Fragile Allegiance

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Living Quarters Power Store Storage Facility Anti-Missile Pod Solar Panel Radiation Filter Solar Generator Weapons Factory Mine Satellite Silo Screen Generator Ore Teleporter Gravity Nullifier Deep Bore Mine Missile Silo Repair Facility Sensor Array Plasma Turret Photon Turret Air Processor C.P.U. Seismic Penetrator Asteroid Engine Powerplant Command Centre Ship Yard Landing Pad Page 1

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Laser Turret Solar Matrix Resiblock Storage Tower P. Solar Matrix Refuelling Depot P. Storage Tower Medical Centre Environment Control Pleasure Dome Hydroponics Plant Hydration Plant Security Centre Central Unit Filtration Plant Nourishment Bank Community Health Unit Strategic Bunker Science Labs Databanks Construction Unit Ground Deck Probe Launch Deep Space Probes Gravitic Converter Energy Gatherer Energy Globe Page 2

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Shield Generator Arms Unit Missile Launcher Thermal Lance Extractor Storage racks Ex-Fang Ultrathermal Lance First Step Clan Heart Radiation Shield Source Aesir's Hall Longhouse Sports Hall Field Hospital Glasshouse TechMech Launch Site Eyes-in-the-Sky Eyes-and-Ears Anchor Heart-of-the-Sun Aegis Forge Anti-Battery Battery Turret Page 3

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Subterranean Extractor Pithoi Fire Power Base Crystal Stability Purity Fulfilment Internal Dream Resonance Fa-lanth Mask Structures Matrix Volition Visibility Perception Capacitors Lanth Sharir Shrekn Ruth-feror Ruth-fett Merl Na-Shrekn SoftCore Environmental Stabiliser Filtration Tanks Canisters Page 4

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Nurseries Healing Quarters House of the Axe Naval Dockyard Launch Pads Deep Probes Gravitic Converter Shielded Solars Shell Arms Forge Star Bars Missile Launcher Auto-deterrent Super-deterrent Force Fields Advanced Ore Extractor Rare Ore Extractor Ore Depot Refining Forge Base Block Shielding Block Nutrition Block Off-duty Block Health Block The Cube Elite Block Construction Area Launch Area Page 5

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Satellite Pad Fast Breeder Reactor Arms Block Defence Pods Attack Pods Pulse Tower Screening Pods Advanced Extraction Unit Superior Extraction Unit Ores Block Motion Units Laser Boost Footprint Anti-Rad Screen Environmental Control Filtration Vats Nutrient Vats Habitat Pharmacopeion Gathering Ground Market Communications Central Shipyard Landing Pad Missile Launcher Data Gatherer Listening Device Manoeuvring Device Page 6

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Destination Beam Reactor Cores Asteroid Shield Defence Battery Commonbore Deepbore Ore Yard Goods Yard Stun Tower Power Tower Living Quarters Power Stores Storage Facilities Anti-Missile Pods Solar Panels Radiation Filters Solar Generators Weapons Factories Mines Satellite Silos Screen Generators Ore Teleporters Gravity Nullifiers Deep Bore Mines Missile Silos Repair Facilities Sensor Arrays Plasma Turrets Page 7

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Photon Turrets Air Processors C.P.U.s Seismic Penetrators Asteroid Engines Powerplants Command Centres Ship Yards Landing Pads Laser Turrets Solar Matrices Resiblocks Storage Towers Protected Solar Matrices Refuelling Depots Protected Storage Towers Medical Centres Environment Controls Pleasure Domes Hydroponics Plants Hydration Plants Security Centres Complete facilities for the comfort of 50 employees.

Stores surplus power for later use.

Stores ore for later use or for transportation.

Defensive weapon that automatically targets incoming missiles.

Harness the sun's power. Generates 2MW, or 4MW Page 8

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with a power amplifier.

Special energy fields reduce the penetration of radiation into colony buildings.

More efficient than solar panels. Generates 8MW, or 16MW with a power amplifier.

High security facility for the construction of all weapons and warheads.

Robotic drill heads can extract common types of ore.

Launching bay for long distance spy satellites.

Generates a protective screen around several neighbouring buildings.

Teleports containers of ore between asteroids. A teleporter is needed at both ends.

Creates a gravity field that holds the asteroid and all neighbouring asteroids stationary.

High performance drill heads for extracting valuable ores.

Capable of launching any type of missile.

Monitors and directs the repairing of colony buildings.

Provides attack warnings and other sensor information.

A weapon of greater devastation than a laser turret.

Efficient on power use too.

The best energy weapon available at this time. Fires photon packets capable of devastating armour.

Provides vital air for up to 400 employees.

C.P.U. The only mine sophisticated enough to extract Page 9

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Traxium and Nexos ore.

Allows controlled movement of an asteroid.

Uses Asteros ore in a fusion process, to generate 32MW. The nerve centre of the colony. Specialist staff monitor enemy activity and control your fleets.

Capable of constructing the smaller spacecraft.

Provides access to the underground ship hangars.

A general purpose, auto tracking, defence turret.

A huge matrix of solar panels designed to use space more effectively. Generates 12MW, or 24MW with a power amplifier.

Living quarters for 150 employees.

Capable of storing huge quantities of ores.

Protected by a weapon turret.

Provides refuelling facilities for ships.

Protected by a weapon turret.

Possesses full diagnosis, surgery and cryogenic facilities, manned by a highly trained team.

This facility monitors air, food and water generation and stores surplus for distribution in an emergency.

Recreational facilities to keep employees occupied when they are not working.

Food is grown from high protein, nutrient rich algae.

Provision for 300 employees.

Extracts water from ice trapped deep in the asteroid. Provision for 400 employees.

Colony life is hard and dangerous. Employees must Page 10

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be persuaded to behave.

The basic support building for employees in the colony. Much of the building is underground and has adequate facilities for about 50 people. They are quick to construct but highly susceptible to damage from attack, and due to their basic nature will do little for morale. Despite the expense, and contrary to normal policy, the Company recommends that superior accommodation is provided as soon as economically feasible, in order to minimise civil disorder and maximise employee motivation.

Unused surplus power is channelled into these buildings for later use. They offer a good back-up in the rare cases where you may want temporarily to lose some of your power generation buildings, perhaps during an enemy attack. They will at least prevent you from being totally out of power for a short while. Each Store has a capacity of 200MW of power. Clicking on this building brings up a list of all buildings without power (if any).

Although seemingly mundane, this building is essential to the smooth running of the colony, since it stockpiles all types of ore for sale or later use. It incorporates a system of underground conveyor belts, which bring the newly-extracted ores from the mines to the storage facilities. The belts also take the processed ores and distribute them to any site on the asteroid where they might be required: the Page 11

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Construction Yards, for example, or the Missile Silos. This small building can store a maximum of 300 units of ore.

Prolonged customer research has shown that automated defences are the most cost-effective way of protecting deep-space installations. These high quality pods are your major defence against enemy missiles. Each pod comes equipped with its own military standard laser and state-of-the-art sensors; the sensors track any incoming missiles and target them before subjecting them to high intensity fire.

Due to their compact size, the individual accuracy of the pods is low, but can be improved by building several pods on each asteroid.

This is the cheapest and most quickly-constructed array, harnessing the sun's power for use by humanity. Although it produces a comparatively low 2MW, the power flow is constant and the ease of construction makes this an invaluable building for newly-colonised asteroids. This building is wholly compatible with the Sci-Tek Power Amplifier.

TetraCorp recommend the installation of such a device to enhance productivity.

Living and working in deep space exposes people to many hazards. On some asteroids, the background levels of radiation are even higher than in general; this causes employee sickness which leads inevitably to loss of production. The Company Page 12

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therefore strongly advises the early construction of one or more of these filters which offer a screen against the heavier radioactive particles, protecting the employees inside colony buildings.

Although this generator also harnesses solar power, it is more efficient than the basic Solar Panel and can output up to 8MW. The increased cost is offset by the fact that it is more space-efficient. This building is wholly compatible with the Sci-Tek Power Amplifier. TetraCorp recommend the installation of such a device to enhance productivity.

This building is a colony essential. In addition to providing engines for all spacecraft, it also enables the manufacture of all combat requirements including many hardpoint weapons and missile warheads. Other defensive structures such as Laser Turrets will not function unless there is a Weapons Factory to maintain and supply them. It is not surprisingly therefore one of the largest structures on any asteroid, although fortunately one such building will provide for the combat needs of that whole colony.

This is an optimised standard mining drill for locating, extracting and processing particular ores.

These structures comprise a geophysical survey package which seeks out the most common ores Selenium, Asteros, Barium and Crystalite - and records their quantity and locations. State-of-the-art Page 13

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vacuum-cooled drilling rigs then extract the precious minerals from the asteroid's core, and delivers them directly to the storage facilities.

Gathering intelligence about the enemy requires the frequent launch of spy satellites. Satellites are both constructed and launched from these silos.

Even armoured buildings are vulnerable to attack, and since many colony buildings by their nature cannot be effectively armoured, alternative methods of defence are necessary. These buildings incorporate a field generator which, providing they have access to sufficient power, create a protective force field over neighbouring buildings. The protection given will withstand attacks from the vast majority of the most common weapons on the market including inter-asteroid missiles. It is advisable to build several of these to protect your most important buildings.

This is a very effective and swift means of transporting ores between asteroids. You must have an Ore Teleporter on both of the asteroids you want to move ore between. For best results, install one on all your asteroids.

One of Sci-Tek's greatest technological breakthroughs, the Nullifier generates a gravitational field that stops all asteroids within a certain range from moving, including the one on which the Nullifier is installed. As long as the Nullifier is active you Page 14

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don't have to worry about collisions; should you wish to use Asteroid Engines, however, you must first turn the Nullifier off. Sci-Tek warns that the field will collapse if you have insufficient power to drive the Nullifier, so regular checks on its operational status are advised.

The results of decades of research and development, this is a sophisticated mining drill for locating, extracting and processing particular ores.

These structures comprise a geophysical survey package which seeks out the more valuable ores - in this case Quazinc, Bytanium, Korellium and Dragonium - and records their quantity and locations. State-of-the-art vacuum-cooled drilling rigs then extract the precious minerals from the asteroid's core, and delivers them directly to the storage facilities.

All your missiles are constructed and launched from these silos. Each asteroid has underground caverns capable of storing 10 of each type of missile, a total of 110 missiles. Obviously, no matter how many missiles you have in storage, you cannot launch them without a silo. The advantage of multiple silos is the increase in launch rate.

In this harsh and competitive environment buildings frequently become damaged, sometimes losing more than half of their production capability. This fully-automated building constructs, instructs and Page 15

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controls a fleet of maintenance robots that routinely move about the colony and undertake building repairs. In addition, small craft landed in hangars will be repaired; if there is an Orbital Space Dock at the asteroid, large craft removed from fleets and left to patrol the asteroid will also be repaired. This is a facility that no efficiently-run colony can afford to be without.

This building is essential to the colony's perception of the area of space immediately surrounding it, since without a sensor array an asteroid has a very small sensor range. (All Colony Preservation Units have built-in sensors, but they are comparatively limited in both range and strength.) This highly-sensitive array improves the range of the sensory perceptors, enabling you to gain earlier and more accurate information on the momentum of approaching asteroids, and of course the movements of any hostile fleets in the area.

This weapon offers greater fire-power than the standard Laser Turret. An improved motion-detection sensor automatically begins to track any hostile ships as soon as they fire on the colony. The turret will then return fire at standard range, assuming that it has sufficient power to do so.

This weapon offers the greatest fire-power of the three turret types. The Photon Turret's power and accuracy is beyond compare, only rivalled by some Page 16

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of the larger intergalactic warships. Having said this, however, a warship moves pretty damn fast, whereas a turret is by definition immobile. A sophisticated motion-detection sensor automatically begins to track any hostile ships as soon as they fire on the colony. The turret will then return fire at an optimised range, assuming that it has sufficient power to do so.

This building provides vital air and atmospheric control throughout the colony buildings. Each life support module can generate a breathable atmosphere for up to 400 employees. A revolutionary (and top secret) chemical process is used to extract hydrogen, oxygen and various other noble gases trapped within the asteroid, scrub them and render them breathable. Surplus air will be stored in Environmental Control.

This building can only be built when beginning a new colony on an uninhabited asteroid. The Transporter ship will automatically construct one when ordered, provided sufficient funds are available. The purpose of the CPU is to establish a minimum survival colony, allowing you time to construct further, more specific buildings. Since it is intended to be phased out when the colony is up and running, the facilities of the CPU will degenerate over time. Production of air, food and water will decrease by 1 unit per day until they reach zero.

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One of Sci-Tek's most impressive R & D triumphs, this is a state-of-the-art mining drill for locating, extracting and processing particular ores. These structures comprise a highly-sophisticated geophysical survey package which seeks out the rarest and most valuable ores (Traxium and Nexos) and records their quantity and locations.

Precision-made diamond-headed drilling rigs then extract the precious minerals from the asteroid's core, and delivers them directly to the storage facilities. These rigs are larger and more expensive than the other mining facilities but are almost literally worth their weight in platinum.

This is a phenomenally-advanced facility that provides the means to control the gravitational field of the asteroid, enabling it to change direction and speed at any time. Along with the Gravity Nullifier, this was one of Sci-Tek's launch products; first sold in 2309, it is still one of their best-selling lines. If the Engines run out of power, the speed will drop to zero and the asteroid will no longer move. Power is essential to master the gravity field that moves the asteroid.

This is the major means of power generation on your asteroids. It is a large and complicated building to construct, but it offers superior power generation.

It extracts its own supplies of Asteros ore direct from the asteroid and uses a fusion process to turn it into Page 18

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a daily output of 32MW, if there is an ample supply of Asteros; otherwise, it will use relatively useless ores to give a much reduced 8MW. The Company advises ensuring that an adequate supply of Asteros is available before construction, since it uses 1 unit of ore every 4 days.

This is an extremely important building and you are advised to have more than one among your asteroids. In addition to housing powerful strategic computers which relay and collate the information gained from you sensors and performing other data management, the Command Centre also offers a way to contact your larger ships while they are in transit between asteroids. A Command Centre can oversee any number of colonies, therefore the exact location is unimportant. You will be unable to command any fleets without at least one Command Centre.

This large building extends underground into huge pressurised hangars (accessible via the Landing Pad). Smaller spacecraft can be built in the Yard, namely Assault Fighters, Combat Eagles and Scout ships, therefore it is one of the most important buildings in a colony. Should you have a Repair Facility built on your asteroid, any small craft landed in hangars will also be repaired.

These are the access points for ships to enter or leave the vast underground hangars. It is advisable Page 19

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to leave ships in the hangars when they are not currently in use, as this keeps them safe from enemy attack and enables damaged ships to be repaired. Constant maintenance is advisable since the surface structure of the hangars frequently sustains damage from meteor strikes etc. (not to mention from inebriated pilots bouncing their craft off the hangar doors).

The most basic of colony defences, this low-powered weapon offers some defence against attack by enemy ships. A standard motion-detection sensor automatically begins to track any hostile ships as soon as they fire on the colony. The turret will then return fire at standard range, assuming that it has sufficient power to do so.

While comparatively expensive, the extremely small footprint of this building compared to its generation capacity, is felt to compensate for the increased cost. It maximises space efficiency by installing a larger tower of solar panels on a very small surface area, which is particularly useful on small asteroids.

Maximum output is 8MW. This building is wholly compatible with the Sci-Tek Power Amplifier.

TetraCorp recommend the installation of such a device to enhance productivity.

This is a more advanced support building; following considerable sociological research, it was designed to TetraCorp's own specification to provide subtle Page 20

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and effective social and civil control. It takes longer to construct than the basic Living Quarters but supports 150 employees and is more space-efficient.

It offers a number of recreational facilities which assist in the lessening of tension and the promotion of a more tractable workforce. The Company advise strongly that this in no way negates the need for a Security Centre.

This building stockpiles all types of ore for sale or later use; it is more space-efficient than the basic Storage Facility and can store a maximum of 600 units of ore. It incorporates a system of underground conveyor belts, which bring the newly-extracted ores from the mines to the storage facilities. The belts also take the processed ores and distribute them to any site on the asteroid where they might be required: the Construction Yards, for example, or the Missile Silos.

While comparatively expensive, the extremely small footprint of this building compared to its generation capacity is felt to compensate for the increased cost.

It maximises space efficiency by installing a larger tower of solar panels on a very small surface area, which is particularly useful on small asteroids. In addition, an integral Laser Turret protects the installation, thus freeing up other defensive weapons for alternative sites and ensuring that your valuable power supply is unlikely to be directly targeted.

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Maximum output is 8MW. This building provides a refuelling base for your ships and as such will be one of the colony's most essential facilities. All ships use solar power; this building generates the power to recharge the synergetic crystals on which the ships rely for fuel.

This is a fully-automated process but without this building, your ships' working life will be drastically shortened and perhaps most importantly, your Transporters will have a limited range and will not be able to travel further afield to initiate new colonies.

This building stockpiles all types of ore for sale or later use; it can store a maximum of 600 units of ore and is an improved design, having an integral Laser Turret to fend off unwelcome visitors. It should be noted that all ore storage facilities will be prime targets for hostile attacks; it would therefore seem wise to protect them.

This is a modern facility incorporating all the medical equipment and found in any major planetary hospital. It is capable of supporting a colony of up to 100 employees, handling both routine and emergency medical care. It is unwise to have a large colony without at least one Medical Centre. It is invaluable in the rare cases when a virus spreads rapidly through the close confinement of a mining colony, and can also offer treatment for low doses of radiation.

