Author Topic: Stars, here we come! - Part 2  (Read 2745 times)

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Offline Northfield Stradford (OP)

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Stars, here we come! - Part 2
« on: April 02, 2017, 11:33:17 AM »
I have put a lot more of work and roleplay in this one, hope you like it!

Jan.     20th 2040
After years of research the magnecto-plasma drive technology could be finally used for engines, this new development, led the Emperor to intensify his support to space exploration, despite growing opposition to what some saw as a waste of money and time; Stradford planned an unprecedented plan of expansion of the spatial shipyards and research infrastructure.     3 commercial shipyards were ordered, the two existing ones saw their size grow rapidly and a new slipway was in construction.     Naval Shipyards were too, seeing big expansions.     But this new construction fever, was quickly draining the stockpile of duranium that the new Empire has acquired over the last two decades.   
Feb.     30th ? 2040
The very first human mining colony was established by a civilian company, this news led to a new surge of support in favor of the Imperial Space Program, soon the shipyard modifications took up 15.    1% of the government budget, but the state finances too were in good shape: the coffers contained some 1431 billion pounds which is less than the expanses of February 2040 in installation construction.     Despite this the Government accepted to purchase the output of the Crommelin colony, in order to bring more investors for such projects, on the surface the conquest of space was for many a new gold rush, the immensity of space and all of its riches at the reach of whoever audacious enough to try to grab them.     The constant shipping of infrastructure to Luna in prevision of the establishment of a new colony on the moon, didn’t changed that mind set, it reinforced that “space fever”.     Some more conservative minds were wary of all of this agitation, and tried to warn the world against it.     They were promptly called “neo-luddites”, and silenced.   
Jun.     2nd 2040
A message arrived in the Emperor’s office at midnight; Stradford who worked as usual very late, almost jumped to ceiling after reading its content, a structure had been discovered around the 3rd Jump point of Sol System, analysts speculated to it served as a “jump gate” allowing inter-system jumps.     Its recent discovery, raised new questions: Who or what built it? And since when is it there?
But this discovery implied the possibility of sentient alien life forms, which is most definitely frightening indeed.     Further investigation was necessary, yet Humanity did not have at its disposition a ship capable to evaluate the potential threat of alien, neither did it the means of dealing with it.     Energy weapons research was nearly inexistent and missile research was just starting, and the technology to produce decent TN missiles engines was also lacking.     Earth was defenseless.   
So of course, strict secrecy was established on the whole matter.   
Jun 3rd 2040
It was decided that funds destined to construction and production department would be injected into missile research, that maximum engine power modifier was the second priority and that the biggest naval shipyard would only be expanded to 2.    000 tons instead of the 10.    000 tons expansion project initially scheduled, so that it could be ready to produce ships up to 9.    000 tons with its 3 slipways by the end of next year, and a new sensor tech was to be created along with new jump drive technologies for a new jump scout design.   
Jun.     3rd 2041
Plans were completed for the first jump capable Human ship, the HMS Amergo:
Quote
HMS Amergo class Jump Scout    6 000 tons     180 Crew     1378.    4 BP      TCS 120  TH 1200  EM 0
10000 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-29     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 0
Maint Life 0.    55 Years     MSP 287    AFR 144%    IFR 2%    1YR 518    5YR 7767    Max Repair 600 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months    Spare Berths 0   
Begue Defense Systems J6000(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 6000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Begue Defense Systems 1200 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 1200    Fuel Use 82.    67%    Signature 1200    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 590 000 Litres    Range 21.    4 billion km   (24 days at full power)
Chebat Design Bureau ASS--MR577-R100 - "Scout" (1)     GPS 52500     Range 577.    5m km    Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
But the huge magneto-plasma drive engine and the big sensor array, left little space for the fuel, the Amergo would also be the first Human ship to use magneto-plasma drive technology.     Obviously, due to it’s the various defects the design was rejected.     
And a new design for Jump Engine was immediately ordered, and ship was designed bigger to carry more fuel.   
Jun.     24th 2041
The HMS Amergo Mod-1, sees its range doubled compared to its predecessor, which makes it more viable as a scout:
Quote
HMS Amergo Mod-1 class Jump Scout    7 150 tons     188 Crew     1442 BP      TCS 143  TH 1200  EM 0
8391 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 1-33     Shields 0-0     Sensors 1/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     
Maint Life 0.    38 Years     MSP 252    AFR 204%    IFR 2.    8%    1YR 657    5YR 9848    Max Repair 600 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 2 months    Spare Berths 2   
Begue Defense Systems J7200(3-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 7200 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Begue Defense Systems 1200 EP Magneto-plasma Drive (1)    Power 1200    Fuel Use 82.    67%    Signature 1200    Exp 15%
Fuel Capacity 1 500 000 Litres    Range 45.    7 billion km   (63 days at full power)
Chebat Design Bureau ASS--MR577-R100 - "Scout" (1)     GPS 52500     Range 577.    5m km    Resolution 100
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Production of one ship was immediately ordered, but there wasn’t any shipyard available as the shipyard originally planned to build the Amergo had a capacity of 7000 tons.     Extension of said shipyard and various ship components for the Amergo were ordered instead.   
