Hundreds Dead in 'Pleasure Hub' Massacre

In our continuing Tech 4 Flashback series, we take a misty-eyed look back at the collaborative efforts of EVE's talented lore community, who provided many fascinating news shorts to give an alternative view on life in New Eden.

One of the fun aspects of the project was that many contributors adopted non-capsuleer pen-names, even going as far as creating the character in-game (even if only temporarily, for portrait purposes). Frustratingly, looking back through the submissions I have stored, record of who is behind each pseudonym is sketchy.

But I'm pretty sure I remember which prominent (and still active) blogger wrote as Darlan Mosota, the reporter of this piece from 14th February YC114 (2012).

Can you figure it out?

Clue: He's a great writer of fiction, but misspelled the name of an ancient Assyrian city in his blog title.

Hundreds Dead in 'Pleasure Hub' Massacre
By Darlan Mosota (State News)

Teonusude, Molden Heath – Rescuers from the Republic Fleet continued to pull bodies from the wreckage of an illegal “pleasure hub” that was brutally attacked and destroyed yesterday by an unidentified capsuleer vessel.

Unlicensed pleasure hubs are a common sight in remote and poorly policed locations.
Authorities within the Molden Heath Regional Assembly in Gelfiven commented that the issue was being raised with CONCORD. “This is not the first time that capsuleers have acted recklessly and endangered many lives as a result,” assemblyman Uoro Juntin said in a prepared statement to the press. He continued, “We will not stand for this type of vigilantism in our space.”

The pleasure hub, believed to have been constructed by operatives of the notorious Angel Cartel, was hosting numerous illegal and restricted activities such as gambling, drug trafficking, and prostitution when the attack began.

Master Chief Kold Haardt of the Emergency Services division of the Trust Partners Trading Post station in the Teonusude system said that “normally the escape pods get almost everyone off a structure like this during an attack,” but as the hub was just recently opened and construction was still ongoing, “several decks did not have the proper safety mechanisms in place.” He also noted that “a legal establishment cannot open without those measures for this very reason.”

Trust Partners Trading Post, Teonusude III, Moon 6.
Trust Partners Emergency Services were the first to respond to the distress calls, arriving approximately two hours after the attack, at which time they began retrieving people from the escape craft.

I realized there was only half as many boats as expected for a structure that size,” Chief Haardt said. “At that point I called for the military as they have the proper equipment for structure search and rescue.”

This morning, a release from the Republic Fleet stated that they have pulled 344 bodies from the wreckage of the pleasure hub.

[If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more EVE fiction in the Tech 4 Flashback series, here's a good place to start: Tech 4 Flashback: The Stories of the Non-Capsuleer Residents of New Eden.]

More of the author's fiction can be read here.

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