epsisode 8 a bounty on Domino

This world is still a frontier world despite our technology and attempts to hold on to what has passed. Proof of this has come to us numerous times, but none quite so exciting as the very real presence of piracy. the reason for this report is of course the recent report that Domino Blackthorn has been listed by Ms. Rodgers in Rodgers Point as an enemy of the efl and a sizable bounty has been placed on her head.There are several pirates operating on the oceans of Eos. Perhaps the most infamous is Domino Blackthorn. This name which this reporter must assume is an assumed name for it is entirely to perfect to her profession has been striking ships along the waterways from New Dehili to Iron Scar to Sun City. The pirates use a combination of customized sailing craft and av's designed for speed and stealth. Domino Blackthorn has earned a reputation for her ability to avoid capture and the fact she tends to leave those she raids alive. There are of course others who are less scrupulous about the survival of their victims.  The large bounty offered by the EFL may have been do to a personal sailing ship belonging to Ms. Rogers being robbed last month. Or it may be the patrol boat sent after Ms. Blackthorn being sunk. Ms. Blackthorn has declined attempts to be interviewed. It can however be said than is often best judged by their enemies. Well, Ms. Blackthorn therefore is in good company. Welcome to the club.

There is news out of the Broken End settlement of a forced labor camp being sponsored by the local government. The camps were started two years ago as a solution of what to do with criminals. Since then,  the camp have grown slowly as a forced skilled and manual labor pool used by the government on public works and building facilities for the militia in the area.  The forced laborers are kept in check by draconian discipline enforced by their wardens and implants that prevent escape by offering the possibility of decapitation to those who try. The current forced labor force is believed to be in the neighborhood of 100 people. All of them are supposedly criminals arrested by the Broken End militia. Thomas Dillon, leader of Broken End, defended the program stating "the criminal needs to repay his burden to society." Meanwhile The condemnations coming from the Republic officials are strong. "This is glorified slavery!" were the words of Judge Bernie Hambly, superior court justice. The whole program being kept mostly quiet for two years and the accusations of abuse of the prisoners and rather loose criteria for someone being judged a criminal has made this one of the many new developments of late that has begun to drive a wedge between Dawning Star and the Broken End. 

The launch of the Totoro on it's diplomatic and exploration mission is scheduled for next month. The reports are the EFL will have something up within a couple of weeks of that launch. The sky has become contested ground it seems. The Dawning Star Republic emphasised that the mission primarily was to establish relations with our neighbors in the stellar neighborhood. It is a known fact that at least one planet in system has show signs of being inhabited by a race with limited spaceflight capability at least not counting the Tentari. The EFL is being closed lipped on their particular plans but it is believed they too will be seeking diplomatic relations. A memo from inside the Rogers administration also indicates a desire to find "resources of interest" to give a political and military advantage over the Dawning Star Republic. The next few months will be very interesting as we get the first reports of contact on the various worlds in the system.

In a related note,  a commission has been established to determine under what sort of circumstance the allowance for travel to these other worlds might take place once relations are established. The means for travel are obviously restricted for the most part but there are some privately owned craft which with some refitting that could conceivably travel between worlds. Most notably the facilities of Maximilian Dagos are more than capable of interplanetary travel. The commission will try and establish trade rules that should be enforced on the interplanetary trade involving Eos. The EFL of course have different point of view. They have a stated opinion that the individual tradesmen may set their own terms.

The astronomer Dr. Gil Packard released a paper today upon the study of NEO's or Near Eos Objects. This is a reclamation of the old term for Near Earth Objects. This is in other words a paper on the asteroids and meteors found in the planetary neighborhood. You may ask as to why this paper might be of interest to those outside the scientific community. Well, while it is a somewhat dry and technical piece it does have some startling findings. For one thing there is surprisingly few NEO's to be found. There are of course asteroids  in the system but almost none of them  intersect with Eos orbital path. The conclusion reached by Packard and his fellow researchers is that all of the naturally occurring objects of that type were deliberately destroyed or had their orbits changed. This is further evidence that the prior residents in this system were amazingly advanced. Packard even went so far as to theorize that it is likely that there may be facilities found in the asteroids that are found in system for mineral reclamation and the like. All in all an interesting study and can be gotten from the Dawning Star University press.

If you enjoyed this podcast and are further interested in the world of EOS and the Dawning Star go to http://www.dawningstar.com. There you will see a world of mystery and man having survived despite the odds. A world man has traveled to the frontier not for conquest but because there was no where else to go. The earth is dead. Man lives on in Dawning Star. Dawning Star, Operation Quick Launch, and the Operation Quick Launch cover are (c)2005 Justin D. Jacobson. The music was called Cambridge Guitar Orchestra and there website is http://www.cgo.org.uk/ and the music was found and aquired through http://music.podshow.com/