Mykolaiv Research Station

CLASS: Volya

GRAVITY: Complete

DOCKING: Yes

AMENITIES: Limited

CREW: 3000

Mykolaiv Research Station, in low Odessa orbit, is the Coalition's primary research, development and shipbuilding facility. The station is heavily guarded by Coalition Military patrols, and no vessel is permitted to dock without authorization.

Mykolaiv Research Station was built to house the Mykolaiv Research Division—a group of brilliant minds hard at work advancing Coalition science and reverse-engineering captured technology. Most Coalition ships and weapons were prototyped here, modified from samples traded for with allies or taken from enemies.

The station has limited shipbuilding facilities for building and testing the Research Division's designs. The tachyon cannons used by Coalition fighters were designed here, as was the Storm-class gunboat and the fearsome Typhoon-class destroyer.

To take advantage of Odessa's helium-rich atmosphere, the facilities also include a fuel refinery, making it the main source of H-Fuel controlled by the Coalition. Its output can supply in-system patrols by local fleets, but struggles to keep up with demand of Coalition strike groups launched into more remote parts of Sirius.

The station's trajectory is constantly degraded by impacts and friction from debris in the Odessa Belt. Course-correction is only possible by making use of the fuel it harvests. This is necessary to avoid being sucked in by the gravity well of the gas giant below, but only further reduces its H-Fuel output.

In 830 AS, the Premier ordered significant expansion of Mykolaiv, adding shipbuilding factories, slipways, and industrial smelters to process resources mined from the Odessa Belt and imported from the Coalition's trading partners. With these upgrades, Mykolaiv is now the primary shipyard facility of the Coalition, producing and servicing both capital ships and strike craft. However, the station's fuel consumption increased accordingly to almost three quarters of its output, making it one of the most expensive bases to maintain in the entire Sirius Sector.

## Bribes & Missions Offered

* Zoners
* Mollys
* Red Hessians
* Bundschuh

## News

As Crete demanded the Zoners of Theta turn over any Hunters aboard their stations and surrender docking control, the Freeport 9 administrators were confident that some kind of compromise could be found. A delegation from Gran Canaria was requested to assist with negotiations, due to the close ties between Zoner and Corsair communities on the planet.
Tragically, the Corsairs interpreted this delay as refusal, and launched a surprise attack while the delegation was en-route. Many of Freeport 9's crew are now being held as hostages while the Corsairs pillage the station. An urgent conclave has been called on Gran Canaria to discuss the Zoner response, while militias on Pygar have taken up arms in case the violence spreads.

Professor Nagel and her team are certain the Pulse originated from outside Sirius, but are otherwise no closer to identifying its source or mitigating a future Blackout event. "Following the Blackout, we began to see immediate signs of jump hole destabilization in multiple different regions, with many ultimately falling out of phase alignment altogether", she commented. The dramatic upending of Sirius' jump hole network has already prompted many groups to abandon stations and withdraw from systems that appear to risk being cut off.
While months-long trips between the stars are possible thanks to the Liberty Engine and many centuries of innovation, few ships are designed or provisioned to make such arduous journeys. Those who were displaced by Sirius' redrawn map hope that system connections will return, while adventurers and explorers rush to discover new routes.

For decades the Zoners of Freeport 9 have kept themselves safe from Corsair reprisals by offering useful services, with their biodomes providing Crete with respite from the famines that once ravished it. Despite this, outrage has swept Omicron Gamma after a flight of Hunters killed Commander Juan Garcia, before retreating back to the No Fire Zones of Omicron Theta.
The Council of Elders have ordered the administrator of Freeport 9 to attend Planet Crete to hear their demands. Elder Garcia has vowed that the station's halls would "run red with blood" unless the Zoners turned over all BHG aboard the Freeport. The Zoners are yet to respond, likely trying to anticipate how the Corsairs will react.

The Corsairs see the Pygar colony as a direct competitor for the region's scarce resources, with Elder Garcia warning that there would be "dire consequences" should Freeport 9's biodomes reduce or divert their exports to Planet Crete. Whispers of alien ruins and Artifacts discovered below Pygar's surface may also antagonize the Corsairs, who rely on the Artifact trade as a source of wealth. The hardship of Pygar's extreme conditions and the uneasy relationship with the Corsairs has already led many colonists to consider a return to the now liberated Gran Canaria.

## Rumors

* I hate being assigned here. That gas giant creeps me out. It's like it's going to swallow up the station. I can't imagine what it's like for those who have to go down there. And don't get me started on all that debris floating around outside. They say it helps hide the station, but to me it seems more likely to get us all killed. I hope I get rotated outta here soon.

* We use so much of the fuel we mine just to keep this station afloat. If the government keeps piling expansion projects on our facility, we won't have any left for our ships! At least it's not too hard to get it shipped in from Sirius.

* Most of our top scientists, including the head of the Mykolaiv Research Division, practically live here, and even bring their families in. It's not that they like the assignment. But this station seems to have the government's eye when it comes to granting research funds, you know how it is. And being so close to Odessa is brilliant for research. The high-gravity conditions are a big help for many experiments, and we can stress-test our designs in a live environment!

* Jiangxi bombing? Look, I didn't tell you this, but the government was really quick to cover the whole thing up. Officially it was enemies of the Coalition, not that there's a shortage of those. But people are talking, and they say an entire Coalition fleet went missing over it. So there's a theory, all sorts of theories floating around that it was our own ships that bombed it. I don't know what could have happened to make them turn traitor. Alien mind control, maybe. I sure wouldn't follow an order to fire on my own House. Whatever happened, I know a lot of people got arrested and sent in for a full medical exam, and not everyone came back out.

*NOTE: Page generated on the 28/10/2023 at 17:59:45 UTC*