The Galaxy Awaits ... Choose Your Path!(Aurora)

[Brian Swartz]

The next couple of updates will differ from the usual pattern. First, I will be putting together a historical overview of summary of SPACE at 50, which will be followed by excerpts from the keynote address at the celebratory festival by the Director.

[Brian Swartz]

SPACE AT 50: RETROSPECTIVE

AFTERMATH: PREHISTORY 2022 - 2024

Though it is almost unthinkable now as few of us were alive to endure it, humanity almost destroyed itself in World War III, which raged from 2013 to 2022. The war was triggered by the discovery of the TN elements, and was our species' first attempt to deal with that discovery. 93% of mankind was lost in the self-inflicted near-apocalypse, and large sections of the Earth rendered uninhabitable, probably permanently.

The formation of SPACE in 2025 was the second attempt. The fledgling agency had but a fraction of it's current trained leadership then, much less support from humanity at large which was less than 40% of the current numbers. We knew one thing for certain: both unity and a working understanding of the eleven TN minerals would be required for any chance at our survival. We could no longer afford to fight each other.

A NEW HOPE: 2025 - 2028

Lena Dungey was chosen in a narrow election win over three men to head the agency. It was a time of many concerns, as we knew how to harvest the TN elements but not a whole lot about what they could do. It was clear that the deposits on Earth would not last long, in many cases less than a generation. Dr. Deacon Palmer was tasked with a more detailed investigation of TN properties and uses, without which the fledgling initiative was surely doomed to fail. His role was even more vital than Dungey in those early years.

A BRAVE NEW SOLAR SYSTEM: 2028-2040

With the arrival of Palmer's report in July 2028, mankind's place in the universe changed dramatically. Armed with the tools to more thoroughly explore and begin to exploit our system, both space-based naval capabilities and industrial efforts, including conversion to TN-capable facilities, were enacted in what proved to be a very long process. In five years the first shipyard was finished, and a year later the survey ship Marc Aaronson was christened in the early spring of 2034. Another four years and all of the habitable bodies were surveyed. Ground-based teams began follow-up surveys.

This period was also marked by the untimely death of Governor-Director Slick Willie, in 2036. The '37 election, narrowly won by Lena Dungey over Herbert Duling, was a key point and one of the closest in SPACE's history. Dungey's third term made a couple of missteps, an ill-advised colonization of Venus and dumping a lot of time, money, and resources into the Spruance colony ship, which was eventually abandoned. It had become clear by this time that the system's comets were a much better source, and Dungey's political career died an early and ignominous death as a result.

EXPANDING FRONTIERS: 2041 - 2056

Dungey's demise was Duling's gain, and he began the first of many terms as Governor-Director by spearheading the expansion of mining efforts on short-range comets. By the end of that term there were nearly 50 automated mines combined operating off-world, and he launched a bold plan to establish a human presence on Titan. On January 3, 2046, the first human colonists arrived at Saturn's largest moon. A week later, Dr. Ignacio Bravo's team reported on Jump Point Theory, which provided the promise of extrasolar travel. The galaxy could be within our reach.

Two years later, the GSV Hopeful was launched, a survey ship with one purpose: determining the location of any jump points out of Sol space. On May 21, a jump point was found just inside Jupiter orbit, less than 740m km from our sun. Armed with this information, Duling authorized Operation Uncertain Hope, the goal of which was to develop a ship capable of navigating jump points and exploring what lay beyond them. The Hopeful would take another three years, through early 2051, to finish it's survey. It found 7 jump points in all.

2049 brought a new Governor-Director, India Rakes, whose primary policy change was the 2% Initiative, authorizing eventual full colonization of all habitable bodes in our system. Mars and Luna were colonized immediately: others would follow. The other major challenge of her term was dealing with a corundium crisis. It's easy to forget it now, but off-world resource development was slowed for many years due to the relative scarcity of it in the system. Research priorities also began to be shifted as there was a growing demand for naval military capabilities to combat piracy and other undesirable elements in the growing colonies. SPACE was experiencing some fairly acute growing pains.

In 2053 Duling returned as Governor-Director, and immediately began exploiting the comet Faye and asteroid Prokne in an effort to increase the flow of corundium. The first TN-capable ground unit, the garrison battalion, began to be deployed that year. Meanwhile, civilian investment in a fledgling operation on the distant dwarf Sedna added much-needed duranium to the resource pool.

The next year brought the launching of the JSC Intrepid, first of the Pioneer-class 10kt science vessels which were the final product of Uncertain Hope, now completed after six years. Tragedy struck a few months before, with expected commander Gregorio Granberg found dead under suspicious circumstances. Without the expert handling of the situation by replacement Cmdr. Jay Cin III, the resulting scandal could have been disastrous.

The Intrepid launched on July 1, 2054. On July 10 at 1842, it successfully navigated Jump Point Alpha, finding beyond it the Epsilon Eridani system. In two years, assisted the last bit by the second in the Pioneer class, the Hyperion, initial surveys of seven distinct star systems had been completed.

Humanity had reached a new threshold: our reach was now interstellar in scope.

A TRAGIC DISCOVERY: 2056 - 2057

The Intrepid was tasked with a more thorough survey of Epsilon Eridani, which lay beyond by far the closest jump point, to ascertain suitability for colonization or any new jump points which might be found. When it did not return as scheduled, the Hyperion was sent in to investigate in June 2057. What they found changed human history forever.

The wreck of the Intrepid was found a month's journey from the entry point into Epsilon Eridani. Governor-Director Duling immediately authorized a reconnaisance mission under the moniker Operation Post Mortem in a globally televised address on June 11. In the early morning hours of August 3, that mission resulted in the destruction of the Hyperion by what appeared to be two flights of ten missiles each. Governors Herman Fox and Cruz Luscombe, as well as Cmdr. Dan Spengler and the 240 souls on board all perished -- some in the explosions, some in the lifepods two weeks later.

PREPARING FOR THE WORST: 2057-2064

SPACE initiated a series of changes in response to the stunning news that a hostile, advanced civilization had destroyed two of our three science vessels. To protect humanity and its interests as quickly as possible, operations beyond Sol were suspended indefinitely and the Forrestal-class jump point sensor boat was designed. Bases were designed for all of our holdings in the system, some with only sensors and ground troops but others housing defensive missile batteries. The Nimitz-class missile boat and Brooklyn-class gunboat were designed as well for additional combat capability. Research priorities shifted drastically as well, with propulsion and sensor capabilities taking center stage in an effort to begin 'catching up' with what little we know about alien technologies, and minimal sensors and CIWS anti-missile defenses were mounted on all SPACE-operated vessels larger than a shuttle.

By 2062, Earth had completed it's complement of deep-space tracking stations, dramatically improving the range at which any approaching threat would be detected. Two years later, and a pair of sensor vessels were in position at all of the seven known points of entry in Sol space. To date, they have yet to detect any attempt at penetration -- whatever the aliens motives, they seem to have decided to leave us alone.

EXPANDING CAPABILITIES: 2064-2074(PRESENT DAY)

The past decade has been marked by increasing SPACE's reach in Sol, and our potential abilities via continued massive investment in scientific research. Deployment of military bases throughout the system required the Tarawa-class Collier, the Burke-class brigade transport, hundreds of thousands of personnel in the seven construction brigades, and no small amount of time and effort. The Cleveland-class maintenance supply vessel was also deployed, as well as the first three of the Nimitz class for direct combat defense of our system. With the Alaska-class base on Titan set to begin construction, this effort is nearly completed at least in its initial phase. Comets Wolf-Harrington, Faye, Neujmin, and most recently Halley's Comet have received continued investment in mining with a special focus on neutronium, the scarcest vital mineral at the moment. At any given point in time, anywhere from 20 to two dozen research projects are ongoing as SPACE invests about a third of it's expenses in that endeavor annually, though the loss of a number of retiring elite scientists is beginning to have painful effects.

Continual advances in weapons systems, sensors, and propulsion abilities have brought us considerably closer to known alien technological levels. Meanwhile, expansion of the GLTC to four academies has seen the leadership pool grow by leaps and bounds to several times its original size, combating a brief crisis in political and administrative talent though the Army continues to need more officers badly. By the end of the 60s, the 2% Initiative was completed with full colonization of Sol: every habitable system body is occupied. Conversion to TN-capable factories on Earth and considerable expansion of the industrial sector had also been achieved.

[Brian Swartz]

JANUARY 5, 2075

At the beginning of the two-week festival marking 50 years of SPACE history, Director Herbert Duling made the welcoming address to mark the occasion as was his official duty. Much of the speech had the usual flowery language that most statesman reserve espescially for such occasions as this. He was magnimous in the extreme, lauding the contributions of all branches of SPACE and espescially of his predecessors and political rivals. There was more than a bit of rose-colored glasses and revisionist history in all of this. For example, he was hardly going to mention here the still-classified fact that he had seriously considered a coup to remove SPACE's first director, Lena Dungey, as she blundered about with wasteful projects in her third term. Fortunately for himself and humanity, the voters took care of that problem on their own. But this was a time for unity, for celebration, for speaking with one voice.

Such pleasantries having been dispensed with, Duling also sounded a personal note. "As I stand here at the east entrance to USCA(Unified Sol Command & Administration, also known merely as Sector Command), I am reminded of the fact that this building did not even exist 15 years ago. I have been blessed to spend half of my adult life as director of SPACE, but the thing which gives me the most pride and pleasure is not that great priviledge, but the fact that such an office exists at all. Every day this complex is a potent physical reminder of what we have done collectively as a species. We have, through great effort and considerable sacrifice, put aside our divisive past and forged an unbreakable commitment to a unified purpose. We have resolved to never again allow ourselves to believe that self-destructive violence is preferable to finding greater strength in our common future, and have demonstrated that resolve with concrete action. "

Duling then moved on to unveil the plans for the Forrestal III-class sensor boat, the South-Carolina-class Freighter, and the Long Beach-class fuel harvester, all of which would replace their predecessors in those classes. He described also the new Military Modernization Initiative, which had been developed in concert with top military brass. This policy would ensure a reasonable level of operational reliability in official SPACE ships and bases by requiring new construction instead of refitting any time a major change in the specifications was made.

At this point most expected the speech would end and the festivities would resume. Herbert Duling had a suprise for them though. He had the attention of humanity throughout Sol, and didn't intend to waste the opportunity. Besides which, the timing of this had really been determined by science, not himself.

"Since the tragic loss of the Hyperion in the Epsilon Eridani system 18 years ago, we have known that we could no longer capriciously view the galaxy as merely a scientific endeavor or a resource to be used. We have enemies who have declared their intent unambiguously through their actions. There are some who view the fact that they did not follow us into Sol as a sign that they are willing to live and let live -- and believe we should isolate ourselves here, accepting that arrangement. Most of us however, have always known that the day would come when we must honor the hundreds who lost their lives nearly two decades ago in the only fitting way, by resuming our exploration of the surrounding systems in an intelligent and pragmatic way, pursuing peace always but not ceding control of humanity's destiny to anyone but ourselves.

Today it is my duty and priviledge to announce that within two years, the tools to properly fulfill that vision will be within our grasp. Dr. Clint Wyche has labored the better part of a decade on a secret project that I am pleased to make public today: blueprints for advanced geological sensors which will allow us to not only survey astronomical bodies more quickly, but detect the presence of any anomalies on those bodies which may indicate the presence or ruins of alien civilizations. This technology, when available, will enable us to make the most of any exploratory efforts. We must not let fear control us, and we cannot ensure our continued prosperity through the resources of Sol alone. The only responsible choice before us is the exhilirating challenge of expanding our reach into the galaxy with caution and a responsible, humble approach.

What that approach ultimately is will be widely debated in the months and years to come, and it is for that reason I make this announcement today. This decision belongs to all of humanity, and in 2077 your voice will be heard clearly in the candidates you choose with your vote. For now, know that every effort is and will continue to be made to be fully transparent on the options and proposals available to us. "

[Brian Swartz]

Next up will be a more detailed briefing than has been previously presented on the surrounding systems, resource situation in Sol, top options for expansion, etc.

[Tellistto]

Battle fleet for Tell Perj, Jr.! Battle Fleet for Tell Perj, Jr.!

Let's go get them!

Hah!

[sterlingice]

I'm trying to remember and even having a bit of a hard time resolving even going through the old pages: Intrepid was destroyed but when did the public find out about that? I thought it was initially hidden from them that it was attacked. What about the Hyperion? Does the public even know about that?

SI

[Brian Swartz]

The short version of how all that went down is that the Hyperion was sent in when the Intrepid did not return for maintenance checks as scheduled. The wreck was discovered and a recon mission announced, under the moniker of Operation Post Mortem. The Hyperion investigated the wreckage site, with the JSC Excelsior(Pioneer class) and JS Velociraptor(North Carolina jump ship class) observing from the jump point. At that point Director Herbert Duling made a global address informing the public.

Everything we know(not much) about enemy naval combat technology is based on the Hyperion's destructing during Post Mortem.

[Brian Swartz]

TO BOLDLY GO: EXTRASOLAR EXPANSION BRIEFING

SECURING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: RESOURCE OVERVIEW

The clearest extremely practical reason to expand beyond Sol is simply that there will eventually be a need for additional resources to sustain the economy. There is, however, no compelling need in the short to medium-term. Corundium is the closest with only the 12kt on Schaumasse qualifying as a significant source, but in a pinch there are smaller deposits to tap and when Ikeya-Zang gets closer, its 80kt will end any needs fairly quickly. Duranium and neutronium, the two most vital TN elements, can easily support another century of activity.

A more visionary approach would however suggest that we should know where additional resources are going to come from when they are needed. Mapping other systems is not a short or inexpensive endeavor. By the time a need arises, it will be too late to go looking for the next mother lode ...

It should also be noted that there are three extremely long-period comets that have not yet been surveyed. However, these are almost completely irrelevant. Hale-Bopp(28.9b km) and Brooks(37b) are not only insanely far away, they are getting farther away all the time. It's not even worth calculating the amount of time it would take for them to get as close as, say, Sedna. We're talking centuries here.

McNaught Russell is nearly halfway back to the sun, but still 20b km away, twice the distance of Sedna. It won't become relevant this century. Ikeya-Zang(12.6b km) has had an initial survey revealing mostly the largest deposit of corundium in the system, and in a few decades it might perhaps be worth the effort to send some mines there. The other three are simply not within the realm of practical possibility, and everything else has been surveyed.

DEFENDING OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY

A far more compelling reason to act and act now is the simple fact that what we now know about the aliens is that they have access to two systems bordering us: Epsilon Eridani and Lalande 21185. SPACE does not know whether the other systems are 'safe', there is no compelling evidence one way or the other. Deployment of naval forces in Sol is seriously complicated by the fact they could emerge less than a week's journey from Earth at the EE jump point any moment -- or at any of six other points of entry. If some of these could be eliminated or mitigated as likely attack avenues by establishing them as free of alien presence, the value of that information could hardly be quantified too highly.

ALWAYS BE GROWING

Finally of course there is the simple fact that the high value of discovery continues, and the recent sensor advances mean that humanity is now ready for this. There may be no 'fierce urgency of now' but there is a fierce urgency to go eventually, and no compelling argument for waiting.

NEIGHBOURING SYSTEM ASSESSMENT

In order of distance from Sol(and therefore ease of reaching), here is what we know of the seven systems surrounding us:

1. Epsilon Eridani(737m km). By far the closest, it is also as we all know the most dangerous.

Habitable bodies: The second moon of Epsilon Eridani-II is the most obvious choice as it is as inviting as Mars or Luna and contains more accessible neutronium than Sol combined(over a million tons). Several other bodies are in the range of Titan or the Jupiter moons, requiring considerably more effort to settle.

Survey status: 3 of 7 planets were surveyed by the Intrepid on its first, unmolested visit. Tritanium and uridium, along with less-accessible corundium and gallicite, were the major finds aside from the already-mentioned neutronium. With more than half unsurveyed, there may or may not be considerably more to invite us. Possibilities for local fuel harvesting and duranium for construction are significant questions.

2. Lalande 21185(2.68b).

Habitable Bodies: none
Survey Status: 5 planets, 4 of them dwarves, a handful of moons and a bunch of asteroids. Danger aside, there isn't much here. No atmospheric sorium harvesting is even potentially present with no gas giants or superjovians around.

3. Van Maanen's Star(3.15b)

Habitable Bodies: The first moon Van Maanen I is the best target, and makes Titan look like a vacation spot(9.85 colony cost).
Survey Status: All we've done is poke our head in. Van Maanen I is a superjovian, so the potential for fuel there and the possibilities for its nearly 20 moons is the main reason to even investigate. The proximity to the Lalande JP(519m between the two) and the known enemy presence there was a strong enough reason to look no further.

4. Teegardens Star(3.2b)

Habitable bodies: 6 of them, most of them similar to Titan.
Survey Status: No further investigation was done, though the jump point is just 326km away from the star in a very small system. There are five of six planets in quite close proximity, with two gas giants among them, and a couple dozen moons to investigate. It would quite likely be worth the effort ...

5. Luyten 726-8(3.6b)

Habitable bodies: Four, two similar to Titan but Luyten 726-8 A II is similar to Mars/Luna, minimal cost. It also has no mineral resources.
Survey Status: Only the one planet was investigated. There are 8 in all, a mix of different types, with a minimal number of moons and five comets, a rarity to find so far outside of Sol space. This is another interesting system.

6. Sirius(5.1b)

Habitable bodies: 7, 6 of which are quite habitable. Two are Mars/Luna range, the other four less so but all much better than Titan or the Jupiter moons. Even better, Sirius A II could be terraformed with minimal expense, needing only a bit thicker of an atmosphere with a little more oxygen to become the closest thing to a second Earth by far that we have yet encountered.
Survey Status: Sirius-A I and II were surveyed with nothing to show for it. That leaves a bunch of asteroids and the Sirius-B star, which has a gas giant boasting 23 moons(four of them among the fairly habitable targets).

7. Barnard's Star(5.9b)

Habitable Bodies: Two, both similar to Titan.
Survey Status: One gas giant with 17 moons. Combined with the habitability issues and distance, this precluded any further investigation.

THE FOX DOCTRINE

This is the name that has been given to the general strategic approach to exploration and expansion, wherever SPACE decides to go. It is named of course for former administrator Herman Fox, one of the martyrs of the Epsilon Eridani tragedy, who articulated the basic concept well ahead of his time.

The central principle guiding the Fox Doctrine is to gain the maximum information while exposing SPACE assets and personnel(not to mention human pride) to the minimum possible risk. Specifically, it calls for the use of small, specialized vessels to carry out the surveys while communicating with and receiving logistics support, fuel, etc. from a larger ship or ships stationed at the entry point into the system. In the event of a disaster, these 'carrier' ships could evacuate, limiting loss of men and materials to the smaller, more expendable craft. This is the opposite of the all-in-one approach of Operation Uncertain Hope that led to the Pioneer science vessel. These smaller vessels would, in addition to being more expendable, also have the capability of being more difficult to detect.

NAVAL COMBAT ASSESSMENT

The known capabilities of enemy ships come from nearly two decades ago, but they are all we have to go on.

Top Speed: 6500 km/s. Nimitz and Brooklyn-class 'warships' operate at 2400 km/s, or less than 40% of that.

Sensors: Considered to be similarly advanced beyond our capabilities, although the gap has likely closed somewhat with the dedicated effort made to improve ours in the intervening time.

Armor/Shields: Completely unknown.

Size: Completely unknown.

Weaponry: Two flights of 10 missile-type objects impacted the Hyperion, traveling at speeds estimated to be 15k-30k km/s. By comparison, our best missile, the Defender II, is capable of 13.5 km/s. The best anti-missile missiles we can design would have about a 8-9% hit chance against such an incoming weapon, and the absolute best tracking speed we can get with our beam fire controls is 15-16k km/s.

[Brian Swartz]

It is now time for all with an interest in SPACE to voice their opinions. There are two essential questions that will need to be resolved by the time of the 2077 elections. Feel free to suggest any approaches that are not listed here.

1. What policy should SPACE take towards the aliens known to be present in Epsilon Eridani and assumed to be so in Lalande 21185? This question is really more about Epsilon Eridani as that's where we were attacked, it's the closest system and best in most respects one as a colonization target.

** Isolationism. This would continue the current policy of avoiding any and all jumps to EE, with the goal of not provoking the aliens further or risking any more loss of life.
** Diplomatic Contact. Under this approach a small diplomatic craft would be designed and deployed, with a team on board using long-range equipment to attempt to establish communication with the aliens and form a basis for possible future peaceful coexistence.
** Recon in Force. Several combat vessels would be sent to attempt to determine further the extent of alien forces in Epsilon Eridani, and if attacked they would shoot back. At current capabilities, this would likely be somewhat of a suicide mission but valuable intel on enemy strength and the practical combat effectiveness of current technology against them would be the primary aim.

2. What systems should be prioritized first for further surveying? There are five with no known enemy presence:

** Van Maanen's Star(3.15b) -- Infrastructure cost would be considerable to get a colony up and running, local resources are completely unknown. Proximity to the dangerous Lalande JP is a significant concern.
** Teegarden's Star(3.2b) -- Infrastructure cost would be considerable here as well, local resources also unknown. The major item in Teegarden's favor is that the jump point is very close to the star and the likely locations for deposits. Required in-system travel would be quite minimal.
** Luyten 726-8(3.6b) -- A binary system with one minimally costly planet(Mars/Luna range). Resources unknown. There are 5 comets present, the only neighbouring system which has any and based on our experience in Sol they are the most reliable source of high-accesibility deposits.
** Sirius(5.1b) -- Another binary. Sirius A II the only planet we've found that could be terraformed in a short time frame. No local resources have been found but most of the potential locations would be around Sirius B, which has not been investigated at all.
** Barnard's Star(5.9b) -- Considerable infrastructure would be required and the distance is of course rather prohibitive. Barring incredibly rich deposits being found, it is an easy system to dismiss.

Currently Teegarden's Star, Luyten 726-8, and Sirius are those being most seriously considered by SPACE brass. Despite the distance, the long-term viability via the terraforming option of Sirius has investigation there as the most popular option currently.

All opinions are desired, but in particular Admiral Tell Perj Jr. and Governor James Earl Jones V are in a position to have their thoughts count more than the average citizen or public servant. All requests for more information on anything in particular should be forwarded to SPACE HQ immediately.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle fleet for Tell Perj, Jr.! Battle Fleet for Tell Perj, Jr.!

This is unlikely as he is four years away from retirement. However, as the third-ranking officer in the Navy hierarchy, what he thinks about the situation is of considerable importance :).

[sterlingice]

I am risk averse so I think isolation is the easiest course to EE. Until we're even close to the level of what blew up SPACE 20+ years ago, it's not worth going back there. I think diplomatic contact and recon in force would be unneccesarily poking the bear.

As for future surveying planets, we're not really talking about colonization yet, right? I think these are just surveying runs to gauge if there's anything worth going after. While future colonization costs matter somewhat, it's much more important to see what is there, correct? For instance, with Teegarden's star, with a nearby jump point, could we send mining ships to mine and transport back to earth if it's too inhospitable? I would be in favor of Teegarden, Luyten, and Sirius as places to survey and see if there's even anything worth attempting to mine.

SI

[ntndeacon]

I am in favor of going the Sirius route. I do think we will eventually need to get a diplomatic ship in our bag of tricks. However we still need to make up a LOT of room to where we know others are. We should keep the research going strong, even after I retire.

[Brian Swartz]

As for future surveying planets, we're not really talking about colonization yet, right?

It's on the menu.

it's much more important to see what is there, correct?

Depends on who you ask. Looks like we have your vote in on the matter :).

could we send mining ships to mine and transport back to earth if it's too inhospitable?

Possible, though expensive. More likely would be either a colony with a limited amount of infrastructure or even orbital habitats to house the population.

Thanks for your feedback guys. The results of this have not been determined, and it's possible the events of 75 and 76 could shake things up.

We should keep the research going strong, even after I retire.

We will, but that's gonna hurt -- you've been one of the greats :).

[Tellistto]

Okay, time to be realistic.

Speaking as the third ranking officer in the fleet.

In no way would I condone what would amount to a suicide mission to EE.

Either through speed or capable missile defense is the only option for that system.

The human race must continue to grow in all manner of ways.

To that, population and resources to fuel the knowledge growth of our civilization.
Sirius for one, and anywhere else for the other.

[Brian Swartz]

CIVILIAN CHARACTER UPDATE

James Earl Jones V(6) -- The Governor of Sedna has not been heard from much lately. Of course, that can be said of every governor in the history of humanity's most remote outpost.

Pioneer Deacon Palmer(CP 60) -- Work on the jump gate plans is expected to conclude before the end of the festival, serving as a fitting send-off for the 71-year-old scientist.
Joe Tycho(EW 55) -- In the early stages of work on improving turret gearing and the resulting speeds that can be reached, Dr. Tycho has been battling health problems successfully for nearly a decade and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

[Brian Swartz]

2075 ANNUAL REPORT

Shipyard activity picked up immediately as six massive hulls began to be formed, the first two South Carolina freighters and four Long Beach fuel harvesters. It was also clear that more larger shipyards would be needed in the years ahead, so two commercial yards(Oregon and ENDM) began expansion operations.

The debate began with great intensity over how to deal with the director's announcements. There was near-unanimous agreement that the more promising systems should be explored and more fully surveyed, but that was about the only thing with a clear consensus. Man on the street interviews revealed almost as many differing opinions as there were respondents, and the elite intelligentsia, etc. were not much more unified. It would clearly be some time before it became evident what direction SPACE would/should take.

Meanwhile, officials were still occupied with the usual concerns from the relatively mundane(such as the 11th mine departing for Halley's Comet and the usual comings and goings of ships refueling, doing maintenance checks, and returning to station) to those requiring more close attention.

An example of the latter was the announcement just eight days into the new year by Dr. Deacon Palmer that he was retiring, having completed plans for the jump gate. It was of course expected that Pioneer Palmer would be leaving soon, but as probably the most accomplished researcher in SPACE history his loss would still be felt acutely. The initial TN research was his doing as well as virtually everything we know about adapting it to large-scale industrial use in shipyards, fleet assets, factories, you name it. In the Construction & Production field there now remain only two noteworthy researchers: Dr. Curtis Gloster(45%, 45) and Dr. Shannon Patteson(30%, 57). While other fields have taken priority as a necessity, it is certainly hoped that a new talent will emerge in the second half of Gloster's career.

As March came to a close, a bit of a historic day arrived when the four brigades from Triton arrived on Titan to begin the work of assembling the first Alaska-class base off-world there. Initial estimates are for it to take more than seven years. The three brigades on Sedna will complete their work in a couple of months, but it will be almost year's end before any transports can arrive for them and well into '76 by the time they make it back to Titan.

May brought more news of importance. Two pieces in fact, on the same day midway through the month. The first Brooklyn '72-class gunboat, the first beam-armed warship of any kind to be deployed by humanity, was completed. At the same time, the final of the four Alaska-class bases on Earth was finished as well. Construction of new naval and commercial shipyards began immediately, as SPACE is strongly convinced they will be needed for the new exploratory vessels. Just days later, a potential new star was born in the scientific community. Elliot Monks possesses outstanding survey skill as a potential leader of a ground team should the need again arise, and is also notable for a considerable ability in Defensive Systems(20%). This makes him equally as skilled as the current #2 in that field, Adolfo Walth, while still more than a decade younger.

The summer brought some developments detailed below, and some that are not. There were a lot of noticed improvements to minor officials not worth mentioning on their own, but the collective effect was seen as significant in the aggregate.

October brought the deployment of the first two South Carolina-class 'superfreighters', though they will not see any immediate use. Two more will be added sometime next year, which should be well more than sufficient for current needs. They are twice the size of any other ship in Sol space, and likely to remain so for the forseeable future. Tankers are dispatched from Titan and Callisto to deal with the drain this and the fuel harvesters will have on the tanks.

The year ended with a significant development in the field of ballistic weapons. On December 20th, Karabishi Juishao completed her latest improvement in missile agility. With this advancement it is the opinion of the navy brass that anti-missile ballistics are nearing viability. Nearing, but not quite there. Estimated impact rates are now in the 13-14% range according to simulations. At least 20% is desired before it is considered worth fielding a system.

It was, however, time for the next anti-ship missile. Multiple missiles, in this case, as command wants to experiment with an alternate missile: slower, but with a larger warhead.

Simulations have indicated that the direct-line successor to the Defender II missile should be slower with more lateral thrusters to take advantadge of the agility improvements. This will be the Defender '76, with a slower speed than existing missiles but boasting a hit rate of almost 45%, about 5% higher. The Defender '76 P will more than double the damage if it hits, but it will hit considerably less often(a hair under 30% is expected). The engines powering each missile will be different but quite similar in size, with the primary distinction being that the P variant is much less maneuverable to allow for the larger explosive yield. Dr. Juishao is expected to spend the next year or more researching these engines before she can work on the new prototype missiles.

Aside from the dramatic announcements and everything else that attended the SPACE at 50 festival, 2075 brought more new talent than has been seen in quite some time, particularly in the Army and research capacities; the beginning of the new generation of missiles as just mentioned; the deployment of the first Brooklyn '72 and South Carolina-class ships; the beginning of the first off-world Alaska base, on Titan; the retirement of one of the great minds in SPACE history, Dr. Deacon Palmer; construction and expansion of shipyard capabilities; and of course, continued expansion of mining efforts on Halley's Comet, which now numbers 19 automines producing over 1.5kt annually. It was quite a productive year at SPACE, worthy of the historic occasion which began it.


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** January 8: Jump Gate Construction Module finished by Deacon Palmer's team. The two laboratories freed up were added to existing projects in need of extra space.
** January 21: Cedric Wormack reports that blueprints for the Tractor Beam are now prepared. His two labs will next focus on the next step in the evolution of the TN-capable army: specifications for an assault infantry battalion.
** February 11 -- With a new lab completed, it is time to begin researching the needed technologies for the next exploratory push. The most costly obvious need for the Fox Doctrine to be implemented is a more modern jump drive capable of propelling a ship of 10kt. The MJD 46-4b is designed and Dr. Shannon Patteson begins the work.
** February 21: Dr. Curtis Gloster has completed the latest missile fire controls, which are now ready for use. He'll take over the work on the new jump drive from here on out.
** June 7 -- The first advance in microwave technology in some time is reported by Minh Klausner(improved focusing). Newcomer Ross Dodge will get his feet wet now investigating ways to harden electronic systems against such attacks.
** July 5 -- Julio Kuchler's team finishes the latest active missile search sensors. He'll begin the next stage in theoretical passive EM detection with inadequate support for the time being.
** September 19th -- Bessie Wallander announces the possibility of extending beam fire-control ranges out to 24k km, the inadequacy of which can be seen by the fact that alien missiles traverse that distance in 0.8 to 1.2 seconds. But it's still progress. A naval priority comes next, as they desire a larger version of the Phoenix engine to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the next round of redesigned Brooklyn/Nimitz warships. The Phoenix 100L is expected to result in a 6-7% gain in fuel efficiency and will be headed up by Shannon Patteson, the best available researcher at the moment.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Early February -- Young Rear Admiral Parker Lanzi has increased his training skill, continuing to develop his abilities in an effort to gain on his superiors sooner rather than later.

Mid-February -- Rear Admiral Mitchell Feeser, the clear choice to be the next long-term navy chief when Besler retires, has continued to work on his operations skills in preparation for that post(35%).

Late March -- A new sensors scientist, Ross Dodge, has moderate ability(10%) and is ready to join the fray.

Early April -- One to watch in the army officer corps is recently commissioned Jordon Roettger, who has both skills and political connections to succeed. At the same time, some 12 officers were dismissed.

Late May -- Power & Propulsion No. 2 Alejandro Otteson has increased to 20% expertise.

Early July -- Burt Stonerock, Governor of Callisto, is suffering a variety of health concerns lately.

Mid-August -- Not resting as retirement approaches, Sr. Admiral Jung Besler announces that logistics abilities have begun to exist(10%).

Early September -- A new star is born in the army. Justin Numbers is considered a savant in terms of battle command, and immediately moves almost to the top of the 'general material' list.

Early October -- A new researcher is available who may well be a significant part of the future. Lena Bohanan(10% CP) also possesses moderate survey skill, and will be in the mix of candidates for any future production-oriented research tasks. Meanwhile, Riley Awad(Governor of Earth) has learned a bit more from running the economy, boosting factory production(25% bonus).


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Mid-August -- Sedna's first expansion in some while brings it up to 30 complexes.

[Brian Swartz]

RETIREMENTS

Chief of the Navy Senior Admiral Jung Besler retires having held that post for four years. The bulk of his career, over two decades, was spent mostly at freighter postings, followed by a decade as an Intelligence and then Public Affairs officer. Anytime the top dog in a branch of service retires it is always a loss and a noteworthy event, but Besler was pretty much a caretaker and not much more -- he won't be missed horribly.

Cmdr. Justin Alltop, expected to take command of one of the Alaska-class bases this year, has been forced out due to extremely poor health. Alltop, 47, still had the potential to make Captain, so this is a major personal disappointment for him but his body has just had it. His biggest achievement was commanding one of the Forrestal stations for almost a decade in the early days of their deployment.

Lt. Cmdrs. Lino Roller, Nickolas Morvant, Weston Upthegrove, Sheila Nuzum, and Cassandra Minch were given age-based forced retirement. Col. Owen Baek met the same fate on the army side of things.

MILITARY CHARACTER UPDATE

Rear Admiral Tell Perj Jr. -- 1st out of 4. This next tour he'll be taking over command of the commercial side of the Navy, which still contains the majority of the ships.
Lt. Cmdr. Chance Perj -- 7th out of 101. The contraction of the Navy keeps him at fuel harvester duty for another tour.

Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. -- 5th out of 10. Unlike his father, Junior appears stalled in terms of his career, and it will be several years before any of those who outrank him retire. He'll remain in charge of one of the construction brigades on Titan, and the work there is of course of considerable note and importance.
Col. Deacon Palmer Jr. -- 22nd out of 51. Garrison duty for another tour, but he's a fair bit more respected than he was last time around.

[Brian Swartz]

Had an unexpected issue come up during the year but just about to the end of it, should have it up this weekend and then we'll get into the election cycle.

[Brian Swartz]

After much thought and consideration, this is now on indefinite hiatus. I'm saving all the files, info, etc. in case I decide to come back to it at some point, but as of right now I don't intend that in the near future.

Thanks everybody for all your contributions. I'm working on ironing out details on a new project that I think will work much better as an interactive venture.

[Tellistto]

Thank you for bringing this game to the attention of the board. I've enjoyed it very much.

It was a fun experience, hope to see you again soon!

Tell

[sterlingice]

Bummer, as it's been fun :(

FWIW: I didn't care as much about the interactive part as the good story.

SI

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks for the kind words, gents. One thing I discovered on this journey is that the interactive part and story walk hand-in-hand -- i.e., the story is much better because of the contributions of the community.

[Brian Swartz]

It's been about five months, but I've decided to start this up again. I spent some quality time with the files to refamiliarize myself. SPACE went through a systematic organization and computerization upgrade -- which is another(technobabble) way of saying I took the time to some overview deleting of obsolete components, task groups, and ship class designs, and more importantly made a master list of components and affecting technologies so I can get prototypes made in an appropriate timeframe. Occasionally I've fallen behind before -- it's gradually grown over time and I don't expect it to grow too much more, but there's presently 16 active ship classes utilizing 31 specifically designed systems derived from 24 distinct technologies. So yeah, organizing it helped keep things focused a bit.

Community participation, both in and out of character, has greatly improved this adventure in the past and I'm hopeful it will do so again. I had stopped at December 1, 2076, so it was a relatively small matter to finish up the rest of the year once all the organizing was done. I've come to the conclusion that while I enjoy doing more interactive types of community projects, my schedule won't allow what that requires. So maybe this kind of story is the best kind of project for me. Regardless, I'm excited to get it going again.


2076 ANNUAL REPORT

Mitchell Feeser is appointed Chief of the Navy as expected. At just 40 years old, he is expected to have a long stay at that position. His first order of business is to formulate the Navy's official positions ahead of the upcoming election. The youth movement continued with Hank Rohrer(31) promoted to Rear Admiral to keep the five active admirals.

The first actual act of Feeser as navy chief was to declare several vessels obsolete and order them to be scrapped. This included both Essex-class survey ships and the GSV Hopeful(grav survey) which were now completely obsolete and haven't been used for anything really in decades, the CS New Beginnings which has never really been needed, the JSC Excelsior(lone remaining member of the Pioneer-class of science vessels), the JS Velociraptor(North Carolina-class commercial jump ship), and the Belknap-class command ship. Some were well-intentioned attempts at filling needs that never really materialized, others have simply outlived their usefulness. Additionally, the Perry-class fuel harvesters were slated to be scrapped over the next few years as the new higher-capacity Long Beach ships replaced them.

On March 12, the first four Long Beach-class harvesters became operational. They then took the six-week-plus journey to Titan, and then over to Saturn where they deployed on April 28. A few days later, the new Phoenix 100L engine was announced to have completed initial testing. The time pressure led to both a skill increase and medical problems for Dr. Shannon Patteson. SPACE now has two significant choices to make: 1) Redesign specs for the Nimitz and 2) What to do with the 6 million research staff now available for new assignments.

It was decided to build another of the current Brooklyn '72 class, waiting until current research on the next generation of beam weaponry is complete before updating that design. The new Nimitz '76 compares as follows to the original:

Size: 10.3kt(26% smaller)
Speed: 2439 km/s(almost identical)
Crew: 273(27% less, a full 100 saved)
Weaponry: 1 CIWS anti-missile battery, 4 Defender Missile launchers(1 launcher fewer; CIWS has 50% greater tracking speed)
Armor: 3 layers High-Density Duranium armor(same protection of more bulky standard duranium armor on the original)
Cost: 1.62m(14% cheaper)
Build Time: 1.9 years(actually a month and a half longer here)

In short, the new Nimitz is smaller, cheaper, can 'see' better, and has less firepower. The Navy intends to continue the trend of downsizing, preferring multiple modest-capability ships over a few huge ones. They also saw a definite need for some new prototypes: A couple more size variations on the Phoenix engine, and a smaller missile magazine.

On June 20, the final three brigades arrive at Titan, and the crews of their transports will take an extended and much-deserved break now after their long journey. It is still expected to take another four years, until sometime at the beginning of next decade, before the base there is completed.

The fall brought another development of major significance: November 5th it was announced that after over a decade, the longest by far invested in any research project, the new and improved geological sensors were ready. This is a big step towards being ready for the Fox Plan, possessing the ability to scan from orbit for signs of past alien civilizations on a body. The next step, probably not ready for a couple years, is finishing the new jump drives.

Just a couple weeks later, word reached SPACE HQ of problems on the Tennessee-class base on Triton. It seems that the staid and stale atmosphere of the missile base is not providing all of the amenities the crewmen need and morale is being significantly affected. Human nature being what it is, they are not robots and diversions are needed. SPACE has only one real option, a recreational ship being that option and the purpose of the new New York-class Luxury Liner. It is considered theoretically possible that a semi-permanent population, housed in what in effect would be 'mobile space stations', could potentially be built and transported to remote mining colonies ... but for now that is a mere speculatory conjecture.

The specs of the new design:

Size: 122.2kt
Crew: 1237
Top Speed: 347 km/s
Range: 23.8b km
Fuel Load: 1m liters
Defenses: 13 CIWS batteries
Cost: 3.56m(21.5 mo.)

They're not small, and they're not cheap. Essentially floating amusement parks with casinos, entertainment(both wholesome and not), the concept is not expected to be politically popular, but it is considered a necessity.

It is also a problem which will get worse before it gets better, as it will take some time to get any into service. The Tod & MacGregor is the only shipyard large enough to handle them, and the cost to retool, then eventually retool back to the South Carolina, will not be a small matter. Try on 3.2 million credits just to get the shipyard ready. But there is little choice. If defending outlying colonies is a necessity, then providing those charged with manning the defenses with what is needed to perform their duty efficiently is also a necessity. The first New York is not expected to be ready until just about the end of the decade(late 2079/early 2080), by which time circumstances on the remote colonies are expected to be rather dire.

The lack of foresight here, esp. on the part of the Navy, could hardly have come at a worse time with the election just weeks away ...

On December 1st, the initial boat of the new Forrestal IIIs heads out to the Lalande 21185 jump point.

The changes in the Navy definitely headlined 2076. A new chief began the year in Mitchell Feeser, obsolete ships were scrapped, the first Long-Beach harvesters and Forrestal III upgrade to sensor ships were deployed, and of course two new major designs in the Nimitz '76 missile ship and the New York Luxury Liner. The new sensors also brought the Fox Plan one step closer to fruition.


Leadership Personnel

Early January -- Rear Admiral Tell Perj Jr. has increased his crew training to very good 250. This should enable him to fight off a positional challenge from Rear Admiral Ali Mandujano. Also, a fabulous new candidate in the army corps(Gil Milstead) has been found to possess high-level ability both in political contacts and combat command abilities. Milstead is also an espionage genius and has some diplomatic skill.

Mid-April -- With all the extra attention being drawn to the Phoenix engine, project lead Shannon Patteson takes maximum advantadge, upping to 40% skill. Meanwhile, Director Duling irrelevantly increases his terraforming skill to an agency-high 30%.

Late April -- Rear Admiral Hank Rohrer is up to 225 training, putting him on more equal terms with other admirals.

Early May -- The early returns are that Alberto Eighmy's chances of returning to the Director's Office are improving(45% political reliability).

Mid-May -- Tell Perj Jr. increases operations to 10%.

Early June -- With the amount of research currently being done in the field, you can never have enough sensors scientists. The latest is Irma Bartlebaugh, 10% skill, 20% Xenology.

Late June -- Dr. Mike Minaya of the nigh-irrelevant Biology & Genetics field increases his skills to 40%.

Mid-December -- A couple of mid-level administrators, Weston and Kaczor, have improved their knowledge of factory efficiency. This might even matter if we had factories anywhere but Earth, or a good reason to build such.

December 21 -- A notable new administrator has joined the fray, Ronald Waxman. He has excellent skills in mining and notable secondary abilities in factory production. Could be a good one in time, but should be at least decent right away.



Research & Development

** January 19 -- Wayne Sabagh's team completes Meson Focusing 3. Dr. Sabagh is another of the original members of the research team from SPACE's founding, and he retires now having been a promising energy weapons researcher but never really got much better. He had a moderately successful career of decreasing importance as time went on.

Prototyping the new meson cannon will now be led by Mike Minaya.

** March 4 -- The latest in active sensors is completed(GEI SSS 128) by Billie Allington's team. The space will diverted to speeding up completion of the new engine, the only thing that remains to be finalized before the next generation of redesigns are ready.

** March 8 -- Magazine Feed Systems have been improved(Harlan Welle, 80% efficiency).

** May 3 -- With the completion of the Phoenix 100L engine, a number of changes were made and most of the waiting prototypes received lab space, taking up five of the six available labs. The final lab went to Allington, who will begin laying the groundwork for the next generation of active sensors, though she will undoubtedly pass that work on to a more experienced scientist once more resources are made available for the project. These developments upped the number of ongoing studies to a record two dozen.

** July 18 -- Karabishi Juishao completes the first missile engine, and begins the prototype phase for the standard Defender III.

** September 16 -- Minh Klausner's team has completed the second new-gen laser.

** December 9 -- 12cm Microwave Research completed(Eva Vadnais). Next up is extending laser wavelengths into the ultraviolet spectrum, one lab for now and she'll need another when one becomes available.

** December 12 -- SPPI NP-35 missile engine prototype finished(Elliot Monks). This allows the final prototype for the slower, higher-payload Defender '76 P missile to be prepared. For now Dr. Vadnais claims the lab for her laser work, and she'll need a third eventually.



Earth

Early February -- Construction begins on the Forrestal III sensor boats. At about three and a half months per Forrestal, replacing the current fleet is expected to take a little over a year with all four slipways at the KSEC Shipyard operating.

Late May -- The newest naval shipyard begins expansion operations, and is named Permanant.


Colonial News

December 28 -- Sedna grows again. There are now 31 mining complexes there. Still almost 63 years of duranium at current production levels, but that clock continues to tick.

[Tellistto]

Very cool to see this back, Brian! I'm still around and looking forward to more!

I need to get back into playing this game. Always have enjoyed it since you brought it to the attention of the board.

Thanks!

Tell

[Brian Swartz]

Glad you're back on board!

STATE OF SPACE, 2077

I. IMPERIAL HOLDINGS

IA. Populated Colonies

Earth(1.483b, 500 CF, 50 OF, 75 REF, 40 RL, 4 AC, 3 GFT, 5 DSTS, 15.2k MF, 1 SP, 1 SC, 4x Alaska MB)
Mars(54.63m, Tennessee MB)
Luna(49.24m, Tennessee MB)
Titan(17.32m, 1 DSTS)
Mercury(12.64m)
Venus(11.74m)
Io(110k)
Europa(110k)
Ganymede(110k)
Callisto(110k)

The inner-system colonies continue to grow, while there is virtual stagnation in the outer system. Titan was the only one to grow(by a mere 300k), for a total of just 1.7% growth in the outer system. Meanwhile the population of Mercury nearly doubled, leapfrogging Venus as now the 4th most-populous colony. Nearly 9% of humanity, over 146 million of us, now lives somewhere other than earth. Less than 20 million, or 9% of that 9%, lives in the outer system and nearly all of that small fraction is on Titan. Meanwhile, shipyard operations has surpassed construction factory work with more than 25 million employed as the #2 TN employer behind research at 40 million.

IB. Outposts

Sedna(31 CMC, 16 eff, 8.59 kt)
Triton(63 AM, 26.7 eff, 2.65 kt) -- mercassium(9.0)
Earth(50 SM, 6.3 eff, 546 t)
Reinmuth(33.8 AM, 37 eff, 2.27 kt) -- gallicite(2.2)
Stephan-Oterma(28 AM, 40 eff, 1.94 kt) -- neutronium(0.5), gallicite(7.6)
Halley's Comet(28 AM, 51 eff, 2.25 kt) -- sorium(2.6), gallicite(6.1)
Machholz(27.6 AM, 24 eff, 1.15 kt)
Neujmin(25.8 AM, 34 eff, 1.52 kt)
Titan(25 SM, 6 eff, 378 t)
Faye(25 AM, 41 eff, 1.78 kt) -- uridium(3.7), corundium(5.1)
Comas Sola(25 AM, 36 eff, 1.49 kt) -- sorium(1.8), boronide(8.0)
Schaumasse(21.8 AM, 36 eff, 1.24 kt)
Crommelin(20.4 AM, 35 eff, 1.12 kt) -- corbomite(1.9)
Borrelly(17.8 AM, 49 eff, 1.37 kt)
Wolf-Harrington(17.8 AM, 50 eff, 1.4 kt) -- corundium(1.4)
Callisto(10 SM, 6 eff, 11 t) --
Van Biesbroeck(10 AM, 55 eff, 865 t)
Prokne(10 AM, 10 eff, 165 t)
Wolf(8 AM, 26 eff, 327 t)
Wild(8 AM, 34 eff, 428 t)

Total Production: 31.49 kt, +9.7%. A near-reversal over the last four years, buoyed by the mines being sent to Halley's Comet. It is still just a hair(a mere 150 tons) off the peak back in '69. Neutronium remains the top concern in the short term, and Stephan-Oterma will run out in months. Corundium, sorium, and gallicite will all see multiple deposits dry up in the next several years, but it is not expected to place any strain as those are all minerals will plenty in the stockpile -- for now.

IC. Mineral Stockpiles & Production

Tier A(rare usage): Vendarite(56 kt), Corbomite(53 kt), Tritanium(45 kt), Sorium(40 kt)

Tritanium moves into the lowest tier as it's seen very little use of late, and the gradually increasing amount of sorium as well for the same reason.

Tier B(some usage, but a good stockpile): Uridium(97 kt), Boronide(44 kt), Gallicite(39 kt), Mercassium(24 kt)

Two significant concerns here are gallicite, which declined slightly, has a number of sources drying up soon, and will see pretty much constant need for use in missiles. Increasing that amount against a time of war would be preferred, but is not possible right now and that could be a problem. Mercassium stockpiles shrunk by 3kt and that may well continue also with Triton's contribution shrinking with each passing year. Vital to the research laboratories, it could well become a bigger priority next time around.

Tier C(major usage, needs close watching/ under 20 kt): Duranium(16.4 kt), Corundium(16.1 kt)

A slight 600-ton decline in duranium, which looks to be pretty stable. Corundium continues to gradually increase and while the number of sources will shrink soon, there's enough to last quite a while and tapping superdistant comet Ikeya-Zang(incoming at 12.5b km) will likely become an option well before it runs out.

Tier D(major usage, economic growth limiter): Neutronium(9.25 kt)

Although it is up sharply over the period(+3.32 kt), neutronium is now on the decline again mostly due to the incredibly expensive operations of the larger shipyards. Continued investment in Halley's Comet to counteract this is expected.


ID. Income

Taxes(population): 43.5 m
Taxes(civ. shipping): 5.31 m
Taxes(civ. tourism): 5.09 m
Scrap Sales: 567 k
Taxes(civ. fuel): 153 k

Total: 54.67 m(+28.3%)

Balance: 689 m(+70 m)

Tourism is up sharply, double the numbers this year as compared to four years ago. Taxes continue to come in increased amounts from the colonies.

IE. Expenses

Shipbuilding: 10.37m
Research: 9.42m
Mineral Purchases: 7.50m
Installation Construction: 7.00m
Shipyard Operations: 2.53m
Maintenance Facilities: 544k
GU Maintenance: 464k
GU Training: 250k
PDC Construction: 63k

Total: 38.13m(+33.0%)

Shipyard operations are expected to rise considerably in the next couple of years, and for the second straight cycle expenses have risen faster than income. Still a profit of better than 15m per year though, so nothing to be concerned about yet.

II. SHIPYARDS

IIA. Commercial Yards

Tod & MacGregor(2 slipways, 166 kt capacity)
** Emergency re-tool for the New York class is underway but less than 9% complete. March of '78 is the expected timeframe, so it'll be a while.
P&A Group(4, 80.2 kt)
** Building the second of six planned quartet of Long Beach-class fuel harvesters. This yard will be busy with the for quite some time, at the end of which fuel concerns could be largely a thing of the past
Estalerios Navais(2, 73.8 kt)
** Expanding capacity for a while to reach at least 125kt so it can be used for the New York or similar size vessels.
Oregon Shipbuilding(1, 50.7 kt)
** Idle. Set at a decent size now to be used for a variety of potential things.
Vickers-Armstrong(4, 10 kt)
** Idle. Used for the Lexington-class shuttles.

IIB. Naval Yards

Wartsila(1, 17.6 kt)
** Retooling for the Nimitz '76(second-gen missile ship). Expected to complete around the end of next March.
Yokohama Dock Co.(1, 15.2 kt)
** Building Brooklyn '72(Beam-armed gunship). Completion expected in spring of '78.
Baltimore Marine(2, 12.2 kt)
** Idle
KSEC(4, 1 kt)
** Idle. Used exclusively for the Forrestal sensor ships.

III. ARMY TRAINING FACILITIES

IIIA. Earth

** Three active training facilities
** Brigade HQ expected to finish in March. The other two are idle.

IV. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

IVA. Earth

Research Lab(33%) -- June 2077
Naval Shipyard(25%) -- June 2077
Commercial Shipyard(15%) -- February 2077
Mine Conversions(standard to automated, 15%) -- 8-9 annually
Mine Construction(12%) -- 8-9 annually

V. ACTIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS

** Reduced-Size Missile Launchers(Elyse Buckler) -- January 6 2077
** Composite Armor(Edward Groat) -- Mid-January 2077
** Defender '76 Missile(Karabishi Juishao) -- Mid-February 2077
** Small-size Defender Anti-Ship MIssile Magazine(Garland Sidhom) -- May 2077
** Medium-size Defender Anti-Ship Missile Magazine(Harlan Welle) -- May/June 2077
** Phoenix Engine, 300t variant(Clint Wyche) -- October/November 2077
** Assault Infantry Battalion(Cedrick Wormack) -- Winter/Spring 2078
** Ground Unit Strength(Alphonse Lambeth) -- Spring 2078
** Phoenix Engine, 400t variant(Shannon Patteson) -- Summer 2078
** Reactor Power(Alejandro Ottenson) -- Summer 2078
** MJD 46-4b, Military Jump Drive for use in the Fox Plan(Curtis Gloster) -- Summer/Fall 2078
** Thermal Sensor Strength(Elwood Tousant) -- Fall/Winter 2078
** Turret Tracking Speed(Joe Tycho) -- Winter 2078/79
** Fuel Efficiency(Rosemary Urenda) -- 1Q 2079
** Electronic Hardening(Ross Dodge) -- 1Q 2079
** WT Excalibur 135 Meson Turret(Mike Minaya) -- 3Q 2079
** EM Sensor Strength(Julio Kuchler) -- 3Q/4Q 2079
** Active Grav Sensor Strength(Bessie Wallander) -- Late 2080
** Ultraviolet Lasers(Eva Vadnais) -- 2081/82
** Minimal-power Efficiency Engines(David Gruis) -- Mid-2080s
** Jump Drive Minimal Size Theory(Reynaldo Darrington) -- Late 2080s

21 current projects which is fairly typical for the way things have gone with a peak of 24 about a year ago. Seven are prototypes though. The actual amount of general research going on at any one time has not increased that much. More prototypes, more individually expensive, are needed all the time.

As an extreme example, a little while back SPACE looked into the requirements for a jump drive capable of propelling one of the South Carolina-class superfreighters. The prototype phase alone would require billions of manhours. It was expected to be more costly than advancing general jump drive knowledge, which would allow a cheaper, more efficient drive to be produced, and so the idea was scrapped since we don't need such a drive yet. But this is the direction in which research is going. Current expectations are that in a couple decades, we may well be in a situation where more of the development budget is spent on specific application systems than on general advancements.

VI. ACTIVE NAVAL ASSETS

VI A. Military Bases

Alaska(4, 59.45 kt, 1020 crew, major missile base)
Tennessee(2, 13.3 kt, 254 crew, missile base + sensors)
Tennessee(Lt)(2, 12.1 kt, 214 crew, missile base)
PDC Ticonderoga(4, 3.0kt, 16 crew, sensor base)

Total: 12 installations(+50%), 300.6 kt(+104%), 5,080 crew(+101%)

VI B. Combat Ships

MB Nimitz(3, 13.95 kt, 373 crew, 2437 km/s, 1.75m fuel, missile-armed)
GB Brooklyn '72(1, 13.45 kt, 356 crew, 2379 km/s, 1.75 m fuel, beam-armed)

Total: 4 ship, 55.3 kt, 1,475 crew, 7m fuel

Up from just one last time. Slowly but surely, a ramshackle navy is forming.

