Annik-Bikal

Annik-Bikal is the 9th planet in the Annik system, which in turn is in the Ambrosia Galaxy. A frozen ice giant, it is of no use to the native Llaani. However, its one major moon Bikuu is the site of a major Llaani atmospheric mining operation. The major exports from this moon to the Llanni homeworld is water, which they condense with the aid of massive condensers on the surface of the moon. Despite the intense heat, they have mined this moon for hundreds of years with no ill effect, thanks to special heat shielding developed for this very purpose.

History

The planet and moon were first charted soon after the Llaan developed warp drive, but when it was charted, the thick, hot atmosphere made it impossible for them to land and commence surface operations. Their scientists promptly began searching for ways to bypass this seemingly insurmountable wall, and developed the heat shielding they now use for mining purposes; the shuttles they use to get to the surface, and a special Llaan exosuit are also made with this plating. The plating is only used for mining here, as if subjected to extreme cold for an extended period of time, it becomes very brittle, and would not survive the rigors of space travel for more than 2 months at most.

Tour

While the CHS Hawking was in the system, the Llaani guide offered the scientists aboard a tour of this moon, which they graciously accepted. Once on the surface, the guide showed them the large condenser used to condense and package the water for shipment back to the homeworld. This huge machine is at least 0.25 kilometer tall, and slightly more than twice that wide, with a small factory built into it which is kept at temperatures approximating Annik-Orkal. Inside, at least 20 workers were seen, making sure this machinery was running smoothly. One of them said that during the visit, there were 270 active condensers on the moon, of which 25 were undergoing maintenance, and 2 were being decomissioned as they were older models.

How the Condensers Work

The scientists were then given a tour of how this machinery works. First, the atmosphere is captured by extremely long flexible filaments that are held up by the thick atmosphere by an inflatable balloon on the trailing end. These are hollow, and every 2 meters or so, a feathery collection node branches off from the main filament. These are what actually collect the water vapor. The vapor collected then fills a very large drip tank built into the roof of the structure. Well technically it is a drip tank, but there is so much water vapor in the air, it enters the tank in a torrent. The estimated 2 million gallon tank is filled to capacity in just 4 local hours, wherein it is offloaded to another, even larger tank in the basement of the facility. Here it is boiled using the natural heat of the moon to reduce impurities, and the steam given off is collected in yet another, smaller tank.

From here, it is loaded into a final compression chamber, which compresses this now-pure water down to a cube roughly 1 meter squared, turning it into an exotic form of ice in the process. This chamber can fit up to 230 cubes at once, and the water is kept in this form via strong force fields fed by a small specially-developed battery. Llaani freighters can carry up to 30,000 of these cubes in their massive cargo holds, and they are offloaded on Annik-Orkal into a large reservoir for distribution. The cubes are so compressed, as soon as the force field is released they instantly pop back to their normal volume, which can easily be 20 times that of the cube's volume. They then start to freeze in the reservoir, and then the ice is carved and delivered to various businesses planetside.

Other Locations of Note

Annik-Bikal also hosts a small Llaani restaurant chain floating just above the lower cloud tops at the 170ATM level. It is nearly too small to be of note, if it wasn't for their famous Orkal-Ghleiss sauce. It is made from a creature known as a "Ghleiss" which somewhat resembles a very large Earth shrimp crossed with an Earth centipede. They are farmed in the northern ocean, and every part of the creature is used to create this sauce which is then exported to Annik-Bikal. It can also be made into an alcoholic drink, although the Llaan version of alcohol is not for human consumption, as it is very deadly to humans. Due to the tremendous pressure at this altitude, the structure it is housed in is actually an old combat ship renovated to house a restaurant.