Capt. Alan Vaegher stepped down from the transporter pad and marveled at what they had created.

Deep Space 479 might be many months if not years from its final completed form, but it was online and ready to be crewed.

Starbase Hatteras marked the first Federation / Khitomer Alliance starbase to actually be constructed INSIDE the often chaotic region known as the Malstrom Expanse.

It finds its name inspired by a light house located on the barrier islands (called the Outer Banks) of the North Carolina region back on Earth.

This region of the Expanse was given the nickname of being the “Outer Banks” as a stretch or line of pockets of calm, safe spaces marked this particular region like islands in a turbulent ocean.

Yes, there were safe route through the region, but if a ship deviated or strayed to much from those pathways, they risked loss of their ship along with their very lives.

Thus, like a lighthouse, Hatteras was there not simply as a waypoint for ships passing through the region, but also help with keeping travelers “off the rocks,” on course and out of danger.

It had fallen to Alan and the crew of the Avalon to oversee final efforts to bring the starbase and a few other installations online … all why exploring the surrounding region.

In this case, their job was to see that the Malstrom Expeditionary Force’s base of operations was online as quickly as possible and perimeter established so more ships could be brought into the Expanse, and the Force’s goals of exploration and discovery within the Expanse made a reality.

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