AD 2284 (July 1 to December 30) Looking at the Way Forward
In early July Commissioner Buxtorf re-organizes and streamlines the processes involved with purchasing orders for the NCC giving all related industrial efforts a boost in efficiency by easing the bureaucratic burden on their call for tender and other actions. [ooc]2284 (July 3) Civilian Administrator Tobias Buxtorf has increased his Factory Production Bonus to 45%[/ooc]
The arrival of Interstellar Survey II in August brings to the NCC the information that the prospects of future expansion beyond Forge via the LHS 292 system look bleak as it seems unlikely that open jump points will be found at distances from Sol that allow for easy exploitation. It is also clear that the systems beyond LHS 292 are going to take around 30 years to develop to a level that gives them a significant level of self economic expansion.
This leads to several rounds of high level discussions between Commissioner Buxtorf and BIC, BuSurvey, the Science Directorate, and Commadore Frasier. Cpt. Anna Cox in charge of BIC operations presents a summary of the current situation and the projection for the future. Based on an analysis of the development of Faewald it is clear that the time to establish a substantial colonial presence on a marginal world is around 20 years, representing some 80 trips by an ICG. It is also clear that the establishment of a functional industrial park was delayed too long in the case of Faewald and should be started earlier in the future. The paper goes on to report that the economic situation for the systems off LHS 292 looks to be remarkable with 2 terraforming targets, several rich systems and good harvesting prospects. But clearly there is a need to establish a new construction yard at Earth for the construction of Polestar class freighters and possibly other smaller ships to service this area. It is also suggested that the slip size of the primary civillian yards be increased to 3 so as to facilitate the typical 3 ship group used by BIC. Fuel harvester production should continue to establish 12 FHGs and then refits to the EE standard for the ships of the ICGs should proceed. After construction of 2 Heavy Transport Groups is complete BIC recommends the construction of Terraformers begins.
BuSurvey presents the options for exploration beyond the systems reachable from LHS 292. The options are to finish the survey of Epsilon Indi, to complete the survey beyond Gliese 408, or to explore beyond Wolf 358. In all cases this will require at least a degree of BIC support as all these options are at considerable travel time from Earth. Wolf 358 would require higher security as at least two Wolver systems are known to be present off Wolf 358 and the two unexplored jump points are those furthest away from the entrance jump point. The, by now, standard appeal to probe the next furtherest out jump points in Sol is again presented. This time, given the ranges to the next nearest extra-Sol target jump points, is approximately as far as to the Sol jump points the opposition to the proposal is considerably reduced. It is fairly clear thought that unless a new eden was found beyond the jump point BIC would not be able to exploit the systems but both from the prinicple of knowing what is there and the military value of pushing back the frontier from Sol there is little resistance to the BuSurvey proposal that it makes more sense now than ever before to probe at least some of the jump points in the outer reaches of Sol.
The Science Directorate presents its report on the state of Earth's growing complex of research facilities. They present a time frame for the completion of Phase 1 of the Centre's of Excellence Road Map as 2-3 years. Further the development of salvage technologies both for ship and ground use will take around 15 years due to the lack of a specialist in this field. They suggest that upgrades for NCN ships will begin to start in or around 5 years time, so the Navy should plan for 2290 as an approximate date for the start of a major round of refits.
Commadore Frasier presents the NCN's planning document. It addresses first the topic of the ships of TG1, stating that the older vessels are clearly reaching obscelence. The NCN proposes to retain the 3 London Class Escorts in service, adding to them a Guardian FFG to form a squadron capable of interdicting a jump point. Their support squadron will be 2 Edmonton class jump tenders, a further Guardian FFG, and a Protecteur resupply vessel. A new independant light ressuply squadron will be formed from 2 Guardian FFGs, 2 Protecteur resupply vessels, and an Edmonton class jump tender. The Terriers and any remaining Guardians will be scrapped. An alternative is to retain a single Terrier in service to function as a minelayer, a proposal that is still be investigated. Two new squadrons identical to Squadron 5 would be added to fill out the Task Group. The Fuel footprint of this proposal raises objections from the NCCFB but the NCN maintains that from a military point of view the Terrier squadrons are of little value.
Raising the ante even more the NCN proposes the best solution to the question of future expansion is Wolf 359. Commadore Morgenrot and Cpt. Nimm are the authors of a plan to send the entirety of TG2 back into Wolf 359 to hopefully engage and destroy the Wolver ships thought to be present. They feel that so long as it is possible to engage the Wolver ships one at a time that they have a reasonable expectation of sucess. They also point out that Wolf 359 is a massive prize as it has a habitable world, known resources of considerable value, alien wreckage and there must be considered the possibility of ruins as well. This is clearly a political question that will require approval from the Government and Assembly but they both feel it is worth while to consider what they tend to call a recon-in-force.
