Far Frontiers Gateway sector

[Murph]

189-2508 Gateway News Service- Dustball

Finally Far Star Mining and Exploration has been caught red handed in illegal claim jumping, and land piracy as one of its crawlers attempted to destroy the crawler operated by the Dustball Hard Luck Speculative Mining Company. On board were Peter and Stacy Matoshi along with their picked crew of hard cases. The Far Star mining crawler attacked with a mining laser, causing severe damage to the Matoshi crawler, and crippling its communication gear.

In a fire fight that lasted almost half an hour, the Matoshi crew and their hired mercenaries managed to board the Far Star crawler, and take it over. The communication gear on the Far Star crawler was used to call the Dustball Constabulary, who arrived before a backup mining crawler from Far Star arrived on the scene. The arriving Far Star crawler opened fire on the Constabulary, killing six and wounding five constables.

As the Constables sent out an SOS for help, a marine Platoon from the New Texas Dustball force was able to drop from orbit, and come to the aid of the force on the ground. A small kinetic strike on the Far Star crawler destroyed it utterly, and the Marines were able to provide first aid and medical treatment for all the wounded.

As the battledress equipped marines were involved in a fire fight with the Far Star crew, medics called for dustoff to come in and take the wounded to the Dry Gulch hospital. At the end of the firefight there are 2 unwounded Far Star employees, 11 wounded, and 23 dead. The damaged crawler was scoured for clues by responding Constabulary back up units, and they found conclusive evidence that Far Star Mining and Exploration has been involved in several attempts on the Dustball Hard Luck Speculative Mining Company, as well as the attack on Hammerhead Matoshi which put him in the hospital.

Sergei Gregorovich Romanov, the head of Far Star Mining has denied any knowledge, claiming that the crew that attacked the Matoshi mining crawler was a renegade group which had stolen both crawlers from his vehicle park. However the evidence found proves that Mr. Romanov had full knowledge and indeed had ordered the attack in an attempt to drive off Matoshi and bankrupt his company.

Based on this information, the Grand Poobah has ordered the seizure of all assets of Far Star Mining and Exploration pending a hearing in court. Mr. Romanov, his daughter, son, and assistants have been ordered held in the L'Narkia prison until such time as the hearing. Romanov has filed an emergency motion to hold based on the supposition that as a human he cannot get a fair hearing, and is demanding that a human rather than K'Grech court hear his case. He has filed this with the New Texas ambassador, who quickly denied his request for New Texas intervention.

Romanov is claiming that since the K'Grech took back control of their world from the human operated Chartered Dustball Company, that humans are being treated unfairly, and is asking for outside aid to help the human settlers resist the "Alien overlords who are oppressing the humans". He is joined in this by a band of disgruntled former plantation, and mining concern owners who have seen their unacceptable behavior restricted since the K'Grech have reclaimed their planet.

 

[Murph]

191-2508 Gateway News Service- Xanadu

Pollen season has started early this year, and it looks to be bad, very bad. The winter was mild with extra rain across much of the area where the Xanadu Devil Weed is located. The pollen counts have shown much higher than normal with an extra amount of adhesive, which is as usual wreaking havoc with much of the normal life operations on this planet. Sales of face shields, filter masks, and over suits are higher than normal as the nasty yellow pollen gets everywhere. Due to the axial tilt of Xanadu, winds at this time of year are somewhat higher than normal.

Pets are especially at risk since they do not understand the need for masks, so a line of dog and cat masks and over suits have been produced to protect Man's Best Friend during these times of the year. Adding to the mess the Umbrella trees have started detaching as well, which can cause accidents when one of the floating tops comes in contact with an aircraft. Children under 15 kilos in weight can be injured if a blowing Pop Top strikes them, it can knock them down causing injury.

As is common the Traveler's Aid Society has issued a warning to ensure that all travelers to Xanadu are aware of the pollen season. Dr. Chu Myong-son of the Xanadu Meteorological Observatory system is telling GNS that he expects the pollen to peak in two weeks, and then slowly decline over the following five weeks.

