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After a UFO alert in the Troy (DM-39 14192) two scientists, onboard an asteroid mining ship requisitioned from the Eastern Mining Company, backtracked along the orbit of an asteroid that had appeared in their system and discovered a natural wormhole from their system to a point near the Kruger 60 system. The Trojan government set up the Trojan Exploration Corporation to investigate the phenomenon, and develop commercial applications from it.
Tests showed that spaceships could pass through the wormhole and return safely. TEC surveyed the Kruger 60 system and discovered 8 planets rich in minerals but recommended against colonisation because Kruger 60B was a flare star. Mining rights to the system were auctioned off. The Eastern Mining Company (which had assisted in initial investigation of the wormhole) made the highest bid and was sold the system. EMC's first three asteroid mining spaceships entered the system several months later.
Despite building another nine asteroid mining ships, Kruger 60 was not returning money fast enough to balance EMC's loan repayments. An internal investigation showed that while the mining itself was cost efficient, time spent travelling to and from Kruger was drastically eating into profits. The report recommended that EMC construct a base on one of the planets, start a permanent mine and convert a couple of its mining spaceships to a transportation role.
Both Chrome and Sinai were considered, but Sinai was chosen over Chrome as space shuttles needed less fuel to escape its gravity. Subsurface mines were built below ground and linked to the starport by tunnel so that flares from Kruger 60 B did not disrupt work. As mining operations expanded over the next few years, the population of Sinai rose above the 800 mark and played out mines began to be converted into extra accommodation facilities.
As exploration starships from the Trojan Exploration Corporation started to make contact with nearby star systems, the wormhole near the Kruger system began to be used as part of their new trade routes. The Eastern Mining Company demanded royalty payments for the use of 'their' wormhole. After TEC refused to pay EMC took out a six month injunction preventing TEC ships from entering their space. However, they backed down on the first day of the injunction, when the chief judge of the Trojan Supreme Court pointed out that they had only bought mining rights to the Kruger 60 system and would be heavily penalised if they tried to renew the injunction without some actual evidence that they owned the wormhole. EMC's legal director took early retirement later the same year.
Relations between the two companies remain strained for the next twenty one years with, both of them ordering their ships to avoid radio contact, except in emergencies.
Flares from Kruger 60 B became unusually violent, stopping all work by asteroid miners as workers retreated to the emergency shelters in their ships. Work on Sinai was initially unaffected, but after both transport ships were disabled by the stellar storm, food supplies were cut off. Work on Sinai stopped too and miners were forced to live off of emergency rations until a rescue starship arrived with food and medicine.
Both the Asteroid Miners Union and the newly formed Starship Crew Union threatened to strike. EMC share prices dropped 0.10 Star Credits in one day. EMC announced that they would start work on a semi-permanent support and farming colony on the surface of Chrome to prevent future food shortages.
After appealing to the Trojan government for assistance with costs, EMC was granted a 55 percent subsidy for the initial base on condition that facilities for the Trojan Navy were constructed as well. Conditions on the planet were hard during the winter and engineers initially struggled to construct the survival shelters that would keep people and livestock alive in the cold winter.
At the same time work started on Chrome's farming colony, Sinai's starport was upgraded. Several search and rescue shuttles were purchased from StarDrive Industries. The shuttles carried out hundreds of rescue operations over their lifetime and raised worker confidence.
Construction problems on Chrome were finally overcome and the main focus of work turned to importing and planting genetically engineered crops that could survive for more than one season. Within a few years these plants began to take over from the weaker native plants.
EMC announced to its shareholders that food production from Chrome to mining facilities had now reached a level where it was cheaper to produce food in system than import it from Troy. Shareholders voted to build several more bases on the planet to increase production and reduce importation costs.
Several tunnels were discovered during mining operations on Sinai, causing the largest amount of outside interest in the Kruger system since the Centaur threat. At first rumours spread that the tunnels were built by aliens, but scientists soon proved that the tunnels were carved out by molten lava during Sinai's last volcanic period.
