The Northern Coalition (AAR)

[Brainsucker]

Yeah I know. Ewan Ahmed could be beaten down by... say Taiho 3. A same Alien type of ship with full missiles. But let the people have their hero. They need it. I means NCN needs it to boost the moral of their soldiers and save them from bad reputation. And, to make this hero lives longer, He could always go to the rear, and not in the frontlines. Just give him the best ship available, but never put him directly in a dangerous situation. It happen a lot in the history.

[Paul M (OP)]

AD 2286 (July 1 to Dec 31) Before HATTRICK and After HUMPTY DUMPTY

The time before HATTRICK was for the navy mainly one of last minute preparations.  For the NCC it was filled with planning to deal with the Gallacite Crisis without triggering a Corundum Crisis on top of it.  The NCCFB was for the first time in years starting to put out cautious indicators that the fuel situation was stablizing.

After HATTRICK the situation was very different.  The incursion into Sol by the Taiho 2 sent a shock wave through the populations of Earth and the outer colonies.  Commadore Frasier had to deal with a situation that the Navy had taken into account in its planning but had felt that would have been dealt with in Wolf 359 either by the loss of TG 2 or by the destruction of the Wolver ships.  The initial finger pointing, in particular, at Cmdr. E. Barker, stopped when the first attempt to destroy the Taiho 2 did not work.  Therefore it was impossible to have stopped the Taiho 2 in Wolf 359.

While the Navy was in the process of re-munitioning the ships of TG 1 and TG 2 the Government and Opposition were busy.  Prime Minister Ron Getti faced a vote of confidence in the assembly on October 4.  The more radical elements of the Opposition were able to force the vote.  However, even though such things are not regulated, the Government's members of the Assembly stood en mass when the vote was called [ooc]The vote is done literally by standing or sitting when it is called and is tallied by the Floorwarden.  91% of the Government stood.[/ooc] and support from the Opposition though not so dramatic was sufficient to prevent the Government's fall.  Having survived that hurdle the Minister of Defence went on the offensive, though it must be said that the mainline Opposition was remarkably adept at avoiding controversial statements and giving her a target.  That was not the case with the radical elements who made demands for the arrest of Diana Nimm...and when they found out "endangering the human race" was infact not a crime (at least not one on the NC Justice books) then started private members bills to make it so.  Commadore Morgenrot, unusally for someone who is killed in the line of duty, was villified and his efforts downplayed.  Unfortunately, given that he had not been particularily well liked, less was done about that then should have been.  The NC citizens of Earth were largely in favor of the actions of the Navy [ooc]I rolled 3d10 and got a sum of 22, which is very high approval actually[/ooc] on the other hand those living on the colonies were much more cool [ooc]I rolled 2d10 and got a 9, the average value[/ooc].  Hardly surprising as they were largely without defences compared to Earth. 

In particular, it was the views expressed by the radicals that indicated the largest problem Commadore Frasier had to deal with.  In the eyes of the Navy the operation has been an expensive success and Commadore Morgenrot was viewed as a hero who sacrificed his life to protect the other members of his task force.  4th Squadron had kept its velocity low to allow the slower ships of the task force time to make it out of the system.

The Naval Review of course attracted considerable political interest and while it was largely classified, some of the findings were made public.  The board found that it could find few decisions made in the battles that it could find fault with, though it did highlight the decision to establish the Scout class vessel as a listening post was in error.  The speed of the Wolver ships coupled with the range of their sensors makes such an action extremely dangerous.  This agreed with Commadore Morgenrot's personal log.  They raised the point of expending counter missiles on the Taiho rather than retaining them for their intended purpose, as that might have saved the Lake class heavy frigates.  They further raised the point of not remunitioning 5th and 6th Squadrons or at least recalling them earlier.

The Review found the Tribal design itself did not contribute to the loss of the ships and that no major changes to it were recomended.  They also found that the heavy frigates performed well under fire.  They put their approval to the Arrow and Falcon designs both of which had met their specifications.  It was clear though that there was a huge performance gap between the NCNs missiles and the Wolver missiles.  Based on indepth analysis of the combat data Toronto Arsenal is given a contract to provide a 10 cm-IR laser turret capable of rapid fire and with a turret tracking speed of 12 000 km/s.  They promise to deliver within the year.  It is clear also that better fire control computers are needed for the DPPD turrets.  Also the Review board proposes that a beam weapon with a range of at least 100 000 km be developed as soon as possible for use as an anti-ship weapon.  The Review board states that research into improved defences is a necessity, one of many they conclude, but they recommend against any plan to change the proposed Centre for Excellence in Defensive Technology to another puprose or delay its contruction.  The Board also recommends that before launching another such operation that the Navy ensure its stockpiles of expendable munitions are at a highter level, given that the last operation left them signficantly depleated.  The NCN ships used their combat loadout, their reserve combat load out, 4th Squadrons reserve combat load out, plus missiles from the stockpile on Earth.  The Board recommended that the collier design put on hold due to the current building freeze not be forgotten when the Tribals are replaced, though they recommended strongly that the Lake class Corvettes be highest on the list for replacement, when the Galacite crissis is dealt with.  The Board reviewed the possiblity of producing an armed pinnace but concluded that while such a small craft would be valuable, as it could have been stationed in place to engage the inbound Wolver missiles with laser fire easily enough, that the current level of technology could not produce a viable pinnace that would fit in a boat bay.  The Board found that the Early Warning pinnaces performed as had been hoped and that their extension of the sensor envelope contributed greatly to the successful weathering of the fire from the Taiho 2.

The Board's findings involving intellegence on Wolver capabilities were not released to the public.  Based on the data from the engagement with the Taiho 2 and Jintsu they determined that the range of the Wolver's ship killer was not well defined but that it should be assumed to be 50-60 million km.  The Wolver ships exhibited significantly more advanced engines than the NCN is capable of producing, with thermal signitures of the engine being 300.  The sensor cabablities were fixed at a factor of 2 better than the threat analysis would indicate.  The armour of the Jintsu and Taiho classes appears to be a factor of 4 better than the Tribals although if this is due to thickness or quality is as yet unknown.  Their anti-ship launcher cycles every 15 seconds slightly better by a factor of 2 than the NCN could accomplish.  The conclusion of the Board also was that the Wolver ships, or at least those encounted in Wolf 359 were autonomous combat ships.  No lifepods or atmosphere or significant organic remains had been observed in the destruction of the ships.  The Board declines to try and derive a conclusion based on the Taiho 2's obeserved behaviour.  Too many explainations for it are possible.  They recommend extreme care though in dealing with the Jintsu class as it rammed.  What is not clear is why it alone of the Wolver ships did so.  The Tone's are also a mystery to the Board.  They appear to lack weapons yet the space for weapons must be available in their hull.  The Board on review of the loss of the Tribals reaches the tenative conclusion it was done by the Wolver "X class" ship.  This ship is expected to be around 1000 tonnes, possibly carried by the Tone as a parasite, explaining the lack of obvious weapons on the Tones.  They feel the Wolver X class will mount 3 small launchers whose missiles have a range of 15 million km.  The thermal signature of the ship has to be under 1000.  They agree with the intellegence assesment that puts the number of X class ships at 4.  Each ship is expected to have storage for around 180 missiles.  They recommend that no further attempts to gather intel on Wolver ships are peformed until a sensor system capable of detecting the X class at 15 million km is produced.  They agree with the assesment of Naval Engineering that no current or expected to be developed in the short term system will be a reliable counter measure to the Wolver missile volleys launched by an X class ship.

Overall the board declares the operation to be a success.  They recommend the NCN strike a medal for those who participate in the kill on a Wolver ship.  [ooc]I'm trying to come up with a good name using "Fenris" ... Fenris Slayer?  Or is that too tacky for a medal name.  Basically all the medal's I know of are old, and the reason for the name is lost in history.  Suggestions are welcome.[/ooc]

Commadore Frasier's hopes that this would pour oil on troubled waters is dashed as the Radical's launch a well crafted interweb campaign against the Navy (aside from Commadore Ewan Ahmed who they glorify much to the officer in questions irritation).  Due to the lack of any officers in the Public Relations unit, something that Commadore Frasier soon comes to regret, the Navy's response is far from ideal.  The insinuations and what if arguments raised by one or another paid talking heads are a lot more difficult to stamp out than he expected.  As the gallacite crisis prevents the Navy from an effective response (via a ship building inciative) he is further hamstrung.

The Taiho 2 incursion definitly leaves a mark on the political landscape. [ooc]It ends up being a net -4 to the next election for the Government.[/ooc]

The NCC is non-partisan on the discussion with most of its efforts focused on maintaining some flow of Gallacite to Earth to meet immediate needs on ship maintenance plus getting more Gallacite available.  The NCCFB, releases at the end of the year for the first time in a long time, positive reports indicating that the farm on Earth is growing faster than the demand but in all the political brinksmanship this largely passes by unnoticed.


Industrial Efforts, Earth, Sol
Primary Industrial Tasks
AD 2286 (August 9) The refit of Fort Londonderry to the Fort Rostock standard is completed.  No more ICBM equiped bases remain.
2286 (November 9) The production of 10 Construction Factories end.  They are intended for export off Earth by BIC.
AD 2286 (December 5)Two more 2 Maintenance Facilities are added to the pool (ships up to 10 600 tonnes can now be maintened), the first part of the plan to deal with the Gallacite crisis: production of 15 Automated Mines starts.

