January 9th 2044: A mass driver complex is completed in Florida. While the freighter project is progressing it has been determined that it'd be more effective for in system deposits to simply sling the packets across the system.
January 17th 2044: A new jump point is found slightly further then half way between Neptune and Pluto, in line with the first and second found.
February 7th 2044: Europa Commerical Shipyard finally ready. TECS Garden and TECS Balrog, freighters, commissioned, set for June completion. Missions to Venus and Titan are planned as their first tasks.
March 17th 2044: Jump scouts TES Henry Hudson and TES Zheng He complete. They will conduct quick jumps into other systems to get initial readings while the TES Leif Ericson prepares to accompany them on a longer voyage after overhaul. Duke Osbourn will be the project leader, despite continued erratic behavior.
March 18th 2044: Due to the close proximity of the Venus jump point, it only takes a few hours before TES Henry Hudson is the first human ship to leave the Sol System. It leads to thered dwarf Barnards Star, orbited by 11 planets, of which three are gas giants, as well as two asteroid belts. The layout is similar to Sol, except one gas giant and the first asteroid belt is located in tight orbit and the last two planets are so far out they are impracticable to travel to at the present time.. However, most importantly, like Sol, the third planet is promising. A cross between the moon and Mars, it would take only minimal effort to establish a habitat. However, tiny little factors add up, meaning Barnard III is not a good candidate for terraforming. Barnard V could also support a colonly, but has an enviroment similar to Titan. After relaying the data back through the jump point, TES Henry Hudson is ordered to do a quick sensor pass of Barnard III to scan for any signs of alien presence. While perhaps unwise, even some militarists are too excited at this chance to pass it up.
March 21st 2044: TES Henry Hudson determines there is no alien presence around Barnards Star.
April 4th 2044: TES Zheng He, the ship carrying Commodore Duke of England Osbourn, jumps transits jump point 2 to discover a Class II black hole. The ship cannot compete with the black hole and is pulled off the point before the jump drive comes back online, and thus is doomed to fall into the abyss. Unfortuantely, it is also unable to send a warning back to Earth. Command assumes something dangerous is on the other side and thus will not send any ships to follow, but at the moment suspect there is a military threat. While not quite panic levels, the Emperor demands Jump Point 2 be blockaided as soon as possible.
April 15th 2044: One minute before midnight TES Henry Hudson transits through JP3 to Lacaille 8760. The start is such a weak red dwarf it could almost be considered a brown dwarf. It is orbited at extreme close range (inside of 2m km in once case) by two super terrestrial worlds, both over 3 times the size of Earth and with temperatures of over 3000 and 500 degrees respectively. The third planet is hardly an asteroid, but the fourth is a super jovian class gas giant with 7 moons, though none of which could be considered more then asteroids either. The most interesting fact about the system by far, though, is a strange object on the jump point itself. It seems to allow any vessel to transit the point even if it doesn't have a jump drive. This is slightly worrying, especially as the Sol side did not have a gate. After noting the potential for large mineral deposits the ship leaves the system and sets course for JP 5.
May 29th 2044: Exploration of Jump point 5 finds Ross 248, a larger red dwarf. It has seven planets, three of which are gas giants. Ross 248 II has decent prospects for a colony, as does the third planet and fifth moon of the first gas giant. Not interesting enough to warrant a closer look at this time, though. TES Henry Hudson returns to Earth to pick up the Leif Ericson for a survey of Barnard's Star.
June 4th 2044: Yet another accident claims a prominent figure. Duke Raye is killed, but in a common traffic accident. A grand funeral is held. Some thought he'd be the heir to Patrick I if something happened to the Emperor.
June 19th 2044: First two freighters completed. Immediately begin operations to make a minimally manned outpost on Venus.
June 26th 2044: Prefabricated automated mines are delivered to Venus, though only two at first. They'd been stockpiled before the freighters were completed. Work begins on a small administration complex and storage facility. Emily Chapdelaine, a wealthy backer of the Europa Commerical Shipyard project is put in charge. She is a distant friend of the Emperor, and something of a prodigy.
July 14th 2044: Survey of Barnards Star begins. TES Henry Hudson will scan for new jump points, as to remain useful while still acting as a com relay.
August 10th 2044: TES Zheng He finally enters the event horizon of the black hole, ending it's slow death.
August 17th 2044: Back on Earth, Duke Delgrande is promoted to Commordore to fill the command structure.
October 1st 2044: Bernards Star's asteroid belt is determined to be more rich then Sol's.
October 26th 2044: Barnard III surveyed. Though somewhat resource poor, it has substantial Vendarite and, amazingly, gas giant levels of Sorium.
December 1st 2044: Major minerals found on Bernard V, including both that were responsible for the crash, albeit in very hard to reach locations. Close to 100,000,000 duranium is also found.
December 8th 2044: Realizing that using jump ships for comercial purposes would be too innefficent, a project to replicate the jump gate is started.
January 5th 2045: Elections result in the status quo.
Council: 1 Explorers - 3 Militarists - 1 Apolitical
Senate: 1149 Explorers - 1167 Militarists - 3 Apolitical (Mil +18 adv)
