Zurich-Orbital Habitat
The Zurich-Orbital Habitat is a orbital space station owned by the Corporate Court who use it as housing for their court judges. Prior to being own by the Court, Zurich-Orbital was owned by Ares Macrotechnology , who in turn bought it off of NASA during the collapse of the United States government. Zurich-Orbital is also home to the Zurich-Gemeinschaft Bank
Design
The modern Zurich-Orbital is meant to be as modular as possible, allowing customization as the Corporate Court sees fit. The center of the station consists of two linked dodecahedrons; one acts as a central command center called to Rotunda, the other is the meeting place of the Corporate Court. Dotted around the outside of these central dodecahedrons are a series of smalled rotundas which are used for various purposes from luxury suites to computer housing to gourmet kitchens. An outside set of rings compose the rest of the station, where long term residents, such as staff, are housed. Since the station lacks the ability to rotate in orbit, it lacks the artificial gravity that other modern stations have. It is also required to orbit fairly close to Earth, causing security concerns in the event of attack.
Defenses
Zurich-Orbital is considered one of the most secure facilities in existence. Only fully authorized and accounted for visitors can even get on a shuttle to the station, after which they must submit to a whole host of identity confirmation procedures, including fingerprint, vocal print, retinal print, DNA, and mass checks. These are then followed up with a series of scans including X-ray, ultrasound, electromagnetic, and a few other scans that have not been released to the public. Lastly, an astral scan is run on prospective visitors to ensure no control or possession spells have been cast. A similar set of procedures are then run on every piece of equipment brought on to the station to check for both dangerous goods and any smuggled equipment.
The station's staff are strictly vetted to ensure the highest possible competence. In addition to the above sets of scans and checks, every staff member must have a five-year spotless record at one of the Big Ten Corporations. They are also required to have their family moved to corporate owned facilities for use as leverage in the event a staff member tries to go rogue. Limited communications pass between the station and the surface, all of which are heavily encrypted, protected by top-notch IC, and are only broadcast within set windows. Traffic between other stations and Zurich-Orbital are completely restricted; the only way to get on the station is from specific Z-O terminals on the surface.
History
In the early 1980s, NASA began drawing up plans to establish a permanent space station in orbit which would eventually become the Freedom. The original plan was to use the station to construct bigger craft that would be necessary to reach Mars. The station finished construction in 1996, but bigger plans for space travel slowed down due to political tensions in the early 2000s. Interest in space travel further diminished in 2008 when a meteor collision knocked out the Unity International Space Station, leaving only the Freedom and the Russian owned Mir stations in orbit. NASA continued to use Freedom for scientific research, but funding for NASA dwindled as the United States faced disasater after disaster. As funds ran out, NASA faced mounting corruption and incompetence until eventually the US government saw it as nothing but a hinderence. So they started feeling out interest in leasing out NASA assets to help recoup costs. Ares took the US up on this offer, so control of most NASA assets including the Freedom passed into Ares hands in 2016.
The initial agreement stated that Ares would have to return that leased assets in 2055, but the US would not survive long enough to follow up on that deal. Ares began retrofitting the station so that it could aid in the construction of their own space station, the Apollo. Within a few years the Apollo finished construction, leaving the Freedom as useless in the eyes of Ares. With the formation of the Corporate Court in 2023, Ares saw the opportunity to turn a profit on the station, so they leased Ares leased it out to them. The Court began outfitting the Freedom with newer and better tech with the hopes of building a orbital station at which the newly created Court could live. By the time the US collapsed, putting the station fully in the hands of the Court, the Freedom was unrecognizable compared to the station it once was. Shortly after purchasing it, the Court renamed the station Zurich-Orbital and soon afterwards the Global Finances Services moved up to being housed on the station, henceforth changing its name to the Zurich-Orbital Geminschaft Bank.
Founding Date
1996
Alternative Names
Freedom (1996-2023)
Type
Spaceport
Owning Organization
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