Secondary Industrial Tasks
AD 2286 (July 14) An older Mine is converted to teleoperated for BIC off planet operations.
AD 2286 (August 29) Construction of lifesupport and housing materials for BIC is finished [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]
AD 2286 (November 19) A new Fuel Refinery ends construction (Fuel production is now: 4 176 000 litres per year) and yet more life support and housing materials for BIC outsystem colonies begins [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]

Missiles and Fighters
AD 2286 (June 30) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles completed marking the end of the Batch 1 production run.
AD 2286 (October 24) The first 120 Falcon Counter Missiles of Batch 2 end production  [ooc]49 of these missiles are scrapped to account for the SMed in missiles during OP Hattrick[/ooc]
AD 2286 (October 30) 2 Mk 1 Mines Batch 2 are produced in a run job to finish off the stage 1 inner mine shell.
AD 2286 (November 30) Production of Batch 2 continues with 120 Falcon Counter Missiles completed and a run of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles started
AD 2286 (July 4) Fairmile 011 (Fairmile C1(EW/SAR)) finishes assesment at the factory
AD 2286 (September14) Fairmile 012 (Fairmile C1(EW/SAR)) is accepted by NCN purchasing
AD 2286 (November 24) Fairmile 013 (Fairmile C1(EW/SAR)) finishes space trials and joins the NCN

Research Developments
AD 2286 (November 9) Dr. Leopold Herz's team finishes development of tracking algorithems (Fire Control Speed Rating 2000 km/s) and starts working on hardware to do predicitive real-time tracking projections (Beam Fire Control Range 16,000 km).  The PR department of Grundig Gmbh released the results of their proposed "Snapshot" Fire Control system intended to boost the performance of the DPPD turrets.  The firms spokesman while emphising the improved capacity this system should have is careful to point out that the current "Sureshot" system is highly accurate when used against targets with velocities below 2500 km/s.

Naval Yard: Victorias-Esquimalt Graving Yard, Sol
AD 2286 (June 19) Protecteur (Protecteur Mod2.3 class) ends refit.  All ships of Task Group 1 have been refit with new higher efficiency engines.
AD 2286 (August 14) Retooling for Gargoyle Mod1 class completed.
AD 2286 (October 9) The battle damage the Gryphon (Gargoyle class) sustained during Operation Hattrick is repaired.

Civillian Yard:  Robert Napier and Son's Ltd., Sol
AD 2286 (July 9) The new slipway construction is finished (a total of 3 are now present)
AD 2286 (June 24) Lagoon (Loch (EE) class) ends construction and is assigned to Fuel Harvester Group XI as lead ship. Departs for Jupiter arriving on July 12.
AD 2286 (June 30) Mere (Loch (EE) class) leaves the yard and is assigned to Fuel Harvester Group XII as lead ship.  Departs for Jupiter arriving on July 17.
The Gallacite crisis will slow down production of the 4 Petrol (EE) class consorts necessary to fill out these groups.

Civillian Yard:  Litton-Ingals Shipbuilding Corp., Sol
AD 2286 (September 19) Amazon and Nile (Amazon class) leave their slips and are assigned to Interstellar Terraforming Mission I.  They depart the next day for Rosetta.

Civillian Operations in Sol
AD 2286 (July 4) The civilian mining colony on Neujmin has been expanded to 9 civilian mining complexes
AD 2286 (October 9) The civilian mining colony on 2004 NT33 has been expanded to 10 civilian mining complexes

Northern Coalition Army
AD 2286 (September 14) The troops of the Travel'n Third Bn (CO: Colonel John Scott) end their training at Camp Wainwright.  As is typical a new batch of recruits for the new infantry battalion the Bigger Grenadiers show up inside a few days.

Operations in Sol

On September 4 the 1st Geosurvy Team announces it has found no new minerals on Ceres and they depart for their next target Anchises arriving to start their ground survey thirteen days later.  By October 19 they are certain their is nothing more to find and the Upholder heads for Earth and R&R.  This completes the planned survey of the inner solar system.  All planets, the moons of Earth and Mars, the four large moons of jupiter and all asteroids that had been found to contain TN minerals have been surveyed.  The Upholder will transport the team to Alpha Centauri where their work will continue after a period of R&R.

On November 24 Fairmile B2 016-020 pinnaces are scrapped at Earth [ooc]Salvaged: Wealth: 9.375.  Gallicite: 9.4 tons.[/ooc].  The B2 series is being replaced by the C1 and these pinnaces are deemed excess to the needs of the NCN.

The Normandy finishes the mine field at the Sol-Wolf 359 jump point on September 8.  At this point 36 Mk 1 mines are emplaced at 4 points in a ring 100 000 km in radius.  Based on the results of the Taiho 2 incursion the NCN uses the Ortona to add in a second set of 16 mines 90° offset from the first but in a ring 40 000 km in radius.  12 of these mines are emplaced by October 16 and the remaining 4 on November 5th.  The NCN plans to add a further 8 mines to the inner ring and add a further 24 mines in 6 locations roughly at 70 000 km radius from the jump point.  This will hopefully prevent any future avoidance of the mines.

As the loss of the officers and men has opened promotion slots, on December 15 Commander Lucas Benson is promoted to Captain.  Captain Benson has served with Fortress command before transfering to BIC and commanding ICG IV and serving as captain of the Golliath (Colususs FT(J) class) for over 15 years.  He is transfered back to Fortress Command as CO of Fort Londonderry.

4th Squadron Support Group spends most of this time on watch at the Sol-Wolf 359 jump point while the rest of Task Force 2 is either in Earth orbit or conducting excersizes.  Remunitioning ships requires extensive efforts and still requires using at least some of the older Hawk IIB counter missiles in place of the Falcon.  A staggering amount of Falcon missiles had been expended.  NCN Logistics dramatically ups their "safe level."  Block 2 fabrication starts within days of the Taiho 2 incursion but it will take months to replace the missiles expended.


BIC Operations in Alpha Centauri
Faewald's industrial park produces enough housing material for over 130,000 colonists but is below the rate of growth.  On June 24 FHG I, its crews finished with their shore leave departs for Doinenan arriving to resume fuel harvesting on July 1.  Heavy Lift Group I arrives on June 25 with 40,000 new colonists and the components for two mines.  The ships depart for Earth on July 4.  ICG III arrives on July 12 with their cargo holds crammed with lifesupport and housing prefabs and departs for Earth on August 6 with the colony's mines output for the last year including nearly 300 tonnes of Gallacite.


BIC Operations in AD Leonis
Forge traffic control is as usual busy as a high level of BIC shipping moves through the system this year.  ICG VI is at Forge from June 9 to 19 then refuels and continues on their journey to Earth.  FHG III departs for Deeper Sky on June 14 after shore leave for the crews.  ICG VII arrives on September 7 and leaves on the 19th to continue its journey to Biforst.  FHG V spends from September 19 to October 30 in Forge orbit the ships crew on liberty.  ICG V arrives on November 9 from Rosetta and leaves for Earth on December 5.  Interstellar Terraforming Mission I (ITM I) arrives on December 12 and leaves for Rosetta on December 20.


BIC Operations in FL Virginis
FHG VIII's crews finish their shore leave at Biforst on Juen 14 and by June 15 are back harvesting. 


BIC Operations in Gliese 526
The study of the alien ruins continues but no breakthroughs in decifering their language occur during this time.


Outsystem Survey Efforts and Naval Operations

LHS 292
On its way back to Earth Interstellar Survey I detours to do a geological survey of comet #16 in LHS 292.
AD 2286 (July 29) Minerals Discovered on LHS 292-A Comet #16: Corbomite 3,500 (0.7)  Mercassium 509 (0.9)  Vendarite 13,326 (0.8 )  Sorium 6,236 (0.9)  Uridium 17,945 (0.7)  Gallicite 10,122 (1) 

Epsilon Indi
Interstellar Survey IV is dispached from Earth to finish the gravitational survey of this system.  The pair of BuSurvey ships arrive in system on November 25.  Their sensors pick up no traces of aliens and they proceed with their mission.  The John Franklin departs for the first of the remaining survey locations.  The Scout class ship Trail Blazer will during this time survey comets it can easily reach.  The crews of the ships are certain that they will discover no further jump points as only 6 locations remain to be surveyed and so far no new outgoing jump points have been found.
AD 2286 (December 20) Minerals Discovered on Epsilon Indi-A Comet #6: Neutronium 157,660 (0.7)  Corbomite 183,300 (0.9)  Boronide 12,052 (0.7)  Vendarite 18,594 (0.7)  Gallicite 4,999 (0.7) 
AD 2286 (December 22) Minerals Discovered on Epsilon Indi-A Comet #9: Duranium 31,484 (0.8 )  Neutronium 11,978 (0.8 )  Corbomite 14,541 (0.7)  Tritanium 3,433 (1)  Sorium 30,276 (0.9)  Uridium 11,256 (1) 

Gliese 505
The gravitational survey is completed on November 1 and no further jump points are found.  Based on this Commander Sophia Ford senior BuSurvey officer present will make the case to the local NCN commader (currently 3rd Squadron is assigned watch duty) that they should proceed to Gliese 408 and then from there to GJ 1156 and explore its outbound jump point.  At this time they are unaware of the results of Operation Hattrick.  As fuel should be available for the mission at Forge Captain Josh Bird agrees to the proposal.  On December 23 the BuSurvey ships depart Gliese 505 and by December 26 3rd Squadron NCN, IS II and both GSMs are in LHS 292 heading for the jump point to AD Leonis.
AD 2286 (November 1) Gravitational Survey Completed in the Gliese 505 system. The system has a total of 1 jump points

[Narmio]

You could go with "Fenris Guard(ian)" or "Order of Fenris", or even "Order of the Wolf" for something a little tacky, but not quite as over the top as Fenris Slayer.  Maybe the official name could be something dry, like the "359 Veterans Medallion", but the papers could give it a tacky nickname like "Wolfslayer Pin" or one of the above.