VI C. Military Non-combat Ships

MV Cleveland(2, 2.1 kt, 30 crew, 2380 km/s, 100k fuel, supply ship)
SB Forrestal IIb(8, 600t, 13 crew, 4k km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
SB Forrestal III(9, 650t, 14 crew, 3692 km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
CO Tarawa(2, 6.4 kt, 85 crew, 781 km/s, 250k fuel, supply ship)

Total: 21 ships, 27.65 kt(-17%), 460 crew(-32%), 1.55m fuel(-29%)

The big stories here are the scrapping and deleting of obsolete classes and the transition to the third-gen Forrestals. Overall this had lead to a smaller, but still a bit more effective MNC branch. It will shrink a little further once all of the old Forrestals are replaced.

VI D. Commercial Vessels

TT Arleigh Burke(4, 17.8 kt, 136 crew, 563 km/s, 350k fuel, brigade troop transport)
FT Fletcher IV(2, 36.9 kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVb(2, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVc(4, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter )
TK Iowa(2, 9.8 kt, 53 crew, 1.02k km/s, 6m fuel, fuel tanker)
ST Lexington IIId(27, 2.0 kt, 28 crew, 2500 km/s, 250k fuel, shuttle transport)
FH Long Beach(4, 79.1 kt, 411 crew, 379 km/s, 1.5m fuel, fuel harvester)
FH Perry III(17, 20.1 kt, 123 crew, 498 km/s, 350k fuel, fuel harvester)
TT Portland(2, 4.3 kt, 35 crew, 581 km/s, 60k fuel, troop transport)
FT South Carolina(4, 164.6 kt, 531 crew, 607 km/s, 2.15m fuel, superfreighter)

Total: 68 vessels(+4.6%), 1.77 mt(+95%), 8,631 crew(+55%), 45m liters fuel(+38%)

A few classes went the way of all flesh here, but the Long Beach and South Carolina were added. The official commercial fleet doesn't have many more ships in it, but it's a lot bigger in size.

Grand Total: 105 assets(+11%), 2.15 mt(+95%), 15.6k crew(+70%), 53.6m liters fuel(+45%)

The total tonnage of Naval assets nearly doubled in the last four years, and the Long Beach harvesters will ensure that it continues to rise. Enlisted personnel have quadrupled in the past decade, and there is now more fuel in ships in service than there is in reserve. A temporary situation.

Available Crew: 127k(+21%)

VI E. Fuel Status

Earth -- 10.6m liters
Titan -- 16.0m
Callisto -- 5.2m

Total -- 31.8m liters(-23%). The first reserve decline in memory, but it's largely due to the amount put into the new massive commercial ships. This should reverse itself once the Long Beach constructions are finished.

VII. ACTIVE ARMY ASSETS

** Brigade HQs(4)
** Construction Brigades(7)
** Mobile Infantry Battalions(10)
** Garrison Battalion(34)

Total Active-Duty Soldiers: 364k(+9%)

** Note: last report's calculation was wrong, incorrectly listing the number as 380k instead of 333k

The available officer corps remains nearly at full employment.

VIII. CIVILIAN SHIPPING CORPORATIONS

Voliva Carrier Company(57 vessels, 4.94m annual income)
Jensrud Transport and Trading(36, 3.13m)
Tolles Transport & Logistics(13, 1.9m)
Everton Shipping & Logistics(3, 430k)
Ouellet Shipping(3, 160k)
Suter Shipping Services(2, 110k)
Presnar Freight(2, 60k)
Clavette Shipping Line(2, 100k)
Abair Shipping(1, --)
Forbus Carrier Ltd(1, --)

Total Vessels: 117(+18%)
Total Civilian Income: 10.83m(+50%)

Competition has never been healthier in the civilian sector. The 'big two' of Voliva and Jensrud now appear to have a legitimate third wheel in the form of Tolles Transport & Logistics. Voliva expanded their operations by nearly 50%, yet this was only enough to retain a 45 market share.

IX. SPACE LEADERSHIP PROSPECTUS

** Naval Officers: 122 of 165 assigned(73.9%), +1.1%
** Ground Forces Officers: 61 of 67(91.0%), +1.2%
** Civilian Administrators: 28 of 34(82.4%), -10.7%
** Scientists: 21 of 36(58.3%), -2.3%

Overall: 232 of 302(76.8%), -0.4%

The employment picture here has held steady now for over a decade.

[Brian Swartz]

RETIREMENTS

It is expected that Dr. Edward Groat, 68 and in failing health, who pretty much wrote the book on what we know in Defensive Systems(better armour materials, reduced thermal emissions, etc.) will retire in a couple of weeks when he presents his report on the newest armour upgrade to Composite materials. There are number of others who are in their early 60s but it will probably be at least five years, another research cycle from now, before any of them need to seriously consider being put out to pasture.

Political administration is a different story this time around. The list of retirees is significant and distinguished.

** Jarrett Hugh, currently serving as Governor of Venus, was a candidate in the last three directorial elections, with his best finish a distant second to Rakes in 2061. He served for nearly a half-century on important mining comet outposts early in his career, important colonies later as expansion into the system ramped up, including a couple of tours on Luna. He's been an important if not household figure in SPACE politics for the past couple of decades, and over time developed a well-rounded skill set that served humanity well.

** Damian Ackley has somewhat of a backwater station as Governor of Jupiter moon Europa, but he's seen better times. Back in the comet-mining rush of the 50s, he was in charge of Machholz during its heyday when it was the most important of those outposts, served on Van Biesbroeck as well when operations where expanded there, and more recently has been Governor at Venus, Ganymede, and the crucial mining outpost on distant Triton. He was involved in three elections, finishing third in '45 early in his career, but never developed the management skills required to handle the larger responsibilities of director as SPACE grew. This meant that his best skills(factory production and population growth) went largely wasted.

** Johnna Villicana will be missed far less. She was a paper-pushing beauracrat until the last decade, spending one tour on Venus from 65-69 and minor mining outposts the last couple of cycles.

** Finally, there was the matter of unquestionably the greatest politician SPACE has seen, 5-time director Herbert Duling. He was expected to seek one more term, but there was a lot of speculation as to whether the 63-year-old would want to go through another four years. With the recent New York fiasco weighing on his mind as well as the need to turn over the implementation of the Fox Plan to the next generation, he decided to forgo a chance at a sixth term and retire from public life.

Duling led the way during each of the most vital moments in SPACE's development over the first half-century. The mineral crises in the 30s, the Epsilon Eridani crisis in the 50s, the 50-year celebration and subsequent forming of the basics of the Fox Plan in the 70s -- all were accomplished under his leadership. It is not an exaggeration to say humanity might well have fallen into anarchy and internal conflict again without him. Time passes all of us by, no matter how much we wish to ignore or deny our own mortality. And so it is time now in 2077 for humanity to say a fond farewell to it's greatest statesman, and face an uncertain but brightening future under new leadership.

2077 ELECTION

There are only two people with the skills to approach Duling's political command and wide-ranging abilities. Alberto Eighmy, director two cycles ago from 69-73, continues to be in poor health and is not an optimal choice. The second is not a choice as all: Delois Woznicki continues to be relegated to backwaters as a result of her continued failure to learn how to manage larger-scale concerns. At 48, it is unexpected that she will ever learn, a waste of impressive talent.

As a result of all this it was the largest field seen since the early days of SPACE when everybody was thrown into the pool. What is lacking in great leaders will have to be made up for in an increased number of 'pretty good' administrators. This despite the fact that the requirements are now higher: a level 5(out of 6) is required for the position of Director, level 4 for Earth's Governor.

When all was said and done, Eighmy and the still-energetic India Rakes, both former directors, headed a field of nine candidates. The best long-shot was current Earth Governor Riley Awad. Rakes ran one of the best campaigns of her career, and far better than any of the current contenders to pull off a moderate upset over Eighmy. Full results:

India Rakes -- 20.8%
Alberto Eighmy -- 17.2%
Larry Steckel -- 15.3%
Riley Awad -- 11.0%
James Earl Jones V -- 10.5%
Burt Stonerock -- 8.8%
Russell Salvucci -- 6.5%
Carroll Westcott -- 5.6%
Francesco Alborn -- 4.3%

It was a disappointing showing for Awad.

POLICY REVIEW

India Rakes most recently occupied the Office of the Director from 61-65; this is her fourth term. As she is 60, it will also be her last. A good way to go out, and it allows her to have an unusually unrestrained approach. There are not a lot of major issues though, right now it's mostly a waiting game.

Rakes does implement one notable change. A new high-powered military thruster is ordered to pave the way for the Caldwell class of shuttles, intended to replace the Lexington and be a smaller, more secure transport for VIPs. Continued focus on mining and naval shipyards to support the Fox Plan is anticipated on the domestic front.

[sterlingice]

Glad to see this back. I guess I have to go back to checking the Dynasty Reports forum again. As always, have loved the idea and the storytelling is well done.

SI

[Brian Swartz]

CIVILIAN CHARACTER UPDATE

James Earl Jones V(6) -- A 5th-place finish in the election earns him a spot on Titan, a definite improvement over his current posting on distant Sedna. Like Director Rakes, he is 60 years old, so this will be his final tour. It's a better posting than most he's had over the years.

Joe Tycho(EW 65) -- He'll be occupied with his turret tracking speed project for the next couple of years. After that, the 57-year-old Tycho is expected to be forced into retirement by his continually declining health.

[Brian Swartz]

2077 ANNUAL REPORT

Starting off the year SPACE absorbed a significant but not catastrophic loss, helped by the fact that it was expected. On January 12th Edward Groat's team finished the new Composite Armour and he announced his retirement. Engineering analysis indicates that only the combat ships will benefit sufficiently from this new material: the new missile ship was altered, named the Nimitz '76c, and will be able to carry a third more protection with the compressed material in the same space, at a negligible increase in cost and construction time. The commercial sector would see only very marginal improvement, not worth the hassle and cost of refits.

Dr. Groat retires having written the book pretty much single-handedly on defensive systems knowledge. His career spanned almost 50 years, and laid the groundwork for a navy that can have significant capabilities in damage absorption(three progressively better armour materials) and stealth(reduction of thermal signatures of our engines by nearly two-thirds).

Near the end of the month, a sixth commercial shipyard(Howaldswerke/Deutsch Werft, or simply abbreviated HDW in most settings) was finished. The most significant part of this was the transfer of factory capacity to increasing automine production. February saw the latest naval golden child, Emile Jeffcoat, celebrated as he graduated the academy.

In March a new brigade HQ was finished, ready for transport to Titan when the Alaska base there is finished, and mid-month the first Nimitz '76c began construction at the Wartsila shipyard. Then in April eight officers were cut loose by the navy and their newest shipyard, Niehuis van den Berg, was put into service. May brought the lauch of the second quartet of Long Beach second-generation fuel harvesters, and the Army celebrated a new star(Col. Romona Bosh).

So most of the year went, smoothly with noteworthy happenings on virtually all fronts but nothing to really hang your hat on as big news. Small, steady progression. July proved a bit more important, with neutronium running out on Stephan-Oterma(already down 750t this year), and Earth crossing the 1.5b barrier in population. That's triple what it was 52+ years ago at the founding of space, yet not a quarter of it's peak.

After a quiet-ish summer, 22-year-old Gil Milstead made headlines as he was promoted to Brigadier General. Official observers consider him the best officer even at that rank and favorite over Maj. Gen. Wyatt Pittman, presently twice Milstead's age, to take over the Army when Engelhardt retires. Such things are sterile conjecture at this point though, as that is not expected to happen for several years, and many things can change. He's off to a fantastic start though.

In November, things came to a head with the mining operation on Halley's Comet. Despite the concerted efforts, it's clear that the comet will need to take another 'loop' around the Sun -- in this case requiring 75 years for a full journey -- to extract all of it's mercassium, the most plenteous vital mineral. With the deployment of the 41st automine at the start of the month, MRD made the estimate that at current rates it would be exhausted around the time it returns in just over 80 years(finishing the current approach and taking one more complete 'loop'). All other minerals will be finished in less than half that time, and the 41 mines makes it the third-largest outpost, tops among comets by a fair margin. 3.3kt combined is the current mining rate, though that will drop significantly in short order with the depletion of small sorium and gallicite deposits.

For over four years Halley has been the sole target of automine production, leaving the question of what next? At the moment neutronium is the top concern, but any location that offered that in combination with duranium or mercassium was a top priority for new or expanded operations.

Neujmin has a lot of neutronium, but duranium will be exhausted there in about a decade. A little longer, and the neutronium on Faye will be gone, so those options would be of limited use. Wolf-Harrington was rejected for similar reasons. Borrelly(18 automines, over 160 years worth of neutronium and mercassium and 50+ of duranium at current extraction rates) proved a much more profitable target. Others such as Swift-Tuttle and Herschel-Rigolet were too distant, while the very rich neutronium deposits on Reinmuth would yield little else of value ...

Borrelly was the clear choice, and the decision was made to pump up investment there to around the same level as Halley, about 40 automines or a little over double the current level. This will take only about a couple of years, and should help shore up our biggest needs. Thankfully Borrelly is never more than about a two-week journey from Earth at it's greatest solar distance of less than 900m km.

Just before Christmas, another naval shipyard and the last expected to be needed for now was finished. Archaicly and simply named the International, it will add a second slipway, intended also for use in the Fox Plan for small survey/support vessels as was the one completed earlier in the year. The re-allocation of the factory space would prove far more newsworthy in some quarters ....

2077 didn't have any huge developments. Probably the biggest stories were the development of the Composite Armour, Dr. Groat's subsequent retirement, and the switch in mining expansion from Halley to Borrelly. But there were developments all across SPACE, from steady expansion of civilian operations in the system, new shipyards coming on-line, new ships and shipyard expansions, key personnel joining the leadership teams in all branches including the replacement in terms of numbers of the administrative retirees, a few new systems being prototyped by the research teams, etc. The public of course mainly remains focused on the morale oversights on the outsystem bases leading to the exorbitant expenses required for the New York project, as well as all manner of debate, criticism, and demand for more information relating to the Fox Plan. Director Rakes has said only that the New York is an unfortunate necessity, and that once the new jump drive is ready next year, the Fox Plan will move forward at that point ...


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** January 5 -- Elyse Buckler's team completes reduced-size missile launchers(75% size, but double the reload time). At the moment SPACE does not consider this to be a particularly important development, as present naval doctrine favors multiple launches and more missile capacity per ship over lower capacity and a larger 'alpha strike'. Buckler, a young and thus far very unimpressive project lead, learned nothing but she'll get another chance with the Defender '76 P high-yield missile prototype.

** January 12 -- Edward Groat's team finishes the new Composite Armour. This should improve the ability of all our ships to withstand alien weapons down the line, though only military ships will get the treatment: it's not enough of an improvement to make the commercial ships significantly more efficient. A new Nimitz, the Nimitz '76c, is recommended with this superior material. It can carry a four feet of armour instead of the previous three while maintaining exactly the same size. This change increases the cost by a little over 40m, but that's only about 1.3% on a 1.6b+ warship. Survivability is worth a lot more than that.

Dr. Billie Allington commandeers one lab for use in the JPS NP-42t, the new thrusters required for the planned miniaturized Caldwell shuttles. Eva Vadnais finally gets the third lab she's needed for her laser work, and for the third one all of the big projects are in need of a major project lead(all occupied). Modesto Huch takes one to begin work on a smaller, company-sized troop transport bay. Such things will hopefully not be needed for decades, and this project may well be suspended before long for many years, but the space should not go to waste.

** February 15 -- The standard Defender 76 missile prototype is finished and the ordnance factories are fired up again. Karabishi Juishao's next project is improving reload rates of the missile launchers, and she'll use two labs, one taken from Huch's work on troop transport bays which now is sidelined as anticipated.

** May 14 -- Garland Sidhom's team finishes HMI 16, the smaller of the new missile magazines. Huch gets some more time to work on the Small Troop Transport Bays, which he only was able to get about 2% finished earlier in the year. Within a couple days a new research lab is finished, and another 'make-work' training project is assigned. This one goes to talented young Eliot Monks(Defensive Systems). He'll work on improving shield technology.

** June 5 -- Harlan Welle completes HMI 25, the second and larger of the new magazine blueprints. His next task is improving Magazine Ejection Systems, which will again require only a single laboratory.

** October 25 -- Clint Wyche completes Phoenix 60L, a 300-ton military engine. He's got enough skill and clout by now to demand investment in a project in his field, the only one of which is improving terraforming(since cloning/genetic mutation are banned). The 'make-work/training' projects directed by Huchs and Monk are put on hold to free up a total of three labs for Wyche, which will suffice for his current needs.



EARTH

January 27 -- The latest commercial shipyard, Howaldtswerke /Deutsch Werft, is finished. It will expand until it gets to a reasonable size, probably at least 40kt or so. Progress can now be accelerated on the naval shipyard and, of more immediate value, expanding mine production operations. With a little over a third of Earth's TN factories devoted to that goal, they can now turn out a new one in less than four weeks time.

March 1 -- A new brigade HQ is finished, which will serve as the command HQ on Titan once the Alaska base is finished there.

March 15 -- Wartsila is ready for the new Nimitz '76c. Construction begins and is the first is expected to finish in late 2078.

Late April -- The new naval yard Neihuis and Van Den Berg is finished. Another yard is begun and Neihuis will add a second slipway. These are intended for use for the small survey and other utility vessels that will be required by the Fox Plan.

May 9 -- Second quartet of Long Beach harvesters finished.

Early July -- Population breaks the 1.5b barrier.

Late December -- The most recent, and for now final, shipyard is finished(the International)


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

February 15 -- The latest naval prodigy, Lt. Cmdr. Emile Jeffcoat, has graduated the academy. Very high marks in crew training and notable survey skill to go with it. In the current environment he's better right now than 90% of those who are at Commander rank, it's just a question of how long he waits to get his chance.

April 12 -- The Navy cuts eight officers.

Late April -- Long incompetent power & propulsion scientist David Gruis has finally managed to have light dawn on his marble head, and is up to a 15% bonus now. A long ways to go but at least he's marginally useful.

Mid-May -- Col. Romona Bosh is commissioned, one to watch as she has considerable talent in commanding ground forces.

June 3 -- Carl McCloe joins the civilian beauracracy, and he's better than most who have come out of the academy in recent years. He can manage anything short of the director's post itself and has mostly useless skills, primarily terraforming and diplomacy.

Late June -- Jerry Bartholf(Power and Propulsion 10%) is our latest researcher. That's going to be a crucial field for decades, so this arrival is pleasing.

June 28 -- Lt. Cmdr. Emile Jeffcoat has progressed further in his training skill(200), certainly not resting on his laurels.

Mid-July -- Logistics & Ground Combat researcher Alphonse Lambeth, still with most of his career hopefully ahead of him at 36, has improved to a 35% bonus. When Cedrick Wormack retires, which is expected to happen soon, he'll become the top man in that field.

Late July -- A couple of key developments in the beauracratic ranks. Mid-level Carol Westcott has made some new friends(20% political reliability) in an effort to force her way higher, and little-known Horacio Hufton, governor of the comet Crommelin, has been forced to retire early due to health concerns. Carl McCloe is appointed as his emergency, interim replacement. Fortunately it's close by at the moment, merely a three-day journey to approximately Jupiter orbit. He officially takes office two months to the day after graduated the Academy -- one could not ask for much better than that.

Mid-August -- Riley Awad increases his Factory Production skill bonus to 30%. That would have helped while he was Governor of Earth, but now that he's on the moon it doesn't do a whole heaping lot of good. No factories there, a little late to the party buddy.

Mid-September -- Col. Gil Milstead, just 22, is promoted to Brigadier General.

Late October -- Gordon Semien joins the civilian corps, and he has a couple of notable skills. Administratively he could handle the Director's job, and he also has solid abilities in population growth and factory production. A good man to have around.

Mid-November -- Douglas Greer joins the growing logjam of low-level scientists in Defensive Systems.

December 14 -- Lambeth strikes again, up to 40% now. He's on a roll this year!

Mid-December -- Merry Murray joins the civilian beauracracy. Decent administrator, majoring in wealth creation which is not exactly an area of need as the budgetary reports have always shown.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Early July -- Neutronium supplies have been exhausted on Stephan-Oterma. With more than a generation's worth of duranium and sorium still on the comet, it's unlikely to see a major draw-down in investment(currently the third-largest comet operation with 28 automines) in the near future.

November 1 -- Automine deployment switched from Halley's Comet to Borrelly.

[Brian Swartz]

RETIREMENTS

** Rear Admiral Tell Perj Jr., the navy's second-in-command, has decided to step aside at age 59. He spent 28 years as a Commander, during which he saw action on most classes of ship SPACE has operated, many now obsolete. Sensor vessels, freighters, geosurvey ships back in the Sol mining rush, fuel harvesters, command ships, the list goes on and on. It looked for a long time that he would never exceed that rank, but he had a late-career resurgence and spent four years as Logistics Officer for the SSF, the commercial branch of the Navy. It was a position quite befitting a man of his varied experience. The last four were spent as the SSF head, under Chief of the Navy Mitchell Feeser.

The four admirals who remain average less than 40 years of age. It should be a stable group leading the implementation of the Fox Plan in the years, maybe even decades to come.

** Tell is the only senior commander to leave the military this tour. Brig. Gen. Christopher Sonders(55) considered retirement but was convinced to stay until the Alaska base on Titan is finished in a couple of years. A number of junior officers who have failed to distinguish themselves in both branches are culled. Cmdrs. Reginald Mapps and Christopher Blair are among them, along with five Lt. Cmdrs. and four army colonels.

MILITARY CHARACTER UPDATE

** Lt. Cmdr. Chance Perj -- 12th of 105. Another tour fuel harvesting at Saturn for Chance, though he does move up to one of the Long Beach ships.

** Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. -- 6th out of 12. There's about two, maybe two and a half years left on the Alaska base being built on Titan.
** Col. Deacon Palmer Jr. -- 20th out of 56. Pretty stagnant career at this point, still on garrison duty on Earth.

[Tellistto]

It was a good run for him in the end. Finishing strong is the way to go out!

We'll miss you, Jr.!

Tell

[Brian Swartz]

It was, he did very well and will most certainly be missed. But time marches on. Speaking of which ...

2078 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 1)

June Aspinwall, 49, was quickly named the replacement Rear Admiral for Perj. Her experience and political connections immediately make her the new #2 in the Navy behind Feeser. This was almostly completely overshadowed by political unrest. There were loud protestations from some significant minorities about the rapid increase in automine deployment.

The 'Earth First' crowd, using slogans such as 'No Blood for Mercassium!' and 'No Halley in Our Name' wants more resources devoted to the homeworld -- though devoted to exactly what they've not been long on explaining. Fiscally conservative and self-appointed watchdog groups demand to know just what exactly SPACE is getting from all the shipyard activity, citing the New York 'boondoggle' and the new, thus-far unused naval yards as evidence that the political class has lost the thread and needs to be booted. The conservationists have also put in their two cents, usually in the form of long-winded analyses of how off-world mining operations are not giving us the same bang for the buck they used to, and pointing out that SPACE will be in a pretty fix when Sedna starts to exhaust its deposits. Finally, there are the anti-technologists who constantly question just what exactly humanity has achieved by the TN leap, other than ticking off an alien interstellar empire. They prefer that we simply withdraw from the galaxy, show the other races we mean them no harm by abandoning the network of outposts in the system and returning to a simple life on Earth. Generally this is accompanied by blaming the horror of WWIII not on the depravities of human nature, competition among nation-states and international mega-corporations, or overblown misunderstandings between cultures, but on our stubborn and in their opinion breathtakingly arrogant insistence on always seeking advancement whatever the cost.

Director Rakes is not saying much beyond reminding everyone that there will be more detailed news on the Fox Plan later in the year and pointing out that stockpiles all four key minerals(duranium, neutronium, mercassium, and corundium) are declining over the last couple years is a pretty good argument for expanding operations. Patience is running thin in some quarters though, and for the first time in decades internal strife is a major concern. Despite the many voices holding forth in the echo chamber, most just want clear answers and are frustrated with not getting them.

Three weeks into the year, retooling finished for the New York and fabrication of two hulls began. This reminder the administration did not need, though it helped that the second Brooklyn '72 was finished on the same day to partially defuse the impact of the first story.

In February, the decision was made to reduce mine production somewhat and work on expanding ordnance factories to triple their current amount(50 to 150). This was based on the fact that with multiple active missile bases and a few Nimitzes now 'in the field', producing enough missiles to resupply them takes about a decade at current production rates, which High Command considers to be far too long. Some termed this decision as reactionary and proof of Director Rakes' weakness, but increasing readiness while at the same time adding five million new high-paying TN jobs over the next several years was an effective counter to that.

March brought another piece of good news, with the last of the new Forrestal IIIs leaving the space docks. The previous generation has now been completely replaced. Soon afterwards, a sudden illness required the hospitalization of Luna Governor Riley Awad, who you may recall was Earth's governor from 73-77. Doctors say the 54-year-old should return to good health, but will need to be watched closely.

More good news in April with the return of the first tour from the initial quartet of Long Beach fuel harvesters resulting in well over three million litres being deposited in the Titan fuel tanks. With good news to trumpet three months straight, some of the impatience was mollified for a time. The month wasn't done either: later Billie Allington finished the new thruster and the Caldwell-class VIP shuttle was announced:

Size: 950t
Crew: 14
VIP Capacity: 8
Speed: 2210 km/s
Fuel: 500k
Sensors: Basic commercials of all types
Armament: None, depends on stealth
Cost: 150k, a little under six months.

The Lexington is the oldest design presently in service, having been operated in one form or another for 30 years since the late 40s. The Caldwell will allow for much greater stealth, and therefore more security for the VIPs whose skills are so important to the smooth operation of the agency.

The key factor here is that while it will burn through a lot more fuel, the Caldwell has a thermal signature just a shade over a seventh of the Lexington IIId. An enemy would have to be practically on top of it or banging away with active gravs to know it was there. Despite the small size, it is actually 13% more expensive than the current commercial-grade shuttles, but still miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

KSEC is expected to begin production in a couple months. Replacing the entire 30-vessel complement required will probably take through the end of 2082, give or take, a 3-4 year process.

After a relatively quiet summer, the silence became an issue again. Then on August 28, The most important of a record 25 concurrent ongoing projects was announced to have been finished, a bit behind schedule but it's done. Director India Rakes announced that she would be making a major global address regarding humanity's future that evening ...


RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

** January 5 -- Another laboratory is finished and Modesto Huch's on-and-off work on Small Troop Transport Bays resumes.

** February 12 -- Cedrick Wormack announces plans for the newest army formation, the Assault Infantry Battalion. As the name implies it an offensive-focused unit. Essentially the reverse of the Mobile Infantry in capability, it is twice as effective on the attack, half as effective in defense. This is by far the most effective invasion formation we can field, and as such the AIB is an important development that will be needed eventually, but not anytime soon.

He'll remain in control of two labs and direct them towards Orbital Habitat Modules. This is a concept that could eventually replace the function that will be served by the New York luxury liners, and in a more politically acceptable manner. Space stations could be built and then towed into position at any unihabitable location where SPACE needs a long-term presence. These would house on site all the essential needs without mobile casinos being required.

** March 7 -- Alphonse Lambeth announces a new round of general improvements in tactics, equipment, and training for the army. This is a 14% improvement, so that each soldier now has the combat effectiveness of 16 pre-TN soldiers.

Eliot Monks and Adolfo Walth resume 'training projects' on improving shield technology.

** April 22nd -- Billie Allington's team has finished the JPS NP-42st, the new max-power, thermally shielded thruster for use in planned Caldwell shuttle which will replace the Lexington. Alphonse Lambeth gets to work on a battalion-sized CDM(combat drop module, a pod for deploying troops in hot spots where taking a day or two to methodically unload isn't an option. This is purely another 'something to do' project.

** June 2nd -- Shannon Patteson's team finishes the 400-ton variant of the Phoenix military engine. Next up will be beginning a project that will need a lot more investment eventually, improving mining output. There are other priorities right now, though, and Patteson isn't yet top in the Construction & Production field, so there won't be any more labs diverted at present.

** August 1 -- Alejandro Otteson completes research on improved reactor output(+20%). This frees up three lab spaces but also creates a need for two new prototypes. Otteson takes the larger power plant, Jerry Bartholf gets his first project lead in going after the smaller one, and Billie Allington gets back in the game by doing some preliminary work on improving fire control tracking speeds.

** August 24 -- A new lab is ready, and a first lead given to one of the glut of young Logistics & Ground Combat scientists, Stanley Kogut. His goal is the design of a Maintenance Module, for use in adding maintenance facility capability to a PDC or space station. It is unclear whether this potential technology will ever be used.

** August 28 -- The long-awaited new military jump drive has been finished, courtesy of Dr. Curtis Gloster


EARTH

January 20 -- Retooling complete for the New York. A year and a half will be required, est. late summer of '79. On the same day, the second Brooklyn '72 is ready. A third will be built while the latest meson turrets are finalized.

May 28th -- A third group of Long Beach harvesters are launched, a full dozen out of the 24 planned.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

February -- Sedna expands again, 32 complexes now.

Late February -- Corundium exhausted on Wolf-Harrington. Neutronium and mercassium will keep the operations there going for decades yet.

April -- The first full tour of one of the Long Beach harvesting groups is completed, and they dump nearly four million litres into the holding tanks on Titan.

Early May -- Boronide on Neujmin is exhausted. This is of very little significance.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Mid-March -- Emile Jeffcoat, 13 months out of the academy, is promoted to Commander.

Early May -- Errol Igoe, Governor at Sedna, has improved his mining bonus to 20% through his experience at the distant cash cow. The result is an increase of about 350t of duranium a year, which will help stem the current decline.

Late June -- Mitchell Feeser has made a few new friends(25% Political Reliability), strengthening his grip on the Navy.

[sterlingice]

Tease

SI

[Brian Swartz]

Guilty as charged

BS

[Brian Swartz]

August 28, 2078
Director India Rakes, live from Sector Command

'Less than three weeks ago, the twentieth anniversary passed of the fateful, painful, and tragic day when Herbert Duling announced to all of us that the worst had happened in Epsilon Eridani. It has been a trying two decades. Deep trauma often lays bare our greatest passions. As we continue our efforts to honor those who sacrificed there as best we can, and move forward boldly into the future as a species, I am pleased to announce that today humanity has taken a major step forward in that struggle.'

'As most of us well recall, it was four years later that the broad outlines of a strategy to renew our push into the systems surrounding Sol were formulated, named the Fox Doctrine in honor of Herman Fox, one of the many both well known and virtually unknown who perished in the unprovoked alien attack. While there are some among us who still believe we should not go at all, such an approach dooms us to nothing but isolation and fear for the indefinite future at best, eventual annihilation at worst. We owe it to our children, grandchildren, and the generations who will come after them to confront the challenge of being a spacefaring people. We must act courageously and wisely. There is no quality future that involves shrinking into the shadows.'

'Recently I received word that the work of one our most accomplished scientists, Dr. Curtis Gloster, has been completed. A new jump drive, significantly smaller than the one the Pioneers used yet able to produce the same magnitude of space-time disruption, has been tested and certified ready. With this accomplishment, SPACE is finally ready after 16 long years to begin to put feet to our plans. The Fox Plan now moves from the planning stage to becoming a reality. I am pleased to be joined by Chief of the Navy Mitchell Feeser, who has served in that position for three years and many more to come. He is well known to be as talented as any naval officer SPACE has ever known. Chief Feeser will outline the ships that will conduct the first explorations beyond our system in nearly a quarter-century.''

Chief of the Navy Mitchell Feeser, live from Sector Command

At 43, Feeser is still quite a young man for his position. Only Ellie Camble stands in SPACE annals as a more respected naval officer.

'What I am about to describe to you has been dubbed Operation Renewal. Renewal will be the most complicated operation SPACE Command has ever conducted. Great care and expense has been taken to minimize the danger to the servicemen and servicewomen involved, and to maximize success of the mission. The objective of Operation Renewal is to conduct detailed surveys of any incompletely mapped star system. These surveys will include any evidence of alien life past or present, TN mineral deposits, jump point locations to other systems, and where those jump points if any lead to. '

'For this mission, five new ship classes have been designed, and they will recieve support from sixth already in use. The 850-ton Explorer-class scout will be our first entry into any system without any current human prescence. The Explorer is the tip of the spear, so to speak, and will jump in, briefly scan the area around the jump point, and then jump back out a few minutes later. In this manner minimal exposure to danger by the rest of the ships will be achieved. Slightly larger are two 950-ton vessels. The Frontier-class gravitational survey vessel will be responsible from surveying all potential jump point locations in a system, and the Prospector-class geological survey vessel will investigate any planets, moons, asteroids, comets, etc. for any mineral deposits and/or signs of alien life.'

'These three types of utility vessels will be housed in one of two new classes of carrier ships, each 10kt in size. The first is the Gearing Survey Carrier. The Gearing has over half its size devoted to hangar storage, and can maintain two of each class and their crews. Secondly, the Baltimore Command Carrier will house one Frontier and one Prospector, and will serve as the nerve center of the flotilla. It has military-grade passive sensors of the same quality as are stationed on the Nimitz and Brooklyn combat ships, the jump drive required for transit of the larger ships betweens systems, and also quarters and equipment for a command staff to oversee the operation. Finally, an Iowa fuel tanker equipped for extended deployment time, hereafter known as the Iowa XR variant, will accompany the carriers to refuel them. They carry minimal reserves in an effort to maximize hangar space. This leaves the flotilla composition at 1 Baltimore Command Carrier, 1 Gearing Survey Carrier, 1 Iowa fuel tanker, 2 Explorer jump scouts, 3 Frontier gravitational survey vessels, and 3 Prospector geological survey vessels. The Baltimore, Gearing, and Iowa XR carry enough supplies for an extended five-year deployment: the Frontier, Explorer, and Prospector have enough for a two-year sortie from their mother carrier ship.'

'To co-ordinate these efforts, an Admiral on board the Baltimore command ship will be in overall command of the mission and all eleven ships, with two captains to assist him with operational and logistical matters. The flotilla is designed to minimize the chances of detection by hostile forces, and contains minimal defensive and no offensive weapons systems. Both carriers and, under most circumstances the tanker as well, will remain at the jump point of entry into the system being surveyed. Should any hostile act be witnessed, the command carrier will withdraw immediately through the jump. Any of the utility vessels not in close proximity at that time will be considered missing and presumed lost in action. In this manner, a catastrophic disaster such as befell us in Epsilon Eridani will be avoided at all costs.'

Director Rakes

'Thank you Admiral Feeser. I should emphasize that no firm decision has been made on what systems will be prioritized. This administration is strongly of the opinion that such a determination would yet be premature. We have committed to building two ESFs, or Exploration & Survey Flotillas such as the admiral just described. The first is estimated to be operational sometime very close to the 2081 election. It has been my duty to determine that we will proceed, and how, but the next director will decide where.'

'Thank you for time, and may God always bless our common human journey'.

ESF TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Baltimore-class Command Carrier

Size: 10kt
Crew: 284 + 48 for docked flight crews
Speed: 600 km/s
Fuel: 750k(7.5 months)
Cost: 1.42m

Gearing-class Survey Carrier

Size: 10kt
Crew: 158 + 148 for docked flight crews
Speed: 600 km/s
Fuel: 750k(7.5 mo.)
Cost: 1.17m

Iowa XR-class Fuel Tanker

Size: 9.7 kt
Crew: 53
Speed: 1050 km/s
Fuel: 6m
Cost: 642k

Frontier-class GravSurvey Vessel

Size: 950t
Crew: 24
Speed: 1263 km/s
Fuel: 250k(over 21 months of constant travel)
Cost: 191k

Prospector-class GeoSurvey Vessel

Size: 950t
Crew: 24
Speed: 1263 km/s
Fuel: 250k(over 21 months of constant travel)
Cost: 251k

Explorer-class Jump Scout

Size: 850t
Crew: 18
Speed: 1411 km/s
Fuel: 250k(over 21 months of constant travel)
Cost: 92k

Total per ESF: 11 ships with a combined 37.1 kt size, 675 crew, 9.5m litres of fuel, and at a cost to the treasury of 4.74m. This of course does not include the time and cost of shipyards dedicated to the production.

[Tellistto]

Very nicely done! Looking forward to seeing the future expansion of the human species in your universe!

Down with the aliens!

Tell

[sterlingice]

Are you planning on having any defensive ships posted on the other end of the jump point in Sol in case the enemy decides to follow?

SI

[Brian Swartz]

It hasn't been decided where we will go yet, that's for the next election. But the design is intended to be used in systems with no known enemy presence. It's not a force designed to be used in places like Epsilon Eridani where there is(or at least, was, a lot can happen in two decades) alien presence. So because of that, generally the answer is no.

Edit: SPACE continues to keep all military ships at Earth in the event of an attack through the Epsilon Eridani jump. At recorded top speeds from 2058(6435 km/s), it would take an anywhere from just over a day to a little more than a day and a half for them to reach Earth if they came through, depending on where we were in terms of our orbit around the Sun. That kind of proximity pretty much precludes sending our still-overmatched navy anywhere else at the moment.

[Brian Swartz]

2078 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 2 -- Conclusion)

It is never the case that everyone is happy, and many thought the announcement of Operation Renewal should have come sooner than it did. It was enough to head off any serious fracturing of the support for SPACE though, and allowed things to move forward in a more typically undisturbed fashion. The status of that effort:

Permanant Shipyard(presently at 6.4k) will need to expand to 10kt before work on the Gearing can begun. Meanwhile the Baltimore Marine is retooling for the Baltimore, coincidentally enough, and the Iowa XR will be built at the Oregon Shipyard. The smaller vessels should be ready well ahead of those. It is uncertain which of the bigger ships will be the last to be ready.

**Author's note: After next annual report, which will bring us to a year out from the '81 election, a synopsis of the key contenders for the directorship and their positions on the question of 'where' the ESFs should be deployed first will be presented. The community 'vote' will have some degree of impact on the results if anyone wishes to hold forth. **

September brought a new naval star on the horizon, Nigel Bilski. He is cut from the same mold as Mitchell Feeser in terms of overall talent, the only other recruit yet seen with that talent level. He's good at virtually everything, excellent at training, solid political connections ... 'Born to Win' is virtually tattooed on his forehead. It will be interesting to see how his career develops.

The next month, the 40th automine departs Earth for the comet Borrelly, meeting the goal that was set for more than doubling operations there. Since the ramp-up of shipyard activity following the announcement of Operation Renewal over a month ago, the stockpiles have been monitored closely by MRD. Neutronium levels are holding steady, corundium and mercassium continue to decline gradually, but duranium is fast becoming the biggest concern. The best option for expansion continues to be Triton, but it hasn't gotten any closer: Neptune is still 4.5b km away. Still, there is still 458mt available there, a 500-year supply at current rates. Getting out there will be far more efficient with the South Carolina superfreighters, and they'll finally have a job now. One trip per five automines, so they'll only need a few journeys a year. The current 63 automines on Triton will be cranked up to about 100, and then SPACE will reassess the situation.

November was the busiest month of the year's final stretch. In the first few days, an initial quartet of the new Caldwell shuttles were deployed. A couple weeks later theoretical advances allowing for improved thermal sensors were announced, instigating another shakeup in the current state of assignments, with new commercial and military-grade sensors necessary to take advantadge of the new capabilities. The SITG ThermoScan 121 will be 16% more powerful and 15% smaller than it's predecessor ... each step marking an improvement in SPACE's efforts to gain an advantadge against our enemies. Another week, and the first pair of Frontier gravsurvey vessels cleared the docks, the first tangible success to trumpet in the progression of Operation Renewal. And then in the final days of the month, the first of the Nimitz '76c, sporting the new composite armour, launched from Wartsila Shipyard. Not a bad set of accomplishments for one month!

For December, the only real news was the latest top talent on the army side. Col. Zoe Bean graduates with combat training marks off the scale, and some skill in xenology. The last one is a curiosity since we have no practical xenology experience as a species, and therefore one wonders how we know she is any good at it. Regardless, she rates out as the second-best officer in the service straight out of the academy, so this is very good news for our ground forces.

2078 will certainly be remembered most for the announcement of Operation Renewal and the various activities surrounding it. Secondarily, the efforts to keep increasing mining output with the ramp-up in automine deployment and the gradually increasing numbers of comet deposits being exhausted over time is also worth noting.


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** August 28 -- Curtis Gloster took over the work on improving mining outputs, requiring three labs, and some of the 'training projects' were shifted around a bit. By far the best 'odd man out' right now is Garland Sidhom, a decent researcher but unfortunately he's in the nearly-irrelevant Biology & Genetics field, by far the least important of the eight disciplines.

** September 12 -- The Defender '76 P, the high-damage variant that is also slower and therefore less accurate, is ready to go. The ordnance factories switch to producing 60% of the P variant and 40% the standard Defender '76 in order to eventually catch up. The P is also a hair more expensive(about 4,040 credits per instead of 3,870).

Dr. Elyse Buckler unfortunately learned not a darned thing in the process, and she will be sidelined once again.

** October 28 -- Jerry Bartholf's team has finished prototyping one of new power-boosted reactors.

** November 15 -- Elwood Tousant and his team have acheived a breakthrough resulting in the next generation of passive thermal sensor capabilities. Tousant will handle the military prototype personally, while Irma Bartlebaugh takes the commercial variant and another lab is freed up for one of the rookie scientists.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Mid-September -- Oft-derided Delois Woznicki has improved her ability to manage larger-scale endeavors for the first time ... at age 50. She's still a long way from being eligible for director duty, but there may yet be a small sliver of hope if she improves this more.

Late September -- He doesn't really need any as he's well-known to be among the best researchers SPACE has had and tops in the energy weapons field, but Joe Tycho has upped his political connections(+25%).

Late October -- A couple of key R&D developments, with Harlan Welle(Missiles & Kinetic Weapons) and Bessie Wallander(Sensors & Fire Controls) both hitting the 30% bonus line now.

Early December -- Col. Zoe Bean joins the army as the latest talent in their ranks


EARTH

November 4 -- The first quartet of Caldwell VIP shuttles are prepped and ready.

November 23 -- The first two Frontier gravsurvey vessels are ready, making use of recycled electronics from the original Coontz-class ships, long since dismantled. That was of course the class which originally mapped the seven jumps leading from Sol following the development of jump point theory.

Late November -- The first Nimitz '76c, clad in the latest composite armour, is prepared.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Late November -- Corbomite(on Crommelin) and sorium(on Halley's Comet) are depleted.

Early December -- Sorium depleted on Comas Sola. Duranium remains along with two other less significant minerals, but the entirety of the deposits there will be depleted in less than 18 years.

[Brian Swartz]

CIVILIAN CHARACTER UPDATE

James Earl Jones V(6) -- Thus far a quiet final tour as Governor of Titan, one of SPACE's most strategically important colonies.

Joe Tycho(EW 65) -- His current work on Turret Tracking Speed is expected to wrap up within days, which has lent itself to another round of speculation as to whether his health will allow the brilliant but frail scientist to continue his contributions ...

[Brian Swartz]

2079 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 1)

Hope was on the rise as the year began. Having a specific plan in place, with tangible evidence of its progress as the shipyards were busier than ever before(a record 16 hulls being constructed simultaneously), did wonders as a placebo for public concerns. This was true even for some of those who disagreed with the goals/implementation of Operation Renewal. After two long decades of waiting, there was now the anticipation of results finally coming. MRD had new concerns, with duranium down under 10kt(two years ago it was noted as quite stable, with a 16.4kt stockpile, nearly twice the current amount). All that activity wasn't cheap. In the past year, shipbuilding has far eclipsed research as the top item in the budget, which showed a historically-low surplus of just over 20%, less than 9m. That's still a surplus, and it is expected that the numbers will look more healthy once the initial pair of ESFs are built. But for now, any thought of preparing for the next phase of naval development -- the ships that will be needed to colonize whatever Renewal might discover -- has gone on the back burner. The economics just aren't there to sustain this kind of massive activity for long. All of this has Director Rakes focused on making sure the automine runs to Triton go smoothly. On cue, the first South Carolina superfreighter run ever began the loading process on the first of the year.

January 3 -- Dr. Joe Tycho's research into Turret Tracking Speed is completed, a 20% increase achieved over present capabilities. Giving a man of his age and health another major project is considered risky, but he's not quite at the point of being ready to go yet. For now he takes over the final stages of prototyping the latest Meson turret. This approach has the added benefit of freeing up two more labs for low-level scientists to get a start on new projects. One of these is particularly notable: Ion Drives, the next generation in more powerful starship engines. It will be some time before any result is seen from it. This also pushes current projects to a new high of 27 ongoing.

Mid-January -- Rosemary Urenda, tops in the Power & Propulsion field, has made a minor improvement to her abilities(45%).

Mid-February -- Billie Allington, one of the most politically active scientists, has become even more well-connected(40% Reliability). She'd do better to work on her actually research skills.

[Brian Swartz]

February 18
SPACE Missiles & Kinetic Weapons Research Compound
Location: Classified

At first the only sign was a deafening crash, followed by what appeared to be a minor earthquake tremor. A few minutes later, one of the 15-ton 'mock-up' missiles was found to have come loose from its carriage and crashed to the floor -- crushing the body of 65-year-old lead researcher Dr. Karabishi Juishao into a mangled, lifeless heap. The medical response team was just a formality -- nobody could withstand such a massive blow and live.

Director India Rakes released a statement later in the day. She praised Juishao's long service record and seminal contributions to the advancement of missile technologies, deploring her tragic demise. It was standard PR-speak, and lacked the inspirational capacity that was really needed. As much as anything, what has held her back from further achievement is her propensity to fill the role of the negative reactionary, and that was clearly on display here. An independent review of not just this incident but security and safety procedures at all 43 compounds was ordered.

** OOC Note: A loss of 5M credits to SPACE and the forced idling of one-quarter(11) research labs for the remainder of 2079 will be enforced to simulate the cost of these measures **

Naturally, BOG had a lot to say. Not all of it made any sense. Burt Stonerock(Mercury) stuck his foot in his mouth as usual, referring to such things as 'the cost of doing business' and advocating that SPACE forge full steam ahead. Evelyn Kaczor(Halley's Comet) said similar things in a much more sensible and sensitive manner. . A number of members, both significant and less so, took the opportunistic route by decrying Rakes' 'incompetence' and calling for everything up to and on occasion even including her head. In this group there were Dee Respress(Prokne), Marion Polizzi(Faye), Errol Igoe(Sedna), and noted blowhard/ignoramus extraordinaire Russell Salvucci(Venus). Most managed to follow the wise lead of former and probable future director Alberto Eighmy(Earth), some because they lacked the courage to do anything else, some because they knew calming the public was the right thing to do. Other than lightning-rod Salvucci, most of the troublemakers are minor players. The elite corps of leadership, many nearing the ends of their careers, knew that the people would make up their own minds in a couple of years anyway if they felt major changes were required.

[Brian Swartz]

2079 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 2)

The loss of Juishao had at least one more effect that was immediately obvious: it hastened a crisis in the missile-related field as a whole. There is only remaining skilled researcher in the field, Harlan Welle[b], and he's 64 with retirement looming. He was working on a less essential task(magazine ejection systems) and takes over the work on missile loading processes. The fact remains that advancement in this field, which High Command presently considers crucial to any realistic chance of combating the known alien threat in the near future, will virtually grind to a halt if nobody steps up to fill the void.

As the entirety of the scientific community reorganized to meet the needs of the coming investigation, Rosemary Urenda finished the latest advancement in fuel efficiency techniques. . There was considerable debate in the upper echelons of SPACE about whether to design new engines now. Eventually it was decided it is not worth the cost at the present time -- redesigns and all the subsequent costly refits will wait until Ion Drives are ready, which could well be a decade or more. Urenda meanwhile took over the Ion Drive project, while most of the low-level scientists are out of job for the time being.

[b]Art Weston(Reinmuth) seemed to be the guy rising to the occasion in the aftermath, with noticed improved response to his leadership on the mining colony. A complete lack of important friends in BOG made it unlikely this would mean all that much though in the grand scheme of things.

In March, a second shipment of automines left for Triton, and construction began on the first two Baltimore command carriers. One should be ready in the summer of 2080, the second in the fall. The Gearing won't be set to begin for a few months yet, it looks like that will be the longest holdup. April brings the retirement of another top weapons scientist. Dr. Joe Tycho finishes the work on the latest meson cannon, the WT Excalibur 135. Given the current environment and the continued health issues, he retires from public service. It's been an amazing career -- although not as long of one as some, he's reached heights as great as any researcher SPACE has seen in terms of his peak productivity. His body just didn't let him keep it going. Eva Vadnais(62) remains to carry on, but when she retires the energy weapons field will only have a couple of low-level newcomers in place. Better than the missile field can say for itself, but not by much. Later in the month, the first two Prospectors come off the line and the Iowa XR begins production as the ramp-up for Renewal continues.

Throughout the summer progress continued on all fronts, espescially with more ships being completed in multiple categories, details follow as always. By the end of July, SPACE welcomes a potential political star in Augustine Wollner, and the biggest shipyards completed their conversion operations, allowing them to idle and save precious duranium. It's now under 7kt, and unfortunately this will only slow the depletion of the reserve. In early August the first Gearing begins construction, and estimates are that it will finish probably a couple months or so ahead of the '81 election. Then in quick succession the two New York 'casino ships' are finally launched, and the second new civilian shipping firm to enter the fray this year is formed. There's a lot to be excited about. Before the month was out, a third Brooklyn '72 entered service. Command wanted to be ready for the redesign long before now, but we just aren't there yet. Turreted versions of the latest lasers and meson cannons aren't ready, and without them it would only be a minimal upgrade in effectiveness. A fourth of the seven-year-old tech is queued.

The news was mostly positive, and the tragic death of Juishao already fading to a nearly-forgotten footnote in terms of headlines. Then, a week into September, came the news from Faye of a public disturbance at the base there following the arrival of the first New York. Unfortunately this would soon become a much bigger problem than at first it appeared to be ...


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Mid-February -- Fuel efficiency improvements are announced by Rosemary Urenda.

Late February -- Electronic Hardening techniques have been advanced(Ross Dodge).

March 13 -- New commercial thermal sensors are ready(Irma Bartlebaugh).

April 2 -- Joe Tycho finishes the WT Excalibur 135, new Meson turret prototype.

April 13 -- Another research lab is finished, and dedicated to a new CIWS prototype. Elyse Buckler leads the project.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Mid-March -- A second shipment of automines to Triton leaves Earth, as duranium levels fall below 8.5kt, now less than neutronium to make it the scarcest mineral in the stockpiles. The first shipment is still two weeks away from arriving.

April 24 -- A new shipping line, Hayter Container Group, has been formed.

Early June -- Gallicite deposits exhausted on Reinmuth. With the ramp-up of missile production the supply is slowly being drained. This is not a concern yet, but could forseeably become one. Massive neutronium supplies(over 400 years to depletion) will keep SPACE on Reinmuth for a long time to come.

August 20th -- Yet another commercial shipping firm is launched, Sherill Freight and Trading. This would seem to be a good sign for that sector of the economy.


EARTH

March 27 -- Retooling is finished and construction begins on the two Baltimore command carriers.

April 13 -- The Navy jettisons another seven underachievers.

April 15 -- The first two Prospectors are finished.

April 21 -- Retooling finished for the Iowa XR tanker. The first is expected to be ready around the same time as the first Baltimore, next summer.

May 23 -- A second pair of Frontiers are completed, and the third and final duo begun.

July 12th -- Fourth Long Beach group departs earth for Saturn.

July 28 -- The big shipyards have completed their various operations, and are now idle.

August 6th -- Permanant Shipyard reaches the 10kt needed, and begins work on the Gearing survey carrier. This is expected to be the last ship completed, the first to be ready in the fall of 2080.

August 14th -- The two New Yorks are finished and depart for Faye and Machholz, which along with Reinmuth are the worst off of the military bases. Arrival at Faye is expected at the end of the month, and then we'll see how they react to these floating casinos. They had better work.

August 28th -- The third Brooklyn '72 is finished.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

April 29 -- A big year for Rosemary Urenda continues. She's up to 50%, fully in the elite class of scientists now.

Mid-June -- Mitchell Feeser, not resting on his laurels, has improved in training skills(300, a rarely seen level).

Late July -- Augustine Wollner is a potentially bright new star on the political horizon. The good news is solid political connections, skills in wealth creation and logistics. The bad news? He can't effectively manage anything bigger than a mining outpost. Hopefully he doesn't end up being a poor man's Woznicki.

Late July -- Elyse Buckler has managed to gain some measure of skill(10%). Anything she can do to stem the decline in the missile field will be most welcome.

[Brian Swartz]

NEW YORK SCANDAL ERUPTS!

By the end of September it was clear that neither were working. Maintaining comfortable conditions in such a large ship over the constantly shifting mass of a comet just a few miles wide ... it was too much for the shuttles and thrusters to handle.

The second New York reached Machholz on September 19th, by which time there was a growing chorus of voices demanding answers on the situation at Faye. It fared no better, and by the end of the month India Rakes had no choice but to publicly address the situation personally. The basic problem is an issue of scale. The casino ships have to maintain a constant relative position in close orbit in order to have regular transportation between the comets and the ship. This presents a problem given the various unpredictable factors: gases in the comets tail, shifting axes of rotation and gravitational forces, etc., as well as the simple fact that the 122kt ship is in the case of Faye(1.77 km wide) about half as big as the actual comet itself. All of this results in the need for constant abrupt maneuvering via thrusters, making life on board the 'casino' actually quite a bit less pleasant than on the surface. A remarkably tone-deaf statement by Rakes indicated that SPACE would 'explore all possibilities' before deciding on a course of action. The inference was obvious and in this case accurate: she didn't know what to do.

The political effect of this announcement was thermonuclear. 'Independent' firm Andersen Accounting estimated the cost of the New York and associated shipyard activities at nearly 6kt of duranium and over 15m in public funds, all of which was now virtually wasted. The fact that the New York would still be a solution on larger bodies smacked of excuse-making and was practically speaking nearly irrelevant. The only place that would even matter was on Triton, all the other outposts are either inhabited, making a relief ship unnecessary, or smaller, making it impossible. Perhaps stationary orbital habitats would fare better, perhaps not. That consideration was equally irrelevant considering it would be years until they could be ready as research was still in its infancy.

