'Pirate ship' Doughty brings golden drone back
Space Rescue brings back craft that sparked Mars ransom threat
By Alfwinna Webster, Orbital CorrespondentMARS CAROUSEL, March 43 - The ‘pirate ship’ Doughty was brought back here on Saturday along with its crew who are accused of hijacking a drone carrying precious metal ore samples and participating in a threat to crash another drone into the Mars Carousel orbital.
The Doughty was piloted by Space Rescue squad leader Nico Virtus, who led the boarding party that captured the vessel six weeks ago with its four-member crew.
When the crew’s 100-megacredit ransom demand for the precious metal drone was rejected, they and their accused Mars and Luna co-conspirators threatened to crash another drone into the Mars Carousel if they weren’t paid 10 gigacredits, according to legal filings.
The ransom crisis ended March 1 when the rest of the accused gang members were arrested on Mars and in orbit, the day after the arrests on board the Doughty.
“The whole mission was a big gamble,” Virtus said in a welcoming ceremony on the Carousel’s Observation Deck, where he was promoted to captain.
The Doughty was located by a trio of explorer scout ships some 50 mln km from Mars.
One of the scouts forced a pairing with the Doughty, allowing Space Rescue guards to enter through an airlock and force the hatch to the bridge.
“We had the best help in finding the ship in all that empty space, and my squad executed their mission perfectly,” said Virtus, who was promoted to captain by Space Rescue Chief Delmer Hastings and Mission Control Chief Ceres Piazzi.
The boarding mission began with the four-member squad standing on the hull of the Doughty in deep space before using entering the airlock, and then using an override to get into the ship and through the hatches to the bridge.
“The team had seconds to make this mission a success, and they made every second count,” Virtus said.
At the ceremony, Hastings awarded the captain’s stars to Virtus saying, “He (Virtus) exceeded the highest standards that we expect of Space Rescue guards.
Piazzi added, “Captain Virtus led his boarding party every step of the way from the hull through the airlock and onto the bridge under threat of imminent death.”
Virtus already has his first assignment as captain.
The Doughty will be refitted with O’Ceileachair (O’Kelleher) engines and upgraded before returning to service with Space Rescue with Virtus as captain, Hastings said.
Prize crew gets a share of the booty
As part of the combined three-ship crew that captured the Doughty, Virtus and his squad are entitled to a share of the value of the ship, Piazzi said.
The four accused conspirators aboard the Doughty, included former Earth fleet cargo first officer Victor Fahren, are being held in an orbital brig with five others who were arrested in orbit and at Ares Port.
No date has been set for the trial, but the accused all face penalties ranging to spacing.
Those accused of participating in the hijacking of the drone carrying precious metal ore samples from the Asteroid Belt are most likely to face charges of piracy, Piazzi said, adding the final determination for those conspirators would be made by a Space Fleet Review Board.
“They have to assess whether the hijacking a drone fits the legal definitions of piracy,” Piazzi said.
The ransom crisis kicked off when nine exploration drones returning from a mineral and resource survey of the Asteroid belt stopped communicating with Mission Control.
A drone carrying precious metal ore samples then went astray on a heading that took it tens of millions of kilometers away from Mars.
The hijackers demanded a 100 megacredit ransom for the drone.
When Martius Endeavours rejected that demand, the ransom was raised to 10 gigacredits with a threat to crash one of the other drones into the Mars Carousel.
The threat collapsed after the capture of the Doughty and as the accused gang members attempted to access the 250 megacredits Martius offered as bait.
The Doughty, a former courier, had left Mars more than an annos earlier after filing flight plans for Luna, but went off course soon after leaving the Carousel.
It remains unclear what the gang planned to do with the precious metal ore samples, and whether it was focused more on the survey information the drone squad had collected.
“The capture of the Doughty was absolutely critical in ending the threat to the Carousel and the Valles Marineris,” Piazzi said.
Mars Shuttle Dione skips out of L5, goes dark
Two ransom conspirators on board in deep sleep
LUNA, March 39 - The Mars Shuttle Dione, thought to be carrying two accused Luna conspirators in the 10 billion credit Mars Carousel ransom attempt, skipped out of L5 early and went dark as it passed behind the moon, Luna and L5 officials say.
