The Lane Hackers | Manual

[The Lane Hackers]

---

⚡ Miscellaneous

---

The spoilers of this section contain some miscellaneous information about the Lane Hackers as well as some uncategorized Lane Hacker operations. ^{[Rumors §22.21, 22.22, 22.23, 22.24, 22.25, 22.26]}

The most important miscellaneous information is the following:

• The Lane Hackers maintain a substantial number of operatives onboard Barrier Gate Station. Furthermore since the main cardamine smuggling route passes through Coronado, this base is one of the primary places where cardamine exchanges hands before it is moved deeper into Liberty. ^{[Infocard §22.5, Rumor §3.13]}
  
• Lane Hacker profits made by their operations continue to increase. ^{[News report §22.2]}
  
• In important occassions Lane Hackers use fake identities in order to enter lawful bases or planets. ^{[News report §22.3]}
  
• Lane Hacker technicians were involved in the development of Bayonet. ^{[Infocard §22.16]}
  
• The Independent Miners' Guild manufactured and sold Warans to the Lane Hackers. ^{[Infocard §22.17]}
  
• Lane Hacker technologies were involved in the development of Prosecutor and Unioner Battleship Secondary Turret. ^{[Infocards §22.18, 22.19]}

Sources concerning the Texas Incident are listed here. ^{[News report §22.1, Infocards §22.4, 22.7, 22.8, 22.9, 22.10, 22.11, 22.12, Rumors §22.27, 22.28, 22.29, 22.30, 22.31, 22.32, 22.33, 22.34, 22.35, 22.36, 22.37, 22.38, 22.39]}
Sources concerning the Dark Matter Storm of 784 A.S. are also listed here. ^{[Infocards §22.6, 22.13, 22.14, 22.15, Rumors §22.39, 22.40, 22.41, 22.42, 22.43, 22.44, 22.45, 22.46]}

22. Miscellaneous sources

HOUSTON -- Before the Dallas Incident, Liberty invested heavily in Texas. Houston residents were led to believe that the system would be the research center of the entire House. Virtually overnight the government moved out, leaving nothing but destruction and decay in its wake. Many citizens feel that the government had no right to leave Texas so abruptly because of a terrible government error. "There wouldn't be no crime here if they gave folks an option," says Fertilizer plant worker and Houston native Frank Stalls. Perhaps there is a better alternative to solving crime than building new prisons.

MAGELLAN -- Despite increased bounties offered by IC and Ageira, Lane Hacker operations are just as successful as ever. This quarter both bases posted record profits from lucrative heists that we pulled off. "I don't know how Liberty ever gets any Gold from Bretonia with the operations we are pulling," Lane Hacker executive Bill Hunter quoted. Privately many members admit that mounting Cardamine abuse could be a serious drain on Hacker income if not curbed in the near future.

LOS ANGELES -- Apparently, piracy isn't the only thing that Lane Hackers are good at. This year the California Cup was won by none other than Gilbert Hudson, former Ageira employee and Lane Hacker. Hudson, who entered the competition under a false name, was identified by a former Ageira co-worker, who recognized him as he took center stage to accept the cup. As soon as Hudson saw LPI security guards making their way through the crowd towards the stage, he grabbed the cup and fired a message from a wrist transmitter. A moment later a ship descended from the skies. Hudson hopped aboard and fled with several police cruisers in hot pursuit.

---

500 A.S. -- The Texas Incident.

The entire Texas system was decimated.

Ageira Technologies scientists aboard the Dallas had begun the second phase of testing a new, long-range jump gate that would have allowed travel beyond the confines of the Sirius Sector -- and could have potentially opened the entire galaxy for exploration. Unfortunately, an unforeseen concentration of dark matter along the jump route created a feedback wave that not only destroyed the Dallas and everyone aboard, but expelled huge masses of dark matter and radioactivity. A quarantine was immediately erected across half the system -- not for security, this time, but for the safety of anyone foolish enough to stray into the dangerous morass. The jump gate itself sank into a monstrous singularity that still hangs at the edge of the Texas, an evil, swirling eye, that casts its gaze upon the wasteland of Houston.

