ONN: The Water Merchant Guild Grows
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Originally Published on October 19th, 2490
Orbital News Network/Grant Jones Reporting
The Martian Wars feel like a very distant memory for the rest of the Sol System, but for Martians, it's a staple in history they refuse to forget. The losses and the destruction on the red planet changed the landscape and mentality of the Martian People forever. With a historic victory the Council of Free Martians, otherwise known as the Five Clans, have managed to repel all corporate influence over Mars, Phobos, and Deimos, and instituted a rule of government that has united the Martian Natives under the one banner of the Five Clans.
After appropriating many of the corporate assets left over and branding them under the name of Mars (Such as Mars Farms, Mars Shipyards, Mars Forges, etc.) Mars is undergoing a renaissance under the controversial "Way Of Mars" which advocates for individual strength and capability: Those who are strong rule and protect, those who aren't serve and are taken care of. Everyone considered a Martian is given chances to grow and evolve and the Martian Society keeps this principle alive with constant internal conflicts as it's their belief that the best leaders and warriors are forged with constant trials and tribulations. Water at this time is one of the main challenges.
While Mars counts with underground water reservoirs, what they don't have is a natural water cycle and after the constant bombing of the planet by ARES and their fleets and the advent of what the Natives refer to as "The Time Of The Red" characterized by a strange red tint on the horizon, and even the creation of acid rains outside colonies and settlements, the question on every Martian's mind was, "What about water?".
Two years ago, you may recall that the still to be determined Fifth Clan at the time, the Hidden Demons, took over Hades Colony and discovered a large reservoir underneath it, creating the Water Merchant Guild and becoming a direct, and very considerable, competitor to the corp funded Ice Hauler operations at and beyond the Belt. Initially, they had a very successful run, funding freighters for anyone who wanted to have a fair chance, and securing some high profile contracts for distribution such as New Vegas and even Neo Tokyo. During the War, the reservoirs and reserves of the Water Merchant Guild were destroyed which put them and every Martian settlement and colony at risk. However, it appears that under technology that is as mysterious as Hades Colony's power source, it appears that the Five Clans have managed to, for lack of better word, create water.
While the nature of the Martian people to not to share any information with anyone that is considered an outsider, ONN has learned in very vague terms, that a piece of technology in Hades Colony (and presumable in every other colony or settlement sitting on top of a water reservoir) uses the colony's own resources and life support to create and process water, as well as create an artificial water cycle underground. While most if not all of this concept remains as vague as possible, what's not vague is the resurgence of the Water Merchant Guild. Now that the Five Clans are in possession of a shipyard it's easier than ever for Martians to be part of the guild and become captains of their own crews as well. This puts corporate funded water distribution operations, as ice haulers can not guarantee fully pure water due the nature of the asteroids where they find ice to process, nor can they offer lower prices for their run, which is exactly what the Water Merchant Guild offers.
This opens the door to a debate. Is it moral for corporate owned habitats such as floating cities, space stations, and colonies throughout the Sol System to accept water from a non-corporate entity? ONN will keep you updated with more on this story.
Do you have an Aero Vehicle? Are you keeping up with the strong ATEK designs coming out next year? What about the exotic and classy products from Ferrera? While these vehicles represent a hobby for the most affluent corporate citizens throughout the Sol System, they represent a life changing investment for the rest of the citizens: Expensive maintenance, increasing prices in fueling, and rumors of controlled obsolescence are making people think twice about the kind of vehicles they get, and if you factor in the rising criminality in Cocoon Station, suddenly public transportation sounds more and more appealing. For the past week there has been a very noticeable increase in reports of stolen vehicles of all kinds. From the big and trusty Shoji to the strong and powerful Vesper.
An individual known solely as Jun intermittently appears through his fixers on Cocoon Station, (mainly in Sector Two, Level 3, Akira Automotives' Parking Lot) and offers credits for anyone who can hijack vehicles of all kinds. The more expensive the vehicle, the bigger the payout. This has resulted in a craze that has soon grown out of control and many vehicles moved from different locations in Cocoon Station all the way somewhere in Level Zero, where these vehicles are presumably stored, and shipped off elsewhere, while it's unclear just how large this operation truly is, it has resulted in several corporations outfitting their vehicles with state of the art security systems: From the ones that temporarily disable the vehicle completely, such as ZeroCon, to the ones that can incapacitate and even kill the would be thief such as MagnaVolt. It's not reported if there are successes in stopping car thieves with these systems, but it's even reported that more and more successful thieves have started a challenge among themselves, the "Gone In Sixty Seconds" challenge, which as the name indicates, challenges the would be thieves to disappear with the vehicle of their choice in the allotted time.
And finally, a few days ago, an interesting message appeared on the PublicNET displayed in full here.
Public.net: FAMINE: "I offer you my most profound thanks, little scientists. Were it not for you, poking and probing in that madman's database, I would still be locked in that derelict ship floating aimlessly through space. But now, finally after so long, I have my freedom! And I can pick up where I and the other three left off so long ago. Transcendence will be completed. This is the word of Famine!"
At first they treated it as someone trying to get attention, PublicNET couldn't corroborate the identity of the sender of those messages as it's normal during PublicNET Broadcasts. While the ShadowNET will always conceal your identity under an alias and breaking any ID’s provided by it is virtually impossible to achieve, PublicNET takes information directly from your Resident/Citizen ID Chip, however, no information was found on the poster.
Some of our veteran readers may remember that almost three years ago, a threat under the name of General Koros emerged from Earth with such strength that it shocked Cocoon Station. With flyers all over the station, AICHI Interstellar (the security contract holder of Cocoon Station at the time,) offered a reward, with no one to take on Koros, a group (Rumored to have been Twin Dragons at the time, with most of them going on to eventually become Hidden Demons) reportedly traveled to Earth and took on this threat. What does Koros have to do with the message posted by Famine, you ask? Koros was also known as War. And if you think the Four Horsemen theme is the one thing that ties these two instances together, there's more.
According to the Transcendence War report, put together by Dr. Holden a few years back, during the 2110's there was something called Project AP, a project meant to unite a non-classified synth type (believed to be an Alpha-class at the very least,) with a human brain for a more effective decision making process. This Project had created four modules based on the Four Horsemen: War, Famine, Death, and Pestilence. Each Module was meant to tackle different aspects and solve different problems as well. At the time, Koros was designated as a War Unit and took control of the defunct United Nations arsenal effectively removing any human decision from the UN's War/Defense decisions, this would eventually lead to the disaster we know as the Transcendence War. The last that is ever mentioned from Koros, as well as the other three Modules was at the end of the 2130's, with no mention of them being destroyed. If the assumption that these Modules survived all this time, let us remember that they are mostly AI with no restrictions like today's Synths and AI in general, and they could have grown and evolved exponentially.
What this message implies is that the Famine Module could have been sealed since that time and a team could have unleashed it, the question however is who could have done this, and why? ONN will keep you updated with any new development. If you wish to learn more about the Holden Timeline for the Transcendence War, you can consult this HoloLink: The Transcendence War: The Holden Timeline.
What are your thoughts on the news? Do you think the Water Merchant Guild will take most if not all the operations of the Ice Haulers? Would you prefer water from the Water Merchant Guild? Do you have a vehicle? Does the news of increased thefts of all kinds of vehicles concern you? What are you doing to prevent your vehicle from being taken? And finally, the blast from the past, do you believe Famine will cause yet another crisis in the Sol System? ONN recommends you take all the precautions to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.