Carrier Orion

From Discovery Wiki
Carrier Orion
Owner
The Technocracy
Location
G-5, Omega-47

CLASS: Orion

CREW: CLASSIFIED

ARMAMENT: CLASSIFIED

The Carrier Orion is a warship derived from the rugged Bustard-class platform. Commissioned by the Technocracy in 824 AS to serve as a command-and-control ship and electronic warfare platform, the Orion was placed into military service following a prototyping phase involving Technocrat and Zoner research teams.

Acting as the Technocracy's primary staging point for operations beyond Valravn's reach, the Orion was initially deployed in the borderworlds connecting Rheinland to Gallia, where it monitored the activities of both lawful forces and the Hessians during clashes over Tholey Station. Throughout this deployment, Orion kept a safe distance from any patrols, and after Rheinland's reunification there was little reason to remain in Cologne. Thus, the carrier was redeployed to Omicron Kappa.

Apart from brief hostilities when the Core's Battleship Mars attempted to enter the system in 829 AS, the Orion spent most of its time conducting scientific experiments in Gammu's orbit. Its research efforts were abruptly halted when the Mars returned to Kappa; this time, it came with a larger supporting fleet in order to launch the conquest of Planet Gammu. Still essentially a civilian capital ship despite her modifications, the Orion had to withdraw from Gammu's orbit around the time the artificial intelligences decided to abandon the planet.

The Orion, accompanied by AI vessels, sustained noncritical damage during an engagement with a Corsair heavy patrol in the Malvada Cloud. Despite these setbacks, the damaged Orion managed to reach Primus Outpost safely, where it undertook gradual repairs in preparation for its planned departure to Inverness for refit and resupply.

As the emergency repairs have been completed, the Orion returned to Inverness where it will stay until it is fully functional again.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes
Missions


Commodities

Imports
Commodity Price
Robotics 42$
Ablative Armor Plating 134$
Criminal Cells (Bretonia) 28,078$
Medical Equipment 47$
Military Surplus 1,528$
Oxygen 28$
Water 28$
Food Rations 31$
Kyushu Rice 73$
MOX 55$
Basic Alloy 40$
Construction Machinery 60$
Pharmaceuticals 45$
Hull Panels 58$
Optronics 164$
Consumer Goods 48$
Engine Components 134$
Daumann Side Arms 135$
Gallic Enfer Blasters 170$
Black Market Blasters 224$
Black Market Light Arms 239$
Kemwer Technologies 249$
Hangar Provisions 256$
Volgograd Ordinance 102$
APM Advanced Hardware 42$
Synth Paste 43$
Marines 1,556$
Munitions 63$
Xenobiotic Filters 72$
HazMat Canisters 118$
Iron 25$
Xeno Relics 184$
H-Fuel 122$
Exports
Commodity Price
Black Market Munitions 158$
Casualties 57,638$
Detroit Light Arms 160$
Crew 270$
Black Market Pharmaceuticals 226$
Counterfeit Computerware 242$
Toxic Waste 41$
Black Market Augments 214$


Ships sold


Ship Class Price
Piranha Light Fighter 19,952$
Barracuda Heavy Fighter 18,458$
Hammerhead Very Heavy Fighter 24,979$
Nightjar Very Heavy Fighter 44,978$
Moray Bomber 68,476$
Raven's Talon Very Heavy Fighter 26,879$
Waran Bomber 69,116$
Camara Freighter 20,846$


News

[835 AS] Junker Convoy Attacked by Rheinlanders?

BORNHOLM -- 835 -- Junkers on Bornholm Station in Omega-55 have reported unusual instances of Rheinland vessels attacking their convoys. The attacks have been so devastating that no ship has survived to recount the events firsthand. The only evidence the Junkers possess are intercepted radio signals emitted shortly before the convoys were presumably destroyed or captured. An official complaint has been filed with the Rheinland government, but there has yet to be an official response.

[832 AS] Planet Gammu occupied by Core

CARRIER ORION -- 832 AS -- Planet Gammu has fallen into The Core’s clutches, despite the efforts of Technocrats from the Carrier Orion. After the Corsairs of Omicron Kappa were drawn away, the Battleship Mars returned in force. The Gammusian Intelligences offered little resistance, with most either retreating underground or scattering despite Technocrat urging. Several Gammusian Ancestor Minds were evacuated aboard the Orion during the fighting. Technocrat commanders have complained bitterly that the Core could have been repulsed had the Gammusians stood their ground -- Valravn is now evaluating tactical options for responding to this crisis.

[832 AS] War Returns to Omicron Theta!

