Starbase Veta

NOTE TO SELF: PLEASE GO BACK AND ADD STUFF FROM DREAMHEALERS HERE YOU DIDN'T EVEN LIST THE ICE CREAM SELLER'S NAME

Starbase Veta was the second starbase built by the Alliance , and is best known among readers for hosting Jahir and Vasiht'h's xenotherapy practice. Located in Sector Veta.

Main Features

• City-sphere
• Agricultural Sphere
• Aquacultural Sphere
• Spindle (Fleet base)
• Collider

Transport

Transportation between spheres (and the base) are handled by Pads or train.

Train

"The station was worth seeing all on its own, because it was three stories high. One entire wall of it was a flexglass portal to the interstellar view, overlaid in translucent schedules and tags as ships passed in and out of view. Since the station abutted the civilian docking facilities, there were a lot of ships; one of the starbase guides Vasiht’h had read recommended the train station as the best place to shipwatch, and from the brisk business being done on the cafes on the balconies above them, plenty of people came to do just that."

"Each roomy car was composed almost entirely of flexglass windows that extended up into the curved ceiling. Padded benches lined the walls and there were two circular sofas in some smooth, leather-like fabric in the center aisle."

"n the train pulled smoothly from the station. The car darkened as it entered a tunnel close enough that he could see the veins of the starbase’s ducting along the inside wall, and then streaks of blue and green lights as they accelerated. And then they burst free into a faerieland of lights and ships. Their train was running along the exterior skin of the starbase, one entire side and its ceiling exposed in the transparent tube, and the rate they were traveling was dizzying and yet the starscape barely moved. The ships before it did, though."

The City-Sphere

Vasiht'h jogging through the Commons

The main habitation on Veta is divided into two major sections by the hull of the starbase. The commercial docks/port are on the starward facing side of the hull, and the city is on the other.

The city's administration offices are located on site, with a housing office (devoted to managing the affairs of residents and potential residents) off the main thoroughfare of the city center. The administration building is airy, with verandas that look out on trees and gardens. At the time of Jahir and Vasiht'h's application for residency, the woman in charge of the approval process is a Karaka'An woman..

The thoroughfares within the city are for pedestrian traffic only.

Weather

It is Fleet's job to control the weather for the entire starbase and all its spheres. The city has sunsets and sunrises, "different each day, just like on a planet," which also happen earlier and later in the year, depending on the time of year. It "dews" but doesn't rain, and there isn't violent weather. ""Not only am I the one who makes it cold at winter, alet, but Veta was the first starbase to enact seasonal variations, way, way long ago. There are log files from then of people fighting over whether it was necessary or a good idea, and a lot of grumbling about stresses placed on the "pipes" by the temperature changes, and endless minutes from conferences where people fought over just how big a variation it was going to be."

Residency

As with every starbase, Veta has four types of residency:

• Permanent - live on the starbase full-time, with their families
• Semi-permanent - work is based on Veta, but who are rarely present (like merchants who maintain dwellings on the starbase, but spend most of their time on ships)
• Transients - people passing through
• Provisional - people who'd like to live on the starbase, but who haven't been approved yet

Transient housing: "colorless" and "not very comfortable." Apartments engineered to suit common averages, and not meant for short occupancy.

There is a city "primary school" system.

The Hull

"But the city was in fact bisected by the starbase’s external wall. The interior of the wall was thick with the warehouses, factories, and industrial works necessary to the maintenance of the civilian port and its vessels, which were on the vacuum-facing side. But the wall of the starbase was invisible until one crossed some magic line, and then it hove into very abrupt view, rising out of sight in uncompromising lines. He would have thought it to be uniform in color—gray—but like the outside of the base it was patterned with projections that allowed its murals to remain vivid no matter how long they stayed up . . . or to be reconfigured in an instant whenever the person charged with that particular bit of real estate decided. And there were, as with everything the Pelted did, so many windows. It was less grim architecture and more a piece of sculpture, and he found it fascinating that it existed and was hidden."

"At the foot of the wall, and along its balconies, were a number of shops and apartments, more technological in style than the rest of the city."

Allen Tiber's office is in the Hull, "a luxurious practice on the outward facing skin, with glass doors and a lobby with an enormous window overlooking the city from a breathtaking vantage."

City Landmarks

The Garden District

Isn't far from the Commons, this area is full of small, neat cottages and gardens, with a few corner stores and boutiques and plant nurseries. At night it's lit by sleek lamps with warm-hued lights andd with cool-hued string-lights glowing along the edges of the walkways. An "expensive neighborhood." . There's a farmer's market with artisanal goods (honey, preserves, fancy breads, pieces of art, etc), including cheese from someone who keeps goats "somewhere"..

The Commons

This is the area of the city that includes the administrative offices, and is the main area of interest for the city. "The river of people passing, holding shopping bags or drinks, talking, laughing, strolling or striding purposefully past the glass storefront, versus the quiet murmurs of the occasional pedestrian back at the cottage . . . there, the lights had been dim and discreet, and the loudest noise the rustle of wind through the plants. Here lights were strung over the byway to accent the lit displays from the stores and restaurants, and conversations were so numerous he could hear their hum even inside the insulated parlor."

• The Commons Market - less fancy than the farmers' market in the Garden District
• Multi-purpose Office - where Jahir and Vasiht'h rented an office, initially. Has a formal-feeling foyer.
• Jahir and Vasiht'h's Veta Practice, once known as "the Healer's Knot"

Jahir and Vasiht'h's practice

Restaurants and Food

• Ice Cream Shop - during Jahir and Vasiht'h's residency, was tended by a clouded pard Harat-Shar named Karina. Has ice cream, coffee, and biscuits (and a customer reward system).
• Scone Place - Off the main thoroughfare, near the administration offices, the 'scone place' has outdoor seating (with delicate flowering trees) as well as indoor. Every day, the cafe has a different flavor of scone. The list of specials is long. Has a take-out counter.
• Cafe without scones, near the office building
• A "reasonable" grocery
• A bakery with a counter--cookies, muffins, croissants filled with custard, coffee--and a bright, windowed area set aside for patrons to sit. Smells of yeast and sugar.

University

• Greenways near campus: "the [therapist's] office shared a building girdled in trees and little café tables with a coffee shop, a bakery, and a bookstore"
• University Market

Tourism and Entertainment

• Train rides, solar sailing, cruises. Recreational EVA.
• Recreational complex with pool and exercise equipment (in the commons): "the landscaped park with its jogging track and playgrounds, and the swimming pools set into them in imitation of natural lakes that connected with the water environment for the aquatic races. There was a separate area for competition training."

Holidays

Info here from Snow Maiden

The Fleet Base

Fleet's operations are headquartered in the Spindle of the starbase.

Fleet Officers at Veta

• Nisia Baker
• Nicodemus Hutchins

References

Also Major Pieces, Jackel Chest