Odessa

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(References to Odessa)

Note: X and Y are coordinates (light years on XY plane) relative to Terra at (0, 0)

X: -120.64 Y: 186.87[e]


Owner History

Planetary Garrison

3038

3040

  • Dragonslayers[7]

3085

Planetary Info

Odessa was settled early in humanity's expansion to the stars. A system with four worlds and at least one asteroid belt, most of the inhabitants live on the world of Odessa III, generally simply referred to as "Odessa". The Word of Blake operated a secret facility referred to by the Word as "Ruins of Gabriel" in the Odessa system near the fourth planet, Odessa IV, a gas giant.

Odessa III

Succession Wars

House Fisk rose to power on Odessa at some point in the late twenty-seventh or early twenty-eighth century and stayed there; during the First Succession War Odessa was seriously damaged by heavy fighting and nearly rendered uninhabitable, but a core of determined survivors and began rebuilding. Over the next two hundred years, Odessa was able to rebuild itself and form a vital part of the Commonwealth's food supply. Exports of the Odessan Raxx also helped the planet recover.[9]

FedCom Civil War

The actions of various members of the Fisk family during the FedCom Civil War resulted in Odessa III being largely stripped of defenses.[9] The planetary ruler when the war erupted was Count Nicholas Fisk and the mercenary unit Snord's Irregulars were deployed on the world under contract to the Alliance; as the terms of the Irregulars contract excluded combat in a civil war, the Irregulars hoped to ride out the conflict without being drawn in, but Count Fisk was determined to manipulate the Irregulars into signing a new contract with the Alliance that would see them fighting in support of the Loyalist cause and Katherine Steiner-Davion.[10]

Victor Steiner-Davion was keen to gain the support of the elite Irregulars and dispatched a trusted officer - General Archer Christifori and the Thorin FTM - to negotiate with the Irregulars. The Thorin FTM had been fighting a campaign throughout the core-spinward region of the Lyran Alliance for some time under the command of General Christifiori, earning themselves the nickname "Archer's Avengers" as a result, and were dispatched to Odessa from the nearby world of Alcor.[10]

Meanwhile, Count Fist had hired a mercenary unit named Wolverton's Highlanders - notionally a part of the Blackstone Highlanders - as a means of influencing the Irregulars. General Christifiori and the Thorin FTM landed without incident and began negotiations with Colonel Rhonda Snord, with both agreeing to meet and conduct negotiations face to face; Fisk arranged to sabotage these talks by having elements of Wolverton's Highlanders disguise themselves as elements of either the Irregulars or the FTM and then used these catspaws to ambush General Christifiori and Colonel Snord en route to their meeting on the 16th of April 3063. Fisk's gambit was successful - led by Colonel Robert Feehan, the Highlanders forces ambushed both leaders, leaving Colonel Snord comatose and Natasha Snord leading the Irregulars in her mothers place while both the FTM and the Irregulars attacked each other in retaliation for what they perceived as treachery.[10]

The Irregulars soon found themselves under siege in the ruined remains of the city of Bealton and in need of rescue. At this point, Fisk had the Wolverton Highlanders "arrive" on Odessa and arranged an offer of aid to the Irregulars, dependent upon the Irregulars signing a new contract to follow their old, this time without the codicil that would allow them to sit out the Civil War. Unfortunately for Fisk, his plans were ruined when the Archers captured the Lyran Alliance agent attached to the Highlanders and discovered the BattleMechs in false colors that the Highlanders had used to ambush the two leaders. General Christifiori made this information freely available to the Irregulars, and with Colonel Rhonda Snord having regained consciousness on the 2nd of May, both units became allies.[10]

The FTM and the Irregulars soon outmatched the Highlanders; by the time the two allied units had finished their campaign against the Highlanders Count Fisk had been captured and interned in a prisoner of war camp. Colonel Feehan was captured and transported to Outreach, where a trial in front of the MRBC and Wolf's Dragoons saw him stripped of his command and the Highlanders' rating reduced to such an extent that the unit found itself unemployable.[10]

The Jihad

After the Civil War Nicholas Fisk received a pardon from Victor Steiner-Davion and was restored to power, although he disinherited his elder son, Luther Fisk. With the defenses on Odessa sharply reduced following the Civil War and with a poor reputation that made hiring mercenaries unlikely, Odessa was forced to upgrade its planetary defenses. The younger son of Count Nicholas Fisk, Leon Fisk, was installed as commander of the Planetary Guard in 3072 on his twenty-third birthday, and would play a key part in rebuilding the planetary defenses.[9]

Evidence assembled in 3075 after the discovery of the Blakist facilities near Odessa IV indicated that Count Nicholas Fisk had actively colluded with the Blakists, but that there was no true Blakist presence on Odessa III itself; instead, the Blakists had exercised influence and control through various shell companies active in the fields of agriculture or heavy machinery. The Count's records indicated numerous meetings and kickbacks associated with these companies, demonstrating that the Word of Blake had effectively ruled Odessa III through its control over the corrupt and greedy Count. It was also revealed that while the ComStar physical presence on Odessa III had historically been limited to the fortified compound containing the HPG station within the city of New Bealton, ComStar had effectively been controlling the planetary government through similar means to that of the Blakists since the initial rebuilding efforts in the wake of the First Succession War.[9]

An enforced quarantine was established in the Odessa system in February 3075 as a result of the plague outbreaks that continued to erupt after the Word of Blake poisoning of the world the year before.[11][12] Any ships arriving in the system were subject to boarding and search operations. Any ship that landed on the world would be destroyed. The entire population was infected with the virulent contagion released by the Word of Blake, which explains these drastic measures.[13] In May, Clan Ghost Bear naval elements, including a Leviathan, arrived in the Odessa system and drove the Blakists out of the system.[14]

