Four Corners MapThe colony of Four Corners is on a world orbiting a Yellow Giant some 100 LY from Tirol and 180 LY from Earth. It was once a Robotech Master manufacturing colony with bountiful geothermal energy sources to supplement the protoculture power sources. While decommissioned, a good amount of the hardware and assembly lines (and some amount of raw materials) was left behind and found when the UEEF Colonists arrived on their Angel colony ships. Four ships arrived, each holding the collected materials and citizens of four major metropolitan areas from Earth.
There are numerous places they could have settled, but they finally decided upon where the Robotech Masters had established their manufacturing complexes. They were large, reinforced and easily defensible. All "ground" trafffic is handled by low altitude hovercraft due to the rocky terrain. A large part of the defense force is either battloid or fixed wing hover jets brought from Earth.
Four colonies, one from each ship were established in a ring of mountains surrounding one protected valley and the lake in the middle of it. New Denver, with most of the inhabitants being from Denver was founded first, and has become the major spaceport for the entire colony. A month later New Canaan was set up on the site of the most intact factory complex, and a month after that Santa Fiero and Star Corners were established after that.
At first it was thought that they would be able to plant grains in the valley, and therefore be able to produce food as well as mine and manufacture goods, but the salt content of the ground and the river and lake at the center of the valley makes this impossible. They did get lucky in that the local grass seems to have similar traits to wheat, and with some amount of processing, can be made into a decent tasting, if salty, flour that can be easily made into a variety of foods. It is now called Kyane (l. neatriticum kyaneos), a bastardization of the Tirolian word for the plant.
Water remains plentiful, though it is quite salty once it hits the ground. Rain water collection remains the best form, though in the low lands desalination technology helps considerably. Other foods must be grown hydroponically, as any plant that can survive the ground ends up being choked out by the kyane grain. The colonists thought they would have a good food source to sell to Tirol with Kyane, but as it turns out something the Robotech Masters did has made the Tirolians deathly allergic to the plant. It gives half Tirolians and anyone with zentraedi heritage gas, but aside from that, no other effect.
Of course finding an edible grain only encouraged some of the colonists to explore other avenues for the grain, including alcohol. Within a year of discovering the edible nature of the blue grain, two breweries had sprung up, each creating a different alcohol based on the blue grain. The first, a beer simply called "Blue Beer," is a widely popular thick beer known for it's frothy blue-white head. The other is a grain alcohol called "Old Blue Fire" that is highly prized for how easy it is to metabolize, and therefore causes few hangovers, assuming the drinker also consumes at least as much water as he does alcohol. A common preparation method is to simply cut it one for one with water and poor it over ice. Now, some five years since the colony's founding, ten breweries and twenty variations of those two drinks exist.
New Canaan, was set up on one of the most salvageable of the factories and has set about making some of the items they brought with them, including a bevy of old ASC and early UEEF weapons, body armor, and some mecha, battloids and power armor mostly. The Satyr battloid and Unicorn power armor are the most commonly made, though they sometimes produce limited runs of Basilisk, Manticore and Kraken Power Armor, as well as Salamander and Dryad battloids. All of the Southern Cross battloids and power armor are able to be produced. Because of the mountainous nature of their cities, few cyclones are in use on Four Corners.
Star Corners produces shuttles and aerospace and hover jets, especially AHR-15 and EHR-15 Phantoms, SC-32 Rocs, AS-14 Pegasi, and FA-112 chimeras. It also has the best access to the highest peak on the planet, where an observatory and listening post has been constructed on the ruins of a Robotech Masters built complex that was destroyed in some conflict ages ago. It is connected by means a very sturdy and wide tunnel, easily able to move two vehicles side by side with room to spare. The base was named Fort Deitrich after the commander of the Angel the colonists from Phoenix came over in.
The base has since been expanded to a vast military complex easily able to respond to threats from off-world, despite not having a true fleet of star ships aside from the small escort fleet of four Tristars they were allowed to keep. The colony also has two retrofitted Tau Redirs, but those have been made into massive cargo ships, supplied by shuttle and protected by Manitcores, Spartan 2As, Alphas (both bought from the UEEF), and Chimeras, as well as their own weapons. In an emergency they could be pressed into colony defense, but anything more vast than a pirate attack is usually handled by Task Force Barton.
New Denver, the first of the cities, does small scale manufacturing, mostly replacement parts and consumer goods, as well as being the center of hydroponic technology in the Sector. With the bounty of manufacturing, military, and mining facilities elsewhere, they reconfigured most of their vast space into warehousing and hydroponics bays. Because of this and their large commercial star port, they have become the economic heart of the colony.
Santa Fiero has some manufacturing, mostly civilian grade vehicles, armor, and gear, but their main export is actually a wide variety of ores, as they were founded on the ruins of the mining facilities the Robotech Masters had abandoned ages before. Refined ore and precious metals and minerals are exported both to the other cities and off planet to other colonies.
