The Galaxy Awaits ... Choose Your Path!

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

I would be remiss if I did not enter an official SPACE response to the fine letter by Col. Ignace Tegair.  SPACE is not of the opinion that additional resources should be devoted to an offensive ground attack force at this time.  It is believed that such a deployment is only sensible at such time as naval capabilities advance to the point of challenging our enemies.  After all, even if we had such a force, we wouldn't know where to send them(we don't know where the aliens live) and wouldn't be able to get them there(because they'd annihilate our transports hundreds of millions of kilometers out or more)!

Having said that, with the recent development of the Assault Infantry Battalion, that process has begun in it's infancy.  Other advanced TN infantry options and hierarchical advances are expected in the next couple of decades, though none are in the works right now.  It is believed that we will have the capability to deploy such a force before it actually becomes needed. 

Regards,

Mitchell Feeser, Chief of the SPACE Navy

[JacenHan]

Jay Cin V would like to request a position on an Explorer class or Frontier class when they become available, in order to follow in the Cin tradition of dying at the hands of alien warships establishing first contact with alien races.

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

That's a strong probability.  He's a mid-level Commander which is right about where those spots will probably go(top ones take the bases and combat ships).  He's got solid political connections, an affinity for small craft, and ineptness at combat(one of the lowest initiatives I've ever seen), all of which suggest such a role.  Gotta keep his nose clean for another year though. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

COMMERCIAL CHARACTER UPDATE

Jedediah Thone(3) -- No change yet midway through his most important assignment aside from being an observer in the Epsilon Eridani crisis(governor at Triton).  Perhaps he'll gain some benefit from the extra attention as automines will shortly depart for the Neptunean moon ...
Ricardo Bloise(3) -- Governor of Machholz, nothing new here either.
Malik Kaine(2) -- An uneventful first couple of years at Van Biesbroeck

Karabishi Juishao(MK 45) -- A little over a year left on improving Missile Launcher Reload Rates.  This may well be her final project. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

2079 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 1)

Hope was on the rise as the year began.  Having a specific plan in place, with tangible evidence of its progress as the shipyards were busier than ever before(a record 16 hulls being constructed simultaneously), did wonders as a placebo for public concerns.  This was true even for some of those who disagreed with the goals/implementation of Operation Renewal.  After two long decades of waiting, there was now the anticipation of results finally coming.  MRD had new concerns, with duranium down under 10kt(two years ago it was noted as quite stable, with a 16.4kt stockpile, nearly twice the current amount).  All that activity wasn't cheap.  In the past year, shipbuilding has far eclipsed research as the top item in the budget, which showed a historically-low surplus of just over 20%, less than 9m.  That's still a surplus, and it is expected that the numbers will look more healthy once the initial pair of ESFs are built.  But for now, any thought of preparing for the next phase of naval development -- the ships that will be needed to colonize whatever Renewal might discover -- has gone on the back burner.  The economics just aren't there to sustain this kind of massive activity for long.  All of this has Director Rakes focused on making sure the automine runs to Triton go smoothly.  On cue, the first South Carolina superfreighter run ever began the loading process on the first of the year.

January 3 -- Dr. Joe Tycho's research into Turret Tracking Speed is completed, a 20% increase achieved over present capabilities.  Giving a man of his age and health another major project is considered risky, but he's not quite at the point of being ready to go yet.  For now he takes over the final stages of prototyping the latest Meson turret.  This approach has the added benefit of freeing up two more labs for low-level scientists to get a start on new projects.  One of these is particularly notable:  Ion Drives, the next generation in more powerful starship engines.  It will be some time before any result is seen from it.  This also pushes current projects to a new high of 27 ongoing. 

Mid-January -- Rosemary Urenda, tops in the Power & Propulsion field, has made a minor improvement to her abilities(45%). 

Mid-February -- Billie Allington, one of the most politically active scientists, has become even more well-connected(40% Reliability).  She'd do better to work on her actually research skills.

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

February 18
SPACE Missiles & Kinetic Weapons Research Compound
Location:  Classified

At first the only sign was a deafening crash, followed by what appeared to be a minor earthquake tremor.  A few minutes later, one of the 15-ton 'mock-up' missiles was found to have come loose from its carriage and crashed to the floor -- crushing the body of 65-year-old lead researcher Dr. Karabishi Juishao into a mangled, lifeless heap.  The medical response team was just a formality -- nobody could withstand such a massive blow and live. 

Director India Rakes released a statement later in the day.  She praised Juishao's long service record and seminal contributions to the advancement of missile technologies, deploring her tragic demise.  It was standard PR-speak, and lacked the inspirational capacity that was really needed.  As much as anything, what has held her back from further achievement is her propensity to fill the role of the negative reactionary, and that was clearly on display here.  An independent review of not just this incident but security and safety procedures at all 43 compounds was ordered.   

** OOC Note:  A loss of 5M credits to SPACE and the forced idling of one-quarter(11) research labs for the remainder of 2079 will be enforced to simulate the cost of these measures **

Naturally, BOG had a lot to say.  Not all of it made any sense.  Burt Stonerock(Mercury) stuck his foot in his mouth as usual, referring to such things as 'the cost of doing business' and advocating that SPACE forge full steam ahead.  Evelyn Kaczor(Halley's Comet) said similar things in a much more sensible and sensitive manner. . A number of members, both significant and less so, took the opportunistic route by decrying Rakes' 'incompetence' and calling for everything up to and on occasion even including her head.  In this group there were Dee Respress(Prokne), Marion Polizzi(Faye), Errol Igoe(Sedna), and noted blowhard/ignoramus extraordinaire Russell Salvucci(Venus).  Most managed to follow the wise lead of former and probable future director Alberto Eighmy(Earth), some because they lacked the courage to do anything else, some because they knew calming the public was the right thing to do.  Other than lightning-rod Salvucci, most of the troublemakers are minor players.  The elite corps of leadership, many nearing the ends of their careers, knew that the people would make up their own minds in a couple of years anyway if they felt major changes were required.

