831 - Sirius shaken by mass Jump Gate blackout

[Colony News Service]

Transports wait near unresponsive Jump Gates

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Sirius shaken by mass Jump Gate blackout

MANHATTAN - In an unprecedented event, the Jump Gate network simultaneously failed across the sector early last week. Lasting 31 hours in total, the Blackout brought trans-system trade to a screeching halt, and crippled the FTL relays used to transmit vast quantities of neural net data. Authorities in all five Houses have appealed for calm, advising that investigations into the cause are ongoing. While Ageira Technologies were initially tight-lipped regarding their preliminary findings, EFL has been quick to blame the Liberty corporation for the incident. EFL claims that the Blackout’s timing was no coincidence, and pointed to the destruction of the Ageira Jump Gate in the Dublin system shortly before as the instigating incident. Ageira has sharply criticised the claims, calling them “reckless and baseless speculation”. Deepening the mystery further, independent researchers in Cologne, the Independent Worlds, Sigmas and the Omicrons have all released sensor datasets that describe a blast of subspace energy of unprecedented strength. Quickly dubbed ‘The Pulse’, the data was recorded shortly before the Blackout began, and was detected at each observatory at precisely the same moment, despite the vast distances between them. Speculation abounds on the neural net, with theories ranging as widely as a cascading failure from the Dublin Jump Gate’s destruction, to an intentional attack, to “alien” interference. So far, House scientists remain baffled as to the actual cause, particularly in light of the simultaneous effect across Sirius as a whole, the joint impact on both Ageira and EFL gates, and uncertainty as to the Pulse’s relevance. Interspace analysts have already estimated that the Blackout stoppage alone will cost the Sirian economy billions of credits from order slippage and supply chain disruption. This volatility has been amplified by the news of Graves Station's destruction and the Bretonian retreat from the Dublin. With the sector's access to the system's vast Gold reserves imperilled, commodities markets plunged. The Blackout has also struck a heavy blow to the reputation and prestige of both Ageira and EFL, who seem to have been caught equally off-balance by the incident. Uncertainty over whether the Blackout could occur again, and if so, whether it can be prevented will also surely be raising difficult questions of strategic independence and resilience in House capitals.

CNS article made by @jammi .