New Playwright Gets Mixed Reception on Mars

Rising star and literary luminary Ila Bhosale debuted as a playwright last night at the Mount Olympus Amphitheatre on Mars. Her play, “A Corral of Fools” was sold out within hours of tickets going on sale last month, and last night’s showing was packed. A well-known satiric wit, great things were expected of Bhosale’s first thespian offering.

The Martian audience responded positively to the play’s first half, which depicts a cunning stockbroker wooing her feckless toyboy in order to gain entry to his snooty but dysfunctional family. However, the second half saw less enthusiasm from the audience as a tinpot admiral blusters from behind a desk whilst cutting arms deals with big corporations, ignoring the increasing problem of his workers being robbed and then kidnapped by a dastardly highwayman. Other figures in the play include an emotionless cyborg, an Onionhead addicted holy man, and a bureaucratic office manager who sends people to sleep whenever he talks.

The response from Federal critics was mixed, with the Times of Mars condemning the play as “unfunny” and “nonsensical”, whilst the Regulus Observer declared it a “much needed biting lampoon clearly inspired by leading political figures; an acid wit of bold genius”. It remains to be seen how it will be received in Alliance and Imperial space.

“A Corral of Fools” continues its tour including stops in Barnard’s Star, Eravate, Lave, Alioth, Leesti, Facece, Cemiess, and Achenar.

Cmdr Stateira "Starcloak" Eleshenar

Wolf Entertainment Weekly | Interstellar Press

Who Will Be the New Vice President of Forecasting?

Sirius Corporation's current Vice President of Forecasting, Kwaku Morgan, this week was sent off into retirement by Li Yong-Rui and the board of directors after fifty years in the job. Sirius Corporation are known to be looking for a replacement for Mr Morgan from amongst company notables, and independent observers are tipping two leading candidates.

Marius Ferrero is the popular choice, returning to inhabited space this week after a six month expedition exploring the edges of the Scutum-Centaurus arm. The 56 year old from Leesti has not only headed up several Sirius Corps ventures in the field, but remotely managed a sizeable part of the company's investments whilst doing so.

The dark horse in the race is said to be Viola Bessant, a brilliant young stockbroker hailing from EZ Aquarii, whom Li Yong-Rui himself hired to Sirius Corps ten years ago after an internship which impressed the board of directors. If Bessant is promoted to the position, she will be the youngest Vice President of Forecasting the company has had, being one year younger at 34 than Li Yong-Rui was when entering the position.

Business is booming for Sirius Corporation as their influence continues to grow unabated, whether their success continues will be very much down to the candidate selected for the post.

Cmdr Stateira "Starcloak" Eleshenar

Zaonce Market Circular | Interstellar Press

Pirate Hunt Turns Vicious In Iota Persei

In trying to protect innocent miners, local security forces and independent bounty hunters bit off more than they could chew in the belts of Iota Persei 1 today. Even though the pirates were eventually put on the defensive and had to flee, the victory was paid for with heavy losses by the defenders. When the exhaust trails finally evaporated and the debris cleared, observers tallied more than a dozen destroyed Federal Security ships. Almost as many independent combatants were lost.

The battle doesn't seem to have originated in a planned operation by security forces. Iota Persei is well known for its rich asteroid mining zones ringing a number of gas giants in the system and the fleets of ships extracting ore around the clock. Many of these are independent refinery ships that aren't well protected. While Federal Security tries to keep the main resource extraction sites as well policed as possible, pirate incursions are common. So are bounty hunters looking for marauders to take down. The pirates mostly operate in small wings of Cobras or Vipers and will get picked off by hunters which often use similar ships which are usually better armed, however.

Reports indicate the present shootout started along these well known lines but took a turn for the worse when the small group of pirates suddenly got reinforcements; among them a heavily armed Anaconda. The bounty hunters apparently also called in friends and then got joined by a number of Federal Security patrol boats arriving from nearby Walker City. According to reports, the pirates turned out to be in the majority in the end, with nearly twice as many ships as the law. Things quickly got out of hand with most miners in the area dodging stray missiles while firing up their FTL drives to run for safer pastures.

In the light of this sudden escalation of violence, many residents of this formerly rather quiet, out of the way system are beginning to worry about the pirate threat. So far, inquiries with Iota Persei Purple General Ltd and the local government have not been answered officially. Sources close to the security forces are suggesting that those in charge are now mulling a hefty increase in local bounties, though. That this will attract enough bounty hunters to fend off the danger seems doubtful. This attack shows a surprising manpower increase in local pirate forces and could indicate that Iota Persei has a substantial outlaw problem on their hands.

Commander Richard Brannigan

Regulus Observer | Interstellar Press

Torval Takes Charge of Prodigal Grandson

Following the surprise audit by the Imperial Slave Association a few days ago, it was revealed that Slevin Torval, youngest of Senator Zemina Torval’s six grandchildren, was fined for striking an Imperial slave whilst drunk and disorderly. Following in the footsteps of many of Senator Torval's progeny, Slevin Torval was appointed as director of the Sowiio mine by his grandmother just over a year ago.

Reputedly, Senator Torval has taken a dim view of her wayward grandson’s behaviour. An anonymous source close to the Senator revealed: “Zemina called him into her office to reprimand him in person. She’s furious – she won’t tolerate this sort of poor conduct. She said she’d sell Slevin into Imperial slavery for a month to teach him a lesson, rather than pay off his fine.”

It remains to be seen whether Senator Torval will carry through on her threat.

Cmdr Stateira "Starcloak" Eleshenar

Star Express | Interstellar Press