Ganymede (Classic Journeys Era)

Ganymede is one of the four largest moons of Jupiter in the Sol System. Up until the year 2652, Ganymede was a terraformed colony world of the Stellar Consortium. The nourishing sunlight needed to achieve this feat was provided by a series of solar collectors that intensified and directed sunlight onto the moon. Due to its relatively small size compared to standard planets, restrictions were placed on immigration, and those who were allowed to settle and live on the moon were carefully screened. Visitors were closely monitored to prevent unauthorized immigration. This was necessary as Ganymede was seen as a very desirable world on which to settle, with a peaceful lifestyle and utopian surroundings.

This tranquility was shattered when the Kretonians invaded in 2652. They destroyed the solar collectors, and Ganymede quickly lost its life-giving sunlight. Faced with a rapidly decreasing temperature, the residents of Ganymede had no choice but to either flee or perish. A few escaping ships were able to escape the Kretonian scourge, eventually finding their way to the remote Maltarian Empire.

Ganymede remained lifeless and barren, the ruins of the once tranquil society still visible through its frozen atmosphere, during the Kretonian Occupation. Even after their defeat, Ganymede was never re-settled, until the year 3000. A scout ship from the Maltarian Empire, jointly crewed by Maltarians and descendants of the Ganymedian refugees, arrived at Sivad and made first contact. After a rocky start, they began exploring and found the homeworld of their human friends. Reclaiming the moon as their birthright, the Ganymedian refugees began to establish a base there with the help of the Maltarians, christening it Imperial Starbase G-Alpha-1.

Ganymede was still a barren and lifeless world at this time, and the Ganymedians constructed an environment dome to protect their base while they worked on how to restore the moon to its former glory. After a year or two, they completed a device they called the Jovian Initiative. With an explosive cargo of Polydenum aboard, the device was fired into Jupiter itself causing a cascading ignition of its gases, resulting in the creation of a new star in the Sol system. Bathed by the sunlight from this new star, Ganymede began to regenerate, as the Ganymedians re-seeded the soil with plants and trees. In time, Ganymede's old capitol city was reborn.

The Jovian Initiative didn't sit well with all their neighbors, however. Tensions rose between Ganymede and Mars, eventually culiminating in terrorist attacks on the Maltarians by Martians, and in time a shaky treaty was established.

Despite these problems, Ganymede prospered under the Maltarians and Ganymedians until the year 3003. With the Moebius Effect having brought an alternate version of Colin Neidermeyer back into the galactic spotlight, tensions between him and what he perceived to be unwelcome invaders slowly increased. After a very heated exchange of words, the final showdown came when Neidermeyer launched an attack upon Ganymede, facing a combined fleet of Sivadian and Maltarian warships. During the battle, the Solar Consortium vessels under Neidermeyer fired a Coreseeker Missile into the Maltarian fleet, decimating nearly 80 percent of its ships with one blow. Admiral Mrr'lato, in command aboard the IMBB Arizona, activated the failsafe device which triggered the destruction of Ganymede when his ship succumbed to its wounds and exploded. Most of the Maltarian ships escaped, but some of the Sivadian ships, despite warnings from the Maltarians to evacuate, were caught in the blast and destroyed. After a very shaky existence, the once beautiful moon of Ganymede was reduced to rubble.