The brewing crisis in Phekda showed little sign of turning
around throughout the last week. The Federation continued to make unfounded
accusations against the Alliance, alleging that Phekda was an accessory
to the recent Imperial raid on Eta Cassiopeia (see Issue 5). Federation
forces refused to leave Phekda, and now the AJN is acting on its orders
to destroy or capture any unauthorised Federal military vessel on sight.
There were
several skirmishes over the last week. Fortunately, no more Federation
capitol ships have entered the system, but both the AJN Ark Royal, which
arrived in Phekda earlier in the week, and the AJN Fearless have both
captured several Federation ships. Fortunately, the Federation
commanders saw fit
to surrender rather than risk a fight. There have also been several
pitched battles between independent bounty hunters and Federation ships -
and although it is believed casualties are light, one particularly well
moneyed bounty hunter has been claiming successful kills from his
Courier.
A diplomatic team arrived at Sol earlier in the week, and is hoping to persuade the Federation forces to withdraw. The Alliance does not particularly want to have a war on its hands - trade links with Federation systems are vital to the economy, and war in general is extremely wasteful. Phekda has had its fair share of wars and should be left alone.
Meanwhile, the majority of the Imperial Seventh Protectorate left the system. It appears that at least the Empire does not want to antagonise AJN commanders right now, and the diplomatic team who were assigned to negotiate with the Emperor believe they have been successful in averting a dangerous three way free-for-all from erupting.
James Winston, the commander of the Turner Space Combat Academy and a respected senior member of the AJN told the News, "We are now treading a very fine line between war and peace, but we absolutely must not let the Federation bully the Alliance into giving up protection for one of its members. To do so would be dishonorable and would go against everything the Alliance stands for."
Alioth.Net last week became the newest mirror for Anti-Matter Productions' Millennium 3: Futures End. M3 is inspired by the Elite series, and is a freeware effort written by the group, based in the UK (Earth, Sol). M3 is so far a very impressive effort, and the latest release is alpha 4.02. The physics model is implemented, and the program takes advantage of the latest video hardware. Many of the objects are rendered in extreme detail.
The "News" recommends that all Elite fans check out Millennium 3, and provide useful feedback to the authors. More is being added on a time-available basis, and the program is turning into a fully fledged game.
Anti-Matter currently has five members: Paul Roberts (Project Lead/game design), James Hunt (Game Design, Plot, Ship Design), Josh Barton (Lead Ship/Station designer), Simon Wall and Sam Barton (additional material). Henry Segerman has provided guidance in the science/ mathematics fields, and Louis JM of Mizar has provided creative input for ship designs. Paul Roberts and James Hunt regularly appear on the IRC channel #alt.fan.elite on irc.vapo.net - join in, typically around 2300 GMT to meet the authors as well as other Commanders from alt.fan.elite.
As reported by last week's Frontier News, one of the Excelsior's deep space probes touched down on the surface of LRA-2 (Liazeda Radio Anomaly). The probe has spent the last few days deploying its science packages, and doing non-destructive analysis of the object.
Radar echoings have given away some of the secrets of the object's interior. There is a complex structure inside the spherical object, obviously developed by intelligent beings. It is not yet known what the structures do, but several echo returns indicate that there are as yet unknown devices within the object. The current speculation is that these form part of some kind of non-hyperspace transportation device.
The most puzzling find so far has been that of an incredibly dense object at the LRA's core. The probe's instruments have shown that this object is responsible for almost all of the LRA's gravitational pull. This object is estimated to be no more than a few cubic centimeters in volume.
Next week, scientists plan to attempt some experiments to find out what exactly caused the first LRA to disappear along with the AJN Lion. Attempts will be made to retransmit the precise signal that the Lion was transmitting at the time. The Lion's science team were just in the process of instructing the two support ships on what to do next with the probes when it disappeared. There has been much speculation, but the most solid theory so far has been that some attribute of the communications between the Lion and its support ships triggered the LRA to respond. If the LRA-2 turns out to be a transport device, it will hopefully carry the deep space probes with it. The probes will then perform an automatic exploration of their destination before attempting to find and return to populated space. The probes are equipped with a compact long range hyperdrive powered by hydrogen fuel. They are also equipped with a fuel scoop, and are capable of crossing the galaxy (although this would take a considerable period of time).