Cool reading, as always! I like reading about how rough it is out there with this low a tech level!

[Brainsucker]

Like always, I can't wait for the next update. For Fenris... hmm, I don't know. What about "The Hound Killer"? Or "The Hound Hunter"? Or "Fenris Haunt"? or "Star of the Fenris Hunter"? Or "The Hound Butcher"?  or "Fenrir Jager"?

[Mel Vixen]

Leding and Dromi were the chains which bound fenris till which he split and rthere is still the "Gleipnir" the thread that bound him till Ragnarök. Either one can make a good medal. 

[Paul M (OP)]

Thanks for the input guys.  I'll have to consider this a bit more.  I'm leaning towards "Battle of Wolf-359 2286" award.  But yeah the newsies probably make it something more interesting like "Wolf's Tail" or something.  I'd like something for killing a wolver ship, which is what I was thinking of.  I'm trying to avoid tacky, probably I should google a few medal's and see where the names come from.  I wonder maybe something like the "Silver Maple Leaf" for courage under fire...that gets morphed into Fenris Jäger in the scandanavian part of the NC.

Just so it is clear the orginal NC was what is now Canada (mostly the norther parts and parts of the central plains and New England from the USA), British Isles, Scandanavia, Northern Russia, The Baltic region, and the northern coast of western Europe.  It has now extended a bit as they reclaimed more area (basically they have gotten to the Med, added in parts of SE Asia, gotten to northern parts of South America and extended to the Urals but not not so far south).  From orbit they can both see and intervene if they wish.

Reclaiming the older cities is hard work as often they have inhabitants that aren't keen on the action, plus the buildings are in many cases in sorry shape.  Well baring the Roman ones or Medievel rockpiles they tend to be in the best shape, while the modern ones are much less so.  It absorbs a lot of the NCs effort, so the space stuff is largely left to the NCC.  Also a lot of the more get up and go part of the population moves off world so there is less drive to reclaim territory.  And the more organized "countries" remaining are in the southern hemisphere.  With TN weapons the NC could likely win most battles but rooting out insurgencies is something they are trying to avoid.  So most of that stuff is diplomatic.  But the whole area is patchwork fiefdoms, citystates, loose confederations, warlords and the like.  Basically it is a headache.

Anyway the write up for 2287 is underway.  I have the log file all organized, which I have to admit is the largest part of the work in the write up itself.  I wish there was a way to sort that that wasn't manually.  Maybe I can load it into Excel or something (comma delimited) and then sort by system.  The text file comes out as jumbled mess as it is...even if the event listing isn't so. 

[joeclark77]

Your population is probably growing quickly year on year.  10% maybe?  One way you could role-play that is to say that it's not from people having children, but from more peoples and nations gradually joining the NC.  (Canada, Scandinavia, etc, are not exactly known for having incredible fertility rates!)

[Brainsucker]

Care to give us the current NCN Starship organization? Like the Task Force, Task Group, their commander, the location they are, their mission, etc? I'm very interested to see these information.

[Paul M (OP)]

The growth of the population is partially assumed to be the increased area of the NC on earth rather than them "being fruitful and multiplying" though the birth rate is higher than is typical for an economically advanced society.  Low birthrates amoung wealthy families/societies is an old issue (the romans for example faced this).  Colonies grow extremely fast due to large families being the norm.  In the case of Venus it is nearly a requirement as the chance of death there is rather higher than it should be due to the stressed life support system.  But on earth larger than modern western 1.2 children per couple families are the norm and not the exception.

I will include details on the current deployment though in short form the navy is largely in Sol or on the way back to Sol.  I'm about 50% of the way through the write up.

[Destra]

And I eagerly await its posting :p

[Paul M (OP)]

[ooc]Well I relearned why I had decided against yearly updates...my assumption I was 50% through was probably optimistic!  Thanks to those who posted suggestions and comments.  I'm fairly sure I used the wrong numbers for the production in the previous update.[/ooc]

AD 2287  (January to December) After the Darkness Comes the Light

For the Navy the year was one of recovery and also learning.  They make the choice to keep producing missiles as their stockpile of modern missiles did not survive the series of battles in Wolf 359 or Sol.  Though the per missile consumption of Gallacite is small, production of over 1000 Falcons and 240 Arrow missiles will take the Gallacite available leaving none for new ship construction.  It is clear that more ordinance factories or enhanced production per factory is a requirement for the future.  The Gallacite issue as well as delaying the production of replacement Lake class corvettes also is delaying the phasing out of the older Frigates, they will now be retained in service for at least another 5 to 10 years.

Further analysis confirms the pre-battle simulations which demonstrated that the use of Counter Missiles in Anti-shipping mode is a very inefficient way to damage a target.  After battle stocktaking indicated that in excess of 1400 Counter Missiles had been expended but only ~350 had been used for missile intercepts.  There was no question it was a necessary expenditure but this becomes further evidence in support of producing a beam weapon that could have substituted for the short range CM bombardment used to destroy the Taiho 2.

Commadore Frasier is stuck trying to deal with WNP's without the able assistance of a specialized PR department.  The Navy's efforts are hampered by this and the early part of the year sees the popularity of the Navy and by connection the Government dropping against a campaign of well meaning "what if..?" questions.  The Navy is never able to get accepted by the population that the operation was a resounding sucess, regardless of the steep price paid.

For NCC Comissioner Buxtorf the situation is very clear and the only questions he has of his staff is how best to deal with the Gallacite crisis, without triggering a Corundum crisis while at the same time looking to head off a Boronide and Vendrite crisis in the future.  The proposal presented and approved at the end of this year is to get the Callisto Corundum reseve into production over the next 18 months.  This will involve a massive investment in colonial infrastructure (sufficient for the initial wave of 1 million colonists expected based on civillian shipping capacity), 50 mines and 2 Terraformers.  Additionally, 10 more mines for Venus, plus construction factories and mines need to be built for transport to the outer colonies.  Venus has both Duranium and Corundum so eventually it will replace the minerals expended on expanding its mineral production but on a long time scale (typically 5 years per mine).  The mines on Hestia are now producing and will add Galacite and Boronide to the stockpile.  Boronide though is likely to mainly come from the mines in Alpha Centauri.  There will be some political fall out as Ganymede will again be overlooked.  It is suggested that the planned Deep Space Tracking array be based on this colony and that some infrastructure be diverted there to deal with their current shortfall. 

The NCCFB releases for the first time in over a decade a report with the amount of fuel in the Farm on Earth greater than the production level.  5.43 m litres of fuel is present.  This is due the report concludes to to two factors: increased civillian harvester numbers (a total of 8 are present) and the Navy's choice to defer refueling of several squadrons.  Still it the report is widely welcomed, as it shows that the overall systems in place to either reduce fuel use or spread out refueling over multiple Farms is having the effect it was hoped it would have.   


Industrial Efforts, Earth, Sol
Primary Industrial Tasks
AD 2287 (September 1) The 15 Automated Mines ordered by the NCC are finished.  5 are dispached via civillian contract to Venus, and 10 are sent also by civillian contract to the asteroid Hestia.
AD 2287 (October 17) The first 2 Deep Space Tracking Stations for the Mars Array are finished and dispached via civillian contract to Mars.
AD 2287 (December 2) For BIC extrasolar colonies equipment for 5 Mines is prepared.
AD 2287 (December 2) The groundbreaking for the Centre of Excellence in Defensive Technologies. [ooc]Research Lab[/ooc]

Secondary Industrial Tasks
AD 2287 (January 5) Lifesupport systems and pre-fabricated housing for BIC is produced [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]
AD 2287 (April 18) An older mine is converted to telepresence operation for transport offworld.
AD 2287 (June 2) Lifesupport systems and pre-fabricated housing for BIC is produced [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]
AD 2287 (August 21) A new Fuel Refinery ends construction and brings the total on Earth to 90 (4.18 m litres of fuel per year)
AD 2287 (October 6) Lifesupport systems and pre-fabricated housing for BIC is produced [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc] and an older mine begins conversion to telepresence operated.

Missiles and Fighters
AD 2287 (January 21) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (February 27) Construction of 32 Mk 1 Mine (Batch 3) completed
AD 2287 (March 28) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (May 23) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (June 22) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (August 16) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (September 16) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (September 26) Construction of 8 Mk 1 Mine (Batch 3) completed
AD 2287 (October 28) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missile (Batch 2) completed
AD 2287 (December 23) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missile (Batch 2) completed and Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missile (Batch 2) begins
AD 2287 (February 1) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 014 joins the NCN.
AD 2287 (April 8 ) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 015 completes factory trials with flying colours.
AD 2287 (June 17) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 016 is accepted by the NCN.
AD 2287 (August 26) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 017 lands on her mothership.
AD 2287 (November 7) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 018 passes her acceptance trial and construction of Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 019 begins.


