Galnet News

For years, the sparsely populated Orulas system has been dominated by the Orulas Blue Hand Gang, a ruthless criminal organisation. This cold-blooded band has been making life intolerable for the system's inhabitants, but the local government appears reluctant to take a stand. Some have speculated that this is because the authorities receive regular kickbacks from the criminals.

But one resident has had enough. Rose Trebek, a former soldier and veteran of countless military campaigns, has established a defence initiative to clean up Orulas – the Joint Security Taskforce.

"I'm sick of these scumbags running my system," said Trebek, "and I'm sick of the government looking the other way. It's time to take care of these punks. But we can't do it alone."

"Our intelligence indicates that the Blue Hand is ferrying its spoils in big convoys to various fences. They trade mostly in escape pods, which they sell to shady pseudo-scientific outfits conducting illegal human experiments. We need pilots to swoop in, bust open the convoys, and recover as many pods as they can. We also need volunteers to sweep the system, taking out any Blue Hand ships they encounter. That should make things easier for the Commanders targeting the convoys."

Trebek has the resources to offer generous incentives to those who support the campaign. But she has stressed that the operation will not be straightforward:

"If you're not an experienced combat pilot, frankly you can't help us. These Blue Hand dirtbags are the real deal. I don't want your death on my conscience."

The campaign begins on the 25th of February 3302 and will run for one week.Pilots who want to participate are advised to make their way to Wilkes Orbital in the Nespeleve system.

LHS 3447 is familiar to many independent pilots, being a popular starting point for those embarking on careers as traders, bounty hunters and explorers. But many of these pilots have bemoaned the relative inaccessibility of the system's starports.

The Pilots Federation, in association with LHS 3447 Dynamic and Co, has announced plans to address the issue by constructing a new Orbis starport in LHS 3447. According to a spokesperson for the organisation, the new starport will orbit LHS 3447 B 1 a, making it particularly valuable to miners exploiting the LHS 3447 AB belt.

"The Pilots Federation is all about building a better future for the people who keep the galaxy moving. This new starport will give those people a valuable new trade and resupply hub, in addition to giving the system's economy a boost."

The campaign to construct the starport, which will be named 'Bluford Orbital', begins on the 25th of February 3302 and will run for two weeks. Pilots who want to support the first phase of the campaign are invited to deliver metals to Worlidge Terminal in LHS 3447.

Responding to the suggestion that more meta-alloys be shipped to stations experiencing technical issues, Dr Arcanonn of the Canonn Interstellar Research Group has issued a statement:

"Many teams from the Canonn Interstellar Research Group have already started collecting meta-alloys. Some have been doing so for many days. But one thing bothers me. The community painstakingly collected and shipped thousands of tonnes of meta-alloys to Obsidian Orbital for Professor Palin. Where did they go? Surely the engineering teams at Obsidian Orbital didn't use them all up?"

"I want to urge personnel at Obsidian Orbital to help us by releasing their remaining stock of meta-alloys to the commodities market. Once the existing supply runs out, we will return to the barnacle sites to collect more."

"Since one of the affected stations is in my home system, I'm as eager as everyone else to deal with these malfunctions. It seems we have the means to fix the problems, so let's do it."

Commander Lord Zoltan

This weekly roundup highlights some of the minor factions pursuing the dream of democratic freedom by holding elections.

Here are 10 of the 3,284 minor factions holding elections:

Chick Bara Empire Party

Leaders of LHS 369

LHS 6427 Universal Partners

Movement for Delkar Revolutionary Party

Chiut Empire League

Monarchy of Berkanan

Social Kokan Coalition

Djabushis Systems

LTT 6714 Company

Untun Services

Elections occur when two minor factions of a similar political structure resolve a conflict over ownership and influence within a system.

Data is correct at time of publishing.

It has been over a month since personnel at Obsidian Orbital reported that meta-alloys had been used to alleviate the starport's ongoing technical issues. Since then, there has been widespread speculation that the meta-alloys might hold the key to eradicating the technological plague that has blighted so many starports in recent months. But the only attempt to verify the theory was brought to an abrupt end with the mysterious disappearance of Professor Ishmael Palin, who had been researching the meta-alloys.