Sales of Klean Up wipes has been heavy, along with sales of pollen removal solution for the showers inside of each building. Proposals have been made to eradicate the Devil Weed, but ecologists caution against this since several species of animals depend on the pollen and Devil Weed for food. The Maroon Seed Eater is one of the animals which love on the pollen as one of its primary food items at this time of the year. The Maroon Seed Eater is also a vital link in the ecological chain on Xanadu, and are a protected species.

 

[Murph]

Well Newsletter #127 just went out, it has been a slog, but an enjoyable one. I am posting the first two newsletters here, the quality has gotten better, or at leas longer. For those who requested they get sent to you, thank you, and if there are any story lines that you would like to see more about, let me know.

 

[Murph]

197-2508 Gateway News Service- New Texas

The famous band the Flying Chancla's one of the best Tex-Mex bands on the planet has released their latest album, and it is being hailed as a master work. The album Campos verdes de casa (Green Fields of Home), has some of their best work to date according to critics. As is usual on the album cover has hidden on it a flying chancla as part of their style. The Flying Chanclas play the State Fair every year, along with most county fairs where their concerts are sold out.

They are headed out on tour of New Texas, Dustball, and Coffeeville, backed up by La Tropa de Mariachis, and Los Maníacos de las guitarras (The Maniacs of the Guitars), a heavy metal Tex-Mex band, known for its hammering rendition of Malaquena Salerosa that has become a staple at all Mexican Weddings (and some Anglo Weddings as well) on New Texas. Get your copy of the Flying Chancla's latest album now! Their hit song La chancla de mi abuela is on this one, done in the acoustic style.

 

[Murph]

For those who do not know, the Chancla is a device that Hispanic mothers and grandmothers use on their misbehaving children, my wife tells me that her mother could toss the Chancla like a boomerang around corners, across the yard, and into different rooms of the house giving a good whack to her brothers and sisters. Here in San Antonio the Chancla is well known to generations of kids and my kids swear that grandma's chancla was a deadly weapon, and had ears to tell on them when they were misbehaving. Lordy, I miss my mother in law, she was the best mother in law a guy could ever have, she almost always took my side. I only got threatened by the Chancla once. It was enough. She spoke not very much English, and my Spanish sucked, but we completely understood one another. Respect the Chancla. i.e. the slipper or flip flop.

 

[Murph]

203-2508 Gateway News Service- Xu Su

Reports have come in that the银色黎明悬崖 Yínsè límíng xuányá (Silver Dawn Cliff) resort is in the running for this years Traveller's Aid Society best high end resort hotel award. Their Ming's restaurant has recently gotten its 3rd Michelin Star, having been rated over the years very highly. If this award comes through this will be the first time one of the highly rated resorts on Xu Su will have gotten this extremely prestigious award.

The Imperial Suite, has been used by the Emperor himself, and members of the Imperial family regularly stay at this very fashionable resort which boasts a combination of appealing climate, exquisite views, and claims that no other resort offers its levels of comfort, attentiveness, and value on Xu Su. Situated on the Silver Dawn cliffs, the morning sun just bathes this resort in its golden rays.

As an added plus the resort owns its own tea plantation, where some true spectacular teas are produced exclusively for the hotel, teas which have been rated as good as anything found on Old Earth. Their Fresh Dragon Spring green is prized across the sector, with the Imperial Palace getting first call on each years crop. Good luck to the hotel, and its General Manager Wen Chou-Li.

 

[Murph]

205-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway/Tuatha

The Orbital Quarantine Service has seized the Merchant of Venice free trader, after some Outback Roaches were found on board. The annoying pests which are widely loathed across the sector, are extremely prolific breeders, and can rapidly spread if not stopped. As is the policy of the OQS, all crew were brought over in space suits, then stripped naked, examined in sealed environment bay #3, before being passed through the airlock where they were given temporary clothing. All of their clothing has been sterilized at both high temperatures, and then hard vacuum for an hour each.

The ship was depressurized, and opened to hard vacuum for 24 hours, and all sealed and confirmed perishables were placed in sealed containers on the outside of the hull to prevent ruptures. Then the ship was re-pressurized, and phosgene was piped at 2 atmospheres of pressure, and allowed to sit for two hours, before once more being placed in hard vacuum for two additional hours. Sixty five roaches were found along with two egg sacs. The ship had transferred cargo at Hopalong Station, Xanadu, Sutekh, and then Outback. An emergency Quarantine message was sent back along the route.

