Difference between revisions of "Stellvia"

Revision as of 15:52, 25 January 2010

This article is about the space station. For the faction or the business, see Stellvia Corporation

Spacecraft Registry

L5 Station Stellvia
Stellvia as of 2014, with SC Ad Astra docked at the hotel passenger terminal.
Spacecraft Characteristics
Base Hull	Custom-built hull modules
Length	352.65 m / 1157'
Width	472.65 m / 1550'
Height	151.48 m / 497'
Mass	65,000 mt / 71,650 tons
Drive Type	Reactionless thrusters
Drive Rating	Station-keeping only[1]
Armament	2 concealed point-defence turrets
Owner	Stellvia Corporation
Flag of Record	Republic of Australia
Faction	Stellvian
Registry Number	L5-A
Launched	4 April 2008
Purpose	Trading post and tourist resort
Primary Crew	Noah Scott (Commander) R. Yoriko Nikaido ("Number One" and Security Chief, until June 5, 2013) R. Yayoi Fujisawa (Chief Pilot, also "Number One" after June 6, 2013) R. Sora Hasegawa (Chief Engineer, until August 2013) R. Kohran Li (Weapons Engineer until August 2013, then Chief Engineer)
Other Crew	Jacob ("Jake") Hansen (first-shift Duty Officer) Patricia ("Patty") O'Neill (first-shift ATC officer, until November 2013) R. Miyuri Akisato (first-shift ATC officer, after October 2013) Rhiannon MacKenzie (Nurse, emergency medic) Leda Swansen (Geneticist, joined on 15 April 2013) Kelly Harrison (Hotel Stellvia majordomo) many others
Auxillary Vehicles	SS Epsilon Blade (L5-A-001) SS Ad Astra (L5-A-002) SC Haruka (L5-A-007) SC Virgil Samms (L5-A-901) SC Little Deuce Coupe
Operational Status	Active
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Stellvia isn’t the first Fen space station (that honour goes to Starbase 1), or the largest (that's the Island), or the friendliest (this depends on your definition of "friendly," but Candy Apple Red's usually qualifies). However, it is the first and largest Fen space station in Cislunar Space; this makes it a natural transfer point for Mundane tourists venturing into Fenspace, or Fen with business on Earth.

The station takes pains to maintain a family-friendly reputation on Earth, much like the Disney corporation does for its theme parks (with the same relative level of effectiveness). Some 'Danes never get farther away from Earth than a stay in Stellvia's hotel complex (in 2013, six floors of rooms, plus a three-star restaurant, a gift shop, and a zero-g "weightless swimming pool"). Because many 'Danes expect to see biomodded Fen in space, the hotel's public staff include attractive anthropomorphs (Kelly Harrison, a bunnygirl, is the hotel manager, and two catpeople and an albino bunnygirl are on different shifts as desk clerks).

Very few Fen consider Stellvia to be a tourist destination; the vast majority of them are used to living in artificial habitats, so they see this as "just another space station." But it's one of the closest stations to Earth, so there's a steady stream of freight shipments between Earth and space through their docks. If a Fan absolutely must have an Xbox720 or a PS4 the day it's released, he's more likely to find it for sale at Stellvia than at the Island or the Gnarlycurl.

But people who look behind the public facade discover Stellvia isn't as pleasant as it pretends to be. The station's owner, Noah Scott, is known in certain Fen circles as "the richest SOB in space;" the reputation isn't unwarranted. One of the senior engineers caused millions of dollars of damages at Worldcon Floating Island by testing a single prototype weapon, and got a promotion for her trouble. They hire Fen with distinctive biomods so that the 'Dane tourists have someone to gawk at. And Stellvia doesn't allow Ninjaburger to deliver on-site (not that that stops the delivery-genin).

Also, Mr. Scott has surrounded himself with attractive young women - young women who know how to do their jobs, to be sure, but some Fen wonder whether they were hired for reasons that have nothing to do with their "day jobs." Some people say that one or two of them are actually robots (especially after Mr. Scott practically admitted the station's chief engineer at the time, Sora Hasegawa, was an android on the occasion of the Grover's Corners launch), and a few claim that Stellvia's entire senior staff is made up of robots. Some of those Fen remember the word "fembot," and worry about what Noah might be planning - when asked, Mr. Scott blames such theories on the jealousy of other Fen.

Stellvia boasts of being able to host anything from a large wedding to a military task force headquarters; this was put to the test after SOS-Con, when it hosted the operational command of Operation Great Justice. This continued until May 2013, when a major ongoing difference of opinion caused the station administration to evict the Great Justice general staff.

During Operation Great Justice, Stellvia was a popular location for shore leave because it was the best-defended station between Earth and the Island that would welcome strangers (both during and after the SOS group's residence there).

Known Vehicle Quirks

Thanks to its owner's preference for using hardtech, Stellvia is remarkably quirk-free.

Available Ship Facilities

As of Operation Great Justice, Stellvia can dock almost anything, if they're willing to use boarding tubes - come alongside and dock. (Although if the ship is something the size of The Island or Grover's Corners, then it's not docked to Stellvia; rather, Stellvia's docked to it.)

