Broken Drive

Overview

Broken Drive is a Federation colony founded by Humans from Earth in the early days after that species' invention of warp drive. Isolated for over a century, they established a unique culture.

Description

The initial settlers of Broken Drive were exclusively Japanese islanders and highland Scots. Through mixture, this has created a phenotype in which blue eyes and pale hair are common, despite the otherwise Asian appearance of the populace.

History

The Human diaspora began in 2065, two years after the Zefram Cochrane warp drive first flew on the test vessel Phoenix. By 2075, groups desperate to leave an increasingly unfriendly Earth chartered rides to the stars from companies of greater or lesser repute. In 2076, a group of Japanese islanders and a group of highland Scots, each looking for a world in which they could establish a neotraditionalist society, both chartered the same ship and embarked together for the stars.

The ship's warp drive failed enroute, and the only system nearby was one not marked as habitable... the sun was too dim, and there were gas giants in the innermost and outermost orbits. The interacting gravity fields of these gas giants had prevented the formation of planets between, leaving instead three separate asteroid belts.

Faced with this stark vista, the colonists rolled up their sleeves, dug in their heels, and survived. Their first habitats were dug into larger asteroids; later, they would build Stanford torii, Bernal spheres, and O'Neill cylinders from materials mined from the asteroids. Even today, few of the large space habitats which house cities have artificial gravity; instead, they rotate to provide centrifugal force.

Though the star around which the colony of Broken Drive was established was not far, relatively speaking, from Sol, it was not visited again by starships. It was marked as little more than a navigational hazard on most star charts, and ships avoided it. For two centuries, Broken Drive developed in isolation, until the colonists succeeded in building their own warp capable ship, which they used to visit Earth.

Today, Broken Drive is a member of the United Federation of Planets, and a center of engineering knowledge. Suzuki Konbinnaato, based in the NeoEdinburgh habitat, is a major contractor building starships for Starfleet.

Culture

Due to the need to survive in the colony's first generation, the two groups of separatists melded into one fiercely independent people. It was early recognized that the small initial pool of settlers would mean controls were required to prevent inbreeding, and these early controls became integrated into the culture, and continue to this day. Children are given traditional names, either Scots or Japanese, of the culture opposite their family name, and as adults, they can only marry individuals whose family name is from the culture opposite their own. There are only two hundred and fifty original family names in Broken Drive, though a handful of others have been added by immigrants since the reestablishment of communication and commerce with the outside galaxy.

Likewise, the languages of the two groups merged. Though all children are taught Federation Standard Terranglo in school, the language spoken in the streets of the habitats and in the homes of the people is a strange creole of Japanese and Scots Gaelic, understandable to few outside the colony.

Martial arts, particularly Kendo and Aikido, have flourished in Broken Drive. Today, one of the primary Kendo tournaments in the Federation is held every five solar years in the New Edo habitat, drawing Humans... and even a few aliens... from all over the Federation to participate and to observe.

Because Broken Drive is entirely made up of constructed habitats, young people of the colony serve a mandatory one year "state service" period after graduation from primary school. During this period, they may work on habitat maintenance gangs, serve aboard vessels of the Broken Drive Coast Guard, or perform other tasks for the good of the society as a whole. Many young people discover a life's work while performing their state service year, and go on to pursue secondary studies related to their service.

One of the more unusual aspects of Broken Drive culture is religion. Though there is no official state religion, by far the most popular in the colony is the First Church of Elvis, Reformed. The Church of Elvis believes that Elvis Presley was a messiah who brought an important message to Humanity from God, and that through interpretation of his music, this message may be deciphered.

Prominent Citizens

Iann MacBaird (2039 - 2109) was one of the original inhabitants of Broken Drive. Like many, he left earth to return to his ancestral roots and to escape the chaos that had enveloped Earth. On Terra, Iann was a Kendoka (practitioner of Kendo) and a master of the backsword and broadsword. When he signed on for the colony ship, He brought his family and the families of half a dozen students with him.

When the Warp drive failed and the colonist carved out a home in the asteroids, Iann was surprised to find he was the higest-ranking Kendoka among the colonists. He founded the first of many Kendo schools in Broken Drive. Iann took up Aikido to increase his knowledge of martial arts, and some years later founded Bairdjutsu - a style which combined the strengths of Kendo, Scottish Swordsmanship and Aikido. Both schools can still be found today, and are headed by his direct descendants. The story of Iann is not an uncommon one, but rather an example of the common tenacity and adaptability of the citizens who founded this remarkable culture.

Pádraigín Suzuki (2325 - ) retired from active duty in Starfleet in 2380, at the age of 65, with the rank of Vice Admiral. In the last years of her career, she commanded Starfleet's 12th Fleet, as well as Starbase 185, but she is more famous as the Commanding Officer of the Constellation class USS Galatea at the battle of Battle of Kentaxis VIII, when the Orion Syndicate's raiding power was broken, possibly for good. During the Dominion War, Suzuki commanded the Akira class USS Totoro and Task Group 74, both of which were lost in battle against the Breen.

Though Suzuki's whereabouts are currently unknown, the remains of Galatea are on display at the Fleet Museum, Starbase One.