But all was not lost. Crammed within the twenty or so metallic factory fortresses are the workers and colonists of Keraxis. The heavily shielded buildings house the cities and factories of the workers, and protect their inhabitants from the harmful UV rays, toxic atmosphere and the acidic soils of the surrounding planet.
Inside, the machines work day and night, constantly churning out the raw material that the empire needs, while work crews shuffle back and forth between their work places and their hovels.
Outside, the twin sun's beat down upon the world, the lack of ozone allows extremely harmful solar rays to cook the surface, causing daytime temperatures to reach close to 200 degrees. The only relief, comes from the acidic dust storms that can block out all light for weeks at a time, the corrosive soil slowly eats away at the walls of the factories and the wind blows the dust strong enough to rip apart armor and blast away the flesh of anyone foolish enough to risk its wrath.
The walls of the factory fortresses are constantly under repair. The wind and weather outside slowly corrode the walls away, thus they need to be rebuilt faster than they are destroyed. The waste tunnels that pump the toxic sludge and industrial waste from the factories and cities are always in need of repair. Dust storms can bury the outlets, causing the sludge to back up into the factories.
Life is cheap here, and the repair crews of Kuve tend to live short lives.
Keraxis processes deuterium from deuterium ore. It is a resource that is extremely valuable to the Empire, used in ships impulse engines. The excess material used to create the deuterium is highly toxic and dangerous. This necessitates the need for certain worlds to bear the brunt of ecological disaster, to protect other, more prosperous worlds.
Three factory fortresses however process no raw materials, house no workers, and serve no purpose for the Empire. These three were destroyed during a Romulan assault in 2351. The Romulan ships fired from orbit, smashing the walls of the factories, and allowing the toxic atmosphere inside, and killing most of the inhabitants.
Now, the three are nothing but gutted hulks. The corrosive soils whip through their halls and workstations. Slowly eating it away from the inside out. A grim reminder to the others, of how quick death can come on Keraixs.
©copyright 1998 A.Gulbrandsen