Pirate base

Pirate bases are any Starbase or station that have been taken over by pirates in a given Sector to act as a base of operations for their illicit activities. Pirate clans occasionally do take over bases through the use of force (as what happened in the case of Oakham Mining Base in the Pentonville system), but such operations are generally risky and have high casualty rates. Pirates vastly prefer to simple move in to abandoned bases to set up shop, with mining bases left abandoned due to depleted resources generally favored above other base types (probably due to the extra level of passive "protection" the surrounding asteroids provide). Pirate bases are a hazard to aboveboard shippers and a boon to unscrupulous dealers in illicit goods. Due to the nature of this type of base, few reputable Guild offices are ever available (though underworld Guilds are often found headquartered in one or more of these bases). Pirate bases need food and trade in weapons. They deal in drugs such as Brilliance, and some even deal in sapient trafficking. Piracy in any Sector is largely tied to the amount of trade that goes on and the level of security that the Sector enjoys. For example, the population boom in Gemini Sector in the late 2660s was accompanied with a massive increase in piracy, as Confederation forces were tied up fending off Kilrathi incursions into the Sector at the time. When the Sector was depopulated during the Nephilim War, pirates had an easy time taking over what bases they wanted, but soon found themselves without targets once drone relief shipments into the Sector stopped, and piracy fell off dramatically (as expected).

Known Pirate Bases in Gemini

• Drake, Capella
• Megiddo, Telar
• Oakham, Pentonville
• Smallville, KM-252
• Tuck's, Sherwood

Known Pirate Bases in Other Sectors

• None