Deepspace Diary – Volume I, Number 2
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
-- from a recovered DSS labeled "Country Joe McDonald"
Well, we're not fighting about FlashFires any more . . . for now. Slowly but surely, FlashFires stocks are building at the faction station (special kudos to the Quants who have nicely supplied all of their stations). And the whole think kind of ended in mystery. Just days before the end of the ISU embargo, Ridgeway told me: . . . our current goal is to shut down the Aman/TRI Cesium refineries and relay it to space-based mining companies, which we will be able to verify has happened once damage assessments on Amananth roll in. This does not mean our involvement in Amananth will immediately end - we're currently considering making it a long-term protectorate of the Union, until TRI rests its claim to the area and Aman is truly left to govern itself if it so wishes. Who knows what political subterfuge and skulduggery went into this one.
Meanwhile, TRI Marshals have taken a new turn. They've decided to help Hyperial! (Some people never learn.) Now ISU, who had been helping Hyperial, has decided to blockade Hyp space to stop TRI Marshals' FM supplies from getting in (need a blockade? . . . maybe a full-fledged embargo? . . . call ISU, your commerce interruption specialists TODAY!). Last word was that after two convoys the score is ISU 1, TRI Marshals 1. The real question is will the previously pro-Hyp Octs support the TRI Marshals' effort? Will the Quants help ISU stop TRI Marshals (gulp!) or will they help TM, this supporting the Hyp Faction Mission (gag!). And with the recent defections of several former SoLiCiDaL to PODS, what will the new political landscape look like?
Eternal Legacy has claimed to have discovered a new type of Conflux while on routine patrol in The Dark. It was described as " relatively slow . . ." and "mostly silver or gray, with pink streaks." What I want to know is whether the reporting pilot, Scatter, was drug-tested after his flight. First Antikas' creation, Kingmonkey, has a personal contact with Hamalzah (see story titled THE EPIPHANY on JOSSH . . . now one of his pilots sees flying Orbs. What, exactly, is going on over at Eternal Legacy?
And the good news continues . . . 33 new recruits from 103.8.24 through 103.8.30. At this rate space could get crowded soon. What a nice thought.
