Port Aquila - History: Much of the history of the first settlers has been lost. At the high point of expansion in Askellon Sector, Diomedea offered little. There were no planets to colonise and no immediate resources to capitalise on. The field provided a fair amount of shelter, and the bravest of the initial explorers built liveable, self-contained homes out of the rocks. Many began mapping out the field, occasionally finding valuable mineral deposits. Even then, the initial scans showed strange things. The estimated mass and density of the belt far exceeded any other known fields, as if several planets had been destroyed and their remains kept in loose orbit. As people settled in, more odd reports began to filter in. Mineral deposits would change from one scan to the next. Asteroids marked for future mining would be rediscovered solar months later far from their projected orbital location. The belt became widely occupied, though, as the lure of profit throughout the belt exceeded these frustrations.Where there is profit, there is also greed. Word of opportunity reached the ears of more people, many hoping to start a new life, others hoping to take it from someone else. Raids against the settlers became more commonplace, with many of the families slain or driven back out of the system for good. Piracy and violence became the new norm. A few groups banded together and fortified, finding ruins among some of the larger asteroids and reinforcing existing defences. Trade routes that had started forming from the rest of the sector were attacked and pillaged, and quickly evaporated as the risks were too great. The system stayed like this for many standard centuries, with little hope of change -- until the Orks came. The fighting between the original settlers and raiders proved fruitless. Little by little, both sides were finding themselves unable to maintain their voidcraft or support their own, yet they knew no other way. That all changed when WAAAGH! Oggrim appeared near Diomedea Stella and began hunting for people to fight. Many of the initial contacts were devastating; the Orks were hungry for battle, while both the Aquillans and pirates were exhausted and ill-equipped. Still, all of the humans knew that none of them would survive unless they united against the xenos. Using their knowledge of the field, they began to chip away at the flanks of the Ork fleet, but even then it was not enough. It took the coincidental arrival of the D'Amitri trade fleet to turn the tide.The D'Amitris were a merchant family on the decline in the neighbouring Ixaniad Sector. Seeing contracts and resources drying up, the matriarch, Leah Venria, made a bold move to leave with their remaining voidships and fortune and try to rebuild in Askellon. Coincidentally, their entry point was Diomedea Stella, on the outskirts of a major skirmish. Hearing the calls for aid, they responded quickly and decisively, routing the Orks and saving the locals. After hearing what had been happening, the D'Amitri trade fleet offered their services in exchange for the right to conduct commerce in the system when the threat ended. There are many accounts of the battles for the Diomedea Stella system, most of them highly fictionalised to highlight a specific family's contributions to the defeat of the Orks. The two things that are consistent in all of them, however, are the resolve of all who fought for humanity, and that without the D'Amitri family's aid, they would have fallen. That universally accepted truth enabled the D'Amitris to unify all factions into a single entity that would shape the system and later the sector: the Greater Askellon Trade Combine.The Combine did not start off successfully. Uniting all of the prospecting families, pirates, smugglers, and merchants was not an easy task, but Venria took to it with an almost religious zeal. She set the Four Principles for the Combine, making sure that individual captains could negotiate contracts, but that they would require approval to confirm routes and the Combine's share. She made sure that all ships were able to defend themselves and capable of transporting cargo. Venria made sure that her captains knew they were partners in the organisation, and she commanded fierce loyalty from those in her employ. Breaking into the trade dealings of Askellon was another issue altogether. Because the main base for the Combine operated in one of the most remote places in the sector and half of her captains were former criminals, Venria knew she would have to establish the Combine's presence in Desoleum. Bit by bit, she found contracts with smaller trade houses, building a solid reputation. The proceeds went to expanding the operations; by the time of her death, she had established footholds on all of the Processional Worlds and fortified the main fleet hub in Port Aquila.As the organisation grew, however, more and more of the profit was being turned over to the Combine, rather than staying in the hands of the captains who made the routes. The D'Amitris, anxious to protect their legacy, sided with the captains and were largely removed from the governance of the Combine. This act sparked a small rebellion among the captains, who began doing work on the side -- and endangered the good standing of the Combine by getting caught with illicit goods in their holds. Rather than see the Combine splinter and fail, its leaders re-dedicated the organisation to Venria's original edicts. Captains were entitled to a larger share of the fruits of their labour, and from those profits a portion would be paid to the Combine for support and resupplies.