Hong Yue, Gemini Sector

The "Red Moon" is thought to be an artificial satellite built by a long-extinct civilization using methods unknown to the Union colonists that inhabit it. Its orbit is oblong and not aligned to the planets that share the Tacitus System with it.

Large deposits of minerals and raw element pools found nowhere else across thousands of surveyed worlds coupled with extensive tunnel systems have led scientists to believe that whomever created it, did so as a production facility for resources that either do not occur naturally or do so in such small quantities as to be impractical for large scale use. Many of these structures, even worn down from asteroid impacts across eons, still silently seep these unusual substances. As such, the Union went to great lengths to reinforce the Tacitus System and make it the capitol of the Gemini Sector early on in the First Era of Expansion.

The Gemini Shipyards become the central berths for the Union Navy and the research division on Hong Yue is responsible for the more advanced anti-gravity struts that become fairly common as they allow ships up to Destroyer in size enter a planet's atmosphere without unwanted results. The potential plethora of advances to be found are only tempered by the limitations of experimenting with the abnormal elements and delving too far into the tunnels in attempts to learn more about their source and how Hong Yue was built. Expeditions below a certain threshold are off-limits due to consistent disappearances and the institutionalization of the few survivors to return. The madness that creeps upon those that enter the deep ways cannot currently be detected by instruments but presents first as a burst of sound, even within environmental hazard suits, that then dissipates only to be replaced with growing paranoia, hallucinations and irrational fear. Unmanned vehicles have made the greatest progress but signals become more difficult to maintain the further they go. For these reasons, the Union has placed restrictions on xeno-archaeological missions and all entrances are heavily guarded.

Despite this, Hong Yue remains the capitol of the Gemini Sector with hundreds of orbital stations and colonies. To facilitated the mass-production needs of the growing Union, the LJC Colonial Administration chose to build the Da Huan Orbital Ring in the system, filled with automated factories producing every part needed for their ships from supply convoy resource deliveries. This great endeavor only reaches 13% completion at the time the war with the Saurians begins. By the end, it is nearly finished, stretching the entire orbit a planet would at 0.6 AU, albeit mostly comprised of a series of transportation tubes barely larger a kilometer across that lead to manufacturing centers and assembly arrays. At full production, the shipyards at the end could produce a dozen Agincourt class Dreadnoughts a day or nearly 800 Clifton class Frigates. However it would seldom reach these levels as trained manpower and necessary supply chains were limiting factors during the long conflict and after its end, the need for more ships in haste became less dire.

The Union still maintains this capacity should the situation change.