Primary:
Flicker,
spectral class M5V. ICN S4G0604M5V. Mass 0.331 standard. Stellar diameter 0.358
standard. Luminosity 0.007 standard.
Planetary System:
One
major bodies. No inhabited worlds. One gas giant. No planetoid belts. Rock, lb,
is a satellite of the gas giant designated Cronos.
I Cronos:
Mean
orbital radius, 74.8 million kilometers (5 AU). Period 224.5 days. Five
satellites. Diameter, 108000 kilometers. Density, 0.2 standard. Mass, 120.1
standard. A large gas giant.
Ib Rock:
Mean
orbital radius, 5.94 million kilometers (5 radii). Period 146 days. No
satellites. Diameter, 7234 kilometers. Density, 0.98 standard. Mass, .123
standard. Mean surface gravity, .49G. Rotation period: none (tidal lock with
Cronos). Axial inclination 24°6'0.6". Albedo, 0.2. Surface atmospheric
pressure less than 0.01 atm; vacuum suits required outside colony domes.
Hydrographic percentage, 1%; composition, frozen water-ice. Mean surface
temperature, -151°C.
Remarks:
Rock
is a rather unremarkable world, a satellite of a gas giant which has had a small
starport administered by the Kolan Hegemony
(an autonomous member of the Imperium) for nearly a thousand years. The port was
mostly a stepping stone for trade between the Hegemony and the Principality
of Caledon (which have always got on well despite radical cultural
dissimilarities). This function was largely superseded by the construction of
the great trade ports at Concorde (Reavers' Deep 2218) in the Imperium
and Victory (Reavers' Deep 2017) in the
Principality, which became the main trade links.
Recently though, Rock’s small port has been expanded; new settlement (largely
by colonists from outside the Hegemony) has been encouraged by the Imperium.
Plans are in preparation to construct a new naval base near the port, as well,
and the upgraded port has already been incorporated into the Imperial X-boat
system. This is perceived within the Hegemony as part of a deep Imperial plot to
strip away the Hegemony’s few remaining holdings, and is bitterly resented.
Twice already surveyors working on the site proposed for the naval base have
been ambushed, and a rash of minor acts of sabotage has broken out as well,
putting the project almost a year behind schedule already. The perpetrators of
these acts have not yet been traced.
The Imperium is not able to secure the site with Marines, since this would
violate Hegemony autonomy; only after the base is completed can the military
move in (unless permission – so far not forthcoming – is first obtained from
the Hegemony). The local colonial governor has been recruiting mercenaries,
ostensibly to serve the same purpose, but more probably to cause additional
problems. Imperial planners are still developing ways to counteract this turn of
events without a direct confrontation.