By Tillery Woodhen
Cortex News Service

The Cortex News Service bureau on Al Raqis was the target of an attempted bombing this week.

Two devices were discovered when CNS CEO Tillery Woodhen came in to make a routine check on the office. Authorities were immediately contacted and were able to defuse the bombs with no injuries.

The Al Raqis authorties refused to speculate on who placed the bombs and why. "We recovered two devices. Our invesigators are examining currently examining all of the evidence," said Al Raqis Chief Magistrate Joan Al Jofar.  "We have a zero tolerance on Al Raqis for this sort of behavior.  Bombings outside Kanley will investigated and the perpetrators will be brought to justice."
 
"The Great Houses know how to handle vendetta," she added.  "This bombing attempt was clearly made by an amateur."

Woodhen has his own suspicions but chose not to release them to the press.

The bureau is across the central place from the warehouse and Al Raqis offices of Faith Industries.

The finest in the Verse. Samples available
at Suzanne's Laundry and Bath on Persephone.

By Delta Sweetwater
Special to CNS

After the events that led to the destruction of Shadow, more and more voices condemn the actions taken by the Alliance. Recently the United Systems Directorate released an official statement condemning the bombing of Shadow as a “terrible and unnecessary act of violence”. Furthermore, the USD held a press Conference on Acriobrea regarding the happenings on Shadow and presented another survivor of the nuclear apocalypse.

Lt.Col. John Collins, Officer of the United Systems Military: Ground Forces was on the surface on November 7.th and was caught in the conflict. “I was on leave and spend some of my free time on Shadow, together with a friend of mine when I saw bright flashes in the sky. I knew on the instance that it were re-entry vehicles from Orbital Weapons. We were in the center of the town and I shouted to get out asap.” Colonel Collins said.

On the question how he survived he said “I was wearing a power Armor at this time, I just had completed the refreshment training every power armor wear has to make and didn’t removed it when we landed on Shadow.

We all ran out of the town, into the direction of a river. Shortly after that the nuclear warheads detonated behind us, so we hit the deck. We later took cover in a abandon looking bunker and hid in there. 24h later we crawled back to the surface and could establish a commlink with a freighter that was in orbit and we got picked up.”

The story sounds incredible and but was certified by the Official USD Spokesperson: “We have a detailed report and we have several eyewitnesses that can certify the report and we should not forget the Data collected by the Power Armor inbuilt sensors.”

Still that raises some question: how can an Lt.Col. of an foreign power simply be take its leave on Shadow and take a stroll through the town wearing Power Armor? Was he really just with a friend, a civilian or is there more than meets the eye? And who are those eyewitnesses and what freighter picked them up after 24h?

One question could at least be answer, how the Colonel could survive the high radiation: “The PA-M45 Advanced power Armor type “Enclave” has full NBC protection for a period of at least 4 weeks if necessary” The Colonel said.

The United Systems Directorate (USD) is a unification of several star systems in the Aurora out arm, with a federal government style system which is located at Naruni Prime. The ruling bodies are the High Council and the Senate who compose the main ruling body for the separate sector administrations.

Having been neutral for a long time, this change of positions is quite a surprise and may relate in cold relations between the Alliance and the USD. At this time, the true power and potential of the USD is unknown and The Alliance has yet to react on this statement.

By  Woodrow Wilson Smith
Cortex News Service

The edge of the Splintered Rock desert was graced today by a grisly sight. The head of Charles Thomas Flux a long time resident of the Rock was found on a pole just beyond the edge of the Tarmac. His body as yet has not been located. "We will get to the bottom of this attrocity, you mark my words," Constable Vooper was ademate in his resitation of what will happen to those involve in this devistating occurance.
 
As of this posting, no body has been found. Locals say that it is traditional to strip it of all water and feed the rest to the worms.

May what ever Gods he worshiped find peace for his soul.

CNS Staff Reports

Reports that Alliance citizens have been taken into custody and held without charge in the wake of the events of November 7 remain impossible to confirm, as government officials refuse to release the name, number or location of persons in "extraordinary detention".

Now a new source of confusion and anxiety surrounds the seizure of ships and crews in the exclusion zones declared during the operations against Caliban and Shadow. In the latter case in particular, large numbers of craft and people remain unaccounted for, including cases where witnesses confirm they had escaped the areas under attack.

A military source who declined to be identified for this report told CNS that "persons remaining in the exclusion zone after the beginning of the operation were designated as enemy combatants, and will be processed to determine whether they pose a continuing threat to the security of the Alliance." This source refused to state the nature of the process, or when anxious relatives and the public can expect to learn whether missing persons are in fact in custody and where.

Relatives of missing persons have petitioned military and government officials, but report receiving no assistance. In one case, a mother whose two small children were aboard a ship bound from Shadow to Persephone cannot determine their whereabouts, or those of the ship.

"I don't know what to believe," she told our reporter. "If the military has them, wode ma, why won't they tell me? And if not, tian shaode!"