Protests began in most major cities, and it was clear pretty quickly that this would not be one of those embarassing moments that would just blow over. Humanity's united front in support of SPACE showed the most serious cracks seen since the founding of the agency, an effect which snowballed as various sub-factions of splinter groups opposed for whatever crackpot reason found a louder voice and more friendly reception in the chaos. Front and center of course was Russell Salvucci, self-appointed spokesman for the disaffected. Over and over again he pounded home the point that it was India Rakes herself who had authored the entire plan of spreading off-world bases throughout Sol in the wake of her most important victory in the 2065 election. Accusations then that it was an opportunitistic and wasteful political stunt were ineffective, but that was no longer the case. The total cost of the bungling now hanging around her neck very much like a millstone dwarfed what was spent on the New York by itself. Protest strikes at official facilities all over the world began to grow, and in some areas all but the most essential services shut down. By the end of October, a little less than two months since the first reports from Faye, some regional blocs were beginning to suggest that perhaps they should govern their own affairs independent of SPACE.

BOG had no choice but to take action. Faced with an imminent 'no confidence' vote removing her from office, Rakes took the only option available and jumped before she was pushed. Her resignation officially took effect on November 4th. A brief statement offering a half-baked, defensive apology and a plea for cooperation to win out over division was almost universally ignored. The only thing for her to do was just go away. The director's office would remain vacant for the time being, with the additional responsibility of any emergency rudder orders -- subject to veto by a majority vote of BOG until a new director is elected -- passing to Earth's current governor, Alberto Eighmy. As the only remaining former director still in the service, Eighmy has as much practical clout and authority as anyone could have under the circumstances.

The present situation represents the most serious internal unrest humanity has faced since World War III, and those few who were alive when that horrific conflict ended were too young to remember much of it. For the first time in decades, fear seems a more powerful force than hope and unity.

** Author's Note: These events are my attempt to RP a reasonable response to the fact that the recreation modules are either bugged or not fully documented. Apparently they work on moons and planets, not anything smaller. On a personal level I'm really looking forward to the ramp-up of exploration which will now be delayed, but I also felt things were too 'clean' and perhaps 'pollyanish' in the way things have unfolded the past several decades. Combined with Juishao strategy, such an occurence as this which could be seen no other way than as gross incompetence by the official government, provided an in-game backdrop for a serious problem, unless I hand-waved it away which I'm not predisposed to do. I will say that from here, while anything is possible, inertia will be in the direction of SPACE gradually recovering from the current state of relative disorder. If things go well it could just be a bad memory in a few years that simply delays human progress. If not ... well, civil war is not completely out of the question but would require some fairly disastrous events and soon More likely it would just be a lengthening of the current period of unrest and resulting crippled economy. The previous plan for having the '81 election be a Renewal referendum has also been thrown out the window. The 'echo chamber' malcontents in BOG will have increased clout, exactly how much more depends on events between now and then. It appears the election will instead be focused on a reactionaries(Salvucci et al.) vs. progressives(status quo, more or less) dynamic **

Meanwhile ...

September 19 -- Eva Vadnais has stepped up to 65% matching Tycho's high and filling the void as best she can. This is considered the maximum any researcher can achieve. Also, Alejandro Otteson completes second, larger power plant prototype.

October 10 -- Julio Kuchler's team achieves a new advancement in EM sensors. He quickly sets to work on a new commercial suite using this. Active sensors will need to wait until the accompanying grav advancement.

[Brian Swartz]

A TENSE TRANSITION(2079 Conclusion)

Over the last couple months of 2079, Eighmy emphasized that the people needed to have their say in the next election before any major changes were made. However, there were a number of things that still needed to be done. It was clear that sustaining bases on uninhabitable bodies was not going to happen with current technology. The crews needed to be returned to Earth, and whatever could be salvaged from the bases as well. Unfortunately SPACE does not have a ship capable of such a mission.

With this in mind, the Wickes-class Salvage Ship was reluctantly and unpopularly announced, though nobody had a better idea. Further damage to public confidence was largely avoided by focusing on the fact that SPACE was skimping as much as possible on its design, an all-in-one makeshift approach to limit the cost.

Size: 20.6 kt
Crew: 188
Speed: 486 km/s
Cargo: 5kt
Cryogenic Berths: 1000 capacity
Salvage: 1 module(500t/day)
Fuel: 250k
Armament: Commercial-quality sensors, 2 CIWS batteries
Cost: 682k

It would still not be cheap, but when you need to mount a 10kt salvage system there's a certain cost involved. Privately SPACE views this as an opportunity to get a handle on salvage/rescue operations which will certainly be needed in the future, but this was not the time to discuss that in public.

Several shipyards were shut down due to the striking, protests, etc., including production of the Baltimore, Caldwell, Nimitz, and Iowa XR classes. This meant Operation Renewal was on indefinite hold until order could be restored. Fortunately Howaltswerdke was able to begin production immediately, expected to be finished in just over a year.

As Rakes ignominiously left the scene, only a fraction of the research laboratories were operational and just under half of the factories and shipyards. Both New Yorks were ordered back to Earth to be scrapped.

In the following weeks, a number of adminstrators stepped up and saw their skills flourish. Coincidentally enough, duranium supplies are on the rebound for the first time due to the fact that the far-flung automines have been largely unaffected by the crisis, while the production reductions leave demand much lower than it was. Mostly the year finished in a state of relatively peaceful inaction ... there were a couple of clerical oversights such as a Forrestal not returning for overhaul until a couple of weeks late, etc. ... but nothing that seriously rocked the boat. Not all that much was achieved either, but a quiet recovery would be just fine by SPACE right now. Every uneventful week ends with a few hundred thousand more back to work in the plants, and unrest dipping a bit lower. In a best-case scenario, things could be 'back to normal' in a few months time, though memories and distrust will last longer than that. On the other hand, civilian shipping has declined over the last month, a reminder that there is a long way to go.

November 23 -- The last pair of Frontiers is finished at International Shipyard, and production switches to the Explorer. Even small events such as this are trumpeted by SPACE for all their worth, in an effort to rebuild a strong consensus of support.

December 4 -- The last pair of Prospectors comes off the line.

Mid-December -- Administrator Timmy Sheerin joins the service, another fairly talented guy who majors in small operations unfortunately. Excellent mining ability, some connections and reasonably diverse skillset make him an interesting potential.

[Brian Swartz]

RETIREMENTS

The present chaos lost the services a few officers a tour earlier than they might normally have otherwhise retired, but among the senior officers both branches are still pretty young and stable. The only one to leave this cycle is Brigadier General Christopher Sonders. The navy loses six junior officers, four from the army, and things will continue on much as they have. From a military point of view the leadership is at a very healthy point, much in contrast to the political arm.

MILITARY CHARACTER UPDATE

The new survey ships already built for Renewal have created new job opportunities which move most naval officers up a peg by default, though some of this will go the other way when the bases are salvaged and those leaders are freed up.

Lt. Cmdr. Chance Perj -- 12th out of 112. For now he's done with harvester duty, but he'll stay in the same neck of the woods taking over one of the Burke brigade-level transports as they await the completion of the base on Titan.

Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. -- 7th out of 12. Another tour with the 59th Construction Brigade, which will be on Titan for another year or two finishing up the base there.
Col. Deacon Palmer Jr. -- 24th out of 60. More garrison duty on Earth, still waiting for something bigger to break his way.

[Brian Swartz]

2080 ANNUAL REPORT

Thankfully the civilian shipping recession quickly abated at the beginning of the year. The new decade seemed to bring with a new determination and efficiency. Between late January and mid-February Sedna expanded not once, not twice, but three times, adding significantly to the already-massive contributions from the distant dwarf. The timing is of course fantastic, clearly they must have lit a fire under them to profit from the downturn. In this case, it's all for the common good.

There continue to be minor hiccups here and there, two steps forward and one back for most of the early months, but progress is made albeit slowly. At the end of February the first two Explorer jump scouts are finished, and then to start of March the security review is finished. It's a couple months late but that's hard to fault under the circumstances. Juishao's death was found to be a preventable equipment failure, but also an isolated case and no major policy changes were recommended other than a fix for the specific malfunction. Research will now begin ramping up again, but production across the board in all sectors is still only a bit over 55% of capacity and many major shipyard priorities have not been restarted yet. There is much left to do.

The first shipment of the year to Triton leaves in the middle of April, another sign that slowly but surely, progress is being made. Along with a couple of minor research advances finalized in the month, support starts to galvanize around the recovery. People have had time to consider the situation, and there isn't really a good reason not to get behind SPACE again. Another month, and production approaches the two-thirds mark. The Baltimore Marine yard is back in business, with the Baltimore carriers back in production.

By July that's up to three-quarters with a little bit of good news here, a little bit there, mostly just everything getting settled back into a positive routine. By the last week of August, production in all sectors was back to maximum output and the utility vessels for the ESFs were finished as well. Nearly a year after it began, the crisis was finally over -- though not forgotten.

The very next month, there was another tremor as Cpt. Roman Madore was forced to retire unexpectedly due to medical issues. He was one of the solid veterans that make up the backbone of Navy leadership.

A couple of good academy candidates come in the fall, and then November brings the first Gearing Survey Carrier and another quartet of Caldwell shuttles. At the end of the year, the Wickes salvage & recovery ship was finally launched. This was an important public relations moment for SPACE. A smooth maiden voyage is needed, and a successful test before the elections wouldn't hurt. The oldest bases will be taken first, as their crews are under the greatest hardship. That means Stephan-Oterma is the first target, with Lt. Cmdr. Sammie Appelbaum -- stop laughing -- taking the assignment as the best of the recent academy graduates who is still without a command. Unfortunately, the end of the year will come about a week before the ship can arrive ... just a hair too late. Privately Eighmy was pleased with this since it meant the ship being a dud would come too late to affect the campaign, which is why he didn't divert it to Faye or Machholz which are closer.

2080 will have to be remembered as the year SPACE got back on its feet and apparently averted disaster.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

January 24 -- Sedna expands to 33 complexes, then finishes a 34th just four days later.

February 12 -- Sedna adds a third complex in three weeks.


EARTH

February 28 -- The first two Explorer jump scouts are ready.

Mid-May -- New Yorks are scrapped, another healing sign.

Late May -- Baltimore Marine is back in business, with the first carrier set to be ready next spring.

May 30 -- Another pair of Explorers is completed. The first ESF now has a full complement.

Mid-June -- Wartsila is the next shipyard to resume operations with the Nimitz missile boat.

July 8 -- A fifth Long Beach harvester group departs Earth. Only one remains of the originally planned six.

August -- KSEC(Caldwell) gets underway again.

Mid-August -- Oregon gets moving with the resumption of the Iowa XR. The tanker is now expected to be the final element of the first ESF to be ready, probably sometime around late spring of next year.

August 28 -- Last two Prospectors are finished.

September 3 -- With the completion of the last two Explorers, utility craft are finished for both ESFs. The larger ships are all that is needed now.

November 9th -- First of the Gearing Survey Carriers is complete, as well as a quartet of Caldwell shuttles. Cmdr. Christin Dinges(39) is assigned the posting.

December 8th -- The Wickes salvage recovery ship is launched.

December 9th -- A new laboratory is finished.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Early March -- James Earl Jones V Wealth Creation to 15%.

Early April -- James Earl Jones V factory production up to 35%. The final year of his career is a strange time to put his foot on the gas ...

July 7 -- 22-year-old Zoe Bean is promoted to Brigadier General. Evaluations are still that she is the second-best officer in the army behind Engelhardt.

August 30 -- Lt. Cmdr. Zenaida Howse, while not quite on the level of a Feeser or Jeffcoat, is the latest star to come out of the academies on the naval side. She has good training skills already and a few political connections.

Late October -- Col. Rodger Henning, near genius-level in both ground combat and xenology(?), has graduated the academy.

Mid-November -- Another pointless skill increase for James Earl Jones V(Factory production to 40%)

Mid-December -- Nearly irrelevant Garland Sidhom(BG) just got slightly less so with a good jump to 35% bonus.


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** April 5 -- The latest in automated defenses, the CIWS '79, has been completed by Harlan Welle's team. It's the first tangible step by the research teams in some time, and gives everyone a bit of a productive jolt. Welle will now finally be able to get back to the missile launcher reload work that still has not been finished.

** April 18 -- Elwood Tousant finishes work on the new commercial-grade thermal sensors. He'll next look at the building blocks of effective combat countermeasures in Electronic Warfare.

** May 10th -- Eva Vadnais finishes theoretical research into expanding lasers into the ultraviolet spectrum. Things are a bit out of balance though in that current-gen technology doesn't have turreted versions yet, so she'll hammer those out beginning with the 'Excalibur' single-meson variant.

** Early July -- One of the new training projects for the young scientists, Douglas Greer in this case, is worth particular mention. He's doing the groundwork for Cloaking Theory, which involves various techniques to mask a ship's gravitational field and therefore hide it from active sensors, though it won't help with passive thermal/electromagnetic detections. Ships like the Explorer jump scout might potentially be equipped with such devices in the future, but it's mostly a speculative project that SPACE could find uses for in the decades to come.

** July 13 -- Vadnais has finished the meson turret, and moves on to the twin-laser one. That'll take a bit longer, six months or so.

[Brian Swartz]

The SOS report is up next, but before I get into that there's something I've decided to change that deserves an explanation. I probably found all this a lot more interesting than anybody else will, but I thought it was worth sharing.

The starting point was that I've been growing more and more dissatisfied with the research aspect, both how I report the jobs and how I assign them. I've tried to keep a certain level of focused detachment, i.e. not overwhelming things with too much detail. In the Navy, for example, whereas once it was a huge deal whenever somebody got promoted to captain, I don't even mention it now because there's 12-13 of them. There's only five admirals though(I generally set the 'importance' limit at 10 of whatever). In this way I try to make sure everything I report on is something you'd care about if the story of SPACE was reality and you read it/saw it in a news report. The guy who just got appointed to some minor mining colony like Wild or Prokne? Nope, do something worth reporting :).

Anyway, when it comes to research there were only a few scientists at first so they all mattered. Not a ton of projects going on so they were all relevant as well, and assigning them was pretty basic. I followed the '5-Year Rule', i.e. giving out as many labs as necessary to finish something within five years. Usually that was just one, and the exceptions were worth talking about -- things like Palmer getting us started with TN knowledge, others later with concepts like Jump Point Theory, or the push to get Improved Geological Sensors as a centerpiece of exploring again. But eventually I found myself talking about how the fifth-best logistics scientist borrowed a lab from the third-most-important construction researcher to finish some project that wasn't even vital to begin with, and I've had the growing feeling that I'm writing about research just to write about it, not because it adds anything to the story or anyone should conceivably care much about it.

This is one of the things, by the way, that I love about Aurora and espescially the conventional start that I've done here, is that as SPACE grows and gets more complex, I have to find new ways of approaching it. What worked fifty or even thirty years ago often does not work now. After considering the research aspect, I decided on something that it later occurred to me would work well for all four branches of the leadership tree. All skills, instead of getting a stale number, will be divided into three categories:

** Elite(top third of the rating range, for most this is 50% and up)
** Accomplished(middle third, 25-45%)
** Novice(lowest third, 20% and under)

I'm going to use these descriptors when talking about the improvement in a leader, for example Governor Y is now an accomplished financial administrator, or Naval Officer Z has improved his already elite crew training abilities, etc. I like this kind of element much more in trying to craft the story of SPACE. In the case of research though it also serves as the basis for the new paradigm for assigning labs to a project.

** Elite scientists will demand at least 3 laboratories, more if required, and will choose jobs(almost always started by someone else) based on importance and time needed. They will focus exclusively on tech advances, not prototypes. Those are jobs to be delegated to others after an elite has made up the blueprint.
** Accomplished scientists will take 2 labs, and do more complicated/costly prototypes or work on tech advances.
** Novice scientists will use a single lab, working on most of the prototypes and also doing startup work on tech advances. This I imagine as being things like setting up the equipment for the experiments, assembling control groups, doing other low-level tasks as a 'training level'.

In the SOS report I'm only including the prototypes and soon-to-be finished tech advances. I've also listed the accomplished/elite scientists in each field. This results in only 9 of 36(!!) ongoing projects being listed and 13 of 40 scientists. But what's there is what's really important right now. It's a transition time so there's a lot of young researchers working on stuff they'll never finish(30+-year times in some cases listed for completion), but that also means there's a lot of potential for them to improve. Right now it's at a low ebb due to retirments recently, but with more elite scientists there will eventually become less 'training' and more 'major advancements' going on. Another aspect I like about this is scientists doing more work in their specialized fields, it has a more organic feel to what gets done which I think is appropriate to a larger organization. After all, the bigger a ship, the harder it is to turn ...

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to the reader, at least in understanding why a few things will be different in future reports.

[Brian Swartz]

STATE OF SPACE, 2081

I. IMPERIAL HOLDINGS

IA. Populated Colonies

Earth(1.618b, 500 CF, 80 OF, 75 REF, 46 RL, 4 AC, 3 GFT, 5 DSTS, 15.2k MF, 1 SP, 1 SC, 4x Alaska MB)
Mars(64.67m, Tennessee MB)
Luna(59.89m, Tennessee MB)
Titan(17.56m, 1 DSTS)
Mercury(16.83m)
Venus(13.96m)
Io(110k)
Europa(110k)
Ganymede(110k)
Callisto(110k)

Total Population: 1.791b

The demand for infrastructure in the inner system and the reduced cost of getting it there continues to ensure that the out-system moons remain stagnant. Mercury has nearly surpassed Titan despite the fact that conditions are much harsher there. There are no indications that this will change in the forseeable future.


IB. Outposts

Sedna(35 CMC, 16 eff, 9.41 kt)
Triton(97 AM, 25.5 eff, 3.95 kt) -- mercassium(4.6)
Earth(50 SM, 6.3 eff, 561 t)
Halley's Comet(41 AM, 43 eff, 2.47 kt) -- gallicite(0.5)
Borrelly(39.8 AM, 49 eff, 2.73 kt) -- corbomite(3.9), vendarite(8.2)
Reinmuth(33.8 AM, 30 eff, 1.49 kt)
Stephan-Oterma(28 AM, 32 eff, 1.38 kt) -- gallicite(4.2)
Machholz(27.6 AM, 24 eff, 1.02 kt) -- sorium(8.3)
Neujmin(25.8 AM, 25 eff, 903 t)
Titan(25 SM, 6 eff, 231 t)
Faye(25 AM, 41 eff, 1.51 kt) -- uridium(0.0), corundium(1.6), neutronium(9.1)
Comas Sola(29 AM, 29 eff, 1.07 kt) -- boronide(4.8)
Schaumasse(21.8 AM, 36 eff, 1.10 kt)
Crommelin(20.4 AM, 26 eff, 743 t)
Wolf-Harrington(17.8 AM, 40 eff, 1.25 kt)
Callisto(10 SM, 6 eff, 8 t)
Van Biesbroeck(10 AM, 55 eff, 770 t)
Prokne(10 AM, 9.2 eff, 129 t)
Wolf(8 AM, 26 eff, 291 t)
Wild(8 AM, 34 eff, 351 t)

Total Production: 31.37 kt, -0.4%. This is a deceptively low number, as things should improve once there is a full-time acting director to oversee operations. The current ramp-up in mine production won't proceed indefinitely though. There are uncertain times ahead.

IC. Mineral Stockpiles & Production

Tier A(rare usage): Corbomite(65 kt), Sorium(48 kt)

This is a vanishing category, as all minerals are seeing some use and the minor ones increasing in the need. Down to two here, there have been four at least in all previous reports. Both saw the stockpile grow by several kilotons in this cycle.

Tier B(some usage, but a good stockpile): Uridium(112 kt), Vendarite(62 kt), Tritanium(48 kt), Boronide(39 kt), Gallicite(36 kt)

Uridium is by far the most plenteous, supplies of it are going through the roof despite significant use in shipbuilding of late. You can practically pick the stuff up off the ground many places in Sol. Vendarite and Tritanium are very safe, just moved up a tier as SPACE is using more of them now. Boronide(fuel tanks) and Gallicite(missiles) are on the decline however. The former can be found in whatever quantity we need easily on Venus if the need arises. The latter is a growing issue, still plenty for now and supplies might stabilize when the latest round of missiles are finished, but two key sources(Halley's Comet and Stephan-Oterma) are drying up soon so that's unlikely. There are multiple sizable finds that could be exploited(five in the 20-45kt range), but sustaining a significant missile fleet and base system will require extrasolar sources in the next century.

Tier C(major usage, needs close watching/ under 20 kt): Mercassium(19.8 kt), Neutronium (12.6 kt), Corundium(9.70 kt)

The decline in mercassium accelerated as the big three minerals become the big four. That's the good news unfortunately, as Triton supplies 390t per year, 21% of the total extracted. It is very possible than within the next decade or two research lab construction may have to be reduced. The good news is that demand should decline a bit, at least for a time, once the harvesters and ESFs are finished next year.

Neutronium is up well over three kilotons, but this is mostly because it's not being used hardly at all. There are no shipyards being built/retooled/expanded, and that's definitely not a permanent situation. Corundium meanwhile has been cut almost in half this cycle. The current rate of automine production is not sustainable, which will complicate efforts to keep supply up across the board. The options for getting more are either low-accessibility(Venus) or long-range(multiple comets). There aren't any really good choices.

Tier D(major usage, economic growth limiter): Duranium(8.13 kt)

Duranium crashed hard prior to the New York scandal, recovered some during it, and is now on a more modest decline. Maintaining the industrial base and kind of breakneck shipbuilding(15-20 at any one time) that's been going on the last few years just consumes an incredible amount of it. Short-term Triton will fit the bill, but in the long-term the greatest concern remains how to replace what Sedna produces when that dries up in a few decades. There just aren't enough mines (the equivalent of 350 there is about two-thirds of the current 528 total in service under SPACE control), and the emergency contingency calls for dumping a bunch of them on Venus which has only decent accessibility(0.5). A couple of Oort-cloud asteroids have considerable(about 100kt) reserves that could be tapped, but there's no way to quickly get that many mines out there.

At the moment, expanding duranium until/unless the current shipbuilding rush abates(unlikely) is the primary goal.


ID. Income

Taxes(population): 41.1 m
Taxes(civ. tourism): 7.1m
Taxes(civ. shipping): 4.95m
Scrapped materials: 1.44m
Taxes(civ. fuel): 162k

Total: 54.73 m(+0.1%)

Balance: 719m(+30 m)

Tourism continues to rise, but the shipping industry has been very inconsistent. The lack of a director is the biggest reason for stagnant income though.

IE. Expenses

Shipbuilding: 10.32m
Mineral Purchases: 8.7m
Research: 7.92m
Installation Construction: 5.43m
Maintenance Facilities: 989k
Ordnance Production: 825k
GU Maintenance: 496k
PDC Construction: 56k

Total: 34.73m(-9.0%)

The expense report is virtually worthless, as it was hugely affected by the crisis. Thankfully money has not been a problem to worry about thus far.

II. SHIPYARDS

IIA. Commercial Yards

Tod & MacGregor(2 slipways, 166 kt capacity)
** Idle
Estalerios Navais do Montego(ENDM)(2, 127 kt)
** Idle
P&A Group(4, 80 kt)
** Building the last trio of the Long Beach harvesters, a project which has taken several years and is scheduled to finish this summer.
Howaldswerke/Deutsche Werft(HDW)(1, 55.3 kt)
** Idle. Most recently built the salvager/recovery ship Wickes.
Oregon Shipbuilding(1, 50.7 kt)
** Building the first of two Iowa XR extended-deployment tankers for use with ESFs. First is expected done in May.
Vickers-Armstrong(4, 10 kt)
** Idle. Used for the Lexington-class shuttles.

IIB. Naval Yards

Wartsila(1, 17.6 kt)
** Building the Nimitz '76c, second of the class so far. ETA April.
Yokohama Dock Co.(1, 15.2 kt)
** Building Brooklyn '72, fourth of the class. ETA April.
Baltimore Marine(2, 12.2 kt)
** Building two Baltimore Command Carriers for the ESFs, ETA March/May
Permanant(1, 10 kt)
** Building the second Gearing Survey Carrier, ETA early 2082
International(2, 1 kt)
** Idle, used from Frontier and Explorer
Niehuis and van den Berg(2, 1 kt)
** Idle, Prospector and Explorer
KSEC(4, 10 kt)
** Building the fifth of seven quartets of Caldwell VIP shuttles. ETA April

III. ARMY TRAINING FACILITIES

IIIA. Earth

** Three active training facilities
** All are idle for the last few years

IV. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

IVA. Earth

Research Lab(33%) -- August 2081
Mine Conversions(standard to automated, 30%) -- approx. 21/year
Mine Construction(24%) -- approx. 21/year
Ordnance Factories() -- 70 still on order, about 11 per year

V A. PRIORITY RESEARCH PROJECTS

** Note: The research approach has changed somewhat, so only current prioritized projects are listed here. More info on this in the election update.

** SpearPoint DL-12(Twin-Laser Turrett)(Eva Vadnais) -- February 2081
** Orbital Habitat Module(Cedrick Wormack) -- Late Feb/Early March 2081
** Active Grav Sensor Strength(Julio Kuchler) -- April 2081
** SITG ThermoScan 121(military-grade sensor suite)(Bessie Wallander) -- May/June 2081
** Terraforming Rate(Clint Wyche) -- November 2081
** Missile Launcher Reload Rates(Harlan Welle) -- Late 2081/Early 2082
** Ion Drives(Rosemary Urenda) -- Late 2083
** Mining Production Rates(Curtis Gloster) -- Late 2083
** Electronic Warfare(theoretical)(Elwood Tousant) -- Late 2084/Early 2085

V B. NOTABLE SCIENTISTS

** Biology/Genetics
Clint Wyche(Elite)
Mike Minaya(Accomplished)
Garland Sidhom(Accomplished)

** Construction & Production
Curtis Gloster(Accomplished)
Shanon Patteson(Accomplished)

** Energy Weapons
Eva Vadnais(Elite)

** Logistics/Ground Combat
Cedrick Wormack(Elite)
Alphonse Lambeth(Accomplished)

** Missiles & Kinetic Weapons
Harlan Welle(Accomplished)

** Power & Propulsion
Rosemary Urenda(Elite)

** Sensors/Fire Control
Julio Kuchler(Elite)
Elwood Tousant(Accomplished)
Bessie Wallander(Accomplished)

VI. ACTIVE NAVAL ASSETS

VI A. Military Bases

Alaska(4, 59.45 kt, 1020 crew, major missile base)
Tennessee(2, 13.3 kt, 254 crew, missile base + sensors)
Tennessee(Lt)(2, 12.1 kt, 214 crew, missile base)
PDC Ticonderoga(4, 3.0kt, 16 crew, sensor base)

Total: 12 installations(--), 300.6 kt(--), 5,080 crew(--)

VI B. Combat Ships

MB Nimitz(3, 13.95 kt, 373 crew, 2437 km/s, 1.75m fuel, missile-armed)
MB Nimitz '76c(1, 10.25 kt, 273 crew, 2439 km/s, 1.25 m fuel, missile-armed)
GB Brooklyn '72(3, 13.45 kt, 356 crew, 2379 km/s, 1.75 m fuel, beam-armed)

Total: 7 ships(+75%), 92.5 kt(+67%), 2,460 crew(+67%), 11.8m fuel(+69%)

SPACE may soon have the firepower to do something. Not sure what, but something.

VI C. Military Non-combat Ships

ST Caldwell(16, 950 t, 14 crew, 2210 km/s, 500k fuel, VIP shuttle w/8 capacity)
MV Cleveland(2, 2.1 kt, 30 crew, 2380 km/s, 100k fuel, supply ship)
SC Explorer(6, 850 t, 18 crew, 1411 km/s, 250k fuel, jump scout)
SB Forrestal III(14, 650 t, 14 crew, 3692 km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
GSV Frontier(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, gravsurvey)
SVC Gearing(1, 10 kt, 158 crew, 600 km/s, 750k fuel, survey carrier)
GEV Prospector(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, geosurvey)
CO Tarawa(2, 6.4 kt, 85 crew, 781 km/s, 250k fuel, supply ship)

Total: 53 ships(+152%), 67.8 kt(+145%), 1,204 crew(+162%), 14.7 m fuel(+845%)

The non-combat portion of the navy exploded, well over doubling between the ships built so far for the ESFs and the transitioning of shuttle duty here from the commercial wing. Maintenance work is definitely a growth sector right now.

VI D. Commercial Vessels

TT Arleigh Burke(4, 17.8 kt, 136 crew, 563 km/s, 350k fuel, brigade troop transport)
FT Fletcher IV(2, 36.9 kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVb(2, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVc(4, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter )
TK Iowa(2, 9.8 kt, 53 crew, 1.02k km/s, 6m fuel, fuel tanker)
ST Lexington IIId(30, 2.0 kt, 28 crew, 2500 km/s, 250k fuel, shuttle transport)
FH Long Beach(21, 79.1 kt, 411 crew, 379 km/s, 1.5m fuel, fuel harvester)
FH Perry III(4, 20.1 kt, 123 crew, 498 km/s, 350k fuel, fuel harvester)
TT Portland(2, 4.3 kt, 35 crew, 581 km/s, 60k fuel, troop transport)
FT South Carolina(4, 164.6 kt, 531 crew, 607 km/s, 2.15m fuel, superfreighter)
SV Wickes(1, 20.6 kt, 188 crew, 486 km/s, 250k fuel, salvage/recovery)

Total: 76 vessels(+12%), 2.88 mt(+63%), 14.2k crew(+65%), 68m liters fuel(+51%)

Largely the same, with the Wickes added and most of the Perry's replaced by the Long Beach. The Lexingtons are still around but this is to be their last election. When the Caldwells are finished in a couple years, they will be scrapped and the numbers will shrink here.

Grand Total: 141 assets(+34%), 3.04 mt(+39%), 17.9k crew(+15%), 94.5m liters fuel(+76%)

Another major expansion of the Navy. The commercial ships are still the majority across the board, nearly 95% by size, despite the growth of the military sector.

Available Crew: 154k(+21%)

VI E. Fuel Status

Earth -- 9.3m liters
Titan -- 12.1m
Callisto -- 5.2m

Total -- 26.6m liters(-16%) A second straight decline, and the new pair of tankers for the ESFs will put even more strain on the reserves. It remains to be seen whether the almost-finished Long Beach's will be up to the task of recovering it after that or if even more need to be built.

VII. ACTIVE ARMY ASSETS

** Brigade HQs(5)
** Construction Brigades(7)
** Mobile Infantry Battalions(10)
** Garrison Battalion(34)

Total Active-Duty Soldiers: 420k

VIII. CIVILIAN SHIPPING CORPORATIONS

Tolles Transport & Logistics(23 ships, 4.65m annual income)
Voliva Carrier Company(68, 4.48m)
Jensrud Transport and Trading(47, 2.99m)
Everton Shipping & Logistics(2, 160k)
Hayter Container Group(3, 140k)
Suter Shipping Services(2, 96k)
Ouellet Shipping(3, 90k)
Presnar Freight(1, 10k)
Clavette Shipping Line(2, --)
Abair Shipping(1, --)
Forbus Carrier Ltd(1, --)
Sherrill Freight & Trading(1, --)

Total Vessels: 154(+32%)
Total Civilian Income: 12.62m(+17%)

Tolles exploding with infrastructure runs from Earth to Mercury and colonists from the moon to Earth. Despite having only a third of the ships, they have taken the top spot from Voliva, something once thought impossible. A decade ago, Tolles was just an afterthought. They sure aren't anymore after more than doubling their income in this past cycle. The others didn't do as well. Everton was looking to make some noise, but they've fallen off again. There's a full dozen firms right now, but after the Big 3 the other nine might as well not exist -- they have a combined market share of less than 4%.

Overall the civilian sector was up and down, showing marginal growth over the cycle as whole.

IX. SPACE LEADERSHIP PROSPECTUS

** Naval Officers: 148 of 176 assigned(84%), +10%
** Ground Forces Officers: 62 of 82(76%), -15%
** Civilian Administrators: 27 of 34(79%), -3%
** Scientists: 36 of 40(90%), +32%

Overall: 273 of 332(82%), +5%

The reorganization of the R&D Directorate has been much to the delight of the scientists. Meanwhile, naval prospects have rarely been higher, but a lack of resources has limited expansion of opportunities in the army.

[Tellistto]

I think it works very well, Brian. I'm still enjoying the read very much. Really looking forward to seeing how expansion proceeds going forward. Keep up the great work!

Tell

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks! I'm looking forward to it as well, it's been a long time coming and I just so happen to be going into my annual vacation so I should be able to get into those events pretty quickly.

RETIREMENTS

Carroll Westcott -- A mining outpost supervisor, Westcott did one tour at Io at the end of his career. By the time he diversified her skills, he was too old and in too poor health to really take advantadge of it. A solid mid-level governor.

James Earl Jones V -- A veteran of a few directorial elections, Jones had tours on colonies like Luna, Venus, and Titan, as well as top mining placements such as Sedna. He didn't play the political game, and it cost him a chance at the top spot. Ironically some of his best work was in the past year in helping with the recovery from his important post on Titan.

Art Weston -- Another solid governor, good mining skills but not quite enough excellence or versatility to be more than a long shot.

Larry Steckel -- For a long time, Steckel has been the premier mining expert in SPACE. Though these skills were wasted on Mars recently, he's bounced around to almost every important post short of Earth in his varied career. Health concerns force him aside a bit early at 59.

Alberto Eighmy -- Perhaps none other than Herbert Duling have been more gifted. Health was the one-time director's achilles heel, and combined with the stress of trying to do two jobs after the Rakes resignation it has compelled him to retire early at 56. Eighmy had a gift of being able to take in all the information available, regardless of the pressures around and upon him, and see through to the end results. He wasn't a visionary like Duling, but he was exceptionally competent and always had a friend or six he could count on in a pinch.

It's a veritable who's-who of the old guard. SPACE will be in dire need of new civilian leaders to step up and be counted after losing five valuable servants this year.

2081 ELECTION

A new era dawns under Operation Renewal, and it will dawn under untested leadership. There are no former directors even active. Only seven are even eligible for the office -- SPACE has had elections with more names than that on the final ballot! Former Earth governor Riley Awad, presently on Luna, is the biggest name in the field and the early favorite simply on name recognition.

Five were on the final ballot, but only three had a real chance. The real favorite was indeed Awad, who simply has more varied experience and gravitas than the others. Mercury governor Burt Stonerock, the best natural challenger, did himself no favors with his response to the New York scandal, and polarizing loudmouth Russell Salvucci made himself a lot of enemies but even more friends with his scathing attacks on Rakes during that period. He based his campaign on tying Awad to those failings as part of the old, failed leadership. This had some effect but not all that much given most people's settled opinion that the lion's share of blame belonged to India Rakes, not SPACE as a whole.

** Note: Salvucci was given a much wider range of possible popular support for the election, with the most likely scenario a slightly better vote for him than would otherwhise have been the case, but also the possibility for a boomerang effect and bigger negatives. The scandal is still plenty fresh to have an impact here, but due to the effective recovery it is not a dominant, defining issue. **

In the end, the voters made it clear that there were no real winners, only losers. They unenthusiastically elected Awad, the most qualified candidate. He had more than twice the votes of Salvucci, but neither impressed and both Stonerock and Sedna governor Errol Igoe were obviously detested by large numbers. The only one that really did well was Ganymede governor Francesco Alborn who came in a surprising second, but as he's only supervised the one small colony for a single tour, he was considered to be greatly lacking in experience.

Full results:

Awad -- 37.9%
Alborn -- 23.2%
Salvucci -- 18.2%
Stonerock -- 12.8%
Igoe -- 7.9%


POLICY REVIEW

The loyal Awad has a chance to implement his vision for the first time. He and Alborn each have a variety of of skills, neither particularly impressive in any one area but rather more likely to find their impact in a range of smaller influences.

He also has the general outlook that it is better to take a risk than to be overly cautious. Awad wants the situation in Epsilon Eridani resolved sooner rather than later, concurring with the Navy's opinion that regardless of what happens elsewhere, the Fleet will be tied down until that happens. Aside from the obvious technological inferiority we still face, we do not have a jump drive capable of bringing our combat vessels through to the system. In any case, the Navy believes it is best to wait for the Ion Drive and a new generation of missiles, electronics, etc. before a new generation of ships is prepared that will be capable of mounting a credible threat. The new director believes SPACE should be ready to act when that happens, and in that vein has authorized the deployment of a diplomatic ship to the system ...

Ambassador-class Diplomatic Craft
Size: 800t
Speed: 1500 km/s
Crew: 18(+10 for diplomats)
Sensors: Commercial-grade passive EM and Thermal, latest Mark IV version

The mission of the Ambassador is to perform a solo jump into a hostile system, and broadcast friendship messages on all frequencies in an attempt to begin a dialogue with an alien species. To that end, quarters for two diplomatic teams are included. It is also equipped, like the ESF carriers and tankers, with extra supplies for a 5-year stay if required. Awad's goal is to determine, however long it takes, whether there is any chance of peaceful co-existence with the aliens who destroyed our Pioneers back in the 50s. Many, in fact most in SPACE, want and will probably get a military response eventually, but by sending in an Ambassador those of a more pacifistic mind can be mollified, Awad can appear to be doing something about Epsilon Eridani while the next generation of ships is developed, and there is the chance that we could learn more about the alien threat. Any intelligence is greatly valued right now, we still know virtually nothing.

In Awad's mind this need for more information outweighs all risks. Therefore the Lalande 21185 will no longer be considered off limits, but the ESFs will only visit it after they have surveyed the others. Sirius and Luyten 726-8 are considered to be by far the best candidate systems after EE, and they will be prioritized first. Sirius has the easiest terraformable candidate for a 'system hub', and Luyten is the only known system outside of Sol with comets, plus four possibilities for major fuel sources on gas giants/super jovians. Rather than focus on any one system though, the plan is to see what Siriuis and Luyten have, then also survey the other four(Barnard's Star, Teegarden's Star, Lalande 21185, and Van Maanen's Star), which are considered much less promising. Unless a particularly excellent find is discovered, no colonization plan is expected to be hatched until all six are surveyed completely. Epsilon Eridani is of course off-limits until the diplomatic teams have reported back.

Finally there is the issue of the off-world bases. It's clear that building local, static defenses everywhere is not going to be a viable option. SPACE must instead focus more on a mobile defense via the Navy, an approach which places more importance than ever on resolving the Epsilon Eridani situation since the navy will be tied down to Earth unless that system is secured. The Tennessee, both normal and Light versions, are to be eradicated. The Alaska(brigade of ground troops, multiple missile launchers) will continue to be built on any strategic locations with significant population(Titan and Earth at the moment), and the Ticonderoga on less critical populated colonies. Major mining outposts, defined as any which contribute 10% or more of total output, will recieve a DSTS(deep space tracking system). Minor mining outposts will be defenseless, the judgement being that they aren't important enough to be worth the cost of investing in their protection.

LEADERSHIP OUTLOOK

It's an interesting situation in the higher-ups of civilian leadership at SPACE. The military branches are better led than they ever have been overall: the top leaders may not be as good as Chiefs Camble or Silvers, but the depth of quality in the upper reaches is outstanding right now. On the other side of the coin, civilian leadership which is IMO more important -- the navy can only uses the tool the civvies give them, after all -- has never been weaker. Awad is the only administrator left, who would have been considered good enough to be relevant on an agency-wide scale during Duling's heyday, and both he and Alborn have one, maybe two at most terms left. The requirements of leading the colonies grow ever higher, to the point where low-level admins aren't skilled enough to take on tasks like Mercury and Titan. Right now the stage is set for less capable and even more importantly unstable/impulsive/self-seeking leaders like Stonerock and Salvucci to take the reins within the next decade. It's a dangerous time for SPACE politically. We've been both spoiled and blessed with usually great leadership in this arena, but it appears that's about to change and the results may not be pretty.

As already mentioned, the scientific arena isn't any better right now. The only elite scientist who won't have retired in ten years is Julio Kuchler. He's been around for what seems like forever but is only 48, though health is already a concern so even he's not a guarantee.

The development of new leaders has never been more important, particularly with Operation Renewal about to launch and the navy beginning to approach a point where it can consider the possibility of serious combat operations by the end of the century. Exciting time are ahead ... who will step forward to ensure humanity faces them with courage and vision?

[sterlingice]

Let's get to the exploring :)

Is it possible to "focus" on civilian leadership? It seems like all the best and brightest are going military and the administration is suffering for it.

SI

[Brian Swartz]

I think it will eventually get better(I hope). I can't focus on one branch or another, the only thing I can do is build more academies to get more leaders of all branches. At the moment we have four which is giving us enough over time for current needs.

[Brian Swartz]

Happy belated Thanksgiving! Time to get this updated to where we are now, a lot of stuff going on.

2081 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 1)

The year did not get off to a great start. On January 2, with most of BOG is still transiting from here to there all over the system, two dozen Lexingtons on their way to and fro. Today's business was made less routine and more stressful, as the Wickes arrived at Stephan-Oterma. A controlled demolition on the Ticonderoga followed shortly thereafter. It was a small base, but it was not anticipated how completely the explosion obliterated the structure. Apparently the navy is too good at their self-destruct sequences ... there wasn't anything left to salvage.

The expected test of the salvage gear was not needed, so the Wickes simply went back to Earth. Another ship that wasn't needed, but at least it was fairly inexpensive. Adding to the mitigation is that no special shipyard investment was needed to make it, and the argument that it can still be used at some point during interstellar exploration. A few people said a few things they shouldn't have while a few protests erupted, but there was no serious disruption of SPACE business this time ...

Meanwhile adding to the hustle and bustle now was the process of Lexingtons(for the officers) and Portlands(for the garrisons) journeying all over the system to evacuate the no-longer-needed bases. The MRD, referencing the 2081 SOS Report, section IB, identified only Sedna and Triton as being in need of DSTS. Awad also wants to diversify the economy by getting a couple more shipyards of each type up and running eventually -- he wants the eventually refits to Ion drives to go smoothly and efficiently, and they won't with the current number. More shipyards is preferable to constant wholescale retooling, the latter approach being more costly in the long run. In view of these goals, the following changes were made to Earth's industrial allocation:

Research Labs(33-25%)
Ordnance Factories(13-11%)
Mine Conversions(30-15%)
Mine Construction(24-12%)
Commercial Shipyards(new, 18%) -- 2 ordered
DSTS(new, 10%) -- 2 ordered
Naval Shipyards(new, 9%) -- 1 ordered

This is more like the economy used to look before Rakes had concentrated most of it into mines. This is not to pile on, that was likely the best approach at the time, but for now the number of facilities flowing to Triton will decline. At the time of publishing ETAs for these were not set, as incoming Earth governor Alborn is still en route. Once he arrived, the dates were not impressive, given that he is of merely novice skill in factory production while Awad is only average. SPACE is now down to about eight mines produced and converted per year, a little under one lab, etc. It's partly temporary, but the combination of reduced factory access and less expert supervision is a big hit to these efforts. Both are right on the novice/accomplished line in terms of shipbuilding though, and between the two that process has sped up. The first ESF is expected to begin training exercises in early spring.

At the end of the month, with most of the reassignment activity now completed, the relative quiet was disturbed by the sudden hospitalization of Rear Admiral June Aspinwall, the Navy's second-in-command behind Chief Feeser. The 52-year-old Aspinwall is seen as a key advisor, the eldest and in some quarters most respected among the admiralty. Right now the outlook is that she can finish this tour and probably another, but her future is definitely uncertain at this point.

In February, the Ambassador began construction at Niehuis SY. The year was off to busy start. A little over a week later, the new laser turret(SpearPoint DL-12) completing it's testing phase. This allowed for the next generation of the Brooklyn to finally be hammered out. The engineers had a little over a month lead time in this case until the last of the 72s was finished. A nine-year-old design. Incredibly, the passive sensors are the same ones used then -- new thermals will be ready later this year, electromagnetics are in the pipeline farther back -- but the actives are improved and of course the capacitors, power plants, weapons have all seen advances. Combined with the advancements in armor, this allowed for a significantly smaller ship:

Brooklyn 81-class Gunboat
Size: 10.5 kt(13.45 kt, -22%)
Crew: 282(356, -21%)
Speed: 2380 km/s(2379, virtually identical)
Fuel: 1.25ml(1.75, -71%)
Thermal Emissions: 210(269, -22%)
Armament: 2x SpearPoint DL-12 Twin Laser Cannon Turrets, 2x WT Excalibur 135 Meson Cannon Turrets, 1x CIWS 79 Battery. The 72 has twice the lasers and the same amount of mesons.
Tracking Speed: 12k km/s(8k, +50%)
Armor: 5 layers(4, +25%)
Cost: 1.71m(1.89m, -9.5%)

The Brooklyn 81 is smaller and a little cheaper than its predecessor. It doesn't pack nearly as much punch but the faster tracking speed makes it a more effective combatant anyway. This is of course a marginal upgrade, a stopgap version to bridge the time until ion drives are ready.

At the same time, it was announced that Eva Vadnais was the latest top SPACE researcher to end her public career. Along with Joe Tycho she carried the Energy Weapons field for the last couple of decades. It's been a time of great improvement as they've seen the program advance from its infancy to third, nearly fourth-generation weapons and techniques. At 64 years old and already suffering the natural effects of aging, she leaves behind her not a single quality researcher to fill the void. This does not bode well for the Navy's efforts over the next couple of decades.

March began with the launching of the first Baltimore Command Carrier. Only the Iowa XR now remained before the first ESF was complete and Operation Renewal could get underway. On the fifth, two days later, Cedrick Wormack retired. He battled through health problems to finish up his final project, the Orbital Habitat Module. Just one of these massive components would be about 50% larger than a South Carolina superfreighter. Each can house indefinitely 50,000 workers, with shuttles for transportation to normally uninhabitable bodies. It is possible, though seemingly unlikely, that deploying a space station to remote outposts may become a feasible goal. That time is not now, and it won't be soon either.

The 67-year-old Wormack retires having been an integral part of a cadre of top logistics researchers who greatly advanced SPACE's capabilities through practical solutions to the thorny problems of living in an increasingly space-faring age. There are other capable minds to succeed him, not quite like the greatest generation of LG scientists that he concludes, but the field is still in good hands.

Another three days, and the Alaska base on Titan was finished up. It was just one thing happening after another. SPACE headquarters at Sol Sector Command was a constant madhouse. More Caldwells were finished up in late March, a new Nimitz and Brooklyn each were operational in early April. Shortly aftewards, Dr. Julio Kuchler finished his report on considerably improved active gravitational sensors. This set the stage for four new systems to be prototyped: commercial, ship search, and missile search sensor variants, as well as a new missile fire control suite.

On April 18, in the early hours of the morning, the first Iowa XR tanker received clearance to depart its moorings. The preparation was over, it was time for Operation Renewal to begin ...


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

January 12 -- Uridium is exhausted on Faye.

January 21 -- Ticonderoga on Machholz is demolished.

February 10 -- Ticonderoga on Reinmuth is demolished.

February 16 -- Another most welcome expansion at Sedna is finished, now totalling 36 CMCs.

March 8 -- The Alaska base on Titan, after years of construction, is finally finished. The construction brigades are loaded up to head back to Earth.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Late January -- Garland Sidhom has made another leap in his abilities. Too bad he's in biogenetics, but he's nearly doubled his skills in less than a year to nearly reach elite status. At 60, he's got a decade at most to make his mark. Right now he's doing background work on improving the efficiency of shipyard operations. Not exactly what he signed up for. Clint Wyche is still the man in BG, and in that field there's only room for one top dog ...

Accomplished Elwood Tousant(SF) has also made a significant jump. He's a real success story, a guy who was given make-work jobs and didn't make much of them at first back when he was a snot-nosed, nigh-incompetent novice. Certainly a late bloomer, but at 57 and in excellent health he has a lot to offer humanity in the later stages of this century.

Mid-February -- It's almost literally raining Army talent recently it seems. Col. Galen Onken is the latest. He's cut out of the same cloth as Zoe Bean, and many already project that within five years the two of them will be neck-and-neck for the top spot.

Meanwhile, Dr. Cedrick Wormack seems to finally have age catching up with him. He's in the final weeks of his current project, and his health is failing him. Also, Curtis Gloster(CP) and one of the novice scientists in the same field have recently seen noted improvements. Gloster has joined the ranks of the elite now, accelerating his vital work on mining techniques.

Late February -- Medical issues announced for two relatively unknown army colonels, including Deacon Palmer Jr.. Dr. Eva Vadnais retires. Newbie Ricky Tsutsui will take the vacated lab to work on the prototype SITG Emdar-44.7, the latest in military-grade EM detection.

Early April -- Despite the health problems, June Aspinwall has developed a minor novice-level affinity for Intelligence operations.

April 14 -- Four more officers are dismissed, three navy and one from the army as well.


EARTH

February 16 -- Niehuis SY has finished retooling for the Ambassador, and construction has begun. A late spring finish time is expected.

March 3 -- The first of the Baltimore Command Carriers is finished. Only the Iowa XR tanker is now needed for the first ESF.

March 23 -- Caldwell x4 finished. The sixth quartet of what has been upped to eight begins.

April 5 -- A new Nimitz 76c is finished, second in the class, fifth Nimitz overall.

April 7 -- The fourth and final Brooklyn 72 is ready. Retooling for the newly designed 81 will require most of the rest of the year.

April 18 -- The Iowa XR tanker launches, completed the first ESF.


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Late February -- SpearPoint DL-12 Laser Cannon Turret finished.

March 5 -- Orbital Habitat Module finished by Dr. Cedrick Wormack's team, and his expected retirement is made official. After dividing up his labs between another pair of novices, there is only one unemployed scientist left ...

April 15 -- Julio Kuchler finishes the new active gravitational sensor techniques. Kuchler needs to take over a new project. It's the first shakeup of the revised R&D protocols. He'll take over work on improving fire control tracking speeds, and a number of other projects are suspended to make room for the prototypes to get underway.

[Brian Swartz]

RENEWAL

April 18 -- By the end of the day, Rear Admiral Hank Rohrer, an accomplished survey officer, had taken command of the first fully-formed ESF and instituted TF ESF Alpha on board the Baltimore 1 Command Carrier! It was a historic moment. His first order of businesses was to begin the first fleet exercises that the SPACE Navy has ever conducted.

Joining him are staff officers Cpt. Shad Gullo(Survey) and Cpt. Asa Hotz(Operations). Under their command are the following assets:

Baltimore 1 Command Carrier(Cmdr. Warner Godzik)
Gearing 1 Survey Carrier(Cmdr. Christin Dinges)
2x JS Explorer(Lt. Cmdrs. Trevor Lerner, Clement Sarrett)
3x GSV Frontier(Cmdrs. Lavern Camel, Elvin Harnett, Jay Cin V)
3x GEV Prospector(Lt. Cmdrs. Marc Cypriot, Fredrick Holcomb, Alfonso Galyen)

This also lowered Earth's fuel reserves to a shockingly low 2 million litres, SPACE has less than 15 million combined in the tanks when Titan and Callisto are added in. Most of Titan's supply was immediately shipped to Earth. It is expected to be a little over a year for the other XR, which will complete ESF Bravo.

April 22 -- Baltimore 2 is ready, and the Baltimore Marine SY is able to go silent.

Late April -- Garland Sidhom is in the news again. He's on an absolute tear and now has elite-level skills as a project lead.

May -- By the first of the month Earth has dipped under 1.25m liters. This is scary territory. The last group of Perrys to be scrapped are inbound just a few days out, and their tanks will be drained beforehand in order to boost the supply. It's not a huge amount, but about 700-800k can be gained there to make sure supplies last until Titan's shipment comes in.

Mid-May -- The exercises are supposed to be for the crew, but Rear Admiral Hank Rohrer has gained a meager amount of operations skill in the process.

May 19th -- The Ambassador is ready. A team of the best and brightest junior expendables were found. The sole representative from BOG, Marion Polizzi, concerned many. This was a lightning-rod of a choice if ever there was one. She has as fine a skill for diplomacy as anyone, but has a wicked streak in her as well. She's the kind of diplomat who will make nice to your face, stab you in the back, then dance a jig on your corpse in celebration. Then again, there's a chance that might be what SPACE needs in this situation ...

Regardless, it's a risky selection. The team will be led officially by Col. Karen Cotsis, though Polizzi is pulling the strings in actuality. Col. Jeff Wiechmann along with Lt. Cmdrs. Jean Rickabaugh and Arturo Calnan round out the group.

Commanding the Ambassador itself, though he's in truth a subordinate on this mission with a duty simply to ferry them around, is Cmdr. Fritz Weinstock. He's not exactly overjoyed by the assignment but as someone who knows how to keep the peace and get things done, he's definitely the right man for the job.

It would only take a little over five days to reach the jump. Final approval was obtained from Fleet Command for the first jump in almost 23 years. After this long, there was no way to know what to expect. It could be years of nothing, or it could be very 'exciting' and brief. The sane ones hoped earnestly for the first option.

May 24, 0328 -- Final approval from the two Forrestals at the point where nothing has ever once been detected was obtained. The Ambassador was enveloped in a bluish hue ... and then disappeared.

And the waiting began.

May 27 -- Triton's base is demolished. A DSTS is already on the way. Only Sedna's remains.

June 2 -- SITG ThermoScan 121(Bessie Wallander) is finished.

June 6 -- Long Beach completed.

June 15 -- Final Long Beach finished, sixth group deployed. Long regarded as the most incompetent researcher in SPACE, David Gruis(PP, 47) has reached accomplished status. He may yet become actually important before he retires ...

Some thought was given to whether the two dozen Long Beach are actually enough. The tanks are at about 13m right now, a concerning situation but most of the ships that need to be built have been built. Still, with another tanker coming next year, another Gearing coming at the end of the year, and who knows what else, the mine shipments are drawing more fuel ... building up a reserve for the future will require massive amounts. They'll be needed eventually for certain, so why wait. Another two groups of four are ordered, and the slipways resume their active state at the P&A Group SY. Ironically when the Long Beach was first proposed, it was considered by some ridiculously massive and far more than SPACE would ever need. About that ...

Another two slipways are ordered as well. With this many harvesters it will take a very long time to refit them all if and when that becomes necessary. With most of the mineral stockpiles stable and duranium slowly edging upwards, Director Awad is gambling that it's an affordable expense. And can we really afford not to do it?

Mid June -- Gallicite exhausted on Halley's Comet

June 19 -- The Ambassador returns. It has been less than four weeks since it jumped out.

DIPLOMATIC MISSION LOG -- EPSILON ERIDANI

May 24, System Entry. Wrecks on the Pioneers are still visible about 1.5b km from the jump, right where they were reported almost a quarter century ago. It was a rather morbid and gruesome sight, an apparently permanent graveyard in space. They had not been touched. Apparently the aliens don't consider our technology worth the effort of salvaging. That's ... well that's beyond words.

Still, they were here to do a job. 25 years after first contact, the diplomatic channels were officially opened. Would anyone respond? Were they even still here to do so?