FREEPORT 9 -- 832 AS -- Omicron Theta was the site of clashes between the Outcasts and Corsairs for many years, with the Zoners of Freeport 9 surviving in the middle of this uneasy equilibrium. Everything would change late last year when the Outcasts withdrew from the system, and the Corsairs boarded and occupied Freeport 9. Now, the Outcasts have returned in force and the fighting is fiercer than ever as they look to win back lost ground; early clashes saw the loss of the Corsair Battleship Fes and Outcast Destroyer Bella. The Outcasts have been open about their intent to destroy Freeport 9 so long as it remains in Corsair hands, to the dismay of the expelled Zoners who hope to regain the station through diplomatic means. The Core have also been spotted operating in the system, intervening to precisely strike valuable targets and seemingly prevent either side from gaining a decisive edge. Extreme caution is recommended when travelling through the region.

[831 AS] Corsairs Pillage Freeport 9!

CORFU -- 831 AS -- The Corsair occupation of Freeport 9 has sent shockwaves through the Zoner community. The Corsairs had accused the station of allowing their enemies to launch raids into Omicron Gamma, with violent rhetoric escalating after the death of an Elder's son.

As Crete demanded the Zoners of Theta turn over any Hunters aboard their stations and surrender docking control, the Freeport 9 administrators were confident that some kind of compromise could be found. A delegation from Gran Canaria was requested to assist with negotiations, due to the close ties between Zoner and Corsair communities on the planet.

Tragically, the Corsairs interpreted this delay as refusal, and launched a surprise attack while the delegation was en-route. Many of Freeport 9's crew are now being held as hostages while the Corsairs pillage the station. An urgent conclave has been called on Gran Canaria to discuss the Zoner response, while militias on Pygar have taken up arms in case the violence spreads.

[831 AS] Gate corps clash over 'Blackout'!

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

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] Pulse phenomenon linked to Blackout

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

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] Tempers Flare over Pygar Colony!

PYGAR -- 830 AS -- The Bretonian occupation of Gran Canaria forced many Zoners off-world, with some braving the deadly storms of Pygar to eke out a difficult existence under the barren planet's surface. This has not met with warmth by the Corsairs, who see Pygar as a competitor for scarce resources. Elder Garcia warned that there would be "dire consequences" if Freeport 9's biodomes diverted exports from Planet Crete. Whispers of alien ruins below Pygar's surface further antagonized the Corsairs, who fiercely enforce control of the Artifact trade. Pygar's extreme conditions and the tense relationship with the Corsairs has already led many colonists to return to the now liberated Gran Canaria.

[830 AS] Liberty underworld bolstered by Insurgency survivors

FONTANA -- 830 AS -- The Liberty Insurgency dramatically exploded following Liberty's invasion of Vespucci, with the human wreckage now scattered across Liberty's underworld. While some slunk away into the crowds of Planet Erie or the obscurity of foreign Freeports, others sought refuge with the Liberty Rogues, Xenos, or Technocracy. Those survivors are now having to prove their worth with their new hosts, with the Xenos in particular having an extremely rocky history with the Insurgency and its predecessors. More than anything else, these pariahs provide an object lesson on the risks of fighting Liberty head-on.

[733 AGS] The Way into Gallia is Open!

REUNION -- 733 AGS, 817 AS -- The Council is proud to announce that the mine fields that have concealed the existence of Gallia from the rest of the Sirius population have been breached in Orkney and Omicron Tau. This achievement has cost us decades of bloody war with Gallic government forces who rejected the rights of the Gallic nation to re-unite with the rest of humanity that escaped Sol more than eight hundred years ago.

We will welcome any ships willing to explore Gallic space and establish relations with local factions. In exchange for the passage, we ask for guarantees of neutrality towards the Council, its military and civilian personnel. We also warn that any capital ship fleets or other large military detachments will be denied passage, by force if necessary. Our goal is to prevent the war, not to encourage attacks of other Houses who might consider Gallia its enemy. Gallia is no one's enemy, and our task is to prove it. We hope that after our actions in the Gallic Border Worlds the King of Gallia will demonstrate responsibility and discretion by establishing diplomatic relations with all four Houses and by canceling plans of Sirius-wide aggression.

However, even if the relations will be established, we, the Council, will still remain sworn enemies of the Crown, and the Second Gallic Civil War will continue. Our current goal is to hold the passage in Languedoc open for everyone for as long as possible. However, the Royal Navy has assembled an overwhelming fleet in Languedoc that will soon head towards Languedoc. Our casualties has been very high during the recent years of fighting in this system, and odds to win the battles that will follow are very low. Languedoc detachments of the Council, and all civilians willing to escape the prosecution by Gallic government, will have to seek refuge in the Sirius Border Worlds. We are already looking for possible locations where we can build our bases and defensive installations.

We are also aware that Sirius space has its own unlawful factions, much like Gallic Brigands and Unione Corse in Gallia. Since our situation is complicated right now, we might seek help of those factions in order to survive and prevent unnecessary casualties. But we also realize that our equipment, ships and weaponry contain Gallic technologies that many Sirius parties are willing to appropriate. We are not trading or exchanging any of our military technologies. If any attempts to capture or attack Council personnel and ships occur, we reserve the right to retaliate with deadly force.

