Renegade Rodian
- Intent: To establish a fortified military stronghold for the Helix Syndicate.
- Image Source: N/A
- Canon: Nope.
- Links: N/A
- Name: Fort Aurbis
- Classification: Army Base / Training Facility.
- Location: Taikaha Canyon, Dantooine
- Affiliation: Helix Syndicate
- Population:
[x0001] H01 Artificial Intelligence - [x0500] Helix Syndicate Shock Troopers
- [x0700] Trajan-Class War Droids, Mk. I
- [x0050] Trajan-Class War Droids, Mk. II
- [x3000] Helix Syndicate Trainees
- [x0350] Helix Syndicate Support Staff
- [x0800] Sallust-Class Service Droids
[*]Accessibility: Fort Aurbis is not very difficult to discover, being composed largely of surface facilities. It is visible to satellites and most of the local farming communities know where it is as well. Because of this, the Syndicate has taken extra precautions (listed under defenses) to ensure the easiest way to access Fort Aurbis is by air travel.
DESCRIPTION
Dantooine was never a very populous planet; remote regions suitable for private construction have always been plentiful. This caught the eye of the Helix Syndicate, who selected a region that was particularly difficult to navigate on foot or by vehicle to construct a stronghold. Fort Aurbis is not a facility that is terribly difficult to miss if one were to look for it, the towering durasteel constructs occupy a spacious stretch of the well-charted Taikaha Canyon.
With all these defenses, it is a common rumor throughout the galaxy that this is the Helix Syndicate’s headquarters.
The actual function of Fort Aurbis, however, is a training facility. It is therefore the least luxurious of the Helix Syndicate’s properties. Helix Syndicate Enforcers are trained rigorously here and drilled into professionalism. Helix Syndicate Specialists are also trained at this location, though their regimen is far more brutal. There are many hundreds of trainees housed at Fort Aurbis at a time, but only the listed garrison is permanent.
Of the structures not previously mentioned that comprise the fort, there are the following: the officers’ barracks, the Enforcers’ barracks, the Specialists’ barracks, two mess halls, two armories, one garage, one communications tower, and two gymnasiums. Elsewhere in the countryside, the Helix Syndicate have set up practice ranges and obstacle courses which recruits are occasionally shuttled out to.
Local reception to the fort and its occupants has been largely positive. The Helix Syndicate has taken it into their hands to defend nearby farms and homesteads from bandit raids as forms of live-fire exercises for its trainees.
There are an assortment of landing pads here as well which can comfortably house up to five large shuttles or twenty five individual starfighters.
POINTS OF INTEREST
- Barracks Section: The section of Fort Aurbis dedicated to housing troops is split into several subsections to accommodate each rank. There are the trainee barracks, the Enforcer barracks, the Shock Trooper barracks, and the Ranger barracks. The trainee section is the largest of the four, while the Ranger barracks consists only of one building. Each barracks contains their own rudimentary recreation center.
- Support Section: This section of the Fort contains storage facilities, mess halls, recreation centers, maintenance bays for support droids, and gymnasiums. The communications array and primary control center are also located here.
- Armory Section: Housed in this section of Fort Aurbis are several armories, garages, and hangars. It is here that the Fort’s general war materiel and vehicles are housed. The Fort’s landing pad is also located here, as is the shield projector. This section is the center of the Fort. The charging and maintenance bays for the war droids can be found here as well.
- Practice Ranges: On the outskirts of the Fort are a series of practice ranges where the Syndicate’s various personnel can participate in war games or learn to properly pilot the land vehicles the Syndicate tends to employ.
The surrounding Taikaha Hills make navigation by foot or ground speeder difficult, but not altogether impossible. Minefields have also been laid in some of the more appealing passages leading to. These mines are kept deactivated so as not to be wasted on local wildlife, but can easily be activated with a flip of the switch from the fort’s control room.
The fort is enclosed by two electric perimeter fences. The fences are separated by approximately thirty feet with another minefield being placed between them. A shield projector tower is the dominant structure in the fort, protecting the fort from cursory orbital bombardment.
Past the second fence is the fort complex itself, which houses a grid of anti-personnel auto-turrets scattered throughout. Eight anti-aircraft turrets form a ring around the designated landing area.
Inside most of the structures, the defenses are predictably mundane. There are security checkpoints at every major juncture. Keycards are needed for access to most areas. Retinal scans are mandatory for access to more important areas, like the control room. Be advised that the retinal scanners can detect whether or not the retina they are scanning belongs to a live person.
A network of security cameras keeps close watch over the employees at all times and auto-turrets keep watch over the hallways. These auto-turrets remain deactivated unless an intruder is detected. When active, they will open fire on any individual not carrying a clearance keycard or not logged in their facial recognition system.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Fort Aurbis was the first stronghold to be constructed by the Helix Syndicate. A renegade cultist had been operating out of Taikaha Canyon, conducting obscene sacrificial rituals and just generally terrorizing local farming villages. The Helix Syndicate dispatched Rahgot and a small unit of what would eventually become the Helix Syndicate Rangers to the area as a training exercise.
Once the cultist was dead and some semblance of peace was restored to the area, Rahgot remarked that the canyon the cultist operated out of was a highly defensible position. Perfect for a fort. Having needed a dedicated training facility for some time, the Helix Syndicate moved into the area and began construction several weeks later. Dantooine lacked any sort of governing planetary authority and was powerless to stop them.
Now that Fort Aurbis is operational, it serves as the primary training center for would-be Helix Syndicate Enforcers, Shock Troopers, and Rangers. A significant component of the training regimen involves eradicating bandit enclaves that crop up on the planet and harass locals. Fort Aurbis’ reception by neighboring communities has therefore been mostly positive.