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

2079 ANNUAL REPORT(Part 2)

The loss of Juishao had at least one more effect that was immediately obvious:  it hastened a crisis in the missile-related field as a whole.  There is only remaining skilled researcher in the field, Harlan Welle, and he's 64 with retirement looming.  He was working on a less essential task(magazine ejection systems) and takes over the work on missile loading processes.  The fact remains that advancement in this field, which High Command presently considers crucial to any realistic chance of combating the known alien threat in the near future, will virtually grind to a halt if nobody steps up to fill the void. 

As the entirety of the scientific community reorganized to meet the needs of the coming investigation, Rosemary Urenda finished the latest advancement in fuel efficiency techniques.  .  There was considerable debate in the upper echelons of SPACE about whether to design new engines now.  Eventually it was decided it is not worth the cost at the present time -- redesigns and all the subsequent costly refits will wait until Ion Drives are ready, which could well be a decade or more.  Urenda meanwhile took over the Ion Drive project, while most of the low-level scientists are out of job for the time being.

Art Weston(Reinmuth) seemed to be the guy rising to the occasion in the aftermath, with noticed improved response to his leadership on the mining colony.  A complete lack of important friends in BOG made it unlikely this would mean all that much though in the grand scheme of things. 

In March, a second shipment of automines left for Triton, and construction began on the first two Baltimore command carriers.  One should be ready in the summer of 2080, the second in the fall.  The Gearing won't be set to begin for a few months yet, it looks like that will be the longest holdup.  April brings the retirement of another top weapons scientist.  Joe Tycho finishes the work on the latest meson cannon, the WT Excalibur 135.  Given the current environment and the continued health issues, he retires from public service.  It's been an amazing career -- although not as long of one as some, he's reached heights as great as any researcher SPACE has seen in terms of his peak productivity.  His body just didn't let him keep it going.  Eva Vadnais(62) remains to carry on, but when she retires the energy weapons field will only have a couple of low-level newcomers in place.  Better than the missile field can say for itself, but not by much.  Later in the month, the first two Prospectors come off the line and the Iowa XR begins production as the ramp-up for Renewal continues. 

Throughout the summer progress continued on all fronts, espescially with more ships being completed in multiple categories, details follow as always.  By the end of July, SPACE welcomes a potential political star in Augustine Wollner, and the biggest shipyards completed their conversion operations, allowing them to idle and save precious duranium.   It's now under 7kt, and unfortunately this will only slow the depletion of the reserve.   In early August the first Gearing begins construction, and estimates are that it will finish probably a couple months or so ahead of the '81 election.   Then in quick succession the two New York 'casino ships' are finally launched, and the second new civilian shipping firm to enter the fray this year is formed.  There's a lot to be excited about.  Before the month was out, a third Brooklyn '72 entered service.  Command wanted to be ready for the redesign long before now, but we just aren't there yet.  Turreted versions of the latest lasers and meson cannons aren't ready, and without them it would only be a minimal upgrade in effectiveness.  A fourth of the seven-year-old tech is queued. 

The news was mostly positive, and the tragic death of Juishao already fading to a nearly-forgotten footnote in terms of headlines.  Then, a week into September, came the news from Faye of a public disturbance at the base there following the arrival of the first New York.   Unfortunately this would soon become a much bigger problem than at first it appeared to be ...


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Mid-February -- Fuel efficiency improvements are announced by Rosemary Urenda.   

Late February -- Electronic Hardening techniques have been advanced(Ross Dodge). 

March 13 -- New commercial thermal sensors are ready(Irma Bartlebaugh). 

April 2 -- Joe Tycho finishes the WT Excalibur 135, new Meson turret prototype. 

April 13 -- Another research lab is finished, and dedicated to a new CIWS prototype.  Elyse Buckler leads the project. 


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Mid-March -- A second shipment of automines to Triton leaves Earth, as duranium levels fall below 8.5kt, now less than neutronium to make it the scarcest mineral in the stockpiles.  The first shipment is still two weeks away from arriving. 

April 24 -- A new shipping line, Hayter Container Group, has been formed. 

Early June -- Gallicite deposits exhausted on Reinmuth.  With the ramp-up of missile production the supply is slowly being drained.  This is not a concern yet, but could forseeably become one.  Massive neutronium supplies(over 400 years to depletion) will keep SPACE on Reinmuth for a long time to come. 

August 20th -- Yet another commercial shipping firm is launched, Sherill Freight and Trading.  This would seem to be a good sign for that sector of the economy.


EARTH

March 27 -- Retooling is finished and construction begins on the two Baltimore command carriers. 

April 13 -- The Navy jettisons another seven underachievers.

April 15 -- The first two Prospectors are finished. 

April 21 -- Retooling finished for the Iowa XR tanker.  The first is expected to be ready around the same time as the first Baltimore, next summer. 

May 23 -- A second pair of Frontiers are completed, and the third and final duo begun. 

July 12th -- Fourth Long Beach group departs earth for Saturn. 

July 28 -- The big shipyards have completed their various operations, and are now idle.

August 6th -- Permanant Shipyard reaches the 10kt needed, and begins work on the Gearing survey carrier.  This is expected to be the last ship completed, the first to be ready in the fall of 2080. 

August 14th -- The two New Yorks are finished and depart for Faye and Machholz, which along with Reinmuth are the worst off of the military bases.  Arrival at Faye is expected at the end of the month, and then we'll see how they react to these floating casinos.  They had better work.

