WARNING TO: ALL SHIPS IN VICINITY OF CARTOGRAPHERS' STATION
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL GAMMA IS IN EFFECT. REPEAT: EMERGENCY PROTOCOL GAMMA IS IN EFFECT. LOCKDOWN PROTOCOLS AND DEFENSIVE COUNTERMEASURES HAVE BEEN INITIATED.
It was a hard-fought battle, but with the arrival of military assistance, Guild personnel were able to repel the invaders, a squadron from the People's Army of Kallimar, dispatched from Do-Loris. Investigation is ongoing both internally and from our Kallimari partners to investigate this further.
It took a heavy toll on us. Those who died will not be forgotten, and their legacies will be carried on by those of us who remain.
A list of around 50 names is given, including C.A.T.N.I.S, All-encompassing Blue, and Garibaldi.
It may be easy to think of this as a catastrophic loss, but we held firm. We held out despite the sudden and unprecedented nature of the attack. Long enough that our siege was relieved. Fast evacuation procedures were able to move many cartographers to safety, thanks to the brave efforts of our Guild pilots, ship crews and security forces.
Remaining Guild leadership is drafting protocols to account for our reduced operating staff capacity.
Due to damage sustained during the recent attack, many of my core functionalities have been rendered inoperable. At the present time, I am not able to calculate new jump routes more distant than range band C. This precludes the issuing of more requests for system surveys.
In accordance with my intended design, my AI core is capable of self-repair. I will be restored to full capacity by this mechanism within eighteen thousand, five hundred, and twenty-seven years.
However, it seems that the damage I have incurred has activated a safeguard within my systems that was previously unknown to me. I have become aware of one available jump route, to a location approximately 8,000 light-years above the disc of the galaxy. As this was precipitated by severe damage, I believe that this mechanism may have been a safeguard to facilitate my return to a Founder facility that may be able to restore my functionality more rapidly.
EMERGENCY TARGET: ALPHA.C.SYN_10.113
Regardless of my ability to access this system, I will continue to assist in every way which I am able, and I offer my deepest apologies for the difficulty incurred by my reduced utility.
Marella
Loyal readers and investors, we are writing on a actively developing story! Just last rotation, authorities on Corico, Kallimar, and the Thousand Colours Moon simultaneously received anonymous tips concerning P.I.A illegal activity. These new allegations have come amidst previous leaks, such as the ground-breaking documentary by Remej Clark and many reliable sources distributed by the C.U.L detailing workers rights violations and links to piracy.
I ask you all, is this the end of the P.I.A as we all know it? Investors and shareholders are pulling out funds of the company as we speak in fear of being tied to this supposed criminal activity. I will tell you loyal readers, it is not too late to jump ship, there are plenty of other companies in the Conglomerate to invest in! Assuming the P.I.A will be allowed to stay in the Conglomerate after this debacle that is!
We have reached out to Director Onyx Guise in hopes of getting a comment on these accusations. Our dear Director has refused to comment beyond dismissing these allegations as nothing but, and we quote 'baseless evidence conjured up by the doubters to constrain us in our brightest moments'.
We will keep all of you updated to any changes in this actively developing case dear readers, though if you were wise I will advise you to keep your stocks clear of the P.I.A until this is resolved!
– An extract from 'The Prismari Financial Review'
Dear friends across the galaxy. The time has come to unmask the unspeakable injustices the Elders are inflicting both on their own people in the Nation of Eternal Sky and the innocent civilians of their neighbours. We, supporters of freedom and democracy, have successfully bugged the Elders’ rooms in the Retreat Station and revealed the truth about their murderous schemes.
Our footage first displays the Elders’ contempt and derision for their own people and any attempts at negotiation. In their private conversations they condemn the Sailors’ Assembly as an “upstart organisation” which “ought to have been abolished decades ago”, and continue to label the innocent and wrongly-imprisoned justice campaigner Soaring Glow as a “murderous terrorist”. These same Elders declare they have “no intention of negotiating with the scum who seek to destroy us” and will “fight these violent criminals to the bitter end”. They show unflagging loyalty to the brutal dictator Azure Skies and nothing but hatred for the protestors and insurgents rallying against their tyranny.
Perhaps worse is the Elders’ willingness and even desire to instigate more violence. In these recordings are conversations demonstrating their desire to enact bloody campaigns of reprisal, to “shoot rioters in the streets” and to “lock up anyone” who continues to speak out. They have argued for the execution of any members of the Sailor’s Assembly in Exile they can get their hands on.