Kruger's first tourists arrived six months later.
With more than 13,500 people now living on Sinai, movement became more of an issue and work began on the first of four underground railway lines to link up the many underground towns.
The long silence between the Eastern Mining Company and Trojan Exploration Corporation was ended overnight when new farm workers on Chrome placed a private order to have supplies delivered by them. A representative from the Chrome Farmers Union gave the dropship pilot several baskets full of fresh fruit and vegetables for the crew of his starship, and told him that all of Troy's ships (including those of the TEC) had an open invitation to visit Chrome, whenever they were passing by. The delivery went unnoticed by management of both companies for several months and when they finally did notice that their ships had resumed radio communications they formally ceased hostilities.
Shortly afterwards TEC signed a contract to resupply its ships with food in the Kruger system. TEC initially planned for its to use the Sinai Starport and had extra food shipments made between the two planets, however its starship captains realised that they could save time by travelling directly to Chrome itself and landing dropships in open areas close to the farming communities. Eventually these open areas had so much traffic that they were viewed as Kruger's second starport.
Glenn Lorentz, became the first baby to born on Chrome. His parents both miners from Sinai, who were on leave on Chrome, didn't wish to leave the system and after a short dispute with the Surface Miners Union (SMU), EMC agreed to jointly fund construction of family facilities on Chrome. Chrome's population increased to more than 500 and EMC benefited from retention of married staff. Share prices rose by 0.25 Star Credits.
Following the attack on Wolf 424 using the Wolf Wormhole, the Chrome military base was upgraded and a second military base was built on Decker. The size of the Trojan Navy was increased and both bases were permanently manned as listening posts. EMC shareholders protested at being forced to pay 45 percent of the construction costs.
After the military coup on Alpha Centauri, both workers and shareholders began to be concerned about the possibility of risk to the Kruger System. When this was followed up by the news that the newly formed Centaur Federation was invading the worlds of the former Wolf Dictatorship, Trojan shareholders (including EMC shareholders) demanded a national solution to the risk of invasion. Troy began negotiations with its trading partners.
The Trojan government passed an emergency law forming a reservist navy called the Trojan Territorial Navy (TTN). The ships of the Trojan Exploration Corporation were requisitioned by the government, and their crews were drafted into the Trojan Territorial Navy. The ships were upgraded to give them some fighting capability and help boost patrols of the Kruger and Troy system while Trojan negotiators seek a long term solution.
Negotiations to deal with the 'Centaur problem' concluded with the formation of the 9 Star Combine. Like the other members Troy merged its navy into the new Star Combine Navy. Protection of the Kruger system was handed over to the new authority.
The Trojan Territorial Navy (which was not merged into the new navy) was stood down from active service and its ships were passed back to TEC.
Construction workers digging out new facilities for the starport on Decker, discovered that the military part of the base was very close to some easy to extract minerals that were economic to mine. EMC decided to expand the existing facilities in order to support both the Star Combine Navy and a mining colony. However, after initial works were carried out, they re-evaluated their plan and decided to re-site the whole starport to allow them to dig the entire area.
The plans to move the Decker Starport were set back several times as each site the geologist choose, proved to be more valuable than the last. After nearly a ton of gold was excavated on Decker in one week, EMC decided to start exploratory mines on all of the uninhabited planets in the Kruger system.
Eventually EMC decided to create two mines on Decker that could be converted into both a military base and a separate starport after they were played out.
EMC's survey mines found hidden minerals below the surface of Jade. The other planets in the system, while not as valuable, also had more mining deposits than detailed in the original TEC survey.
EMC's shareholders voted to mine all of the planets in the system. Miners from Sinai started work on the new mines over the next few years.
After thirty years of administrative delays, the Sinai Planetary Governor announced that the forth underground railway (called 'Crossrail' because it was going to link up the other three completed lines) was to be put on hold indefinitely because of escalating costs and a lack of financial returns from the finished lines. Managers of the three completed railways (all in converted lava tubes) blamed the delays in 'Crossrail' for their losses, arguing that the lack of a link was forcing people to use alternative methods of transportation.
