Primary:
Jugjanlej, spectral class F8V. ICN S4K0101F8V. Mass 1.14 standard. Stellar
diameter 1.18 standard. Luminosity 2.13 standard.
Planetary
System: Eleven
major bodies. One Inhabited world (Lajanjigal, V). Five gas giants in system.
V
Lajanjigal:
Mean orbital radius, 418.9 million kilometers (2.8 AU). Period, 4.39 years ... 3
satellites ... Diameter, 12,354 kilometers. Density, 1.04. Mass, 2.0 standard.
Mean surface gravity, 1.3 G. Rotation period: 15 hours, 34 minutes, 58 seconds.
Axial Inclination, 19°2'2.1" Albedo, .50 ... Surface atmospheric pressure,
2.3atm; composition, chlorine-disulphur dichloride mix, rated CORROSIVE and
requiring complete head-to-toe protection to avoid serious damage. Hydrographic
percentage, 68%; composition - liquid water mixed with hydrochloric acid and
sulphuric acid. Mean surface temperature, -6°C.
Remarks:
Shrouded in an eerie yellow-green haze, Lajanjigal is an environment extremely
hostile to humans. Unprotected humans would die quickly in the corrosive
chlorine which makes up the active ingredient of Lajanjigal's atmosphere. But
the world is home to a complete diverse ecology which flourishes in this strange
atmosphere; based on a thoroughly different body chemistry, life on Lajanjigal
takes on unreal, nightmarish forms difficult for humaniti and other
oxygen-breathers to understand.
The world supports a race of sophonts, the Languljigee, a tripedal life form which is not readily describable to humans. The planet would not ordinarily have attracted the attention of anyone but sophontologists interested in how a civilization might develop in completely unearthly conditions. However, thirty years ago, a ship belonging to Dakaar Trading, a division of the Dakaar Corporation, followed up a clue about the race spilled by a scout in the service of the Confederacy of Duncinae, in a bar on Drellesarr (Reavers' Deep 2029). The scout had been part of a team investigating the Languljigee; the team's geologist, however, had made some interesting mineralogical discoveries at the same time.
The Dakaar ship verified the rumors; Lajanjigal was a world rich in various rare
metals and radioactives. But conventional mining techniques were virtually
worthless because of the intensely exotic conditions, and Dakaar
Mineral officials quickly realized that the cost of working the mines there
would be prohibitively expensive.
Dakaar solved the problem typically. The natives of Lajanjigal could work
without any of the restrictions a human work crew would labor under in the
planet's corrosive atmosphere; therefore, the natives were recruited. But the
recruiting tactics were less than gentle; when the planetary leadership
protested the extremely one-sided offer Dakaar had made, two small native
villages were razed by a low-flying pinnace armed with high explosive missiles.
The natives, unable to resist the technology at Dakaar's command, gave in.
Conditions among the natives on Lajanjigal are virtually those of a slave labor
force. Quotas set by Dakaar are high, with the threat of massive punishment for
failure to meet them. Various offworld groups have protested Dakaar's high-handed
tactics, but to no avail. The natives of the planet themselves are unresponsive
to offers of help, for Dakaar is a very real and immediate presence and
offworlders are now generally distrusted when they speak of friendship and aid.
A small orbital facility, comparable to a class D starport, is maintained in
orbit around the world by the Dakaar Corporation. It includes several small
craft armed with missiles, a platoon of mercenaries trained in exotic atmosphere
combat, and a staff of technicians and supervisors. Freighters call regularly to
make ore pickups; otherwise, contact with the world is minimal.