Barrier Gate is one of the few privately owned space stations in Sirius. Freelancer George Tinsley made a name for himself in underworld circles when he discovered the "Barrier Pass", a shortcut between Tau and Liberty space that completely bypasses Bretonia. Knowing full well that his secret would not remain that way for long Tinsley called in favours and invested his entire fortune into having a rock on the edge of the Barrier Ice Field hollowed out and turned into a base. When the Independent Miners Guild (IMG) workers he had hired finished, Tinsley began to tell his peers about the new passage.

Although retired from freelance piloting, Tinsley has become the administrator of Barrier Gate, which has grown steadily over the last decade. The station is ocupied by a motley crew of Rogues, Hackers, Outcasts, Bounty Hunters, IMG, Colonials, Zoners and various Freelancers all looking to trade or lay low for a while. Most of the revenue on the station is generated by smugglers and pirates, although the IMG use the station as refuge from the cold conditions on Pecos.

As Tinsley planned, Barrier Gate has become a place where the Outcasts exchange Cardamine with the criminals of Liberty, producing astounding profits. Not that his plan hasn't been without its problems. Tinsley is constantly fighting subtle attempts to take over the station from the Rogues, Junkers and the Outcasts themselves. In addition, the publication of the Barrier Pass and the new station earned Tinsley several large bounties from Molly gangs who have lost most of their cardamine smuggling business, which have thus far gone uncollected.

The arrival of the Colonial Republic in the system has presented the station and it's inhabitants with a quandry of possibilities and concerns. The Republic has not stated its intentions in regards to the station and so poses both a potential grave threat but also a potential market for the Gate's many amenities.

Ames Research Station was originally constructed in 773 A.S. by Deep Space Engineering, to investigate the strange dark matter clouds that were in the eastern areas of the system, and also to study the dark matter storm that was scheduled to pass through the system in 780 A.S. As it happened, the storm entered Kepler 4 years later than it was expected to, destroying the old trade lane that passed through the eastern area of the system and rendering it extremely dangerous to travel through. Deep Space Engineering incurred heavy financial losses during the construction of the new lane to the Shikoku Jump Gate, and as a result their operations on Ames were scaled back almost completely to the point of abandoning the station.

Around 790 A.S., a group of Zoners moved onboard the station, slowly taking over previously vacated habitation decks and science laboratories, bringing the station back up to operational status. In exchange for keeping the station running and use of the repair facilities onboard, DSE agreed to give the Zoners complete ownership of Ames. Since then, the Zoners have run it as a Freeport and despite DSE's occasional complaints about allowing even Xenos to dock, it has been run profitably and has become a convenient stopover for anyone passing through the independent systems between Kusari and Liberty.

>>>WARNING: NAVIGATIONAL HAZARD<<<

This debris field is all that remains of the Jump Gate machinery whose malfunction in 500 A.S. led to the Texas Incident. Liberty technicians were testing the prototype of a new form of Jump Gate that was intended to revolutionize travel across Sirius; their prototype version was to connect California to Texas. Due to a bizarre and critical technical error, the Jump Gate, instead of initializing upon start up, fatally ruptured; the initial explosion, setting free copious amounts of dark matter and radiation, inundated half a star system before petering off. Texas' beauty was forever ruined in the disaster, with half the system made fatal to all organic life; its economy was shattered, and the system experienced a massive exodus that would cripple its productivity for the indefinite future. Curious pilots may see the cataclysmic Jump Gate's core here, although they are cautioned, for the area is heavily radioactive; for the most part, however, it's merely a refuge of last resort for criminals seeking to avoid capture by Liberty authorities.

>>>WARNING: NAVIGATIONAL HAZARD<<<

A large region of dark matter and radiation left behind after the Texas Incident of 500 A.S. decimated the system. Unlike the northern Pequena Negra, the Grande Negra is centred around the fatal Jump Gate's destructive epicentre; as a result, the Grande Negra is far larger than its sibling, although the two clouds' compositions are identical. Much of the Dallas Research Complex was forever swallowed by the Jump Gate's detonation; therefore, whatever resources and technology the Liberty government of over three centuries ago stored there might still remain, shielded from dark matter by storage containers. Archaeologists speculate that were the Grande Negra to be lifted, a perfect tableau of life prior to the Incident would be found; Police patrols going about their business, supply transports, and personnel carriers, frozen doing what they had been when the Incident happened. Other than treasure-hunters and suicidal explorers, however, no ships are ever seen entering this zone; even the truly desperate aren't mad enough.

