The Raft

Overview
The Raft is a UNC colony, discovered completely by accident in 2168 by the UNNF Ship, UNS Stranton. It is actually not a planet at all, rather a massive asteroid rich in minerals that was hollowed out by the UNC and settled upon in 2257, and finished completely in 2338.

History
At first, The Raft was used solely for extracting minerals and raw materials to supply the UNC. However, years later the potential of the asteroid was seen and it was the first colony to be settled on an asteroid successfully. The colony was planned to become a large settlement by 2282, but the UNC's huge cut-down of their colonization fleet in 2265 severely slowed all colonization processes in general. The Raft being such a far away colony, it was not given as much attention as other easily reached planets, and as such remained a small but thriving colony until 2337 with the end of the Factions war. By this time, UNC space had spread to the point where The Raft was easily reached from closer colonies, and it's settlements were built upon immensely in the next year. By the end of 2338, it was almost 4 times as large, with the potential to house billions of people, as well as having a beautiful artificial habitat which was constantly maintained. However, when the Exohumans struck in 2345, thousands of survivors from Earth were relocated to The Raft, as it was the furthest and safest spot the UNC could provide from the war. As the war intensified, colonies closest to Earth became threatened by Exohuman forces, and billions of people decided to relocate to further colonies out of fear of imminent Exohuman attack. The Raft, being an attractive place to live, became a new home for many of these people, and was kept a closely guarded secret along with many other important colonies by the UNC.