The explosion at a chemical weapons laboratory (officially "military facility") near Beyond Micom was caused by sabotage, perhaps by an enemy power according to the Clone Defence Forces. The fire at the facility is now being damped down though toxic substances have been dispersed over a wide area. Casualties are not known though is said to include at least a dozen at the facility itself. Luckily the prevailing winds sent the plume over a scarcely populated area which was quickly evacuated.
Specialist NBC troops from the Clone Army have arrived and are conducting both a de-contamination as well as an investigation into the cause of the explosion. One source says an eye witness saw two figures, who did not look like Clones, in the area just before the explosion. However, as 40% of the population of Micom province is human that does not necessarily mean anything significant.
Clone TV news outlets are reporting an explosion and a fire at a military facility south of Beyond Micom on Cloneworld. The facility is said to be a chemical weapon development lab for the Clone Army though the military insist it is merely a "storage depot".
A wide area around the facility has been evacuated and cordoned off, luckily the prevailing winds are currently away from Beyond Micom, the second biggest city on Cloneworld. Two K72EMR NBC reconnaissance aircraft have been reported to be circling the exclusion zone. The aircraft are equipped for detecting NBC substances in the atmosphere.
An unnamed source has also said there is increased activity an at army base near Ailier City which is where the Clone Army's specialist NBC Warfare Regiment is based.
An NS Depender 161A has been intercepted on the edge of the Clone Star Empire near Lornaca Melnig. The intelligence gathering ship (officially the Dependers are "multi-role combat support ships") Two Clone ships tried to force the NS ship to return with them to the nearest Clone port after they said the Depender had launched a cyber attack on CDF satellites in orbit over Lornaca Melnig.
The Depender made a run for the border, the Clones are reported to have fired warning shots but the Depender managed to cross into UNP space and the Clones withdrew.
An independent analyst said that it is possible NS launched the attack to support the delivery of weapons to the Lornaca Fighters insurgent group. NS have denied they are sending weapons. The Clones have increased patrols in the area and have promised "decisive action" if another Depender is spotted in their territory.
Censor Ronald has paid a surprise trip to Starbot where he met the senior leadership. It is understood that he has offered Starbot membership of the Dino Trade Association if it leaves or is kicked out of the MBO-New Sparta ally network.
It is not known if this is official Dino or DTA policy though coming from Ronald it will most likely become so. Starbot is thought to be taking the idea seriously though this could cause serious astral-political ramifications.
Starbot has been removed from various intelligence and technology sharing groups by Viceroy Caratore as punishment for perceived assistance by Starbot to the so-called Real DDS rebel faction. Whilst Starbot is not officially helping the Real DDS there is now proof (according to NSIS) that senior Starbotian officials are assisting Real DDS with the full knowledge of the Starbotian leadership.
Starbot will not be allowed to take part in NS exercises and will be downgraded to Tier 2 status if the assistance continues Caratore said. Starbotian Commander S101 has repeated that Starbot is not assisting Real DDS.
The NS amphibious warfare fleet could be cut back following a review by an MBO-NS team looking into NS power projection. NS built up a fleet to facilitate the landing of a large raiding force or bridgehead though has never used these assets in anger. Viceroy Caratore says he does not think NS needs such a capability.
The fleet of Clone built Pangaea 62A landing ships is said to be in poor condition and will not make it's expected end of service date of 2140 without major rebuilding (2130 will be pushing it). NS might phase them out early.
There are reports of explosions at DDS City on Proxima 7, the largest base of NS has been put on a full lock down. One unconfirmed report states that Real DDS were operating in the base though whatever their planned target was it looks like they were unsuccessful.
It is reported that a new, previously unknown, unit of NSIS Marines called the Dark Blade Unit (DBU) was involved in the counter-terrorism response. DBU marines are said to have been augmented by bio-medical implants including neural links to their weapon systems.
MBO have begun an upgrade programme for it's mainstay Nectar destroyer, which is also in NS service. MBO plan to greatly augment the Nectar with NS technologies including worm drive, Zip cannons and info weapon support. The Nectar missile launcher has already been adapted to fire TPMs though it is not known if the MBO have set up their own TPM factories yet.
The upgraded Nectars, which would be new build, will be known as the Nectar X. This is a separate upgrade programme to the Nectar E though includes some of the same NS updates. It is thought the Nectar E is for the NS' own Nectar fleet only.
A UNP freighter has been stopped just inside Clone Star Empire space said to be bound for Lornaca Melnig where an insurgency by the Lornacan Fighters and Free Lornaca has raged ever since the planet was invaded by the Clones.
The freighter is said to have been carrying small arms of NS manufacture as well as ammunition and military communication devices also of NS makes. However, all of the equipment was of older types no longer in widespread service with NS. The Clones have accused New Sparta of supplying the Lornacan insurgents.
NSIS Chief Boxman has denied the claims though said they will investigate how old NS equipment was on the ship. He said it was probably stolen during the MBO war from NS storage facilities by criminals.
The lead ship of the new Repulse 51B destroyer class, the follow-on from the Corkscrew, has entered service following extensive trials (which is typical for a new class of warship). The Repulse is a development of the Corkscrew with a flexible mission wing to enable a greater array of armaments.
The Repulse is equipped with a Zip cannon, 48 TPMs in a VLS and can also carry MRMs and other attack missiles. Nineteen more Repulse are on order.
The Dinos are building an extensive base on a large asteroid between Jeloka and Pulsin in the Dino Empire. The base, which some have dubbed "SS-Two" (SS-One being the vast new base on Jeloka) though has not been officially named yet, will have an SS garrison, basing facilities for up to a dozen Dinomarks and ship maintenance and supply facilities. An existing subspace communication relay and a listening post are likely to be decommissioned and the abilities moved to the new base.
The main purpose of the base though is to act as the relay for the second link in the Dino Deep Subspace Burrowing Technology (DSBT) network. This is an artificial continuous wormhole that has been built between Dino-Land and Jeloka and allows for instant teleport transportation between any two points (or ships in orbit) on the two planets.
The distance to Pulsin, the second planet in the empire, is said to be too far for a stable DBST stream hence the need for a relay station. When the link is active then anyone will be able to teleport from Dino-Land (or Jekoka) to Pulsin in seconds and vice versa.
The Dinos say the DBST link should be active by the mid-2120s. Work on a link to Sirikwan Prime is also underway though this may require up to three relays.
