The image below is a layout drawing of Quantum Corps’ Western Command base at Table Top Mountain, Idaho, USA.  This base is one of three bases for UNQC operations.  The Central Command base is at Balzano, Italy.  The Eastern Command base is at Singapore.

All three bases have similar missions, though their layout is different.  I’ve chosen to illustrate Table Top because it is better known and its facilities and organization are typical for Quantum Corps facilities.

Table Top was built on top of a mesa in Idaho’s Buffalo Range, actually in the back range of hills.  The terrain slopes away on all sides of the mesa.  They have spectacular views of the surrounding countryside from Table Top.

 The two runways (2) to the left (western) side of the base are for hyperjets and other aircraft conducting operations into and out of Table Top.  The circular pads north and south of the run- ways are lifter pads (1,3), for approach, landing and takeoffs of lifters.  Lifters are VTOL ships that are often used by UNQC forces in operations.  They carry a full detachment and their gear up to several thousand miles away and a good amount of light cargo as well.

There is also a Terminal building (4) just to the east of the North Lift Pad, for all aircraft and lifter ops in and around the base.

Immediately south of the Terminal are three hangars (6) for lifters, hyperjets and other aerial vehicles.  Next to the row of hangars is a building called Ordnance/Mission Prep (5).  O/MP is a secure facility for storing, testing and maintaining all the various weapons and gear that a QC detachment uses on a mission, things like HERF (High-Energy Radio Frequency) guns, magpulse guns, Mobility Obstruction Barrier (MOB) canisters, Super-Fly drones, camou generators and so forth.  Significantly, this building does not house ANAD systems.  That’s done somewhere else.  But anything else a Detachment might use to defeat the bad guys is usually housed and maintained at O/MP.

The Ops Center (12) is to the east of the hangar and O/MP complex.  Operations houses the mission control center for QC missions and command and control functions for the base itself.  Table Top’s area of responsibility is the entire Western Hemisphere, but they provide support and expertise for ops all over the world, to other bases and even off-world as needs dictate.  Ops is the nerve center and brain for most Quantum Corps missions.

Building 7 is the PX and commissary for all base personnel, officers and enlisted.  As with many services, even retired Quantum Corps personnel have PX and commissary privileges.  Once at atomgrabber, always an atomgrabber!

The Barracks and the Bachelor Officer Quarters are located in complex (8).  Table Top has no provision for housing married officers.  They must seek housing off-base and the Corps does provide a housing stipend for this purpose.  Needless to say, it’s never enough.  You won’t find atomgrabbers living like royals in Buckingham Palace, although with enough feedstock, ANAD could replicate a reasonable facsimile of such.

The Containment Center at (9) is a critical structure in any QC base and is extremely well defended and guarded.  This is where ANAD systems live, are born, housed, tested, tweaked, maintained and upgraded.  Containment means just that…these things must be securely contained at all times.  There are multiple levels of security, electron beam injectors, biometrics and big guards with big guns defending this building.  In the 20^th century, atomic bomb bunkers weren’t defended this well.

Building (10) is for Simulation and Training.  A lot of money and time is spent on simming, wargaming and training for the many missions that Quantum Corps conducts.  There is an actual wargaming range north of Table Top in a secluded location called Hunt Valley.  Hunt Valley is not shown on this map but it exists for live-fire, full-bore exercises that can’t be safely conducted at the Sim/Training complex.  Inside Building 10, the Corps has spared no expense to provide the most up-to-date training possible for its troopers.

The outdoor stadium and parade ground is at Drexler Field (11), to the far east of the mesa.  Here football, lacrosse and other outdoor sports are played and ceremonial and commencement exercises are conducted.  Normally the Field is open, but it can be automatically enclosed in inclement weather, which does happen up on the mesa from time to time.  The enclosure is actually a fully-capable ANAD-class swarm structure that normally resides in a containment tank at one end and envelops the field in less than an hour. 

Those are the basics of the Table Top complex.  I mentioned the Hunt Valley wargaming range to the north.  To the east of the base, out through the Main Gate near Drexler Field, is Highway 7.  This road follows a winding path through a narrow valley to the small town of Haleyville, about the only liberty place for atomgrabbers on their few hours and days off-base.  Table Top is an isolated facility and the Corps likes it that way.

 

The next post, in early November 2015, will cover another very important facility that plays a key role in Quantum Corps and other UNIFORCE missions.  It’s actually not operated by Quantum Corps at all, but rather the host organization is another UNIFORCE command, Frontier Corps.  This facility is called Farside.  It’s located on the far side of the Moon, at Korolev Crater.

I hope everyone has a nice September and October.  See you in early November.