Flares from Kruger 60 B became unusually violent again. This time, the workers around the star were prepared for the radiation and almost all of them managed to retreat to shelters within minutes of the flare warnings. Electronic equipment was shut down as the workers rode out the storm in their emergency shelters.
Disaster struck at the mine on Magneto during the flare. After the storm had passed radio contact could not be re-established with the mine. A rescue ship that was sent from Decker to investigate found the doors to the mine welded shut. After cutting their way inside the base they found that all the miners were dead and most of the equipment in the base was burned out or melted. Autopsies on the miners showed that they had died from electrification and examination of the mine showed that enormous currents had passed through it during the flare. The mine was closed up and mining work on the planet was ordered to be stopped until a safe shelter could be developed.
Nearly fifty years after choosing the icy world as Kruger's farm, EMC successfully completed trials to show that mining could be done in a way that did not endanger the fragile eco-system. The colder northern and southern areas were chosen to become the site of large scale surface mining. Played out mines were covered with manufactured topsoil and had genetically engineered fir-trees planted on them. The trees as well, as other plants that were introduced later, helped build up a biomass that enabled farmland to be pushed further north and south decades later.
Chrome's population exceeded that of Sinai for the first time as immigrant workers from the rest of the 9 Star Combine joined the Trojan population and boosted numbers to more that 20,000 inhabitants.
After three years the mines on Chrome were so successful that the population of Chrome had increased to over 40,200. Tensions broke out between the low paid immigrant surface miners on Chrome and the high paid underground miners on the other planets in the system. These tensions turned into open conflict when new families arriving on Chrome started to refuse to join the Surface Miners Union.
The accident rate on Chrome doubled as non-union workers suddenly started being involved in 'mysterious accidents'. The SMU voted to strike if 'unsafe' non-union workers were given jobs. The Chrome Farmers Union backed the SMU and threatened to carry out secondary picketing. In the face of costly industrial action the mining company agreed to a closed shop at the negotiating table.
However, the SMU did not get the victory it thought it would get as EMC had also been having secret talks with Wilhelm Kinshar of the Asteroid Mining Union. The AMU had been shrinking over the last 30 years and was keen to have new members. As the negotiations between the SMU, the CFU and the mining company dragged on, Kinshar was doing a secret deal with the Dropship Pilots Union that would go on to make his family rich. Ten dropships were kitted out with slimline computer terminals programmed for the lowest level asteroid mining exam. Kinshar's contacts across Chrome got immigrant workers together and the ships landed to turn them into 'qualified' workers.
Kinshar personally visited all of the workers and personally guaranteed them that if they joined the AMU, they would receive a 5% pay rise by the end of the year and pay no union fees unless the rise was paid. As Kinshar had already been promised this pay rise, it was a promise he could deliver.
After the SMU's hollow victory was revealed for what it was, angry members descended on its headquarters on Chrome and demanded that its leaders resign. The new leader promised that the AMU wouldn't be made a fool of and called for a general strike, however many of the other unions sided with the AMU and the strike failed to force the EMC to expel the immigrant workers. The SMU's new leader resigned before the end of the week and another series of promotions occurred in the union's ranks.
Still angry at the 'betrayal' by the AMU and DPU, various agitators in the SMU begin to stir up trouble. One of the most aggressive was Eddie Steele. Steele organised a group of unofficial bouncers that kept AMU members away from bars and pubs used by SMU members. Before long Steele had organised a large group of bully boys and started using them to beat up AMU members. Kinshar retaliated by searching through his own membership for similar minded people and before too long regular hooliganism sessions were happening between the two groups.
The Friday night punch-up became the hobby of bored youths who flocked to support Kinshar or Steele. The groups of toughs occasionally targeted the wrong people, so people in other unions also got dragged into the conflict.
