The weekend of Friday 27th to Sunday 29th of May 2956 was one of the busiest in the United Space Confederation (USC) in recent weeks. A total of 4 major operations ran back to back: a large-scale hunt for crafting blueprints, the first forays into the newly accessible QV breaker Stations in Nyx, and a deep expedition into the wilds of Pyro. Here is how it all unfolded : 

The Search for blueprints

The recent arrival of Item fabricators into the USC Hangars has changed everything. For the first time, members can craft their own weapons, armour and equipment, clearing the dependence on vendors for these items. But only if they have the blueprints to do it. Without them, an Item Fabricator is little more than an expensive recycling bin.

Most blueprints will not simply be handed out or bought off a shelf. They have to be found, and as it turns out, criminal organisations across Stanton, Nyx and Pyro have been sitting on a considerable number of them. Presumably stolen from various locations, as criminals tend to do.

RidgeSix put together an operation to go and find as many blueprints as possible. Teams fanned out across multiple hideouts and criminal installations in a coordinated push that was by any measure a serious grind. It paid off, though.

A significant haul of blueprints was secured by the end of it. Along the way were the usual complications: fuel running dry mid-flight, a rescue or two and a ship taking a battering from outposts’ turrets, requiring emergency repairs. 

The QV Breaker Stations

The QV breaker stations have been a fixture of Nyx lore for centuries, and they’ve been out of reach for just as long. That changed recently when Shubin Interstellar began issuing mining claims to these abandoned facilities, opening them up for the first time in centuries. Beyond the novelty, they matter for a practical reason: the stations contain high-quality mineable materials essential for crafting top-tier equipment.

Two separate operations went to investigate these new locations over the weekend. The first led by Director Stiles aboard the USCS Excelsior, an Idris-class Frigate. The second operation was captained by EtowTheSaltyCat aboard the USCS Gayle, a Polaris-class Corvette. 

The Excelsior Crew made a detour before reaching Nyx, stopping to put the newly arrived RSI Aurora Mark II through its paces on one of Gillys missions. The new ship performed well, the test data was gathered, and the group moved on to Nyx, satisfied with what they had seen.

At the Stations themselves, both operations quickly discovered that getting the laser up and running was far from straightforward. The facilities were crawling with criminals who showed no interest in leaving, arriving in waves even after areas had been cleared of them. While teams fought to hold ground, others fanned out across the station hunting for PGR capacitors to bring the power core back online, Sadaryx Crystals for the laser lenses, and access codes for the refractor’s alignments. None of it came easily, but piece by piece it came together.

With the core online, the codes found, and the lenses fabricated and installed, the laser was finally brought to life. Watching it tear into the rock face was, by all accounts, a genuinely impressive moment. Though on the second operation, the spectacle was briefly upstaged by the discovery that someone had positioned two Drake ships directly in the lasers path. One was vaporised instantly. 

The other, to its credit, held on a little longer. 

Mining the cracked rock proved trickier than expected. Smaller fragments were stubborn, several ships were disabled by secondary explosions, and things got messy before they got resolved. But the resources were extracted, and the crews made it home, and both operations came away with a much clearer picture of what these stations demand, and what they are worth.

Operations Dark Echo

The Ministry of Intelligence & Exploration runs Pyro expeditions regularly, and Sundays Operation Dark Echo was the latest in that tradition. Directors Macksons and Rotorgeist led the missions with the USCS Astraios, a veteran Carrack-class vessel and the USCS Tabular Rosa, an Origin 890 Jump, assigned to the task.

It did not go entirely to plan before it had even started. The Tabular Rose developed technical difficulties at Gaslight Station and could not depart, leaving her crew to transfer over to a Hercules A2 Bomber instead, which at least came stocked with a centurion, a Ursa, several cyclones and a medical Pisces. 

The small fleet made for Ignis and located a large remote sandcave, where both crews disembarked and set about exploring, even taking the time to collect samples and do some hand mining. The caves were truly astonishing, with sweeping formations and natural beauty on a scale that is easy to forget exists out in Pyro. A spectacular sight, and one of the main reasons to venture out and explore.

Eventually, the crews were called back to the ships, as Valakkars had been spotted in the distance. To ensure everyone’s safety, Rotorgeist and FireOnIce decided the best course of action was to seal the cave entrance using ordnance from the Hercules A2 bomber. 

Why? We do not know, but this ended up collapsing and destroying the only way in or out of these beautiful caves, which had likely stood untouched for countless millennia, and which no one would ever be able to visit again. 

The Valakars, as it turned out, were not there.

The Expedition continued nonetheless, taking in more sights along the way. One of the last ones was a derelict outpost on Pyro IV. It was likely planned to go down and clear the area of criminals, but once more under the direction of FireOnIce, the A2 bomber was called in, and the entire outpost was Obliterated. 

There is perhaps a conversation to be had about sending a bomber on an exploration mission. Either way, the crews had a good time, everyone returned safely, and Operation Dark Echo was declared a success, albeit one that left rather more of  Pyro flattened than was strictly necessary. 

A Packed weekend then, one that moved the USC Forward on several fronts. New Blueprints secured, new stations unlocked, and new corners of Pyro mapped out, and in some cases, permanently altered.