Waypoint 531
Sarna News
Contents
Description
Waypoint 531 is a system in the Deep Periphery, approximately 150 light years coreward from Nueva Castile. The system has a red giant at its core. The only other stellar bodies in the system are four large asteroids known as "The Brothers". [1]
History
The system shows up in early stellar cartography thanks to the near endless colonial expansion in the days of the Terran Alliance. Entirely unremarkable, the Waypoint 531 was insignificant spec in the sky until 2499 until the arrival of the THS Yosemite, a Terran Hegemony colony JumpShip searching for a new world to call home. Unfortunately upon arriving in the system the Yosemite's KF drive failed leaving it stranded without hope of rescue, the ship's crew and passengers dying not long after the incident, a lost footnote in the history of the Terran Hegemony. [1]
The system and the wreck were discovered by a ComStar Explorer Corps team in 2833, stripping it of any viable technology and of its DropShips and leaving the wreck of the Yosemite to die in Waypoint 351's relentless solar winds. During the limited exploration efforts enacted by Clan Blood Spirit during the Golden Century, they discovered the system in 2880 but deemed it of little value. Appearing on Clan charts in the wake of this brief visit, Waypoint 351 was used as a rally and recharging point for occasional Bandit Caste raids of the nearby worlds of the Nueva Castile.[1]
In the late 3060s, a Word of Blake Explorer Corps team arrived and verified the system was empty; within two years they established a small space station around one of the asteroids. It boasted minimal defense systems and was slowly built up as a supply point for a planed Word of Blake attack against the Pentagon Worlds but the Word of Blake Jihad would ensure any such strike would never come to pass. After that conflict resulted in loss of contact between the Blakist forces within the Nueva Castile and Word's leadership in the faraway Word of Blake Protectorate, in early 3073 a concerned Precentor Irene Gillick gathered up much of the Blakist personnel and material within the Castile and linked up with the forces at Waypoint 531. At that time Waypoint 351 contained enough supplies of BattleMechs, ammunition and other military hard to outfit an entire Division, but it unknown what Gillick intended to do with that hardware.[1]
In July 3073 a Dark Caste flotilla lead by The Jaguar and escorted by the Mako-class Fuchida arrived at Waypoint 351 and was surprised at finding the Blakist JumpShips in the system. With the Bandit forces immediately attacking and guttering two Blakist JumpShips, with minimal Aerospace Fighter coverage and having noting to counter even a partial functional WarShip, Precentor Gillick surrendered. The Jaguar traded the Blakist prisoners to the Tanites for food and supplies, and used the captured equipment for raids on Nueva Castile, Hanseatic League, and on several Clan worlds.[1]
In November 3073 the Clan Goliath Scorpion Volga-class Andromeda arrived in the system with the Third Seeker Cluster on their way back to the Homeworlds from the Rim Worlds Republic space. Seeing a seemingly derelict Mako-class Warship near an orbiting space station, the Seekers approached believing they had found a Star League cache. Though surprised when they were attacked by the Fuchida and a few DropShips and Fighters, the Scorpions quickly dispatched the bandits.[1]
After inventorying their new conquest, Star Colonel Yeh of the Third Seekers left behind a Binary to guard their prize and returned to Roche. The system would later play an important role for the Scorpions. Upon reaching news of the discovery of the system, both Khan Suvorov and saKhan Connor Rood agreed they would ultimately be forced to evacuate the Homeworlds to survive, and made plans to invade and conquer Nueva Castile.[1]
In 3074 saKhan Connor Rood was charged to lead a task force, composed of Beta Galaxy with the Bernlad, Lei Kung and Karttikeya as escort, in a reconnaisance mission to Nueva Castile. Upon arriving to Waypoint 531 they found no sign of the Binary that was left behind. There was a battered Black Lion-class Warship with its crew trasferring the cache to its holds. The ID-codes revealed the ship as the CSJ Streaking Mist. In the following battle, the Streaking Mist dealt significant damage to the Bernlad, then vanished taking half of the cache with it.
After the end of the Wars of Reaving the Scorpions strengthened their holdings in the system, using it as a base for further Deep Periphery exploration. When the Clan was Abjured in 3078 they began streaming supplies there, and managed to evacuate much of their assets. They regrouped and used Waypoint 531 as the base from which to launch the invasion and conquest of Nueva Castile.