Far Frontiers Gateway sector

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085-2508 Gateway News Service- Gateway

Gateway Shipyards announced that the 100 ton Scout/Courier was getting a "facelift" with the latest TL 12 electronics, computers, and drive systems. Also the air purification system was finally going to be updated to remove the tendency for it to develop an "interesting" smell over several weeks of operations. The source of the issue seems to have been the General Products designed environmental system, with the new system being sourced from the Gateway Corporation Environmental and Ships Systems division. The new unit has a good reputation for purification of the air and water on the ship, and its resistance to developing what some have taken to calling "a real whang in the air, that sort of sticks with you after a while".

The new unit has been designed for easy retrofitting into existing installations, so that currently in service 100 ton Scout/Couriers can with a one week stay in the spacedock get their enviro-systems completely replaced. The General Products system was installed due to a sweetheart deal made with bureaucrats who have since been sacked or prosecuted for getting "kickbacks" from the now defunct General Products.

 

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087-2508 Gateway News Service- New Canberra

Diana Thevins-Wong has revealed the new menu item for the Wombat Burger chain of stores; the Aslan Special. A double meat burger, extra rare, bacon, not crisp, pickles, lettuce, and brown mustard. The Aslan Special will be available at all Wombat Burger locations by the end of the year. Also the chain is looking into adding several other Aslan specific meal items to their menu, since they are betting on an increase in the number of Aslans entering human space.

Ms. Thevins-Wong is always on the look out for new taste sensations for the chain which she has run for over two decades now. She has found what is being called a Purple Beet-Tater in English since no one can pronounce the Aslan name for it. The Aslans apparently like it boiled them fried in rendered animal fat. Humans who have tried it, have not shown a great deal of fondness for this plant. Aslans, however, enjoy it with their burgers. Also they have shown an increasing fondness for Wombat Tartare, which is on the "Secret Menu" at all participating Wombat Burger stores.

 

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081-2508 Gateway News Service- Dusk

The Golden Goose has reappeared in the system, on the same trajectory that it had vanished from, just slightly off course. As the system defense craft matched trajectory and speed, Marines conducted a boarding action. The crew was present, and seemed shocked at the apparent hostile response by the marines and the navy which had threatened to blow the ship to atoms if it did not follow orders exactly.

As the ship was allowed to approach Quarantine Station #1, the crew was moved over to isolation areas, and then interviewed by Military police, intelligence specialists and quarantine officers.

A consistent story revealed itself, the crew had no idea that three days had passed, and were shocked at being told that they had vanished. Sensor logs on the ship did not show anything out of the ordinary, no anomalous readings, no sign that the ship had vanished, just...nothing. The logs show that the ship was on trajectory, and then suddenly was two kilometers off its original flight path with no explanation of why this occurred, and no gap in the sensor logs.

The crew was also subjected to chemical interrogation, along with other techniques, and once more their stories were absolutely consistent. The crew has absolutely no memory of the missing days, and is rather upset that they were being called liars. When shown proof of their disappearance, the crew was shocked, and several accused the interrogators of lying to them, until shown the ships logs.

The crew was in perfect health, all the cargo was present, and there was no sign that anything out of the ordinary had occurred, except for the missing time. As one naval officer put it to GNS: "Well, just another day in the weirdest system in the galaxy". After hours of interrogation, the crew was allowed back on their ship, where the cargo was unloaded, and the Golden Goose headed out, escorted by three warships.

A spokesman for the system commander told us at GNS that they had no explanation for this event, and could not even begin to speculate, just being happy that the ship, crew, and cargo were safe. The crews were really looking forward to the Freedonia Vittles Chicken Pot Pies, a