Sor-Jan Xantha
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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Create a resource mine for faction roleplay and to expand on the lore of the Bespin System.
- Image Credit: Bas Ruhe
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: You've Got a Lot of Guts Coming Here | First Order Dominion of Bespin
- Mine Name:
- Unmanned Mining Project UR-556 (Official First Imperial Project Designation)
- Orik's Tear (Corellia Digital marketing)
- Material:
- Location: Velser's Ring (Bespin System)
- Affiliation: The First Order, Corellia Digital
- Size: Large
- Population: Unstaffed/Automated
- Profit: High
- Accessibility: Restricted Access. A shield gate restricts entry to the mine, automated through the use of an Imperial encryption code to open or close the shield to allow for inspectors, maintenance teams, or cargo transports to move in and out of the facility.
- Description: A fully automated mining operation inside of Bespin's asteroid belt, UR-556 was an Imperial mining and resourcing project operated through an exclusive defense contract with the Corellia Digital Corporation. The mine was notable for several resources important to the First Order's defense acquisitions, including hollinium for turbolaser weapons development. The mine also produced tibanna and desh, which were refined elsewhere for use in defense manufacturing.
- Shield Gate. Powered by a DSS-02 shield generator embedded into the asteroid surface, the shield gate is designed to prevent unauthorized access to the docking bay or mining facility. Transmission of proper Imperial codes and encryption protocols triggers the raising or lowering of the shield, allowing First Order inspectors, Corellia Digital maintenance crews, or First Order cargo ships to proceed in or out of the facility.
- Docking Bay. A container bay recessed inside of a crater on the asteroid's surface, the docking bay was the central supply point for the mine. Very few visitors to UR-556 had cause to venture beyond this point, as the droids collected and packed the materials for cargo transport. Loader droids located at the berths would then load the containers into the cargo ships, making it so that no ship crew need disembark. Inspection of cargo material and manifests could be done inside the cargo transport, after the containers had been loaded.
- Mining Facility. A CMC-A14 mining facility installed into the surface and substrata of the asteroid identified as UR-556, or Orik's Tear, the mining facility was a fully automated operation. A Corellia Digital droid brain coordinated the fleet of KM1 mining droids that served as the labor force.
Medium. As the mine produced hyperbaride for the First Order military, it had an increased security posture for a civilian-operated mining facility. A shield gate acted as a passive level of defense against intrusion or theft, and was controlled by Imperial command codes that followed standard encryption protocols. A Corellia Defense Self-Propelled Battle Droid Mk III (an automated corvette carrier) was also located at the facility, armed with a complement of droid starfighters to deter pirate attack until an Imperial reaction force could respond. As First Order patrols were frequently in the vicinity, the security posture in place was intended to merely delay raiders, signaling an alarm and then allowing the First Order to more properly deal with the threat.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Unmanning Mining Project UR-556 was a First Order mining operation taking place in the Bespin System in 864 ABY.
An asteroid located in Velser's Ring, UR-556 was a large astronomical object that was believed to have been created (along with the remainder of the asteroid ring) when a gas giant failed to form in the Bespin System, instead forming an interior ring that divided the interior and outlying orbits of the Bespin system. The Ugnaughts had cataloged UR-556 several hundred years before, but the Four Hundred Years Darkness, economic setbacks from the Gulag Plague, and lack of access to capital had delayed a proper survey of its resources. Following an initial report that hollinium may be present, a proper mineral survey was conducted in 860 ABY. When the presence of hollinium was confirmed, the First Order put a bid out for various companies approved by the Imperial Security Bureau to develop a mining project to develop hyperbaride for use in weapons production and research.
Corellia Digital won the defense contract, leveraging fully automated Corellian mining technology and labor droids to reduce operating costs and maximize its profits. The mining facility became operational in 864 ABY. In addition to hyperbaride, the asteroid also contained pockets of frozen tibanna gas, as well as veins of desh ore. These were mined and packaged for refinement off-world, either at Cloud City, Absit, or Needan, where they could be manufactured into military-grade blaster cartridges or batteries. Under the terms of the defense contract, Corellia DIgital retained all profits from the operation of the mine.
Because of the production of hyperbaride, the mining facility had an elevated security posture that included both active and passive layers of defense. A shield gate restricted entry to the docking bay, automated by use of Imperial encryption codes. A Corellia Digital droid carrier, with as many as three squadrons of droid starfighters, was also located at the entry to the mine, in order to deter or delay any attacking raiders. Ultimately, the goal in the case of pirate attack would be for an automated distress beacon to summon the First Order military to more properly address the situation.
These defenses were obviously not effective for cargo ships after departing UR-556, where they would have to first safely navigate Velser's Ring before being able to safely plot and engage their hyperdrive.
While the First Imperial designation for the project was UR-556, Corellia Digital marketing material refer to the installation as Orik's Tear, a reference to Orik's Spine on the planet Corellia.
