Page 19: "By the time the Solar Union’s Terran Trade Marines arrived through the transit gate, they discovered it completely controlled by local interests. They fought a hard retreat to get their transport back through the transit gate, returning to Solar territory bearing intelligence of an alien invasion."
I'm curious if this means that when the Terran Transit Marines stationed on Celiel Station believed their gate to be threatened did they request aid from TTMs at another gate or did they request backup from some sort of rapid reaction force that the TTA keeps on standby for such situations? I'm guessing who responds in an emergency might vary depending on the who can arrive faster given the days/weeks it can take to lock onto a receiving gate? Are there standard procedures TTMs follow when faced with losing control of their gate?
Also how exactly did the Ijad seize control of the gate? Was there subterfuge involved or just an all out assault?
Page 48:"The first such adapted technology was the labor frame. The very first were simple copies (or often, actual specimens) of humanoid frames, adjusted to equip a human-Ijad pair in defense of the Ijad-occupied transit gate of Celiel Station against Terran Expeditionary Marines."
The details of the Solar Union's response to the alien "invasion" are pretty sparse except for the eventual creation of the UMFL, but this confirms the SU made at least one attempt to recover Celiel Station. Did the SU make multiple attacks and/or is it still attempting to recover the gate? While the SU now seems reliant on a containment strategy regarding the Ijad, was or is there any particular plan on how they would deal with the Ijad should Celiel Station be recovered? I'm guessing some of the answers lie in the economics of the situation.
Anyway just hoping for any more details surrounding one of the big turning points in the Solar Calendar setting.