August 28th -- The third Brooklyn '72 is finished. 


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

April 29 -- A big year for Rosemary Urenda continues.  She's up to 50%, fully in the elite class of scientists now. 

Mid-June -- Mitchell Feeser, not resting on his laurels, has improved in training skills(300, a rarely seen level). 

Late July -- Augustine Wollner is a potentially bright new star on the political horizon.  The good news is solid political connections, skills in wealth creation and logistics.  The bad news?  He can't effectively manage anything bigger than a mining outpost.  Hopefully he doesn't end up being a poor man's Woznicki. 

Late July -- Elyse Buckler has managed to gain some measure of skill(10%).   Anything she can do to stem the decline in the missile field will be most welcome. 

Early August -- Jedidiah Thone irrelevantly increases his shipbuilding to 20%. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

NEW YORK SCANDAL ERUPTS!

By the end of September it was clear that neither were working. Maintaining comfortable conditions in such a large ship over the constantly shifting mass of a comet just a few miles wide ... it was too much for the shuttles and thrusters to handle. 

The second New York reached Machholz on September 19th, by which time there was a growing chorus of voices demanding answers on the situation at Faye.  It fared no better, and by the end of the month India Rakes had no choice but to publicly address the situation personally.  The basic problem is an issue of scale.  The casino ships have to maintain a constant relative position in close orbit in order to have regular transportation between the comets and the ship.  This presents a problem given the various unpredictable factors:  gases in the comets tail, shifting axes of rotation and gravitational forces, etc., as well as the simple fact that the 122kt ship is in the case of Faye(1.77 km wide) about half as big as the actual comet itself.  All of this results in the need for constant abrupt maneuvering via thrusters, making life on board the 'casino' actually quite a bit less pleasant than on the surface.  A remarkably tone-deaf statement by Rakes indicated that SPACE would 'explore all possibilities' before deciding on a course of action.  The inference was obvious and in this case accurate:  she didn't know what to do. 

The political effect of this announcement was thermonuclear.  'Independent' firm Andersen Accounting estimated the cost of the New York and associated shipyard activities at nearly 6kt of duranium and over 15m in public funds, all of which was now virtually wasted.  The fact that the New York would still be a solution on larger bodies smacked of excuse-making and was practically speaking nearly irrelevant.  The only place that would even matter was on Triton, all the other outposts are either inhabited, making a relief ship unnecessary, or smaller, making it impossible.  Perhaps stationary orbital habitats would fare better, perhaps not.  That consideration was equally irrelevant considering it would be years until they could be ready as research was still in its infancy. 

Protests began in most major cities, and it was clear pretty quickly that this would not be one of those embarassing moments that would just blow over.  Humanity's united front in support of SPACE showed the most serious cracks seen since the founding of the agency, an effect which snowballed as various sub-factions of splinter groups opposed for whatever crackpot reason found a louder voice and more friendly reception in the chaos.  Front and center of course was Russell Salvucci, self-appointed spokesman for the disaffected.  Over and over again he pounded home the point that it was India Rakes herself who had authored the entire plan of spreading off-world bases throughout Sol in the wake of her most important victory in the 2065 election.  Accusations then that it was an opportunitistic and wasteful political stunt were ineffective, but that was no longer the case.  The total cost of the bungling now hanging around her neck very much like a millstone dwarfed what was spent on the New York by itself.  Protest strikes at official facilities all over the world began to grow, and in some areas all but the most essential services shut down.  By the end of October, a little less than two months since the first reports from Faye, some regional blocs were beginning to suggest that perhaps they should govern their own affairs independent of SPACE. 

BOG had no choice but to take action.  Faced with an imminent 'no confidence' vote removing her from office, Rakes took the only option available and jumped before she was pushed.  Her resignation officially took effect on November 4th.  A brief statement offering a half-baked, defensive apology and a plea for cooperation to win out over division was almost universally ignored.  The only thing for her to do was just go away.   The director's office would remain vacant for the time being, with the additional responsibility of any emergency rudder orders -- subject to veto by a majority vote of BOG until a new director is elected -- passing to Earth's current governor, Alberto Eighmy.  As the only remaining former director still in the service, Eighmy has as much practical clout and authority as anyone could have under the circumstances. 

The present situation represents the most serious internal unrest humanity has faced since World War III, and those few who were alive when that horrific conflict ended were too young to remember much of it.  For the first time in decades, fear seems a more powerful force than hope and unity. 

** Author's Note:  These events are my attempt to RP a reasonable response to the fact that the recreation modules are either bugged or not .  Apparently they work on moons and planets, not anything smaller.  On a personal level I'm really looking forward to the ramp-up of exploration which will now be delayed, but I also felt things were too 'clean' and perhaps 'pollyanish' in the way things have unfolded the past several decades.  Combined with Juishao strategy, such an occurence as this which could be seen no other way than as gross incompetence by the official government, provided an in-game backdrop for a serious problem, unless I hand-waved it away which I'm not predisposed to do.  I will say that from here, while anything is possible, inertia will be in the direction of SPACE gradually recovering from the current state of relative disorder.  If things go well it could just be a bad memory in a few years that simply delays human progress.  If not ... well, civil war is not completely out of the question but would require some fairly disastrous events and soon  More likely it would just be a lengthening of the current period of unrest and resulting crippled economy.   The previous plan for having the '81 election be a Renewal referendum has also been thrown out the window.  The 'echo chamber' malcontents in BOG will have increased clout, exactly how much more depends on events between now and then.  It appears the election will instead be focused on a reactionaries(Salvucci et al.) vs. progressives(status quo, more or less) dynamic **

Meanwhile ...