These discussions continue through the fall. The Government is somewhat cool to the idea of throwing the bulk of its combat worthy ships against the Wolvers but requests a detailed briefing in the next year to give Commadore Frasier time to refine the plan and most importantly to get a better idea of when exactly the operation can be expected.
Industrial Efforts, Earth, Sol
Primary Industrial Tasks
AD 2284 (July 28) Construction of 5 Ordnance Factories is completed.
AD 2284 (September 19) Construction of 5 Fighter Factories ends.
AD 2284 (December 24) Construction of two Terraforming Installations is ended. An installation is transfered, via civillian contract, to Ganymede and Io.
AD 2284 (December 24) Construction of Research Lab begins.
Secondary Industrial Tasks
AD 2284 (July 18) Construction of a new Fuel Refinery completed. In total 3.99 million litres of fuel are produced each year.
AD 2284 (September 3) New colonial pre-fabrications and lifesupport systems for BIC are produced. [ooc]Infrastructure x32[/ooc]
AD 2284 (December 19) An older mine is converted to tele-presence operated for deployment off world.
AD 2284 (December 19) More colonial support equipment is being prepared to support BIC outsystem colonization.
Missiles and Fighters
AD 2284 (July 18) Construction of 46 Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles completed.
AD 2284 (August 19) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles completed.
AD 2284 (October 18) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles completed.
AD 2284 (November 19) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles completed.
AD 2284 (December 14) Construction of 20 Mk 1 Mines (batch 2) completed.
AD 2284 (December 14) Construction of 48Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles begins.
AD 2284 (July 13) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 001 the lead pinnance of the C flight leaves the factory.
AD 2284 (October 13) C1(EW/SAR) 002 completes factory trials.
AD 2284 (December 24) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 003 is accepted by the NCN procurement department.
Research Developments
2AD 284 (November 24) Dr. Stephanie Rees's team completes the prototype of the "Super Capacitor" for on-mount power storage (Capacitor Recharge Rate 2) and begins development of what is dubbed the "Super Duper Capacitor" (Capacitor Recharge Rate 3).
Naval Yard: Victorias-Esquimalt Graving Yard, Sol
AD 2284 (August 4) Stromness (Edinbourgh Mod1 class) the last Edinbourgh class ship is completed.
AD 2284 (September 3) Mastiff and Foxhound (Terrier Mod1.4 class) plus Warder and Lookout (Guardian Mod1.3 class) finish their refits to the latest standard.
AD 2284 (September 28) Shetland (London Mod1.4 class) ends her refit. This completes 3rd Squadron Battlegroups Modernization.
AD 2284 (October 13) Perryvale (Edmonton Mod1.3 class) completes refitting to the most modern standard.
Naval Yard: Deschimag A.G. Weser, Sol
AD 2284 (September 24) Enchanter (Enchanter class) is built but immediately begins her refit to the Mod 1 standard.
AD 2284 (November 9) Retooling for Tribal Mod1 class is finished.
Tribal Mod1 class Destroyer 9,000 tons 221 Crew 1076.35 BP TCS 180 TH 300 EM 270
2222 km/s Armour 2-38 Shields 9-300 Sensors 15/15/0/0 Damage Control Rating 5 PPV 30.28
Maint Life 4.38 Years MSP 374 AFR 129% IFR 1.8% 1YR 31 5YR 472 Max Repair 50 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 18 months Flight Crew Berths 19
Hangar Deck Capacity 250 tons Magazine 172
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 Laser Array (2x1) Range 30,000km TS: 10000 km/s Power 3-1 RM 1 ROF 15 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%
Nordion Arbalist ASM Launch System (2) Missile Size 5 Rate of Fire 150
Nordion Buckler CM Launch System (6) Missile Size 1 Rate of Fire 30
Telus ASMFC 53-1000 (1) Range 20.1m km Resolution 20
Grumman SCMFC 52-50 (2) Range 3.0m km Resolution 1
Falcon Counter Missile (72) Speed: 12,000 km/s End: 2.8m Range: 2m km WH: 1 Size: 1 TH: 60 / 36 / 18
Arrow Anti-Ship Missile (20) 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 purposes
The refit of the Tribal replaces the smaller 40 series engines with the 80 series, which reduces the ships maximum velocity to 2222 km/s. The extra space gained is used to add an auxillary bridge to help the ship cope with combat damage plus doubles her main magazine capacity substantially boosting the ships combat endurance.
Civillian Yard: Robert Napier and Son's Ltd., Sol
AD 2284 (December 9) Hydrate (Petrol (EE) class) ends construction and is dispatched to Jupiter to join FHG IX, arriving on December 27.