Out system from Four Corners is an early warning and refueling space station, called Space Station Independence, that serves as a regional base for the UEEF and is where recruits from Four Corners go to train and be inducted into the UEEF. This base and it's stationed Garfish Transports are one of the few static bases in the Sector that the UEEF has. Task Force Barton will often make stops here and then transit to the planet via shuttles and other smaller craft to avoid clogging the skies of Four Corners with UEEF military ships. This is a decade old arrangement meant to help keep order within the colony.
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TraxonEarly HistoryWhile most colonies in the Sector are either surviving Tirolian colonies, alien colonies, or those settled by human refugees from Earth and other colonies, Traxon is a special case. Once a Tirolian resort that served the elite of the Empire in this area, Traxon is a planet of great natural beauty. The planet is a temperate one that is currently going through a mini ice age. It has a large continent in the Northern hemisphere that dips down to the equator and three small continents in the southern hemisphere. There are several large island chains around the planet that would indicate the presence of hot spots but no major volcanic activity anywhere else on the planet. Traxon has a thriving ecosystem with a large variety animal and plant life. The animals are very similar to the ones found on Earth during the last ice age. The northern continent even has large herds that look a lot like Buffalo and Woolly Mammoth. The largest herds number in the thousands. Traxon could supply food to a large number of planets if fully colonized.
The uniqueness of the colony comes from its inhabitants. By luck an all zentraedi refugee colony ship surveyed the planet and was heading to colonize when they were confronted by a sizeable female zentraedi force based out of Gnerl fighters, shuttles and rentry pods. Although possessing a great many mecha, they had no ship. This didn't stop them from effectively blockading the planet, however. The half-zentraedi commander of the vessel, Kyra Baldwin, transporting the colonists knew she was outgunned and couldn't escape without significant losses from her escorts. She helped broker a cease-fire and eventually a deal with the giant female warriors guarding the planet.
The women had come to Traxon twenty years before to escape the destruction offered by Dolza's demise. The commander, Donza, had ordered an emergency fold when she rightly realized what was happening. The fold was not clean at all, and knocked out most of the crew due to the events from where they left. The ship appeared in the upper atmosphere of Traxon and because most of the ship was still out cold from the abrupt and ugly fold, it crashed into some mountains, embedding it into the rock. Most of the ship is intact, but it is no longer space worthy, and the engines are blown. The fold drive is simply gone. The ship could be salvaged, but at such a cost as to make it economically unwise. However between it's position in the mountains and it's already beefy armor, it makes for a rather powerful base of operations on the planet. With over 1200 mecha still operational and active, Donza has one of the most powerful neutral armies in the Sector.
The planet they landed on was rich with resources that had never truly been tapped, but also nothing of great importance either. It had been abandoned when the Regent attacked simply because it wasn't worth defending. Follow up patrols by the Invid after the women of the Deathbringer Ascendant arrived were wiped out to the last inorganic, and so the Invid never really threatened them. The UEEF patrols had simply gotten lucky as the women deemed them too powerful to attack and they wisely noted the ships seemed intent only on surveying the planet. They shut down their mecha and had long since hidden their ship under rock and earth. Detecting nothing but massive amount of wildlife and seeing no signs of active colonization, the UEEF commander had recommended it for colonization. It was pure luck that the ships assigned to the effort were full of zentraedi refugees.
While the refugees had a few human family members, spouses mostly, 80% of the people on the refugee ships were zentraedi or half zentraedi. They had come from many of the containment zones, tired of fighting and just wanting a place to live in peace. Many were ambivalent about the UEEF. They offered better freedom than the Masters ever had, but they still treated the zentraedi poorly as a matter of course. Despite a few notable exceptions, like the Hunters, the Sterlings, Breetai, and the like, most of the UEEF High Command was strikingly pro-human, sometimes to the point of discrimination, especially when it came to high ranking positions in the military. This didn't mean they turned away their former enemies, but rather they limited their advancement, much as the Robotech Masters had done, though admittedly not on the same scale as the former masters of Tirol.
So it was that Captain Baldwin saw an enormous opportunity and went after it hard. The once planet conquering force of zentraedi women now represented an impressive defensive force. Further, the refugees counted among their numbers former Russian and South American engineers who had helped convert the ships they were in. Those same engineers were well acquainted with Zentraedi mecha and could repair them quite well, especially with access to the scraps left from the non-combat capable mecha the females had. Further, using some of the weapons from the wrecked ship, they could rearm their colony ships while having them remain cargo haulers, allowing them to act as armed merchantmen with their own force of defenders, namely the women of the Deathbringer Ascendant.
It took some time, but eventually an accord was reached. The Traxon Zentraedi, as they are referred to in the UEG Charter for the colony, are recognized as natives of the planet and a neutral armed force. By treaty the women cannot fire on UEEF military vessels without risking open war. The same goes for the UEEF. The UEEF aligned colonists are still allowed to produce their own gear and have a standing militia, but their space forces are limited to the three Tau Redirs they started with, and about a dozen picket ships, plus the transports of the Deathbringer Ascendant. The women of the Deathbringer Ascendant are allowed to act as security forces for hire for other UEEF aligned colonies, but may have no more than half their total force deployed at any time. They are also tasked, by treaty, to defend the world of Traxon, including the UEEF colony. The UEEF maintains only a small refueling base on the edge of the system manned by about four dozen soldiers and officers from Fleet Support, and have only a single Garfish at their disposal for pirate interdiction, as well as five unarmed shuttles for ferrying supplies and personnel to the colony proper for R&R and resupply. Furthermore, UEEF fleet vessels are not allowed in system without express permission of the Colony government of Traxon, or by exercising war powers rights in the pursuit of enemy combatants, which had better be able to be substantiated when Colony Affairs reviews the action.