The Gateway OQS is not known for either a sense of humor, or any sense of proportion when it comes to making sure that pests, dangerous infestations, diseases, or other annoyances get let loose on Gateway. As is commonly said; "When the OQS comes on board you are in for a long night, when they bring the Marines, your life is going to suck."

After an exhaustive investigation it has been determined that the infestation was accidental, and so the crew was not charged with transport of hazardous pests, or intentional smuggling, instead they paid the "administrative surcharge" for the cost of decontamination, and was allowed to head on in to Gateway Station, where they were met with their broker who, fortunately for them, cover the cost of the "administrative surcharge" and leave a little profit for the ship.

 

[Murph]

The New Chinese Empire, a Utopian Colony.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Respect the Chancla. i.e. the slipper or flip flop.

I'm envisioning a cross between the shoe-phones from Get Smart and the antigravity assasination drones from Dune.

Only a pop-top can blow them out...

 

[Murph]

After 36 years of being married, I respect the Chancla! The kids understand even today, that the Chancla is not to be messed with.

 

[Murph]

211-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway/Red Dirt

Strange events are occurring on this remote world where the Gateway government has many research bases. As our readers know Red Dirt Station #6 was destroyed after an ancient alien was unfrozen and went on a rampage of destruction in the base. Well, today, alarms went off across the system, as sensors revealed a massive burst of tachyons, higgs bosons, neutrinos, and other odd particles in orbit around Red Dirt. Radiation sensors went off the charts at the time the stations vanished.

A research team which had gone to the crater that was Station #6 reported something strange before going off the air. Shortly afterwards, Research Station #11 also went off the air in the middle of a data dump. We are told that Station #11 had been working on some of the artifacts which had been brought back with the Golden Dawn and were taken at the same time as the frozen alien.

GNS has gotten exclusive footage showing that where both Station #6 and Station #11 used to be there is a hole, perfectly smooth, almost mirror finished one kilometer in diameter, and one kilometer deep a perfect circular hole or half sphere. A team which was five kilometers away said that they observed a “shimmer, then a very bright light appear which was a ball of light where the station (#11) had been, almost brighter than the sun.” This team then became very ill, and were rescued by a military medical team, taken to Station #1 hospital where they are suffering from severe radiation poisoning of a dose which causes immediate effect on the human body.

The team shows to have received a dose of radiation which will most likely be fatal unless they can be decontaminated. All of their equipment is dangerously radioactive, and has been placed in a safe storage. Sensors indicate that a massive burst of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and X-Rays was recorded at the times of the destruction of the bases. Military sensor stations report no sign of any craft in orbit, but they did get a odd reading from an area 10,000 meters above the bases, but no one can make any sense of the readings.

Both the bases are just...gone. Completely vanished. No sign of any of the base left, nor of any of the researchers which were based at Research Station #11. Communication with the base cut off in mid download. Reports are that the researchers had just opened a container which had been brought back from the Aliens, and were working on understanding the technology. A communication record was in process where one of the researchers is heard saying in the background: “Holy crap! This was not a good idea! We are going to freaking die! SHUT THE BOX, SHUT THE BOX! DO NOT LET IT GET OUT!” Then communications stopped.

The Gateway government has dispatched a full investigation team, but the area of the craters is putting out almost 100 gray of hard radiation, and so they will not be able to enter the area of contamination. The contamination extends in a 5 kilometer radius around both sites. Robots cease working from the intense radiation after a mere two hours, despite the shielding and so it appears that all observations have to be completed remotely.

 

[Murph]

212-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway

A spokesman for the Ministry of Science and Technology came out and gave a prepared statement regarding the strange issue on Red Dirt, the statement follows:

"At approximately 0200 Gateway Standard Time, or 1300 Red Dirt Standard Time yesterday, and unknown event occurred which has been the cause of some concern to some, especially in light of previous issues that have occurred on Red Dirt. We, at the Ministry, wish to completely assure all citizens that at no point were dangerous materials being explored, and that the reports that the scientists were working on technology left over from the Lords of Darkness is completely in error.

