Molotov

*The MarsStar High-speed railway link is finally finished, in an official ceremony, European authorities show of their new creation, linking New Europa, the Space Port, Kaiserbach, Lyon-sur-Mars, New Bangeluru and the various population centers in-between. Based on the EuroStar on earth which connects all the major provincial capitals in the European Union, the connection is said to bring the settlements closer together.
|| EuroIndex 17,055.87 (1,721%)

*The Victoria Factory District erupts in revolution, after years of preparation, the rebel leaders seem to have received support from some key figures, rumored to be in the administration of the colony. Erupting in the New Marathon Section, the revolution quickly exploded as rebels, taking British combat armors, overwhelmed their captors and swept into New Albion, where the Administration is housed. Not much information comes from inside the colony, but Russian observes report shelling on the third day of the revolution, as the guns of the British, used to defend the colony, turned on the revolutionaries. After 6 days of fighting, a mass wave of British security forces is reported to be escaping, a struck shuttle crashed in the agricultural settlements in the south with no survivors, while another landed in Clearwater city.

*Following the end of the revolution, New Glasgow is declared, with the Union Jack being burned and Saint Andrew's Cross erected in its stead, the revolutionaries send a message along the waves to any and all listeners, declaring their undying support for Constantine and Redwallace, their leaders and the foundation of a new state on Mars. In the meanwhile, the British security forces and administration have converged in Clearwater city, where they have pushed the local authorities to give them "safe haven". Promptly they have occupied two neighborhoods of the city and settled there, many fear they may coup the Clearwater Administration and claim the city.
|| Victoria Mining Corp. 57,5587 (57,577%)

*A shootout occurs in the slopes of Al-Jalil, a group of Palestinian fighters exchange fire with Jihadists, leaving 3 Jihadists dead, and two Palestinians wounded. The gurilla war has been intensifying for the last months, with heavy attacks of the Mujaheddin, lead by the Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Brigades. Many kibbutzim have responded by strengthening their defenses with the Israeli-Palestinian government planning to import more Bots form earth for combat operations.

*Sattelite fly-bys continue to search for the position of Neuvo Cumaná, but they are unable to find much, it is believed the camp is using a mixture of camouflage and anti-satellite masking techniques to avoid being seen. Shuttles are now rarely sent into the mountains, as the previous three operations have ended up being downed by anti-aircraft weapons presumably stolen by the rebels in the mountains.

*The new season of Duster Migrations comes and goes for the Outliers, for a few weeks, the dusters throw themselves at the defenses of the settlements, using vehicles, weapons and whatever one can think of to get as close as possible to the humans of the settlement and murder as much as them as possible. After a week and a seemingly endless pile of bodies on both sides, the dusters turn away and march into the desert. Their dust trail is seen for days, before it finally disappears on the other side of the horizon.

*A tense stand-off ends in the dunes between Yinghuo and Lake Värnen, a month ago, the Nordic force in Fort Värnen was deployed in haste with their shuttles to stop a supposed Chinese invasion of Heaven, only to find a large force of Chinese armed irregulars trekking through the dunes. After disarming the Chinese, the Nordic Peacekeepers took them to their Fort. However Yinghuo soon afterwords declared that those people are Chinese citizens and should be extradited to Chinese territory, i.e. Yinghuo. After some high level talks and a lot of threats on both sides, eventually the Nordic Peacekeepers release the irregulars.

*Relief missions have begun flooding into the outlying agricultural settlements north of Mahd ahd Dhahab, stricken by drought and hit by bandits, the people are struggling to bring their production back on track and have slowly been able to recover, being helped by the philanthropic Nightingales has helped immensely, as the activists are seen setting up medical stations, food and water banks, all done on private donations.

*Tensions between the New Bogong colony and the SpaceX HQ continue, as Australian colonists are captured in the territory of SpaceX. In response, the company has detained the Australians. This has recieved a massive outcry from both the Australian colonial authorities and the Australian government on earth. The Australia-SpaceX scandal has seen some major Australian investors in the SpaceX venture withdraw, hitting their shares negatively. || SpaceX LLC 01,1743 (1,47%)

*In maybe the only case in which the dominant powers on Mars could agree on something, China, the EU, Russia and the NAU have all condemned the East African Federation's Anga colony for their continued support for various Illegal settlements on the sparsely populated eastern coast. But the EAF defends its actions by claiming "Mars does not belong to the "quadrumvirate", it belongs to the people of the world", echoing the statements of many third world nations, who deny the viability of the "Four Power Treaty on Mars" which restricted colonization to the powers or groups associated/allowed by them.

*The north continues to be as unstable as always, with clashes within Unity City between the two main factions coming to light again, and battles between the Christians and Bandits recorded, not to mention shooting having been recorded in the vicinity of the Helios Plant. What draws attention though, is the intervention by the famed rangers when one of the agricultural villages is attacked by bandits, after a few minutes of desperate combat, the unmistakable "boats" of the Yarnus rangers appear in the sky, landing half a dozen soldiers behind bandit lines and striking in such ferocity and speed that most bandits throw their weapons and just run. While the organization is still far from supported by governments, it has received a lot of private donations via the internet, allowing it to survive.
*After a massive gaffe on CNN-MTV by George McChristopher, the previous CEO of Space Ventures INC and the head of operations of the North American Union's Martian colony is fired form his post. A weak later after the scandal, Jordan Jericho III arrives on his private shuttle from the Moon. Known as the man who opened the moon up to hoteliers, he is a well know lobbyist and a master of his craft and is said to be there to, in his own words, "Bring economic prosperity, unrestricted by regulations or government intervention to Mars." Following this deceleration, investors flocked to the stocks of Liberty One.
|| LibOne IC 172,5477 (1,017%)

*Mars is entering its weak transport season, as the system moves further away from the sun, prices of transporting both cargo and people back to earth are increased, this season is usually linked with a spike in smuggling, as certain low individuals are happy to transport goods for far better rates then the official ESA ones. The European declares a hard stance against corruption, but even with that experts agree that the expected high in smuggling won't be avoided this year.
|| Mars Express 08, 457 (1,367%)

*In New Europa, several bombs rip through a crowded square in the Athens district of the city, the terrorist attack leaves 2 dead and 5 in hospital. The New Golden Dawn party soon accepts responsibility for the attack, citing "increasing European meddling in Greek affairs" as the cause. This comes after the European Union was implicated in funding pro-government troops in the Greek civil war in its continued crack-down on the fascist/neo-nazi and Left-Wing forces. As the neo-nazi forces are increasingly loosing the war, they are increasingly resorting to terror, but since the split between "New" and "Original" Golden dawn forces, clashes in the small Greek quarters of Europa have been increasing.

*In the meanwhile protests by "Occupy Liberty One" movement are continuing, the anti-corporatist group still, however, failed to produce any sorts of a manifesto, outside of the requested removal of corporatism and lobbyism by the government. So far the protests are non-violent, but a few scuffles with police were recorded, where the Arcturus security personnel beat two protesters.

*Wienerwald opens up its first restaurant in Russian territory, what makes this more interesting is, not only is this the first European fast-food giant to open up its doors to Russian consumers, it is also done exclusively on Mars. The German fast food chain has drawn criticism for its expansion in space, after it became the first company to open a shop on the break-away Lunar colony of Horizon (taken over by the America First rebels and in virtual isolation from the rest of the universe, besides the small life-line between Horizon and the NAU).

*It seems the problems of the villagers in the area of the Clearwater lake are by far not over, a few hours after the shuttle had crashed over in the fields of Clearwater, it was surrounded by soldiers flying the Saltire, a large column of Technicals and APCs follows suit, quickly securing the area. Shots could be heard for a few minutes later on, but aside form that nobody is allowed to enter the perimeter created by the Scottish. Eventually it becomes clear what is going on, when groups of technicals are slowly connected together to create a platform. By the end of that same day, the rebels are attacked by various gangs of looters and even British soldiers, but they repel it. This continues for days as the Scottish slowly raise the remnants of the shuttle out of the earth and get it on the platform. However, the biggest obstacle comes in the second day, just before exfiltration out of the zone. As the force prepares for the long march home, the unmistakable sound of a gunship is heard rapidly approaching, as the soldiers quickly dismount and prepare to fight, a Chinese gunship flies over the groups and quickly opens fire, receiving fire in return. As it fires, it drops pods of soldiers who quickly emerge and open fire on the revolutionaries. The large number of APCs and Technicals respond in kind, of course, as several shots hit home on the Chinese craft, it swiftly withdraws. Clearly the PLA were expecting a much smaller force, as the group of soldiers is mauled down quickly by the fast moving Technicals that disperse and the APC that remain in guard of the platform.

*As the Scottish withdraw, there are cases of looting along the way, with store-houses reportedly raided and plundered dry. No civilians are armed in the raids, but they aren't happy either, with the road along which the Black March and the Mallet Exfiltration is turning the land directly in their way into a "highway of hunger". Another interesting thing to note is that in the place where the shuttle was, people find bodies of British soldiers, now that is expected from a crashed shuttle, but what draws interest is that the surprising number of bodies, stripped of their armor and clothing, seemingly survived the crash, but were later shot dead by the Scots arriving. There are clear indications of several of them lacking weapons at all. Right-wing and British media is all over the subject, calling the issue a wholesale slaughter. Some left-wing outlets however point out that some of the Scots distributed agricultural equipment and in some cases weapons to the people of some of the raided agricultural settlements, it would have been great if the people getting the weapons hadn't actually looted a few other villages to feed their own needs, creating a small bandit group in the process.

*Media in Clearwater City are informed by some of the city's low-level administration about some high-level video call that is taking place between the Clearwater Administration, Col. Michael Bowens of the British Security Forces and Colonel-General Danila Zakharov of the Martian Directorate. Details on the meeting is sketchy, however it soon becomes obvious that some sort of an agreement is reached, as the British pull back from their blockposts and slowly and steadily begin a withdraw to the port on Clearwater Lake. At that point chaos ensues though, as the British move away, riots and lootings by the displaced as they are returning in droves overtakes the district, many are hurling objects at the British, as they accuse them of looting and hostile takeover of their homes. In the chaos, small explosions, clearly aimed at the British hit the flank of the force that is moving back. The rapid withdraw was clearly unexpected for whoever is attacking the British Security Forces, what is even more unexpected for the mass of Russian men that temporarily occupy the port and professionally close it down to civilian traffic for 5 hours, all of it done under help of Clearwater Authorities, as their security forces are seen receiving Russian weapons from the ship that brought them there.

*As the British withdraw half way to the port, attacks on them intensify, suddenly somewhere within the crowd, fire is opened on their lines with live ammunition and molotov cocktails, as quickly as it came, the British respond to the fire, killing several civilians and one man that clearly has a weapon. As they continue to withdraw, the fire intensifies, seemingly from all directions, a bomb goes off on the back of their lines. Seeing the chaos slowly closing down, the British commander orders his gunship in the sky to provide fire support and scout out enemies form afar. As the BAE Mallet opens fire on several crowds of people from which fire emanates, another gunship's sounds fill the air, a ranger boat swoops in from the south, on the tail of the Mallet, it moves in quickly before stabilizing, an airlock opens on the side of the ship and within a ranger is seen wielding a crude AA weapon. The fired missile leaves a trail of smoke from the Boat to the Mallet, before missing its target narrowly thanks to the skill of the pilot of the mallet and the deployment of countermeasure. In response the Mallet swoops around, aiming its weapons at the boat, knowing he lacks maneuverability, the pilot of the Boat cuts the power to some of his engines, causing the boat to drop like a rock before reactivating it to avoid crashing. A second missile streaks from the boat's side, as the Mallet jerks once again to avoid it, the missile misses it but it explodes in the vicinity of the vessel raining shrapnel on it and spinning the ship uncontrollably to the side. As the pilot regains control over the gunship, another missile narrowly misses it. Making to attempts at counterattack, the gunship withdraws to the relative security behind buildings, banking on the Rangers not willing to hurt civilians or infrastructure. The next time the gunship is seen, it has landed on the Russian ship, as the soldiers have climbed on it, the boat withdraws as well and the city is left to fear the aftershock.

*Rioting, looting and chaos erupts in the districts of Clearwater affected by the scuffle, as the security forces attempt to contain the situation, the neighborhood is isolated and the security forces move in, securing every block bit by bit, and taking looters and rabble-rouses in. The riots continue for a night, before finally calming down as people slowly returned to their ruined homes. As the finally tally of the battle comes in, it seems like many civilians died in the confrontation with the British and even more in the following riots. Blames are thrown around, form the British, to Agitators within the crowd, through the Rangers and even the Russians for empowering both Security forces and British. News emerges that during the battle, the British artillery was sabotaged and a man was captured by the British during the battle, but nobody knows what became of the man.

*A few days afterwards, aid begins to stream in the city, as Russian aid workers arrive in mass to help mitigate the damages caused in the fighting. They bring aid in the form of medical equipment but also Russian produced things such as toys, movies, chocolates, sweets, basic kitchen utensils, sewing kits and much, much more. Hoping to help the people of the district restore their lives, while it will take twice as much of what the Russians sent, the shipload of aid is still enough to help mitigate the suffering of a lot of people in the district. Crowdfunding and medical operations spring up as well, as people send as much as they can to support fixing the infrastructure, aid workers form all over Mars converge in the port where the Russians are distributing aid, and join the already large Russian effort with their own. A large Nightingale doctors presence is also noted, as they go through the city door to door to treat people who were unable to leave their homes or stuck in them now one way or another. In a very public move, the Russians also give a fair bit of medical equipment to the Nightingale society.

*In other news, Scottish recruiters are captured and then promptly released by the European Colonial Authorities, the Europeans originally arrest them due to a scuffle that broke out between the recruiter and a British citizen, but after some pressure is applied from higher offices, the Scott is released. The British Citizen on the other hand is awaiting trial, fueling rumors that the European Commission has helped the Scottish, especially by the BBC. Even with that, the recruitment drive of the Scottish continues, as they spread around all sorts of settlements in Mars. A fairly interesting encounter occurs when a Scottish recruiter is beaten in an Outlier settlement, for asking men if they want to "quit the fighting and join New Glasgow". Apparently the recruiter was unaware of the Outlier "Here we stand" mentality, he is promptly reminded by a few fists and kicked out. They have more success in the Christian settlement, while it doesn't have a lot of people to spare, it is quite interested in "spreading the lord's light in New Glasgow!" In that, the settlement sends two squads of preachers, men and women to New Glasgow. All and all, the recruitment campaign doesn't really see a lot of progress, but it does manage to make a dent in the numbers, bringing in a fair number of helpers and humanitarian workers who while not willing to settle in New Glasgow, are willing to help with its rebuilding. The next season's shuttles that are arriving form earth however are a different story, as news emerges that the British are banning flights to Mars due to fears of a mass Scottish, Welsh and Irish migrations into the revolutionary colony, not to mention many companies being forced to release more "coach-shuttles" (cheap, small shuttles) to accommodate poor/adventurous Scottish expatriates headed to the colony to make a better life for themselves, this flow of traffic in the low season raises the profits of many companies unexpectedly. || PanAmAir IC 285,157 (2,86%), Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHAG.DE) 244,21645 (3,084%), SSL AB 11,41154 (1,80%)

*Disney Luna is planning scouting out a location to open Disneyland Mars.

*A ceremony is held in Clearwater City for those deceased in the fighting, as the city scrambles to find who is at fault for opening fire on the British. Several theories surface, each more crazy then the other, some claim this is a European plot to destabilize Clearwater, while other argue that it is done by NAU to secure more cheap labor, third claim this is done by the Nightingales to create work for them and in turn get them more donations, same theories are also heard for the Rangers, the Chinese are involved in some, even the Scandinavians are blamed in another while others claim that this search for the shooter is "victim blaming" on behalf of Clearwater city, which is clearly at fault for allowing the British to move in. In light of this protests erupt, this time non-violent, for the mayor to be impeached. A few days later, he hands his resignation over and a intern government takes power, with elections scheduled for the start of the next cycle.

*In the meanwhile, the Colonel-General and the Intern Mayor of Clearwater City also meet, exchanging promises, signing contracts and most importantly, choosing to gather a science team in the Gorchakov camp, to plan out the clearing of Clearwater Lake and its tributaries form pollution. After a while of discussions, the Clearwater administartion agrees to send a delegation of engineers to work on a new treatment plant for the water, that will both provide water for the Russians and help clean the lake. The project is scheduled to be completed next cycle. | ClrWtr UNS || 12,25474 (0,121%)

*Russian arms traders appear in the Montanha Vermelha Mandate, out of all the factions that show interest in the Outliers it seems only the Russians have caught the gist of what they actually need, offering them weapons on prices far below market the market value, the orders form all over the Outliers start pouring in, so many defenders order the actual weapons, that the Russians are forced to 3D print a large force of them on earth and ship them to Mars just to catch up to the deadline of next cycle's Duster migrations. Boosting Russian profits for this and next cycle at least, with their reputation within the Outlier camp increased.

*Several crowdfunding campaigns on earth make the news, first being the "Help the Rangers" campaign, which has been active for a while, as news of their combat against the British in Clearwater city reaches the people of Earth, donations from sympathizers of their "defenders of the weak" strategy pour in. Similarly, the Nightingale donations have seen a rollercoaster of a campaign, with support drying up around the time of the robberies and then flooding once again following the very public statement of Al-Malika. What is reported is that their support base has shifted, no long are they supported by various groups for humanitarian help, now they are mainly supported by radicalists and far-left wing parties all over the world. With the leader of the Greek Communist Faction in the Civil War, Theodoros Xanthopoulos, making an official statement on "supporting the revolutionary struggle of the people's organizations on Mars, such as the Maroons, the Scottish Rebels, the Nightingales, the Red Enyalius Society, and communist parties in all nations that claim to be democratic".

*The most interesting crowdsourcing platform however is by far the private program to "bring Russian heritage to space", which draws support from all over the the All-Russian nation, thanks to government news concentrating on the good and charitable work of the Russian nation in space, thousands flock to help the funding of this great initiative. The amount of money gathered goes more then 300% above the expected target, of course, some of these money find their way to the pockets of many lawmakers and the creators of the fundraising campaign, but in the end, it is all well and good.

*Archaeologist Ian Demon is found to be a fraud, after an intense inquiry on his "findings" that the canals were build by an old Martian society, predating humanity. It is discovered that all his discoveries are either martian rock, carved with modern tools or just outright forgeries.

*In another attempt at finding the location of New Cumaná, the Russians refer to their experts on drone warfare from earth, preferring not to waste men in the process, the Russians instead send out masses of surveillance craft, who are promptly shot down, for months wave after wave of aircraft smash into the enemy defenses before being stopped. Despite not fighting any concrete evidence of the settlement, the Russian engineers declare that they are happy with the progress and have a good idea where the settlement is.

