Good day Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to Hutton Orbital Radio. Broadcasting throughout the Alpha Centauri system from orbit around Eden - a paradise for people who like peace, quiet and a good Gin & tonic
Our "Focus on Hutton" slot today is taken up with a brief history of the station.
Supported by the Alpha Centauri Freedom Party, Eden has an important place in the history of space exploration. In 2038, it was the location that provided the first detection of liquid water on any planet outside the Solar System (now Sol). As the human race expanded out into the Milky Way, this small planet was the first destination for long range probes. Eden itself turned out to be anything but... A planet with high volcanism, huge metal deposits and atmospheric water, it was incapable of sustaining human life and had little commercial value other than the raw metals mined from the surface.
Early settlers established an un-manned orbital stop point around the planet and over the centuries, it attracted wayfarers, retired pirates and Federal fugitives who developed Hutton Orbital into the hub that it is today.
With the advent of the new Frame Shift drives and Nav beacons, as well as the creation of Al-Din as a more serious trading and stop off hub for the system, Hutton became more and more isolated. At 0.22Ly from the jump-in point at its closest, even with the most advanced drives available, it takes an hour and a half of supercruise to arrive at the orbital.
Using imported botanicals and water from the planet surface (high in metal content), Centauri Mega Gin was distilled on the station by entrepreneurial inhabitants and a minor export run was started to populated space. The length of the trip, and the success of the unique blend of the gin has created a space-wide demand for the drink.
From their marketing materials:
"This chemical distillate is almost pure Alcohol, but with subtle, prized flavors. Often used as an ingredient in more dangerous cocktails. The exact details of the distillation process are a closely guarded secret."
Unfortunately, with recent price hikes in both fuel and repair costs from the various repair unions, the Gin has become uneconomical to trade.
Many commanders set out on the trip to collect it - very few remember to check the distance and their fuel load out. Ship after ship ends its existence stranded en-route to the station with commanders calling for assistance from the nearest patrol through their emergency Remlok comms.
An enterprising trader who is known these days simply as "Muggsy" started flying his beaten old Python out from Hutton and salvaging these wrecks, bringing back spares for the station maintenance team. During the long evenings, drinking gin, his idle hands started fashioning left over drive plates into mugs to sell at the station shop. Stamped simply with a stylised image of Proxima, the legend .22ly and an silhouette of the orbital, the mugs were often picked up by pilots stopping over at the station.
Rumours started to circulate that when in supercruise, the harmonics from the frame shift drive would affect the material of the mug, causing the contents to appreciably warm, keeping a drink piping hot throughout the long 1.5 hours journey.
Sought after by explorers from the First Great Expedition and regular long-haul traders, the mugs are rapidly becoming a must have commodity for members of the Pilot's Federation and general traders.
Muggsy and his business partners have formed the Hutton Mug Trading company, protected the idea throughout Federal, Alliance and Imperial space and applied for a license to productionise the mug.
He protects both his identity and methods fiercely - leading to accusations that he is a fiction of the station authorities, created to form a mystique around the Orbital's existence. The Anti Hutton Mug League have taken up arms in protest, though it is suspected that they are Federal sympathisers opposed to the station's independent status.
Station authorities are petitioning via Galnet to obtain permission for Hutton to create a drone and limpet store, mostly to be able to bring the giant trading ships to the Orbital - boosting trade in the metals from the planet below and both the Gin and Mug industries.
Hutton Orbital Radio will be keeping you up to date with all the latest developments, political changes and notable pilot visits to Hutton.
See you all soon.
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