>>>WARNING: NAVIGATIONAL HAZARD<<<

A smaller region of dark matter and radiation left behind in the wake of the Texas Incident. Pilots should not be fooled by the Pequena Negra's relatively compact size; its composition is precisely the same as that of its larger sibling and is equally lethal to unshielded organics. Despite the Pequena Negra's dangers, it experiences at least sporadic traffic due to its proximity to the criminals of the North Dallas Debris Field. The occasional Liberty Rogue can be seen escaping pursuit into the cloud, as there is believed to be a jump hole located somewhere inside the cloud; Texan authorities are under strict orders not to pursue into either Negra. The question is merely how many fugitives ever come out again.

The South Dallas Debris Field consists of the remnants of the Dallas Research Complex; those that hadn't been swallowed by the Grande Negra after the Texas Incident. The zone appears to house a large contingent of Xeno terrorists, and it is rumoured that they are engaged in constructing a more permanent home. Unfortunately for both parties, the jump hole to the Junker controlled system of Puerto Rico lies to the field's northwest; the Junkers and the Xenos, ancestral enemies, are engaged in a haphazard struggle for control of the region.

The remains of the Dallas Research Station Superconductor Laboratory, which was destroyed in 500 AS after a failed Jump Gate experiment.

Scanners read this elongated lump of metal as being not just another piece of scrap but an older model of the C-class utility transport; caked with grime and decay, it's hardly identifiable after centuries in the Grande Negra. The only database match is the Ft. Worth, a supply vessel that had been dispatched to Dallas with a load of Gate/Lane Parts sometime immediately prior to the Texas Incident of 500 A.S.

A Universal large transport named the McKinley was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784, which destroyed the old Trade Lane through the eastern part of the system. It was carrying a load of Superconductors.

The Kamakura Maru, a Samura transport carrying a cargo of Niobium, was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784. The storm destroyed the old Trade Lane route through the eastern part of the system. The ship is believed to lie somewhere in the Matsuo Cloud.

The Samura armored transport Nikko Maru was carrying Luxury Goods from Manhattan to New Tokyo when it was caught in the Dark Matter Storm of 784. It lies somewhere in the Matsuo Cloud along the abandoned Trade Lane.

The Bayonet, as it has come to be known, was in development for almost two decades. Blending traditional Border Worlds ship technologies with state of the art systems designed in collaboration with Lane Hacker technicians, it brings an exquisite mixture of firepower, armor and speed to the battlefield.

The vessel's oversized heatsinks play host to a dizzying array of sensitive electronic surveying and splicing equipment, allowing it to maintain the role of a dedicated intelligence gatherer while its more combat orientated brethren dominate the battlefield.

Based loosely on an old, unpopular bomber design, the "Waran" still bears the name of the vessel it has come to replace. Many rumors circulate about it's origins. Some say Junkers mated the powercore of the old Waran to the Raven's Talon frame. Some say the Independent Miners secretly constructed this bomber as a craft for unscrupulous clients such as the Lane Hackers. Whatever the origin, the result is a sturdy bomber capable of unleashing withering firepower on a hapless target.

As with all bombers, this ship maneuvers poorly for a craft of its size. Nevertheless, its firepower and widespread availability found quick popularity with the "more power, more guns, fewer problems" crowd, which it turned out included virtually anyone interested in blowing things up. From Junkers to Gaians to Bundschuh to Xenos, this ship has found universal employment by pilots for whom style is not a concern.

The product of seventeen years of hard work from the greatest minds of the Hellfire Legion's R&D division, the Prosecutor-class Very Heavy Fighter represents a seamless blend of Libertonian, Borderworlds, and Lane Hacker technology. Designed to go toe to toe with any other fighter craft in Liberty and come out alive, the Prosecutor is set to become the standard-issue strike-craft in the Legion fleet, and it is destined to play a major role in all upcoming Hellfire Legion conflicts.