Internal landing space is extremely limited. Officially, there are five landing slips - the largest, in the shuttle tanks, is dedicated for the Epsilon Blade (which is roughly the size of the Delta Flyer from Star Trek: Voyager), the other four, in the new construction, are for car-sized Space Craft such as the Saturn 0, the Jet Car or the Candy Apple Red. One of these four slips is reserved for Leda Swansen's car Haruka. (Unofficially and secretly, there's another landing slip purpose-built for the Little Deuce Coupe, the car Noah uses when he travels incognito; on station diagrams, the space is marked as maintenance supplies for the 'Blade.)

However... If you're looking for someplace to set down for repairs, then Stellvia is not the place to come. Unless it's a real emergency, that is - they don't turn away anyone who's really in trouble unless the station's under quarantine.

Trivia

• While many fen craft are named after fictional ships and stations, Stellvia is one of the few whose name was licenced by the owner from the writer who coined the name.
• Stellvia beat the Warsie L5 base New Yavin into operation by exactly one month - that base could have been operational earlier, but the Warsies wanted to open it on Star Wars Day, May the Fourth (be with you) 2008.

Stellvia Crew Uniforms

In the station's early days, when there were just five people aboard, the de facto crew uniform was jeans, polo shirts, and deck shoes. Mr. Scott decided to specify duty uniforms, varying depending on department, when he started hiring additional crew on 1 July 2009:

• Commander Scott wears whatever he pleases; when he wants to be known as station commander, he wears a black jacket with 'waved-Kevlar armour inserts and a simple "Stellvia" patch on the right shoulder. (His patch is the only one without a listed subdivision.)
• Duty officers and Communications/ATC operators wear black slacks, white shirt or blouse, and sky-blue jacket with the "Stellvia Administration" patch on the right shoulder.
• The security uniform is a white shirt or blouse, and police-blue slacks and jacket with the "Stellvia Security" patch on the right shoulder (except for the security chief, who wears the "Stellvia Administration" patch). The jacket has 'waved-Kevlar inserts.
• Most engineers wear black slacks and a white pullover sweater with the "Stellvia Engineering" patch on the right shoulder (except for the chief engineeer, who wears the "Stellvia Administration" patch). Because of the Kaboomite Incident at Worldcon Floating Island, Engineer Li wears a distinctive outfit: dark-green slacks and a emerald-green pullover sweater with the appropriate patch.
• The maintenance uniform is blue jeans, white shirts, and a high-visibility yellow jacket or spacesuit with the "Stellvia Operations" patch on the right shoulder.
• Pilots wear black slacks, white shirt or blouse, and a burnt-orange jacket with the "Stellvia Operations" patch on the right shoulder (except for the chief pilot, who wears the "Stellvia Administration" patch).
• Medics wear white shirt or blouse, slacks, and jacket with the "Stellvia Medical" caudeces patch on the right shoulder.
• Hotel and help center staff wear navy slacks and off-white golf shirts (except in the restaurant, where the traditional outfits are worn).

All uniforms can be modified to allow for biomods, but only to the minimum extent necessary. Crew who are members of other factions are allowed to wear their faction insignia(s) on the left shoulder of their jackets or spacesuits. (For example, Chief Pilot Fujisawa wears the crowned-golden-anchor Sailor Reserve patch on her left shoulder.) Other minor adornments are permitted; the most obvious of these was previous Chief Engineer Hasegawa's hairband.

As an associated crew member rather than an employee, Ms. Swansen wears the Senshi uniform with the "Stellvia Administration" patch on the left shoulder.

Stories

Stellvia is featured in the following stories:

• We don't need that hammer, Lucifer...
• Disturbing Implications of Land Rising Into the Sky
• With Liberty and Great Justice
• Journeys through tarnished dreams
• Legend of Galactic Girls
• With This Station-Ring
• (tbc)

Related Images

• 

  Stellvia station logo/crew patch.

• 

  Evolution of the Stellvia station 2008-14.

v • d • e Stellvia Corporation People Current: Noah Scott · Leda Swansen · Helen Scott -- Yayoi Fujisawa · Jake Hansen · Honami Takase Ambler · Shizuka Hayama · Kagome Mishima · Takami Sakuragi · Prim Snowlight -- Safety · Miyuri Akisato · Yuu Inagawa Former: Eimi Anderson · Star · Sora Hasegawa · Kohran Li · Yoriko Nikaido · Yomiko Readman Ships Current: Digamma Thunderbolt · Epsilon Blade · Haruka · Little Deuce Coupe · Rinna Kazamatsuri · Takumi F. · Tsujimoto · Virgil Samms -- Atlantis · Calypso · Challenger · Discovery · Endeavour · Gjøa · Resolution Former: Ad Astra · Stellvia Annex Installations Current: Stellvia · Odyssey · Ultima · Wonderland -- Beta · Chawla · Handwavium Propulsion Laboratory · McAuliffe · 2709 Sagan Infinities: Eyrie Gazetteer In-Universe: Stellvia Corporation · Artemis Foundation · Nikaido Foundation -- Halcyon Meta: The Secret History of Stellvia Corporation

1. ↑ At least, that's what the ship-registry databases say.