AD 2284 (December 14) Crude Oil (Petrol (EE) class) is completed and is dispatched to Jupiter to join FHG IX, arriving on 2285 January 3.
Civillian Yard: Litton-Ingals Shipbuilding Corp., Sol
AD 2284 (October 23) Whiskey and Vodka(Whiskey class) are build and are held in Earth orbit to be refit to the EE standard.
AD 2284 (December 9) Kingston and Hamilton (Kingston (EE) class) complete their refits, their now free slips are taken over by the refits of the Whiskey and Vodka.
Civillian Operations in Sol
AD 2284 (July 23) The supply of Sorium on Encke has been exhausted
Northern Coalition Army
AD 2284 (September 9) The Glasglow Highlanders Bn graduates from Infantry training excersizes in Camp Wainwright. As the lead formation of II Extrasolar Brigade Brigadier General H. Astridarson takes command of the formation. Along with the Rosetta Peacekeeper detachment they board the Troop Transport Squadron (-) in Earth orbit and depart for Rosetta. The Templebar Rifles starts training a few days later.
BIC Operations in Alpha Centauri
Faewald's industrial park starts producing lifesupport material and material to expand the living tunnels in larger lots but even with this change the gap refuses to narrow. ICG IV arrives on September 5 and departs for Earth on September 28. The ships had a new mine, prefabricated colonial support facilities and a further 20,000 colonists. FHG II arrives to refill the farm on September 10 and the ships remain in orbit until October 23, and then depart for Doineann arriving on station at the gas giant on Novemeber 2. ICG II arrives on November 17 and departs on December 9. The ships carried a factory to expand the industrial park, prefabricated colonial support facilities and 20,000 new colonists.
BIC Operations in AD Leonis
FHG V completes its shore leave and returns to harvesting on August 9. FHG VIII arrives from Sol on September 26 and the ships crew enjoy the colonies R&R facilities until November 4 when they move Deeper Sky to begin harvesting operations to build up their fuel supply for the next part of their journey to FL Viginis. From November 15 to December 29 FHG VI is in Forge orbit while its ships crew let off some steam ashore. This time period sees the expected drop in the Farm level predicted by the forcasters come true as both ICG V and ICG VI arrive in Forge orbit with fuel tanks more than 95% empty.
Outsystem Survey Efforts and Naval Operations
FL Virginis
FHG VII arrives in Biforst orbit on November 29 and remains there til December 14 to allow its crews to recuperate from their voyage. The group moves to planet A-III to begin harvesting operations on the 16th, leaving the farm on Biforst with 298,000 litres of fuel.
Luytens Star
Interstellar Survey III remains on the jump point to LHS 292 while Alpha and Beta grav survey missions complete the survey of the system. On September 3 it is clear there is but a single jump point and the Oberons set course for IS III and the 4 ships jump out of the system heading for WD 1142-645 on September 24.
AD 2284 (September 3) Gravitational Survey Completed in the Luytens Star system. The system has a total of 1 jump points
WD 1142-645
2nd Squadron Battlegroup has been onstation at the entrance jump point from LHS 292. Interstellar Survey IV arrives in system on September 17 and the SC Trail Blazer conducts a geological survey of the 2 dwarf planets and their single moons and Comet #1 and #2. While this is going on the John Franklin performs the initial gravitational surveys near the entrance jump point and starts on the survey locations nearest the white dwarf primary. On the 9th of October the two grav survey missions and IS III join them. IS III survey's comet #3 and performs two gravitational surveys with another planned on its way back towards the entrance jump point. The two Oberons head in opposite directions to cover the gravitational survey of the outer system.
AD 2284 (September 27) Minerals Discovered on WD 1142-645-A Comet #2: Neutronium 40,515 (0.8 ) Corbomite 9,024 (0.8 ) Mercassium 3,123 (0.7) Uridium 133 (0.9) Corundium 12,950 (0.8 ) Gallicite 6,048 (0.9)
AD 2284 (October 7) Minerals Discovered on WD 1142-645-A I: Tritanium 200,704 (0.4)
AD 2284 (October 17) Minerals Discovered on WD 1142-645-A II - Moon 1: Gallicite 20 (1)
AD 2284 (November 1) Minerals Discovered on WD 1142-645-A Comet #1: Duran 11,080 (0.8 ) Corb 13,510 (0.9) Boron 11,668 (0.9) Vend 7,142 (1) Sorium 17,355 (0.7) Corun 6,969 (0.8 ) Gall 2,549 (0.8 )
AD 2284 (November 18) Minerals Discovered on WD 1142-645-A Comet #3: Neutronium 2,504 (0.9) Corbomite 41,520 (1) Boronide 5,567 (1) Gallicite 3,379 (0.9)