Predictably, the Empire retailiated for the Federation's attack on one of its forward military installations. Earlier this week, a small Imperial force attacked a weapons storage facility in the Eta Cassiopeia system. Due to the draconian restrictions on press freedom currently in place in the Eta Cassiopeia system, it is not known exactly what target was hit, nor the level of success the Imperial battle fleet achieved.
The attack was certainly a highly audacious stunt - instead of attacking a border base, the Empire risked being caught by Federal forces when it attacked deep inside Federation borders.
An Imperial spokesbeing said, "This will now set the balance straight. We did not start this agression, and we are making sure that the Federation knows it cannot attack Imperial interests with impunity". Nobody in the Federation was prepared to give any details to the Frontier News, but sources close to the Commander in Chief, based in the Sol system said, "The Empire was wholly unjustified. Our pre-emptive strike at the Imperial weapons stockpile was a defensive move - the Empire was going to use these weapons to launch an attack on the Federation".
The Imperial attack has brought a seemingly bizarre twist
to the situation. The Federation has accused the new Phekdan government, only
five weeks old, of aiding and abetting the Empire in its attack against
Eta Cassiopeia. The Federation has stated that the assistance given by
Phekda represented an act of war, and that it was within its rights
to annexe the system.
To add fuel to the fire, the Empire has sent an open message to the Phekdan Government promising protection from the Federation, and has said that the Imperial Seventh Protectorate is on its way.
The Phekdan government strenuously denies any involvement in the Imperial strike, and has asked the Empire to stay away. The AJN Intelligence Branch has issued a statement agreeing with the Phekda Government's position that they had no involvement. "We would have seen that little invasion fleet of the Empire's had it entered Phekda space", said an AJN representitive. The AJN believes that the Empire simply broke the formation up, the ships all taking different routes into Eta Cassiopeia, then forming up for the attack once in the system.
Frightened by the spectre of an Imperial invasion - or worse, facing the situation that Alioth was in during the 20's, when both the Federation and Empire fought continuously over control of the system, the new Phekdan government has asked for emergency entry into the Alliance. Normally, a system must meet Alliance requirements before joining, however there is an emergency membership rule where a system can join on probation whilst it gets itself in order. It is well known that the Empire lusts after a northern outpost, so it seems plausable that the Seventh Protectorate has been sent to "liberate" Phekda. It seems doubly suspicious since the Sirius Corporation has found that the system is ripe for producing large quantities of military fuel.
It is very likely that the emergency request to join the AIS has been granted already, although by our publishing deadline, official news still wasn't in. The Victor class starships, AJN Fearless and Sovereign have already left for the system, and several militia squadrons belonging to the Titican and Gateway systems have also been readied to depart for Phekda. As the News went to press, it was reported that two Valiant-class cruisers, Ajax and Repulse, were being readied for departure. The Victor class cruiser, AJN Ark Royal, is on standby.
"This is undoubtedly the most serious standoff that the Alliance
has ever been involved in", said Kim Tang, the MP for Ethwain region 3.
The commitment of several capitol ships for the region shows that the
Alliance will not sit idly by whilst Imperial and Federal colonialists
threaten the independence of a prospective Alliance member.
The Alliance Science Council has offered for competitive tender the opportunity to supply next-generation research vessels for deep space exploration. The goal is to surpass the current generation of ships, building unique research craft that are capable of spending over five years in deep space with a full crew complement. The difficulty with current craft smaller than long range cruisers or bulk carriers is that it is not feasable to keep the ship's systems maintained for more than about a year. Hyperdrives and prime-movers have many limited life parts that have to be changed, and most ships cannot carry the spares needed to sustain operation. This has largely restricted deep-space exploration to automatic probes.
The new craft will probably be slightly larger than a Panther Clipper, and fitted with custom hardware to carry research equipment. The choice of drive is almost certainly going to be a new AAAI design - AAAI have recently been testing a long-range drive that does not require military fuel, which bypasses the problems of using a long range cruiser as a research vessel. The inability to easily synthesise military fuel has severely curtailed manned exploration missions. Vic Dobbins, the Chief Science Officer said, "This size of ship allied with new technology hydrogen drives is ideal for our mission. We can carry enough spares and engineers to keep the ship healthy during a long mission, and refuel from gas giants, reducing the amount of fuel we have to take with us."
