Meinhoff

Meinhoff is a mining planet belonging to the Kel-Morian Combine.

Whether viewed from geosynchronous orbit or on the Holographic Projection star map projected from the dilapidated, oil-stained observatory of the Swann Family in the New Apollowen Community, the dark blue planet is unremarkable, with canyons and ravines like scars rooted in its dark brown land, the land so barren it resembles a bare pebble in the universe.

It orbits a similarly unremarkable main-sequence star, whose young sun always rises slowly. On this barren land, its light cannot even nourish the crops of Kel-Morian; only in the nursery do precious crops grow.

Young Rory Swann always harbored a strange expectation for the fireball hanging high above Meinhoff's head, thinking it might bring some wonderful things, such as mountains, rivers, forests, and grasslands that did not exist on this planet.

But as the old Kel-Morian proverb goes, "The uglier the exterior, the richer the interior."

Meinhoff is actually a good place. Here, the mountains and plains are dotted with gas refineries, mines, processing plants, oil refineries, and between these factories, there are communities of all sizes where families with the same surname live.

Swann rarely sees the sun, which the residents of New Apollowen Community call the "Fire Snake." Like the men in other communities, he started working in the mines at the age of sixteen and is now a skilled and experienced miner.

In Meinhoff, all work is inextricably linked to mining, and food, necessities, and even water resources are heavily reliant on imports. Especially today, with war sucking the blood of all Kel-Morian people, Swann and his fathers and cousins must work twice as hard as ever just to earn enough to feed their families.

Before the sun rises, Swann has to put on his work clothes and boots, take an elevator from a bottomless mine shaft into the pit, and drive the Kel-Morian mining robot in the dusty tunnels filled with inferior crystals, using a power drill to extract the crystals from the mine and send them onto the tunnel carts.

The workers had to work twelve hours a day until the next shift came down into the mine, by which time the sun had already set. Swann would get up in the dim morning to go down into the mine and not return home until late at night. He hadn't seen the sun for months, which made his scarred skin turn pale.

Rory Swann took a rag that was barely cleaner than the family's only observation deck and wiped the dust off the old machine. He then placed his insulated lunchbox on the flat control panel, wondering how his uncle Edward would scold him.

But that's alright, let him get so anxious that he starts pulling at his own beard. Swann will apologize to him after he's eaten and drunk his fill.

Swann opened the lunchbox and sighed at the contents—two slices of toast, a small spoonful of butter, and a palm-sized piece of Moria avocado. It was noon, and he'd have to make do with this by evening.

Despite the hardships of life and the scarcity of entertainment, Swann did not wallow in self-pity; on the contrary, he always found joy in it. This was not to say that Swann had become accustomed to endurance, but simply because he preferred living with his family and other relatives.

The Swann Family is a united family, just like other families in Kel-Morian, where mutual help and support are their traditions. A few slices of bread didn't bother him much, but when Swann got up again, his rumbling stomach and cramping calves were undoubtedly protesting, but he had to get back to his post immediately.

In a few seconds, he got everything ready and prepared to walk toward his mining robot parked not far away. The Kel-Morian mining robot was tracked and only twelve feet tall. Its two joystick-controlled robotic arms could be equipped with power drills, laser drills, engineering clamps, and plasma welding torches, and it was fueled by high-energy gas.

Swann's mining robot appears larger than the others, with more obvious but unexplained parts, and an additional mechanical arm, two thrusters, and a matching engine added to its back.

With the help of this robot, Swann can complete his work faster and better. The fuel cost is higher, of course, but it's worth it compared to the increased efficiency.

If necessary, this robot can even be equipped with a power hammer and machine gun. Swann has never dealt with anything other than automatic rifles and electromagnetic guns, but he believes those will not be difficult for him.

Although Rory Swann did not see himself as any different from others, he was undoubtedly the most talented and brilliant mechanic and inventor in the entire Swann Family and even in New Apollowin.

Swann wasn't particularly fond of interacting with people; he always preferred to bury himself in his own work and preferred tools that others found uninteresting.

He enjoyed getting his hands covered in grease; nothing sounded better than the clatter of gears turning and machinery running. Swann was passionate about disassembling, repairing, and reassembling equipment. The hardships of life forced him to constantly innovate, using all sorts of inventions to improve his and his family's lives.

"Rory, come and fix the MRI machine." A deep, powerful voice echoed in the empty mine.

"I'll be right there. Hmm, hopefully that thing will hold up before I get there. Heh, that's hard to say." Swann was almost talking to himself in the latter part.

Just as Swann was about to walk towards the direction from which the sound came, suddenly, the observation console next to him, which hadn't moved for at least twenty years, seemed to jump up and emit a flickering red light. Swann's short but muscular body immediately lunged onto the control panel. He didn't know what it meant, but it certainly wasn't good news.

This observatory has a history as long as the Swann Family's. It was connected to the earliest artificial satellite in Meinhoff's geosynchronous orbit and used a relatively "primitive" radar system to detect routes throughout the galaxy.

Typically, on certain days of the month, several Holographic Projection projections of cargo ships from the Kel-Morian system will suddenly appear on this observatory. These Holographic Projection, resembling scaled-down models, are represented by the green color of friendly forces.

During the colonial period, the first Meinhoff used this observatory to contact supply fleets responsible for transporting necessary materials and mining facilities to the colonists. At the same time, the observatory also served the function of monitoring enemy Fleets within the system, but it was never of much use, as the Kel-Morian Pirates at this time were mostly "their own people".

Swann hoped the grandmotherly machine was just malfunctioning, but the three slowly moving Behemoth-class Battlecruiser and two other warships jumping in on the Holographic Projection shattered that hope instantly; the holographic projections that made them up were a dangerous red.

The Terrans have arrived.