Frontier News Issue 36

  Alliance/Federation relations entered a new chapter this week as President Paul Winters arrived for his historic visit - the first visit to the Alliance by a Federation president. The President arrived at Edinburgh, Turner's World (Alioth) earlier today.

  President Winters was met by the Alliance president, Margaret Stonecipher, at Edinburgh spaceport. Winters arrived in Navy One, the Federation's presidential transport. After disembarking, the two presidents shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, before being taken in Stonecipher's private shuttle to Alliance Central on Edinburgh's Parliament Boulevard. The leaders emerged some hours later, after which President Stonecipher took President Winters on a personally guided tour of the Alliance's capital city. The weather cooperated, Alioth shining brightly in the sky and pleasant temperatures of 19 Celcius.

  The agenda has been kept a closely guarded secret so far, but it is widely expected that the return of the FSS Francis to the Federation will be one of the hot topics - the Federation capital vessel was captured after opening fire on the AJN Ajax during the Phekda crisis earlier this year. The Federation maintains that this was a mistake, the crew of the Francis not receiving communications that Phekda had joined the Alliance a week earlier. It is also expected that the issues of military fuel production in Phekda will be discussed (although it is likely that President Stonecipher will tell President Winters that he must talk to the Phekdans directly on this issue, since it is out of the jurisdiction of central government).

  Traders have expressed the hope that the talks will lead to better trading links with the Federation. Keith Dvorak, the head of the Alioth Merchant's Guild told the News, "The two leaders must take the opportunity to reduce import tarrifs between the Alliance and Federation. Both entities absolutely rely on a good trading relationship, and it's advantageous if the mutual links are strengthened."

  The Presidential visit will also be including a tour of AAAI's facilities at New Rossyth, and the Alliance Joint Navy academy at Dublin Citadel, Gateway. Other fixtures have not yet been revealed for security reasons.

Sirius Corp. crushes rebels

VLA attacks Empire

  This week sees two Empires under attack. The most significant is against a commercial empire - the Sirius Corporation. A band of traders, Sirius Corp. employees and independents, lead by the miner, Cdr. Thanase declared the Sirius-owned Megrez system independent, and forcefully evicted their employer. The Sirius Corporation was swift to strike back, and its independent police force quickly and brutally supressed the rebels' bid for independence.

  The attack has caused much controversy. Firstly, Cdr. Thanase blasted the Alliance for not coming to his group's aid. Secondly, both the Alliance and Federation quickly condemned Sirius's brutal supression of the rebels, both powers citing "the use of unnecessary force". Phekdan members of the Alliance Parliament have called a debate next week on what sanctions should be levelled at Sirius Corp. operations to punish the company for its actions. Ken James (RDm, Phekda region 6) told the News, "We are very disturbed by the way the Sirius Corporation evicted those people. Whilst it is true that Cdr. Thanase's people were committing a criminal act, Sirius used unwarranted force. Quite frankly, we are very disturbed by this since we don't want Sirius's private army in Phekda if there is an industrial dispute. We will have to carefully consider whether the Sirius Corp. should be licensed to produce military fuel in our space in the light of this incident."

  The Sirius Corporation issued a press release saying, "Assets in the Megrez system are the sole property of the Sirius Corp. The rebels were committing a criminal act of grand theft. We were quite within our rights to use force to drive the thieves out of our property - much as any Commander would use force to drive a thief from their spacecraft."

  Aleksandr Primakov, the AJN press liason, issued a statement rebutting the rebels' criticism of the AIS. "We are not the galaxy's policeman. Firstly, we have no jurisdiction in the Megrez system. Secondly, our forces are to protect AIS members, and are already fully committed. Thirdly, under galactic treaties, the rebels were committing a criminal act of theft. We strongly condemn Sirius Corp's heavy-handed tactics in dealing with this problem - they did use unreasonable force - but notwithstanding, it is within their rights to defend and reclaim their own property. Cdr. Thanase's comparison of Phekda to Megrez is disingenious: Megrez was settled and developed by the Sirius Corp. and is not an Alliance member. Phekda was an Alliance member when the Federation and Empire attacked, and was entitled to a strong defence by the AJN."

  It wasn't only the Sirius Corporation that had troubles over the last week. Sketcy reports from Imperial space indicate that the Empire has once again cracked down on the Vequess Liberation Army (VLA). The VLA had taken control of Dickens Base in the Vequess system, and were mercilessly driven away by a powerful attack by the Empire. Independent reports suggest that most of the VLA managed to escape before the Imperial forces re-took the base. A spokesbeing for the Emperor's Court said, "The VLA are a terrorist force who will not be tolerated. They have no regard for the Glorious Empire's subjects. They are trying to harm the average working person, and we cannot allow that to continue."

