3.3.2027 – Military Academy finished. For the next year-plus, the miners are charged with stockpiling as many minerals as they can, pending completion of the Palmer team’s research.
Mid-March –
Col. Sterling Silvers is commissioned, and observers consider her the best of the 15 Colonels right out of the Academy. She has a great skill in Ground Combat(30%) and is very good at Ground Forces Training(100). No other Army officer can match either of those abilities in probably the two most important categories for the job. Silvers clearly is headed for great things, and should be the next general. She is known as an Atheist, Observant, Moody, and Gloomy – political skills are not her forte, and will probably be her downfall if anything is.
In May, the Academy finally commissioned somebody worse than
Chip Overdrive, who is now no longer the laughing stock of the Navy. Ok, at least not as much the laughing stock of the Navy. Before the month was out, they found a second naval officer of like ability – were they dragging the bottom of the rivers for these guys now?
In September,
Mitchell Aull, a master of the political game, is promoted to Captain and assigned to Fleet HQ as the Intelligence Officer. Three of the seven staff positions there are now filled.
Late March 2028 – As the team was approaching the time to work on their final report,
Dr. Deacon Palmer was noted to have increased his expertise markedly in Construction & Production as a result of his work on the project(now a 15% bonus). Although there isn’t enough time left
for it have a huge impact, this is expected to accelerate the reports’ arrival by about two weeks.
Late June 2028 – As expected, Sterling Silvers did not wait long as has been promoted to Brigadier General. His abilities – despite having not received an actual command yet – have been so widely recognized that he has succeeded
BG Dolph Stallone as the top ground forces commander.
July 11th, 2028 – The Palmer team’s report was delivered to SPACE HQ the previous night, and this day(and many to come as well) would be spent poring over it.
Lena Dungey and the three deputy directors soon lost their powers of speech, able only to gurgle and blink and grunt in response to what they found. The high-level summary of the report detailed an unbelievable finding and two inescapable conculsions:
** The TN minerals were more revolutionary than anyone had imagined, or could have. Their properties were so revolutionary that:
** Earth’s economy was obsolete. Not merely parts of it. All of it, in it’s entirety. A complete conversion would be required to take advantadge of the fact that
** New technologies in all fields, previously unconsidered and un-thought of, would now be possible.
ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING
The present economic paradigm was based on large-scale factories which could be adjusted to whatever needed to be built. In order to unlock the potential of TN technology, this way of doing things had to go. The Palmer report detailed the need for dedicated facilities that specialized in a particular branch of manufacturing, taking advantadge of the amazing properties of the new minerals. An astounding increase was possible in what was possible to
produce:
** 10-fold increase in mining output from converting factories to mines
** 20-fold increase with conversions to refineries
** 10-fold increase for conversions to either multi-purpose construction factories, ordnance factories, or fighter factories(not that there is any immediate use for the latter pair)
It was clear that whatever was decided, this conversion was absolutely necessary and would need to be a major focus of efforts in the coming years.
In addition, there were many more types of facilities possible. New, modern research labs could be built; orbital shipyards of either commercial or naval focus: automated mines which would require no labor at all, freeing up the work force for other tasks, and many others which would have no imminent value but helpful potentially down the line. The options for industrial construction were only four as of yesterday: today, with the schematics outlined in this report, the list has expanded six-fold to 24 ...
It is clear that it will be rarely if ever that the factories sit idle in the future as they have for over a year ...
NEW TECHNOLOGIES
The expansion of research possibilities was similar in scale. TN technology provided the possibility of not just a revolutionized present: rather, that was merely the tip of the iceberg. In broad terms, the Palmer report outlined the following areas of potential advancement:
** Rudimentary terraforming possibilities, based either on orbiting vessels or land-based installations
** Potential increases in the efficiency of all manner of production above the incredible gains already described
** Future abilities to mine asteroids or convert fuel from the gases in the upper atmospheres of gas giants
** Improved materials for better armor, and the possibility of kinetic shields on spacecraft
** Space-based weapons of several varieties of significant reach and potential damage, several orders of magnitude beyond the only current try(ICBMs). Some had a ballistic base, others were based on focused energy
** A wide variety of specialized modules for potential spacecraft, including cryogenic transport for colonizing other worlds, advanced cargo and storage systems, orbital habitats, salvaging any derelict spacecraft that might potentially be encountered, and many more
** Improved power-generating technology to allow significant amounts to be produced in small enough size to be useful on a starship
** Higher power output and efficiency than current engine technology could allow for
** Improved sensors optimized for space of various types
** Scanners that could detect mineral deposits and/or gravitational anomalies
** Etc.
Like the Manufacturing Ministry, Reserach & Development had no lack of options to consider.
All of this left Dungey and the three deputy directors quite overwhelmed. They needed to move immediately, but weren’t quite sure what the right direction was, so Dungey ordered the Manufacturing Ministry to concentrate half it’s efforts on upgrading the factories, another quarter each to converting some to mines and some to fuel refineries. That would get some progress moving and hold down demand for action while a more detailed long-term plan was formed over the rest of the month. As for the research team, the top priority had been and still was to find TN minerals beyond Earth. Unfortunately none of the top scientists had particularly noteworthy knowledge of sensors and the associated instruments, so the most talented overall –
Dr. Wayne Sabagh – was tapped to lead a team investigating ship-mounted geological scanning packages. All 5 laboratories were tasked over to this effort for the time being, which was expected to take until next May.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Grover
Can we just use him on our first test flight and leave the airlocks open or something?
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All in favor?
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Originally Posted by ntndeacon
We scientists who are the most important people should be made to feel like that by Victoria Secret models!
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No, just no. Shut up and get back to work.