Dytallix B
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The fifth and only hospitable planet of the Mira Antliae star system, Dytallix B is the site of an abandoned Federation mine operated by the Dytallix Mining Corporation, a Tellarite company with operations throughout the Alpha Quadrant. Dytallix B (or, more properly, Mira V) is one of six planets orbiting Mira, a red giant star (Type M3 III). One side of Dytallix B constantly faces Mira, which bathes that side of the world in intense heat and light, raising the temperature in that region up to 180 degrees Celsius. Across the planet's equator lies a land of constant darkness and freezing cold, where the temperatures drop below -150 degrees Celsius.
Between these two extremes lies a temperate zone capable of sustaining human life, though not comfortably. This temperate zone represents roughly 10% of the planet's surface, and is devoid of any plant or animal life of any kind. The warm and humid atmosphere in this region results in brief and sporadic rainfall. As a result of the planet's red sun and the unusual composition of its atmosphere, the sky over the temperate zone of Dytallix B glows deep red in color, spotted with puffy gray and white clouds, similar to cumulonimbus clouds found on Earth.
The planet boasts no indigenous life of its own; only the perseverance (and perhaps greed) of the Dytallix Mining Corporation led to life of any kind ever settling on this planet.
History
Though long since exhausted and abandoned since 2320, the mines of Dytallix B once served as a profitable and plentiful source of one of the ores which composes duranium. Duranium is an alloy long used in the construction of Federation starships.
At the height of its mining output, Dytallix B boasted over 300 mines which circled the planet along the temperate zone between the day and night sides of the planet. Each mine employed more than 100 miners, and produced more than 2,000 tons of raw ore per day.
The abandoned mines of Dytallix B share many of the same basic design and features as those of other Tellarite mines located elsewhere in the Federation. They each consist of several dozen mine shafts, all connected to a series of six central shafts, off which the remaining mines branch. The six central shafts of each mine meet at a mine entrance on the planet's surface. Most mines share a common single entrance from the surface, though a small number make use of multiple surface entrances.
Each mine includes its own cargo and storage areas, as well as administrative areas, barracks, and other facilities. Each also has a small landing pad located just outside the mine entrance. These landing pads are too small for any but the smallest ships, though they are large enough for Federation shuttlecraft to land and take off easily. A number of the larger mines also once boasted processing equipment, as well as cargo transporters used to transport both raw and processed ore to cargo ships in orbit about the planet.
When it abandoned Dytallix B in 2320, the Dytallix Mining Corporation took most of the useful equipment, including power generators, leaving only dataless computers, old life-support systems, and some metal walkways and wall panels in most of the mines. The mine shafts cut into hard rock and earth, to get at the valuable duranium, though the Dytallix miners installed prefabricated panels near the surface to hold back loose earth.
2364 and Beyond
In 2364, Dytallix B was the site of a clandestine meeting between four Starfleet captains: Walker Keel of the U.S.S. Horatio (who called the meeting), Tryla Scott of the U.S.S. Renegade, Rixx of the U.S.S. Thomas Paine, and Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss Keel's suspicion that some unknown threat was menacing or infiltrating Starfleet and, thus, the Federation itself. Unfortunately for Keel, he and his ship were destroyed soon thereafter, because Captain Scott had already been subverted by the alien intelligence behind the plot he had detected. However, Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D were able to uncover and destroy the conspiracy. (TNG: "Conspiracy")
After the conspiracy was ended, Starfleet conducted a thorough investigation of the incident, including an investigation of Dytallix B, on the off chance that one or more of the alien creatures which had infiltrated Starfleet had been secreted away on the planet by Captain Scott. Nothing was found, but Starfleet ordered that a probe programmed to detect any non-Starfleet ships entering the system be placed in orbit around the planet.
The ship assigned to this mission, the U.S.S. Khyber, investigated Dytallix B and gathered the debris of the U.S.S. Horatio, which was destroyed shortly after the clandestine meeting at which Picard met with Keel and the others. As the Khyber began the procedure of gathering the debris of the Horatio, it encountered a Ferengi cargo ship. Though the Ferengi claimed they were simply passing through the region, the crew of the Khyber discovered that they were in fact assessing the debris for any potential profitable salvage. Upon the Khyber's departure, the Ferengi, hoping to find something of profit on the surface, secretly reprogrammed the probe to ignore their ship's transponder signal. They found little of value, but realized the remote nature of the Mira system might make an ideal place for trade and temporary storage of illicit goods.
Though it remains largely abandoned and ignored by the Federation and by Starfleet, Dytallix B serves the Ferengi's purpose quite well. Since first established their base there, the Ferengi have restored power to the facility, and now makes use of the abandoned computer equipment.
The Ferengi also use the mines and storage facilities of Dytallix B for numerous smuggling and coutnerfeiting operations, and as the site of transactions between themselves and a number of nefarious customers, including the Orion Syndicate, certain criminal elements in the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire. In a sense, the world has become a kind of underground, backwater bazaar for the less savory elements of the sector.
Reference(s)
- Cambias, James, et al. Planets of the UFP: A Guide to Federation Worlds, Last Unicorn Games, 1999. ISBN: 0671040065.