Many of the smaller planetoids and larger asteroids also housed installations and there were thousands of them scattered around most of the outer rim. Most are abandoned and remained so with only the foolhardy who attempt every few generations to lay claim and try to revitalize them. A rare few succeed and of these were the 10,000 inhabitants of Liberty Station orbiting a large rock of solid gold.
The value of gold in all of human history would pale in comparison to the 10 million metric tons of pure gold that Liberty Station orbits every 90 minutes. One could scoop up several pounds of gold dust with ease, but the gold has little value and the inhabitants make a living mining other nearby rock for mineral ores.
All of these values made Liberty Station the ideal candidate and was carried across to Alpha Centauri to help begin preparations for the largest mining operation in history.
And on a station so seemingly insignificant in size hosted a chapter of sister marines who were loyal to Naoka. Naoka's mother was born on Liberty Station and several of her daughters have at one point or another served for a time there. A boring space rock whose only saving grace is a fully stocked bar and a delicious spicy pickle delicacy. Arlen imports several colored varietals and served it as a garnish for some of his dishes. It was an unusual connection that he first shared with Pei when on Triton.
To the chagrin of the many senior Proto-Artesians and Neo-Artesians at the peace summit, the concern of the pending loss of the Liberty pickles was made an actual amendment to the charter signed by everyone in attendance and provisions made to ensure that all 11 varietals were preserved with half of the known skilled masters, mostly elderly women transferred to the nearest suitable home on Enok Station.
Liberty Station was tethered using a long cable measuring several miles in length and moored to the right side of the Grand Traveler. The station rested parallel to the ship and was hurtled through space time and placed into orbit around Proxima B. The Libertarians wasted no time in establishing their new home and ventured to the surface already teeming with thousands of scientists, explorers, a large contingent of soldiers and sister marines.
The initial estimates it would take about a year to find suitable sites and within a few more months yield enough ore to produce a dozen new starships. The operations would continue to expand and there was aspirations to produce hundreds if not thousands of new ships each year.
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