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HMSS Hephaetus

HMSS Hephaestus in 1900 PD

HMSS Hephaestus was the main space station of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, located in orbit above the planet Manticore in the Manticore System.

Specifications[]

The station was about twenty kilometers long in the second half of the 19th Century PD[1] By 1904 PD, the station was over forty kilometers long. (HH3) The station was enlarged to seventy kilometers at the start of the First Havenite-Manticoran War. By the 1920s PD, it had reached a size of over 110 kilometers along its main axis. Almost 750,000 people lived and worked aboard the station in those days.

Hephaestus[2] housed the production lines and the fabrication centers for the Manticore Systems mining industry, as well as the main RMN shipyard and refit facilities. (HH1, SI2)

Traffic regulations[]

Traffic control regulations prohibited the use of impellers until the outbound or passing craft in question was at least 500 kilometers clear of the station. Inbound vessels were required to shift to thrusters while still 10,000 kilometers away. The only exception was Royal Manticoran Astro-Control Service's tug ships. (SI2)

History[]

Construction of the station began in the 17th Century PD[3]. (HH14)

In 1900 PD, HMS Fearless was heavily refitted at the shipyards, where Commander Honor Harrington also took command of the ship. HMS Warlock went to the station for a three-month refit, which was slowed down by order of the First Space Lord and carried out by Commander Paul Tankersley. (HH1, HH3)

In 1904 PD, the battlecruiser HMS Nike was built in one if the station's shipyards. Captain Harrington also took command of her there. (HH3)

In 1920 PD, HMS Hexapuma was commissioned at Hephaestus. (SI1)

In February 1922 PD, Hephaestus was completely destroyed by the Mesan Alignment Navy as part of Operation Oyster Bay. Debris from the station rained down onto the surface of Manticore, but did little damage because most of it was intercepted by the planetary defenses. (HH12)

Manticore soon began construction of two replacement stations, Hephaestus Alpha and Hephaestus Beta. (HH14)

Commanding Officers[]

Facilities[]

  • GM-HF/1-17-13, a general manufacturing module
  • HF/1-16, a Royal Manticoran Navy shipyard
  • HF/1-17, a Royal Manticoran Navy shipyard
  • Passenger Concourse Green-317, a civilian passenger concourse

References[]

  1. Michelle Henke could remember the station having that size.
  2. It was named for the Greek God of the forge and Armorer of the Gods.
  3. HH14 states that construction on Beowulf Alpha began 1,800 years before 1922 PD, 1,500 years before Hephaestus. So that would make Hephaestus 300 years old before its destruction in 1922 PD. Hence the 17th Century PD.
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