September 19 -- Eva Vadnais has stepped up to 65% matching Tycho's high and filling the void as best she can.  This is considered the maximum any researcher can achieve.    Also, Alejandro Otteson completes second, larger power plant prototype. 

October 10 -- Julio Kuchler's team achieves a new advancement in EM sensors.  He quickly sets to work on a new commercial suite using this.  Active sensors will need to wait until the accompanying grav advancement. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

A TENSE TRANSITION(2079 Conclusion)

Over the last couple months of 2079, Eighmy emphasized that the people needed to have their say in the next election before any major changes were made.  However, there were a number of things that still needed to be done.  It was clear that sustaining bases on uninhabitable bodies was not going to happen with current technology.  The crews needed to be returned to Earth, and whatever could be salvaged from the bases as well.  Unfortunately SPACE does not have a ship capable of such a mission.

With this in mind, the Wickes-class Salvage Ship was reluctantly and unpopularly announced, though nobody had a better idea.  Further damage to public confidence was largely avoided by focusing on the fact that SPACE was skimping as much as possible on its design, an all-in-one makeshift approach to limit the cost.

Size:  20.6 kt
Crew:  188
Speed:  486 km/s
Cargo:  5kt
Cryogenic  Berths:  1000 capacity
Salvage:  1 module(500t/day)
Fuel:  250k
Armament:  Commercial-quality sensors, 2 CIWS batteries
Cost:  682k

It would still not be cheap, but when you need to mount a 10kt salvage system there's a certain cost involved.  Privately SPACE views this as an opportunity to get a handle on salvage/rescue operations which will certainly be needed in the future, but this was not the time to discuss that in public.

Several shipyards were shut down due to the striking, protests, etc., including production of the Baltimore, Caldwell, Nimitz, and Iowa XR classes.  This meant Operation Renewal was on indefinite hold until order could be restored.  Fortunately Howaltswerdke was able to begin production immediately, expected to be finished in just over a year.

As Rakes ignominiously left the scene, only a fraction of the research laboratories were operational and just under half of the factories and shipyards.   Both New Yorks were ordered back to Earth to be scrapped. 

In the following weeks, a number of adminstrators stepped up and saw their skills flourish.  Coincidentally enough, duranium supplies are on the rebound for the first time due to the fact that the far-flung automines have been largely unaffected by the crisis, while the production reductions leave demand much lower than it was.  Mostly the year finished in a state of relatively peaceful inaction ... there were a couple of clerical oversights such as a Forrestal not returning for overhaul until a couple of weeks late, etc. ... but nothing that seriously rocked the boat.  Not all that much was achieved either, but a quiet recovery would be just fine by SPACE right now.  Every uneventful week ends with a few hundred thousand more back to work in the plants, and unrest dipping a bit lower.  In a best-case scenario, things could be 'back to normal' in a few months time, though memories and distrust will last longer than that.  On the other hand, civilian shipping has declined over the last month, a reminder that there is a long way to go. 

November 23 -- The last pair of Frontiers is finished at International Shipyard, and production switches to the Explorer.  Even small events such as this are trumpeted by SPACE for all their worth, in an effort to rebuild a strong consensus of support.

December 4 -- The last pair of Prospectors comes off the line. 

Mid-December -- Administrator Timmy Sheerin joins the service, another fairly talented guy who majors in small operations unfortunately.  Excellent mining ability, some connections and reasonably diverse skillset make him an interesting potential. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

RETIREMENTS

The present chaos lost the services a few officers a tour earlier than they might normally have otherwhise retired, but among the senior officers both branches are still pretty young and stable.  The only one to leave this cycle is Brigadier General Christopher Sonders.  The navy loses six junior officers, four from the army, and things will continue on much as they have.  From a military point of view the leadership is at a very healthy point, much in contrast to the political arm.

Among the navy officers is Lt. Cmdr. Oled Mrtav, who has forced retirement at age 41.  Mrtav leaves having spent time on Forrestal sensors, freighters, shuttles, and most recent fuel harvesters.  A decent all-around CO, he was never able to break into the upper echelons of the service.  Good combat skills but training and other abilities were lacking at the elite level. 

MILITARY CHARACTER UPDATE

The new survey ships already built for Renewal have created new job opportunities which move most naval officers up a peg by default, though some of this will go the other way when the bases are salvaged and those leaders are freed up. 

Cmdr. Conor Zavier -- 35th of 37.  One of the new Frontier-class gravsurvey ships is his as he departs short-lived freighter duty. 
Cmdr. Daniel Watters -- 30th.  After eight years of  sensor duty at the Van Maanen point, he'll remain there.
Cmdr. Jay Cin V -- 23rd.  At his request he takes a slightly less prestigious post on one of the new Frontiers, ending six years of sensor duty at the Lalande 21185 jump.  This is certain to be a more eventful posting eventually.  It remains to be seen whether that's a good thing, family history being what it is ...
Lt. Cmdr. Jessica Sattler -- 14th out of 112.  Seemingly stuck near but not quite at the top of this rank, Jessica moves from harvester duty just 1.2m away to one of the Burke brigade-level transports which are stationed on Titan as the Alaska base is assembled there.  With the uncertainly of the base network, this may not end up being all that great in the long run.
Lt. Cmdr. Bandus Meian -- 67th.  Another tour of duty on the soon-to-be-outmoded Lexington shuttle. 
Lt. Cmdr. Dirk Blade -- 53rd.  He's done just well enough to escape shuttle duty for a slightly less boring post on one of the standard Iowa fuel tankers.
Lt. Cmdr. Syrus Cassio -- 55th.  No such luck for Syrus.  A second tour of Lexington duty, but he could possibly escape it next time around. 