The answer didn't take long. Within the first day, long-range sensor instruments determined that something out there was receiving the messages. There was no question, they were still here. Somewhere. Probably near the wrecks. But no response was made. Either they couldn't understand us, or they didn't care to reply. Neither was encouraging.

The team was already beginning to sense their mission might well be futile.

June 4 -- Just as the team officially noted that it looked like establishing contact might be impossible, there were a few small signs of progress over the next week.

June 19 -- That was really the only positive note in the log unforunately. Before and after that opening week of June, it was more a situation of one step forward, two or three steps back. On this date, 25 days after the beginning of the mission, team lead Cotsis had to report that they had simply run out of options.

The mission was a failure. The aliens are simply too different, there's no basis for meaningful, effective communication and in the unanimous opinion of the team we are only antagonizing them by further attempts. Cmdr. Godzik had no choice but to accept the verdict and jump back to Sol.

SPACE Sector Command was not pleased at the news, but it was not entirely unexpected either. We made the effort. We tried to attempt peace. They've shown they aren't interested or capable of it repeatedly. There is only one option available. It's been true in a de facto state for a generation, but Director Awad made it official.

Humanity is now officially at war with the aliens in Epsilon Eridani. This cold war can only end with the surrender and/or extermination of one or the other. SPACE's #1 priority is to make sure we win a fight we cannot afford to lose. All other concerns are secondary.

Late June -- With only the Sedna base left to deal with, Awad orders the next step in resolving the base situation. Mercury, Venus, and the four moons of Jupiter are still without any protection. Enough prefabricated Ticonderogas exist to handle all of them twice over. Yes they are basically 'stone-age' technology from the mid-60s, but they are something.

June 25 -- Diplo team arrives back on earth. A mysterious accident kills a junior naval at the same time, around 10 AM GST. The two incidents are probably unrelated, but the intranet goes crazy with conspiracy theorists' unsupported allegations and speculation.

July 1 -- Mercury and Venus have everything in place, and a single construction brigade begins work on each of their respective Ticonderoga bases.

Early July -- Navy Chief Mitchell Feeser adds a bit of Logistics knowledge to his resume, and the last of the Perrys are scrapped.

July 10 -- Io and Callisto begin work on the Ticonderogas there, the other two moons await incoming construction brigades. So far all of them are expected to be finished early next year. Also, research finished on Small Troop Transport Bay, fit for a company, though we have no units that small yet. Alphonse Lambeth led the work.

Mid-July -- RA Parker Lanzi has become accomplished in her current posting as Communications Officer at Fleet HQ.

Director Riley Awad, and to a lesser extent the public, is growing impatient with the continuing 'fleet exercises'. Over the strenuous objection of Chief Feeser and Rear Admiral Rohrer, he orders ESF Alpha to get going and stop the exercises. They want another five months in addition to three already spent in order to get to what the navy feels is a sufficient level of training and coordination. Awad goes apoplectic at that notion, pointing out that this isn't some complicated combat maneuver they're being asked to perform -- it's survey operations. With the current fuel situation, they can't afford to burn more of it up with these training exercises, and delaying the mission isn't an option either.

Combining the concerns for a shakedown run and fuel supply issues, with the rare optimal position of Saturn at nearly the same bearing as the Barnard's Star point, the furthest one in Sol, Awad orders ESF Alpha there first. There won't be a better chance in terms of a good refueling point. Saturn takes almost a 30-year path around the sun, so while it's a very unglamorous place to start it served as a useful compromise and made practical sense with the goal to survey all the systems eventually anyway.

July 15 -- After topping off at Earth, ESF Alpha breaks orbit and heads for Barnard's Star. It's almost a four-month journey, so it'll be late in the year before they arrive. Operation Renewal was officially underway. It was expected to take most of the decade to map the six systems.

July 20 -- Sedna's Tennessee base is the last to be destroyed.

July 24 -- Construction begins on the final two Ticonderoga bases on Europa and Ganymede.

August -- ESF Alpha has passed through the asteroid field and is nearing Jupiter orbit path.

July 27 -- Caldwell finished(x4). Two more groups to go.

Late July -- Medical condition discovered for Lt. Cmdr. Chance Perj. It does not appear to be threatening in the short term.

Mid-August -- Sedna expands again, now at 37 complexes.

September -- Now roughly midway between Saturn and Uranus orbits, ESF Alpha's progress is agonizingly slow for most observers on Earth.

September 25 -- The final DSTS departs for Sedna. Research Lab and Ordnance Factory production are increased to pre-election levels(33 and 13 percent respectively).

October -- ESF Alpha has reached the midpoint between Uranus and Neptune orbits.

Early October -- Dr. Rosemary Urenda has bumped her already elite skills up again. Anything that gets ion drives here sooner is worthy of praise.

** At this point, a power loss cost me notes on what happened for about the next year and a half. I can recreate the major events, just not specific personnel/research stuff. Thankfully Aurora saves constantly. I need to do a better job of doing that myself :) **

Mid-November -- ESF Alpha reaches the jump and departs for Barnard's Star, which was discovered and last visited back in 2055. It's time now to wait ... and hope that humanity has better luck this time around than they did in the 50s.

[Brian Swartz]

** The next couple or so posts will be summary-style, covering the year and a half of details that I lost. **

November 2081 - March 2082

On November 11 2081 ESF Alpha jumped out to the Barnard's Star system after a successful scout by Explorer 1. They were not heard from for the rest of the year, nor were they expected to be. Nobody had any real idea how long it would take to scout a system, and doubtless it would vary depending on the system, but it was assumed a few weeks would definitely not be enough.

SPACE rang in the new year in 2082 with a bit of political debate. Well, more than a bit actually. Gross colonial population had finally reached 10% of the total, and a significant political force they were becoming. Previous proposals to move factories, research labs, etc. to the colonies had never gotten anywhere largely because they were simply wasteful. Earth is a fairly central location in Sol, and why ship more personnel and equipment all over the system than necessary? This time however, the colonials had found an issue with a legitimate argument behind it -- sort of. Their proposal gave birth to the Clemson Controversy.

The Clemson was a proposed tug ship, using tractor beam technology that SPACE has had for a a while now but not used. The proposed ship would be capable of hauling the P&A Group SY, responsible for Long Beach harvesters, to Titan. There it would be closer to Saturn's massive harvesting operation for purposes of refitting, building new ships, etc. Time and fuel would be saved. All of this was very good in theory, but deflected eventually by the fact that Titan was about a million short of the three million workers needed to operate the shipyard. The bigger issue of the colonies would not go away though: they have 10% of the population and only 1.5% of the lucrative TN industrial jobs, those in maintenance facilities and mines on Titan and Europa. The shipyards, factories, and research labs, by far the biggest employers, had 100% of their operations on earth and the colonialists are increasingly unhappy about. Naturally the Earth Firsters love it and want to keep it that way.

Director Riley Awad soon proved that, like most politicians, he paid little head to Hesitations 5:18("all those who remain on the fence shall receive splinters"). He straddled the issue and reinstituted the 2% Initiative. This time however, it would be directed towards terraforming installations. A 3-4 year timeline would be required for each installation, delivered to the colonies as a way for them to both have higher-paying high-tech TN jobs and improve the living conditions at the same time. From SPACE's point of view, it also provided a dry run on establishing best practices for terraforming ahead of the eventual need for them in colonization efforts.

The spring would provide another challenge. On March 9 the last of the Ticonderogas were finished on the moons of Jupiter, and the positive elements of the vision put forward 17 years previous by India Rakes in terms of bases throughout Sol were completed. Of course these bases were also basically two decades old technology wise at this point, and the Alaskas on Earth certainly remain SPACE's best, perhaps only, chance at repelling an alien attack should it ever come. So much has changed that when the redesigns eventually came, it proved far cheaper to build new bases than refit the old ones. Director Awad put SPACE on a path to build new updated bases by 2100, a path that requires about a fifth of Earth's industry for the first several years of that effort. The biggest takeaway from the redesign is that defending humanity is going to require a staggeringly increasing amount of resources in the future. SPACE is really starting to feel the pinch in terms of needing to get colonization beyond Sol going in order to bring in more resources. It isn't that painful yet, but it will get progressively more so as time goes on. Earth's industrial base has not expanded in a long time, and won't be doing so anytime in the near future due to the navy's ravenous and ever-growing need for resources, duranium espescially. The only way out is to find more.

Alaska 82 Missile Base

Size: 22.7kt(53.7 kt)
Crew: 709(1025)
Armament: 25 Defender 76 Missile Launchers, 250 missile capacity(previously 400 missiles, same launchers), half standard and half higher-payload P versions; 4 CIWS 79 Batteries(18 CIWS I)
Sensors: 2 each thermal, EM, and active grav military-grade standard
Armor: 10 layers composite(10 layers duranium)
Troop Capacity: 1 brigade(same)
Cost: 3.53m(4.51m)

The big reduction in CIWS is due to the previous amount being considered extravagantly large. Hopefully we won't ever have to find out if that's correct. Otherwhise the sensors are both much better and much smaller, the missiles faster and more powerful, and the cost down quite a bit as well.

Ticonderoga 82 Sensor Base

Size: 3.7 kt(2.95 kt)
Crew: 24(16)
Armament: 1 CIWS 79 Battery
Sensors: Mark IV Commercial variants
Armor: 8 layers composite(5 layers duranium)
Troop Capacity: 1 battalion(same)
Cost: 198k

Other than upgraded sensors, the main difference is thicker armor and the needed addition of a CIWS battery. Any kind of massed attack would still be a problem, really anything other than an armed scout ship. In that case the support of the fleet would be needed. It's more about the appearance of safety than actual safety.

The necessity of building these bases meant that other priorities like mine expansion, research labs, etc. had to receive reduced priority.

[Brian Swartz]

April - August 2082

It was a quiet spring after the bustle of base-building activity and political back-and-forth of the first few months of the year. It ended up being the calm between the storms however. In June, at almost exactly the same time, ESF Bravo was finished and ESF Alpha returned from Barnard's Star. This lit a fire under Bravo to get their training exercises done as soon as possible so they could get in on the fun. Rear Admiral Parker Lanzi, a bit perturbed that she hadn't gotten the first flotilla, was nabbed to lead Bravo. Among her Frontier commanders was one Daniel Watters.

Barnard's Star Survey Report
ESF Alpha, June 2082

Jump Points

One additional jump point was found in the system, to Gliese 563.2. It's almost directly across Barnard's Star from the Sol jump, a 2.3b km distance, so from Earth to Gliese 563.2 is about 8.2b km.

Geological Survey

There wasn't much to evaluate here, the geosurvey took just over a month. 186kt of sorium was found on the gas giant at the same 0.7 accessibility as Saturn has. This gives the system potential as a refueling point at least. The fifth moon has 636kt of highly inaccessible(0.1) duranium. The other moons and asteroids were found to be completely barren.

No evidence of alien civilizations, past or present, was found.

http://i.imgur.com/7PCxybn.png

New System -- Gliese 563.2

This is a rather incredible system. The report was hard to believe until the spectography was analyzed and confirmed. It's a binary system, but a binary of such massive scale as to be inconceivable. The secondary star orbits at an incomprehensibly far 93 billion kilometers from the primary. That is not a typo. Almost 100 billion km. In the diagram below, the asteroid field shown is about six times larger in diameter than the outer one in Sol(the one that contains Pluto, past the orbits of all the planets). Even Sedna is only about as 30% as far from the sun as these objects are from Gliese 563.2 A.

Gliese 563.2 B is a royal tease. It has three terrestrial planets, a super jovian, couple of gas giants, lots of moons ... and the second planet is almost as good as the planet in Sirius for habitation. It's just about 30 degrees too cold, very fixable with the right terraforming. Nothing a little greenhouse effect coudn't fix. None of that matters of course, because it would take a survey ship almost two and a half years just to get there. And that's the good part -- getting any amount of equipment there would be obscenely difficult, and of course it's several times the effective range of mass drivers so any resources would have to be shipped back at exorbitant costs. For the same reason, the asteroid field is a non-starter.

Still, the inner system around A is not a thing to be disregarded. Three terrestrial planets, one of which is a lot closer to Mars/Luna than Titan in terms of being habitable and could be terraformed to be much better -- the biggest problem right now is flouride in the atmosphere that would need to be removed, it would also need more oxygen and some carbon dioxide to up the temperature. A reasonably long-term investment, but the presence of four more gas giants complete with 80 moons makes it very likely to be a good long-term investment.

http://i.imgur.com/5C82tDy.png

Back in Sol, ESF Alpha reported 92% fuel, no major maintenance issues, all systems were green so the refueling at Saturn was bypassed and the flotilla headed directly to Luyten 726-8. The shakedown cruise was over and a smashing success, all ships had worked as intended and lived to tell about it.

SPACE was not allowed to celebrate this success for long. In early July, they were rocked by the sudden retirement of Earth governor Francesco Alborn. Alborn had finally arrived on the political scene it seemed, and was considered a very fitting lieutenant to Riley Awad. Unfortunately there are some things medical science still can't fix. An inoperable brain tumor forced him out of office and the rest of his life was sure to be very brief.

Practically speaking this meant various beauracrats had to share in holding things together on Earth for the next couple of years. Factory and shipyard production slowed down considerably, especially the latter. Humanity was also deprived of a chance to really celebrate the first completely surveyed system outside of Sol, as with the shock of Alborn's tragic departure came a certain amount of uncertainty.

By the time fall arrived, ESF Alpha was in Luyten 726-8, and Bravo on it's way to Teegarden's Star for it's shakedown run. The two flotillas would meet in the 'middle', Alpha taking the jumps to the left of the system and Bravo those on the right.

[Brian Swartz]

** Note: This brings us up to where my log resumes**

September 2082 - June 2083

In late 2082 and early 2083 the biggest issue was fuel. The SDF began training as there were now several each of the Brooklyn and Nimitz classes in service and they needed to be ready should the worst come. the P&A Group SY was constantly busy building more Long Beach harvesters. Every time it looked like there would be enough after another group or two, something new(like the Defender 76 missiles, for example) would come up needing more and the building continued. It was somewhere in this time period that the shipyard was expanded to allow for additional slipways: four at a time just wasn't enough with this level of demand. Most of the time the combined tanks stayed around 12-15 million litres. This was enough to refuel anything that was needed, but not enough for any semblance of comfort level. It's just a fraction of what the navy can go through in a year.

In the spring of 83 both ESFs returned. Bravo set course for the much-anticipated Sirius system, while Alpha headed to Van Maanen. Incredibly, both were due to jump out within three minutes of each other on the same day, leading many in SPACE to bet on who would finish their survey first and therefore get to do the final one in Lalande 21185.

** If I recall correctly, and I probably don't, it was sometime in April that they jumped to the new systems**

Luyten 726-8 Survey Report
ESF Alpha, Spring 2083

Jump Points

Three were found by the time the gravitational survey was a third over with, leading many to think this would be another major hub system like Sol. No more were found after that, but still, three new systems were discovered: Tau Ceti, Lacaille 9352, and Epsilon Indi.

Geological Survey

The key feature of Luyten 726-8 is that it is the only known system outside of Sol with comets. Five of them, four of which are close enough to survey. All were found to contain sufficient quantities of accessible, important minerals to make them worth the price of development.

Comet #1: 5.3 kt neutronium(0.9), 16+kt corundium(1.0), as well as five minor minerals in varying amounts.
Comet #2: 29.8 kt duranium(0.9), 348 t gallicite(0.7), five minor minerals most notably 176 kt of tritanium
Comet #4: 19.7 kt corundium(1.0), some vendarite and sorium as well
Comet #5: 17.9 kt mercassium(1.0) and each of the six minor minerals also

Luyten 726-8 B's system was surveyed first. It was barren except for 1.4 mt(1.0) of sorium on the third planet, a gas giant. That makes this an excellent refueling station, as it's more accessible than Saturn's reserves.

The primary star was found to contain the stuff dreams are made of. The first planet contains 991 kt duranium(0.8), and four minor minerals at lesser accessibilities, a total efficiency of 23 which is not great but ok. Most important though is that this is the best single source of duranium known. It's only a fraction of Venus's deposits but far more accessible, and about twice as big as major sources such as Triton and Sedna in Sol were with similar extraction rates. The rest of the system was barren.

New System -- Tau Ceti

The jump here is astonishingly close ... a mere 32m km away! Even better, this system has everything you could want, save comets. It has a couple terrestrial planets, the second of which is great in terms of gravity and temperature: it just needs oxygen added to the atmosphere. This would be a pretty quick terraforming job, 50 years for a single installation to make it earth-like. Two gas giants, a super jovian, a fair number of moons, and 30 asteroids sweeten the pot. Definitely a big prospect for further surveying.

The distance from Sol to Tau Ceti is 6.5b, but if Luyten 726-8 were settled that distance would become negligible. Even so it's still much closer than Gliese 563.2.

New System -- Lacaille 9352

The jump here is 2.36b out, in the outer edges of an asteroid field containing 100 or so objects. In other respects it's a virtual copy of Tau Ceti. Actually has more terrestrials for possible colonization, it could become a virtual cornocopia of colonies like Sol eventually. The second planet will need a little more terraforming(2-3 times as much) in this case because it has a thicker atmosphere, but temperature and gravity are again right in range. Plenty of potential gas giants for fuel sources.

6.6 b km from Sol. It's a poor man's Tau Ceti, which means it's still very much worth investigating.

New System -- Epsilon Indi

This system grabs your attention right way with the fact that it's a tertiary system -- three stars! Unfortunately B and C are relegated to distant observers. They only have one unimpressive planet between them anyway, but more importantly is that B, closely orbited by C, is a staggering 230 billion km away from the primary star A. Give or take, maybe a little under 230 billion. Hard to be accurate at such a hilariously distant range, which is well over twice as distant as the secondary in Gliese 563.2. And of course it doesn't matter.

A has an observer of it's own, a dwarf that spends it's time 43b km out. Almost four Sedna's away. All the good stuff is under 2b, a very workable margin. Another good terrestrial as the second planet, though not as good -- it's like Mars or Luna, right temp and gravity but it needs an atmosphere. One super jovian and gas giant each with the usual amount of moons for each, so it's still another good system but definitely not in the same category as the first two. About the same distance as Lacaille from Sol as well.

Summary/Evaluation

Things would be much better if the second planet, by far the most habitable one, had the minerals instead. The first planet where they actually are is roughly Mercury in terms of habitability, so it's definitely a case where we'd need to colonize the second planet, putting automines on the first and the comets and a refueling station at the third planet of the B star. That station would typically be only about 800m km away, as compared to the 1.4b km Saturn is in Sol, so even travel times would be better. The drawback is there is nowhere around the B star for a decent colony -- the one terrestrial is about four times more inhospitable than Venus -- so all we could do is slap a DSTS for detection on that and the harvesters would need to travel further for shore leave. It would still be a better scenario all things considered.

Luyten 726-8 has plusses in every category. With jumps to three other promising systems it is strategically important, it has a good if somewhat limited(comparatively) source of fuel, the duranium on A-I could help considerably in stemming the impact of the eventual duranium crash when Sedna goes out of business, and the comets contain enough of the big four minerals to serve at least as a stopgap source to buy some time. No sign of any alien civilizations was found either. There's no question Luyten has leaped to the head of the class in terms of colonization targets.

http://i.imgur.com/TcZ5HPP.png



Teegarden's Star Survey Report
ESF Bravo, Spring 2083

Jump Points

For the first time, none were found save the one back to Sol. This is a dead end, which has it's own positives in a way. No alien race has access to it.

Geological Survey

Bravo did not receive high marks for the fact that, noticed well after they returned to Sol, one of the planets was skipped completely. Having said that, the survey was largely underwhelming. The asteroid field is completely useless. Planet I has huge amounts of duranium, neutronium, and tritanium that are all virtually inaccessible. Planet IV is suspiciously similar to Saturn. It has 11.3 mt of sorium(0.7, like Saturn), which is far more than will ever be needed in this system since it doesn't lead anywhere. The third of it's moons is a near-copy of Titan in terms of the cost of living there -- and it has the big find of the system:

24.5 mt duranium(0.1)
24 mt tritanium(0.1)
37 mt boronide(0.1)
640 kt vendarite(0.1)
2.25 mt sorium(0.3)
20.3 mt corundium(0.8)

The last is obviously the most important there. With a sufficiently large mining operation on that ball of rock corundium concerns are history for the forseeable future. A large enough terraforming operation could eventually improve it as well, but it's very cold and would need a crushing atmosphere to heat it up enough so it's never going to be a paradise.

The third planet is also worth developing, not the planet itself but it has three useful moons. The first two have accessible duranium at about 40kt each, which would help greatly in building up the infrastructure the 'Titan' moon would need. The third has 14kt of neutronium, which is always useful.

Summary/Evaluation

Developing the corundium here has to be a long-term objective at least. It will be 24 years before Ikeya-Zang in Sol is within safe mass driver range: it remains to be seen whether it will be practical to develop Teegarden's Star before that. Even if it isn't, that's only 82 kt and would last only decades at best.

http://i.imgur.com/45dUzYl.png



Director Awad made a couple of immediate decisions upon receiving these reports. There was no longer any point to having sensors at a dead-end jump, so the Teegarden Forrestals were recalled. He also began the process of the biggest development contract in the history of SPACE: nearly 10 million credits to Akheton Corp. for a jump drive capable of propelling a ship of South Carolina-magnitude. No other development contract has been much more than a third of that, most of the government's general-purpose research is still less. It's about how much was spent to develop Jump Theory and some of the more involved advances so far achieved. It was now clear, however, that colonization beyond Sol was coming. Now that there was proof the resources are there, we needed to be able to move large quantities of equipment through the jumps.

[Brian Swartz]

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2083

On July 9th, Dr. Curtis Gloster, the top construction scientist the last 15 years or so, basically since icon Deacon Palmer retired, finishes new improved mining techniques which should result in a 15% improvement in output across the board. It was no particular leap of technology that achieved this, but rather standardizing of various best practices discovered through SPACE's decades of experience across Sol. At 67, he has decided to retire. So too did Mike Minaya(BG), at age 66. Minaya was a good though not great project lead, but working in a limited field he still had a difficult time getting consistent work.

At the same time, it was notice that a couple others had slipped through the cracks and were continuing to work against medical advice. After the Juishao incident SPACE cannot afford to let these matters continue on. Harlan Welle(only quality scientist in MK) and Shanon Patteson(CP, working on the followup to improve construction rates along with the better mining results) both are forced out as well. Welle was 68, Patteson 65.

This hurt the construction & production field considerably with the two top researchers retiring. By the time the dust had settled, the reorganization had active projects up to 33, and most of the newcomers including a bevy of novice energy weapons scientists had something to work on. The missiles & kinetic weapons field though ... is scary bad. Novice Elyse Buckler, who is 32 and hasn't really developed much, is the only one there is. It's one of the busier fields -- or should I say, it ought to be -- but there's not going to be a whole lot getting done for the forseeable future.

On August 23, another first as the initial ship of the Brooklyn 81 class was deployed. The next month provided a real day to remember. On September 14, Dr. Rosemary Urenda announced that ion drive research had been successful and produced initial proof-of-concept reports and testing. While she moved on to work on the new commercial jump drive, great news in and of itself since that was crucial to the colonization efforts, the ripple effects of this advance were rather seismic throughout major segments of SPACE. It's not every day that a new type of engine comes along: it's been more than 20 years that nuclear thermal pulse was the standard-bearer.

The rest of the Power & Propulsion field suspends their current projects to work on the bevy of engines that will now need to be prototyped. There are six of them, three novice and three accomplished. It's a strong group overall, as strong as in any field. And yet they will find themselves very busy. The new engines needed are as follows. Note that all military engines are thermal shielded(35% emissions), while the commercial engines are not. Initial testing shows an impressive 50% increase in propulsion power, meaning that once these are fielded all ships, espescially the warships, will be that much more effective. Advances in fuel efficiency will help greatly in keeping the increased drain on the harvesters to a minimum.

JPS ID 36 -- military-grade thruster, standard power ratio, 150 tons. Used in the Forrestal sensor vessels and the survey ships(Explorer/Frontier/Prospector).

JPS ID 63 -- military-grade thruster, maximum power ratio(175%), 150 tons. Used for the Caldwell VIP shuttles.

Vertigo 72/108/144/180 -- Four engines of varying sizes(200/300/400/500-ton varieties) for the combat ships, slightly increased power ratio(125%). Some debate was had over increasing this. Fuel consumption increases exponentially with overclocking of the core reactions, but the fact of the matter is that the Navy intends to use the next generation of ships in a more mobile capacity and needs every advantadge it can get. Current designs(Brooklyn '81, Nimitz '76c) use less than 2.5% of their space for fuel. It is decided that the need for more speed is paramount and this round will be designed with 150% ratios. As a result the overall power increase will be 80% over the current Phoenix variants, with a resultant overall speed increase expected to approach that. This won't make us as fast as the alien ships we encountered in Epsilon Eridani in the 50s, but it should bridge a significant part of the gap.

Eagle 60/72 -- It is not worthwhile to use such overclocked engines on survey ships such as the Gearing and Baltimore classes. For them, speed is important but so is fuel efficiency. Therefore the military series of engines is split into two parts, one for combat and one for non-combat ships. These will actually see reduced power ratios to the standard configuration. This will make them more fuel-efficient yet still faster in spite of it. The current engines being used on these ships are 300 tons, so a 250 and 300-ton variety being developed for the Eagle series ensures the navy will have the opportunity to optimize a bit for the next-gen in case a little more space needs to be squeezed in for something else.

WP ID 120/240 -- As before, these are unshielded engines. Prior iterations have used the standard commercial power ratio of 50%. While we can gain much greater efficiencies by lowering it as far as 25%, speed is not irrelevant. At this point though, ion drives make our engines powerful enough that it is thought best to begin reducing the ratios some amount further. This time around a 40% strikes what is thought to be an appropriate balance. These engines are 20% faster and 30+% more efficient than the existing nuclear thermal-pulse varieties.

That's ten engine prototypes needed, and it doesn't include the relatively miniature engines needed for a new round of missiles. The picture clouded even more when the Navy began to consider that issue ...


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** July 9 -- Curtis Gloster finishes improved mining production. He and other top scientists retire.

** August 15 -- Research completed on enhanced efficiency, one-quarter power engines(Reynaldo Darrington).


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

July 19 -- Sedna is up to 38 CMCs now. Just over 43 years now left with this expansion and the improved mining. The clock is ticking ...

August 6 -- A new Shipment of mines to Tempel-Tuttle leaves Earth.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

July 9 -- Researchers Curtis Gloster, Mike Minaya, Harlan Welle, and Shanon Patteson all retire.

July 23 -- New member of BOG: Sara Seals. Good news is she's aleady elite in large-scale management. Bad news ... solid abilities in shipbuilding is the only other skill she has.


EARTH

August 23 -- First Brooklyn 81 finished.

[Brian Swartz]

NAVAL IMPACT -- ION DRIVES

What interested Naval Command even more was how these would change anticipated missile effectiveness. With virtually no progress being made in the field there is no point to waiting for further advances in missile agility, payload, etc. None will be forthcoming in the near future. Therefore one of the most important questions the Navy has ever had to answer is whether or not ion drives change the relative balance of power enough to justify an eventual attempt to drive the aliens out.

BEAM WEAPON DEFENSE

At present our best tracking speed against missiles is 12-16k km/s, depending on how long we've had them detected to better anticipate their future location. Kuchler is presently working on upping that speed to 16-20k km/s, which is just barely passable against an incoming weapon of the estimated 15-30k km/s. A very large fire control required to get the necessary range to ensure the missiles wouldn't cross the entire engagement envelope before there would be a chance to fire, but it was possible.

MISSILE ANALYSIS

Three different missile types were considered here. The standard anti-ship defender 76 has a hit rate a little over 50%, the higher-payload P variant is only about 30% but still considered probably the better option since it has more than twice the punch, and the anti-missile Interceptor, merely a concept at the last evaluation, had an estimated hit rate of just 9%. On the last score we must emphasize that this is a guess based on the rough estimate of enemy missile speed which covered a wide range. About a 20% hit rate is considered necessary to make that a viable weapon system.

Current doctrine, which is a rough guestimate at best, calls for a 70m km range on the anti-ship missiles. The new Defender standard would be better than 50% faster, with a hit rate of 78%! The P variant is almost exactly 50% faster than the previous, and at a hit rate of 48% is considered nearly 40% more effective now in simulations. These missiles travel 19.6 and 17.5 km/s respectively, which puts them in the low end of the range of known alien capabilities. This is a very significant development in the minds of Navy brass -- we are getting close to matching their recorded, quarter-century-old capabilities.

As for the Interceptor concept, it doesn't need nearly the range. Our current missile sensors have the capability of detecting an incoming missile at 2m km. That means a range longer than thatis pretty much useless. Right now we are in the 15-30% hit range for the target speeds for this missile, which isn't great but good enough.

NAVAL DOCTRINE

The current designs of the Nimitz and Brooklyn are based on the assumption that there is no effective defense against alien missiles. The Navy's most recent analysis, summarized above, stipulates that this may no longer be the case. This fact called for a wholesale revision in ship design and combat doctrine. Under the old assumption, all ships operated independently, with their own detection systems since there was no way to protect any kind of centralized 'early-warning' ship. The doctrine called for 'aggressive defense', i.e. multiple independent weapons platforms to overwhelm the enemy with massed firepower before they could destroy us. It was primarily designed to defend against an enemy attack.

Every ship having its own sensors was both highly inefficient and undeniably necessary. Now that there is the prospect of potentially shooting down incoming alien missiles, this reality is changing. The question is, has it changed enough? Practically speaking, that question has to be considered irrelevant at this juncture. With next to no progress expected on the missile research front, the question is really are we prepared to wait another generation before beginning to deal with the threat in Epsilon Eridani. That could easily take 20 or more years. Humanity's growing need to expand beyond Sol makes this an extremely dubious proposition, and the Navy is very disinclined to wait. It is also worth remembering that our knowledge of their capabilities is extremely limited and also 25 years old. There's no way for the Navy to be ready without better intelligence information, and there's only one way to obtain that is to go get it.

We have waited long enough. It is time to set plans in motion to repel them. In order to do this, the Navy will no longer divide it's ships between beam and missile variants, but attempt to use combined-arms theory. This new approach calls for retirement of the Brooklyn and Nimitz concepts, and an initial division into three new classes of ships: a command ship which will have more powerful sensors, increased armor and CIWS defenses, and be protected at all costs by an escort class. These escorts will contain anti-missile weapons systems(meson cannons and Interceptor missiles). This should in theory allow for a staggered approach with a better chance to weaken the incoming salvos at least, and also allow for valuable intel on the effectiveness of both weapons systems. The third class will serve much the same role as the current Nimitz, a missile ship carrying a new missile based on the same principles as the Defender. This has been termed the Exorcist.

All of this requires new prototypes across the board. Sensors of every kind. Reduced-size missile launchers to maximize firepower -- reload time will suffer but this is more than considered an acceptable trade-off. Larger power plants. And of course two more engines, one for each variety of missile. Once the blueprints for the new, larger sensors were hammered out for the sensor/command ships, the general effect of these new changes was to double the Interceptor range and more than triple the Exorcist from the Defender to about 250m km. This does lower the hit chance a bit, it will now have about a 36-37% rate but stand a much better chance of not simply being outranged. The Interceptor will have an effective range of about 4m km, at a simulation-estimated hit rate of 14.5-29%. As many as six volleys could potentially be launched at a single missile wave, though practically speaking that is more likely to be two, maybe three.

This massive initiative was dubbed Operation Frozen Vengeance, the preparation stages of which has begun. They do say it's a dish best served cold ... and what is colder than the void of space? The goal of Frozen Vengeance is to bring battle to the aliens in Epsilon Eridani by the end of the century, aiming to drive them from the system, stop the desecration of the long-dead tombs that are the Pioneer wrecks, and push them away from the doorstep to Sol.

Similarly to the PP field, Sensors & Fire Control cancels four ongoing projects to focus on prototyping the new systems. At least five years expected before all systems are ready and Frozen Vengeance can be turned over to the shipyard engineers.

[Brian Swartz]

SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2083

A little of this and that, but no major news in the final few months of the year. SPACE is awaiting word from survey operations in Sirius and Van Maanen, expected fairly early next year.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

September 16 -- Accomplished PP scientist Norris Gunterman moves up yet again.

September 22 -- Riley Awad makes a slight increase in accomplished wealth creation skills. Russell Salvucci and Burt Stonerock have also seen minor increases this year.

November 2 -- Adolfo Walth(DS, 40) is up to Accomplished level now with a nice bump to his efficiency. Currently he's doing early work on a more deflective version of composite armor.

December 15 -- A new sensors scientist(Sung Padro) is not particularly notable on his own, but with him on the case all of the new electronics as well as the new quad-meson cannon turret are in the prototype phase. Half of the engines are still idle of course, and the new missiles will have to wait for them, there'll be magazines for the missiles and new fire controls for the mesons. But a considerable portion of the components needed for Frozen Vengeance are now in the testing phase, enough for SPACE to say things are underway.


EARTH

November 8 -- Assault and Mobile Infantry Battalions finished on earth. Two more Assault Infantry queued up.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

November 18 -- Corbomite deposits exhausted on the comet Borrelly.

December 2 -- Sedna expands to 39 complexes.

[sterlingice]

For colonization, would it be feasible to have some sort of distant outposts or are the supply costs just too great? For instance, there's some planet you mention in Tau Ceti that will be a "quick" 50 year terraforming job. Could you send a small team there to start that timer now without risking too much so that in 2 generations, when tech catches up, SPACE will be ready to full scale colonize there? I mean, the game has "only" progressed 70 years since the start so 50 years seems like a long time to wait for more development.

Or since you mention "single installation", does that mean you can drop, say 5 terraformers (in the game, are those factories? mechanical devices? ships?) and cut that down to 10 years?

SI

[Brian Swartz]

Good questions.

First of all, terraforming takes a long time generally unless things are already pretty much perfect. Changing the environment of an entire planet is ... well it's time-consuming. Massive on a scale I can't really even fully appreciate. Your example is exactly correct, 5 terraformers could do it in 10 years, 10 could do it in five years, etc. Improved terraforming technology also helps(we can terraform twice as fast now as we could when SPACE started up, so it would been a not-as-quick 100-year project then.)

When I say terraforming installation, it's just that -- an installation. There's two ways you can do terraforming. One is to build a terraforming ship, the other is the installation which is just like a factory or a mine or lab or a tracking station -- build it and move it where it's needed. Right now SPACE is partial to the latter approach, but both have their pros and cons.

In terms of what is involved to set up such an advanced prep type of operation, it depends on which method is chosen. To do it the installation route, you need enough colonists to operate the installations and enough infrastructure to support them as well as the installations themselves. I don't know yet what population is required to operate each one, but based on the cost to build them I'm guessing it's 250k. That's 250k manufacturing workers, not 250k total population. So if that number is right, there would need to be at least a million probably more to get that number of workers. The reason we know that is Luna/Mars have the same colonization cost, and the higher the cost the higher the percentage of people are needed for environmental/logistical/service labor and the less available for industry. Particularly hostile locations like Mercury or Venus don't allow for any industrial labor even with their growing populations. So keeping in mind that this is all educated guesswork -- part of the fun is figuring it out -- we would need 200 tons of infrastructure, costing 400 tons of duranium, to support each million people and therefore each installation. A lot of that is front-end effort since once it was terraformed, the infrastructure would no longer be needed and it could be moved to another colony in need of it ... lots of logistics to be worked out here.

The ship route is more problematic on a distant planet. At least one ship would need a jump drive, and every so often it would need refueling and shore leave at a colony. Therefore it would take longer(per terraforming module, which is what they're called when operated from a ship) and if the destination is far enough away, that could cost more than the infrastructure to set up a colony on the planet.

Finally I should mention that we don't yet know if Tau Ceti is worth the effort. It's a promising system, but no geo/grav surveys have been done. In terms of the distance, the current existing South Carolina freighters would take, on average, a little over four months to get there. So it's not so far away that it's prohibitively expensive.

[sterlingice]

But that does answer the unasked question. You can't just start easily seeding planets with outposts, hoping a couple survive. The upfront mineral costs are great and, even moreso, the human cost is high

SI

[chesapeake]

Why the decision to plan for an attack on the aliens of Epsilon Eridani rather than improving your military capacity until you find that you have to use it? Sure, the aliens have destroyed two of your ships; but, they have shown no interest in advancing from their current position. With so little intel on their capabilities and interests, isn't picking a fight unwise?

[sterlingice]

(I'll second that thought)

SI

[Brian Swartz]

Another outstanding question. First I'll say that in this case the matter is settled -- SPACE has already spent too much money to go back now(current game date is January 1 2085 which I'll get this thread up to in the next couple of days). That doesn't mean that I'm less interested in why it might be a stupid idea though.

1. To fight on our terms. Continuing to wait for them to attack us is inviting disaster. If they jump into Sol and we lose, humanity is through. If we jump into Epsilon Eridani and we lose, we have a chance to recover. We don't know their capabilities, so the chance of our weapons systems, both offensive and defensive, being completely mismatched to their capabilities is considerable. There's no second-chance to adjust the approach if they attack us first: we either win that battle or we perish. There is risk both ways, but SPACE thinks there's more to lose and less to gain by 'turning turtle' so to speak.

2. The proximity and known hostile intent of the enemy. Things would be much different if, for example, they were in some system beyond Van Maanen or Luyten or something. In that case there would be a buffer. We have no buffer: humanity has lived under the constant threat that we might be wiped out in the next few days(literally) for a quarter century. If they never attack, that still means our fleet is completely tied down to the defense of Earth until we deal with them. No matter where or how far we expand, the navy will not be free to defend those systems regardless of how capable it becomes in doing so, because everything has to stay in Sol to defend against the threat of invasion.

3. It's just too passive. Humanity needs to forge its own future, not have its movements dictated to it by an illogically(from our POV at least) hostile alien race. Peace at any price is not considered a viable option.

Thanks for making me think about this a little more :).

[Brian Swartz]

NAVY RETIREMENTS

** Rear Admiral June Aspinwall. A veteran and steady voice, Aspinwall has led the SSF(commercial wing of the Navy) for the past six years. She is respected without being flashy, and will be missed in the admiralty.

** Commander Val Peevy. A fixture on low-level bases or warships the last decade. Peevy will perhaps best be known for having the honor to take out the first ship of the most recent Nimitz iteration, the 76c.

** Commander Conor Zavier. For 15 years after making commander rank at the respectable age of 31, Zavier hovered near the bottom of the rank. This most recent tour he managed to get himself a posting at the Lalande jump on sensor duty, and recent improvements weren't nearly enough to stave off forced retirement.

** Commander Charles Holiday. A similar story to Zavier, he finished his career with a six-year stint at the Sirius JP.

** Commander Tatiana Scheutz avoids the same fate, as she is presently on survey duty with ESF Bravo in the Sirus system.

** 7 Lieutenant Commanders as well.

A sizable chunk of the junior ship COs will need to be replaced, but the power structure at the top is still intact. Due to the number of retirees it will be some while before the Navy replaces Aspinwall. The admiralty will revert to five for a while.

ARMY RETIREMENTS

** Chief of the Army Anton Engelhardt would normally be set for forced retirement at age 60, but he has no wish to leave yet and is still in excellent health. SPACE will keep him on for at least another tour.

** 4 colonels

MILITARY CHARACTER UPDATE

Lt. Cmdr. Chance Perj -- 15th out of 126. For this tour he moves to one of the 'spare', i.e. built-on-accident Explorers. It's a babysitting job, but a better babysitting job.

Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. -- 8th out of 14. Construction brigades are not particularly glamorous, but of late it has not been a boring post. His brigade built the Ticonderoga on Venus and will certainly be involved in getting the new bases up and running.
Col. Deacon Palmer Jr. -- 25th out of 62.

[Brian Swartz]

January - July 2084

A hole was created in the Navy with the loss of several officers, and the obvious choice as he's the latest prodigy to move up to Commander was Tyrone Marszalek(22). After the reassignments there are only 15 officers without a command. With over 150 ships in operation, naval opportunities are bigger than ever. Two in five are on either a Long Beach fuel harvester or a Caldwell VIP shuttle. The remaining 60% are more diversified. With the week the civilian sector continued to show it's growing strength as a firm with the flagrantly dishonest name of Ridolfi Interstellar was officially founded.

On March 4, another scientist was lost early as Billie Allington was killed in a traffic accident. As she was working on new fire controls and was a solid, veteran lead this is a relatively significant loss. Later in the month it was decided to make another pivot in the deployment of automines. The final shiopment to Tempel-Tuttle is set to leave soon, and corundium continues it's slow decline. Also, the bean counters at MRD have noticed that Halley's Comet will exhaust its deposits a little sooner than anticipated given the recent uptick in production. SPACE calculates that at least one load, 5 automines, should be diverted so as not waste them. Another outpost is to be established using those mines on Swift-Tuttle. Swift-Tuttle is inbound at 6.3b km, well beyond Neptune's orbit and just shy of Sedna's distance, but it's still the best choice. It has good concentrations of a number of minerals, most notably almost 20kt duranium, 4.6kt corundium at 0.8 to continue increasing that supply bit by bit, and overall efficiency of 64 which is right in line with what the best comets could offer in the heyday of the Sol rush. It's another one that will need to be limited probably to about 12-15 automines, but the best stopgap available with Herschel-Rigollet(8.0b now) probably after it.

This is not a cheap operation. Delivering five mines that far and back again, to say nothing of the mass driver, will require in excess of 750,000 litres of fuel. It is still unfortunately far better than any alternative. That final shipment to Tempel-Tuttle departed on April Fool's Day.

Late in April, Julio Kuchler unveiled the new faster fire control technology. These will allow us to reach the 16k or better tracking mentioned in the naval analysis. It comes at a cost though, the new suite which will be tested soon is a full 600 tons. A new advance in planetary sensor strength is his next objective.

On June 2, ESF Alpha returned from Van Maanen and presents its report. The tanker is still a 56% capacity with all other ships fully fueled, and maintenance supply levels are good as well. The mission clock is under three and a half years yet, plenty of time to go visit the final system: Lalande 21185. The jumps are just over 500m km apart, just a week and a half journey. A nice little stroll in galactic terms.

Ten days later, they made the jump to, Explorer 1 having reported that there is a jump gate to Sol on the other side. That's three now, and no sign of who built them. More perplexing is the fact that the wrecks that were discovered in Lalande 21185 when it was initially discovered on April 24 2055 are no longer showing on our scanners. They were too far from the star to collapse into it's gravity. Either a collision with an asteroid ... or someone salvaged them.

Someone that might still be here. There is more trepidation about this system than any of the others. It is very likely that sometime in the last century an alien space battle took place.

As for the system itself, moderate sized pattern, jump is 2.69b out, Two asteroid belts, only place we've seen that outside of Sol. 219 of them in all, so that will take some time. Even with that, it is on the surface the most useless system. Nothing even remotely habitable. A terrestrial that has too much gravity for us to survive on it, four dwarfs with a few moons. Not even a gas giant or super jovian for fuel.

What on earth ... strike that, what in lalande would they have been fighting over here? It's quite the mystery and another one that may never be solved. The most likely scenario though, seemed to revolve around the massive terrestrial planet being the source of the conflict. Perhaps one or both races have different gravitational tolerances.

Van Maanen's Star Survey Report
ESF Alpha, June 12 2084

Jump Points

Two new ones were found, one of them on the second-to-last survey location. This fact kept the ESF in system for about an extra month while it was investigated.

Geological Survey

Van Maanen decided to be dramatic here also, with the last survey being the ninth moon of the first planet, a super jovian that is the only interesting planet in the system. The asteroid field and a couple of dwarf planets had already been found to be barren, there were a couple of other moons with minerals but nothing exciting. One had 1.66mt of corundium(0.1), another 78kt uridium at 1.0 but of course we have an absurd amount of that. This last moon however was far better:

259 kt duranium(0.9)
50kt vendarite(0.5)
783 kt sorium(0.9)
38 kt gallicite(0.6)

New System -- GJ 1006

Small dim M6-V star. Just 515m km from Van Maanen, with another jump gate here!! The mystery continues to confound us. Four dwarves at ranges from 700m to 27b, the last two obviously are just spectators as they are above the 10b limit. 18 asteroids, a terrestrial, a super jovian, and two gas giants so good fuel potential. 57 moons to investigate, and the terrestrial could be terraformed to close to earth conditions at least. A sizable amount of methane would need to be removed from the atmosphere and replaced with oxygen, so it would take some time but this system has good potential. The jump gate also makes one curious.

New System -- YZ Ceti

Compact system, the jump is 1.59b km out which is average for this star, right in the middle of the second ring. Lots of planets here, 3 gas giants, 2 super jovians, 2 terrestrials, 2 dwarves, plus 65 moons of varying sizes. Despite all that nothing is more than marginally habitable. The second planet is best but has a crushing atmosphere with 50x the pressure of Earth's. This definitely won't be a priority to investigate further.

Summary/Evaluation

The most likely use would seem to be an automine operation with a tracking station, perhaps a small population so it could serve as a refueling/maintenance base. We can always use another good source of duranium, and the gallicite would be a nice kicker. A big part of whether SPACE ever develops Van Maanen will probably depend on whether GJ 1006 turns up anything useful.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

January 8 -- Civilian firm Ridolfi Interstellar is founded.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

March 19 -- Dr. Stanley Kogut(LG) has has joined the ranks of the accomplished.

April 11 -- Freddy Salsgiver(EW), only 22 years old, has moved up to the ranks of the accomplished with a major leap recently. Perhaps a new star is being born here ...

April 27 -- Minh Klausner(EW, 33) is a guy who has been in the ok-but-unimpressive category. He steps out a bit with a marginal upgrade that puts him in the accomplished tier.

July 2 -- Michael Reneau joins the admin team. He can manage any size operation well and has a good start on terraforming and financial oversight abilities. Could stand to be more flexible but a decent graduate. Also, Rear Admiral Parker Lanzi now has an elite-level training ability through the experience of leading ESF Bravo.


EARTH

March 23 -- Construction Brigade finished on Earth. With eight of the ten desired now in operation, training is begun on a ninth.

April 1 -- On April Fool's day, the third and final shipment of automines to Tempel-Tuttle departs earth.

May 25 -- New research lab finished.


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

April 25 -- Improved Beam Fire Control Tracking finished(max. 16k km/s) by Dr. Julio Kuchler.

May 17 -- A new, fighter-sized engineering section is available. This may be useful on optimizing designs, particularly on smaller ships. Alphonse Lambeth led the development. With the beginning of interstellar colonization efforts clearly not far over the horizon, he'll next devote his time to improving techniques for minimizing the effect of hostile conditions.

May 30 -- The first commercial ion engine is now ready for production, the smaller one(Irving Steinmeyer).

July 2 -- Elyse Buckler has finished the prototype of the Exorcist missile launcher.

July 8 -- The first of the Vertigo series to be finished, the 108, by Norris Gunterman.

[Brian Swartz]

July - September 2084: The Plot Stinkens

July 18, 02:53 AM, GST

A lone explorer, Trevor Lerner in command, jumped into Sol from Lalande 21185 and sent a burst transmission on the emergency band to SPACE HQ. Just minutes before, ESF Alpha's officer in charge, Rear Admiral Hank Rohrer, had ordered this action and a full abort from ongoing survey operations. Key moments from the mission log leading up to this follow ....

June 24, 1900 -- This has to be a record.

First grav survey, just over 12 days in system, and another jump point has been found in Lalande 21185. Interestingly it is almost directly between the Sol point and the star. A few degrees right, and 1.89b km ... less than a billion km travel time between them. Further than the Van Maanen - Lalande gap in Sol but still very close. An important strategic consideration in the system no doubt. Explorer 1 is launched to investigate.

July 1 1741 -- Explorer 1 jumps out of Lalande.

July 1 1753 -- Explorer 1 returns, delivering this report ...

New System -- GJ 1156

Fairly small jump pattern, between the outer two rings and yet just a little over 2b km away. Unitary M5-V, about 180 asteroids in a single belt, fairly close in between the third and fourth planets. The second is a dwarf, but surprisingly habitable, just enough gravity to be useful. There's also a gas giant, super jovian, and a terrestrial. Better than average potential here, we've seen better but also a lot worse.

July 5 -- Two of the Prospectors reach the edge of the outer asteroid field. Nothing yet, but the wrecks were further in. They could still be around and just not seeing us yet ... we have a pretty darn tiny thermal emission on those things for a reason.

July 18, around 0220. Cmdr. Fredrick Holcomb is on the bridge as his Prospector surveys the right side of the asteroid belt.

'Conn Thermal, new contact bearing approximately 078. Designate contact Swiftsure zero-zero-two. Commander ... you're going to want to see this for yourself. Estimate range ninety-five to one hundred million kilometers sir'

The sensor officer's voice quivered, and Holcomb knew something was up. The only way the HISS Mark IV thermal suite could find something that far way was if ... He could see why thirty seconds later as he looked at the readout.

'That's impossible!! Check your gear.'

The diagnostics showed everything green. His wide-eyed crew stared at him, but he wasn't in any more control of himself than they were. It was impossible. At the edge of the asteroid field there was a thermal contact all right, reading 16,000. 1600 would have been huge. 16,000 ... there weren't words for it. Eight times the signature of a South Carolina superfreighter. Twenty-three times the signature of anything else in the SPACE navy. That thing's engines had power beyond imagining. There were only two possibilities: they knew we were here and didn't care ... or they weren't looking for us. Either way, there was only course of action.

'Battle stations! Communications, relay our sensor data to the Baltimore, priority one! Navigation, set course 261 for survey waypoint #1. If they chase us, we don't want to lead them back to Earth.'

It took Rohrer all of about ten seconds to order the abort once they received the transmission. All craft were recalled to base -- if the aliens followed, the Prospectors would be left in-system. There were very specific orders for this contingency.

Back at Fleet Command, there was as much suprise that the alien ship had not attacked Holcomb's surveyor as anything. Once the gamma readouts were analyzed, it became obvious that these were not the same aliens as those that destroyed the Pioneers in Epsilon Eridani. The most likely scenario was that it was an enormous asteroid mining ship of some kind, but either way it seemed obvious this was a far more advanced alien species, and apparently a less hostile or less curious one. With this determined, the contingency order was given.

Prep the Ambassador. Captain Rosemary Tallant was in charge this time, Marion Polizzi and Karen Cotsis joined as veterans of the previous failed attempt, and another pair of junior naval officers rounded out the team. This time there was more optimism: this appeared to be a more willing to listen species, and this was a more experienced, more talented team.

It would still take them three weeks to reach the jump to Lalande, and if all went well almost four weeks for all of the survey craft to get back so that ESF Alpha could jump back to Sol. There were a lot of people having sleepless nights for those long weeks.

The normal goings-on continued, virtually ignored as background noise. The run of Defender 76 missiles was finished, having taken eight years from design to full production run completion. Army chief Engelhardt gained more political connections. A 40th CMC was finished on Sedna, moving the exhaustion clock there under 40 years, and the shipment of mines from Halley to Swift-Tuttle arrived. The ninth group of Long Beach harvesters was launched. Another group of five was begun, as fuel reserves are merely holding steady at 15m.

All of this was greeted with a collective yawn. We had other things on our mind. On August 8, the Ambassador jumped out to Lalande.

Zenaida Howse, just 24, continued her incredible progress, and with recent improvements in her training techniques is now the top-rated Captain only three years removed from the Academy! Yawn.

On the 13th, ESF Alpha jumped back into Sol, having recovered all of the utility craft. The aliens never followed and everyone made it back to Sol safely. That in itself was a huge accomplishment, greeted by muted celebrations as we waited to hear from the diplomatic team.

Progress from Captain Ronald Dunkin in becoming an elite crew trainer. Dr. Jerry Bartholf's team finished testing the new JPS ID 36, thruster for the Forrestal class. Elyse Buckler's group completed the Interceptor missile launcher. Background noise. Static.

Leonel Wessels, heralded as the most talented talented straight-from-the-academy researcher SPACE has ever seen joins the crowd. Accomplished in the energy weapons field and xenology, with decent novice-level political connections. Unlike the missile field, the energy weapons field is recovering quite well from the loss of its top members. Nimitz 76c built, last of the class.

Normally this would be celebrated.

Another two weeks of quiet.

September 15 -- The Ambassador jumped back in from Lalande. Mission failure. They had a few new ideas, took about a week longer than the attempt in Epsilon Eridani had taken, but found even less progress. Again the conclusion was there was simply no way to find common ground with which to communicate. The fear is that all we've done is antagonize them, and the recommendation is to avoid further contact at all costs.

Nobody was foolish enough to argue. Unlike the other race, it appears this time it might be possible to take a live-and-let-live approach. Against such advanced technology, it's not like there's another choice. Engineering reported that engines of such power would take up more than 41kt of space if they were built with max overclocking of the new ion technology. Just the engines. That's bigger than a Fletcher-class freighter. And don't even try to think about how much fuel it would require. Such a ship would be so grossly impractical as to be absurd. The only response in this case was to stay out their way. Anything else would be suicidal.

[sterlingice]

I concur - stay away and leave some early warning stuff near the jump points

SI

[Brian Swartz]

September - December 2084

October was another big month. New army battalions were finished, another military engine prototpye tested, and then on the 23rd Reynaldo Darrington certified the WP ID 240, the largest of the commercial engines at 2.5kt. Engineering suddenly became very busy. A total of ten different classes needed an upgrade with the new engines and some other systems improved as well. The '84i' naming scheme was adopted, indicating 2084 technology and the upgrade to ion drives.

Arleigh Burke 84i Brigade Transport

Size: 17.3kt(17.8)
Crew: 127(136)
Speed: 695 km/s(563)
Fuel: 250k(350k)
Range: 57b km(38b)
Troop Capacity: 1 brigade(5 battalions, i.e. 4 + HQ)
Armament: 2x CIWS 79 battery(2x CIWS 71)
Cost: 544k(553k)

This will be a consistent pattern throughout these redesigns, but the impact of the leap to ion drives, and to a lesser extent the advances made in armor, CIWS, etc., is obvious here. The new version is more than twice as fuel efficient which is the most important thing about it: it's 23% faster, yet carries a lot less fuel and gets 50% more range. It's even a hair cheaper, superior across the board.

Portland 84i Battalion Transport

Size: 4.35 kt(4.5 kt)
Crew: 39(43)
Speed: 1379 km/s(1111)
Fuel: 50k(60k)
Range: 45b km(29b)
Troop Capacity: 1 battalion
Cost: 189k(182k)

Same story here, with the minor exception that the new Portland is a hair more expensive than the old one.

