The Government announced yesterday that the Federation president, Paul Winters, is going to make an official visit to the Alliance in three weeks time. The official visit is expected to cover at least Alioth and Gateway, and almost certainly Titican. It will include a mini-summit with the Alliance president, Margaret Stonecipher, on the security of the entire Ursa Majoris region.

  This is the first visit of a Federation president to the Alliance since its formation - the Federation administration has shunned the AIS since 3230. The announcement of the visit brought some vigorous debate in parliament, unsurprisingly from Phekdan members who all too recently saw the face of Federation agression.

  Julie Saracen (SocDem Phekda region 33) began the vigorous debate by demanding to know why the Government was allowing such a visit after "the calculated and dishonest assault on Phekda." She called for the visit to be turned down on these grounds, making a passionate argument that the Federation "were not to be trusted", especially in the light of comments made by Sam Redterk, a Federation presidential candidate. Margaret Stonecipher made a thoughtful reply. "The Presidential visit is what the Alliance needs. We can demonstrate to the Federation that we can be treated as partners, not enemies. We need to promote understanding, not fear, to ensure our mutual security."

  This somewhat calmed the nerves of Phekdan members, but there is still simmering discontent about the visit with the recent attempted invasion of the fledgling democracy so fresh in people's minds.

  Ted Bundy, the noted political commentator told the News, "It's not unexpected that this will annoy the Phekdans, but in the long run, Stonecipher is absolutely right. There's entirely too much posturing and not enough talking. The Federation and Alliance have a similar outlook when it comes to trade and freedoms, despite the propaganda that's put out - and the two should be completely compatible. It was undoubtedly difficult to arrange this visit - the fact that it's happening at all means that things will be better, regardless of the outcome of any summit."

  President Winters received strong criticism at home from Sam Redterk's Unity party. Redterk has already threatened to invade and take Phekda if his presidential campaign is successful. He accused Winters of "fraternizing with the enemy", and thereby threatening the Federation's security. "Look at the Alliance buildup. They accuse us of being agressors, but not until our citizens see AJN ships pouring across our borders, will Winters realise his folly".

  The Unity party have been desperately trying to shore up their support through the spread of fear, uncertainty and doubt. Fortunately for everyone, this has not been working and the party slipped a further two points in polls conducted last week.

Frontier News Issue 14

Disappearance of the AJN Lion

  The enigmatic LRA - or Liazeda Radio Anomaly - is back. This is the third recorded appearance of this object. The first one arrived in Liazeda (hence its name) and was responsible for the disappearance of the Alliance Science Council research ship, the Lion. That was in 3276. The second one appeared earlier this year, at a location that the ASC still is reluctant to disclose, for fears of INRA snooping. The third object just made a brief appearance - with a package clearly directed at our kind.

  The third LRA is much smaller than the previous two that were sighted. However, this one brought much more stunning news - three of the ASC's deep space probes which were transported with the LRA-2 were attached to it. It is probably not a coincidence that it suddenly appeared only 1 AU away from the Lion's sister ship, the Excelsior, a modified Valiant-class vessel.

  The Excelsior began picking up the LRA's strong radio voice, and immediately dispatched an Explorer to go on ahead and confirm what they were receiving. However, it seems that someone else had been listening, too. The Explorer was attacked by several small fighters, and was quite seriously damaged during the pitched battle that followed. One of the hostile ships was attempting to remove one of the probes that were attached to the new LRA's surface. After the battle, most of the small ships fled, and the Explorer could continue its task. The LRA released the probes as the Explorer drew near, and the ship collected the machines. The LRA immediately vanished once the probes were recovered.

  Amidst the excitement of getting the deep-space probes back so soon, there was understandable concern about the attacking ships. Sharon Peck, the commander of the Explorer told the News, "The attackers had no identification. They were also well equipped. Fortunately, our work means that the Explorer is very heavily shielded - but two crewmembers were injured and the ship was nearly destroyed in the attack. We are reviewing the ship's logs to try and identify the attackers. We are certain that it was not oppotunistic pirates".

  Undoubtedly, there is speculation that INRA was trying to grab the probes before the ASC had a chance - but at the moment, this is unsubstantiated. Meanwhile, Vic Dobbins, the ASC's chief science officer said, "We are very excited to get the probes back. Hopefully, they are packed with data that might reveal where the LRA comes from and also the fate of the Lion. This could be a discovery every bit as significant as the Thargoids and it is vitally important that we don't go off half-cocked and cause the same kind of trouble as we did when we first met the Thargoids."

  The fingerpointing has already begun after the Federation Canada-class starship, on manuvers in the vicinity of Beta Hydri, collided with an Imperial medium cruiser.

