The unusual orbit of the moon of Triton in retrograde around Neptune afforded it special prominence during the early colonization of the solar system. The hulking remnants of a massive space installation sat counterpoint and rivaled the size of the largest of the planetary stations orbiting Io. It's incredible size stretched around as a thin metal ring measuring a few miles in diameter at its greatest apex to only a few meters in other parts that spanned the full perimeter of Triton.
It was presumed that Triton station was meant to be a staging area for future explorations of space and a partially built foundry and shipyards were found drifting near the main station structures. The carcass of a dead ocean behemoth was also found silently standing guard and none could fathom the purpose of bringing a metal whale this far out into space.
Mars was the main focus of colonization due to is obvious abundance of building materials and by distance each of the nearest major stations, but Triton was given special priority and grew to over a million colonists within a generation. Those who once lived there did not attempt to prolong their existence and much of the original foundations and components remained intact, while on other stations they had to disassemble centuries of re purposing and raw ingenuity.
By some unknown accord the descendants of Anna established the sisters compound on Triton and with Olivia's passing a few decades later, her daughters formed a home on the Martian Capital Domes. This accord remained intact for a century until the emergence of the Proto-Artesians who first appeared on Triton and fanned out across the outer rim. By the current era as many as 1/3 of all humanity were adherents and they chafed in their opinion under the oppression of the conservative faction.
Many of the larger stations and colonies maintained elevated levels of artificial gravity to simulate Earth, but most were at ratios slightly below 1 G. Triton was the rare exception that maintained slightly higher levels with some parts of the ring of stations orbiting the moon as high as 1.3 G. This created a hardier stock and of their numbers the feared berzerkers of the Proto-Artesian fleet.
Much of the outer rim fleets were divided between Io and Triton, with the greatest of their ships making port at Triton. The most legend of these was the Charon, and the rival of the Grand Traveler who crippled her during their last encounter during the Battle of the Saturn Moons. Unlike most other starships, the Charon was built for war and one of the oldest. After her creation along with her sister ship the Meteor, all subsequent vessels were designed for exploration. The Pacific foundries were programmed to run in a cycle and had reached near the end of a string of ship models that included the Charon and Meteor before repeating a new sequence.
The Charon's hull was eight times thick and bristled with heavier armament than found on the Grand Traveler. It's only flaw was its lack of maneuverability and speed. The previous Captain of the Grand Traveler succeeded in saving her by outflanking and disabling the Charon's engines with its final salvo before hurtling back to Io. The lack of operable weapons spared her from future encounters.
Captain Gregor intentionally docked besides the Charon when making port at Triton. The two hulking ships stood in contrast with the equally menacing Meteor docked across from the Charon. All three Captains were convening to discuss attempting an unusual maneuver to catapult several star ships tethered to the Grand Traveler upon its next trip to Alpha Centauri.
The technique had been perfected after several previous trips and a small station was orbiting Proxima B manned by ten thousand souls who were preparing for major mining operations on the surface. As part of the peace summit, the Proto-Artesians were granted the privilege of sending several star ships to Alpha Centauri to serve as independent monitors and assist in surveying the planet.
Kallos was now the navigator having completed his training and with the rush of expansion to Alpha Centauri many of the more experienced hands were already being drawn up in record numbers to other star ships in anticipation for the creation of the first new star ships from the foundries in over three centuries.
Captain Wolf Gustafson of the Charon and Gregor shared a few rounds and speculated that their once revered ships would soon be old relics as the glistening new ships that will soon emerge would outstrip them. They jostled at a chance for one last duel between the two old ladies and reckoned it be fitting they take place around Titan. Both students of history, Captain Wolf confirmed he was a distant relative of the old Generals of Onion City, from his son Sigmund, but by a daughter and his family recently took on the Gustafson name a few generations prior. His great-grandfather Captain Gustavus was an admirer of Wolf Gustafson.
To think a Gustafson was sitting across from a descendant of Karl Knutmudsen, staring into the emptiness of deep space on Triton. Wolf's elder sister Louise was the Captain of the Meteor. It had become a family tradition with Gustafson's now commanding both famed ships and their father the Admiral of the outer rim fleets. Stranger still as none of them are adherents of the Proto-Artesian nor Neo-Artesian faiths.
Gustafson's were never one to hold much reverence and dutifully adhere only to the principles of war. As such both factions hand picked the Gustafson's unanimously to be the independent monitors on Alpha Centauri.
A woman of modest height and slightly stocky build embraced her brother and introduced herself as Louise Gustafson. Barely 4 feet in stature, she was still imposing and gripped Gregor's hand that brought a smile to his face. He was smitten by Louise and not met a woman like her. Wolf recognized this and let out a loud laugh and warned his sister's choice of men would be more to Gregor's taste.
Suspicious by nature, Louise wondered out aloud this was a rather convenient way to take two of the greatest warships of the outer rim fleets and place them light years away to be trapped forever around an alien planet. Indeed, this was an accusation raised by several prominent Proto-Artesian leaders and the compromise was made that the Grand Traveler would share command between Captain Gregor and one of the Gustafson's.
Louise and Wolf had convened on this and agreed their cousin Sigmund would take command of the Meteor. He had served for several years with Louise and was familiar with their ship. Most of the Grand Traveler's core crew were Proto-Artesian and the Neo-Artesian faction other than Gregor and Kallos' father were limited to the sister marines and soldiers.
Gregor commented that she had already met with Chief Engineer Yuna and she was the most fervent loyalists of the Proto-Artesians and he trusted her above most of the crew. Yuna was born and raised on Triton and still had some of the berzerker blood. Louise liked Yuna and her presence onboard the Grand Traveler was welcomed.
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