*The Casino Mogul, Abel Sheldon, known for owning the biggest casino in the world (Red Dragon in Macau), arrives on Liberty One. Infamous for his "avoidance of European regulations" by creating a casino in Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican City with the agreement of the Catholic Church and known for not taking no as an answer. He has expressed interest in creating a huge resort in Hotsprings city, forcing the city's authorities to open up negotiations on striking down the anti-gambling laws, much to the chagrin of the Euro Commissars in New Europa.

*On earth, the United Republic of Israel and Palestine withdraws IPDF forces from Kurdistan after 22 years of continuous fighting against the Jihadists in assistance of the Peshmerga, with the destruction of much of the infrastructure of the north, the region is now a land of severed heads and empty political slogans, as the tribes and rebels continue to occasionally bash against the walls of the stable Kurds state only to be fought back.

*Thousands more men and construction bots are brought in from earth to Liberty One, bringing the construction of the Le Occitan, the biggest Casino Resort on Mars to its conclusion, problems still plague the project after last year three workers lost their lives when construction bots dropped a giant floor panel too early, following a wrong order. After a government inquiry, it was discovered that the Robots had their first law modified, instead of stating "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm" to just "A robot may not harm a human being". This allows the machines to cause harm due to carelessness on humans, after additional research, it is reviled that the reason for the change was the low-level radiation used in some systems, especially the nuclear generators, that would be lethal to robot brains but otherwise harmless to humans forcing the robots to jump in the way of radiation to "save" humans. Costing the construction firm thousands of ameros.

*Despite being the Low Season in travels, the hotel is booked clean for the opening night, as many celebrities find their way to Mars, even singers Ai Murphy, Rosabella and even the boyband Bawcock. The event opens up with thousands visiting from the Earth and Luna alone, many more from Mars wishing to see their favorite stars. however, mid performance, protesters who had infiltrated the event begun chanting, and projecting slogans and messages on the stage. As Arcturus security personnel attempted to remove the protesters, the celebrities were removed from the stage and back to the secured compound of the hotel casino. Arcturus then preceded to respond with severe power against the protesters, in hopes of dispersing the huge crowd that was to close to the celebrities in response, the protesters begun hurling rocks and general unrest erupted as arrests were made left and right.

*As this was going on, a call for a bomb came in from within the city, Security Personnel rushed to the scene, finding the small bombs and disarming them. However, as the scene was evacuated and security grew, several banks were attacked. Taking out the security bots, but refusing to harm the people working, the robbers quickly seize a large quantity of cash and run away before authorities can respond, due to the riots and bomb threat. Medical clinics and two small armories are hit as well, as the medication stolen form the clinics appears in the countryside and even within Liberty as it is distributed to poor people unable to pay for medical checks by the heavy privatized Medical system. It is later reviled this is the work of the nightingale society, as their leader comes out on CNN-MTV with this statement: *However, the recent radicalization within the Nightingale society does not come without its backlash, as doctors, medical personnel and some volunteers leave the organization, One of them, Dr. Ayodele [Surname withheld for protection] said before Red News: "We didn't join the organization to fight corporations or hospitals, we joined to help people and fight poverty, we don't want to war, we want to help. Changing society is not our goal, it is bringing kindness to the hearts of people. If Al-Malika wishes to fight against the establishment, she is free to do so, but we are not revolutionaries, we are doctors and this will help the poor with nothing, it will only harm them." However, despite the loss of medical personnel, the Nightingales still grew, seeing an increase in volunteers, mostly urban revolutionaries, both communist and anarchist. The biggest contributor is the "Bogdanovist Movement", a radical anarchist faction named after a faction in Kim Stanley's Mars Trilogy, a world renown classic.

*Repairs are beginning in New Glasgow, as the sparks of wielders and repairs are alight night and day, reports from observers of the operations are following the progression as closely as possible, noting the increased attention to the domes over ruined areas and the weapons of the colony. The leaders of the colony declare this to be a precaution against bandits, but the label of "bandits seems to be loosely applied as a reporter is shot while investigating from the hills. Inside however, land redistribution and operations are finally taking effect, with many communities moving around in both New Marathon and New Albion, the hydropods held by wealthy members of the public are given to starving communities, even Redwallace and Constantine themselves, hand over their land to be redistributed, choosing to live in working apartments. But the Citizen's Assembly and especially the military Guardians (Cùra) of it vote against it, instead giving both leaders accommodations inside the Assembly grounds, the former British Military Headquarters.

*However despite this, the underlying social problems persist, many of the prisoners not Scots themselves, especially their Albionite cousins who despite their nationality fought together with the Scots, are finding themselves increasingly isolated in the Assembly, Institutions and even local life. As citizens unions are created for each organization and working area, they are overbearingly Scots dominated, however since the Scots are only a 64% of the population, this is not liked by the people, including the Albionites themselves, who find no representation in all Citizens Unions.

*In the Chinese Federation v. Pear corporation: The Pear corporation is is ruled to have violated Chinese Federal antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors. These allegations came after it was reveled that that the Pear Corporation, a mixture between Apple and Samsung in Asia after the Chinese invasion of Korea, is pushing Chinese products away from the Chinese markets. China had a huge problem with expensive production, after robotic labor took over most of the manual labor jobs, making it hard to compete with countries such as Europa and NAU who had massive amounts of investments in their robotic industries. The Chinese Market has since then switched to a resource based economy, but cheap goods from the NAU are increasingly flooding Chinese Markets.

*The First Martian Football cup is held in New Brandenburg Stadium in Europa, it is the first event of its kind, organized by FIFA, with teams from all over Mars invited. In a surprising breakthrough, after a ferocious tournament, the final is reached by "God's Team" the Christian settlement's own team, and Anga Colony's "Warriors" facing them, after a pitched game, the Warriors take the cup, with God's team being second, in third and fourth are "Real Europa" and "Yinghou Guoan" respectively.

*The liberty city riots are a big smack in the head for Jordan Jericho III, who promises that the "responsible will be brought to proper justice". Many "Occupiers" that are captured are brought to a quick trial and an internal investigation is launched within Arcturus Security's own ranks, as many fear that Arcturus might lose their contract for this gross misconduct. Perhaps because of this, a block (battalion) of bots is imported from Sakai corp. on earth, more then 500 bots join the ranks of the military and a few special engineers are sent to allow conversion to the bots between military and police service if needed.

*A scuffle erupts as the New Glaswegian Revolutionaries are caught scouting out near the V. Putin Mines, they are shot at and one is captured, discovering he is unarmed and owning only a geological survey-unit, it soon becomes clear what his target is, searching for resources to mine. Closer to the Scott Stronghold, the revolutionaries stumble on a small reserves or metal, gas and silicone. Untapped by the British, because it was cheaper to actually buy the metals from the Russians then mining it themselves, these small reserves could help the struggling Glasgow.

*A massive expansion project in Liberty One begins, as the city constructs new gardens, electricity stations, roads and even housing, the country aims to attract more settlers, bringing a load of immigrants from earth to help work on cleaning the streets or in the many resorts of the country, as they are way cheaper then robotic helpers. Some of these are recruited by Arcturus Security in hopes of boosting their ranks. In the process of the project, the prices of contracts awarded to companies in all fields grow tenfold, as accusations of embezzlement against the colonial authority are not far behind, but within the city few care, and even less so in the NAU administration.

*Catholic Preachers are seen all over the planet, especially in the Outliers and Montanha Vermelha, but also in Clearwater City, they are spreading the word of the church to those in need, helping with charity and spreading the message of solidarity. However within that message, the Maroon undertones are not missed, the liberation theology that is preached by the Maroons up north is however heard by the people in need, who are more then happy to be helped out and to hear the message of solidarity. A few people in Montanha Vermelha, originally from South America, to whom the Catholic message is especially strong, take up the mantle of the movement, as long as it doesn't ask them to move, they are happy to follow the message of Liberation and assistance against their evil and chaotic foes, who they see as the devil himself.

*The "Something Awful" forums are finally shut down on earth, after years of legal battles between the current Admin of the forum and the family of the original founder of the forum, the forum has gone offline, split between the "originals" and "truthsters", both factions have their own forums and with that, the original SA lays abandoned and dead. It now serves as a storage for all the old topics.

*In what analysts are calling a vicious and well prepared counter-attack, the Defense Forces of Israel-Palestine (IPDF), having deployed in force to the colonies in light of the recent losses against the Jihadists, are now going all in against the radicals. The attack opens with reconnaissance UAVs scouring the sky, designating targets and preparing orders, after a lengthily al-Mōsād operation to identify the camps and gather knowladge of command disposition, the first artillery strikes of the attack are devastating. Artillery shells rip through the camps of the "Brigades", it is believed that in the initial bombardment, Shamsuddin Asim Abdulrashid, the leader of the Mujaheddin is killed outright, with the brigades scrambling to organize their forces, the IPDF move in. More then three thousand citizen soldiers, backed up with 75 APCs and all eight hovertanks and artillery on demand, move in on the foothills of the enemy positions, seeking to cut off the main Jihadist force that has been fighting to take the shore. In the fighting, the hover tanks prove instrumental, cutting through all sorts of terrain to reach their targets before they can organize, destroying emplacements all the while moving sideways to avoid hits form hostiles. With the UAVs designating more targets for artillery and the chaos that takes the Jihadists under the lack of clear line of command, the fighting once again returns to what the IPDF are used to, hunting down small units of rebels in steep terrain. Soon, the forces form the north, having cut a swath of land from the rebels, link with their lands in the south. As the fighting devolves to anti-guerrilla operations, victory seems to be in the grasp in the lowlands, but the real problem is the mountainous operations that must come now, as the rebels fortify the mountains against the IDPF .

*In the Martian Space Center's, the director of human resources is fired when the Mitsubishi Concern, being close to the Europeans through the Siemens-owned connections, loose their standing on Mars. In light of this, Koyobashi was blamed for promoting foreign interests and only selecting European-friendly candidates for jobs in the Space Center. In his spot, Rei Yamaguchi is elected, a longtime employee of the Cannon-Honda Concern, he is selected for his Pro-American leanings and shows the new direction that the MSC is taking in relations.

*Maroon music is becoming quite the hit with the low classes, not because of its message as much as because of its slow and steady rhythms and sad ballads not well known or seen much these days in the fast-paced and aggressive music scene. This comes after the book "Brief Account of Things on the Red Planet", written by the leader of the Maroons himself, became a smash hit along the left-wing circles on Mars, hailed as the "Martian Red Book".

*With tourism turning out to be a massively lucrative business for Mars, the Sol-Corp moves into the market as well, realizing the need for a link up to the terminal in the Mars Express line, they begin construction of a large space-station to facilitate transitions form the ships form space back down to Mars, the station itself is an ambitious construction and will use up all the support it can get form earth, as the investment is enormous, it is by far the biggest such station planned above Martian territory allowing it to handle traffic from all over the solar system, the station will be named Mars Alpha and is beginning construction in the vicinity of Mars Express. The company has announced plans to have the station be terminal for Mars' first space elevator, also build by the firm, but this plan has met massive resistance in Europa itself, who would much prefer to be the ones to build the elevator. Colin Quaid and the Mars Express in particular seem pretty unhappy with the idea, prefering that Mars Express maintain its power over the station. The station is planned to finish construction in a year (two cycles after this one).

*On the same vain, the Sol-Corp begins construction of the "Unity Park", on the outskirts of Liberty one, the Park is planned to be a big construction in the middle of the dusts of Mars. However off from the start, the corporation finds a logistical hurdle, while the men and work-bots for the construction are readily available, the quantity of materials the company has to bring on Mars is too much for it to handle, as it is already supplying the construction of the station in Orbit. Which slows the project down until the company can find local suppliers to provide it the material necessary to erect the Park. Even with that, construction on the high-speed railway link between the location of the Park and Liberty One has been wrapped up more or less.

*Korean twins Kyung Yu and Kyung Moon come to worldwide attention, when together with 10 members of "Korean Liberation Organization" seize a hospital in Yinghou City. The group holds 700 to 800 patients and staff members hostage. Demanding the Chinese government stop the occupation of Korea and release thousands of political prisoners. The Chinese government on mars has surrounded the hospital and is now in the process of negotiating with the twins.

*Its election time for the European Comission on Earth, currently the leading party are the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, but after their failure in the Balkans, they are expected to be replaced by the much more hawkish European People's Party which is calling for an all out-European intervention in support of the Greek government. Not to mention acting against Hungarian nationalism in Romania under Russian guise. If they do come to power, it is expected that the European-Russian relations might take a dive. However a huge problem for the EPP is the resurgent Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, that is looking to overtake them at the polls. The elections on Mars will be supervised by the local colonial authority, and is expected that for the first time Mars will exert an important vote, due to the unique relation between Europeans and Russians on Mars.

*An internal investigation of EuroPol over MarsExpress reviles that large amounts of military goods have disappeared, the loss hasn't been noticed until now due to only small amounts of arms being stolen, but over time the weapons themselves stack up and EuroPol is now looking at a large stockpile of weapons just gone from the shipping, as well as a few 3D Printers used specifically for weapon building. This is a baffling conundrum for EuroPol, which has been fighting against corruption and smuggling within MarsExpress, even more problematic is it seems that this is not done through the usual channels that smuggling goes through, which have been identified by EuroPol, the blame fell on organizations such as the Nightingales, the various groups in Unity City and American funded groups.

*The Sony SenseStation is released in Japan. Several months later, it becomes the best-selling game console of all time as it reaches all over human dominated space, it is one of the first consoles to use all sensory input, allowing the gamers to feel, taste, smell and see all aspects of the game as if they were in it themselves. However it was married with a lot of legal issues, especially in the East African Federation and China, who both opposed it for being "too real", letting players feel what it is to murder, not to mention the amount of sex simulators that came out quickly afterwords.

*In the meanwhile, posters all over forums in the internet drop mentions of "Vernepator Cur", an individual or an organization that seems to offer smuggling operations to those in need. With the low season bringing up prices of goods to massive highs, more and more people seem to be looking at "Vernepator Cur" and what they have to offer. Historically being a high season for smuggling on Mars, the MarsExpress director, Colin Quaid, has stated that MarsExpress will fight the smugglers as best as he can, launching several internal investigations with himself as their leader, to help curb smuggling.

*In a massive incident in the Orbit of Mars, two shuttles crash and are knocked out of trajectory at the end of the year, as they reenter the atmosphere, the damages on the external covers of the shuttles are too severe, leaking in enough heat to kill the crew and civilians on the flights to death. The inquiry into the case however is stalled, as one of the shuttles seems to be a European military shuttle, it crashed in the dunes near the Solars power plant. With the Chinese seemingly arming and organizing to take it before the Europeans, the race is on who can get to it first and what does it have inside.

*Brazilian nationalists are campaigning in the Montanha Vermelha Mandate, claiming that the Mandate was originally given to the Brazilian government on earth and that it belongs to them, as Brazilians, whether the others like it or not. This is however by far not liked by the locals, considering that the settlement is mostly non-Brazilian.
*The Battle for Unity [click here for map]: It seems tensions in Unity City have finally taken the expected turn for the worst. It all starts with red stars and pentagrams painted by Red Enyalius Members in the mining district of Unity, traditionally this part of the town has been pretty unsupportive of either of the parties, choosing their own mining based groups and self-sufficient lifestyle. So, as expected, the society gets little to no interest in the people there as their members spread out to share their beliefs with the people. However a few small settlements do answer positively to the Society, who quickly gather around patrols to help police the place and crack down on all non-society crime. They also attempt to get into unionization of the mines and factories in the region, but instead something bigger draws their attention back home.

As they are attempting to spread through these areas, a large column of Party techicals, men and APCs moves through the desert, slogging through the cold and harsh Martian terrain, they cross the channel through one of the many bridges between the sectors and continue forward to the flank of the society's main base of operations. Their movement of course, not having gone unnoticed, alarms the RES members who quickly prepare a hastily drawn defensive arrangement, putting up emplacements and sandbags. With parts of their members being tied up in the mining districts, their main base weaker then expected. As the battle is joined, it quickly devolves into sluggish building to building urban combat, with NFUME militiamen relying on their superior weapons to crush their way through the fighting, they seem to be using modern NAU rifles, as opposed to the RES' older salvaged weapons of all sorts and sizes.

As the NFUME push through the center, they quickly discover that capturing one building is one thing, keeping it is a whole different. As RES members withdraw from some of the buildings, rigging them along the way, or remain to turn them into strongholds, the NFUME push begins to slow down. Using their superior fire-power, they still manage to push their way through the canal, taking the port in hopes that their brethren can bring assistance through the sea, however they find out that this as well is a lone hope, as the main bridge crossing the central canal is in RES hands and being their only lifeline to the mines, it is heavily defended, including anti-ship weapons.

The NFUME commander slowly begins to turn desperate, as his force losses several key buildings on the back of and flanks, not wanting to be enclosed in a pocket, the huge NFUME force crushes its way out of the pocket and establishes a foothold around the highway, securing it along its length in the hope of using it to bring in more supplies in case they need it. As the conflict begins to grind of a hold, the building to building battles become a daily occurrence, as both forces hope to outway the other, desperate commanders send expeditionary forces all over Unity city to secure the most important locations. The most famous examples of this is the "battle for Unity Dam" as the RES dispatch hastily drawn militias from their allied communities in the Mining District to stop the rapidly advancing expeditionary force of NFUME that is aiming at taking Unity Dam and cutting off electricity for the RES districts.

Another interesting battle is the "Strike to the heart" mission, headed by the RES darling Alysha Petra, who has gathered a substantial number of volunteers to move through the wastes, in much the same way NFUME did, she used the cover of darkness to hide her momentum and struck in the early morning upon the Tarsus district under NFUME control. However, the Fascists seem to be ready for her, arming themselves with IEDs, barricades and special defenses and dispatching a force to secure the bridge that brings the vital supplies to the main NFUME force fighting in RES controlled territory. This final push created the last pocket in the war, the Red Tarsus pocket as it became known is now a permanent feature in a very changing conflict.

*The Chinese, unahappy to see the Russians moving in on their sphere of influence in the outliers, ramp up food production, decreasing prices especially for the outliers, seeking their support. Still, while they manage to curb the local governments swinging spheres, they are unable to curb the growing Russophilia.

*Nightingales appear in the Illegal settlements with all sorts of medical aid, donated or stolen by different sources, they begin distribution from quickly made medical posts. However, while the people do like the free stuff, they are not happy at the Nightingale way of acquiring them. Even the Anga colony, the virtual defender of the Illegals, declares its dislike for the "terrorists" presence on territory under their protection.

*The British begin to be noticed in the area between the Maroons and the Russians, it seems that they have created a small settlement there with Russian assistance, but while the Russians have helped them begin, they seem to be taking a hands-off approach to the whole thing, choosing to keep both factions away from each other but also outside of the cities of influence the Russians have.