Odessa IV and the Ruins of Gabriel

Located at the extreme edge of the Odessa system, Odessa IV is a gas giant with more than 219 assorted orbital bodies trapped in various orbits around itself. The source of many of these small bodies was most likely the same as that which provided the expansive debris and asteroid field that littered the space between the orbits of Odessa IV and the habitable Odessa III; the most commonly-accepted theory amongst astronomers studying the system was that two large bodies had collided while the Odessa system was being formed, scattering their remains far and wide. The presence of so much stellar clutter limited exploration of Odessa IV, as did its remote location, so far away from Odessa III.[9]

Odessa IV is probably best known for harboring one of the Word of Blake's Hidden Five worlds. The naval base named "The Ruins of Gabriel" was located near this gas giant. Located at the edge of the system, activity around Odessa IV is also obscured by an asteroid belt between Odessa III and IV.[9] Information uncovered during the Jihad indicated that ComStar had discretely taken effective possession of Odessa IV and the former Star League Defense Force naval base concealed nearby when the chaos of the First Succession War was engulfing Odessa III. With the population of the primary world in the system in sharp decline, astronavigational records relating to Odessa IV would easily have been lost, removing pirate points and other such features from common knowledge. Traffic so far away from Odessa III at the time most likely escaped any attention, and ComStar evidently made discrete, subtle changes to the surviving records for the system, increasing the apparent effect of existing hazards such as gravity anomalies in small, difficult to detect ways, all close enough to the true nature of the conditions around the large planet to escape notice.[9]

On the 9th of November 3073 Chandrasekhar Kurita won naval support from both the Lyran Alliance and Clan Wolf-in-Exile for a strike mission he was planning against the Ruins of Gabriel.[15][16] In 3074 a small task force consisting of elements from the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces, Clan Wolf-in-Exile, and several mercenary units hired by Chandrasekhar Kurita attacked the Ruins. In the fighting the Mjolnir-class battleship LAS Yggdrasil was damaged[9][13][16] and the Baron-class WoBS Light of Faith was destroyed;[17] while the Blakists were able to beat the attack off, they poisoned Odessa III. To deny information to their enemies, the Word of Blake stripped the base of all available information, destroyed the Naga-class destroyer that was undergoing repairs and restoration within the facility, and programmed all their drone fighters to self-destruct.[9][13][16]

On the 17th of April 3075 an unidentified Shadow Division was reported to have recaptured the Ruins of Gabriel; while details were sketchy, the Shadow Division was believed to have been supported by two Blakist WarShips, an Essex-class destroyer and a Black Lion-class battlecruiser.[18][19] The first forces to arrive to contest the renewed Word of Blake presence at the Ruins of Gabriel were a mix of Lyran and Clan Wolf-in-Exile WarShips, which arrived on the 18th of May, a month after the Word of Blake recaptured the facility. The first battles between the allied forces and the Blakists ended in a standoff, a standoff that would be broken four days later when Clan Ghost Bear forces arrived in the Odessa system. The Ghost Bears emerged at one of the system pirate points, and their first act was to order the combined Lyran and Wolf-in-Exile force to stand down; the Ghost Bears then crippled a Lyran WarShip that attempted to intervene in the impending battle between the Ghost Bears and the Blakists. As the remaining Lyran and Wolf-in-Exile forces stood off, the Ghost Bears attacked the Word of Blake, but proved unable to prevent the Blakist forces scuttling the Ruins of Gabriel facility and escaping from the Odessa system.[20][19] The various battles did see the Blakist Essex-class WoBS Enlightened Spark destroyed, however.[17]

Notable Species

Homeworld of the Odessan Raxx

Nearby Planets

Planets within 2 jumps (60 light-years). Closest planets first:

Planet Distance (LY) Jumps 2750 3025 3030 3040 3052 3057 3062
Lyndon 12.67 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Garrison 18.48 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Summit 24.57 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Ginestra 24.62 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Pherkad 26.26 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Crevedia 26.72 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Grunwald 29.42 1 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Surcin 31.18 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Lucianca 32.84 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Kockengen 36.61 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Cumbres 37.45 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Kandersteg 42.78 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Arcturus 44.47 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Hillerod 44.72 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Porrima 47.17 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Hamilton 47.63 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Borghese 48.57 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Leganes 50.27 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Breukelen 55.39 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Cameron 55.85 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA
Aur 57.96 2 LC LC LC FC FC LA LA

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Handbook: House Steiner, p. 13, "Protectorate of Donegal world within the Lyran Commonwealth before [2340] and after at their founding in [2341]"
  2. Historical: Reunification War, p. 159, "Inner Sphere Map [2596]"
  3. Era Report: 2750, p. 37, "Inner Sphere - 2750"
  4. Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 11, "Inner Sphere - 2765"
  5. Historical: War of 3039, p. 132, "Inner Sphere - 3040"
  6. Map of the Inner Sphere 3130
  7. 7.0 7.1 Historical: War of 3039, p. 140, "Deployment Table"
  8. Field Manual: 3085, p. 129, "Deployment Table - 3085"
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 13, "Odessa: How?"
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 FedCom Civil War, p. 67-68, "Odessa"
  11. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 14, "Timeline of the Jihad"
  12. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 53, "The Jihad In Review"
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 36, "Notice To Shipping" Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "JHS3076p38" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "JHS3076p38" defined multiple times with different content
  14. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 37
  15. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 34, "Timeline of the Jihad"
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 52, "The Jihad In Review"
  17. 17.0 17.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128, "Original Word Of Blake Fleet"
  18. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 15-16, "Timeline of the Jihad"
  19. 19.0 19.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 54, "The Jihad In Review"
  20. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 16, "Timeline of the Jihad"

Bibliography