Classification: Blue Delta
Last Updated: 736821.M41
Subject: Rubycon II Star System Datafax
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The Rubycon II System resides beyond the far edges of the Drusus Marches, rimward at the very limits of the Calixis Sector in the Segmentum Obscurus. While nearby Rubycon I is a dim, white-dwarf star, alone and slowly radiating away its energy into the void, Rubycon II or Rubycon Majoris is a huge red supergiant with a small cluster of planets surrounding it. The star is nearly a thousand times larger than Blessed Sol and burns a deep crimson colour; many who dwell under its light refer to it as The Ruby or simply Ruby. The Rogue Trader who first officially charted the system, Vivaldi Jontur, regarded it as inconsequential and moved on after a cursory inspection found nothing of interest. With no signs of alien life to exploit or mineral riches to mine, there was little in the dead system to warrant further expense. It would remain deserted until Port Wander was established, centuries later. Even today, Rubycon appears only on a select few Imperial maps.
The most notable features of the system are the two large gas giants orbiting slowly far away from the star. They were easily detected by Jontur's two sons, who were travelling with their father to learn from his travels. He named the planets in their honour, the nearest to the star becoming Carlon and the farther Thamos. Both planets are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, but Thamos has a larger percentage of ice, in the form of water, ammonia, and methane. Neither has any moons and only a smattering of attendant asteroids in stable co-orbital positions, as if a strong wind had swept away most of the normal formations which surround such planets. Vast merchant scoopships mine both planets for their volatile gases, selling them at Port Wander for processing into fuel and organic base matter.
Far closer to Rubycon II is a single small, rocky, and tide-locked planet, scorched clean of any atmosphere or life. It is barely discernible through the red giant’s glare, brown and slag streaked, and was only discovered when the system was carefully mapped, years after Vivaldi Jontur's visit. Dubbed Rustrock, it contains many valuable ores such as iron and adamantium, and today the dark side of the world is covered with mining facilities and refineries, sheltered from the star’s heat. A steady stream of cargo ships carries the purified extracts to the station's foundries and shipyards.
Farther beyond Thamos in highly elliptical orbits are three small planets of frozen gas and ice. Kaiki, Apeli, and Skiri slowly travel along orbital paths that take hundreds of standard years to complete a single revolution. These orbits carry them far beyond Ruby's light and into the system's Ort Cloud. This makes them difficult to reach, though several expeditions have been mounted to chart and explore Kaiki and Apeli. Cursory examinations revealed nothing of interest, yet legends and myths abound in the port about buried treasures and secret xenos cities below the planets' icy exteriors.
The furthest planet, Skiri, has been more thoroughly explored by the Priesthood of the Adeptus Mechanicus. For unknown reasons, the Tech-priests decided to establish a research facility there: Altar-Templum-Calixis-Est-3, which keeps a constant gaze on the Maw, the difficult passage to the Koronus Expanse, to detect signs of instability. Through that dark portal it communes with its younger brother station at Footfall, Altar-Templum-Calixis-Ext-17, and only their Tech-priest masters are privy to the secrets they share. Non-Mechanicus starships that stray too close to the dark and icy world are warned to stand clear, and several ships have vanished after disregarding the warnings.
The Rubycon II System is nestled against the Warp Storm barrier which separates the Drusus Marches from the Halo Stars beyond. It is also home to the entrance to the Koronus Passage, or, as Rogue Traders have come to call it, The Maw, the only stable passageway into the Halo Stars for several thousand light years in either direction. Visible from everywhere in the system and beyond, it looms wide, ready to swallow the Rogue Trader starships that brave its depths and offer them a treacherous pathway to the region of the Halo Stars known as the Koronus Expanse. The Maw is so vast it is more a region of space than an opening in the Warp Storms along the Drusus Marches -- but the Maw can also swell closed when the Warp Storms rage, shrinking to the narrowest passage. Though the political boundaries of the Calixis Sector end at the entrance to the Maw, there are certain Imperial organizations that venture beyond those bounds. Chief amongst them is the Battlefleet Calixis of the Imperial Navy which maintains a watch of warships at Port Wander, the entrance to the Maw, and some say, within the Expanse beyond. This squadron, under command of Fleet-Captain Nathaniel Horne, is on extended detached duty from the rest of Battlefleet Calixis.
Though the squadron, Passage Watch 27 Est, is not large, especially compared to Battlefleet Calixis as a whole, it is comprised of several Cruisers, Light Cruisers, and Battlecruisers, supported by multiple Destroyer and Frigate Escorts. These warships are some of the most combat experienced in Battlefleet Calixis, as they are almost constantly in conflict with raiders and pirates alike. Passage Watch 27 Est is hard-pressed but vigilant, and on occasion has sent its distinctive crimson-prowed vessels on counter-actions and reprisals into the Koronus Expanse. This has led the ships' crews to refer to themselves, only half-jokingly, as "Battlefleet Koronus."
Due to its proximity to the Warp Storm barrier, Astropathic communication with Rubycon II and consequently Port Wander has proven to be notoriously unreliable. Most messages sent either arrive with many months of delay or completely undecipherable. As a result, the Astropathic Choir originally stationed at Port Wander has been all but completely disbanded as of 243812.M41, leaving communiqués delivered by passing ships the only reliable way of communication with the remote outpost.
Port Wander supports a thriving underclass of criminal activity. This ranges from pirate raiders that drift in the outer cometary clouds, to smugglers, thieves, brokers and murders that infect the station itself. Smuggling is a common crime; most captains cannot resist an opportunity to supplement their income by hauling some additional, illegal cargo. Smuggling is so common that many intersystem ships or transport shuttles contain hidden stowage spaces for that very purpose. Many of the Port Wander shuttle clans are known for making a tidy profit as go-betweens for larger vessels returning from the Halo Stars and brokers aboard the station. There are also larger smuggling networks, with Warp-capable vessels, intersystem ships, and even hidden asteroid bases. The infamous Cold Trade of xenos artefacts runs through Port Wander, and it is not the only smuggling venture in the Rubycon II System. The Calixis Battlefleet would have to station at least a quarter of its starships at Port Wander to even put a dent in the smuggling, something the Imperial Navy has little interest in doing.
Pirates also infest the system, attracted to the rich bounties being harvested from the Koronus Expanse and the heavily-laden vessels supplying the system. A common tactic is to attack transports as they translate into realspace or lure them with false distress calls. Many merchant vessels approaching the system operate in fleets in an attempt to stave them off, but with little success. Xenos raiders are also a threat, though major attacks have been rare in recent decades. Be they human or alien, pirates are ruthless and generally leave no survivors. Captured starships are either stripped for parts, refitted and re-crewed as prize vessels, or left to drift and die without power.
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