The shuttle, with temporary pilot Draco Abell at the helm, arrived at L5 three days prior, reporting a minor engine issue, said the officials who asked not to be identified.
Abell was cleared for a half-speed return to Luna for repairs after de-boarding 22 passengers.
As the Dione approached Luna, it accelerated on its pass behind the moon and veered off into space in an area where communications and tracking are sketchy.
“It changed vector as it went behind Luna, then we lost all comms and signals,” one Luna official said. “A fast pursuit craft and drones are following their last known course, but so far they have not located the ship.”
Luna and Selene orbital security officials would not comment officially, nor would Martius Endeavours, formerly Mars DevCo, which owns and operates the Mars Carousel orbital and the Ares Port industrial facility on the surface.
The accused conspirators have been identified as Dianthe Quintinus, a senior logistics manager for Martius Endeavours, the Luna-based company that is developing Mars and its orbitals, and Remy Jacot, a Martius exploration planner.
The two are scheduled to stand trial upon their arrival at the Mars Carousel and face penalties up to spacing.
The two Luna-based accused co-conspirators had been placed on board in deep sleep pods for the roughly 120-sol journey to Mars.
“Those are exploration-grade sleep pods,” another official said. “You can’t just warm them up and expect them to wake up.”
Melas approves massive new aquaculture dome
The biggest aquarium on Mars
MELAS, March 40 - There’s going to be plenty more fish ahead for Melas as the council approved a massive new aquaculture dome to make use of the water coming in from its mining project.
The Council voted 7-0 to approve construction of the 116m diameter dome at Wednesday’s meeting in the much smaller Aquarium Dome.
The 60 m tall sandglass half dome would be built halfway into the ground with top 30 m above ground, said Councillor Niah Parnasse, who serves as construction manager for the growing Melas water drilling project.
All of it would be surrounded nearly 10m of water inside a larger, transparent sandglass dome with about a meter of ice above that.
“The water will essentially be another layer around and above the interior dome, with a thin sandglass dome beneath the ice above,” said Councillor Niah Parnasse, who serves as construction manager for the water drilling project. “That structure will provide more than a hectare of open space at floor level and a large volume of open space above.”
The interior of the dome will be surrounded by an aquaculture pool extending to a height of 40 m.
Asked by an audience member if the sandglass would be sufficient to hold up that much water, Parnasse looked up to the water above the top of the Aquarium Dome.
“We’re more concerned about the balloon popping,” Parnasses said. “Think about how tough balloon habs are. They have to be because the nearly non-existent outside pressure makes keeping the air pressure in a much more important consideration.”
The surrounding pool will include a kelp and seaweed garden at ground level to provide additional variety of food, as well as nutrients, for fish as well as Melas residents, Aquaculture manager Anton Pesce said.
“We’re trying to create an environment that is more self-sustaining, though we will have to continue to manage it closely,” Pesce said.
The new pool will also tie in with other aquaculture facilities, many of which tie in to form a wandering stream that runs through Melas, for instance, around the Bottom of the Sea Cantina, where fish swim around and above patrons.
In addition to the new water dome, how else does the Council plan to use the water from the drilling site, former Councillor Blaze Sfax asked.
“Wouldn’t it be better to only extract what we can actually use,” Sfax asked.
The water mining project, which lies nearly 9 km below the surrounding highlands in a basin about 70 km southwest of Melas, started as a test project but continues to produce increasing volumes of water, Parnasse said.
The project is sited in one of the lowest parts of the Valles Marineris in an area once covered by ancient lakes, which later poured out in an epic flood, but left a layer of ice a few hundred meters thick in some places buried under the chasma floor.
“That really is a question for the full Council to decide,” Parnasse said. “We can’t turn the flow on and off like a spigot. It has to remain at a nearly constant volume or it will cause damage to the drilling shaft and the reservoir.
Water is a precious commodity on Mars, Councillor Amara Shah noted.
“The Council is still considering a pipeline to bring water here and to Ius, but that’s a longer term project. For now we’re bringing it here by cargo train and stacking the rest as ice,” Shah said. “There’s really no downside to having extra water on Mars.”
Orson Welles says no to big farm dome
Opt for smaller steps in Air Mars deal
ORSON WELLES, March 43 - The local council rejected a big dome project here, and opted for a smaller farm and habitational project that would support a supply deal with Air Mars.
