will be a great day when the so-called Great Houses all get toppled.
- You have to admire the Mollys' tenacity. Despite the best efforts of Bretonia's entire military-industrial complex, Corsair raiders and Gallic invaders, they're still on their feet and keeping up the fight. We have done well to support them.
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| Aralsk Research Station
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- Most of our top scientists, including the head of the Aralsk Research Division, practically live here, and even bring their families in.
It's not that they like the assignment. But this station seems to have the government's eye when it comes to granting research funds, you know how it is. And being so close to Aralkum is brilliant for research. The high-gravity conditions are a big help for many experiments, and we can stress-test our designs in a live environment!
- Have you seen what passes for the news in the Houses? Sometimes we catch broadcasts of their "free press" and they're so profit-driven and full of fearmongering. You have to watch hours of ads to get to the actual news and then they show how awful everything is over there to distract the people from looking inward.
Our state-run broadcasting services have strict guidelines to make sure only informative news and quality entertainment programs reach our citizens. Yeah, I saw the Premier's latest speech, why do you ask?
- We use so much of the fuel we mine just to keep this station afloat. If the government keeps piling expansion projects on our facility, we won't have any left for our ships! At least it's not too hard to get it shipped in from Sirius.
- Jiangxi bombing? Look, I didn't tell you this, but the government was really quick to cover the whole thing up. Officially it was enemies of the Coalition, not that there's a shortage of those.
But people are talking, and they say an entire Coalition fleet went missing over it. So there's a theory, all sorts of theories floating around that it was our own ships that bombed it. I don't know what could have happened to make them turn traitor. Alien mind control, maybe. I sure wouldn't follow an order to fire on my own House. Whatever happened, I know a lot of people got arrested and sent in for a full medical exam, and not everyone came back out.
- I hate being assigned here. That gas giant creeps me out. It's like it's going to swallow up the station. I can't imagine what it's like for those who have to go down there. And don't get me started on all that debris floating around outside. They say it helps hide the station, but to me it seems more likely to get us all killed. I hope I get rotated outta here soon.
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| Zhejiang Orbital
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- I keep having to explain to foreigners who come here that yes, they can trade and rent office space on the station and no, they can't finalize transactions without approval from the Ministry of Trade Relations.
This station may be a free economic area, but why wouldn't we monitor the influx of foreign capital into our economy?
- Not a lot of records have survived of the people we modeled our society after. We know from the stories passed down that the Coalition was made up of many nations of old Earth, like the Eastern Republic, the Tigris Confederation and the East Asian Federation, but we know very little about them.
What we've managed to preserve or reconstruct is on display in Volgograd City. But that's just historical artifacts. Immaterial cultural heritage like names, languages, traditions - we have gone through great effort to make sure they are not lost to us. That's why the Coalition government places a special importance on making primary, secondary and higher education available to all its citizens, for free. Through the education system, we pass on this knowledge to the next generation, keeping the spark alive.
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| Planet Jiangxi
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- Have you seen what passes for the news in the Houses? Sometimes we catch broadcasts of their "free press" and they're so profit-driven and full of fearmongering. You have to watch hours of ads to get to the actual news and then they show how awful everything is over there to distract the people from looking inward.
Our state-run broadcasting services have strict guidelines to make sure only informative news and quality entertainment programs reach our citizens. Yeah, I saw the Premier's latest speech, why do you ask?
- The reconstruction program we're running here is one of the Coalition's top priorities.
We've scoured our population for architects and engineers, and even outsourced a few projects to certain Sirian companies, with oversight of course. We import construction materials and tools from our allies. We're offering incentives to anyone willing to help rebuild. We will not rest until every bit of ordnance and wreckage has been cleaned up, until every hospital, school, power plant, and factory are up and running again, until every family is provided with a safe, comfortable apartment. When we're done, Jiangxi will be even better than before.
- Mutants? Anomalies? Have you been playing those games again? We have real problems here.
Well, we did have two salvage expeditions get into a shootout the other day. Apparently they both claimed the same ruined compound and didn't want to share. Not enough that the planet's been turned into a graveyard, we have to fight ourselves over the bones now, too.
- I got relocated from Volgograd with my family to help rebuild here. The hours are long, but the pay here is better, and we get extra rations. The state provides the necessities and I feel like I'm doing important work as a part of a whole, so I don't really mind.
Before I became a Coalition citizen, I used to work at a DSE plant on Houston. Liberty has this way of keeping you powerless and trapped perpetually, trying to claw your way up and working for as little as your company can get away with. The Coalition has its issues, but it doesn't go out of its way to make me feel more worthless and expendable than I already am.
- I just got done filing a loss of twelve brand-new wind turbines that got cast into the sea by a freak storm. They were supposed to power a coastal town not known for severe weather. I swear, sometimes it's like the planet itself hates us.
The number of bureaucratic hurdles it made me jump through makes me wish for a new job. Imagine if we could just pay to order replacements without all the oversight?
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