Overview : The Snowden-Class Mining Station is a self-mobile, self-contained space-based mining and refining station typical of many found across the Inner Sphere, but particularly common among the numerous asteroid belts and clusters found in Taurian Concordat space. The first Snowden was placed deep within the numerous asteroid belts found along the coreward edge of the Hyades Cluster, on the 10th of August, 2390. Though intended for civilian use, and to operate far from support for extended periods of time, its debut came when Taurian concern over the “Davion Menace” was particularly high. As a result, its design incorporated thicker armor plating and more firepower than commonly seen on a civilian platform.

The Snowden’s design is visually distinctive, with its twin grav decks located one over the other along the station’s long axis, giving it the look of a giant, armored bicycle and rise to the common nickname of “Biker Station”. In the connecting segment beween these two grav wheels – often referred to as the station’s “waist”, the Snowden originally featured fighter and small craft decks for local defense, but later designers modified one of these massive launch bays to accommodate a small army of IndustrialMechs instead, to support the station’s primary mining, refining, and cargo handling needs. Today, in fact, many Snowden’s maintain an army of vacuum-capable IndustrialMechs, such as the Outworlds Alliance “Space Hound” ProspectorMech.

Capabilities : The Snowden mining station was designed to provide remote mining sites with refining and support facilities, plus construction and repair of DropShips and Small Craft. Such stations are typically brought to a distant site via JumpShip, particularly those without any useful facilities to assist in exploiting rich mineral resources, and serve as the central location for government and administration of new, developing mining regions.

On the “High” and “Low” sides of the Snowden’s waist, are the important small craft bays, known as the “Flight Decks” (or “Green Sector” ). Located opposite each other, and between the larger, flat repair yards, these two bays provide an important aspect of the station’s reason for being. The “Small Hangar” is a massive, functional docking, maintenance, repair and engineering bay, air-locked with four maintenance hatches along the hull facing the outer hangar doors. Within this space, are thirty (30) Mech cubicles, intended to be used by IndustrialMechs. Located in each bay is a series of restraining rigs, power hook-ups and storage space for parts, tools and other important equipment. The “Large Hangar” is similar to the first, though rigged to contain twenty-two (22) Small Craft. Traditionally the station reserves two of the bays for itself, and the remainder are typically used by independent miners using 100-ton Type-S “Seeker” Mining Shuttles. AeroFighters kept for defensive purposes are also stored in these bays.

The Snowden contains a pair of major repair facilities located on either side of its central connecting “waist” column, known as the “Repair Decks” (or “Red Sector” ). One is equipped with a DropShip docking collar and is capable of allowing a ship of up to 15,000 tons (typically a Mule-Class DropShip) to be secured for repairs and maintenance, as a small un-pressurized yard. Next to this docking collar lies a large repair center. Often, the docking station is used for loading and off-loading cargo and personnel, particularly refined ore. To facilitate this process, a large cargo airlock is placed within the repair center leading directly to a large lift capable of carrying 100 tons of cargo from the main cargo bays. These bays are located in the station’s main hull in a ring surrounding the central power drives.

Opposite the unpressurized yard, is a dome-shaped pressurized facility with minor repair equipment capable of preforming maintenance and minor repairs to a vessel massing up to 5000 tons (such as a Union-Class or Buccaneer-Class DropShip). Because of the presence of these stations in isolated locations in the fringes of a system, the facilities are often used to repair small craft and shuttles of the local mining force, and is usually in high demand. The presence of a pressurized yard also allows station engineers to conduct delicate work without resorting to cumbersome exo-suits. The expense of employing this facility, however, restricts its use to major over-hauls, or select construction tasks for small craft, often to convert older shuttles into Type-S “Seeker” Mining Shuttles.

Forming a ring around the main engine lie the main cargo decks and refinery bays. Spread over three decks within the inner hull of the Snowden’s central waist, these mixed bays are known as “The Work Decks”. Consisting of the Cargo Deck, the Refining Deck and the Engineering Deck, they are the site of most of the station’s activity during working hours.

Between the outer docking bays and hangar bays, lies the “Cargo Deck” (or “Brown Sector” ). The bays of this large warehouse and repair center constitutes a large portion of the station’s waist interior. Broken into over a hundred separate storage bays with lockers, tie-downs and individually sealed bay doors, these chambers are a maze of nooks and crannies, making them a considerable hazard during boarding operations. It is common to have independent operators maintain individual bays for themselves to store spare parts, fuel and surplus ore, sometimes even maintain small quarters for themselves, when they are short of funds. The remainder of the Cargo Deck are three large rings, each capable of holding 5000 tons of cargo.

