2 members
E.I.G.H.T. / TRADEROUTE
-
Trading -
Smuggling
“E.I.G.H.T. is a premier independent trade consortium specializing in the secure transport of high-value assets across interstellar routes. Leveraging deep knowledge of lesser-traveled systems—often referred to as “The Highways” – We are the Elite Inter-Galactic Highway Trade.
History
E.I.G.H.T.
Elite Inter-Galactic Highway Trade
Motto: “When the route matters more than the rules.”
Founding Era: The Drift War Legacy
E.I.G.H.T. began in the late 2800s, born from the wreckage of the Drift War — a silent trade conflict between fringe UEE systems and rogue corporate cartels fighting over access to jump points and black market lanes.
Veterans of that war — ex-naval tacticians, rogue pilots, and disgraced cargo foremen — found themselves displaced, dishonorably discharged, or quietly erased from official records. Among them was Cassian Vohl, a former UEE logistics officer known for his mastery of unregistered trade corridors, or what smugglers called “The Highways.”
Cassian didn’t just survive — he adapted. He formed E.I.G.H.T. with seven others, each representing one trade system they once fought to control. Together, they became the original “Eight,” and their network grew — bound not by loyalty to law, but by a code of precision, discretion, and absolute delivery.
The Hidden Highways
Unlike other black market syndicates, E.I.G.H.T. thrived on their use of obscure jump lanes, forgotten waypoints, and repurposed military relay buoys — stitching together what is now infamously known as the Inter-Galactic Highway Grid.
These “Highways” aren’t on official maps. They’re earned. Bought. Fought for. And kept alive only by the ships that traverse them.
Pilots don’t just join E.I.G.H.T. — they’re inducted, tested, and trusted with coordinates burned into memory, never stored. If you can’t navigate in the dark, you don’t belong on the Highway.
Operations & Structure
E.I.G.H.T. poses as a legitimate high-value trade guild, operating under tight legality through shell companies and forged UEE shipping credentials. But behind the curtain:
Trade: Exotic goods, rare minerals, and advanced tech move under their watch — much of it legal, until it’s not.
Smuggling: Redacted weapons, AI cores, banned genetic mods — if it fits, it ships.
Mercenary Work: Quiet extractions, escort runs through pirate space, or making a problem disappear — handled “off the books.”
The organization uses a cell-based structure, meaning few know more than what they need. Captains are referred to as “Route Commanders,” and only a few are ever cleared to speak directly with “The Compass,” E.I.G.H.T.’s shadowy current leader.
Symbols & Secrets
The number 8 is revered in E.I.G.H.T. not just as a name, but a symbol:
Two loops — top and bottom — represent Trade and Shadow.
The continuous shape reflects endurance, secrecy, and connection.
Most members wear an encoded patch with a stylized 8, half scarred, half polished — a nod to the double life they lead.
Rumors persist that the original compass route — a hidden set of coordinates linking eight dead systems — still holds something ancient and powerful. It’s whispered only one ship made the full journey and returned… and it hasn’t been seen since.
Current Era: Precision Over Power
Today, E.I.G.H.T. isn’t the biggest. It’s not the flashiest. But in the right corners of Stanton, Pyro, and Nyx — when a job is too sensitive for corp hands and too important to fail — “Route it through E.I.G.H.T.” is the only answer.
————————————
E.I.G.H.T. SHOP REGISTRY
Verified Cells, Trading Outposts, and Shadow Docks
1. Rambler’s Trade Warren
Location: Drake Interchange, Daymar (Stanton)
Type: Smuggler-Friendly Depot & Salvage Market
Description:
Founded by the pilot-call-signed Rambler, this hangar-sized bazaar deals in reclaimed tech, modded avionics, and “misplaced” corporate shipments. The Warren is known for its coded trade walls — sealed lockers where drops and pickups happen without a word. Watch for red/blue cargo tags; they mark trusted courier lines.
2. Deck 8 Exchange
Location: Orbital Level 8, Green Circle Station (Borea, Magnus)
Type: Luxury Goods & High-Risk Trade Terminal
Description:
A front for high-value black-market trade. Deals in rare minerals, banned stimulants, AI fragments, and heavily encrypted nav data. The shop operates under the guise of a luxury auction house. Access restricted to holders of the Deck Eight Sigil.
