Armada Scrambles to Intercept Rogue Cab

"I totally saw the Armada shooting from Terminus today... They blew up that guy's car like right there."
-Erica Sandal

Few would question the Armada's protective envelope around Venus these days, but we can easily forget that the lion lives at home too. Today a rarely witnessed fleet action was seen right on our doorstep here at Terminus. A speeding BlackCab was detected at 03:34 GMT on an unfiled flight plan towards Earth. It did not respond to Terminus flight control messages or Armada warning shots. At 04:00, the SkyCar and an unknown number of crew were shot down as they entered Terminus airspace. Terminus Sweepers were dispatched to deal with a large amount of debris. An estimate of fatalities is expected within the week. Any information about this incident will be rewarded ¢150 via the Solon anonymous tip line.
This is Tomo McKnight, ENN Terminus Station

Vanguard Induction Ceremonies to be Held Despite Dust Storms.

17:34 EDT Camp Thermidor, Mars.

The Polemarch declared late monday morning that Legion "Hotel" Vanguard induction ceremonies will not be delayed despite the worst spring Dust Storm since the founding of the Camp Thermidor in 2021. Weather and Rad alerts have plagued settlements all over Mars due to numerous S4 solar events over the last 65 sols. Power and information blackouts are common during this high energy solar events, but the hardy Martians have yet to see a global GDP loss. Regionally, things are not so rosy. Both polar mines have been under lockdown for nearly an entire martian year. No information is known about their situation, but an aide from the Office of Martian Affairs in the EGS maintains that the official position is that

"Conditions are nominal, and no further speculation will be entertained."

Untitled Text

If you're getting this message, then can i hav ur bandwidth? The denial of service attack that started two weeks ago is only now starting to clear in the biggest networks. Been raking the spam out of my inbox for a week now. Despite essential services coming back online a few hours after the "accident," vid channels and friend location networks are STILL DOWN!!

Come clean, EGS, the so called "asteroid strike" was no doubt actually a new weapon test by the Monzonz that backfired. My friend Ersatz says he SAW a monzon on a strecher out in storage six and I heard on Cband that dozens of fresh launchies were lost in the decompression because they weren't wearing their ulsters. And if you think that this choad-load Mummer spam and the endless twisted spools of santo ASTAN(boooring) were uploaded by a bunch of homeless religious infectoids...
WAKE UP!!

It is obviously a clever false flag operation by Solonz to obfuscate the fact that the Terminus network infrastructure is overloaded and out of date. They'll never silence the voices of the exiles! Yo buy my new single featuring MelTz and Celeria Cambrian!! and check out my new +++GiggaD+++ megadose vitamin supplements!!

Shreeker Screed, Unet Terminus Station

Contamination Scare Snarls Traffic at Terminus

Late friday night a stationwide DCon was issued on Terminus Station.  The alarm was triggered by an asteroid strike on Storage Six, a supply depot that integrated two and a half years ago.  DCon teams were quick on the scene to rescue a BlackCab that had been passing through the interconnect at the time.  Early reports from terminus locals said there were injuries on the scene and a broken bulkhead, but DCon has not issued a statement about contamination or the status of the injured people, only that station service is to be restored to Storage Six by the end of the week.  Traffic attempting the counterspin loop has been authorized to detour through Residential 6-5.
This is Tomo McKnight, ENN from Terminus Station

Shadowleague ZG Vandals Ejected from EGS

In a startling early morning raid on ZG Arc8 colo in El Segundo, CA, USA a Shadowleague cell was identified and EGS issued Exile notice to all relations of the three online participants and thirty five recorded past users.   No further arrests are expected said the El Segundo Solon Captain Richard Dega, "These kids aren't talking and this type of cell is hard to crack, but we have our best Freakers tearing down the server and they can't hide their tracks from us."
Onivia Watts, ENN USA

100 Years in the Future . . .

Exactly one hundred years in the future...

