Editing Luyten 68-28

The '''Luyten 68-28''' system (often referred to simply as "Luyten") is the location of a top-secret naval base that has alternately been used by the [[Star League Defense Force]], [[ComStar]] and the [[Word of Blake]].

The system's sun, as seen from the planet, was described as deep red.<ref name=BoW>''A Bonfire of Worlds''</ref>

Luyten was occasionally referred to as "[[Freedom Station]]", a confusion born in the years after [[Operation LIBERATION]] in part due to being just one jump from the similarly top-secret facility of that name. 

==Location==
The exact location of Luyten 68-28 remains unpublished. Available information confirms it to be located within no more than two jumps of [[Terra]] and rimward of [[Epsilon Indi]], within the boundaries of [[Prefecture X]] of the [[Republic of the Sphere]].<ref name=BoW/>

==History==
The base was constructed in the early [[twenty-eighth century]] to serve as the headquarters for the [[Star League]]'s intelligence-gathering ships, with its existence known only to the most senior SLDF admirals. The SLDF maintained a large fleet of ''[[Bug-Eye]]''s and converted civilian ships which operated from Luyten to spy on the League's enemies and allies alike.<ref name=HLoTV1-90>''Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1'', p. 90, "Freedom Station"</ref>

The SLDF kept the base a secret until the [[Amaris Coup]] when the Star League military's desperate need for friendly ports suitable for [[WarShip]] repairs not in [[Great House]] hands forced them to peel back the mask a little. Even then only a handful of the civilian captains serving in the so-called [[SLDF Secret Fleet|"Secret Fleet"]] were ever allowed access and only after turning control of their nav computers over to an escorting SLDF ship. [[Admiral]] [[Vincenzo McTiernan]] and the other members of the [[SLDF High Command]] in [[Terran Hegemony]] space to survive the initial Coup generally operated from Luyten, and the base itself became vital to maintaining the WarShip squadrons of both [[Task Forces Sun|Task Forces Sun]] and [[Task Force Confederation|Confederation]] during [[Operation CHIEFTAIN]].<ref name=HLoTV1-90/>

The Luyten 68-28 base would remain in active use by the SLDF throughout the campaign against the [[Stefan Amaris|Usurper]], eventually falling into ComStar hands after [[Operation EXODUS]] in [[2784]]. Its existence and location remained a secret closely guarded from the [[Successor States]]. The Blessed Order would eventually use Luyten as the homebase for its small [[ComStar WarShip Fleet|fleet of WarShips]].<ref name=HLoTV1-90/><ref name=FMCS-44>''Field Manual: ComStar'', p. 44, "The WarShip Fleet"</ref>

In [[3058]], the WoBS ''[[Blake's Redemption]]'' and WoBS ''[[Deliverance]]'' raided the Luyten system as part of [[Operation ODYSSEUS]], suffering heavy damage but successfully preventing the [[Com Guards|Com Guard]] WarShips from interfering with the Blakist invasion of Terra until its final stages.<ref name=FMFWL-116>''Field Manual: Free Worlds League'', p. 116, "Aid from the Word of Blake"</ref>

After the failure of [[Case White (event)|Case White]] during the early years of the Word of Blake [[Jihad]], Luyten fell into Blakist hands and became an important base for them.<ref name=BoW/>

In the advance toward Terra during [[Operation SCOUR]] in [[3078]], [[Devlin Stone]] personally led the Com Guard [[Second Army (ComStar)|Second]] and [[Third Army (ComStar)|Third Army]] against the base,<ref name=JFR-106>''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', p. 106, "The Com Guards"</ref> in what was later called the "Luyten Debacle". Stone and the Com Guards would suffer extremely heavy losses against the [[Forty-sixth Shadow Division|Forty-sixth]], [[Forty-eighth Shadow Division|Forty-eighth]] and [[Fifty-fourth Shadow Division]]s before being forced to retreat. [[Stone's Coalition]] later successfully took Luyten after the recapture of Terra, although the system's facilities were largely smashed in the process. Sorting through the wreckage on the world also provided worrying clues to other [[Shadow Division]] bases of operation.<ref name=JFR-125>''Jihad: Final Reckoning'', pp. 125-126, "Shadow Divisions"</ref> During the Luyten Debacle, elements of the [[214th Division (ComStar)|214th Division]] of the Com Guards found evidence that the main planet in the system was a storehouse for Word of Blake tactical nuclear weapons.<ref>''Total Chaos'', pp. 192-193, "Under the Gaze of the Sun God"</ref><ref name="TCp237">''Total Chaos'', p. 237-239, "LUYTEN 68-28"</ref>

Luyten was patrolled for some time afterwards, but eventually it was abandoned again by Stone's Coalition and the Republic of the Sphere. This allowed the ComStar order to move back in and take possession of the ruins.