*On earth, a Javan rhinoceros is cloned for the first time, as Chinese scientists continue their attempts to bring back Asian animals who have disappeared for good but still have some DNA left in good order. The Javan rhinoceros was one of the first animals to have died but had its DNA preserved to the best of human abilities, allowing for its cloning now. More of them are expected to be born soon enough.

*A European Union tribunal in Der Haag sentences 5 Greek Neo-Nazis to up to 25 years in prison for killing over 200 Albanians in an Albanian village during the incursions into Albania in the Greek Civil War. Despite being found guilty and gruesome evidence levied against them, the 5 Greeks say they will remain loyal to the nation of Hellas and its religion to the end, not fearing to face god for the death of infidels.

*On the the Lunar surface, a scuffle between the Tranquility City authorities and the America First movement puts a close on the traffic between Zvezda city and Tranquility. Many are speculating that Tranquility city is planning an offensive against the Rebels. Many more are afraid the movement might spread beyond Luna, with threats issued against the Martian colonies as well.

*The Russian Cultural Association on Mars officially opens the doors of the First Martian Museum of Russian History, this comes after months of slowing down the project as negligence and corruption plagued it. While the Museum is splendid, half of the money earmarked for the construction just trickle down in the massive bureaucratic nightmare that the project turns into. With firms form earth getting contracts, where it would be much more cheap to give it to local firms, and generally close people to the Kremlin receiving fat bonuses. Even with that, though, the museum itself is described as a work of art, with thousands of people flocking to Gorchakov for the opening ceremony, the ceremony is even graced by Commissioner for Development of New Europa, Pasqualino Severijns, a known Russophile.

*The exploits of the Russian Cultural Association on Mars are still not over by far, as the organization opens the doors of a cultural center in New Europa. However, this opening is quite controversial, as protesters come out against it, especially the "Federalist Movement of Europe", one of the biggest organizations on the Old Continent back on Earth. The organization and its supporters who were instrumental in writing the Milano Constitution, which eventually became the backbone of the European Federal Constitution, claim that Russia is a principle enemy of Transnationalism and Globalization around the world, two ideologies that the Federalists hold pretty dearly and close to their hearts. The protesters don't interrupt the opening ceremony, but European Leaders shy away from it, with even Comissioner Severijns choosing to avoid it, and far less Europeans really do visit it. Europan Media terms it a "failure to create a false sense of nationalism in the Russians who escaped poverty and discrimination in Russia"

*This comes after a clash between the EU and Triune Russia back on earth over Gay Rights, a huge issue within the EU which completely legalized same sex marriage in the 2050s, while the All-Russian Nation further illegalized it, making gay people criminals on Russian soil. The clash comes after Vladimir Yevgeniev, a prominent Russian media personality, comes out as gay on a "Russia Today" interview, before escaping the RT office in Munich and being granted asylum in the EU. Triune Russia has been calling for Europol to hand over Yevgeniev, while the intelligence organization of the EU refuses. This has led to flashes of diplomatic attacks between the two countries on the eve of the European Elections.

*In response to the recent push of the Israel-Palestinians, a group of extremist insurgents calling for the overthrow of the Dubai Comact takes over al-Haram bin Mecca Mosque in Mahd adh Dhahab, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The largest mosque on Mars, the Al-Haram mosque is a center for the Hajj on Mars. The insurgents declare that the Mahdi had arrived in the form of one of their leaders – Mohammed Al-Rasheed – and called on Muslims to obey him. As the Peshmerga and local security rapidly respond, a battle erupts with over a hundred people, both civilians and fighters dead. The Al-Baghdadi Brigades fighting the Israel-Palestinians declare that Al-Rasheed was a traitor. This serves to show the increased division within the ranks of the Brigades as many leaders jostle for power after the death of the former leader.

*European legislators have been on the move over the space station in construction above Mars, as various legal stops have been pulled, making the Intersolar Corp. go through tons of papers and pulling documents on whatever they can find to slow the project down, from "security procedures" to "locks on worker's rooms", everything is meticulously looked over and any problem viciously attacked. This sets the construction timetable of the Mars Alpha station backwards, as the European bureaucracy is on the move, not afraid to employ its full potential to grind down the process. In one instance, for example, the Europeans find a law that states that all documents must be translated in the languages of all signatories of the Mars Treaty, making the Intersolar Corp go back and translate every little document, even the smallest note to workers in all 49 languages of the signatory nations, even going as far as making them translate it in Latin. Both Intersolar Corp and NAU executives have come out against the European obstructions, calling it "excessive regulations" and "legal blackmail". However the biggest wrench in CEO Elizabeth Deveraux plan is a treaty that the ESA manages to dig up, signed in 2050, it claims that every expansion in the Mars Express network has to have at least 50% European involvement, using that the European Colonial Government begins to call the station an Expansion of the Mars Express line and opening several court battles to push Intersolar Corp into giving up or selling half the stocks of the station to the ESA and Mars Express in particular.

*Vitale Alduino, one of the closest advisers of Jordan Jericho III in Liberty One, and a longtime crusader against corruption and "criminal politics" is shot dead on his trip back home from his villa. Initially though to be an act of leftist dissidents, details soon emerge that point towards criminal elements, specifically the Mafia who Alduino was crusading against.

*The Mine and Camp security systems in Gorchakov and V.Putin are massively expanded, with Russian engineers coming from earth with the weapons shipment to work on the security of the station. New camerabots are installed, UAV dirigibles are launched to provide 24/7 security, automated weapon's systems updated, the mines get an intricate system of checks, automatic locks and information security software. There is even talks of an AI being installed to run the systems, but considering Russia's aggressive campaigning against AIs, even if such a thing did happen it wouldn't be official or known. | Mining Imeni Putina AD 1,5747(1,58%)

*A secret EuroPol operation captures several prominent Commissars on Mars red-handed, as corporate heads sponsor their trips and buy and secure them different things in return for personal favors. However unlike the NAU, the EU has strict anti-lobbying laws and EuroPol considers this a serious breach of the law. Commissars Tudor Schuchardt, Domenico Roth and Ruben Coté are quickly arrested and awaiting trial.

*The Liberation Theology preached by the Catholic priests in Clearwater and all over Colonized Mars, is finding a warm welcome in the underclasses of Brazil. However, here it is slowly mixing with Brazilian nationalism, as most preachers are Portuguese speaking and speak out against Brazilian relocation and in up-keeping the mostly Brazilian nature of the settlement. While their message is mainly about Latin liberation and a united resistance against capitalists forces that exploit the weak, their message is mostly drowned in the uproar of Brazilian nationalism in Montanha Vermelha. However, all of this takes a back-seat fairly quickly with the arrival of the Duster Migrations, with the Preachers finding little followers and even less people willing to violently stand against the capitalist exploiters when the mad-men of the red steppes descend on the Outliers.

*The British settlement in the mountains, increasingly called "Whitecliff" due to being situated under a whitish cliff on the red martian surface, but also as a historical allusion to the "March on White cliff" in Dover, after the British United Front took power in London and ordered the expelling of migrants in droves. The settlement has grown much in the past 6 months, with many far-right sympathizers fleeing form Clearwater with the British, and many more so coming from New Glasgow, having somehow kept their head down from all the post-revolutionary chaos. Russian humanitarian workers are also seen in the settlement, handing out medical equipment and helping with constructions, however the Russian government maintains that this is only and entirely a humanitarian situation, not a political statement. However, back on earth, the Triune Nation is receiving flack from the EU, as helping the British is the last thing they want to see.

*The Audi A10FX is released on earth for markets all over the world, the greatly anticipated car with specialized hover engines that allow it to continue flying even over the steepest terrain. Called the first Totally All Terrain Hovercar it is put under the highest possible tests, climbing steep hills and ultimately prevailing.

*A massive scandal is showing its ugly head in the Montanha Vermelha Mandate, as food poison from Chinese food is uncovered by several people who consumed foods created and shopped by the Federation. Fish imported from Yinghuo is uncovered to be filled with all kinds of chemicals, found in Clearwater Lake, not in the fish tanks of the city. It would seem that Chinese were buying off tons of fish from the farmers in Clearwater, contaminated by the bad water and bombarded by radiation in Clearwater, the fish consumption is suspended by the Mandate's government. Coming out a few weeks before the Duster Migrations, a lot of people in the Mandate are outright furious at the Chinese, even going as far as claiming them to be undermining the Mandate before the Migrations. However, while the scandal is quite problematic, many Chinese-friendly media exposes the reporters from the Mandate's political newspapers taking Russian cash to run the story, trying to spin the news against the Russians. | | Amoy Food Limited 1,5747(1,58%)

*The weapons from earth also arrive, however many are reporting delays that endanger the Outliers, as a few Outlier settlements rely on the weapons to arrive on time or they would loose. A few cases also emerge of faulty equipment, as the earth-based Russian factories seem to lack the same standard of quality as the Martian based on. This slightly hurts the sales of the Russians, but seeing as there is no other major supplier on Mars that can match the Russian prices, the Triune arms dealers are walking around the Outliers, selling whatever they can and making a tidy profit. As expected though, profits have fallen following the original wave of buy-outs, with problems emerging, Russia needs to find a native way to print the weapons or risk loosing the markets to countries with bigger native factories and advanced weapon 3D printers. | MarsVagonZavod LTD 5,8941(5,90%)

*FIFA announces the start or the qualifications for the hosting of the next world cup, cities or countries will start to outbid themselves on who will get the luck of hosting the world football cup. After the recent success of the Martian cup, annalists expect one of the Martian colonies to be a prime contender to host the cup.

*The Caledonian scout captured by the Russians, Máel Goraidh Darrow, is released from Gorchakov camp. The Glaswegian-Russian relations seem to slowly be settling down from aggressive and threatening, to mutually beneficial, as Russian prospectors also find their way into Caledonian lands invited by the Scots themselves to tour the new homeland and visit the trade fair.

*The trade presentation and fair is held in New Glasgow, as the Factory District is brought back online completely, corporations from the NAU, EU and even Russia are met with a massive fanfare. The opening ceremony is hailed as a feat of engineering, as specially created back-pipes that operate with minimum oxygen but still produce the same sound as backpipes on earth fill the red hills of Mars with a symphony never before heard. This is followed by an amazing spectacle of light, color and wrapped up by the elite Black Watch of the (former) Royal Regiment of Scotland performing a complex and intricate show of force in their new "Parade Uniforms", showing off the uniquely Scottish character of the force (as opposed to the previous uniform, which was a standard British combat uniform).

*As the fair opens up, a flood of investors comes in, with American and Russian companies gobbling up more contracts then most others, with the NAU coming up on top slightly, by lobbying with many of the citizens unions, with many assembly members finding their pockets lined with Ameros, the NAU greased a lot of wheels in the huge state-run corporations, gobbling up contracts for many companies residing in Liberty and opening a vital line between the NAU and New Glasgow, by way of Clearwater lake and the Martian Space Center. Transport Giants like FedX quickly find a vital niche to fill, as their logo is increasingly seen on the route between New Glasgow and Liberty One. The Russians on the other hand, being relatively close and possessing an advanced transport infrastructure between New Glasgow and Gorchakov (the old Victoria Road, still pretty functional), not to mention having access to a vast amount of resources emerging form their mine, find a lot of Citizens Unions pretty happy to hand away contracts far far below market value in exchange for a constant flood of Russian goods. Europeans however are not far behind, with massive companies such as the Siemens-Volkswagen Group and Carrefour buying off both factories and retail stores.

*A pirate radio station, named Radio Kathrene begins broadcasting on Mars, in order to avoid copyright infringement and attacks by countries the radio-station is broadcasting the signal from a blimp, far above the martian service, claiming that no country owns the air and nobody can really stop the radio. DJ Mad Dog is the mysterious producer of it all, as he plays fan favorites from all over Mars.

*The Rangers find themselves in a bit of controversy, as a huge public donation is seen in their Funds4U crowdsourcing campaign, the donation's address is "42 Peter the Great str.,Gorchakov Settlement, Martian Directorate of the All-Russian Nation", which is coincidentally the address of Colonel-General Danila Vsevolodovich Zakharov. A public message also comes with the donation "to our friends", a lot of people are up in arms over that, especially on earth, considering the All-Russian nation's human rights' abuses. However many also emerge to defend the rangers on social media and forums, claiming that this is a deliberate campaign on behalf of the Russians, as they know that association with them can be toxic to anyone on Mars. So far, the public is very split on the topic, but the support to the Rangers continues to flow as usual.

*One of the original polar pumps, sent down decades before the first actual colonists arrived on Mars, is found on the North Pole. Since not all of the pumps were set up by human hands, nobody knows how many are left active along the poles and what other tech was thrown around Mars. Many prospectors are hungry with the idea of capturing the polar pump intact, as it would net thousands of credits on world markets.

*An exchange happens between the Glaswegian forces patrolling the Clearwater Channel that separates Scottish claimed areas from the Agricultural Settlements. The short exchange of fire is between the Glaswegians and the Chinese who seem to have taken an active part in enforcing their claim over the agricultural settlements following the engagements with the Caledonians. The Scots are conducting more and more surveys near the unofficial border between the two, as they are looking into gas and mineral deposits. However, as with the British earlier, the Scottish realize it is too expensive to actually extract the minerals, with the state ran mines in the mountains above Glasgow easily outclassed and outsold by the massive influx of cheap and reliable Russian minerals and gas.

*Unable to actually find a suitable place in the last cycle, Disney Luna is accepting official applications for either hosting or partnering in building its mega-park on Mars. Planned to be twice the size of Disney Luna, the largest park in existence, Disney Mars will be a great investment for anyone looking to put himself on the map.
*The Battle of the Pavonis Dunes: Very soon after the crash of the ERS Lysandra, all sorts of people descend on the crash site, from bandits, through criminals to raiders, but instead of a crashed shuttle, they are met by a large and quickly deployed force baring patches of a blue dragon on a red field. The battles continue throughout the day, as different groups of raiders attack in different times, only to quickly be beaten back. Eventually on the horizon two transports emerge, followed by the unmistakable silhouette of the Euroshuttle deployed to Mars. The shuttles suddenly move downwards, hugging the ground, and from their bowels suited warriors emerge, launched by the shuttles, smashing into the ground below. From afar, one can easily recognize the Eurobots behind which the Ares Battlegroup's deploy from their vehicles. Not before long, the Chinese force is surrounded, but so far none of the two forces opens fire, to respond to the obvious threat posed by the Battlegroup, the Chinese activate the People's helpers they have with them, deploying the bots to face the European force. During the tense stand-off, Nathanaël Pavesi, and Yu Shi Xu, respectfully the field commanders for the European Battlegroup and Chinese force arrange a vid-conference, to discuss the situation, however as they negotiate, the tense situation continues. Eventually, someone slips and a shot is fired, followed by general confusion and responses from all the sides, the battle bots are activated. The Chinese force, while in a far worse strategical situation, manage to inflict severe losses on the European force which chooses to withdraw to avoid loosing men. But before this happens, the Pantera is employed in connection with the Eurobots, striking deep into Chinese lines, the bots are used to push through as closest to the downed shuttle as possible, directing fire form the Euroshuttle. In a daring attack, the pilot of the Pantera swoops in from above, using directions from the bots to avoid enemy fire and employing countermeasures, when above the downed vessel, bombing the target as quickly as possible before withdrawing. As the shuttle withdraws, the explosions from the downed vessel continue, apparently something explosive was already within the vessel, so the initial bombardment set off a chain reaction. The Battlegroup, while unable to secure the downed vessel, leaves the Chinese with a few scattered debris, with whatever cargo was inside the shuttle now lost.

*As is expected, a diplomatic shitstorm follows through, with Chinese Federal troops standing on high alert in both earth-bound China and Yinghou, the European Union on earth mobilizes the Unified Command, drawing national troops from all over and putting the aircraft-carriers and sea-borne battlegroups to sea. Heated rhetoric is exchanged between the Europeans and Chinese in the United Nations, however not sharing a common border and both being majority ground powers (though the EU far outweighs China in naval capability) helps as both powers choose to deescalate the tensions. Eventually, the Martian forces are demobilized once again the military commands slowly relax, but this incident means that Europe and China will be watching eachother with much more suspicion then before.

*All of these events on Mars right before the European elections on earth swing public opinion wildly, as polls are updated virtually all the time, police bots are increasingly patrolling the streets of New Europa. Being about the size of one of the smaller members of the EU makes Mars a voting state in itself, while being one of the most nationally mixed cities in the European Union, makes New Europa a deciding factor in the elections. The recent tensions with the Russians and Chinese sees the hawkish European People's Party come out on top by a longshot, with election results being heavily influential on earth, the EPP sweeps the Eurosocialists and Alliance in the polls, forming a majority government. When the results are announced however, several bomb threats freeze New Europa, as police responds rapidly, the bombs are diffused before any major incidents can happen. Several organizations accept responsibility, the Jobbik Movement, a former political party turned militant movement in Romania and the Golden Dawns all declare responsibility, with the Front National, an underground group of Far-Right French parties banned on Earth as a hate group also declaring responsibility. | | EuroIndex 3,642 (3,65%)

*The Bogdanovist movement comes out with a political statement, claiming to seek to unify with the Nightingales, "in relation to our mutual friendly relations and the shared ideology", such a merger would increase the ranks of the Nightingales by quite a lot, but in return it will make the organization more and more anarchist in nature.

*With the Pear Corporation being sued successfully by China, its stocks fall to drastic lows. They are quickly gobbled up by many companies, who also happen to be European of nature, buying and re-selling the stocks quickly with each other. By the time everyone realizes what has happened, the Pear Corporation's control packet is owned by Siemens-Volkswagen's Martian division. | Pear Corporation 21,67477 (21,7%)

*The bank robberies in Liberty city have caused quite the stir, a secondary sub-contractor is formed by the city itself, Liberty Security Group is established with government funds, employing people from the city itself for security services. It quickly expands, though many journalists note its apparent lack of standards, and quantity over quality approach, some noting that they may have gone a bit too far with their "human face to the force" approach, as videos begin to emerge of LSG employees in goofy incidents when working on mundane operations usually reserved for bots. Even with that though, the campaign seems to have won the hearts and minds of people, coupled with the government paying to return money lost by people in the robberies, and an expanded camera network all over the city to quickly identify bomb-threats. The sound-clips of Jordan Jericho saying "Liberty City takes care of their own" circle the web and he even appears on CNN-MTV defending his recent actions. || LibOne IC 0.8741 (0,7%)

*This couldn't have come at a better time for Liberty City, as the Occupy protests seem to be continuing, but withering down. Seeing the devastation brought on by the city by the previous attacks the, many of the peaceful members of the protests chose to remain away from not volatile political situation. As the protesters ramp up their rhetoric, and organize sit ins and angry demonstrations. the Liberty Security Group however doesn't respond with violence, instead choosing to guard the important locations but otherwise keeping a hands-off approach. Even with that though, activists from all over the political spectrum are present, singing songs and reading speeches. Particular attention is drawn to several alleged Nightingale members who lead political speeches attended by thousands of left-wing and anarchist activists. Slowly the Nightingales are turning into the leaders of the radicals in both Liberty and Mars.