The planet Earth, orbital stations, and penal colony of Luna are dominated by the tyrannical Earth Gravity Sphere. All who defy the EGS' rule, even the young, are exiled to the far reaches of the solar system - the frontier known as the GRANGE. Though separated by millions of miles of space, EXILE and CITIZEN come together to clash in the wildly popular Z-G tournaments. Who will win at Dark Side Station and lead the exiles to freedom?

One hundred years in the future, the tyrannical Earth Gravity Sphere dominates the planet Earth, the penal colony of Luna, and the Orbital stations. They don’t want you anymore. Earth is too full of people for anyone to get a second chance, no matter how young, no matter how small the crime. Neither wealth, nor privilege, nor merit will save you. Your homeworld is not your home anymore. You are outcast, an Exile. And you may never, ever return to Earth.

Yet along with this bitter punishment comes the call to adventure. The whole of the Solar System is open to you now, and with danger comes possibility. The Grange is not kind to neonates; there are myriad perils to face. But with survival comes power. Out here in the darkness of space, a person can achieve greatness. No dream is too great to fill the cosmic void. Recently, in the shadow of mighty Saturn, these Exiles have given birth to a new sport, a new passion, a new form of the ancient and terrible art of war. There is no law out here other than that of the gun. “Krewes” of well-armed zGladiators battle one another for control and dominance. Too brash to know fear, with reflexes fast enough to adapt to the newest technologies, it is the young who fight. Earth still has a mighty pull, and its fascination with the spectacle provides the victors with a rich bounty of spoils – war has become a ratings game, and lucre is the reward. These young warriors have become heroes in a game of power and politics that could well alter the fate of the human race itself. The Exiles fight for their freedom, and the freedom of the whole human race! Gearing up with the latest weapons, armor, and equipment, the Exiles take their struggle to the Z-G arenas, where only the skillful and lucky rise to the top.

And all you can think about is surviving your next battle . . .

RIOT ON PC 47

Broadcasting in all media from the Asteroid 47 Penal Colony, famed Thesper Marlo Candide documented a shocking struggle between feuding Exile gangs. Arming themselves with gear from the zMarshal's personal armory, two terrifying rival krewes, the RS Komets and BC-47, went at each other with everything they had. The entire asteroid served as a makeshift war zone for these twisted freaks as they lit up the void of space with their crossfire. In the end, BC-47 dominated the field after forcing the Komets to attempt a desperate flameout!

The Card Story

The Technology of Z-G freed us from gravity and ushered us into space. It also gave us the game. Which became our obsession…

"He's coming to - we've got him this time. Open those eyes, BREATHE. You can do it now." Zak slowly rises from a mist-filled cryogenic chamber. Hands wipe the film from his face, and he looks up dizzily.

"Where am I?"
"This is a Sleeper clinic, a hospital. You are cured. But you've been under a long time…"
"How long have I been out? Where's my sister?"
"You've been asleep a long, long time; nearly 100 years. You died twice, so your revival required almost a year of reconditioning. You're lucky to be alive at all."
"But my sister? She was sick too, she…"
"Zak, she is the reason we woke you. Lodetek, holographic computers, gave us sentient helpers, creating the Neutopia. But with them arose new questions of humanity and morality."

Zak drifted away into sleep again. When he awoke, an intense young man sat rigidly next to his bed.

"Well, you're finally up. Excellent! My name is Ice. I'm your legal guardian in this brave new world. You're a curiosity, you know - the only Sleeper who was actually born in the last millennium. The reporters are clamoring for interviews. Things are very different from when you were last around. But let me explain why I am here. We are looking for someone accused of crimes against humanity. Sedition, illegal cloning, creation of Lodes without internal constraint logic. A member of a criminal secret society, but with the talents of a Promethean. The inventor of the Lode, and so the creator of a new age. And with a unique connection to you…
"So let me make this very clear. If you ever want to see your sister again, you'll do exactly what I say and help me find my quarry."

Rush Hour Crash

“If I can’t win, at least I’m going to make sure the other guy loses. And that’s as true out of the Z-G Arena as in.”