Cleveland 84i Supply Ship

Size: 2.0 kt(2.1 kt)
Crew: 28(30)
Speed: 3000 km/s(2380 km/s)
Fuel: 50k(100k)
Range: 99b km(92b)
Maintenance Supplies: 1000
Cost: 143k(137k)

Tarawa 84i Collier

Size: 6.0 kt(6.4 kt)
Crew: 66(85)
Speed: 1000 km/s(781 km/s)
Fuel: 100k(250k)
Range: 66b km(76b km)
Magazine Storage: 1200(1050)
Cost: 577k(573k)

Room for another 25 anti-ship missiles was added, while an unneeded glut of maintenance supplies and other dead weight was culled from the original design.

Wickes 84i Salvage Ship

Size: 21.7 kt(20.6 kt)
Crew: 191(188)
Speed: 829 km/s(486 km/s)
Fuel: 250k
Range: 46b km
CryoStorage: 1000
Cargo Storage: 5000
Salvage Modules: 1 @ 500t/day.
Armament: 2x CIWS 79 Batteries(2x CIWS 71)
Cost: 708k(682k)

In addition to the new engines, the Wickes gets the latest CIWS system and a couple of sensor upgrades that weren't ready when it was originally designed. A third engine was added as well to give it a more respectable speed. As a result this is an exception that is a little bigger and more costly than it's predecessor.

Iowa 84i Fuel Tanker

Size: 8.5 kt(9.8 kt)
Crew: 44(53)
Speed: 1411 km/s(1020 km/s)
Fuel: 5m(6m)
Armament: 1x CIWS 79 Battery(1 CIWS I)
Cost: 394k(604k)

This version slightly reduces the capacity of the Iowa tanks, but with the improved fuel efficiency that is not expected to be a concern. The new huge fuel tanks can handle as much as five of the old very large ones, and at less than 60% of the cost. SPACE taxpayers can see that savings reflected impressively in the new ship's bottom line layout.

Iowa XR 84i Extended-Range Fuel Tanker

Same as the regular Iowa 84i, except:

Size: 8.55 kt
Speed: 1403 km/s
Cost: 404k

This is the version with crew facilities and supplies for a five-year tour to accomopany the ESFs, not the standard two-year accomodations.

Gato 84i Small Freighter

Size: 7 kt
Crew: 33
Speed: 857 km/s
Fuel: 100k
Range: 57b km
Cargo Capacity: 5k
Cost: 182k

For further efficiency it was designed to add a third class of freighter. The Gato is designed for small loads of minerals in various circumstances where a larger load is not expected to be needed. In such cases sending even a Fletcher is inefficient as the fuel used to push around a larger cargo hold is just wasted. The plan here is to have small numbers of each class of freighter, instead of the one-size-fits-all approach that the Fletcher filled for decades. Another engine was contemplated for the Gato, but was considered to not be worth the cost.

Fletcher 84i Freighter

Size: 35.9kt(36.9 kt)
Crew: 153(162)
Speed: 1002 km/s(813 km/s)
Fuel: 250k(650k)
Range: 41b km(51b km)
Cargo Capacity: 25k
Armament: 4x CIWS 79(4x CIWS I)
Cost: 614k(644k)

The Fletcher was the workhorse of the Sol mining rush. Its deployment in the late 40s and 50s was indispensable to the development of SPACE throughout our home system. Since the South Carolina came on the scene it has changed roles to more of a short-range freighter, with the occasional longer run if a small load is called for(a single facility or a small amount of minerals needed to build a base, etc.). For this revision an extra cargo handling system has been added(a total of 2 now) to decrease loading times, yet the cost was still able to be reduced by 30k. This is mostly due to a drastic reduction in the needed amount of fuel.

South Carolina 84i Superfreighter

Size: 163kt(165 kt)
Crew: 487(531)
Speed: 735 km/s(607 km/s)
Fuel: 1.5m(2.15m)
Range: 54b km(38b km)
Cargo Capacity: 125 kt
Armament: 21x CIWS 79(18x CIWS 71)
Cost: 1.99m(2.08m)

The fuel saved here during the coming interstellar colonization startup will be considerable. Even a moderate speed increase like the 21% here will be significant as well. At least weeks, probably months per trip will be saved. As with the other revisions the fuel efficiency here is just over twice the standard South Carolina now in service.

Long Beach 84i Fuel Harvester

Size: 80.8kt(79.1 kt)
Crew: 429(411)
Speed: 445 km/s(379 km/s)
Fuel: 2m(1.5m)
Harvesting Modules: 26(rated at 832k per year)
Armament: 10x CIWS batteries(5 CIWS 71)
Cost: 1.77m(1.66m)

The Long Beach is of course a 'younger' or 'newer' design than most of the others. It also held a bit of a special concern. The recent improvement in mining techniques has led to some ships with particularly skilled COs nearly maxing out their tanks before shore leave. A good problem to have, but in the redesign it was decided that an attempt needed to be made to expand the fuel capacity. As a result, the new version is somewhat larger. These will fare much better than the originals if they are deployed somewhere with more accessible sorium than Saturn's 70%.

After all this some major reworking of the commercial shipyards was needed. The new one being built will service the Portland and Gato when it is ready, probably in a couple years. Vickers-Armstrong, idle since the Lexingtons were retired, will expand to be able to handle the Arleigh Burke. Howaldtswerke is set up to handle the Wickes, Oregon will continue to service the Iowa/Iowa XR classes, and the new Vegesacker SY will handle the Fletcher. P&A Group will have more work than they can possibly handle keeping up with the Long Beach harvesters, ENDM is expanding to match the needed size for the massive jump ships that will be built once the drive is ready, and the Tod & MacGregor handles the South Carolina.

After the Wickes is updated, Howaldtswerke should be able to handle whatever kind of colony ship SPACE comes up with, but this still leaves us a little tight. Another yard really is needed to keep things running smoothly, and is added to the queue. There's always a need for more, it seems. Always.

If you can keep all that straight, you're a better man than I. And we haven't even gotten to the military side yet ... Millions of workers at the shipyards were back at work retooling several of the yards to get ready for new or refit ships.

In November, a change to the optimal ESF loadouts was decided upon. Every system surveyed so far has finished the geological work long before the jump points are finished. It was decided to shift the balance of survey craft from three of each to two Prospectors and four Frontiers in order to balance this out a little bit. The new engines, when ready, will also help, as would better grav sensors but that last part is quite a ways off yet.


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** October 16 -- Vertigo 144 finished(Alejandro Otteson).

October 23 -- The larger of the two commercial engines, the WP ID 240, has been finalized, led by Reynaldo Darrington.

December 16 -- Vertigo 180 completed(David Gruis). Meanwhile

EARTH

Mid-October -- Two assault infantry battalions enter service. One more construction brigade begins training, and the third training facility will idle now as that is all that is needed.

November 26 -- Another shipment of auto-mines departs for the Swift-Tuttle comet. They won't arrive until well into next year.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Early November -- Recent graduate Timmy Sheerin has now doubled his administrative skills to an accomplished level. He can handle pretty much any assignment short of Earth now.

November 30 -- Burt Stonerock moves into the accomplished tier in factory production, strengthening his resume for a run at the director's office in a month.

Mid-December -- The navy is touting the name of Patsy Demange, recent academy graduate. already accomplished in training, xenology, and factory production ... though im not sure what good the last one will do.

Mid-December -- Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. has developed some more friends in high places, improving his stock among his rivals.

[Brian Swartz]

STATE OF SPACE, 2085

I. IMPERIAL HOLDINGS

IA. Populated Colonies

Earth(1.75b, 500 CF, 109 OF, 75 REF, 49 RL, 4 AC, 3 GFT, 5 DSTS, 15.2k MF, 1 SP, 1 SC, 4x Alaska MB)
Mars(76.9m, Tennessee MB)
Luna(74.1m, Tennessee MB)
Mercury(22.0m, Ticonderoga SB)
Titan(17.8m, 1 DSTS, Alaska MB)
Venus(16.0m)
Io(120k)
Europa(120k)
Ganymede(110k)
Callisto(110k)

Total Population: 1.96b(+9.5%)

The increasing political force of the colonies can be seen in the fact that populatons on Mars and Luna continue to grow at more than twice the rate of Earth. Percentage-wise, that is, most of the growth in terms of pure numbers of people is still on our homeworld. Civilian contractors continue to bring staggering amounts of infrastructure to Mercury, which has surpassed Titan as expected, growing by over 30% this cycle. Venus continues to grow as well albeit more slowly and there has even been the rare delivery of infrastructure to the moons of Jupiter, though in minute quantities. Colonial population now numbers more than 200 million people, 10.7% of the total. Humanity will likely reach the two billion mark sometime in the next year.

IB. Outposts

Sedna(40 CMC, 16 eff, 11.7 kt)
Triton(117 AM, 23.6 eff, 4.58 kt) -- mercassium(1.8)
Earth(50 SM, 6.2 eff, 515 t)
Borrelly(39.8 AM, 40 eff, 3.70 kt) -- vendarite(1.4)
Halley's Comet(36 AM, 33 eff, 2.17 kt) -- corbomite(9.5)
Reinmuth(33.8 AM, 30 eff, 1.68 kt)
Stephan-Oterma(28 AM, 32 eff, 1.49 kt) -- gallicite(0.2)
Machholz(27.6 AM, 24 eff, 1.10 kt) -- sorium(4.1)
Neujmin(25.8 AM, 25 eff, 1.07 t) -- duranium(6.0)
Titan(25 SM, 6 eff, 311 t)
Faye(25 AM, 24 eff, 995 t) -- neutronium(4.4)
Comas Sola(25 AM, 29 eff, 1.20 kt) -- boronide(0.5), tritanium(8.5)
Schaumasse(21.8 AM, 36 eff, 1.76 kt)
Crommelin(20.4 AM, 26 eff, 881 t)
Wolf-Harrington(17.8 AM, 40 eff, 1.18 kt) -- uridium(8.6)
Tempel-Tuttle(14 AM, 40 eff, 930 t)
Callisto(10 SM, 6 eff, 10 t)
Van Biesbroeck(10 AM, 55 eff, 912 t)
Prokne(10 AM, 7.9 eff, 131 t)
Wild(8 AM, 34 eff, 452 t)
Wolf(8 AM, 26 eff, 346 t)
Swift-Tuttle(5 AM, 71 eff, 618 t)

Total Production: 37.73 kt, +20%. This is by far a record total amount that SPACE mines are bringing in. Expansion on Sedna and Triton, new productive outposts on Tempel-Tuttle and Swift-Tuttle were the key factors. Swift-Tuttle is particularly worthy of mention as it is the most efficient comet ever developed. That fact will last for less than a decade as a number of minerals are in short supply, but it's certainly a short-term boon. 16 of the 21 comets that don't have a prohibitively long period have been developed now. At least one more, Herschel-Rigollet, soon will be. This is certainly a case of the boom before the crash, but right now it's more than enough to keep the wheels turning. Looking ahead, it is now projected that Comas Sola will be the first to completely run out sometime in the mid-90s. The crash is coming.

IC. Mineral Stockpiles & Production

Tier A(rare usage): Corbomite(79 kt), Vendarite(71 kt), Sorium(56 kt)

Supplies of all three rose sharply as they continue to do. It's rather stunning to recall that sorium was once considered a key mineral some decades ago. Now we bank roughly two kilotons a year in the ever-growing storage compounds. Vendarite usage varies greatly, and while it moves up to an A-list material now that may well change by next cycle as shipbuilding for the refits, Frozen Vengeance, etc. will likely move it down a tier again.

Tier B(some usage, but a good stockpile): Uridium(127 kt), Tritanium(52 kt), Boronide(37 kt), Gallicite(31 kt)

There is now 62% more uridium than any other mineral in the stockpiles. When Sedna's deposits of it vanish, which will happen sometime around the end of the century, that fact may change. We may have approaching 200 kt of it by then, despite significant constant use, so there is not even the shadow of concern. Tritanium has remained fairly steady over the last couple of decades, and boronide is starting to decline a bit with increased shipbuilding.

Gallicite is the biggest concern here by far. It notably dropped by 5 kt with the Defender 76 missile production run, and while it'll get a relative break here, once Exorcist and Interceptor missiles are needed for the next generation it will be needed in large quantities again. Gallicite is the unquestioned favorite to join the big four minerals, but there is enough of it still that this is not an immediate concern.

Tier C(major usage, needs close watching/ under 20 kt): Mercassium(19.4 kt), Neutronium(17.5 kt), Duranium(16.9 kt)

Duranium has recovered from the recent dive, mercassium is nearly stable at this point and neutronium has steadily risen for about a decade now. The coming massive round of shipbuilding will stress all of them.

Tier D(major usage, economic growth limiter): Corundium(8.36 kt)

Recent development of the new comet outposts to increase supply has served to greatly reduce the decline in corundium, but the supply still shrinks and that fact is likely to continue. This will limit the amount of new mines put out there, but should be enough to allow some to continue. Duranium is very likely to rejoin this tier as shipbuilding activity ramps up again.

ID. Income

Taxes(population): 43.1m
Taxes(civ. tourism): 14.5m
Taxes(civ. shipping): 5.3m
Taxes(civ. fuel): 238k

Total: 63.1m(+15%)

Tourism is an overall powerfully growing but also volatile sector of the economy. SPACE expects this to make revenue projections increasingly difficult and inaccurate in the future. Right now planetary taxes make up only about two-thirds of income, a share that is expected to continue to decline, and they are the only real predictable element in the mix.

Balance: 809m(+90 m)

IE. Expenses

Research: 11.7m
Mineral Purchases: 9.89m
Shipbuilding: 7.65m
Installation Construction: 5.76m
Shipyard Modifications: 1.72m
PDC Construction: 1.35m
Maintenance Facilities: 1.12m
Ordnance: 813k
GU Maintenance: 553k
GU Training: 281k

Total: 40.8m (+21%)

Yet again income far outpaces expenses. SPACE expects this situation to become much more unpredictable as well, with greater and greater periodic swings in the needed amount of activity in the shipyards and army training facilities.

II. SHIPYARDS

IIA. Commercial Yards

Tod & MacGregor(2 slipways, 166 kt capacity)
** Retooling for the South Carolina 84i(June 2085)
Estalerios Navais do Montego(ENDM)(2, 132 kt)
** Expanding to 170kt(unknown)
P&A Group(5, 80 kt)
** Building a tenth group of harvesters(September 2085) and a sixth slipway(same time). P&A has been the busiest shipyard by far, seeing constant activity for over a decade now.
Howaldswerke/Deutsche Werft(HDW)(1, 55.3 kt)
** Retooling for the Wickes 84i(February)
Oregon Shipbuilding(1, 50.7 kt)
** Retooling for the Iowa 84i XR(April)
Vegesacker Werft(1, 40.7 kt)
** Set up for the Fletcher 84i. The next administration will decide how many to build.
Vickers-Armstrong(4, 10.8 kt)
** Expanding to 17.3kt or so for use with the Arleigh Burke.

IIB. Naval Yards

Wartsila(1, 17.6 kt)
** Idle.
Yokohama Dock Co.(1, 15.2 kt)
** Idle.
Baltimore Marine(2, 12.2 kt)
** Idle.
Permanant(1, 10.1 kt)
** Idle
International(2, 1 kt)
** Building the first of two additional pairs of Frontier Gravitational Survey vessels for the ESFs.
Niehuis and van den Berg(2, 1 kt)
** Idle.
KSEC(4, 1 kt)
** Idle.

The lack of activity in the naval yards is due to this being a significant waiting period. Once the new jump drive, military engines, etc. are finished they'll have about as much work as they can handle.

III. ARMY TRAINING FACILITIES

IIIA. Earth

** Three active training facilities
** One idle, the final two planned Construction Brigades are being trained up.

IV. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

IVA. Earth

Research Lab(25%) -- August 2085. The pace has slowed to less than one per year with the recent diversification and the sudden retirement of Governor Alborn.
Mine Conversions(standard to automated, 15%) -- approx. 8/year
Mine Construction(12%) -- approx. 8/year
PDC Alaska 82(12%) -- Four bases for Earth, to be finished sometime in 2099
Ordnance Factories(10%) -- 41 still on order, about 6 per year
Commercial Shipyards(10%) -- Two more needed, ETA mid-2089
Prefab PDC Alaska 82(5%) -- An upgraded base for Titan, ETA 2092
Naval Shipyards(5%) -- Two ordered, the amount will be under review by the new admin. ETA 2092
Mass Driver(2%) -- Replacement for those sent to the new comet outposts. One left, est. late 2086
Prefab PDC Ticonderoga 82(2%) -- Eight upgarded sensor bases for populated colonies. Two are already finished and being assembled on Mars and Luna, the rest are estimated completed roughly by the end of 2092
Terraforming Installation(2%) -- The new 2% Initiative in operation. First installation is expected ready this November.

V A. PRIORITY RESEARCH PROJECTS

** Quad WT Excalibur 135-16(Meson Turret)(Leonel Wessels) -- February/March 2085
** JPS ID 63(Ion Shuttle Thruster)(Alejandro Otteson) -- March/April 2085
** Eagle 72 Military Engine(David Gruis) -- May 2085
** SPPI ID 525(Exorcist Missile Engine)(Jerry Bartholf) -- September 2085
** GEI GCF 5400(Large Power Plant)(Norris Gunterman) -- November/December 2085
** Eagle 60 Military Engine(Reynaldo Darrington) -- December 2085/January 2086
** Vertigo 90(Combat Engine)(Irving Steinmeyer) -- 2Q/3Q 2086
** GEI MSS 336.7(Active Missile Search Sensor)(Elwood Tousant) -- 4Q 2086
** GEI SSS 336.7(Active Ship Search Sensor)(Bessie Wallander) -- Early 2087
** AKH CJ-90.4(Commercial Jump Drive)(Rosemary Urenda) -- Late 2087
** MFC 126-1.7(Interceptor Missile Fire Control Suite)(Carl Fosberg) -- Late 2087
** SITG Emdar 132.7(Military Electromagnetic Sensor Suite)(Ross Dodge) -- Late 2087/Early 2088
** Improved Planetary Sensors(Julio Kuchler) -- Early 2088
** Colonization Cost Reduction(Alphonse Lambeth) -- Mid-2088
** SITG ThermoScan 176.7(Military Thermal Sensor Suite)(Sung Padro) -- 2090
** RSJ Sniper 16-72.7(Anti-Missile Beam Fire Control Suite)(Irma Bartlebaugh) -- 2090/2091
** Improved Terraforming Rate Garland Sidhom) -- 2090/2091

A cursory examination of this list shows the massive effort currently being put forward by R&D to support Frozen Vengeance and the Navy's refits/upgrades. Most but not all of the prototypes are either finished or currently being worked on.

V B. NOTABLE SCIENTISTS

** Biology/Genetics
Garland Sidhom(Elite)

** Construction/Production
None!

** Energy Weapons
Leonel Wessels(Accomplished)
Freddy Salsgiver(Accomplished)
Minh Klausner(Accomplished)

** Logistics/Ground Combat
Alphonse Lambeth(Elite)
Stanley Kogut(Accomplished)

** Missiles/Kinetic Weapons
None!

** Power/Propulsion
Rosemary Urenda(Elite)
David Gruis(Accomplished)
Norris Gunterman(Accomplished)
Alejandro Otteson(Accomplished)

** Sensors/Fire Control
Julio Kuchler(Elite)
Elwood Tousant(Accomplished)
Bessie Wallander(Accomplished)

It's a mixed bag right now. The strongest fields are those SPACE needs the most. Things would be far worse if Propulsion or Sensors had a shortage of quality project leads. Energy Weapons is strongly on the comeback trail en route to probably being a great strength for decades, and Logisitics is solid even if there isn't the bevy of geniuses that there has been in the past. The negatives are big though as well. Missile technology is crucial to the effort to combat the aliens and it's a dead area right now. Construction and Production advances are vital to growing the industrial base, getting the most out of our mines, etc., and this is the first time there hasn't been a top-drawer project lead though at least in that case we can say there are a couple of youngsters who might develop. All the gains in recent years have been wiped out by retiring elite researchers, but at least some of them have been replaced.

VI. ACTIVE NAVAL ASSETS

VI A. Military Bases

Alaska(5, 59.45 kt, 1020 crew, major missile base)
Tennessee(Lt)(2, 12.1 kt, 214 crew, missile base)
Ticonderoga(8, 3.0kt, 16 crew, sensor base)

Total: 15 installations(+25%), 345 kt(+15%), 5.66k crew(+11%)

VI B. Combat Ships

MB Nimitz(3, 14 kt, 373 crew, 2437 km/s, 1.75m fuel, missile-armed)
MB Nimitz '76c(4, 10.3 kt, 273 crew, 2439 km/s, 1.25 m fuel, missile-armed)
GB Brooklyn '72(4, 13.5 kt, 356 crew, 2379 km/s, 1.75 m fuel, beam-armed)
GB Brooklyn '81(1, 10.5 kt, 282 crew, 2380 km/s, 1.25 m fuel, beam-armed)

Total: 12 ships(+72%), 148 kt(+60%), 3.92k crew(+59%), 18.5m fuel(+57%)

One more Brooklyn 81 is due to be finished soon, but that will be the last of these to be built. Ironically it looks like this first-wave combat Navy will end up having served only PR purposes, unless the aliens change it up and come hunting.

VI C. Military Non-combat Ships

CC Baltimore(2, 10 kt, 284 crew, 600 km/s, 750k fuel, command carrier)
ST Caldwell(32, 950 t, 14 crew, 2210 km/s, 500k fuel, VIP shuttle w/8 capacity)
MV Cleveland(2, 2.1 kt, 30 crew, 2380 km/s, 100k fuel, supply ship)
SC Explorer(6, 850 t, 18 crew, 1411 km/s, 250k fuel, jump scout)
SB Forrestal III(14, 650 t, 14 crew, 3692 km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
GSV Frontier(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, gravsurvey)
SVC Gearing(2, 10 kt, 158 crew, 600 km/s, 750k fuel, survey carrier)
GEV Prospector(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, geosurvey)
CO Tarawa(2, 6.4 kt, 85 crew, 781 km/s, 250k fuel, supply ship)

Total: 72 ships(+36%), 107 kt(+58%), 2.21k crew(+84%), 24.9 m fuel(+69%)

Most of the growth came from finishing up the Caldwell VIP shuttles, with the carriers being added to the ESFs as well. With the coming refits and upgrades I don't see the total numbers climbing much if at all.

VI D. Commercial Vessels

TT Arleigh Burke(6, 17.8 kt, 136 crew, 563 km/s, 350k fuel, brigade troop transport)
FT Fletcher IV(2, 36.9 kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVb(2, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVc(4, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter )
TK Iowa(2, 9.8 kt, 53 crew, 1.02k km/s, 6m fuel, fuel tanker)
TK Iowa XR(2, 9.7 kt, 53 crew, 1.03k km/s, 6m fuel, fuel tanker)
FH Long Beach(36, 79.1 kt, 411 crew, 379 km/s, 1.5m fuel, fuel harvester)
TT Portland(2, 4.3 kt, 35 crew, 581 km/s, 60k fuel, troop transport)
FT South Carolina(4, 164.6 kt, 531 crew, 607 km/s, 2.15m fuel, superfreighter)
SV Wickes(1, 20.6 kt, 188 crew, 486 km/s, 250k fuel, salvage/recovery)

Total: 61 ships(-20%), 3.98 mt(+38%), 19.5k crew(+58%), 89.4m liters fuel(+31%)

The new Iowa XR tankers were finished for the ESFs, a couple of Arleigh Burke brigade transports added, and of course the continued growth in the Long Beach harvester portion of the fleet. Meanwhile the old Lexingtons and Perrys have all been scrapped now. Out with the old, in with the new, and that process will definitely continue now for at least a decade.

Grand Total: 160 assets(+13%), 4.58 mt(+51%), 31.3k crew(+75%), 133m liters fuel(+41%)

It just keeps growing ... and growing ... and growing ...

Available Crew: 170k(+10%)

VI E. Fuel Status

Earth -- 10.9m liters
Titan -- 8.3m
Callisto -- 5.0m

Total -- 24.2m liters(-9%) A second straight decline, but probably the last one. Given the reduced fuel needs of the new ships and the ever-increasing amount being harvested, it looks like the recovery is well under way.

VII. ACTIVE ARMY ASSETS

** Brigade HQs(6)
** Construction Brigades(8)
** Assault Infantry Battalions(4)
** Mobile Infantry Battalions(12)
** Garrison Battalion(34)

Total Active-Duty Soldiers: 480k(+14%)

The army will reach the half-million mark when the latest construction brigades finish their training. It's interesting that an obscenely higher amount of money is spent on the navy, yet there are 15 soldiers in the army for every 'sailor' in the navy.

VIII. CIVILIAN SHIPPING CORPORATIONS

Tolles Transport & Logistics(53 ships, 8.62m annual income)
Jensrud Transport and Trading(60, 5.32m)
Voliva Carrier Company(77, 4.87m)
Ridolfi Interstellar(3, 1.11m)
Everton Shipping & Logistics(3, 150k)
Hayter Container Group(3, 100k)
Suter Shipping Services(2, 40k)
Clavette Shipping Line(2, 10k)

Total Vessels: 203(+32%)
Total Civilian Income: 20.2m(+60%)

Voliva's ever-increasing ship count and profits and ever-decreasing market share is rather humorous to watch. Once a near-monopoly, they are now third in the sector. The key to Tolles Transport's inconceivable rise, as they doubled their operations again this cycle, has been a strong mix of fuel harvesting from Uranus and infastructure deliveries to the ravenous appetites for that on Mercury and Venus. Newcomers Ridolfi Interstellar are off to a strong start with a primary focus on colonist transport. For every success story there are at least an equal number of failures. 7 of the 13 registered civilian firms are all but defunct.

** Beginning in this report, those with no income at all are removed. This continues the focus on only reporting the most important things. **

IX. SPACE LEADERSHIP PROSPECTUS

** Naval Officers: 174 of 196 assigned(89%), +5%
** Ground Forces Officers: 64 of 84(76%), --
** Civilian Administrators: 29 of 37(78%), -1%
** Scientists: 29 of 37(78%), -12%

Overall: 296 of 354(83.6%), +3.8%

BOG has recovered nicely with a record number of candidates, even though most are unimpressive. R&D has actually seen a small decline from 40 to 37 researchers, with retirements outweighing new talent recently. The overall picture has never looked better, with only one in six 'qualified' candidates out of a job.

[Brian Swartz]

RETIREMENTS

None. Definitely a polar opposite of what happened in 81. In this case there are a handful of BOG members in the upper 50s or early 60s, but all of them are in good health. That's good news for almost everybody.

2085 ELECTION

Overall, Director Riley Awad had a highly successful first term. A much better, although far from optimal, first contact in Lalande 21185 saw no ships lost. Operation Renewal has gone extremely well, with some significant new resources and new systems found and all assets working as designed/expected. Most of this is the result of those who came before him, but it's always the man in charge when it happens that gets the credit. Awad was a near-prohibitive favorite to win another term. At 60, it's his final election win or lose.

Luna governor Burt Stonerock was the only serious challenger. Out of nine qualifiers, just four made it to the final ballot. That's the smallest field since the first few elections in the 20s and 30s, half a century ago. Stonerock is a real lightning rod, 'rhetorically undiplomatic' is I believe the polite way to put it. His concept is essentially to tell the whining colonialists to stick it where the sun don't shine, only in less charitable language. For the health of the body politic it certainly was an important vote.

It also, much to everyone's surprise, ended up being one of the closest votes SPACE has ever had. Stonerock's 'plain talk' appealed to far more people than was initially considered(and hoped). Awad looked a little uninspired, a little tired, perhaps unsure he really wanted to do this for another four years. And so it came right down to the wire. The final tally:

Riley Awad -- 33.4%
Burt Stonerock -- 32.2%
Errol Igoe -- 17.9%
Russell Salvuccii -- 16.5%

The status quo held, but barely. The fault lines in SPACE have clearly not healed as much as it has sometimes appeared. There have been many changes in recent years, perhaps too many to be fully and seamlessly assimilated. Meanwhile, it was another stronger-than-expected showing by Errol Igoe, governor of Titan, considered by far SPACE's top expert in shipbuilding. The Clemson project still has considerable backing, and there was no doubt Igoe was the colonial's choice.

POLICY REVIEW

Never afraid to stir things up, Awad almost had that propensity cost him the election. But it didn't, and he was in the Director's Office at Sector Command for a second and final term.

A growing concern was that factory production just didn't go as far as it used to. Mines, research laboratory complexes, nothing is getting built any faster than it was twenty years ago. The relative amount added to the economy shrinks -- adding a lab a year is not as impressive when there's almost 50 as it is when there's 30 in service. Meanwhile the shipyards continue to claim more and more workers and minerals. Believing in a balanced economy as ever, Awad ordered an investment in equalizing the number of workers employed in the factories and shipyards over time, which right now requires a the first significant investment in new factories that has been contemplated in decades. Certainly mineral supply will become an issue with this at some point, but the goal is to be able to switch or pivot wherever production is needed. With the factories 'falling behind', the entire economy suffers. They need to be able to kick out equipment faster during slow times for the navy. Initially it was determined that 168 new factories in addition to the present 500 were needed to match shipyard employment, nearly a 30-year proposition with a 10% investment and the needed factories would grow as the new shipyards come into service. In just a few years Earth has gone from a very concentrated effort on mines and research labs to the most diversified set of efforts ever(12 ongoing projects).

The second was far more controversial. It was announced that, witnessed by two World Court justices, Riley Awad had invoked the little-known and never-used Sealed Order provision of the SPACE constitution at the end of the previous term. The Sealed Order is a means by which a Director may change major elements of governmental structure and/or procedure, but only if approved by the winner of the next directorial election and a majority of BOG.

The subject at hand was the continuity of government. The Sealed Order laid out several problems with the current arrangement, which had remained essentially unchanged since the charter was enacted 60 years ago:

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

1. The constant jetting around for reassigments cost significant amounts of time and fuel. Additionally, it was also not sustainable for a future in which humanity spread to far-flung systems. Change was inevitable, it was only a question of when.

2. The reassignments also posed a security risk. If a clever enemy attacked when the naval reassignments were being done, or a terrorist organization during the political ones, disaster might easily follow. It was frankly stunning that this had not happened already and could only be chalked up to providence or incredible luck.

3. Most officials could be more effective with more familiarity in their tasks. When so many change positions every 2-4 years, the kind of long-term contacts and mutual confidence between the supervisor and the supervised necessary was difficult if not impossible to achieve.

4. Positions were handed out in many cases based on regimented rules, not logic and merit. A key mining outpost, for example, has often been (mis?) managed by someone moving their way up the ladder who doesn't know the first thing about rudimentary automining techniques simply because they were next on the totem pole. Similar problems existed in the military. A new approach was needed to match candidates more intelligently with the needs of SPACE's ever-changing operations.

5. Similar regimented rules often prevented important jobs from being filled. The formulaic requirement of having several officers of a particular rank for each of the rank above has resulted in a lack of sufficient construction brigades because there weren't enough generals to lead them, and staff officer positions going unfilled because of no captains to man them, to use a pair of prominent examples.

It was clearly noted that these procedures had made sense as a starting point when SPACE was founded, but had long outlived their utility. A transition must be made to a government appropriate to the interstellar empire humankind is attempting to become.

A RADICAL SOLUTION

The new proposed approach is a hierarchical meritocracy. It is modeled on the wildly successful approach the R&D Directorate has taken the last few years, an approach which has rightly earned nigh-universal approval. The public at large would still have their control of the situation, it is strongly emphasized, through election of the Director anytime the office came open. Instead of an every-four-years mentality though, an election would only take place when the Director retired or was recalled by popular or BOG vote, either of which could unseat him/her by a 60% supermajority.

Appointments in the Navy, Army, or BOG are now considered semi-permanent. Promotion or retirement are the primary reasons for moving from one posting to another, aside from that officials will remain in position. Promotions happen as needed -- a new ship or ground unit, a new colony/outpost founded, a higher-ranking official retiring, etc. -- and the person appointed is based not on some abstract calculation but a vote of one's superiors. I.e., if a new general is needed the existing generals will vote on which colonel to promote, etc. This operates in a chain, where the colonel position vacated would then be filled as voted on by other colonels, and so on. There will be far less flitting about, because 'lateral moves' will be virtually non-existent. To encourage continuity, anyone who has not been in their current position 2-4 years will be unlikely to be promoted. There are exceptions of course.

Under the new paradigm it was proposed that R&D remain as it is, things are working well there. The Army would remain relatively unchanged. Colonels will be brigade commanders or prospective ones, Brigadier General for brigade commanders, Major General for division commanders(divisional HQs are not yet a thing but are being researched, so it's appropriate for plans to be made), and the highest rank of Lieutenant General is reserved for the senior commander in locations where multiple divisions are deployed. The honorary title of General of the Army is bestowed upon the Lieutenant General in charge of ground forces on Earth. The first is of course Anton Engelhardt, vitality still fending off retirement in his case. All of SPACE's ground forces ultimately report to him.

The other two branches of public service are effectively split into two tracks. In the case of BOG, the two tracks are malleable and converge significantly. There is the mining outpost career path, for those who excel in delving deep for vital TN resources, and the colony career path, for those who are better at managing populations. At this moment there is no place where they really merge completely. Earth as the industrial center has special needs, and both Titan and Callisto benefit from mining and logistic skills as well as those related to financial excellence. In general though while the mining path is less prestigious, it is not less important. New administrators in search of a first posting will tend to stay on the path where they get their first opportunity, but as skills evolve there is a significant chance of crossover.

The Navy would see the greatest change. The present system of eight distinct ranks would be largely done away with, replaced with a new system of ten. Each would generally define an officer's role and authority, not necessarily their overall skill:

Fleet Admiral -- The Navy's top officer, in present case the meteoric Mitchell Feeser. The Fleet Admiral, in addition to being the man or woman to whom all the naval forces ultimately report, personally commands all combat ships in the Sol system.
Admiral -- Top combat commander in any major system.
Vice Admiral -- Combat commander of any expeditionary/invasion fleet or defensive combat forces in a minor system
Commodore -- Commander of a combat task group/military base; Operations officer of a combat TF; Commander of any military non-combat TF
Captain -- Commander of a combat ship; staff officer of a combat TF; operations officer of a military non-combat TF; or commander of a commercial TF
Commander -- Commander of a military non-combat ship; staff officer of a military TF; operations officer of a commercial TF
Lieutenant Commander -- Commander of a commercial ship; staff officer of a commercial ship
Lieutenant -- Pool of candidates for first command. Most will have finished a year of training and experience as an ensign, but particularly talented officers will be fast-tracked here after six months or even in exceptional cases immediately upon graduation.
Ensign -- Recent graduates undergoing mandatory training and experience to prepare them for the responsibilities of command.

The two paths in the Navy are ship commander and staff officers, generally speaking. It will probably be rare for those in the staff officer path to rise higher than Captain or transition over to the ship command wing, but it is possible if they learn the proper skills.

BOG REACTION

There was a certain amount of hysteria, even shock from certain quarters. Even the opponents of Awad's plan though were forced to admit the truth of the assessment that the current setup often worked against SPACE and humanity, rather than serving it as it should. A variety of mostly spurious counterproposals were floated and had holes poked in them even more quickly. In the end BOG and more than enough of the public came to the conclusion that it was a troubling plan except when you compared it to all the others. The devil would always be in the details, but there was no question it was an improvement over the status quo.

The amendment passed quite easily in the end, and was put to an immediate test. Earth was without a governor. Typically that position passed to the second-place finisher in the election, but not under the new arrangement. It came down to three candidates: Burt Stonerock, Errol Igoe, and Roxann Harshberger. Everything of industrial importance pretty much still happens on Earth, and that was the dominant consideration. Stonerock had the best resume as an experienced governor accomplished in both shipyard and factory operations. His age(55, in declining health) was not in his favor though, and neither was the fact that he has made no friends due to his rampaging foot-in-mouth disease. Igoe is a shipbuilding savant but has only limited skill on the factory side, so a much more imbalanced candidate. He was Director Awad's favorite for the job as they share similar personal styles. Finally, there was Roxann Harshberger. Just 38, Harshberger has been on Venus for the last four years and has an overall resume to match Stonerock's.

Harshberger's overall body of work was considered far better for an eventual run at the Director's spot than for Earth: she isn't very skilled in industrial matters. Meanwhile, Russell Salvucci sided with Stonerock due their similar mentality(or lack thereof?), most of the other key players went that way as well due to candid observations that Earth really needs a strong hand on the factory side of things. The remainder really just didn't want to rock the boat, espescially if it meant making an enemy of Salvucci. And so it was that Burt Stonerock was appointed Governor of Earth.

This created a hole on Luna, and it was very quickly concluded that Harshberger was perfect for the job. She's talented in everything the moon needs: terraforming, population growth, and finances. The overall package made it a no-brainer. On it went, with the lesser positions being filled in similar manner. The full list, as an example of how the new policy is implemented:

Luna - Earth: Burt Stonerock
Venus - Luna: Roxann Harshberger
Europa - Venus: Rufus Ke
Triton - Europa: Augustine Wollner*
Borrelly - Triton: Timmy Sheerin
Tempel-Tuttle - Borrelly: Antione Fuss*
Unemployed - Tempel-Tuttle: Antonette Kristek

The asterisks were cases where it was more a candidates political acumen and highly-placed friends who got them the job rather than their actual management skills. This was particularly the case with Antione Fuss -- there was no question that Ronald Waxman was a better, more experienced candidate to take over probably SPACE's most important comet mining concern, but Fuss was better at winning over the right people without doing anything provably illegal.

[Brian Swartz]

** I think it's safe to say the annual report is dead. I don't think I've every had half this much stuff in the 'things that happened at Earth' section. It's a particularly busy time for SPACE right now but part of that is just what will become the 'new normal'. Exploration should pretty much be a constant thing, colonization will bring new challenges, and even if the Navy has no battles to fight there's just going to be a little more of everything. There have been times when it's just been the occasional bit of minor news for a few years with mostly just making sure the freighters keep running.

SPACE is no longer in it's infancy -- she's stretching her legs. So probably 2-3 updates a year I think is what's going to end up happening.**

January - September 2085

Fleet Admiral Mitchell Feeser was the key to keeping the peace in the early months of transition to the new arrangment. There was some necessary upheaval in the Navy, and a fair amount of confusion about what all the new ranks meant. Some had been effectively promoted, others demoted, by nature of the new status of their assignments. By the end of February though, Feeser had put out most of the fires and the skill with which he did so had even previously recalcitrant BOG members calling him an equal match with former Navy chief Ellie Camble as the greatest naval officer SPACE has ever had. That, my friends, is high praise indeed. At 49, he is likely to lead the service for another decade or more.

** February increases in Feeser's political reliability and survey skills in short order; his 'promotion score' is within 100 points of Camble's peak and 1000+ higher than anyone's else's has been **

March was a big month. The new mining governors were increasing supply enough that despite an increase to a moderate level of shipyard activity, most of the stockpiles were holding steady. Sedna added it's second complex this year which didn't hurt matters either. The new meson turret for Frozen Vengeance was finished, and all staff officers except those in ESF Bravo which is apparently still in Sirius had been reassigned. All the needed base and combat ship COs were already on location, so they began their new jobs and in just over two months the navy's power structure was in place. Any major disruption now averted, the attention was turned to the rank and file. By the middle of the month, gallicite was exhausted on Stephan-Oterma in not-so-good news and incoming Earth Governor Burt Stonerock began his duties on the 18th.

There was shipyard news detailed in the Earth notes in early April, and then on the 9th The JPS ID 63, high-powered thruster for the Caldwell redesign, has been finished with Alejandro Otteson serving as lead researcher. The new protocols will definitely result in a smaller number of those, but how many exactly has not yet been determined. The new design is hammered out:

Caldwell 84i VIP Shuttle
Size: 950t
Crew: 15(14)
Speed: 3315 km/s(2210 km/s)
Fuel: 500k
Range: 40.2b km(33.4 b km)
Cost: 183k(151k)

The sensors were only one generation old as this was one of the newer nuclear pulse classes. They were upgraded, the new ion powered thruster added, and a little more maintenance capacity added as well to make sure SPACE's most visible servants have an uninterrupted, smooth flight to wherever they are going. Despite a 50% speed increase, the same amount of fuel will carry the new models further, giving them more than enough endurance. Reducing the total in service will make this version's 30k price increase a much easier pill to swallow -- it should still be a much cheaper operation overall.

KSEC will require just over a month for the retooling. Meanwhile the last of the new engines enters testing. By April 19 all of the Navy's military ship postings were filled, leaving only the commercial openings left to resolve. Two days before the end of the month, that too was completed. Just under four months and the Navy was operating as before, only a little better. There were no holes going unfilled. The initial division of officers by rank:

Fleet Admiral -- 1
Admiral -- 0
Vice Admiral -- 0
Commodore -- 9
Captain -- 19
Commander -- 87
Lt. Commander -- 73
Lieutenant -- 8
Ensign -- 1

Not a lot of spare parts with all the new staff officers, that's for sure. But SPACE was confident the academies would soon rectify that situation.

On May 2, two Frontiers are finished, ready to outfit the ESFs with the new configuration. Two Caldwell commanders are tapped for the positions and their ships scrapped, the beginning of a process that will eventually see 20 of 32 done away with. This will add 10 million liters of fuel to the tanks. It will also cause a temporary stagnation in the lower ranks of the Navy, as that's twenty commanders(now 18) who will need to find new tours of duty. Two weeks later retooling was finished and the first of the new South Carolina superfreighters and Caldwell VIP shuttles were begun.

In about the middle of June the last of two Brooklyn 81s was finished, the final ship to be built of the 'old navy'. Yokohama Docks go silent for the time being. Still having heard nothing from Sirius, and with ESF Bravo gone two years, an Explorer was dispatched to the system to investigate and report back on their general mission status. This was around three times as long now as any other system has taken to survey ...

While that was still ongoing, with the Wickes refit nearing completion, SPACE engineering begins to work on the latest new design: the Spruance 85i Colony Ship. This was around the middle of July. Avid SPACE historians may recall that the original Spruance-B, built in the early days of the Sol colonial rush, was constructed but never actually used. This was because the earnestness of the civilian sector to profit from the process was not accurately anticipated.

There are no such concerns this time around as all jump technology is highly classified. Bringing people to a world outside of Sol will require an official transport.

Spruance 85i Colony Ship

Size: 52.2 kt
Crew: 299
Speed: 920 km/s
Fuel: 550k
Range: 62.4b km
Cryo Storage: 150,000 colonists
Armament: 6x CIWS 79 Batteries
Cost: 2.25m

The most expensive ship SPACE has designed to date, the Spruance 85i will be capable of taking 150,000 pioneers multiple jumps away from their home if need be to colonize new worlds. Obscene amounts of mercassium -- 1.25 mt -- will be needed for each ship, and several hundred kilotons of duranium as well. The cryogenic storage modules, 15 of them,demand the finest tolerances and most careful construction to ensure safety. Estimates are the first will be able to be deployed no sooner than late 2089.

A few days later there was a bit of history as SPACE finished it's 50th research complex -- a far cry from the five they started with a little over 60 years ago. Rounding out the month was the departure of ESF Alpha, which had been docked for about a year. To begin it's second voyage, it headed to Teegarden's Star for a hopefully short visit to clean up Bravo's mess(the fifth planet and it's two moons were never surveyed).

On August 12, the Explorer jumped to Sirius, and within an hour was back with the report that Sirius had been a difficult and complicated survey, but all mission indicators were still green and ESF Bravo would return in the fall with a full report. A relief to be sure that, as many in SPACE feared the worst, Director Awad certainly among them. The same week, five new Long Beach harvesters were finished and after a seemingly interminable run of construction the judgement was made that their are finally enough of them to stop constantly building more. By the end of August the new Interceptor missile was ready and ordnance factories began the initial run of those to get ahead, even though the Exorcist won't be ready for production for some time yet.

In the early hours of September 27, ESF Alpha made the jump to Teegarden's Star. SPACE was soon occupied elsewhere, as in the final hours of the month it was announced that the first-ever terraforming installation was now ready! Transport to Mars is arranged immediately, where nearly 80 million colonists eagerly anticipate the first TN jobs ever on the red planet -- as well as the prospect of improved living conditions, though it will likely be their children or even grandchildren who benefit most from that.

Before it could arrive, on October 8th ESF Bravo finally returned. The much-anticipated, long-awaited survey report on Sirius was finally here ...


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

January 7 -- Sedna finishes a 41st complex.

March 1 -- Sedna adds again, a 42nd.

March 16 -- Gallicite exhausted on Stephan-Oterma.

July 8 -- Boronide on Comas Sola has been exhausted.

August 12 -- A third Sedna expansion on the year.


PERSONNEL

January 23 -- Dante Sawatsky(DS, 31) is the latest to reach accomplished status, earning him a second lab for his work on shield regeneration rates.

April 16 -- A single colonel is dismissed.

May 16 -- Earth governor Burt Stonerock is probably the first accomplished terraformer BOG has ever had. Won't do him a whole lot of good in this assignment of course, but the colonies could potentially benefit from it if he ever reaches the Director's position.

June 5 -- Rufus Ke has reached accomplished status in encouraging new population growth. Don't ask how. Just ... don't ask.

June 9 -- Long-maligned Delois Woznicki improves her administration ability. This will allow her to remain on Mercury, which was becoming a strain too great for her abilities.


EARTH

February 20 -- The first retooling job is finished and the refit of the Wickes begins. It may not have ever done anything useful yet, but it's the first ship to get one of the new ion drives, so that's one small piece of history.

March 16 -- Fleet training exercises resume

April 2 -- Construction of the first of the new class of Fletchers begins. The old ones will be scrapped, as they are so old that they really need to go and it would cost almost as much as a new ship to refit them anyway. The current eight is far more than SPACE needs: three will be built to start, one at a time at Vegesacker Werft.

April 5 -- Oregon finishes retooling for the new Iowa fuel tankers. Due to the change in the tanks, this will be a new build prospect also. The Navy wants two in reserve for it's operations, so four regular and two XR tankers will be built this time instead of two of each. Oregon begins adding a second slipway to support this, while the first of the standard hulls is begun.

May 16 -- Retooling for the new Caldwell 84i and South Carolina 84i is now complete. As feared new superfreighters will need to be built, refitting isn't a practical option. Another four will be laid down at least, and impressively they could be finished in a little over a year. That means an impressive amount of minerals being burned through as well, but there's little option here. A similar story for the much-cheaper Caldwells

June 4 -- First pair of Caldwells are scrapped.

June 11 -- Last of the Brooklyn 81s is built. Second and last of the class.

July 1 -- Fleet HQ sends an Explorer to Sirius to investigate the length of their stay.

July 14 -- The Wickes is finished and retooling begins for the Spruance 85i. It will likely be close to the end of the decade before the first is in operation.

July 17 -- A 50th research complex has been built on Earth. That's still about 10-12 less than the optimal amount for the present scientists. The work must continue.

July 28 -- ESF Alpha leaves for the Teegarden's Star JP.

August 3 -- Sixth slipway completed at P&A Group SY. It will now need to expand a bit for the Long Beach 84i.

August 12 -- Ninth construction brigade is now in service.

August 14 -- Long Beach(x5) finished.

September 6 -- P&A Group has expanded to 80.9 kt for each of its slipways now and begins the process of retooling, which will basically take the rest of the year. That's a bit long to wait so the new 10th Harvester Group heads for Saturn, only four ships as the fifth will remain so engineers can do the refit calculations when the time comes.

September 11 -- A third and final shipment of automines leaves for Swift-Tuttle. So far the mineral stocks are holding up surprisingly well. Duranium is down only about a kiloton, corundium and neutronium are holding steady, mercassium slowly declining but there remains a buffer.


RESEARCH

** April 9 -- The JPS ID 63 has been finished(Alejandro Otteson)

** May 18 -- Eagle 72 military engine ready(David Gruis). For the first time in a couple of years, the power & propulsion field isn't completely occupied with prototype testing.

** June 5 -- Irving Steinmeyer finishes the SPPI ID 105, better known as the Interceptor engine. He's worked himself out of a job for the moment, as Elyse Buckler will take on testing the missile itself now.

** July 4 -- Combat Drop Modules of Battalion size are now ready thanks to the work of Modesto Huch's team. If we ever do find the homes of the alien bastards we'll likely need them.

** August 8 -- Vertigo 72 military engine finished(Alejandro Otteson).

** August 25 -- Interceptor 84i(Elyse Buckler) is finished.

** September 26 -- The SPPI ID 525, aka the Exorcist engine, has finished the prototype phase with Jerry Bartholf as project lead. This gives Elyse Buckler a chance to get back in the game for the next year-plus at least, working on the Navy's new ship-killer. They hope.

[Brian Swartz]

October - December 2085

Sirius Survey Report
ESF Bravo, October 8 2085

Survey Issues

Sirius itself was the main obstacle. The system is huge. It's the only system yet found where the jump point survey locations are more complex than those in Sol. Each Frontier took nearly a full month instead of less than ten days on station in most systems for each potential location. The pattern was huge as well. On the outer ring it was a month and a half travel, then a month for survey, etc.

The flotilla was also plagued by maintenance issues, far more than Alpha had in all their systems combined. Many began to consider the system cursed. Cmdr. Milo Rhoads, one of the Frontier COs, grew steadily worse and his junior officers had to pilot the craft back the long three-month journey from the final jump survey with him in sickbay. He's been honorably discharged from the service, and one of the other Frontier COs is rumored to be thinking about an early retirement after this tour as well. It just took a lot out of everybody. Crews were at the breaking point by the time it was finished, but they got the job done in the end.

Jump Points

Prolonging the fun was the fact that it was the very last location that yielded the second and last jump point in the system. This required a nearly three-month round trip by the Explorer while everyone waited the second half of that.

Geological Survey

After all that work, SPACE will benefit ... not much if at all. Sirius A I has massive quantities of inaccessible duranium and gallicite. The most habitable planet yet found, A II, has nothing and neither do it's moons. There are a handful of finds in the dense asteroid field, with the only one of real significance yielding 44 kt of mercassium at 0.9. Nice, but not worth coming here for.

Sirius-B, which orbits A at a distance of 3 billion km, was quite naturally almost completely on the other side of the Sol jump. It has a 45-year orbital period and at least 40 of those years would have been a better time to come visit. Go figure. The lone gas giant is barren, which shot all hope of a major insystem fuel source. The most habitable of it's moons, which could at least be put in the Mars/Luna range with some work, has 765 kt boronide(0.1), 9.9 mt sorium(0.1), and 2.06 mt neutronium(0.6). That last part is the only major mineral find in the system. This one moon is the only useful part of the Sirius-B system.

New System -- V577 Monocerri

Mid-range jump a little inside the middle ring, 1.78b away from the primary of two stars. Average pattern size and difficulty, just over half that of Sol.

A System: Two fairly habitable terrestrials, the first planet already has a breathable atomosphere. It's cold(-51 C), making it only a little easier to deal with than Luna/Mars. With a thicker atmosphere it could probably by Earth-like. One gas giant also with a dozen moons and two dozen asteroids. Overall pretty good.

B System: Orbiting at a little under 600 million km, this is a very accessible system. Two terrestrials, neither as habitable as the ones around the primary. Main feature is a close, thick asteroid belt with over 160 objects. Might be some interesting things in there.

An interesting, promising system that is also really far away. Average distance from earth is 10.1 billion, closer to 12 billion by the time you get to the planets around A. Time for the Spruance to make a round trip would be close to 10 months.

No wrecks, jump gates, or sensor evidence of alien presence of any kind.

Summary/Evaluation

It sucked, and there's little reason to go back at least in the near future. V577 Monocerri is just interesting enough to merit a closer look, but there's more interesting places closer. Neutronium is plentiful enough on the comets of Sol for a while to make building a colony to exploit that a little ridiculous. So far only one really good source has been found -- and that's in Epsilon Eridani. Heh.

There's time to find more though. Decades of time at this point. Eventually the extreme habitability of Sirius A-II will almost certainly see us expanding there. It's a ten-year terraforming job for one installation with a crappy governor. It's a dream to the right kind of pioneer. But there's nothing beckoning us there in the short-term.

Back in Sol, a week later on the 15th of October the terraformer on Mars officially went operational. An important moment in history, and one worth examining more fully. Mars has a very thin atmosphere, just 1% as thick as Earth's. It is also cold(-48 C, actually 5 degrees warmer than Luna due to the fact that there is significant CO2 here providing a small greenhouse affect). The biggest problem though is that the air isn't breathable, on account of their not being a hint of oxygen. The first goal then, is to add 0.1 atm, the minimum amount of oxygen to make it breathable. It will be far too high a concentration of oxygen at that point, requiring other gases for the right mix, but enough oxygen for human consumption.

250k is the right amount of population needed. The one will take over 42 years at this point at the current rate to reach the needed oxygen level. Nevertheless, it is a beginning. Things are underway.

On the 27th ESF Alpha returned from Teegardens Star. 318 kt of inaccessible duranium had been found, essentially leaving that report unchanged. Operation Renewal, the focus of SPACE's efforts since the early 60s and therefore lasting two and a half decades, was completed. Humanity had begun to become a spacefaring people, again.

Finishing one goal meant needing to find another. Until the last few years we had visited eight systems and fully surveyed only our own. We've doubled that first number now to sixteen, and have six fully explored. There are two no-fly-zone systems, those occupied by the aliens, and another that we must enter Lalande to reach. That leaves seven to expand our knowledge with.

CONCLUSIONS

** Humanity is extremely fortunate to have developed it's civilization in Sol. Had it happened somewhere like Barnard's Star we would have never reached this point. Sol is unique so far among the systems we've found both in mineral wealth and in being a strategic nexus of multiple jumps.

** Of the five other systems we surveyed, we have found three, two, one(twice), and zero additional jump points in them. 'Hub' systems appear to be quite rare and are therefore to be considered strategically important.

** Mineral resources are not abundantly overflowing, but definitely TN materials are common, nigh-universal. The long-term prospects for expansion and sustaining a growing interstellar empire are good -- if we can keep the aliens either at bay or not actively hostile.

** We need survey teams up and running and we need them as soon as possible. It is obvious there will be more work than they can possibly keep up with. Several of them would be nice.

** The jump gates in the Van Maanen direction are still a mystery. Obviously they were built by somebody however, and the presence of one in the Lalande system suggests it could have been them or a similar race. who moved on. This also bears further investigating.

** The leading candidate by an enormous margin for our first extrasolar colony is Luyten 726-8. It has significant resources in itself, and also provides an excellent location for supporting further exploration with an eventual refueling, shore leave, and maintenance base for the ESFs. It is very likely that at least one of the bordering systems will give promising possibilities.

