Post-Wipe Refugee Crisis

"Terra is gone. Tandua is full. Tellus is our last shot."

-Admiral Bennett Nares

The Post-Wipe Refugee Crisis refers to an event that took place galaxy-wide during the first few years after the Wipe. Billions of evacuees were left displaced after their home planets were destroyed or left uninhabitable during the Wipe. Fleets of mismatched ships departed from the remnants of their origin planets with courses set for new homes on undamaged worlds carrying desperate victims of war. Due to their often jury-rigged nature, many ships never arrived at their destinations. Ships that did make it to their intended destinations may have been offered supplies, fuel, or other resources, but were ultimately turned away as most planets could not field a rapid influx of population.

In the Hyperbrasil system

In the very first year after the Wipe, refugee ships arrived at Kepule seeking shelter on Tandua, but there was not enough usable land and infrastructure above sea level to accommodate a suddenly rapidly growing population. Tandua could offer reparations and maintenance for ships, as well as feed the refugees, but it was ultimately a band-aid solution that only strained Tandua's economy.

Ultimately, two major plans were formed to solve the crisis. First, depleted sections of mines in Terrisus would be converted to (at the time) temporary communities, complete with water reservoirs, train lines, and, perhaps most vitally, total pressurization of the caves. The heavy-lifting cranes would serve the same purpose of hauling things between the caves and surface, but would have to be retrofitted with enormous airlock systems. Terrisus' new inhabitants would also serve as miners to help supply the resources needed for new Tanduan infrastructure. While permanent population of Terrisus was never originally intended, it seemed an obvious next step in further colonization of the Hyperbrasil system, and provided much-needed resources for further operations within the star system.

The target of second rapid colonization plan was Tellus. With a breathable atmosphere and biosphere that could be survived with only vaccinations, it was the obvious choice. Before the wipe, Tellus was home to several small scientific research outposts, as well as a small space station. Colonization involved ultra-heavy single-trip landers jury-rigged from large spacecraft that would become permanent prefabricated settlements. Drawn up by Admiral Bennett Nares, the plan was to "just stick 'em [ships] in the mud" and fasten them to the ground with cables and anchors. A vertical orientation was chosen as the interiors of most ships were already planned with thrust-gravity in mind, as well as the fact that the engines could be used for landing while facing this direction. The ships would be structurally strengthened with concrete cores. Subsequently, systems and equipment not required for immediate ground operations were removed to make the craft as light as possible.

A total of twelve converted craft would attempt to land on the surface of Tellus, nine of which were completely successful. Of the three failures, one craft fell over after landing, another broke apart during atmospheric entry, and the last crashed into the surface following an engine failure. All landings were done as a automatically as possible, with some commands being issued from crew aboard orbiting vessels, and no crew aboard the improvised landers. These nine successful landings would be the foundation for the first city on Tellus, named Nares' Landing in honor of the admiral that devised the plan. Nares never stepped foot on Tellus.