*Immigrants are recruited into the Feachd nan Saoranach, the military of Glasgow, as thousands flood into the country, a rotational national service is established. In order to receive their citizenship, the immigrants can take two weeks of training and then be relegated to a special reserve battalion, which can only be called up in times of war. With a force of 2500 active military soldiers rotating on early bases between reserve and active to keep the veterans fresh and recruits trained up to be able to fight. An in-build opt out is obviously installed, allowing for avoidance of military service in case of agricultural and medical needs. While many immigrants are happy to serve, they are not happy with some of the mandatory classes, especially the Gaelic ones, as many of the immigrants have lived in English speaking countries for many years and have no knowledge of the language.

*Mr. Sheldon and the authorities in Hotsprings City finally sign a contract, after long negotiations an agreement is reached with Sheldon planning to build the biggest Casino Resort directly adjacent to the hot springs themselves on government property inside a national park. This has obviously sparked outrage form the people, but considering the amount of money Mr Sheldon is pouring into the project, the administration is keeping quiet.

*The Martian Human Rights Council is intervened for the first time in Lyon-sur-Mars, this new organization seeks to show human rights abuses and draw attention to the increasingly totalitarian nature of the Martian colonies. Their massive media campaign, the "I have the RIGHT!" campaign sweeps a lot of the nooks and crannies of the martian internet, especially with political activists. However their wish to extend their supporter base to the human rights activists, lawyers and yuppie liberals fails spectacularly when the leader of the council is revealed to hold pro-maroon beliefs. After that scandal, an even bigger one hits the organization, as it is revealed that the organization had a finger in a few charities that although seemingly innocent turn out to be a back-door for Maroon investments. Even with that though, the "shadow network", as it is termed by the media, still continues to exist, with charities popping all over social media, advocating against or for different things and gaining more and more credits for the Maroons.

*Another McMarcus Combat Gunship arrives from earth to Liberty City, delivered by the Colonial Office from earth. The event is very publicized, but military analyzers don't fail to notice, seeing that the NAU Martian Governor General is continuing the tradition of American Air Superiority.
*Despite expectations, the IPDF does not continue its massive counter-attack against the Jihadists. Seen as "weak" and "a coward move" by the more conservative members of the Knasset, with Fatah and Tanzim particularly calling for the absolute destruction of the Jihadists "lest they destroy us". But, Jon Al-Sharon, the speaker of the Knasset held true to the statement of the administration, declaring that the government is just following "earth's directive". This sparks another round of discussions, as both Fatah and Echadh, the two most hawkish parties in the Knasset bellowed back retorts like "earth can afford to lose, we can't!" and "we are fighting for our survival", only to be rebutted with statements like "Earth still in command" and "they are sending us weapons!". The latter ringing especially true, as a large shipments of UAVs and a transport craft arrive from earth, while old and obsolete models, they will prove priceless in the combat operations against the Jihadist rebels.

*In the meanwhile, the New Galilee/Al-Jalil colony is not sitting idly, with Al-Mossad doing whatever it is within its power to secure the borders. Large teams of soldiers search the new territories to remove all sorts of booby traps and mines placed there to harm the people of Galilee, while connecting automated defensive systems. Even as they do that, on their backs, construction firms are building blocks for settlers arriving into the regions, as the Kibbutzim are expected to advance into the area soon enough. This is coupled with a massive and very well polished media campaign for people to flee their war-torn places and come to the colony, but it sees limited interest, only finding people interested in the Illegal settlements and the Cradle of Gold colony of the Muslims.

*Clearwater City is now a hotbed of election activity, with millions of Russian Rubles and interestingly enough, Euros flooding into the city to assist the rebuilding efforts of the neighborhoods, much relief is brought to the suffering. Russophilia deepens, but so does Russophobia, as the much closer EU begins to flood the economy with cheap goods and "especially for Clearwater" made foods and parts, to help bring the people back on their feet. This quickly highlights the class distinctions in Clearwater, as Russian investments and aid make their way to the poor, who's businesses suddenly begin falling due to the cheapness of European goods as opposed to domestic ones and most mid-to-large companies switch suppliers to Europan such, making quite the profit. As election time comes, the Interm Mayor, Endymion Abrahamsen campaigns on a platform of "Fighting for the poor" and works with many of the aid workers in very public stunts of giving back to the community. In one of his speeches, however, he touches on the Russophile nerve of many of the poor by greeting the people in Russian before switching back to English. His Russophilia becomes apparent as it turns into a major cornerstone of his campaign, the "close friendship" and special relation between Gorchakov and Clearwater. On the other side, the opposition gathers around Ziya Azaziah Lane, or Madam Lane as she is known, the former ambassador of Clearwater to Europa, she is a known Europhile, her party leads the charge against the Russians, but while they secure the vote of the middle classes, she looses the lowest portion of society, who back Abrahamsen in a large number.

*In the end of election season, the majority of the City Council is snatched up by Abrahamsen's Blue Party, with Madam Lane's Freedom and Rights party takes up a large chunk of the opposition. 4 other small parties manage to cross the 4% to get into the City Council, among which the "Movement of Liberation", an organization claiming to follow the "Liberation Theology" of Catholicism, a left-wing ideology that has seen a revival on Mars due to a big alleged following in New Cumaná.

*However public support turns upside down once the elections finish, with 200 GAZ Tigrs, transporting 2000 Internal Ministry troops land in Clearwater City, backed up by the local administration, they officially are on a peacekeeping mission and that is said again and again by the Russian government's official communiques, but the total failure of the administration of Clearwater to tell the people and moreover prepare them for the Russian arrival sparks protests, in which the opposition comes out against the government. A vote of no-confidence is scheduled for next cycle, with the Europhiles and Catholics leading the charge. | ClearWtr 1,47 (1,5%)

*An American rep is seen in the Anga colony, making several meetings with officials high in the hierarchy of the colony, even the Colonial Officer himself. Being a uniquely military colony, the American Rep sent to it is a member of the American Officers' Corps association. Officer Jorge Alma, a well known activist within the military for cooperation with the East African Federation finds a warm reception there and an even warmer one when he declares the North American Union's plan to recognize the Illegal settlements championed by the Anga colony in exchange for commercial rights and free trade. While Anga's politicians are pretty happy with the idea, the "unrestricted trade" part is not liked by the colony's leaders, having suffered a lot under neo-colonialism, they are well aware what that means and are more then willing to gamble the legality of the settlements east of it in return for a few protections to be enacted against unlawful trade.

*Whitecliff soon comes under raids from the Maroons as expected, striking at their positions with vigor, the Maroons stick to their known hit and run attacks with Whitecliff's defenders pushing them off easily. The scuffles however increase, and soon the British under almost a constant attack, with defenders having to be rotated regularly to avoid battle fatigue. It doesn't help that every time the attackers are in small groups of 10 to 20 people, allowing them to disperse quickly. The British are increasingly referring to the attackers as the Ghosts, as even their bodies are withdrawn from battle and the little that manage to be captured are either executed by comrades or swallow cyanide pills before anything can be extracted from them. All of this makes the British more and more reliant on Russian aid, as it slowly turns into a lifeline to the world, alone, isolated, hated and by the world many British are thinking of either emigrating to the Russian camp or moving out of the mountains for good.

*In the tenth day of the raids, the British lose their most prized possession, as the day starts off with another big raid as expected, the British, working hard on restoring their "Mallet", finally manage to get the vehicle online. However, it seems that this was exactly what the rebels were expecting, as three more groups jump on the defenders of Whitecliff. As the battle explodes, three soldiers sneak through the city's defenses heavily camouflaged and inside, dressed in British uniforms they manage to get all the way to the hastily built airport. These soldiers shoot their way through the airport, slowly, methodically, and most of all, quietly make their way to the Mallet that is doing the final checks before take off. As they close in, they show identity papers belonging to another officer, to keep the guards off their trail, before closing enough to be able to shoot the crew without alerting the guards still alive. Before anyone can realize what had happened, the BAE Mallet takes off and flies away, upon realization that the shuttle is lost the British attempt to take it down but by that time it has gone too far. The shuttle is later recorded to be seen close to where the Rangers make their "nesting", suggesting it may not have been the Maroons but rather the Rangers that executed this operation.

*The Duster Migrations: As the Dusters descend on the Outliers, the games are on. Hundreds of men die in the first day as the lines of defense slowly fold back as per plans. With the Dusters smashing wildly into traps, defenses and whatever the colonists throw at them. After the first week, they manage to break through the initial perimeter of the defenses, with no regards for casualties on their side, throwing bodies at the defenders. As with each season, the Dusters seem even more inhumane then last year, with their skins wildly slashed, special reports are created where Dusters are tracked via video cameras and people notice that only a few of the Dusters from last year are here, these that are attacking seem totally new, the number of the Dusters while expected to fall, seems to have risen from last year, which terrifies a lot of observers. In the end, the Oultiers hold, the migrations end and the monstrous Dusters withdraw, leaving behind themselves devastation and a shaken population.

*The Christian religion is seeing a bit of a revival in the Agricultural settlements though, as community centers are established in some of the bigger Agricultural settlements below Clearwater lake. Wreaked with poverty and now crime, as well as part of both Yinghou, European and Russian irredentist claims the Agricultural settlements are increasingly opening their arms and homes to the word of god, that is helped by the Christian preachers that walk around and help rebuilding efforts. Catholics priests advocating freedom and humility in the face of good, the protestants from the Christian settlement in the north, preaching for a united community against the faces of communism, terrorism and destruction.

*The Clearwater Agricultural communities also benefit from a Ranger intervention, as a boat descends on the agricultural settlements, the rangers spread around helping the people rebuild their homes, structures and facilitates damaged in the fighting. They also go after bandits, allowing them to surrender first (which many accept) leaving only a few to hunt down, which is done quickly and efficiently. This, of course, quickly rises attention back on earth for the Rangers, with several wealthy philantropists making donations in very public shows, while these donations may not last they are a great help for the rangers in the short-term. All of this serves to slightly mitigate the effects of the "highway of hunger" over the settlements, but its still far form enough.

*The subculture of Maroon music still continues to flourish, with a trio, called the "Voces Angelicales" exploding into prominence on the scene, they sing against slavery, for god and their songs are carried all over Mars as either the message or the tones catch on with many of the lower classes. A lot of copy-cat groups emerge, singing Maroon rhythms in different languages or mixing it with modern music, in the ever volatile music industry of today it seems that the Maroon style has found a permanent niche.

*Rangers seen appearing more and more in Market, where they meet with both security contractors and local community leaders long since unhappy with both European and Chinese influences over the city. The Rangers sit with the leaders of the colony, listening to their worries and proposing solutions, at the end of the meeting an action plan is hammered out, with the Rangers training the Market's small security force. The population is exceptionally accepting of the Rangers, treating them more like liberating heroes then helpers, and the ranks of the volunteer guard swell as the Rangers train the force up into quite the professional force build along the ranger lines, where command hierarchies are established on the fly during battle, while all soldiers retain their equality. Ranger principles are also applied while living, virtues like living on bare bone necessities while giving the rest to charity and none-discrimination are aggressively taken and preached by some of the traders in the city. The Rangers can always hope to find a home in Market, as the city council invites them to take up personal residence there in thanks of what they did for the city.

*According to internet posts, "Vernepator Cur", the famed smuggler, seems to have something to do with the tragedy of the shuttle, either that or he has keen interest in it. Whatever it is, it seems he has quite the supporters, some insinuate that he may be behind the ESA's apparent secuirty leak in regards to the weapons, but all such rumors are quickly squashed. Colin Quaid however cannot be reach, apparently it has been recorded that he was furious over the unsuccessful capture of Vernepator Cur.

*The Mars One factory officially begins production, but right off the bat the resource management problems begin to turn up once more, with so much resources being hogged by the construction of the Unity Park, there is little left for the factory itself, so the material used is low-quality and nothing like the original Sol Corp quality. This is not helped by the fact that with Glasgow's factories coming online, the flood of contracts in the Scottish direction means that very little is left for the factory. As the managers realize that they begin to scurry around looking for cheap purchasing deals for minerals, trying to find small local companies to buy form. However very few of the local companies are looking to work with Sol, seeing it as an unstable investment. One group however does express massive interest, the Australian New Bagong colony, which while extracting a lot of minerals from the ground is beset with legal problems against SpaceX and is still living in an almost spartan environment. Soon enough, a trickle of Australian minerals begins to travel towards Sol Corp's facilities, but they will need a lot more.

*Colin Quaid, the leader of MarsExpress, expresses his deep sympathies with the people killed in the shuttle crash and vows to examine the case, launching a full-fledged internal investigation. The results so far are incomplete, but a huge interest is drawn towards a faulty directional mechanism installed by Koch Industries on the Mars express line. However while Europeans quickly jump the gun, it seems this wasn't what actually cause the incident, but the truth quickly takes a back seat, as it always does in such cases. || Koch Industries 8,6547 (8,621%)

*Despite general corruption by the citizens unions, the investments see the Caledonian economy fire up, with thousands now employed in the industrial sector, the general hunger and depression felt after the first days of the revolution are slowly drying up. With thousands pouring into the economy every day, the people suddenly have more to afford themselves and surprisingly, thanks to protectionist policies by the government, local companies make their presence felt as well. The largest of which, "Royal Alba Engineering" a conglomerate of the Royal Ports, the Alba Construction Company and the Cae Engineering LLC finds its way to Forbes' top 50 largest Martian companies in the first cycle of operation, with goods by RAE finding markets all the way to New Europa. | RAE LLC 87,8547 (89,854%)

*However not all is peachy in New Glasgow, while the economy is exploding on the Martian Stage, the inefficiencies build up in the state are slowly starting to show. The Citizens Unions are becoming more and more corrupt, as they are the sole authority governing the factories, while they are supposed to include all the workers, each Citizens Union has its own little clique of decision makers that are becoming more and more rich. What is even worse, with the arrival of more and more Scots, the disenfranchisement of "Albionites", or Non-Scots, as not only British fall into the Albionites category is becoming a daily reality, with some Citizens Unions throwing out Albionites form their homes to accommodate more Scottish in their districts. Even with the government attempting to propagandize the inclusion of others, the situation is slipping from their hands. And the wave of immigrants is also creating a housing crisis, even though the Caledonian firms beginning the construction of two new districts, named Tìr Uallais and Baile Chailein in the highlands above New Glasgow, the construction will take another cycle, in the meanwhile shanty-towns have started to form around the largest factories that exploit the new arrivals.

*While the Cannon-Honda Concern slowly begins to build its base in the Martian Space Center, the lower floor of managers is still mostly European trained and friendly and they don't like the position that the MSC is taking, but as a few of them loose their jobs because they open their mouths too wide, the Mitsubishi Concern is not looking like it will return its standing any time soon.

*The Hinwan Hospital Siege reaches a bloody end, in an attempt to gas the Kyung brothers and their KLO brethren out of the hospital, the Chinese authoroties gravely miscalculate the amount of gasses pumped into the hospital, killing more then 89 people in the process, 4 of which are KLO operatives. The Kyung twins however are not among the dead, as they seem to have escaped when the gassing begun.

*The internal investigation ran by EuroPol over MarsExpress is officially backed by the government, the massive loss of equipment is not a good occurrence for anyone, especially for the organization that prides itself as a reliable contractor for shipping. Arguments emerge that the weapons might have disappeared because of excessive bureaucracy, still delivered as expected, just lost in the official documents. This however is disproven, when the official documents of the recipients are examined, revealing that there really was a loss of a lot of weapons, who somehow slipped through the cracks of the massive bureaucracy of the ESA.

*The Battle for Unity [click here for map]: The war for Unity City escalates even more, as forces from all over Mars join the fray. The fighting season is opened by a massive counter-assault by the RES forces upon NFUME positions in their sector, hoping to cut the NFUME soldiers from their link to the deserts of Mars the Soldiers of the Society push to take over the buildings that served as the lifeline between Whites and the deserts that they used to get to the heart of the Red Society. After a vicious battle that took weeks the RES soldiers fight their way from building to building with vicious losses on both sides, eventually managing to finally complete the cutting off.

This is coupled by a massive frontal assault coming from both deep within the controlled areas of the Society and the bridge, striking against the positions of the NFUME. Realizing that they are now left with only the highway to keep them supplied, the NFUME soldiers hunker down, having lost their way of escape into the deserts they instead to choose to fight till the last men. With the Airport cut off from other RES positions, the situation there is becoming grave, with only a few boats managing to get through the thick wall of fire to help the airport pocket, it is slowly beaten down with the Whites marching through the bridge into heavy fighting for the airport's strip itself, taking several hangers along the way.

But the eastern front is far far more interesting, with the Red Tarsus pocket receiving some unexpected assistance. As the Red soldiers hunker down in perpetration for a drawn out siege, a vicious campaign of sabotage begins. Way within White territory, officers inexplicably die, soldiers are shot on the streets and a vicious psychological campaign is launched against those who oppose the Society. Lists are found all over dead white officers and read Emboldened by this, the commander of the Red forces in the pocket decides that the best defense is a quick offense, so the force is gathered around and prepared for a massive attack. At the same time, the Fascists are marching form the north, attempting to fold the pocket. In the initial engagements, the red are slowly driven back at the center, but with the help of the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigade and the Nightingales executing several high-ranking officers, the assault of the NFUMEs grinds to a halt quickly enough.

After a month of fighting, the Reds tiered and battered, a tempt a desperate charge to the port, securing it would bring them much needed relief as the port allows for goods to be shipped. The attack is initially incredibly unsuccessful as the Whites push every assault back, but just as the reds are about to give up, a Flying Boat appears in the air above them, from within Rangers emerge and descend on NFUME positions in lightning speed. Destryoning or crippling key positions along the port allowing the Reds to cross over and take the port, allowing them to secure a link with the eastern channel.

But even as the fighting in Tarsus goes bad for the Whites, some light seems to be appearing at the end of the fascist tunnel, as NFUME soldiers, under the command of Alfred Pleath march from the North-Eastern bridge, leaving it lightly defended and through the whole mining district, they descend on RES position from behind. As the Reds capture the Dam, before they can declare victory they are quickly surrounded by NFUME forces, who place the Dam under siege once more, crushing all hopes of the Reds to capture the mining district for good. Even worse, the Fascists now officially threaten the largest bridge in the city, as destroying it will close the connection between the Reds and the mining district. Many note that Alfred Pleath is not actually from Unity city, originally from the Christian Settlement, he is one of the many fighters that come from there to fight in the war.

*On Luna, Tranquility City declares war on Horizon, backed up by Zvezda, the second largest settlement on Mars, the city's guard moves onto Horizon, subjugating the city in less then 3 months and destroying some key infrastructure along the way. The leader of the America First movement is captured and executed in the fighting. Many colonies and other smaller cities are pretty shocked, thinking Luna has been over all the fighting a long time ago, questions like "What are we? Mars?!" are raised more and mores in the news.

