Koralis III

Third planet of the Koralis System (Bajor Sector), Koralis III was the site of a major mining operation by the GIG Corporation that began in 2346. While a Class M entity, Koralis III is a rocky, nearly barren land with only a few small hospitable woodlands near the southern pole. The planet was first discovered by a surveyor of the Ferengi Mining Coalition in 2344, and the GIG Corporation secured the mineral rights soon there after. Rather than spend the money and resources to establish a ground-based refinery, the GIG Corp. brought in a self-sufficient orbital platform. It was anchored to the planet via an orbital tether, which also transported ore to the refinery and power and personnel to the surface.

Toward the end of the 2360s, GIG Corp. was rocked by scandal and rumors of price-fixing. With their stocks waning, it was decided to pull the plug on the Koralis III site. The refinery was relocated, but most of the equipment on the surface---along with the tether---was simply abandoned by 2374.

The Changeling Laas hid here after escaping Deep Space 9 in 2375. Constable Odo visited him later that year. (DS9: "Chimera")

Laas would continue to use Koralis III as a base as he continued to look for others of his kind in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

By the time SS Fawkes arrived at Koralis briefly in 2388, Laas was posing as a Betazoid named Dr. Tailus Mosring and had found two similarly-disguised changelings willing to help him reopen three of the planet's four deep rock sites. Their intention was to raise enough funds to finance a wider search for their own kind.

The three conspired to create and manage a phony mining concern, Prograde Services Koralis, supposedly a subsidiary of a larger multi-system corporation but in reality a cheap-and-dirty scheme to extract as much profit as possible from the planet's modest pergium ore deposits before the crumbling GIG infrastructure collapsed completely. Prograde boasted about seventy employees by its fifth year in operation, mostly contracted from nearby Regulon III.

The SS Fawkes crew came to Koralis in search of a contract to haul ore to Regulon III, to be arranged by the Ferengi liquidator traveling with them as a passenger. The deal went sour when another passenger, this one a real Betazoid, came down with the ship's contract negotiator and inadvertently threatened to expose the changelings for what they really were. The crew hastily recovered most of their shore party (the Betazoid was murdered by the changeling Hester) along with a handful of disgruntled Prograde employees before continuing on to Regulon.

Since Fawkes was under Seventh Fleet indictment at the time, no report could be made to local authorities about the changeling operation. It was likely that the government of Regulon knew something about Prograde was amiss, since their turnover rate was unusually high. (SS Fawkes: "Eidolon")