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Written by Duncan Day
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Sunday, 05 March 2006 |
The familiar sounds of the undocking procedure told Jerzy they were separated before the readouts told him they were clear of the docking arm. He moved the control yoke and the Spider-class tug Luck Now turned lazily toward open space as he nudged the ship away from the station using manoeuvring thrusters only. He’d performed the procedure hundreds of times before, usually with a feeling of reluctance to be leaving the comfort of a station. But this time he felt like he couldn’t get away from it fast enough.
“Take it easy, will you!” Came the familiar voice over his left shoulder. “You don’t want to get us stopped for speed violations before we even leave port, do you?”
“What’s gotten you so jumpy all of a sudden?” Jerzy said. “We haven’t even broken three hundred, and they never…”
“Just keep us under the limit until we’re free of the port STC zone.” Genovesi barked.
“Alright! Jeezus!” Jerzy conceded sarcastically. “Whatever you say, boss.” There was more tension in the captain’s voice than usual. Jerzy turned around from the helm controls to look at Genovesi directly. The glow of the main bridge readouts made the stocky captain’s face look even more bloated than usual. There was something more than tension in his expression. Jerzy couldn’t identify it immediately, but it looked like Captain Genovesi was feeling smug about something he was keeping secret.
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Written by Duncan Day
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Monday, 30 January 2006 |
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"Separation looks good Cactus Flower. Nice work,” Ogala said calmly into the headset pickup. He felt the mining rig he was controlling shudder slightly when it undocked from the tug. “Give us a bit more room and we’ll make the attitude change for Approach and Attachment.”
“No problem, Honey Pie,” said J.C. Banting’s voice from the speaker. “I always try to leave my men as gently as possible.” After a few moments of quiet proximity sensor pings, her voice was heard again. “The Flower is now stationed at 100 Metres. You’re safe to go for ‘A-and-A’.”
“That’s ‘go’ for A-and-A. Copy.” Ogala said, all business. He covered the pickup with his hand and leaned to Nashabi, his second in command, and whispered “Jesus, I wish she’d stop calling me that.”
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Written by Duncan Day
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Thursday, 15 December 2005 |
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The C-Space alarm startled Serran so much his entire body jolted. He dropped the data work pad and knocked his elbow against the scanner control board hard enough to make him wince with the pain. “Damned stupid of me,” he said aloud to the solitude of his control centre. “Careless”. It hadn’t occurred to him that the audio alert for the new sensor suite he’d just purchased would be different from, and much louder than the old one. More to the point, he didn’t expect to be hearing it indicate a positive find so soon after turning it on here in the deep dark edges of the Bedalov system. He had spent the last of his cash reserves and even borrowed to get the upgrade hoping it would give him that competitive edge over Davies and her crew. She had beaten him to the last three viable Lagrange point registrations he’d been investigating this year, and now she had taken to sniffing around the same sector he was exploring in her quest for that next big find. He definitely needed a competitive edge, even if it was a thin competitive edge. Otherwise he would be out of business in a few months.
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Written by Duncan Day
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Thursday, 10 November 2005 |
 Nureddin was spared the destruction of the War of Dissolution, but was gutted shortly afterward by the treaty reparation costs and exodus of its population. It was abandoned by the Sultanate in its time of crisis, causing discontent in the population remaining behind. Caliph Yezhid of Nureddin saw this as an act of betrayal and cowardice, and he vowed to make his system independent and prosperous again. Caliph Yezhid and his successors kept the system functioning despite the losses, and maintained successful trading posts, refineries and manufacturing facilities in the dark years after the war. The current Caliph, Al Hazen, is the grandson of Yezhid, and idolizes his grandfather. He has renamed, and dedicated his entire Caliphate to the memory of his grandfather, Caliph Yezhid. He vigorously pursues his grandfather's dream of wealth, power and independence. An ambitious man, he intends to eventually take the throne of the Sultan and establish himself and his line as the rulers of a new empire, which will include all the former Sultanate systems. Religious, Deeply moral, and ardently anticorruption, Al Hazen is loved by his subjects, and hated by the powerful underworld. Successful gas mines have been the staple of the Caliphate’s economy. Though it is off the main trade route, Nureddin is often visited by trade convoys for re-fueling and re-supply. The Mesa Corporation has established a manufacturing and trading station in Nureddin, which has helped the Caliph in his rebuilding efforts. He is also building a state-of-the-art shipyard in this system to strengthen his fleet. He has grown tired of losing vast amounts of shipping and trade to pirates and Takanan Raiders. Shipping in this region has diminished over the last century as a result of relentless piracy, most notorious of these being the feared remnants of the 14th Cruisers (Takanan Raiders).
