The Bifrost Project

When the Border World Authority ignored demands that starship traffic through the newly seceded Excalibur between Sword World Confederation worlds be allowed to pass without going through the Checkpoint inspection (p.T:SW 79), internal trade between the coreward and spinward halves of the Confederation took a significant hit (as the BTN table below illustrates). While Jump-3 ships between Orcrist and Gram have taken up some of the slack, the increased cost of transport is squeezing Jump-2 ships out of the market and has caused unwelcome economic stress to worlds still recovering from the ravages of the Fifth Frontier War. With no end in sight to the BWA's repressive policy, it has become obvious that something has to be done.

The Bifrost Project is not a new idea by any means. Proposals for a deep space refuelling station at 1024 have been bouncing around for centuries (since the Tizon Empire in fact), only to fall victim to the latest interplanetary squabble or the economic reality that only a few trade routes (Tizon to Anduril, Orcrist and Enos, Colada to Narsil and Anduril, and Joyeuse to Narsil) would benefit from the shortcut. However, the new political situation has changed the equation drastically; all eleven worlds that could use the station would now receive a increase in trade, with 26 out of 28 affected BTNs rising to at least pre 1118 levels (compare the J-2 Trade Route Tables through Excalibur and the proposed station). Recently on Gram, a consortium led by Gramstaatsbedrif and backed by the Gramihandelsbank (p.T:SW 86) has resurrected the idea, christening it "Bifrost Station" after the rainbow bridge that linked Midgard to Asgard in Norse legend.

Using the rules on p.T:FT16-17, I generated annual freight and passenger volumes for each BTN running through the station. From these I calculated its weekly freight and passenger traffic and shipping capacity (all of which is by definition transient), which I then used to determine Bifrost Station's construction and personnel requirements as per the starport construction rules (p.T:ST 63-86). As these tables show, over half the freight and almost half the passenger traffic through the station would be between Narsil and Gram (making this a major trade route), while on the other hand they would be lucky to see a passenger to or from Enos there every other week.

All jump-2 trade routes from the outer Sword Worlds would have to pass through the five planets closest to the station. The table on the right assumes that Hrunting and Tizon will ship though Colada, Mjolnir through Joyeuse, Gungnir through Gram, Narsil^‡ through Anduril and Enos^† through Orcrist. Most of the trade routes from Narsil and half the ones out of Tizon are feeder level or better, so jump-3 links from these worlds directly to the station could theoretically be justified (p.T:FT 18) both to save a jump and to avoid Amber classified worlds; however, since the general tech level of the Confederation is GTL/9, jump-2 ships are much easier to come by and maintain locally than GTL/10 jump-3 ones.

This refuelling station at Spinward Marches 1024 is essentially a deep space starport that only handles transient traffic estimated at 6,105,192 dtons freight and 63,638 passengers per annum with a yearly expected revenue of MCr 884 (making it a classic P/III-6 since it has no shipyards). Standard titanium alloy rather than expensive durasteel armor and an extra-light frame were used to keep the construction costs within budget. Because of its isolation, it has enough tankage to refuel a estimated week's worth (189,600 dtons) of shipping , and while the processors on board can handle only 76% of this, most of the incoming fuel will have been refined enroute. While some cargo and passenger transfer between ships will occur, many will only stop long enough to refuel; thus starship berths have been split evenly between spacedocks and external cradles. Although there are no permanent repair or shipyard facilities on board, there is sufficient scaffolding to convert 10% of the internal berths into temporary hangars if necessary. Station keeping thrusters can provide slightly less than 0.01 Gs acceleration.

Most of the station crew (4,000) will have their own cramped starport apartment (four times the size of a standard starship stateroom) while the senior staff (420) will have standard apartments that are twice the size. While there is room to house crew dependents on board (apartments are double occupancy, and often two are joined to form a two bedroom family suite), many choose to leave their families behind and may go without seeing them for months at a time. One half-size plaza habitat serves as a passenger concourse with a full size one serving the shopping needs of both station residents and passengers in transit. These passengers may either stay aboard their vessels or choose to avail themselves of the station's 650 room hotel, which features a 500 seat theater and a 25'x40' swimming pool surrounded by a 1,000 sf deck that can be converted by closing the pool's spacedock doors into a 40'x50' dining hall/dance club. Station security and law enforcement is handled by a unit of the Confederation Patrol, which incarcerates miscreants in the station brig (or aboard their attached cruiser if the brig is full) and extradites them for trial to their home world via the first available commercial carrier.

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