Ventos is a jungle planet in the Thraxis system, inhospitable, extremely hot and humid.
Ventos was the site of the Red Rice Wars, a famine-driven war triggered by an invasive offworld insect that destroyed most food production. Rice was resistant, making it the staple crop, but there wasn’t enough to go around. The government, a so-called meritocracy predicated on “good ideas” but in reality an oligarchy of ancestral privilege, hoarded food stores. A rebellion ignited but was ultimately crushed with Omnitek Holdings military backing, and the oligarchy remains in power.
Dense jungle on Ventos hides a cave system containing an alien structure holding a three-tined fork, the same type of alien artifact found at the Sibylen exosite. “Haley” (with one Y), before she became Haleyy, was stationed here on loan from Omnitek to defend the oligarchy, defected to help the rebels, and was captured. A squadron was sent to extract her from the oligarchy’s elite captivity in the cave system; inside, the alien fork struck her with energy, her eyes turning green and hair singeing. The squad escaped on stolen motorcycles through the jungle, but an anti-air mech shot down their extraction helicopter, killing several squadmates. Haley died from her crash injuries and was later revived in the morgue with alien-enhanced healing, waking with amnesia as “Haleyy” (Ep 19 flashback).
Appears in: Ep 19