** SPACE is a very long ways off yet from having any kind of coherent colonization policy. We'll need answers to questions we haven't even thought of yet. At this point though it is necessary to define some things in terms of exploration. Two major points are decided. The first has to do with how far to explore. It is very possible that by continuing to extend humanity's knowledge of those systems in our galactic 'neighborhood' we may come into contact with a more aggressive enemy that will attempt to chase us back to Sol and invade, but that could happen from Epsilon Eridani or Lalande at any time ignorance is not considered bliss. It is still far better to know what is out there than not to. A one-year limit is established, meaning the goal of the ESFs will be to explore systems that are within one year's travel from the closest refueling and maintenance base. Right now this is Earth only, and a distance of 18.7 billion kilometers. Beyond that point, about half the mission time would be spent just traveling and the enterprise would become wasteful. Almost all of the systems we know of right now are less than half that, so we are not yet approaching this limit. When the refits to the new ion-powered Eagle engines are done, that distance will probably increase. Plenty of room yet for increased exploring.

The second issue was a matter of standard operating procedures for the ESFs. For Renewal after surveying a system the flotillas jumped back into Sol and confirmed new orders from Fleet HQ before heading to the next one. This will no longer be practical, as from now on new systems will be found at least two jumps away. The ESFs will be out of contact for longer, and will need to operate independently of Fleet HQ. The Commodore in charge of each will have greater responsibilities. For each voyage/tour they will be assigned a 'route', i.e. a particular system to push beyond. For example, Alpha's next journey will take it to the Luyten 726-8 route, during which they will be tasked with the three new systems it connects to, and the mission will be to push the frontier as far in those directions as possible before returning to Sol. Fuel and maintenance levels will need to be watched ever more closely.

NAVAL DEPLOYMENT

Renewal brought much-needed intelligence to the Navy, and the news was both good and bad. An incredibly advanced alien civilization in Lalande 21185 is not good, but the other systems revealed no new civilizations and no evidence of them other than the jump gates in the Van Maanen 'route'. Teegarden's Star is a dead-end but threats could approach from any of the other six jumps. Intelligence has decided to take the rather unoriginal step of naming the known alien civilizations by using the AI-assigned name of the first detected ship class and then reversing the spelling. Therefore the aliens from Epsilon Eridani will be known as the Ratamli, and those in Lalande as the Erustfiws.

The Navy believes that blockading the jump points is the best way to defend against any potential incursion. Once an alien force gains a foothold in Sol space, they may well be able to simply bombard our positions from distance if they outrange us which the Erustfiws would be very likely to given how advanced their technology obviously is. As a long-term strategic matter, Frozen Vengeance is considered very important since if there is any chance of securing Epsilon Eridani with current missile technology, forces would not have to be divided between the two jumps but could be focused on the Lalande 21185 point. If not, any effective combat fleet will have to be defensive since we won't be as fast as their ships and virtually all weapons development for the forseeable future is going to be in the energy weapons field.

INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS

Although the beauracrats have put it off for far too long it has become painfully obvious that the Navy is going to need a lot more large(10kt) shipyards than it currently possesses. For Frozen Vengeance at least three will be needed(command ship, defense escort, anti-ship missile escort). It is clear that the Navy must get a blockade of the Lalande jump point up as well, the best chance of thwarting any enemy attack is to meet them when they come in. This would involve armed-to-the-teeth laser/meson ships at the point ready to fire as soon as anything emerged. That's a fourth yard, and then the Baltimore/Gearing survey carrier ships will require two more. Six.

Presently the Navy has four. International and Niehuis were immediately set to expand, a process that will take some years as has been discovered in the past. That leaves only KSEC which will the handle the Caldwell shuttles and Forrestal sensor ships. The Navy will still need a mid-range yard with 6+ kt capacity for the Tarawa colliers and Cleveland supply ships, plus a pair of small ones from the Ambassador, Prospector, Frontier, and Explorer. The current two ordered yards weren't enough, they'd need three and really a fourth should be built against future needs. .

With the completion of Renewal it was also clear that the first need for colonization was to confirm the findings with ground survey teams. It was proposed that the Ambassador diplomatic shuttle would double nicely for this purpose, but it would need larger fuel tanks so a new ship was designed. With the Navy's needs for the shipyards, nothing could be done right away.

Mine production was reduced further to accomodate. In the process it was determined that for decades now SPACE has been building new regular mines, then converting them to automated, a process which costs an eighth more than just building automated mines directly, in both time and treaure. An estimated three kilotons each of duranium and corundium had been wasted this way, along with countless billions of man-hours. Stonerock did a massive double-facepalm when he discovered this idiocy, and loudly corrected it. This sparked a new round of yelling and screaming but nothing much came of it. Sort of like the boy who cried wolf.

With the increasing pressure on Earth's factories Awad decided a strict prioritizing was in order. Research labs would continue to occupy a quarter, replication(mines/factories) another quarter, with the remaining half going to whatever else was needed. Some projects would go with minimal funding but that was just the nature of the beast. Continually expanding research and industrial capability simply had to be a priority. With that in place over time the capability of the 'discretionary half' would also rise. Ordnance factory and commercial yard allocations were both reduced a fifth(10 to 8% each) to allow faster construction of the vitally needed naval shipyards. It would still take until past the end of the decade for the recommended amount to be finished.

On November 10, the first naval shipyard, which had been almost finished, is ready for 'business'. Named C. Mitchell & Co., here after referred to simply as the Mitchell SY, it was planned to expand immediately for the Mitchell and Cleveland classes. After discussions with engineering it was determined a new jump drive was needed for a jump shuttle, whether to carry VIPs or geology teams. The ones used on the Explorers were not big enough for a ship that would end up being well over a kiloton in size. Irving Steinmeyer was tapped for a quick testing job on a new, slightly larger one-ship drive for that purpose, and the Mitchell yard expanded as initially planned.

For the moment that meant five yards expanding at the same time, though that won't last long, a few retooling projects going on, a slipway being added, along with the eight or nine ships being built -- new workers added to shipyards all the time, and the mineral drain was fairly massive.

As December began, a close look at the supplies for the incoming ESFs reveals that they will consume over 1300 tons of maintenance supplies when they dock, over 90% of Earth's current stockpile. Almost all of that goes to Bravo which had all kinds of trouble in Sirius. Nevertheless, it's one more priority that has to be added to the factory workload. SPACE orders a strategic reserve of five thousand tons to be built up. On the 21st, retooling is finished and engineering analyzes the costs for refitting to the new Long Beach 84i. This time the news was better. For a little over half the cost of a new ship the existing harvesters could be refit. With 41 ships in service, the overall savings to the Navy is expected to exceed 32 million credits, and of course the minerals saved are an even bigger deal. The decision was made to bring two groups in at a time, reorganizing the ten groups of four plus a spare into four groups of eight each.

The only real question then was whether to expand from six to eight slipways or increase the size of the yard, which would eventually be needed. It was decided the size increase was more pressing, with a goal of eventually reaching the 160-170 kt range, effectively doubling. The effect on the refits would be minimal anyway, given that it would take three years or so to expand for two more slipways, by which time a sizable portion of the refitting will be completed.

On Christmas Day, a nice present for the crew, ESF Alpha returns to Earth. It was four in the morning, so that they had the day and quite a bit longer to enjoy. It was expected that sometime in early February of next year all would be ready again for a prolonged voyage to the systems beyond Luyten 726-8. There would be a bit of an overlap here as Bravo will probably arrive a couple weeks before Alpha departs. They've got a longer stay ahead of them, of course.


EARTH

October 10 -- 4x Caldwell 84i finished, another four begun.

October 27 -- The third Ticonderoga 82 base departs, in sections of course, for Mercury. The initial run(500) of the new Interceptor missiles is completed. For now the ordnance factories go quiet waiting for Frozen Vengeance to proceed further with more specific details.

October 29 -- The first Fletcher 84i is finished, and another begun.

November 10 -- C. Mitchell & Co. naval SY opens.

December 11 -- First two South Carolina 84i ships are finished. For the most part two is all that has been needed, occasionally a third. The Navy wants at least six, to provide more capability for colonization.

December 26 -- Commercial SY Kaverner-Massa is christened. It was tasked to handle the Portland and Gato classes. The new Gatos were deemed a higher priority.

December 28 -- The first of the new Iowa tankers is ready and heads to Callisto.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

November 5 -- Construction of the third of eight Ticonderoga 82 sensor bases, this one on Mercury is begun.


RESEARCH

** November 23 -- Testing of the new large power plant, the GEI GCF 5400, is completed by Norris Gunterman.


PERSONNEL

December 30 -- Gov. Yadira Desousa has become an accomplished terraformer, obviously a private study matter campagining for a post on Mars or Luna as he's currently on the mining outpost at Halley's Comet.

[Brian Swartz]

CHARACTER REVIEW

Here's how the active chars stack up under the new protocols:

Cmdr. Chance Perj -- Minimal crew training skill, low-level accomplished in fleet initiative. Accomplished surveyor. Good chance at a posting on one of the geology teams when they are formed. CO of an Explorer headquartered in Sol.

Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. -- Novice training and ground combat, but better than most of the rank. It will be really interesting to see what happens when Engelhardt retires, which will happen by the end of the decade for certain. Silvers Jr. is a bit of a long shot for the next leader but it's a definite possibility, two of the main rivals are Zoe Bean(young phenom from Mars) and Wyatt Pittman(experienced right-hand man of Engelhardt, Luna). Being born in the colonies won't help their cause. There is a handful of candidates who could be picked, there is no clear favorite. I was surprised that Silvers Jr. is only 35.

Col. Deacon Palmer Jr. -- Run-of-the-mill battalion CO. This unfortunately hasn't changed. One thing we've discovered is that army officers are pretty much who they are ... they don't improve as much over time as the other branches of service, as a rule. Minor abilities in training and combat make a decent commander, no political connections, nothing to distinguish yourself. An honorable but largely unnoticed career likely to continue that way. Only 15 army officers outranking him in a society of nearly 2 billion is pretty darn good, but he's probably stuck. At age 34, he's already had health problems. A few more years of this and then retirement is the likely career path.

[Brian Swartz]

January - June 2086

A few more construction factories have been built, but it is not coming close to the pace at which shipyard operations are currently expanding. That trend is expected to continue for some years to come, since the Navy is just beginning to enter what will be a prolonged period of peak shipyard operation, and the lion's share of the 'industrial investment' sector of Earth's manufacturing continues to go to producing automines so that the mining haul can continue to grow. A painfully slow process, but it continues.

Duranium and neutronium are in a slow free-fall, mercassium continues to decline every-so-slowly, but corundium has actually begun to rebound with the slower mine production. The next mine to be targeted will not be Herschel-Rigollet as anticipated but rather Whipple. A short-period comet, Whipple is never more than a 800 million kilometers away and has probably the best remaining untapped source of mercassium(15.9 kt at 0.7) as well as a decent stash of duranium(11.5 kt at 1.0). Sorium, tritanium, and a bit of uridium are there as pot-sweeteners.

The terraforming on Mars proceeds slowly, with the temperature already raised a fraction of a degree, but enough for the instruments to record it. Oxygen is now almost 5% of the thin atmosphere.

Many significant manufacturing goals are set to be completed late this decade or early in the next: ordnance factories, prefabricated 82-tech bases, the 'final' shipyards currently planned for this cycle of refits and Navy expansion, etc. For now, that makes progress on any one of them slow. It was noticed well after it should have been that Earth is in danger of not having enough mass drivers to keep up with all the incoming packets. This will delay matters a bit, and an emergency shift was made to increase production of them and up Earth's total to a minimum of 10(50kt capacity). To ensure no 'accidents' took place, the inactive one of Venus was picked up as well. Earth will attempt to maintain a full dozen to ensure 10 are always in place. It's an issue that snuck beneath the cracks, and will require currently produced automines to get dumped on Venus just to get some decent use out of them.

On January 17, ESF Bravo returns to Earth. More maintenance issues on the inbound journey meant they were unable to completely refill maintenance needs but by the time they leave supplies should be more than sufficient. More than half of Bravo's ship COs are replaced as they retire due to health issues related to the stresses of working in Sirius. It was a very costly survey, and a reminder of the inherent dangers involved in stretching our legs, galactically speaking.

On the 27th, ESF Alpha is cleared for operations a little early. They break orbit and make for the Luyten 726-8 jump to survey that 'highway'. They will leave Sol space in early April, and may well not return until late in 2090. This is the last Earth will see of them in this decade if all goes well. Most of the same personnel is with them as before. The following day, Dr. Garland Sidhom, standard-bearer for the Biology & Genetics research field and one of only four active elite scientists, had decided to retire from public life at age 65. While BG researchers are not usually of major importance, his legacy will be mostly that of advancing the effectiveness of terraforming efforts at the end of the 70s and early part of the this decade, a period that led up to the recent deployment of the first installation. The field now falls on hard times with only a trio of novices to carry on the torch, and further advances in terraforming are expected to be very rare. Meanwhile, humanity crosses the 2-billion barrier in total population for the first time in well over 60 years.

February begins with the first two groups of harvesters arriving at Earth to unload their fuel and begin the refit process. Total reserve fuel is at about 24 million, it will be interesting to see how well it survives the disruption of the refits. The final construction brigade exits training in the middle of the month. The ten of them number a combined quarter-million, almost half of the Army's total personnel.

In March some shipyard goals were met with the details noted in the appropriate appendix as always, and on April 3, 1532 GST, ESF Alpha jumped out of Sol. By the end of May a notable chapter in the navy's commercial operations passed as the second of the new Fletchers was finished. The old ones will now be scrapped, a ending a long and distinguished service of nearly four decades.

Things had settled down to a somewhat relaxed pace, relatively speaking at least, after the first couple months of the year.



PERSONNEL

January 9 -- Delois Woznicki(57) can now handle any assignment except for Director. Too bad she took so long to get here.

January 17 -- Russell Salvucci, currently posted as Mars' governor, is an accomplished financial manager now.

Mid-March -- BOG welcomes a new member, Lillie Buske. Already capable of managing mid-sized operations, she has a variety of decent starter skills, most notably in logistics and manufacturing.

Late April -- Brig. Gen. Sterling Silvers Jr. furthers his ambitions with another jump in political connections, accomplished now(25%).

Early June -- Cmdr. Chance Perj records a minor increase in initiative.


RESEARCH

January 10 -- Eagle 60 military cruising engine finished(Reynaldo Darrington).

January 29 -- John Dangel(55, LG) pushes for a strong finish to his thus-far unmemorable career by stepping up to the accomplished tier.

February 29 -- Irving Steinmeyer finishes testing the new jump drive for the jump shuttle that will transport the geology teams. Work will begin on it as soon as the next naval yard is finished. The mass driver situation being what it is, that is not likely to be until next year.


EARTH

January 17 -- ESF Bravo returns and begins it's overhaul.

January 27 -- ESF Alpha is cleared for departure on the Luyten 726-8 route.

February 3 -- Long Beach refits begin.

February 15 -- Final Construction Brigade is finished.

March -- ENDM has reached it's goal and is now the largest-capacity SY at Earth at over 171kt. The new jump drives have a size limit of 169+ kt so it is ready to handle anything the new jump ship might throw at it.

March 5 -- A second Caldwell group is finished, one more to go.

Mid-March -- Vickers-Armstrong SY has reached its target size and begins retooling for the new Arleigh Burke.

May 3 -- First Gato finished.

May 26 -- The second and for now last of the new Fletcher freighters is finished

June 21 -- First shipment of automines leaves for Whipple.

June 25 -- First of the refit harvesters heads to Saturn.

June 27 -- Research lab finished.


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

February 17 -- Luna's Ticonderoga 82 base is the second to be completed.

[Brian Swartz]

I meant to post this last 'year', it's the lastest galaxy map from the completion of Operation Renewal, late 2085:

http://i.imgur.com/1G64bdi.png

[Brian Swartz]

July - December 2086

It was mostly a lot of small things happening the second part of the year. Retooling for the Arleigh Burke was finished on July 25, and refits for the first four begun. A couple of days later mercassiuim was exhausted on Triton, this was expected to put Earth's supply into a much stepper dive. Also at the end of the month the last group of new Caldwells was finished and the old models began to hit the scrapping phase. August sees Elwood Tousant(SF) join the rarified air of elite scientists and a new group of Long Beach harvesters finishing their refits.

Mitchell shipyard started up the new Clevelands in September, and Earth hit the needed ten mass drivers. There were no mishaps in the interim, but that was a matter of sheer good fortune. Four more will yet be built for Venus, Whipple, and a couple of spares, but the crash course is no longer necessary and some of the factory space is diverted back to more urgent projects, mostly the naval shipyards being built. On the 8th Oregon shipyard finished it's second slipway and the new Iowa's proceeded now two at a time. The 10th brought the completion of the second and final Gato small freighter, and on and on it went with the navy's upgrading.

September 25th brought news of a more pressing caliber. After more than 16 years of leading SPACE's ground forces, GoA Anton Engelhardt(63) is calling it a career. The expected alien invasion never happened on his watch, but expansion of the army to various bases around Sol did. He spent the first half-plus of his career at low-level posting, on cadres from 2045-57 and basic garrison duty from 58-69. Shortly afterward he was elevated to lead the Army from 2070-2086 and did an admirable job at it. There was no question at any point in his tenure that he was the best officer for the job, and by a considerable margin.

Discussion about his successor swirled around the controversial and brilliant Zoe Bean, CO of one of the other brigades on Earth. The contoversy wasn't about her really, so much as the fact that she was a native of Mars. None of the colonies have had such a high-ranking official, and many felt they shouldn't. Three others were also put forward for the post. Incredibly none were older than Sterling Silvers Jr(36). The next would likely take the reins for a long time.

Eventually Gil Milstead(31), Earth-born and possessing good political and combat skills -- though training ability is notably lacking -- was appointed. Aside from that he has impressive overall skills. Milstead is a religous man, notable for his unsual insightfulness, ability to delegate, and a man who handles himself well in the public eye. Despite his youth, he has been a brigade commander for almost nine years so he knows his way around. It was a very close call with Bean the top challenger as expected -- it seems the Mars issue was the decider in this case. But Milstead is a very capable choice.

On November 7, ESF Bravo was cleared for departure from Earth and headed for the systems beyond Van Maanen. Between Alpha and Bravo they are scheduled to survey five of the seven known systems available to be explored, and who knows what beyond them. The year finished with more mundane shipyard news. The new Portland battalion transports began their construction run, while four Burke transports and a Long Beach harvester were finished with their refits within the final couple of weeks of December.


Earth

July 5 -- Second pair of South Carolinas are finished.

Mid-July -- First of the Fletchers has been scrapped.

July 25 -- Retooling for the Arleigh Burke is finished. Refits begin on four of the six hulls.

July 30 -- The final group of Caldwells is finished, and scrapping of the old ships begins.

August 9 -- 5 Long Beach refits completed.

September -- Mitchell SY reaches the necessary size for the Cleveland, but refitting is not advised and the first of two new ships begun. Meanwhile expansion continues to prepare for eventual work on the new Tarawa down the road. Also Earth has reached the ten mass drivers it needs.

September 2 -- First group of Caldwells scrapped.

September 8 -- Oregon SY adds a second slipway, and a second Iowa 84i is begun. .

September 10 -- Second and last of the Gato small freighters is finished.

September 14 -- Second of eight Fletchers scrapped.

September 21 -- The second of the Iowa 84i tankers is finished.

October 2 -- Second group of Caldwells scrapped.

November 2 -- Four more Caldwells are scrapped. The fuel from the scrapped ships is starting to replace that of those that have been built, and is keeping reserve levels well afloat.

November 7 -- Another Fletcher is scrapped and ESF Bravo is cleared for departure. They'll head out to the systems beyond Van Maanen.

Dec. 2 -- Another group of Caldwells scrapped. Four of eight groups now.

Dec. 8 -- First of the two new Cleveland's finished.

Dec. 18 -- At Kvaerner Masa SY, retooling is finished and the first of the new Portland battalion transports is begun.

Dec. 20 -- Refits finished for the first four Arleigh Burke brigade transports.

Dec. 30 -- Long Beach refit finished.


Personnel

Mid-July -- Promising CP researcher(Carmelo Constanza) graduates.

August 7 -- SPACE is up to four elite scientists again. The latest is Elwood Tousant(SF, 63) who won't have long at the top due to his age but has made an impressive late-career charge. He's presently finishing up testing on one of the new active sensors, after which he'll have his pick of projects to lead.

October 4 -- Reynaldo Darrington(PP, 38) steps up to the accomplished tier, further strengthing the vital propulsion field.


Research

September 27 -- Elwood Tousant's team finishes the new missile search active sensors. He'll next work on the fire controls for the Exorcist anti-ship missile, as the sensors field is still trying to catch up with all the testing projects.

November 17 -- Reynaldo Darrington has finished research into jump drive miniaturization. It is now possible to do a squadron jump with a 600-ton drive, the previous minimum was over 700 tons.

November 20 -- The Exorcist 85i missile is now ready for production(Elyse Buckler).


Colonial Developments

October 20 -- Venus begins assembly of its new Ticonderoga 82 sensor base.

[sterlingice]

Was the reorg due to poor results (i.e. bad mining governors in mining posts, etc)?

Also, you keep mentioning someone "building" jump gates. I thought they were naturally occurring locations. Are they alien made? If so, why does Earth have 8? Or is there a difference between a jump gate and a jump point (i.e the former is a device placed at the latter that allows for hyperspace jumps without a hyperspace drive)?

SI

[Tellistto]

SI,

Jump points and jump gates you have the right of. They are different. The gate allows transit to all ships through the point without need of a jump drive. Need one on both sides to make it usable for back and forth traffic.

These can be dangerous, as it also allows anyone else to use the jump point without a jump drive.

So use with caution.

Sometimes the game creates systems with Gates already installed on jump points, but it's not that normal.

Tell

[Brian Swartz]

The reorg was not due to poor results, though that also did happen. It was due to necessity, which often is the mother of invention as the saying goes. I did it earlier than I planned due to having officials missing(Rakes being forced out and then Alborn having to retire suddenly) during successive administrations, thus creating a more urgent 'casus belli' for a change if you will. But having a multi-system 'empire' pretty much made it essential. Having shuttles constantly moving across multiple systems every couple of years would be ridiculous -- under the previous system there would eventually reach a point where a lot of positions would spend more time with people in transit than actually doing their job if and when humanity's colonies get widespread enough.

Basically from time to time there are situations where a policy that worked before when SPACE was smaller does not work now. This will happen again, at some point, perhaps multiple times, in dealing with a 'multi-system empire' scale of civilization. I've been fairly reactionary about it. I'm trying to be a little more proactive and solve problems before they occur, but there is also a real sense that society doesn't change until there is significant pressure -- having something cause a little bit of real pain and then saying 'maybe we should do something different' strikes me as the kind of things that really would happen and makes it interesting for me as a player.

Tellistto is correct on his jump gate explanation. The naturally occurring ones are being viewed by SPACE as evidence of former alien civilizations in the area(what else could they be?), particularly since there is one in Lalande.

** Full disclosure: A bit of the 'new order' is based on other Aurora stories I've read, but it also owes a fair amount to the Turian Hierarchy in the Mass Effect universe(itself modeled loosely on Roman civilization). I've always found those kinds of 'flawed meritocracy'/bordering on oligarchy systems interesting. **

[Brian Swartz]

** Note: the thread is now officially caught up. Current game date is December 1, 2087. I plan on keeping it that way or at least close. Sometimes it can be difficult to rip myself away from particularly interesting times in the game(the initial voyages of the ESFs were espescially this way given the literally decades of buildup to them) to format my notes into a post **

JANUARY - JUNE 2087

The year began with a bang. Shortly after the annual celebrations of having survived another year, Director Awad announcee he would be retiring at the end of January. It was one of those things which tended to drown out other news in the month. A couple things in the shipyards and in colonial mining operations, ESF Bravo jumped out to Van Maanen on the third of the month, but pretty much the minds of most were on who the new rirector would be.

Official Biography -- Director Riley Awad

Awad succeeded late in his career. An unknown beauracrat until his mid-30s, he made his first noise in being appointed to Governor of Sedna in 2057. Even then it was a distant but important posting. Minor colonies and comet postings covered the next decade plus, as he was sometimes in the election field, sometimes just out of it. Then in 2073 he finished second and got the reward of that accomplishment at the time, the governorship of Earth. He was 49. A tour on Luna proved to not be fortuitous, at least not health-wise. He grew in capability steadily though and once Duling and Eighmy left the scene, he was clearly the best of those left. His six years as Director have been generally well received, with the emphasis on diversifying the economy after the consolidations under Rakes and the controversial use of the Sealed Order to provide a major change in SPACE's continuity and official governmental structure as his most obvious legacies.

Directorial Election: January 30, 2087

Eight qualified, but only four made the ballot. A small field as it's become more and more of lately. Burt Stonerock was the most qualified, but he is also 58, in declining health which will allow him probably only a couple more years of service, and he couldn't spell 'tact'(or use the concept) if his life depended on it. The arrogant Russell Salvucci is always popular when anti-SPACE sentiments run high, but they really don't right now. Errol Igoe and Evelyn Kaczor have a less polished overall resume and body of work than anyone who has held the office since the days of Lena Dungey(impressive bonus points for anyone with any idea who she was). Kaczor is the kind of straight-shooter that could make a fine director someday.

The electorate essentially punted on this one. Stonerock has done a good job in his time as Earth's governor, he's got a balanced set of economic skills, and while he doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut or what to say when he opens it, he is a strong leader unafraid of challenges. He was elected in one of the most one-sided elections SPACE has ever had, a stark contrast to his narrow loss to Awad just over two years ago. The full results:

Burt Stonerock -- 40.8%
Evelyn Kaczor -- 24.3%
Errol Igoe -- 19.0%
Russell Salvucci -- 15.9%

By making this choice, they are essentially giving the others a little longer to distinguish themselves. Another candidate could rise as well of course, and it's also possible Stonerock's health could improve. Salvucci is three years younger but his peak seemed to be during the New York scandal, Igoe and Kaczor a full decade more junior than the new director. Salvucci was definitely the big loser this time around, while Kaczor showed herself a real player in finishing a distant second. BOG then had the crucial task of choosing a new Earth governor.

Stonerock maintans most current economic policies. He's hawkish and aggressive by nature, intending to accelerate Frozen Vengeance as much as possible and let the chips fall where they may. Earth still needs a strong hand in production but logistics are also seen as important this time around with the amount of activity at the spaceport and overhauls for ships, etc. There were several possible candidates, but one stood way apart from the rest. The popular and now qualified Delois Woznicki had no serious rivals -- she's the only one with any logistics ability at all and is accomplished in production matters across the board, decent political connections and a good public manner -- finally the 58-year-old underachiever has hit the big time. She's still in excellent health and should serve as an oustanding governor on our homeworld for several years. In the areas that matter most, the Stonerock/Woznicki pairing in the top two spots in the agency really is quite a strong combination.

Ricardo Bloise moved from Sedna to Mercury, replacing Woznicki, in a mild surprise. Most expected Kaczor, currently on Ganymede, to get that spot. Meanwhile Sedna is taken by Ronald Waxman, one of the finest mining administrators around. It's a promotion he should have gotten years ago, but was passed over for political reasons.

On February 2, the final pair of South Carolinas are finished, allowing for the old ones to now be scrapped and reducing the mineral drain significantly. Meanwhile under Roxann Harshberger's leadership, Luna has now surpassed Mars as the most populous colony again. The right leader, in the right spot, can make a big difference. By the end of the month a couple of the older Nimitzes have completed maximum readiness in their training exercises, another step in getting the Navy up to speed. All of the sensor packages were now either finished or in testing as well.

Lots of shipyard activity as has been the trend lately. By the end of March the new Clevelands were finished with the second of the 84i's clearing the Mitchell SY, and an initial run of Exorcist missiles was concluded as well. By April duranium was up a full kiloton in the two months since the South Carolina's were finished, but that also was due to reduced production on Earth with officials still being shipped around after the election. Once Woznicki arrived things would pick up again.

In the spring, a tenth automine and finally a mass driver departed for Whipple on April 21. That's halfway now to the current target goal of twenty mines on the comet. In May, there was news from Sedna. With new administrator Ronald Waxman in place, it was announced that duranium production had reached five figures -- over 10kt annually. That's just insane. Exhaustion clock is now down to under 25 years. That's horrifying.

On June 12 Delois Woznicki arrived on Earth, completing the transition. Most will be faster but with Sedna in the chain of commands to be replaced it takes a while for even the new shuttles to get out to that rock. Getting Waxman there was vital though. The initial results are that we now have enough supply to sustain current levels(more or less). Less than a week later the final South Carolina's were scrapped, leaving Earth with 34 million litres of fuel in the tanks -- 56 million, by far a record(low 40s was the previous high) combined when Titan and Callisto are added into the mix. The goal is a minimum of 100 million, but it's nice to have more of a buffer than the 15-20 million commonplace for the last several years. Each of the superfreighters carried 2.15m apeice, so they were far from the only factor but a significant one.

Rounding out the first half the year, retooling for the Spruance 85i colony ship was finished on the 29th, and the first, named the CS Forbes, is set to be finished late next year. All that remains for colonization to be viable is the jump ship, for which the jump drive is still being researched.

The 'ion drive era transition', or whatever you want to call it, is somewhere around the halfway point now. Fuel and mineral levels are as healthy as they've been in years. There is generally confidence in current leadership, and SPACE stands less absurdly ill-prepared for the future than it has in quite some time. Of course, that means it's a prime opportunity for the other shoe to drop -- but perhaps humanity will catch a break for once.


Earth

January 2 -- Fletcher, 4x Caldwell scrapped.

January 3 0846 -- Bravo jumps to Van Maanen.

February 2 -- Last pair of South Carolina superfreighters completed.

February 4 -- Another group of Caldwells scrapped.

February 17 -- Five more Long Beach's finish the refit. Five slipways idle while more return from Saturn.

March 1 -- Another Fletcher scrapped. Three to go.

March 11 -- Another group of Caldwells scrapped.

Late March -- Four more harvesters begin the refit process.

March 28 -- Another class update is finished as the second Cleveland clears the Mitchell SY.

March 30 -- Initial run of 200 Exorcist missiles finished.

April 10 -- The first two South Carolinas are scrapped.

April 20 -- Final two Caldwells scrapped. 11 former COs still do not have new assignments.

April 21 -- A tenth automine and finally a mass driver depart for Whipple.

April 29 -- First of the Cleveland's is scrapped.

May 11 -- Fletcher scrapped. Two to go.

May 29 -- Second of the old Cleveland supply ships scrapped.

June 11 -- Last two Arleigh Burke's are refit, and the first of the new Portlands is finished.

June 17 -- Last two South Carolinas scrapped. Fuel tanks hold 34m on Earth alone, a record 56m combined. 100m is the goal.

Late June -- Third of the regular Iowas finished, first of the XR versions begun.

June 29 -- Retooling finished for the Spruance 85i.


Colonial Developments

January 6 -- Sedna adds a 44th CMC. Uridium production has begun to decline now, duranium has about twice the amount though and has not yet begun that process.

Mid-January -- Vendarite exhausted on Borrelly.

Late January -- Sedna up to 45 now.

February 15 -- Sedna is at 46.

February 19 -- Sedna is blowing up, 47 complexes now. 8.2kt of duranium per year, but the exhaustion clock is now under 30 years.

March 30 -- Mercury completes it's Ticonderoga 82 sensor base.


Personnel

Early February -- Russell Salvucci ups factory bonus in an apparent effort to do better with the voters next time, while Commodore Hank Rohrer has increased his novice intelligence abilities. New researcher Edna Hanzel(DS) is more notable for the fact that she immediately becomes a prime candidate for survey duty, accomplished in that task as well as the so-far useless xenology.

Late February -- Deanna Ide is the second promising CP researcher to join the scientific ranks in as many years.

March 20 -- Fleet Admiral Mitchell Feeser has expanded his training skills to legendary status.

April 8 -- The continuing fleet exercises have helped Commodore Ronald Dunkin become accomplished in managing fleet operations as well.

April 16 -- One officer dismissed from the navy and army each. It's become quite a rare thing reserved only for the most incompetent to slip through the cracks at the academies.

May 21 -- A big year for Ronald Dunkin continues as the Commodore is now approaching the elite range in training skill.

June 2 -- Cmdr. Chance Perj ups initiative.


Research

February 19 -- GEI SSS 336.7, the new ship search active sensors, completed by Bessie Wallander. All of the needed sensor prototypes are now either completed or at least in testing.

Mid-April -- Dr. Carmelo Constanza(CP), just ten months out of the academy, moves up to accomplished and takes a second lab. There are presently 28 projects which is the lowest it's been in a long time due to a higher number of mid-level scientists right now. Only the best novices or those needed for specific testing projects are able to get consistent work.

May 9 -- Maintenance module research complete(Stanley Kogut).

May 17 -- The Exorcist missile fire controls are now ready(Elwood Tousant). He'll take over the second half of the testing phase on the fire controls for the meson turrets next.

[Tellistto]

Update update update!

[Brian Swartz]

Yesterday I woke up, did a bunch of stuff, and then went back to sleep.

[Tellistto]

Nice! That second job can be killer on the weekends, huh?

I'll be patient!

[Brian Swartz]

Nah I was just being sarcastic. I actually only work one job now, which ironically I have to leave for now and I'm not quite done formatting the next update. So it'll go up tonight after I get back :)

[Brian Swartz]

Here's a proper update for you. Enjoy your wall of text :P

JULY - DECEMBER 2087

Even with the increased overall factory output, the shipyards are only moderately busy right now and mineral supplies are holding steady. In late August, a new scientist joins that is of particularly important note. Deacon Palmer III is the answer to many hopes and even prayers, dare I say it. He is the first ballistic weapons researcher to arrive in the 15 years since Elyse Buckler graduated the academy. He's also more than twice as good, good enough to merit a spot at the head of the class to get the next available laboratory complex, though he is still a novice. He'll be watched closely, her every success celebrated regardless how minor. Palmer III could be the one to begin moving the field of missile technology forward again. Ironically while his grandfather was known for construction advances, he'll mostly be tasked with finding better ways of destruction.

On the 29th, Rufus Ke retires from the moderately important position of Governor of Venus. The 'green' pressure-cooker of a planet is just shy of surpassing Titan, both with a little under 18 million population. As for Rufus, he steps down at age 64. He came from nothing, spending over half his career as a paper-pusher before taking the reins at Io in 2067. He's been on middling comets like Comas Sola and Van Biesbroeck, had a tour at Europa, and the last two years-plus on Venus have definitely been the peak of his influence. He's become important, but not indispensable.

As the only available administrator with colony experience and the ability to manage a large endeavor such as Venus, Evelyn Kaczor, presently serving on Ganymede, was a choice that essentially made itself. Antione Fuss used his connections to get himself another move up the ladder, taking the opening at Ganymede and leaving Borrelly where, to be honest, he was virtually useless as a mining supervisor anyway.

A month later, in the last week of September, the massive commercial jump drive is finally finished. It caps off Rosemary Urenda's career -- the propulsion leader retires at age 65. Only three elite scientists now remain. Urenda has been the face of the propulsion field for the last decade-plus after toiling behind others most of her career. A very productive and impressive career, and while the field has several solid leads behind her there are none in the elite category yet.

With this development the new jump ship specs are decided upon by the design teams. It is far different than the original North Carolina which served during the Epsilon Eridani crisis, but will bear the same name.

North Carolina 87i Jump Freighter

Size: 168kt
Crew: 995
Speed: 715 km/s
Fuel: 1.5m(52.9 b km range)
Cargo: 75k
Cost: 3.82m

This ship dwarfs the Spruance for sheer cost due to the price of the jump drive mostly, which is nearly a million credits by itself and requires huge amounts of engineering space for spare parts. ENDM begins the costly retooling process which will take a little under a year.

COLONIZATION -- A NEW ERA DAWNS

With this development it is time for SPACE to decide how colonization will be handled. It will be a few years before the ships are built for it of course, but other preparations need to be made by then. Director Burt Stonerock made what many termed an arrogant series of pronouncements on the subject, but that's a misunderstanding of the man. Arrogance is a better description of Salvucci. Stonerock isn't arrogant -- that would imply he considers his own opinions to be better than those of others and he wouldn't lower himself to imagine other opinions relevant enough to even make such a comparison. He's simply a leader who believes in doing what he thinks is best in any situation, political considerations be damned.

Accordingly, these points have been laid out:

** The colonies will have the same relationship to SPACE as the ones in Sol do -- they are expected to contribute whatever resources are developed to the greater good of SPACE/humanity. This is not expected to be a problem in the short-term, but as the population living off of Earth grows, some sociologists are concerned that a different, less heavy-handed approach will be required to maintain unity.

** Beginning in Luyten 726-8, a 'seeding' approach will be used. The goal is to provide a big investment at first, enough to support a million colonists in a new system and make the colony self-sufficient. Then efforts will switch to a new system while the colony grows on its own according to the whatever the current needs are(both locally and for SPACE).

** With the coming mineral(espescially duranium) crash, though it's still a decade or two off, Stonerock believes a mere token or minor investment is not in the best interests of SPACE. He makes the suprisingly large commitment of setting aside a full 20% of Earth's industrial capacity to building equipment for colonization efforts. Earth's production is to be divided into the following categories, each at a fifth of the total:

** Research
** Industrial expansion(new mines/factories for Sol)
** Military Base upgrades(when needed)
** Electives(miscellaneous, i.e. shipyards, academies, terraforming installations, whatever is deemed needed)
** Colonization equipment

Luyten 726-8 Colonization Needs

As an example of this approach, the following equipment is ordered under this 20% investment for eventual delivery to Luyten.

DSTS
Ticonderoga 82 Sensor Base with garrison btn.
10 factories
10 automines
1 Terraforming installation
6 Mass Drivers(1 for Luyten A-II(receiving), one each for Luyten A-I and each of the four comets that will be tapped)
Infastructure for 1 million colonists(2.0 colony cost, so 400 tons)
6 administrators
A new commercial TF(one captain, one commander, four Lt. Cmdrs.)
50 tons of each TN mineral for startup operations

It is obvious that, particularly in the realm of political administration, the pool of available leaders will need to be expanded. It is expected that the above requirements will be able to be delivered to Luyten by the mid-90s, at which time a new system will be chosen for investment. If this pace(roughly) continues and SPACE is able to add a new system every 6-8 years as is hoped, the current four academies will be woefully inadequate to supply enough bodies for all the needed positions. Two more academies will be built as an initial first step in alleviating this crunch. The jump shuttles and geoteams for them are top priority right now, as it continues to be SPACE's policy not to deploy mines anywhere that surveys are not complete. The sooner that is finished, the sooner production can begin.

Luyten 726-8 A-II, the world where the new colonists will live and work aside from the automine leaders, has been named New Genesis in honor of it being the first world to be populated outside of Sol -- IF everything goes according to plan. As we know, it often doesn't.

With these changes in place, Earth's factories are now running a record 15 different activities, and that's with some(DSTS, mines, factories, terraforming) doing combined work both for Earth/Sol and the colonization efforts. Jump gates are a matter of some contention. It is decided they should be built to any system with a population of 25 million or more, with the additional requirement that they must have all adjacent systems surveyed with no evidence of present alien activity. This obviously isn't the case in Sol, but that's declared to be an obvious exception since (a) it's defended by the navy and (b) any invasion of Sol will either result in the aliens defeat or humanity's defeat. The Navy will not beccommitted to defending outlying systems in the same way. DSTS and Forrestal sensor buoys will be early priorities for developing systems. All of that brings us to the latest design:

Nautilus-class Jump Gate Construction Ship
Size: 65.5kt
Crew: 270
Speed: 732 km/s
Fuel: 550k(49.7b km range)
Jump Gate: Construction in six months
Cost 1.81m

Some very expensive ships coming out of engineering lately. Apparently a subway token isn't enough to get this colonization business going. Vegesacker Werft SY, which handles the Fletcher freighters and is currently idle, is chosen to expand to the needed size.

October brought a return to the more 'mundane'. Mitchell SY reached 6.54kt capacity, a little more than needed for the new Tarawas. Retooling for them last a few months. Most of the SDF has finished training, with only three ships still needing additional work. On the 2nd of the month, four more Long Beach's head to Saturn after their refits. That's 19 of 41 finished, nearing the halfway point. Later in the month, Portland refits are finished. The old Portland II's will now be scrapped. Originally deployed from historic Vickers-Armstrong SY in January of 2053, they have enjoyed a fine tour of service lasting nearly 35 years.

By mid-November, Sedna had built multiple additional complexes, bringing the total to 51 and an astonishing seven built just this year! Also a new civilian firm Elman Freight Services is formed. That's 14 now technically, though less than half are relevant.

Another bullet to R&D was fired on November 26. Having completed the testing on the new Sniper fire controls, Elwood Tousant retires at 64. He was a slow starter but a major contributor at the end of his career, and in one of the most vital fields of study. With Frozen Vengeance testing almost finished and new long-term projects next on the agenda, it's time for others to carry on the torch. This leaves SPACE with just two elite scientists(Kuchler in the SF field, Lambeth in LG).

The year finished in dramatic and cliffhanging fashion, with the final needed testing done on the new thermal sensors. This meant engineering would be busy over the new year transition hammering together designs for new ships that will attempt to give wings -- err, engines -- to our collective desires for retribution ...


Earth

July 5 -- Research lab finished.

July 8 -- Fletcher scrapped, final one started.

July 10 -- Final standard Iowa tanker finished, last/second of the XR's begun.

July 28 -- Another Long Beach refit is finished.

August 26 -- The original Fletcher is officially no more after the last of the ships is scrapped.

October -- Mitchell SY begins retooling for the new Tarawas

October 2 -- Four more Long Beach refit.

October 5 -- 20th harvester refit completed.

October 24 -- The second Portland 84i is finished and the battalion transport upgrades are now finished.

November 28 -- First of the Portland II's scrapped.


Personnel

October 21 -- Venus gov. Evelyn Kaczor continues her gradual rise through the ranks of BOG by increasing her connections marginally.

November 6 -- Col. Elaine Menna graduates the academy, complete with genius-level ground combat command abilities. Pretty neutral mental outlook although she is prone to complacency.

November 7 -- Commodore Parker Lanzi increases fledgling operations skill.


Colonial Developments

August 8 -- Sedna up to 48 CMCs. That's five this year which I think is a record. If this keeps up it could be gone in 15 years, but we'll be able to stockpile a considerable amount of duranium in the interim.

Mid-November -- Sedna expands for a sixth time this year, which I know is a record. 49 CMCs. Purchases are approaching 12 million credits a year, and still rising. Only research is a higher line item in the budget, and not by much.

November 17th -- A 50th(seven this year!) complex on Sedna.

November 21 -- Callisto begins work on their new Ticonderoga 82 sensor base. It's scheduled for completion a year from next Christmas, though nobody really expects it to be finished by then.


Research

** September 27 -- The AKH CJ-90.4, the new massive commercial jump drive, is finally finished by Rosemary Urenda's team. She retires and Deacon Palmer III takes a lab for work on improving the output of ordnance factories. A little construction, rather than destruction, task to begin with despite his chosen field.

** September 29 -- Carl Fosberg finishes testing the Interceptor missile fire controls.

** November 19th -- The latest SITG Emdar version(military EM sensors) have been tested with Ross Dodge completing the work.

** November 26 -- New Sniper fire controls for the meson turrets are completed(Elwood Tousant).

** December 30 -- Bessie Wallander's team finishes the new thermal sensors(SITG ThermoScan 176.7).

[Brian Swartz]

Failures of Imagination

Frank Borman once famously used those words to describe the training accident that killed three Apollo astronauts more than 120 years ago. As the Navy's engineers attempted to hammer out effective ship designs for Operation Frozen Vengeance, they became watchwords again. It seemed that another point in history had been reached where not all the possibilities had been fully considered.

History is a very strange thing sometimes. So many times it has happened that the course of a man, an army, a nation has been governed by an occurence of seeming incredible improbability. Smooth progress often seems rather more the exception than the norm. SPACE has over its history had such periods, but also many where humankind advanced by fits and starts. Great plans can be made and erected only to find they've been built with an insecure foundation, or in the wrong place entirely.

At the beginning of 2088, it seemed that at the moment the most important consideration was a ball of rock, smaller than many regional geological features on Earth, more than 11 billion kilometers away. The history of Sedna itself is an example of both the failures, and successes, of human imagination. It was not discovered until 2003, and less than two years after it was surveyed the civilians began mining it in November 2046 -- more than 40 years ago. This was an achievement beyond amazement at the time, given the very basic state of even SPACE's spaceflight capabilities. Jump Theory had just been discovered and we were in the nuclear thermal age of propulsion. It was the very unlikelihood of it that even made it possible: the Ministry of Resource Development(MRD) had failed to file the necessary paperwork mandating the 1600-km-wide dwarf planet as an official colony, thereby precluding any civilian involvement, because it had been deemed unnecessary: the idea of any private sector group going to the at-the-time astronomical expense of traveling that far from Earth was ludicrous. Ludicrous, that is until it happened. Fortunes were invested in the very speculative enterprise, and where SPACE's imagination failed, theirs succeeded almost beyond measure.

For 41 years and counting, Sedna has been Sol's best source of duranium and the most plentiful outside of Venus. It now contributes almost a third of the total mineral haul and about two-thirds of that vital building block without which any major TN application is flatly impossible. Compared to any other known material, duranium's tensile strength is simply not approached. It is virtually priceless.

As the plans for the new ships were designed, re-designed, and pored over, cracks in the Frozen Vengeance concept appeared. The first was that the new ships would have to be larger and more expensive than originally thought, and with less capability. Engineering was unable to come up with a reasonable design that would allow for more than 3600-3800 km/s, far faster than the current Nimitz/Brooklyn ships but not as fast as was hoped. The meson turrets and fire controls were more massive than had been originally considered and functionally impractical.

At the same time, questions began to be more fully considered as to what would happen after Frozen Vengeance. If the operation failed, there was certainly a marginal risk. Humanity's survival to this point was due mostly to the fact that the Ratamli apparently do not consider us a significant threat. An attack could change that, but what had not been fully considered before was what would happen if we succeeded? An attempt to subdue the entire Epsilon Eridani system was the logical answer. This is where Sedna came in: any such attempt would likely be occuring around the turn of the century, in the middle of what is the expected timeframe for the coming mineral crash. Failure or success would both result in the same problem: a need to divert a lot of resources to the combat wing of the Navy at a time when it will likely be the least affordable.

Faced with these factors, and an revised analysis giving a low chance of success, Burt Stonerock was virtually forced to conclude that continuing the operation would be a clear case of throwing good money after bad. Thirty years after the fact emotions still run high in some quarters, particularly in the Navy, but the economic base to fight and win a technologically inferior war does not yet exist. Without it, beginning the fight is now deemed a fruitless enterprise. A significant amount of research capacity has been diverted to Frozen Vengeance the last few years, but aside from that, there has been little wasted.

[Brian Swartz]

JANUARY - JUNE 2088

With a punitive expedition tabled indefinitely, SPACE still needed to find a more modern approach to defending Sol. Every analysis showed the same problem: the missile bases were good for PR, but might not be good for anything else. The best chance for defense would be at the jump points themselves. If a hostile force ever penetrated into the Sol system, they quite probably -- particularly if the technology gap is as significant as it appears to be -- could simply assault Earth and the colonies at range. Bottling them up with a dedicated jump point defense was the only option that allows some chance no matter what their capabilities. Thus began the planning for the Guardian. A small warship designated as a corvette, it would need a few small systems but nothing requiring a major effort. A full design spec is expected in months.

Back to normal business. To start the year, Lt. Bertha Trammel heads out to Saturn to take her first command on one of the Long Beach harvesters. This is notable only because she has the highest scores in combat initiative ever seen despite being only a year and a half out of the academy. Quite literally off the previous charts, she's redefined what's possible possessing an almost preternatural sense of what her opponent's next several moves will be. It will be interesting to see where this tactical genius takes her in the SPACE Navy.

It was a quiet-ish first couple of months. The first real news at all was completion of retooling for the new Tarawas, with the announcement that theirs would be one of the most cost-effective refits. Only about 40% of the cost of a new ship would be needed. Late February was the timeline here. March began with a major advancement in planetary sensor capabilities(Dr. Julio Kuchler). Techniques effectively increasing the detection range of tracking stations by more than a third are involved, allowing for more advance warning in the case of any approaching threat. His efforts will next be put toward improving our missile tracking techniques in an attempt to make beam point defense a more viable option. A few days later Reinmuth governor Philomena Hubner, a mid-level administrator at best who did not leave a particularly lasting impact, retired at 64. Once among the most important mining outposts, Reinmuth still has 34 automines and is one of the biggest neutronium sources, assuring it will maintain relevance for decades.

New developments continued to come fast and furious in March. The last of the new Iowa XR tankers was finished on March 12, and about the same time the decision was made to cease shipyard expansions. None were vitally needed now -- it would be nice to keep the P&A Group SY expanding as preparation for eventual larger harvesters but far more important was to preserve as much duranium as possible. Meanwhile it was discovered that there was a miscalculation in the jump shuttle: the plans would require a slightly larger jump drive, requiring another round of testing before that design could proceed. More harvesters finished their refits, research was completed on the first of the new Guardian systems, the Venus Ticonderoga 82 sensor base was made operational ... and March wasn't even over yet. Before it was, Dr. Deborah Barnhouse(42) became the first elite scientist in the Defensive Systems field, most notable for advances in armor and thermal emissions masking, in probably a decade or more. Theoretical Cloaking Theory concepts is her current tasking.

April was a busy month as well. The completion of another terraforming installation and deployment to Luna was a big piece of welcome news to start the month. It ended well also, with the finalization of the blueprints for the new jump defense ship:

Guardian Jump Defense Missile Corvette
Size: 1.9 kt
Crew: 85
Speed: 947 km/s
Fuel: 50k(8.1b km range)
Armament: 5 anti-ship missile launchers(Exorcist 85i-S, short-range variant currently being researched). 1 Fire Control each with 4.6 million km range.
Cost: 279k

The Guardian concept is presently planned to be the first and best line of defense against an invasion. Should the worst happen it will launch two volleys of missiles and then retreat. Multiple squadrons are planned on a rotating basis at both Lalande and Epsilon Eridani jump points. Niehuis SY will do the honors, first retooling and then building the first pair of ships while adding slipways to be able to handle several at once eventually. The first will enter production in about two months, late June.

Summer began with the announcement that the plans for the jump shuttle were finalized. Well, two of them in this case:

Caldwell(J) Jump Shuttle
Size: 1.5 kt
Crew: 33
Speed: 2100 km/s
Fuel: 600k(30.5 billion range)
Cost: 243k

The range is not as much as would have been preferred here. This will be used for transitioning VIPs between systems.

George Washington Survey Shuttle
Size: 1.15 kt
Crew: 27
Speed: 1565 km/s
Fuel: 350k(94 billion range)
Cost: 181k

As the name suggests, the George Washington is optimized for deploying ground survey teams. It is smaller and cheaper due to the use of more efficient thrusters, which also allows it to carry much less fuel.

In similarly timed political news, Director Stonerock has improved his terraforming oversight, marginally accelerated work on Mars and Luna. At present Mars has 6.4% of the needed oxygen in it's atmosphere, while Luna which just started has 0.4%. Venus surpasses Titan, the last of the inner-system colonies to do so. Both are about 18 million strong.

On June 24, the first Guardians entered construction. Niehuis SY will also be adding slipways to facilitate faster servicing and construction of the corvettes. While it has not taken the form the Navy desired or intended, this will unquestionably be a better tool for defending the system than what they currently possess. Meanwhile the preparations to colonize Luyten continue as well ...


Earth

January 1 -- Final Portland II transport scrapped.

Mid-January -- Another Long Beach refit completed.

February 26 -- Retooling finished for Tarawa

February 30 -- First New Iowa XR finished and will await the return of the ESFs. Scrapping of the old Iowas begins.

March 12 -- Second and final of the new Iowa XRs completed.

March 24 -- Another five long beach harvesters are refit and make the journey back to Saturn.

April -- Second terraforming installation complete and departs for Luna.

May 7 -- Last of the 'old' Nimitz/Brooklyn navy ships finishes their fleet training. At this point their role is to join the Alaska bases in a last-ditch defense of Earth.

May 28 -- Iowa tanker scrapped.

May 30 -- First of the Tarawa collier refits finished.

June 9 -- Last of the Iowas scrapped.

June 24 -- Niehuis SY begins the first pair of Guardians, along with adding a third slipway. At the moment each slipway can build two per year.


Personnel

June 11 -- Director Stonerock has improved his terraforming oversight, marginally accelerated work on Mars and Luna.


Research

** March 2 -- Planetary Sensor Strength improved(Julio Kuchler)

** March 16 -- The missile fire controls for the Guardian are complete(Carl Fosberg). New miniaturized magazine still needed.

** April 25 -- Elyse Buckler finishes the new magazine for the Guardian corvettes.

** May 15 -- In another development that might be useful someday at best, Dante Sawatzky finishes work on improving shield regeneration abilities.

** New jump drive finished(Irving Steinmeyer). Ready for use with jump shuttle.

** June 25 -- Reynaldo Darrington's research team has developed new ways of increasing the random spread of 'combat jumps' from 100k km to 250k, though it does require a slightly larger jump drive to achieve this effect.

Colonial Developments

March 17 -- Venus Ticonderoga 82 finished.

June 7 -- Sedna expands to 51 CMCs.

Mid-June -- Ticonderoga 82 construction begins on Io.

[Brian Swartz]

JULY - DECEMBER 2088

On July 6, Bessie Wallander(SF, 52) becomes the fourth active elite research lead and second in the still-strong sensors field along with Kuchler. At present her work is very long-term, working on the next generation of thermal sensors. Her lab space is doubled to four in order to allow it to proceed at a quicker pace, an exception to the usual rule of three. Retooling for the new George Washington survey shuttle finishes in the middle of the month, with an initial pair expected later this year.

At about the same time, a 17th automine is deployed to Whipple and this is determined to be a sufficient quantity. That allows for 35 years of duranium production, about 70 of mercassium. While duranium continues to increase for the time being, nearly at 20kt now which may be a record high, neutronium/corundium/mercassium are all stagnant or declining barely enough to be perceptible. As the best available untapped source in Sol of the first pair of that trio, it's time to develop Herschel-Riggolet. Three shipments of are expected to the comet(a total of 14 automines and a mass driver) which is still 7.7b km distant -- they'll be stashed on Venus until a full order is ready.

August brought more important news. It's not often these days that a new branch of technology opens up, but that happened on the 18th as Alphonse Lambeth finished a report detailing a collection of new techniques for living on hostile words. Effectively this will result in a 5% reduction in needed infrastructure. All of the Mars/Luna types(atmosphere not breathable but otherwhise suitable) will require 190 instead of 200 per million, Titan is down from 700 to 665, etc. This will result in a marginal but very significant in the aggregate savings as colonization proceeds. Further advances are considered inevitable, and will be highly prioritized now in the LG research field. The less infrastructure we build the less duranium we have to expend -- a ton saved is a ton earned. A Division HQ structural protocol for the army is Lambeth's next barrel of fun.

