Fearing Union infiltrators and saboteurs, Pell dumps all the refugees in a Quarantine Zone, causing massive dislocations of Pell's own citizens. Angelo Konstantin, Stationmaster of Pell, and his two sons, Damon and Emilio, struggle to cope with the situation. The flood of unexpected refugees strains station resources. Similar convoys arrive from other stations destroyed or lost to Union, leading to an enormous crisis.

Set in the final days of the war, Downbelow Station opens with Earth Company Captain Signy Mallory and her warship, Norway, escorting a ragtag fleet fleeing from Russell's and Mariner Stations to Pell.

Caught in between are the stationers and the merchanters who man the freighters that maintain interstellar trade. This leads to the prolonged Company War with the breakaway Union, based at ], another hospitable world. When Earth's out-of-touch policies cause it to begin losing control of its more distant stations and worlds, it builds a fleet of fifty military carriers, the Earth Company Fleet, to enforce its will. The planet is nicknamed 'Downbelow' by the stationers, who also start to call their home ' Downbelow Station'. Then, Pell's World is found to be not only habitable, but already populated by the gentle, sentient (if technologically backward) Hisa. Nine star systems are found to lack planets suitable for colonization, so space stations are built in orbit instead, stepping-stones for further exploration. Space is explored not by short-sighted governments, but by the Earth Company, a private corporation which becomes enormously wealthy and powerful as a result. Wollheim, believed that the moniker lacked commercial appeal, so Downbelow Station was selected as the title for publication. The working title of the book was The Company War, but Cherryh's editor at DAW, Donald A. The station serves as the transit point for ships moving between the Earth and Union sectors of the galaxy. The book details events centering on a space station in orbit around Pell's World (also known as 'Downbelow') in the Tau Ceti star system.

The book is set in Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe during the Company Wars period, specifically late 2352 and early 2353. It won the 1982 Hugo Award for Best Novel, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C.

Downbelow station