| Pacifica Base | |
| Owner | |
| Unioners | |
| Location | |
| D/C-5, Bering |
CLASS: Riss
GRAVITY: Partial
DOCKING: Yes
AMENITIES: Limited
CREW: 360
The history of the Unioners is tied to Alster. Conditions were appalling in the yards, worker safety being a tertiary concern of the owners. Coupled with the excessively long shifts, worker morale gradually deteriorated until a major accident killed several hundred in 512 AS. Three months later, the Alster Union was formed. Because of workers' highly specialized skills, the management had no choice but to capitulate to their demands. During the next century the Union strengthened and expanded to the dockworkers on the Altona Station. By the 80-Years War, the Union demanded increasingly high wages and progressively fewer annual hours for its members. When the war ended, demand for ships plummeted.
The bloated headcount of Alster was now a sore point as management desperately tried to restore profitability. After almost 200 years of acceding to union demands, Republican fired tens of thousands and pried major concessions from the remaining workers. Centuries of gains were lost in a matter of days. As unemployment rocketed towards 30%% in Hamburg, a radicalized version of the Union emerged. Freeport 2 in Bering proved alluring to the nascent Unioner movement -- following the Popular Revolution of 700 AS, the station’s population exploded. In 720 AS the Zoners laid down the ultimatum: Take your criminal activities somewhere else. As a result, the Unioners carved Pacifica Base out of an asteroid in the Tanner Belt.
Today, the Unioners scavenge Bering for war salvage to feed Pacifica’s drydocks, with spare construction capacity often sold to the Liberty and Rheinland underworld. During the Rheinland Civil War, the Unioners fought for the Imperial cause, however they quickly became disillusioned when Republican rebranded to Imperial Shipping and used its political influence to marginalize them, stymying promised reforms. As a result the Unioners continued to engage in piracy and smuggling despite an armistice established by the Holstein Accords. By 829 AS the Unioners had been outlawed again, with strikes on Alster Shipyard and Altona resuming in earnest. Smuggling continues to be a lucrative business for the Unioners, with Corsair Artifacts, Corse Nox and stolen Hessian Diamonds all regularly passing through Pacifica’s bays.
Bribes & Missions Offered
| Bribes |
| Missions |
Commodities
| Exports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ships sold
| Ship | Class | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Arbeiter | Very Heavy Fighter | 25,029$ |
| Solidaritat | Bomber | 70,176$ |
| Tiger Shark | Light Fighter | 23,022$ |
| Rheinland Blackmarket Frigate | Frigate | 1,337,466$ |
| Unioner Gunboat | Gunboat | 1,210,006$ |
| Rheinland Pirate Cruiser | Cruiser | 2,507,900$ |
| Humpback | Freighter | 18,706$ |
News
| [834 AS] Hamburg Blast charges dismissed |
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HAMBURG -- 834 -- The trial against Matthias Schnider and Wolfgang Kohler has dramatically collapsed. MND investigators blindsided prosecutors with a report that discredited a key Bundschuh dossier as “forgeries and fabrications”, instead accusing Unioner bomb-maker Sabrina Herz. Protests erupted across Planet Hamburg in the aftermath, accusing the MND of a “whitewash” that denied justice to the thousands of victims. Baron Schnider has formally resigned his Hamburg University tenure, to avoid “generating distracting controversy”. |
| [834 AS] A bad breakup? |
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DARMSTADT -- 834 -- It appears the LWB and Farmers Alliance have gone their separate ways, on very bad terms. Witnesses report seeing fighting between LWB and FA squadrons, and the FA resultingly retreating from Rheinland space. The FA’s expansion into Rheinland alienated many of the LWB’s traditional allies, most notably the Red Hessians. The Hessians for their part appear to have moved quickly to fill the vacuum the Alliance left behind, approaching LWB commanders with offers of weapons and technical support in exchange for the LWB supplementing their supply lines in west Rheinland. LWB pilot Arthur Saebel noted, “we've done what's best for our people.“ |
| [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. |
| [832 AS] A different kind of Houston heat |
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MARLTON CITY -- 832 AS -- A huge firefight has been reported in one of Houston's urban centers, involving a gang of heavily armed assailants and dozens of casualties. The target appears to have been a major LPI penitentiary facility, with one force spokesperson going so far as to say that the raid must have been carried out by a professional mercenary outfit. Malton City has gone into lockdown amid rumors of a mass breakout by Pennsylvania convicts. An enormous manhunt has been launched, involving Marine support from the Battleship Arkansas. |
| [832 AS] Counting doses |
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ROCHESTER -- 832 AS -- The catastrophic crash of the Cardamine market has been tough for all the associates involved in the chain of its distribution, and the substantial drop-off in the quantity of it available for use and resale has caused a new problem in this series of bad episodes. The Rogues and Hackers, former partners in feeding the needs of the underworld are now at each other's throats, unable to meet demands for the drug both by their own and by customers, it seems as if stealing it from each other at gunpoint is the new business model. |
| [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. |
| [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”. |
| [829 AS] Take what you can, when you can |
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PACIFICA -- 829 -- It was inevitable, we're outlaws once more. This comes as no real surprise -- while they initially paid us off to keep Bering and Hudson under control, Federal bribes don't cover the bills. There's simply more money on the other side of the law. Now we've no reason to play nice and Imperial Shipping is back on the target list. Despite grand promises to the unions during the war, they failed to follow through on any of those commitments. Conditions on Alster are as bad as they've ever been. It seems our support during the war wasn't worth much respect in the Reichstag when corporate bribes are involved. |
