Kara (0601, A6A9303-D)
1,800 people live on Ender Station, in orbit around Kara. No one lives on the surface, which is covered in oceans of liquid methane. The station was established as a low-cost industrial research facility on behalf of the Second Dominion, to find new and efficient ways of extracting the liquid methane from orbit, after a surface-based solution was deemed too expensive.
Three years ago, scientists aboard Ender Station made initial contact with a group of methane-based intelligences living on Kara. The methane ocean that covers most of the surface is the closest equivalent these beings have to a body. Once sensible communication was established (a laborious process, given the unfathomable differences between these life-forms and humans), it became clear that extracting methane from the surface of Kara harms the alien intelligences greatly. In order to protect these rare beings, the scientists petitioned the Second Dominion to end extraction research there, and to quarantine the entire system indefinitely. The response came swiftly: research and extraction will continue unabated. Thus the scientists and staff aboard Ender Station seceded from the Dominion one year ago, and now constitute a sovereign nation unto themselves. The Dominion has not yet bothered to respond, and seems content to cut their losses on what they see as an unprofitable venture.
Station operation has remained largely the same, though research topics have proliferated now that methane extraction is off-limits. No one has yet bothered to set up any kind of governing body, outside of the existing command structure. Most research programs subsist on corporate grants and meager royalties from useful patents, some portion of which gets donated to Ender Station's operational fund, which is enough to keep the station operational for the time being.
Patrons
- Dr. Cara Babbage, xenopsychologist.
Prim and middle-aged, she arrived here just after the methane intelligence was discovered, with a huge endowment from an anonymous source. She is renowned as the best xenopsychologist in the sector, and has devoted every waking moment to the Kara-beings, as she calls them.
She has instituted a program in which any human can allow her to make a neural map of their brain, which she then transmits to the Kara-beings. This helps them understand humanity, she says, and more is always better. Compensation is 2,000 credits each, non-negotiable, though she will pay double to anyone over 55 or under 24.
The fine print of the contract states that all neural maps will be submitted to Dominion authorities for review. Anyone who has committed crimes will have their identities and deeds logged in Dominion criminal activity files. Dr. Babbage doesn't know about this, and assures you it's all just standard procedure.
- Holden Salk, entrepreneur.
Short and balding, with orange-tanned skin and a wrinkled shirt. He's extremely eager to establish Ender Station as the premier tourist destination in the sub-sector. Come and see the methane-men! Stay in luxurious hotel accommodations! Dine in style! And so on.
All the permits are taken care of (on account of there not being a government and all), he just needs a generous investor. And customers. Especially customers. If you bring in some marks—ahem, patrons—he'll give you a 5%—okay, 7%—commission on anything they spend. He'll have everything set up in the next month or so, he's confident.