Crash Base

Stenza Base 4475E, informally called "Crash Base", is a roving space station within the boundaries of The Nine Systems. Its lack of fixed location provides it security against enemy attack, as new coordinates need to be provided any time a vessel wishes to dock. Base 4475E primarily serves as a storehouse for crash debris and other junk belonging to foreign spacecraft that have gone "too far afield". Much of it is believed to have originated within the Empire of the "Space Brothers", and so it is kept for study and to prevent its repatriation. Occasionally the debris is found with bodies in and around it, and those are kept at 4475E as well.
It is next to impossible to prevent a Stenza soldier from bragging about shooting down a foreign craft and killing the would-be invaders, so base command has long employed a solution of simply changing location on a highly frequent basis. This way, if the braggart wishes to point people toward his best achievements, it will be difficult to find the proof to back him up. While this reflects poorly on his social standing, word inevitably reaches the enemy, and preventing the "Space Brothers" or anyone else from finding 4475E is generally considered more important than the reputation of a young soldier who still has a bright career ahead of him, if he chooses to pursue it.

Purpose / Function

The purpose of Stenza Base 4475E is to contain, protect, and study debris found within the boundaries of the Stenza empire that is suspected to belong to a foreign polity, from this galaxy or another. This may include bodies and living prisoners, although the ability to keep those prisoners alive, let alone communicate with them effectively, remains elusive. Live prisoners often have an impressive collection of internal parasites, and while Stenza medical science is advancing quickly in the field of xeno-medicine, these individuals tend to succumb to their diseases within two weeks.
One element of the base's raison d'etre requires that it constantly be moving, such that all location data on it is out of date within an hour. Unique for a space station, it is given a ship's engine set-up for precisely this reason.

History

The base was originally constructed in the early 2300s, although it was not originally built to move around. Constructed as a research facility next to the border with the Space Brothers, 4475E quickly began accumulating their neighbors' trash. When those neighbors wanted it back, presumably for fear that the Stenza would determine far too many of their secrets, a military escort was called in to relocate the base, and it was promptly fitted with its own engines in order to achieve this at any time. Fearing another crisis, base command instituted a policy of continuous movement, leading to the Stenza's first and so far only roving base.
Continuous movement had a series of effects on life aboard the base. Firstly it meant that all incoming personnel were shipped toward them without the slightest clue where they were headed until the last possible moment. While subspatial travel limited any risks of getting lost in the void because of this, that did not mean the risk was gone forever. It is not uncommon, therefore, to require two or three updates before a vessel is able to dock. Secondly, onboard personnel are essentially cut off from wider Stenza society and its politics. While communication with the outside world is possible, messages are heavily encrypted to prevent unwanted location intel from leaking into enemy hands. As a consequence, it is considered the ideal job for people who want to avoid the news.
Pups are known for wanting to visit the base and explore all of the neat new alien technology, but tend to want to leave after they've gotten bored. Separate protocols have been developed so that pups can be allowed to tour the facility to their hearts' content and be safely flown out; this typically involves a tight-lipped pilot, usually one who is planning their retirement to a quiet life in the near future.
The base's existence is not, and never has been, classified at any level for any reason. It is highly irregular to classify anything in Stenza society, but this also follows a doctrine of keeping the work at the base as mundane as possible such that discussing it becomes less exciting than giving the guy down the bar the fiftieth opportunity to recount his shooting down a cigar-shaped craft or something of that nature. Studies and pup tours can then be conducted in relative peace, and no one bats an eye when location records are expunged once a week. In fact, if you were to ask the average Stenza what they thought of Base 4475E, they might describe it as a sort of "frontier environmental vessel", which is more or less true, and leave it at that.
Paired with its continuous movement policy, being simply unobtrusive and boring has allowed Base 4475E to maintain operations for two centuries with little apparent change.

Type

Government complex

Owning Organization

The Nine Systems