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This facility stores surplus environmental commodities for later or emergency use. Each building can store up to 5,000 air units, 600 food and 600 water units. It also monitors the production and usage of these environmental commodities to ensure an uninterrupted supply to each section of your colony. Given the numerous and unpredictable hazards of colony life, such an insurance policy would seem advisable.

The Pleasure Dome provides another way of raising your employees' morale and lessening the chances of anti-social behaviour. Combining the best of interactive entertainment with three bars and an extensive sports facility, it will deal with the needs of up to 300 colony personnel at any one time.

These buildings provide essential food for your employees. Each hydroponics system provides food for up to 300 workers, which is grown from a tank of algae fed with concentrated nutrients. It sounds inedible but the basic sludge can be moulded into any foodstuff. (In tests it was found that 8 out of 10 employees could not tell the difference, and the drastic reduction in costs when compared to fresh food has made this a Company favourite.) Surplus food will be stored in Environmental Control.

These buildings provide essential water for your employees. Each hydration plant provides water for up to 400 employees. A very efficient chemical Page 23

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process is used to extract water and oxygen from ice crystals trapped deep within the asteroid; this is then purified and treated to meet Federal standards, after which the taste is chemically enhanced.

Surplus water will be stored in Environmental Control.

The Company believes in - and has always believed in - High Pay For Hard Work. However, employees do occasionally forget this and become idle or distressed by the long shifts and dangerous work, not forgetting deliberate trouble-making by the criminal element. In other words, it is inevitable that there will be regular clashes between the management and the workforce, and this is where the highly-trained security teams step in. All our teams work closely to TetraCorp's Internal Safety and Guidance Protocol and there is therefore little risk of any inappropriate reaction.

The Rigellian CPU is called a Central Unit. As with all such buildings, it is the first thing to be built on any newly-colonised asteroid and provides essential supplies until the appropriate buildings have been constructed.

The Filtration Plant deals with the production of clean water and, where necessary, filters excessive oxygen from the atmosphere.

The Nourishment Bank produces what, according to Terrans who have sampled the result, are best described as nutritional substances! Food it ain't, at Page 24

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least to Terran palates.

Communities are the living quarters, palatial by Terran standards but mediocre by those of, say, the Artemia.

The Healing Unit is obvious enough; the Rigellians have some of the best medical technology in the universe.

The Strategic Bunker is the Rigellian equivalent of the Command Centre, but has the additional function of co-ordinating the constant research and information-gathering that is such a feature of the Rigellian psyche. In another species, this name might be taken as a joke; however, this would be an unwise assumption with the Rigellians.

The Science Labs are the core of the research facilities and are present on many Rigellian colonies. They mostly conduct non-military research, being mainly interested in the mysteries of the universe (even at this advanced stage of things, there are still no shortage of these!).

The Databanks are where the knowledge gained in the Science Labs is stored, and where the Rigellians can commune with their distant colleagues. There seem to be some social functions attached to this building as well, but precisely what they are remains unclear.

The Construction Unit is where ships are built.

The Ground Deck is the Rigellian Landing Pad. Page 25

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The Probe Launch is where the satellites - for pure research purposes as well as for espionage - are constructed and launched.

Deep Space Probes are sensors, used as much for research as for keeping a sharp eye on the neighbours.

The Gravitic Converter is a combination of Gravity Nullifier and Asteroid Engines. Hi-tech and very efficient.

Power generation is handled by the enigmatically-named Energy Gatherer. The Rigellians are deliberately elusive on the exact way they generate their power. Whatever, this is where they do it.

The Energy Globe is where the Rigellians store the power they have generated (however they do it).

The Shield Generator works in a similar (albeit more efficient) way to the Terran Screen Generator.

The Arms Unit is the Weapons Factory. The Rigellians are not a particularly aggressive species, and while they recognise that others are more so, they can't really bring themselves to be overly bothered - more important things to do...

The Missile Launchers are the missile silos.

The Thermal Lance is the least effective form of anti-ship weapon.

Rigellian mining technology has been rationalised to the nth degree, and they have one single mining Page 26

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device, the Extractor, which deals with all known ores (and in all probability unknown ones as well).

Ore storage is handled by Storage Racks.

The Ex-Fang is another enigmatically-titled building, this time an energy weapon. It sucks power from attacking fleets, although by what means and to what extent is a matter of conjecture.

The Ultrathermal Lance is the most effective form of anti-ship weapon.

The First Step building is equivalent to the Terran CPU and is the first thing to be built on any Braccatian colony.

The Clan Heart building corresponds to the Terran Command Centre, with the additional function that it is also the seat of the Council of Elders.

Consequently security levels tend to be high.

The Radiation Shield speaks for itself. As another carbon-based life-form, the Braccatia are as susceptible to radiation poisoning as are Terrans.

The Source provides food and water, and has a secondary ceremonial purpose in that the provision of nutrition is considered virtually sacred.

Aesir's Hall is an unnecessarily fancy name for the air circulation system. The Braccatian breath a similar mixture to Terrans and do not survive in anything else for very long. Despite the name, this building has no ceremonial aspect.

The Longhouses are the living quarters. Despite the Page 27

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obvious limitations, the Braccatian insist on living in extended-family-based accommodation, so these are numerous.

The Sports Hall has no Terran equivalent. It could be described as a ceremonial gym, where the young Braccatian gather to indulge in the combined pleasures of physical exercise and male bonding - a semi-ritualised event.

The Field Hospital is self-explanatory. The Braccatian do not encourage malingering, so it's pretty damn basic.

The Glasshouse is the Braccatian equivalent of Terran security blocks. Since this is an honour culture, no-one would consider doing anything so shameful as trying to escape their just punishment, so the security is practically non-existent.

TechMech is the construction yard for ships. These buildings are extensive and severely practical, although many sport a certain amount of heavy-metal-type decor.

The Launch Site, whose function is obvious enough from its name, is considered largely unimportant in and of itself and thus has little security.

Eyes-in-the-Sky is a fancy name for a satellite silo; the Braccatia have mixed feelings about surveillance, although they practise it.

Eyes-and-Ears is a fancy name for sensors. The Braccatia are somewhat torn on the question of Page 28

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surveillance, since although it is obviously not desperately honourable, it is equally obviously a very good idea militarily. They compromise by building fairly efficient surveillance but pretending they aren't important.

Anchor is a not inappropriate name for the equivalent of the gravity nullifier. The facility has a semi-mystical aspect on account of the fact that stopping large astral bodies dead in their tracks being such a weird and unnatural thing to be able to do.

The Heart-of-the-Sun describes their power generation, which is all done with fusion reactors.

The Aegis is a screen generator, which is nowhere near as efficient as its Terran equivalent, and which in any case is usually only ever used to protect the Clan Heart, the Source and the Forge.

The Forge is the weapons factory and will be only slightly smaller than TechMech. This isn't so much a munitions factory as a temple to warfare.

The Anti-Battery functions as an anti-missile pod.

Not perhaps as good as some other cultures, but not bad either.

The Battery is the Braccatian missile silo. Again, honour culture values result in a mixed response: it is inherently felt that since they are not a hand-to-hand weapon, missiles are somehow dishonourable. On the other hand, they are Page 29

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incredibly useful...

This is an asteroid defence weapon designed to target enemy ships.

All three types of Terran mine are combined in the Subterranean Extractor. The Braccatian are actually not half bad at mining and this is quite an efficient machine, although rather power-hungry. They have no strong feelings about it either way - it is a necessity.

The Pithoi are their storage towers, and their Bronze Age roots show in these, which are shaped like the storage jars they take their name from. For no readily apparent reason, they are usually quite highly decorated.

Fire Power are equivalent to Plasma Turrets but slightly more efficient, both in terms of actual fire-power and in terms of accuracy. These are possibly the most accurate turret weapons in the universe.

The Mikotaj CPU is called the Base Crystal. Unlike the Terran CPU it produces no nutrients or atmosphere; it emits a form of silver noise which blocks out the background noise of the universe.

Most species cannot hear it but the Mikotaj are ultra-sensitive and it drives them slowly mad if they can perceive it.

Stability is a combination of Command Centre and Gravity Nullifier.

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Purity is the environmental control, with particular relevance to the radiation level. This is important to the Mikotaj who are highly sensitive to atmospheric quality, not because they breathe (as such) but because the quality of the air affects the speed and effectiveness of their thought-patterns.

While the function of the Fulfilment building is clear enough, which is that it provides whatever the Mikotaj use for nourishment, the exact way it works is a complete mystery. To begin with, it seems odd that the security isn't higher.

Internal are personal living quarters. No Terran has, as far as is known, ever set foot in one of these areas. The low security may seem surprising, but as Mikotaj society is understood by outsiders, while the individual Mikotaj is `at home' it will be using personal shields. It appears that they mainly use these structures while they are resting (they don't sleep as such); however, even while at rest they appear to be able to leave part of their concentration alert for possible danger.

Dream is broadly - and I stress the word - equivalent to Terran medical facilities. It appears to be more like a temple than a hospital, which makes sense given that the Mikotaj have only minds to treat, not bodies.

As referred to elsewhere, the Mikotaj generate power and indeed make most things happen on Page 31

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their colonies by a collective mental focusing technique. Resonance is where they gather to do this, and because they are most vulnerable at this time, it is one of the most highly-secured buildings on any Mikotaj colony.

Silence is a building with no obvious Terran equivalent. It isn't a temple, it isn't an auditorium, it isn't a planetarium: yet it is all these things plus a lot more. It represents the heart of what we would have to term the Mikotaj religion, although this is probably misleading in itself. No Mikotaj will discuss the purpose or function of the building, or any related activities, with anyone but another Mikotaj. All that can be said with any confidence is that it represents something spiritual. Probably. And it has more security than you can shake a very big stick at.

Mask is the building where the persona robots are constructed; like all other Mikotaj buildings it is fully automated. It does however require a fair amount of communal and personal attention.

The Structures Matrix is where ships are constructed: this is a fully automated process powered by focusing.

Volition is the Mikotaj landing pad.

Visibility is the name given to the satellite silos.

Perception is the name given to the sensor arrays.

Mikotaj sensors are the most sensitive in the Federation.

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The Capacitors are the buildings on which the Mikotaj expend the vast majority of their time and energy. They are charged up with mental energy, which then powers the rest of the colony buildings.

Lanth (literal meaning = `confidence') is the famous Mikotaj cloaking device, which must of course be switched off to allow weapons (e.g. missiles) to be used. Nonetheless, this device does give them a considerable advantage in going unperceived, which they possibly rely on too much.

Sharir (literal meaning = `anger') appears to be for the purpose of weapons production.

Shrekn (literal meaning = `fear') are missile silos.

Ruth-feror (literal meaning = `underground wealth' + `joy') covers all forms of mining technology; there are visual differences which would allow distinction between an ordinary mine and a seismic penetrator, for example, but they are all called Ruth-feror.

Ruth-fett (literal meaning = `underground wealth' + `casket') signifies a storage tower.

Merl (literal meaning = `embarrassment') is the equivalent of a Terran Plasma Turret.

Na-Shrekn (literal meaning = `negative' + `fear') is the equivalent of a Terran Photon Turret.

The Softcore has essentially identical functions to the Terran CPU. The Environmental Stabilisers take the place of the Terran Environmental Control. Although the Artemia Page 33

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can breathe pretty much anything given enough oxygen in the mixture, they do need a sufficient supply of fresh water. This building not only produces the requisite amount of oxygen, but also constantly monitors the production and quality of the output of the Filtration Tanks.

The Filtration Tanks are where fresh water is produced, for two equally vital reasons: one is for the production of gnarsh, the krill-like substance which is the Artemian equivalent of both food and water. The other is for bathing, which has a severely functional role in Artemian society in addition to the ritual/religious one it also occupies. Artemian physiology requires that they maintain scrupulous personal hygiene if they are not to get a wide range of unpleasant diseases caused by grit and other foreign bodies lodging in crevices in their exoskeletons.

The Canisters is a somewhat misleading name for the Artemian personal living quarters, which although constructed mainly of metal are pretty sumptuous by Terran standards, especially for a mining colony. Each canister has spacious areas for relaxation and sleep, along with an integral bathhouse that looks like something out of a Cecil B de Mille epic.

Artemian Nurseries are a communal set-up where the younglings are looked after from the third or Page 34

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fourth day of their existence. The adults share out child care according to a traditional rota system, which everyone gets to take a turn at. At any one time many of the adults, even those not currently rota-ed, can be found in this area. In accordance with Artemian values, this building has very high security.

The Healing Quarters are more similar in design and function to those of the Braccatia; neither species believes in pandering to the ailing! More importantly, this building is often situated in relative isolation, to reduce the risk of infection; many Artemian diseases are highly contagious.

The House of the Axe combines the functions of temple and meeting hall. In addition to the ritual aspect of the building, about which the Artemia are uncharacteristically close-mouthed, it is known that consensus decisions affecting the day-to-day and future existence of the colony are taken here.

The Naval Dockyard combines the functions of the Terran Command Centre and Construction Yard; ships are built here, plus combat decisions are implemented from a bunker situated (it is popularly believed) somewhere underneath. The Dockyard itself has relatively low security; the integral Command Centre is almost impossible to locate.

The function of the Launch Pads is self-evident.

Perhaps surprisingly, their security rating is not Page 35

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especially high.

The Deep Probes are the sensors, picking up foreign craft and other asteroids drifting into Artemian space.

The Gravitic Converter is a gravity nullifier, an impressive technological invention which draws less power than the Terran equivalent for equal function.

The Shielded Solars are the only source of power and roughly equivalent or perhaps slightly superior to the Terran Protected Solar Matrices.

The Artemian Cloaking Device is called a Shell; there is only one needed per colony and in accordance with the universal cosmic rules for these things, it only works when weapons are not being fired.

The Weapons Factory is called an Arms Forge and is large and superbly equipped. The Artemia do not glorify warfare as do the Braccatia, but they do feel that if you're going to do it, you may as well do it properly.

The Star Bars are the Artemian slang term for the Anti-Missile Pods.

The Missile Launcher is self-explanatory.

The Auto-deterrent is a turret equivalent, having the lowest range and firepower of all Artemian weapons.

The Super-deterrent is broadly equivalent to the Terran Photon Turret but as far as Terran anthropologists have been able to ascertain, the Page 36

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Super-deterrent also has some sort of ritual or religious significance, although precisely what is still unclear.

The Artemian equivalent of screen generators, less power-hungry than their Terran counterparts but just as effective.

The Advanced Ore Extractor mines those ores extracted by the Terran Deep Bore Mine.

The Rare Ore Extractor, amazingly enough, mines the rarest ores. It should be clear by now that the Artemia are not great ones for metaphor in naming their buildings.

The Ore Depot is storage, as its name suggests, a building usually equipped with medium levels of security.

A building with no real Terran equivalent is the Refining Forge, where the special alloys used by the Artemia for decorative and/or ritual purposes are made.

The Maunid CPU is called a Base Block. This unimaginative title is entirely in keeping with the general Maunid outlook on life.

The Shielding Block is the anti-radiation device.

Even the Mauna are not immune to the effects of radiation, although it takes longer to penetrate their gene pool.

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The Nutrition Block is where they produce - well, you couldn't call it food. The Mauna exist on a diet of husch,, a vitamin-enriched vat-grown protein. It looks like a greenish porridge and tastes like something that should not be referred to in public.

The Off-duty Block is the communal residential area. The name tells you everything you should ever need to know about the Maunid attitude to life.

The Health Block is a bit of a misnomer. More people die in here than anywhere else.

The Cube has a ritual function, but the details are largely unknown. It appears to involve gathering in large groups and shouting slogans.

N.B. It might be wondered why the Mauna, such a disciplinarian species, have no security facilities for wrong-doers. The answer is simple. It's because they shoot them out of hand.

The Elite Block combines the functions of the Command Centre and the Sensor Array, on the grounds that these are both things to which the peasants (that is, 90%% of Maunid society) should not under any circumstances have any access.

The Construction Area is where the ships are built, and most Maunid colonies will have at least two of these.

The Launch Area is the Landing Pad. The Satellite Pad is exactly what its name suggests it might be.

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Power comes from Fast Breeder Reactors, a filthy form of power generation which even the Terrans abandoned some time ago. They have a habit of blowing up, increasing radiation for light-years in all directions.

The Arms Block is a high security area, where weaponry and armour are constructed. Functional, like all Maunid buildings. Most colonies will have more than one of these.

Although the Mauna aren't great believers in defence in general, they are also too mean not to protect their own property. Their Anti-Missile Pods are called Defence Pods.

Their Missile Silos are known, imaginatively enough, as Attack Pods.

Maunid anti-ship weapons are called Pulse Towers.

They are fairly deadly and should be treated with respect.

The Mauna rarely bother to protect their colonists' lives with these, concentrating instead on screening their weapons factories and the Elite Blocks.

The Advanced Extraction Unit is the Deep Bore Mine equivalent, extracting the mid-range of ores. It is no more efficient or clean than the Basic Extraction Unit.

The Superior Extraction Unit (which the Mauna only developed recently) is the equivalent of the Seismic Penetrator but nowhere near as efficient.

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Ore storage is in the Ores Block. This will be fairly well protected.

Never averse to stealing the technology of others, the Mauna reverse-engineered Sci-Tek's famous Asteroid Engines and came up with these - less efficient and more energy consuming but they still just about do the job.

The Laser Boost isn't really an anti-ship weapon in its own right; it's an add-on for the existing Pulse Towers which improves their aim and fire-power to that of a seriously lethal weapon.

The Footprint is the Achaean equivalent of the Terran CPU. Like all Achaean buildings, it is a jumble of the essential and the after-thought.