Col. Ignace Tegair -- 28th out of 60.  Still with the 62nd Garrison Battalion on Earth. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

2080 ANNUAL REPORT

Thankfully the civilian shipping recession quickly abated at the beginning of the year.  The new decade seemed to bring with a new determination and efficiency.   Between late January and mid-February Sedna expanded not once, not twice, but three times, adding significantly to the already-massive contributions from the distant dwarf.   The timing is of course fantastic, clearly they must have lit a fire under them to profit from the downturn.  In this case, it's all for the common good. 

There continue to be minor hiccups here and there, two steps forward and one back for most of the early months, but progress is made albeit slowly.  At the end of February the first two Explorer jump scouts are finished, and then to start of March the security review is finished.    It's a couple months late but that's hard to fault under the circumstances.  Juishao's death was found to be a preventable equipment failure, but also an isolated case and no major policy changes were recommended other than a fix for the specific malfunction.  Research will now begin ramping up again, but production across the board in all sectors is still only a bit over 55% of capacity and many major shipyard priorities have not been restarted yet.  There is much left to do.

The first shipment of the year to Triton leaves in the middle of April, another sign that slowly but surely, progress is being made.  Along with a couple of minor research advances finalized in the month, support starts to galvanize around the recovery.  People have had time to consider the situation, and there isn't really a good reason not to get behind SPACE again.  Another month, and production approaches the two-thirds mark.  The Baltimore Marine yard is back in business, with the Baltimore carriers back in production. 

By July that's up to three-quarters with a little bit of good news here, a little bit there, mostly just everything getting settled back into a positive routine.  By the last week of August, production in all sectors was back to maximum output and the utility vessels for the ESFs were finished as well.  Nearly a year after it began, the crisis was finally over -- though not forgotten. 

The very next month, there was another tremor as  Cpt. Roman Madore was forced to retire unexpectedly due to medical issues.  He was one of the solid veterans that make up the backbone of Navy leadership. 

A couple of good academy candidates come in the fall, and then November brings the first Gearing Survey Carrier and another quartet of Caldwell shuttles.  At the end of the year, the Wickes salvage & recovery ship was finally launched.  This was an important public relations moment for SPACE.  A smooth maiden voyage is needed, and a successful test before the elections wouldn't hurt.  The oldest bases will be taken first, as their crews are under the greatest hardship.  That means Stephan-Oterma is the first target, with Lt. Cmdr. Sammie Appelbaum -- stop laughing -- taking the assignment as the best of the recent academy graduates who is still without a command.  Unfortunately, the end of the year will come about a week before the ship can arrive ... just a hair too late.  Privately Eighmy was pleased with this since it meant the ship being a dud would come too late to affect the campaign, which is why he didn't divert it to Faye or Machholz which are closer. 

2080 will have to be remembered as the year SPACE got back on its feet and apparently averted disaster. 


COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

January 24 -- Sedna expands to 33 complexes, then finishes a 34th just four days later. 

February 12 -- Sedna adds a third complex in three weeks. 


EARTH

February 28 -- The first two Explorer jump scouts are ready. 

Mid-May -- New Yorks are scrapped, another healing sign. 

Late May -- Baltimore Marine is back in business, with the first carrier set to be ready next spring. 

May 30 -- Another pair of Explorers is completed.  The first ESF now has a full complement.

Mid-June -- Wartsila is the next shipyard to resume operations with the Nimitz missile boat. 

July 8 -- A fifth Long Beach harvester group departs Earth.  Only one remains of the originally planned six. 

August -- KSEC(Caldwell) gets underway again.

Mid-August -- Oregon gets moving with the resumption of the Iowa XR.  The tanker is now expected to be the final element of the first ESF to be ready, probably sometime around late spring of next year. 

August 28 -- Last two Prospectors are finished. 

September 3 -- With the completion of the last two Explorers, utility craft are finished for both ESFs.  The larger ships are all that is needed now. 

November 9th -- First of the Gearing Survey Carriers is complete, as well as a quartet of Caldwell shuttles.  Cmdr. Christin Dinges(39) is assigned the posting. 

December 8th -- The Wickes salvage recovery ship is launched. 

December 9th -- A new laboratory is finished. 


LEADERSHIP PERSONNEL

Early March -- Ricardo Bloise admin to 4. 

Early May -- Cmdr. Conor Zavier ups crew training skill to 75.

Late May -- Lt. Cmdr. Bandus Meian training bonus to 25. 

July 7 -- 22-year-old Zoe Bean is promoted to Brigadier General.  Evaluations are still that she is the second-best officer in the army behind Engelhardt.

August 30 -- Lt. Cmdr. Zenaida Howse, while not quite on the level of a Feeser or Jeffcoat, is the latest star to come out of the academies on the naval side.  She has good training skills already and a few political connections. 

Late October -- Col. Rodger Henning, near genius-level in both ground combat and xenology(?), has graduated the academy. 

Mid-December -- Nearly irrelevant Garland Sidhom(BG) just got slightly less so with a good jump to 35% bonus. 


RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

** April 5 -- The latest in automated defenses, the CIWS '79, has been completed by Harlan Welle's team.  It's the first tangible step by the research teams in some time, and gives everyone a bit of a productive jolt.  Welle will now finally be able to get back to the missile launcher reload work that still has not been finished. 

** April 18 -- Elwood Tousant finishes work on the new commercial-grade thermal sensors.  He'll next look at the building blocks of effective combat countermeasures in Electronic Warfare. 

** May 10th -- Eva Vadnais finishes theoretical research into expanding lasers into the ultraviolet spectrum.   Things are a bit out of balance though in that current-gen technology doesn't have turreted versions yet, so she'll hammer those out beginning with the 'Excalibur' single-meson variant. 