A rash of civilian ships were scrapped about a week later. About a dozen, the most seen to date at any one time, and while they are usually disposed of when a new more modern ship is built almost none were replaced. Half were Voliva vessels. It appears their declining fortunes may be starting to hit them where it hurts. It could be the beginning of a downturn in the civilian sector of the economy as whole however, and that would be a more serious matter ...

The month wasn't done yet. On the 28th the massive retooling efforts for the North Carolina jump superfreighter were finished ... and a surprising effect noticed. . It seems the yard is also capable of building the 'normal' South Carolina superfreighters without retooling. Engineering speculates it is likely possible, if desired at some point, to build a jump capable version of the Spruance, Fletcher, Gato, Long Beach, etc. if warranted and build both versions from the same shipyard, saving on shipyard and retooling costs.

As for the North Carolina itself, two will be built initially at a cost in excess of 7.6 million credits, more than three kilotons of duranium, and lesser amounts of other minerals. It's the front-end effort that's needed though to be ready for the colonization push. By late next year the first should be ready, the final pieced needed to be in place for moving initial equipment to Luyten, should the order be given ...

With the finalizing of the new Sentinel 420.7 sensor package a week into September, a modernized version of the sensor vessels was readied.

Forrestal 88i Sensor Vessel
Size: 650t
Crew: 13(14)
Speed: 5538 km/s(3692)
Fuel: 100k(47.6 b km range)(up from 50k to ensure enough range for large systems)
Sensor Range: 4.6m km(3.2m km)
Cost: 154k(95.6k)

More expensive this time around but significantly higher performance. At the start of October the Krohn naval shipyard was finished to handle them. With the new sensors, engines, expanded fuel tanks refitting is not an option. For the next couple years or so adding slipways and replacing the current Forrestal fleet will keep it busy.

At the end of the month there was a rather ironic political development. Burt Stonerock's decisive leadership has him as a polarizing figure, but one growing in popularity overall. A few important officials have flocked to his cause, which is somewhat humorous given that he's the only director SPACE has ever had get to the Office without a significant amount of this kind of groundwork done ahead of time. Seems he's put the cart before the horse, so to speak.

The last couple months were mostly about the ground geology teams. On November 19th the ball got rolling with the deployment of the first two GW shuttles. As with the diplomatic teams, the selections were made from those not in vital major responsibilities already in their respective branches of service. Several of the best were restricted from this duty in that way. A real discussion point was had with rising star Dr. Elliot Monks(DS, 34) -- it was decided his services are best used in research even though he would be able to strengthen the survey efforts. Selection for the teams gifted eight lieutenant commanders, two lieutenants, and even an ensign(Marcus Zavier) an immediate pass to Commander rank for their service. Other than a pair of out-of-work scientists, the Navy contributed all the team members. It also provided an opportunity to resolve the ex-Caldwell commanders left out of work when that class shrunk. There were nine such individuals previously, none after the reassignments.

While those were being carried out, the first two Guardian missile frigates -- for which the missiles have not finished being tested, much less been built -- were finished. Then the CS Forbes, first of the colony ships, made it's way free from the docks. It was Christmas Eve afternoon when all were assembled. The launch was delayed about 40 hours or so for them to enjoy the holiday with family and friends, and early in the morning on the 26th the two shuttles, four teams between them, departed for Luyten 726-8. Their work was a vital step in assuring full knowledge of the system before mining operations began. Leading the teams are Cmdr. Gloria Synnott, Dr. Edna Hanzel, Cmdr. Chance Perj, and Cmdr. Lena Rackham.

The race was on. Next year should bring the beginning of human interstellar colonization, the next step towards a brighter future.


Earth

July 4 -- Long Beach finished with refit.

July 15 -- International SY finishes retooling for the GW. Two will be built, expected to be finished around Thanksgiving.

August 28 -- Retooling finished for the North Carolina jump superfreighters.

September 6 -- Tarawa refit completed.

September 8 -- New research lab completed.

September 12 -- Another group of five harvesters refit. 30 down, 11 to go.

October 1 -- Krohn SY operational.

Mid-December -- Another Long Beach refit, and two Guardians completed.

December 22 -- CS Forbes finished. Second colony ship begun.


Personnel

August 4 -- Noble Stephson(BG, 27) gives terraforming research a shot in the arm by moving up to accomplished in the biology field and nabbing a second lab for his efforts.

August 9 -- Fleet Admiral Mitchell Feeser is at it again, seeing a minor increase in his intelligence skills.

Mid-December -- Lt. Cmdr. Dirk Blade made the short list as a long-shot candidate for Logistics Officer in the SLF, one of the openings that came about as a result of the geoteam assignments, but was passed over.


Colonial Developments

Late August -- 12 civilian ships scrapped ... and only one replaced. Half were Voliva vessels.

November 30 -- Sedna up to 52 now.


Research

** September 6 -- The new sensor package(Sentinel 420.7) is ready.

[Brian Swartz]

JANUARY - JUNE 2089

With Sedna now under two decades supply MRD has been instructed to track duranium usage more closely. An annual report as follows will be presented:

Duranium Production Report

Sedna: 11.1 kt(52 CMCs at 0.9)
Others: 6.06 kt
Stockpile: 21.5 kt
Stockpile +/-:
Forecast:

The +/- and Forecast will show change in the current stockpile and projected 'post-Sedna' readiness, but require a year's change in the numbers first. For now the policy is to maintain a somewhat reduced amount of naval investment until there is confidence there is enough output to sustain basic economic investment.

On January 22nd, the ground geosurvey teams jumped Luyten, and began their mission confirming deposits there and searching for new ones. Another week, and the testing of the new Exorcist(S) missile, for the Guardian corvettes, was completed by Deacon Palmer III. 200 are ordered which should be more than enough for the initial wave.

Breaking News: Alien Ruins Found!

On February 23, Josef Canterberry's Explorer, part of ESF Bravo, jumped in from Van Maanen with a priority message for Fleet HQ. Just before Christmas last year, while surveying the recently discovered system of 40 Eridani, one of the Prospectors assigned to Bravo detected what they believe to be evidence of a former alien civilization. It appears to have most likely been a relatively small ... whatever it was, and whether through time or more likely hostile action, almost completely destroyed as well. Intel classifies it as a definite alien ruin, a 'Destroyed Outpost'.

Though the possibilities of making any useful discovery might be somewhat slim, there was strong agreement that an attempt must be made anyway. This is another first in SPACE's efforts to learn more about our galactic neighborhood -- indisputable evidence of alien civilization that we can, at least theoretically, study unmolested. This is proof that ours is not the first spacefaring struggle that has ever happened in this part of the galaxy. It will also almost certainly not be the last, but any chance we have of learning from those who came before us and failed is considered invaluable.

Two more George Washington shuttles are begun immediately. The first step is to take a xenology team out there to learn what they can about the site, those who originally built it, etc. If warranted, construction brigades can be sent in later to excavate anything useful.

March brought the next blow to essential mining operations as neutronioum was exhausted on long-running supplier Faye. Two weeks later as April dawned the first shipment of mines departed for Herschel-Riggolet, and the ebb and flow continued. There was more good news from research. A jump in one of our propulsion leads was noticed earlier in the year, but this time it was in the Logistics field. John Dangel(58) has made a major leap to join the elite ranks. There are now five at that status, two in Logistics. He's working on the next step in reducing colonization costs. It's a rather enormous project(20 million credits in total), and he now has five labs to carry on the work. Most of the novices are out of work now with all the high-level research going on. We have 26 projects in 53 labs, marking the first time the average laboratory complexes per project has gone over two apiece. It's definitely a rising tide right now -- the coming years should bring some exciting things. April finished out with a renewed focus on mining from Director Stonerock, who is now an elite administrator in such matters. Output increases were soon seen from all over Sol, which as always is a good thing in general but also double-edged: available deposits will now run out that much faster as well.

The summer began with one of the Army's veteran generals, Rey Hoel, retiring on June 3rd. Stability at the top of the military has been a great strength for years, but such things come and go. Good things were seen in the personal development of a number of top Navy personnel. The middle of the month saw a new civilian firm join the fray, emphasizing the strength of the civilian economy, and completion of the run of Exorcist(S) missiles. It was decided to cancel the final 20 ordnance factories on order. Speed has greatly increased with the current 130 and there will be no need in the near future for more missiles. This is the kind of project that SPACE has in the 'would be nice' category, a luxury that is not really a reasonable indulgence with the focus on future economic viability.

The second quarter closed with an important moment. Another pair of George Washington shuttles were finished, and with them the first-ever human xenology team assembled. It will be led by Cmdr. Clifford Christo, with the other members of the team Cmdr. Gaye Franco, Lt. Cmdr. Allison Kime, Lt. Cmdr. Adolfo Legler, and Lt. Valerie Mclarty. As with the geology teams all are given automatic promotions to Commander rank. Their mission is as vital as it is historic. They will attempt to decipher the ruins on 40 Eridani A-II, learning all they can about the site. When that work is complete, assuming they find anything, construction brigades will be called in to excavate whatever is useful. Should this step be necessary clearly a new jump-capable version of the Burke transports will be needed, another task for the propulsion scientists.

A crucial last six months of the decade awaits. The 2080s will close with initial efforts in colonization as well as xenological ruin investigation. These efforts will alter the course of human history permamently. Much depends on those who have been chosen to carry them out.


Colonial Developments

Mid-January -- Sorium exhausted on Machholz. Neutronium and uridium remain there, but it won't be long before what was once one of the most productive mining colonies becomes a mere footnote.

January 22 -- The ground survey teams jump to Luyten.

February 11 -- Europa begins construction of it's new sensor base(Ticonderoga 82). Only Ganymede remains. Mars has passed Luna again as more of the colonists are coming from Luna these days, for some reason. It's a constant tug of war with those two.

March 11 -- Tracking station deployed to Mercury.

March 19 -- Neutronium deposits exhausted on Faye. There's several more years of sorium, but mercassium, over a quarter-century's worth, is what will keep the mines running.

April -- The first shipment departs for Herschel-Riggolet. There are now only three untapped short-period comets left in Sol.

April 17 -- Callisto Ticonderoga finished.

June 9 -- Long Beach refit finished.

June 13 -- Dyett Freight Company founded.


Earth

January 30 -- First of the new Forrestals is ready.

March 4 -- Four more Long Beach are refit. The final four take their turn now.

March 5 -- Second slipway added to Krohn SY. A third will be added and another Forrestal as well.

May 28 -- Second of the new Forrestals finished.

June 14 -- Exorcist(S)(x200) finished.

June 27 -- New GW Shuttles ready.


Research

January 30 -- Deacon Palmer III finishes testing of the new Exorcist S missile for the Guardians.


Personnel

Mid-March -- Irving Steinmeyer(PP, 30) moves up to Accomplished. You can never have too many capable propulsion scientists.

April 15 -- Rita Kersey gives Defensive Systems another young researcher with good potential. Not the best timing right now though, she'll struggle to get project approval in the present environment. A full third of the project leads are now unemployed at the moment.

April 17 -- A single colonel is dismissed from the Army.

Late April -- Stonerock elite in mining now(50%), escalating production.

Early May -- Mitchel Feeser improves operations to the accomplished tier.

Late May -- Commodore Ronald Dunkin is now an elite trainer, continuing his improvement in recent years. The 38-year-old is making a strong case to be Feeser's eventual replacement.

June 3 -- Brig. Gen Rey Hoel(60) retires.

June 6 -- Commodore Graham During, not heard from in quite some time, has become an elite trainer.

[Brian Swartz]

JULY - DECEMBER 2089

On the 8th of July the xenology team departed, it's long journey to 40 Eridani and into history beginning. It's nearly a four-month journey each way. Relief shuttles will need to be sent periodically if it is a particularly lengthy stay as is feared, but it's a small cost considering the potential rewards.

Two weeks later they were still in-system as training exercises began for the first squadron of four Guardians. Many other things would still continue. August began with Hipolito Greig being dispatched to the distant outpost on Herschel-Rigollet, mines still en route. Greig is just five months out of the academy but definitely the best mining administrator among the recent graduates.

The event of the year was definitely August 11, when the two North Carolina jump ships were given launch clearance. This simultaneously lowered the mineral drain the shipyards are putting on the stockpiles and allowed for first steps in colonization. Ground surveys are still not complete, but some equipment can still be shipped in. The first group consisted of a North Carolina jump ship, a South Carolina superfreighter, and a Spruance transport. A GW jump shuttle would follow later with administrators. It soon became obvious that many trips would be required. The second jumpship along with a pair of South Carolina superfreighters departed shortly afterwards. The initial haul was three mass drivers, three construction factories, startup minerals, 150,000 colonists, and enough infrastructure for about 415,000 people. Quite literally the next day one of the geoshuttles in Luyten(Perj & Rackham teams) returned with the news that all comets have been surveyed with no change in the evaluations. The survey of the first planet is still ongoing. Since they are on the same side of the system, they will now proceed to Barnard's Star for verification there.

Within a week there was another bit of important news. The lengthy Long Beach refits are now finally over, and Guardian production could now accelerate with a third slipway ready at Niehuis.

A third terraforming installation was finished at the start of September, and sent to Luna temporarily though it'll be transported to New Genesis eventually. A big development in BOG saw Earth governor Delois Woznicki manage to step up to maximum administrative skill, making the 60-year-old who is still in excellent healthy qualified for and the clear favorite to replace Stonerock whenever he goes. Rather amazing considering she was barely qualified for a minor colony less than a decade ago. Then in mid-October the last of the ordnance factories is finally completed, with the space diverted to other elective tasks.

At the end of October the first colonization group jumped out to Luyten en route to New Genesis, and it was time to get the initial administrators in place there. A steady stream of graduates has swelled the unemployed BOG members to a dozen, a number that will now be cut in half. They'll have to 'rough it' aboard the George Washington shuttle as opposed to the increased speed and comfort of the Caldwell J, but such are the necessities of the initial colonization effort here. Michael Reneau(26), a creative natural leader with a knack for finances and terraforming will be the first governor of New Genesis. There are no major mining talents available -- those naturally already have jobs -- but a couple minor ones are among those assigned to the five mining outposts. Luyten A-I, by far the most important with it's considerable duranium deposits, will be led by newcomer Edison Fredrickson.

At almost exactly the same time, on November 3, Deborah Barnhouse presented her report on Cloaking Theory. There is more work to do before any such device could be successfully deployed, and they are not considered a major focus right now anyway. It did open up a new avenue of research and possibilities for the future however. One potential application is this kind of device could make it safer for scout/survey ships to operate in hostile systems. The main effect was proof of concept demonstration of the theoretical principles involved in hiding a ship's signature from active sensors, and a basic structure for further practical research. That structure involves three avenues: minimum size and efficiency which are similar to the jump drive version of those technologies, affecting the size of ship which can be cloaked, and sensor reduction which defines the amount of protection to cloak affords(a % by which hostile active sensors have their range inhibited). Barnhouse turns her attention to ceramic composite armour, one of two long-term and far more immediately practical and valuable projects in the field of defensive systems.

It turned out to be a big month for the leadership corps, especially in terms of research. By November 10th, Norris Gunterman(29, PP) had joined the elite ranks. He's had a meteoric rise and has the potential now to join the ranks of legendary scientists in the annals of SPACE given how quickly he's reached the top of the profession. Improving capacitor recharge rates, which allows for less delay between shots in our beam weapons, is his present task. This is now six elite researchers, a number not seen in many years.

The year finished quietly over the last several weeks. Humanity's reach continues to spread. Between the colonization groups in Luyten(New Genesis), ESFs Alpha and Bravo which are still out there somewhere, and the xenology team which should have arrived and begin its work in 40 Eridani by now, there are now human operations ongoing in at least four systems beyond Sol. It has become typical for at least as much if not more activity to be conducted in other systems as there is here. Most of it is either unknown or revealed well after the fact, as is the nature of interstellar travel, but it has been an unquestionably historic decade for SPACE. What other secret treasures -- and dangers -- the galaxy holds for us in the decades and centuries to come can only be guessed at from this vantage point.


Earth

July 3 -- Forrestal 88i finished.

July 22 -- Training exercises begin for the first squadron of four Guardians.

August 9 -- Krohn SY adds a third slipway. One more is to be built.

August 11 -- The two North Carolina jump ships are finished.

Mid-August -- Long Beach refits complete, slipway added to Niehuis SY. Work begins on a fourth, and another Guardian enters production. Two of the Long Beach's remain at Earth for eventual transit to Luyten since Saturn is presently directly opposite the system from the jump. The other two head there for harvester duty.

September -- Terraforming Installation finished.

September 25 -- New research lab. Lately advances have been few and far between so it's a chance for a fresh directon.

September 27 -- Forrestal finished. Caldwell J retool begins.

October 25 -- Retooling finished for the Caldwell J jump shuttle. Regular Caldwell is too differen to be built at the same shipyard. Two hulls are begun.

November 1 -- Forrestal finished.

December 7 -- Forrestal finished.

December 11 -- Two guardians finished.


Colonial Developments

July 9 -- Sedna up to 53.

Late September -- Ganymede's sensor base is the last to be started.

September 29 -- Sedna expands to 54.

Mid-November -- Io sensor base finished.

December 11 -- A second shipment of automines leaves for Herschel-Rigollet.



Personnel

August -- Hipolito Greig gets his start on distant Herschel-Riggolet.

August 11 -- A bit of late-career success for Commodore Ali Mandujano, who ups training skill to the accomplished range.

August 12 -- Russell Salvucci(pop growth) and Ricardo Bloise(Wealth) increased skills.

Late August -- Health problems for Evelyn Kaczor(Venus, 48), but they do not appear to be immediately serious.

Early October -- Commodore Emile Jeffcoat gets into the act, increasing training skill(accomplished).

November 4 -- Lena Bohannan(CP, 35) steps up to accomplished, claiming a second laboratory.

November 10 -- Health concerns for Deborah Barnhouse, Commodore Tommy Huntley has accomplished political connections now, and Norris Gunterman joins the elite ranks.

December 14 -- Errol Igoe(Titan) has strengthened his political position marginally.


Research

November 3 -- Cloaking Theory complete(Deborah Barnhouse).

[Brian Swartz]

MINISTRY OF RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT SPECIAL REPORT

The SOS Report will now be offered every five years instead of four beginning with this year(there is no longer the regular election cycle to follow, and that seemed most sensible). It is 2090, a new decade is upon us and also a new era of colonization. As MRD prepared it's portion of the latest SOS, it was found that the situation was ... well, truly distressing.

Duranium Production Report

Sedna: 11.8 kt(54 CMCs at 0.9, 18.1 years)
Others: 6.27 kt
Stockpile: 27.3 kt
Stockpile +/-: +5.8 kt
Forecast: 51%

When the Long Beach refits were finished and the North Carolina jump ships as well in the late summer, the duranium stockpile began to surge upwards after only marginal savings earlier in the year. The initial forecast shows that despite banking several kilotons this year, at current production and consumption rates we will only be producing just over half the duranium we need post-Sedna.

This was only part of the story. As the SOS will detail, several important duranium sources will be exhausted before the end of the final decade of the 21st century. It is very possible the forecast will drop from half to a third or less at this point. When this became clear, Director Stonerock authorized a new approach to mining operations requiring more specific and detailed oversight. From the early days of SPACE to the present, the mineral resources have been managed in a fairly general way. Supply levels of less than 5kt in any mineral have been considered a crisis point, less than 10kt a matter of concern, and mines generally deployed to improve supply of whatever mineral looked like it was the most vital need at the time, or else to whatever location could provide the largest total haul.

This generally worked well, but is no longer adequate. As the Navy has ramped up, it's ravenous appetite has meant much greater swings in usage. Additionally, the ongoing depletion of sources throughout Sol has resulted in a constantly changing balance of supply. Finally, diversification and shifting industrial priorities have made these swings even more significant.

The methodology used to estimate supply readiness with the duranium report will be extended to all minerals, and used to guide mine deployment and redeployment as needed. It will be a few years, probably until the '95 SOS Report, before MRD has a particularly refined handle on the situation. A strict policy of suspending all non-essential mineral use is in place for the time being.

Post-Sedna Outlook

Forecasts and projections of exactly what the supply situation will look like a couple of years from now are guesstimates at best. Having said that, it is still quite useful to consider the most likely scenarios. At the moment there is still the huge(14.8 mt @ 0.5) duranium deposit on Venus, as well as 439 kt remaining on Triton and a couple of distant asteroids in the 100-200 kt range with good accessibility. It's not a case where SPACE will forseeably run out of duranium completely after Sedna goes dark. The capability to build new equipment and installations will continue. The question is how much, since focusing mines completely on duranium would mean shortages elsewhere and maintenance efforts consume a certain amount as well. At the moment the worst-case scenario is that somewhere around a third to a half of Earth's factories might go silent at some point along with the present moratorium on all non-essential naval construction. Essentially the threat is of a significant depression.

It is expected that SPACE will be able to build it's way out eventually. With enough mines on Venus, Luyten A-I, and any other extrasolar sources that might be found there is little question progress will continue. The transition could be very rough and lengthy(decades) however, given the expense of building automines and the massive amount of them which will be needed.

[Brian Swartz]

I have some potentially bad news. I had most of the 2090 SOS done and was planning on getting things going again after the holiday. However my new year's present from my computer was a lovely batch of epic fail. At this point I'm planning on attempting to reinstall windows on Friday which is really the last straw since it will not even boot up at this point. If that doesn't work, I'll need a new hard drive and this story will be over. That possibility makes me sad, I really really wanted to finish the story. I'm not really sure what I'll do if that happens, but I will post here other way once I find out if it works.

[Tellistto]

Even if you cannot get Windows installed to the drive, even with a new drive, it might be possible to access that old drive to pull off the .db file to save the game. Just because it won't run an OS doesn't necessarily mean it cannot be accessed as a secondary drive.

One night, I was happily playing away on my computer, and boom, dead.

Mine was the motherboard, not the hard drive.

If this is dead, it's been really fun. Love you for having introduced me to this game.

And...you can upgrade your game version if so!

Tell

[Brian Swartz]

I am pleased to announce that I have successfully extracted the essential Aurora files(saved database and the text file holding all my notes) from the fubared HD. That means this story will continue barring something extremely bizarre. When is another matter, I'm going to pull anything else useful off and then I need to format it. If that doesn't work I'll need a new hard drive, so it could be a week or two but the adventures of SPACE appear to have been snatched from the clutches of data fail.

To infinity, and beyond!

[Brian Swartz]

And ... the old hard drive is now officially dying to the point of being unusable. So a new one is on the way.

[Brian Swartz]

Back in business now with the wall of text that comprises the SOS Report.

STATE OF SPACE, 2090

I. IMPERIAL HOLDINGS

IA. Populated Colonies

Earth(1.92b, 542 CF, 130 OF, 75 REF, 54 RL, 4 AC, 3 GFT, 5 DSTS, 15.2k MF, 1 SP, 1 SC, 3x Alaska MB, Alaska 82 MB)
Mars(90.7m, Ticonderoga 82 SB, 1 TI)**
Luna(86.5m, Ticonderoga 82 SB, 2 TI)
Mercury(30.3m, 1 DSTS, Ticonderoga 82 SB)
Venus(21.1m, Ticonderoga 82 SB)
Titan(19.0m, 1 DSTS, Alaska MB)
New Genesis(150k, 3 CF)
Io(130k, Ticonderog 82 SB)
Europa(120k, Ticonderoga SB)
Ganymede(120k, Ticonderoga SB)
Callisto(120k, Ticonderoga 82 SB)

** Note: TI is new, stands for Terraforming Installation

Total Population: 2.17b(+10.7%)

Long-standing trends continued in the second half of the 2080s. The share of humanity living on Earth continues to slowly decline, aided by new technology slightly reducing infrastructure requirements in this case. The big news is the New Genesis colony in Luyten 726-8, less than three weeks old as of this writing.

IB. Outposts

Sedna(54 CMC, 14.1 eff, 18.5 kt) -- uridium(9.1)
Triton(117 AM, 20.3 eff, 5.99 kt) -- vendarite(7.2)
Earth(50 SM, 6.2 eff, 781 t)
Borrelly(39.8 AM, 32 eff, 2.29 kt) -- duranium(9.5)
Halley's Comet(36 AM, 33 eff, 2.35 kt) -- corbomite(4.0)
Reinmuth(33.8 AM, 30 eff, 1.83 kt) -- boronide(7.7)
Stephan-Oterma(28 AM, 25 eff, 1.26 kt)
Machholz(27.6 AM, 15 eff, 745 t) -- neutronium(8.7)
Neujmin(25.8 AM, 25 eff, 1.16 kt) -- duranium(0.9)
Titan(25 SM, 5.6 eff, 315 t)
Faye(25 AM, 14 eff, 630 t) -- sorium(6.8)
Comas Sola(25 AM, 19 eff, 897 kt) -- tritanium(2.7), duranium(4.8)
Schaumasse(21.8 AM, 36 eff, 1.48 kt) -- uridium(8.4)
Crommelin(20.4 AM, 26 eff, 954 t) -- sorium(5.1), duranium(8.8)
Wolf-Harrington(17.8 AM, 40 eff, 1.34 kt) -- uridium(3.2), mercassium(9.5)
Whipple(17 AM, 43 eff, 1.38 kt) -- uridium(0.4)
Swift-Tuttle(15 AM, 71 eff, 1.92 kt) -- uridium(1.0), neutronium(7.7), boronide(9.9)
Tempel-Tuttle(14 AM, 40 eff, 1.16 kt)
Callisto(10 SM, 6 eff, 12 t)
Van Biesbroeck(10 AM, 55 eff, 990 t)
Prokne(10 AM, 6.4 eff, 115 t)
Wild(8 AM, 34 eff, 490 t)
Wolf(8 AM, 26 eff, 375 t)
Herschel-Rigollet(4 AM, 54 eff, 464 t) -- corbomite(1.9)

Total Production: 47.4 kt(+26%) Sedna has seen an explosion as noted elsewhere. A full one-third expansion of operations, advancemenets in mining techniques, and improved local management combined for an increase of 58% in the output from the dominant force in SPACE mining operations, despite the beginning of death throes for the uridium portion. Overall the mining sector annihilated the previous high of five years ago by more than a quarter.

IC. Mineral Supply & Usage

** With the new scrutiny being devoted to MRDs mineral assessment, a color-coded approach has been devised with five levels defined, replacing the original four with adjusted definitions. It is strongly emphasized here that the initial evaluation presented is fairly speculatory. Once a few years of supply and usage data come in, MRD will be able to make much more accurate determinations. **

White Status Minerals -- No shortfall is expected in the next century, regardless of expenditures. Essentially this is a level where we couldn't use it all if we tried.

** Sorium(64.4 kt stockpiled, 1.93 kt annual yield). Most current sources are expected to dry up in the next couple of decades, but this is tentatively considered irrelevant since it is rarely used industrially. The most likely scenario to change this probably is the possibility that a strategically important system without local fuel is discovered. In that scenario refineries might be transported there which would result in a massive change in usage. Barring that type of operation though, the status is extremely safe. Stockpiles have grown eight kilotons in the past five years, and consistently since the harvesters were deployed to Saturn decades ago.

** Uridium(150 kt, 8.55 kt). A massive 23-kiloton gain. Over three-quarters of the supply comes from Sedna, so this will stabilize when that expires sometime in the final year or two of the coming decade most likely. The sheer massive amount available makes it difficult to imagine any potential shipbuilding initiative draining it at this time.

** Corbomite(99.4 kt, 4.42 kt). A 20-kiloton gain and over half the supply comes from Triton, which has over half a megaton remaining and will see increased investment if anything due to the importance of it's duranium reserves. Combine that with the fact that it's one of the most rarely-used minerals and it's easy to see why corbomite is considered the safest at the present time. It's highly doubtful anyone alive today will live to see a time when it becomes the slightest concern.

Green Status Minerals -- These are considered safe for the next 20 years or so, but could potentially become concerns in the decades after that. They tend to be high-stockpile but also high-usage substances.

** Vendarite(77.4 kt, 1.79 kt). A healthy rise of 6 kt+ in the last five years, but Triton contributes more than half and when that runs out in the latter half of the next decade there will only be a relatively meager supply coming in. It sees fairly limited use in ship construction, espescially in the survey carriers. Given the magnitude of the stockpile even an eventual slow decline would be a very minor issue.

** Tritanium(59.7 kt, 3.48 kt). Aside from duranium, no other mineral comes in greater quantity. It is used fairly heavily but the greatest need is for ordnance factories which is a rare project and not one currently required. Some ship construction of course and it is used in other factories to a lesser degree, which will pretty much be a constant need for the forseeable future. The stockpile rose 7kt over the past five years, and it has a highly diversified group of fairly long-term sources.

Yellow Status Minerals -- These are those minerals which are generally around the 'tipping point'. There is enough for current needs, no further supplies are expected to be necessary for a decade or so, but there is not a big enough stockpile or enough current supply for long-term comfort. 'Bears watching' is the general approach here.

** Boronide(37.8 kt, 1.98 kt). Stagnant over the last cycle. There are not many sources, and over 30% of the supply, from Reinmuth and Swift-Tuttle, will go away in the coming decade. As the major building block material of fuel tanks, boronide will be needed in significant quantities indefinitely.

Amber Status Minerals -- These are those which are not yet at crisis point but where the current supply status will require a change, either investment or reduced production, within the next decade. These have a smallish stockpile and will mostly be in decline as well.

The big four minerals have now essentially become the big five with gallicite joining them as a significant concern.

** Mercassium(16.0 kt, 2.11 kt) A decline of 3.5 kt in the last five years. At that rate it would take about 23 years to run out. There are multiple long-term sources, but Wolf-Harrington will deplete around the turn of the century and others may see mines diverted to increase duranium supply.

** Gallicite(19.2 kt, 796t) Falling like a rock(-12 kt) mostly because this is by far the lowest-yield mineral right now. There's just not much coming in. Until that changes further missile production is pretty much an impossibility which greatly limits military options.

** Corundium(8.83 kt, 1.13 kt). Mostly stagnant, up a few hundred tons during the last cycle. It's really a case of limited supply here again, and of course the need for automines will have basically no forseeable end so it's a priority. Even more fun is that among the current sources, only Herschel-Rigollet is expected to still be one in twenty years. New Genesis will bring in more from a couple of decent comet sources around the Luyten system by then, but that's just a stopgap.

** Duranium(27.3 kt, 18 kt). As mentioned duranium is sharply on the rise, but it is still listed here because it's a very temporary situation. Several comets amounting to multiple kilotons in annual yield will cease their contributions in the coming years, followed by the Sedna crash. There's no question duranium will be the epicenter around which MRD's efforts in the coming decades will revolve.

** Neutronium(16.2 kt, 3.16 kt). Effectively stagnant for decades now, neutronium is down 1.3 kt this past cycle. Multiple comets rich in the mineral and the present naval restrictions should keep it from being an urgent issue, though a significant source in Machholz is scheduled to deplete before the end of the decade/century. Additional investment will need to be made before a full naval ramp-up can ever happen though.

Red Status Minerals -- Less than a five-year supply. This is the emergency, immediate-action-required level.

** None at the present time.

ID. Income

Taxes(population): 58.4m
Taxes(civ. tourism): 23.9m
Taxes(civ. shipping): 7.29m
Taxes(civ. fuel): 329k

Total: 89.8m(+42%)

Improved financial administration resulted in considerably less waste, while the tourism sector continues to explode. Taxes on civilian spaceflight operations now account for over a third of all income, ensuring a limitless future in terms of finances for SPACE. The mineral crisis is definitely not reflected in this sector.

Balance: 947m(+136 m)

IE. Expenses

Mineral Purchases: 13.2m
Research: 12.8m
Shipbuilding: 10.5m
Installation Construction: 6.2m
Maintenance Facilities: 1.48m
PDC Construction: 1.34m
Shipyard Modifications: 1.23m
Ordnance Production: 672k
GU Maintenance: 602k
Maintenance Supplies: 153k

Total: 48.2m(+18%)

The hilariously large gap between income and expenses is expected to do nothing but grow as raw materials become more and more of a determiner. Sedna's minerals are over a quarter of current outlays, and when that goes away and as naval operations are minimized, expenses will be only a third to a half of income at most in the projections. If only all of SPACE operations were so healthy.

II. SHIPYARDS

IIA. Commercial Yards

Estalerios Navais do Montego(ENDM)(2 slipways, 171 kt capacity)
** Idle
Tod & MacGregor(2 slipways, 166 kt capacity)
** Idle
P&A Group(6, 101 kt)
** Idle
Vegesacker Werft(1, 66.5 kt)
** Idle
Howaldswerke/Deutsche Werft(HDW)(1, 55.3 kt)
** Building CS Pineda, second of the Spruance colony ships
Oregon Shipbuilding(2, 50.7 kt)
** Idle
Vickers-Armstrong(4, 17.4 kt)
** Idle
Kvaerner-Masa(1, 10 kt)
** Idle

IIB. Naval Yards

Wartsila(1, 17.6 kt)
** Idle.
Yokohama Dock Co.(1, 15.2 kt)
** Idle.
Baltimore Marine(2, 12.2 kt)
** Idle.
Permanant(1, 10.1 kt)
** Idle
C. Mitchell & Co.(1, 6.53 kt)
** Idle
Niehuis and van den Berg(3, 4.14 kt)
** Adding fourth slipway(October 2090), building Guardian(February 2090)
International(2, 4.14 kt)
** Idle
KSEC(4, 1.66 kt)
** Building Caldwell(J)(x2), April 2090
Krohn(3, 1 kt)
** Building Forrestal(x3), various times

There's a lot of bored workers, a fact that won't change anytime soon due to the mineral crash.

III. ARMY TRAINING FACILITIES

IIIA. Earth

** Three active training facilities
** All three idle

IV. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

IVA. Earth

Research Lab(20%) -- November 2090. Under the division of fifths the rate is one every 13-14 months. Inadequate, but it's something.
Automated Mines(19%) -- About 9/year.
Construction Factories(12%) -- These will be built pretty much indefinitely at this point for industrial expansion & colonization startups. 10-11/year.
PDC Alaska 82(9%) -- A little over two bases left for Earth, late 2098 is the current ETA.
Mass Driver(7%) -- Three remaining, early 2091
Military Academy(6%) -- Summer 2091
Naval Shipyard(6%) -- Final 'reserve' one, mid-2092
Prefab PDC Alaska 82(5%) -- An upgraded base for Titan, September 2090
Terraforming Installation(4%) -- 2091
Commercial Shipyards(4%) -- Also a final 'reserve' shipyard, March 2092
Prefab PDC Ticonderoga 82(2%) -- Final one for the moment, intended for New Genesis. Ready in April.
DSTS(2%) -- July 2090
Maintenance Supplies(2%) -- Still over 1,000 tons needed. Mid-2091.
Infrastructure(1%) -- Mid-2095 for the current run.

A lot of projects are close to wrapping up.

V A. PRIORITY RESEARCH PROJECTS

** Divisional HQ(Alphonse Lambeth) -- October/November 2090
** Ceramic Composite Armour(Deborah Barnhouse) -- December 2090/January 2091
** Capacitor Recharge Rates(Norris Gunterman) -- December 2090/January 2091
** Freighter Jump Drive(Jerry Bartholf) -- Early 2091
** Missile Tracking(Julio Kuchler) -- Early 2092
** Thermal Sensor Sensitivity(Bessie Wallander) -- Late 2092/Early 2093
** Colonization Cost Reduction(John Dangel) -- Early 2094

There's almost no prototyping going on right now, it's all big-picture stuff aimed at the long-term.

V B. NOTABLE SCIENTISTS

** Biology/Genetics
Noble Stephson(Accomplished)

** Construction/Production
Carmelo Costanza(Accomplished)
Lena Bohannan(Accomplished)

** Energy Weapons
Leonel Wessels(Accomplished)
Minh Klausner(Accomplished)
Freddy Salsgiver(Accomplished)

** Logistics/Ground Combat
John Dangel(Elite)
Alphonse Lambeth(Elite)
Stanley Kogut(Accomplished)

** Missiles/Kinetic Weapons
None!

** Power/Propulsion
Norris Gunterman(Elite)
David Gruis(Accomplished)
Alejandro Otteson(Accomplished)
Reynaldo Darrington(Accomplished)
Irving Steinmeyer(Accomplished)

** Sensors/Fire Control
Julio Kuchler(Elite)
Bessie Wallander(Elite)

Overall it's been a great five years for the Research Directorate. Most of the holes have been filled. Biogenetics is weak but nobody really cares. There's a couple of construction researchers on their way up, logistics is a strength again, and the propulsion field has absurd quality depth. Missile research is still the biggest problem, though it ironically doesn't matter quite as much with the problems in acquiring enough gallicite to build any. Another emerging issue is that the vital sensors field is very top-heavy. Kuchler and Wallander are both in their mid-50s so this isn't a problem now, but could become one if no fresh blood emerges.


VI. ACTIVE NAVAL ASSETS

VI A. Military Bases

Alaska(4, 59.5 kt, 1020 crew, major missile base)
Alaska 82(1, 22.7kt, 709 crew, major missile base)
Ticonderoga 82(6, 3.7kt, 24 crew, sensor base)
Ticonderoga(2, 3.0kt, 16 crew, sensor base)

Total: 13 installations(-13%), 289 kt(-16%), 4.97k crew(-12%)

Two Ticondergoa upgrades remain, and most of the Alaska's are yet to be replaced. The old Tennessee bases have been swept away.

VI B. Combat Ships

GB Brooklyn '72(4, 13.5 kt, 356 crew, 2379 km/s, 1.75 m fuel, beam-armed)
GB Brooklyn '81(2, 10.5 kt, 282 crew, 2380 km/s, 1.25 m fuel, beam-armed)
MC Guardian(5, 1.9 kt, 85 crew, 947 km/s, 50k fuel, jump defense missile corvette)
MB Nimitz(3, 14 kt, 373 crew, 2437 km/s, 1.75m fuel, missile-armed)
MB Nimitz '76c(4, 10.3 kt, 273 crew, 2439 km/s, 1.25 m fuel, missile-armed)

Total: 18 ships(+50%), 168 kt(+14%), 4.62k crew(+18%), 20m fuel(+8%)

The new Guardians will soon to be ready to take up postions at the jump points, while the others will remain at Earth.

VI C. Military Non-combat Ships

DC Ambassador(1, 800t, 18 crew, 1.5k km/s, 150k fuel, diplomatic jump shuttle)
CC Baltimore(2, 10 kt, 284 crew, 600 km/s, 750k fuel, command carrier)
ST Caldwell 84i(12, 950t, 15 crew, 3.32k km/s, 500k fuel, VIP-grade jump shuttle)
MV Cleveland 84i(2, 2.0 kt, 28 crew, 3k km/s, 50k fuel, supply ship)
SC Explorer(6, 850 t, 18 crew, 1411 km/s, 250k fuel, jump scout)
SB Forrestal III(14, 650 t, 14 crew, 3.69k km/s, 50k fuel, jump point sensor vessel)
SB Forrestal 88i(6, 650 t, 13 crew, 5.54k km/s, 100k fuel, jump point sensor vessel)
GSV Frontier(8, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, gravsurvey)
SVC Gearing(2, 10 kt, 158 crew, 600 km/s, 750k fuel, survey carrier)
ST George Washington(4, 1.15 kt, 27 crew, 1.57k km/s, 350k fuel, general-use jump shuttle)
GEV Prospector(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, geosurvey)
CO Tarawa 84 i(2, 6.0 kt, 66 crew, 1k km/s, 100k fuel, supply ship)

Total: 65 ships(-9.8%), 84.2 kt(-21%), 2.16k crew(-2.3%), 17.2 m fuel(-31%)

The shrinking of the shuttle fleet and the lower fuel required are the big stories here.

VI D. Commercial Vessels

TT Arleigh Burke 84i(6, 17.3 kt, 127 crew, 695 km/s, 250k fuel, brigade troop transport)
FT Fletcher 84i(2, 35.9 kt, 153 crew, 1002 km/s, 250k fuel, freighter)
FT Gato(2, 7.0 kt, 33 crew, 857 km/s, 100k fuel, small freighter)
TK Iowa 84i(4, 8.5 kt, 44 crew, 1.41k km/s, 5m fuel, fuel tanker)
TK Iowa XR(2, 9.7 kt, 53 crew, 1.03k km/s, 6m fuel, extended range fuel tanker)
TK Iowa 84i XR(2, 8.55 kt, 44 crew, 1.4k km/s, 5m fuel, extended range fuel tanker)
FH Long Beach(41, 80.8 kt, 429 crew, 445 km/s, 2.0m fuel, fuel harvester)
FJ North Carolina 87i(2, 168 kt, 995 crew, 715 km/s, 1.5m fuel, large commercial jump ship)
TT Portland 84i(2, 4.35 kt, 39 crew, 1.38k km/s, 50k fuel, troop transport)
FT South Carolina 84i(6, 163 kt, 487 crew, 735 km/s, 1.5m fuel, superfreighter)
CS Spruance 85i(1, 52.2 kt, 299 crew, 920 km/s, 550k fuel, colony ship)
SV Wickes 84i(1, 21.7 kt, 191 crew, 829 km/s, 250k fuel, salvage/recovery)

Total: 71 ships(+16%), 4.97 mt(+25%), 24.6k crew(+26%), 139m liters fuel(+55%)

A couple of the old Iowa's have yet to be retired, but mostly the growth here was in finishing up the new Long Beach harvesters.

Grand Total: 167 assets(+4.4%), 5.51 mt(+20%), 36.4k crew(+16%), 176m liters fuel(+32%)

The fuel number can be a bit misleading since almost half of it is contained in the harvesters alone.

Available Crew: 210k(+24%)

VI E. Fuel Status

Earth -- 43.1m liters
Titan -- 39.9m
Callisto -- 4.83m

Total -- 87.8m liters(+263%!!) An explosion in supply due to two factors: the expansion of the massive harvester operations, and detanking fuel from ships that are now equipped with more efficient ion-based engines. It would appear that fuel problems are over for the moment.

VII. ACTIVE ARMY ASSETS

** Brigade HQs(6)
** Construction Brigades(10)
** Assault Infantry Battalions(4)
** Mobile Infantry Battalions(12)
** Garrison Battalion(34)

Total Active-Duty Soldiers: 530k(+10%)

The current force is more or less stable for now, though garrisons will periodically be sent out-system from time to time.

VIII. CIVILIAN SHIPPING CORPORATIONS

Tolles Transport & Logistics(89 ships, 13.6m annual income)
Jensrud Transport and Trading(77, 8.84m)
Voliva Carrier Company(92, 7.03m)
Ridolfi Interstellar(9, 1.52m)
Hayter Container Group(3, 210k)
Suter Shipping Services(2, 160k)
Ouellet Shipping(2, 147k)
Everton Shipping & Logistics(3, 120k)
Elman Freight Services(3, 90k)
Dyett Freight Company(2, 40k)
Clavette Shipping Line(2, 20k)
Forbius Carrier Limited(1, 20k)

Total Vessels: 285(+40%)
Total Civilian Income: 31.8m(+57%)

The civilian economy has grown to the point where the rising tide is indeed lifting all ships -- well most of them at least. There were only three effectively defunct small carriers compared to six in the last cycle. Ridofli not-truly-Interstellar continues to grow, showing it has designs on joining the big boys, and Tolles is increasingly dominant, with a fleet nearly as large as bloated Voliva. For the second straight cycle, gross income is up more than half.

IX. SPACE LEADERSHIP PROSPECTUS

** Naval Officers: 214 of 233 assigned(92%), +3%
** Ground Forces Officers: 70 of 80(88%), +12%
** Civilian Administrators: 33 of 45(73%), -5%
** Scientists: 27 of 43(63%), -15%

Overall: 344 of 401(85.7%), +2.1%

It's a good time to be in the military, but prospects for civilians have rarely been bleaker.

[Tellistto]

Welcome back, Brian!

Are all those civilian ships newer models or are they tooling around still in Nuclear powered engines from decades ago?

Tell

[Brian Swartz]

Almost everything has ion engines now. Some were refit, most had to be built anew due to the refit costs involved with the new engines. Generally speaking SPACE does a refit at each new generation of propulsion tech.

[Brian Swartz]

Dola, I should mention that the ESF ships(Baltimore, Gearing, Frontier, Prospector, and Explorer classes) don't have ion engines yet and probably won't get them. Exploration is happening far faster than expansion is, and as long as that remains the case it probably won't be worth the cost to upgrade/refit them.

[Brian Swartz]

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2090

With the dawn of the final decade, Director Stonerock was preoccupied with two major issues: the colonization of New Genesis, and the approaching mineral meltdown. It was clear that the struggle for mankind to determine our own destiny would succeed or not based mostly on matters of economics, not naval superiority. In particular gallicite stood out as a concern. Half the pittance of an annual yield was being spent in maintenance of military ships. The ESFs are due back probably late this year or early next, but even if they've discovered massive new sources that will be a long time in coming.

A shorter-term solution is needed, and there is simply no way to justify any more military ships than absolutely required right now. With the Guardians soon to take over jump defense and the new Alaska's going in, the old guard of the Nimitzes and Brooklyns are of only marginal use. They were ordered to be scrapped immediately in order to save what is spent on their upkeep, and get what value can be saved out of them. The rest of the military fleet is really pretty lean. SPACE can afford to lose a few Caldwell 84i VIP jump shuttles, but those don't draw enough to make a significant difference(less than three tons each annually). A decision on those can wait, and isn't that important in the grand scheme of things anyway. Another benefit of dispensing with the 'old war-horses' now rather than later is that their captains can be transitioned into new commands on the Guardians as they are built.

With that decision made, a very busy start to the year soon commenced. The first news took just three days, which is when Commodore Ali Mandujano, the most politically skilled officer the navy has ever had and presently in charge of the Alaska bases on Earth, retired. Mandujano is also highly skilled in logistics, but it was her connections that allowed her to reach the upper echelon of the Navy and stay there, though she was never a serious candidate for the top spot. She first came to prominence during a brief stay at the helm of the Excelsior(Pioneer class) during which she reported on the events of the Epsilon Eridani crisis, then made captain later that year in '64. A brief stay in public affairs, for which she was most highly suited, was followed by nearly two decades as logistics officer for the SDF. The last five were spent on Earth with the missile bases.

Anytime a Commodore retires, it is an important spot to fill. There are presently only nine positions at that rank, but more importantly it is the pool of experienced, proven men and women from which the new Fleet Admiral will be chosen when necessary. Therefore this was an occasion to select who would be that person to join this elite group. There are few bad candidates at this level, but the best by a considerable margin was Rocco Lett, CO of one of the Nimitz missile ships for the last several years and a lengthy tour in communications prior to that. Too lengthy, perhaps, as his age(58) may well have caused the Navy to turn to Rosemary Tallant instead. The Public Affairs officer for the SDF, Tallant is only 44 yet has spent almost two decades in the public eye. She led the failed diplomatic efforts in Epsilon Eridani several years ago, but managed to escape any blame for them. She is trusted by civilians and brass alike, and now Earth's protection is largely in her hands.

On January 6th, the new year still less than a week old, the first colonization group from Luyten came back. New Genesis was up and running, which was good: but an unfortunate snag was hit with the other group. It seems the first group of colonists took almost a full month to unload, meaning the second group just recently left New Genesis to make the journey back to Earth. Apparently it was an engineering screw-up, as nobody had bothered to put cargo loading systems on the colony ships so everything was done with crude, outdated equipment. The time could be slashed to just over two days for a mere 47k to add two loading beams to each Spruance 85i colony ship, just over a 2% increase in the price. Clearly this needed to be done. The Howaldtswerke SY quickly set to work on the retooling, which would take just under a month at a minimal cost of about 69k. A very minor setback, but yet still an embarassing one.

After a few weeks of fairly routine events, ESF Alpha returns more than four years after leaving Earth on February 23rd. The task group reports a successful mission from an operational standpoint, and it's report is relayed to Fleet HQ.

EARTH

January 14 -- Krohn SY finishes fourth slipway, which is all that is needed for now. Another Forrestal 88i is begun.

January 27 -- Another Forrestal finished.

February 15 -- Guardian finished, a total of seven corvettes are now in service.


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Mid-January -- GoA Gil Milstead appears to winning over the right people early(four months) into his time in the new position as head of the Army(Pol. Reliability up to 30%, or accomplished tier).


Research & Development

January 20 -- Meson Focusing is improved to the fourth generation(Dr. Minh Klausner).


Colonial Developments

January 28 -- Throne Trading established, a new civilian shipping line.

Early February -- Determined to not go quietly, Sedna expands again to 55 complexes.

[Brian Swartz]

ESF ALPHA Survey Report
Luyten 726-8 'Route'
February, 2090

Alpha's mission parameters were to survey the three systems extending away from Sol from the hub of Luyten 726-8, and then proceed further in those directions as the situation warranted.

May 2086 - April 2087: Nearly a year was spent in the first system, Epsilon Indi. Tau Ceti was considered to have the best potential of the three systems and so was set to be surveyed last.

Habitability: Good(A-II is a 1.90-cost world, with only a trace atmosphere, right in that Mars/Luna ballpark)
Fuel Availability: Good(A-III, a super jovian, has 16.7mt of sorium at 0.8)
Mineral Wealth: Poor. There are multiple-megaton sources of all minerals, most of it coming from A-I, but almost all at 0.1. Other than a moon with 1.4 mt of 0.6 neutronium, there's really nothing to recommend the system here. There's no need to travel for what can mostly be found on Venus already.
Strategic Importance: Miniscule. With no other jumps found except straight back to Luyten, using the system as a refueling spot is rather pointless.

May 2087 - May 2088 -- Lacaille 9352 was a smaller pattern, but the large number of asteroids meant that the gravsurvey actually beat out the geosurvey by several months.

Habitability: Very Good(A-II is another 1.9 cost world, but has an atmosphere already of appropriate thickness, just a bit more pressure than Earth's. All that would be needed is the addition of oxygen).
Fuel Availability: None. Multiple potential sources ended up barren.
Mineral Wealth: Above average. Like Epsilon Indi all minerals all present in massive amounts of low-accessibility, but there are also some higher-value sites. A-I has 0.4 concentrations of duranium(270mt) and Uridium(155mt). A-II has similar concentrations of those two with the benefit of allowing human-operated mining(lower cost, higher employment). A-III has 2.3mt of boronide at 0.7, and there are multiple interesting moons and dwarves. One has a megaton of 0.9 boronide, another 56kt of duranium and 116kt of vendarite both at high concentrations, a third with 157kt duranium, 95kt mercassium also highly accessible. Yet another has 15mt of 0.5 sorium should it ever be needed industrially. There's enough here to potentially justify either shipping in the needed fuel or mining and refining the sorium, though some minerals like neutronium would likely need to be brought in from elsewhere to support operations.
Strategic Importance: Miniscule. Once again no jumps anywhere but back to Luyten.

June 2088 - May 2089 -- Tau Ceti, the final system off the Luyten 'hub', with the first two leading nowhere.

Habitability: Good. Once again A-II is the best target, a 1.90-cost planet that needs only oxygen added. The atmosphere is thinner than in Lacaille 9352 so it would take somewhat less time to make it breathable.
Fuel Availability: Excellent. It's smaller than most deposits we've found, but based on how long it takes to go through atmospheric sorium that probably won't matter. 416kt on A-V, a gas giant, at a fine 0.9 accessibility.
Mineral Wealth: Miniscule. A-III has 6mt of vendarite at 0.1. That's it, and that's all.
Strategic Importance: High. Three more jumps were discovered, leading to the new systems of Proxima Centauri, TZ Arietis, and Gliese 1. TZ Arietis is the first 'empty' or 'transit' system we've seen: it has no moons, planets, comets, asteroids, nothing. . No bodies of any kind where potential resources could be. It's only possible usefulness is as a system to be traversed on the way to somewhere else. Nevertheless, this is a chokepoint system that could be used as a buffer. Occupying it would place Luyten, Epsilon Indi, and Lacaille 9352 firmly under human control.

June 2089 - November 2089 -- Proxima Centauri was the closest and quickest of the newly-discovered systems. Not much was expected of it, but there was clearly more than enough time to do this survey before returning to Earth.

Habitability: None. There is one planet and asteroids, that's all. The planet's gravity is more than two and a half times Earth's, too massive for any potential colonization effort.
Fuel Availability: None. With only one planet as a terrestrial, there were no sources here.
Mineral Wealth: Subpar. The massive planet has the usual spread that most such bodies seem to: great quantities of nine minerals, all at minimal(0.1) accessibility. Most of the asteroid finds are too small to be worth noticing, but one with 152kt duranium(0.9), 80kt mercassium(1.0), and 147kt vendarite(0.8) bears reporting. Another has six minerals, most in virtual trace amounts of about a kiloton or less, but also 22.5kt corundium(0.9). Overall the picture is still one that doesn't merit major investment.
Strategic Importance: Moderate. Jumps to the new systems of Procyon and Kapteyn's Star were discovered. The latter has an exceptionally habitable earth-like planet that is just a little bit too cold, a 0.8 cost, and terraforming could eventually eliminate even that.


http://i.imgur.com/mG7lmwU.png

Outlook

There were no game-changing, dramatic discoveries on Alpha's journey. A few interesting possibilities, but no must-have systems. Further exploration will be needed before a full assessment of the importance of the 'chokepoint' system in Tau Ceti can be made. There's no hurry in deciding where Alpha will be sent next: after a two-month trip back to Earth and refueling, an overhaul will take likely over a year before they are ready to leave again. By that time ESF Bravo will probably be back with more information.

[Brian Swartz]

FEBRUARY - MAY 2090

The next few months were a period of pretty routine goings-on. On March 1st, the cargo group from New Genesis returned, and they had a bit of a layover waiting for enough equipment to justify another trip. There are mines ready, but they are best kept doing something on Venus while the surface geosurvey teams finish their work. At the end of the month the colonization group returned, but they'll wait until refitting over the summer for another journey. April brought the final chapter of the 'old navy', as the Nimitz and Brooklyn warships completing scrapping at various points throughout the month. On the 18th, the cargo group departed for Luyten and New Genesis again with the initial terraforming installation, a little more infrastructure, one mine, a couple more factories, two more mass drivers, and the Ticonderoga 82 sensor base for the colony.

May began with ESF Alpha reaching Earth and beginning it's overhaul, while two officers include Operations officer for the flotilla, Captain Asa Hotz, will now retire. Alpha's next mission will not begin for about a year, giving Fleet Command about that long until sometime in the second quarter of '91 to decide where to send them next. On the 25th, ESF Bravo made a surprising early return, nearly a year and a half left on their mission clock when they emerged from the Van Maanen jump.