The Anti-Rad Screen is a radiation control device.

Rarely given much protection, despite its relative importance.

Environmental Control is just that. Surplus air, water and food are stored here for emergencies such as a late-night attack of the munchies.

The Achaeans are inveterate bathers and on their home-planets, much of their social life revolves around saunas. Out here in the colonies, they make do with this building, which extracts and purifies water for both drinking and bathing purposes.

Despite their unappetising name, the Nutrient Vats produce a remarkably high standard of food - none of your tasteless vat-grown sludge for these people!

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Spices are grown in specially adapted cells within the vats, and used to make rich and tasty food from essentially the same ingredients that the Terrans and everyone else uses.

Habitats, the living quarters of the Achaeans, appear unexpectedly small from the surface of the asteroid. This is because most of their labyrinthine, barrel-vaulted tunnels and small, cluttered rooms are underground, which is where this species prefers to live.

The Pharmacopeion is the equivalent of the Medical Centre. Achaeans suffer from few illnesses, and tend to treat those they do get with a combination of herbal remedies and massage.

The Gathering Ground is a place of enormous ritual significance. This is where Achaeans hold their Gatherings, which are seasonal, semi-religious, semi-social festivals lasting for a month or so.

Basically they consist of eating, drinking, trading and talking, plus certain seasonally and/or geographically appropriate rituals.

The Market is in pretty much constant use and forms the central part of any colony. This is where the trading goes on; it is worth bearing in mind that Achaeans from different colony clusters do a great deal of visiting.

Communications Central is the Achaean equivalent of the Command Centre. It does not fulfil exactly the Page 41

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same function, since the Achaeans don't have combat fleets as such. It is more where all available information is brought in and evaluated, and will be connected to the Data Gatherer and Listening Device.

The Shipyard is where the vast Achaean scout/trading fleets are constructed, plus the small number of combat ships used for colony protection.

At any one time there are quite likely to be Achaean vessels from other colony clusters being re-fitted there.

The Landing Pad is exactly what it says and is often adjacent to the Shipyard.

The Achaean equivalent of Missile Silos; the Achaeans claim that they are the most accurate in the Federation although this is hotly disputed by the Braccatia and the Artemia in particular.

The Data Gatherer is the Satellite Silo. Achaeans are fond of watching the activities of those around them, even when they have no aggressive intentions: basically, they're just incurably nosy...

The Listening Device (the Achaean version of the Sensor Array) is usually next to Comms Central.

The Achaeans have an equivalent to the Terran Asteroid Engines, called a Manoeuvring Device.

This enables the asteroid to be gently propelled out of the way of meteors and suchlike. It should not be confused with the Destination Beam.

The Destination Beam is a purely Achaean Page 42

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invention. It allows an asteroid to be warped instantaneously across a considerable distance - up to five sectors - but can only be used rarely, because of the enormous amount of power it requires.

Power is generated in the Reactor Cores.

The Asteroid Shield is a form of Screen Generator which takes quite a lot of power to run, so they only tend to use it when they perceive that they are under threat.

The Defence Battery is equivalent to the Terran Anti-Missile Pods, and pretty damn effective they are too. (The Achaeans believe in peace; they don't however believe in stupidity.)

The Commonbore is the Achaean mining facility for extracting the more common types of ore. Unlike Terran mining technology, the Achaeans only have two types of mining operation.

The Deepbore is the Achaean mining facility for extracting the rarest types of ore.

The Ore Yards are protected storage for ore, extremely well-protected.

The Goods Yards are (very highly) protected storage for anything and everything other than ores.

The Stun Tower is a basic colony defence facility, similar in some respects to Terran Laser Turrets.

The Power Tower is equivalent to the Terran Photon Turret, but more deadly.

Explosive Page 43

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Area Explosive Napalm Hellfire Scatter Vortex Nuclear Virus Anti-Virus Mega Stasis Bug Hunter Meat-Eater Detonator Multi-det Flamejell Maxi-det Flare Viral Repair Temporal Stasis Mega Blast Flaming Ruin Volcano Multi Blast Dancing Bolt HotBomb Outbreak Anti-Outbreak Midwinter Page 44

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Comms Killer Shri-Merl Shri-Jaar Greek Fire Shri-Sharir Bruj-Mahal Convulsion Stabiliser Kal-Na-Xanth Bruj-Garor Standard Warhead Advanced Warhead Liquid Flame Coagulant Flame Multiple Warhead Spiral Nova Demon Saviour Star-Shatterer Freezer Space Hunger Minor Hurt Unit Major Hurt Unit Burns Unit Multiple Burns Unit Multiple Hurt Unit Lightning Destruction Unit Page 45

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Radiation Sickness Unit Ground Breaking Unit Anti-Ground Breaking Unit Ore Dissolver Frighteners Harmers DripFire Seizure Ground Breaker Ground Maker Hold It There Thief-in-the-Night Explosive Missile Area Explosive Missile Napalm Missile Hellfire Missile Scatter Missile Vortex Missile Nuclear Missile Virus Missile Anti-Virus Missile Mega Missile Stasis Missile Bug Hunter Missile Meat-Eater Missile Explosive Missiles Area Explosive Missiles Napalm Missiles Page 46

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Hellfire Missiles Scatter Missiles Vortex Missiles Nuclear Missiles Virus Missiles Anti-Virus Missiles Mega Missiles Stasis Missiles Bug Hunter Missiles Meat-Eater Missiles A conventional (and cheap) warhead for general use.

A standard warhead with a larger area of destruction.

An advanced incendiary device using plasma gas to melt most structures.

A deadly substance capable of spreading across an entire asteroid. Effective on densely populated asteroids.

Over the target asteroid this missile splits into several conventional explosive missiles for an improved hit ratio.

Unleashes an electrical storm that will wander across the target asteroid, damaging everything it touches.

This multi-megaton device will destroy most structures on the target asteroid, as well as ships in orbit.

This volatile substance dissolves the very fabric of an asteroid, spreading swiftly.

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Used to halt the spread of an asteroid virus. It will neutralise the virus and then itself.

The power unleashed by this warhead results in the destruction of an entire asteroid. Use with care!

New advances in temporal physics allow an entire asteroid to be frozen, incapable of action, for a period of time.

Bug Hunter missile.

Meat-Eater missile.

Assault Fighter Combat Eagle Scoutship Destructor Terminator Transporter Fleet Battleship Space Dock Command Cruiser Spy Satellite Lazzaro Research Delphini Assault Messier-Lukannon Transportation Observatory Rattlesnake WidowMaker HeartsBlood Morning Glory Page 48

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SkyMech Hiero Ylikt-shan Falari-Lourn Ruth-Strivakh Na-Xanth Gerla-Kans Explorer All-Purpose Assault Shielded Multi-Assault Ultimate Mk II Hardcore Geostationary Construction Surveillance Craft Type 5 Combat Craft Type 1.5 Max Combat Craft Type 6 Elite Command Craft Transportation Craft Type 3 Orbital Construction Area Hunter/Prospector Dedicated Fighter Dedicated Ore Transporter Orbital Shipyard Assault Fighters Combat Eagles Scoutships Destructors Terminators Transporters Page 49

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Fleet Battleships Space Docks Command Cruisers Spy Satellites Once you have a spy satellite orbiting an asteroid, it continually transmits back video information about the surface of the asteroid.

Ion Cannon Disruptor Napalm Orb Chaos Bomb Vortex Mine Laser Photon Cannon Plasma Cannon Static Inducer Warp Generator Deflector Shield x10 Shield x20 Shield x30 Shield x40 Shield x50 Mk2 Mine Mk2 Deep Bore Mine Anti-Missile Pod Anti-Virus Missile Asteroid Engines Page 50

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Asteroid Tracker Building Armour Construction Droids Deflector Fleet Battleship Gravity Nullifier Hi-Energy Power Stores Improved Sensors Mega Missile Missile Bay Extension Missile Guidance System Nuclear Missile Ore Teleporter Photon Turret Plasma Turret Power Amplifier Powerplant Repair Facility Screen Generator Seismic Penetrator Shield x40 Shield x50 Solar Matrix Static Inducer Stasis Missile Terminator Turret Optimiser Virus Missile Page 51

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Warp Generator Long Range Transmitter Command Cruiser Scrambler Double Speed Engines This multi-headed drill bit will double the output of all your mines, both existing and future.

This multi-headed drill bit will double the output of all your deep-bore mines, both existing and future.

This turret will attempt to knock out incoming warheads before they reach the asteroid.

Used to halt the spread of an asteroid virus. It will neutralise the virus and then itself.

Using these engines you can specify the exact direction and speed of your asteroid, steering it from imminent collisions.

This device monitors and tracks all known asteroids.

Their paths and speeds can be displayed on the asteroid field screen.

This device allows building structure to be strengthened, decreasing their vulnerability to attack.

These are put to work in your ship yards, enabling them to construct twice as many ships as before. (hardpoint) It energises the hull to deflect most of the energy of an attack. Can be used with existing shields.

The most powerful warship available at this time. At 92m long, it has the latest technology aboard, and Page 52

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six weapon hardpoints.

Creates a gravity field that holds the asteroid and all neighbouring asteroids stationary.

This enhancement doubles the storage capacity of all existing and future power stores.

Sci-Tek engineers will install sensors in all your asteroids, removing the need for sensor arrays.

The power unleashed by this warhead results in the destruction of an entire asteroid. Use with care!

A new loading rack system enables you to store twice as many missiles on each asteroid.

This device offers an improved chance of your missiles successfully hitting their target.

This multi-megaton device will destroy most structures on the target asteroid, as well as ships in orbit.

Allows the instantaneous transmission of ore between asteroids.

The best energy weapon available at this time. Fires photon packets capable of devastating armour.

A weapon of greater devastation than a laser turret.

Efficient on power use too.

This device modifies all generators that rely upon solar power and doubles their power output.

A cost efficient means of generating power, up to 32MW. The fusion process uses Asteros ore.

Monitors and directs the repairing of colony buildings.

The generator creates a screen which protects Page 53

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neighbouring buildings against enemy attacks.

Provides the capability to locate and extract the valuable Traxium and Nexos ores, which existing mines cannot extract.

Though this device fills an entire ship hardpoint, it provides the ship with 40 greater armour points.

Though this device fills an entire ship hardpoint, it provides the ship with 50 greater armour points.

A huge matrix of solar panels to use space more effectively. Generates 8MW, or 16MW with a power amplifier. (hardpoint) It emits a powerful E.M. beam to scramble the electronics of an enemy ship.

New advances in temporal physics allow an entire asteroid to be frozen, incapable of action, for a period of time.

A very effective warship. It has greater armour than existing ships and four hardpoints for mounting weapons.

This device is a real breakthrough, doubling the damage of all existing and future turrets.

Deposits a substance that spreads rapidly across the target asteroid. It destroys any structure that it contacts. (hardpoint) Offers total protection against attack. It cannot be maintained permanently, but is pulsed on and off at regular intervals.

Offers for the first time the ability to maintain Page 54

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long-range contact with the crews of smaller craft.

The largest warship available at this time, offering the opportunity to greatly increase the range of your fleet.

Scrambler Double Speed Engines This blueprint allows the construction of computer-controlled multi-headed drill assemblies.

These will then be automatically added to all existing and future mines, allowing the most common ores to be extracted at twice the previous speed.

This blueprint allows the construction of computer-controlled multi-headed drill assemblies.

These will then be automatically added to all existing and future mines, allowing the more valuable ores to be extracted at twice the previous speed.

Prolonged customer research has shown that automated defences are the most cost-effective way of protecting deep-space installations. These high quality pods are your major defence against enemy missiles. Each pod comes equipped with its own military standard laser and state-of-the-art sensors; the sensors track any incoming missiles and target them before subjecting them to high intensity fire.

Due to their compact size, the individual accuracy of the pods is low, but can be improved by building Page 55

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several pods on each asteroid.

The only known means to eradicate the effects of a Virus missile. Upon impact it disperses a bacterial agent over the entire surface of the asteroid which within moments will seek out and destroy the virus, halting its spread. It will then begin acting upon the mutated areas of the asteroid, reversing the effects of the virus. This is a long and slow process, but one which will ultimately restore the asteroid to a more stable form capable of supporting buildings.

Unfortunately, this results in increased radiation but this seems a small price to pay.

This is a phenomenally-advanced facility that provides the means to control the gravitational field of the asteroid, enabling it to change direction and speed at any time. Along with the Gravity Nullifier, this was one of Sci-Tek's launch products; first sold in 2309, it is still one of their best-selling lines. If the Engines run out of power, the speed will drop to zero and the asteroid will no longer move. Power is essential to master the gravity field that moves the asteroid.

This powerful computer works in conjunction with your sensors to observe and analyse the movement of all known asteroids. It provides data on the direction and velocity of each asteroid to enable you to anticipate, and thus avoid, dangerous collisions.

These blueprints hold the specification for armour Page 56

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suitable for protecting any type of building from meteor strikes and enemy attacks. The materials required are available as a by-product of the standard hydroponics process, and any new building can effectively benefit from the improved protection that this material offers at no extra cost.

Under normal circumstances, your Ship Yards and Orbital Space Docks will only have the resources to construct up to 3 craft at any one time; this blueprint, however, will revolutionise your ship-building capacity. Once purchased, all your existing and future Yards and Docks will be modified to include a state-of-the-art robot assembly line. The sophistication of these droids allows you to construct up to six craft at any one time - not only that, but they increase the speed of construction by approximately 25%%.

This is a hardpoint that improves general ship defences. It consists of a generator that pulses energy through the ship's hull all the while it is in flight, drawing power from the main engines. The energised hull is more resilient to damage and can deflect or absorb most attacks. The Deflector can be used with existing shields and greatly improves the operational lifetime of a ship.

An extremely powerful and respected craft, this was originally designed in 2364 by R. Giggs and has been extensively modified and improved since its Page 57

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initial launch. Despite its grand name, it is a fraction of the size of the Federal Battleships, but still capable of forming the mainstay of any independent fleet. Both Sci-Tek and TetraCorp use and recommend this as their primary warship, its six hardpoints making it a very flexible and tough vessel.

One of Sci-Tek's greatest technological breakthroughs, the Nullifier generates a gravitational field that stops all asteroids within a certain range from moving, including the one on which the Nullifier is installed. As long as the Nullifier is active you don't have to worry about collisions; however, if the Asteroid Engines are in operation, the Nullifier must first be switched off. Sci-Tek warns that the field will collapse if you have insufficient power to drive the Nullifier, so regular checks on its operational status are advised.

This extremely ergonomic device consists of a specialised capacitance circuit which is automatically installed in all existing and future power stores, doubling their capacity.

Sci-Tek have recognised the reliance that most colonies put on their Sensor Arrays; without them, an asteroid is highly vulnerable to an unexpected collision or surprise enemy attack. Therefore Sci-Tek have developed a device which can be installed on all existing colonies, and which is also added to the construction of the CPU so that all Page 58

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future colonies will be protected also. It renders Sensor Arrays unnecessary by hiding the sensors underground and using new techniques to allow them to probe surrounding space.

The most devastating warhead available, the Mega Missile's price is justified by over 40 years of research and development at Sci-Tek's Gravity Research Labs. The technology behind this missile has top secret status, but is known to involve generating a gravitic pulse which causes seismic fractures in the target. The warhead is powerful enough to render small planets uninhabitable through volcanic activity. Its effect on a target as small as an asteroid is to reduce it to chunks of rubble of diameter no greater than 30-50cm, depending on the asteroid's original size.

Conventional missile silos can only store a maximum of 10 of each type of warhead, if they are to be loaded and launched as quickly as possible.

This new design of loading rack system is installed in all your existing and new missile silos and doubles their capacity. The system is compact but can arm any warhead in any silo in a matter of seconds.

This device utilises the output of your existing sensors to accurately measure the distance and analyse the relative vectors of the launching and target asteroids. This gives an impressive increase in strike accuracy of 25%%, decreasing wastage of Page 59

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expensive weapons and ensuring maximum damage is inflicted on hostile colonies.

This is a multi-megaton warhead capable of inflicting enormous damage on an asteroid, with a distinct possibility of destroying all buildings.

Spacecraft in orbit will also suffer damage from the blast. WARNING: USE WITH CARE! The radiation effects from a nuclear attack can render an asteroid uninhabitable for many, many years.

This is a very effective way and swift means of transporting ores between asteroids. You must have an Ore Teleporter on both of the asteroids you want to move ore between. For best results, install one on all your asteroids.

This weapon offers the greatest fire-power of the three turret types, firing photon packets capable of devastating armour. The Photon Turret's power and accuracy is beyond compare, only rivalled by some of the larger intergalactic warships. A sophisticated motion-detection sensor automatically begins to track any hostile ships as soon as they fire on the colony. The turret will then return fire at an optimised range, assuming that it has sufficient power to do so.

This weapon offers greater fire-power than the standard Laser Turret. An improved motion-detection sensor automatically begins to track any hostile ships as soon as they fire on the colony. The turret will then return fire at standard Page 60

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range, assuming that it has sufficient power to do so.

This blueprint allows the construction of an enhancement for solar generators which optimises their power production, doubling the output. This is fitted to all existing and future Solar Panels, Generators and Matrices and represents a significant improvement in ergonomic power generation.

This is the major means of power generation on your asteroids. It is a large and complicated building to construct, but it offers superior power generation.

It extracts its own supplies of Asteros ore direct from the asteroid and uses a fusion process to turn it into a daily output of 32 MW, if there is an ample supply of Asteros; otherwise it will use otherwise useless ores to give a much reduced 8 MW. The Company advises ensuring that an adequate supply of Asteros is available before construction, since it uses 1 unit of ore every 4 days.

