#16 Space Tourism

A space pirate poses for Eclipse Getaways’ automated souvenir camera after having boarded the ship high above Saturn’s south pole, venting the atmosphere and looting the ship. They will no doubt re-purpose the craft in their fleet or, failing that, send it into the gas giant. Space pirate attacks on commercial spacecraft are rare, but they are always tracking a good number of them, and as soon as one is vulnerable, they strike with speed and cunning. The space pirates mostly operate in “clusters”, small, decentralized groups of spacecraft with complementary purposes. These clusters roam throughout the rings, periodically setting down on the pirates’ many, many lunar bases.

Pirates are a serious thorn in the side of the Saturn Authority. The Jovian Conglomerate has demonstrated a heavy-handed approach to the matter,which appears to have been effective enough ,but Saturn lacks the resources and intent necessary to such drastic measures. Saturn’ perceived inability to deal with it’s problems has earned it a great deal of criticism from the other governments, who have declared that “…the Saturn Authority is demonstrating weakness to the subversive elements at large, and is therefore jeopardizing the entire political order of the solar system!”

Category: Scifi