System Foyeri Irega
one of the lonelier backwater fringes, this battered colony exists in the glare of a hot white star which has left the surface of even its' most hospitable world barren and scorched. to look openly upon the skies here is to burn out one's eyes - therefore habitation is heavily shielded and it is rare to see activity in the streets. visited only ever as a stopover by outworlders, Irega's main income is from services and resupply of freight and merchant traffic. this has leant the local culture a desperate vulture-like quality, the ill-fed pallid people continually harrassing any outworlder they can find, begging, touting or robbing.
by no means modern in any sense, `Esthetan City <Esthetan_City.html>`_'s `Tamki Starport <Tamki_Starport.html>`_ is a rough and ready place, as anyone with sense and a purse they value keeping does not linger in its seedy taverns and workshops any longer than is neccesary.
`Category:Nations <Nations.html>`_
`Category:Universe <Universe.html>`_
`Category:Systems <Systems.html>`_
AFF: Mariner Potential Background info
System Name: Irega Location: Jordan Cluster Region: Empyrean Reef Star Type: Blue-White, Single Star Class: B5IV Planet-sized Objects: 27 (9 planets, 16 planetoids, 2 Rogue) Habitable Planetoids: 1; Ascella (moon) System Class: S3 (Moderate Hazard) Initial Survey Year: 601BE Colonization Year: 985AE Affiliation: Antarean Empire
Background: Irega is an uncolonized system that sits at the outer periphery of the Jordan star-cluster. Though its stellar field is populous only a single moon, Ascella, offers conditions suitable for human life. With little to offer in the way of precious mineral and gaseous resources it remained uninhabited until the outbreak of conflict between the Unites League of Planets and the Antarean Federation in 983AE, when it became the site of a critical naval base which still remains in operation.
Ascella's surface is almost completely covered in a nitrogen-rich ice shell while beneath seethes a primordial ocean. While the surface temperature can reach nearly -180C, the liquid core remains warm enough to support life. This heat originates from tectonic churning caused by the gravitational affect of Ascella's parent world, Irega-IV. In the equatorial zones the surface temperature is well above freezing, allowing for large gaps in the ice sheet. This forms the distinctive blue bands which are visible from orbit. The only solid land above the ice can also be found here.
The world's polar regions are the most geologically active with large ice volcanoes that spew nitrous crystal vapor dozens of kilometers into the atmosphere. The atmosphere does contain breathable oxygen, however beyond the equator rapid temperature fluctuation can cause airborne oxygen to return to a liquid state. Additionally, violent flash-blizzards are common above the ice shell, while below sudden upwelling caused by geologic instability can cause similar explosions of deep sea current.
At first it was believed that the world indigenously supported only simple bacterial life, but later surveys uncovered a plethora of native plant and shellfish analogues living in narrow bands around deep-sea vents. Introduction of Terran species has been recent and explosive, with a wide variety of oceanic species ranging from algae to modified fish stocks having lain claim to significant portions of the environment. Beyond this, no terrestrial life forms have been recorded.
History: Following the Imperial victory at Balrega, the IAF implemented a strategy of logistical development; first reinforcing existing military holdings and constructing new fleet bases to support the rapid pace of expansion of its navy. Despite the League pullout in 986, there still remained sizable League occupied or supported worlds within the Reef as a whole. The Jordan star cluster was a part of a vital supply line between Vedair and Cinnabar which the INO was committed to severing if future naval operations against the League's 3rd District had any hope of succeeding.
It was determined that the construction of a base at Ascella would allow naval elements to project power throughout the cluster and severely curtail not only trade but also the support of the Yellow Flag partisan movement that was growing in strength within the Reefworlds. Additionally, failure to secure the gas-fields of Syndii cluster had left solid-fuel resupply operations stretched thin across the Reefworlds. The nitrogen and hydrogen rich waters of Ascella offered an ideal resupply point for ships in transit despite the added cost and difficulty of the separation process.
Construction of the main base structures began in early September of 985E and was complete before month's end. A single “Aeramagno” class starfort and mine complex was installed at the system's nadir jump point, with secondary support structures placed in orbit around Irega-IX, within the shroud of a second mine-field. The fleet base on Ascella was expanded with wet dock facilities capable of housing nearly twenty ships, and sub-surface pens for an additional ten. At the peak of its occupation, the base housed nearly 9,000 billeted technicians, extraction crew, and dependents with an additional 1,500 garrison troopers.
The effectiveness of the base at Ascella was such that nearly all traffic through the Jordan Cluster was halted. Additional blockades at Petra and Baalmeon put such pressure on the region that the King of Afet was once quoted as saying “I cannot so much as take water without begging the Imperials for relief!” The base also provided the logistical springboard necessary to facilitate the seizure of the vital space dock facilities at Suzerain in February of 985AE with little bloodshed. Irega became a key strategic asset in further Imperial campaigns and, as a result, a major focal point for League counterattacks through the cluster.
The first, and most successful, attempt to seize the system came in late 985 during the Empyrean Campaign when it was attacked and nearly overrun by League Forces. This attack resulted in the destruction of the main fort complex, which had only been partially completed at the time, and many of the secondary facilities. The subsequent (and ill-fated) ground invasion destroyed the open-water starship pens and severely damaged the deep-sea hydrogen extraction facilities. Later spoiling raids led to further damage to orbital assets but little threatened the ground base again.
Ironically, the surrender of the Kingdom of Afet and the collapse of organized resistance in the Jordan Cluster also led directly to the decommissioning of the Ascella base a mere six months later, though it did enjoy a brief period as a POW camp and Vox Dei retraining facility.
Conflict Breakdown (League Attack, November 985): League carrier elements belonging to TF1011, under the command of Commodore Vincent Braid entered the system November 19th, 985. Taking advantage of the incomplete minefield, the carrier wings were able to close and disable the siege-cannons of the starfort, making an intra-system approach possible. Bypassing the fort, the bulk of the invasion fleet engaged the in-system defense force in the debris fields of Irega-VII in an inconclusive battle. Losses on either side were extensive enough that both forces were able to break contact cleanly.
Further naval skirmishing continued over the course of two weeks at which time the League forces were able to rout the Imperial fleet and finish the destruction of the fort complex. A limited ground invasion began in earnest but was hampered by poor weather. The nature of the environment and the construction of the Imperial installation were such that League ground forces were unable to establish permanent surface camps and were forced to make breach-style incursions into the marine facility. Bitter fighting continued for three weeks before a superior Imperial relief fleet arrived.
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