In the harsh environment of the mining colony buildings frequently become damaged. This is of course especially true during attacks by hostile forces. This fully-automated building constructs, instructs and controls a fleet of maintenance robots that routinely move about the colony and undertake building repairs. This is a facility that no efficiently-run colony can afford to be without. This building also shows the armour/damage status of your buildings.

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Even armoured buildings are vulnerable to attack.

Fortunately, alternative means of defence are available. This area protection device creates a force field over neighbouring buildings, assuming sufficient power supplies. The field will absorb a high percentage of the energy of the majority of common weapons systems, including inter-asteroid missiles. It is recommended that you construct several of these generators to protect your most important buildings.

The only mine sophisticated enough to extract Traxium and Nexos ores. One of Sci-Tek's most impressive R & D triumphs, this is a state-of-the-art mining drill for locating, extracting and processing particular ores. Precision-made diamond-headed drilling rigs extract the precious minerals from the asteroid's core, and delivers them directly to the storage facilities. These rigs are larger and more expensive than the other mining facilities but are almost literally worth their weight in platinum.

This hardpoint is a straightforward defensive shield.

It improves the ship's overall resistance to attack by adding an additional layer of armour to the hull; the highly-developed material properties of the armour means that this does not affect the speed or handling of the craft, even on smaller fighters.

This is another secondary defensive shield which can be added to give an additional layer of armour to Page 62

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the ship's hull. Despite having no adverse effects on the ship's speed or handling, this shield renders a ship almost (but not quite) invulnerable to attack.

And all for a mere 60,000 Cr too!

While comparatively expensive, the extremely small footprint of this building compared to its generating capacity is felt to compensate for the increased cost.

It maximises space efficiency by installing a larger tower of solar panels on a very small surface area, which is particularly useful on small asteroids.

Maximum output is 8 MW. This building is wholly compatible with the Sci-Tek Power Amplifier.

TetraCorp recommend the installation of such a device to enhance productivity.

This defensive hardpoint device uses energy from the ship's main engines to periodically emit a powerful electromagnetic pulse which temporarily scrambles the sensor electronics of enemy craft.

During the pulse, all hostile craft are rendered vulnerable, unable to attack or move. Included with the blueprints are details of how to attune your other craft to the pre-EMP warning code burst which will afford protection from these effects.

The latest warhead from Sci-Tek, utilising their recent research into temporal physics. Upon impact it will establish a tachyon field around the target asteroid, disconnecting it from the temporal matrix of the surrounding space. The practical effect is to halt Page 63

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the passage of time inside the stasis field. Nothing can happen inside the field, and no spacecraft or missiles may arrive or depart. The field decays and dies after a period of time, at which point normal activity is resumed.

One of Sci-Tek's most popular warship designs, this vessel has seen extensive service in the Federal Marines. Initially designed and built in 2321, this model is the latest specification (T-15), its four hardpoints making it an effective and versatile weapons platform. The original designer's name is unknown, but the T-15 is credited to Jancis McDonald, technical editor of Jane's Orbital And Deep Space Battle Craft Monthly, and proud owner of the last fully maintained and operational T-1.

This device was warmly welcomed on its release and has continued to be a popular item in the Sci-Tek range. It upgrades all existing and future turret constructions of any type, increasing the firepower of each shot by a factor of two. The exact technique used is an industrial secret, but is known to involve use of a flux capacitor to store incoming energy between blasts, releasing the surplus power when required for firing.

This very powerful warhead releases a volatile (and radioactive) substance upon impact which destabilises the very rock of an asteroid. It is impossible for buildings to stand on this new, Page 64

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unstable substance. The virus will slowly spread across the asteroid surface, infecting everything in its path.

This hardpoint-mounted device is a defence system which operates periodically, due to its high power consumption. An energy charge is accumulated in the integral flux capacitor, and when this is charged, a powerful warp field is generated, phasing the ship out of the spatial matrix and rendering it temporarily invulnerable to damage. The ship's own weapons can be readily synchronised to fire only when it is within the matrix, preventing energy wastage.

Sci-Tek are proud to present their latest breakthrough in hardened miniaturisation technology. Until now, real-time two-way communication has been unavailable to smaller craft such as Scoutships; this device offers the chance for the first time for the crew of small craft to receive instruction and transmit information back to base. The Transmitter will be automatically installed in all new constructions; unfortunately it is not possible to fit it to existing craft.

This massive craft is not only strongly armed and armoured, with six hardpoints, but is also capable of carrying up to 20 smaller fighters in its hold, and also towing a number of medium craft (depending on their size). This ship's long range effectively Page 65

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increases the deployment range of your fleet far beyond that of your smaller ships. The Command Cruiser is an invaluable addition to the fleet of anyone living and working in the great distances of the deep space asteroid fields.

Long description for Scrambler Long description for Double Speed Engines Shell Shock A.P.V. Phantom A.P.V. Judgement Day A.P.V. Silicon Death A.P.V. Bug Hunter A.P.V. Meat-Eater A.P.V. Astrophobia Rigellian Flu Deep Space Debilitation Korsakov's Syndrome Belt Fever Spacer's Salmonella Biofort Vir-Attack Supa-Shellac Swat Star Balm The ore-slurry recovery ports maintain a continuous flow carrying solvent polymers down to the workface and the ores upwards in a fluidised mass.

These four independent multi-headed Page 66

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omega-carbon-tipped drill assemblies can cut through the hardest of rocks.

Coolant fluid through-connectors deliver a mixture of gaseous and liquefied cooling agents which envelop and permeate the carbon structure of the drill bits.

Radio-seismic probe detects the tell-tale traces of radioactivity indicating the whereabouts of valuable ores.

These four independent multi-headed omega-carbon-tipped drill assemblies can cut through the hardest of rocks.

Coolant fluid through-connectors deliver a mixture of gaseous and liquefied cooling agents which envelop and permeate the carbon structure of the drill bits.

Shown here are the twin tracking dishes, incorporating high-quality sensors. These put out multiple signals, allowing the targeting system to exactly calculate the incoming missiles' position.

A new alloy has been used for the barrel to allow a more constant firing rate. The pods fire globules of plasma which are uniquely created for each round in a special chamber in the base of the pod.

Since the fixed base contains chambers of super-heated plasma, it is hardened and armour-plated for the maximum safety of colonists as well as for protection from incoming fire.

Four pods store the payload, the bacterial anti-viral agent, ready for dispersal across an infected asteroid.

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The four main rocket thrusters power the missile to its destination.

The navigational sensor and guidance systems are situated in the nose assembly of the missile.

The main sphere is where the central gravitic reactor is housed; details of operation are classified by Sci-Tek. The differences in gravitic potential between each opposing pair of generators determine the direction and speed of movement of the asteroid.

The fixed base firmly attaches the engines to the asteroid which they are intending to move.

The user interface comprises a screen display and easy-to-read controls.

These twin fans provide a constant flow of cooling air over the computer's internals.

This data storage bank holds information on all known asteroids' position and speed.

This state-of-the-art force-feedback calibration device ensures that no essential data is lost.

The ionisers shown here re-align the molecular structure of the surface coating which forms the armour.

The two rectangular panels are thermal energy transducers, utilising the heat escaping from the building to power the ionisation fields.

The damage control monitoring panel provides an interface for human maintenance workers or repair Page 68

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droids to assess the damage levels and effect repairs.

The heavy manipulation arm allows the droid to attach heavy items such as weapons and shields to hardpoints.

This high resolution optical sensor provides visual feedback to the droid as to the progress of its work.

The high-powered spot welding attachment is used in the fabrication of ships' hulls amongst other things.

This lightweight manipulation arm is used for delicate tasks such as installing ships' avionics.

Shown here is the combination laser-cutter and high-precision soldering tool.

The energising nose cone houses the electronic devices which broadcast the energy field into the ship's hull.

The over-pressure relief valve safeguards the system from catastrophic failure should it be unable to absorb all the damage from an attack.

Auxiliary support electronics comprising power input control and monitoring system ensure the smooth operation of this device.

The single rear thruster achieves a top speed of 2 FN. The wing-tip-mounted directional thrust engines give the Battleship unequalled manoeuvrability for a ship of its size.

The communications antenna and electric field sensor probe provide the Battleship with vital information concerning both friendly and hostile craft Page 69

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in the vicinity.

The central gravitic reactor is located here; further operational details are classified by Sci-Tek. The fixed base is carefully shaped so as not to interfere with the gravitic field emanating from the nullifier and is rigid enough to prevent the asteroid's inertia from tearing it loose.

Four cardinal orientation sensors integrate the local gravitic field with that of the cosmos.

The primary and backup emergency cooling cylinders release coolants directly into the main power chamber, if and when the temperature exceeds specified tolerances.

The probe input arms operate as data collection for the power store.

2Twin power terminals connect the system to the device in which it is installed.

The data collector and integrator provides information acquisition and storage facilities.

These shielding coils prevent activity on the asteroid from interfering with the operation of the sensors.

These are the calibration controls and signal strength output indicators which allow the sensors work optimally on each individual asteroid.

The four multi-directional thrusters power this phenomenally powerful missile.

The manoeuvring fins ensure that the missile impacts perpendicular to the surface of the target Page 70

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planetoid in order to achieve maximum subterranean penetration before detonation.

The navigational sensor and guidance systems are situated in the nose cone of the missile.

The revolving missile storage rack allows greater numbers of missiles to be stored and loaded.

The missile loading sub-assembly incorporates blast-shield doors and a hydraulic missile transport system.

The computer-control and missile-targeting systems instruct the missiles prior to loading for launch.

This translucent sphere contains a holographic map that provides a user-friendly interface to the display of targeting data.

Shown here are the targeting data output and user input facilities.

Heavily-armoured casing houses the computer used in calculating the trajectory intersections of missiles and asteroids.

Four powerful thrusters deliver the warhead to its destination.

Air-brake manoeuvring systems enable optimum orientation of the missile.

The atomic warhead is situated within the nose cone.

The long-range transceiver is oriented towards the target asteroid.

The atomic scan generators break down the ores into their constituents before transmission and Page 71

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re-assemble ores from incoming data.

The data-throughput super-computer processes the enormous information flow between the scan chamber and the antenna.

As befits such an awesome weapon, the barrel has been specially strengthened to cope with the power unleashed by firing the photon packets. Sci-Tek recommend that all employees are warned to stay clear while the turret is in action.

The fixed base of the turret is heavily armour-plated, using a recently-developed form of elastoplastic which warps and reforms when hit, thus absorbing more damage than many types of conventional armour.

The signal receiver for the tracking system is housed in an even more heavily-armoured cubicle, increasing the operational efficiency of the turret by reducing the chances of damage to the targeting and swivelling systems.

The delivery mechanism comprises a standard plasma generator and a water-cooled barrel to minimise possible damage from the intense heat of the plasma being fired.

The tracking system includes target acquisition and stereoscopic ranging sensors, plus a fire-control computer.

Shown here is the armoured power base, controlling the azimuth and elevation of the turret.

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The ethereal vapour generator(tm) produces a thin smoke which fills the central chamber.

A partially distorted reflector mirrors the sunlight passing through the central chamber.

Optical coupling ports are where the fibre-optic cables connect, which carry sunlight in and out of the chamber.

The control computer and communications antennae co-ordinate the operation of the plant.

The six dual-purpose fusion reactor cells are where the power generation process takes place.

This integrated mini-mining facility is dedicated to the extraction of Asteros ore.

These four pipes carry waste ore from other mining facilities on the asteroid to be used as an alternative source of power.

These four dishes receive data transmitted from other colony buildings concerning damage levels.

The repair droids themselves are maintained in these ports around the building, leaving them when required for repair work.

The dedicated repair droid antennae enable this facility to co-ordinate the operations of the repair droids.

The force-field is beamed across a limited distance by the three masts. The tri-phase design ensures an even power distribution over the protected area.

The reverse-polarity field suppressers restrict the Page 73

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vertical extent of the affected volume, concentrating the force field around buildings close to the ground.

The design includes signal-generation oscillators synchronising the three phases of force-field generation to maximise power efficiency.

The control computers and communications antennae co-ordinate the operation of the installation.

The shaft head assembly contains the main rotary and thrust drives.

The ore-slurry recovery pipes maintain a continuous flow carrying fluidised ores from the shaft head to the ore recovery beds and purified solvent polymers down to the workface.

The power monitoring circuitry shown here ensures that the device does not overheat and explode in operation.

The power input directs the energy from the ship's engines into the shield generator itself.

Shown here is the shield generator and omnidirectional force-field broadcast system.

The power input directs the energy from the ship's engines into the shield generator itself.

The paramagnetic generator shielding protects the device from incidental damage and meteorite impact.

Shown here is the shield generator and omnidirectional force-field broadcast system.

High efficiency solar panels collect radiant energy from the surrounding environment.

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Short-term power storage cells allow a constant diurnal power output.

An integrated laser turret provides added protection for the solar matrix and for the asteroid on which it is installed.

The electromagnetic pulse transmitter array comprises several individual directional transmitters and one multi-directional warning code transmitter.

Shown in partial cutaway, this is the toroidal interference coil which generates the elctromagnetic energy for the pulse.

The tri-phase power input circuitry stores energy from the ship's engines until there is sufficient to broadcast an EMP. Navigational and targeting systems are situated within the nose cone.

The six tachyon dispersion pods contain sufficient material to generate the stasis field for several objective days.

Situated between the guidance fins is the single main thruster.

The anterior device assembly includes sensor and communications antennae, plus the integral short-range rotary cannon.

The lateral manoeuvring thrusters give the Terminator its unrivalled dog-fighting performance.

The twin main engine thrusters allow a maximum speed of 2 FN. Page 75

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This device delivers stored energy on demand to the weapon turrets, thereby increasing the overall operational effectiveness of any turret.

This system is manually operated and is for use where internal restrictions apply. The device delivers manual pulses which send excited flux particles throughout the lower internal chamber.

The flux capacitor system is the energy storage device which forms the heart of the optimiser: operational details remain classified at this time.

The binary components of the viral agent delivered by this missile are each contained in four of the pods.

These atmospheric resistance sensors trigger the combination of the binary components immediately prior to impact.

The four main thrusters power the missile, cutting off as it reaches the thin atmosphere of the target asteroid.

The warp field generator removes the ship temporarily from the space-time continuum, rendering it impervious to damage.

The integral flux capacitor stores energy until there is sufficient to safely create the warp field; the four monitored energy ducts channel this power to the generator itself.

The energy flow monitoring circuitry ensures that the warp field will cut out before the power input to the generator falls to a dangerous level.

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The user interface comprises an audio-visual console with simple controls.

The data cartridge drives allow transmission and reception of large amounts of data.

A continuously-variable data-encryption device ensures confidential data transfer.

The core of the sensor equipment is the Xradar system, which generates modulated x-rays for the detection of nearby craft.

The massive subwing pods containing communication apparatus also incorporate the two lateral weapons hardpoints.

The two main drive thrusters and two smaller ancillary thrusters propel the Cruiser at a top speed of 2 FN. Scrambler Double Speed Engines Andrejana Perrers Bild Freysdottir Kerry Swanson Ros Goodman Chantelle Sanscerre Su Yung Mi Tierra Jones Francisco Rilke Feraldo Garcia Makepeace Fox Earl Bartholomew Page 77

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Sean McInnery William Hickok Thomas Lorca Emile Schlesinger Leif Johannsen Old Terra, Sol System An extremely competent and very experienced supervisor. Dutch Perrers has been on the TetraCorp payroll for many years and is regarded as an exceptionally fast worker, excelling in the maintenance of high numbers of asteroids.

Strondberg, Maffei 1 Ms Freysdottir may not be the fastest supervisor you can hire, but nonetheless is experienced and thorough. It may benefit the novice franchisee to know that if you overload this employee, she will leave your employment with no bad feelings. We think you know what we mean.

HX451, Seyfert System One of our newer employees, Kerry Swanson has yet to make her name with TetraCorp, and of course her salary reflects this. It would perhaps be prudent, given her relative inexperience, not to give her too much responsibility to begin with, while she learns the ropes. It is however a matter of some pride to TetraCorp that Ms Swanson has never yet walked out on a job.

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Well worth the comparatively high salary, Ros Goodman is a fast, highly experienced supervisor with excellent references. Possessor of a First from the prestigious Shu Feng University at Rigel 5, a doctorate from the Arcturus Higher Institute, a cast-iron constitution and nerves of steel make her one of our star choices for beginner and professional franchisee alike.

Rosse, Canes Venatici Chantelle Sanscerre is an excellent choice for those franchisees with a modest personnel budget, looking for someone to take some of their workload off their shoulders, rather than someone to run their entire colony system for them. A, competent, willing and able worker if not given too much responsibility.

Fifth New Republic, M31 Treated well, Su Yung Mi is everything the busy franchisee requires in their supervisor; her attention to detail is legendary and she is one of TetraCorp's most methodical and careful workers. Another Shu Feng graduate with great potential - well worth the money.

Sargas Three, Scorpius System Widely regarded as good value for money and pleasant to work with, Tierra Jones is prepared to get on with whatever she is given to do with no messing about. A moderate workload is perhaps the best choice for this particular supervisor; however, Page 79

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for those franchisees with cash flow problems she is often regarded as an ideal employee!

Mars Seventh Settlement, Sol System TetraCorp is especially pleased to recommend Francisco Rilke to its franchisees; 'Red' may never have been near a university or Centre For Excellence in her life, but she is without question one of the very best supervisors TetraCorp has ever employed. Fast, ultra-efficient and a dream to work with, if you can afford the salary you'd be insane not to employ this woman. A word of warning, however: this is not someone who will allow arrears of pay to build up without taking action - often direct and always to the point.

