Description
One of the first jump gates built, Alpha Centauri Jump Gate is also one of the largest structures ever constructed. Impressive as it looks from the outside however, its innards are a puzzle made up of pieces that have long since stopped fitting together. Maintenance crews fight a daily battle to keep the gate from falling apart, and the needs of the station itself are often ignored as the priority to keep the jump gate structurally operational takes precedence. The security cameras, however, are always in top working condition. They scour and scan everything that comes and goes. Although a Consortium owned and governed territory, the Gaule Protectorate commits some resources to the gate’s upkeep as a move to safeguard both their own citizens and their footing with the Nouveau Limoges Accords, the treaty which keeps a delicate peace.
Chronicle Text
The first jump gate out of Sol, out of our home-nest, it is also one of the largest ever built. Alpha Centauri Jump Gate is the patron station of travelers, of setting that first foot outside the door into the great unknown. The station itself often feels like it is barely held together, the sheer will of necessity binding its foundations and keeping them from drifting apart. Here, one can meet travelers from all corners of the galaxy, with all manner of agenda.
Arrival Text
Welcome to the Alpha Centauri Jump Gate, Citizen! Your one stop shop for all transit to and from Sol's closest neighbour!
Statistics
System: Alpha Centauri A
Affiliation: Consortium
Level: 7
Legal: 10 (Strong)
Orwellian: 10 (High)
Areas
Bank (Consortium United Jump Credit Services)
The station’s bank isn’t busy, requiring only one bored guard to watch over its terminals. A single lonely teller waits behind a bare desk, counting the time down under his breath until the workday ends.
Light from overhead reflects off the clean metal floor, the brightness and the tidiness of the hall contrasting heavily against the apparent lack of business. The teller checks his timepiece and looks at you in the hope that he might finally have a client. The building is aged and as worn as both the guard and teller.
Brig (Interstellar Prison and Holding Facility)
Inmates sit in cheap-looking cages bolted to the floor of a large room, which is watched over by armored guards. The walls are marred by the discoloration of thrifty repairs made throughout the ages.
Rodent feces, the acrid smell of unwashed bodies, and the occasional metal baton smack to the head are just a few of the discomforts the local inmates endure. The prisoners' cages are made from wall panels and discarded ship hulls, their interiors twisted to make a stay in the brig uncomfortable at the best of times, and dangerous to both body and mind at the worst.
NPCs
Clones (Anima Jump Satellite Gestation Clinic)
The cloning facility is in operation to serve the employee residents of the jump gate, but the occasional visitor, filled with possible dread of the unknown beyond, has been known to patronize the establishment.
A few Anima employees hold a conversation while going over vat readings. The cloning vat model used on this station is a slow one, and any suggestion of new business is nearly laughable. They yawn while exchanging ideas on what to eat during their upcoming break. The facility seems dated and rather run-down.
Available Clones
- 3D Printed clone: 19581 cr
- Premium clone: 99 bonds
NPCs
Employment (Occupational Services)
The old, yet functional terminals flicker in an antiqued glow: dull and yellow.
Most who come through the gate in search of work are only skilled enough for the occasional odd job. The office reflects this traffic through neglect with stacks of re-usable printed scroll ads for "Bettering your life, bettering your prospects." No one ever picked up those pamphlets for the information they offer, and likely no one ever will.
NPCs
Side Jobs (Interstellar Employment Services Hub)
| Name | Description | Credits | Statistic |
| Lightmod Replacement | Recent energy surges have blown out lightmods all over the station. We need a temporary maintenance worker to help us replace them. | 30 | Strength |
| Ship Cleaning | We have work available at the Port if you can hack it. Our customers want their ships cleaned, and they want them cleaned fast. | 29 | Agility |
| Ship Scanner | Need credits? We need you! Security is looking for competent individuals to help us scan ships coming into Alpha Centauri A. | 29 | Intelligence |
Gaule Embassy
Spotlights pick out Gaule flags hanging from an intricate marble facade. The glass-walled entrance is one level above the street, accessible by a steep stone staircase.
Entering the building past rows of columns and spotlights, visitors cast stark shadows upon the glistening walls of the interior. Several people stand with their heads tilted back, taking in the ancient play carved into the stonework. Each elaborate column is an act in its own right.
