Watchtower-type Outpost

The Watchtower-type Outpost is an older series of outposts produced by the former Trident Industries and designed by Mr Crazy during the height of the Trident occupation of the Nass Galaxies.
Several of these older stations were kept in service throughout the Nest of Orion/Odium Pact war and would eventually go on to become the premier outpost of the resurrected Trident Foundries.
== Description ==
The Watchtower-type strongly resembles many other Trident stations, most notably the Forge-type Factory Outpost, in general design.
=== Exterior ===
The Watchtower-type has a mushroom-like design, with a narrow bottom filled with communications spires and other equipment, flaring out into a wide top where the majority of the stations' habitable space is located. It features a light defensive grid including a 400,000 terawatt deflector shield system and six phase cannon turrets based on appropriated Nova Fleet Dynamics technology. 
The bottom of the station is where the majority of the storage areas for the factory, communications equipment, and storage canisters are located. At the very bottom, four high-frequency HoloWave transceivers are mounted to allow the station real-time communication with other outposts and Central Command. In addition, a large amount of empty space just above the two bottom turrets is allocated to storage for raw materials to fuel the station's factory.
The station's singular Trident Fusion Type-D4 radial fusion reactor and its power conduits are located above the storage space. The reactor is oversized and is capable of powering a station four times the size of the outpost.
Above the reactor, the station flares out into the habitable area, transitioning into a large octagonal shape. This is capped with the dome for the Ops centre and three additional HoloWave transceivers. In addition to the transceivers, there is also a large sensor dish affixed to the fourth slot on the top of the station, allowing for impressive long-range sensor capabilities, although it is antiquated by modern standards and outclassed by modern Scanner systems.
=== Interior ===
The Watchtower-type has three habitable decks in stock configuration.
Deck 1 holds the Operations Centre, where the majority of the station's operations can be controlled. There is always plenty of information buzzing across the many screens in the room. The Ops centre was typically manned with five or six personnel, with one officer often in charge of the entire station's defensive grid. In Tactical Alert, the Ops centre is manned by ten personnel, including the Commander. The Ops centre contains access to the main computer core. There is also a master switch to shut down the main reactor, and to turn it back on again. Turning off the main reactor shuts off all of the lights, locks the blast doors, and bathes the entire station in the glow of red emergency lighting.
Deck 2 holds the habitation areas, with the two main crew rooms (with seven beds each) and the Commanders' Quarters in addition to a remarkably well-equipped medical lab and Android repair facility. The crew quarters have an en-suite bathroom available to them. Some Watchtower-type Outposts also have a War Room, which contains a map of the surrounding sectors and can be used to view sensor data in real-time. In other stations, there was simply a Transporter room in its place. There is also a recreational Bar for off-duty crew to spend their free time.
Above, below and between decks 2 and 3, the Underlevel thrives. The Underlevel is a winding, mazelike collection of maintenance shafts, pipes, conduits, system clusters and more. The Underlevel can be accessed through normal maintenance areas and from a special corridor in Deck 2, however the Underlevel is very difficult to walk in, and many people have injured themselves on the low ceilings and exposed system clusters. The Underlevel is intended for use by automated maintenance bots to keep the station running.
Deck 3 contains much of the machinery required to keep the station running. The Factory can be accessed from an alcove just off the main lift. There is also a singular dock for a Hyperion-class Corvette. Moving from ship to station from the Hyperion dock requires going through an incredibly thick blast door and an atmospheric forcefield; this is to prevent easy boarding by hostiles. In addition, two more blast doors protect the entrance to the main lift and the Factory. On this deck there is also access to the maintenance shafts that run between decks 2 and 3, for maintenance workers and robots to keep critical systems running.
== History ==
=== 2313 ===
The Watchtower-type was initially conceived at the same time as the much larger Starbound-type Starbase, and as such had similar technology to the larger base. Several were constructed on the fringes of known Trident territory in the Nass Galaxies, and were a vital part of the communications and defensive network that kept Trident safe in its early years. Featuring powerful HoloWave and conventional communications equipment, they served the early Trident well as communications relay stations and border outposts.
==== The Fall of Starbound ====
After suffering a catastrophic setback at the hands of the traitor Antzakes, several of the frontier Watchtower outposts were boarded and destroyed by rebel cells loyal to Antzakes. One such outpost, TRS Rome, was scuttled and fell to the surface of the planet Caramenujor II after its Commander, Captain Freeman, believed that it was a better alternative than allowing it to fall into rebel hands. Another was believed to have been dragged onto the surface of a planet via tractor beam from Antzakes' flagship.
At the conclusion of the civil war, only six stations remained, with a further three apparently missing.
=== 2315 ===
Several old-model Watchtower-type Outposts remaining from the Trident Civil War were dragged to the NFD Galaxies and recommissioned in June 2315 in response to the threat of Odium Pact forces.
All the stations were presumed decommissioned at the conclusion of the N.O/Odium war.
=== 2316 ===
After Trident leaders Jake Lancia and the robotic Plaz were stranded in the Nass Galaxies following the malfunction of their state-of-the-art Pathfinder-class Corvette, in December 2316, they came across a Civil War-era Watchtower-type Outpost, registered as TRS New Horizons, in deep space and in disrepair following numerous attacks from scavengers and other pirate forces. Jake and Plaz did their best to repair the station's antiquated systems with spare components stored in their Pathfinder, but were unable to successfully repair all systems, however they were able to bring the main fusion reactor and life support back online.
In addition, the blueprint of the original Watchtower-type was recovered from the NFD Galaxies by Trident officers and heavily upgraded, allowing more modern Watchtower-types to be built.
=== 2317 ===
In January 2317, Jake and Plaz had amassed enough materials and components to repair all the damaged systems of New Horizons and to build a large shipyard extension off to one side, which was accessed via a small tram system. This allowed them to build a prototype Roni-class Cutter.
It is assumed that Jake and Plaz made it back safely to the Cake Galaxies, and as such TRS New Horizons was left in the Nass Galaxies.
In October, the Capella-type Medium Outpost was designed, based around many systems previously pioneered in the Watchtower.
== Usage ==
The Watchtower-type has, in addition to its primary role as frontier outpost, been used in the following roles:
* Defence Outpost
* Trade station
* Communications Hub
Category:Stations
Category:Trident Industries
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