Beerat

Confederacy System Beerat

   Beerat is a simple system with only four planets.  The three inner are normal rocky planets named Mead, Beer, and Pils, while the furthest out is an immense gas giant named Ale.  Ale and the star are effectively a two-body system, and there is very little system debris or dust.  Hyperdrives can be freely used anywhere in the system outside of the five HEZs.
   Ale is, in reality, a marginal star in its own right.  It is right at the minimum mass for gravitational force to compress the core enough to start fusing hydrogen.  Ale does not glow in a Human's visible light range, but it gives off enough heat to have its own planetary 'Goldilocks' liquid zone.  At least one 'moon' is being terraformed for Human use as a resort and rest area.

Beerat Defenses

   During the Swarm War the Confederacy moved into the system for two primary reasons: to protect the indigenous natives who had a pre-space civilization and to deny use of the system's resources to the Sa'arm.  This presence soon grew to include an asteroid-based colony and system-wide defenses.  Fixed defensive arrays protected Beer, Hotel, and both the L4 and the L5 asteroid collections.  Most system defense was done by mobile units, ships, though, as the inner system was unusually clear of dust and debris and ships could move quickly enough to participate in combat anywhere in the system.  Human-habitable real estate -the Womb and Hotel- were defended by the Beerat Militia.

Beerat Battles

(Main article at Beerat Battles)    During the Swarm War there were numerous small ship-vs-ship and group-vs-group battles.  Both sides won and lost some of them.  Beyond that, there were also several much larger fleet-vs-fleet battles.  Obviously, the Confederacy forces won all of those, as if the Sa'arm had won any of them the only terrestrial planet in the system would now have Sa'arm living on it instead of the indigenous natives.

The Beer

   Beer is the second planet out.  It is the home of a race of intelligent life that, as of the start of the Swarm War, are at the approximate technology level of Earth as of that planet's Second World War.  In some areas they lag (Astronomy, Rocketry) while in other areas they lead (Electronics, Government, Communications).  While they seem peaceful, they do still have a period of warfare in their histories, and they seem awfully interested in our weapons.
   Webb Island is a small island in Beer's north polar region which has been turned over to the Confederacy for their use.  It is named for Ensign Harold Webb, the most-junior officer aboard CNS Maiden Castle, the first Confederacy Navy ship to enter the system.  CNS Maiden Castle ran across a Sa'arm scouting group of three Vacunas and was able to destroy or disable two of them before being crippled.  Finding himself in command of the wreck, Ensign Webb evacuated all possible crew before ramming the last enemy ship.  This ensured that the Sa'arm scout triad's home system never got the scouting report that this system held an inhabitable world.  By the time a second Sa'arm scouting force arrived, additional Confederacy forces were in place to deal with them.
   Since most of the planet is uncomfortably warm for Humans, Webb Island is perfect for them.  However, draconian regulations have been set in place in an attempt to keep Beer safe for the natives.  Humans are prohibited from spending more than 30 days (cumulative) on Beer.
   The Beerat Cenotaph is a Confederacy war memorial set on Webb Island.  It is 'decorated' with the name and rank of every member of the Confederacy who died defending Beerat and the Beer during the Swarm War.  Ensign Webb's name has pride of place at the top of the south side where the sun will illuminate it. The Cenotaph has additional sections added at the bottom whenever necessary to make room for more names.
   Visits to the Cenotaph by relatives or shipmates of anyone listed are exempt from the 30-day limit on visits to the island.  Each battle where servicemen and women died is commemorated each year by a formal remembrance ceremony on the Earth-standard calendar anniversary of that battle.

The Womb

   The Human colony of "The Womb" is based on (or rather, in) a large planetoid inside the L4 Lagrange Point for the system's single superjovian gas giant.  The Womb has minor space-based industry but this is minimized to prevent detection.

New Barton Yard

   In orbit around Ale, a major function of the Barton Yard shipyard complex is to attract Sa'arm attention.  The Womb tries to hide, while the shipyard tries to get noticed.  If the Yard's defenses are breached, all of the equipment in the shipyard can be rebuilt.  All the people in the Womb cannot.
   The original "Barton Yard" was destroyed during the Second Battle of Beerat.  The Human colony at the Womb has rebuilt it "bigger and better than before" as they say.  It is named for the K'treel Explorer-Class ship AGS-021 Frederick Otis Barton, Junior, which serves as both the shipyard's manager and its emergency evacuation vessel.

Hotel

   A moon of Ale being terraformed for use as a resort and rest area for weary warriors.  This allows the Womb's inhabitants and the shipboard sailors to get out of the corridors and stand out in open land.  There are various entertainments available, including a single replicator which has been 'recalibrated' to produce one-liter bottles of pure ethanol.  This replicator is watched over by an appointed Bar Master who supervises distribution.  Hotel has a staff which has gone to great trouble to learn how to create the tastes of a wide assortment of Earth's alcoholic drinks.
   Hotel serves as the system's brothel and maintains a staff of both male and female concubines.  It is the stated policy of the colony's Governor that, as long as no one dies, "What happens on Hotel stays on Hotel".

Target

Another moon of Ale set aside as a target for live-weapon exercises.

Story Usage

A textual analysis of the story repository, current as of 2018 and performed on 2019-09-06 identified the following usage counts for Beerat:

• Call This A Castle by Duke of Ramus 4 instances.
• Ending This Mess by Zen Master 87 instances.
• Independent_Command by Zen_Master 44 instances.

(Someday this will be a navigation template.  It will provide a bar across the bottom of each article with useful navigation links.  Until then, this is just a placeholder to get rid of all the red "broken link" indicators. -ZM User (talk) 10:00, 3 May 2024 (PDT))