Editing Menkent (section)

==Topography and Astrography==
[[File:Menkent orbit.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|A Super Destroyer fireteam in orbit over Menkent.]]
Similar to [[Pöpli IX]], Menkent has earned a reputation as the "[[Hellmire]] of the West", both for its geography and for its similarly volatile ecology. Dust storms make visibility beyond a few hundred meters near impossible, whilst the intense heat and fire tornadoes of the planet have taken their toll on SEAF forces. Fortunately whilst the [[Automatons]] metal frames might have trouble burning, their internal CPU's, wires and heat sinks of the machines are just as vulnerable... at least when it comes to the less armored machines.
[[File:Landscape of Menkent.jpg|thumb|254x254px|A frame of the flight of the Pelican shuttle, which captures the endless mountainous arid landscape of Menkent.]]
Menkent does not possess any important urban centers. During the Reclamation campaign, Menkent would host several SEAF Orbital Defenses and other facilities intended to hold the advancing Automaton Fleet at bay. However, these facilities would be destroyed once the Automatons captured the planet. Besides said facilities, the surface of Menkent is dotted with scattered urban colonies long occupied by the Automatons, as well as several detached settlements, individual farms, dwellings and abandoned SEAF appliances that may still be operational.

[[File:Menkent environment.jpg|thumb|250x250px|The blazing sands of Menkent.|left]]
The Menkent System consists of the planet Menkent itself, its volcanic moon and at least 3 other astronomical bodies, which are a red gas giant, a yellow rocky planet and another volcanic planet that regularly eclipses Menkent's sun. Additionally, the Menkent system lies close to an unnamed emission nebula that can be seen at night.

Prior to the Reclamation, Menkent had little to no strategic value, as the Automaton Expeditions over on the Xzar and Severin Sectors were ocurring far away enough that the Lacaille Sector as a whole didn't even see then war until April 2184. Following the Reclamation campaign by the {{Automatons}}, Menkent's positioning right before Choohe saw it become one of the two planets within the [[Menkent Line]], a defensive line haphazardly created during the initial Automaton advance in hopes of stopping the Reclamation Fleet from reaching too close to the Galactic Core. However, this short-lived fortification would soon be breached through nearby Lesath and Menkent would fall to the {{Automatons|Automaton Legion}}.

Ever since its fall to the Automatons, Menkent has been used as a critical logistical hub from which the Automatons have since conducted several pushes towards the Marspira Sector, all of which eventually culminated in the battle of New Aspiration City on September 2185 after the fall of the Marspira Sector during the Triple Offensive. While Menkent on its own does not provide much strategic value, its liberation would deliver a great blow to Automaton operations in the sectors closer to the Galactic Core.