*The Nightingales expand their operations in the Illegal settlements. As large field clinics, schools, and power generators go up under Nightingale patronage, a mixture of donations and local help and assistance. The small rudimentary clinics to take care of the sick however also quickly turn into recruiting centers, as many new Nightingales join through channels in said clinics. While the Illegals are still pretty fearful of letting the Nightingales penetrate deep into their society, they are more amiable to it now.

*It is now the high season on Mars, and almost immediately a large transport ship is terminaled on the Mars Express station on Phobus, it belongs to the British and is apparently loaded with thousands of women, children and men, all Albionite. Upon examination, all papers check out, but even with that the European authoroties are not happy to release the British to the planet's surface, afraid of the chaos this might cause. More worry is caused when two airframes are discovered in the belly of the transport, a quick-construction frames for two Mallets. The ESA monitor on Phobos throws all sorts of legal, bureaucratic and logistical hurdles at the British, however having expected that the British have several legal councilors in their midst. So, after a lot of arguing and going back and forth between the governments, and most of all with great reluctance the ESA authorities are forced to release the ship. But not before they direct it personally where to land, to avoid additional headaches for the EU. | PanAmAir IC 885,157 (8,86%), Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHAG.DE) 8
987,1645 (9,084%), Aeroflot AD 789,41154 (7,857%)

*Eventually the Albionites land in Whitecliff, it is at that moment that it becomes apparent why Colonel Bowens had constructed much more buildings then the British will ever need, as his men quickly go about settling the new colonists. Overnight, Whitecliff becomes a full-fledged colony, however it still relies on Russian aid until it is able to produce enough food to feed all of its citizens. Massive plantations are being constructed as we speak deep in the center of the city, in specially cleared areas. With the influx of labor and the large amount of plants brought by the settlers, the process is expected to be sped up.

*As this is happening however, Maroon raids continue. While less then previous season's raids, they still aim to hit major weak spots of the British. In a particularly vicious attack the Maroons pour from the valley and attack weak British positions in the south of the settlement, their cautious and prolonged attack is an attempt to divert forces. As in the meanwhile, the Rangers use the night to sneak into the water treatment facilities. However, following their successful capture of the Mallet, the British seem to not be taking any chances, bolstered by increased manpower, they seem to have posted well trained guards inside valuable locations such as the facilities. As the Rangers enter the building, they are ambushed, with fire form many different vantage points and their route of escape blocked, the elite fighters race through the building, taking fire from many angles, eventually managing to escape by blowing a hole through the roof of the building and ziplining out. In the battle however, a few Rangers are cornered, without any way of escape, they soldiers empty their weapons in the British before attempting to escape one final time. Almost all are killed with the exception of one, who is captured.

*In New Glasgow, the Christian settlers from the north that arrived earlier last year, are caught in a fight with a Catholic supporter outside a bar in downtown Glasgow. Many say that they have been rising tensions in multiracial neighborhoods, holding true to their radical preaching of Christianity which sadly includes a fair bit of racism and anti-leftism.

*A real fight for influence erupts in the Illegal settlements, Officer Jorge Alma continues high-level meetings with Anga's military elite, seeing more and more doors open to him the more he is there. His influence is felt on the ground, as American traders arrive in Anga to buy, not sell, goods created by the capable hands of the colony. However, Commander Alma's visit is cut short, when his car explodes with him inside, he dies on the spot. An investigation is launched immediately by the African Military Police who discover an explosive inside the car, rigged to the ignition switch. No group claims responsibility, but right-wing pundits in the NAU are quick to place the blame on the "Anarchist terrorists" (playing soundbites of a Nightingale Spokesperson saying that Alma wont be missed). However, many also throw blames at the EU or Russia, particularly vicious and viral are the conspiracies that Russia is behind it, especially when Russian aid in massive quantities reaches the Illegals distributed thanks to the Russian Ministry of Aid through the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the Nightingales.| | LibOne IC 0,547 (0,5%)

*The Nightingales in particular are seen distributing aid in the Illegals as well, with a Mars-wide call for a united stance in recognition of the Illegals. They accept aid from companies within the EU, of course, a big chunk of it comes form Russia, but also from New Glaswegian companies and even the Cradle of Gold's (Mahd Al-Dhahab) own merchants and even surprisingly, the Chinese. This kind of takes the wind out of the American mission to the Illegals and creates an interesting split within the colonial population itself. Anga is now increasingly pro NAU, thanks to large investments and growth assistance from the Americans, but the Illegals themselves are leaning towards different powers, united in their universal support of the Nightingales who have proven to be kind to them, with Russophilia being an increasing constant in society as well. Interestingly enough, Israeli-Palestinian delegates are also met by Anga's politicians, what was discussed is unknown, but delegates are seen leaving happy from both sides.

*The Puria mines, having been struggling with increasing lack of clients going to the Triune mining consortiums, sees its luck rise when the Europeans arrive with an offer they can't refuse. They are willing to pay top Euros for the mines to provide the minerals and materials necessary for the construction of the planned elevator over Mars. With the agreement with SolCorp at their backs, the Europeans help provide river-shipping across the Marineris river to the construction site of Unity Park and for operations in the Mars One Factory. After months of resource hunger, the SolCorp execs are ecstatic as their factory begins to churn out cheap but good goods that enter markets, not to mention Unity Park's construction being back on track, the explosion into construction is so massive, that it is expected that by next cycle Unity Park will be finished, with Mars Alpha station looking to be constructed in around that time as well. The High Commissar for Mining and Construction of New Europa, Aron Fournier, in a very controversial statement that becomes a sound-bite all over the news is caught saying "With Europe, prosper, without it, burn."

*Mars Express is especially active with its cooperation with Puria, injecting money into constructing a modern road network between the mine and the spaceport. Even more so, Colin Quaid is seen in Puria himself, shaking hands and making deals, getting a sweet sweet deal on exporting silver out of the mines towards earth. Just the prospect of the silver earnings see Mars Express' stocks go up by a fair bit.

*Five Romanians are shot and killed by a Jobbik member in New Europa who escapes the scene, authoroties find his pistol and later manage to track him down to his home, discovering Hungarian flags, Jobbik insignia and a map of Hungary including Transylvania.

*Rosoboronexport, the main weapons' exporting company in Russia finds itself interested in the large market for Russian arms. Aiming to keep competing, it is invited by Colonel-General Zakharov to open up a branch on Mars. After some high-level meetings Rosoboronexport in conjunction with the Montanha Vermelha Government begins construction of a factory complex. Named GMVDA Ltd (Gorchakov-Montanha Vermelha Defensive Armaments; pronounced Gomovedea), the factory brings in some heavy duty 3D printers from earth, imported quickly and employs a mix of Russians and locals. An additional of 500 Russian soldiers are deployed, with the agreement of High Commissioner Gertrudes Ferreira, the head of Montanha Vermelha. Their deployment in the factory compound serves as a reminder of Russian influence over the Mandate. But also sparks anti-Russian protests from Catholics, Brazilian Nationalists and Latin American liberals as a whole, while police can keep the protest contained, as in Clearwater, both Russophillia and Russophobia deepens. With China having been more or less thrown out of Outlier markets, the Europeans step in, selling cheap but quality food all over the settlements, in continuation of the policy seen in Clearwater, this also creates a market for Europhiles in politics, who quickly gather steam and are looking to overtake Chinese influence in the region as the principle opposition to Russia. | RosoBoronExport 5,42 (5,4%)

*In the meanwhile however, missions of all shapes and sizes are launched at the Outliers, with Russian influance in the region deepening, the Nightingales and Rangers deploy more then a combined of 300 people all over the colonies. Training the fighters, preparing for any emergencies and providing clinics and stations unconditionally. This accepted by the Outliers who are more then happy to see someone helping them with the Duster problem. Maybe because of this, the Russians lunch the Southern Martian Defence Initiative, deploying more then 2500, with their headquarters in the factory-complex in the Mandate, they spread out across the Outleirs, forming a council with the leaders and heads of the Oultier communities to coordinate military activity. 100 GAZ Tigr's, 25 APC's, 20 T150 tanks and 50 BMP's are deployed all over the Outliers, spread out in a defensive pattern and in perpetration. An additional of 10 Boratino Class MLRS' and the RSN Georgi Ivanov are deployed to provide an artillery and air-cover screen.

*This is automatically seen as a threat by the European Battle Group deployed in the south, which quickly moves to block off any Russian traffic into the southern Outliers which are officially under the protection of the Ares. They deploy an additional of 1000 European soldiers with bots, air support and artillery, warning the Russians to step no further. The line in the sand is drawn in the southern-link channel, the terminal from Younghou City's own channel, where the Russians are unable to enter the city due to the massive European military presence. The Chinese also activate in response, finding their interests threatened but most of all, scared of the European military movements, due to tensions on earth. A Chinese battle group is deployed into the Central Outliers, where the Russians don't exactly welcome them with open arms, these National Army veterans claim they are present as peacekeepers to make sure that all laws of war are followed. Many people soon realize that is not the fact, as two known Nightingales disappear.

*The tensions continue to mount and raise, as the Outliers seem to be the next big confrontation point of the Martian cold war, but before anything of substance can happen, satellite images a huge dust-cloud moving towards the Outliers. Usually such a Dustcloud would precede a Duster migration, but the size of it is terrifying, if those are Dusters, then this attack would be 5 to 7 times larger then normal. This terrifies most people deployed in the Outliers, who get to constructing all sorts of defenses as quickly as possible.

*American former Congressmen and Democratic Whip John Andreas is accused of Mafia allegiance by the public, when tapes of him meating some of the biggest crime bosses emerge on the web. He is even implicated in the murder of Vitale Alduino, the close adviser of JJIII, though the governor of the Martian colony seems tight-lipped about his friend's death.

*With the start of the high season, a military shuttle docks in MarsExpress' Center on Phobos, it brings more then 2 000 Elite members of the European Legion, with 100 Eurobots, 10 hover tanks, 50 APC's, 100 G-class jeeps in tow. The shuttle itself is a transport shuttle, which is quickly diverted to the base of the Ares. Officially this is to replace losses of the battlegroup, however unofficially it is obviously part of the increasing militarization of Mars. As expected, part of the militarization includes scandals, as the Chinese National Army is caught trying to bypass European checks to bring in a MOAB type weapon to Mars. Even though the weapon is sent back to China, the shuttle carrying it with its contingent of Elite Strategic Command soldiers lands in Yinghou City.

*In South Africa, ethnic clashes spiral out of control as Johannesburg explodes into riots, the main instigators of which being the Inkatha Freedom Party who clash with the supporters of the ANC, eventually the Zulu Nationalist party joins the clashes. By the end of the conflict more then 345 men, women and children lay dead.

*Mars is seen somewhat of a renaissance of movies, with both documentaries, action movies and drama hitting the big screens directly from Mars. A small firm, the Untold Histories Project, with a small fan-base in YouTube, successfully, through crowd-sourcing and "anonymous doners", manages to bring to life its documentaries which are an instant hit within the North American Union, particularly because of their thematic. "The Sins of Our Parents" for example tells the story of the European Partition of the Middle East, putting blame on European powers for the situation on which the Middle East finds itself today, especially the birth and ascent of Islamism. It is liked a lot in Mahd adh Dhahab, because it also shows the creation of the Dubai Compact in a good light, ignoring the funding of radicalism by its member states, while concentrating on the European blame for the chaos. Inside Europe in particular, right-wing and hawkish pundits attack the film for being a "great case of propaganda and white guilt". Europe of course is not far back, with "Blue Contingency" being a box office hit all around the world, detailing the exploits of Europol Agent Stanislaw Coupe who fights crime, corruption and in the movie, saves Europe from a nuclear device planted by the Russians.

*After years of tensions, internal divisions and global worming induced chaos, Malaysia collapses as a united country, the civil war begins when protesters in the capital Kuala Lumpur are shot dead by a military convoy that attempts a coup. As leftist and right-wing groups rise in the country, the Thai military invades the north and occupies it in full. The fleet is divided, with a large chunk of it being sunk or captured by the Thai military.
*The Icarus Project is launched, a secret project organized by the North American Union for over a decade now, it is a massive construct that is lunched in parts towards Jupiter, where they will assemble the first gas-giant colony. Planned to be a refuling station for Helium-3 engines, the station will feature its own artificial gravity and will "float" in the upper gasses of Jupiter, without entering the danger zone where the vortexes can endanger it. The process creates an intense interest in the subject, with several companies delcaring they are in the process of "researching the feasibility of colonizing the moons of Jupitar", chief among these is the ESA which has a project for the colonization of Europa in the works for decades now, both for symbolic and practical reasons.

*In the Martian Space Center, the European-American Cold War on Mars produces the first casualty, when a group of junior execs, brought in by the Mitsubishi concern and as such friendly to the EU, walk in on a meeting of the board of directors, with all of the highest ranks of the MSC in the room. They proceed to pull out weapons and shut down the whole meeting, taking the senior execs hostage, other groups of hired contractors storm the security stations throughout the city, shutting down any police bots and all communications between the officers on the ground. A few hours later, on the air, Kohaku Minami announces that the Mitsubishi Concern has finished a "hostile takeover" deal with the Martian Space Center, with each of the board of directors signing on it. With that, the Siemens-Volkswagen (and thous European) Mitsubishi concern is now in full control of the Martian Space Center. | | JAXA-Mars SpcCntr 5,74 (5,7%)

*A clash occurs in Lyon-sur-Mars, Rangers, in hot pursuit of a smuggler bringing weapons to the Fumers in the Unity Civil War, arrive at Lyon-sur-Mars in the morning, apparently via shuttle from the Martian Space Center, having narrowly escaped from the coup with their lives. They are investigating a lead that brings them to the Chinese quarters of the martian city, however it seems that lead is also followed by EuroPol who arrive on location en-force. The location itself is an old apartment building, having entered there first the Rangers discover an enormous stash of weapons and even a military, heavy duty 3D printer. They seize the stash as evidence, but the prompt arrival of Europol stops them from removing the weapons from the premises, apparently being on the tail of Vernepator, the Europol officers surround the building, attempting to force the Rangers to disarm and allow themselves to be taken into custody. After a tense stand-off the rangers attempt to ex-filtrate from the building by way of a small air transport brought in by contacts within the MSC, this result in a small firefight with the Europol who eventually manage to gain the upper hand. As they capture the building, the rangers escape with minimal casualties, with Europol discovering the stash intact, but missing the 3D printer. The man both parties were after, a Russian national as it is later reveled by Europol while an arrest warrant is issued, is last seen escaping to Yinghou from eyewitness reports.

*Big news circles the radicalist leftist forums all over the web, two of the largest anarchist organizations on Mars, the Bogdanovists and the Nightingales have declared their merger to the public with the democratic cell structure of both organizations being suitable to mergers of that size. Both organizations are now the undisputed leaders of the Anarchist movement in the whole civilized space, having the largest such ranks out of all such organizations, even those on earth. With the high season, may professional revolutionaries from earth and Luna are expected to arrive on Mars as well to join the expanding movement.


*A mission is mounted to the polar caps, as ten teams from different countries (Six sponsored by American corporations, a European team, a Chinese team and a Glaswegian one) race to reach the pump, all starting from the same point, Liberty City. The event becomes a big spectacle as newscrews all go with each team, following their every move as the huge rovers build by different companies rumble their way through the Martian landscape. The reality show immediately captures the attention of audiences all over the word, as it takes pictures and captures some of the most amazing scenery ever recorded, all live on L1N. As the race intensifies by the end, with the Chinese team suffering a rover failure and the General Motors rover purposely attempting to ram ExxonChevronValero rover, harming both in the process. In the end, victory is claimed by Dr. Clive Duke, the leader of the Verizon American Telecom (VA&T) company, as the pump is discovered. In an interesting surprise, the pump seems to have an arch built around it by the early explorers of Mars, who have made it out of tanks and spare parks, very reminiscent of the "Arc de triomphe". | L1N LLC 3,54 (3,5%)

*With much commotion and fanfare, the water treatment facility jointly constructed by the Russians and Clearwater to treat the lake's filth problem is launched at a join meeting between Mayor Abrahamsen and Colonel-General Zakharov. This couldn't have come at a better time, as it sees Mayor Abrahamsen's popularity rise in the days before the vote of no confidence. It is helped by the army of journalists that swarms in Clearwater, who follow every step of every politician of every part, reporting on all their actions and attacking anything they see as "corrupt". In one case, one of Madam Lane's close aids, Gorou Tadas, is attacked for wearing a really expensive belt, "while the people starve". Russian preachers are also seen in Clearwater, they participate in aid work and preach, as well as talk about ecumenical dialogue between the Christian religious communities in Clearwater. Problem is, outside of the Russians who practice Orthodoxy in Clearwater, not a lot of people pay attention to the preachers, the Catholics among those.

*The media frenzy turns out to be bad for both sides, as Europhiles everywhere use social media to express their deep dislike for the Russians and the city is really split 50-50. In one event, a large blue flag with the 12 golden stars is draped all over the Hilton Hotel in Clearwater. In response, the Russophiles paint the "Tower of Hope" in the center of the city in the colors of the Russian flag. Both people from Abrahamsen and Lane's parties are caught taking bribes and immediately sacked by the politicians who can't have anything like that with the deep interest that is expressed in their every move. In the meanwhile, all sides are trying to show their generosity, with the Russians spreading aid in massive quantities, matched only by the amount of economic aid the Europeans are flowing into the economy, with many businesses choosing to accept Euros as well as Rubles which was the predominant currency.

*At the end, election day comes, with Sergey Lisandro, the leader of the "Movement of Liberation", expectedly backing Madam Lane in her attempt to bring down the government. With no Russian peacekeepers to be seen, due to being outside of the city hunting criminals, (and smartly minimizing their presence in Clearwater to avoid protests) the vote is closely monitored by all sorts of press agencies and organizations. After several tense debates in the city council, and a few hours of checking and rechecking the electronic vote-counting system, the result is clear, Clearwater remains under Mayor Abrahamsen's brotherly rule. However this has also galvanized the opposition, with more votes of no-confidence expected to come eventually, Madame Lane saying "We will not stand down while Clearwater becomes a Russian colony". || ClearWtr 2,47 (2,5%)

*The American Government seems to finally be listening in on the protests, instead of turning a blind eye to it. The Liberty Security Group, under guidance of Jordan Jericho himself, creates a "Special Negotiation Team" that sets out to meet with the leaders of the protesters, two of which seem to be Nightingales. As expected, they are the most vocal and radical of the bunch, stating in the negotiations that their demands are "to end NAU imperialism on Mars, to transfer the power in corporations to democratic workers' councils, and to end NAU cooperation with Arcturus Security". Of course, such demands are dismissed outright and more subtle and centralist protesters come out on top, they demand supervision to corporations, allowing the existence of unions, more benefits for the poor and more regulations and taxes on the rich. In the meanwhile, bots and more Liberty policemen are deployed to secure the city, the small amounts of protesters attempting to defy those measures find it pretty hard to bait a robot into fighting them, or to harm one, as the machines stand fast against any aggression from the protesters. A group of Nightingales attempts to walk past the machines without attacking them or being agressive towards them and are let through, only to be captured by a second line of bots that pushes them back into the protests.