Research Developments
AD 2287 (January 5) Dr. Lauren Wheeler's team finishes their studies in Turret design improvements and turns the data over to Toronto Arsenal (Turret Tracking Speed (10% Gear) 3000 km/s), her team begins looking into weaponizing a laser in the Visible spectrum.
AD 2287 (January 26) Dr. Stephanie Rees team presents the last deliverable on the new "super duper capacitor" (Capacitor Recharge Rate 3) and starts looking into jump point transits in more detail (Max Squadron Jump Radius - 100k (Size x 1.05))
AD 2287 (February 22) Dr. Lauren Wheeler's team pauses their research into the weaponized visible light laser to aid Thales engineering in developing the Thales MilL-IR Stiletto Plus Rapide, they then welcome the engineers from TorAr who wish to mount the new weapon in a turret (TorAr Goaltender II Laser Array)
AD 2287 (April 18) Dr. Lauren Wheeler's team witnesses the acceptance trials of the new DPPD turret (TorAr Goaltender II Laser Array) and returns to their work on a weaponized laser in the visible spectrum
AD 2287 (August 11) Dr. Charlotte Rowley's team finishes development of virtual reality aides for R&D (Research Rate 320 RP) and starts looking into ways to optimize work flow in major industrial projects (Construction Rate 16 BP), with the aid of their recently developed system this new project will take under 2 years to complete.


Naval Yard: Victorias-Esquimalt Graving Yard, Sol
AD 2287 (May 28 ) Retooling for London Mod1.5 class completed
AD 2287 (June 7) Shetland (London Mod1.5 class) ends her refit
AD 2287 (November 7) Dorset (London Mod1.5 class) is refit

Code: [Select]

London Mod1.5 class Escort    3,000 tons     90 Crew     342.5 BP      TCS 60  TH 120  EM 120
2666 km/s     Armour 1-18     Shields 4-300     Sensors 15/15/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 6
Maint Life 7.12 Years     MSP 143    AFR 36%    IFR 0.5%    1YR 5    5YR 74    Max Repair 30 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Spare Berths 1   

Rolls Royce NP E-M40Si (4)    Power 40    Fuel Use 66.5%    Signature 30    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 100,000 Litres    Range 9.0 billion km   (39 days at full power)
GE Barrier A119 (4)   Total Fuel Cost  36 Litres per day

Thales MilL-IR Stiletto Plus Rapide (2)    Range 30,000km     TS: 2666 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1    ROF 5        3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Grundig Sureshot Mk1-25/20X  BFC (1)    Max Range: 40,000 km   TS: 2500 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
CANDU AHW 6MW (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Seimens SSS 53-3000 (1)     GPS 1800     Range 11.6m km    Resolution 60
Seimens SCMS Vigilant Plus 51/4-0050 (1)     GPS 14     Range 700k km    Resolution 1
NorTEL IR Array 0-3 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  15m km
Bell Phased Array P3-15 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  15m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The new London class escorts have triple the effective firepower of the last version of this ship.  The refit of their twin laser barbettes will only take a week as well.  The only problem is that the weapons range is pathetically short compared to typical engagement ranges.  The Navy is looking to use this ship though as a test bed for larger more powerful lasers in the future.  Current planning will see this ship maintained in service for some considerable time as a jump point defender.

Naval Yard: Deschimag A.G. Weser, Sol
AD 2287 (May 28) Retooling for Enchanter Mod1.1 class completed
AD 2287 (June 12) Enchanter (Enchanter Mod1.1 class) is refit
AD 2287 (June 27) Wizard and Sorcerer (Enchanter Mod1.1 class) are refit finishing the refit of the 4th Squadron Support Group

Code: [Select]

Enchanter Mod1.1 class Jump Ship    9,000 tons     217 Crew     1045.25 BP      TCS 180  TH 300  EM 270
2222 km/s    JR 3-50     Armour 2-38     Shields 9-300     Sensors 15/15/0/0     Damage Control Rating 5     PPV 6.72
Maint Life 2.76 Years     MSP 363    AFR 129%    IFR 1.8%    1YR 69    5YR 1031    Max Repair 158 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Flight Crew Berths 8   
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons     Magazine 92   

Saab JA3-180     Max Ship Size 9000 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 3
Rolls Royce NP E-M80Si (5)    Power 80    Fuel Use 63%    Signature 60    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 620,000 Litres    Range 19.7 billion km   (102 days at full power)
GE Barrier A119 (9)   Total Fuel Cost  81 Litres per day

TorAr Goaltender II Laser Array (1x1)    Range 30,000km     TS: 12000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1    ROF 5        3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Grundig Sureshot Mk1-25/20X  BFC (1)    Max Range: 40,000 km   TS: 2500 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
CANDU AHW 6MW (1)     Total Power Output 6    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Falcon Counter Missile (42)  Speed: 12,000 km/s   End: 2.8m    Range: 2m km   WH: 1    Size: 1    TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Arrow Anti-Ship Missile (10)  Speed: 12,000 km/s   End: 16.6m    Range: 12m km   WH: 4    Size: 5    TH: 64 / 38 / 19

Seimens SCMS Super Vigilant 53/3-0050 (1)     GPS 33     Range 1.6m km    Resolution 1
Seimens SSS 53-3000 (1)     GPS 1800     Range 11.6m km    Resolution 60
NorTEL IR Array 0-3 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  15m km
Bell Phased Array P3-15 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  15m km

Strike Group
1x Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) Pinnace   Speed: 2857 km/s    Size: 4.2

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purpose
The update to the Enchanter class adds the new Goaltender II array as the DPPD turret.  This turret is likely to be the standard DPPD turret for the future, untill further developments in turret tracking speed occur.  The advanced systems remain hampered by the fire control computer but it can fire significantly faster than the older array making it an overall relatively quick upgrade of the ships capability.


Northern Coalition Army

AD 2287 (September 16)  The Bigger Grenadiers Bn (CO: Colonel Nathanial Wice) finishes their infantry training at Camp Wainwright.  The camp welcomes the recruits of the 1st Interstellar Bde Support Troops [ooc]Garrison Bn[/ooc] that will provide for all the rear area services the Brigade needs while on deploment out of Sol.


Operations in Sol

The NCN over the year scraps older model pinnaces to both recover Gallicite but also to free up hanger space for the new ones.
AD 2287 (April 8 ) Fairmile B2(EW) 015 scrapped [ooc]Salvage from scrap: Wealth: 1.875.  Gallicite: 1.9 tonnes[/ooc]
AD 2287 (August 26) Fairmile B2(EW) 021 scrapped [ooc]Salvage from scrap: Wealth: 1.875.  Gallicite: 1.9 tonnes[/ooc]
AD 2287 (November 7) Fairmile B2(EW) 012 and 013 scrapped [ooc]Salvage from scrap: Wealth: 3.75.  Gallicite: 3.8 tonnes[/ooc]

The Ortona over the month of March strengthens the Mine Field at the Sol-Wolf 359 jumppoint.  The four inner locations get 2 more Mk 1 mines each and then 6 intermediate locations at a radius of 70K km from the jump point gain 4 Mk 1 mines each.  A further 2 groups of 4 MK 1 mines are planned but by the end of the year the mines though constructed have not yet been emplaced though the Normandy is scheduled to perfom this task in 2288.

The NCN uses this year to conduct extensive maneuvers for the 4th Squadron Support Group, 5th and 6th Squadron Battlegroups.  By the end of the year 4th Squadron SG is one of the best drilled formations in the entire navy and it is sent back to the jumppoint to Wolf 359 to resume a close in defence position.


Civillian Operations in Sol

AD 2287 (January 11) The civilian mining colony on Van Biesbroeck has been expanded to 7 civilian mining complexes
AD 2287 (March 13) The civilian mining colony on Wolf-Harrington has been expanded to 13 civilian mining complexes
AD 2287 (June 7) The civilian mining colony on Haumea has been expanded to 12 civilian mining complexes
AD 2287 (October 2) The civilian mining colony on 2004 NT33 has been expanded to 11 civilian mining complexes
AD 2287 (January 26) Williamson Logistics has launched a new Williamson H2 class Fuel Harvester
AD 2287 (May 17) Williamson Logistics has scrapped Williamson H2 039 (Williamson H2 class) due to its replacement by a newer vessel of the Williamson H2 class Fuel Harvester class
AD 2287 (July 7) Williamson Logistics has launched a new Williamson H2 class Fuel Harvester

The NCCFB is overjoyed by the addition of 2 new Harvesters to the civillian fleet.  There are now a total of 8 Civillian harvesters working at Jupiter.  The purchase of this fuel is one of the reasons for the robust levels of the Earth Fuel Farm.

BIC Operations in Alpha Centauri

The industrial park on Faewald churns out additional housing modules and lifesupport system components over the year [ooc]Infrastructure x70+[/ooc] but still can't keep up with demand.  The colony ends the year with a population of 4.29 m, while its lifesupport systems are capable of comfortably supporting 4.11 m.  The ships of FHG II are in orbit of Faewald from January 6 to February 17 their crews enjoying a long shore leave.  They are back in operation at Doinenan on Febuary 22.  ICG I arrives at Faewald with equipment for a mine, prefabricated components to expand the colony and 20 000 new colonists on February 3 and departs on Febuary 27.  On April 9 the ships of FHG X join FHG I and II at Doinenan, this will give Alpha Centauri a boost in fuel production that will enable it to refuel the Heavy Lift Group and make refueling of the ICGs somewhat easier.  On May 9 the ships of ICG IV arrive at Faewald with parts for an expansion to the industrial park, prefabricated components for the colony and a further 20 000 colonists and then depart on the 28th.  The ships of Heavy lift group I arrive June 12 and depart on June 27.  They had  dropped off a teleoperated mine on Banshee, then unloaded parts for an expansion to the industrial park and 40 000 colonists plus the support/housing equipment for them.  FHG X's crews enjoy their first shore leave on Faewald from June 28 to August 11.  This overlaps with the ships of FHG I which are are present from July 17 to August 26.  ICG II arrives August 19 with more components to expand the industrial park plus the colonies size and 20 000 new colonists and depart September 11.  ICG III arrives with a full load of prefabricated support systems and housing modules plus 20,000 new colonists on November 10 and departs loaded with the fruits of Faewalds mines on December 2.  The farm ends the year with 0.65 m litres of fuel present.

