Hale's Moon

A Brief history of Hale's Moon: the in-story version

(This is tentative.  We have never been very specific about just where Hale's Moon was located.  Though always referred to as a Moon, there was never any reference to a primary that it was orbiting.  In fact, there has been some question as to whether Hale's was around Georgia or Kalidasa.  Ultimately, we settled on Kalidasa, though 'fixing' its position in the Kalidasa system here may not be permanent.  The only things that have been consistent is that it was, back in the day, a fairly efficient and short flight to Blackburne (in spite of Blackburne being in Georgia) and later being very close to MacLaran's Drift.  Can we have it both ways?  Well, no.  But it's a game, and sometimes you just let things slide.)


Hale's Moon is located in the trailing Lagrange point (L5) of the Penglai protostar in its orbit around Kalidasa.  Technically, it is not a moon, but a Dwarf Planet, as it has no primary of its own.  While not the smallest body subjected to Gravitational Compression Terraforming, it was one of very few positioned in a Lagrange point.  Hale's Moon shares it's general orbital vicinity with a fair number of smaller bodies, some of which have impacted.  Crossing velocities between the Lagrange point bodies are relatively low, however, so impacts are usually much less severe than they would be under other circumstances.

Being borderline for the process, the terraforming was only marginally successful.  Historical records are scarce, but it is believed by some that this project was an experiment to test the lower limits of the gravitational compression process.  Hale's Moon is habitable, but has a vey low humidity due to the low incidence of water in the terraformed substrate.  The world is too dry to grow any meaningful crops and only supports low grade surface scrub.

The body is relatively rich in a broad range of ores, which led to Weyland Yutani setting up a mining operation to exploit the moon's mineral resources.  The mining operation was moderately successful, though conditions made it difficult to turn enough profit to justify continued investment.  In a last ditch attempt to streamline operations, Weyland Yutani deployed KM series mechanoids to augment the existing mining force. 

The end of the Unification War brought a substantial decrease in orders from the Alliance military, which led Weyland Yutani to abandon their operations on Hale's Moon.  In evacuating, they left the KM series mechanoids behind, along with a small population of miners who chose to stay on and try and eke out an existence on the moon.  Legally, the corporate assets, including the mining machines, were left to the colony.

With a steady population of only a couple hundred people, down from the several thousand originally employed, the colony settled into a meager, if independent, existence.  The colony was located far from any of the main trade lanes and the largely unmarked rocks in nearby space made it an unacceptable hazard for Alliance cruisers.  Because of this isolation the colony became a popular waypoint for smugglers and the occasional pirate, providing much needed coin for the colony.

At one point, the Alliance showed an unusual interest in the colony which has continued to the present time.  It is surmised that a Hardliner faction within the Alliance used Hale's Moon, as well as several other remote colonies, to test prototypes of weaponized von Neumann machines that had originally been developed as mining machines during, and shortly after, the Unification War.  The presence of these machines is not broadly known and, like the previous Reaver threat, is categorically denied by the Alliance.

During the height of Alliance interference on the colony, the residents convened to elect a Mayor who would serve as nominal head of government and head of state for the colony.  This was presented as an effort to give some legitimacy to the existing Town Council in the eyes of the regional Alliance government, though in many respects was an effort to reduce fallout from Alliance combat operations on Hale's Moon.

Under the Mayorial government, and with the reclaiming of the IAV Sun Tzu from Loyalist influence, a reasonably civil arrangement was reached with the local Alliance command and the situation on the colony improved dramatically.  The mines were reopened as a cooperative between the colonists and the remaining KM series mechanoids, one of which had passed all relevant requirements to be declared Sentient, which provided a steady, if not large, income to the colony.  The docking facilities were improved both for transshipment and for spacecraft maintenance, and the colony's population started to increase.

During this period, Blue Sun Corporation opened a small  Regional Headquarters facility on property leased from the colonial government.  The Headquarters was, in essence, the personal offices and private lab of one of Blue Sun's executives.  As such, it was able to operate with very few personnel, several of whom were hired from the colony's small pool of residents.    Details of the negotiations between Hale's local government and Blue Sun's management have never been made public, but the lease and charter under which Blue Sun operates is favorable to the colony.

Kawanishi Heavy Industries, Limited, of Ariel, later deployed a modular maintenance facility in a high orbit over Hale's Moon.  The charter with the colonial government is similar to the one granted Blue Sun and is largely favorable to the colony, with fully 50% of the orbital's workforce being sourced from the colony's residents.

• Tweet
• SHARE