Issue 13

Gateway Station, Earth

The American Space Command today announced a new class of Marine Transport/Assault vessels. Exact details are still unavailable, but sources have confirmed that the new ships will be capable of transporting and deploying a full Marine Interface Brigade.

The first of the four initial vessels, USS Ira Hayes, is

due to finish space trials within the month. Four more vessels will begin construction as soon as the space trials are completed and the first four vessels of this class are certified. American leaders have denied that the secret construction of these vessels is an attempt to keep plans to assault Kafer Space a secret.

Core News Today

Clarke Station, Sol System

Police confirmed a report that MidTech's Ship building facilities at the L5 station had recently been the victim of a data theft. Company officals have refused to comment, but rumors abound that the data taken deals with Improved Kennedy Class cruisers that are under contstruction by Midtech.

This report comes among rumors that experiments with the Improved Kennedy Class have led to the development of new, longer ranger Jerome drives and

special stealth materials. Some critics claim that these "improvements" are merely questionable technology sold to the government by Pentapod enclaves along the French Arm.

The Snoop Monthly

Ports d'Enfer, Nyotekundu

The pirates that were harrassing shipping lanes through Nyotekundu have finally been dealt with. Captain Santo of the French system defense boat 'Deference'(exeter-class) took on the legendary Ypres frigate 'Blood Angel' commanded the notorious outlaw DC McGruder. Although the Deference was damaged it remained victorious and not only destroyed the frigate but also captured 27 prisoners from life-boats. Cpt. Santo is sure to recieve an award from the Emperor due his and his crews heroic efforts, but Santo played down his victory saying that the 'Blood angel' had already been extensively damaged. There is no information as to how the vessel had been damaged, but what is definite, is that McGruder 'went down' with his ship as well his fortune of over Lv4,000,000 worth of stolen cargo. Investigations are underway to determine whether the Ypres frigate is one fo the many thought lost during Kafer operations.

SJ Worthington, Ports d'Enfer News

La Salle Station, Tau Ceti

AusCo representatives stunned the press when they announced the loss of the survey vessel "Cabeza de Vaca". Mitch Wisdom, AusCo Vice-President of Exploratory resources issued the following statement; "The loss of the De Vaca and her crew was a serious blow to our efforts to expand human knowledge of the galaxy. Due to the nature of the voyage and its destitnation, no detailed investigation of the loss will be possible for several years"

Further questions about the location of the vessel were not answered. Wisdom confirmed that the vessel had shipped out of the Tau Ceti system nearly 2 years ago, but had never reported back.

Aerospace Monthly