After spending some 20 days waiting at the Sol jump point Upholder is ferried into the system on January 17 and arrives in Faewald orbit on February 12.  1st Geosurvey team starts their land based survey of Faewald aided by the Upholders sensors.  The survey is still ongoing at the end of the year.


BIC Operations in AD Leonis

Forge is this year clearly the central link in the BIC extra solar colony network.  Trafic control is busy monitoring ICGs and FHGs as they transit the system or harvest fuel from Deeper Sky.  On its way through the system the small convoy of 3rd Squadron, IS II and the pair of GSM paused to let the Foxhound emplaces a comm/sensor buoy at the jump point to Gliese 408.  At this point only the jump point to Wolf 358 is not monitored in quasi realtime by Forge's traffic control.  ICG V, VI, and VII pass through on the way to and/or from Biforst with loads of 20,000 colonists, plus support and mining equipment.  Heavy Lift Group II passes through on the way to Rosetta with  50,000 colonists plus support and mining equipment.  FHG III, IV, V, and VI unload a full years worth of fuel into the farm in Forge orbit.  The Farm ends the year with 1.68 m litres of fuel in store.

The colony is a busy place with the mines, entertainement district and a growing market for small scale transhipping starting up.  It is a cross roads of extreme value to BIC, as the freighters arrive back in Sol with crews that require less shore leave, and the ships that require less fuel.  Regardless of it being a hell hole the opportunity to earn massive saleries draws people to the place for 5 year long work contracts.


BIC Operations in FL Virginis

The colony at Biforst is expanded over the year.  On January 3 ICG VII arrives, and it departs for Forge on January 15.  On March 15 the ships of FHG VII arrive in Biforst orbit to offload fuel and give their crews shore leave.  They are back at work harvesting on April 29.  On June 12 ICG VI arrives and it deaprts for Forge on June 22.  This year each ICG brings 20 000 colonists, colonial prefabricated housing and life support plus the equipment for a mine.  The staging through Forge reduces crew fatigue and shortens the time required for leave at any location significantly.  The next day FHG VIII arrives in Biforst orbit and remains until August 6, and two days later is back on the job harvesting fuel.  ICG V arrives on November 26 and leaves orbit heading for Forge on December 27.  The colony ends the year with a substantial reseve of fuel in its farm (1.86 m litres).  The population is now 0.18 m and the mines are working at slightly better than 40% capacity due to worker shortages cutting into how many shifts per day are used.
 

BIC Operations in Gliese 526

The colony of Rosetta as is usual for such things starts to ignore the alien ruins and get on with their own existance.  The arrival of FHG X on Febuary 8 is a major event as the colony can now process fuel for the visiting transports and freighters.  The ship's crews are finished with their shore leaves on March 13 and 6 days later fuel harvesting begins around the outermost gas giant of the system.  On June 9 the pair of ships forming ITM I (Interstellar Terraforming Mission) and part of the crew starts shore leave while the others start the process of adding Nitrogen to the atmosphere.  The plan is to build up the atmosphere with nitrogen to the level added by the Ammonia and then remove the Ammonia.  The process will be repeated with the Methane, and after that to begin adding oxygen till the atmosphere is breathable, if thin.  This will keep the temperature variation to a minimum.  On December 6 the ships of HLG II arrive with 50 000 new colonists, support systems and two mines.  The ships leave on December 23 after draining the colonies farm dry.  The Xeno-archeology team has so far made no major breakthrough in decifering the Alien language but given how difficult it was to do this with Egyptian hiroglyphs no one is surprised.   The colony ends the year with a population of 0.14 million. 


Outsystem Survey Efforts and Naval Operations

Epsilon Indi

Intersteller Survey IV continues their mission.   The Trail Blazer intercepts 4 comets to determine their mineral wealth while the Franklin continues its gravitational survey.  By April 10 Trail Blazer is on station at the jump point to Alpha Centauri waiting for the other ship to finish.  No one was more suprised then the crew of the Franklin when the results of the survey revealed an outgoing jumppoint just off the last survey point.  Although the Franklin could have probed the jumppoint and the temptation to do so was high especially as no one had expected anything to be found in this "make work" survey Commander xxxx stuck to SOP and instead set course for the Trail Blazer and then Sol with the news.

AD 2287 (January 9) th 05:26:26,Epsilon Indi,Minerals Discovered on Epsilon Indi-A Comet #10: Duranium 88,986 (0.8 )  Neutronium 902 (1)  Tritanium 8,773 (1)  Uridium 49,300 (1)  Corundium 6,015 (0.7)  Gallicite 5,355 (0.8 ) 
AD 2287 (January 24) Minerals Discovered on Epsilon Indi-A Comet #11: Neutronium 481 (0.7)  Corbomite 6,904 (1)  Vendarite 13,085 (0.7)  Sorium 15,649 (1)  Gallicite 7,531 (0.7)
AD 2287 (February 7) Minerals Discovered on Epsilon Indi-A Comet #1: Sorium 10,010 (1) 
AD 2287 (March 15) Minerals Discovered on Epsilon Indi-A Comet #7: Neutronium 3,646 (0.9)  Corbomite 15,956 (0.7)  Tritanium 7,297 (0.9)  Sorium 4,280 (0.7)  Corundium 12,538 (0.9) 
AD 2287 (September 8 ) New Jump Point found in the Epsilon Indi System
AD 2287 (September 8 ) Gravitational Survey Completed in the Epsilon Indi system. The system has a total of 2 jump points

LHS 292 -- AD Leonis -- Gliese 408 -- GJ 1156

The small convoy of ships formed from 3rd Squadron, plus IS II and the pair of GSMs completes their transit of LHS 292 on January 2 and January 4 respectively.  Once in AD Leonis all ships head for the jumppoint to Gliese 408.  On January 15 the Foxhound deploys a Comm/Sensor buoy at this jumppoint and Forge Traffic Control indicates they are recieving the data some hours later.  3rd Squadron transits into Gliese 408 and after dropping another buoy on this side of the jump point heads for the jump point to GJ 1156 where on January 23 the Foxhound deploys another pair of buoys on either side of the jumppoint extending the chain further.  On Febuary 6 the BuSurvey ships enter Gliese 408 and set course for GJ 1156's jumppoint.  On Febuary 9, Foxhound and Perryvale are detached from 3rd Squadron for a probe of the unexplored outgoing jumppoint in GJ 1156.

AD 2287 (February 9) An exploration of a jump point in the GJ 1156 system has revealed the new system of Gl 493.1

Gl 493.1

On Febuary 9 Perryvale opens up a jumppoint to the system from GJ 1156 and the Foxhound and Perryvale arrive in system.  The stellar primary is a class M5-V star. The ships spend the typical 5 minutes in system before completing their scheduled return jump.  Their passive sensors had detected no other ships close to the jump point but their high speed camera systems had captured GBs of images from the two ships covering the system.  The computers on board both ships does a search through the pictures looking for thermal signatures of planetary bodies.  They identify 11 bodies in the system.

On Febuary 30, the ships of BuSurvey arrive on the jump point in GJ 1156 to join the Naval vessels.  They are keen to get started on their mission but first they will need to probe the system.  That job falls to the Voyageur.  Both NCN and BuSurvey ships jump into Gl 493.1 and the Voyageur begins her voyage to the nearest planet while the James Cook heads for the nearest survey point to begin surveying.  Both the GSMs and the Navy ships await the all clear.  However, the better equipped BuSurvey ships of IS II and their crew of professional scientists soon have shocking news.  The atmosphere of planet II, is breathable.  The world also has water, infact it turns out to be without significant land masses and the temperature is pretty much Earth normal.  The first second Earth had been found [ooc]colony cost: 0[/ooc].  The question that remained to be answered was if this system was infested by the Wolvers and almost as important did the system have any outgoing jump points.  The second question was answered before the first as on April 16 during the first survey an outgoing jump point was found relatively close to the entrance jumppoint.

The BuSurvey survey ships and the close flyby of Voyageur give the following system details.
Planets 1 through III are Terrestrial.  Planet 1 which orbits at only 330 000 km from the primary is a molten hell with a surface temperature of 1100 °C and no atmosphere.  Planet II is a benign waterworld with a mean temperature around 0°C, a gravity of 1.35 G, an atmosphere a bit lower in oxygen content then Earth (0.11 atm) but otherwise a Nitrogen-Oxygen-Argon atmosphere of 1.28 atm total pressure.  Planet III is habitable with extensive terraforming it has a gravity of 0.4 G, water ice, but a negligable atmosphere that leaves its surface temperature at -116°C.  Planets IV through VII are gas giansts with 12, 20, 40 and 15 moons.  Of those 5 moons are terrestrial.  Planet VIII is terrestrial size cold airless ball orbited by 4 moons.  Planet IX is a dwarf planet.  Planet X is a gas giant with 28 moons (3 Terrastrial).  Planet XI is a super jovan planet with 17 moons (4 Terrastrial).

By the end of the geological survey the wealth of the system is staggering.

On March 29, after following the information on the comm buoys laid by 3rd Squadron their relief, 2nd Squadron, arrives in Gl 493.1.  3rd Squadron remains on station until April 5 when the probe by the Voyageur is finished revealing the system is free of Wolver infestation.  The 3rd Squadron departs for Sol with the news on April 5.  On May 8 IS III, having followed the information on the Comm buoys arrives in system and the pair of ships set course for one of the outer system gas giants and its huge collection of moons.  IS II completes their surveys and leaves for Earth in late May planning to spend about a month surveying in GJ 1156.  They will arrive back in Sol on September 7th.  3rd Squadron arrives at Earth with the news of a completely habitable world on May 26, two days before IS II leaves Gl 493.1.

