Hephaestus Station
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Hephaestus Station, often referred to as simply Hephaestus, was a customized modular space station of unspecified type owned and operated by Wolf's Dragoons.
Design and capabilities
Combining features of the Olympus and Alliance classes of space stations, Hephaestus Station was unlike any contemporary or recorded Star League era design.[1] The Dragoons themselves described it as "mostly" a Star League design, with a few custom additions.[2]
It was mobile in the sense that it could be disassembled into modules which had K-F Booms and could be moved via JumpShip like regular DropShips with Docking Collars, to be re-assembled at the destination site.[3][1]
The station contained an assembly and repair facility that was capable of rebuilding 'Mechs that others would have considered scrap[1] and thus allowed the Dragoons to produce their trademark ARC-2W Archer variant, but it was incapable of heavy manufacturing or the construction of fusion engines. The production line was apparently more of an assembly plant, reliant on prefabricated parts. Still the station was notorious as (somewhat inaccurately) the Dragoons' "mobile factory"[2].
It could also service all of the Dragoons' DropShips[4], Aerospace Fighters, 'Mechs and support vehicles and possessed sophisticated surveillance and communication equipment.
History
The Dragoons brought the station with them from Clan space when they first appeared in the Inner Sphere, and subsequently installed it over their respective HQ worlds during their service for various Successor States as an orbital repair base and command post. It saw combat action at least once (it was attacked by aerospace fighters at New Delos during the Marik Civil War, but they were easily fought off by the orbital/aerospace operations group with support of the station's upgraded weaponry[5].
During the Dragoons' employment with the Draconis Combine since 3022, Hephaestus Station was stationed in orbit over the Dragoons' HQ world of An Ting. As of 3024 it was under the command of Kenneth Quo.
After the Dragoons' relationship with the Draconis Combine soured, "Kurita patriots", believed to have been smuggled aboard as part of a batch of local technicians to bolster the strained repair force, seized control of the station and took the entire staff hostage on 2 January 3028. Station master Major James Quo was pressured into sending a propaganda message to the Dragoons on An Ting. He used this opportunity to inform Colonel Jaime Wolf that the Seventh Kommando was "on the hull", but was shot before he could complete the message.
On the following day, the occupation forces destroyed the station during an ill-fated recapture operation by Seventh Kommando forces, killing all aboard.