Frigate Keystone

Frigate Keystone

File:Li03 06 base.png

Owner

Bristol Constructions & Manufacturing

Location

C-3, Colorado

CLASS: Bulwark

AMENITIES: Limited

CREW: 95

The Keystone was the first Bulwark heavy frigate produced by Kress Industrial in 834 AS, under license from Bristol Construction and Manufacturing. Designed as a robust armored transport that could brave the wilds of the frontier and exploit its resources, the Keystone was initially deployed to Pennsylvania. Orbiting the moon Hallam, it collected the minerals boosted into orbit from Bristol's small work camps, before transferring them for shipment to Erie or Bristol Bay. Dissatisfied with the operation's meager profits, the Keystone instead elected to adopt a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

The frigate was dispatched to Colorado's Alamosa Asteroid Field, allowing Bristol miners to sneak through a nearby Jump Hole to Galileo. Bristol has so far kept its operations discrete, pilfering small quantities Galileo's Platinum and avoiding the attention of larger corporations. It is alleged that the Keystone provides a friendly port for Xeno raiders, where they can exchange Platinum and other goods stolen from Galileo's feuding corporations. It is unclear how the heightened tensions between Kusari and Liberty will impact these audacious miners.

Bribes & Missions Offered

Bribes

Bristol Constructions & Manufacturing ALG Waste Disposal Xenos

Missions

Bristol Constructions & Manufacturing Xenos

Commodities

Imports

Commodity Price Robotics 29$ Criminal Cells (Liberty) 17,314$ Energy Field Equipment 37$ Liberty Ale 36$ Medical Equipment 56$ Detroit Light Arms 48$ Oxygen 7$ Food Rations 38$ Kyushu Rice 33$ MOX 54$ Basic Alloy 22$ Construction Machinery 21$ Pharmaceuticals 15$ Hull Panels 38$ Daumann Side Arms 107$ Gallic Enfer Blasters 153$ Industrial Materials 23$ Munitions 25$ Xenobiotic Filters 41$ HazMat Canisters 140$ Passenger Cabin (Liberty) 19,315$ Platinum Ore 141$ Iron 19$ Xeno Relics 229$ H-Fuel 103$

Exports

Commodity Price Deployable Mining Container 50,000$ Hangar Provisions 250$ Slog 176$ Toxic Waste 20$ Water 9$ Mining Machinery 26$ Consumer Goods 34$ Synth Paste 28$ Platinum 170$

Ships sold

Ship	Class	Price
Rhino	Freighter	19,206$
Dromedary	Freighter	24,266$
Camara	Freighter	20,846$
Lance	Bomber	51,526$
Falchion	Very Heavy Fighter	22,379$
Kali	Light Fighter	21,052$

News

[835 AS] Hinsdale Refinery fully operational

HINSDALE REFINERY -- 835 AS -- Executives from Deep Space Engineering have cut the ribbon on the newest Platinum-processing line at Hinsdale Refinery. This officially launches full operations at the largest ore-processing refinery in Colorado since the collapse of the industry over two centuries ago. This comes mere weeks after the Liberty Supreme Court ruled in DSE’s favor over the long-running Galileo Platinum dispute; Kusari vehemently opposes the ruling. The opening was marked by a significant security presence, largely driven by the increased tensions with the Kusari Empire.

[835 AS] Shocking battle in Kepler

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.

[829 AS] LPI Colorado contract axed

ONE POLICE PLAZA -- 829 AS -- LPI stocks have tumbled after a double hammerblow of bad news. Commissioner Beverly Salcido confirmed the Attica Supermax prison had been decommissioned with immediate effect, citing “under occupancy”, and “expensive operating costs”. Government officials also announced that they would not be extending the Colorado Enhanced Private Security contract, because of disappointing performance and ballooning costs. The arrangement will lapse by year’s end, with the Liberty Navy resuming control of the Battleship Rio Grande and local security duties. Colorado Senator Tromer has insisted that fully privatization security, was still “the right idea, just at the wrong time for the people of Colorado.”

[829 AS] Colorado training exercises?

ONE POLICE PLAZA -- 829 AS -- The LPI has rerouted civilian traffic from Colorado's New York to Denver Trade Lane, locking off that part of the system. A force spokesman confirmed that the Battleship Rio Grande had been deployed for large scale training exercises involving newly formed Special Response Units. These squadrons were founded as a part of the pioneering Colorado private security contract, which saw the private police force take on many Navy duties. Since then, Ageira and other local businesses have complained of worsening security and patrol frequency, leading to a significantly higher spend on Bounty Hunters.