— Barnibus Bailey, Commissioner of the ZGXL

neu New York, 7:18 a.m. EST August 8th, 2101
A 41-year-old businessman died last night after the skycar in which he was traveling from his home in Orbit to his work in New York City below collided with another Skycar on its way up. Authorities believe that the driver of a Ford Orbit Ranger vehicle had overrided the Artifex and taken over the controls himself. He was traveling in the wrong lane, was ignoring all commands of the Armada traffic interdiction officers, and zoomed past the first watch point without authorization. After the two vehicles crashed, the man’s Skycar fell 12 miles into the Atlantic Ocean.

While they could not stop the freefall, Rescue officials were on the scene when the car entered the water and were able to prevent it from submerging. However the driver was already dead (and is expected to have at least 1 year of reconditioning). They confirm that a man was discovered in the car.

Police say that another man was taken to NYU Hospital and was hospitalized overnight. Investigators are trying to determine who was driving at the time of the accident and what might have caused the fatal crash.

“Its getting crazy out there. At morning rush hour it looks like it’s raining there are so many ships coming down from orbit. They’ve got to do something to stop this mayhem. All these suburbanites are clouding up the sky!”

says Linker personality, Von Diego.
< End Transmission >

Space Rat Infestation Discovered in Lunar Orbit

“Those with free seats are the first to throw rotten fruit.”

— Barnibus Bailey, Hero of the Grange Wars

Disaster ships have been a NEWS OF THE GRANGE theme for a long time, but what about Garbage ships? Out in lunar orbit a long time married couple (both well-paid Consortium Proxies) were ordered out of their threemodule ship by the Armada because of the mess. Trash was so heavy that walls had separated from ceilings; Artifex cleanup crews had to cut their way through at some places to get to some of the garbage; feral cats and rats (a nest in one airlock, propped open no less, where one rodent weighing nearly 3 pounds) ran wild. As she witnessed the cleanup, the wife moaned that she was losing “everything that was precious to me.” One Armada officer mentioned off the record that increasing numbers of gravity humpers were coming into space with absolutely no idea of what they were doing.
< End Transmission >

neuTOPIA 2101AD

“We are too rich to struggle, too bored to care, too haunted to dare again. Your struggles, Exile, are our struggles, the virulent reverse image of our entertainment. Both our heroes and villians, you conquer the distant night. The Grange is desolate, but never lonely. We are always with you . . . Can I pay to watch you dream?"

The Hegemony: Another 10 Years?

“Battle is not for either the brave or the foolhardy, it is for those who are brave enough to become foolhardy.”

— Barnabas Bailey, Commissioner of the ZGXL

The ‘Special Period’ laws may be continued for another 10 Years, announced the EGS Senate today. The so-called Laws of Hegemony were passed soon after the founding of the EGS 15 years ago, the most radical of which where intended to lapse at the end of this year. Growing talk on the Capital Station Diadar has it that an extension of the ‘special laws’ might be necessary.

Senator Tralatane said yesterday in a speech to Graduating Cadets of the Armada Academy:

“We aren’t done with the job we started, we need more time to save earth’s environment from the depravations of the past. We need more time to solve the conflicts between nations and bring peace to the world. We need more time to solidify the defense of the EGS from radical and sinister forces in the Grange. The Special Period must continue. After all, we are the good guys here, it’s not like the EGS has ulterior motives. We are here, simply, to protect Earth. Is that such a bad thing? No one can forget what horrors and depravations exist in the Grange, from the nanotech Scourge to the bioplague of the Breeders.”

Meanwhile opposition politico, Derian Quimlick retorted:

“I don’t know who they are trying to fool, these Hegemons. Special Laws for our own protection? It’s not about safety, it’s about power. It’s not about the rule of law, it’s about the rule of force. It’s not about the environment, it’s about money. But the People of Earth bought into it last time so I suppose they will buy into it this time.”

