Noct I, as it is known officially, “Hell’s end” as it is known by those upon it, is an ash world. A planet in the later stages of its formations where the tectonic activity is dying down and lava no longer flows like rivers and occupy oceans, instead a layer of soot and ash cover the surface, black clouds roll all over the world and acidic rain falls in downpours frequently. The air is toxic to human, and all other, life. To survive on the world’s surface requires endless convoys of supplies delivering food, water and breathable air. But still, the world has massive population centres, even though the ease of mining had decreased significantly now that the bounty of the world is no longer as easily accessible as it might have been millions of years ago.

The system of Noct itself is also unremarkable, with Noct I being the only large celestial body around the dim red dwarf, the remainder of the system, being quite young, is made up of endless rings of asteroids and space dust, with a few dwarf planets on their way to perhaps eventually form a world of their own.

So why had humanity bothered itself to colonize so extensively such an unremarkable rock ?

Defense.

With the world becoming more stable, a herculean effort requiring massive amount of resources was undertaken by the noble ducal House of Roy. To guard themselves in these waning days of the empire against their theoretical ally, House Talon. An older ducal house, also swearing loyalty to the imperial dynasty. Yet with imperial authority at all time low, fear grips the weakened Lion of Roy, whom just went through a civil war to determine the next head of the house, the fear that the mask of civility will soon fall apart, and that total war shall sweep through their worlds. As such, base Hapakhered was built.

As the largest defensive installation upon the planet it houses Count-General Augustine Boals and his closest officers, a new appointment to the post, and a lacking one, many would say in hushed conversation, being a political appointment made by the new duke to reward his allies in the succession crisis, and not one based on merit.

Still, being built into a side of a mountain, base Hapakhered can take quite the pummelling before any enemy is able to leave even a scratch upon it. The surface-to-space canons are capable of denying any abilities for orbital bombardment, the endless seas of clouds above further hamper one’s ability to aim, but no matter the massive cannons, the endless lines of trenches and bunkers, the literal metric tons of AA guns, thousands upon thousands of soldiers with heavy weaponry and vehicles, the greatest defence that the base has is – the gravitic wave generator.