Extend your visa: 262.8 cr
Government Center (Government Center and Administrative Services)
The lower floor of the central Administration tower houses the offices of government operations for Alpha Centauri Jump Gate. The upper floors serve as apartments to the jump gate employees; from engineers, to attendants.
The only spectacular thing about the Administration tower of Alpha Centauri Jump Gate is its size. The building is incredibly plain, uninteresting, and minimal in its unassuming architectural style.
Info Hub
Holo screens illuminate the area as news sources flow like a river of data from one terminal to the next. Occasionally, some government drone will adjust a particular metric or record another before buzzing about their duties.
Syndicate Services
A number of recruiters, both in physical as well as hologrammatic form, interact with would-be members or peruse applications on the wall of terminals that lines this room.
VIP Lounge
Soft music and soothing lights drift through the atmosphere in the lounge. Robotic waiters clad in shiny (but not too shiny) chrome wheel between Citizens, dispensing smooth looking beverages.
Inn
The ground floor has patrons gathered around tables, drinking and talking. There are stairs in the back leading up to rooms.
Bar
This is the right place if you are looking to get a drink or two.
Menu
Hotel Rooms
The guest rooms of the inn are very secure. Just the place for a good night's sleep.
Prices
- 1 day: 58.4 cr
- 5 days: 233.6 cr
- 10 days: 408.8 cr
- 30 days: 1051.2 cr
Lounge
This is the right place if you are looking to socialize.
Port (Arrival and Departure Terminal)
The Port of the Alpha Centauri Jump Gate is a place of refined chaos. Sparks spit from a hole in the wall filled with exposed live wires. Work crews ignore it, struggling to deal with larger problems as they tend to the needs of docking ships.
The air is heavy with fumes and sweat, and the sound of heavy machinery makes it hard to hear your own thoughts. There is a logic to the chaos around you, the strange logic of those who inhabit this station: that if something isn’t broken, it will probably break soon.
NPCs
Arrivals
A bustling river of humanity with endlessly branching tributaries flows from the shuttles arriving here, through the processing gates, to crash onto the banks of eagerly awaiting locals receiving visitors from near or far flung parts of the galaxy. A number of travelers post the usual glazed looks of those recently harangued by any type of transportation system created and run by the human species. They drift with a mixture of existential confusion and relief through to the station beyond. Always, they are scrutinized by security or some type of subspecies therein.
Docks (Docking Hub A and Central Gate Offices)
No one seems to linger or loiter long in the central docking hub. The lights on a seemingly unused control panel flicker without worker interest. The workers know how to keep the gate operational, and find the strobing of the lights only a real concern if they go out and stay out.
The general docking zone is segregated into three adjoining corridors. One leads to the Interstellar Shuttles, one to the Local Shuttles, and one to the Shipping Bay. All three corridors lead to the central pool of the Docks, and is watched equally by security, dock workers, and the security cams, in perpetual observation.
Interstellar Shuttles (Star Skipper Hub B)
The hub for interstellar shuttles is hurried as the attendants rush customers on and off the departing and arriving public crafts.
In a bid to move along visitors from one shuttle to the next, the attendants of the Interstellar port have discarded niceties long ago. They aren’t exactly unpleasant, but they frown at any attempt of a traveler to catch a glimpse of the incredible nearby wormhole through the portal viewing platforms. Present day stations officials move along the masses, bypassing the sight of wonder and awe that was once cherished generations before.
Destinations
| Destination | Distance | Ticket Price |
|---|---|---|
| Sol | 4.4 ly | 1798.72 |
| Ross 154 | 8.1 ly | |
| Ross 128 | collapsed | |
| L 143-23 | collapsed | |
| Epsilon Eridani | collapsed | |
| Groombridge 1618 | collapsed | |
NPCs
Local Shuttles (Shuttle Bay Hub C)
The ushering attendants who work the Local Shuttles are far more patient with travelers than their cohorts who work the Interstellar line. Short Location Assistant Bots roll between the queues of those waiting for the Local Shuttles, stopping every so often to blurt out a smidge of recorded information in response to questioning travelers.