Oddly, sensor data reveals this weapon to be the only known heavy weapon in the Unioner arsenal that does not contain any recognisable trace of Eighty Years War era engineering. Instead, the Organiser features advanced, possibly Lane-Hacker acquired guidance systems, providing target acquisition capabilities that the rudimentary anti-fighter weaponry that the Rheinland battleships of the Eighty Years War could not match, capable of organising hostile strike craft into fire pockets with extreme ease. Despite being a masterful work of ordinance design in hugely adverse conditions, the minimal number of questionably functional battleships the Unioners possess limits the cannon to being little more than a shrine to Unioner technical brilliance, instead of a viable weapons system. The riveted construction of the turret implies the weapon has been built entirely by hand, in contrast to every other large capital artillery piece presently used by humankind. Caution is advised.

The famous Light Arms produced by the Ageira affiliate, Detroit Munitions, are considered by many as the best personal weapons in Sirius. Naturally, most House authorities try to restrict their legal sales, which created incentives for distribution of their black market version.

Cleverly kept off the official books at Detroit Munitions, and occassionally produced by the Hackers at Mactan, these weapons are unregistered, untaxed, and unaccounted for. But most importantly, they lack Ageira's safety mechanisms, which make them particularly valuable to unlawful organizations.

---

I heard from someone the other day that The Professor was spotted walking down one of the corridors here. Can you believe that? Probably just some drunken rumor. Everybody knows that The Professor is just some Hacker myth made up to make Ageira execs wet their pants in the middle of the night.

We handle all manner of precious cargo bound for the outer colonies. We ship Luxury Goods to New London, New Tokyo, and New Berlin. It is extremely dangerous between New London and here, especially because of the Lane Hackers. They aren't the dangerous part, it's the Outcasts who they sell the shipping information to that you have to worry about. On second thought, if you see a Hacker in a P-Trans, don't laugh, juice the cruise engines!

We pick up Gold on some of our return trips - always a stressful journey. It's as if you shine in the dark for the criminal elements like the Mollys and the Lane Hackers. They come like moths to a flame.

Bretonia is the largest source of Gold for the entire Sirius Sector. We are heading back to Yokohama with a load as soon as we can arrange the escort. Between Outcasts, Lane Hackers, Liberty Rogues, Xenos, Blood Dragons and Golden Chrysantemums, whomever we hire will have plenty to do.

Bretonia's not too dangerous. At least compared to Kusari space and the Independent Worlds we now must cross. The Blood Dragons are the most serious menace with Kusari. The Outcasts, Lane Hackers and Xenos replace them as the threat once you leave Shikoku.

I just sold a shipment of Manhattan Luxury Goods for the spoiled brats of our Shibuya district. The trip from Liberty is tiring, given the threat of Xeno and Lane Hacker attacks. Then you must contend with those crazy Golden Chrysanthemum pirates, who would rather steal their designer clothes than buy them like a proper Kusari woman.

One of my ancestors was on guard duty aboard the Dallas on that fateful day. He and everyone else onboard was killed instantly. The ironic part was that the naval commander had recommended the ship be moved to a safe distance from the experimental Jump Gate, so the test didn’t begin until they had repositioned the Dallas to twice the normal distance.

There has been one most unfortunate occurrence in Ageira's past: the Dallas Incident in 500 AS, a Jump Gate research project in the Texas system that went horribly wrong. Thousands of dedicated Ageira employees were lost in one dreadful moment. To this day the Texas system remains mostly off-limits due to the radiation and debris hazards.

This system used to be the testing grounds for Ageira’s Jump Gate projects in the early days of Liberty. After the Dallas got destroyed with about half of Texas, the government pulled stakes and left the system.

Somewhere in the Grande Negra Cloud, the main complex of the Dallas Research Station is rumored to still have some relatively intact pieces. There was a lot of Superconductor research there, so some storage containers may still exist.

In 521, the supply ship Ft. Worth was approaching the Dallas Research Station from Houston when it was caught in the tremendous system-wide explosion that occurred during the failed Jump Gate experiment. The ship was far enough away from the initial blast that some people think it may still be floating out there in the Grande Negra Cloud. The Ft. Worth was carrying a full load of Jump Gate Parts.

The epicenter of the Dallas explosion was almost directly across the sun from us, between those two dark matter clouds. Rumor is that a Jump Hole was formed by the incident. That's when all the crime problems in Liberty started.