AD 2287 (April 12) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A I: Neutronium 6,456,681 (0.1)  Vendarite 4,186,116 (0.4)  Uridium 9,217,296 (0.2)  Gallicite 5,963,364 (0.1) 
AD 2287 (May 1) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A II: Duran 54,496,800 (0.8 )  Neut 41,990,400 (0.1)  Corb 71,571,600 (0.2)  Trit 1,166,400 (0.1)  Merc 7,290,000 (0.1)  Vend 48,024,900 (0.1)  Sorium 4,284,900 (0.1)  Gall 11,088,900 (1) 
AD 2287 (May 6) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A X: Sorium 2,457,000 (0.7) 
AD 2287 (May 11) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A III: Corbomite 8,749,764 (0.9)  Boronide 3,370,896 (0.6) 
AD 2287 (May 13) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A X - Moon 6: Duran 11,443,330 (0.4)  Neut 1,690,000 (0.1)  Corb 649,636 (0.1)  Trit 676 (0.3)  Boron 2,768,896 (0.5)  Merc 6,084 (0.3)  Vend 33,124 (0.1)  Urid 244,036 (0.9) 
AD 2287 (May 20) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A X - Moon 8: Duranium 12,300,800 (0.9) 
AD 2287 (May 20) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A X - Moon 9: Gallicite 2 (1) 
AD 2287 (May 27) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A X - Moon 11: Duranium 69,714,430 (0.1) 
AD 2287 (May 29) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A XI - Moon 3: Neutronium 3,444,736 (0.6)  Corbomite 23,174,600 (0.1)  Boronide 14,212,900 (0.6)  Vendarite 19,945,160 (0.1)  Uridium 1,628,176 (0.1) 
AD 2287 (June 5) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A XI - Moon 7: Duranium 194,688 (0.4)  Corbomite 670,761 (0.9) 
AD 2287 (June 9) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A XI - Moon 13: Mercassium 2,601 (1) 
AD 2287 (June 11) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A XI - Moon 17: Duranium 288 (0.9)  Tritanium 324 (0.9) 
AD 2287 (June 24) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A X - Moon 23: Vendarite 98 (1)  Uridium 190 (1) 
AD 2287 (August 3) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A VI - Moon 9: Neutronium 43,264 (0.7)  Mercassium 33,124 (1)  Sorium 628,849 (0.7) 
AD 2287 (July 17) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A VII - Moon 12: Neutronium 83 (1) 
AD 2287 (August 24) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A VI - Moon 22: Duranium 8,761,298 (0.7)  Uridium 508,369 (0.2) 
AD 2287 (August 27) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A VI - Moon 23: Corbomite 313,600 (0.5) 
AD 2287 (September 2) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A VIII: Duranium 1,905,152 (0.1)  Neutronium 10,452,290 (0.5)  Boronide 182,329 (0.1)  Mercassium 450,241 (0.1) 
AD 2287 (September 6) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A VI - Moon 38: Duranium 163,592 (0.8 )  Mercassium 17,424 (0.7)  Vendarite 27,225 (0.7)  Uridium 94,864 (0.5) 
AD 2287 (September 13) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A V: Sorium 151,200 (0.3) 
AD 2287 (September 24) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A V - Moon 6: Duranium 426,888 (1)  Corundium 853,776 (0.7) 
AD 2287 (September 30) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A V - Moon 7: Duranium 607,202 (0.3)  Corbomite 3,663,396 (0.4)  Boronide 1,703,025 (0.1)  Mercassium 1,030,225 (0.3) 
AD 2287 (October 4) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A V - Moon 19: Duranium 11,982 (1)  Boronide 3,422 (1)  Vendarite 4,928 (1)  Uridium 392 (1)
AD 2287 (October 4) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A IV: Sorium 95,400 (0.9) 
AD 2287 (October 6) Minerals Discovered on Gl 493.1-A IV - Moon 9: Tritanium 121 (1)  Gallicite 588 (1)

AD 2287 (April 16) New Jump Point found in the Gl 493.1 System
AD 2287 (September 23) An exploration of a jump point in the Gl 493.1 system has revealed the new system of GJ 1154
AD 2287 (October 2) Gravitational Survey Completed in the Gl 493.1 system. The system has a total of 2 jump points

GJ 1154

By the end of September it is largely certain that there is but a single outgoing jumppoint in the system.  On September 23 Bloodhound and Banf make a probe through the jumppoint.  The two ships arrive 5.9 billion km from the star GJ 1154 and it brood of planets.  The primary is a G1-V star.   On October 21 IS III jumps in system along with the NCN Battlegroup.  Scout is dispatched to probe the system.   The BuSuvey ships soon determine the system contains: 4 Terrastrial worlds, a dwarf planet and a gas giant.  By December 18, Scout has done a probe, surveyed the most easily colonized world plus its moon and returned to the jumppoint.  The decision is made that since the GSM's Oberons are nearly at 22 of their 24 months of crew endurance that the whole force including the NCN ships would return to Sol.

The probe found the inner two world Venus type hot house planets.  Planet III is habitable with terraforming as it has a gravity of 0.5 G, water present, a surface temperature of 27°C, and 0.3 atm atmosphere of Carbon Dioxide, Nitrogen and Neon.  Planet IV has a breathable atmosphere though it is thin (0.41 atm total pressure), but the whole world is ice covered due to its chilly -116°C mean temperature.  The gravity is a tolerable 0.6 G.  So these two worlds are terraforming possibilities.  Planet V is a dwarf world.  Planet VI is a gas giant with 15 moons (1 is terrastrial).  Planet II has two small moons and both planet III and IV are orbited by a single small moon.

AD 2287 (December 7) Minerals Discovered on GJ 1154-A III - Moon 1: Corbomite 34,969 (0.8 )  Gallicite 572,292 (0.7) 

GJ 1156

As it had informed the 3rd Squadron who were preceeding them to Sol, IS II delays their return to Earth to finish off the last part of the survey of GJ 1156.  They will do geological surveys of the 19 asteroids that orbit the primary just outside the planetary orbits.  They arrive in system on June 10 and by July 7 have completed their survey operations and set course for the jump point to Gliese 408.  As is typical in asteroid surveys no TN minerals were found.

NCN Dispositions End of 2287

1st Fleet (Churchill Naval Command, Earth, Sol)(CO:  Commadore Charlie Frasier)

Task Group 1 (CO: Cpt. Aaron Benson)
1st Squadron Battlegroup (undergoing overhaul in Earth orbit) (CO: Cpt. Aaron Benson)
1st Squadron Support Group (in Earth Orbit) (CO: Cmdr Alice Hill)
2nd Squadron Battlegroup (CO: Cpt Cameron Vaughan)
2nd Squadron Support Group (CO: ---)
<2nd Squadron is waiting to returning to Earth in GJ 1154 it will be escorting the BuSurvey ships of IS III, Alpha & Beta Grav Survey Missions.  The ships of IS III are making their way back to the jumppoint.>
3rd Squadron Battlegroup (Sol, Jumppoint to Wolf 359) (CO: Cpt Josh Bird)
3rd Squadron Support Group (Sol, Earth orbit) (CO: Commander Benidict Kolb)

Task Group 2 (CO: Commadore Ewan Ahmed)
4th Squadron Support Group (Sol, Jumppoint to Wolf 359) (CO: Cmdr Ellen Barker) <3 Enchanter JS, 1 Gryphon FFG(H)>
5th Squadron Battle Group (-) (undergoing overhaul in Earth orbit) (CO: Cpt Veronika Zweig) <Lake class corvette missing from TO&E>
5th Squadron Support Group (in Earth Orbit) (CO: Cmdr Rhys Shepard) (all ships except Flower class TJ are without missiles)
6th Squadron Battlegroup(-) (Sol, Jumppoint to Wolf 359) (CO: Commadore Ewan Ahmed)<Lake class corvette missing from TO&E>
6th Squadron Support Group (in Earth Orbit) (CO: Cmdr Billy Bell) (all ships except Flower class TJ are without missiles)

[Brainsucker]

thanks for the update. Seems that Ewan Ahmed will lead a broken Task Group in quite a long-long time.
A Question. No Tribal Class Destroyer survived?

[Paul M (OP)]

thanks for the update. Seems that Ewan Ahmed will lead a broken Task Group in quite a long-long time.
A Question. No Tribal Class Destroyer survived?

You're welcome.

Not really as long as it might look.  The 15 automatic mines add in 196 tonnes of Gallacite production.  Production in Faewald is higher as well (though only by 10 tonnes or so).  Planned in the next year is 10 more automatic mines for venus (adding in 112 more tonnes) and each year another 10 until Venus is at 50 mines (by the end I should have with a tech advance 16 tonnes per year so 50x16x0.8 = 640 tonnes per year from Venus).  The first two years (25 new automatic mines worth of production or 308 tonnes) compared to usage will, I think, get things to the point where ship construction will be able to begin again.  But BIC won the toss and the first ships set for construction are 4 Petrol class refinery ships.  Still probably inside of 4-5 years the Gallacite issue should be done with and I suspect the NCN will have gotten replacement Lakes by then...I'm rather hopeful they will start production in year 3. 

Also even in its current state Task Group 2 signficantly outguns Task Group 1.  The heavy frigate battlegroup (-)'s have 4 Arrow launchers and 4x3 Buckler CM launchers.  The Terrier Battlegroups have 2 Arrow launchers, 3x3 Buckler CM launchers and 2 laser barbettes.   The NCN really really really wants to phase out the Terrier Battlegroups.