*In the meanwhile, in order to sooth the tensions even more, the government of Liberty creates a website, LetFreedomRing.gov.ma, where they accept complaints by people from all walks of life. In one instance, a woman complaining about daycare costs and the price of food receives a 6 year voucher for food from CostMart, called a humane initiative it draws a lot of interest, but due to the amount of complains the site crashes after almost a few hours of operations and many radicals call it simply a carrot to distract from the real problems. However, it is still mildly successful in the less radical, serving as a reminder that the government cares.

*Rangers are increasingly seen patrolling the roads in and around the Market, making it clear that the city is under their protection. Accepted with open arms, the people are supportive of the efforts of the "Heroes of Mars" ready to help with anything. Right away, the Rangers organize a convoy of water supplies to New Bagong, with several Rangers seen inside the city. In perhaps a related incident, the same colony, New Bagong, throws a couple of Catholic preachers out. Being predominately Protestant or Atheist, they are not very thrilled to have Catholic preachers among them, especially since most of them are roughneck Australians who either detest religion or hold their beliefs very close.

*A music association, to spread maroon music is created from several fan organizations all over Mars, while not very well accepted in places like Yinghou and Gorchakov for example, the organization finds followers in Europa and Liberty among many other places. The Maroon Music Appreciation Association, as it is called begins organizing concerts and venues, serving as a overall organization to direct both Maroon musicians and people of different descent who sing and write in the Maroon genre. Already several venues are booked out with interest being high.

*Media outlets and pundits from all over Mars are increasingly at arms about the European "bureaucratization" of Mars, recent examples including the Space Elevator project floated by SolCorp Execs, which bogged down after the Europeans pulled out all stops they can think of. Following this incident, under pressure from investors SolCorp was forced to relinquish 50% of all of its control over Mars Alpha station and the proposed elevator to the European Union, specifically the ESA. In another case, the Disneyland Mars quagmire continues, because while the Liberty One presents an exceptionally good case for the construction of the park in NAU territory, the Europeans present a relatively equal one in value, while also adding that the whole "bureaucracy" of the project can be avoided if Europe is on board, hinting that if the NAU is chosen, Disney Mars will find itself in a similar position to SolCorp. This has caused a lot of worry in the business community, who see European meddling and regulation as a threat to their free trade and businesses.

*A few small bombs are reported in Yinghou City's Chiang Kai-shek Airport, the Chinese respond immediately sending out Police Officers to the scene only to discover these are duds planted in order to keep one of the small civilian transport shuttles in the air. While the police responds on the ground, inside the plane several terrorists take the pilots hostage by using the stewardess to open the cockpit. They are armed with plastic guns brought in parts tied around the waste of one of the operatives, which is assembled inside the plane. Once in the cockpit, the terrorists force the aircraft to fly away from the airport, disappearing over the mountains in what is presumed to be the general direction of New Cumaná. After a while of silence, on the radio waves of "Vox Libertas" the terrorists who reveal themselves as the Korean Liberation Organization working with the Nightingales declare full responsibility for the hijack, declaring that they will release the aircraft with all the passengers unharmed if the Chinese government pays indemnities to the Kyung twins and the KLO as well as the Nightingales on behalf of the Korean and Martian people they've caused so much suffering to. The also set an ultimatum, if the Chinese refuse to pay up the will execute a passenger ever day.

*After a long series of negotiations however, the shuttle is released. Half of the passengers arrive at first, with the vehicle itself, and after a while, another half arrive as well. Surprisingly, both the Chinese and Nightingales declare this a victory, however on the outside it would seem that the Chinese have given nothing to the Nightingales, so the question weights heavily on the mind of everyone, what was payed for the freedom of those people?

*With great fanfare, another Mil Mi 117 (nicknamed Razorback by European Command) arrives on Mars, diverted through Phobos directly to Gorchakov, the shuttle lands with a full contingent of Elite Specnaz, courtesy of mother Russia. It is met by the Colonel-General and cheering crowds. He names the shuttle RSN Georgi Ivanov, giving a brief speech of the importance of ties between the nations of the Slavic-Orthodox superethnos and about the legacy of the Interkosmos program. This is met with excitement by the crowds in Gorchakov, but back one earth many Greeks, no matter their faction, are heard complaining. In light of Bulgaria's intervention in Thrace, this is a somewhat controversial stance even in Russia itself. | Mining Imeni Putina AD 0,447(0,44%)

*After a particularly vicious comment against the Europol's actions in putting Commissars Tudor Schuchardt, Domenico Roth and Ruben Coté on trial for lobbyism, Comissioner Severijns finds himself facing an official inquiry on his own past, with pictures of him and the Colonel-General having drinks surfacing on the web. As the trials explode in European news, the EPP party leadership in Europa, happy with their victory over the Socialists (to which all of the Commissars belonged) are quick to put Comissioner Severijns on the friar as well. Many expect him to be the next victim of the anti-lobbyist scandal.

*It is a busy construction season for the Caledonians, as they start out with a massive planting initiative sending out men and woman all over the glens above the cities to plant trees, shrubs and small plants based on the hydrosurveys that were conducted earlier. This comes out with a luck-warm resault as the soil chosen by the hydroseurveyors is still insufficient for even the toughest trees with only smaller shrubs and grasses catching on and growing. Luckily some of the emigré from earth are botanists and manage to save a few pre-grown trees from dying in the red hills, meaning the experiment is not a total failure. Sadly however, it is not the same with hydroengineers, as the administration gives them the task of creating a a pipline to connect the lake to the glens, irrigating the soil, purifying the water and producing a small amount of electricity. However the rocky shoreline of the glens and the extremely dirty Clearwater Lake turn out to be insurmountable obstacles as the engineers begin a slow and dangerous process of cutting through the steep rocks to pass the pipline, the openings of the pipline and and small purifying station they attempt to build gets bogged down with sludge from the lake. The project will take a lot more work and will cost a lot more then expected.
*A lot more smoothly for the Scots is the construction of several new districts, with more labor and civil engineers arriving, the districts of Baile Ailpin, Dùn Mhaoil and Creag Ruairidh are finished quicker then ever before, with materials flowing from Gorchakov and the bots and men working on overdrive the districts are finished within the cycle, as well as the other two districts planned and worked on from the previous cycle. The districts are more then enough to take all the Scottish population that needs a home, and it still has other buildings for new arrivals, Dùn Mhaoil specifically is a massive engineering miracle, as the build-bots have to be dropped on the steep glen and build completely autonomously with a helicopter hovering above them to keep the situation under control. Thanks to the same engineers and planners, as well as the bots freed from the construction of the districts, a large network of small scale solar stations is built to cover the skyline of the New Glasgow proper. The solar-farms are state-owned but privetly run, allowing for an easy maintaining with virtually no costs.

*In Israel-Palestine, the discussions in the Knasset are finally settled, after months of political deadlock it finally emerges why they were arguing and about, when a member of the Fatah party, one of the two most hawkish parties in parliament and in a strategic alliance with Echadh manage to push their policies through parliament. The policy of radical armament emerges from these discussions, as the Palestinians, ever pushing for victory manage to push one of the most expensive and time-consuming projects that the colony has ever taken. As the year comes to a close, two companies, the Israel-Palestinian Aerospace Industries and Al-Technion find themselves setting headquarters in Mars. As the high-season is upon the planet, the IPAI company brings a two airframes from earth, having wasted over two cycles preparing it for construction on Mars and having cost millions of dinars, the two crafts are not very big, around the size of a modern helicopter, but with a massive payload for bombs and completely unmanned (though with the capacity for two soldiers to pilot it), the two airframes (named 'Dayah' (Kestrel)) are a smash hit in the military. Not far behind comes Al-Technion, having spent the same time developing an innovative deployment system, completely unmanned, it carries a soldier and a bomb, it is so small and cheap that thousands can be produced, allowing them to swarm enemy lines with swarms of smaller 'Aldabyr' (Wasps). Only time will tell if these new constructs will find a following and liking on Mars. | IPAI 10,54 (10,5%), AlTech 13,47 (13,5%)

*Even though the military hail these new additions, they are eager to start the military season, having cleared out anything they can clear in the territories captured, the Self Defense Force is now doing just that, defending. As it seems that on the other side, the Jihadists have dug in quite deeply into the mountains, the battle for the control of the mountains is going to be chaotic and ugly at best.

*A forum discussion in the United Nations is held by the nations in an attempt to create treaties governing new technologies, however these turn out to be yet another failure, because some inventions, like AIs are almost universally hated, with only the NAU and the EU actually giving citizenship to AIs and even then it is not a full citizenship and not really recognized, even though the AIs are build on Asimov's three laws, meaning that they are no threat to humans in any ways. Another big argument point is the longevity treatment, with it becoming increasingly more cheap to have (most people don't have pension funds, but rather revival funds) the debate rages between countries whether it should be allowed, with the size of humanity expanding, perhaps it is not a good idea to cram so many humans in such limited space. Russia is increasingly thinking of outright banning longevity treatment, as it is increasingly clashing with Russia's religious positions as well.

*Near the Sruth (as the channel in the south of New Glasgow is now officially called) the Scots attempt to construct a line of bunkers to protect the Sruth from the Chinese, however the force deployed to secure the location before the construction can begin immediately comes under fire from forward units of the Chinese National Army deployed to guard the very same critical location. Seeing the deployment as an act of aggression the Chinese respond with an artillery bombardment serving to scare the Scots more then to actually harm forces, as evident in many shells landing in the waters directly in-front of the Scottish force. Eventually, under pressure the Scottish commander chooses to withdraw, rather then loose men to the Chinese shelling.

*Vladimir Yevgeniev is found dead on earth, apparently he was in his European villa and fell off a cliff, slipping in a tragic accident. According to Russia today at least, according to Europol's initial reports there was outside forces involved in his "slipping". Suggesting Triune agents assassinated the pro-gay activist and former spokesperson of Russia Today. Yet another increase of tensions between the two powers.

*Some of the hottest temperatures are recorded on earth, after the tsunamis that hit Indonesia exceptionally hard last year, the global warming conflict continues to rage. In response to the latest rise in temperatures, Greenpeace runs another media campaign warning about exploitation and destruction of nature. However it achieves luckewarm results after eco-terrorists detonate a large explosive destroying a factory in China.

*The Glaswegians advertise a contract for a major water refining plant on the shores of the Clearwater lake across the solar system,inviting offers of all kinds from all over the Human populated space. However, soon enough interest is quickly lose over a sub-policy that is mandatory and unavoidable, that the companies employ Glaswegian sub-contractors. This is a huge push-off for many firms, who don't trust the quality of Scottish engineering and especially the Scottish hydroengineering. In the end only a few megacorps actually participate in the auction, and their offers are not exactly stellar to say the least.

*After a tense qualifying round, FIFA choose the city to host the next world cup. In a surprising twist, it is Constantinople. Its status as an international city and the seat of the Untied Nations has a lot of people worried if it is a good idea, considering the tense political situation around the city. But FIFA calls itself an envoy of peace, but according to many FIFA's "pass" to being an envoy of peace was bough with a lot of money from the United Nations' own budget. A problem in the whole thing is that none of the Martian powers really participated in the world cup buddings or indeed showed any interest in it.

*In a related story, a military coup occurs in Turkey, as the previous government was growing increasingly islamistic, at least, that is the excuse given by the head of the military council, General Ediz Ata Badem, who takes over full control of the government. This causes quite the stir in neighboring countries, as General Badem has been a vocal supporter of the restoration of the "full might of the Turkish military" and a return to conscription, not to mention soundbites that emerge of him saying that "Constantinople will be ours again".

*The Glaswegian anti-corruption laws smack Russian efforts in Glasgow pretty hard, with the Triune investors flocking to Glasgow thanks to new opportunities manage to snatch up some mining contracts, only to promptly loose them when their "benefactors" who have been bribed, go on trial. This is not a concentrated effort against the Russians, but an action of the Scottish authorities against the rampant corruption. As they ban what they call "bribery by goods", as in, pure lobbyism, where interested parties buy goods and services for the benefactor, who gets them through the legal hurdles. With the government taking over all handling of contracts within New Glasgow, the Russians won't be seeing any mining contracts any time soon, as this sector is of national interest to the Caledonians.

*Russian investors in Glasgow still manage to get some deals, even with the new laws. Especially successful are their investments in restoring the old Victoria Road, although a new name is probably in order. The road becomes a major artery pretty quickly, with Russian metals and goods flowing into Glasgow and the other way around. Many Russian businessmen find it cheaper to export their ores to Glasgow, to be refined in the city and bough back into Gorchakov, with both sides profiting. However, with trade, banditry also resumes on the route, with attacks moving from monthly, to weekly by the end of the cycle. | | RosoGlasTransport 1,254 (1,2%)


*FedX is complaining of several attacks on Clearwater lake, especially since the hostile takeover of the MSC and the lack of protection for the ships passing through the vital line. This hurts both the American and Glaswegian economies, as a vital link and transport hub is now unreliable for trade. This will negatively affect both Glasgow and the NAU, unless they find alternate routes or chose to pay taxes imposed by the Mitsubishi concern right after the hostile takeover.

*DJ Mad Dog and his pirate radio station, transmitted on the web, is gaining followers. Radio Kathrene is now a smash hit, playing Maroon music as well as all the hits that the Music industry does not allow standard radio stations to play (because the former can't profit off of it).

*As expected, Hotsprings city is packed for the high season, as tourism booms in the meanwhile. Of course, this is not the only place, as Liberty One, Europa and Glasgow are swarmed with tourists seeking to see how Mars has changed. With Unity Park being booked out before it is even constructed, even MarsExpress profits from this as space tours are exceptionally fashionable and Phobos is a turning into a virtual tourist magnet by itself.
*The Battle for Unity [click here for map]: The Battle for Unity is shifting rapidly, while the Fumers had won some crucial victories at the beginning of the war they find themselves increasingly loosing strategic initiative and more importantly, support. The most important battle of the season is, seemingly, the battle of the Dam, with thousands of men and women concentrating on that specific target. The Christian led Fumer force manages to score a crucial victory, managing to break through the blockhouses on the large bridge, securing its eastern pass, this allows the Fumers to sprinboard into the Dam, as forces from the RES district, concentrating their attack on the Large bridge as well, manage to completely push or kill in most cases the large RES force holding the bridge. This enormous loss is felt hard, as the defenders of the Dam now face an outright onslaught from all sides with no hope of relief.

However, as this is happening, fighters from all over colonized space find their way to the front, supported heavily by both Nightangles, Rangers, Maroons as well as various other organizations, the defenders of the Dam find themselves both isolated and with the entire world behind them. With Nightingale snipers harassing Fumer lines, while Rangers bombard all positions in their path, soon the ranks of the Fumers begin to falter. It all unravels for the Fumers when the Rangers smash into the Airport down south, sending hundreds of men and providing heavy fire support from the BAE Mallet, the ranger involvement breaks the siege of the Airport, forcing the Fumers to withdraw to more defensable positions on the valuable highway. With the artery of the Fumer force now threatened by the Mallet and the Rangers, who stream along with the RES force to attempt to capture the Port, another valuable facility, the Fumer commanders on the ground are forced to divert forces from the bridge to the highway, weakening the lines of the Christian Led force.

The killing blow however comes when the Mallet, now freed from the fight in the airport, is diverted to the lines of the Fumers, combined with spotters on the ground, the shuttle swoops in inflicting enormous casualties on the force and killing its commander, breaking the Christians as the RES forces swoop from the Dam into the valley bellow.

NFUME forces seemingly can't get a break either, as spray-paints saying "Matthew 24:25: Behold, I have told you before" appear everywhere after firefights with red forces in the Tarsus pocket. As the Fumer forces push in the center they discover the source of said sprays, finding soldiers dressed in heavy duty armor in the RES forces with the wings of angels on their backs, they catch the first glimpse of the Maroons. As Maroon music blasts through in the Red Tarsus pocket, the planned invasion is increasingly stalling as the Maroons swarm inside the neighborhood helped by Rangers and Nightangels. In the end of the season, the Red Tarsus pocket remains the same as before, despite expectations that the Fumers will be able to close it this season.


*On Luna, Horizon finally falls in the hands of Tranquility City, which begins a long and complex occupation of the city.

*The Duster Migrations: The Cloud of Dusters envelops the Outliers, with horrors of all kinds emerging from within. For over two weeks, the whole Outlier line constantly battles the massive wave of inhuman creatures seeking to gain entrance into the heart of Humanity. In these battles, legends are born, as Colonel Aslan Konev, the leader of the Russians is recorded to be fighting with his men in the choking dust against the horrors, standing next to his men as they hold the monsters at bay. This scene is repeated all over the front, with men from all over the civilized space throwing their lives to stop the united enemy. In the dust and muck of the migrations brotherhood is born, as more then once European and Russian soldiers find themselves in the same trench, fighting the same creatures. Nightingale, Ranger, Maroon, European trooper and Russian soldier all together defend against these creatures, with food, bullets, aid and equipment from Russia, China and Europe flowing to the Outliers. The soldiers of the Outliers, trained by Rangers and Nightingales, fed, fueled and clothed by the Europeans and Russians, find themselves in an almost surreal scene of cooperation. A song is even created, translated in English, Russian, French and German, as well as various European languages, singing "...as the Chinese and Americans Cower, we stand firm/as the monsters attack our lines/we will not squirm/as our fate intertwines/we will not burn..."

More then once the Euroshuttles and the RNS Georgi Ivanov are seen bombarding forward units of the Dusters, as well as artillery shattering the back of the lines of said creatures. And in several times the Dusters direct heavy fire towards the airforces of the two nations, with the shuttles escaping harm by the skin of their teeth several times. All vehicles are heavily protected, but it would seem the Dusters recognized the importance of vehicles as they throw themselves in attempts to capture whatever fighting vehicles they can get their hands on. Eventually, with thousands dead on both sides, the horrors recede into the Dusts once again, leaving a pile of bodies scattered all over the region.

*Montanha Vermelha Mandate: As the migrations recede, the Mandate starts to calm down, preparing for the unwinding of the tensions. However nothing like that happens, as the Russians clear out the bodies surrounding the outliers, Chinese troops move through the dunes over the Agricultural settlements, citing "Russian and Scottish Aggression" for the reason of deployment, seeking to secure the Agricultural settlements long claimed by Yinghou city. This of course draws the few remaining Russian defenders in the factory complex belonging to them, leaving only a skeleton crew to guard the complex. Inside however, while tensions boil over, a firefight erupts in the complex, with the Russians reporting several figures responding to the descriptions of Nightingales exchanging fire with other figures, who are of unknown nationality or loyalty.