** Early July -- One of the new training projects for the young scientists, Douglas Greer in this case, is worth particular mention.  He's doing the groundwork for Cloaking Theory, which involves various techniques to mask a ship's gravitational field and therefore hide it from active sensors, though it won't help with passive thermal/electromagnetic detections.  Ships like the Explorer jump scout might potentially be equipped with such devices in the future, but it's mostly a speculative project that SPACE could find uses for in the decades to come. 

** July 13 -- Vadnais has finished the meson turret, and moves on to the twin-laser one.  That'll take a bit longer, six months or so. 

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

The SOS report is up next, but before I get into that there's something I've decided to change that deserves an explanation.  I probably found all this a lot more interesting than anybody else will, but I thought it was worth sharing.

The starting point was that I've been growing more and more dissatisfied with the research aspect, both how I report the jobs and how I assign them.  I've tried to keep a certain level of focused detachment, i.e. not overwhelming things with too much detail.  In the Navy, for example, whereas once it was a huge deal whenever somebody got promoted to captain, I don't even mention it now because there's 12-13 of them.  There's only five admirals though(I generally set the 'importance' limit at 10 of whatever).  In this way I try to make sure everything I report on is something you'd care about if the story of SPACE was reality and you read it/saw it in a news report.  The guy who just got appointed to some minor mining colony like Wild or Prokne?  Nope, do something worth reporting . 

Anyway, when it comes to research there were only a few scientists at first so they all mattered.  Not a ton of projects going on so they were all relevant as well, and assigning them was pretty basic.  I followed the '5-Year Rule', i.e. giving out as many labs as necessary to finish something within five years.  Usually that was just one, and the exceptions were worth talking about -- things like Palmer getting us started with TN knowledge, others later with concepts like Jump Point Theory, or the push to get Improved Geological Sensors as a centerpiece of exploring again.  But eventually I found myself talking about how the fifth-best logistics scientist borrowed a lab from the third-most-important construction researcher to finish some project that wasn't even vital to begin with, and I've had the growing feeling that I'm writing about research just to write about it, not because it adds anything to the story or anyone should conceivably care much about it.

This is one of the things, by the way, that I love about Aurora and espescially the conventional start that I've done here, is that as SPACE grows and gets more complex, I have to find new ways of approaching it.  What worked fifty or even thirty years ago often does not work now.  After considering the research aspect, I decided on something that it later occurred to me would work well for all four branches of the leadership tree.  All skills, instead of getting a stale number, will be divided into three categories:

** Elite(top third of the rating range, for most this is 50% and up)
** Accomplished(middle third, 25-45%)
** Novice(lowest third, 20% and under)

I'm going to use these descriptors when talking about the improvement in a leader, for example Governor Y is now an accomplished financial administrator, or Naval Officer Z has improved his already elite crew training abilities, etc.  I like this kind of element much more in trying to craft the story of SPACE.  In the case of research though it also serves as the basis for the new paradigm for assigning labs to a project. 

** Elite scientists will demand at least 3 laboratories, more if required, and will choose jobs(almost always started by someone else) based on importance and time needed.  They will focus exclusively on tech advances, not prototypes.   Those are jobs to be delegated to others after an elite has made up the blueprint. 
** Accomplished scientists will take 2 labs, and do more complicated/costly prototypes or work on tech advances.
** Novice scientists will use a single lab, working on most of the prototypes and also doing startup work on tech advances.  This I imagine as being things like setting up the equipment for the experiments, assembling control groups, doing other low-level tasks as a 'training level'. 

In the SOS report I'm only including the prototypes and soon-to-be finished tech advances.  I've also listed the accomplished/elite scientists in each field.  This results in only 9 of 36(!!) ongoing projects being listed and 13 of 40 scientists.  But what's there is what's really important right now.  It's a transition time so there's a lot of young researchers working on stuff they'll never finish(30+-year times in some cases listed for completion), but that also means there's a lot of potential for them to improve.  Right now it's at a low ebb due to retirments recently, but with more elite scientists there will eventually become less 'training' and more 'major advancements' going on.  Another aspect I like about this is scientists doing more work in their specialized fields, it has a more organic feel to what gets done which I think is appropriate to a larger organization.  After all, the bigger a ship, the harder it is to turn ...

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to the reader, at least in understanding why a few things will be different in future reports.

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

STATE OF SPACE, 2081

I.  IMPERIAL HOLDINGS

IA.  Populated Colonies

Earth(1.618b, 500 CF, 80 OF, 75 REF, 46 RL, 4 AC, 3 GFT, 5 DSTS, 15.2k MF, 1 SP, 1 SC, 4x Alaska MB)
Mars(64.67m, Tennessee MB)
Luna(59.89m, Tennessee MB)
Titan(17.56m, 1 DSTS)
Mercury(16.83m)
Venus(13.96m)
Io(110k)
Europa(110k)
Ganymede(110k)
Callisto(110k)

Total Population:  1.791b

The demand for infrastructure in the inner system and the reduced cost of getting it there continues to ensure that the out-system moons remain stagnant.  Mercury has nearly surpassed Titan despite the fact that conditions are much harsher there.  There are no indications that this will change in the forseeable future. 