No Tribal's survived the operation.  Two were lost deep in the system and two were lost a day from the jumppoint.  The Navy is keen to replace them as single Tribal has the firepower of any of the squadrons in Task Group 1.  But the construction time on a Tribal is slightly over a year so it will take time once authorized for the ships to be built...plus the Quiver and Magazine (the collier ships authorized).  But they have the yards to stack up 2 Tribals and a Quiver class.

[Paul M (OP)]

[ooc]I will be away from home the first week of Novemeber so no updates till after that.  Thanks for the suggestions on the medal I finally got that sorted out.[/ooc]
AD 2288  Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

The news from the Survey of Gl 493.1 sent a shock through Earth's interweb.  It was an unplanned but wholey welcome relief for the NCN's PR.  It was not so much that the news boosted the public's perception of the Navy but that a habitable world completely eclipsed the ongoing "what if" campaign.  The "What if" now on peoples mind was "What if I was to immigrate?"  BIC was stuck waiting for the last survey details and for the results of the probe on the neighboring system.  It was also unclear how they could juggle their 8 ICGs and 2 HLGs to support simultaneously 4 systems colonization efforts.  Especially since Poisedean, as the wold quickly became known, was not exactly a short trip.  This meant a FHG was needed, and 2 partial ones remained in Sol.  This pushed upwards the priority of getting sufficient Gallicite out of the tight wads in the NCC to get the two consorts (preferably the 4) finished.  That would also free up the yards for conversion to refitting the ICGs.

Poisedean was also a horse of a different colour for the interest in immigration.  While admittedly it wasn't a tropical island paradise, it was for the most of the population not exacaly a frigid hellhole either.  It also wasn't, like all other options, a question of your decendants a few generations down living a better life...you got that yourself.  This changed the level of interest.  Also, from the point of view of BIC, it was a different proposition exactly what to ship along with the colonists.  They were seeing with Faewald that you needed to develop the industrial park earlier, but without the demand to produce additional life support then clearly the industrial capacity would be free to produce other things.  Regardless given they were already committed to 3 outsystem colonies the agreement with the NCC was made to proceed slowly with the colonization of Poisedean, using their last reserve ICG.  The effort would start in August due to the requirements on the Gallicite crisis mitigation planning.

The NCC was able to, by the end of May, start full bore on this plan.  First authorized is more construction factories; both to speed up the next steps but also for shipping offworld.  Then comes 10 more telepresence operated mines for Venus.  After that is a large amount of colonial lifesupport and housing for Callisto, the parts for 50 mines for Callisto and a further 5 to be shipped out system.  Then 3 Terraformers: one for Mars and 2 for Callisto.  The NCN gets their maintenance facility expansion and more deep space tracking clusters for Mars. 

The net effect will be to enchance the production of Gallicite on Venus to 336 tonnes per year(double the amount when compared to 2286 levels), and add to that 140 tonnes per year from Hestia.  That should be sufficient to deal with typical usage.  Added to that will be Gallicite from Faewald, which should enable a restart of a shipbuilding program in 2289.  It will also bring into production Corundum from Callisto at a level of 630 tonnes per year.  This will help offset the demand that production of yet more mines will produce.  But it is clear that even that number of mines on Callisto will have to be increased.

Boronide is next on the critical list as the 4 Petrol class harvesters and 4 Nile class terraformers will use over 1600 tonnes of the mineral.  The NCNs approved Virtue bases will need a further 400 tonnes and that will leave the stockpile level critical.  This means boosting the production in Banshee and Faewald is a necessity.

On May 19 the terraformers on Io stopped the addition of Oxygen to the atmosphere (current oxygen level: 0.005 atm) and started adding more nitrogen to thicken the atmosphere.

In January the Navy has an award ceremony where the COs of the ships that participated in Operation Hattrick are presented with the Battle of Wolf 359 medal.  The newsies on the other side of the Atlantic from Churchill cristen the medal: Das Bluttigerkreutz der Fenrisjäger [ooc] Thanks to Heph for catching my mangalation of German plus my typical Der-Die-Das issues [/ooc] for the red colour of the medals base cross and it acquires the nick name "The cross of Wolf's blood."


Industrial Efforts, Earth, Sol
Primary Industrial Tasks
AD 2288 (May 29) Work on the Centre of Excellence in Defensive Technologies is completed and Dr. Morgan Fowler and her team begin research into improved armour for space craft (High Density Duranium Armour).  The NCN upon reviewing her expected completion date are agast but hope that experience at team management will improve that date [ooc]1 Research lab and a 10% researcher = slow progress[/ooc]
AD 2288 (May 29) Fabrication of 10 Construction Factories primarily intended for BIC begins.

Secondary Industrial Tasks
AD 2288 (January 19) An older mine is converted to telepresence operated for shipment offworld.
AD 2288 (March 6) Prefabricated housing units and lifeupport systems are produced for BIC [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]
AD 2288 (May 29) A new Fuel Refinery is finished (yearly production is now:  4.22 m litres per year) and production of prefabricated housing units and lifesupport systems for BIC starts [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]

Missiles and Fighters
AD 2288 (January 24) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles (Batch 2) completed
AD 2288 (March 17) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles (Batch 2) completed
AD 2288 (April 17) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles (Batch 2) completed
AD 2288 (April 22) Construction of 10 Comm/Sensor Buoys completed
AD 2288 (June 15) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles(Batch 2) completed and construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles (Begins) begins
AD 2288 (January 19) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 019 is delievered to the NCN
AD 2288 (March 26) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 020 completes space trials
AD 2288 (June 4) C1(EW/SAR) 021 is accepted by the quartermasters corps

AD 2288 (January 19) Fairmile B2(EW) 010 and 011 are scrapped (Salvage from scrap: Wealth: 3.75.  Gallicite: 3.8 tonnes)
AD 2288 (June 4) Fairmile B2(EW) 008 and 009 are scrapped (Salvage from scrap: Wealth: 3.75.  Gallicite: 3.8 tonnes)

Naval Yard: Victorias-Esquimalt Graving Yard, Sol
AD 2288 (May 14) Cheshire (London Mod1.5 class) is refit.  The yards begin retooling for the Virtue class Orbital Weapons Platform.

Code: [Select]

Virtue class Orbital Weapon Platform    3,850 tons     99 Crew     378.5 BP      TCS 77  TH 0  EM 270
1 km/s     Armour 3-21     Shields 9-300     Sensors 15/15/0/0     Damage Control Rating 2     PPV 26.88
Maint Life 4.89 Years     MSP 123    AFR 59%    IFR 0.8%    1YR 9    5YR 128    Max Repair 24 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months    Spare Berths 0   

Fuel Capacity 10,000 Litres    Range N/A
GE Barrier A119 (9)   Total Fuel Cost  81 Litres per day

TorAr Goaltender II Laser Array (4x1)    Range 30,000km     TS: 12000 km/s     Power 3-3     RM 1    ROF 5        3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Grundig Sureshot Mk1-25/20X  BFC (2)    Max Range: 40,000 km   TS: 2500 km/s     75 50 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
CANDU AHW 6MW (2)     Total Power Output 12    Armour 0    Exp 5%

Seimens SCMS Vigilant Plus 51/4-0050 (1)     GPS 14     Range 700k km    Resolution 1
NorTEL IR Array 0-3 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  15m km
Bell Phased Array P3-15 (1)     Sensitivity 15     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  15m km

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
The Virtue is intended to provide close in defence against missiles for planets whose atmosphere is too thick to allow ground based laser fire.  Mounting 4 Goaltender II arrays they have twice the fire power of a Lake class corvette.  They mount the same shields as a Tribal and have an armour belt thick enough to stop a Wolver warhead from penetrating.  The initial design is designed to orbit Earth but the Navy plans a Mod1 revision that will add either a single frigate engine or else 1 or more pinnace engines to make them marginally mobile.  This will allow them to be used as Jumppoint monitors or to be deployed to different planets and with sufficient patience even different systems.  The NCN has authorization for 6, and with the option for a further 6 Mod1 bases later.

Research Developments
AD 2288 (January 29) Dr. Stephanie Rees's team finishes their study of jumppoint transits with concrete suggestions for how to change the vortex parameters to allow for arrivals further from the jumppoint pole (Max Squadron Jump Radius - 100k) they start looking into mechanisms to stabilize the jump point to allow more ships to transit before collapse starts (Max Jump Squadron Size - 4 ).  The current developments are viewed as systems for the future rather than ones that address immediate needs.

Northern Coalition Army
AD 2288 (April 22) The 1st Extra Solar Bde Support Troops complete their final training excersizes in Camp Wainwright.  Col John Scott leads his men to Victoria to start the loading process for their deployment to Rosetta.  The personnel that will form the 2nd Extra Solar Bde Support Troops begins arriving at Camp Wainwright a few days later.
Troop Transport Squadron(-) leaves for Rosetta with the Bigger Grenadiers and the 1st Extra Solar Bde Support Troops on May 7, and arrives at Forge on June 18 for a brief refueling stop before heading for LHS 292.

AD 2288 (June 19) Brigadier General Sean Mann has been killed while supervising flood relief work on the missisippi river with his unit the Montreal Fusaliers Bn.  His command group was caught by surprise when debries struck the bridge they were crossing causing his CIC vehicle to slide into the water.  On June 20 Colonel Ezekiel Wines is promoted to Brigadier General to replace General Mann.


