Earhart's Officers' Club

You have decided to visit Earhart's Officers' Club. This is an exclusive bar and restaurant serving meals all round the clock. You have been invited there by a young EarthForce officer, Lieutenant Warren Keffer, because he said he might tell you something about new fighter craft and tactical drop-ships being developed for the EarthForce Military, if you bought him a drink. But you find it takes a bit longer than you expected to reach Earhart's. This is because it is situated some distance into the garden area.

Open Parkland

Following Lieutenant Keffer's instructions, you walk across open parkland in the Carousel of Babylon 5. This is the central part of the station, where you can see the full two kilometre length to the far end cap. This space is wide open to the core, lit by the fusion strip lights that shine with daylight-strength, and the air somehow smells sweeter, as a result of all the green plants and trees that reprocess the atmosphere and give off oxygen.

Your route is surrounded by gardens and parks, with occasional water pools, which curve uphill towards the horizon, since you are essentially in a huge open cylinder. The walk around the cylinder is about two and a quarter kilometres. You estimate that gravity feels like standard Earth 1g, so the rotation of the Carousel must be about 60m/s at this level, which is Green 20. In the distance, you see the low building complex, where the Officers' Club is situated. It's a nice walk, so you enjoy the view.

Earhart's Officers' Club

The club is in its own freestanding building, which stands like a giant mushroom sprouting up from ground level. To reach Earhart's Officers' Club, you have to ascend another Transport Tube to get back to level 15, which is some five decks above the ground level inside the Carousel. Once you reach the top, you look over the guard rail and find you have an excellent view of the station's inner core. You can see gardens, pools and the roofs of other low buildings that extend into Green Sector.

Earhart's is named after the famous 20th Century aviator, Amelia Earhart, who broke new records for solo flying, but then disappeared on one final trip. The club is exclusive to EarthForce officers and their guests. It serves simple meals 24 hours a day (to cater for pilot rosters). By convention, the only music played here is Swing, or Big Band Jazz.

Take care if you are an EarthForce officer - Earhart's has a club rule that if you come to the club on business, you must pay for the next round of drinks as a forefeit. In the distance, you can see and hear Lieutenant Warren Keffer joshing with other fighter pilots, so you go over to join him at his table.

Condor Ground Assault Drop-ship

Hey! Great to see you! I was just telling the guys about the new drop-ship. C'mon and sit down, someone will get you a drink.

This is a blurred, long-distance shot I got of the trials of the new Ground Assault Condor drop-ship. It's designed to berth on a Nova Class Dreadnought and go planetside, full of Ground Pounders. The drop-ships look really clever from what I can tell. They have VTOL capability with vectored thrust nozzles, allowing them to hover and bring fire to bear while other craft are landing their troops. I guess it should be a real bonus if we end up in another fight like the Earth-Minbari War.

You know, all this talking is getting me a real dry throat. A man could die of thirst out here! C'mon guys, it's your tab! Alright, you're my man! That's splash one to the boys from Zeta Wing. By the way, I hear that the Captain of the EAS Agamemnon has just arrived on the station. If you wanna know anything about EarthForce capital ships, he's the man with the inside information, you with me?

Stick around if you want to hear more about the next generation Starfury! You heard it first from Flight Lieutenant Warren Keffer!

Exit to the Transport Tube

What next? Stick around with the EarthForce fighter jocks, or go home?