3. The Hollow Vault
Location: Asteroid Bunker, Taranis Belt (Nyx)
Type: Secure Storage & Off-Grid Barter Hub
Description:
Run by E.I.G.H.T.’s banking wing, the Vault allows members to store or transfer goods with no questions asked. Storage is biometric-locked. Barter trades can be made via AI relay or in-person through armored terminals. Local legend says it was once a pirate prison.
4. The Crossline Terminal
Location: Crossline Outpost, Levski (Delamar)
Type: General Goods, Fuel, Black Market Arms
Description:
Known for discrete logistics. Provides jump fuel, hull patches, and ammo resupply under the radar. Traders stop here to reroute manifests and scrub blackbox data. Protected by a silent agreement between local militia and E.I.G.H.T.
5. Route Node: Wraith Pier 8
Location: Mobile. Last pinged near the Kellog system.
Type: Jump Point Navigation & Signal Relay Barge
Description:
A drifting industrial barge turned into a routing and relay hub. Keeps trade lanes secure by mapping, scrambling, and broadcasting false signals to corporate scanners. Only visible to those with the “Eightlight” comms key. Said to be captained by an original E.I.G.H.T. founder.
6. Greyhook Salvage
Location: Teasa, Hurston (Lower Industrial Block)
Type: Ship Parts, Cloaked Comms Equipment, Cargo Spoofers
Description:
Looks like a broken-down repair shop, but hides one of the best inventories of illegal signature dampeners, sensor trickers, and false transponders. Cash only. No recordings. Ask for “Toolbox” to access restricted lockers.
7. Eightfold Embers
Location: Secret
Type: Blacksite Shop (Myth)
Description:
The ghost shop. No one knows where it is. Some say it’s in a derelict Endeavor. Others say it moves with a hidden fleet. It’s rumored to deal in pre-Messer relics, prototype weapons, and even Vanduul trade spoils. Mentioning it in the wrong bar might get you tailed.
Manifesto
E.I.G.H.T. MANIFESTO
Elite Inter-Galactic Highway Trade
We are not bound by borders.
We chart the lanes forgotten, forbidden, or locked behind corporate fear. Where nav-beacons go dark and comms fall silent, we move. Quiet. Precise. Unstoppable.
We are not traders. We are routers of the unseen.
Anyone can move cargo. We move value. Through dead systems, across contested jump points, under the nose of the ones who claim to own the stars. And we do it without compromise.
The Highways are ours.
Mapped by grit, paved by risk, and guarded by silence. We don’t run on charts — we run on memory, instinct, and the blood-earned maps of those who came before.
Our armor is earned, not issued.
Every scuff, every dent, every burn on our plates tells a story. Of a hold sealed tight. Of a port deal gone sideways. Of a signal jammed and a trail lost. We wear it as truth, not decoration.
We are eight in name, infinite in reach.
The original eight built the grid. Now we stretch far beyond — one crew at a time. Each member is a node in a greater system. No single route. No single face. But always moving. Always connected.
We don’t take oaths. We honor code.
Deliver what’s promised. Protect your route. Never speak what should remain unspoken. And when they ask who you fly for — say nothing. Just show them the 8.
There are routes they don’t talk about.
Off the charts. Outside jurisdiction. Between systems that no longer answer hails.
We don’t just use them.
We built them.
Not with satellites or signatures—
But with risk, with loss, with silent deals made in deep void.
Eight of us began it.
Each from a different corner of the galaxy.
Each burned by broken chains of command, failed syndicates, or corrupted empires.
We didn’t come to rebuild.
We came to rewrite the trade lanes.
One hidden jump point at a time.
We don’t have uniforms. We wear history.
You’ll know our kind by the scars on our hulls,
the scrambler static on our comms,
the half-marked crates that move across systems
and never appear on manifests.
We don’t talk in open channels.
Our names change.
Our ships fade into traffic.
Our routes?
Classified. Memorized. Buried with us when we fall.
We are not smugglers.
We are pathmakers.
We are the current beneath the trade winds.
When empires fall and cartels collapse,
we’ll still be running.
Call us what you want.
A guild.
A syndicate.
A ghost network.
We answer to one word:
E.I.G.H.T.
RANKS (Operative Progression)
1. Drifter
Status: Unproven / Observed
Role: Recon-by-behavior. Drifters are untested contacts marked for monitoring. They’ve caught attention — now they must prove their value.
“No route. No record. Just potential.”
2. Relay
Status: Probationary Operative / Quiet Runner
Role: Handles basic cargo, blind drops, and first-tier delivery assignments. Their comms are tight. Their trail is cold.
“If the cargo gets there and no one knows who ran it — it was a Relay.”
3. Runner
Status: Active Operative
Role: Cleared for direct-route cargo transport and in-system pickups. They know lanes, dodge scans, and move product clean.
“Runners don’t chase the lane. They carve it.”
4. Link
Status: Operative Coordinator
Role: Maintains node-to-node continuity. Links connect runners, secure handoffs, and reroute missions if needed.
“When the job breaks mid-run, the Link holds the chain.”
5. Warden
Status: Senior Operative / Lane Authority
Role: Manages safe routes, enforces the Charter, and shadows high-value corridors. Every jump they clear becomes a passage others trust.
“The Warden doesn’t run fast — they run right.”
6. Atlas
Status: Top-Tier Operative / Multi-Vector Authority
Role: Executes layered missions, carries weight others can’t, and operates on limited Compass directive. Atlas-class agents are trusted with volatile runs, sensitive clients, and route defense.
“Atlas doesn’t follow. They carry the grid.”
CORE ROLES (Specialized Functions)
Compass
Role: Founder / Strategic Overseer
Function: Guides E.I.G.H.T. at the highest level. The Compass doesn’t give orders — they chart alignment. All major shifts, long-haul trade arcs, and hidden objectives come from this seat.
“All routes begin with the Compass.”
Signal Harbormaster
Role: Recruitment & Induction Operations
Function: Observes prospects, initiates first contact, and coordinates onboarding. No one joins E.I.G.H.T. without passing through the Harbormaster’s lens.
“They don’t cast a net. They follow the current and find who’s already in it.”
Route Marshal
Role: Internal Integrity & Enforcement
Function: Ensures operatives uphold the Charter. Investigates breaches, disciplines violations, and protects operational security. Fear and respect follow the Marshal.
“The Route Marshal doesn’t knock. They trace and enter.”
Echo Architect
Role: External Comms, Intel Manipulation, & Perception Control
Function: Designs public mythos, scrubs trail echoes, and seeds misinformation. They don’t speak loud — they control what gets heard.
“The Architect doesn’t advertise. They transmit.”
Charter
E.I.G.H.T. OPERATIVE CHARTER
Elite Inter-Galactic Highway Trade
— Enforced. Remembered. Never Written Twice.
01. DELIVER WHAT’S PROMISED.
If you take the job, finish the run.
Late is better than loud. Broken is better than burned.
Your name is your route. Keep it clear.
02. PROTECT THE ROUTE.
Don’t reveal your jump paths.
Don’t trace another’s.
Don’t follow where you weren’t invited.
03. NEVER SPEAK WHAT SHOULD STAY UNHEARD.
Comms stay encrypted. Meetings stay undocumented.
Names stay out of contracts.
EIGHT doesn’t shout — it moves.
04. THE CARGO IS THE MISSION.
Whether it’s credits, data, people, or parts — the cargo doesn’t ask questions, and neither do you.
If it fits in the hold, it’s protected with your life.
05. TRUST ONLY THE CODE.
E.I.G.H.T. has no hierarchy — only the grid.
You don’t outrank another. You operate in sync.
Everyone plays a part — no more, no less.
06. DISAPPEAR WHEN NEEDED.
If it gets too hot, fade.
If a route is burned, kill it.
If your ID is compromised, lose it.
We’d rather erase a signature than recover a corpse.
07. NEVER COMPROMISE ANOTHER OPERATIVE.
Not for a better payout.
Not for leverage.
Not even to save yourself.
08. WE ARE NOT A GANG. WE ARE A GRID.
We don’t spray colors. We don’t run packs.
We are satellites — connected, silent, and always watching.
09. WHEN YOU CAN’T CARRY IT — PASS IT FORWARD.
If your ship fails, the job continues.
Another node picks up the signal.
Failure happens. Abandonment doesn’t.
10. WE ARE EIGHT.
You don’t recruit.
You don’t advertise.
You don’t leave.
You either run with us, or you vanish into the black.
