Field Reported // Unofficial Motto
Speaker: Chief Engineer, Birmingham Irish SCS Jupiter's Ghost (Attributed)
Context: Official Solar Guard directive to cease maintenance of the Encyclopedia Solarica
Status: In widespread use among the Space Corps and allied volunteer archivists.
“Try and stop me, bozo” is an informal declaration of defiance and the de facto motto of the volunteer movement that maintains the Encyclopedia Solarica. It embodies the spirit of pragmatic resistance that defines the modern Space Corps and its allies in the face of Federation overreach.
The phrase is attributed to the Chief Engineer of the Jupiter's Ghost in response to an official Solar Guard communiqué declaring the archival and distribution of the Encyclopedia illegal. The complete transmission, as logged, reportedly read:
“SCS-01 Actual to Solar Guard Command. Received your directive on the illegality of maintaining the public record. The work continues. Try and stop me, bozo. Jupiter's Ghost out.”
The phrase perfectly captures the Corps’ operational reality. It is not a call to open rebellion, but a succinct assessment of logistical fact. The Guard is an agency of the Core Systems; its authority and power are concentrated around Mars and other central hubs. The Corps operates on the frontier, in the deep black, far from the reach of their bureaucracy and patrols.
The statement is therefore not just bravado; it is a simple truth. The Guard lacks the capability to effectively enforce its decree across the vastness of space. To “stop” the Corps would require a fleet deployment of immense cost and complexity, all to silence archivists and engineers who are, publicly, only doing the work the Federation itself abandoned.
The phrase has since been adopted as a universal sign-off and statement of purpose among the volunteer archivist network. It is a reminder that the Guard‘s power is limited to where it can physically project force, while the commitment to truth has no such boundaries.
It is a promise that the work will continue until someone, literally, makes them stop. Nobody has.
SEE ALSO: Office of Public Records