Aug.     10 2041
The Marsh shipping company announced that the end of the construction of its first colony ship, by the 8.    00 AM, probably every news network on the planet was primarily talking about this news.     Stradford was furious, to say the least.     How a civilian company could have built 42kT ship (which at this point made it the second biggest ship ever built), without him knowing him knowing, in fact he was eagerly waiting for the first government owned Colony ship, the Galaxy to be built.     How a civilian company could have beaten him? He contemplated sacking the head of his Security (read: intelligence) Service, Commander Jonathan Bradley, but decided instead to convoke the man.     He then proceeded to pass his frustration on him for nearly an hour (according to the clock in his office), he successively accused him of being neglectful, lazy, ineffective, incompetent, and finally spent a long time questioning his loyalty to his Sovereign and Country.     Once Stradford felt a little better he fired the man and had him court-martialed for incompetence.     Needless to say that the verdict was unusually harsh; Bradley was demoted, imprisoned and his service was quickly purged of “ineffectual elements”, and many high ranking officers within it were replaced.     The services renamed, as its British ancestor the Secret Intelligence Service.      1st Captain Lord Alexander Stephenson was put in charge of the SIS.     After this quick incident, the Marsh transport line was given authorization to carry colonists to Luna; the infrastructure there could support at least 10 millions people.   
Additionally it was originally planned to give the Marsh transport line a subside but the state simply could not afford it.   
Apr.     21st 2042
The first automated mining colony was established, it was the first State funded mining colony in the Solar system, and have the highest annual production of three of them.     But Stradford wasn’t satisfied, why should he?  The finances of his empire could turn negative at any moment now; Earth only had 35 automated mines.     Annual fuel production didn’t exceed 9 million liters; an Amergo class scout already carried 0.    75 million liters, for one month of deployment.     At the moment the fuel production, or rather the lack thereof, prevented Humanity from building a war fleet.     And with the know evidences of sentient alien life, that was probably more technologically advanced than Humanity at this point, space don’t seem so secure anymore.   
Harold wondered why the species that built the portal on the jump point didn’t try to communicate with his people, why they haven’t surveyed the system? What if the alien empire was so huge that they couldn’t spare the ships to survey Sol or maybe they are watching over Humanity, studying it?
His thoughts were interrupted by a message, on the screen of his computer telling him that a new missile research was completed and that the next one has just started.     He sincerely hope that his huge investment1 in missile technology would pay off.   
Oct 6th 2042
The HMS Amergo JSC01, was constructed, making it the first Human ship with a proper search sensor and a jump drive.     At last Stradford would know who or what was waiting behind this jumpgate, at last he could know if he was right to have devoted so much time and resource to armament.   
But before he could do such thing he had to deal with more…down to earth matters, namely the command of the ship: The Commodore Lord Stephenson declared that the SIS should control the ship and have its hull renamed to “Intelligence Vessel or IV”, because of it being an autonomous, unarmed ship that could not be use as military scout because there were no space forces to speak of.     The Admiral Robinson, the commander of the Admiralty strongly disagreed with that statement, declaring that the Amergo was to be the First ship of the Fleet.     She declared that a military vessel couldn’t be trusted to “heterogeneous clique of analysts and secret agents” but instead to “proper spacemen”, a bold statement considering that most of the SIS officers came from the fleet.     But she nonetheless got an overwhelming support from a largely idle (an extremely expansionist) faction inside the officer corps, believing that the Stradford administration was being too cautious and that the Conquest of the Stars by their rightful masters was taking too long, that more mining colonies should be established, that Mars should be colonized as well as the Moon, and so on and so forth.   
In the end the HMS Amergo IV01 was placed under SIS, because Stradford was fond of his new intelligence service, and because he wanted the First Ship of the Fleet to be an actual warship with proper weaponry, otherwise it would seem embarrassing in history books.     In fact Stradford was so loved the Amergo so much that he chose the motto of the ship and wrote it himself in the ship log.      “E Tenebris Lux”2, “Out of the darkness light” in latin, it was very fitting because for its first trip the ship would be sent into “Jump Point 3” and look for information about the supposed aliens who built the jumpgate.     Under the command of Commodore Lady Ashley Sinclair the Amergo left Earth at half speed to economize fuel.   
Oct.     19th 2042
The HMS Amergo IV01, finally arrive at the jump point at midnight, the time has come for Mankind to leave Sol for the first time.     Stradford is holding his breath as he is observing the event from the SIS headquarters with Commodore Stephenson, anxiously holding an empty cup as the countdown before jump, reaches 5 seconds.     At this point the handle of the cup breaks under his grip…

1-(75% of his research labs, research was 50% of the monthly expenses at this point)
2-That’s actually the motto of the Canadian Intelligence Branch, if you’re wondering how I managed to come up with that.   
« Last Edit: April 02, 2017, 12:47:12 PM by Northfield Stradford »
I used to think that there is no such thing as a complex game, that all the difficulty was in the learning curve.
Whenever you think you have learned Aurora, you will eventually be proven wrong.

Sometimes I wonder if even its creator has learned it.