Description
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2025 6:20 pm
The carbonaceous moon orbiting Beta Herculis IV, a lifeless rocky planet a bit closer to the Kornephoros than Lankiveil, used to be seen by the Harkonnen as a chance to extract some real value out of this otherwise embarrassingly parochial system. Initial prospects showed iridium veins inside its crust, so sometime in the past an investment was made to erect a robust mining facility near the moon's southern pole.
But the moon proved to be a disappointment - the geological assessment had been mostly wrong, and in due time the base was abandoned, with only an automated pulveriser left behind to slowly mow through regolith deeper and deeper for trace concentrations of the element, then periodically collected by a transport from Lankiveil.
What the Harkonnen saw as a lost investment, Hawat saw as a strategic foothold. More so that the moon is tidally locked and the orbits of Beta Herculis IV and Lankiveil are mostly aligned, each the brightest 'star' to the other in the night sky. By hijacking the mining site on the Iridium Moon he would have a perfect staging ground for the operation, effectively facing their target with only a few minutes of radio delay.
But the moon proved to be a disappointment - the geological assessment had been mostly wrong, and in due time the base was abandoned, with only an automated pulveriser left behind to slowly mow through regolith deeper and deeper for trace concentrations of the element, then periodically collected by a transport from Lankiveil.
What the Harkonnen saw as a lost investment, Hawat saw as a strategic foothold. More so that the moon is tidally locked and the orbits of Beta Herculis IV and Lankiveil are mostly aligned, each the brightest 'star' to the other in the night sky. By hijacking the mining site on the Iridium Moon he would have a perfect staging ground for the operation, effectively facing their target with only a few minutes of radio delay.