Gray Noton Defends Solaris Title

Solaris, Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

Gray Noton will begin seventh year as Solaris Champion this coming New Year's Day. He defeated Oliver Baumgartner to retain his title. Oliver is a direct descendant of Julie Baumgartner who was Champion in 2949. Oliver fought Gray at the Ishiyama Arena, the infamous Black Mountain. Gray, in his venerable Rifleman, was finally able to destroy Oliver's Stalker after three hours, twenty-two minutes.

In the after-match press conference, Noton commented that he is looking to retire soon: "The Arenas hold few challenges anymore. I've been at the top for such a long time that it's starting to get boring. I'm thinking of starting my own stable and watching other people fight for this trophy."

Gray Noton first became Champion in 2016 when he defeated Maxwell Boddi. He has held the Solaris Championship Title longer than any previous holder since the Championships began in 2812. In all that time he's piloted the same Rifleman, defending his title 27 times now.

Christmas Slows Border Wars

Tharkad, District of Donegal, Lyran Commonwealth

As Christmas approaches, fighting along all fronts has virtually ceased. An Inner Sphere-wide truce seems to have been agreed upon by the various military forces. Even pirate activity has died down.

"We could be seeing a Christmas miracle," said a spokesperson for the Lyran government. "The Archon is pleased with the momentary peace and hopes the various governments will be able to extend it into next year."

Archon and Daughter Vacation in Skye

Skye, Isle of Skye, Lyran Commonwealth

Archon Katrina Steiner and her daughter Melissa are currently spending their winter vacation on Skye. The Archon and daughter have seen the Skye Museum of Scottish History, the Skye National Symphony, and the Skye Interstellar Performance Artists.

While the trip is officially a royal vacation, sources say that the Archon is here to see for herself the unrest in Skye. Skye separatists have increased their activities in the last year with numerous protests and some violence. The people of Skye have long wanted independence from the Commonwealth and rumors of an alliance with the Federated Suns have fueled the fires of separatism.

Tragic Ironies

When the Archon conscripted commercial transports into the military during the war, it was a disastrous effect on planets like Bountiful Harvest and A Place.

Bountiful Harvest, always a major food producer, could no longer regularly export any of its products during the war. As a result, the planetary economy plunged, while huge silos stood filled with rotting grain.

Less than a jump away was A Place. A desolate world with rich mineral resources, it never could feed itself on what it raised from its meager topsoil. When the war came and commercial Jumpships were requisitioned, the planet's population immediately began to go hungry. Though the Commonwealth government sent mercy missions, they came too infrequently to stave off mass starvation. Of the million inhabitants at the start of the war, only 100,000 remained at war's end.

All that misery on A Place, while only a few lightyears away on Bountiful Harvest, grain lay rotting in the sun and farmers were burying their butchered meat animals in ditches because there was no one to buy them.

-- From War's Tragedy, by Grafina Sandra Kelswa, Stratton & Gebhart, 2829.