HEADQUARTERS OF THE FRONTIER SUPPLY COMPANY

• Location: Industrial Ring, New Kourou
• Address: NE Industrial Ring Road 2
• Surroundings: Adjacent to the Plant of the New Kourou Shellac Corporation (NKSC).

Opened in March 2626, the Frontier Supply Company (FSC) headquarters bundled warehouse, mechanical workshop, cassette‑packing floor, and a tiny dispatch office into one long, riveted hangar. From here, Talia “Quickshot” Maren scaled a single prototype dispenser into the planet-spanning Frontier Quickdraw Network, supplying essential goods to every corner of the Free State of Settlers.

The complex operated until the 2631 Peace Treaty brought the Federal Confederation and its Communardist controls. Private distribution channels were nationalized; the site was seized, its inventory redirected to Federal Allotment Centers, and the remaining infrastructure folded into the Federal Allotment Agency. The building was decommissioned by late 2631 and partially stripped for reuse elsewhere.

• Construction Material: Sandwich of hull plates and freight-crate timber over a bolted truss skeleton salvaged from Last Frontier cargo gantries.
• Floors: Single sprawling ground level plus a narrow mezzanine catwalk system over the packing lines.
• Design Purpose: A linear “refill loop” — producer goods arrive at the north dock, are sorted and packed into sealed refill crates and sachet bundles mid‑hall, then slide out the south doors to courier carts for on‑site cassette refills.

• Packing Hall: Long benches where Refill Prep Crews sorted soaps, nutrition packs, snacks, and chew meats into sealed refill crates and sachet bundles — ready for courier runs.
• Mechanics Bay: Racks of torsion springs, weighted levers, and gravity chutes; technicians calibrated pull strengths and drop angles for each Quickdraw model.
• Bulk Warehouse Bay: High-bay shelving for unopened producer crates; climate screens for heat‑sensitive goods and a lockable quarantine cage for suspect or damaged stock.
• Receiving & Sorting Dock: Pallet scales, ledger tables, and a stencil station to mark producer codes and revenue-share tags.
• Dispatch Platform: Two broad roll-up doors sized for Courier Service carts; loaded cassettes slid down wooden rails into waiting wagons.
• Restrooms (2): Gender‑neutral facilities featuring the AuroraSan-System

• Founder’s Nook: Talia’s perch above the mechanics bay — maps of settlements pinned with brass tacks, strings marking install routes.
• Contract Alcove: Three desks and a battered stamp press where revenue-share agreements were negotiated and logged.
• Tool Crib & Parts Bins: Labeled drawers of springs, ratchets, chute flaps, and spare coin-clutch gears.

• Demo Quickdraw: A transparent-sided dispenser showing the spring-and-gravity guts in motion; settlers could practice a “pull” and watch the cassette cycle.

The HQ smelled of cardboard, and a faint tang of ration-pack preservative. Light leaked through mismatched hull seams, tracing dust motes over rows of numbered cassettes. Springs twanged and ratchets clicked as techs stress-tested mechanisms; every so often a dropped lever clattered through a gravity chute, punctuating the steady rasp of hand files.

Hand-painted hazard stripes edged the railings; chalk diagrams of drop angles and pull-force curves covered sheet-metal walls. Couriers in patched leathers hauled crates up plank ramps, while ledger clerks scratched tallies into grease-stained books. Outside and through the bay doors, refill- and maintenance courier riders on snorting Veyras clomped in and out — dismounting to grab crates, tightening saddle panniers, then kicking off again toward the next Quickdraw on their route. Everything felt provisional yet precise —improvised materials bent into reliable service by stubborn ingenuity. Most of the HQ’s bones and skins were salvaged Last Frontier hull ribs, cargo rails, cryo‑freezer panels, and crate timber —bolted, braced, and tar‑sealed into an improvised patchwork that somehow held together.

Exohuman Staff

• Logistics Director – Talia “Quickshot” Maren (1): Sets deployment priorities, signs revenue-share contracts, coordinates refill runs.
• Mechanics Lead (1): Oversees spring calibration, chute alignment, and field-repair protocols.
• Refill Prep Packing Crew (6): Load goods and stack outbound pallets.
• Receiving Clerks (2): Check producer shipments, stencil codes, and enter share data into ledgers.
• Courier Dispatcher (1): Matches refill routes to rider schedules; tracks empty cassette returns.
• Refill & Maintenance Couriers (8): Refill and Maintenance Couriers ride Veyras to each Quickdraw, restock goods on-site, fine‑tune springs and chutes, log sales and maintenance in field ledgers, and haul back empty crates.

Automated / Semi-Automated Aids

• Butler Bot – Demo Host (1): The Butler Bot operates the public demo Quickdraw, explains mechanics to visitors, tallies small cash sales.
• Maintenance Bots (2): The Maintenance Bots rebuild trigger arms, replace worn bushings, and salvage Last Frontier parts.
• Cleaning Bot (1): The Cleaning Bot sweeps metal filings, oil drips, and packing debris; polishes chute surfaces to reduce friction.

• Public Annex Window: Open 09:00 – 15:00 for demos and emergency purchases.
• Warehouse & Packing Shifts: 06:00 – 14:00 and 14:00 – 22:00.

• Locked Doors: After closing time all exterior loading and annex doors are locked and bolted; only Talia Maren carries the iron key.
• Warehouse Lockdown: The Bulk Warehouse Bay is padlocked and chain‑braced; access requires both Maren’s key and the Refill Prep Crew supervisor’s seal-stamp.
• Manual Alarm Whistle: A compressed-air horn at the annex window blasts three long notes to summon nearby Guarding Troopers.
• Regular Patrols: A local Guarding Troopers Unit patrols the Industrial Ring regularly

• Apply for Work: e.g. as Refill Prep Packer, Refill and Maintenance-Courier
• Negotiate Shelf Space: Pitch your goods to the Logistics Director, bargain over revenue‑share percentages, and secure slots in the Quickdraw cassettes (goods-only refills).
• Quickdraw Demo & Tour: Watch the transparent machine cycle; learn how cassettes load and levers reset.

• Ledger Forgery: Alter revenue-share tallies to skim credits or hide illicit goods.
• Goods Swap: Sneak contraband into a pallet destined for a distant outpost.
• Spring Sabotage: File down a trigger tooth so a rival producer’s goods jam in the chute.

Use the HQ as a flexible set-piece — busy depot, tense raid site, or post-nationalization ruin:

• Poisoned Bottle Blackmail: Talia "Quickshot" Maren, founder of the Frontier Supply Company, is in full panic mode. She just got a ransom note demanding 10.000 Kourou by next Friday — or more Quickdraw goods will turn lethal. One water bottle’s already been tainted, and every vending‑machine staple could be next: the Starshine Schnaps, Chew Meat Strips, even the Emergency Space Nutrition Packs and Dry Shampoo & Soap Kits.Talia hires the PC to Intercept the poisoned bottle before it reaches a customer, trace the breach in her supply chain and to unmask the saboteur …

• Beta Age
• Free State of Settlers
• New Kourou
• Talia “Quickshot” Maren
• Frontier Supply Company
• Frontier Quickdraw Network
• Refill and Maintenance Couriers
• Federal Allotment Centers (successor, Gamma Age)