Helios IV

Helios IV is a common ice planet, much like those found in the outer systems of most stars. Why, then, did the UEE government expend the massive amount of credits and material required to terraform the site? The official answer is that Helios IV is a strategic military base, offering unspecified facilities beyond those aboard ships on station or at Naval Base Hephaestus. Helios IV has become known as a world where careers go to die. Seen by many in the military hierarchy as a dumping ground for trouble spacers, it is considered one of the least desired duty stations in known space.

Civilian analysts, however, point out that none of this explains the cost of terraforming the planet. Ad-hoc military environmental structures could have been established on the planet providing a similar low quality of life for servicemen and women unlucky enough to serve as a tripwire. The strong suspicion is that Helios IV's surface hides a larger-scale black ops-centered base. Absolutely no solid information exists to support this initial supposition, and theories range from Helios IV hiding a permanent strike base capable of engaging in operations behind the Empire's border to the creation of a site for illegal biological experiments.