Port Pumzika

**Port Pumzika** (or Barcask IV) is an abandoned Umojan Protectorate moon that served as a trading hub before it became a ghost town. It has changed hands between various smuggling groups.

## History

Port Pumzika is the fourth moon of the gas giant Barcask, and the largest of its satellites. The moon contains a great deal of ice sheets mixed with barren rock, though it lacked most atmosphere. Though it would never serve as a full settlement, the ice on the world made it an easy stop for explorers seeking to resupply their life support systems.

As the Umojan trade networks became more established in the very late 2300s, hyperspace routes began to be drawn that allowed for the flow of goods without risk of a mid-warp accident. One of these was the Jikker Hyperspace Lane, a route of 23 warp jumps that connected Umoja to the fringe Confederate colony of Bacchus Moon. The long trip strained most spacecraft of the time, as even with ideal conditions these trips could take upwards of an two weeks to complete. Rest and refueling stops were needed on the way.

Umojan entrepreneur Joesph Horrik decided on the 15th jump of this route in the uninhabited Phaeton system, he would create a trading outpost that would serve as a midpoint along this route, where Confederate and Umojan ships could come to meet half way and exchange goods. He named "Port Pumzika," Swahili for "rest," and after setting down atmospheric bubbles and colony domes the port became a very key post in the early 2420s, where Umojan tech would be exchanged for Confederate food and supplies.

However, with the aggressive expansion of the Confederacy, Umoja put fierce embargoes on Confederate trade, though this did not apply to the independent outer colonies. Though the Port's profits were hit, they wouldn't be devastated until the invention of the Markelly-Gregory Warp Stabilizer, which gave a shorter period for ships to come out from warp to real space, a period in which the ship would be at risk of collision with solid objects for a large stretch of time. The Jikker Hyperspace Lane was thus completely circumvented by the much more reliable and stable Stanfield Hyperspace Lane, which could hit most major colonies and reach Bacchus Moon in a mere eleven jumps.

Almost overnight, Port Pumzika was abandoned, with shops and trading posts moving to greener pastures. Those who lived there, without a steady influx of cash, quickly moved out, and Joseph Horrik abandoned the port soon after. The moon became a ghost town. Criminal elements would use the base as a staging ground, as it was very far from any territory authorities would seek out without reason. But this wouldn't be the last time in history the planet would be significant.

In 2500, the new Terran Dominion enforced fierce embargo at the now united Umojan Protectorate, damaging their ability to feed their outer colonies. Turning to desperate measure, the Ruling Council hired a number of smugglers, including the Alterian Syndicate, to run supplies from Dominion colonies, including fruits, vegetables and livestock. The port became a storage area for the Syndicate to move these supplies all through Umojan colonies, as well as a central hub for their own less legal operations.

With the rise of Valerian and the revoking of these measures in 2505, the port fell into less use even among the Syndicate, merely serving as a lesser tactical operations center and a large storage bay for supplies they want to keep rather secret. Though they keep a number of guards in the ghost town, the remoteness of the port and the number of feral zerg in the surrounding Phaeton system has made it not a worthy endeavor for the Umojan Armed Forces to clear out.