Magadan (world)/secret
Magadan (world) is not all that it appears to be on the quiet surface.
Once upon a time, a low bid contractor was given leased access to start mining surveys on a desolate ice capped world. Subsurface mining was performed to investigate the viability of water and fuel purification to support a colony and refueling station for a larger starport to come. The conditions were miserable, but nothing that couldn't be overcome with the appropriate application of funds and resources. The mining corporation saw that this was going nowhere and realized once the trade routes were rerouted around this system, no traffic was headed this way for the foreseeable future. The investment was not going to prove profitable. The mineral profile was unremarkable and certainly not worth the investment that extraction would have required. So a young executive with a bit of divergent thinking hit upon an idea. What if they could market the location's utter lack of appeal, as a selling point. A location no one would visit if they could avoid it. A low key covert communique was based to the central committee of the Solomani Fleet Command, within the Solomani Confederation.
The result, all these years latter, is a well guarded, high security weapons depot with some of the nastiest experimental weapons know to science. Pathogens, mutations, horrid varieties of biochemical nightmares, nuclear, and the run of the mill tailored plague viruses, nanites, anti-matter have all found a home here. The fleet archives of every nasty trick in the book, in clear violation of any sensible regulatory agencies or legal bodies. Things for which treaties have banned long ago, as too inhumane or dangerous to use on the field of battle among civilized combatants. Sealed deep in the planets crust behind layers of defenses are a series of death vaults, hidden and known to a tiny number of members of the party inner circle. This is a little budgetary black hole, well hidden from accountants and auditors. The vast majority of the staff know little to nothing about what is in the library. Cover stories abound, with iron clad non-disclosure agreements, and top secret clearance on top of all that. This is the emergency back up plan for combating the next invasion; to prevent something like the fall of Terra (SR 1827) (world). This is the vault of the last resorts, the arsenal of top secret, no holds barred weapons of desperation and total destruction. Enlisted military contractors serve quiet garrison terms here for a year, before being rotated out, usually none the wiser about what that was all about. The officer cadre and researchers are allowed families, many choose to be single for some reason. Many have worked here their entire careers, this kind of work attracts a certain profile of devoted and dedicated professionals. Officially, there are no ties to the Solomani Navy, and no formal records mention this facilities' existence.
The surface facilities look barren, desolate and civilian with corporate mining company logos proudly displayed for any curious onlookers. The cast look the part of a very small scale company mining town. An astute, business minded observer might notice that this facilities output is basically non-existent and certainly not enough to keep the lights on. If pointed out, a knowledgeable staff member might offer a story about a confederate block grant to undeveloped worlds to help with economic hardships, paid for with taxes from berthing fees etc. The labs and vaults are only accessed by a tiny number of personnel, with elaborate bio-metric security measures.
Very rarely someone's curiosity gets the best of them, and they begin to ask too many questions. These people are either mind wiped, a psionic and drug managed memory deletion, they wake up a week later on a strange ship headed somewhere with some lost time. Others, if too persistent become test subjects and research volunteers, once taken into custody for violating some local trespassing law. The mining companies legal codex is a folded paper pamphlet for most civil affairs.
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis), Captain, and Lead Naval Architect Ronald B. Kline, Jr. of the Imperial Navy