| Ames Research Station | |
| Owner | |
| Zoners | |
| Location | |
| D-4/5, Kepler |
CLASS: Cochrane
GRAVITY: Partial
DOCKING: Restricted
AMENITIES: Limited
CREW: 330
Ames Research Station was originally constructed in 773 AS 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 AS. 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.
Having been taken over by the Zoners through a legal purchase of administration rights in 790 AS, the station was run as a Freeport for decades, serving all manner of pilots. This peaceful, albeit uneasy existence was thrown into disarray by a sharp intensification of the dark matter storm's potency. And while Ames had prepared for such an eventuality, life here still hangs on by a thread.
The unique conditions of Ames have attracted quite a lot of attention by the scientific community from all over Sirius.
Bribes & Missions Offered
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Commodities
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Ships sold
| Ship | Class | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bayonet | Heavy Fighter | 22,158$ |
| Eagle | Very Heavy Fighter | 24,079$ |
| Ceres Civilian Gunship | Gunboat | 956,480$ |
News
| [835 AS] Shocking battle in Kepler |
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AMES RESEARCH STATION -- 835 -- Ames Research Station has been thrown into chaos after a battle erupted nearby. Barbara Kaestner of the rescue ship Sunnyvale noted, “transponderless ships appeared from no-where and started blasting one another. Then the Lane Hackers joined in too!” The survivors seem to have grabbed their own pilots and beat a hasty retreat into the dark matter storm. Ames suffered light damage to its port wing during the commotion, with the station crew urgently requesting replacement materials to patch the compromised radiation shield. Who was responsible and why remains a mystery. |
| [833 AS] LPI commissioner sentenced following Erie probe |
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PLANET ERIE -- 833 -- Helen O’Shea, Pennsylvania’s former LPI Commissioner, has been sentenced on corruption charges over the mismanagement of Erie’s planetary internment camps. The facilities were constructed to temporarily hold prisoners from the Liberty Insurgency while the courts cleared sentencing backlogs. Following allegations of human trafficking, the LSF launched a major investigation, discovering that as many as 10 percent of inmates were suspected of having been sold to traffickers. O’Shea is the latest and most high profile prosecution to date, and is expected to serve a ten year sentence at a minimum security penitentiary on Planet Los Angeles. |
| [831 AS] Gate corps clash over 'Blackout'! |
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ABBEVILLE -- 831 AS -- 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 |
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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] Platinum claim triggers dispute |
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REPPU CLOUD -- 831 -- In a confusing turn of events, Deep Space Engineering, Kishiro Technologies and Samura Heavy Industries have all issued press statements claiming to have discovered the same Platinum deposits in Galileo. Galileo's mysterious asteroid fields have never previously been commercially surveyed due to the presence of hazardous Dark Matter clouds. Each corporation asserts their exclusive right to exploit the Platinum, citing recognised conventions on pioneer rights. DSE has already threatened to sue its Kusari rivals over any infringement, ensuring a costly legal battle is almost inevitable. |
| [831 AS] Pulse phenomenon linked to Blackout |
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AMES RESEARCH STATION -- 831 -- Independent researchers have announced that a hyperspace pulse of unprecedented strength was detected moments before The Blackout, destroying many of the sector’s most sensitive and finely tuned observatories. Surviving data about 'The Pulse' has been widely shared across the neural net in recent days, prompting mass speculation. Professor Katsuma Oster of Ames Research Station described the signal as “astounding”. “These readings are unprecedented, as if reality itself were struck like a gong.” House authorities have remained tight lipped, refusing to share their own observatories' data. |
| [831 AS] 'Blackout' causes jump network failure |
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MANHATTAN -- 831 AS -- Two days ago Jump Gates failed simultaneously across Sirius, freezing commerce and neural net access across the sector. When communications resumed 31 hours later, the news broke of Bretonia's loss of the Dublin system. This twin shock has plunged markets into chaos, prompting fears of sector-wide economic recessions. Interspace estimates that the stoppage alone caused billions of credits in losses. Gallia immediately accused Liberty of causing 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. |
| [830 AS] Liberty annexes Planet Erie |
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PLANET ERIE -- 830 -- The Liberty Navy has launched Operation PESTICIDE to annex Pennsylvania, following the collapse of talks between Liberty and Zoner authorities. President Hawthorne declared that Liberty could no longer tolerate a "lawless frontier" within its very core, and that the Zoners had repeatedly refused to extradite criminals and terrorists from the Pennsylvania protectorate. The recent destruction of an LSF satellite was the straw that broke the camel's back. Militias congregating around Planet Erie were routed following the Zoner Carrier Pinnacle’s destruction. The Battleship Alma then secured Erie’s orbit and landed Marines to impose Liberty law on Lake City. Surviving militants have vowed to resist Erie’s occupation. |
| [830 AS] Trouble in paradise on Erie |
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PLANET ERIE -- 830 AS -- Since the destruction of Williamstown Depot near Planet Tremont, Liberty and Erie's autonomous Zoner government have been locked in a standoff. Liberty has long suspected the Insurgency attack on its logistics station was facilitated by informants on Erie, and has accused the Zoners of allowing Insurgency and Xeno operatives to roam the planet with "impunity". This morning, a missile streaked from Erie's wilderness, shooting down an orbiting LSF satellite that had been tracking "terrorist activities". Liberty has accused Zoner militias of the attack, and ordered Erie authorities to hand over the perpetrators, and all Insurgency affiliates. Zoners have denied responsibility, calling the attack a “Liberty false flag”. |
| [828 AS] Kepler Reopened |
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AMES -- 828 AS -- In line with Ageira's prediction prior to 801 AS, the darkmatter storm makes an appearance after nearly two decades and no doubt sets the cosmic standard for being fashionably late. Presenting the potential for cataclysmic damage to personhood and property prompted Ageira to shut down the gates leading into the system, as well as the respective Trade Lanes. In the time since then however, Ames has relayed a stunning report that the storm despite being violent at first, has now settled into quite a passive albeit looming stance over the system. Perhaps more surprising than even this is the phenomena regarding the storm's interactions with the established lane and gate network in the system, seeming to bend and contort around the structure rather than engulf them. This stellar formation has produced the spatial equivalent of a tunnel that travelers into the freshly reopened Kepler have taken to dubbing the "Murky Road", prompting a small degree of sensationalized tourism into the system. Which comes as a small positive after the harsh loss of the otherwise frequent traffic. This news comes at the tail end of previous publications that cited the storm as having origins in Alberta, supposedly arriving via some form of leakage through the jumpholes in the system. Newer research has allowed for discoveries which now suggest the contrary and this has in turn reinvigorated research into these storms and their enigmatic natures. |
Rumors
| Bounty Hunters Guild |
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| Zoners |
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| Lane Hackers |
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| Universal Shipping |
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| Xenos |
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