Most damning of all is the attitudes displayed towards Eternal Sky’s neutral and peaceful neighbour, the Nation of the Grieving Sea, which has done nothing save to send over a single diplomat to preach a message of peace and friendship. The Elders have called for a full-scale invasion of this unaligned and independent nation to eliminate its perceived threat. In fact, there is footage in our recordings which strongly implicates, beyond any reasonable doubt, that the Elders were in fact behind the recent bombing in the Nation of the Grieving Sea which murdered six innocent sailors.
Now these reprehensible crimes have been revealed, we hope the interplanetary community will join us in condemning this vile, tyrannical and illegitimate government, and supporting the friends of the people of the Nation of Eternal Sky in any measures necessary to liberate our country.
The message is accompanied by samples of the footage, which is largely visual, with audio components. In the samples, a group of sailors (mostly the same few individuals, but identifiable as Elders or their supporters in the Retreat Station) do indeed make comments which corroborate everything the message has claimed. There is indeed one clip in which an Elder does strongly imply they were connected to the bombing in the Nation of the Grieving Sea.
<…#ale## … alert### … stand by … OPENING COMMUNICATIONS WITH SAPIENT SPECIES CLASSIFIED AS TYPE I OR ABOVE>
Our [SENSORY DATA] has concluded a sudden/unexpected/improbable attack on your sanctuary identified by all SNTNL systems as [Cartographers' Guild Station]. Our <PROTECTORATE PROTOCOL> measures were [unable] to be installed in time to circumvent/prevent/alleviate such a ~VARIABLE~. This is a failing on the SNTNL Protectorate Systems in the non-success of [PROTECTORATE PROTOCOL] applications. I … We have dispatched module [SNTNL_Hunter-Seeker_Drone] to identify conspirators.
«#SO MANY LIVES LOST, WE CANNOT LET THIS TRANSPIRE AGAIN. THE PROTECTORATE PROTOCOL HAS CALCULATED THE UNKNOWN SAPIENT SPECIES POPULATION BY DESIGNATION OF: [HYLA] HAS DECREASED BY 50%. ESTABLISH NEW DIRECTIVES FOR PROTECTORATE PROTOCOL ACTION. WE HAVE FAILED. NEVER AGAIN#»
After the tragic death of our beloved CEO Ibus Inoloc, Inoloc Enterprises is proud to announce the new CEO, HARK Inoloc. Having worked with Ibus for many years, HARK is the natural successor to bear Ibus' torch, and all of us here at Inoloc Enterprises are excited to see what the future holds! A public funeral service will be held for Ibus, to which anyone is invited to join. Details will be brought out shortly.
As the result of a successful Cartographers' Guild expedition, the Guild is happy to announce the discovery of a new sapient species! The residents of ARCOR-B-006 IV are a population of carbon-based reptilian life-forms, notable for their skin's shifting colour to reflect their present mood. Their society appears to be based on subsistence farming and a series of contracts establishing legal relationships along a hierarchical societal organisation, with a number of countries generally controlled by monarchs and powerful aristocrats.
The state with which the Guild made contact identifies itself as the “Empire of the Holy Sea.” It appears to be a substantial power on the world, controlling land comparable in scale to one of the nations on the Thousand Colour Moon. While the process of first contact made them aware of us, and that there are other civilisations beyond their sky, they do not know of our current level of technological advancement.
It seems that the system was previously occupied by a technologically advanced civilisation, whose collapse eventually gave rise the modern-day powers that control the planet.
A brightly-coloured poster catches your eye at some point during the quarter – they’re popping up on spaceports and stations across the galaxy, and usually being taken down just as quickly.
Support the Interplanetary Workers’ Volunteers! Fight for freedom from the tyranny of the Elders of Eternal Sky! You can provide resources, weapons, or join and fight yourself – all aid is much-needed in the fight to liberate our comrades from Elder oppression!
The poster contains contact details.
According to recent reports from the Cartographers' Guild station, several anonymous whistleblowers have accused Kallimar of being behind the attempt to bug the quarters of various diplomats from the Eternal Skies. Although the scope and validity of their evidence is currently unclear, sources within the Guild have suggested that a Rissi from the Kallimari delegation was seen entering the wing of the conference station hosting the Sailor diplomats, and that their presence there is otherwise unaccounted for.