Earth

February 30 -- Forrestal 88i finished.

April 4 -- Forrestal 88i finished.

April 5 -- First pair of Caldwell Js, the VIP jump shuttles, are finished.

Early April -- Ticonderoga finished.

April 15 -- The three original Nimitzes are finished being disassembled and scrapped.

April 18 -- The four Brooklyn '72 ships are decommissioned.

Late April -- Four Nimitz 76c are scrapped.

May 1 -- The Brooklyn '76s are scrapped, the last of the 'old navy' to be done away with. ESF Alpha returns to Earth and begins it's overhaul.

May 10 -- Forrestal 88i finished.

May 24 -- Forrestal 88i finished. Scrapping of the old ones begins with a spare slipway now.


Colonial Developments

May 7 -- Uridium exhausted on Whipple. Four other minerals, including duranium and mercassium, remain on the comet.


Leadership Personnel

May 12 -- Dr. Ross Dodge(36, SF) moves up to the Accomplished tier. He's probably the best hope for a top researcher in the next generation of sensors scientists.

[Brian Swartz]

ESF BRAVO SURVEY REPORT
Van Maanen 'Route'

April - October 2087 -- There are two systems off Van Maanen to explore, and YZ Ceti is tackled first before GJ 1002. It's a small system, requiring only a few months for the gravsurvey.

Habitability: Moderate. There's nowhere good, but a lot of marginal places to potentially live. Two planets are in the prohibitively expensive range, including one several times hotter than Venus, but there are eight moons in roughly the 7-9 cost range similar to Titan etc.
Fuel Availability: Good. There are two sources, one with 3.24mt at 0.7, another at 799k but just 0.4.
Mineral Wealth: Utopia. Incredibly, off-the-scale, potential salvation level of rich. First up, the crushing heat of A-I brings with it the best known duranium source, 7.6mt at maximum 1.0 accessibility. There are several 0.1 minerals here, but also 2.4mt gallicite at 0.9 which would solve that issue, vendarite(7.3mt @ 0.6), corbomite(12mt @ 0.5), and boronide(16 mt @ 0.4). All in all a 29-efficiency, very high-yield rock. A-VI, a super jovian, has one moon worth noting, with several large 0.1 deposits but also mercassium at 0.8, almost four megatons. The 10th moon of A-VII, a gas giant, boasts another 6.3mt of duranium(0.9) along with 0.3 concentrations of boronide(4.16mt) and corundium(452kt). A-VIII, another super jovian, has a fine moon as well which I think is the highest-efficiency body we have access to outside of Sol at 41. Another 461kt of duranium(0.8) and 536kt gallicite(1.0) along with three of the more common minerals, corbomite, vendarite, and uridium in somewhat larger amounts. More on exactly how rich this system is in the overall summary.
Strategic Value: High. After GJ 1002 was discovered to lead to no additional systems, it became clear that YZ Ceti is another chokepoint system -- GJ 1002 and Van Maanen could be protected from here. Jumps to 40 Eridani and Gliese 908 were discovered, and those systems explored next.

October 2087 - June 2088 -- Gliese 908 survey operations. The intent was to catch 40 Eridani 'on the way back' as Bravo would journey across the YZ Ceti system back to the Van Maanen point.

Habitability: Good. A-II is the best, a nearly breathable atmosphere but a cost at 2.53 just somewhat too cold(20+ degrees warmer than Luna though, for example). There will be water here when the ice sheet melts if it is heated up enough. There are three bodies in the 4-6 range, three more in the 8-9 range, and another three just over 10 colony cost. That's ten habitable locations, which is the same number Sol has.
Fuel Availability: None. Two gas giants are both barren. The most distant super jovian known, 16b km out, was not surveyed as it was past the limit but it may be worth considering as the three 10+ cost bodies are all in it's orbit. Otherwhise fuel would need to be shipped in.
Mineral Wealth. A-II is not only quite habitable but also worth coming for in terms of resources. A 40-efficiency world, it has four 0.1 minerals including gallicite and duranium, 15+mt tritanium(0.5), 1.3mt neutronium(0.6), 24+mt vendarite(0.7), 14mt corbomite(0.9), and 9.9 mt corundium(0.9). Given the lack of major corundium and neutronium deposits in neighboring YZ Ceti, this is particularly welcome.
Strategic Value: Above Average. Three new systems were found: EZ Aquarii, the empty star of NN 3039, and Groombridge 34.

July 2088 - June 2089 -- 40 Eridani, the other new system off of YZ Ceti. A big pattern, but not much was expected.

Habitability: Above Average. Only A-II, which needs oxygen added only to a thick atmosphere but is at 1.9 already with good temperature and gravity, can be occupied.
Fuel Availability: None. The lone jovian is barren.
Mineral Wealth: Low. A-II has several 0.1 minerals, and there are a number of asteroids that contain resources but most of them don't have much. One has nine high-accessibility minerals, probably the most efficient source ever found at 85, but low amounts of most. Mercassium(17kt) is the biggest. There are a few other similar asteroids, a second one 25kt duranium, a bit of neutronium, and 38kt gallicite among it's virtues. The amounts simply aren't enough to warrant investment in the system.
Strategic Value: Low. While the discovery of an alien ruin on A-II definitely makes the system important for now, once that is excavated there will be relatively little reason to return. The lone new system, 82 Eridani, is another 'empty' one devoid of any resources.

October 2089 - March 2090 -- GJ 1002, the second system leading away from Van Maanen.

Habitability: Good. A-I is a 1.9-cost world, far better than rest. A relatively small amount of methane will need to be drained from it's atmosphere and oxygen added, and then thickened somewhat as it's currently over 25 degrees below the optimal range. A multi-stage but relatively short terraforming project. In addition, there are 11 other habitable bodies, most in the 6-8 range with a couple higher. This is another system where a network of colonies could develop. A full dozen sites makes it a record-setter in that department, yet only the one will have limited cost.
Fuel Availability: Very Good. Three sources: 5.4m @ 0.6, 156 kt @ 0.9, and 154 kt @ 1.0.
Mineral Wealth: Rich. The 21st moon of the third planet, a gas giant, alone makes that distinction. 68mt of duranium @ 0.8, dwarfing the entirety of YZ Ceti by itself. 628 kt of corbomite is an irrelevant kicker. Another moon further out in the system has another 2mt @ 0.5. Unfortunately there is little else, most minerals would need to be shipped in.
Strategic Value: Very Low. As no new systems were found, this is merely a side alleyway in galactic terms, though an important one.

Galaxy Map
The Known Universe as of May 25, 2090

http://i.imgur.com/bLvdeqv.png



Outlook

Bravo's finds are revolutionary. The discovery of the first alien ruins on 40 Eridani A-I would be so on their own merits, but as it is they are a mere massively important footnote. A total of over 82mt of high-accessibility duranium was found, along with significant finds of every other major mineral. To put that number in perspective, it dwarfs total usage by SPACE to date and at the projected minimum needs of 15kt per annum, would supply humanity for more than five millenia. Developing those resources will be a very lengthy process, but once done the future of humanity will be highly secure from an economic standpoint. Due to it's status as a chokepoint system, YZ Ceti becomes the top priority. This opens up the question of whether to approach it focusing on an immediate resource grab or a long-term development potential situation.

Overall, not counting the Sol system and the three which are inaccessible due to the alien presence, SPACE has discovered 23 systems and fully surveyed 13 of them. A second question is where to go next. The maximum distance allowed by the 1-year rule(a year travel there and back, resulting in at least 60% mission time on station) is 18.7 billion kilometers. As the route list below shows, in some directions exploration is beginnig to approach that distance:

Barnard's Star - Gliese 563.2: 8.21b
Sirius - V577 Monoceri: 10.1b
Luyten - Tau Ceti - Proxima Centauri - Procyon: 10.81b(another 2.1b to Kapteyn's Star)
Luyten - Tau Ceti - Gliese 1: 11.01b(0.3b less to TZ Arietis)
Van Maanen - YZ Ceti - Gliese 908 - EZ Aquarii: 15.4b(closest, the other two offshoots are almost a billion further)
Van Maanen - YZ Ceti - 40 Eridani - 82 Eridani: 17.26b

YZ Ceti is expected to become the first outsystem base, i.e. the first system with a 10kt-capacity maintenance facility operation to support fleet assets outside of Sol. That is well down the road though of course. Command presently intends to send one ESF out past Barnard's Star to the Gliese 563.2 given that it's by far the closest available unexplored system, with the second heading out through Luyten to the systems beyond Tau Ceti. There are multiple possibilities yet in that direction, but so far nothing has been found to indicate investment any further than Luyten(New Genesis colony) will be warranted anytime soon.

[Brian Swartz]

MAY - OCTOBER 2090

The second and third quarters were filled with a lot of mostly routine developments which are detailed in the departmental summaries as usual. The first substantial news was the departure of the colonization group to New Genesis for the second time on July 3. Their load this time around was another 150k colonists, a deep space tracking station, two more factories, two automines, and a smattering of additional infrastructure. On August 30 the new prefabricated missile base for Titan was finally completed. This set off a flurry of activity as the nine construction brigades on Earth were sent there to get it assembled. The nearly 30 factories devoted to building the components for the base were also retasked. Small accelerations across the board mean that almost all significant industrial projects are now expected to see results and/or completion by early 2092.

In September, the current run of Forrestal 88i sensor vessels completed, leaving only the Guardian jump defense missile corvettes still being built. Otherwhise, the shipyards are quiet. When the construction teams arrived on Titan, early estimates indicated the base would be ready sometime in 2093. The day after this announcement, September 23, Director Burt Stonerock made the anticipated announcement that he would be retiring in a month's time.

In the first week of October, the Guardian phase officially began as the first squadron was deployed to the Epsilon Eridani jump point.


Earth

June 14 -- Forrestal III scrapped, Spruance 85i finished and the first one begins refitting.

June 28 -- Forrestal 88i finished.

July 3 -- Forrestal III scrapped: first Spruance refit finished.

Mid-July -- Forrestal III scrapped.

July 25 -- ESF Bravo arrives at Earth for it's overhaul. They'll finish some time next year as well, close behind Alpha but probably a month or two after the first flotilla is ready.

August 2 -- Forrestal 88i finished, only one left in production.

August 5 -- Two more Forrestal IIIs scrapped.

August 8 -- Guardian(x3) finished. There are now ten in service. A second squadron begins training exercises, the first is finished and undergoing overhaul: it will be ready to deploy after that.

September 9th -- The 14th and, for now, last of the Forrestal 88i are finished. The only ship construction going on now are the Guardian corvettes. The shipyards are eerily quiet on the whole.

October 17 -- Final, fourth slipway completed for the Niehuis SY. Starting with the next run, they will be able to build a full squadron of Guardians simultaneously. For the first time in memory, there are no ongoing shipyard expansions of any kind.


Colonial Developments

June 16 -- Sedna expands to 56.

July 5 -- Europa finishes it's new Ticonderoga 82 sensor base. Only Ganymede's remains.

August 11 -- Sedna expands to 57.

Mid-August -- Another shipment of automines departs for Herschel-Rigollet, expected to be the final one.

September 22nd -- Components for the Titan base arrive, and after an engineering assessment of needed materials, minerals are shipped the next day. Initial estimates put completion of the base sometime in 2093.


Personnel Notes

Mid-July -- Defensive Systems has two elite scientists for the first time ever as Eliot Monks(36) steps up to that level.

August 20 -- Dr. Brandon Leyrer, not at all a household name for good reason, made a surprising breakthrough. The 33-year-old Biology & Genetics scientist is up to Accomplished despite not having been given any projects to direct recently. This would normally merit a reassessment, but there's really nothing for him to work on. He's still behind Noble Stephson, and there's only room for one researcher in the field right now, in terraforming.

September 19th -- Timmy Sheerin, governor at Triton, is up to elite status in mining production. Nearly a 200-ton increase in annual duranium yield from the moon is expected to result. A drop in the bucket, but every little bit helps.


Research & Development

September 23rd -- Dr. Leonel Wessels completes blueprints for a larger, more powerful 20cm laser cannon.

Early October -- Dr. Adolfo Walth finishes work on minituarizing cloaks, a ship of 1.25kt or larger can now potentially be outfitted.

[Brian Swartz]

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2090

Burt Stonerock Bio

Nearly four years as Director come to and end now for the memorable and controversial Stonerock. He received his first posting on the comet outpost of Stephan-Oterma just a month after being commissioned in early 2050, and four decades of service later he steps aside. After almost two decades of comet postings he began the first of two tours on Mercury in 2069. While on Callisto in the mid-70s he began to develop health problems, but continued to develop his skills. Burt moved to Mercury in '81, then after just under two years as Earth's governor from 85-87 he was the landslide choice to take over the Director's Office in January of 2087. His legacy is that of being blunt and direct to a fault and a near-complete disregard for the 'political game', a decided rarity among high-level officials. He was responsible for formulating initial SPACE policy in terms of managing the mineral crash and before that, colonization efforts. He had a fairly tumultuous, but overall quite successful, term as Director. Burt Stonerock retires at the age of 61.

SPACE Directorial Election: October 23, 2090

Despite being a year older than Stonerock at 62, Earth Governor Delois Woznicki is still in good health and eligible for the office for the first time. Better late than never was probably never more applicable. Obviously her age meant that, if elected, she'd have a brief term in office. Despite this, she is so much more skilled and qualified than anyone else out there that it seemed a foregone conclusion. There are a total of ten qualified administrators, but a full half-dozen are fairly young with underdeveloped resumes and skills. Only three challengers were on the ballot, familiar names all, but none of them really had a chance despite well-formulated campaigns. This was a coronation, and it was over before it began.

Delois Woznicki -- 54.3%
Errol Igoe -- 18.5%
Russell Salvucci -- 18.1%
Evelyn Kaczor -- 9.1%

Kaczor will move from Venus to Earth to take over as governor on the homeworld. There's nobody with the industrial acumen of either Stonerock or Woznicki so some slowdown is expected, but she has the best balance of factory and shipbuilding skills(25/15). Also notable is Venus's replacement, the relatively young Gordon Semien. Now 33 years old, Semien has a gift for leadership and gets off the Neujmin comet operation at a good time -- it is only a month or two away from depleting it's duranium reserves. Meanwhile a newcomer who is just glad to get a foot in the door will take over there. A win for all concerned.

The day after the election, the 24th, another task group returned from New Genesis, and it was decided that it was time to get basic fueling and transport up and running in the system. In other words, a new task force had to be formed and assigned personnel and ships moved, or at least the ball needed to get rolling. It would be only months before the sensor base was ready, and the population was nearing a third of a million.

New Genesis Support Flotilla(NGSF) was the sixth task force formed. Captain Rocco Lett was the unanimous choice to head it up. A Long Beach fuel harvester and a Fletcher mid-size freighter would make the jump this time, along with of course the Caldwell J VIP jump shuttle that would take the officers through seperately. Sometimes it's just a matter of being around at the right time. Such was the case here for Lieutenant Solomon Curd, a man of only one useful skill. Fortunately, that skill is now needed as he was a year or two away from likely being pushed out of the service. Now a lieutenant commander, Curd will be the logistics officer for the New Genesis task force. Many a career has been built, or at least begun to be built, on such fortuiious happenstances.

Research tidbits dominated the news most of the rest of the year, but on Christmas Day there was news from New Genesis. A week and a half previous the new naval HQ had been set up on the colony, and the ground survey of A-I had been finished with no new results. This marks the completion of survey operations in Luyten 726-8, and clears the way for deployment of automines. Due to the slow speed of the fuel harvester traveling with the group, it will still be nearly two months before the group, which includes the necessary freighter, makes the jump to the system. By the end of the 2092 basic mining operations should be set up on all of the surveyed comets and the big duranium reserves on A-I, a key step towards making New Genesis fully operational.

The two geology teams now inbound to Earth will get some R&R while their GW shuttle undergoes it's maintenance work, and then they will be sent out to YZ Ceti. Confirming the results there is expected to take considerable time, but mining operations cannot begin in earnest until it is finished. That day must come as soon as humanly possible.


Research & Development

** November 3 -- Divisional HQs are now available following a report filed by Alphonse Lambeth. As expected they are considerably expensive, but Earth is in need of two of them and the work will start immediately. The estimated time is nearly two years each. Lambeth will take over work on improving cargo handling systems.

** December 4 -- A relatively inconsequential advance was announced by Lena Bohannan, whose team has completed work on the asteroid mining module. It is expected to literally be a century or two before any asteroid mining ships would be deployed, if ever. Nevertheless the engineers took a look at the specifications anyway. Each module costs the same as a standard mine, so there could potentially be a significant cost savings over using large numbers of automines which cost twice as much. Analysis indicates that for a moderate-sized mining ship(65 kt), there would be some savings over the automine option of about 17%, but when you factor in the need for shore leave and the inactive time that would require it does not seem to be a particularly useful option. For systems with multiple asteroids with significant deposits and no sensible colony sites it might be a good idea, but such systems are certainly going to be rare and none are set to be developed anytime soon.

** December 17 -- Capacitor recharge rates have been improved by Norris Gunterman. Decades down the road, if the economic situation has been stabilized, this may well prove important. For now, it's merely a curiosity. His next project is much more vital. The next stage in power generation, the stellerator fusion reactor, will now have his attention. Most of the work has already been done by more junior researchers, and results are expected in less than two years.



Earth

November 5 -- New research lab completed.


Colonial Developments

November 19 -- As expected, duranium deposits on Neujmin have now been exhausted. As one of the top neutronium producers, it will continue to be fairly important.

Mid-November -- The last of the construction brigades have made it to Titan, where it is expected the new base will be ready sometime in early 2093.


Personnel

Late December -- The tragic, early death of Dr. Kerry Rainbolt, a young scientist who had not yet been granted a project lead, went largely unnoticed. Such things happen unfortunately in the course of human experience, and with the research directorate possessing so many talented minds these days, there are many newcomers who remain on the sidelines.

[Brian Swartz]

There was quite a bit of activity in the early months of 2091, so I decided to split off a couple things.

2091 MRD SUMMARY

Duranium is up a rather astonishing 12kt this year, partly due to the scrapping of a lot of combat ships but at nearly 40kt a sizable emergency stockpile is now forming. This gain is almost exactly the amount coming from Sedna, but unfortunately is not sustainable. Mercassium held steady, showing small increases once the drain from the colony ships ended, while gallicite(1.8kt), corundium(100t), and neutronium(1.9 kt) all moved upwards. It was a very good year on the mining front, but it will still be at least a couple of years before the picture can be reasonably clarified.

Annual Supply as of January 1:

Duranium: 18.3 kt(+1.7%)
Neutronium: 3.24 kt(+2.5%)
Mercassium: 2.06 kt(-2.4%)
Corundium: 1.31 kt(+16%)
Gallicite: 926t(+16%)

Expansion of operations on Herschel-Rigollet provided some much-needed gallicite to help with use in ship maintenance needs, as well as making the corundium flow more secure.

Policy Review

Director Delois Woznicki had some choices to make with this information. It had become clear that a little more shipbuilding was regrettably necessary, which will further stress the system. With a Fletcher-class freighter having been sent to New Genesis, another one would be needed to handle Sol's needs. Additionally, it has become painfully obvious that more jump shuttles are needed. There are four survey shuttles, the George Washington class, and three are always in operation. The inadequacy of this can be shown that a replacement was needed to depart to relieve the shuttle currently in 40 Eridani with the xenology team ten days ago, but none will be ready for a couple months so it will have to stay over it's operational guidelines. With the need for the class expected to only increase in future decades, the choice was made to double the number of vessels from four to eight.

Also, with Herschel-Rigollet having reached it's complement of automines, the next destination for additional deployments had to be decided on. By the middle of the year the full complement needed for the New Genesis start-up would be finished, and the rest would be kept in Sol until the groundwork for YZ Ceti was completed. The uninventively-named asteroid 2004 XA192 was chosen. Nearly a billion kilometers past Neptune orbit(5.4b km total), it's distance was one reason why it has not yet been developed. XA192 will become the second asteroid(after Prokne) to be exploited by SPACE. It holds nearly 200kt of duranium and about 24kt of gallicite, along with lesser amounts of tritanium and boronide. The first shipment of automines should depart before the end of the year, and should aid in the diversification of duranium sources as operations on Sedna continue to tick slowly towards their final years.

[Brian Swartz]

JANUARY - JUNE 2091

The biggest news early in the year came out of research & development, with three new advances in January alone. On the 5th, both Deborah Barnhouse(ceramic composite armor) and Elliot Monks(thermal emissions reduced from 35% to 25%) had their announcements. As if that wasn't enough, the first terraforming installation to be deployed to Titan left that same day. Three weeks later, Jerry Bartholf's team announced that the new 9kt commercial jump drive for use with the Arleigh Burke brigade transports was ready. The new jump-capable specs:

Arleigh Burke 84i(J) Brigade-level Troop Transport
Size: 28.3kt
Crew: 186
Speed: 637 km/s
Fuel: 300k
Capacity: Five battalions/1 Brigade
Armament: 3x CIWS 79 battery
Cost: 710k

For now, Oregon SY will retool in order to build these. The first one should be finished sometime around late summer of '92. Three are expected to be built, which would allow for all six of the regular Burkes to be transported in three task groups of three each if desired.

February began with a bang as well. On the second, the current run of mass drivers which has taken up three dozen factories for years was completed. It was time to count the cost for YZ Ceti, as almost all the equipment for New Genesis has been shipped. The big difference is of course that more infrastructure will be needed to setup the colony there. It would again require several mass drivers(seven in this case, six were sent to New Genesis). Current estimates are that three and a half to four years will be required to built the necessary equipment. It will almost certainly take longer than that to get the ground surveys done in the system, which have not even started yet. It appears that will be the limiting factor on how fast humanity can expand. The total cost is around 7.7m.

The next day, terraforming operations began on Titan, an initiative which deserves it own small chapter in the rundown. This will be a much longer process than Mars and Luna are currently undergoing. The atmosphere here is fairly thick, mostly nitrogen with 5% methane. There's no point in even trying to make the atmosphere breathable here, at least not for a long time. Temperature is the issue here, at -178 celcius it is survival suits and other specialized equipment for dealing with the frigid moon that cause the biggest problems. Adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere to trap more of what little heat Titan gets is going to be the biggest concern for decades, if not centuries. It's already a thick atmosphere(60% thicker than Earth), but if the temperature ever gets good enough(unlikely) the nitrogen and methane can be removed to lessen the pressure.

In the middle of the month, on February 17th, the recently formed NGSF officially went into action. The first freighter and harvester have reached the system. They jumped out with orders to report to their new headquarters. The freighter will be tasked with deploying mass drivers and mines to the five mining outposts in the system: administrators are en route to them already from New Genesis where they have been cooling their heels in preparation for this moment for years. The harvester will naturally make it's way to Luyten B-III, where it will begin harvesting operations. The jump ship reported that second journey will take a further two months, as it jumped back into Sol minutes later on it's way back to Earth.

Another two days, and yet another bulletin as from Ganymede there was word that the last of Ticonderoga 82 sensor bases has come online. Deploying and assembling the entire run of them took less than nine years. The construction brigade is sent immediately to assist on Titan.

There was relative quiet for a couple months, eventually broken by research again on the 27th of April. Dr. Carmelo Constanza announced that improved fabrication techniques are ready, with a projected increase of 14% in output across the board. Now that manufacturing has caught up to mining in terms of technological advancement once again, the pressure on the MRD will only increase.

News has come in bunches this year, and it did so again. On the last day of April, ESF Alpha departed Earth orbit, their overhaul complete. They will return to the site of their most recent explorations, heading to Luyten 726-8, then to Tau Ceti, and then to the systems beyond it. With the focus on YZ Ceti now, their work has become relatively less important to the public eye ...

May also waited until the very end to make it's presence felt. Another task group returned from New Genesis, with a few tidbits on the colony's progress:

Luyten 726-8 Updates(New Genesis Colony)

March 15 -- Automine operations begin on Luyten A-I, the site of nearly a megaton of duranium.

March 28 -- Sensor base is completed. It is noted by Admin. Reneau that SPACE never bothered to send out a CO for it, and that request will be sent as soon as possible. For now, the ten active construction factories will split 25% on new factories, 75% on new automated mines. This is a ratio that will need constant adjustment. Right now the work force is still lacking, with manufacturing going forward at only about a 43% -- and slowly rising -- efficiency. Infrastructure can support more than three times the present population of 330k, and another 150k are inbound from the Sol jump which will aid considerably.

April 25 -- The new colonists, the third such delivery, have been unloaded at New Genesis. The manufacturing sector is now operating at 62%.

April 26 -- Another first is established. The Long Beach harvester assigned to New Genesis deploys at B-III, the first in the system or any system outside of Sol for that matter. Here that will require a three-week trip back to the colony for shore leave bi-annually, a minor inconvenience all things considered.

Back in Sol, ESF Bravo left Earth on June 15 for it's next voyage. It will take the four-month journey to Barnard's Star, then past it to Gliese 563.2. It will be the first visit to the system in nearly a decade by the time they arrive. Another round of exploration is underway.



Colonial Developments

January 3 -- Corbomite exhausted on Herschel-Rigollet

January 5 -- A new terraforming installation headed to Titan, their first.

January 12 -- The colony task group returns from New Genesis. Another 150k colonists will leave with them, along with another mass driver and the rest of the automines needed for the system.

February 4 -- Sedna expands to 58.

February 19 -- Ganymede is the last moon to complete fabrication of it's Ticonderoga 82 sensor base.

May 16 -- Sedna expands to 59 complexes.

May 19 -- The jump ship that brought the freighter and harvester to Luyten has returned to Earth. A tanker and maintenance facilities that Earth no longer needs are next on the agenda, the last four factories that somehow have not been brought to New Genesis due to a clerical snafu, and of course more colonists though those will have to wait as the task group can't take them along with the needed space for the facilities.

Early June -- Sedna expands to 60.


Earth


January 3 -- Two more Forrestals scrapped.

Early February -- SPACE's treasury reports that the balance has reached a billion credits for the first time.

February 23 -- The latest trio of Guardians is ready for service. A third squadron begins it's training period, and another full squadron is begun in the shipyard. It will be more than a year yet before all five planned squadrons have been constructed.

May 13 -- A fifth military academy is finished on Earth. That is all that will be built for now, the supply of manpower will be monitored now for the balance of the decade.

Late May -- It's a few months late, but one of the GW shuttles is finished with the overhaul and heads out to 40 Eridani to relieve the ship standing watch. Better late than never, I think they say.

May 28 -- Just a few days later, the next pair of GW's are finished and a final(for now) pair begun.

June 4 -- Forrestal III scrapped.

Mid-June -- Forrestal III scrapped


Research & Development

** January 5 -- Ceramic composite armour finished(Deborah Barnhouse)

** January 5 -- Elliot Monks finishes work on thermal emissions(reduced to 25%). Shield regeneration and cloak miniaturization will be next up respectively for the two elite DS researchers.

** January 26 -- Jerry Bartholf's team finishes testing of the new 9kt commercial jump drive for the Burke.

** April 27 -- Construction rate improved(Dr. Carmelo Constanza).


Personnel

January 30 -- New administrator Frances Laprade is one to watch. She can already handle anything short of the director's office and has a wide-ranging beginner's skillset. Also, the Energy Weapons field has a new elite man in Dr. Freddy Salgiver. Only 29, he is tops in the field right now. Combined with other developments, there are now no novice researchers with ongoing projects at all. Long-term, that has to be a concern.

April 15 -- Earth governor Evelyn Kaczor has learned a bit about logistics in her new position.

April 18 -- Four army and three navy officers have been dismissed.

[Brian Swartz]

JULY - DECEMBER 2091

On July 13th, there was a little more news on the geosurvey front. While nothing has yet been heard from the teams in Barnard's Star, the other two have finished the overhaul period at Earth and are outbound for YZ Ceti. There are eight bodies, most expected to be large projects and take months to years to complete. That is not to mention that it will take some weeks to get in position, but mining cannot commence until the initial survey is complete. There will be a mix of automining and standard mines in the system eventually, but the richest, prohibitively hot A-I, will be the first to have a team. Director Woznicki has been busy this month as well. After working on her substantial political connections, for what reason I don't know since she's finished her last election, she has developed a bit of skill in population growth, one of her weak points.

On the 28th there was more significant news, with the latest efficiency leap for jump drives being completed(Dr. Alejandro Otteson). SPACE was waiting on this advance before putting into motion research projects aimed at new commercial jump drives. Currently we have operational versions for the North Carolina at the top end, and also for the Arleigh Burke recently developed. Two more are desired, one to fit a jump-capable Fletcher standard freighter, and another to fit the small Gato for smaller runs. The option of a Long Beach-sized drive was considered but rejected, as it is not believed they will need to make jumps often enough to justify the investment. A North Carolina can escort them through the jump when needed, and most of the time they will simply be on station in whatever system they are posted in. Otteson himself will handle the new jump drives. The freighters will have the same cargo capacity but will be significantly slower than their present counterparts, so they will only be used when needed to transport between systems. In the case of the Gato's drive, it will be soley a single-ship drive as the small freighters are too small to mount a multi-ship jump drive given current capabilities.

The very next day another task group returned from New Genesis. This time, however, they will not be going back. The colony has all that it needs. It's time to head to YZ Ceti, which means the long debate about where to settle first, the 'primary' colony in the system, needs a resolution. It's the kind of decision that is made only at the Director's desk.

There are eight bodies in the system that are in the 'marginally habitable range', with colony costs from 6.77-8.65 with current technology. At that level they are hostile enough that there will be some population available for manufacturing work but a minority. Titan, for example, is nearly the low end of that range and has just under a quarter of it's population available for similar duties. All of them will probably be developed eventually, but there are important mineral deposits on a couple of them. Director Delois Woznicki decided not to make the choice on the availability of minerals since automines would need to take the lead early while available population focuses on terraforming and construction(esp. infrastructure). Much later in the system's development, as more people become available a switch to standard mining may well occur ... but that would be a very long-term concern. Given that reality, the fifth moon of the sixth planet, a super jovian, was preferable due to it's already thick atmosphere(nearly twice Earth's) and resulting somewhat more tolerable temperature.

It was decided to go with a compound name for the various locations in the system, beginning with Quarry Hub for that moon as it would serve as SPACE's headquarters and control in YZ Ceti. With that decided, over a hundred sections of infrastructure and a pair of mass drivers departed on a max cargo group the next day. The trip to Quarry Hub is longer than the one to New Genesis, an average trip of about 9.3b instead of 5.7b kilometers. Put another way, it's almost exactly a five-month trip each way, so the process of getting equipment in place will definitely take longer than before. The promise is worth it though, many times over.

After a quiet August, on September 18 a new logistical issue became apparent. With a new squadron of Guardian corvettes readied, the total is now 17 of the 20 planned, and the final three will now enter production. The process of reassigning was slowed because officers needed to be exchanged in multiple systems(Luyten and ESF Alpha which was by now a couple systems away), a situation which revealed the need for more Caldwell J VIP jump shuttles. There are currently only two. The order went out for four more, tripling to a total of six. Efficiently moving personnel from one place to another is a necessity to ensure smooth operations throughout SPACE.

By early October a new commercial shipyard had been finished and maintenance supply stockpiles reached the desired level, as Earth continues to clear up it's backlog of industrial projects. As the calendar reached November, the Guardian project reached a crucial milestone with the deployment of the second squadron, this time to the Lalande 21185 jump. Both dangerous jump points should be under the watch of the corvettes indefinitely from here on out.

The first shipment to 2004 XA192, Sol's latest mining outpost, departed Earth ten days later. It is nearly a three-month journey by freighter, so it won't actually be operational until next year.

The first week of December brought significant industrial news from Earth. Governor Evelyn Kaczor has made a significant breakthrough which will increase production significantly. Over the next couple of weeks, SPACE celebrated a pair of population milestones. Mars became the first colony to reach 100 million, and then within days Earth crossed the two-billion threshold.



Personnel

July 1 -- Luna-born Stella Yon is sent to New Genesis to take command of the sensor base there.

August 15 -- Cmdr. Chance Perj has developed a few important friends: political reliability is up to 5%.

Mid-November -- Cmdr. Chance Perj has increased his connections a bit more(10%).

December 6 -- Earth gov. Evelyn Kaczor has achieved a breakthrough in factory oversight, significantly increasing her accomplished ability in that field. A noticeable, if marginal, decrease in required production times is being seen across the board.

Late December -- Dr. Leonel Wessels, currently working on a larger meson cannon, steps up to elite status. There are now a record nine elite scientists who command half the available laboratories between them. Wessels in the second in energy weapons, along with Salsgiver.


Earth

Early July -- Retooling for the jump-capable Arleigh Burke is finished a bit ahead of schedule. The first two of three planned are expected to be finished next May.

August 4 -- Sol is back up to it's complement of two Fletcher 84i standard freighters as the new one is completed.

Early August -- The second squadron of Guardians has completed its training, and returns to Earth for maintenance.

September 18 -- Another four Guardians built, and a fourth squadron will soon begin training exercises.

September 29 -- New commercial shipyard is finished, the Astilleros Espanoles. At least one more will be constructed. Astilleros Espanoles will expand to at least 30kt.

October 4 -- Earth has reached the desired reserve of five kilotons of maintenance supplies. About two dozen factories will be switched to shipyard construction.

October 18 -- New research lab completed.

October 27 -- Final pair of GW's finished.

November 1 -- The second squadron of Guardians is deployed, there is now one at each of the dangerous jumps.

November 5 -- The sensor base for YZ Ceti has been completed. It probably won't be shipped out for quite a while but it's ready now.

November 24 -- The colonization group returns to Earth. The only thing left now is more colonist shipments to New Genesis. They depart with another 30k souls a couple days later.

December 10 -- KCI Naval SY, Kaiser Company Inc. in full, has been finished on Earth and the remaining factories are diverted to the commercial shipyard.


Research & Development

** July 28 -- Alejandro Otteson finishes a significant advance in jump drive efficiency. The practical effect is miniaturization, allowing a jump drive to be less than 17% of a ship's mass instead of the current required 20%. On large ships, this can be a significant savings.

** October 25 -- Elliot Monks is in the news again with the announcement that we can now cloak a kiloton-sized ship. Wrapping up a project on improving shield strength will be his next task.


Colonial Developments

Early December -- Mars becomes the first colony to reach 100 million population.

[Brian Swartz]

**There was a lot to do even though the events of this time period were not particularly dramatic. I also spent some time getting the naval officers into a spreadsheet to facilitate being able to identify promotions more quickly.**

JANUARY - JUNE 2092

The mining outlook shows a more promising picture each year, but there's still plenty of work to do when you dive deeper into the numbers. Duranium stockpiles topped 50kt by the start of the year, and by the time Sedna expires there will likely be enough stored up to last decades. On the other hand production minus Sedna is at 79% of the current need, and only 51% when you take away the other duranium sources set to be exhausted during the same timeframe. Since some of those mines will be redistributed, the actual readiness probably lies between those numbers. Mercassium is the only mineral that continues to decline albeit only by a tiny amount.

Not a whole lot happened until March, when another terraforming facility was sent off to Mars followed by the completion of blueprints for a Fletcher-sized jump drive and the deployment of the first jump-capable brigade transport. The new design is quickly hammered out:

Fletcher 84i(J) Jump-capable standard freighter
Size: 49.1 kt
Crew: 230
Speed: 733 km/s
Fuel: 400k
Cargo: 25k
Cost: 850k

These will be used anytime a single installation needs to be transported to a different system, or when 'mid-size' ships need an escort they are also a much more cost-effective alternative to the massive North Carolina jump superfreighters. They cost more than a third more than a standard Fletcher and the speed is less than three quarters of the original variant so insystem use would only be in case of emergency. Vegesacker Werft SY will be prepared to begin the first of the class before the end of the year.

At the end of March, there was the latest update from New Genesis as well. The population there is up to 830k, with industrial efficiency at three-quarters of maximum. One implication of the results there is already clear: many new colonies, such as the hostile conditions in YZ Ceti, will require a lower number of construction factories to start with since they won't have enough manpower to operate them all. Most of the comets have basic mining operations up and running, and the freighter is working non-stop to get all of the automines in place as duranium is at 18 tons and dropping. From that point on, Gov. Michael Reneau will need to carefully juggle industrial priorities in order to make sure the colony has enough infrastructure but is also expanding mining and production facilities at an appropriate rate. Much will be made of the New Genesis colony's experiences over the coming years and decades, especially in terms of fine-tuning SPACE's approaches to expansion going forward.

On April 8, engineering was busy again with a new design as the Gato jump drive was finalized.

Gato-class jump-capable small freighter
Size: 9.95 kt
Crew: 51
Speed: 603 km/s
Fuel: 100k
Cargo: 5k
Cost: 204k

Again the jump model is slower and costlier than the original. A fair number of these are expected to be needed. Virtually every system SPACE colonizes is expected to either have a surplus of some minerals, a deficit in others, or in most cases both. The Gato 84i(J) will serve as a delivery vehicle for these materials, and scheduling these trips will provide yet another beauracratic task. The smallest commercial yard, Kvaerner-Masa, presently tasked with the Portland battalion transports which are not expected to be needed for the forseeable future, will retool and the first of the class should be in production by about the middle of the third quarter this year.

Another week, and the MRD got some good news with the completion of the Guardian project so far as the shipyards are concerned. The last three were pressed into service, and training exercises will begin as soon as their captains can be relocated from other assignments. With a few shipyards still active, it is a welcome relief to the MRD that this resource drain is no longer required.

May began with news from Sedna. The completion of a 62nd mining complex there was not worth any particular bulletin, but it was accompanied by a matter of more importance. Gov. Ronald Waxman reported that the beginnings of lost efficiency have now come. Accessibility of duranium is now just slightly down(89% as compared to the 90% it has been at since operations began decades ago). It's just the start, but the long-feared Sedna crash has now officially begun. The exhaustion clock is currently just over 14 years.

The month ended with the departure of what is to be the last group of colonists sent to New Genesis, and a period of shore leave for the crews of the first cargo group returning from YZ Ceti. Before the end of the year the transition of colonization efforts between the two systems will effectively be complete.

June 12 brought more news on the research front, more a matter of future consideration than anything for the present time. Dr. Julio Kuchler has completed theoretical research into electronic warfare, allowing for the creation of ECM and ECCM suites. Practically speaking, ECM works to reduce the accuracy of beam weapons fire against a ship, and the range at which a missile fire control can effectively track the ship. ECCM works to counter these effects. SPACE's researchers will be more concerned with defensive ECM aspects, though no study of them is slated to begin quite yet.


Earth

Early January -- Another pair of Forrestals scrapped.

February 18 -- The third Guardian squadron completes training and returns to Earth for overhaul.

March 23 -- First jump-capable Arleigh Burke is now ready. A second will be ready soon, and the third hull is begun.

April 2 -- The four new Caldwell(J) jump-capable VIP shuttles are now finished.

April 14 -- Last three Guardians completed.

April 25 -- Second of the jump-capable Burke's is finished.

May 14 -- The third squadron of Guardians is deployed. Having finished their training run, they'll join the first at the Epsilon Eridani jump point.


Personnel

April 12 -- Commodore Rosemary Tallant's crew training ability is now near the top of the scale. The 46-year-old, presently in charge of the missile bases on Earth, is a serious candidate for the next chief of the navy.

April 25 -- It is announced that Governor Jedidiah Thone(Io) is retiring at 64.

May 18 -- Col. Deacon Palmer Jr. retires. Last 18 years, almost his entire career, was spent in garrison duty on Titan.

May 26 -- A new administrator joins the cause, one with a solid starter ability in mining, Mr. Harley Reagen. I expect SPACE will need every able hand in that department available for decades, so this is a good shot in the arm for the colonization efforts.


Colonial Developments

February 10 -- Sedna expands to 61. You would think they would stop building new complexes that are going to be useless in a little over a decade, but apparently the civilians are very short-sighted.

March 15 -- A new terraforming installation is ready and sent off to Mars, which will give the red planet two once again.

May 4 -- Sedna expands to 62nd complex.


Research & Development

** March 23 -- Julio Kuchler has completed work on improving tracking time against missiles, now at a 40% increase. He'll finish up theoretical electronic warfare research that is almost completed next.

** March 27 -- The jump drive for the Fletcher is now ready, and Alejandro Otteson will move on to the Gato version, already mostly completed by Bartholf before the laboratory was required for a more pressing priority.

** April 8 -- The new jump drive for the Gato is ready.

** May 29 -- A new increase in shield strength, designated Gamma level, has been finished by Elliot Monks. He'll spend the next year-plus working on cloaking efficiency, a project about 40% completed by junior researchers.

** Dr. Julio Kuchler completes Electronic Warfare research, and will next focus on fire controls extended the range of our beam weapons.

[Brian Swartz]

JULY - DECEMBER 2092

The constant march of progress continued, August in particular was a buzz of activity for SPACE. It was one of those times when a bunch of different things just happened around the same time. The first bulletin was in the second half of July, as prodigy Norris Gunterman announced a working prototype of a reactor powered by what they are calling 'stellarator fusion'. Don't ask, I have no idea how it works. It is a significant leap forward however. There is currently ongoing research into increasing reactor power in general, so no new specific blueprints will be developed until that is completed. The Navy was most interested in the application of a new engine based on this naturally. The concept, which is all it is at this point, is known as a 'magneto-plasma' drive system. SPACE expects it will be at least a decade, and quite possibly longer, until such a thing becomes reality, and as we know from past experience, prototyping and refitting and all that rigamarole will take years after that. It's coming though. Eventually.

August began with the cargo group departing for YZ Ceti, weighted down by a full load(130 sections) of infrastructure. Then the first pair of Divisional Army HQs were readied a couple of weeks later, though it would be some time before officers could be reassigned. Dorian Shelite was promoted to Major General to take Second Division, with Zoe Bean and Sterling Silvers Jr. narrowly passed over for the spot. There was a lot more going on of less significance, as always check the supplementals for details.

September 6 brought the second shipment of automines departing for asteroid 2004 XA192. They'll be at this for a while, at least 40 are expected to start. At that level gallicite reserves would last for more than 30 years, duranium for more than two and a half centuries, and more than 700 tons a year would be supplied. Two days later the last Guardian squadron entered it's training phase. 20 of the Navy's 28 captains are COs on the corvettes. That number is expected to remain quite static for the forseeable future. Growth opportunities are significant in the ranks of the junior officers(106 Commanders, 91 Lt. Commanders and growing consistently) which is expected to make competition for the captain spots fierce in years to come. Another two days, and the two divisional HQs for the Army were formally arranged with all the officers now in place. At the moment there are only five brigades though, enough for just over one full division. Director Woznicki sets forth a plan to have a full four-brigade division for each billion citizens on a world, with a brigade for a population of 100 million. Every populated world already has a garrison battalion. To put this into place, four more brigade HQs will be needed, and each of the three training bases begins recruiting one immediately. With SPACE stretching it's legs galactically, the Army will need to expand to match. With all that going on in a five-days stretch, the beauracrats were quite busy for a while.

September closed with the completion of commercial SY Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock. Sun will expand to 30k as did the last one. No more shipyards are considered to be currently needed. This allowed the diversion of a full fifth of the factories into other endeavors. Research, colonization, and new investment in factories/mines now occupy almost a third each of the output. That result was far more important than the shipyard itself.

The hits kept right on coming in early October. A week in and there was the return of the colonization group from Luyten. They had much to report from the New Genesis colony. The population there had reached 1.03 million, with the industrial sector reporting in at almost 93%. The only remaining step was to move in Forrestals from the jump to Luyten into the system itself and to the Luyten-Tau Ceti jump point, but that would need to wait until there was enough population to support staffing the maintenance facilities. Other than that, New Genesis was up and running, fully functional.

Gov. Michael Reneau has set a goal of having the industrial sector keep infrastructure sufficient to handle a year's growth at any one time. The rest of the factories will work on producing automines. Right now that ratio is set at a third of capacity on infrastructure, a ratio that will constantly need to be tweaked. The colony has 19 tons each of duranium and corundium, with duranium slowly declining. More mines are needed, and it remains to be seen whether the fledgling industrial centers set up will be equal to the task in time. The first automine is nearly halfway finished though.

One note to trumpet on the positive side, though small, was that the task group had brought back the first-ever shipment of minerals from outside Sol. It wasn't a lot, but a surplus of 228 tons, only 20 of those in demand(mercassium, galacite, neutronium). Not even a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, but it was something. There was unfortunate news as the man tasked with keeping the primary mines on the large first planet in Lutyen 726-8, Edison Fredrickson, had been forced into retirement suddenly by an unforseen medical issue a few weeks prior. This was clearly a job for the best free mining administrator, and Harley Reagen was the obvious choice.

After that, it seemed as if everyone tired of the hectic activity of the previous couple of months. Important events just fell of a cliff, and while there were various minor comings and goings, SPACE operations were pretty routine for the last several weeks of 2092. Unquestionably the near-finalizing of transporting equipment and colonists to New Genesis and the shift in focus to the rich deposits awaiting in YZ Ceti was the biggest news of the year.


Research & Development

** July 20 -- Stellarator Fusion Reactor research is finished by Dr. Norris Gunterman's team.

** August 23 -- Company-sized combat drop module finished(Stanley Kogut).

** November 4 -- Bessie Wallander finishes the latest upgrade to thermal sensors, and retasks to EM detection.


Earth

August 7 -- New research laboratory complex finished on Earth.

Mid-August -- First-ever pair of Divisional Army HQs are now operational, First and Second Division incorporated on Earth.

Mid-August -- The first Gato(J) is begun as well, and the Astilleros Espanoles SY reaches it's target of 30kt capacity.

September 6 -- Shipment of automines to 2004 XA192 leaves.

September 8 -- The fifth and final Guardian squadron begins fleet training exercises.

September 30 -- Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock commercial SY is finished and begins expansion.

December 4 -- The last colony task group arrives at Earth from New Genesis. Like the cargo group they will have shore leave now before joining the efforts in YZ Ceti.

December 7 -- Retooling finished for the new jump-capable Fletcher. Construction begins on the first, due out in the third quarter next year.


Personnel

November 6 -- The Navy is celebrating graduate Tracy Stransky as one to be fast-tracked. Lt. Stransky is borderline elite in training right out of the academy.


Colonial Developments

September 23 -- Tritanium exhausted on Comas Sola. Now only duranium remains, and a little over two years of that. At this rate by 2095 it will be the first comet(or any other body) that SPACE has completely mined out.

December 16 -- Sedna is up to 63 complexes. Despite this, it is still below it's peak production as returns continue to diminish ever-so-slowly.

[Brian Swartz]

JANUARY - APRIL 2093

The latest year in the annals of SPACE began with some relatively not particularly important advances in research. On February 10 the missile base was finished on Titan and the construction brigades headed back to Earth, and then eight days later there was a stunning development as Director Woznicki made a system-wide prime-time address.

For the first time in nearly a quarter century, SPACE naval assets have been attacked. This is the news that was delivered to Fleet HQ just hours before as both of ESF Alpha's Explorer-class jump scouts reached Sol space. The flotilla was damaged but no ships were lost and all are headed back to Sol, a journey which is expected to take several months. An analysis of the data will be undertaken at that time.

Woznicki wasn't done there, announcing that she would be retiring in early April to clear the way for her succesor to craft humanity's response to these events. It was expected that the 64-year-old would step down this year or next due to declining health; this just gave her an appropriate pretext for it. The public was both angered and stunned, and intense debate broke out about what, if anything, should be done.

The upcoming election dominated the news, though minor goings-on managed to penetrate the fog of rhetoric and speculation from time to time. A new research complex was finished on March 22, notable because the missiles & kinetics field, dead for years due to high-ranking scientists taking all the space for other projects, got underway again with Deacon Palmer III taking the reigns for improving ordnance production.


Research & Development

** January 8 -- Shield regeneration improved to 2.5(Dr. Deborah Barnhouse). Overall stronger shields(designated Delta) will next occupy her team's time.

** January 12 -- Minh Klausner finishes development of a 15cm HPM(microwave).


Earth

January 12 -- Third and final jump-capable brigade transport is finished.

January 27 -- Gato(J) finished, first of the jump-capable versions. A second one is begun.

March 22 -- Research complex finished.


Personnel

January 12 -- Commodore Rodolfo Caley has improved his training to go along with elite-level initiative.

Late January -- Luna governor Roxanne Harshberger has improved political connections to the accomplished level.

Mid-February -- Dr. Benny Carpenter is reported to have died of natuarl causes while working with the Chance Perj geology team. Their shuttle is en route to Earth now for a replacement.

March 17 -- Commodore Parker Lanzi has reached elite status in training. Also, Ens. Ted Makinster, only weeks out of the academy, is added to Chance Perj's geology team. He's something of a prodigy in surveying, and an exception is made to the normal requirements. Making Commander at age 21 is certainly a good start to one's career. The team heads back to Barnard's Star, where several years of surveying have achieved no results for reasons that boggle the mind.


Colonial developments

February 10 -- The missile base on Titan is finished. The contruction brigades will now head back to Earth.

February 15 -- Sedna expands to 64.

February 18 -- Colonization group leaves for YZ Ceti with terraforming installation from Mars, first group of colonists, and more infrastructure. Lucio Choi(24 years old) is sent in as the first administrator.

March 16 -- Sixth terraforming installation finished and sent to Mars, replacing the one sent to YZ Ceit a month ago.

[Brian Swartz]

Delois Woznicki Bio

Delois Woznicki was the first director to be born after the founding of SPACE, and upon her graduation from the academy she was heralded as the next great leader, being appointed within months to the comet Van Biebroeck. Nobody, not Duling, EIghmy, or anyone else, has joined the civil service possessing greater natural talent for the role. She hit all the major mining outposts: Triton, Sedna, Machholz, and spent some time at Titan as well, but for decades it appeared she would never make the improvements needed to excel at management of large-scale economies as she clearly did in small-scale ones. She spent the 60s and 70s as a mid-level manager for that reason: a lot of time spent on Mercury, stints at Callisto and Europa as well. When finally she made her breakthrough in the mid-80s, it didn't take long for her to be appointed to governor of Earth in '87, a precursor to winning the greatest landslide in electoral history in 2090. Better late than never? Perhaps, but humanity would have been much better off if Woznicki had developed her vision much earlier in her career. An excellent career, but clearly the chance to be truly legendary was missed out on.

Directorial Election: April 5, 2093

Woznicki served just roughly two and a half years, less than her predecessor Burt Stonerock(four years), which was less than his predecessor Riley Awad(six years). There is a pattern developing here, but one that is not expected to continue under the new administration, whoever is to win it. Her successor is expected to be in office for much longer, probably at least five years and possibly ten or more depending on who it is. That alone makes it an important vote. When combined with the recent report of the attack on ESF Alpha, lessons in colonization learned from the New Genesis colony, and the beginnings of the long-feared and anticipated Sedna Mineral Crash, it is a time of great importance for SPACE. Turnover was expected to be very high, and the campaigning was fierce.

Eleven were qualified, and seven of them made the ballot. Unfortunately, it is the weakest field ever seen. There are no truly excellent administrators around right now: the last of them just retired. Adding to the tension of the campaign was the fact that a trio distinguished themselves from the pack, a trio initially indistinguishable from each other in terms of their electability.

** Ambitious, risk-taking Errol Igoe has been the governor at Titan for the past dozen years. He's the foremost shipbuilding mind in SPACE, and desires to expand the navy to support more rapid colonization, along with designing a terraforming class of ship to be built en masse, avoiding requiring boots on the ground for such a task. Igoe, 55, has respectable but unimpressive skills in factory oversight and mining.

** Long-respected Evelyn Kaczor has been Woznicki's governor on Earth during the past years. She is not quite as skilled as the other two but makes up for it with a well-earned reputation as a straight shooter. She also wants to expand terraforming efforts, espescially in the colonies, but via ground installations not ships. Her time on Earth has significantly improved her talents in industrial administration. Kaczor is also the youngest of the three at 52.

** The most talented, and unfortunately also the most irresponsible which is why it's not in his pocket, is blowhard Russell Salvucci who has toiled on Mars for over a decade. He's the 'senior statesman' of the group at 60, though 'statesman' is hardly an appropriate appelation. Health is not a concern, unlike most of his age. Salvucci's best skill is in the financial realm where SPACE has no concerned, he's also accomplished in mining but not particularly able in industrial or naval supervision. Salvucci has made a career out of playing up mankind's worst fears and basest motivations. During times of unrest he is well regarded: during any other time he has tended to be barely tolerated.

There is one long-shot, Ricardo Bloise of Mercury who is 48 and in excellent health with significant skills in mining, shipbuilding, and financials. He doesn't have the rounded skillset or resume to really make a splash unless all three of the favorites falter though. Just glad to be on the ballot are Gordon Semien of Venus, charismatic Michael Reneau of New Genesis, and Carl McCloe from the mining colony on Machholz who is really just looking for exposure here.

In terms of drama, the election lived up to the buildup in this case. It was a disaster for Errol Igoe, who ran probably the worst campaign ever seen. Scandals, faux paus, missteps of every nature. That left a two-way race, and just about as clear a distinction as you could make, between Kaczor and Salvucci. This time, the forces of impatience and xenophobia were strong enough to get their way, and Salvucci won a very narrow victory. Full results:

Russell Salvucci -- 20.1%
Evelyn Kaczor -- 19.7%
Ricardo Bloise -- 14.5%
Gordon Semien -- 13.7%
Michael Renau -- 13.2%
Errol Igoe -- 12.9%
Carl Mccloe -- 5.9%

If merely a quarter of a percent had shifted their votes from Salvucci to Kaczor, a much different future would be upon us. It was an election where emotion won out over logic. Anger and distrust over the latest hostilities was as big a factor as any: the people want action, regardless of how senseless that desire might be from an objective point of view. Not all of the people, not even most of the people, but enough of them to put their man into the Director's Office. Just enough. The sentiment was described as 'maximum stupid' by some of the less charitable detractors of Salvucci. One thing's for certain: you can pile the status quo under a metric crapton of rubble now: it won't survive the morning.

[path12]

OK, that's pretty cool. If you get room for Path Thirteen they would be ready to try something.

[Brian Swartz]

There's always room for more. What branch of service do you prefer(navy/army/scientist/administrator)?

[path12]

Wherever the most need is would be fine but that election fascinated me so is that admin?

[Brian Swartz]

Yes, you need to go the admin route if you want a shot at screwing up SPACE ... ahem, being in the Director's election.

[path12]

Screwing things up is a specialty so politics it is!

[Brian Swartz]

This is suspended again as I've run into a couple of bugs with the old version I'm using(again, can't upgrade without losing the campaign).

I'm considering three options: continuing just to see where the story goes with some workarounds that I really don't like, starting a new campaign based on a more realistic, multi-faction start beginning at present day, or just doing something else entirely other than an Aurora project. I think I need to take some time to consider this.