As the Russians attempt to relocate more troops, the explosion much discussed in world news shakes the ground, leaving a dusty hole in the place where the factory used to be mere seconds after the distress signal. A few buildings around the complex are also enveloped in the explosion, causing massive riots from both Russophiles and phobes. As the powers mobilize, the people do so as well, the outliers refusing to fight for any power and returning to their homes while the Battle Group, Russian Military, Chinese National Army and Arcturus Security all mobilize. The Commander of the European Military Force, Marshal Maximilian Galitieri, establishes a bridge with the Russian forces almost immediately, ordering all European Units to stand down on the Russian-European borders and even managing to locate Colonel Konev and patching him through the European network to avoid the confusion within the Russian comms network. | RossoBoronExport IC 0,149 (0,1%)

*A general air of militarization falls over the whole of Mars following this, with Russian troops deploying en-force to the former Victoria Road (Now called Lermontov Highway by the Russians, after the Russian writer of Scottish descent Mikhail Lermontov, and simply Martyr's Road by the Caledonians), cooperating with the Scottish they establish a series of block-posts aimed at destroying all potential bandits, soon enough body piles begin multiplying around the road, with some bodies left intentionally to deter more attackers, with several crucifixions appearing here and there that rightfully scare the crap out of the Scottish.

*La Raza Riots and the Integralists: As the dist of the explosion settles over the Mandate, anger explodes on the streets. With the Brazilian Integralists deciding to take matters into their own hands, march with the support of several government organizations including elements of the Mandate's military, capturing key locations in the city, including barracks of the military, the broadcasting station and encircling parliament. The Latino population, already fearful of the Brazilians and their racism, begin organizing, pushed by the Liberation Theology Catholicism and inspired by Bolivarianism and racial pride, they begin rallying around a movement calling itself "La Raza Cósmica", after the famous ideology of Latino José Vasconcelos. Distinguished by their Brown Berets, the Raza movement manages to quickly establish themselves as the main and in certain places, only, visible force patrolling the streets. In the meanwhile, the Integralists, growing tired of negotiations and seeing their support swell, move on to parliament, forcing a regime change. With High Commissioner Gertrudes Ferreira imprisoned right away, and the leader of the Integralists, Téo Edmundo Campos, declaring himself Pai Campos. This is the spark that needs to ignite the region, as the Raza rises up in arms against the newly declared Directorate of the Montanha, declaring the Nación de Bronce out of the occupied neighborhoods under Frey Quirino Peláez, a well known Cumanán supporter. The riots that explode following this are akin to outright civil war, with the Pai expected to move in with the soldiers if the chaos does not deescalate.

*Negotiations between Whitecliff and the Russians over the release of the Ranger are successful, as the British move the soldier to Russian hands in return for aid and more support. But regardless of that, once the Ranger is released from custody back to his own kind, the hills come alive with activity. Late in the night after the release, a massive attack is launched on Whitecliff. With the Maroons throwing an unprecedented amount of people at the flanks of the British, while the Nightingales' John Maclean Commando unit releases non-lethal fentanyl derivative gas to open gaps in the lines of the defenders. The few British not equipped with power armor quickly fall victim to it, but overall the line holds. But the master stroke comes when the Rangers, using high-quality military grade chaff launchers disable the sensors of the two Mallets attempting take off. While the elite pilot on one of them manages to guide it to a safe landing inside the perimeter of the British base, the second Mallet spins out of control, with its emergency parachutes deployed to allow it to land safely. Problem is, it lands way outside of British territory, safely within the hands of the Rangers. A few seconds later the Mallet is seen flying off, the fate of the pilots unknown. But while part of the Ranger force withdraws, the rest remains with their comrades, slogging through enemy forces guarding equipment and stocks. A few Maroons manage to fight their way through a substantial force, rushing in to destroy some of the British artillery positions, taking a few weapons down before the British manage to respond effectively and disable the large group of Maroons, capturing more then a squad. In the meanwhile, the Nightingales using cocktails, fire, gas and all manner of explosives fight their way into the weapons stocks, managing to seize some power armor, before finding themselves surrounded on the escape trip back, with only a few managing to get out of this predicament with the power armor in tow. Eventually, the Greater Movement's men are forced to withdraw, when Colonel Bowens himself with his crack squad uses the cacophony of the fighting, to buy himself time to outflank the enemies, with his big force having to slog through rough terrain to avoid detection, after a while they manage to walk their way back to the enemies and hit them from the back, where least expected. The Maroons are the first to take the hit, with their operatives guarding said flanks, they are more then surprised when the British descend on them, folding their line rather quickly. After a while of fighting, when the glaring gap in the lines becomes apparent to all parties, a fighting retreat is conducted. The Rangers, Maroons and Nightingales withdrawing in formation, leaving fields of fire as they move out, before eventually breaking and scattering when obvious Bowens won't press the chase. The Battle is over, the British, have won.

*Phobos weeps: An unmarked shuttle is docked in Phobos, stopped by the European security forces on the station. Oh high alert after the recent tensions on Mars, the ESA operatives attempt to search the shuttle, with the occupants refusing to allow them. After a brief argument, the personnel of said shuttle decides to act, killing the ESA guards, after a pitch battle with the guard bots, the hangar is secured. The Europeans respond by activating a emergency shut down, closing the fighters in. Forced to improvise, the fighters take the shuttle and fight their way to the east side of the planet, before doing a forced deployment through pods into the life support of the station. After almost an hour of fighting and many lost lives, the life support is under the control of the fighters, forcing the ESA to evacuate all non-essential personnel to Mars Alpha.

As the Europeans attempt to respond quickly, they manage to scramble a Euroshuttle against the rebels, secure in the knowledge that the weapons controls of the station are securely under European control. But as the shuttle is scrambled, inside the weapons control, as well as the power control, undercover agents of the enemy fighters attempt to disarm the guards and people working in those areas, leading to a heavy firefight, in which all the defenders and workers who resist are killed. After a few minutes the two zones fall completely under rebel control and the shuttle finds itself under fire from Phobos' own anti-aerospace guns, forcing it to land, with severe damages inflicted.

As combat begins to die down, the rebels, broadcasting from the aerospace control tower announce that the "Phobos Free State" is created under the command of Colonel Yukari Weyland, a former American Colonel who created her own Private Military Company, dubbed Redrock. It is discovered that most of the attackers are Redrock employees, with control over most of the station established, many civlian shuttles left behind in the fighting attempt to escape, with Phobos' weapons' control refusing to fire on them, even though the Colonel declared that everyone flying in the aerospace zone of Phobos will be fired upon. 4 shuttles split from the mass of escaping civilian ships and re-enter Martian atmosphere.

It seems however, that the Phobos Free State will be short lived, as the Colonel was making her declarations on the net, the contingent of elite Legionnaires were using it to pin-point her location. Having used the distraction of the Euroshuttle to smash their way out of the station, they used the following chaos to walk all the way through the eastern side of the planet, walking for more then two hours. Once in range of the tower, they used boosters to smash through the roof of the place using their advanced heavy powered armor to protect them. In the following half an hour, after a heavy firefight and an enormous death-toll on both sides, the leadership of the "Free State" lay dead in the tower, the rest attempting escape with hijacked civilian shuttles. The voice of Commander Pepe İsmail comes on the air, the leader of the Legionnaires on the ground quickly takes control of the situation, under his orders, the ESA quick-response force that is finally arriving from Mars Alpha begins a heavy bombardment on the weapon's control, dropping a MOAB on it.

The resulting explosion could be seen from the ground on Mars, as it levels half the complex from the weapons' control onward. Colonel İsmail comes on the line following the explosion, his grim voice spilling into every ship and station in space above Mars "I take full responsibility for this action". With the weapons control down, the Euroshuttle, backed by smaller ESA craft quickly establishes aerospace dominance above the moon, shredding several shuttles that attempt escapes, with only 3 escaping, one of which seems to be the shuttle with which the rebels arrived on Mars in the first place.


*The attack on Phobos comes as a massive shock to both the ESA, the EU on earth and New Europa, with the populace angry at the government, and in particular, Commissioner Jean-Charles Müller, for his complete mismanagement of the security and foreign situation on Mars. In no part due to the Martian Colony's unique standing in the politics of Europe (able to vote for the European parliament due to its size and population, but its Commissioner is still selected by the Parliament on earth and put in charge) Mr Müller was able to retain his post even after the recent European elections, despite being part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. But that quickly changes, with anger on the European streets after the shuttle incident, not to mention the total mismanagement of Europol's investigation on corruption, the Phobos attack served as the straw that broke the camel's back. Mr. Müller is promptly sacked from office and brought back to earth to stand trial for "mismanagement of public property" in Hague, among other charges, including allegations of corruption.

In his spot, following a lot of fanfare, arrives Marshal César Gransstorm, one of the most controversial and famous European Commissioners, this causes quite the stir not just in Europe, but in the rest of Mars. As Marshal Gransstorm was one of the top brass in the Spanish European Battle Groups, fighting the civil war on behalf of Europe. He became the subject of media attention for his oftentimes controversial statements, like his angry retort to reporters about Europe's involvement into the Spanish Civil War, claiming "Europe is a beacon of civilization in a sea of barbarism! It is our duty!" and recently, he became infamous in Egypt as the "European Imperialist" for his comment to the Egyptian President Al-Maghili "Europe hears you, Mr Al-Maghili, Europe doesn't like what it hears, and when Europe doesn't like something, Europe destroys it." in response to Al-Maghili's secret talks with Russian President Mikhailov, which were recorded by a microphone still active unbeknownst to the two leaders, saying "Europe won't hear about it, and even if they do, they won't care".

*European Media, Europol and the ESA's investigators are all throw in the mix over the Phobos debacle, beginning a manhunt for those responsible. Pouring over camera data and internal records, Europol's agents acquire a solid lead on who is at fault. Intentional or not, the allegations leak to European media, who quickly explode with the headline "American involvement in the tragedy of Phobos", displaying all sorts of evidence of American connections to the Redrock PMS. Information is even discovered of the Americans selling a military grade Ittie to the Redrock, an Ittie which has disappeared without a trace after the fight. Not only that, but one of the many shuttles that lands on Mars following the escape from Phobos, lands in the NAU's Barack Obama Airport, only to be put under a military cordon. Media on the scene report that between the many refugees, several armed Redrock operatives are seen.

*Later that month, the North American Union suffers a massive cyber attack, with a flood of traffic of Chinese descent smash into American systems, taking large swaths of government run infrastructure offline and placing, including Jericho and Arcturus Security's own sites. On Jericho's site the message: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.” appears, while for Arcturus its “We will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, occupy.”. As the North American Union cyber experts activate an AI to stop the attackers, they discover this is more then just a DDOS attack, with an enemy AI detected running through the secondary nodes that are brought online to compensate for the loss of the main ones. The enemy AI is datamining, attempting to withdraw secure information from the North American Union. In response, the AI activated by the North American Union attacks the enemy intelligence, shutting off different channels strategically and attempting to force it into a single server that can physically be disconnected to kill the AI. In order to avoid that, the enemy AI is forced to activate the main lines of connection, withdrawing through the VPN connection of the government back into its own servers. It is unknown how much information it was able to acquire, but what is a fact is that this is the largest known electronic attack ever to impact the servers of a governmental institution after the Euro-Russian Electronic War of 2114. | ArctSec 31,54 (31,5%)

*Following the attack on the servers, while the AIs are battling, a massive attack is attempted, in an effort to stop the camera network the NAU installed in Liberty One, the hackers attempt to cause physical harm to the servers containing the data with worms and advanced viruses, while American cybersecurity experts are attempting to help the AI. However, the camera network proves more sturdy, having a dedicated private network outside of the general internet, allows the experts to just shut it off from the outside and keep the network running on certain terminals in the main offices of Arcturus. While this is happening, explosions rock Liberty One, with government officials' vehicles detonating on several occasions (with a councilor dead, and two more wounded, with a fair number of Secret Service operatives dead as they started the vehicles before the targets), as well as small bombs being placed in key locations, only stopped by the prompt deployment of bots. A call comes to all the protesters that participated in the Occupy movement, with the hardliners arriving on the capital en-mass to march onto government buildings, however this time they are not faced by Liberty Security operatives, but rather by a full deployment of Arcturus Security Bots with escorts. The bots form a defensive perimeter around the protesters right-away, linking together to enclose the hundreds of people in the center of the city in a tight wall, a tactic only reserved for emergency situations, only letting through medical bots to bring food and water to the "emergency camp".

In the rest of the city, Arcturus under the emergency security contract closes down major highways, roads, banks and schools, everything that could come under attack with only a small part of its force remaining the Arcturus' own camp. In the process of a few hours, they capture over 463 suspects, with 4 of them taking cyanide pills before being captured. Even with that, a bank, previously left untouched, is hit by alleged Nightingales, who give the customers 30 seconds to leave and manage to make out with a large sum of cash.

*Following the Nightingale attacks on Liberty City, a clip is distributed in YouTube, showing a North American convoy in the Outliers, sent to distribute weapons allegedly coming under attack. The clip gains prominence, as instead of fighting, the enemy combatants, later revealed to be Nightingales, stroll up to the "defending" American soldiers, and shake hands with them. The video is taken by the Nightingales themselves and shows the commander of the Americans handing said convoy to the Nightingales as per "deal" between the two, allegedly the order is handed over by the general staff of the North American Forces on Mars so the soldier claims before the camera that he is unable to disobey. This leads to a huge scandal, with the North American Union intervening personally, sacking several high-level generals in the force and discharging several administrators allegedly tied to this scandal. Overall this has lead to a massive loss of face for the North American Union.

*Even with Mars' escalation in tensions, the movie industry doesn't sleep, as New Europa is rapidly evolving into a movie mecca, with many stars traveling to the "Eurowood" to participate in the movies, even the government puts its hand in the pie, funding movies about the colonization of Mars. The "Red Planet" becomes an instant hit, as it presents a very very detailed (and very dramatized bad rosy) explanation on the Euro-American-Russian mission to land a man on Mars, the long journey to the red planet (empathizing Europeans and their qualities over their crew-mates) and ending in a heartwarming shot of Colonel Corin Wendel Scheer setting foot on Mars for the first time and exclaiming "This Red planet is but a stepping stone into the great unknown". | EuroMovStud 1,238 (12%)

*A noticeable hole is opening in the inter-communal relations in Lyon-sur-Mars, with a European cultural week being controversial on all fronts. In the large Chinese quarters in the city, a torn European flag is seen, with protests over the recent Euro-related violence in the city. With protesters seen on the European side as well, protesting Chinese aggression across Mars. So far, the protests are peaceful and keep to their own parts of town, but with Lyon-sur-Mars' pro-European administration and their growing dislike of the Chinese quarters, this might change.

*The Martian commotion reaches earth, the Europeans and Russians are calling for blood, with the two powers opening a week long session in which the two leaders of the nations discuss and sign a non-aggression pact, humorously called the "Likov-Van Coop Pact" by opposition declaring their united stance against "aggressors, terrorists and hostile forces". In Baltimore and Xi'an, this agreement is seen as a direct threat, as politicians in said states call for a united stance against the "Euro-Russian Axis". This also faces opposition at home in both countries, with Premier Antonov's own Orthodox Faction of the United Russia Party, expressing criticism of what they see as a "spit on Putin's grave", reminding the ruler of the Triune Nation who opposed Russia in Ukraine during Putin's reign. In the European Union, some protests and grumble also comes from the opposition parties, who voice their massive displeasure of President Abbadelli's move to ally with "murders and butchers who condone genocide", but in the face of the tragedies faced by both powers, these voices of displeasure are hushed.


*After the virtual attack against the North American Union, all over sites and forums on the internet, the Nightingale-Bogdanovist manifesto, named "Why do you obey?", is spread around. In underground movements all over populated space, not just Mars, it gains a cult following, it is only slightly less popular then the Maroon manifesto spread out earlier.

*Following the Phobos Rebellion, Collin Quid is seen personally directing the relief operations for the last civilians stuck in the station, as well as organizing a comity to begin the reconstruction of the station. With the Hangars still active, they are restricted to military vessels only, while all traffic is redirected to Mars Alpha by Mr Quid personally, who relocates to the station mere hours after the attack begun. Despite his presence, he was unable to stop Commander İsmail ordering the MOAB to be used on the station, for which huge losses are expected to hit the ESA following the loss of large parts of the station. Mars alpha in the meanwhile is fully militarized with robotic security and an increased Foreign Legion presence on the station, not to mention screening of every operative, every person and piece of luggage. | ESA PTC 12,56 (12,5%)

*In the Malaysian Civil War, Military led units, allegedly funded by Russian interests, take the capital, Kuala Lumpur, after a month long fight against the Pro-American Democratic Movement. In the south, the rest of the Malaysian fleet, which has been island-hopping for a while, arrives at a Chinese harbor, protected by the Chinese navy. This has sparked a small crisis, when Malay Military ships, allegedly crewed by Russians, attempts to chase down the fleet, coming under fire by Chinese ships and responding. After some political posturing from both Russia and China, the countries stand down, but the Malay crisis is eerie reminiscent of the cold war posturing.


*In New Glasgow, two attempts at the lives of Russian businessmen are made, the first, Victor Morzov's assistant dies as he tastes the food for the Russian businessmen, with huge levels of racin found in the food. The perpetrator is not found, but later that month, a second attempt goes differently. When the small convoy of Ivan Revov is shot at by men, apparently aligned with New Glasgow's Russophobe factions. However, as Caledonian authorities respond to the disturbances, a fighter is killed as the rest escape. His body is examined and he is discovered to be a Swiss-born European radical, tracked by Europol on earth for Nightingale friendly activities.

*Even more movements are born out of the Red Sands of Mars, one being the Association of Free Settlements, envisioned as a catch-all organization for the illegals who wish freedom, but instead quickly becomes a tiny Nightingale offshoot in the illegals, with few members, due to it being created by Nightingales. Despite attempts to keep the organization neutral and all-inclusive, it remains a movement tightly tied to the Nightingales, thanks to its overzealous leadership chosen from the Illegal settlements, who, as customary for people converted into an ideology, are more Nightingales then the Nightingales themselves.

*In response to the terrorist attack in the Mandate, the Russians are going into full militarization mode, the creation of the Mikhail Kalashnikov Electromechanical Memorial Plant is announced deep within the Gorchakov camp, as specialized workers and materials are imported from earth to begin production immediately. The goal is to produce high-quality, non-plastic weapons that can be sold cheaply on Mars. Interest in it is peaked right from the start, but due to the massive mobilization and armament, it is mainly arming Russian soldiers for the time being. Additionally, the Internet Brigades are mobilized, aiming and chasing down the Shadow Network with Ddos attacks, and outright destruction of physical equipment. The Maroon Music Appreciation Association is especially hard hit after a particularly vicious attack on all venues and organizations close to the MMAA, the attacks are so well operated and done, that experts speculate they may include heavy usage of an AI of some sorts. The only thing that survives the massive strike from the Russians is DJ Mad Dog's Radio Kathrene, which survives many successive attacks. | MMAA 51,57 (51,5%)

*In the Clearwater Agricultural Settlements, a few shots are exchanged between known Nightingales and Russian soldiers, apparently the Nightingales have distributed anti-Russian propaganda in the agricultural settlements. With Russophile settlements chasing away several Nightingale and Chinese groups. Sinophile propaganda is massively increasing, especially with Chinese soldiers in the area.