So far, at least three companies have started drawing up designs to fulfil the requirements of the ASC. Both AAAI of Alioth and Vosper Thorneycroft of Titican look like strong candidates in the competition to build the 12 exploration vessels that the ASC wants. Faulcon DeLacy looks like a potential surprise candidate - renowned for building fighters, but unknown for building large ships.
A Vosper Thorneycroft representitive told the News, "This is excellent news for the shipbuilding industry. We've just won the superstructure award for the AJN's new Victors - if we can win this one our future will be assured for many years."
As reported by the Frontier News in last week's edition, more good journals from the Frontier are being published. This week sees a new addition to Alioth.Net's store of Frontier journals. In "Into Deep Space", Josh Smith tells his account of his first frightening encounter with space psychosis.
Additionally, the Frontierverse carries four new chapters
of the story of Commander Wolfsheart as he investigates the strange
goings-on in Imperial space. Will war with the Federation be inevitable?
Find out by reading more of Brad Chacos' account of the events,
"Why Did The Groigan Dance?"
This is not all the Frontierverse is offering in the way of journals
this week. Additionally, several new chapters of Commander Cacti's
adventures at the turn of the 33rd Century are now online.
On a non-journal related note, but also at the Frontierverse, a short history of the Imperial armed forces has been published. It's worth reading as it gives an insight into the formation of a force that's deeply respected by the Federation and Alliance alike, even if we don't always like them.
Peace advocates are claiming total success in averting the latest Mizar/Alcor problem. A few weeks ago, it looked like war was likely between the two sparsely populated, but physically close systems, who were in an ever deepening and nasty argument about an alleged faulty battlecruiser. Louis J.M. of Mizar and Derek Smart of Alcor were threatening to go to war (albeit a small one) with each other. Smart was even threatening getting the Federation involved.
An interstellar peace group completely hijacked the argument with a spurious religious debate. Very rapidly, the religious debate took over and the two combatants and their supporters were quickly drawn into a largely benign argument between theists and atheists. This debate has now gone on for several weeks, with barely a snide remark between the would-be combatants in Mizar and Alcor. The religious debate is now finally starting to die down, and Smart hasn't been seen for over a week in alt.fan.elite.
The religious debate method of distraction was however a risky one. Often religious debate can erupt into a war between the two new sides, but fortunately, the application of Occam's Razor and Pascal's Wager kept both sides in debate rather than war. Most of the original combatants in the Louis/Smart fight soon drifted away out of boredom, which undoubtedly helped cool the situation between the two leaders.
So the latest health food scam is once again upon us. Advertisments in Random Intergalactic Gossip have once again been strewn with the latest "Lose Weight Pill". The fact that no one has successfully made a good weight loss drug despite over 1,300 years of research continually escapes those who want the easy way out of obesity.
Prominent physicians have warned the public against using the new so-called diet drug "Lose It Plus". Side effects such as flatulence and irregular heart rates have been reported by users of the drug, but unfortunately, weight loss has not been forthcoming. The drug claims that you can eat as much of the foods you like yet still lose weight, a claim that physicians are unanimous about being deceptive to the point of illegality.
Dr. Heinz Schwartz said "The only way of losing weight without cutting down on the foods you like is to take more exercise. It's always been this way. If you don't want to excercise much, you're just going to have to reduce the amount you eat - it's that simple". The only other alternative, of course, is to replace your body with cybernetics, but of course if you do that you no longer eat the foods you like, which rather defeats the object of the exercise.
Obtaining adequate exercise has always been a problem for those who spend nearly all their time in space. However, you can invest in a small gym system that will fit most craft from a Saker or larger. Doctors agree that this is a far better investment than any overpriced "magic dieting medicine". Turning up the gravity generation in your ship for a few hours at a time is also helpful.