Communications Port

The communications port is the colloquial name for the deep space communications satellite that once orbited planet Z-158. Prior to its destruction, the communications port acted as the link between the network of geosynchronous communications satellites that served to connect all of the cities on the planet and the warp gate situated at the star system's heliopause.

History
The communications port was placed in orbit in 2766 by the original terraforming crew prior to landing on Z-158, making it the second man-made object to be placed in permanent orbit. (The first being the weather satellite/planetary beacon left by the systems exploration crew.) The regular maintenance schedule was then maintained for the rest of the port's lifespan.

The Crash
In 3135, a militant libertarian separatist group made of the descendants from the second-wave colonists, angered by the recent opening of Z-158 to fully commercialized civilian colonization, chartered a shuttle to the orbital station. Once there, they hijacked a passenger liner that had recently unloaded.

The orbital station was subsequently destroyed, though it's unknown if the shuttle carried explosives or if the engines had been rigged to overload. The destruction of the orbital station caused a cascade reaction of high density debris that destroyed nearly every man-made object in near-planet orbit, including the array of geosynchronous communications satellites.

Before the satellites were destroyed, a communique was received from the separatists, listing their manifesto of planetary independence and their desire to not have "our planet taken over" by "freeloaders and government stooges." The manifesto concluded with their stated plan to cut Z-158 off from further out-system government interference.

Observers on the surface using conventional telescopes were able to see lifeboats from the hijacked passenger liner used to destroy the communications port and the remaining ships in orbit via ramming. The hijacked passenger liner was subsequently observed moving out of local orbit before tracking became impossible due to the destruction of all orbital telescopes.

After the crash, weeks of "shooting stars" were seen across the word, night and day, as debris from the cataclysmic orbital chain reaction fell into the atmosphere. It is theorized that this additional large amount of friction heat input into the upper atmosphere might have contributed to the later devolving conditions.