Destroyer Insidious

From Discovery Wiki
Destroyer Insidious
Owner
Lane Hackers
Location
A-6, Coronado

CLASS: Storta

CREW: Unknown

ARMAMENT: Unknown

The Lane Hackers' are notorious as information brokers, selling stolen manifests for lucrative convoys to the Liberty underworld. It is rare that they get their own hands dirty, usually claiming loot through business arrangements with their clients. The Destroyer Insidious is an extension of that philosophy -- the Storta was gifted to the Lane Hackers in 825 AS by the Outcasts’ Fanucci Cartel. Timely Lane Hacker intelligence had resulted in the Don’s eldest son being rescued from an LSF prisoner convoy.

While no longer the most modern of ships, the Lane Hackers have extensively customized it as a mobile long-range sensor platform. In this role it has roamed Liberty sniffing out classified secrets that might be of interest to wealthy benefactors. As a result, the Insidious is among the LSF's most wanted targets, with an eye-watering reward for its destruction. Following sensor firmware updates at Cochrane Depot in 833 AS, the Insidious deployed to Coronado. It now monitors Crayter Republic patrols, selling optimal route data to Outcast smugglers for a handsome fee.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes
Missions


Commodities

Imports
Commodity Price
Robotics 26$
Ablative Armor Plating 145$
Black Market Munitions 206$
Criminal Cells (Liberty) 13,480$
Liberty Ale 31$
Medical Equipment 43$
Detroit Light Arms 80$
Military Surplus 796$
Black Market Pharmaceuticals 152$
Oxygen 13$
Water 3$
Food Rations 28$
Kyushu Rice 55$
MOX 36$
Basic Alloy 18$
Construction Machinery 39$
Pharmaceuticals 41$
Hull Panels 40$
Optronics 158$
Consumer Goods 39$
Engine Components 145$
Daumann Side Arms 145$
Gallic Enfer Blasters 159$
Black Market Blasters 198$
Kemwer Technologies 293$
Hangar Provisions 254$
Volgograd Ordinance 221$
APM Advanced Hardware 164$
Black Market Augments 219$
Synth Paste 21$
Munitions 41$
Xenobiotic Filters 53$
Iron 33$
Xeno Relics 246$
H-Fuel 130$
Exports
Commodity Price
Casualties 25,869$
Counterfeit Computerware 147$
Toxic Waste 30$
Cardamine 246$
Black Market Light Arms 128$


Ships sold


Ship Class Price
Havoc Mk II Bomber 71,612$
Cutlass Bomber 72,726$
Spatial Bomber 49,776$


News

[835 AS] Interspace voids Coronado Trade Lane policy

SCOTSDALE REFINERY -- 835 -- Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering have threatened to sue Interspace Commerce over an insurance dispute. Interspace provided a loss prevention policy for Coronado’s Trade Lane construction project, however the financial giant says the policy is now void. Describing the Jericho Pulse as an “act of god”, Interspace exercised force majeure clauses to deny compensation claims. Local transports caught in the blast are similarly out of pocket. Liberty itself has yet to comment on the situation, however the prospect of starting over with massively increased risk premiums has thrown the project’s future into question.

[835 AS] Coronado disaster sparks panic

YUMA -- 835 -- Public data feeds have lit up with distress calls from Coronado, after a system-wide EMP pulse wreaked havoc. Emergency requests for aid have been issued by the Crayter Republic and IMG, with early reports indicating that the system’s Trade Lane project has been destroyed. Ageira has confirmed that the Jump Gate remains unaffected thanks to post-Blackout safeguards, allowing relief to be delivered from Bretonia and Liberty. Panic erupted on many Liberty worlds after footage was released showing an energy field around the moon Jericho, seeming to indicate another activated alien site. President Hawthorne has called for calm, and reiterated that security forces were moving to contain the situation.

