Luyten 68-28

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The Luyten 68-28 system (often referred to simply as "Luyten") is the location of a top-secret naval base that has alternately been used by the Star League Defense Force, ComStar and the Word of Blake.

The system's sun, as seen from the planet, was described as deep red.[1]

Luyten was occasionally referred to as "Freedom Station", a confusion born in the years after Operation Liberation in part due to being just one jump from the similarly top-secret facility of that name.

Location[edit]

The exact location of Luyten 68-28 remains unpublished. Available information confirms it to be located within no more than two jumps of Terra and rimward of Epsilon Indi, within the boundaries of Prefecture X of the Republic of the Sphere.[1]

History[edit]

The base was constructed in the early 28th century to serve as the headquarters for the Star League's intelligence-gathering ships, with its existence known only to the most senior SLDF admirals. The SLDF maintained a large fleet of Bug-Eyes and converted civilian ships which operated from Luyten to spy on the League's enemies and allies alike.[2]

The SLDF kept the base a secret until the Amaris Coup when the Star League military's desperate need for friendly ports suitable for WarShip repairs not in Great House hands forced them to peel back the mask a little. Even then only a handful of the civilian captains serving in the so-called "Secret Fleet" were ever allowed access and only after turning control of their nav computers over to an escorting SLDF ship. Admiral Vincenzo McTiernan and the other members of the SLDF High Command in Terran Hegemony space to survive the initial Coup generally operated from Luyten, and the base itself became vital to maintaining the WarShip squadrons of both Task Forces Sun and Confederation during Operation CHIEFTAIN.[2]

The Luyten 68-28 base would remain in active use by the SLDF throughout the campaign against the Usurper, eventually falling into ComStar hands after Operation Exodus in 2784. Its existence and location remained a secret closely guarded from the Successor States. The Blessed Order would eventually use Luyten as the homebase for its small fleet of WarShips.[2][3]

In 3058, the WoBS Blake's Redemption and WoBS Deliverance raided the Luyten system as part of Operation Odysseus, suffering heavy damage but successfully preventing the Com Guard WarShips from interfering with the Blakist invasion of Terra until its final stages.[4]

After the failure of Case White during the early years of the Word of Blake Jihad, Luyten fell into Blakist hands and became an important base for them.[1]

In the advance toward Terra during Operation SCOUR in 3078, Devlin Stone personally led the Com Guard 2nd and 3rd Army against the base,[5] in what was later called the "Luyten Debacle". Stone and the Com Guards would suffer extremely heavy losses against the 46th, 48th and 54th Shadow Divisions before being forced to retreat. Stone's Coalition later successfully took Luyten after the recapture of Terra, although the system's facilities were largely smashed in the process. Sorting through the wreckage on the world also provided worrying clues to other Shadow Division bases of operation.[6] During the Luyten Debacle, elements of the 214th Division of the ComGuards found evidence that the main planet in the system was a storehouse for Word of Blake tactical nuclear weapons.[7][8]

Luyten was patrolled for some time afterwards, but eventually it was abandoned again by Stone's Coalition and the Republic of the Sphere. This allowed the ComStar order to move back in and take possession of the ruins.

The secrecy of renewed activity at Luyten 68-28 was compromised by 3140, when Tucker Harwell, then a captive at ComStar's secret Omega One facility, sent a computer virus to a visiting ComStar JumpShip that would call in forces from the Republic of the Sphere to rescue him. On 17 September 3140, a RotS DropShip seized Omega One and evacuated Harwell and Alexi Holt.[1][9]

Luyten was also used as the baseworld for the rebuilt ComGuards; it served as the homeworld for the new First Division.[10]

Facilities[edit]

Although originally a habitable world with plant and animal life, the planet was turned into a dead wasteland through nuclear weapons during the Jihad, turning soil into sand deserts. Afterwards, a ring of debris from wrecked satellites, spacecraft and space habitats in orbit formed a visible silver circle across the blue sky. Luyten is noted to have had orbital factories and massive space stations including a Hyperpulse Generator station; debris fields are mentioned on both low and high orbit.

Despite the overall destruction, there were still buildings left including a tower (or skyscraper) with offices, and a ComStar subfaction following Word of Blake teachings maintained a secret research facility there named Omega One by the 3130s.[1] Despite this, surface temperatures on the world were extremely high; The Coalition forces noted temperatures of 62 degrees Centigrade.[11]

Com Guard First Fleet[edit]

In 3062 the Com Guard First Fleet based the following ships at Luyten 68-28: [3]

Notes[edit]

  • Although the system's name suggests a connection to Dutch astronomer Willem Jacob Luyten, Luyten 68-28 is not a real system. This may or may not be deliberate within the BattleTech universe, given that the correct name would likely be an indication of the secret system's exact position.
    Arguably, Luyten 68-28 might be meant to be Luyten's Star (GJ273), a red dwarf approximately 12.36 light years from Terra or alternatively the Luyten 726-8 system (Gliese 65), a binary red dwarf system situated approximately 8.7 light years away from Terra and the nearest neighbour system of Epsilon Eridani.
    However, it should be noted that BattleTech starmaps are grossly inaccurate compared to real star maps where real star systems are concerned, in part because of the BattleTech jump map being two-dimensional and in part because of systems being plainly misplaced. See also: System Coordinates essay

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 A Bonfire of Worlds
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 90, "Freedom Station"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Field Manual: ComStar, p. 44, "The WarShip Fleet"
  4. Field Manual: Free Worlds League, p. 116, "Aid from the Word of Blake"
  5. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 106, "The Com Guards"
  6. Jihad: Final Reckoning, pp. 125-126, "Shadow Divisions"
  7. Total Chaos, pp. 192-193, "Under the Gaze of the Sun God"
  8. Total Chaos, p. 237-239, "LUYTEN 68-28"
  9. Field Manual: 3145, p. 22, "Cleaning House"
  10. Field Manual: 3145, p. 141, "Eleventh Principes Guards"
  11. Total Chaos, p. 193

Bibliography[edit]
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