Snug against the main fusion core, is the “Refining Deck” (or “Grey Sector” ). Herein, traditionally all mining material is stored, processed and refined for export from the facility, and cargo is moved from the docking areas via cargo drones along dedicated shafts. When the machinery is in operation, the sounds in the surrounding decks literally thrums with movement and sound. To keep the noise to a minimum, fuel tankage is placed as baffles, and heavy insulation can be found in places.

This section has been gutted of its original foundries, and scrapped to provide a large series of bays to house a collection of various industrial enterprises. The first was the inclusion of a 1000 ton Hydrogen Fuel Refinery and ten (10) 20,000-Litre Polymer Storage Tanks. Supplying fuel for visiting shuttles and DropShips, it sells its fuel under The Fuel Rats brand. The one side of the main bay remains an open 2500-ton slot for a future inclusion of a small factory line, or some other industrial effort, while the other 2500-ton section was rebuilt to house an advanced Hydroponics Facility, intended to supplement the station (and unit) with consumables, while its waste products are shipped to Miguel and the bio-diesel plant located there for recycling.

Sectioning off a portion of the large remaining bay in The Factory – The Foundry, the Iron Dingoes have established an assembly plant for their exclusive GloryHound Exoskeleton systems. This facility, while not a full-scale manufacturing plant, still produces limited production runs of their signature industrial exoskeleton for internal use, as well as the domestic markets. This suit is also seeing some small-scale marketing interest to visiting DropShips looking for a mid-range capable exoskeleton for their own loading operations. The actual assembly line only occupies a portion of the new bay, however, giving it plenty of space for expansion to a full manufacturing site, should equipment and personnel be located.

The main core of the station, and its literal heart, is the “Engineering Deck” (or “Yellow Sector” ) and its dependable Majoris Frostwave, a massive fusion engine core, that provides power to both the machinery of the station, and the large grav decks. The small fusion drive that allows the Snowden the ability to move (albeit slowly) from its jump-point into position in a belt for mining purposes, also takes its power from this unit. These drives are located on the “aft” hull, but large power cables connect from Engineering Deck and its core directly into these drives.

Perhaps the most important portion of the Snowden are its two gravity decks; the “Operations Deck” occupies the smaller fore deck, and the “Crew Deck” occupies the larger aft grav deck. The “Operations Deck” (or “Black Sector” ) is placed within a 150m diameter grav deck located forward of the station. This deck contains the administrative centers, main mission control, life support, computers and quarters for the officers, its science and medical staff as well as its marine complement. The deck contains a number of research labs, a gymnasium with a pair of rec rooms, the canteen and kitchens. This level also houses the medical bays, a compact facility capable of caring for a dozen emergency patients in need.

The “Crew Deck” (or “Blue Sector” ) is a massive grav deck over 250m wide, and provides housing for the bulk of the population of the station. In addition to these large banks of private staterooms, is a small number of private storage rooms filling-in oddly-shaped corners, and a central “Zócalo”, or market area where a handful of shops can be rented by commercial ventures or supplying office space to smaller independents and larger companies seeking space for their own personal corporate efforts. Central to the area is a small “Zen Garden”, popular as a meeting place. A small security office and medical facility are located here, the latter providing space for two emergency cases, though patients are typically moved to the main medical facility in the Operations Deck as soon as possible.

Station housing primarily consists of separate, self-contained, en-suite staterooms. These rooms are extremely functional and compact, measuring 3m by 4m and 2m in height. Common to every stateroom, is a bed with a corner desk, while the bottom of the bed acts as a fold-down storage for small personal effects. There is usually a chair (or two), an open media access terminal, voice and video communications equipment, video wall screen and a number of small storage lockers on the remaining walls. The room’s polymer panels can be replaced to change a room’s colors and textures. Larger rooms are possible by altering the internal walls, though this tends to be expensive. Common facilities for showers and toilets, as well as small gathering areas for meetings are shared among local housing elements.

On either end of the central waist, are two important facilities. Beneath the larger grav deck, lies the “Facility Operations Deck” (also known as the “Lower Black Sector” ), which coordinates ship repairs, construction and maintenance of the Flight Decks. This large, multi-room area contains operations computers, a communications center, an operation chief’s office, a facility master control room, a structural analysis center, an engineering briefing room, and a pair of external airlocks, with provision for storage of large amounts of equipment and a couple dozen C80 Combat Environment Suits, for XTC operations by station technical personnel.

