Udio is a planet in the Third Sphere
About
Udio is a strategically important and lucrative trading hub, well established within the third sphere. Its status and wealth put many of its citizens almost on a par with those living a life of secluded luxury in the core worlds. Dozens of orbital and near-space space stations trade in specific goods; agricultural, military, commodities, precious metals. Three moons in-system host refineries and massive product assembly conglomerates, while the sprawling metropolises on Udio Prime are a hive of corporation commercial enterprise, stock and goods trading, and a thriving black market run by the major cartels.
Overseeing all activity in system is the Udio Department of Commerce and its various Trade Guilds. The UDC is a semi-autonomous body, sub-servient to the GCPS council, but structured in a similar way and with sweeping powers to operate and pass whatever laws they deem necessary for the smooth operation of their domain, and to maximise profits. The Exarch of the UDC chairs the Board and the position comes up for re-election every 3 years. Until recently.
Tobias Zeckermann was the poster boy for the Walcott Corporation, his star rising ever since the ingenious deal he brokered to acquire the rights to the spice runs from Rafus Ultra and the political masterstroke that saw Walcott subsume the larger and more powerful Beeks-Tu megacorp. His seat on the board in 990AE came as no surprise, nor did his eventual election to Exarch in 993AE.
His ascension to the chair of the UDC was followed by a wave of resignations, sackings and disappearances, as Zeckermann quickly tightened his grip on the entire organisation and embedded his own cronies in key positions. Backed by the crime lords of Udio, unafraid to use blackmail, extortion and murder to solidify his powerbase, it quickly became clear that Tobias Zeckermann was the biggest criminal of them all.
The Council were aware of the situation, but took a neutral stance on the matter – ostensibly and publicly informing Walcott’s rivals that so long as the hub continued to operate and profits were made within the scope of Council regulations, all was well. Behind closed doors, Council agents were directed to increase their monitoring of the situation and upscale the amount of intelligence gathering system wide on Udio.
Genocide and Rebellion
Despite several concerning reports of a new alien trafficking trade, huge protection rackets, money laundering, and an escalating cult of personality surrounding Zeckermann, relayed from the other, now minor corporations operating out of Udio, the major alarm bell only sounded in 996AE when the Udio 1st Marine Corp, the Cobras, was deployed alongside members of the Chinzo crime syndicate to Udio Prime’s first moon, Provenance. The moon was home to the first of the colossal product assembly factory complexes and boasted not only its own GCPS garrison for protection, but also a permanent civilian population of over 20 million. The factory owners had refused to bow to the cajoling, meddling and direct threats from the UDC and so the Cobras were dispatched to make the point clear.
As the Cobras landed in their dropships, a small cell of Rebels, operating from the moon, took the initiative and ambushed and slaughtered an entire Company from the Cobra’s 2nd Battalion. When news reached the Exarch he was apoplectic. The incident was the spark that ignited the full-scale civil war now raging in the Udio system. Zeckermann’s response was massively disproportionate and barbaric. He ordered the bombardment of all civilian areas on Provenance resulting in the loss of over one million lives in the resulting firestorm.
Sensing the imminent danger, the Council had already dispatched an Enforcer taskforce alongside a fleet comprising of ships from an alliance of corporations, carrying several GCPS divisions. Zeckermann has gone power mad and has seemingly lost any shred of humanity or sanity he once had. Here is not your normal Rebel, fighting back against perceived corporation injustice. Here is a egotistic maniac that thinks he is better than what has gone before and what can be. Terminal force is the only way to stop him and reassert Council control.
Gallery
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Udio Map
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Udio Planet
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