[735 AGS] Brigands Secure Deal with Liberty Rogues

MONTAUBAN -- 735 AGS -- In a move guaranteed to cause envy among Gallia's underworld networks, the Free Brigands of Gallia has secured a lucrative agreement with the Liberty Rogues for the import of contraband material from Gallia into Liberty, via their new base in the Roussillion system. At the same time, the Gallic Brigands gain access to a wide variety of Sirian goods to take back into Gallia. With the main effort of the Gallic Navy directed at Bretonia, smuggling opportunities through the Tau systems are plentiful. Brigand representatives are reportedly in talks with the Outcasts to safeguard their passage through the Tau systems, but regardless of the outcome of those negotiations, the volume of goods flowing to and from the Liberty and Gallic black markets is expected to increase dramatically.

[733 AGS] Brigands Benefit from the War

EPERNAY -- 733 AGS -- Second Gallic Civil War has been a great time for all sorts of unlawfuls that populate the Gallic space. While the Navy is distracted fighting the Council, and most Police officers are doing what they are used to do - saving their own hides and avoiding any serious fighting - Gallic Brigands and our allies gain power, resources, wealth, and more men and women to fight for our cause. Marne has become a perfect source of recruits that join our ranks. Most of them are not experienced enough, but we now have enough ships to teach them how to fight the Government.

Where did we get those ships? The Council was aided substantially by using our supply lines from the Core Gallic Systems. Supplying the Council comes for a price, and while they usually avoid dealing with us directly, caring about the "public eye", the Maquis trade with us freely and simply transfer goods that they purchase from us to the Council. While we are not much concerned by the political motives of the Council, we share their hatred for the government, a rotted monarchy that has no sense of style, and corrupt corporations. If the Council needs help, we will provide as much as they can buy. Since money is not the only thing we need, the Council's new factories on Marne provide us a wide range of various goods necessary for a brigand's life, including ammunition, side arms, ship weaponry, and, most important, new ships. Maquis deliver the stuff to our installation of Epernay, and from Epernay they come to many other Brigands' bases all around the Gallic Border Worlds.

Now, as the path to unfamiliar new worlds in Sirius has been opened, the Brigands consider the future possibilities of this unexpected change. While the information on Sirius is now much less expensive than before and is easily accessible from anywhere within Gallia, we still do not have sufficient data on the unlawful groups that most surely exist in the Houses of Sirius and in other populated areas. We are now negotiating with Maquis to see if our survey parties could be granted passage through the mine field to gather intelligence and to find places where we could establish new bases of operations.

[803 AS] Rheinland deserters ravage Omegas

FREEPORT 5 -- 803 -- There is a new menace prowling the Omegas, killing without remorse or restraint. Rheinland Colony War defectors have been sighted indiscriminately attacking trade ships in Omega-5 and 41. These Rheinland marauders are known by the Hessians as the “Wild Hunt”, for the way they appear using cloaking devices, kill or kidnap pilots, and vanish as quickly as they arrived. No Wild ship has ever responded to hails or expressed a motive, nor has there ever been a ransom demand for those taken. If you come across a Wild ship, we recommend you dump your cargo to shed weight, and run as fast as you can.


Rumors

The Technocracy
  • Given our lack of intel on nearby hostiles, this place is as good as any for the Orion to lay low. The nebula is great cover for the comings and goings of our scouts, and our constant contact with Primus Outpost keeps us in touch with our people while they explore the region. As long as we keep our emissions low and everyone sticks to protocol, nobody's liable to find us any time soon.


  • Skagen is in our sights now. We've been trying to get a probe or two out, but The Core's patrols shoot them down. What's worse is they've got some pretty nasty Bounty Hunters with them this time, too. We've got to pick our targets and act on opportunity. I don't think we'll be able to take them toe to toe, so our standing orders are to lay low and poke around. With the Citadel being so far away, some data is just too sensitive to transmit on the relays. Data runners are invaluable out here.


  • Careful. I don't know how long you've been here, but there's a guy around here who looks just like me. He's a jerk, and likes to lie about the work he does. Don't take him seriously, though. My brother can barely fly a ship and typically sticks to the labs. I'm the one out there getting in the line of fire of these locals. I'm not going to let him take credit for my recovery ops. Absolutely not. I'm going to see the officer in charge after this shift.


  • Hey, you haven't seen my twin around here, have you? If so, don't trust a word that idiot says. The guy is a complete thief! Just last week we pulled in a set of samples that we leveraged off of a local Hessian with a bit of a bribe. Some handheld weapons fresh out of the Coalition, and he takes credit for it all?! I did all the heavy lifting! No way I'm going to let him get away with this. I'll go straight to the deck officer!


  • Keeping people fed a variety out here has been a real challenge for the cooks. There's limited rations, and our supply lines can only do so much. I get enough complaints that there's not enough options, but the people are lucky they even have more than two right now. The only drinks we've got on board that aren't water are what I can source from the Junkers. That's only if I'm quick to get a requisition form in before the next orders go out.