Fed.network news issue 3

  The Federation announced that all permits to the Ross 128 had been revoked, and that "non-essential personnel" living within the borders of the prison colony were to be relocated with immediate effect. It was also announced that a new bio-research centre was to be set up in the system "where it would be away from other inhabited worlds."

  Although the move is common knowledge, secrecy of the actual details remains tight. The Federation has drafted one of its capital fleet vessels for the relocation effort, and is also going to the unusual move of towing a Dodec station into orbit instead of constructing the starport in-situ, as normal practise dictates.

  There have been numerous reports of the local (non-prisoner) population strongly resisting the move - at the moment, peacefully. The assertion by Jefferson Whitehouse, the Federation spokesbeing, "It's for the best - who wants to live next to a prison colony?" only served to irritate locals further. Nancy Tryst, a resident of Ross 128 for nearly twenty years said, "It's home to me. The prison is very secure and we've had no problems. Ross 128 is out of the mainstream, and I want to stay. Who is Whitehouse to tell me that it's better for me not to live here?"

  Amnesty Interstellar has also voiced a lot of concern over the Federation's actions. Jack Walsea of AI told the News, "What is especially concerning is that they are moving a medical research facility to Ross 128. What guarantees can they give us that they are not going to conduct experiments on sentients who are interred there? We have sent a deputation to the Federal government to ensure our sentient rights auditors have the freedom to conduct surprise audits to ensure the Federation is complying with their own sentient-rights legislation".

Space Psychosis

  The Baxter Medical Institute at Soholia this week reported that there had been a "marked increase" in space madness over the last decade. Space madness, a relatively mild but somewhat disturbing mental condition has been attributed to long duration space missions usually carried out by one person. Isolation causes mental problems for the sufferer - however, the symptoms are usually quite mild. Symptoms range from slight nervous tics to outright eccentricity, and strange (often humourous to the observer) reactions.

   Space madness is occasionally seen in people who are part of a larger crew, but it is most common in the lone-wolf trader. It is the colloquial term for what psychologists call contact deprivation eccentricity. It is thought that the contact deprivation eventually causes chemical imbalances in the brain that leads the sufferer to behave as if they were moderately drunk. The condition is effectively controlled by prescription medicines, popularly known as "anti-space madness pills", which come in a vareity of flavours. The BMI reports that "barbecue Thargoid" is currently the most popular, despite its non politically correct name. It's doubtful that they taste of actual Thargoids.

  However, the BMI also reported that levels of the far more serious space psychosis have not increased. Space psychosis still remains a serious issue amongst combateers and those who trade in the more dangerous systems, where the continuous stress combined with limited outside contact causes the sufferer to suddenly snap, often very destructively. Space psychosis requires far stronger therapy than anti-SMS pills, and often sufferers destroy themselves before therapy can be administered. "Space psychosis is a very sad and rather violent condition," said Dr. Tammy Holdstock. "If one of your crew starts showing the symptoms - usually strange behaviour and paranoia - it is important that you sedate and restrain them in a safe place until treatment can be sought. Modern medicine can treat the condition very effectively so long as we get a live patient. Obviously, space psychosis is far more dangerous to the lone-wolf combateer who does not have a crew to keep a watchful eye on their mental state"

Price of Elite

Elite - The New Kind

The Quiz

Mir and The Mycoid Attack

  This week has been rather quiet around the web, but there have been some updates. First off, Simon Challands has Chapter 3 of "The Price of Elite" online. What will be done about the Elite pendant...and what trouble will it cause?

  Christian Pinder has been busy updating Elite: The New Kind. If you haven't checked it out - do so now! Christian is re-engineering the original Elite - his version is portable, running on many operating systems and architectures (including Linux).

  The Frontier News' Fiendishly Difficult Quiz has been updated. Somebody DID win this time - Mark Allinson hit the answer right on the head for September's answer. I got emails from several people who DID kick themselves after going down totally the wrong route! This month's question is ready and waiting to be answered...see the Quiz Page.

  Finally, Slashdot has an interesting article on Mir: it is infected with a fungus that is literally eating the Russian space station - just like the Thargoids had problems with the Mycoid infection! The fungus apparently attacks and degrades plastics. That might be the least of its worries, as it may be de-orbited totally out of control (and that means it could hit a major population centre) unless money can be raised to either de-orbit it properly or keep it in orbit (the station is in low orbit, and experiences some atmospheric drag). The Slashdot article has links to the fungus and de-orbit articles, plus interesting discussion. (One responder questioned the interesting choice of words - "de-orbit" - "A plane was de-flighted today, causing the de-functioning of over 100 passengers"...)