Did you know that there weren’t any Jump Holes in Texas before the Dallas incident? The criminals in all of Sirius were helped more than they could possibly know. Texas is the crossroads of the criminal universe. If it weren’t for the Jump Holes, we would have crime locked down to nothing.

Our battleships have been patrolling this system since the catastrophe with the Dallas. At first we patrolled this system to protect citizens from going into deadly radiation areas caused by the failed Ageira experiment, but now we patrol to curb the piracy in the lawless area of the Forbidden Zone.

I hope Planetform can thaw that snowball yonder. Would be nice to have a fresh world for the Houston slummers. Houston isn't really suitable for mass habitation anymore, ever since the Dallas project blew up. Impoverished folk can still work the land, unless the land itself becomes sterile. Ageira never paid for any reparations to the planet. Would probably bankrupt them if they were made to.

The Texas system at one time was just wide open space with a couple planets. All the crap you see in this system -- the dark matter clouds, the debris fields with the radiation -- it is all Ageira’s fault. It all happened in one fateful day centuries ago.

Ageira is somewhat disliked in Texas because of the whole Dallas incident. The sad truth is that no one could have done better, but you can't always fight perception. So we ship Side Arms manufactured here to the Texas prison for them, and we also ship to the battleships and other police bases in Liberty.

The East Dallas Debris Field is where many inmates are transported from the other penal ship Sugarland to clean up the scrap. The radiation has died down quite a bit in that field since the Dallas incident, but it is still too dangerous for civilian workers.

Langley Research Station was established by Ageira in 550 to study the Kuryo Anomaly in preparation for the construction of Trade Lanes by Deep Space Engineering. Jump Gates couldn't bypass this system because of the danger in traversing the dark matter clouds of the Anomaly -- a lesson painfully learned in the Texas Incident. Langley was destroyed during the Dark Matter Storm of 784. Its remnants still lie somewhere inside Kuryo Cloud.

The Trade Lane path through the sister system of Kepler, Galileo, was constructed mainly as an insurance policy in case the Kepler Trade Lane was ever severed, something that Liberty and Kusari could not allow to happen.

There’s an old Trade Lane route through this system that was damaged during a storm around 20 years ago. People say there are some old shipwrecks along it.

The Zoners occupied the research station soon after it was opened and eventually took over its operation when the research phase was complete. It's a difficult place, as the clouds are constantly on the move and could someday engulf the Freeport.

Lane Hackers partly owe their origin to the Ames Research studies, which predicted that a huge storm would disrupt the system in 780. On the advice of Ageira technicians, Liberty financed a costly alternative Trade Lane through Galileo. When the storm didn't materialize, Ageira tried to redeem itself by ruthlessly ousting an elite development team and several executives, who re-emerged as the core of the northern Lane Hackers.

The Lane Hackers in this system are former Ageira personnel who got panned after the Kepler Storm scandal cost IC and Ageira an untold fortune. Now they are making Ageira and IC pay an even dearer price for making them take the fall.

Denver is the site of our USI scanner hardware R&D division. A while back a bunch of high-level employees got forced out after a big screw-up. They drifted up into Galileo and set up base, calling themselves Lane Hackers. Nothing but trouble on the Trade Lanes ever since.

Watch the black matter in the system. If you fly into some, you aren’t gonna fly back out. Black matter is what led to all the Trade Lane trouble with Ageira and the corporate venture that blew up in its face. To pin it on somebody, Ageira canned a few of its top-level execs and a development team; those guys now operate the Hacker base in Leiden.

▸ Counterfeit Software

The people of Sirius connect and communicate in the neuralnet via the wireless channels built into trade lanes and jump gates. Most software used in Sirius is also transferred through those channels. Subsequently, the channels are extensively firewalled against intrusions, and no unlawful factions, except for the Lane Hackers, can gain access to them. This makes the Lane Hackers the main producers of counterfeit software in Sirius, which they distribute it through the Zoners of Ames Research Station and Freeport 14 and it is much sought after by every illegal organisation. ^{[Infocard §23.1, Rumors §16.5, 16.6, 17.7]}

In Gallia, where the Lane Hackers do not have access in the House's network, the Council is the primary producer of counterfeit software which is in high demand from the Gallic Brigands. However, the Brigands still visit Ames Research Station in order to purchase Sirian software. ^{[Rumors §23.2, 23.3]}

23. Counterfeit Software sources

Most of the software used in Sirius is transferred long distances through wireless channels built into trade lanes and jump gates. However, the channels are extensively firewalled against intrusions, and no unlawful factions except for Lane Hackers can gain access to them. In the recent 200 years, a wide market of counterfeit software arose in Sirius sector. Different kinds of software, like operating systems, security programs, or video games, are cracked and illegaly copied onto high-density optical disks or flash drives. The disks are later delivered to customers. Carrying counterfeit software is profitable, but no less dangerous business: it is considered illegal in all four Sirius Houses.