A member of the technical team at Irens Dock in the Manite system, one of the latest starports to experience technical issues, commented on the situation:

"When I heard the news from Obsidian Orbital I expected people to start taking meta-alloys to the other affected starports, but that hasn't happened. Maybe people are being cautious - after all, we don't know for sure that the meta-alloys can help. But if you ask me, it's worth a shot."

The latest data on affected starports follows.

Starports where services have been suspended:

Ackerman Market, Eravate

von Bellingshausen Port, Almar

Haack Gateway, Halbangaay

Gabriel Enterprise, Harma

Gurragchaa Gateway, Warkushanui

Gaiman Dock, 49 Arietis

Weyn Dock, 64 Arietis

Korolyov Hub, Arawere

Lobachevsky Outpost, Pic Tok

Carter Port, Rhea

Starports experiencing technical issues:

Irens Dock, Manite

Bloch Vision, Loperada

Skvortsov Orbital, 63 G. Capricorni

Tall Enterprise, Ngalia

Love Ring, Evejitaka

al-Din Prospect, Alpha Centauri

Robigo Mines, Robigo

Saunders's Dive, Wolf 1301

Alexander Freeport, HIP 18843

Coats Hub, Warkushanui

Bond Hub, Varati

Hinz Hub, Ngobe

Tsunenaga Dock, Iapodes

Li Qing Jao, Sol

Ray Gateway, Diaguandri

Vizcaino Enterprise, Nganji

Talos 2, Peregrina

Princess Aisling Duval's recent emancipation effort has been criticised following revelations that over seven million slaves were purchased directly from slavers in the systems surrounding Uibuth. These purchases were made by independent traders supporting the princess's liberation programme.

One Commander, who refused to take part in the programme, said: "I can't see how funding slavers is going to stop the slave trade, unless Aisling expects them to retire now they're wealthy."

Commander Dissident Smith

In the early hours of tomorrow morning (7.00am GMT), the GalNet monitoring of powers' activities will go offline for a short period while the latest data is assembled.

Any pilots who operate for one of the powers must deliver any cargo or vouchers before this time to ensure their activities are registered.

Verity Gavroche, public correspondent for the Canonn Interstellar Research Group, has been speaking to Dr Arcanonn about his teams' ongoing research:

"I realise the public might think our research has stopped because the barnacles and the Unknown Artefacts have not been in the news, but I can assure you that we are still hard at work. Many Commanders have undertaken expeditions to distant nebulae in the hope of uncovering more barnacles. We've also been working hard to map all the barnacle sites in the Pleiades. In fact, a new site was recently discovered on Pleiades Sector IH-V C2-16 C4."

"We are also trying to understand why the barnacles appear in the Pleiades. Are the raw materials in the nebulae important for their growth? Perhaps the ancient cloud the Pleiades is moving through has long held the 'seeds' for Barnacle growth, and they've only now taken root? We don't know, but we will continue our research."

Commander Lord Zoltan

Federal President Zachary Hudson has announced that the search for survivors from Starship One has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response. Mere hours after the campaign began, thousands of escape pods had been delivered to Leoniceno Orbital, many of them containing living survivors. In the wake of the initiative's success, President Hudson released a statement to the media:

"I have been overwhelmed by the response to this campaign, which has resulted in the rescue of thousands of individuals, and I am delighted to confirm that some of the recovered pods are indeed from Starship One. We are not yet in a position to release the identities of those we have rescued, but we hope to be able to do so soon. In the meantime I would once again like to extend my gratitude to those who contributed to the search."

The recovery of so many escape pods will almost certainly prompt speculation that former Federal president Jasmina Halsey may be among the survivors.

In a system near the NGC 1333 nebula, over 1,000 light years from the nearest starport, a pilot by the name of Commander Santander has reported discovering two occupied escape pods. The Commander was surveying a previously uncharted system and cruising near the surface of a rocky-ice body when the readings were detected. The crash site could be clearly seen from high altitude, so Santander went to investigate in his SRV. Fortunately, his Asp Explorer was equipped with a cargo rack.

In a transmission, the Commander said: "I don't know how long they've been on this rock, or if the pods are working. I can't do much for them here – my ship is fitted for exploration, not search and rescue. I'll get them to port and let someone else open them up."

Commander Cryptomancer