[817 AS] War with Rheinland!

HUDSON -- 817 -- President Powell has declared a formal state of war against Rheinland, to a standing ovation in Congress. During an impassioned speech, the President described how Rheinland had treacherously slain a number of Navy personnel in the Hudson Security Zone after initiating an aggressive and unwarranted military buildup across Liberty’s borders. He pledged that Liberty would defend its “intrinsic economic interests” in the region and punish flagrant Rheinland breaches of the Boorman Treaty. He has blamed Chancellor Reinhardt for escalating diplomatic disputes into direct armed conflict, comparing him to the disgraced Chancellor Niemann who triggered the Colony Wars seventeen years ago.

Rumors

Bristol Constructions & Manufacturing

Taking aim at Galileo is a big play for us. There's been some court fight rattling around for years, and DSE, Kishiro and Samura are all likely to shoot anyone they catch trespassing in their Platinum claims. Quick and quiet is the name of the game. Crack the nodes, grab the ore, and run. This was the first Bulwark completed for Bristol. HQ hopes that one day we'll be able to build them in-house, but for now Kress Industrial handles manufacturing at Alster Shipyard. They're renting a berth for the project, although neither of us are happy about being so beholden to Imperial Shipping's whims. I'm on one of the mining crews that handles the runs into Galileo. When we're hitting Platinum, we drop buoy chains that can give us a heads-up about incoming contacts, long before onboard sensors would cut through the dark matter. If we get a ping, we don't wait for an ID, we take off. Better safe than sorry. The Bulwark is a big gamble for Bristol. We're still a small company, but we're nimble and innovative -- like the IMG! There's obviously a huge investment sunk into the Bulwark project, but if we can showcase how effective our design is, we could make an absolute mint selling it to the IMG, Zoners, or anyone else pushing into the frontier. Of course, if it doesn't sell... Well, let's not think about that. One of the reasons we were able to find our feet in Bering is because we come from the same background as a lot of Xenos. There's common ground in Liberty's working class. Now, they ain't fond of our welcoming recruitment policies -- particularly where Rheinlanders are concerned -- but we sweeten the pot with supplies and a place to offload some of their, ah, "legitimately acquired goods". Before this we were working at Hallam, acting as a glorified hangar for the shuttles from the mining site. We were hoping to strike it rich there, but the promised motherlode hasn't shown up yet. There's enough metals being found to break even, but that doesn't exactly lead to thrilling employee dividends. I had to abort a mining run yesterday, before we even got to Gaileo! By chance, my navigator caught a weird reading near the Jump Hole -- I'd have dismissed it as a chunk of debris. He had a bad feeling and pinged it with active scanners. It was a Kusari fighter with its transponder powered down! We didn't hang around to see what it wanted. Bristol got started as a salvaging outfit in Bering, mostly picking up the military reclamation jobs DSE wouldn't touch directly. Too dangerous, see? For those we were subcontracting for DSE, as they held the actual contract with Liberty. That... wasn't a good time. The way DSE tried to run our operation soured relations pretty bad. A lot of us worked for DSE during the wars, when they spun up the mining sites in Ontario. When the war ended, they laid us all off, and the so-called "blue collar revival" died. If you were on Toronto at the end, Liberty's corps blackballed you, so good luck getting another job. Those of us who didn't end up in prison or with the Xenos landed with Bristol instead. We'd be in pretty hot water if we were caught moving "DSE's" Platinum, so we're careful to get it to market discretely with freighters, or through Freelance intermediaries. That takes a cut out of the profit, but Platinum prices are soaring because of the showdown between Kusari and Liberty, so that's something we can live with.

Xenos

We've got an arrangement with Bristol. They buy the loot we don't need, and sell us the supplies we want. We can overlook some of their flaws because of that, within reason. Employing a few Rheinlanders can be ignored, but we'll remind them where their loyalties lay if they push it too far. We ain't happy about them building their fancy new ships at Alster neither. Liberty's been spitting in the working man's eye for centuries. Kusari goods, Kusari ships -- our corps getting fat and lazy, importing it all and building nothing. At least Bristol knows how to get their hands dirty. A war would be the best thing to happen to Liberty, cut off the flow of poison. Force the corps to do things the hard way again.