If there were any substance to this utterly unfounded, and categorically false rumor, we would be happy to explain to the general public. But since there is nothing to be concerned about, at all, and why would we not be completely truthful and up front regarding this matter? At no time was any research being conducted without meeting standard safety and security protocols, with a view to ensuring the complete safety and accountability of all persons working at Station #11.

We deny, in the most vehement terms, the completely speculative, unfounded, without any basis in fact or reality, that the researchers once more opened up a Pandora's box, and were being devoured by alien tech. This is such a ludicrous statement that we, at the Ministry have had to spend far too much time on such ridiculous allegations, which are of course completely false in every aspect.

We at the Ministry want to completely assure the public that our researchers are committed to the highest level of ethical and scientific standards, which would never be compromised at any time, and so we urge the media and those completely uniformed people who are speculating that something had occurred which would be against both regulations, and Gateway law regarding dangerous Alien technology. At no time was any dangerous alien technology being investigated, and those who are speculating that Research Station #11 was targeted due to a failure of security and containment are just wrong, and spreading mis-information, lies, and slander and the Government of Gateway is looking at taking steps to ensure that the public is not misled by those liars.

I will not be taking questions." At this time the spokesman walked out despite the number of frantic questions being asked regarding this incident. Our source tells us that Research Station #11 was conducting unauthorized experiments on the alien tech brought back and something happened which caused a level 1 emergency at that station. Despite denials, we will continue to explore this incident, although government attorneys have contacted us and reminded us of the penalties for disclosing classified material.

 

[Murph]

222-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway

We are told that after the Prime Minister had some very pointed and direct comments to the Minister of Science and Technology, a second news conference was directed to be held, where "misunderstandings" would be address and corrected. The PM is reported to have had somewhat of an exhibition of his famed temper when told about this statement from the Ministry.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Science and Technology issued a statement that; while sometimes mistakes are made, purely from the very best of intentions on the part of researchers at Research Station #11 on Red Dirt, which resulted in the completely unfortunate loss of containment on the alien tech was highly regrettable, with the fatalities which occurred were in no way traceable to the Gateway Ministry of Science and Technology, since the destruction of the station was accomplished via unknown means. And everyone is to be re-assured that all Research stations and facilities, of course, and there was never any doubt about it, always obey all safety regulations, and ensure that research is conducted under the most stringent of conditions to ensure the safety of all involved, so this was a completely unexpected event.

The spokesman regrets any misunderstanding of her previous statement, which, she assures the media, and public, were in no way intended to mislead or misdirect attention away from the exceptionally regrettable incident. She wanted to assure us that with the destruction of Station #11, all, and she repeats all, alien tech brought back has been destroyed in whatever it was that destroyed the station, and three other caches, or possible storage sites of some very safely and securely stored material which might have been overlooked in the initial reports from the station, but at no time represented any danger to any facility or person of the Gateway Federation. The Ministry did not intend to mislead the public into thinking that it was saving alien tech in order to conduct dangerous and improper experiments on it, since all such material, if it even existed, and the Ministry is not saying that it did, is now destroyed, so that any such material which might or might not have existed is no longer in existence.

She then further explained that her previous press conference was not designed to mislead or misdirect the media and public, but instead resulted from errors made by lower ranking members in the Ministry who, in an excess of misplaced zeal, and only with the very best of intentions, made, what in retrospect, is perhaps, a possibly incorrect assessment of some of the facts surrounding the situation, but, and she wanted to emphasize this, with no intent of actually spreading false or fake information, but that out of an abundance of caution, perhaps some employees may have been guilty of being overly security conscious, and were filled with misguided zeal at the time, where the incident was involved and the research which may or may not have been as fulsome and forthcoming as might be expected under the circumstances, which has obviously led to a complete and unfortunate misunderstanding of the real situation.

She said that she sincerely hopes that the media will accept this as an unfortunate misunderstanding, and not jump to unwarranted, and unfounded conclusions that there was somehow the intent to deceive the public which, she wanted to completely assure us was not the case at all, since as everyone has been assured, the Ministry is completely dedicated to the truth and facts, not spin and untruths, which is why the reports are so hurtful to those who work for the Ministry since they are so clearly not accurate at all.