---

I heard that the Council are planning to build Trade Lanes in this system, thus making it more accessible. That's fine with me. Liberated cargo will get to our base faster. In the meantime, we are having to import Counterfeit Software from a new Sirian source, Ames Research Station.

The Brigands in this system tend to move a lot of Counterfeit Software. Most of it is made by the Council and includes software updates. We must stop them. The more we take down the easier the combat will be for us.

▸ Rheinland-Kusari Embargo

During the first centuries after the trade lane and jump gate technology was invented, all the Houses in Sirius spent massive amounts of money investing in those two tools since they revolutionized commerce, transportation and communication. Eventually, they were forced to take large loans from Interspace Commerce, which was named as Interspace Corporate back then, in order to continue funding those projects. In addition, they heavily disapproved that Liberty owned such vital constructions. Rheinland and Kusari couldn't meet their obligations to Interspace Corporate and responded by nationalizing their trade lanes which instantly wiped out massive amounts of debt. This action was considered unacceptable by the largest finance institute in Sirius, which used the government of Liberty to threaten the two Houses with dire consequences. In return, both Houses responded by embargoing Liberty in 521 A.S. in what came to be known as the Rheinland-Kusari Embargo. ^{[Infocards §24.1, 24.2, 24.4, Rumors §5.18, 6.1, 24.8, 24.9, 24.10, 24.11]}

Liberty, which was working for Interspace Corporate's interests, was exploring a military solution because of its far superior military; however, that was considered unfeasible due to the shortage of fuel caused by the embargo. Another option was to remotely deactivate the trade lanes and jump gates in both Rheinland and Kusari, an action which some believe would have lead to war, while others think that it would have forced the two Houses to back down and renegotiate with Interspace and Liberty. Eventually, Liberty and Interspace Corporate backed down and a compromise was reached in 523 A.S. called Sirius Commerce Pact. Interspace agreed to forgive Rheinland's and Kusari's debts and allow them to nationalize their trade lane and jump gate network except critical components of the jump gates and trade lanes which remained under Ageira's property in exchange of 200 years of tolls. ^{[Infocards §14.3, 24.2, 24.3, 24.5, 24.6, Rumors §24.8, 24.9, 24.10, 24.11, 24.12]}

Shortly after the dispute was settled, Liberty's corporations returned to Kusari after their brief eviction, but not in Rheinland, which allowed it only after the Eighty-Years War. In addition Interspace was forbidden to build a base in any minor system of Rheinland and Kusari as well as reside on any major planet of those two Houses. This incident forced Interspace Corporate to shift its main business into the insurance sector and change its name into Interspace Commerce. However they never forgave what the two Houses did, which among other things, damaged their public reputation and since then they have been secretly funding, supplying or even sharing cargo shipment information to dissenting and terrorist groups in those two Houses.^{[Infocards §24.4, 24.5, 24.6, 24.7, Rumors §6.1, 6.2, 24.9, 24.10, 24.11, 24.12, 24.13, 24.14, 24.15]}

24. Rheinland-Kusari Embargo sources

215 A.S. -- While jump gates already link most of Liberty, other houses continue to clamor for gates of their own. Valhalla Research builds a manufacturing facility for the mass production of crucial jump gate components in Colorado to meet the demand. Once constructed, components are transported by Sirius Shipping to the Monument Construction sites in whichever systems the gates are being constructed. While theoretically a private enterprise, it doesn't escape the notice of the other houses that the jump gate technology remains under the complete control of Liberty...but for now there is little they can do about the matter.