The second area is adjacent to the smaller gravity deck, and contains the all-important docking-boom controls. Known as the “Docking Deck” (Also known as the “Upper Black Sector” ), it contains the machinery needed to move and control the K/F Boom, as well as space for tools and parts storage, and the machinery required to retract the boom and move it into position for docking. The entire docking boom will retract into a storage space against the hull, protecting it when DropShips are docked, and during transit to or from its JumpShip transport. A pair of personnel airlocks are also located here, allowing direct access to the delicate docking machinery from a small preparation chamber meant to hold several XTC-suits and tools.

The Snowden traditionally has a considerable array of laser weaponry for a civilian station, intended to protect itself from raids. These include four Large Lasers assembled in pairs, and mounted in the forward and rear arcs. The station also has single PPC found in each of its forward side sections, overlooking the small craft bays. Large arrays of Medium Lasers have been employed to protect the forward and aft sides of the Snowden. Small Lasers mounted in pairs round out the station’s point-defense capability along all its flanks. The Snowden is further protected by 166 tons of standard armor. However due to its civilian nature its internal structure is extremely vulnerable should anything get through the station’s outer armored shell.

Deployment : Remote locations and the stations semi-modular design has allowed many Snowden-Class stations to escape the centuries of warfare relatively unscathed, though the decline in technology and difficult access to spare parts has led many to close down and be abandoned. Currently, only Taurus Majoris Metals (or TMM) – the largest mining concern in the Taurian Concordat – maintains the most operating Snowden mining stations (including the historic original Snowden). While currently unable to construct new Snowden stations, the Concordat nevertheless manufactures sufficient spare parts though it’s to keep their own operational (with a handful of extras for export).

The most noted feature of the Snowden, is it being equipped with a K-F Boom. The K-F Boom allows the station to attach to JumpShips, and was created by the Taurian Concordat in 2390 to help exploit the raw resources of the growing realm. The station is thus designed to be semi-mobile, allowing it to be moved to where it is needed, rather than being dismantled and reassembled on-site. Perhaps this factor, more than any other, has allowed the valuable stations to survive to the present day.

Another unique feature of the Snowden is its relative mobility. The station’s power plant is extremely efficient, with its station-keeping drive being capable of achieving up to 0.2 Gs of thrust. This allows the vessel to move from its jump-point to its destination in a belt or in orbit of a planet or moon, granting direct exploitation of the resources in the designated area.

Variants : The original version of the Snowden, known as the “Mark I”, is designed to employ mining shuttles (known as the Type-S “Seeker” Mining Shuttle among mining communities) instead of using modern IndustrialMechs. The Snowden’s Bay #1 was thus used to launch 15 additional Small Craft in support of a station’s activites. Bay #2 has a small Craft complement of originally 20 small craft instead of modern version’s 22 craft capacity. Also, Bay #2 had smaller weight capacity of 4,400 tons.

Named Stations : “Snowden” – The original namesake of the Class, was launched on August 10th, 2390 where it was deployed to the Hyades Cluster and has remained in the area ever since. The Snowden is one of the eighteen Snowden mining stations that have survived and remain active to the present day. A handful of others have been shut-down and abandoned, for lack of spare parts, or an inability to repair certain critical aspects of the valuable stations.

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Military Forces

Security on the station is run by a permanent garrison of * “Cerberus Command” star marines. For nearly a decade, they have acclimated to the station’s environs, and improved their skills through constant training under their former leader, Major Frank Castle, though their new commander Captain Cassandra Anderson is both a Shadow Recruit, and a protege of that officer, and continues his traditions and hard-edged leadership style. She personally leads the 1st “Steel-Shells Platoon”.

Equipped with the typical Iron Dingoes Infantry Field Kit (3023)s, and all troops are armed with Mauser 960 Assault Systems and gas grenades for their launchers. They also have access to second-line XTC equipment; namely L2 “Maser” Laser Assault Rifles and C80 Combat Environment Suits from the Iron Dingoes armory, for deployment outside the station’s confines. Each platoon is also assigned a short-range shuttle to give them the ability to board other vessels as part of any customs operations.

In addition, Lieutenant JG Isabella Farron “Swan” has been assigned as a counter-intelligence operative aboard the station, keeping tabs on potential threats to the station and risks from opposing intelligence agents from the nations of Terramatrix. “Swan” leads a couple of junior agents and has established an informant network on this valuable asset of the Iron Dingoes. Many in the intelligence community have dubbed her the “Ugly Duckling” as a misnomer.