Nationalists in the capitals of many countries, including the United States, protested yesterday in a worldwide rally against moves to extend the Hegemony Laws.
< End Transmission >

Dark Side Station

Never in human history has there been a more foul and distasteful collection of the dregs of humanity than Dark Side Station. Located in lagrange point two, the point to gravitational stability perpetually on the far side of the Moon, Dark Side Station has become a haven for those who wish to remain within the borders of the EGS, but free from its overt control and influence.

Lurking in its darkened corridors are Mavryks and hustlers, Cartel wiseguys and syndicate factors. No one rules Dark Side Station, its original founders having been scared off years ago. Periodically the Armada attempts to place a Viceroy and a garrison of troops on board, but somehow this never comes to pass. Most people speculate that those who control the illicit activities here must have friends in very high places.

The station itself is a huge mélange of ships, hubs, asteroids, and spare parts. Anyone and anything is allowed to attach onto any ship that gives its permission, and within certain clusters of ships it is said you can find nearly anything – perhaps even an old Gemini capsule or a hive of mummers. Always in danger of being torn apart by different gravitational forces, somehow the disparate individuals working toward their own ends manage to keep the amalgam of ships together. Despite Dark Side’s population of nearly 3 million, in the last ten years only 3 near-catastrophic events have occurred, and at such times only about 10% of the total mass of the station was lost due to tidal forces.

Dark Side Station is best known for one thing: the yearly Z-G tournament that takes place here, which in turn takes its name from the station. The final tournament of the ZGXL, the largest Z-G professional league, the Dark Side Tournament attracts over 8 billion viewers from all over the Solar System. The final game of the Dark Side Tournament typically demonstrates the cold, calculating treachery and violence that are such hallmarks of this remarkable place.

Luna

To humanity, the moon began as a goddess of the night, a loving sentinel of the sky, a haunting reflection of the brutal gaze of the sun. Later she became a siren, luring explorers, taunting them to leave gravity behind. Now, Luna has become a prison colony, a place where the resources for the ever-growing and always-ravenous orbital colonies can be found. And because few humans would agree to toil in the mines, even with the aid of Artifex, only prisoners and convicts, political or otherwise, will toil.

This latest history of Luna began during the Second Cold War, which started when China and the United States began a race to colonize this closest of all celestial bodies. The discovery of Z-G, anti-gravity technology, forever altered the fabric of society, as millions fled Earth for the Grange and many others plotted revolution on Earth. The only practical means of keeping the peace on Earth was to force the mass immigration of “malcontents” to the moon.

At first, Luna was advertised as a place of abundance, but quickly the facts become apparent on Earth. The moon was a dangerous and filthy world of tunnels and corridors. Food was bland and far from constant, death was forever at the door, and there were far, far more men than women. Fighting between convicts was the norm. It was here in the mines that the Cartel originated, and it was from the ranks of the trustees, the prisoners promoted to guards, that the first Corps of the Cestus Mercs arose. As the years went by, many of the convicts gained their freedom, but were not allowed back on Earth and were rejected admittance by the very selective Orbital colonies. Forced either to risk everything and venture to the Grange or to remain on the Moon, many chose the latter and began to create the unique Lunar culture so well known on Earth today.

They also became the first people to begin to view Z-G as a sport and to formalize duels into matches. Their pastime eventually become a system-wide obsession. Of course there are many discordant forces on this rocky orb, and while ostensibly a free and full member of the EGS, the complaints and resentment of the ’Loonies’ are legion. If revolution were to begin anywhere in the EGS, it would likely begin here.

Earth

Earth is the 3rd planet in the Sol System, the cradle of Humanity. Earth is the mother world, the locus of all culture and trade; still home of over half of humanity, and indeed the font of life itself. No other place in the Solar System has anything close to the panoramic diversity of natural wonders that Earth does. And that, indeed, is the problem. For thousands of years, human beings tore into Earth’s crust, cut down its forests, plowed over its jungles and plundered its oceans. Never since the great asteroid hit Earth and killed off the dinosaurs have so many species been extinguished.

