Beachheads

Fleet builds them them in new sectors that aren’t sufficiently populated to merit a starbase and uses them to keep an eye on things until they decide the place needs a large, dedicated Fleet presence.

Administration

Beachhead postings pay extremely well. The head of the beachhead will be a commander-rank Fleet officer, and this officer will have a lieutenant for an administrative assistant. The repair docks have a separate commander, who is subordinate to the beachhead commander but in charge of all the repairwork.

Beachheads have cargo holds for transshipment, which non-Fleet carriers can rent (and often do, because it's more secure, particularly in newer sectors without significant Fleet presence elsewhere).

Appearance and Layout

A spindly accretion of gantries and attached habitats. All beachheads are constructed the same way and never modified; if Fleet outgrows the original structure, it builds a starbase instead. Incremental expansion of a beachhead is assumed to be a waste of time, money, and material.

Six gantries are connected to the main habitat where administration and recreation facilities are sited. The remaining eighteen are chained off the first few at increasing distances. Warehouses for parts are centrally located, which requires repair personnel to tow them to different berths.

The main habitat is a cluster of warehouses, crew compartments, offices, and workshops connected by a warren of passages. These are laid out on a grid but the grid is not always labeled adequately. Beachheads have a gym, at least one restaurant and a few shops, and a garden. The administrator's office is off one of the large spaces in the habitat, which has a window ceiling (though the gantries can be seen through it). Offices are bare bulkheads with dark blue carpets. Furniture is usually simple.

Cargo Holds

• have security cameras in multiple locations (including trained on the doors from the outside corridor)
• have fire suppression systems

Specific Beachheads

Thaka Epta Beachhead

• Repair dock administrative head is a Hinichi male in a commander's braid.
• Commander (initially) was a human woman named Carmenis. Her admin assistant was Yvette.
• has a bar in one of the cargo holds, the bartender is a bear-sized Tam-illee with a scarred ear