Civillian Operations in Sol
AD 2288 (February 26) The civilian mining colony on Neujmin has been expanded to 10 civilian mining complexes
AD 2288 (April 6) The civilian mining colony on Haumea has been expanded to 13 civilian mining complexes
AD 2288 (April 28) The civilian mining colony on Haumea has been expanded to 14 civilian mining complexes


BIC Operations in Alpha Centauri

Faewald's industrial part turns out nearly sufficient housing and lifesupport equipment for a further 150 000 people [ooc]Infrastructure x50+[/ooc] but is still below the requirements of the growing population.  FHG II finishes their shore leave on April 1 and is back harvesting fuel by April 9.  Heavy Lift Group I arrives at Faewald, after dropping off a telepresence operated mine on Banshee on June 11, with parts for a new construction factory and 40 000 new colonists plus prefabricated housing and lifesupport for them.  The Group leaves for Earth on June 25.  ICG I arrives at Faewald on June 22 with parts for a construction factory, 20 000 new colonists and a load of prefabricated housing and lifesupport sufficient for 47 000 people.  The industrial park is now capable of producing sufficient lifesupport and housing for 330 000 people in one year while the growth rate is 525 000.

The 1st Geosurvey team completes its ground survey of Faewald on February 4, finding no new minearal deposits to the dissapointment of the colonists.  The Upholder than moves the team to Banshee where it functions as an orbital hotel as they conduct a survey of that inhospitable planet until March 17 where they release their results.  The Upholder than shifts the team to Calheme whose overly oxygen rich atmosphere is something that can't be tolerated for long, so the Upholder again functions as an orbital hotel.  The team is still surving Calheme at the end of June.

AD 2288 (March 17) A deposit of 10 150 596 tons of Corbomite (Accessibility 0.1) has been found on Banshee by the 1st Geosurvey Team


BIC Operations in AD Leonis

Forge Traffic Control has a busy 6 months with the typical movement of ICGs and FHGs.  ICG VII spends from January 9 to 24 in Forge orbit before departing for Biforst.  ICG V is in orbit from March 20 to April 1.  The crews of FHG VI spends from April 11 to May 19 on shore leave, and are back harvesting on May 20.  ICG VI arrives on June 1 and departs on June 15.  Heavy Lift Group II arrives at Forge from Rosetta on June 5 and departs for Earth on June 25.  The ships of the troop transport squadron refuel on June 18 on a swing by on their way to Rosetta. FHG IV arrives for shore leave on June 11 and FHG III also arrives for rest and relaxation on June 16.
Forge also services the NCN ships passing through via the Protecteur Resupply Vessels swinging by to refuel from the Farm and then returning to the waiting Naval vessels.  The Farm easily handles the various demands and remains at a consistant level of nearly 1.2 m litres through this whole period.  Forge is truely one of the most critical links in the whole chain connecting BICs outsystem colonies to Sol.


BIC Operations in FL Virginis

Biforst recieves the 20 000 colonists, lifesupport and prefabricated housing components and mining equipment from ICG VII when they arrive on May 9.  The crews spend until May 19 enjoying leave at the Colony and then head back to Earth after refueling their ships.  On May 20 FHG VII arrives for shore leave.  Otherwise the colony gets on with the business of growing its local industry and working the mines which are still hampered by the low overall population of the colony.


BIC Operations in Gliese 526

Rosetta has a quiet 6 months with only a visit by FHG IX from April 15 to May 29 to allow the ships crew shore leave.  The NCC Xenoarcheology team has so far not made any significant progress on the ruins they are studying and for the most part the colonists are more and more concerned with local matter such as the time until they are free from the stench of Methane and Ammonia.  ITM I is in orbit and continues to add nitrogen to the atmosphere.


Outsystem Survey Efforts and Naval Operations

GJ 1154 and then Sol

The ships in GJ 1154 are finished with their initial survey tasks and back at the jumppoint to Gl 493.1 on February 15.  The 5.9 billion km trip from the inner system to the jumppoint takes the Scout more than a month to traverse.  By February 18 though the NCN and BuSurvey ships start back for Sol.  The Oberon's crews are starting to scrape the bottom of their larders barrels and after nearly two years of breathing canned air in the depths of space even the most enthuastic astrophysicist or astronomer is reaching the point of "enough."  The faster NCN ships lead the way through GJ 1156 and Gliese 408 as they have a fuel issue which the BuSurvey ships do not.  IS III ferries the Oberons through the jump points on the way.  2nd Squadron enters Gliese 408 on March 3 and jumps into AD Leonis on March 13 where they detach their tanker Pious Antonius to make a pair of trips back and forth to refuel the thirsty navy ships.  They exit AD Leonis heading for Sol on March 21.  On March 23 the BuSurvey ships finish their transit of Gliese 408 and by April 19 they are at the jump point to Sol in Lalande 21185.  2nd Squadron is in Earth orbit on April 8 and the BuSurvey ships on April 25.  The NCC and BIC now have the latest survey information on Gl 493.1 and can plan in more detail how to colonize this system.  The fact that no Wolvers exist next door simplifies the situation considerably.

Sol-Alpha Centauri-Epsilon Indi

Yielding to the pleas of BuSurvey and looking to improve the security of their lines of communication to Faewald the NCN formes the Wild Rose Detachment from 6th Squadron in March.  Cmdr Leon Barlow CO of the Wild Rose is in overall command of the detachment.  The Normandy (Lt. Cmdr Phil Wilmer) and the SS Glasgow are the primary mission elements.  The Normandy is first dispached to the Sol-Wolf 359 jumppoint with 8 Mk. 1 mines to finish off the mine field there.  The Normandy then joins the Wild Rose and Glasgow at the Sol-Alpha C jumppoint where a comm/sensor bouy is laid on either side on April 10.  The ships then head for the jump point to Epsilon Indi where they also lay comm/sensor buoys on either side on April 19.  Their initial task completed the detachment reverses course and jumps back into Sol on May 28 where the Petrocan rendevous with them to refuel the detachment. 

The refueled Wild Rose Detachment sets course for the unexplored jumppoint 4 where they are joined by Interstellar Survey IV.  After laying a comm/sensor buoy on May 17 the Wild Rose and Normandy transit the jump point and discover the system the star charts list as Lacaille 9352.  They arrive some 694 million km from the system primary a M2-V star.  After spending 5 minutes capturing GBs of camera data the two ships jump back to Sol.  IS IV and the Wild Rose detachment return to Lacaille 9352 and the instruments of the survey ships reveal the system composition in more detail. 

Their better instrumentation reveals that the system consists of: 2 Terrestrial worlds with thin and nearly breathable atmospheres orbiting close to the primary.  Then comes 2 gas giants with 5 and 19 moons respectively; 2 moons of the second gas giant are terrestrial.  Then follows a terrestrial world that is cold but with a thin exotic atmosphere orbited by two small moons.  A super jovian with 2 moons including 2 terrestrial.  Next is a gas giant with 25 moons, 4 of which are terrestrial.  Next are two dwarf planets the outer of which is orbited by a moonlet.  A gast giant with 7 moons one of which is terrestrial is next and the last body is a dwarf planet orbited by a moonlet.  None of the bodies have water which is dissapointing but this is a system with a large amount of real estate.
 
AD 2288 (May 17) An exploration of a jump point in the Sol system has revealed the new system of Lacaille 9352

The Trail Blazer starts its movement insystem to probe for Wolver infestations.  By May 27 the Trail Blazer (CO: Lt. Cmdr Reece Riley) confirms that none of the planets in the inner system have Wolver ships and starts on its Geological survey of the systems worlds.  John Franklin (Cmdr Leon Barlow) moves insystem to start the gravitational survey of the inner six survey locations while the Normandy deploys a comm/sensor buoy.  The Wild Rose Detachment remains on the Jumppoint while the BuSurvey ships do their job.

AD 2288 (June 4) Minerals Discovered on Lacaille 9352-A II: Duranium 11,985,410 (0.8 )  Neutronium 5,827,396 (0.7)  Corbomite 842,724 (0.4)  Mercassium 10,214,420 (0.1)  Vendarite 9,156,676 (0.2)  Gallicite 5,345,344 (0.8 ) 
AD 2288 (June 12) Minerals Discovered on Lacaille 9352-A I: Duran 8,528,450 (0.3)  Neut 12,250,000 (0.5)  Corb 5,832,225 (0.9)  Trit 8,850,625 (0.1)  Sorium 592,900 (0.1)  Urid 1,863,225 (0.7)  Corun 6,350,400 (0.7)
AD 2288 (June 16) Minerals Discovered on Lacaille 9352-A III: Sorium 100,979,400 (0.7) 

The inner two worlds have atmospheres that could be easily modified to be breathable but lack water making their long term habitation problematic.  Still they are mineral rich and after modifying their atmospheres it should be possible to work in a "shirt sleeves" environment which would make exploitation considerably less expensive.  At the moment though the jump point to Lacaille 9352 is even further from the inner system then is Alpha Centauri and BIC has no capacity free to exploit the system but at least question of what is beyond this jumppoint has been answered.

Wolf 358

3rd Squadron is dispatched from Earth (departing Sol on June 3) to Wolf 358.  The Foxhound carries 5 Comm/sensor Buoys which will be emplaced on the AD Leonis-Wolf 358 jumppoint, and then the 4 closest jumppoints in Wolf 358:  AD Leonis, Ross 128, HIP 51317, and one that is unexplored.  The goal is to monitor if there is any traffic between Ross 128 and HIP 51317 to see if the Wolver ships move about. 

[Brainsucker]

I'm surprise that London class is still alive and getting new upgrade. No improvement to Falcon and Arrow Missiles?