She said that after a long and healthy consultation with the Ministry of Justice, which both sides expressed their views in a completely open, collegial and professional manner, any suggestions that the media could come under any scrutiny in regards to the reporting on this event is at best a complete misunderstanding, and at worst a complete misreading of an attempt to encourage cautious, well reasoned reporting waiting for all the information to be released in the fullness of time after it has been subjected to reasoned and mature reflection.

She also wanted to assure everyone that the temporary, and very comfortable detention of several reporters, along with the temporary hold placed on their ship, which in no was was an arrest or seizure, not that such a thing would have occurred, but the Ministry has ordered that those reporters who have been enjoying the hospitality of the Ministry are being allowed to return to their lawful reporting immediately, and their ship has been cleaned, re-stocked, and turned back over to them. At no point were they subjected to any illegal force, and the Ministry wants to assure everyone that they respect the media and its vital role in the Federation.

She declined to take any questions.

 

[Murph]

126-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway

Asteroid Insurance released their new marketing slogan: “Kothar says: Real Vikings don’t need insurance, but for the rest of us, make sure you get a quote from Asteroid Insurance, the best insurance company in the sector”. The ad is accompanied by an image of a muscle bound Viking warrior, wearing a chainmail loincloth and a battle axe. The Viking has a befuddled look on his face, with the words: “Real Vikings Don’t Need Insurance! But YOU do!”

Asteroid Insurance is one of the larger insurance companies in the sector, and is one of the primary insurance company offering insurance to Free Traders, and interstellar shipping companies.

 

[Murph]

Kothar was the character of a very rules lawyering player in my old Chivalry and Sorcery campaign who always claimed that Vikings never used bows since Odin used a spear, and so I let him recruit a crew for his longship, and he kept getting them slaughtered by bow armed opponents, and those using heavy cavalry. His character was 7' tall, had the max possible strength, and was a one man reaper, The other players plotted on how to get rid of Kothar, before finally getting a medusa head, and placing it in his clothes cupboard so that when he opened it he was turned to stone.

Then to prevent him from being resurrected they also rules lawyered, and told him the Odin and his Valkyries had taken his Character to Valhalla since he was so tough and mean. In the mean time, they broke up the now petrified Kothar, ground it into dust, put it in sacks, and spread the dust over trails and in the sea so that his body could never be re-assembled. The player was livid, so he rolled up a character who was a were rat in order to kill the rest of the party. The removed that character as well in the first 20 minutes of the game. His Necromancer lasted a little longer, but not much. He never really got the hint.

 

[kilemall]

Kothar was the character of a very rules lawyering player in my old Chivalry and Sorcery campaign who always claimed that Vikings never used bows since Odin used a spear, and so I let him recruit a crew for his longship, and he kept getting them slaughtered by bow armed opponents, and those using heavy cavalry. His character was 7' tall, had the max possible strength, and was a one man reaper, The other players plotted on how to get rid of Kothar, before finally getting a medusa head, and placing it in his clothes cupboard so that when he opened it he was turned to stone.

Then to prevent him from being resurrected they also rules lawyered, and told him the Odin and his Valkyries had taken his Character to Valhalla since he was so tough and mean. In the mean time, they broke up the now petrified Kothar, ground it into dust, put it in sacks, and spread the dust over trails and in the sea so that his body could never be re-assembled. The player was livid, so he rolled up a character who was a were rat in order to kill the rest of the party. The removed that character as well in the first 20 minutes of the game. His Necromancer lasted a little longer, but not much. He never really got the hint.

The problem with fantasy is that it feeds the idea that you can be anybody you want be, and in many cases that either is a bad idea against x reality or there can be personality issues that get brought to light.

 

[bookwyrm]

Kothar was the character of a very rules lawyering player in my old Chivalry and Sorcery campaign who always claimed that Vikings never used bows since Odin used a spear, and so I let him recruit a crew for his longship, and he kept getting them slaughtered by bow armed opponents, and those using heavy cavalry. His character was 7' tall, had the max possible strength, and was a one man reaper, The other players plotted on how to get rid of Kothar, before finally getting a medusa head, and placing it in his clothes cupboard so that when he opened it he was turned to stone.

