Planet Bordeaux

Planet Gaia
Location	3E, Aquitaine Gallia
Technical information
Docking	No
Terrain	Terrestrial
Diameter	12,515 km
Mass	5.96 x 10e24 kg
Temperature	-34°C to 52°C
Escape velocity	11.01 km/sec

>>>RESTRICTED<<<

Bordeaux, formerly Gaia, is a tropical paradise -- a rich, green world of plants and animals -- the likes of which have not been found anywhere else in the Sirius Sector. When the Gallic Navy invaded Edinburgh, Cambridge's science teams on the surface had already been evacuated, and the planet was left deserted. The Gallic Navy has surveyed the planet and sent down a few exploration parties, but without any pre-existing infrastructure on the planet, for a time decided to ignore it as it held no immediate military value.

In 826 AS GRN forces secured Roussillon, strengthening their hold on the nearby systems. Such an important victory called for an appropriate commemoration and so it was decided to rename two of the conquered systems and their planets. Orkney and Edinburgh thus became Brittany and Aquitaine. The Societe Astronomique Gauloise decreed that the planet known as Gaia shall be known as Bordeaux, a name unused for centuries.

The victory in Roussillon also brought relative security to Aquitaine, prompting the Gallic Crown to endorse the colonisation and exploitation of Bordeaux. EFL began construction of a docking ring to support a colony on the surface. The verdant flora of the planet as well as its geological history led experts to believe that there was an abundance of hydrocarbons hidden beneath the surface. This proved to be true, and by late 826, EFL had finished construction of several oil platforms and refineries on Bordeaux's oceans, off the south coast of Caudéran, one of the world's three major continents.

The tone of Bordeaux's colonisation soon shifted, however, when Gallia's upper class engaged in a mass exodus to the Gallic Hebrides as the Royalist government collapsed. In the wake of their defeat, the Royal Navy and Intelligence services retreated to the Hebrides as well, entrenching themselves in the Aquitaine system and naming Bordeaux their capital. The diaspora left Bordeaux with a major housing crisis, and while the timetable on construction efforts has been moved rapidly forward, many of the Enclave's citizens still reside in massive tent cities sprawled over hundreds of acres. The planet's population is estimated to be about 330 million, with a similar number residing in space, mostly in military service.

Development of Bordeaux has been hindered at every turn by the Gaians, incensed by the desecration of a world they consider nigh sacred in its ecological uniqueness. While they have been unable to meet the Enclave on the open field and have inflicted little damage on existing population centers, efforts to expand north beyond the vast Mérignac mountain range have proven fruitless and dangerous due to bombings and ambushes. With their relatively small population, the Enclave have opted to focus on vertical rather than horizontal development. Human habitation of the planet is presently limited to a 400 square kilometer stretch of forest off Caudéran's southern coast, which is not expected to be a hindrance with the Enclave's advanced techology.