New Orion, M41 Perfect for low-maintenance colonies with an easy-going employer, Feraldo Garcia makes his debut with TetraCorp this season. As a worldly-wise corporation, we would always recommend that franchisees keep a tight but friendly eye on any work done by new supervisors, and would like to add that this worker should not perhaps be considered by those with a heavy workload or where major stress is a likely factor.

KL-27, Argo Navis The answer to every colonist's prayers, Makepeace Fox is one of TetraCorp's most highly valued supervisors. Another of the Arcturus Higher Page 80

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Institute's alumni, with an unparalleled ability to handle both a heavy workload and the accompanying stress without blinking, Makepeace is always more than worth his salary. If you are unwise enough to allow him to become over-worked or chronically underpaid, you don't have to worry; he will leave your employ, but always on the best possible terms.

Effelsberg, 47 Tucanae An excellent choice for medium-sized colony clusters and those not yet working at optimum production, Earl Bartholomew handles stress extremely well and is a competent and valued supervisor. One of TetraCorp's more recent acquisitions and yet another of Shu Feng's finest, we are pleased to welcome Earl to our most challenging areas of work.

Malin Colony, 30 Doradus A man always ready to put his efficiency and sense of self-worth above his life, Sean McInnery is the fifth generation of his family to work in a supervisory capacity for TetraCorp. Never stressed, always competent, utterly dedicated to his work - any franchisee should be pleased to employ this man, and we're sure that it will be a decision they won't regret.

Jocan Five, Lesath System One of the old school, 'Wild Bill' Hickok certainly Page 81

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resembles his wild west namesake in more ways than one! It's a brave franchisee that overloads him with work, that's for sure; but if treated well Bill is an asset to any operation. Perhaps unusually, he also has a remarkably high tolerance for arrears of pay, so can be a boon to a hard-pressed franchisee with cash-flow problems!

Kleinmann-Low, M42 Tomas Lorca is an excellent supervisor, one that TetraCorp are pleased and proud to recommend to any franchisee, be they novice or professional.

Quiet, conscientious, rarely stressed and highly efficient Tomas is also possessed of an almost supernaturally calm outlook on life, which even 30 years in the profession has failed to dent! Always worth having on your payroll.

Paris-Nouvelle, Alpheratz System A good all-rounder, Emile Schlesinger is a graduate and recent recruit to TetraCorp's books, looking to make his mark on the Company. Currently perhaps best suited for a low-stress, moderately-sized colony cluster, we like to think that Emile will be with us for a good while yet.

Mintakaholm, The Belt Leif Johannssen's ability to get buildings up faster than almost anyone TetraCorp has ever seen is just one reason why we chose to offer this comparatively inexperienced young man the opportunity to work in Page 82

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the Fragmented Sectors, learning his trade and assisting our franchisees in their day-to-day tasks.

We hope he will go far.

Brancusi Assimytri Emma Villa Lobos Alex de Navarre Scott Mandelson Nestor van Holen Reynald Malchique Yusuf Khayyam Louis Veralle Yasmin Orgola Gorgeous Mercouri Louise Bennett Vyvyan Beauregard Beverley Moyet Grace Hopper Ian Bewlay Matt Malone Strategic knee-capping our speciality This agent is one of the most highly-regarded in her field, which by its very nature is of course extremely competitive. Despite her relative youth, she has been in (mainly corporate) employment for the last ten years and is considered fast, reliable and efficient.

There are few missions that she will not undertake, and she is regarded as unusually loyal to her employer of the moment. Assimytri's talents are Page 83

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perhaps shown to their best advantage against Terran opponents.

In private, she is a known KoC sympathiser; otherwise, her loyalty to the Federation is so far undoubted - publicly, at least. Assimytri is also a member of one of the weirder galactic sects, the Enlightened Siblings of Aquarius, about whom much is rumoured but little is actually known. According to the gossip columns, it is everything from a professional organisation to a crazed bunch of satanic baby-sacrificers. Brancusi doesn't much like it known that she is involved and will go to considerable lengths to hide the fact that not only is she a member, she holds quite a high position in the non-hierarchical command structure.

Assimytri has a near-pathological hatred of Terrans and of the Artemia. This means she is most effective against these two species. She also has an extremely close relationship with the Mikotaj and will under-perform - to put it no more strongly - if sent on missions against them. This means in blunt terms that she will either not carry out the mission at all, or will botch it deliberately. To a slightly lesser extent this also holds true for the Braccatia and the Rigellians.

Only that which is necessary Villa Lobos has not been in the business for long but is already displaying a cool professionalism which Page 84

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should take her a long way. Rumour has it that this agent has close relations in the Federal hierarchy, which should provide her with much useful information if she ever cared to use it. There are certain missions which she prefers not to undertake, but if you do hire her, you can be sure that the operation will be carried out with precisely as much force as is necessary to achieve her ends, and not one iota more. The Mauna are the perfect opponent for this agent.

Villa Lobos is an information-gatherer par excellence, but don't hire her if you want somewhere trashed; she will only use precisely as much force as is necessary for whatever she needs to do, and almost never kills people.

In addition, she will not work for anyone currently in disfavour with the authorities - this is not a moral stance, merely pragmatism; she figures that the authorities can make her life difficult enough already since her job is strictly speaking illegal, without attracting any more problems.

She is a heavy user of Arabica Ultra which occasionally means she has to leave precipitately in the middle of missions to sort her supplies out.

She loathes the Mauna with a passion, which while it does mean that she is a good operative to send against them, occasionally clouds her judgement, so she may screw up from an excess of zeal rather Page 85

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than any laxity. She has a less intense but still strong dislike for the Mikotaj and the Braccatia, so is a good person to send against these two cultures.

She has excellent links with the Achaeans and is extremely reluctant to act against them; if employed to do so, she will find ways of compromising her missions. To a lesser extent this is also true for the Artemia and the Rigellians.

No-one better De Navarre is one of the few in his profession to regularly grace the social pages of the infonets, but don't let that fool you; he is widely regarded as one of the very best agents around. He is phenomenally fast and very rarely fails at his objectives: naturally, this sort of efficiency costs, and his prices reflect his reputation. His professionalism is unquestioned and he has no politics whatsoever - nor apparently any emotions either: there is nothing that this man will not do, so long as he is paid the required amount.

De Navarre is popularly known as a top rank saboteur throughout the Federation. It is less well-known that he is a vegan who refuses to wear anything other than synthetic materials and will not harm any animal. This is the only political or indeed ethical conviction that he is known to possess, being otherwise wholly amoral and absolutely single-minded about his work. Other snippets of information which have leaked out over the years Page 86

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include the rumour that he is a member of the Star Chamber, a sort of Masonic group for the very powerful and influential; and that he uses a psychotropic drug (Sweetness 'n' Lite(TM)) produced by the Artemia, which is banned under Federal law. Other than that, he can safely be sent against absolutely anyone with complete confidence. His prices are astronomical, and do vary according to which species the mission is against; this is nothing to do with morality but simply reflects the degree of danger inherent in the mission.

Oh, and his loyalty rates are abysmal...

The laser is mightier than the sword A young agent making his name in the hard and fast world of 'freelance professionals', as they prefer to be known. Impressively speedy in some respects, and with an enviable equanimity towards some of the less popular cultures, Mandelson shows considerable tenacity under pressure and should go far in his chosen profession. He appears to have taken the wise decision to steer clear of the more lethal areas of the profession, at least for the time being: but since his current prices reflect his relative inexperience, get good value while you can!

Mandelson is pretty much untried, but is considered useful as long as your expectations aren't too high.

He has close links with the Mikotaj, the Braccatia and the Rigellians, and adjusts his prices for Page 87

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missions against them accordingly; although he will not refuse to work against any of them, it is possible that the results may not be as successful as they might be against other cultures. He dislikes the Artemia, however, and is likely to be more effective and cheaper - against them than against anyone else.

Give 'em hell One of the more flamboyant agents on the circuit right now, van Holen comes from a military background (4 years in the Federal Marines followed by a 2 year stint with one of the Braccatian mercenary outfits). This has given him exceptional levels of courage and loyalty, allied to a refreshingly ethical attitude to his work. Considering the expertise he draws on, his price list is remarkably reasonable, and he must be recommended as an excellent all-rounder; perhaps not even the Mauna are likely to prove a problem to this agent.

Van Holen, although young, is showing a definite flair for sabotage and should go far. He shows very few personal preferences apart from a serious dislike of the Mauna, for whom alone he is prepared to drop his prices and perhaps even go further than his mission parameters, should the opportunity present itself. Worth the money, without doubt, although he is as yet unprepared to take on the most lethal missions.

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Another one who takes a 'no holds barred' attitude to his work, Malchique is rumoured to use excessively unorthodox methods, both in information-gathering work and the more controversial areas of the business. Of course, this is only rumour, and as long as he's getting the results, who cares? Usually considered to be a swift, steady and reliable worker, Malchique also has a reputation for not suffering fools gladly - but once again, as long as he gets the results... This is someone you won't regret hiring.

Something of a bargain is Malchique, one of the older and more experienced operatives around. He has a lasting friendship with the Artemia although he is still prepared to work against them; has an equally deep hatred for the Mauna and - most unusually - the Achaeans and will drop his prices accordingly. Malchique takes on the most lethal missions with as much enthusiasm as he does a simple espionage task, and is refreshingly free of ego-mania. This could be, as has been suggested by the gossip pages, the result of too many years of Arabica abuse; or it could just be supreme professionalism and a naturally free-and-easy approach to life: who knows?

The eternal warrior finds beauty in his wounds A man with more (and more interesting) contacts than might be considered good for anyone, and Page 89

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equipped with an impressively moral outlook on life, Khayyam is that rare thing, an agent prepared to take on the Achaeans; more than prepared, in fact he would relish the chance! His attitude to Terrans, on the other hand, cannot be faulted, giving him a decided advantage over many in the business (it would of course be unethical to name names...). His prices are extremely competitive, and he is generally regarded as an all-round bargain.

Khayyam operates a sliding scale, starting with a noticeable pro-Terran bias; he will work against them but will charge extortionate amounts for the privilege, and the results will almost certainly not be as good as they should be. His mild antipathy towards the Rigellians is perhaps unusual, while his extreme and inexplicable hatred of the Achaeans is unprecedented. He merely loathes the Mauna, the Artemia and the Mikotaj, casting his dislike of the Braccatia into the shade. This is indubitably the best all-purpose agent for the up-and-coming xenophobe! His prices are very reasonable, too.

Demand the impossible Veralle has been in the business for some years now, and has developed a distinctly personal way of achieving his operational requirements (alas, commercial confidentiality forbids any more detail!).

Although seemingly unmotivated by personal vendettas, there are few missions that this man will Page 90

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refuse, and while his stated ethical system will not allow him to admit to disliking one culture more than another, it has been observed that he has recently scored some notable successes against the Mikotaj.

This operative will only undertake basic espionage there is no point in even considering asking him to do anything else. However, what he does he's good at, so it's still worth employing him even with these restricted parameters. Veralle also appears to be fairly even-tempered, with no strong likes or dislikes; as best as can be discovered, he is marginally less friendly towards the Rigellians, the Mikotaj and the Achaeans, and somewhat more friendly towards the Braccatia, the Artemia, the Mauna and other Terrans.

Bigger bangs for fewer bucks This agent is well-regarded although not considered top-rate. Her abilities are perhaps best utilised in sabotage missions rather than espionage since she has a reputation for being somewhat trigger-happy.

She gives relatively good value for money and in a profession increasingly renowned for its prima donnas, blissfully free of what we might euphemistically call 'the artistic temperament'. Her neutrality towards (shading towards active dislike of) Terrans makes her a good industrial espionage operative.

Never mind 'trigger-happy', Orgola is fast gaining a reputation for being something of a loose cannon.

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She tends to blow things up with gay abandon and it is not unknown for her to exceed her mission parameters, causing diplomatic incidents if nothing worse.

She is a conscience-free zone, willing to work on any number of dubious contracts and having done a considerable number of missions against those Federal agencies concerned with diplomatic / welfare work between the various Federal cultures; it is also a matter of public record that she has worked for the KoC, the KKK (yes, they're still around) and the Conservative party.

As regards personal likes and dislikes, Orgola has few and those do not affect her work. The most that could fairly be said is that she is more effective against Terrans, and less effective against the Artemia.

By any means necessary This experienced operative is well-known for not refusing work under any circumstances, and is prepared to undertake missions which might not be considered by her more squeamish colleagues. She has a particular antipathy towards the Mikotaj, making the robots ideal targets for her talents; she is also, unusually, less than charmed by the Rigellians, a culture usually liked or at least tolerated by most other species.

Mercouri is one of the most cold-blooded killers in Page 92

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the business; her background is shrouded in mystery, but psychologists would probably posit some awful trauma somewhere in her past to account for her absolute lack of compassion. She has also been known to express violently anti-Federal sentiments on more than one occasion.

She has an equally violent (and probably related) antipathy to both the Artemia and the Braccatia, to the extent that if any potential Terran employer has an existing agreement with either culture, she will simply not make herself available for hire by that person.

If she is hired by an employer who then goes on to sign an agreement with either culture during the term of her employment, she will leave halfway through the assignment, regardless of pay - and there is the distinct possibility that she will commit some act of sabotage on that employer.

On the plus side, this obviously means that she is the ideal operative to send against either culture.

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die A ruthless and speedy operative with a fondness for Achaean company (and Achaean liqueurs!) and a strong loathing for the Mauna, although to be fair, that's hardly an unusual attitude among agents or anyone else! Bennett is still relatively inexperienced but shows a distinct flair for certain aspects of the work. Perhaps a better bet for straightforward Page 93

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espionage work rather than, as yet, the complicated missions.

In her younger days, Bennett was a member of the Anti-Alien League (the youth wing of the Knights of Creation) and while she has seen the error of her ways - at least publicly - she is still on a Federal black-list somewhere. In addition, Bennett will work only for Terran outfits and will not have any dealings with any other culture except, bizarrely enough, for the Braccatia. Consequently she will not carry out any missions against the Braccatia under any circumstances. Furthermore, if her employer happens to attack the Braccatia before or during her term of employment with them, she will carry out the mission(s) she is given, but will commit some act of sabotage before she leaves.

However, Terran psychology being what it is, Bennett also finds her own species fairly unappetising, and not only charges less for missions against them but is likely to do better against them than against almost anyone else - except the Mauna, maybe, whom she also loathes.

Hazards are risks and risks are chances De Navarre's only serious competitor for the position of best in the field, and in some respects, actually better value - certainly less terrifyingly expensive! A professional to her fingertips, experienced, fast, courageous and loyal, with an astonishing success Page 94

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rate. Her one admitted weakness is a deep affection for the Artemia, a culture she admires enormously. It is otherwise impossible to recommend her against one culture more than another; she is simply that good.

The espionage equivalent of Alex de Navarre in that she is as good at her job as he is at his; the rumour is they hate the sight or very mention of each other.

Beauregard is extremely political, very committed to the Federation but also highly critical of it, whereas she is supremely apolitical and cares not a jot for the Federation. This means that neither of them will accept employment with anyone who is employing the other. Otherwise, her professionalism means that she will work for or against anyone, with the exception of the Artemia, with whom she has a deep and long-standing friendship; she will not refuse to accept missions against them, but she will charge phenomenal rates for it.

Hit 'em where it hurts Another newcomer to the surveillance scene, with a military background - another ex-Federal Marine with all the professionalism and competence that that suggests - and a profound hatred for the Braccatia (personal reasons, it is understood). Good value for money, since her prices are exceptionally reasonable despite the recent revelation that Moyet rather touchingly still sends 20%% of her annual Page 95

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earnings to her old Regimental Benefit Fund.

There isn't much to say about this operative, other than that her profound personal hatred for the Braccatia - which is due to a year-long campaign against them in another part of Federation territory means that she charges significantly less for, and is more committed to, missions against them than against any other culture.

The devil's in the detail Just the sort of operative that every employer prefers - a good stable personality with all-round skills, a fair amount of experience, and no obvious politics! And her mission prices are reasonable. Hopper spent a number of years in the corporate security business before going freelance, and it certainly shows in her professional attitude and attention to detail.

Hopper is another as yet largely unknown quality.

The most that can currently be stated with any confidence is that she has an extremely close relationship with the Rigellians which means that she will charge the earth for any missions against them, and any employer sending her against them will probably receive precious little in the way of useful information. In addition, any sabotage missions are likely to be mysteriously - and repeatedly - unsuccessful.

Ars longa, vita brevis A man prepared to tackle any mission you care to Page 96

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give him and give it his best shot. Unusually for this business, Bewlay comes from an educational background, having been a lecturer in Corporate and Industrial Espionage at the prestigious Academy della Fiatra on Rigel 5. It is unknown what made him suddenly decide to switch to the practical side of his subject, but he has certainly proved himself a fast learner. Has a decided dislike for the Artemia.

Unlike Mercouri for example, Bewlay is not a complete psychotic; he won't go out of his way to slaughter people, but if there are people in the way, he won't worry about it. In many other respects he is highly intelligent and quite sensitive, a lover of fine wines and great art, which sits oddly with the work he does. This may explain why he uses Arabica Ultra; then again, it may not. He is essentially a Federation loyalist, but is also deeply cynical about the whole thing; while he approves of the basic idea, he doesn't expect it to work - partly because of people like him.

Due to past misdemeanours, there is an unofficial price on his head among certain cultures, which means that if he is discovered on missions against the Mauna or the Mikotaj, whoever sent him will only be receiving body parts back.