  The Federation ship was within space that is in Federal jurisdiction at the time of the collision. The ship, the FSS Ulysses, a Canada-class starship (roughly the size of the Alliance's Valiant-class) caught a glancing blow from the bow of the Imperial medium cruiser, the HMS Tempest. Despite the relatively low closing speeds, the collision did significant damage to both vessels due to the tremendous amount of momentum that ships of that size contain. No crew deaths have been reported since the collision damage is limited to the number 2 equipment deck of the Ulysses, and to the bow of the Tempest - both areas unoccupied at the time of the collision.

  A Federal Navy spokesbeing said in a press conference, "Both ships received substantial damage, but they broke free under their own power. The Imperial ship hyperspaced shortly after the accident, and the Ulysses returned to the Stevenson's Base orbital repair facility. A few crew members received minor injuries from the jolt that the collision caused."

  Federation authorities are said to be "seething" over the incident. The Imperial military ship was intruding on Federation territory at the time. Admiral Cybrywski has reportedly demanded an "urgent explanation" from his Imperial counterpart over the incident. The President of the Federation, Paul Winters, has personally sent a similar communique to the Emperor's court, asking for an explanation for the apparent territorial violation. Commander Raqoon, Eta Cassiopeia's naval commander was not so diplomatic. "The Empire are obviously up to monkey business again," he said in a statement made to the Federal Times.

  Furthermore, it is not known why both ships apparently failed to see each other. "It's not exactly as if either is small or hard to see, and they can hardly hide from each other's scanners with their size and mass," said Joreb Peters of the Federal Naval Advisory Board. There has been some speculation that the Imperial ship deliberately rammed the Ulysses, but this has largely been dismissed. "It really does look like neither ship saw each other until the moment of collision," Peters added.

  Federation Naval investigators are examining the ship's FDR for further clues on why the collision happened, and to try and find out how long the Imperial ship had been lurking in Federation space.

Frontier News Issue 32

  The Federation has decided it needs a rival to the Frontier News. The FDC recently granted the Federal Broadcasting Administration the authority to broadcast Federation news beyond the borders. It seems that we don't need to look far to see what prompted the Federation to allow the state news agency to begin extra-Federation broadcasts.

  A spokesbeing for the BCCC (Board of Civilian and Commercial Communications) said, "There has been plenty of misrepresentation recently by other news agencies outside Federal boundaries, and the FDC and FBCC agreed we needed the ability to report accurately on these affairs."

  The Frontier News, an independent news service and bastion of free speech and journalistic integrity can only wonder who has been misrepresenting what with regard to the Federation. There have been some hints that the Federation weren't very happy with independent reports on the Phekda crisis earlier this year - but it remains to be seen if this is the reason.

  In other news from our southerly neighbours, Sam Redterk's Unity party, which has been making threatening noises at the AIS and Phekda in particular, has been hit hard in recent opinion polls. It appears that Redterk's earlier comments have split the Unity party, bringing the wrath of his own party's administration upon him. "That is the best news I've heard all week," said Raul Schwarzkopf, the MP for Phekda region 16. "We were initially fearing the worst, but it looks like Redterk underestimated the Federation public's negative reaction to agressive gestures," he added.

The Price of Elite

The Search For BeBeCe

Marcan Rayger

Mufossa's Elite Site

FNBS

  Simon Challands is at it again! Hot on the heels of Aftermath's finish is the first chapter of a new story, "The Price of Elite". Once again, based in the 'classic' Elite universe, the story begins to unfold in a desert of some un-named system. Simon has also been on the Hunt for BeBeCe (i.e. where the Elite Bar is). Bee-Team's inspiration for the swampy marshes in which the Bar is situated is actually described in the Elite Bar's LFAQ (Less Frequently Asked Questions), so Cdr. Challands just had to find out. Apparently, it's somewhere in the Lake District in England.

  Marko Lehtinen has put online Chapter 10 of the Marcan Rayger story. This story - or novel - is now over 110,000 words long, so it really does qualify as a full-length FEU-novel! In the final chapter of Part 3, Polydeuces has been found...but what will happen when the two ships come into contact? Apparently...there's money in the offing, but we'll see.

  Also, Matt Fossa's website has moved. Tired of Xoom, Mufossa has taken residence on the AliothNet server. Update your bookmarks, and if you haven't checked it out already, check out "Pritchard on the Frontier" and the "Memoirs of a Rockjack".

  Finally, Kris Kania has announced that the FNBS is going to get a new design in a week or two. Go to the FNBS to catch the current design. He's also said lots of nice things about Alioth.Net, so show your appreciation ;-)