Only after the close of the Second Cold War and the discovery of ZG technology did human beings begin to come to their senses and begin to restore Earth to her majesty. Since the formation of the EGS in 2090, things have come a long, long way. Two billion people have been relocated to orbit, and another billion have found their way to various parts of the Grange. Population growth has been reduced nearly to zero, and the rivers, forests, streams, and oceans have been slowly and painstakingly restored. The ugly scars of millions of miles of roads and highways have been removed, and whole swaths of countryside have been restored to their natural state.

It has taken some draconian laws to achieve these hard-fought environmental victories, and not all agree that protecting the source of life is as important as protecting the self-interest of humans. The Zero Tolerance Laws are an especially egregious and hated set of regulations. The slightest infraction of a population, environmental, or human welfare Zero Tolerance Law and you can be Exiled from Earth forever. In this manner a huge number of Earth denizens have had their citizenship revoked and been cast into the Grange. None of this, good or bad, would be possible without the EGS, the Earth Gravity Sphere Government. Formed in the wake of the first Grange War (during which Earth suffered a strike from a intentionally diverted asteroid), the EGS finally united Earth’s governments to found the Armada and protect Earth from Grange forces.

Terminus Station

Terminus is the largest Waystation in the solar system, and currently has a population of over 20 million people. It began as simply a series of military supply and support ships around the “T1 Space Gun”, and has grown into an enormous Orb and Wheel, the veritable center of system wide trade.

The true center of Terminus is the Space Gun, one of only two that currently exist. Capable of shooting ships at near light speeds to any moon size or larger mass in the system (which then use that objects gravitation force to slow down) it was designed by the Armada as the premier line of defense for earth. Consisting of 7 concentric rings that are nearly 1000 meters in diameter, it uses control of gravitational forces to sling nearly any object at high fractions of light speed in nearly any direction. This makes the Gun a very dangerous weapon, and accordingly, the Armada defends it with all its might.

The space forces always have two squadrons of Iconnu Fighters stationed at Terminus for immediate launch through the space gun. These elite Armada ships are trained to intercept and then drag with them using huge magnetron generators any unknown or undocumented ship that is approaching the EGS. The station itself is has 7 battleships and over 10,000 troops stationed on it, such a massive collection of military might that it is impossible to imagine it being captured. Despite being so militarized, or perhaps because of it, Terminus is also a major center of trade.

Most of the ships that come to and from the Grange (especially the Asteroid Belt, where Terminus’s sister Waystation, Halfway is located) are shot through or captured by the T1 Space Gun. Thousands of ships pass through Terminus every day, and many of them stop for a quick drink, a fast deal, or to pay the EGS’s onerous taxes and duties.

Paranoia about the infiltration of nanovirii, bioplagues and other toxins into the EGS biosphere runs rampant on Terminus. Every ship that comes in from the Grange, whether shot in by the Gun at Halfway or coasting in under its own jets, must pass through quarantine at Terminus. This process consists of a high spectrum gamma ray bombardment of the ship, special disinfectant washes of the outside and inside of the ship, and cavity searches of all its crew and passengers. Many Grangers consider this to be intentional harassment and object vehemently, including diatribes against the short duration of their visas, 5 days. None are allowed on Earth itself, it would be considered to be too unclean by the fastidious EGS Citizens.

In every other way but biosecurity matters, the people of Terminus are notable for their open-mindedness, especially in comparison to Terrans on Earth. While they maintain a very good relationship with the Armada and the Vanguard (“after all, we are a military town”) they also consider themselves translators and intermediaries between Earth and the Grange. No matter what fashion or what passion, no matter where it hails, it is bound to have fans somewhere on Terminus. As a city based on trade, Terminus has no other choice but to welcome all creeds.

Umbilical
Connected to the Earth in the middle of the African continent, the Umbilical is an enormous 500-mile long, 1 mile diameter cylinder that connects Terminus to the Earth and enables energy efficient Z-G movement into and out of the Earth’s gravity well.