Location Assistant Bots, essentially automated upright cylinders on wheels, move along the length of the long queues, offering their information to anyone in need. The ushering attendants keep an eye on any wily traveler who may fancy shoving the bots in annoyance. It’s been known to happen. The hostility is subject to immediate reporting to Security.
Shipping Bay (Consortium Customs and Shipping Complex Hub D)
Massive cargo freighters line up in a neat row as Consortium inspectors check the goods within the shipping containers.
The scent of all manner of goods wafts through the stagnant air of the shipping bay while tired freight runners await their turn for inspection. Some impatiently drum up small talk about the places they were before arriving to the Alpha Centauri Jump Gate. Most sigh plaintively as the time ticks on.
NPCs
Ruins (Whisper Maw Ruins)
Half-ripped buildings face a semi-circular crater of incredible destruction. The hull of the station here is a patchwork array of pieces of shredded architecture and recycled and salvaged materials. The seal helps to maintain the atmosphere at a sufficient level, and through convenient efficiency provides a stable environment for those looking to avoid the attention of authorities.
This section of Alpha Centauri Jump Gate, once the location of employee housing, restaurants, hotels, and shops, was decimated when the gate fell to a fatal malfunction during the Catastrophe. Climate controls went offline, and air vented into space through a gaping hole in the station's very exterior. Those trapped in the fateful district were sealed in by emergency protocols which lead to their doom when the station's systems failed and went offline. Chunks of the station's mid-section were sucked out into the void of space, leaving a pock of eerie desolation behind, encircled by destruction all around. Recently reopened and repaired, with stable environmental levels, the ruins, nicknamed, ‘Whispering Maw,’ have proven to be a tidy refuge for those seeking to avoid the ever watchful eyes of the stations security cameras.
The Wrecks
A shock of buildings missing their ceilings surround a perimeter of desolation where everything was torn out away and spit into space.
The closer you get to the desolation caused by the hole ripped into the station's mid-section, the fewer people have attempted to colonize. No one likes to be reminded of the horrors that took place and the lives that were lost. No one other than scavengers, who skulk in the corners of the wrecked buildings of the Whispering Maw, looking to steal from the dead.
The Wilds
The sectors adjoining the new makeshift seal in the station's hull were least trusted by those who valued their lives. Naturally, these unwanted zones became the Wilds; a space for the lawless and the feral to pursue their grim slaughter, beyond the fringe of orderly society. Only those inured to the dread of death can be comfortable passing under such evidently improvised shielding from the terrifying vacuum beyond the wall.
According to the station Governor's last dispatch to Consortium bosses back on Tau Station; there are no Wilds on Alpha Centauri Jump Gate. It may fool a distant and distracted boss, but local residents here know very well it's not true. These Wilds are as rough as any in the system. The deranged thugs that roam are every bit as vicious as in the days following Catastrophe. Civilization feels like a distant concept in these parts.
Security (Consortium Security & Bodyguard Services)
A ragged, unpatched crevice runs up along the security station’s steel wall, the scar of a previous assault. Gaule Protectorate guards stand outside the entrance, rifles clutched in their gloved hands.
A silent menace radiates from the armed guards. They look tense, and the contempt on their faces implies that they’re ready to indulge in indiscriminate violence the first chance they get. People shuffle past avoiding eye contact and sometimes even cursing, but never loud enough for the guards to make out what they’ve said.
Many of the people here tend to prefer to hire the private services of the bodyguard companies which sport a much friendlier, client-facing demeanor. Unfortunately, the bodyguard services still have their offices situated within the main Security building and customers are still affronted with the unfriendly faces of guards on the way in.
NPCs
Sick Bay (Moemedi Hospital of AC Jump Gate)
A thick cough echoes down the corridor that runs the length of the hospital. A tired doctor treats the ailing patients waiting in the cramped and overcrowded rooms.
Hands shaking, the doctor takes a swing from a water flask and moves on to the next patient, and then another, and then another. By the time he’s stitched up three people, you can see the resignation in his tired eyes from halfway across the room. “Next,” he says, void of emotion.
Notes
- Gaule Embassy added with update on February 28, 2019
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