IB.  Outposts

Sedna(35 CMC, 16 eff, 9.41 kt)
Triton(97 AM, 25.5 eff, 3.95 kt) -- mercassium(4.6)
Earth(50 SM, 6.3 eff, 561 t)
Halley's Comet(41 AM, 43 eff, 2.47 kt) -- gallicite(0.5)
Borrelly(39.8 AM, 49 eff, 2.73 kt) -- corbomite(3.9), vendarite(8.2)
Reinmuth(33.8 AM, 30 eff, 1.49 kt)
Stephan-Oterma(28 AM, 32 eff, 1.38 kt) -- gallicite(4.2)
Machholz(27.6 AM, 24 eff, 1.02 kt) -- sorium(8.3)
Neujmin(25.8 AM, 25 eff, 903 t)
Titan(25 SM, 6 eff, 231 t)
Faye(25 AM, 41 eff, 1.51 kt) -- uridium(0.0), corundium(1.6), neutronium(9.1)
Comas Sola(29 AM, 29 eff, 1.07 kt) -- boronide(4.
Schaumasse(21.8 AM, 36 eff, 1.10 kt)
Crommelin(20.4 AM, 26 eff, 743 t)
Wolf-Harrington(17.8 AM, 40 eff, 1.25 kt)
Callisto(10 SM, 6 eff, 8 t)
Van Biesbroeck(10 AM, 55 eff, 770 t)
Prokne(10 AM, 9.2 eff, 129 t)
Wolf(8 AM, 26 eff, 291 t)
Wild(8 AM, 34 eff, 351 t)

Total Production: 31.37 kt, -0.4%.  This is a deceptively low number, as things should improve once there is a full-time acting director to oversee operations.  The current ramp-up in mine production won't proceed indefinitely though.  There are uncertain times ahead. 

IC.  Mineral Stockpiles & Production

Tier A(rare usage):  Corbomite(65 kt), Sorium(48 kt)

This is a vanishing category, as all minerals are seeing some use and the minor ones increasing in the need.  Down to two here, there have been four at least in all previous reports.  Both saw the stockpile grow by several kilotons in this cycle. 

Tier B(some usage, but a good stockpile):  Uridium(112 kt), Vendarite(62 kt), Tritanium(48 kt), Boronide(39 kt), Gallicite(36 kt)

Uridium is by far the most plenteous, supplies of it are going through the roof despite significant use in shipbuilding of late.  You can practically pick the stuff up off the ground many places in Sol.  Vendarite and Tritanium are very safe, just moved up a tier as SPACE is using more of them now.  Boronide(fuel tanks) and Gallicite(missiles) are on the decline however. The former can be found in whatever quantity we need easily on Venus if the need arises.  The latter is a growing issue, still plenty for now and supplies might stabilize when the latest round of missiles are finished,  but two key sources(Halley's Comet and Stephan-Oterma) are drying up soon so that's unlikely.  There are multiple sizable finds that could be exploited(five in the 20-45kt range), but sustaining a significant missile fleet and base system will require extrasolar sources in the next century. 

Tier C(major usage, needs close watching/ under 20 kt):  Mercassium(19.8 kt), Neutronium (12.6 kt), Corundium(9.70 kt)

The decline in mercassium accelerated as the big three minerals become the big four.  That's the good news unfortunately, as Triton supplies 390t per year, 21% of the total extracted.  It is very possible than within the next decade or two research lab construction may have to be reduced.  The good news is that demand should decline a bit, at least for a time, once the harvesters and ESFs are finished next year.

Neutronium is up well over three kilotons, but this is mostly because it's not being used hardly at all.  There are no shipyards being built/retooled/expanded, and that's definitely not a permanent situation.  Corundium meanwhile has been cut almost in half this cycle.  The current rate of automine production is not sustainable, which will complicate efforts to keep supply up across the board.  The options for getting more are either low-accessibility(Venus) or long-range(multiple comets).  There aren't any really good choices. 

Tier D(major usage, economic growth limiter):  Duranium(8.13 kt)

Duranium crashed hard prior to the New York scandal, recovered some during it, and is now on a more modest decline.  Maintaining the industrial base and kind of breakneck shipbuilding(15-20 at any one time) that's been going on the last few years just consumes an incredible amount of it.  Short-term Triton will fit the bill, but in the long-term the greatest concern remains how to replace what Sedna produces when that dries up in a few decades.  There just aren't enough mines (the equivalent of 350 there is about two-thirds of the current 528 total in service under SPACE control), and the emergency contingency calls for dumping a bunch of them on Venus which has only decent accessibility(0.5).  A couple of Oort-cloud asteroids have considerable(about 100kt) reserves that could be tapped, but there's no way to quickly get that many mines out there. 

At the moment, expanding duranium until/unless the current shipbuilding rush abates(unlikely) is the primary goal. 


ID.  Income

Taxes(population):  41.1 m
Taxes(civ. tourism):  7.1m
Taxes(civ. shipping):  4.95m
Scrapped materials:  1.44m
Taxes(civ. fuel):  162k

Total:  54.73 m(+0.1%)

Balance:  719m(+30 m)

Tourism continues to rise, but the shipping industry has been very inconsistent.   The lack of a director is the biggest reason for stagnant income though. 

IE.  Expenses

Shipbuilding:  10.32m
Mineral Purchases:  8.7m
Research:  7.92m
Installation Construction:  5.43m
Maintenance Facilities:  989k
Ordnance Production:  825k
GU Maintenance:  496k
PDC Construction:  56k

Total:  34.73m(-9.0%)

The expense report is virtually worthless, as it was hugely affected by the crisis.  Thankfully money has not been a problem to worry about thus far. 

II. SHIPYARDS

IIA.  Commercial Yards

Tod & MacGregor(2 slipways, 166 kt capacity)
** Idle
Estalerios Navais do Montego(ENDM)(2, 127 kt)
** Idle 
P&A Group(4, 80 kt)
** Building the last trio of the Long Beach harvesters, a project which has taken several years and is scheduled to finish this summer. 
Howaldswerke/Deutsche Werft(HDW)(1, 55.3 kt)
** Idle.  Most recently built the salvager/recovery ship Wickes. 
Oregon Shipbuilding(1, 50.7 kt)
** Building the first of two Iowa XR extended-deployment tankers for use with ESFs.  First is expected done in May. 
Vickers-Armstrong(4, 10 kt)
** Idle.  Used for the Lexington-class shuttles.

