Skye Base

From Discovery Wiki
Skye Base
Owner
Gaians
Location
F-7, Newcastle

CLASS: Barnes

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Yes

CREW: 280

Concealed deep within the Northumberland Ice Cloud, Skye Base was constructed by the Gaians to help expand their movement's reach. Despite being the second Gaian base to ever be contructed, Skye spent first two decades of its existance as a rather small and insignificant outpost. However, with the Royal Navy advancing into Edinburgh, and the subsequent lockdown of Islay, the Gaians found themselves deprived of a safe heaven for their families and other non-combatants.

Skye's secluded location and relative lack of local threats, with even Bounty Hunters rarely venturing deep into the field, quickly caught the attention of many Gaian cells. As the base's, potential living space was largely untapped, offered by the sheer size of the asteroid it was carved into, it became a prime candidate for a new, secluded home for Gaian civilians, The previously quiet and undisturbed outpost suddenly saw a large influx of personel from many cells in the movement, working together on expanding and upgrading the base, soon turning it into the largest installation operated by the Gaians to date.

Nowadays, Skye is a major population centre of the Gaians, housing living blocks, labs and even small manufacturing plants, using stolen parts to produce small amounts of civilian craft for combat use. Most of the base is off-limits to majority of outsiders, with security being tight in and around the visitors' area.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes
Missions


Commodities

Imports
Commodity Price
Ablative Armor Plating 45$
Criminals 435$
Gin 37$
Liberty Ale 31$
Medical Equipment 33$
Light Arms 70$
Prisoners 197$
Black Market Pharmaceuticals 37$
Counterfeit Computerware 53$
Beryllium 22$
Gold 192$
Niobium 135$
Copper 103$
Oxygen 13$
Food Rations 36$
H-Fuel 191$
MOX 28$
Mining Machinery 31$
Pharmaceuticals 33$
Hull Panels 36$
Consumer Goods 18$
Engine Components 59$
Black Market Munitions 68$
Black Market Augments 54$
Synth Paste 18$
Munitions 61$
Xenobiotic Filters 54$
Exports
Commodity Price
Deployable Mining Container 50,000$
Water 11$


Ships sold


Ship Class Price
Anaconda Very Heavy Fighter 23,129$
Panther Bomber 74,612$
Chameleon Heavy Fighter 22,603$


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.

[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] 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

Gaians
  • We used to be able to stay afloat quite easily, but of late we've been losing support. I suppose having to throw an accord with the Gallic Navy didn't earn us any new friends here in Bretonia. Neither did our cooperation with the Corsairs.


  • The Mollys are barely any better than the BMM themselves. Their plans to detonate MOX-laden bombs in the New London atmosphere shows just how insane they are. And they call -us- terrorists? We're not the ones trying to render an entire planet uninhabitable.


  • We started as a small group of students who saw how much damage the corporations were doing to the Bretonian planets. Take a look at Leeds, if you want proof as to how they've ruined Bretonia, but New London isn't much better. Foggy and smoggy. For our refusal to let BMM kill what little living space Bretonia has left, we've been branded as extremists. For refusing to let Planetform spin a fantasy about using dead planets as replacements for the ones Bretonia has squandered, we're called terrorists. So be it.


  • This base is the closest to our friends in Kusari, although getting to them is quite dangerous. There is a jump hole leading to Tau-31, but the Outcasts and Gallic Navy are all over it. If you get caught in the crossfire, you're in for a rough time.


  • Skye was established to keep an eye on Planetform and BMM's interest in Carlisle. The planet is capable of supporting life, but there were some problems on the surface preventing Bretonia from colonizing the planet. When Planetform and Cryer were called in to find a solution, we followed in their wake.


  • The colonies in Sirius continue to grow and expand. The need for more living space pushes governments to look to terraforming as a solution. Bottom line is, Planetform often delivers nothing more than a bill of goods - their methods do not work. Ayr is proof of that. Centuries of work and there is nothing to show for it.


  • The problem on Carlisle is a toxin of sorts, secreted by a bacterial lifeform that is present throughout the biosphere. It's lethal to humans - apparantly it dissolves human cell membranes, thereby liquifying the poor sod who's exposed to it. Even those illegal BMM surveying teams didn't deserve that fate - took them a few tries before they started to respect the quarantine.


  • We built this base in 784 AS, using materials hijacked from BMM and Bowex transports. At the time Belfast was still in operation, and the lane between it and Scarborough often had shipments going without escort, thinking the short trip wasn't worth scrambling fighters for. It's not a big station, but it suits our needs.


  • .


  • There is a Jump Hole to the Manchester system not far from here. We have a base out there as well, to keep an eye on the goings-on at Birmingham. Planetform uses BMM and Bowex as proxies to produce and transport materials needed for terraforming. In this system, they mainly reside on Gateshead, along with some Cryer folk.


  • We know Cryer is nowhere near solving the issue with Carlisle. They face a host of microbial lifeforms that are at the foundation of the planet's ecology. In order to settle the planet, those microbes would have to be wiped out planetwide. Even if they manage to develop an antibiotic capable of combatting the planet's own ecology, they wouldn't have the means to distribute it planetwide. That won't stop them from trying needlessly, and any attempts they make will only do harm to the planet's natural ecology.


  • Bretonia wants nothing more than to settle Carlisle, but the native fauna isn't very cooperative. No, no firebreathing dragons or other giant reptiles - the tiniest of creatures are the problem for them - microbes. Cryer and Planetform are trying to find ways to destroy them. Typical Bretonian thinking - destroy whatever part of a planet you don't have uses for. Our response? BMM, Cryer and Planetform ships are all targets in this system.


Junkers
  • The Gaians could fund themselves better if they'd not be so discriminate in who they hit. I mean, think about it. They've surrendered to Gallia, so most of Bretonia probably hates them by now. Why not capitalize on that? They're going to need new sources of income if they keep going like this.


  • The Gaians won't survive in their current form, I think. Not much longer. Their numbers have gone down ever since they got pounded hard by the Gallic Navy in Edinburgh. Those that survived that attack are veterans now, but their numbers are few. They're also struggling with their cause. Gaia isn't being threatened by Planetform anymore.


  • I'm not sure if the Gaians are making much headway in any of their actions. But I might be wrong! Either way, their credits are as good with me as the next guy. Seems they hijacked a Cryer transport full of meds and got more than they know what to do with. I've traded a load for some H-Fuel, and will be heading back towards Invergordon soon.


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