Squib Games
fig 1. a Squib Reclamation Fleet freighter makes a night landing.
- Intent: Create a shipyard, flesh out the lore for Ardru, and supply a new base of operations for Darkwire.
- Image Credit: AI-generated from author's prompt.
- Canon: No.
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Squib Reclamation | Salvage Yard
fig 2. the interior of the factory, showcasing business office and receiving
- Shipyards Name: Squib Reclamation
- Classification: Planetary Shipyard
- Location: Ardru
- Affiliation:
- Public: Squib Merchandising Consortium
- Private/Actual: Darkwire (SQUIB GAMES)
- Population: Sparsely Staffed. Many areas of the shipyard relied on droid automation. Darkwire agents were often transient. A few local shopkeepers had opened businesses in the spaceport area, either providing food or transportation into the nearby mining town.
- Accessibility: Public. The salvage yard, factory business offices, and spaceport were both publicly accessible areas designed to receive visitors. Those dropping off a ship for recycling or picking up parts would interact with customer service representatives.
- Restricted Areas. The production floor, recycling center, and aerospace control parts of the shipyard were restricted access areas. Access to these areas was governed by code clearance, typically through a code cylinder. The exception was the aerospace control tower, which required CryptNet security protocols to access, such as by way of a Darkwire Tattoo or CryptLink.
- Description: The Squib Reclamation operation on Ardru was based out of a salvage yard that operated outside of a mining town on the planet. Primarily oriented to starship disposal and recycling, the salvage operation incorporated aspects of a spaceport, waste disposal, and manufacturing. The spaceport was originally a limited feature specific to salvage and recycling, but expanded into a regional spaceport after the Denon-Ardru Mutual corporation took over the civilian spaceport for its mining operations. The entire operation served as a front for Darkwire's activities in the Iseno Sector, being nominally operated by the Squib Merchandising Consortium.
fig 3. a starcruiser undergoes dismantling as part of starship material recycling.
- Production: Ships up to a maximum of 500 meters.
- Specialty: SR-45 Heavy Trawler
- Output: Resource Constrained (Unique to Minor production levels)
- Market: Starship Repair and Recycling; Parts Refurbishing and Manufacture; Custom Modifications
fig 4. a scrap yard and vacant mining buildings surrounded the shipyard.
PUBLIC AREAS
- The Scrap Yard. The facility was surrounded by junk, ranging from discarded mining equipment to abandoned freighters. A lot of business was done out of just parts salvage, be it for ships, droids, or equipment.
- Factory (Business Offices). Shipping and receiving, as well as day-to-day business operations operated out of the front end of the factory.
- Spaceport. Originally just a landing bay for dropping off or picking up scrap, this has expanded into a small, regional spaceport. Its really just a small number of docking bays with a few shops and kiosks that catered to the few travelers to this part of the planet.
- Factory (Production). For safety reasons, the active production floors were restricted to authorized employees only. These bays could be where starships were being assembled or dissembled, with the SR-45 Heavy Trawler being the only routine production item produced by the facility. Most were sized for 200 meters or less, with only a few capable of holding a frigate-sized vessel for either manufacture, repair, or recycling.
- Recycling Center. Reclaimed metals and alloys were melted down here, be it droids, hull plating, or even broken blasters.
- Aerospace Control Tower. Ostensibly a necessary component of operating a spaceport, this was the hub of Darkwire activity at the facility.
fig 5. aerospace control sensors provided Darkwire with an early warning network inside the Ardru System.
Medium. With the need to maintain appearances as a legitimate business, Darkwire had to balance maintaining a professional, open atmosphere against the need for tight security over the illicit aspects of its operations on the planet. To that end, they employed both passive and covert means of security. Passive security meansures included code cylinder-based access control locks on the Factory restricted areas, while the aerospace control tower's security was further encrypted and required either a Darkwire Tattoo or CryptLink in order to access. In addition, some of the loader droids were actually assassin droids in disguise.
The abandoned mining facilities date back to before the Four Hundred Years Darkness, but by the time of the Gulag Plague the mine shafts had been sealed and active mining moved elsewhere. Over time, the abandoned structures gave rise to a habit of both the Denon-Ardru Mutual corporation and others to simply dump their trash there. Shortly after the Clockwork Rebellion, the Squib Reclamation Fleet surveyed the sector for the Squib Merchandising Consortium. This led to the opening of Squib Reclamation operations on two planets, Ardru and another on Denon. Both followed the standard Squib business model, with most of the profits being generated by the salvage and recycling operations.
When the Squib Reclamation on Denon was seized by the Corporate Authorities as part of a larger planetary lockdown targeting the extremist group known as Darkwire, it had the unintended effect of driving up support for the group. Particularly by the Squib who had been operating the business on Denon. Through careful manuevering within the species-wide corporation, he took control of the operation on Ardru through a hostile takeover. Through the guise of expanding business, that Squib threw out the standard business model for one of his own. Identifying that the nearby town was suffering for access to space, owing the the mining corporation seizing control of the local spaceport, he expanded the docking bay facilities while creating jobs through the expansion of the manufacturing bays. Soon, the facility was producing a heavy trawler for the Squib Reclamation Fleet.
On the surface, it's just good business. Proceeds from the shipyard are regularly invested back into the local community, bringing back hospitals, creating green spaces, parks, and affordable housing for the lower and middle class.
Beneath the surface, a war is brewing. One that threatens to overturn the capitalist control of the planet. Whereas the mining consortium has always invested heavily in political donations and lobbying, the Squib focused on the blue-collar workers whose families had been stomped on as the mining group gained more and more political and legal clout on the world. Now things are different. Workers are unionizing. Voters are pushing grassroots movements for change. And behind all those labor movements, Darkwire finds it has no shortage of recruits and a fine environment in which to hide their coming and going from the planet, with the means to produce their own ships and weapons.