Neither TRI nor any factional representative has made an announcement, leaving many puzzled.   But former Honor Guard pilots have flocked to the enlistment terminals to take advantage of the 10-mission military tours that offer free insurance and profitable mission payouts.

While TRI has been silent on the issue of the increasingly martial environment, it has recognized the overall situation by making a Political Climate "meter" publicly available.

The new military missions include not only Combat, but also Espionage, Reconnaissance, Beacon Patrol, Procurement, Ore Raids and Courier Runs -- so even pilots who are not fighter jocks can  have the honor and benefits of factional military service.

Quantar Unveils
Ship Swap

At the same time as Quantar began offering Military Service benefits, it completely revamped production specs for the wildly unpopular Monsoon  and the rarely-flown Tornado, swapping ship classifications between the two.  The Monsoon is now the official Quantar bomber.  In it's new role, it has more missile payload and more cargo space, but it has lost its big guns.

The Tornado, on the other hand, gained speed and firepower, losing only a couple of missile slots and one ModX.  Although it's tactical place in Quantar military actions has not yet been completed shaken down, a review of the specs suggest that the Tornado falls into the "semi-heavy fighter category" . . . not true heavy metal, but a pretty nasty punch combined with best-in-class speed.

BROKER Offers Alleged
Lead on Another
Pre-Collapse Cryopod

The somewhat-infamous middle-man and information-broker, Fence, announced that he was representing a client who allegedly has evidence that  another pre-collapse cryosleep pod exists.

According to Fence, his client has evidence of a weak locator signal broadcasting on the same frequency as that used by the cryosleep pod found 22 years ago -- the pod that carried several of the members of squad Solidarity into our time.

While there has been some skepticism regarding whether the Solidarity story was truth, or an elaborate hoax, historian ZeroZ95 is convinced that the individuals found in the pod were, in fact, pre-collapse Sorians whose memory had not survived the two-millennia-long snooze.

Regarding the new signal, the respected historian said: "Of course, I can't be completely sure unless you give me access to the entire MicroBurst, but the frequency is a match and the message header looks authentic as well. A lot of information about the first cryosleep pod was never made public. So if this turns out to be a fake, it is a very good one, created by very well connected individuals."

Fence has announced that his client is willing to sell non-exclusive rights to the signal data to individuals for 10 million credits.

UUNN reported that "If the second cryopod is genuine and another group of PC humans can be revived with their memories intact, the impact to modern culture could be immeasurable. If a single faction/group could gain unilateral access to such a resource, it would easily gain an astounding advantage over its rivals, perhaps even enough of an advantage to spark an all out war the likes of which have not been seen since the Second GVB War . . ."

Some have suggested that this report is, at worst,  blatant sensationalism, and at the very least wild speculation with little basis in fact.   Nonetheless, it is reasonable to suspect that Fence will have more than a few takers for his offer.

JPR Throws Final Broadcast Party

WileE, Johnny_Prime and RT-Mus were on hand for what was billed as JPR's FINAL broadcast.   Pilots all over TRI space tuned in to hear the trio of JPR vets 'cast a variety of tunes and classic JPR "features."

The comm channels were buzzing with pilots commenting on their favorite songs and ads, with features including episodes of Galaxy Man and StarBoy, McPlowed's Clavicle Fund, and the now-legendary InterOrka's Nefarious Plan-Cast.

Many pilots commented that they had never tuned-in to JPR before and lamented that they had waited too long to become loyal listeners.

JPR-founder Antikas, who now lives-on only as a disembodied head, had decided that without arms and legs, it was becoming increasingly difficult to manage the business of running the station.  There are rumors that some JPR staff may try to find a way to acquire the JPR broadcast license and continue the proud tradition.

We can only hope . . .

ISTVAN'S UPDATE
In Conversation . . .

Q. So the long-awaited "military patch" is now out – at least the first part of it. Online numbers have jumped and there has been a lot of great feedback. Does it feel like you just aced your mid-term exams?

A. Not really; it feels like finals for all classes but one are done – and the one left is as bad as all the others together. There are two more major military features we still need, and they are intended for the next non-bugfix patch, hopefully 1.0111. A big patch may have been released, but the work isn’t done for me yet.

I’m pretty happy that online numbers are looking a little better, and I’m hoping that the new stuff that has gone Live will help keep folks interested until the rest is done. There’s also a lot of good stuff coming Jumpgate’s way, completely separate from the military features. In the last month, I’ve had to begin spending some time "playing Project Lead" and getting ducks in a row for the new efforts instead of only working directly on the code.

.(continues ...)

. . . And Now
for Something
Completely Wacky.

Thanks to one of Jumpgate(tm)'s GREAT friends -- Kwip of neenerneener.net fame -- Darkspace Dispatch is connecting you to some all-time great JG articles and cartoons as published on N3.

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

CLICK HERE for a sneak-peek at previously unreleased JG development news!

Istvan
SUPERSTAR!

On the heels of two articles/interviews on MMORPG.com, Istvan is in the press again, pimping JG on MMO Portal.   Click the logo to go straight to the interview.

Almost ...

Jumpgate currently is rated 8.1 on the MMORPG "game list" -- up from 5.8 (in July 2004) another TWO TENTHS of a point and JG will be on the FRONT PAGE -- what and advertising coup that would be!

If you either WANT to receive  Darkspace Dispatch by email or WANT TO BE REMOVED from the mailing list simply email us:
darkspace@jgcentral.net

Click here for more . . .

Betrayal
a Jumpgate Novella by Fellblade
(reprinted with permission)

- Part XIII -

The Controller looked over the shoulder of the technician, at the vital signs of the agent which had a close encounter of the violent kind with Arouin. They were all flat, and a small red light blinked on and off balefully in the corner of the screen. The Controller was not a man who easily gave into his feelings, but he had just lost an agent, and he was not happy. He grasped the back of the technicianīs swivel chair, and turned it around until the seated man was looking up into his eyes.

"Code Orange."

"Yes sir."

The technician swiveled back to face the screen.

"This is the Rock. All Pebbles, Code Orange on subject Charmed"

"Our friend is about to have a rather bad day."

(Click here for the complete text of Parts XIII & XIV)

Darkspace Dispatch Back-Issues

Vol.   I, No 1 (104.7.24)           Vol. I, No. 2 (104.8.12)           Vol.   I, No. 3 (104.10.2)          Vol.   I, No. 4 (104.10.2)
Vol. I, No. 5 (104.12.7)          Vol. I,No.6 (104.12.28)        

Vol. II,No.1 (105.1.25)         Vol. II,No.2 (105.2.26)          Vol. II,No.3 (105.4.24)         Vol. II,No.4 (105.6.16)
Vol. II,No.5 (105.8.7)         Vol. II,No.6 (105.10.10)          Vol. II,No.7 (105.12.27)

Vol. III, No.1 (106.2.20)          Vol. III, No.2 (106.5.25)

 
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