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Written by Duncan Day
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Sunday, 06 November 2005 |
 The strength of the Corliss Conglomerate has always been its adherence to the philosophy of free trade. Its location along the trade route known as the Nisami-Watts Corridor made it the famous rest stop, shipping depot and trade center for the cluster. This system boasts one of the largest trading stations spinward of New Constantinople. It also operates one of the stronger commodity exchanges in the entire sector. This is where everyone stops to trade, exchange goods, and relax a little at Boone’s Saloon, while they gamble away some of their recently acquired gains. Since it is a stopover for almost every vessel in the vicinity, it has large ship docking, repair and servicing facilities. Passenger shuttles and taxis are a common sight as they ferry crew from their parked vessels to the various stations in orbit. Fueling stations and fuel tenders are a common sight among the docked ships. Saffron Industries is one of the larger Corporations based in Corliss, offering a wide range of manufactured products to upgrade ships. The fuel so critical to the success of this glorified “truck stop” operation is supplied by the other member system of the Conglomerate: Nisami.
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Written by Duncan Day
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Sunday, 06 November 2005 |
 The CMC is the largest remaining single mega-corporation in the cluster, and can be counted on to act in its best corporate interests regardless of history, alliances, or emotions. It is one of the oldest corporations in this cluster, having helped open it for settlement back when they were operating in partnership with Emperor Leung. Those days are long past, and at present there is no love lost between the CMC and the Leung Empire. After the internal schism the CMC suffered before the war, taking the 14th cruisers and most of their naval strength away, the CMC survived by implementing sound economic policies, including diversification of mining and manufactured products, planned downsizing, and strengthening assets at a time when the cluster was tearing itself apart in a series of pointless skirmishes. (0) |
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Written by Duncan Day
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Tuesday, 18 October 2005 |
 The Emerald Alliance is the newest of the major powers in the Middle States. Like the Sultanate, Emerald controls a resource that everyone in the areas either wants or needs: food and water. Possessing the only true garden world in the cluster, the Emerald Alliance has managed to restore its profitable agricultural and biological trade in fairly short order (only two generations) since the near-total destruction brought on by the orbital bombardment of Sultan Malik Shah nearly a hundred years ago. The Sultanate was to have funded an orbital station as part of war reparations, and was to provide ships to replace Emerald’s destroyed freighter fleet, but never complied with either. Both the Empire and the Sultanate were too busy fighting post-war skirmishes on other fronts, and losing strength in the process, to consider helping others with reparations. (0) |
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Written by Duncan Day
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Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
 The Leung Empire is what remains of the former Empire of Chung Kuo, one of the factions that first opened, and colonized many of the stars in this cluster. After the War of Dissolution, several rebellions, and a few skirmishes with the remaining forces of their post-war enemies (The Sultanate, and the Consolidated Mining Company), the Empire was dramatically reduced in power and size. Emperor Leung has managed to retain control of four of the original Empire’s systems, and kept his industrial and economic machine going despite the devastating losses of ships during the war. A series of huge domed cities and industrial complexes in Tau Tsun, the sub sector capitol, have kept the Empire going, though it has cost its citizens dearly. Tau Tsun uses the cheap material and Human resources of Kronholm and Li Po for the basis of its manufacturing industry. Harsh taxes kept the industries producing ships, and the shipyards in Kronholm, then later more shipyards built in Xu Xuan continued to supply ships for the Imperial fleet.
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Written by Duncan Day
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Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
 The current Sultan of Khalilistan, Sultan Salazar, is the third generation to rule since the reign of Sultan Malik Shah, the founder of this powerful political nation. Sultan Salazar has been described by his critics (now dead after public decapitation) as a spoiled adolescent playboy who never understood the true responsibilities of a leader. In fact, if their heads hadn’t been impaled on top of tall pikes on the route to the capital spaceport, those same critics would be decrying his failure to understand anything about running a powerful nation, except for the meting out of cruel punishment. It is widely known, but rarely uttered aloud, that the real leadership for the Sultanate comes from Salazar’s sister, Karina. She is responsible for some of the wisest strategic, economic and political decisions made in the last twenty years, despite her behind-the-scenes approach. Karina is a powerful woman, indeed, and is feared by most men. She is also a striking beauty, making her the object of desire for many a courtier, nobleman, and even a Caliph or two. Nebuch, the Grand Vizier, advises the Sultan on most matters of state, and also carries great responsibility for the success of the Sultanate in the recent years of rebuilding. (0) |
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