Legendary Mars builder Jeremiah Volcan had proposed building a dome over a shallow 500m crater to create about 20 hectares of farm and habitational space, but the Council voted 3-2 Saturday to opt for an agricultural arcade that could be built in smaller steps.
That project was also designed by Volcan as an alternate and as a means to sealing the deal with Air Mars to provide food and housing to its employees stationed at Orson Welles and for those rotating down from orbit for shorter stays.
“We can pretty much build this hectare by hectare and put it into production as we go, using only the resources we need for that section,” Councillor Alexandra Quill said.
The dome would make more sense over a longer time line, Councillor Perpetua Heathering argued.
“If Welles keeps growing with our orbital connection, we’re going to need the farm and living space,” Heathering said. “We may as well start now.”
The arcade would feature a strip of farm land in the center with habitational and storage space on either side to form a sandglass-covered arcade connected to the shuttle port and the Welles Dome.
The shuttle port serves the Air Mars shuttles that drop down from orbit and fly to the Valley cities of Coprates, Candor, Melas and Ius/Geryon on weekly basis.
The deal would enable orbital workers to travel to Valley cities via shuttle, except Tithonia, the largest city, which uses the Ares Port orbital shuttle.
The dome would have created a big village under glass, which is at variance with the scattered nature of most of Welles’ settlements, and about 2 km from the Welles Dome and the shuttle port, Quill said.
About 1,600 people live within a day’s drive of the Welles dome and the shuttle port, but the rest of the crater’s 4,200 residents live farther out in the 116 km wide crater, with a couple hundred in the Shalbatana settlement Volcan is building in a deep pit crater about 250 km to the northeast.
“A lot of people here live in single or double habs they dug out in the chaos terrain at the center of the crater, and avoid the main settlement as much as they can,” Xanthe Terra Council President Sylvana Phison said. “People don’t move this far from the Valley because they want to be around other people.”
Arrivals and Departures
Pilgrim departs
The fast packet Pilgrim, captained by Peregrinus Aeolus, departs for Earth and Luna orbitals on April 3.
Hotel Itinérant, Melas
The Hotel Itinérant passenger caravan arrived in Melas, Sunday March 44, and departs for Ius/Geryon Thursday March 47. Message ‘Itinerant’ for bookings and information.
Desert Star, Ius Chasma
Desert Star, cargo train is scheduled to arrive at the Noctis Grange Hall March 47, departing March 50 for a round trip to Oudemans Crater station. Message Desert Star
Air Mars
Friday - Orson Welles, Coprates, Melas, Ius.
Monday - Ius, Candor, Coprates.
Tuesday Coprates, Wells, Orbit. No passengers to orbit. Message Air Mars.
Calendar
“Next Stop Proxima”
Scifi adventure threedee about the first fleet to Proxima Centauri. There’s a surprise
Rosettas at Pub Seventeen
The Mars Beat sensation picks up the beat at the Hab 3 brew pub near the Terrace One Arena. Friday, Saturday from 21:00
Cubby Samba
City Residence hosts the weekly Cubby soiree. All are welcome. Cubby Terrace at 20:00 Friday. Hab 1 Terrace 3.
Las Panteras de Marte
Singer Monique Solis, guitarist Hernando Senatobia and accordionist Ignacio Beck, play Mars style Norteño music, with a few show-stopping torch song solos. Ius Forum. Saturday 16:00
Song Share
Acoustic players gather at the Geryon Agora. Friday 17:00
Melas Aquanauts
Fun a-capella group. Listen and sing along Bottom of the Sea Cantina, Melas Friday 20:00.
City Social
Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Friday 17:00
City Farmer’s Market
Saturday. Stalls available by appointment. Fabrica (Industrial) Tube Terminal Saturday 9:00-15:00
Spike
See how high you can jump off the sand, and learn to play volleyball Mars style. Saturday, Sunday sessions. 08:00, 10:00, 12:00. North Beach Hab 3 Terrace 1. Just show up dressed to play.
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
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ROCKET ENGINEER Engine upgrade project, Ex-contract only. PONTUS 100 637
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APPRENTICES Aquaculture. 8 annos and up. URBS 62128
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Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech