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Multi-billionaire Zachary Rackham is constructing a permanent outpost at the farthest system above the galactic plane.
The orbital outpost will be located within the HIP 58832 system. This is commonly held to be at the galactic zenith, one of the highest locations that can practically be reached.
The project is funded by the corporation Rackham Capital Investments, with the close involvement of Universal Cartographics and several other scientific organisations. The outpost's location will make it ideal for gathering astronomical data on the overall structure of the galactic spiral.
This historic scientific endeavour was remarked upon by Mr Rackham from his private villa complex on the Rhea Archipelago:
"Back in my days of plying the trade routes in a second-hand Sidewinder, the idea of standing on the roof of space was an idle daydream. This new generation of pilots and ships will make my

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

LOAF stumbled across an interesting album cover here. It's the 1978 Voyage (A Journey Into Discoid Funk) by Brian Bennett and it features a pretty stellar - and familiar - space ship. Something about the six nacelles, narrow central neck and orange/red/silver color scheme makes me think Prince Thrakhath would have found this to be a perfectly adequate flagship in the 2660s.

I can’t speak to the music but this is an EXTREMELY handsome spaceship.

Here's a handful of other Rigakh sightings to compare: from WC2, Last Line of Defense, Klavs' Models and Standoff.

Oh, and what did A Discoid Funk sound like? Here's a sample! I could totally imagine this playing in the Concordia rec room.

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Francesca Wolfe of the Wallglass Investigations Agency provides an inside view of the Jokers' Deck gambling circle.
"Gunnarson's intel was correct. The latest host is multi-billionaire investor Lexi October, the lady who rescued Supratech from bankruptcy. We're in one of October Consortium's disused warehouse complexes, which looks derelict on the outside but is a fabulous glittering palace within. I don't actually know what planet I'm on, since all the servants – including me with my fake ID – were transported here in total secrecy."
"Jokers' Deck is exactly what you'd expect of a luxury casino for the super-rich. Exquisite food, sumptuous clothes, and dozens of games from deadlock poker to Giant Verrix racing. Wagers are made using billion-credit chips, precious gemstones and even land deeds to an entire continent. And that's not counting the VIP rooms that I can't get into."
"I've served

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Commanders are resisting Thargoid incursions in the Dan, HIP 12314 and Nauni systems.
Although Aegis support vessels have been repurposed to offer support in all three systems, the organisation remains officially disbanded. It has fallen to individual pilots to defend the populations from swarms of Thargoid vessels.
The Alliance Defence Force, Federal Navy and Imperial Navy all intend to replace Aegis with their own anti-xeno taskforces, but these have yet to materialise. This was remarked upon by independent journalist Flint 'Firemaker' Lafosse:
"We've got the Alliance trying to sell its own people to Sirius Corporation, the Empire somehow misplacing its own Emperor, and the Federation being torn to pieces by its crazy president… who's got time to worry about Thargoids? I'll tell you who: the civilians in the systems they're invading! Our so-called leaders are

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Today we've got more physical models in the news. Not everyone is up to building a giant intricate model by hand, but 3D printing is a much more accessible way to go about creating something of your very own. L.I.F. has started down this path and his first creations are the Excalibur and Rapier. They look pretty solid for an initial effort with an impressive level of detail retained in a small package. He's done some non-WC tests next, and with those learnings in hand, he'll be moving on to a bigger Excalibur next!

We got our first 3D printer at our family workshop, and after calibrating it with a provided file, my first move was to test it with a more... complex shape, AKA Klavs' very own Excalibur. 6 centimetres long for a first run to see how well it'd work and what additional actions I'd have to take, but it's looking pretty nice already even if I´ll have to ensure the layering leaves no holes

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A look at the rivalry between Aegis and Salvation during the escalating war against the Thargoids.
Salvation's success in purging the Thargoid presence from the Cornsar system had many repercussions, not least from the aliens themselves. Several inhabited nebulas were suddenly overrun with Thargoid vessels, leading some to believe they were reacting aggressively to the Guardian-based nature of the anti-xeno superweapon.
Aegis's hands were tied by the ongoing public inquiry, but its chief military liaison Admiral Aden Tanner was convinced that the superweapon was designed to attract Thargoids as well as repel them. Claiming that evidence for this could be found at Hind Mine in the T Tauri system, he commanded the megaship Musashi to launch an assault.
This was a battle that Taurus Mining Ventures won with much support from independent pilots, showing how much faith was now placed in Salvation.

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Mac's upcoming End Run lore video is still in the cooker, but he's released this glorious wallpaper to help tide fans over in the mean time. It features one of Klavs' Rapiers screaming towards a planetary target. Top notch wallpapering!

The Wing Commander End Run video is being pushed to January. It needs to be done right, which requires more time. In the meantime I will see about uploading something smaller to appease the Youtube algorithm for this month. So here's a still shot.

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One for the never noticed/can't unsee file: the destroyer that flies towards the screen in the Wing Commander Academy intro is traveling BACKWARDS!

Every other appearance has the conning tower in the back and the round... pod... in the front.

Another good backwards ship is the Vaktoth used on the Wing Commander card game packaging!

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Today we've got a glorious (4K!) wallpaper by Mac, of recent fan project fame. It's lit by an enormous explosion that highlights some immaculate texturing. Mac reveals that the reason we're looking at this particular view is because the underside isn't complete yet, but we'll take it!

Nothing makes for prettier fireworks then an exploding Kilrathi naval starbase as Admiral Tolwyn & Chris Blair will attest to. Good god, look at how pretty Hangar_B's Concordia is by the light of thousands of burning Kilrathi.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

President Zachary Hudson and Shadow President Felicia Winters have united behind Federal backing for the reformation of Aegis.
Congress held an emergency debate after the Alliance and Empire agreed to support an official tri-superpower initiative against the Thargoids. A majority of votes from Republican, Liberal and independent representatives approved the provision of ships, personnel and materials from the Federation.
President Hudson delivered a short address to mark the occasion:
"The intensified Thargoid attacks against the core systems demand a proportionate response. We recognise that Salvation was directly responsible for many of the tragic events that Aegis was blamed for. The Federation has an opportunity to correct that misjudgement and do our part to defeat a common adversary."
Congressman Tom Gillespie has volunteered to coordinate the Federation's involvement with any unified

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Princess Aisling Duval has assumed oversight of the Empire's contributions to the tri-superpower agency Aegis.
She discussed her new role during an interview with The Imperial Herald:
"Loathe though I was to defy the Emperor's decree, every instinct told me that the Aegis initiative can develop methods of protecting the Empire from enormous losses in this war. I'm grateful that Arissa recognised the value of my plea."
"I've been liaising with Professor Alba Tesreau, as well as Dr Fonseca, Vice Admiral Anderson and the rest of my team. Our challenge is to make the most of the Imperial resources allocated to Aegis."
"It's true that I was critical of Aegis's effectiveness in the past, but I've always believed that cooperation with other superpowers can bring mutual benefits. The mass slaughter inflicted by the Thargoids eclipses the NMLA's atrocities – a challenge we faced together. We must

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Deliveries are requested in Duamta to fast-track production of a module that protects ships in caustic environments.
Professor Alba Tesreau, the head of Aegis, provided these details:
"We are grateful to Aden Tanner for personally testing our prototype caustic sink launcher. The electrochemical reaction within the Maelstrom cloud was successfully channelled into semi-liquid anodes for ejection. This kept the ship hull intact for considerably longer before Tanner was forced to withdraw."
"Aegis is setting up manufacturing and distribution centres to make the caustic sink launcher widely available. The Alliance, Empire and Federation will all contribute, but we know that the process can be accelerated with the direct support of the galactic community."
"Therefore, we have an open order for shipments of advanced catalysers, heatsink interlinks and palladium. We also

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Similarities between the Nemesis Failsafe and Utopia's Sim-Archive have led to questions being asked about a possible connection.
Independent journalist Flint 'Firemaker' Lafosse reported on Seo Jin-ae's recent discoveries:
"We all knew that Salvation had a messiah complex, so it's no surprise that he planned to keep his colossal ego alive after his ancient body died. We also know that Pranav Antal has been digitising his followers' brains for years."
"My question is: did Salvation modify Antal's system for his own private use, rather than reverse-engineer Guardian technology? Or maybe Azimuth and Utopia were secretly working together all this time, and the Sim-Archive has always been Guardian-based? It would explain how Utopia is able to maintain funding for its little tech-bohemian commune."
This theory was critiqued by The Federal Times's technology correspondent Harlow Nassry:
"It is a

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Sirius Corporation has revealed a long-running project to rescue people who were captured by the Thargoids.
CEO Li Yong-Rui made this statement during a press conference:
"Shortly after the early reports of Thargoid Interceptors collecting inhabited escape pods were received, Sirius has explored several possible countermeasures. Various remote recovery methods had been designed, although only a few prototypes were ever constructed."
"Now that the Thargoids are conducting widespread, systematic abductions of living humans, we believe that this research may prove crucial to saving millions of lives. Sirius Corporation is willing to bypass the commercial potential of our work and share it directly with Aegis. I have personally requested a meeting with Professor Tesreau to provide details and discuss options."
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Corcoran, who oversees the Alliance's contributions to

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Folks, I’d like to introduce you to a true mystery that is driving insane. These photos were kindly posted by a game art collector who purchased them from artist Greg Winters.

The first is the (wonderful!) cover to Mindscape’s SNES Secret Missions port. The second was said to be for an insert… but it was not something found in the final product. So what the heck is it and what was it for?!

Is it even from Wing Commander? At first glance it is certainly at least referencing a bunch of WC visuals that would be appropriate for Secret Missions SNES. For instance, these readouts are straight from the Hornet cockpit:

And the armor gauge is straight from the Raptor art!

That’s absolutely a Wing Commander pilot comm on the left.

And while it’s not a proper WC layout it IS designed around a central Patriarchal radar display, something specific to WC.

So maybe it’s an insert created for the game but dropped? A

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I've updated my Wing Commander playlists on Spotify, just for you! First up: the movie score plus the licensed, diegetic tracks.

Second, the Wing Commander Prophecy OST recreated from pieces. It's getting closer with each update... we're just lacking, you know, the Cobalt 60 tracks.

And here's the big hot dog, everything Wing Commander-related in one place. They added the recent Wing Commander I go buy it anyway.

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This is probably the best photo of Flint and a Kilrathi extra with tiny hands that you're going to see tonight.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

How many people here know about the Maniac?

Some lesser known Maniac variations, pixel edition:

Fine art edition. Wait did he start out as just... Luke Skywalker? And Tom Wilson auditioned for Blair... *X-Files theme*

It turns out a fair number of people were already aware of the Maniac.

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The clock continues to tick down towards the formal delisting of Wing Commander Arena from the Xbox 360 Marketplace. As of July 29, 2024, all Xbox 360 games that aren't forward compatible to the modern Xbox One/Series consoles will no longer be sold. This is a bittersweet (more bitter than sweet) milestone for those of us who thoroughly enjoyed the game when it launched in the summer of 2007, but it's also pretty incredible that it's had an uninterrupted 17 year run of official support. The good news is that you can still buy the game now and continue to play it online for the foreseeable future. Even if you don't own a 360 console, it's just $10 on the web. Pick it up now, or else you may find yourself chasing down that November 2007 OXM cover disc for the physical copy! It does seems likely that Microsoft will eventually also sunset 360 online support as well, but we're cautiously optimistic

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*PILOTS FEDERATION ALERT*
Reports are coming in that the strained De Caminha station has been the target of increased levels of pirate attacks.
Jerome Archer has announced a growing state of concern among parts of Federation space, stating that the war has spread supplies and support too thin amongst their territories.
Archer currently remains the Vice President of the Federation until President-elect Felicia Winters returns from supporting her home planet of Rhea 3, which is still recovering from a series of devastating earthquakes.
At an emergency conference, Jerome Archer stated the following:
"The good work that the Federation is doing in the fight against the Thargoids is noble, and valuable, but it takes its toll. Our president, Zachary Hudson, has done an excellent job maintaining the Federation in spite of this, but we can only do so much."
"It pains me to see De Caminha be the target