Terminus Station

Ever wanted to visit the Crown Jewel of humanity? Of course you have. Terminus Station allows you to see both the home of all humans, and its beatiful moon, at the same time! Disclaimer: The moon of Earth is not visible on the same side as the Earth.

— An ad for Terminus Station

In the first Lagrange point between the Earth and its moon, roughly 326 thousand kilometers from Earth, there sits, among several hundred other habitats and stations, a particularily large station. This station, also known as the Grand Bar, L1 Club, or Megabar, is a space station entirely dedicated toward serving customers.
In it's simplest, it's an collection of 182 separate businesses and companies, all included in the station. Every single one of these establishments are bars, restaurants, clubs, cafés, and the like. There are auxiliary services, but most are owned by the main businesses of the station. These shops exist within the station, and are in a large, maze-like layout. The more desired and thus expensive plots are closer to the core of the station, and so the establishments there are top-notch, though very expensive. Still, even the outermost shops are still extremely high-quality, up there in the star system's best.
Best part is, being in outer space, even if near other, more faction-alinged habitats, the station is entirely unburdened by national regulation. While it still has to abide by STUN laws, the station's services are completely tax-free. This, along with the establishments' high quality, serves as the station's main draws.

Purpose / Function

A commercial space station, dedicated to various forms of restaurants and bars. The general purpose of a commercial station has not changed since the first shop was established, the Pearl in the Dark, since which the station has served its purpose to this day, contributing significantly to the local economy.

Alterations

Over the course of its existance, the station has grown and expanded both physically and economically. New shops being established meant more space being required, and thus the station grew. Docking bays, hotels, storage areas and many, many more auxiliary services popped up, many of which operate today.
Nowadays the station is a veritable maze, in all three dimensions no less. This development was not entirely accidental, in the same way casinos waste your time, the station is partly built to keep you inside, to use its services. The station is still growing, with no end in sight.

Architecture

From the outside, the station looks like a massive chunk of metal, with openings, lights, and advertisements dotting the surface. The station is overall gray. Windows aren't visible, at least not from the outside. Instead, they are simulated with cameras.
The station's superstructure is composed of Carbon-Interlaced Aluminium Alloy for the most part, with other carbon-based materials in different places. There are also corridors on the sides, allowing for beatiful views of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, or just outer space, and the distant gleam of habitats and other stations. One can also look at the frankly ridiculous amount of traffic.
The architecture and makeup within the station varies drastically. As opposed to some mall elsewhere, this station has no central hall or area, within which the shops are. Instead, it is a maze. This is, as mentioned earlier, as much by design as by accident. The shops themselves range from some ethnic restaurant with theme-accurate decoration, a hyper-modern bar with neon lights and purple lines, to a period-accurate medieval tavern. The variety is massive, with a little something for everyone.

Defenses

Standard debris defense grid, bigger lasers and smaller lasers. In addition, the station can deploy a number of drones and small craft, to take care of, for example, a out-of-control shuttle coming too close to the station. The station also has a collective fleet, funded by all the businesses. Well, calling it a fleet is generous, as it consists of three ships.

The March of Profits, a Heroic-class frigate

The Solar, a RT3298 Sila-class frigate

The Cradle's Emissary, a Campbell-class destroyer

Within the station, security is high, obviously. With the amount of traffic inside the station, security needs to be that high, in case of theft or other crime, which is by no means rare.

Tourism

Massive, with thousands of ship coming and going every day, sometimes tens of thousands. The whole station is famed for high-quality service, foods and drinks, its price, and all the other aspects of it. There is also some sense of ridiculousness mixed in. If one is talking about good restaurants nearly anywhere civilized, Terminus station is going to come up eventually.
For those wishing to stay a while, the station also delivers. There are a few hotels and storage areas within the station, and these are, of course, extremely high-quality. Not to mention expensive. Most don't stay, but those that do get truly luxurious service.
The innermost establishments are, naturally, the most famed and coveted. They are regarded as legendary within the restaurant/bar/cafe/etc scene, with really nothing coming close.

"Terminus station is the true commercial hub of the Earth-Luna system. There, I said it. No place else experiences that massive a traffic flow, and no other station contains such opulent interiors. The entire structure is filled to the brim with stores and restaurants, allowing everyone to have their fill, however far-fetched it may be. Truly, nowhere else is the service quite so top-notch. Everyone, I personally implore you to visit Terminus station, and spend some time there. It is an experience one cannot forget. "

— Micael Störves, review may or may not be sponsored by Terminus station

Founding Date

2593

Alternative Names

L1 Club, Grand Bar, Multibar, MegaHub

Type

Orbital, Station

Parent Location

Earth