While he seems to hold no especial affection for one culture more than another, he is particularly effective - and cheaper - against the Artemia, which Page 97

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suggests old scores not yet settled.

Do anything to anything A good all-rounder with no unnecessary political beliefs or personal preferences, Malone will cheerfully carry out any mission you like, although his lack of experience should perhaps mean that any employer should direct his talents towards the espionage side. Exceptionally good value for money, however; also worth considering is his loyalty rating - this operative is highly unlikely to leave you in the lurch which is more than can be said for some of his more experienced colleagues...

Another all-rounder with little political or ethical baggage, prepared to do anything and decidedly inexpensive with it. Malone shows few preferences for one culture over another, although he appears to slightly favour the Rigellians, the Mikotaj, the Achaeans and other Terrans over the more obviously aggressive cultures - the Braccatia and the Artemia within the Federation and the Mauna outside it (and likely to remain so).

Ms Perrers is an excellent supervisor who works fast and efficiently and is more than capable of handling a heavy workload. I would be more than happy to employ her again at any time.

- Gerontius Penk, CE, TetraCorp Mineral and Chemical Division Page 98

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Ms Perrers works fast and to a high degree of competence. In my experience, however, she may become a little unstable if overworked. This is more likely to take the form of walking out than anything more serious, but should still be noted by prospective employers.

- Harry Lom, Mining Executive, Giba Corporation Despite Ms Perrers' well-deserved reputation for efficiency, I must say that she shows a particularly poor regard for her employers' profits, not to mention the safety of her colleagues, if her contract is terminated prematurely.

- Sondra Gemayel, Mining Executive, Jenan Corp.

A thorough and competent supervisor but not, I have to say, the fastest I have ever employed.

Nonetheless, if you are not intending to expand at maximum speed, she is definitely worth the money.

- Christine Monet, CE Mining, Genne-Monet Mining Corp.

Slow but more than averagely competent, and as far as can be seen, totally un-malicious. Good value for money.

- Stuart McKenzie, Mining Executive, Terran Allied Mining Ms Freysdottir is far from the best of supervisors Page 99

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but is equally far from being the worst... She will however choose to leave your employ if you overwork her, rather than suffer from high levels of stress for any length of time. At least she doesn't blow anything up on the way out.

- Petra Koetzee, Personnel Executive, Kimberley Mining Corp.

Not the fastest or most stable supervisor I have ever employed, although possibly reliable if not overworked. Health problems, too.

- Yolanda Geffen, Mining Executive, Sirius-23 Corp.

Ms Swanson, although inexpensive to employ, is best described as something of a liability. I would have to think very hard before employing her again, although there is always the possibility of improvement over time.

- Wm. Veevaert, Mining Executive, Interstellar Mining Under no circumstances would I employ this supervisor again. Although she will not walk out from any job you give her, she is unreliable and can cope only with a very low workload. She also has an unpleasantly vindictive streak.

- Fiona Jane Hardie, CE Extraction, Janus Mining An excellent investment and someone I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone. Fast, efficient and does not apparently know the meaning Page 100

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of the word 'stress'. Extremely competent - really, I cannot praise her enough.

- Jacinth Guttman, CE Extraction, Giba Corporation Absolutely worth her high rates of pay. Ms Goodman is a jewel of an employee, although if for any reason you do have cause to terminate her employment, it is worth remembering to alert security.

- Stefan Jacquemin, CE Ore Mgt, Kristall Extraction Corp.

Very competent, very efficient, very fast and with remarkably good tolerance of the stress of handling a high workload. She is also very tolerant about delays in being paid, although from personal experience I would recommend that you not leave this too long...

- Krishna Malinnan, Mining Executive, Janus Mining The perfect choice for anyone not intending to overload their supervisors with too many asteroids at any one time. If this is borne in mind, Ms Sanscerre is excellent value for money.

- Pat Chong, Mining Executive, Zenith Mining Co. A fast and very competent supervisor as long as she is not put under stress. Although even if she is stressed she will not take any act of vengeance.

This makes her good value in my book, and I would Page 101

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be happy to re-employ her.

- Langley Mills, Personnel Executive, Nova Corp.

A fast and un-malicious worker but her health cannot tolerate even low levels of stress. This makes her unsuitable in my opinion for the more ambitious employer, or one who cannot afford a back-up.

- Jonathon Goodhew, Mining Executive, Singularity Construction Co. Not a fast worker but her competence is unquestioned and she has a high tolerance for the stresses of the job.

- Peter van Dannte, CE Deep-space Mining, Kimberley Mining Corp.

Efficient if a little slow; perhaps her salary rating has been set a little high. Nonetheless, worth employing in a very competitive market, which is more than can be said for some of the personnel that TetraCorp foist on the industry.

- Anonymous Worthwhile rather than flashy. Frankly overpriced, given her propensity for sabotage if fired; on the other hand, that is the only time she turns unpleasant. A clear case of Caveat Emptor.

- Anton Nyrere, Mining Executive, Janus Corp.

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Patient, careful, thorough, so long as she is not given too much to do, when she will begin to make mistakes. A reasonably-priced, mid-range supervisor.

- Manfred Killermann, CE, Orion Mining Corp.

Ms Jones represents relatively good value for money, as long as you are not intending to run a high-stress, fast-expansion outfit. In the interests of honesty, I have to add, it's not a good idea to fire this supervisor without adequate security provision.

- Vanessa Guerlain, Personnel Executive, Holostar Productions So-so. Vengeful if fired, otherwise a competent if unexciting worker. If you take care to keep within her levels of stress tolerance, she is worth the money.

- Julian Gerhart, Mining Executive, Interstellar Mining A pearl among supervisors as far as the work is concerned; two things you should bear in mind don't play poker with this woman, and don't fire her without (a) a good reason and (b) excellent security!

- Christine Monet, CE Mining, Genne-Monet Mining Corp.

Expensive but good - I've never come across a faster worker. Pay her on the nail every month and you can sleep easy knowing that your colonies are in the best of hands.

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- Anne Devitte, CE Extraction, Nova Corp.

Red has worked for me several times and I've never regretted it - but I really do wish she'd say something when the money's not coming through, rather than just skipping out on me. Oh, and if she invites you to a poker game, don't do it.

- Kim Sung Sao, CE, Kali Corp.

Barely competent with a low number of colonies to look after; a very low stress tolerance. Not worth even the low price asked.

- Julian Gerhart, Mining Executive, Interstellar Mining Inefficient, no stress tolerance, malicious if not paid, overworked or fired - how did this guy get his Certificate?!

- Kim Sung Sao, CE, Kali Corp.

Slow and very incompetent and that's with no pressure. Don't do it to yourself. Oh, and he's got a dodgy ticker...

- Anton Nyrere, Mining Executive, Janus Corp.

Highly efficient, fast, extremely competent - this guy is every employer's dream. Expensive but worth every credit you pay him.

- Jacinth Guttman, CE Extraction, Giba Corporation Not only is he excellent at his job, but the man has Page 104

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no discernible malice in his make-up. He will walk out if you fail to pay him for long enough - but he won't blow your colonies up no matter what you do!

My sort of employee.

- Gerontius Penk, CE, TetraCorp Mineral and Chemical Division There is a rumour going round the operations that Fox is an android, on the grounds that no living being could do what he does and not crack; well worth the money - or engine oil, or whatever it is keeps him going.

- Stefan Jacquemin, CE Ore Mgt, Kristall Extraction Corp.

Not the fastest supervisor around, and a little overpriced for my taste, but competent and useful. A plus point is that his stress-tolerance is well above average.

- Julian Gerhart, Mining Executive, Interstellar Mining Competent, rather slow; will however give you months of unpaid work as long as you don't overload him. Not inspired but worthwhile.

- Anton Nyrere, Mining Executive, Janus Corp.

Dangerous once he's overworked or fired, or even (eventually) if underpaid. Otherwise, a reasonably good bargain.

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- Sondra Gemayel, Mining Executive, Jenan Corp.

An average supervisor in all respects -and that's no bad thing in itself - but has the most incredible stress tolerance. It just never gets to him. Amazing.

- Kim Sung Sao, CE, Kali Corp.

McInnery does not like it known that he has a weak heart; despite his almost legendary stress tolerance, if you try really hard you can make him fall over from overwork. Unwise to do it too often, though - he's a blaster, know what I mean?

- Pat Chong, Mining Executive, Zenith Mining Co. Unbelievably stress-resistant; otherwise moderately competent, albeit a bit slow. Also slow to walk if unpaid, which is always a bonus in your supervisor - but has been known on occasion to blow your buildings up on the way out.

- Vanessa Guerlain, Personnel Executive, Holostar Productions It's all too easy to see where Wild Bill got his name; flamboyant would be one word to describe him.

Another would be 'psychopath'.

- Peter van Dannte, CE Deep-space Mining, Kimberley Mining Corp.

Not too expensive, not too incompetent, not too fast either. A seriously unpleasant man when the Page 106

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stress levels go into the red, though - probably due to the drinking and the cholesterol levels.

- Langley Mills, Personnel Executive, Nova Corp.

Hard to say which is worse - his resistance to stress or the results of it. If you keep him sweet and he will work for months without pay - and don't overdo the work, he's just about worth it.

- Krishna Malinnan, Mining Executive, Janus Mining The Belt workers say there's only one way to know if Lorca's working for you: the total absence of any problems at all. The man's that quiet and that conscientious. A joy.

- Anne Devitte, CE Extraction, Nova Corp.

Excellent value for money - fast and very efficient, relatively good stress tolerance - you just can't ask for much more in your supervisor. Only one thing his heart's a little dodgy, so you need to go a little easy on the overwork.

- Julian Gerhart, Mining Executive, Interstellar Mining In addition to his extremely high competence, the guy's a total pacifist - just never occurs to him to blow anything up - can't tell you what a relief that is.

- Unofficial conversation, un-named mining supervisor Page 107

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Well, he's okay, but I'm almost sure he blew up one of my colonies on the way out... His stress levels are pretty intense. Does have a damn good sense of humour, though - laughs all the way to the Weapons Factory.

- Kim Sung Sao, CE, Kali Corp.

One thing you can say about Schlesinger - he never hurts you back if you fire him. Mind you, forget to pay him and you can wave bye bye to your colony.

- Jonathon Goodhew, Mining Executive, Singularity Construction Co. To be honest, I'd rather pay a bit more and have someone I can trust to do the job without throwing a fit every time there's a problem. There's something unbalanced about that man.

- Petra Koetzee, Personnel Executive, Kimberley Mining Corp.

Not 100%% competent, but impressively fast. In many ways, Johannssen is excellent value for money. I'd have him back again, no problem.

- Yolanda Geffen, Mining Executive, Sirius-23 Corp.

His stress tolerance isn't the best, but he's un-malicious with it - he's not a blaster and he's not that fussy about being paid regularly. Not the best supervisor around, but a long way from being the Page 108

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worst.

- Stuart McKenzie, Mining Executive, Terran Allied Mining Might walk on you if you really push it - and he's not top-rate, he can't cope with enormous numbers of colonies - but he won't give you any grief. Nice guy fast and damn cheap!

- Manfred Killermann, CE, Orion Mining Corp.

Beers Wines Altarian Panther Sweat St.Etienne's Real Cream & Honey Liqueur Muet & Champignon vintage champagne Fizzimo Lumiere Bristol glass Crystal Cantata Inc. products Deep pile velvet Silk Watered silk Raw silk Satin taffeta Egyptian sea-cotton Achaean angora Tiara & Bracelet set Choker Solitaire emerald Brooch Page 109

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Necklace Eternity ring Pectoral Collar 3-strand bracelet Diamond Emerald Sapphire Ruby Ultropaz Alexandrite Metachrome Opal Pearl Moonstone Astramarine Peridot Amethyst Abstract Sculpture Domestic interior units Decorative drinking horns Worked leather Ornamental archaic weaponry Fizzimo Liqueurs Rigellian ant eggs Pearls dissolved in brandy Goat's ear mushrooms Organic corn on the cob Page 110

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Braccatian kulos cheese Grains Seaweed Krill Water Ortok's Mansions Shades of Brutos Huskar Cigars Maunik's Cube Gong of Death Song Holostar globes Besthelda's Apothecary Photoplasmic Cocoon Steam Racers KKZ Quad Kraagil Oil Sacrificial Axe Horn of Plenty Dionne's Lightwork Loving Cup Law of the Cube Biofort (Pharmaceutical) Vir-Attack (Pharmaceutical) Supa-Shellac (Pharmaceutical) Swat (Pharmaceutical) Star Balm (Pharmaceutical) Shell Shock (APV) Phantom (APV) Page 111

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Judgement Day (APV) Silicon Death (APV) Selenium Ore Asteros Ore Barium Ore Crystalite Ore Quazinc Ore Bytanium Ore Korellium Ore Dragonium Ore Traxium Ore Nexos Ore Explosive Missile Area Explosive Missile Napalm Missile Hellfire Missile Scatter Missile Vortex Missile Nuclear Missile Virus Missile Anti-Virus Missile Mega Missile Stasis Missile Bug Hunter Missile Meat-Eater Missile Information Beer of all varieties - it's not only Terrans who drink beer, the Brac, the Artemia and the Rigellians drink Page 112

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enormous quantities too. It's even bigger business than it was in the 20th century and getting bigger all the time. Although there are numerous local breweries in every galaxy and on every planet, nonetheless there are still the big breweries who ship vast tankers of amber nectar all over the place and make fat profits from so doing.

Wines are shipped in quantity all over the Federal territories. Whereas cheap plonk still tends to be locally produced, the great vineyard-owning families have terraformed their own planets and shuffled entire solar systems to get themselves the best aspects to produce famous vintages, which are then shipped by the case in specially constructed containers (to counter the effects of loss of gravity).

Altarian Panther Sweat - no, not real panther sweat, but a very famous, should we say notorious, beverage which is about 180%% proof and takes the polish off teeth at 20 paces. This stuff can retail at 10,000 Cr a glass...

Saint-Etienne's Real Cream and Honey Liqueur(TM) - after designer everything else, designer drinks. This is a non-alcoholic liqueur with added herbal extracts, so it's a rather trippy but very pleasant-tasting beverage, a favourite with the adventurous teenage offspring of moderately wealthy people.

Muet & Champignon Vintage Champagne - still the fizzy drink to end all fizzy drinks! Still popular and Page 113

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still vastly over-priced. Shipped in bulk, a container load of this will make you a fair profit out of nouveaux riches all over the galaxy...

Fizzimo Lumiere, made from the phosphorescent Desert Light cactus which grows exclusively on the Tribes' homeworlds. The distillation process enhances the glow to produce a bright green brew that tastes rather like a citrus-y Scotch whisky. The quality of Lumiere is judged in part by the intensity of its glow; thus cheaper brews are sold in opaque jars while premium quality comes in crystal urns to show off the purity. Since the Desert Light cactus is comparatively rare even on Achaean planets, they can only produce enough for themselves and export is therefore illegal.

Bristol glass - not from the south-west English city, but a place in the Crab Nebula of the same name.

This is hand-made/mouth-blown coloured glass, in the form only of wine glasses, brandy balloons and champagne flutes.

Crystal Cantata Inc. - originally a small family firm from one of the Rigellian systems, now an orbital multi-million credit concern, they make custom-made cut-glass (drinking glasses, bowls, chandeliers) for companies and individuals - with this peculiarity; they will not make more than two dozen of any design, although they will make related designs. Highly sought-after.

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Luxury fabrics are always in demand somewhere, and the appeal of velvet has not yet worn off in many corners of the Federation.

Silk is still a popular luxury fabric among Terrans; the Achaeans and Braccatia are also enthusiastic customers.

Watered silk is rarer than the ordinary variety, due to the complex weaving processes required.

Raw silk, while not to everyone's taste, is extremely popular with the Achaeans and, for some bizarre reason, the Mikotaj; they say it sounds good...

Satin taffeta is expensive, rare and sought-after by socialites and the nouveaux riches all over the Federation.

Egyptian sea-cotton from Old Terra has been the finest available for millennia. It's still true. It's still expensive, too.

Achaean angora is a recent addition to the luxury fabrics market. Achaean angoras are medium-sized felines, who live as pets on the homeworlds and have their fur combed out once a day.

Tiara and bracelet set, raw opal with metachrome.

Tiaras remain a must for any serious socialite.

Woven red-gold band with sunburst centrepiece, comprising 8-point sunburst in gold set with one large central aquamarine surrounded by scattered brilliants.

Solitaire square-cut emerald set in white gold.

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Brooch, 9ct cabochon-cut ruby set in red gold and copper.

Necklace, 23 astramarines set in white gold & titanium.

Eternity ring, ultropaz & alexandrite set in 24ct yellow gold.

Pectoral, diamond & emerald with metachrome.

Collar, 17 blue opals with white gold clasp.

3-strand bracelet, pearl and platinum.

Diamonds - still inexplicably popular with romantic idiots across the Federation.

Emeralds - a flawless emerald is almost unknown, and even flawed ones are far rarer than diamonds.

Which is why they're so much more expensive.

Sapphires come in many colours, yellow and white as well as the more traditional blue.

Rubies are also rarer than diamonds. In fact, there are few precious stones quite as common as diamonds, when it comes to it. And yet millions of people believe that they are rare and exotic. Quite a feat of marketing, that.

Ultropaz is found on the furthest side of the Milky Way from Old Terra, on a handful of planets with nothing much else to recommend them.

Alexandrite is an interesting rather than particularly beautiful stone which changes colour according to whether it is under natural or artificial light. This quality apparently makes it highly desirable to some Page 116

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people.

