Most of you commanders will know about (and possibly even taken advantage of) the incredibly profitable missions offered by the various factions of Allen Hub in Upsilon Aquarii, ferrying passengers en masse to Smeaton Orbital in LTT 9360. The reason so many people were willing to hand over up to a million credits to be crammed into economy passenger cabins was, of course, the eagerly anticipated grand opening of Superstar Chef Antoine Grazsalek’s new restaurant, The Fat Thargoid. This eccentric gastronome reportedly moved his operation from Hutton Orbital after the local authorities passed legislation to ban some of the more…exotic ingredients in Grazsalek’s arsenal. Upon opening the restaurant, it was swamped with orders, so much so that patrons faced a one-year wait to take their seats. Soon enough though, a loophole was found in the restaurant’s terms and conditions, meaning that residents of Smeaton would have their wait shortened considerably. This caused a rush of people actually picking up their belongings and moving there!

And so things went for a while. The boom in fact brought considerable internal strife to the system and caused no less than two civil wars, but all of a sudden, some three months after the influx began, Grazsalek announced the immediate closure of his restaurant and demand for passenger liners dropped off a cliff. Antoine has since faded back into solitude, The Fat Thargoid now a boarded up shell, leading to many unanswered questions and many more angry patrons.

Which brings us to the meat of this story; Acclaimed director Simon James, creator of the bone-chilling Nightmare on Turner’s World and To SagA* And Back has announced his new project: Butcher Of Upsilon Aquarii, A film that will shed light on what actually happened during these past few heady months. The Fuel Scoop were invited to a secret, pre-production meeting and were furnished with this exclusive story.

It seems that the real reason for the sudden closure of The Fat Thargoid came because of the wanton and brutal acts of one Morgan Cressy and the subsequent cover-up by the local factions of Upsilon Aquarii. Over the course of three months, Cressy methodically targeted massive Beluga liners carrying influential and wealthy prospective patrons headed to Smeaton. He would buy his own place on the ships and would board with the rest of them, but in the minutes before takeoff, would cite some excuse for suddenly leaving the vessel, having planted a sufficiently large explosive device near the FSD drive, which would trigger just as the liner was revving up to jump. Hundreds died and the local authorities went to great lengths buying off relatives and bribing officials to preserve their stake in the booming passenger business. It was only when director Simon James discovered the killer’s manifesto was he able to piece together the truth and now, production of this seminal exposee is being undertaken.

We are always watching!

Focko Hoft signing out.

Picture by Cmdr Lordpsymon