During the worst of the violence, pro-vigilante union officials rose up the ranks of most of Kruger's unions. Many of these people began to offer protection from the thugs as a service. People, turning down the protection often found that they were soon targeted by groups that looked very similar to the people that had offered to protect them. The local police attempted to stamp down on these groups but the sudden increase in criminal activity was far too much for them to deal with.
The Union Wars lasted nearly 11 months and then died down suddenly. However, by this time the unions had changed drastically. A sense of tribalism had spread among the youth and many of them looked upon the aggressive wings of the unions as their new families. These new families worked together to put their own people into powerful union positions and give their own people the best jobs.
Concerned at stories of racial tension and violence, civil rights organisation Humanitarian Freedom sent in undercover investigators to collect information about the activities of the Eastern Mining Company, and the unions. While they were unable to obtain enough evidence to force the Trojan government to step in, they did decide to maintain a presence on Chrome, Decker and Sinai.
NewsCaster, one of Troy's largest news companies, ran several stores based on information given to them by Humanitarian Freedom agents. Trojan politicians dismissed the stories as 'tainted propaganda spoon fed to ignorant reporters'. NewsCaster management decided to send its own independent investigators to Kruger and opens a local news bureau near the largest of the Chrome farming communities. Over the coming years they reported the rise of the local mafia groups first hand, embarrassing both the EMC and the Trojan government.
Eastern Mining Company purchased a number of new shuttles and dropships from StarDrive Industries. The low cost of the new contra-grav thruster made shuttle travel more economical than building Crossrail, and all plans for the rail link were abandoned.
As the cost of inter-planetary travel was also lowered, many married miners on Sinai start to relocate their families to Chrome. They work three month shifts on Sinai before spending a month of leave on Chrome. Chrome's population started to fall and several of the outer towns were abandoned as the remaining population moved closer to the starport.
After much research and development an electrically safe mine on Magneto is opened. The core of the mine was encased within a giant cage (a Faraday cage) designed to keep out the electrical currents generated on Magneto's surface during stellar flares. Extensions to the mine had cages built into them as mining progressed. The mining machines themselves were also constructed to act as Faraday cages, meaning that no miner would ever be more than a few minutes away from safety.
Initially workers were not keen do work in what was regarded as a death trap, however EMC launched a publicity campaign with one of Troy's leading actors dressed as Michael Faraday giving a lecture about the Faraday cage effect while standing in a cage struck by artificial lightning. The advertising campaign, plus an increase in the benefits offered to miners, worked and the mine eventually became fully staffed.
As part of their benefits, miners were offered first choice of plots for family homes on Chrome, as well as hazard pay. Miners that worked a five year tour, could afford to set up businesses on Chrome and either retire from mining or take up the much safer surface mining jobs on Chrome. Many of the couple's that set up homes with money made in Magneto's mine called their first child Michael, and the name became the most popular boys name for nearly ten years.
With both workers and passing ships preferring to visit Chrome, where they can walk on the surface, to Sinai, where they have to spend time in underground bunkers, EMC decided to bow to the inevitable and move Kruger 60A's main starport from Sinai to Chrome.
The Chrome population was now so large that many people were now working in support industries and mining was seen as just one career option for children studying at Chrome's schools.
Sinai's population fell below 6,000 in this year and the Sinai Planetary Governor relocated people living in the eastern towns and closed the East Sinai Line.
After Sinai's population plummeted below 5,000 and most of the western towns turned into ghost towns. The Planetary Governor announced that the two remaining railway lines would be decommissioned.
Rail enthusiasts protested at the closures and the governor allowed them to set up their own rescue package. The West Sinai Line could not be saved but the Central Sinai Line was taken over by a charity called the Sinai Railway Society. The charity is now funded by people who pay to work as engine drivers or station staff in their holidays.