Cerberus Command

- Marine Security Group - “StarGuards”

1st Security Marines Platoon “The Steel-Shells”
One (1) ST-46 Class Shuttle
4 Squads Laser Infantry Marines (Vet, 2 Reg, Grn)

2nd Security Marines Platoon “Vac Eaters”
One (1) ST-46 Class Shuttle
4 Squads Laser Infantry Marines (4 Reg)

3rd Security Marines Platoon “Stardust”
One (1) ST-46 Class Shuttle
4 Squads Laser Infantry Marines (2 Vet, 2 Reg)

Note : The station presently has the following small craft/vessels docked for general use in its hangar bays. The Callisto is a privately-owned vessel, and pays docking fees. All the Seekers are used in long-term flight missions, and maintain a constant series of flights to and from the station, and around the system under station commission. While the one DropShuttle is used in connecting flights to and from Terramatrix, the second is an auxiliary used as a courier for the station’s needs, though they also sometimes take a few weeks and run prospecting missions in the sparse trojan points in the local system.

One (1) Callisto Luxury Yacht : “Ambassador” (Regular)
Three (3) Type-S “Seeker” Mining Shuttles : “Rockhound”, “Spindrift”, and “Comet Chaser” (Vet, 2 Reg).
Two (2) K-1 Class Dropshuttles – “Master of Enterprise” (Regular) and “Glass Throne” (Veteran).
Two (2) Mark VII Landing Craft and two (2) Type-S “Seeker” Mining Shuttles operated under the aegis of Whippet Transport Lines share a pair of dedicated shuttle bays, but the former two are usually available for emergency orbital shipments.

The station landhold keeps eight (8) AeroFighters as reserve units for point-defense, escort and recon missions. In addition, the assault DropShip, “Azrael’s Dagger” and its attached forces are based from this station, granting it a strong defensive force. As of early-3026, the “Guinevere” was chosen to assist the defensive wing of the station, though it primarily operates in hauling cargo in-system (to and from the station) when duties demand. In late-3033, the interdiction fleet was increased by the addition of four (4) Saturn-Class Patrol Ships.

- Iron Dingoes Autonomous District (IDAD) Orbital DropShip Force -* “Star Slammer Squadron”

“Azrael’s Dagger” – Commander Warrick “Mister” Christie (Reg)
“Guinevere” – Commander Thomas Dallas (Reg)
“Chain” – Unassigned (Reg)
“Clamp” – Unassigned (Green)
“Grapple” – Unassigned (Green)
“Grasp” – Unassigned (Reg)

- Iron Dingoes Autonomous District (IDAD) Orbital Defense Group (The Factory) -* “The Dog Starz”

- 1st AeroSpace (Command) Assault Lance - “The Wing-Rippers”

EGL-R6 Eagle “Hellcat” – Lieutenant Commander Rihanna “Wing-Ripper” Blackjay (Vet)
EGL-R6 Eagle “Light Blossom” – Lieutenant JG Daisha Defarannos “Elemental” (Reg)

- 3rd AeroSpace Interceptor Lance - “Above and Beyond”

TAAF-54 Vasarahai “Jasmine” – Seo-Young Hwang (Reg)
TAAF-54 Vasarahai “Raptor” – Domingo Rousseau (Reg)

- 3rd AeroSpace Strike Lance - “Star Strikers”

SL-17 Shilone “Wind Leaf” – Samuel Cairn (Vet)
SL-17 Shilone “Moonstone” – Kris Himenez (Reg)

- 4th AeroSpace Strike Lance - “Blackwater Corsairs”

Corsair “Sense” – Marie d’Or (Vet)
Corsair “Burndown” – William Hanrahan (Reg)

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History

“The Factory”, or “Mining Platform AM90125” as it was officially noted in system records, is a Snowden-Class Mining Platform originally located in the Majestic Cluster of the System – Cassandra. Attached to a standard local asteroid hulk known as AM90125, or The Rock, the facility was apparently used by Excalibur Corporation, but was listed in the documents held by Lord (Major) Michael Ruxbondy “Paladin”, as abandoned, likely surplus to their needs at one point some twenty years ago. It proved to be more than that.

The “Factory” proved to be a relic, abandoned for more than twenty years, but it was a relic that could be salvaged and made operable. Given to Maas Companies Inc. as war reparations, the station was sold to the Iron Dingoes for less than 10% of its true value. Taking possession, the Dingoes then conducted a survey and made it their own mobile landhold.

