In yesterday’s SCOPE, it was revealed that a new line of ships, developed by the Upwell Consortium under EDENCOM, will be equipped with a miniaturized version of Upwell’s Arcing Vorton Projector, a devastating weapon which requires a Keepstar worth of power to prime, and which has been broadly speculated to have some technological similarity to the “Xerah Effect” superweapon purportedly weilded by Jamyl Sarum over Mekhios.
This newly revealed information recalls the circumstances of conspiracy theories surrounding the final disappearance of Dr. Hilen Tukoss in Eram, following his death, infomorph-capture, and escape from the Drifters five years ago.
Please read this post for the full details of these events and information:
Hilen Tukoss was returning to Site One, which he stated had been compromised - presumably by the Drifters - aboard what he described as a stolen Sleeper vessel, presumably carrying important knowledge and technological information, and indeed arrived in the system of Eram before disappearing for the final time, just 30,000m away from the Eifyr & Co. station in the system.
Eifyr had previously conspired to hide the broadcast Tukoss had made from the Redoubt Hive some time in the previous year, before it was leaked by an unnamed member of the corp - and only 8 days after Hilen Tukoss arrived in Eram only to disappear at Eifyr’s station, Zainou Biotech nullified his corporate citizenship, making him a citizen of nowhere, with no human rights.
CONCORD questioned Eifyr briefly, but no details of the matter were made public - and after a group of capsuleers discovered the Doctor’s corpse in Redoubt, the DED pursued those in possession of samples recovered from his body with unprecedented fervor - and once the samples were turned over, it was confirmed that Tukoss’s TEBS had indeed been fired at the time of his bodily death at the Hive, and his will - the contents of which have never been revealed - was executed.
A few months later, Eifyr joined in the formation of the Upwell Consortium - which only shortly afterward released their first products to the public in the Citadel-class structures. This included the Keepstar and its Arcing Vorton Projector, described only as utilizing “the latest developments in the emerging field of spatiotemporal weaponry” to destroy targets in a blast chain that spreads from one enemy to the next.
This was immediately compared to Jamyl Sarum’s Xerah Effect, which by all evidence was as powerful as a Keepstar’s superweapon, despite being wielded by a mere battleship - but the Upwell consortium has been wholly nonforthcoming about the entire matter.
The revelation of Hilen Tukoss’s final disappearance catalyzed the aforementioned conspiracy theory, but as no further information was uncovered, its flame waned.
That is, until now.
The EDENCOM-Upwell vessels and their miniaturized Vorton Projectors evidence that this technology is still being readily researched - and though they are far weaker than the Xerah Effect or Keepstar ACV, likely owing to the fact that the hypothesized exotic material that catalyzed Jamyl’s Abaddon is near-impossible to collect (though the current invaders may in fact be seeking to harvest just that), they are enough to spur on further questioning.
What truly happened to Hilen Tukoss?
What did he bring back with him?
And where is he now, if he’s still alive at all?
–
(A postscript:)
The Tukoss conspiracy, combined with this new information, lends further depth to theories surrounding the nature of Jamyl Sarum’s life, and her “death” at the hands of the Drifters. I will be posting about all of this in detail in three days, on 10 June - the 12th anniversary of Jamyl’s arrival at Mekhios aboard the Xerah Effect Abaddon.