| [828 AS] Holstein Accords reunite Rheinland |
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HOLSTEIN -- 828 AS -- Imperialist and Federalist leaders have been locked in fierce negotiations in the weeks since the Thuringian Mutiny. A joint decree has now been issued by the “Consensus Government of the Rheinland Federal Empire”, ending the Civil War. This establishes a power sharing protocol, forcing future governments to include representatives from both ideological blocs. The autonomy of system governments has also been restored, along with a slate of constitutional revisions and the re-institution of the Reichstag. The Federalists have conceded the argument over the office of the Emperor, who will soon be formally nominated for life by the Imperial Convention of elector-princes. |
| [828 AS] Thuringian Mutiny - an end to war? |
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THURINGIA -- 828 -- A mass mutiny has paralyzed the front in Thuringia, provoked by the enormous casualties suffered by each side. The Imperialists had consolidated their remaining forces in Hamburg, using Unioner guides for a final push on Thuringia. The “final battle” was inconclusive, making a prolonged bloodbath inevitable. The two fleets then separated, as forward elements powered down their weapons. The mutiny spread, with political officers being arrested by their own crews in some instances. This uneasy impasse has now persisted for a number of days -- it seems leaders may be forced to the table to negotiate a solution. |
| [827 AS] Imperials write a blank cheque |
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PACIFICA -- 827 -- The Imperials have long promised many things. Rheinland jobs for Rheinland citizens. Blocking the sale of foreign-built transports. Bringing back well-paid construction jobs to Hamburg. Nothing ever came of this, until now. After losing the last election, they’ve taken matters into their own hands and toppled the government with the Military’s support. We’ve no love for the Feds who sold our people out to Kusari and then looked the other way when Republican crushed the Unions. Senior Imperials have offered us major concessions for armed support against the Feds. After thinking it through, we’ve taken them up on the offer: why not get paid for something we’d have done anyway? |
| [827 AS] Rheinland government flees military putsch |
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PLANET NEW BERLIN -- 827 AS -- Rheinland’s government has been spirited away by loyalist troops aboard the newly launched Carrier Saar, narrowly avoiding an attempted Imperialist coup d'etat. The Reichstag has been occupied by masked soldiers, and Progressive Members arrested -- Frederick von Albrecht has declared himself Emperor and announced the body’s dissolution. Chaos has spread across New Berlin as citizens take to the streets to either support or oppose the Imperialist power grab, forming improvised militia battalions. Bloody fighting has broken out across Planets New Berlin, Hamburg and Stuttgart. |
| [827 AS] Imperialist rioters attempt coup? |
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PLANET HAMBURG -- 827 AS -- Disorder in Bahrenfeld City has continued to spread. Federal Police have declared a state of emergency as Imperial militias begin to direct mobs against planetary authorities. Attacks have been launched against Federal buildings, with the mayor of Rotherbaum taken hostage. Authorities have requested immediate Military assistance to arrest local Imperialist ringleaders. The Carrier Soltau has arrived in Hamburg orbit and ordered RFP ships to stand down with immediate effect. Unconfirmed reports allege troops from the Soltau have arrested the planetary governor for “crimes against the Rheinland people”. |
| [827 AS] Attempted assassination sparks crisis |
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PLANET HAMBURG -- 827 AS -- Fredrick von Albrecht has been central to the recent turmoil in Rheinland. The socialite is the last remaining heir to the defunct Rheinland throne, and has acted as a lightning rod for the increasingly revanchist rhetoric of Imperialist parties. Albrect broadcast his own inflammatory speech after the Bundschuh legalization motion, calling for the dissolution of the Reichstag. Seemingly in response, Albrecht’s Hamburg residence was set alight. He has since called his supporters to protect him from state assassination attempts. Federal Police have opened an investigation into Albrecht for fraud and inciting violence. |
| [826 AS] Victory turns to ash at Vierlande |
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PACIFICA -- 826 -- This should have been a day of celebration, marking the occupation of the despised Vierlande Prison. Sadly, we were betrayed. Our supposed comrades in the Red Hessians and Coalition turned on us in the moment of victory. A full accounting of those lost is still being gathered, but initial reports confirm that Wedel Station has been destroyed, along with the Battleship Undine. Krefeld reports a massacre aboard, perpetrated by pre-positioned Hessian agents. The scale of this treachery is beyond belief, and a grievous wound that can never be forgiven. |
| [824 AS] Kielfeld Losses Continue |
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PACIFICA -- 824 -- Unioner smugglers are advised to steer clear of the Kielfeld - if you need to get to Barrow, route through Bering. Over the last six months, losses in the area have jumped over 300%, mainly hitting our Artifact and Diamond freighters. Crimson Squadron were sent in to investigate, with only Crimson leader Lea Nacht surviving. She says, “there’s a new breed of Bounty Hunter out there, likely ex-Unioners that know our routes.” Nacht successfully retreated deep into the field after her wing was ambushed, field repairing her Eagle’s engines and comms over the next 5 days before she could limp home. While we mourn the loss of the veteran Crimsons, Nacht’s tenacity allows their legacy to live on. |
Rumors
| Unioners |
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