Flares from Kruger 60 B became unusually violent again. The radiation was expected this year and workers had practised radiation drills for the previous two years. Experimental shielded equipment was trialled during the storm, but workers also came up with low-tech solutions to problems. The most famous of these was the water clock installed in the military base on Decker. This clock is still in operation today.
The flare defences at Magneto's Faraday Base were tested for the first time. All non-essential personnel were evacuated a year before the flare and scientists in protective suits took measurements of electrical currents and magnetic fields.
Members of a new religious group started to arrive on Sinai. The group, called The Noans, believe that the human race did not originate on Earth and were attracted to Sinai by old news stories about the lava tubes. They started spreading rumours that the Sinai Planetary Governor 'really' closed the East and West Sinai Lines because alien artefacts were found in them.
While most people dismissed the Noans as a bunch of crackpots, interest in the lava tubes did increase and small groups of tourists started to travel into Sinai's uninhabited areas.
A leading Humanitarian Freedom representative on Chrome and one of NewsCaster's leading reporters became frustrated after more stories of civil rights abuses by mafia organisations were swept under the carpet by EMC. They publicly resigned from their respective employers and formed Kruger's 'first political party', the Political Reform Society. The PRS constitution demanded that Kruger should be given legal independence from Trojan control and should become a democratic planet within the 9 Star Combine. PRS membership rose over the next few years, however both the EMC and the Trojan government declared that they did not recognise the PRS as a valid organisation.
As conflict broke out between the Centaur Federation, Eridani Republic and Star Kingdom of Pegasus in the Valhalla Star System, the Trojan Territorial Navy was put on active service for the second time in its history. The ships helped boost Star Combine Navy patrols in the Kruger system and its surrounding areas.
Both military bases were upgraded, and many of the younger Krugans signed up for a term in the armed forces.
After several 'kneecapping incidents' fail to be resolved by the local police a splinter group breaks off from the Political Reform Society and hunts down the attackers. Ten mafia henchmen including a policeman on the payroll of a mafia group are killed during a shootout that follows.
In an attempt to get rid of police corruption, the Chrome Planetary Governor brings in outside investigators from Oracle Security. Over 30 police are caught during Operation Bad Penny and are shipped off-world without trail. Towards the end of the operation the Political Reform Society makes allegations that corrupt officials in the Governor's office have passed information to the mafia and allowed them to protect most of the corrupt police.
A dropship belonging to Oracle Security was sabotaged later that year and exploded with a team of six of their investigators on board.
A shuttle on its way to pick up the Chrome Planetary Governor, crashed in mysterious circumstances following an explosion in one of its contra-grav thrusters. Shortly afterwards one of Oracle Security's employees disappeared and the team he was working with were found dead. After hunting down their employee, Oracle discovered that he was not actually who he appeared to be. While his fingerprints matched his employee record, his retina scan did not. Examination under truth drugs showed the doppelganger to be a hired assassin, with grafted fingerprints, that had taken the place of a real Oracle employee 6 months earlier.
Several Oracle employees were found to be involved in the plot and despite a ruthless in house clean up campaign, Oracle Security had their contract terminated by the Eastern Mining Company.
The Chrome Planetary Governor hired some mercenary forces to protect himself from personal death threats, and a bomb that failed to go off due to damage in transit. Investigation by undercover agents and the mercenary unit initially indicated that the group known as the 'Steele's' were behind this. Later investigations proved that this was incorrect and that the 'Galliano's' were trying to give the Steele's a bad name and make their mining contract bids be viewed in an unfavourable light. An undercover agent had to blow his cover to save the lives of two mercenaries and bring back this information.
The Governor then used mercenaries to crack down on the Galliano's.
Later in the year the 'Kinshar's' impersonated the Steele's and launched several attacks at the Governor's base. Armed militants from the Political Reform Society also tried to kidnap the Governor.
Flares from Kruger 60 B became unusually violent again. Workers had practised radiation drills and no major casualties occurred.
Other related information on Kruger can be found by looking up Troy (DM-39 14192) using the InfoDump™ database.