The Factory was declared officially operational on October 16th, 3020. Oversight management of the facility is provided by a private company, whose leadership includes Station Master Haro Lothrain lead manager, and Master Tech Desna Greer as Head of Operations. Captain Cassandra Anderson has been assigned as Head of Security, by the Iron DIngoes own . They hired crew to fill-out the roster of needed techs, engineers and general laborers required to get the station fully operational, and have brought with them various shuttles and pilots from their prospecting company days to serve the station’s interface needs.

To facilitate the completion of repairs in a timely manner, the unit had chosen to avoid repairs to the Ore Processing Bay, and dumped the entire ore processing line as scrap. Saving nearly a month of refit time, the money spent on this endeavor was invested in several small facilities, including a Hydrogen Fuel Refinery, and an advanced Hydroponics Facility, and these facilities were declared complete after spending several months “at-station” in System – Dumassas. On January 1st, 3021, the facility officially opened as a recreational spot for troops, traders and mercenaries, with its The Factory – The Zócalo as the center-point of the community.

Over the following years since 3021, the facility proved extremely popular, and as wars began to rage across the planet, the Factory was instrumental in providing contacts with off-world mercenaries and handfuls of wealthy refugees seeking a place of relative safety.

In early-3023, The Factory was jumped into the high planetary orbit of Terramatrix proper, positioned to maintain orbital interdiction over the planet, as well as providing an important commercial link to the planet below. Given a defensive force of AeroFighters and DropShips, the station began to attract out-system trade, and was increasingly seen as the interface with the entire planet by visiting merchants to the system.

When the Small War began in earnest in mid-3024, the station came under scrutiny as a potential war target. Its defensive AeroFighters were used to clear the airspace during the counter-raid against The National Legionary Tragnars efforts to seize The District of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina. Security was increased, and the arrival of interests from Excalibur Corporation in late-3024, brought the station under the focus of a trade war in the system between the Iron DIngoes and the economic and industrial might of The Free-City of Von Doom’s Downport. The sudden collapse of the League of Free Nations and end of the Small War brought the sense of danger to the station at an end, and by early-3025, the station became the focus for all incoming and outgoing trade in the system.

Throughout 3025, the station was able to weather much of the 3025 Outworld Flu by rigorous containment protocols, and managed to maintain a steady control over incoming and outgoing trade from the system.

Throughout 3026 to 3028, the facility has dominated the system’s trade venues, backed by its strong military presence and the ever-watchful eye of Excalibur Corporation, who work closely with the station’s managers to ensure smooth operations and control over in-system traffic.

In mid-3032, Venturespring opened negotiations with Corporación de Alta Tecnología para la Defensa out of Ciudad Garcia, and opened a production facility in the remaining unclaimed area of The Factory – The Foundry for the production of ZAFO, a potentially explosive new technology to the system’s economic potential. This facility has made several quick runs of its products as tests, but is slated to begin full-scale operation in early-3033, once its main industrial blocks are installed. These blocks, moderately advanced in technical matters, are being imported from the Federated Suns, and represent a significant investment on behalf of Venturespring.

In late-3033, the fleet assigned to Black Ice Command was increased to include four (4) Saturn-Class Gunships; “Chain”, “Clamp”, “Grasp”, and “Grapple”. While the crew demands for these vessels remains high, due to its lack of modern automation and the large ship’s marine contingent on each vessel, the ships were provided with a skeleton crew for operations, and a single squad of marines to facilitate future operations as part of the system’s interdiction fleet. All four vessels operate under the aegis of “The Factory”, and ensure trade practices of calling on the system’s highport are enforced.

The rise of the Terramatrix Trade Authority (TTA) in the mid-3030s provided the facility with a great opportunity, as the station became the central staging point for all off-world trade activity with its development. By 3039, the basics of the organization had been hammered out, and the trade union opened its first offices on the station, with many of the planet’s major trade companies and transport vessels choosing to join the organization. The result was a more efficient process to transport goods and unification of the station’s economy under the C-Bill Standard. By 3042, this included the many independent haulers in the region.

In 3042, the reorganization of Iron Dignoes assets placed a greater emphasis on the local contingent of AeroFighters to work on orbital control of battlespace, while their counterparts in Black Ice Command began to look after deep space transit and the jump-points as their command under the “Dog Stars” initiative. A long-term project intended to integrate the forces as the resident black water navy, they dominate in-system traffic, and are increasingly influential in local trade efforts.