Metachrome is a very weird substance discovered early in the 21st century; it can be cut like a precious stone, but is also an ore which can be melted down and used as a setting for itself.

Opals are still regarded as one of the most magical of all stones and the best still come from the Australian territories of Old Terra.

Pearls are found all over the Federation (on any planet with shellfish basically) but their lustre and allure remains undiminished. Especially prized by the Artemia.

Moonstones were by old standards semi-precious stones, but have become hugely popular with many of the cultures of the Federation.

Astramarine has been the gift of choice for sophisticated Mikotaj ever since its discovery over a century ago. Of course, you'd never find a Mikotaj who would admit to being anything other than sophisticated...

Peridot is another rescued semi-precious gem, particularly favoured among the Braccatia; it is said to be the colour of honour.

Amethyst was believed by an ancient Terran civilisation to prevent the wearer becoming inebriated. Despite the patent untruth of this claim, the amethyst continues to be a popular gemstone.

The Artemia are famed metalworkers and have a Page 117

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particular passion for abstract sculpture, which fits well into their spacious domestic interiors. They believe form and line to be meaningful as well as beautiful, and much of the sculpture has emotional and psychological resonance which is likely to be lost on non-Artemia; this does not however stop them being considered highly-collectable items.

It is often hard for other species to distinguish between furniture and sculpture in Artemian homes.

Both are usually made from exotic metals - the Artemia have patented more new alloys in the last century than the rest of the Federation cultures put together - and fashioned in strange curves and planes. Although the bulk of production is for the home market, discriminating collectors all over the Federation will pay good prices for superior pieces.

Braccatian culture looks very familiar to any Terran versed in their own history - the design appears to be closely related to Saxon and Celtic art. Drinking horns are a central component of Braccatian social life, but are also produced for the export market.

Since they are far too large for any other culture to actually use, they are intended purely as decoration; obviously, some are better made than others and the prices will reflect this.

The Braccatia are considered to be the best leather-workers in the Federation; most pieces are custom-made, both for the home market and for Page 118

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export. This, combined with the fact that the highest quality pieces are reserved for the Braccatia themselves, means that most of the stuff on the open market is stolen.

Although the Artemia are supreme at metalworking and, naturally, also make exceptionally good weaponry, the Braccatia make the most elegant weapons! The Braccatia would never dream, however, of selling anything they might actually use to anyone; the export stuff is purely ornamental and mostly archaic, selling particularly well to steak houses and wine bars all over the Federation.

Chocolate is legal, but the filling of this particular delicacy is not. Achaeans are expert confectioners and ever since they first imported Terran cocoa products they have produced these dark chocolate orbs filled with Fizzimo Lumiere. These are sold in decorative boxes of four, each orb being about the size of a Terran quail's egg. They are sometimes referred to as 'confectioner's Faberge', the reference applying to the price as much as the quality.

Rigellian ants are about a metre in height and their eggs are considered a great delicacy, not only by the Rigellians; they are especially popular with the Achaeans and, it is rumoured, with the Maunid Elite.

The taste of the eggs is said to be reminiscent of caviar flavoured with honey.

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loved by the Braccatia for some unknown reason.

Also popular amongst wealthy Terrans who believe in the aphrodisiac qualities attributed to the dish, and who haven't yet worked out that any such effect is more likely to be connected to the extortionate price than anything else.

Goats' ear mushrooms grow only on a few planets in one of the more out-of-the-way systems, and are a great favourite with most cultures, especially the Rigellians. Because this fungi is found in so few places, only so much is harvested per year; there is therefore a good chance that this is illegally harvested.

Due to a blight on crops in various areas of the Federal territories in recent years, organic produce in particular is at a premium. Many vegetables are extremely hard to come by, including the humble sweetcorn cob which is adored particularly by the Artemia (who are vegetarian).

The kulos (a handsome shaggy ox-like animal with horns as impressive as the Braccatias' own) produces a very small amount of milk since their calves wean in about 72 hours, so it takes a long time to get enough to make this strong-tasting, incredibly nourishing cheese. Highly recommended for anybody recuperating from illness, and thus highly sought-after by private health care clinics all over the universe.

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Grains of various sorts are shipped in bulk from the agricultural planets to the rest of the Federal territories. These are the basic foodstuffs for most species, although processed in many different ways. They include wheat, barley, bacarye, rice, soya and lentnil paste.

In addition to grain, seaweed forms a useful staple food for many cultures. Kelp, deepwater phosphoran and mossweed are relatively inexpensive and nutritious foodstuffs, grown in the vast oceans of the marine worlds.

The marine planets also produce krill, which is freeze-dried and used as the basic foodstuff for the poor of the universe. It tastes fairly revolting but is incredibly cheap and although you couldn't call it nutritious, you could just about describe it as life-sustaining.

Because many planets and asteroids have insufficient supplies, water is a precious and hence profitable commodity. Bulk shipments are constantly ferried across space to any Federal territories in need of clean water and it is a serious offence under Federal law to interfere with them.

Ortok's Mansions: sophisticated game originating from the Rigellians' ancient dynastic past. Player pieces, which bear a marked similarity to the major arcana characters of the Terran Tarot decks, move via philosophical debate through ten mansions of Page 121

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truth and ten of deceit. The aim is to enter the highest mansion of ultimate truth on this three-dimensional game's uppermost level. No non-Rigellian has ever fully grasped the game, but the exquisitely-crafted sets are nevertheless considered highly collectable throughout the Federation.

Shades of Brutos: unique fear-sensitive goggles created by legendary Maunid tyrant, General Brutos. By wearing these he could tell at a glance who was more or less afraid of him, and deal immediately with any potential rivals. Considered most valuable collectors of military memorabilia and of course to the Mauna themselves, from whom it was stolen and who urgently desire its return. All trade with the Mauna or in Maunid items is illegal under Federal law.

Huskar Cigars: large leaves of the potent Achaean Huskar bush, rolled in a fragrant brown paper and sold in distinctive, brilliantly-coloured wooden boxes; the Achaeans have an almost fanatical loyalty to whichever of the countless brands they smoke.

Thick smoke from Huskar leaves is a fabulous purple colour, but is also extremely carcinogenic to non-Achaeans (cancer is unknown among the Tribes); Federation medical officers therefore made it illegal to grow or sell the bush, forcing it onto the black market where it has thrived ever since.

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Maunik's Cube: large metal version of the famous Terran Rubik's brain-teasing invention. The Mauna swear that they thought of it first, but it is far more likely that they found an old Rubik's Cube on a deserted Terran colony somewhere and pinched the design. The Maunid version has no colours, the faces being adorned instead with inspiring slogans from the 'Law of the Cube'. Many puzzle-fanciers like the Maunik's Cube for its weight; some even say they prefer it for the oily metallic stains it leaves on the user's hands, but there is no accounting for tastes...

Gong of DeathSong: an artefact of immense historical and cultural significance to the Braccatia.

This was the gong struck by the revolutionary hero Gnaglepssus to announce the hour of uprising against the Calleineisus, another sentient species who evolved on the same homeworld as the Braccatia, but who were physically even larger and enslaved the Braccatia for many millennia.

Recorded Braccatian history dates from this time.

To own this item without the intention of returning it would invite great peril should the Braccatia find out...

HoloStar s: the early Rigellian explorers made many of these holographic star charts based on their forays into deep space; they only show very limited areas and were intended more as decorative heirlooms for their families than as real navigational Page 123

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aids. Many of these charts demonstrate typical Rigellian attitudes towards other cultures; Old Terra for example (Stone-Age at the time of its discovery by the Rigellians) was called Grunting Ape World.

Many of these globes were taken as loot during the constant wars of the last few centuries, and are now scattered all over the Federation.

Bestheldar's Apothecary: a boxed collection of highly effective natural remedies made to the exact recipes of Besthelda, a great neo-herbalist of the mid 22nd century. The remedies are effective against anything from acne to tumours; a great deal of skill is necessary to make them up and most learned people respect their development as a landmark in Terran medical history. Unfortunately Besthelda's interest in the occult made her unpopular with religious fundamentalists and they lobbied to have her remedies outlawed. Their efforts were finally successful and despite various attempts, the law has never been repealed. Only a handful of contemporary practitioners have the skills to reproduce this apothecary, and thus they are extremely expensive.

Photoplasmic Cocoon: Rigellians long ago discovered that photons could be made static by suspending them in a neutrino flux, effectively 'freezing' light - a photoplasm. Photoplasmic cocoons are considered highly therapeutic, although Page 124

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the mechanism is well understood (at least by non-Rigellians); the frozen light is modulated in ways which correspond to the needs of the user, correcting chemical imbalances, prolonging youth, easing depression and other mental illnesses and so on. Federation medical officers fear the negative long-term effects of photoplasm on non-Rigellians and so have banned trading in the cocoons pending the results of a Federal inquiry (which has lasted fifteen years and shows no sign of coming to any conclusions). It is rumoured and widely believed that many high-up Federal officials hold confiscated models for 'safekeeping'.

Steam Racers: it should come as no surprise to anyone to learn that the Braccatia are a gladiatorial culture. In their long Steam Age they developed steam vehicles to an optimum level of efficiency.

During this time they raced these seventy mile-an-hour juggernauts in vast arenas, using explosive harpoon guns fired from the rear by 'tailgunners' to try to wipe out the opposition. The Federation takes a fairly lenient view of such cultural activities, but the Braccatia themselves had already banned the sport some centuries back. Nonetheless, illegal - and bloody - races are held to this day in the shady 'Fugitive Sectors' using modern copies of classic designs; no-one in their right minds would risk racing originals.

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KKZ Quad: an intense death-game played by Braccatian mercenaries to settle serious arguments.

The deck of one hundred cards is dealt among the two duellists and two 'magistrate' players who referee the game and can also draw cards for a limited number of turns on behalf of their clients, the duellists. The first player to end up with more than ten 'execution' cards must forfeit their life according to the instructions of the last execution card drawn, i.e. hanging, disembowelling, etc. Once begun, the game cannot be abandoned since the cards contain micro-explosives which once set (by being handled) can 'sense' any deserters, resulting in a 50' radius fireball. They can only be deactivated by being placed in the hand of a dead duellist. Thus these cards are entirely unsuitable for Bridge and sherry evenings. Needless to say, the game is banned under Federal law. There is a persistent rumour that the game was in fact invented by the Mikotaj, one of whom bet another that even the Braccatia weren't stupid enough to adopt such an insane idea...

Kraagil Oil: This oil is derived from certain glands of the Artemian Kraagil, an aquatic crustacean resembling a cross between a Terran whale and a dragon that swims in the Artemian polar seas. The oil has powerful youth-preserving qualities for many species, not only the Artemia; unfortunately, Page 126

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acquiring it results in the death of the Kraagil. As Kraagil are now an endangered species, all hunting is illegal and the oil is now only available on the black market.

Artemian Sacrificial Axe: the Artemia venerate many deities (or possibly many aspects of the same deity), but the central figure is the Moon Goddess Cyreni. It is rumoured that the Artemia still practise sentient sacrifice in her honour, although this is hotly denied by SabrisSan Lars among others.

Nonetheless, axes such as these are revered objects among the Artemia and rarely appear on the open market.

Horn Of Plenty: similar to the Braccatian drinking horns available throughout the Federation, but with the significant difference that these are ceremonial versions genuinely used in Braccatian social and religious rituals. Although highly prized by collectors throughout the Federation, the Braccatia themselves are not likely to look kindly on anyone trying to sell them one of their own ritual artefacts.

The Dionne Lightwork: the most famous work by the 23rd century artist Flic Spens. Created for an unknown patron in 2279, the Lightwork was left to the Spinks Memorial Gallery in 2305, from where it has been stolen and recovered several times. Last year's theft is still unsolved, however.

Loving Cup: a ritual artefact, centrepiece of the Page 127

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Agape (an Achaean social ceremony held at midsummer); each tribe has a number of these, crafted by various members of the community and all of them have personal histories. Although the Achaeans are fairly tolerant, you'd be ill-advised to try to sell this back to them without a very good explanation of where you got it.

Law of the Cube: something that is claimed to be an excessively rare copy of the Maunid holy book, which no-one else can read because it's written in an obsolete form of the Maunid language which only the high elite are taught to read. To say that the Mauna would be furious to learn that this is on the market would be an understatement of galactic proportions.

Biofort: this invaluable addition to the spacer's first aid kit will cure Spacer's Salmonella and most importantly, is the only known cure for Silicon Death, one of the most virulent of the illegal anti-personnel viruses.

Vir-Attack: this will cure most of the various illnesses afflicting colony employees, except Spacer's Salmonella and Astrophobia. Vir-Attack also works on the effects of the illegal anti-personnel viruses Meat-Eater and Bug Hunter.

Supa-Shellac: this is an anti-fungicidal treatment used by the Artemia, who suffer from outbreaks of non-fatal but unsightly and debilitating chitin-rot. It is Page 128

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unusable by Terrans, but can often be sold on at a healthy profit, especially during the summer months when chitin-rot reaches epidemic proportions on Artemian colonies.

Swat: this is a preparation developed for use against the effects of Shell Shock, an illegal anti-personnel virus which is lethal only to the Artemia. A word of warning: it is unwise to stockpile this and refuse to sell it to the Artemia when they need it. Very unwise.

Star Balm: a Mikotaj-produced antidote to Astrophobia, or Space Sickness as it is popularly known. Most species suffer from this to a greater or lesser extent; despite being a purely psychological condition it is extremely contagious and can really mess your combat plans if it strikes during a war.

Shell Shock: an illegal anti-personnel virus specifically developed to find chinks in the chitin plates of the Artemia and attack the soft tissue inside, leading to a comparatively slow and agonising death. A single dose will result in 100%% fatalities, though it can be cured with Swat. The dose must be delivered by an agent.

Phantom: the only anti-personnel virus ever developed for use against the Mikotaj; the way it works is not well-understood but a single dose appears to cause 80%% fatalities in any Mikotaj colony. The Mikotaj have their own remedies for this, which are known to be generally less than Page 129

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100%% successful. The dose must be delivered by an agent.

Judgement Day: one of the nastiest anti-personnel viruses so far developed, this takes about a fortnight to work and is thus excellent for strategic use. A single dose will result in 70-80%% fatalities among Terran, Braccatian and Achaean populations. The dose must be delivered by an agent.

Silicon Death: the only anti-personnel virus known to work against the Mauna, this also kills Achaeans and Braccatia. A single dose will result in 85%% fatalities. It works by changing all carbon-based tissue to sludge, over a comparatively short period.

Why Terrans alone should be immune to the effects of this APV is unknown. The dose must be delivered by an agent.

Selenium - low grade ore required for the construction of all small craft, Destructors, Terminators, Transporters and Fleet Battleships; also Explosive and Scatter missiles.

Asteros - low grade ore required for running the Powerplant.

Barium - low grade ore required for the construction of Command Cruisers; also Area Explosive and Anti-Virus missiles, and Spy Satellites.

Crystalite - low grade ore required for the construction of all small craft and Destructors; also Vortex missiles.

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Quazinc - medium grade ore required for the construction of Napalm, and Hellfire missiles.

Bytanium - medium grade ore required for the construction of the SpaceDock and for the construction of Nuclear missiles.

Korellium - medium grade ore required for the construction of Command Cruisers; also Stasis missiles.

Dragonium - medium grade ore required for the construction of the SpaceDock, and of Terminators, Transporters and Fleet Battleships.

Traxium - high grade ore required for the construction of Virus missiles.

Nexos - high grade ore required for the construction of Mega missiles.

Explosive: A conventional (and cheap) warhead for general use.

Area Explosive: A standard warhead with a larger area of destruction.

Napalm: An advanced incendiary device using plasma gas to melt most structures.

Hellfire: A deadly substance capable of spreading across an entire asteroid. Effective on densely populated asteroids.

Scatter: Over the target asteroid this missile splits into several conventional explosive missiles for an improved hit ratio.

Vortex: Unleashes an electrical storm that will Page 131

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wander across the target asteroid, damaging everything it touches.

Nuclear: This multi-megaton device will destroy most structures on the target asteroid, as well as ships in orbit.

Virus: This volatile substance dissolves the very fabric of an asteroid, spreading swiftly.

Anti-Virus: Used to halt the spread of an asteroid virus. It will neutralise the virus and then itself.

Mega: The power unleashed by this warhead results in the destruction of an entire asteroid. Use with care!

Stasis: New advances in temporal physics allow an entire asteroid to be frozen, incapable of action, for a period of time.

Bug Hunter: highly illegal APV (anti-personnel virus) missile; is exclusively effective against the Artemia and results in 50%% fatalities.

Meat-Eater: highly illegal APV (anti-personnel virus) missile; is effective against the Achaeans, the Braccatia and Terrans, resulting in 100%% fatalities.

Illegally distributed and unauthorised information about %s.

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Rigellian Representative Braccatian Representative Mikotaj Representative Artemian Representative Maunid Representative Achaean Representative Merallis Layton Ferruccio Berne Jarmena Huntsenn Barichio Consette Poul Meersch Vienna Morritt Tyla Jettason Jakki Glazier Gentius map Falle Shulamith map Hylar Hyklas Marman Alkeander Vorne Magdalena Corniche Jesse Van Der Het Cara Bey Phaeda Grey PERSONNEL SUPPORT ENVIRONMENT POWER Page 133

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MINING WEAPONS MISCELLANEOUS Selenium Asteros Barium Crystalite Quazinc Bytanium Korellium Dragonium Traxium Nexos Total Cost Armour Days to completion Ore needed Number to build Speed Build time day days Hardpoints Page Attack Defence Space Dock Page 134

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Satellites in silos Missiles in silos Number being built Production Usage Surplus Power Air Food Water Population Current Max Radiation Security Asteroid secure Low morale Social unrest Major criminal activity Security alert!