Of course, some people have been making dire warnings all week about examining the object. The argument is that we don't necessarily want to advertise our presence to any other sentient race. To counter that, the ASC have said that it's obvious whoever the object belongs to already know we exist. Others have suggested that maybe whoever the object belongs to may take our actions as hostile. This claim is harder to refute, but of course the researchers are being extremely careful not to harm the object or otherwise indicate the possibility of hostility.
The latest edition of the Alliance Atlas is a brand new addition to AliothNet. Covering each Alliance system in detail, the atlas is useful to any Commander who is travelling or living in the Alliance. The 3296 edition contains the new member, Phekda.
The atlas also contains starmaps based on policing, population and outdoor worlds, as well as a general astronomical and political overview of the systems covered. The history of each system is covered in detail, along with the astronomical data for each system. Importantly for traders, customs and excise information is included so that traders may avoid falling foul of the law in the systems they trade with. The addition of the Atlas now means that a total of 63 systems are covered in great detail by the two guidebooks available at AliothNet, giving the site the most comprehensive system guide on the Net.
The Alliance's chief webmaster, Dylan Smith, told the News, "The Atlas will nicely complement W&G's guide, which has been available on AliothNet for a while."
In an unexpected move, one of the larger information sites on the galactic information was inexplicably removed last week. Matt Dibb took down "Life on the Frontier" without warning, rhyme or reason. Or at least, any reason he's telling us.
In a statement made to the Frontier News, Matt Dibb said "Let's just say there has been a conflict, and I have decided to leave". When pressed, he responded "Who said the conflict was with a person?" No more comment was made.
It seems unusual why he would do something like this - after all, LOTF was a pretty good general information site. However, there are certain theories about this that are currently making the rounds on the rumour mill. Dibb is well known to have an ego that's far too big for his own good - and speculation says that it's a publicity stunt. After all, he alledgedly has done this in the past. Another school of thought points to a certain Visual Basic program and getting found out, and receiving a strong rebuke from the authorities. We'll wait and see. It's clear that the only person who knows what's really happening is Dibb himself, and he's not telling (perhaps out of embarrassment). Alternately, it might be that he wasn't included in plans for a possible 'alt.fan.elite' newsgroup/IRC channel website. Sadly, there is a general consensus in AFE that he won't be missed, since his more recent contributions have not exactly been positive (such as his unwarranted attack on Dean Hall).
Happily, the sudden demise of LOTF is not without compensation. A new site has recently appeared on the Galactic Information Network, Fort TMT. Run by Thomas Hawthorne, the site has just begun. It is structured around the Frontier Elite 2 user interface, and has the look and feel of Frontier.
Currently, the site contains combat information (including a guide written by Commander Chacos, author of "Why Did The Groigan Dance?") along with basic trading information to help the new commander who finds themselves ready to make their living out on the Frontier. The site has an innovative structure, and we can only hope it'll grow over the coming weeks.
The journals just keep on coming. Wolfsheart's journal continues to be updated - chapter 18 is now out, which finds the notorious bar room brawlers in jail. If you haven't been reading "Why did the groigan dance?", you need to start now. In the Frontier News' staff view, it's one of the best journals from the frontier out there. Find it at the Frontierverse.
Additionally, Commander Winston is trying to decipher his handwritten diary from the period in his life where he didn't really feel in control. Work transcribing it into something readable is already in progress, and hopefully the first installments of this latest episode will be online at AliothNet some time within the next couple of weeks.
If you've got a good journal or story from the Frontier Elite Universe, please let the 'News' know, at the normal address. We've got plenty of space to publish your work if you don't have a website of your own, just let webmaster@alioth.net know.