by Adella Chatelaine, Investigative Reports

18/6- Dark news today, as reports from air ships returning from the colonies report that Waystation Bravo, one of four airborne outposts that provide shelter and supply to ships making the journey across the Barrier Ocean, has gone missing.

The first indication that something was wrong came at the beginning of last week, when the merchant ship Hewlett’s Pride arrive at the northwest corner of the Waystation system’s circuit.

“We went to sea and waited for Bravo to show,” said Captain Hewlett. “Should’ve been six hours, tops, but it was eighteen hours before a Station appeared. Turned out to be Charlie. Port authority told us they hadn’t heard from Bravo in more than a day.”

After Hewlett made a report to Waystation Charlie’s port-master, frigates were sent to investigate. As part of search protocol, several of these frigates traveled to the center of the circuit. What they found horrified them.

“It’s like some sort of hurricane, except it ain’t moving, and it ain’t getting smaller,” said the captain of the lead frigate. “We’ve got ships out there monitoring the situation. It’s been a week, and there’s been no change, except the storm has gotten larger. We can see the edges now from the other Waystations.”

The mysterious storm has put scientists across the Triumvirate on edge.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” said prominent meteorologist Humphrey Bredoteau. “A stationary storm lasting more than a week that doesn’t dissipate, it shouldn’t be possible, but there it is.”

Neither the Triumvirate Sky Authority or Bredoteau are willing to comment that the storm has anything to do with Waystation Bravo’s disappearance.

“We’re looking through transmissions and manifests sent from Bravo to Alpha and Charlie,” said Charlie’s portmaster. “It’s no secret that the Waystations house a large criminal element, and that station Echo is controlled by Alejandro Julianos. I wouldn’t be surprised he landed on Bravo and tried to take it over.”

The large criminal presence aboard the Waystations certainly calls into question the safety and long term viability of the entire affair, but they remain a prime economic link between the Triumvirate and the Colonies, and the Crowndon Air Corps claims that rousting the criminals would likely lead to the complete loss of the stations.

The Blackwood Gazette will continue to report on this situation as it develops.

Adella Chatelaine is the editor and chief of the Gazette’s NorEastern branch and lead investigative reporter. She built her career as a freelancer and is notorious for her hard hitting interview style. When not traveling the Triumvirate looking for a story, she is a fixture in a wide spectrum of NorEastern social circles.