Then to prevent him from being resurrected they also rules lawyered, and told him the Odin and his Valkyries had taken his Character to Valhalla since he was so tough and mean. In the mean time, they broke up the now petrified Kothar, ground it into dust, put it in sacks, and spread the dust over trails and in the sea so that his body could never be re-assembled. The player was livid, so he rolled up a character who was a were rat in order to kill the rest of the party. The removed that character as well in the first 20 minutes of the game. His Necromancer lasted a little longer, but not much. He never really got the hint.

Rule Lawyer Kryptonite = Lawyering Rules against the Rule Lawyers by the other Players.

I like how the other Players handled the problem properly through their Characters (more than once...), but am saddened that Kothars Player didn't get the hint.

Great story!

 

[Murph]

In one epic adventure, the PC's were transported to the Temple of Set, and our rules lawyer dragged me off for a 5 minute conference how he was going to pain blast the players, and then sacrifice them to Set, and claim power. He did, two players made their save and proceeded to obliterate his character, and he went on a tantrum that it was "my fault" that the other players knew what was going on. Two players explained, that HE was the one who dragged me off for a closed door event, it was pretty obvious. That was the last time he played in any of the games.

C&S was one of those systems, that we liked, more or less, but looking back it was practically unplayable. You should get at least 6 hours of college credit for learning the magic system. A basic combat took a hour or so to resolve. The temper tantrum when Kothar was "stoned" was epic, just epic. The players spent weeks coming up with the perfect way to get rid of him. Another player who was playing a high level Necromancer wanted to turn Kothar into a zombie, who went around cleaning the toilets in his underground keep. His favorite phrase was "You are pissing me off, do you WANT to be a zombie?" He actually did it to another player's obnoxious character, and had the now zombified corpse clean toilets using his head as a toilet brush. He and the others had spent two years working up to pretty high level characters so they were all no one to mess with in the game.

He was one of the original Herpes Brothers.

 

[Murph]

127-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway

A spokesman for the Ministry of Science and Technology has issued a statement correcting the earlier statement, which corrected the previous statement. We are being told that:

At the Ministry, we are of course, dedicated to completely truthful and honest discourse with the media. At no time, should it be thought, that we had intended to promulgate any falsehoods, or statements which were intended to mislead the public regarding the regrettable incident on Red Dirt.

We at the Ministry, after having been given, the exceptionally wise counsel of the Prime Minister would like to report that several members of the Ministries staff have elected to seek other employment at this time. It is not through any other desire than to broaden their horizons, and this should not be construed as anything other than a normal and routine personnel turn over. Rumors that the Permanent Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, the Director of Alien Artifacts, and Alien Investigation team #21 were fired, are a complete misrepresentation of the true facts and circumstances around this matter.

We at the Ministry want to assure the people of the Gateway Federation that, at no time, was there any authorization, funding, or approval for the Alien tech to be dug up, and experimented with by anyone associated with the Ministry. The group which did this act was acting beyond their remit, and without the permission or knowledge of the Ministry, which would have, naturally, in light of the exceptionally dangerous nature of the Alien tech, have issued a stop order.

But since they are all deceased at this time, those researchers cannot answer the questions, which rightfully so, the members of the public have a completely justifiable right to receive answers for, but we can assure you that no Alien tech remains, and so the safety of the Gateway Federation is assured. The Prime Minister has expressed himself very clearly, so that to ensure that things as thing never occur again, he has with extreme regret accepted the Minister's decision, in light of the stress of the position, his desire to spend more time with his family. The Prime Minister wanted to assure all the citizens that this resignation is in no way related to this incident, and wants to assure everyone that his old and dear friend and ally in the party the very best in his well earned, and justifiable retirement.

The Prime Minister has appointed Dr. Steven Storm-Devins as the new Minister of Science and Technology with a remit to look into this incident. We at the Ministry want to assure everyone that in light of the incident that several personnel changes were being made, and safety protocols re-visited to ensure that any Alien technology is handled in a safe, professional manner consistent with law, scientific orthodoxy, and a view towards ensuring that no one ever gets harmed.

She then told us that she is being re-assigned to the Research Station on New Atlantis where she will have the new and exciting job of counting fish, all in the name of science!.

 

[Grav_Moped]

The directors of the firm hired to continue the official response after the other people had been sacked, wish it to be known that they have just been sacked. The official response has been completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute.