Distance from UCF Centre: 6.1 light years Number of Colonies: 2
Retention Index Average: 3
The Federation survey mission to the Barnard’s Star system arrived with two missions, only one of which was made public. The public mission, obviously, was to study the system for the viability of placing a new colony there.
The nature of the star itself made this a priority mission, as Barnard’s Star emits a constant energy signature that is easy to detect even at astronomical distances. This signature makes the star extremely important for stellar navigation, and SICON desired to use the system as a jumping off point for further exploration.
The second reason for the survey mission was kept concealed from all but a few of SICON’s personnel. The Federation’s long-range scanners had detected another signal coming from the vicinity of Barnard’s Star, a signal that bore more than a passing resemblance to the siganture of the alien vessel that had destroyed the Sun Tzu and the Reynolds in the Alpha Centauri system. Determined to avoid a repetition of that calamity, SICON dispatched the most heavily armed ‘survey’
mission in its history in 2250, consisting of nearly a score of warships, led by the Citizen, the Federation fl agship.
Of course, by the time this survey team arrived at Barnard’s Star, there was no trace of the errant signal that had put SICON on alert. The aliens that attacked at Hesperus, if indeed they ever were there in the fi rst place, had left and have never returned. Though the potential of contact with the aliens was never openly discussed by SICON, the inclusion of 20 warships in a survey mission was not the kind of thing that goes unnoticed and the truth was soon common knowledge in the Federation.
Once SICON was satisfi ed the Barnard’s Star system was clear of any hostiles, the second part of the survey mission could truly begin. It was obvious from the moment the SICON task force arrived that the system would be unsuitable for a standard colony. Only two planets orbited the star, both of them gas giants. There was not even an appreciable asteroid fi eld in the system, meaning there was no solid land anywhere for the placement of a colony. However, the two gas giants were revealed to be excellent sources of a number of useful gasses. Combined with the value of Barnard’s Star for navigation, it was inevitable that somehow this system would be colonised.
The current governor of the Barnard’s Star system is Felix Devereaux. Governor Devereaux served one term in the Mobile Infantry to earn his franchise before entering the business world. He has a longstanding relationship with the Expanded Consortium of Civilian Operators (ECCO), a fact which makes the Castian Corporation rather nervous.
Castus
Role: Gas giant
Circumference: 117,590 miles Population: 50,000
Orbital Path: First
Rotational Period (days): 7.12 Orbital Period (days): 981 Primary Function: Gas mining Retention Index: 3
History
Rather than indulging in the expense and trouble of creating a gas mining facility around either of the two worlds of the Barnard’s Star system, the Federation chose to entrust that task to the private sector. The mining rights to the two worlds were sold at auction in 2255 and the venerable Castian Corporation won the rights to the fi rst of the two planets. As the de facto owner of the planet, the corporation also acquired the rights to name it. The corporation’s board of directors chose Castus, in honour of their own company’s name.
Within six months of acquiring the mining rights, construction began on fi ve massive orbital facilities, and in fewer than fi ve years, the fi rst of these facilities was fully operational, extracting a variety of rare and useful gasses from the great planet. However, not all was as the Castian Corporation had hoped.
The fi rst signs of trouble appeared almost immediately, as the gasses mined from Castus were dirty and charged with ions.
Some degree of pollution was expected but this exceeded all the corporation’s expectations. As the cost of refi ning the gasses into a pure and useful state rose, the corporation saw its profi ts from this venture shrink.
Castus was the fi rst restricted (see page 108) stellar colony and it caused a great many headaches for the Castian Corporation, particularly in the early years. It fi rst went online with a crew complement of 35,000, employees of the corporation who had agreed to transfer here in return for an increase in pay. However, the fi ve facilities of the Castus colony were built less as living quarters and more as a utilitarian factory, which the employees soon began to refer to as the Castus Penal Colony. Assaults, thefts, suicides and even murders became commonplace, as the Castus facility began to degenerate into anarchy.
The Castian Corporation considered scrapping the entire project then and there but its board of directors fi nally determined too much money had already been sunk into Castus to pull out yet. However, the decision to stay necessitated a complete reconditioning of the orbital facilities, as well as a rethinking of how employees would be assigned to the colony.
First, the corporation doubled the size of its internal security force to 1,000 offi cers. Second, the corporation began renovating the fi ve facilities, one after another, attempting to create a less prison-like atmosphere. Third, the corporation changed its policies on colonisation at the Castus colony,
allowing prospective colonists to sign up for two-year terms at the colony before rotating back to Earth. Though the second and third changes were the most appreciated, the fi rst is likely the one that held the Castus colony back from the brink.
For a time, the fi ve installations around Castus functioned as hoped and expected, the large security force keeping a careful eye on the civilian labourers, whose numbers had slowly increased to 55,000. However, this ill-fated colony had not yet seen its worst moment. On May 23, 2271, a series of unexplained power and equipment failures aboard Installation Two, one of the fi ve orbital facilities, caused it to begin a swift and inexorable fall into the gravity well of the gas giant below. Fortunately, all colonists aboard the facility were rescued by cargo shuttles hurriedly dispatched from the other four facilities but there was no way to stop the fall of the installation itself, which plunged into the storm-tossed atmosphere below.
It appears the troubles the Castian Corporation has with this colony are not over yet. The quality of the gasses extracted from Castus, never very impressive, has begun to degrade even further in recent years. For now, however, the profi t margin of the facility is just enough for the corporation to keep it operational.
Culture
The Castus colony has no real culture of its own, as its personnel are consistently transferring back and forth from other, more desirable areas of Federation space. Visitors to the colony, however, note that there is an oppressive feel to the place. Some mark this down as a result of the omnipresence of stern-faced security guards. Others mark it down as a result of the colonists themselves.
The people of the Castus colony are there to work, and little else. They generally accept this posting because they have an urgent need for the extra money working on Castus brings but no one on the colony actually enjoys being there, making it a grim and humourless place.
Perhaps the least depressing and certainly the noisiest of the four orbital facilities is Installation One. This particular installation differs from the other three in that it is set up to accommodate families. It is the only one of the installations where one will fi nd children and consequently, it is this installation that houses the Federation school and health clinic for the colony.
Laws and Government
Considering the nearly lawless period in Castus’ early history, the laws on Castus are now rigidly and remorselessly enforced. The Castus Corporation has special dispensation from the Federation for its internal security force to act as the police force for the colony, though of course every one of these men and women must still be a citizen in order to carry a weapon and enforce the law.
There has always been a lingering suspicion that the destruction of Installation Two was the result of sabotage and the Castus Corporation’s security force makes a habit of reading all incoming and outgoing messages, as well as inspecting all incoming and outgoing cargo canisters. There is little in the way of privacy anywhere on this colony.
Economy
The Castus colony is wholly owned by the Castian Corporation and all income generated by it in any way fl ows directly to the corporation. Even the school and health clinic administered by the Federation are housed in space rented by the government from the corporation.
The Castian Corporation employees receive their housing for free while on the colony but nothing else. They buy their food from stores owned by the corporation, they eat in a mess owned by the corporation, they shop for everything from soap to clothes to birthday gifts for children in stores owned by the corporation and staffed by Castian employees. The prices are infl ated but the cost is still less than it would be to have something delivered from elsewhere in the Federation.
In essence, the entire colony is set up so that money fl ows in a constant loop from the corporation and back again. Many colonists leaving after a two-year stint in the facilities fi nd that they have not saved more than 10 percent of what they thought they would from their increased pay and many even end up owing the corporation money, inducing them to stay on for another two-year stint in an attempt to pay it back.
Points of Interest
Except for those with an enthusiastic interest in gas mining practices and procedures, there are no points of interest in the Castus colony.
Pollor
Role: Gas giant
Circumference: 217,590 miles Population: 140,000
Orbital Path: Second
Rotational Period (days): 5.24
‘Well, the life of Riley it ain’t, but it’s not a bad job here.
The pay’s good – better than I got as a grunt, at least. The hours are good and the boss gives us pretty free rein. He’s a civilian, you know. Anyway, he doesn’t call us apes, or whup on us with a baton and I’ve never once heard him say ‘on the bounce’. Yeah, all things considered, it’s a pretty good job. Of course, some of us old grunts think any job where people don’t shoot at you very often is a good one. It’s all a matter of perspective, I suppose.’
-Jimmy Regan, Castian Corporation security guard
Orbital Period (days): 1,546 Primary Function: Gas mining Retention Index: 3
History
Just as with Castus (see above), the Federation opted to forego the time and expense of creating its own facilities around Pollor and auctioned the planet off to the private sector. In this case, it was bought by Mull & Preston, a newly formed partnering of two corporations.
Pollor has technically changed hands several times throughout the years. It has never been sold; rather, the owners have become part of increasingly large consortiums of corporations. Currently, this immense partnership is known as the Expanded Consortium of Civilian Operators (ECCO), fi rst formed in 2269.
Unlike the Castian Corporation’s Castus colony, the ECCO facilities around Pollor have had an uneventful and very profi table history. There are a total of 14 orbital platforms surrounding the gas giant, hosting a population of 140,000, most of whom are employees of ECCO.
ECCO has experienced many of the same problems as the Castian Corporation regarding the quality of the gasses mined from the planet, though the harvest from Pollor does contain fewer impurities and is generally considered to be superior to Castus’ production line. Some of this may be merely perception, furthered by ECCO’s aggressive advertising and lobbying campaigns but Pollor does turn out a solid, inexpensive gas array used primarily for starships and other production equipment. For this reason and others, ECCO is the proud holder of 14 military contracts with SICON, a number the consortium of businesses back on Earth love to quote during their yearly meetings with the Castian Corporation to set policy for the Barnard’s Star system.
Culture
The difference between the Castus colony and the Pollor colony is night and day. ECCO, along with all the corporations that have held the rights to Pollor, have gone to great lengths and signifi cant additional expense to make the colony a pleasant environment in which to work – at least, as pleasant as any orbital platform hovering over a violent gas giant in an alien solar system can be. To that end, only eight of the facilities orbiting Pollor were built as gas extraction and refi ning stations – though that is all those eight facilities do. The remaining six were constructed purely as housing areas for the colony’s workforce, complete with multiple
schools, entertainment areas and independent shops owned and operated, generally, by the spouses of ECCO employees.
Visitors often remark that each of the six housing facilities at the colony has the feel of a small town on Earth.
Like the Castus colony, ECCO employees at the Pollor colony have the option of signing on for one to three year stints, a practice that has been in place since the colony began. However, about half the workforce on the colony have chosen to remain there full time. As odd as it may seem, Pollor has become their home.
Laws and Government
ECCO has the same dispensation the Castian Corporation does, allowing its private security force to bear arms and enforce the law. However, with the Barnard’s Star system governor, Felix Devereaux, maintaining his residence and offi ce at the Pollor colony, ECCO’s security force is enhanced by the addition of an actual police force. All crimes committed anywhere in the system are tried at this colony, though the actual punishment – a fl ogging for example – is carried out at the colony on which the crime was committed.
Economy
The Pollor colony’s revenue is, like the Castus colony, almost entirely derived from gas mining, though there is a substantial additional income from rental of space on the colony’s orbital facilities. Even the governor’s offi ces are rented from the corporation by the Federation.
Without the constant price gouging the Castian Corporation infl icts on its employees, workers at the Pollor facility tend to be slightly better off fi nancially than those at Castus.
None of them will become rich through working here, but for most, it is a pleasant if modest life.
‘When choosing gasses for all industrial and facilities needs, always remember to test for ECCO.’
A message from the colonists of Pollor and the Expanded Consortium of Civilian Operators
Points of Interest
Except for those with an enthusiastic interest in gas mining practices and procedures, there are no points of interest in the Pollor colony.