*Puria mining extractions double in this cycle, thanks to increasing SolCorp demand, including elements stockpiled and ready to be used in their expanding business of selling androids. Even though Sakai corp still holds monopoly, an indigenous model made especially for the martian person is seen as a big step forward.

*With the destruction of Gomovedea, Rosoboronexport is expected to take a dive, even though that was a small investment for the company, the investors in find it to be an adventure that wasn't worth it, withdrawing support. The Rosoboronexport CEO, Vladimir Yvlenko is hoping the new investment in the Mikhail Kalashnikov plant will turn for the better.

*With Liberty City in full lock-down, Arcturus security, in conjunction with the Chinese set up an exclusion zone around Unity City, based on the Agricultural settlements, over 5 000 American troops built a combination of check-points and locations to enclose Unity City in a solid anti-smuggling ring. With Chinese civilian shuttles landing later on quickly constructed landing sites and disembarking more then 3 000 Chinese National Army soldiers to man some of the sites. This creates discomfort in some Arcturus operatives, as right-wing American media is going on and on about China's supposed participation in the cyber attack on the NAU, but so far that remains unproven by authorities, as the only proof they can build on is the Chinese IPs used in the DDoS attack.

*The Battle for Unity [click here for map: At the begining of the season, the city lays silent, with only small gun-battles all over the massive front that spans the entire city, the fluid battleground it would seem has grind to a exhausting, urban trench war. With over thousands laying dead, both sides seem to be exhausted by the fighting, with both choosing to consolidate positions.

But not for long it would seem. While the Fumers are reluctant to attack, having lost many lives in the previous fighting, and have taken and used the silence to re-arm and dig in, choosing not to make any tactical attacks this cycle, instead deciding that defense is the best offense. The silence on the Red side however is because of a much more tragic circumstance, having not responded to any hails for days, Consul Joseph's body is finally found, he lay with his unit, slayed in the heaviest fighting in the city by Fumer hand, fighting next to his men.

As he is found dead, a power struggle emerges, due, before everything else to his force being at the center of RES control, after being kicked out of the bridge, Citizen Guan Yu and his brigade take the lead in negotiations, mostly by positioning his troops outside of the building where the high-leadership of the RES gathered. Under Citizen Guan Yu's leadership, Delegates Juanita, Yuri, Ungambi, and Ji introduce delegates Hannibal and Tamoyo in their ranks, both colonels from Citizen Yu's brigade. This is a noticeable shift from the criminal past of the RES, so out of said conference, the organization is also re-branded into the Unity City Liberation Front.

This all happens behind closed doors, the first time anyone hears of the new organization is when the Red flag is hoisted over the Dam, the UCLF, with a united support by the newly announced Revolutionary Front for the Salvation of Mars (An umbrella organization for the Nightingale-Bogdanovsts, Maroons and UCLF). The Last remaining pocket in the dam is quickly destroyed as the reds push forward with newly established zeal. Especial attention is given to the Maroon contribution to the fight, as their power armors, adorned with big red crosses and wings are a focal point in the fighting, pushing with a religious vigure as they seek to punish those that delude the words of God. They stand out in the colorful front for when they are not fighting, they are preaching, with a bible in hand a gun holstered they prey and chant even as they fight.

As the Red advance smashes into the White lines, the Fumers hold off by the skin of their teeth, their morale in the gutter due to now chronic lack of men on all sides and general overstretching. But two things are really what breaks the camel's back in the mining district, as the engines of the Mallet hum over the district, deafening all but the loudest of Maroon chants, destruction is reigned below. Even with that, the Fumers hold, under the guise of Alfred Pleath, they hold, they chant, they scream, but they hold. But sadly for Mr. Pleath, he has made a name for himself in infamy, and the ranks of the Front/Rangers are hunting him vigorously. The lucky strike that ended his life however is dealt by a Nightingale bullet, unaware of what he has did, the Abu Mustafa Commando Sniper's strike catches Pleath mid-prayer, going right through his head and splattering his brain on his comrades.

This is the final blow to the White morale, with the force collapsing all over the front as news quickly spreads of the death of their beloved leader. After vicious fighting in the mining district, with the protection of the Mallet (named Ashes to Ashes), the front is slowly advanced, reaching the bridge. Here, the fighting for the block-houses of last cycle is repeated, this time the other way around, with the Fumers desperately defending each blockhouse and finding themselves slowly but surely pushed back to the center of the bridge. With Ashes to Ashes' assistance their line slowly begins to collapse.

Using this, the UCLF begins a general offensive in the south as well, choosing to ignore the largest buildings but instead go around them, they rush for the bridge, reigning death on those same buildings they have surrounded with RPGs and rocket fire. With pressure applied on the bridge units form both sides, the Fumers at the highway also fall under constant attack, unable to supply or help their comrades in the fighting for the bridge.

With the fighting increasing, the bridge unit completely falls apart. Some soldiers are seen jumping of the bridge itself, while others attempt to give up, when they are promptly executed either by overzealous UCLF soldiers, Nightingales or Maroons. By the end of the season most of the bridge is almost under full Red control, with he Red flag being hoisted above it as well. With the Fumer force collapsed in the mining district, the rest of the force condenses around the highway and the access to the Tarsus district.

In the Tarsus district, while the bridge battle is happening, the Front goes on a combined offensive as well, this one however does not reap the same successes as the north. Mostly because Tarsus has been "purified" long ago, and is the center of Fumer control, meaning that everyone and their grandmother is armed with machine guns and holds back against any movement. With slow advances being the key of their strategy, the Red line slowly begins to creep upwards, but at tremendous losses. A huge number of fighters, more then a 150 Nightingales, are caught by the newly instituted American defensive screen, attempting to sneak into Tarsus, as the Americans attempt to arrest the fighters, a firefight brakes out with the Nightangles forced to withdraw. Such occurrences are not rare by far, at the start of the cycle, 10 Maroons are arrested, pending trial, over 50 Christians and 140 right-wing fighters have been caught for the entire season, all arrested with orders from high command on how to deal with them pending.

As the UCLF fighters slowly gain ground under heavy casualties, a large Nightingale-Maroon force moves through the city, harassing enemy fighters and striking at their flanks with their "tachankas" (a Chinese-made jeep with a gun mounted at the back), they become known as the "roving deathsquads" by the Fumers, as they strike fast, where the enemy least expects, backed with artillery and withdraw before the Fumers can organized a good response. This tactic however has its downside, since Tarsus is the home-front of the Whites, the tachankas are themselves harassed often on return, having to change routes often, as buildings opening fire on them out of nowhere are not unknown.

Behind the lines, on all districts, the Rangers are handing out weapons to civilian police units, cheap Chinese plastic guns it would seem, all donated. They are however good enough to keep support high and crime to low in those areas. In the meanwhile, the Maroons are creating their chapel-clinics all over the place, with preachers as well as medics helping the thousands of wounded coming from the front, all the while preaching, chanting and singing. This helps bring the spirits of many up, as well as secure the Maroons quite a few conversions, recognizable by wearing the large red cross painted on their suits, armors, dresses.

*The Caledonians are starting even more construction, with the project for the water refining plant restarted once again, this time with Scottish companies competing for the project, with subcontractors hired by major interstellar firms when needed. This is a lot more successful then last time, and several large firms answer the call, especially Siemens, Caterpillar and Al-Damask Constructions, who flock to the project, highly interested in the construction. However all the contracts are quickly gobbled up by Royal Alba Engineering, making many to call this a blatantly corrupt move by the government, as RAE really lacks the men necessary to do this, but the Delegates in command of the project still hand it over to them (with a lots of money rumored to be going into their pockets as well). With this, RAE begins the project previously, subcontracting several other firms, but generally keeping most of the profits. This triples the project's cost, thanks to the generally inefficient manner of construction. Still, the plant is expected to be operation next cycle. | RAE LLC 23,147 (23%)

*With the recent militarization of Mars, and the conflicts raging all over the planet, a force of 5 000 Elite American Marines, veterans of the wars in India, Africa and deployments all over South America, 500 Canadian Rangers, the most elite force for fighting in mountains and inhospitable, inhumane environments and 100 High Command GAFE, considered the highest ranking elite soldiers in the NAU military, extensively used in hunting down drug lords in Mexico and personally being responsible for the capture of Abubakar Kabono, the head of Boko Haram. Along with that, 10 Dempsey M3X1 Automated Tanks, 100 Montgomery M6 Automated ACPs, 100 Automated HMMWVs are deployed, almost doubling the American force on the Red Planet.

*The Ministry of Exploration and Colonization of the Triune Nation announces the Martian Dawn Settlement Programme, heavily invested and backed by the Martian Directorate in the spirit of Interkosmos. Russia has its diplomats all over the world, spread the news to friendly nations and powers, offering to help fund the creation of a small settlement on Mars for their nations. Interest is wide, and many projects are offered by friendly, neutral and even some not so friendly nations, but most projects are by far unrealistic. A few, however, pass the initial level of examination with flying colors, a joint Hungarian-Finish project for "Kuujoki", the Egyptian "Al-Qahira" project, pushed by the military junta is seen as a good counterweight to the Compact's Mahd Adh Dhahab, other projects that pass are the Armenian "Avazat’umb" base, the Bulgarian "Chervenozem" station and finally the Thai "King Naresuan" program. The Russian Ministry is examining the projects and they are forwarded to the Martian Directorate for further negotiations.

*The head of the HSBC bank jumps from the golden gate bridge, after its exodus form the UK following the formation of the British Federation, HSBC has been falling form one low to another, loosing more and more customers and eventually filing for bankruptcy. The bank was also discovered to participate in funding criminal activity on behalf of the British government, which was one of the many nails in its coffin.

*The Water Purification in the MSC stops working for hours when a group, calling itself the Bishamonten Group, occupy the station in their crusade against the European "occupation" of the Martian Space Center. Claiming the ruling consortium to be funded and protected by European interests and as such claiming that said consortium's hostile takeover of the MSC was illegal. The occupation is broken within hours with the local security forces storming the water purification station and taking out the rebels, at the cost of several of their elite policemen. In response the ESA has sent a high-valued ambassador to oversee the fledgling ownership of the Mitsubishi Consortium and help in "securing the assets" of the Consortium, not to mention the huge amounts of modern weapons flooding into the local security force. Still, even though the siege is broken, the Bishamonten Group is established as a solid rebel force fighting for Japanese (American) corporate interests. | SpaceCntr Mars 12,83 (12,8%)

*Even with work available for most Scottish citizens, sectarian scuffles are still seen on the streets from time to time, as Protestants and Catholics exchange a few hits or at worst, shots from time to time, as well as Albionites and Caledonians. But overall, the situation remains calm for now, as New Glasgow has settled into some level of calm after its explosive growth and even more explosive revolution.

*In the tightest ever finish, the aerospace races in earth's orbit finish with the North American flyer, John Boone, securing a victory for his team "General Dynamics' Tigers" against the RossoHranMag team that previously held the title. In a difference of 0.11 seconds, this is the closest finish-line in the history of the sport.

*The Russian authorities approach New Bengaluru with an offer to construct a traditional Russian Datsan and move a number of Siberian Buddhists to the monastery complex, this intrigues the Guru of the colony, one Jeetendra Joshi, a close follower of the Dalai Lama Choejor Wangchuk, hailed by everyone outside of China as the true and only Dalai Lama. Such a move however is opposed by the Panchen Lama in China, appointed by the National Government of China, the Penchen Lama has served as a tool for the Chinese to push a version of tibetian Buddhism that is close to China. The Panchen Lama has limited to no followers on Mars though, so Guru Joshi is quickly swayed, allowing a limited amount of Siberian Buddhists to begin construction of a Datsan next cycle, with its completion planned to coincide with the Dalai Lama's arrival on Mars.

*With the battle for Phobos having finished, traffic to Mars sees a massive decrease, with projections of many companies going through the roof. An economic crisis is expected, as contact between Mars and Earth is slowing to low season levels, increasing costs of tickets and transport of goods.

*Mostly thanks to the hard economic environment following the battle for Phobos, the SolCorp manages to absorb various small Supermarkets, Self-Employed business' and Online Retailers, increasing the SolCorp gamma of goods and managing to push their goods more effectively for a change. SolCorp goods, being constructed on the spot from the Mars One factory, are increasingly finding use for middle-class families, but are still far from beating the corporate hold of companies like Siemens, General Electric and others. | SolCorp 16,153 (16%)

*The Dying Jihad: Having prepared for the offensive for months, the Israeli-Palestinian Defense Force is finally on the march against the Jihadists. With a long campaign by air before the attack, the Al-Mossad has been spending its resting time wisely, meticulously mapping positions of the enemy. With mobile hospitals set up and a huge force assembled on the borders, the IPDF finally goes to war mid-cycle.

As the deep dark night of Mars falls above the Red Sands, three massive columns roll out form Al-Jalil, surgical air-strikes hitting enemy positions before them, with the new weapons proving their worth fairly quickly as general chaos quickly grips the lines of the Jihadists who are forced to withdraw as deep as possible into the mountains. With the brunt of the assault being taken by the weakest western flank, which has mostly citizen soldiers, as opposed to the other forces. It however sees massive support from the air, and makes great headway.

Slowly but surely, with a rising death-toll, the IPDF routes the Jihadists on several important battles, with the "Wasps" proving to be one of the best assets, smashing into Jihadist positions from the air. The Al-Baghdadi Brigades are increasingly forced to use more and more underground tactics, with the mountain being on fire for over five months, constantly exchanging shots. But in time, even quick guerrilla actions become dangerous for the Brigades, as the Israeli-Palestinian Defense Airforces constantly making rounds, or IPDF soldiers almost instantly deploying as reinforcements in conflict zones via the wasps.

By the end of the cycle, after heavy fighting and a massive death-toll on both sides, the Israelis stand tall on the peak of Mount New Hermon, overlooking the New Jordan river and from there, they can see most of the mountain is back in rightfully Israeli-Palestinian hands.

*Even with Jordan Jericho's plead in front of the commission, the scandalous former Congressmen John Andreas, accused of Mafia allegiance by the public, remains at large, with the last trial of him ending in a protracted legal battle and Mr Andreas paying a bail.

*With the construction of Icarus well ahead of schedule, the ESA lunches the Europa mission, called "Dawnbreaker", the European mission lands a small colony of bots on the frozen moon. They begin digging in the ice of the planet, discovering several interesting life-forms below the ice. This groundbreaking discovery shows that life is a lot more easily found in the universe, and makes scientists reconsider the whole hypothesis of development of life. It also draws increased interest towards Europa, with other powers starting to make plans for colonies.

*With the warming relations between Europa and Russia on earth, Comissioner Severijns is released on bail, after he was accused of lobbyism and subverting the state. However Europol continues to keep the highly Russophile Commissioner under close surveillance.

*In the biggest such disaster of its kind, a Heaven Station in the North American Union shuts down prematurely, with some of its occupants having been connected to it more then 40 years. Without the proper escape algorithms in place and due to old technology, only 5% of the occupants actually survive the experience. But as their minds are transferred back in their bodies, they find themselves in a mass-storage with thousands of other bodies crammed inside for storage, fed only the most basic food to keep their brains alive, but nothing else, their bodies are near-useless. As they are pulled out of the system, the few survivors vow to sue the country, but quickly find the state attempting to cover up the scandal.

*Greenpeace is caught attacking a Chinese factory, eco-terrorism being on the rise on earth since the 21st century, it is now a problem plaguing most countries, with Greenpeace being the largest terrorist organization to conduct such attacks. Last month, a Greenpeace ship, sailing under their banner in the south pacific, attacked a large oil tanker, taking it under control and managing to sell it back for a massive ransom.

*Following the scandals and conflicts, Jordan Jericho III finally brakes his media silence, as he is forced to stand before a federal commission on corruption charges. The footage of him on Cspan is played over and over again, it shows a man who while impeccable in his clothing and vocabulary, is visibly shaken. He speaks about the devastating loss of some of his closest friends, one to terrorists the other to criminal elements. He goes on to explain that he is doing what is within his powers, to rid Liberty city of corruption and punish those responsible for the death of his closest friends. Pining the blame for Alma's death on the European Union. His heartfelt defense and the huge pile of evidence he brings with himself, convince the Federal administration to drop all charges against him, concentrating their investigation on the people around Mr Jericho. On the streets, Jericho is seen as a tragic hero, surrounded by incompetence, but looking out for what is best for America.

*A surprise visit of the British monarch in the Canadian provinces of the NAU turns into a international scandal, as the monarch apparently requested asylum. It turns out that this is far from a surprise visit, actually the monarch was attempting an escape from the Britain. The North American Union keeps the Monarch confined to Toronto Airport until the legal situation can be clarified.

*A series of bombs are discovered in Clearwater city, placed in key locations, including the Tower of Hope's lobby, the bombs are discovered to be merely duds. As the media frenzy envelops the case really fast, overturning all stones for nuggets of information, wild theories range, before a manifesto is released, mirrored closely on the Maroons' humanist propaganda, it states that the bombs were deliberately duds not to cause any harm, but serve as a warning that if the blue party does not step down, real bombs will be used. This however causes aggressive protests by the pro-Russian community in front of the Movement of Liberation's headquarters, with a few people blaming them personally for the attacks. So much so, that Sergey Lisandro has to schedule a speech and media conference on the subject next cycle. Perhaps as a response to this, Russian Specnaz troops have begun training the Clearwater forces, now increasingly more well armed. | ClrWtr LLC 0,97 (0,9%)

*Clashes between Turkey and Armenia are increasing. With Armenia holding a large chunk of Turkish lands under Russian patronage, the new Turkish prime minister is seen it as a great target for his revanshist rhetoric, not to mention that General Badem might need a military action to unite the populace, considering Ankara sees some protests against the disappearance of the civilian elected parliament.

*With the recent problems in Phobos, Hosprings city might be facing a crisis, as many tourists coming to visit the city are stuck in it due to the fighting on Phobos. Until the lines are fully restored, Hotsprings is forced to rent out more rooms for no money for customers stuck in the city.

*The Occupation of Horizon is becoming an increasingly hard thing, fighting a radicalized American population is turning to be pretty hard for Tranquility's military force, which is embroiled in vicious urban guerrilla movement. Tranquility is even considering acquiring help from the European Legion stationed in the Lunar Space elevator.