The following excerpts are taken from the notes of Zap’pap’pa Xi’lbip, scribe to the Western Forester’s Alliance delegation to the grand assembly. They have been compiled and translated by the imperial college of Xenology, and are not to be published externally.
Jan 0001 - Construction project queued to round out facility numbers. The Western Mining Co-Operative, Central Tak’kapi Rockdigger’s Guild, and United Dredging Co. each laying down three Zak'yi Ka'ahil class survey vessels as part of their agreement to fund the IMC. Party Boss Khassarapom Suphamongkhon of the EHMC, was picked to lead the startup.
Zak'yi Ka'ahil class Survey Vessel 5,000 tons 113 Crew 675.9 BP TCS 100 TH 600 EM 0
6000 km/s Armour 1-26 Shields 0-0 HTK 26 Sensors 12/12/1/1 DCR 4-8 PPV 0
Maint Life 2.12 Years MSP 337 AFR 50% IFR 0.7% 1YR 100 5YR 1,499 Max Repair 300 MSP
Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months Morale Check Required
Srisa-arn Aero Engines Model 86 (1) Power 600 Fuel Use 36.74% Signature 600 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 464,000 Litres Range 45.5 billion km (87 days at full power)
Sonakul-Sirikhanth 'Heat-Vent Sniffer' V7 (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 27.4m km
Sonakul-Sirikhanth 'Lookie Lookie' V3 (1) Sensitivity 12 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 27.4m km
Geological Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
Gravitational Survey Sensors (1) 1 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Survey Ship for auto-assignment purposes
September 0001 - In preparation for the assured motherload of TN resources to be found beyond the stars, the IMC funds the purchase of three Po’kol class freighters:
Po'kol class Cargo Ship 100,000 tons 308 Crew 1,161.3 BP TCS 2,000 TH 2,400 EM 0
1200 km/s Armour 1-191 Shields 0-0 HTK 81 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 7 Max Repair 75 MSP
Cargo 70,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 4
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Pokai-udom-Sai-kua Super-60 Nuclear Gas-Core Thrust Plant (8) Power 2400 Fuel Use 6.50% Signature 300 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 1,056,000 Litres Range 29.3 billion km (282 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Freighter for auto-assignment purposes
November 0001 - In a bit of a colonization fever, a grassroots organization going by the “United Front for New Nest Places” helpfully acronymed to UFNNP, funds the creation of a new colony ship through micro donations on a popular digital forum for explicit media with the ultimate goal of [UNPRINTABLE] [UNPRINTABLE] [UNPRINTABLE] on foreign planets for the good of the Kzzak’ri Grand Assembly! More conservative members of of the assembly are skeptical that such basal motivations could result in a functional society, but considering they were willing to foot the bill for two full colony ships no further objections were raised.
Tak'ko'gopp class Colonist Transport 100,000 tons 470 Crew 3,361.5 BP TCS 2,000 TH 2,400 EM 0
1200 km/s Armour 1-191 Shields 0-0 HTK 90 Sensors 0/0/0/0 DCR 1-0 PPV 0
MSP 21 Max Repair 400 MSP
Cryogenic Berths 280,000 Cargo Shuttle Multiplier 4
Lieutenant Commander Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 3 months
Pokai-udom-Sai-kua Super-60 Nuclear Gas-Core Thrust Plant (8) Power 2400 Fuel Use 6.50% Signature 300 Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 821,000 Litres Range 22.8 billion km (219 days at full power)
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
This design is classed as a Colony Ship for auto-assignment purposes
December 0001 - To the surprise of their detractors, the IMC’s initial geosurvey of the innermost systems reveal a bounty of minerals just waiting to be harvested! All three interior planets possessed at least one deposit of high-accessibility minerals in the Megatons, along with almost all other TN resources in varying degrees of accessibility. Additionally, two of the three moons of Birthplace 4, a gas giant, have revealed promising deposits of resources as well.
As if that was not enough to generate excitement amongst the hives, Birthplace 2 is also a suitable terraforming candidate, with acceptable (if somewhat low) gravity and an extensive hydrosphere. With this news, the grand assembly was thrown into a frenzy, many hives excitedly and hurriedly preparing to venture into the vast opportunities of space in hopes of fortune and adventure!
Final birthplace geosurvey:
Compilers Note: The lack of alarm over the paucity of Gallicite seems to demonstrate the naiveite of these Xenos, though some of the records cataloged by Rotham in A brief history of Kazzak’ri shipbuilding seem to demonstrate a understanding of the bottleneck it might create, along with an assumption that a source would be found during the second wave of expansion.
July 0003
New gateways to the stars have been discovered! Though the initial excitement is infectious, the reality is that Vipavvakind had no real way of stabilizing them, and no existing ships to open the subspace rifts between the systems via jump drive. While the bureau of ships got on about that, the Grand Assembly would simply have to focus on the settlement and exploitation of the Birthplace system.
October 005
While it took entirely too long for the colony ships to be finished, a brief dalliance with a new form of pinball machine having taken over and paralyzed the southwestern dockyard with ‘dinger fever’, colonists are now flowing in a heavy stream to Birthplace A-2, now renamed ‘Sisternest’ by the ever unimaginative UFNNP, and terraforming is now underway. The bureau of ships now are simply struggling with getting the R&D sorted for the Pak'ki Loppo'kol class Jump Tender, Kowit Wattana Aircraft Engine Co. still preoccupied with their new magnetic mirror fusion reactor to divert scientists to research their engine proposal.
0008
Turns out that normal life-support systems don’t work very well in low gravity, such as on It’ik K’ami’s largest moon. After a few false starts, the new research colony finally begins to take hold. Terraforming of Sisternest is coming along well, the introduction of oxygen to the atmosphere having caused a bit of a runaway greenhouse effect that hopefully should settle out as anti-greenhouse gasses are added after the oxygen content is stabilized. Progress on interstellar travel has been glacial, but when your research teams get ahead of themselves and prove out a prototype for a 40kt vessel before the drives for your survey vessels, these things do happen. Another yard has taken the development of jump drives to task, one to be integrated directly into the future 7kt survey vessels rather than set aside as a jump tender.
