Far Frontiers Gateway sector

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316-2508 Gateway News Service- New Paris

Tiens ma bière is right! Le Monde has dropped a bombshell of a story complete with sources! The story is titled: Tenant ma bière, le Président Vert D'Argent est acheté et payé par New Drakkensburg et impliqué dans la traite négrière interstellaire. Voyons à qui revient la baguette maintenant. (Holding my beer, President Vert D'Argent is bought and paid for by New Drakkensburg, and implicated in the interstellar slave trade. Let's see who gets the baguette now.)

Le Monde has revealed that President D'Argent is being paid to allow interstellar slave trade through New Paris, its spaceports, and system, in exchange for money now, and a lucrative job after he leaves the Presidency. They have been working on this story for three years now, and has both the receipts and the sources. They can prove every allegation, and have also provided the Estates General the data they have obtained.

Senator Louis Napoleon Bonaparte has stated that he is Shocked! Shocked! that the President would so dishonor the name of France in the Far Frontiers as to be involved in such a disgusting and disgraceful crime. He has announced that he will be filing articles of impeachment against the President, and has asked the High Court to rule if a sitting President can be arrested, although that is doubtful based on the law in effect currently which makes it impossible to arrest a sitting president. Senator Bonaparte has gone into hiding since an arrest warrant was issued for his arrest.

In a shocking move, President D'Argent has sent in troops to seize Le Monde's building, and arrest all of its employees. Plus he has declared under the Presidential powers that a "state of emergency" requires that he disband the Estates General for the duration of the emergency. The employees of Le Monde have been taken to an undisclosed prison, and there are concerns that they might meet a messy end. He has ordered the removal of the offending article from the planetary net, and all hard copies found and destroyed. Anyone sharing, possessing, or distributing the offending article shall be imprisoned.

President D'Argent has declared martial law on New Paris, and has set an 1800 curfew across the planet. He has also ordered that the embassies of Sutekh, Freedonia, Friedland, New Texas, St. Ekaterina, and New Joseon be surrounded by troops due to recent discoveries of espionage and terrorist activity on the part of those embassies.

Right now it looks like President D'Argent has given Le Monde the baguette, but for how long we will have to see. The Traveller's Aid Society has declared that New Paris is currently to be considered an Amber Zone, with travelers urged to be exceptionally cautions to avoid running afoul of the increased security conditions. President D'Argent has ordered that all RSMM ships are to be seized under the Presidential Emergency Law. This is an evolving story, so we at GNS will keep you, our readers, updated.

 

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312-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway

R. Brown Guccione of Soldier of Fantasy magazine vanished for 48 hours, and was finally found wandering in a semi-conscious state along the river side in an industrial area of Landing, having been badly beaten, and all the fingers on both hands having been dislocated. He also appeared to be coming out of some drug as police and paramedics responded to reports of a drunk staggering about.

Mr. Guccione, could not remember where he had been taken, nor any details of the kidnapping, other than people kept asking him questions about “Ms. X” and they dislocated his fingers one at a time when he could not tell them any details other than she contacted him, and they were at Madam Wang’s in a “Conversation nook”. He said that he was warned to stay away from her, and stop publishing stories about Ms. X. He remembers being injected with something, and waking up in this industrial area, where he was surrounded by "a lot" of people who were screaming and yelling questions at him.

Doctors at Mercy General Hospital in Landing tell us that Mr. Guccione had been rather severely tortured, his toe nails pulled out on one foot, all of his fingers dislocated, and he had been beaten severely. He was missing some teeth as well. His left knee cap was smashed as well as suffering various bruises, contusions, abrasions, and lacerations. Police think that there were two separate groups involved, with the first group looking for Ms. X, and the second group finding him, and delivering the warning to stay away from Ms. X and not to come back to Hades Station, ever.

Police think that the arrival of the second group possibly saved his life, since he said that he remembers one of the first group yelling “The cops”, and the group departing in a hurry, before the second group arrived. He remembers hearing one of them tell another: Well, he got thumped pretty good, so do we really need to kick his arse any more? The second person, a woman, told the others, “Nah, I think he got the message, I think he got de-wormed right proper”. Then he heard one say; “I would not give half a stellar for him when the Black Dragon comes back for him, he might get gelded next."

They told him that they were going to give him a “fair chance” to get away, and would release him, but he was not to remove the blindfold until they left. He said he heard them leaving, and laughing about his injuries. He is not sure why two groups were involved, as he told police during his interview after his injuries were cared for.

Mr. Guccione said that he had a hard time removing the blindfold since his fingers were dislocated, but he finally managed it, and saw that he was in a large empty building except for a fire, some branding irons, and other implements of torture. He managed to hobble out using a 2x4 as a crutch. He was then found by the police who had gotten a phone call about a drunk.

Police sources tell us that based on the evidence left, and Mr. Guccione’s recollection, that the Black Dragon Tong had a part in this, although his rescuers are unidentified at this time. A manhunt has been organized around the industrial area but the lack of video cameras, and other surveillance equipment will make this more difficult. Also DNA cleaner had been used on the scene.

Mr. Guccione has been admitted to the hospital until his injuries are healed enough for him to return to his apartment. He has hired security from Omega Tech for the time being. We at GNS wonder who might have wanted information from him so badly that they were willing to kidnap him, and if they wanted to kill him. Police have sent an alert to Hades Station to warn them of this event.

 

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319-2508 Gateway News Service- New Paris

Things are getting “spicy” on New Paris as members of the Estates General are refusing to “go quietly into that good night”. Several members have decided to meet in a secret location, and a motion to impeach and remove the President has been passed. President D’Argent has directed the Internal Security Police to find and arrest these rogue members of the Estates, and bring them to prison.

Rioting has broken out in New Nice and other cities over the presidents unprecedented seizure of power. We are told that he has sent for Black Sun Mercenaries to assist in the “restoration of order” with powers of a secret police. In the Vosges on New Paris, the prefecture of police was burned and several police were assaulted as they tried to restore order. The incident occurred after the police attempted to arrest a shop keeper who was showing a poster asking for the President to be arrested. Citizens joined in, as they attempted to stop the police, with shots being fired into the crowd.

Reports are of over a dozen wounded and three dead, in the incident. The citizens overpowered the police, and then turned their rage on the police building, where they released all the prisoners, and then burned it to the ground. A ground calling itself the Committee of Public Safety has been formed to resist President D’Argent. The President ordered Gendarmes and troops into the region with orders to shoot to kill any who break the law.

Over a dozen ministers and their assistants have resigned over the president’s actions, and it appears that all of them have been taken into custody and consigned to the new Bastille, as the central prison is being called. The arrest of Senator Louis Bonaparte has been set as a world priority since he seems to be one of the leaders of the Committee of Public Safety. President D’Argent has scheduled a press conference to address New Paris and to attempt to gain public support for the new repressive measures he has instituted.

Madame D’Argent was pelted with eggs on a shopping trip and ordered her guards to fire into the crowd, killing five, and wounding over twenty. She is reported to have stated that the “filthy peasants are getting what they deserve, and her husband should have done this years ago”. Rumor is that Vert D’Argent, President of New Paris will declare himself King Vert during the press conference, but this is being vigorously denied by his spokesmen.