521 A.S. -- Rheinland/Kusari Trade Embargo.

After having pursued ambitious programs to construct jump gates and trade lanes, both Rheinland and Kusari find themselves deeply in debt to Interspace Commerce and chafing over what they (with more than a little justification) view as inflated construction costs and usurious interest rates. Already uncomfortable with complete Liberty ownership of such a vital part of their sovereign space, both nations move to completely nationalize their jump gates and trade lanes. All payments to Interspace Commerce from either house cease.

Liberty is incensed, and insists that such actions are unlawful and will carry "dire repercussions." Rheinland responds by ceasing all mineral shipments to Liberty; Kusari soon follows, embargoing critical shipments of fuel. With resources in New York totally exhausted and those in Colorado declining rapidly, Liberty quickly finds that its threats sound more than a little hollow.

523 A.S. -- Sirius Commerce Pact

After several years of negotiation, the Sirius Commerce Pact is widely hailed as a miracle of compromise. Interspace Commerce agrees to forgive all debts while ownership of all jump gates and trade lanes is officially turned over to the house in whose space they reside, though the critical components of jump gates and trade lanes remain the sole property of Valhalla Research. In return for clearing their debt, all houses agree to pay a toll to Interspace Commerce for the next 200 years.

Interspace Corporate was founded in 204 A.S. by Ageira and Deep Space Engineering, since they could pool the necessary capital in insurance and finance. Built in the same year, Newark Station is the local headquarters for the now renamed "Interspace Commerce" (IC), one of the largest financial institutions in the Sirius Sector. While Interspace was initially responsible for financing the construction of the vast Jump Gate and Trade Lane network that connects the various colonies, it was forced to divest itself of these holdings as a result of the Rheinland Kusari Trade Embargo in 521 A.S.

The corporation changed its name to Interspace Commerce and has since transitioned to insuring cargo shipments within and between the various colonies. The remainder of the Newark Station population is a constantly shifting crowd of traders, technocrats, executives, and Bounty Hunters, all cutting deals and arranging for the transport or protection of their goods.

In the early years of the Kusari Empire, foreign immigration was strictly controlled and permanent foreign settlements on New Tokyo were strictly forbidden. While the Kusari Shogunate was unwilling to bend these rules, it still accommodated foreign business interests by allowing Interspace Commerce to construct Roppongi Station in 318 A.S. Despite the restrictions placed on permanent residencies elsewhere in Kusari, and the outrage expressed by conservative Kusari politicians at the Hideyoshi controlled Shogunate for allowing foreigners into the New Tokyo system, Roppongi Station's business flourished, with many corporations opening offices onboard.

When the Hideyoshi Emperor was deposed in 321 A.S., Roppongi's future was plunged into doubt. Thankfully, even the conservatives had recognised the financial benefits of leaving it alone, and in any case they had no desire at the time to upset Interspace Commerce, which at that time owned the rights to all the jump gates and trade lanes within Kusari. The conservatives were still reluctant to have too many foreigners in New Tokyo, however, and Deshima Station in Shikoku was eventually constructed in 350 A.S. with the aim of reducing the "outsider" population.

The Kusari-Rheinland embargo in 521 A.S. resulted in both those Houses nationalising their trade lanes and jump gates, causing Interspace Commerce to lose countless billions of credits almost overnight, as Kusari and Rheinland wiped away their debts to the Liberty corporation. Thoroughly angry with their losses, and the paltry two hundred years worth of tolls they extracted in exchange for their losses, Interspace began covertly funding independent pirates to raid Kusari shipping. After the formation of the Golden Chrysanthemum terrorist organisation, it is widely believed that Interspace has been funding them, just as they later began funding the Red Hessian pirates, and that the pirates in return sell stolen goods cheaply to Interspace. It is likely that these practices continue to this day, although Interspace's involvement has never been substantiated, and always sues any such allegations as "slander".

Originally constructed in 521 A.S., to oversee the transition of trade lanes and jump gates to Rheinland ownership after Interspace Commerce (IC) was all but forced to sign agreements to nationalise them, Bonn Station has since become the headquarters of IC within Rheinland, and is the station where all cargo being shipped out of Rheinland is insured for the journey.

