space tea Cup 2: The federation is in trouble

This week’s Space Tea is about the Federation, as well as Jupiter Rochester’s continuing actions in HIP 4530 and how it’s a losing battle, as well as touching on a variety of other news happening in Elite this week. A lot has been happening in just a short amount of time, and you can expect a 2.5 article this week once the results of the Federation vs Jupiter Division war are in. Let’s dive right in! Also, I’ve decided to change from “Episode” to “Cup”, because…tea!

Right now, the Federation and Jupiter Division are engaged in a massive war in HIP 4350, with Jupiter as of this writing, is losing, very badly. The Federation is defeating him quite soundly, and it doesn’t look like Jupiter will be recovering. But why, you ask, is the Federation in trouble? Well, Core Dynamics has provided several of the Federation’s warships, from the Eagle to a Farragut Battle Cruiser, as well as the Federal Gunship, one of the heavy hitters for the federation. The Gunship is a medium-sized multi-crew-enabled warship. It has two variants, the Federal Dropship and Federal Assault Ship, and while she’s not as maneuverable as her variants, she can carry a fighter bay and can take one hell of a pounding. This could pose a problem for the Federation as when I went to the war zone, a lot of Jupiter Division were using Federal Gunships. These things are serious hull tanks, with my fully engineered (upgraded) guns barely scratching the paint. That may be a problem if Jupiter has run off with the blueprint, and can enhance it in some way shape, or form to take even more of a pounding than she already can. This thing can slam a hole in the side of your anaconda and not spill any tea in the process. Get it..space tea, not spill any tea…ok ill see myself out. But that’s just one of the problems the Federation is currently facing.

Another issue is Shadow Vice President Isolde Rochester. Yes, the same family of Jupiters. Jupiter is Isolde’s eldest son, and being Shadow Vice President, along with Zachary Hudson’s friendship with Jupiter, the Republican Party, as well as the entire Federation is in a lot of trouble right now. This is some serious damage to the Federation as a whole, with both the President and Shadow Vice President both having ties to Jupiter Rochester. Unlike Hudson, however, Isolde made a public statement about Jupiter, which begs the question, why is Hudson so quiet? Hudson needs to make a statement, and he needs to make one now. What follows is Isolde’s statement taken from the Galnet article on February 15th, 3307:

“Jupiter’s horrendous actions were his alone, made completely without our knowledge. My whole family is appalled at his illegal activity. We have offered to aid the authorities in bringing him to justice.”

This begs the question as to why Zachary Hudson, the current president of the Federation, and was at one time best friends with Jupiter, has not made a statement? This presents a major issue. While it’s not believed Hudson has anything to do with Jupiter’s involvement with Starship One’s explosion, covered in the first Space Tea, you can imagine the damage to his reputation. He rose to power on exactly that, power. Power only gets you so far. Power relies on reputation, and Hudson’s reputation has been shattered with the whole Core Dynamics incident, and the common belief is when it comes time for re-election, Hudson will not be winning. The question now is, who will run to defeat Hudson? His term is nearly up, and with all this mess going on, it’s a sure-fire win for whoever runs against him, more than likely. Maybe he’ll scream and throw a fit and scream fake news and say how he didn’t lose the election if/when he does. Oh wait, that was…nevermind.

I asked in a couple discords what they thought would come of the war with the Federation and Jupiter Division. No one in my squad wanted to comment, but over in streamer Grinning_Crow‘s discord, user Polyblank believes Jupiter is going to go into hiding before the war ends, and possibly join up with the NMLA, the Neo Marlinist Liberation Army, a terrorist organization. They have repeatedly caused issues, bombing starports, assassinating Prince Harold Duval, among other things. This would be quite the turn, joining an outright terrorist organization. I personally don’t believe he will, as this would go against his beliefs, and joining a blatant band of Terrorists just seems counter-productive.

The last bit of Space Tea for this week deals with something we covered in last week’s Space Tea, Lakon Spaceways. I am so glad to be writing this, as the news broke only this morning. The Alliance, one of the four major galactic powers, has bailed out Lakon Spaceways. Lakon were originally independent contractors that catered almost specifically for the Alliance, but with the hostile takeover of Lakon by Core now revoked, as touched on last week, now are partially owned by the Alliance. The Alliance Assembly voted to purchase a majority share in Lakon but was voted against by some Assembly members, including Nakato Kaine. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kaine was somehow involved in the Core Dynamics takeover attempt. Reminds me of a certain senate minority leader who likes to sabotage good things. A lot of things in Elite mirror real-life political situations you’ll learn. However moving on, Naomi Landseer, the reinstated chairperson of Lakon Spaceways board of directors, had this to say:

“We welcome becoming closer partners with the Alliance, which we see as a natural progression following a successful collaboration on past projects. I’m pleased to inform customers that the manufacture of Lakon vessels will continue uninterrupted.”

Galnet reports that most of Lakon’s personal will migrate to Alliance space, and they will build a new headquarters for Lakon in the Alioth system, inside Alliance held space. The full range of Alliance ships will continue to remain for purchase all over, however, and will not be confined to Alliance held space, a wise move by the Alliance. Long Live Lakon!

That’s all for this week’s Space Tea. With the war with the Alliance and Jupiter Rochester winding down, if something major happens with it, I will put out a 2.5 update for Space Tea.

As always, right now I am social media dark, but you can find me in Elite Dangerous as Riley Thomas, or on discord as Riley#8854, and occasionally I stream on twitch until Glimesh comes out.

This weeks shoutouts for Elite Streamers go to:

My squad leader, Saybin, http://www.twitch/tv/Saybin

A fantastic player, Emulated Penguin

Finally a fantastic friend of mine, Amarii: http://www.twitch.tv/missamarii