The Lane Hackers are a criminal group with the technical expertise to monitor and disrupt Trade Lanes for the purpose of seizing valuable cargo.
Lane Hackers are mostly composed of former Los Angeles Ageira Technologies employees who created the extremely complex scanning and database system know as USI (Universal Ship identification). Departing the company rather acrimoniously in 750 AS, they have become a growing problem in the Independent Worlds. The Lane Hackers in Magellan and Galileo share one common origin -- Ageira. The scandal that erupted within the company after the great Galileo bypass project, which resulted in the unnecessary construction of a hugely expensive set of Jump Gates an Trade Lanes, forced several executives and an elite development team out. This would become the second part of the core of the Lane Hackers, along with the original California scanner group that fled to Magellan.
The investigation continues to this day, but has so far been unsuccessful in locating Trade Lane Hacker bases. No Hacker No Hacker has ever been captured, although various Rogues in the Independent Worlds have ... been caught possessing remarkably accurate information regarding upcoming high-value shipments.
Security measures have been added to the software, but the Hackers remain one step ahead, leading Ageira security experts to believe that there are many sympathetic programmers still within the company, possibly being secretly paid off-with the proceed from the thefts. The Lane Hackers prefer to sell their information to others rather than do the dirty work themselves, although they sometimes swoop in and tractor in a cargo if it's particularly juicy. Fancying themselves as modern-day Robin-hoods, they avoid direct confrontation when possible, unless it is the henchmen of the despised IC and Ageira.
They like to frequent Freeport 4 and the Ames Research Station, as their asteroid bases within the clouds can become claustrophobic. Their Cardamine addiction force the Hackers to trade drugs for Trade Lane info with the Outcasts at the Mactan base. Leiden is a key transfer point for smuggled goods between Kusari and Liberty, especially the Artifacts trade, which the Hogosha dominate. A steady stream of Hogosha ships make the journey to the Galileo system. The Lane Hackers have also been spotted in Colorado, leading authorities to speculate that there may be multiple Jump Holes routes into that system from the Independent Worlds.