In Stasis Under Virus Attack Virus Attack Decaying Ore Construction Vehicles Missiles Fleets Page 135

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Ships Buildings Satellites Asteroids Total Expenditure For The Past 6 Months Personnel Personnel Fund Money Asteroid No Order Patrol %s Go To %s Join %s Scout For Asteroids In Sector SK%07.3q Start Colony On %s Prospect %s Spy On %s You Should Not See This!

Join %s Launch And Spy Land In Hangar Launch From Hangar Ship Landed Join %s You Should Not See This!

Join %s You Should Not See This!

You Should Not See This!

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You Should Not See This!

You Should Not See This!

You Should Not See This!

You Should Not See This!

DC11 FN (Needs Refuelling) 1 FN 2 FN 3 FN 4 FN 5 FN VTLong Range Transmitter Fitted Ships At Ships In In Space In Combat Retreating Not Formed You Have No Transporters You Have No Command Cruisers Status Patrolling In Hangar On Surface Landing Launching De-orbiting Re-orbiting Page 137

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In Fleet In Cruiser Orders Retreat Level Cargo Ships Cargo Ores Cargo Missiles No Order Patrol %s Go To %s Attack %s Intercept %s Go To %s Wait In Sector SK%07.3q Merge With %s Missiles At Target None Strike Rate Ore Prices Not yet built Federal Transporter Days To Arrival Days To Arrival At Days To Departure Days To Departure From Slot Free Droids Required Page 138

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SCI-TEK Blueprint Required On Order Ship Building Colony Destroyed Weapons Factory Required Ship out of range Fleet out of range Select Asteroid....

Value Has Departed Travelling To In Orbiting Defence Ships and Hardpoints Missiles Mining Power Miscellaneous You have the following items on order....

You have nothing currently on order.

Leave Cruiser Join Cruiser Spare Hold Capacity Spare Tow Capacity FLEET 1 Page 139

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FLEET 2 FLEET 3 FLEET 4 FLEET 5 FLEET 6 FLEET 7 FLEET 8 FLEET 9 FLEET 10 FLEET 11 FLEET 12 FLEET 13 FLEET 14 FLEET 15 FLEET 16 Days Remaining Duration Permanent TetraCorp Unowned TetraCorp HumanCorp2 HumanCorp3 HumanCorp4 HumanCorp5 HumanCorp6 HumanCorp7 HumanCorp8 Page 140

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Rigellian Braccatia Mikotaj Artemia Mauna Achaean Unowned Asteroid TetraCorp Asteroid HumanCorp2 Asteroid HumanCorp3 Asteroid HumanCorp4 Asteroid HumanCorp5 Asteroid HumanCorp6 Asteroid HumanCorp7 Asteroid HumanCorp8 Asteroid Rigellian Asteroid Braccatian Asteroid Mikotaj Asteroid Artemian Asteroid Maunid Asteroid Achaean Asteroid Unowned Fleet TetraCorp Fleet HumanCorp2 Fleet HumanCorp3 Fleet HumanCorp4 Fleet HumanCorp5 Fleet HumanCorp6 Fleet Page 141

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HumanCorp7 Fleet HumanCorp8 Fleet Rigellian Fleet Braccatian Fleet Mikotaj Fleet Artemian Fleet Maunid Fleet Achaean Fleet Saved Games Nullifier Is Off On STXOK Under Construction Built STXOperational ETXNo Power EOTUndermanned Unknown %d MW Used %d MW Generated Idle EOTProduction Slowed ETXProduction Stopped ETXNo Weapons Factory ETXNeed More Funds ETXNeed More Selenium ETXNeed More Asteros Page 142

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ETXNeed More Barium ETXNeed More Crystalite ETXNeed More Quazinc ETXNeed More Bytanium ETXNeed More Korellium ETXNeed More Dragonium ETXNeed More Traxium ETXNeed More Nexos STXConstruction Proceeding Missile Silos Landing Pads Defence Mining Power Habitation Other Light Medium Heavy SpaceDock Owner Total Number Of Asteroids Number Of Our Asteroids Spotted On Way Supervisor Salary Homeworld TetraCorp Rating Page 143

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Date of Birth Asteroids Stress Back-pay Pay-day EOTOn Way STXWorking ETXSacked ETXUnder Guard ETXDead!

Mining maintenance Power maintenance Radiation maintenance Security maintenance Life support maintenance Unused yards/docks prompt Unused silos prompt Asteroid surface virus warning Asteroid collision warning Ore/Money levels for projects warning 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Page 144

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8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st Deliver Assigned Asteroid Duration Of Spy Mission Fee Page 145

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Mission Fees Risk Factor Fees Total Fee (In Progress) Average Price Paid Federation Price Production Cost Buy @ Sell @ Ore Storage Space Trade Missile Loading Colony Database Colony Summary Construction Missile Construction Ship Construction Satellite Construction Geological Survey Ship Inventory Fleet Inventory Ship Orders Missile Control Ore Storage Command Centre Building Data Ship Yards Page 146

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Asteroid Engines Ship Locations Fleet Selection Power Failure Building Summary SCI-TEK Reports Spy Satellite Comms Colony Supervisors Agents Supervisors For Hire Supervisor CV Agents For Hire Agent CV Personnel Ship Is Being Stolen!

Ship Does Not Belong To You! A Scout Ship Has Reported Back Asteroid Does Not Belong To You! Colony Not Yet Up-And-Running Ship Is Not At Asteroid Can't Order Ship After Joining Cruiser Can't Order Ship After Joining Fleet Ship May Be Lost Out Of Space In Cruiser No Spare Fleets To Add Ships To Only One Ship Can Be Selected Page 147

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No Ship Has Been Selected Fleet May Be Lost Fleet Does Not Exist Yet Not While Fleet Is In Combat Fleet Is Not At Asteroid Fleet Is Not In Combat No Target Has Been Selected No Missiles Have Been Selected Asteroid Has No Missile Silos Contact Lost Can't View Asteroid - No Vessels Nearby Asteroid Has No Engines Asteroid Tracker Required Fleet Does Not Belong To You! Can't Select Source Asteroid Asteroid Has No Teleporter Fleet Can't Target Itself!

Not Enough Money In The Construction Fund Out Of Resources Constructing Building You Have No Spy Satellites No Asteroid Assigned For Mission Assigned Asteroid Is Unoccupied Not Enough Money In Personnel Fund Asteroid Destroyed There is not enough space to store purchased ore Sorry, trade representative not currently available Arena Size Small Page 148

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Medium Large Asteroid Density Low Standard High Atmosphere Peaceful Neutral Aggressive NO YES In Transit Awaiting Orders Working Price Per Unit Over The Past Year Enter message> Intro Tutorials New Game Saved Game Multiplayer Game Options Quit Preset Games Custom Game Select A Saved Game...

Scanning For Players...

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Select A Game...

Game Aborted! Please Select Another Game...

Waiting For Game To Start Alien Cultures Start Player Name: New Game Start Game Join Game Sound Mouse Time Done Game Speed: BS Fast Average Slow Time On BSIn Menus Time Off BSIn Menus Music Volume Sound Effects Volume Menus Sound Effects Volume Speech Volume Mouse Speed Double-Click Speed Page 150

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<< Test No Yes Press any key to continue...

BS-IN SPACE YOU ARE NEVER ALONEFragile Allegiance blends management and diplomacy with a healthy splash of mass destruction to create a uniquely playable and absorbing space strategy game on PC CD ROM. Fragile Allegiance takes place in a future where the Earth can no longer support its ever-increasing population. Pioneers have established colonies on countless new worlds. The fortunate ones have prospered, mining the rare ores and minerals that they found there. Most of these operations are owned by a ruthless inter-planetary corporation, TetraCorp.

As a franchise holder, TetraCorp. have put you in charge of the colonisation of the asteroid field that clutters the edge of the known universe and the mining operations that drain them of their precious ore.

In between attending to the needs of your colonists and satisfying the insatiable greed of your corporate taskmasters, there are 6 alien civilisations to Page 151

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encounter, each with their own characteristics and ambitions. You'll have to deal with the competing interests of each of these groups if you're to run a successful operation and earn a transfer back to Earth.

You must build and run your settlements with the limited funds that TetraCorp. have made available.

You're provided with a stunning array of 3D rendered buildings, ships and missiles to choose from. As the profits roll in you'll be able to add more sophisticated facilities to the existing colonies as well as extending your operations to new asteroids.

You can also choose to trade on the black market.

These shady dealers will supply anything from luxury items to trade for profit, to biological weapons, highly illegal but devastatingly effective.

As your operations extend deeper into space you'll become aware of six alien species. You'll be required to negotiate with their representatives, assessing their potential as allies or enemies. Each civilisation has its own idiosyncrasies and every move that you make will provoke a different reaction thanks to the game's advanced artificial intelligence routine. You can attempt to achieve your objectives by going it alone, forging alliances or declaring all out war.

Fragile Allegiance contains many game options, allowing players to select the exact set up that they Page 152

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prefer. The difficulty level can be altered in a number of ways by varying the size of the game arena, alien aggressiveness, the speed of time passing and the density of the asteroid field.

Fragile Allegiance also features a colony manager option. This can be used to delegate any number of tasks, from life support control to the setting up of new settlements. This feature means that Fragile Allegiance can have as much detail as each player desires. Fragile Allegiance can be played as a pure strategy game or as a detailed and complex management simulation.

Fragile Allegiance is the first game to make use of our new facial motion capture system. This technique is used to animate the in-game communications from the alien ambassadors. The results are stunning. The characters look uncannily real because they have actual facial expressions.

This creates a unique atmosphere, adding an extra element to each encounter. Players can search an ambassador's `poker face' for a hint of bluff and relish the genuine look of anger and hatred on their defeated enemy's face.

Fragile Allegiance also features a networked multi-player mode, allowing up to 8 players to compete against each other. Players can communicate with each other using the in-game e-mail system, to insult their friends or form Page 153

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alliances and then stab them in the back.

Alternatively they can stab them in the front with an all-out attack. This creates a highly charged playing atmosphere where anything goes. Fragile Allegiance is ideally suited to network play and is an unforgettable multi-player experience.

Act fast, think faster. TetraCorp expect results.

Your commission as a Mining Colony Director demands responsibility. Our alien `comrades' do not think highly of amateurish attempts at negotiation.

Go in fast and hit them hard. Remember, Trade War is as deadly as any other kind. `TetraCorp expects to be the biggest and best in every sector... You had better want the same.'

VTSpeech by Lauren Hirst: Day one of TetraCorp assimilation training: 20:08:2340 UPON GAINING COLONY DIRECTOR STATUS TETRACORP WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH: VT° A stunning array of fully animated ships, weapons and buildings ° Hundreds of operational upgrades - Spy Satellites and Missile Silos to the latest in mining technology. ° Superior In-depth colony management ° Fully operational user-friendly interface ° Face to face negotiations with alien cultures Page 154

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째 Spectacular battle sequences 째 Appoint Colony Supervisors and sabotage agents 째 Mining opportunities throughout a vast area 째 Full network and multiplayer options %t180BSLIFE IS FRAGILE BSFor further information contact VT Gremlin Interactive Ltd Carver House 2-4 Carver Street Sheffield S1 4FS Telphone: 0114 2799 020 VT http://www.gremlin.co.uk BSFRAGILE ALLEGIANCE - AVAILABLE SOON Unfortunately, you have run out of time.

VTSPEED AND PLANNING ARE THE KEY, TO SUCCEED YOU MUST ACT FAST AND THINK FASTER. Your colony has been destroyed, perhaps by hostile activity, perhaps by your own neglect and lack of fore-thought.

VTEITHER WAY, YOUR ACTIONS HAVE RESULTED IN MANY UNNECESSARY DEATHS; TETRA CORP EXECUTIVE COMMITEE WILL Page 155

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REQUIRE A FULL REPORT. RETURN TO HOMEBASE; YOUR COMMISSION IS TERMINATED Congratulations, You have destroyed all the aliens in this sector.

VTTRADE OR NEGOTIATION WERE AN OPTION AND COULD HAVE SAVED LIVES BUT SOMETIMES YOU'VE JUST GOT TO FIGHT. YOU ARE RECALLED TO HOMEPLANET AND OFFERED A FULL FRANCHISE. THIS WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING. CAN NOT PLAY SAVED GAME! - FILE MAY BE CORRUPT OR MISSING BSNon Aggression Pact between %s and %s Duration of pact Fine for breaking pact Clauses No overt action.

No covert action.

No overt or covert action.

Secret Pact is not secret.

Pact is secret.

BSJoint Combat Treaty between %s and %s Joint combat against Duration of treaty Fine for breaking treaty Combat target for treaty Low Page 156

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Medium High Overrun penalties Secret Overrun penalties do not apply.

Overrun penalties apply.

Treaty is not secret.

Treaty is secret.

Months Month Date signed Days remaining Clauses Combat performed to date that conforms to treaty: BSNo treaties or pacts currently in force.

Ancyra LaMarr Solon Valtravers Ge Tra Xi SabrisSan Lars Page 157

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Jane Fong Valtimar map Gryar Ancyra LaMarr is unavailable at present.

Solon Valtravers is unavailable at present.

Ge Tra Xi is unavailable at present.

SabrisSan Lars is unavailable at present.

Jane Fong is unavailable at present.

Valtimar map Gryar is unavailable at present.

VTBSGAME PAUSED Debt To Federation Additional Information Select A Tutorial...

Colony Building Ship Construction Colonising Selling Ore Fleets Missiles Trading Communications Colony Supervisors Using Agents SAVE this game?

LOAD a previously saved game?

QUIT game?

Last Surveyed: No geological surveys are available Current Owner: Page 158

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No technical information available Identity Unknown Hangared Ship Has No Launch Pad Hangared Ships Have No Launch Pads SpaceDock Sabotage.

Satellite signal recon.

Treaty information.

Asteroid location.

APV delivery.

Fatal building sabotage.

Mining/Ore sabotage.

Power generation sabotage.

Missile defences sabotage.

Ship defence sabotage.

Construction facilities sabotage.

Missile sabotage.

Transporter Sabotage.

Custom Game Beginner's Luck In this campaign you start with the odds in your favour: a richly-packed limited arena with a single, reasonably friendly, alien culture for company. If you are new to Fragile Allegiance, you might like to use this campaign to experiment with the game interface and find out more about your new environment.

Encounters In this campaign the odds are still favourable: you Page 159

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have a limited arena with a healthy supply of new asteroids and two new alien cultures somewhere in the vicinity. Although the diplomatic atmosphere is friendly, be warned that at least one of your new neighbours has an aggressive and militaristic (although honourable) culture, and will not take kindly to hostile gestures...

Getting Serious In this campaign you will discover a larger, less diplomatically friendly game arena, still with a good supply of new asteroids: this provides slightly more of a challenge to the novice mining executive, while the presence of two new alien cultures - one intelligent and relatively peaceful, the other somewhat less intelligent but still hard as nails makes this a different sort of challenge for those wishing to try their hand at serious combat.

Three's a Crowd In this campaign the arena is larger, the diplomatic atmosphere is shading towards cool and there are enough asteroids to go round among you and three alien cultures - maybe. Two of these cultures are major players in the aggression stakes, one is a happy-go-lucky hail-fellow-well-met type. Most of the time. But which is which? Only one way to find out...

Raising The Stakes In this campaign the tactical difficulties of playing in the largest game arena possible with a cool Page 160

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diplomatic atmosphere have been somewhat offset by the wealth of available asteroids. However, you must share this wealth - if you can't stop them first with four alien cultures, three of whom ask - and give - no quarter.

The Void In this campaign the arena is large and the asteroids numerous, the diplomatic atmosphere is cool but not frozen and the alien cultures number five. That's all of them bar the heaviest of all... The rewards are great for those who can take the heat.

Crowded House In this campaign you face all six alien cultures in a large, well-supplied game arena with a breathable diplomatic atmosphere. An ideal laboratory in which to conduct your first experiments in dealing with all the members of the Federation at once; but bear in mind what happens to those who meddle with the unknown...

Knowledge is Power In this campaign you get to test out any theories you may have formed about alien combat tactics once you've found them. (Or they've found you, of course.) A large arena only moderately well-supplied with asteroids, and a decidedly chilly diplomatic atmosphere.

Full On In this campaign the stakes get higher. The arena is Page 161

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large but the asteroids are few and far between, and six alien cultures who are out for blood and glory.

And that's the nice ones.

Getting Tight In this campaign, things are sweatier - you're closer to all six of your fellow Federation members, and there may be more asteroids for the picking but who will get there first? The one with the biggest guns, that's who...

The Ultimate In this campaign you find yourself trapped in a small game arena which, although the diplomatic atmosphere is verging on the sub-zero, is nonetheless packed with juicy ore-laden asteroids...

And all six alien cultures, raging to exploit this mineral wealth and take you out into the bargain.

Think you're up to it?

Cancel Start No geological survey information is available Last Surveyed: Total Constructed Remaining At End Cash Remaining Unsold Trade Goods SCI-TEK Blueprints Total Constructed Successfully Used Page 162

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02/07/2018

TetraCorp Rating Please insert the Fragile Allegiance CD into the CD drive.

Ship Is Still On Way To fleet Joint Combat Treaty Aborted The Joint Combat Treaty with %s forces against %s forces is no longer applicable due to the departure of the treaty target from the game arena. %s Forces Withdrawing Federation sources have revealed that %s forces have withdrawn from the Fragmented sectors.

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