Six months ago the Union operated gate to the Tabernacle system went offline. In what was assumed to be an unlikely and unlucky malfunction the harmonically stable blink portal briefly shunted itself forward in time by 78ns, causing a critical and overwhelming release of energy into the surrounding real-space. This destroyed the L1 point (Cruet/Tabernacle) station - Ciboria - that ringed the blink gate killing some 8 million souls and signalling the start of the Gate Crisis in Tabernacle.
One month ago the first sightings of and engagements with DerBoa outrunner corvettes were reported in the local net. Whispers spread that the destruction of Ciboria and the blink gate were premeditated, and that the expansionist DerBoa Empire has a full subjugation force en-route to bring the system within its sphere, now they’re cut-off from Union & Corporate support. Presence of these outriders suggests that the subjugation fleet can’t be more than a handful of months out.
Hope remains, the Union caminus-class heavy manufactury cruiser Playing the Fool, and attendant Union battlegroup have been dispatched at sub-blink speeds. Their location in proximal near-space is a blessing, and they are predicted to arrive in-system in 8 months.