The Situation TodayToday, more than a decade later, the covenant seems to be working. The Traxon Zentraedi keep to themselves, but contract repair and refit work from the colony proper. Payment for this comes in the form of weapons for the colony's ships, and escort services for ships out of Traxon, Four Corners, and Stone Belt. Only Holiday doesn't use their services, for cultural reasons. The colony exports food, mining equipment, ore, and some consumer goods. they've also managed to rehabilitate the former Tirolian resorts on the planet and make a hefty profit from tourism and UEEF fleet personnel on leave. This is a bit of a dichotomy within the system. The women of the Deathbringer Ascendant have no patience for any UEEF craft they don't recognize, but the colony not only welcomes, but encourages UEEF soldiers to spend their leave on planet, shopping at their malls, and enjoying the savage beauty of the planet. Strict controls on where mining and manufacturing were established early, as well as controls on hunting and herding. Skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, and other such activities in the craggy mountains around the main colony are great draws for the colony. Some refuse to come because of the perceived racism of the protectors of the colony (they have little trust of humans), but for the most part, tourists forget that when they see the vistas or taste the cuisine of the world.
Despite it's cultural appeal, immigration by full humans is strictly controlled (though not outlawed or un-allowed entirely). The colony was established as a safe haven for zentraedi fleeing persecution, and that remains the majority of who the colony admits. Some of the half-zentraedi leaders of the Traxon Assembly point out the ridiculousness of this, for now the policy is unchanged, for now. It remains a hot button issue, and many local election campaigns are fought over these core issues. The colony does indeed provide many recruits for the UEEF and more than three battalions of troops were folded out of Traxon's colony defense force during the build up for the Mars Division attack force.
The Traxon Zentraedi or the Deathbringer AscendancyThe women of the Deathbringer Ascendant reorganized themselves after the treaty, and began referring to themselves as members of the Deathbringer Ascendancy, turning their ship name into a type of national identity. They are officially recognized as neutral natives of the planet, and allowed to maintain their forces, and even upgrade them at full cost. They are not, however, allowed by treaty to make their ship spaceworthy again. They doubt it ever will be, so this is hardly a concern for them. It grates these powerful and proud women they cannot traverse the stars at will anymore, but they make due. Their soldiers are well respected by those organizations that use them, and feared by the likes of the Dark Nebula Pirates. Traxon has never suffered from their predations, and rarely are the vessels they are known to protect attacked more than once. Their utter lack of restraint when fighting these scum is the reason why. They don't simply drive off the pirates, but hunt down their command and control vessels and destroy them. Having been unable to engage in normal ship to ship combat, the women of the Deathbringer Ascendancy have become exceptionally good at boarding techniques. They actually use a combination of full sized mecha carrying squads of micronized commandos ready to wreck havoc on the enemy. Given that the majority of their mecha are Queadluun-Rau, this makes them an exceptionally deadly combatants.
They also recruit from the zentraedi women of the colony. Some even come from other colonies to join them. This is permitted by the treaty, though they are restricted to no more than eight thousand active duty personnel at any time by treaty. Given their current numbers are only four thousand (out of the original fourteen thousand on the ship), this has not proven to be a hindrance. A few have left the Ascendancy to join the UEEF, but not many. They have kept a small number of allied males, mostly as micronized commandos. The Ascendancy is a purely military operation, however, with only female zentraedi in command. They have a few micronized males working to gather resources (food mostly). The herds of large creatures native to the planet have proven to be exceptionally good eating, and the cooks of the Ascendancy are quite adept at making quality food out of them. They will accept half-zentraedi in support roles, thanks largely to the O.L.E.I.'s meddling.
Relations betweem the Deathbringer Ascendancy and the Office of Law Enforcement and IntelligenceO.L.E.I. has a checkered history with the Deathbringer Ascendancy, due to their habit of keeping tabs on the force by use of espionage and covert surveillance. The group no longer accepts half-zentraedi after discovering a half dozen who were spies. They subsequently ejected all half-zentraedi suspected of UEEF loyalty from their organization, and put the rest to work in support roles away from the base itself. Given their extensive ranches and trading houses, this was not an unforeseen ending. Colony Affairs formerly chastised the O.L.E.I., but it's unclear how far up the chain the orders for the surveillance went. Most assume it was at the behest of Colony Affairs and snort in derision at the farce of how they "punished" the O.L.E.I. Many of those who were fired moved to Holiday, where they currently work for one of the primary competitors for defense contracts that the Ascendancy usually goes for.