[835 AS] LSF receives a black eye in Ontario

ONTARIO -- 835 -- For months, the Battlecruiser Lehigh has skulked around Ontario. Neither the Xenos or Lane Hackers were happy about having house guests, but it seems the Xenos were the ones to put their money where their mouth was. A tide of Xenos poured from the Georgian Ice Field, using suicidal waves to peck apart the heavy defenses with sheer numbers. Lehigh was sent packing with its tail between its legs in a major victory for the Xeno movement. “They laughed at us before, but no-one’s laughing now,” says veteran Xeno Hamish Garcia. The Lane Hackers avoided getting their hands dirty, but helped out by jamming Liberty’s comms and disrupting LSF transponders.

[835 AS] Leaks reveal Ontario alien technology

MANHATTAN -- 835 -- The neural net is abuzz with speculation and worry after sensor readings of an active alien facility in Ontario were widely distributed. The datafeed claims the source of an enormous beam of energy is an ancient alien ruin on Planet Sudbury. Inert alien ruins are often discovered in the remote Edge Worlds, enticing adventurers and scientific expeditions. According to professor Johan Miller of the Hammer Institute, the discovery of an active Daam-K’vosh site is “unprecedented”. In an attempt to reduce panic, government officials have confirmed that steps have been taken to secure Liberty’s borders, and reiterated that there is currently no threat to Liberty’s people.

[835 AS] Atum missing after Ontario battle

ONTARIO -- 835 -- The final messages from the Battleship Atum have been corroborated by Lane Hacker sensor readings. After catching and crippling the infested Battlecruiser Wyoming in Ontario, large Nomad warforms intervened to stage a rescue. Appearing to arrive via Jump Drive, these were likely entities of the Vagrant sub-specie. Contact was lost with the Atum after it pursued the retreating warforms through the Drive breach. The Atum likely considered that the risk was worthwhile to destroy the Nomads’ Liberty infiltrator network, which we believe is anchored by the Wyoming. Agents have been dispatched to Liberty’s Independent Worlds to search for the missing taskforce.

[835 AS] Liberty and Kusari trade sanctions

DESHIMA -- 835 -- Liberty’s President Hawthorne has announced sanctions targeting key Kusari high-tech industries, blocking their access to advanced Superconductors and funding. This came following a “security incident” in the Independent Worlds, and a failed Farmers Alliance attack on Deshima Station, which Liberty says is part of a state-endorsed campaign of terrorism against its citizens. Kusari has dismissed the claim as “lurid nonsense”, and responded by banning the export of Optronics to Liberty until its “economic coercion” is ended. Liberty has vowed to increase pressure until Kusari takes steps to eradicate the Farmers Alliance and root out their backers.

[835 AS] Galileo on the brink

GALILEO -- 835 -- Following an unspecified “security incident” in the Independent Worlds, military forces in Colorado and Shikoku have been ordered to high alert. Observers have raised alarms as the Liberty Navy and Kusari Naval Forces surge to their respective borders, warning of a heightened risk of “accidental escalation” in Galileo. Despite urgent calls for information from local system representatives, the governments of Kusari and Liberty remain tight lipped, other than confirming Manhattan and New Tokyo were in “active dialogue”. Both Houses have since put traffic controls in place, and are actively stopping and searching shipping entering their mutual borders.

[835 AS] Heist of the century

COCHRANE -- 835 -- Cochrane is abuzz after the heist of the century. Lane Hackers launching from Leiden first noticed a spike in encrypted comms bouncing off the Ames relay network. Checking in on Kepler, they, discovered absolute mayhem. “Liberty and Kusari ships fighting, dying,” noted the squadron lead. “Obviously LSF and KOI, but they had their transponders off.” The spooks were scrapping over a heavy lifter carrying a radioactive ship component. Not one to shy from destiny, the Gatebreakers overrode the “Argonaut” remote link and made off with it, bringing the loot back to Cochrane drydock.

[834 AS] Independent Miners assert Jericho rights

PECOS -- 834 -- The Guild has issued a new set of ultimatums to Yuma. This time, Guildmasters are demanding that Crayter withdraw the defense grid around the moon Jericho. The miners assert the grid infringes the Guild’s claims, which they say includes exclusive rights to exploit the moon’s resources. Pecos miner Shane Harlon noted, “there’s probably a whole lot of Uranium down there, given the radiation band. If there is, it’s ours.” So far Crayter has dismissed the demands, calling the mineral claim “nonsense” and stating simply that their troops were stationed on site for “public safety”.

