View source for ONN: The Water Merchant Guild to Serve Cocoon Station

To view other news releases, visit [[MediaNet Archives]]. 
<hr>
''Originally Published on August 13th, 2489''<br>
''Orbital News Network/Grant Jones Reporting''
[[File:ONN_stand.png|thumb|upright=0.3|right]]

Sanctioned by ARES and surrounded by controversy, the Water Merchant Guild was created in Hades Colony and has started doing business with nearby colonies and space stations. With an initial fleet of over thirty freighters of great capacity, the Water Merchant Guild traveled first to Arcadia Space Station, a station set on an asteroid with a population of over 20,000 people. 

Arcadia's prime function is to gather information of space traffic as well as information about the movement of astral bodies such as asteroids, comets, and meteors. This station of over 20 years of age, has slowly and steadily grown into a quiet community led by PatriotCorp, a remnant of old American bluebloods that specializes in information gathering and real estate. Up until last week, Arcadia depended on processed water like several other space stations that is usually the result of several processes of refinement and sterilization applied to human fluids, with several degrees of purification. 

Enter the Water Merchant Guild, thanks to the discovery of multiple water springs underneath Martian soil, several processing plants have been set to purify water and make sure it is available for everyone on Martian Colonies, however, Martian Entrepreneurs have taken this to the next level, and are now making a name for themselves. Edward Rios, member of the Water Merchant Guild and their spokesperson had this to say in an exclusive interview.

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 90%; padding: 50px; margin: auto"
|-
|"We are more than happy to open up a new opportunity for every colony, every space station, to have access to clean water. We are not a corporation, nor do we answer to any corporation, the Guild is open to people who want to join us in this new venture, we will provide training, a crew, and a freighter to anyone who wishes to become a Water Merchant, all the Guild requires is 15% of your earnings every month for the purposes of upkeep and maintenance, there are no strings attached, no tricks, no fine letter. You can join whenever, and leave whenever. Water is a universal right, and we'll be working directly with people running stations, colonies, and settlements so the distribution of water at a local level begins."
|}

As it has been rumored, the Water Merchant Guild was created as an aftermath of a violent incident on Hades Colony's industrial District, although no official sources mention anything about it, some witnesses have described with great detail the violence that dissidents suffered at the hands of the Hidden Demons, but on a more positive light, several colonies and stations have expressed interest in working with the Water Merchant Guild.

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 90%; padding: 50px; margin: auto"
|-
|"The positive response to the Guild has been overwhelming, and right now I want to ask everyone to please bear with us, we're still a small organization, but we will deliver."
|}

The Water Merchant Guild is now an alternative, a very real one, to both processed water and the Ice Hauling Organization. Massive Freighters journey beyond the Belt, looking for asteroids that oftentimes have ice, the massive freighters, dubbed Haulers, then proceed to trap the asteroid, take it to a station that is able to process minerals, and heat up the trapped ice, catching the water and distributing it. However, this operation represents a cost of over 400,000 credits every time an ice hauler docks at a space station, however, with the Water Merchant Guild, the cost is reduced to just about 125,000 credits.

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 90%; padding: 50px; margin: auto"
|-
|"The costs are less because we don't need to leave the Inner Planets to get water, and water purification is far more affordable than mineral processing, besides, it's a fair price to ensure everyone in the system has access to water."
|}

One of the interested parties is our own Cocoon Station, a representative to Cocoon Corp, Mr. Smith, had this to say about Cocoon Corp hiring the Water Merchant Guild to provide water to the station.

{| class="wikitable" style="width: 90%; padding: 50px; margin: auto"
|-
|"Water is important for all humanity, we have many humans with basic needs that rely on water on Cocoon Station, cheaper purer water is ideal to acquire."
|}

It is important to note that MeteoCorp will continue to use processed water for their Potable Irrigation Selective Systems, which seems only fitting. The first Freighter from the Water Merchant Guild is expected to dock tonight at midnight.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think drinking cleaner, purer water will be better for your life on the Station? Please give us your opinion in the comment section below.