Thoroughly angry with having to wipe countless billions of credits of debt away almost overnight, after Kusari and Rheinland both nationalised their trade lanes and jump gates, IC has never been satisfied with the two hundred years of tolls it got in exchange, and it is for this chief reason that a good deal of animosity towards Rheinland and Kusari exists even today. As a result, IC often allowed ships from the Bundschuh, Red Hessians and even the Unioners to dock and purchase supplies, and was even going so far as to donate money to their causes or share information of cargo shipments with them.

This has angered the Rheinland government considerably, and when hard proof was finally obtained in late 818, Rheinland wasted no time in evicting IC from it's borders. Bonn Station was seized, and put under Police control. With the exception of Interspace, other businesses that had offices on Bonn were allowed to resume operations from the station after the station was searched by Police investigators.

After the discovery of the Okinawa system, Kishiro and the GMG required a considerable amount of money to quickly begin the construction of the system's infrastructure. Unfortunately, the only corporation both willing and able to underwrite the project was Interspace Commerce, who agreed to insure and finance it in exchange for 5% of the H-Fuel profits from Isehara, and the ability to purchase goods from Isehara and Miura at cost. To facilitate trade, Interspace would also be allowed to establish a base in orbit of the planet. The GMG grudgingly agreed, and construction started on Furyoku Station at the same time as Fujisawa Mining Facility was assembled. The station was eventually completed in early 773 A.S., despite a number of sabotage incidences that were believed to be the work of Hogosha agents.

The base handles a large portion of the traffic moving in and out of Okinawa, and the GMG often stores a large amount of H-Fuel reserves at Furyoku. During the construction of Miura's orbital facilities the Hogosha frequently disrupted operations by launching small raids against the bases, but these have become more and more sporadic now that the facilities are operational.

---

The Kusari-Rheinland embargo was an incident that reminded Liberty that her forces must remain ever-vigilant. We believed our military might to be unstoppable, but we were wrong. Once the H-Fuel stopped flowing into Liberty we could no longer power our attack crafts and had to acquiesce to the demands of the foreign powers.

This system was one of the reasons that Interspace became an insurer and not a lender. It was the loans that Rheinland and Kusari took from Interspace to finance these Border World Jump Gates and Trade Lanes that bankrupted the two houses. They defaulted on their loans to Interspace and embargoed Liberty to make their point. Interspace chose to take the loss rather then scuttle the Gates and Lanes - something they probably could have done, but that would have meant war.

The tolls that Kusari and Rheinland had to pay us were not nearly the full amount that we had put up to fund their Jump Gates. The compromise reached in the Sirius Commerce Pact was not a compromise for our corporation, but unfortunately Liberty didn’t have the military clout to enforce the payment of Rheinland and Kusari’s debts to us.

Bretonia has been quite agreeable to the terms of Interspace, unlike Kusari and Rheinland, who defaulted on our perfectly legal Trade Lane financing terms in 521. Because Liberty was not ready to back us up, we lost significant leverage and were forced to transform our company from finance to insurance. If you ask me, Liberty has only hurt itself with that - If Ageira had simply deactivated the gates remotely, we'd have had all the leverage we need.

After the Rheinland-Kusari Embargo of 521, IC lost millions of credits as both Houses nationalized their Trade Lanes. The massive debts that those Houses had incurred were wiped away, and the Trade Lanes became theirs.

We've never been allowed to establish permanent offices anywhere except on Deshima and Roppongi. Kusari is very distrustful of outside influences. Roppongi was closed for a short duration following the Trade Lane Dispute of 521, when all Liberty representatives were evicted from Kusari space. However, eventually deals were worked out - Kusari needed Liberty's cooperation to maintain the gates and lanes. We're despised by most of Kusari, but they know they need us to keep their empire running.

Our relations with Kusari and Rheinland have never really recovered. They have banished our company from residence in their major planets, and we cannot even build bases in any of their minor systems. The irony is that we were the ones who lost all the money.

The Rheinland government asked IC to leave after the trade dispute of 521. We were not able to return to New Berlin until the agreement between Liberty and Rheinland following the Eighty-Years War. Liberty companies were granted free access to Rheinland space at that time.

...encryption.in.progress...disconnecting.from.network...hack.terminated...

---

The Lane Hackers

"Making the corporate weenies cry, so our kids can live in a free and just galaxy."

Information • Recruitment • Diplomatic Channel • Job Board • Encyclopedia • External Statements