[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.

[827 AS] Junker woes in Liberty

ROCHESTER -- 827 -- The Junkers have suffered a blow in New York, after an fierce Xeno attack heavily damaged Rochester Base. An improvised force of Junkers, Liberty Rogues and Lane Hackers repelled the assault, but not before several torpedoes found their mark. The Junkers have posted record bounties for Xeno kills, however the disruption is likely to severely impact the flow of contraband down to Manhattan for some time. Rogue boss Arthur Clemons joked, “I wouldn’t want to be a Xeno right now. You ain’t long for this world if you get between an Outcast and business.”


Rumors

Lane Hackers
  • I had to sign on with the Insidious to clear a debt with one of the Executives on Cochrane. I got in over my head on a Cardamine tab, bartered my skills as a signals analyst to get out of the hole. Now I'm stuck here, and missing out on pulling apart a damn Jump Drive.


  • Cochrane's been fried twice by pulses from Sudbury, so we're pretty good at spotting the warning signs these days. Fool me twice, and all that. When Jericho wiped out the orbiting sensors we were piggybacking, we guessed what was happening and powered the Insidious down. Between that and The Barrier, we came through without a scratch.


  • Crayter has sealed military records about a major battle that happened in 827 AS, somewhere nearby. We haven't been able to get into the file yet. It's a fair bet it's related to the ruins and wreckage we detected while traveling here from Cortez. I'd recommend you keep your distance, there's all sorts of weird readings.


  • We're supposed to be baby-sitting Cardamine smugglers, but we've also got the most advanced sensors within 5 light years. With the quality of readings we could get off Jericho and the system storm, we could name our own price. I've been quietly negotiating a deal for feed data with an old Liberty University associate.


  • Crayter rescued a bunch of ex-slaves from the Taus, and has been parading them around on Yuma. We went sniffing through their identities and found most of them are Insurgency war prisoners who the LPI trafficked from the camps on Planet Erie. Crayter doesn't know what they've got, and we'll be sure to let the public know when the time is right. Major incident in the making!


  • Most of the Cardamine flowing through the Barrier Pass used to head out through Cortez, which was good for the Rogues at Montezuma. These days, some of the Outcast cartels split and head for Inverness instead. When they arrive in Ontario, most stop over at Cochrane -- which is good for us instead.


  • The Insidious has the largest open bounty in Liberty, higher than even the Gatebreakers who ran off with the Niyodo core. The LSF were pretty steamed that we managed to sneak into Alaska a few years back, and leak some juicy scans of Juneau Shipyard. At the time, Liberty's official position was that Alaska didn't exist.


  • A few of the Outcast cartels now pay us a sort of subscription service for the Insidious' help getting their smugglers through the Barrier Pass. That was a big win for us. Back in '31 the Cardamine market crashed, and we've been clawing back bargaining power ever since. Whenever they hike Cardamine prices or complain about the subscription, maybe we "miss" a Crayter patrol or two.


  • Working in Coronado is basically tech support -- sniffing out patrol manifests to tip off Outcast smugglers. The Crayterians like to do things by the book, route paths filed nicely in advance on insecure servers. Bounty Hunters are admittedly a more unpredictable problem. They're not so keen on paperwork.


  • You'd think an assignment like this would suck. None of the creature comforts of Mactan or Cochrane here, no sir. I can live with that though, because Barrier Gate is a hop and a skip away. Now that place is a real oasis in the desert. Whenever I have downtime, my Bayonet is straight out the hangar and off to the casinos.


  • The LSF couldn't lock down Jericho quick enough to keep the news under wraps. Hard to hide an entire Trade Lane project getting wiped out, not to mention the rolling blackouts on Yuma. Alien ruins are in vogue now, the hot stuff of Los Angeles gossip over synth-lattes. The people want info, and luckily enough, we're on site and happy to oblige... for a price.


  • The crew of the Insidious are a weird mix. Some of us were forced to put a pin in our lavish lifestyles to repay favors or clear debts. Others are the freaky "true believer" sort, who're here to play as super-cool subversives, sticking it to The Man. They can die for a cause if they want, but it's not for me. I'm living forever.