The Bastion is one of the few remaining space stations primarily designed to defend a planet. At one time, all major worlds possessed a pair of these orbital fortresses. Most of these stations were destroyed during the Succession Wars, though they have made a comeback since.
         The Bastion is a spherical station 345 meters in diameter and massing roughly 150,000 tons. It possesses no maneuvering capability except for small attitude correction jets and an orbit-boost thruster. The station's fusion power plant is located in the core of the space station, where it is protected by the bulk of the station.
         Located on the bottom of the station's ball-shaped hull is a large array of communications and deep-space tracking gear. Using this equipment, the station can detect DropShips at ranges exceeding 200,000 kilometers, maintain long-range communications with three other stations, and maintain local communications. This communications gear is the station's greatest weakness. If this lightly protected equipment is damaged or destroyed, the station will be cut off from other forces and unable to broadcast or receive warnings from other stations.
         Around the middle of the Bastion is a band of armor that protects the station's eight AeroSpace Fighter launch and recovery bays. Each bay is actually a large airlock leading into an even larger inner bay. The inner bays house the station's 48 small craft storage cubicles. Each cubicle carries a single Fighter, assault craft, or shuttle. The normal complement for a Bastion is 36 AeroSpace Fighters, eight assault craft, and four shuttles.
The inner bay also contains extensive maintenance and repair facilities for the small craft.
         On top of the station is a huge automated hatch that opens into a large DropShip docking and repair facility. Although any DropShip can dock with the station, only vessels with a width under 119 meters and a length under 151 meters can fit inside the bay. For those vessels, the bay can be sealed and pressurized, providing repair and maintenance crews with an easier work environment. When a DropShip is inside the bay, it is hidden from enemy scans and is also well protected from weapons fire. A concealed DropShip has given many attackers an unpleasant surprise.
         Below this repair facility is a large grav deck. This ring-shaped deck is large enough to provide up to 0 .5 Gs of artificial gravity without creating any equilibrium problems among its occupants. Measuring ten meters across, the deck is used as a lounge with about a dozen offices and a number of small recreation rooms.
         Directly below this are the personnel decks, which house the station's 400 crew, marines, and visiting personnel. Personnel serve tours of about two months. The reason for personnel rotation is because duty aboard a Bastion is unpopular due to its static posture in combat. The station is unable to maneuver and thus cannot escape if it is in trouble. In addition, it is so heavily armed that an attacking force will destroy it rather than try to knock out the weapons. The feeling of being aboard a floating tomb permeates the thoughts of most crewmembers.
         The Bastion's major design flaw is the channeling of its fusion plant's power. The entire output of the power plant passes through a single high capacity relay before being distributed throughout the station. If this relay is damaged or destroyed, only life support, internal communications, and emergency lighting (which can be run off batteries) will not be affected. Systems rendered inoperative include energy weapons, fire control systems, radar, computers, communications, and lifts.
         Even with power out, ammunition-dependent weapons systems can still be fired, though only once. Also, because fire control systems use the ship's main power, those weapons can only be fired at targets within visual range, and the chance of hitting is about half of what it is with active fire control systems.
         Only three Bastions survived the Succession Wars and the Jihad, one at New Avalon, another over Atreus, and the last over Luthien, though the final one was rendered inoperable by the Word and has been repaired since. Despite this, a large number of Bastions now float over worlds throughout the Human Sphere, newly built to protect them against the aggressions of their neighbors. The Taurian Concordat's Arcologists have the built the largest number of them for anyone willing to pay them in order to help fund the building of more Arcologies.