Etna Base
| Etna Base | |
| Midnight class Station | |
| Image missing | |
| Owner | |
| Corsairs | |
| Location | |
| C7, Omicron Eta | |
| Technical Data | |
| Gravity | Complete |
| Docking bays | Yes |
| Amenities | Limited |
| Crew | 300 |
Etna Base is the only Corsair installation in the Omicron Eta system. Occupying a strategic location near the Theta jump gate, this base serves both for defense against the Outcasts and for stationing numerous Corsair raiding parties. Outcasts have already declared destruction of Etna to be the primary goal of their Omicron Eta operations, but no success was achieved so far.
The Corsairs at Etna Base have experienced chronic supply shortages throughout the war, and medical supplies have never been a high enough priority to satisfy the tremendous need for them created by the extreme casualties suffered.
After one particularly bloody battle, an Outcast hospital ship was captured by the Corsairs as it was attempting to retrieve escape pods from the battlefield. Desperate to save their dying pilots, Corsair doctors turned to the extreme measure of harvesting viable organs from the captured Outcasts on the hospital ship. The doctors speculated that the cardamine infused tissues of the Outcasts would be rejected by the Corsairs' bodies but the only alternative was to watch their comrades die. Strangely, the organs adapted much better than expected, leading to speculation that cardamine dependency was centered in the brain tissues instead of the rest of the body.
Emboldened by their success, the Corsairs began scavenging every battlefield for bodies that could be harvested to keep their injured comrades alive. Unfortunately, the demand quickly outstripped supply, and they began searching for new sources of what the doctors publicly referred to as "bio-meds". Soon, Etna Base became a prominent destination for prisoners, captured pilots, and even civilians kidnapped and sold into slavery. Once wealthy Corsairs on Crete learned of the availability of young, healthy organs, demand for the procedures quickly developed as a way to rejuvinate the sick and elderly. The Corsairs' envy over the Outcasts' increased life expectancy due to cardamine lead to an insatiable appetite for a chance at a longer, healthier life, so long as the beneficiary had enough credits to spend.
The profit potential of selling human organs throughout Sirius to the desperately ill, or the wealthy whose bodies were being worn out through a decadent lifestyle swiftly turned a gruesome life-saving procedure into a major business operation.
The Corsairs were unable to meet the huge demand from the limited facilities on Etna Base, so a deal was struck with a nearby independent facility to operate an additional mass organ harvesting operation. Today this operation supplies various medical facilities throughout Sirius with the human tissues necessary to replace organs failing due to sickness or old age, and provides the Corsairs and their partners with a substantial, steady stream of credits.
