FWL Wins Road Rage Cup

Solaris City, Solaris, Rahneshire, Lyran Commonwealth

The Free Worlds League Team of Sif Bromas and Peter Siskosovich won the 23rd Annual Road Rage Cup. They beat duos from the four other Inner Sphere states and a team from the Magistry of Canopus. The Capellan Confederation team came in second and the Federated Suns team came in third.

The Road Rage Cup is a two lap race held in the Davion Arena in Solaris City. Each year six teams of two compete in Stingers and Wasps -- the winning team wins by completing two laps or eliminating the other teams. The race always draws huge ratings with profits going to various Solaris charities.

Davion Mercs Raid Sian

Sian, Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation

In a daring maneuver, Smithson's Chinese Bandits raided the capital of the Capellan Confederation. The raiders landed unopposed in Sian Spaceport. Later they disembarked at night and proceeded to destroy several buildings before they had to retreat to their dropships.

The Bandits are currently under the employ of the Federated Suns. Although the raid did little actual damage, Chancellor Maximillian Liao has instigated an investigation to find out how the Bandits were able to get past Sian defensive measures. Reportedly several high ranking officials have been arrested.

Star League Cache Found in Periphery

Corewared Periphery

There are some unconfirmed reports that one of the pirate bands in the coreward periphery has found a Star League era cache. Reportedly, the Oberon Confederation has some Lostech 'Mechs in their armed forces. Most of these reports have been discounted so far. But border world garrisons have reported that they have been raided by a force with Star League-era 'Mech designs.

The Jump Sail

During the early 23rd century, there were a number of technological improvements on the Jumpship. The first of these refinements extended the range of the Kearny-Fuchida drive by over 50 percent and reduced its overall recharge time down to about one week. This development reduced interstellar communication lag-time, but the advances went nearly unnoticed because of the human expansion to the stars outstripped the advance of technology.

The second major improvement wrought major changes to both the operational characteristics of the Jumpship and its outward appearance. This new development was the energy-collecting jump sail, whose development was made possible by new polymer and advanced metallurgic technologies. The huge parasol-shaped sail was some 50 kilometers in diameter and constructed of high- strength material coated with a special energy-absorbing surface. These sails were extremely fragile, and had to be carefully furled and unfurled in between jumps. Even so, jump sail permitted an FTL-vessel to operate almost indefinitely without the need for refueling anything except its low-thrust station-keeping drive.

-- From A Concise History of Space Flight, by V. King, Tharkad University Press, 3019.