I
arrived in Eugales - in the picture below you can see Eugales V to
the left, and its first moon Umai to the right. It is a smallish moon, in
close orbit to the planet. There a Federation Defense Union station in orbit, a convenient place to dock up, get my bearings, and rest before taking a shuttle to Umai.
The Eugales system lies in the Gallente-Caldari warzone, and has changed hands many times between the Federation and the State. But its long-time inhabitants are -or rather were- the Neopians, a culture that is open to advanced AI lifeforms. This is banned by Concord, so the system was often under scrutiny by DERAIL, a part of Concord that enforces the AI ban. The Triglavians are also not too keen on AI lifeforms, and recently raided or destroyed an underground lab on Eugales IV. On top of that, the Black Eagles, a secret service of the Federation, raided Eugales VI searching for, you guess it, illegal AI networks.
All this activity, recent and intense, had led to the decision of the United Neopian Federation to move out to MHC-R3, where Concord and the Federation have less influence.
Despite the departure of the Neopians, the tension was still palpable in the Federation Defense Union station...