The secrecy of renewed activity at Luyten 68-28 was compromised by [[3140]], when [[Tucker Harwell]], then a captive at ComStar's secret Omega One facility, sent a computer virus to a visiting ComStar [[JumpShip]] that would call in forces from the Republic of the Sphere to rescue him. On 17 September 3140, a RotS DropShip seized Omega One and evacuated Harwell and [[Alexi Holt]].<ref  name=BoW/><ref>''Field Manual: 3145'', p. 22, "Cleaning House"</ref>

Luyten was also used as the baseworld for the rebuilt Com Guards; it served as the homeworld for the new [[First Division (ComStar)|First Division]].<ref>''Field Manual: 3145'', p. 141, "Eleventh Principes Guards"</ref> Extensive combat took place around Omega Base when the Republic attacked.<ref>''Turning Points: Epsilon Eridani'', pp. 7, 10-12</ref>

==Facilities==
Although originally a habitable world with plant and animal life, the planet was turned into a dead wasteland through nuclear weapons during the Jihad, turning soil into sand deserts. Afterwards, a ring of debris from wrecked satellites, spacecraft and space habitats in orbit formed a visible silver circle across the blue sky. Luyten is noted to have had orbital factories and massive space stations including a [[hyperpulse generator]] station; debris fields are mentioned on both low and high orbit.

Despite the overall destruction, there were still buildings left including a tower (or skyscraper) with offices, and a ComStar subfaction following Word of Blake teachings maintained a secret research facility there named Omega One by the 3130s.<ref  name=BoW/> Despite this, surface temperatures on the world were extremely high; The Coalition forces noted temperatures of 62° C.<ref>''Total Chaos'', p. 193</ref>

==Com Guard First Fleet==
In [[3062]] the Com Guard First Fleet based the following ships at Luyten 68-28: <ref name=FMCS-44/>
*CSV ''[[Invisible Truth]]'' - [[Cameron (WarShip class)|''Cameron''-Class]] - ComStar Flagship and command ship of Task Force Serpent.
*CSV ''[[Montpellier]]'' - [[Dante (WarShip class)|''Dante''-Class]]
*CSV ''[[Bordeaux]]'' - Dante-class
*CSV [[Anastasius Focht (Individual Suffren-class WarShip)|''Anastasius Focht'']] - ''[[Suffren]]''-class - Physical leadship of the class.
*CSV ''[[Divine Wisdom]]'' - ''[[Lola III]]''-class
*CSV ''[[Holy Martyrdom]]'' - ''Lola III''-class
*CSV ''[[Strength Through Adversity]]'' - ''Lola III''-class
*CSV ''[[Vision of Truth]]'' - ''[[Potemkin]]''-class
*CSV ''[[Fire Fang]]'' - ''[[Whirlwind]]''-class - Former [[Clan Ghost Bear]] ship captured by Task Force Serpent
*CSV ''[[Alacrity (Individual Vincent-class WarShip)|Alacrity]]'' - ''[[Vincent]]''-class
*CSV ''[[Dover]]'' - ''[[Faslane]]''-class yardship
*CSV ''[[Portsmouth]]'' - ''Faslane''-class

==Notes==
*Although the system's name suggests a connection to Dutch astronomer [[w:Willem Jacob Luyten|Willem Jacob Luyten]], Luyten 68-28 is not a real system. This may or may not be deliberate within the BattleTech universe, given that the correct name would likely be an indication of the secret system's exact position.<br />Arguably, Luyten 68-28 might be meant to be [[w:Luyten's Star|Luyten's Star]] (GJ273), a red dwarf approximately 12.36 light years from Terra or alternatively the [[w:Luyten 726-8|Luyten 726-8]] system (Gliese 65), a binary red dwarf system situated approximately 8.7 light years away from Terra and the nearest neighbor system of [[Epsilon Eridani]].<br />However, it should be noted that BattleTech starmaps are grossly inaccurate compared to real star maps where real star systems are concerned, in part because of the BattleTech jump map being two-dimensional and in part because of systems being plainly misplaced. ''See also: [[BattleTechWiki:System coordinates|System Coordinates essay]]''

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[A Bonfire of Worlds]]'' (novel)
* ''[[Field Manual: 3145]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: ComStar]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Free Worlds League]]''
* ''[[Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1]]''
* ''[[Jihad: Final Reckoning]]''
* ''[[Total Chaos]]''
* ''[[Turning Points: Epsilon Eridani]]''

[[Category: Star League Defense Force Facilities]]
[[Category:Systems|Luyten 68-28]]
[[Category:Systems with Undetermined Coordinates|Luyten 68-28]]
[[Category:ComStar Systems]]