Grimaldi Shipyards

Situated above the lunar crater of the same name, the Grimaldi Shipyards were initially built by KHA for the Escean Interstellar Navy in 2050 to allow construction of its largest starships, including Pandoran-class cruisers. In addition to EIN contracts, Grimaldi serves the commercial and private civilian markets through a number of smaller manufacturing companies, including Nexus Aerospace and Magellan Space, the company responsible for the construction of the EIV Kotryn.

Grimaldi has two primary dry docks capable of handling anything up to Pandoran-class, along with eight smaller berths. Locked in orbit above their namesake, the yards are tethered to a supply and accommodation base within the crater itself via space elevator 150 miles in length. While modified dimensional cores provide gravity within the confines of the station and colony, the elevator tether remains subject to low and zero-G, allowing the car to rotate during ascension and align with the orientation of the yards. Being magnetically propelled in a vacuum, the elevator car can achieve high subsonic speeds to complete the journey in little time.

Fully equipped to fabricate as well as compile starship components, the shipyards use some of the largest cranes and robotic assembly arms in existence, and include their own mills and foundries linked to massive external radiators. Split between two identical sections, the station accommodates 13,000 workers and crew, including the Escean military personnel assigned to protect it from attack.

As it is chiefly a military facility, the shipyards are equipped with active defence systems, including railguns with an engagement range of 15,000km and close-in point defence lasers, or CIPDLs (Sip-Dils). A small squadron of LSF-186 Sabres were also stationed in the yards following the destruction of the INFS Unity as a precaution against a similar Maktharian assault, no matter how unlikely.

Grimaldi Gate, as the colony is otherwise known, is largely subsurface and evolved from a small colony established by the ESA prior to First Contact. The mass driver used to launch the near-FTL capable EIV Esceana (the 'First Contact Vessel') toward Alpha Centauri A in the 2030s remains in limited use, boosting unmanned supply shuttles back to Earth.