Everyone,

The Marauder HQ has been located. After being convinced for some time that the base lay within the Firefrost system we have now confirmed that Firefrost is just part of the route.  Somewhere in Firefrost is a Lagrange point not marked on any public charts. This point links to the Dante system.

Most of you know of the story behind this 'lost' system of the Badlands, but for those of you unaware of its existence, I'll briefly summarise

The close-binary system of Dante was one of the original systems settled when the Badlands were first opened. The configuration of the system was unusual. Dante has two stars. It was the relationship between the large star and its dwarf companion that held a sting in its tail. The dwarf had a high gravity field which constantly pulled away matter from its larger sibling. Ultimately this streaming caused a catastrophic change in the dwarf.  Not long after colonisation, the star went nova, bathing the whole system in a wave of deadly radiation. The whole system was effectively sterilised. Ejected material caused a number of orbital paths to shift. It was this reshuffle that moved the Lagrange points out of synchronisation with the published charts, sealing the system off from capsule jumps until it could be re-surveyed via sub-light probes. It was this same catastrophe that resulted in the famous twenty-year isolation of the Hoffer's Wake System.

Since then the Dante system has been presumed abandoned. The X-ray radiation level in the system was at an unacceptable level. To reopen it again it would require an expensive resurvey by sub-light probe.

When a new route to Hoffer's Wake via the Coyote system was opened, there were no sound reasons to re-forge links to Dante. Which was supposed to be the end of the story.

Somehow the Marauders have surveyed and populated the Dante system, and are using it as a base of operations from which to launch their attacks upon the Badlands. It strikes me that the L-point in Firefrost may not be the only uncharted jump-point into the system. If they have routes into other systems it explains a lot about the Marauders ability to move around undetected.

In hindsight this all makes sense, but this raises more questions than answers. Who are the Marauders? Who has the foresight and resources to scout out an abandoned system? The sub-light probing of the system would take at least 25 years.  Why build a base there? Perhaps we will not find the answers until the Marauders have been finally destroyed....

Natashia Blake,

League Militia