IIB.  Naval Yards

Wartsila(1, 17.6 kt)
** Building the Nimitz '76c, second of the class so far.  ETA April. 
Yokohama Dock Co.(1, 15.2 kt)
** Building Brooklyn '72, fourth of the class.  ETA April. 
Baltimore Marine(2, 12.2 kt)
** Building two Baltimore Command Carriers for the ESFs, ETA March/May
Permanant(1, 10 kt)
** Building the second Gearing Survey Carrier, ETA early 2082
International(2, 1 kt)
** Idle, used from Frontier and Explorer
Niehuis and van den Berg(2, 1 kt)
** Idle, Prospector and Explorer
KSEC(4, 10 kt)
** Building the fifth of seven quartets of Caldwell VIP shuttles.  ETA April

III.  ARMY TRAINING FACILITIES

IIIA.  Earth

** Three active training facilities
** All are idle for the last few years

IV.  INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

IVA.  Earth

Research Lab(33%) -- August 2081
Mine Conversions(standard to automated, 30%) -- approx. 21/year
Mine Construction(24%) -- approx. 21/year
Ordnance Factories() -- 70 still on order, about 11 per year

V A. PRIORITY RESEARCH PROJECTS

** Note:  The research approach has changed somewhat, so only current prioritized projects are listed here.  More info on this in the election update.

** SpearPoint DL-12(Twin-Laser Turrett)(Eva Vadnais) -- February 2081
** Orbital Habitat Module(Cedrick Wormack) -- Late Feb/Early March 2081
** Active Grav Sensor Strength(Julio Kuchler) -- April 2081
** SITG ThermoScan 121(military-grade sensor suite)(Bessie Wallander) -- May/June 2081
** Terraforming Rate(Clint Wyche) -- November 2081
** Missile Launcher Reload Rates(Harlan Welle) -- Late 2081/Early 2082
** Ion Drives(Rosemary Urenda) -- Late 2083
** Mining Production Rates(Curtis Gloster) -- Late 2083
** Electronic Warfare(theoretical)(Elwood Tousant) -- Late 2084/Early 2085

V B.  NOTABLE SCIENTISTS

** Biology/Genetics
Clint Wyche(Elite)
Mike Minaya(Accomplished)
Garland Sidhom(Accomplished)

** Construction & Production
Curtis Gloster(Accomplished)
Shanon Patteson(Accomplished)

** Energy Weapons
Eva Vadnais(Elite)

** Logistics/Ground Combat
Cedrick Wormack(Elite)
Alphonse Lambeth(Accomplished)

** Missiles & Kinetic Weapons
Harlan Welle(Accomplished)

** Power & Propulsion
Rosemary Urenda(Elite)

** Sensors/Fire Control
Julio Kuchler(Elite)
Elwood Tousant(Accomplished)
Bessie Wallander(Accomplished)

VI.  ACTIVE NAVAL ASSETS

VI A.  Military Bases

Alaska(4, 59.45 kt, 1020 crew, major missile base)
Tennessee(2, 13.3 kt, 254 crew, missile base + sensors)
Tennessee(Lt)(2, 12.1 kt, 214 crew, missile base)
PDC Ticonderoga(4, 3.0kt, 16 crew, sensor base)

Total:  12 installations(--), 300.6 kt(--), 5,080 crew(--)

VI B. Combat Ships

MB Nimitz(3, 13.95 kt, 373 crew, 2437 km/s, 1.75m fuel, missile-armed)
MB Nimitz '76c(1, 10.25 kt, 273 crew, 2439 km/s, 1.25 m fuel, missile-armed)
GB Brooklyn '72(3, 13.45 kt, 356 crew, 2379 km/s, 1.75 m fuel, beam-armed)

Total:  7 ships(+75%), 92.5 kt(+67%), 2,460 crew(+67%), 11.8m fuel(+69%)

SPACE may soon have the firepower to do something.  Not sure what, but something.   

VI C.  Military Non-combat Ships

ST Caldwell(16, 950 t, 14 crew, 2210 km/s, 500k fuel, VIP shuttle w/8 capacity)
MV Cleveland(2, 2.1 kt, 30 crew, 2380 km/s, 100k fuel, supply ship)
SC Explorer(6, 850 t, 18 crew, 1411 km/s, 250k fuel, jump scout)
SB Forrestal III(14, 650 t, 14 crew, 3692 km/s, 50k fuel, sensor buoy)
GSV Frontier(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, gravsurvey)
SVC Gearing(1, 10 kt, 158 crew, 600 km/s, 750k fuel, survey carrier)
GEV Prospector(6, 950 t, 24 crew, 1263 km/s, 250k fuel, geosurvey)
CO Tarawa(2, 6.4 kt, 85 crew, 781 km/s, 250k fuel, supply ship)

Total:  53 ships(+152%), 67.8 kt(+145%), 1,204 crew(+162%), 14.7 m fuel(+845%)

The non-combat portion of the navy exploded, well over doubling between the ships built so far for the ESFs and the transitioning of shuttle duty here from the commercial wing.  Maintenance work is definitely a growth sector right now. 

VI D.  Commercial Vessels

TT Arleigh Burke(4, 17.8 kt, 136 crew, 563 km/s, 350k fuel, brigade troop transport)
FT Fletcher IV(2, 36.9 kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVb(2, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter)
FT Fletcher IVc(4, 36.9kt, 162 crew, 813 km/s, 650k fuel, freighter )
TK Iowa(2, 9.8 kt, 53 crew, 1.02k km/s, 6m fuel, fuel tanker)
ST Lexington IIId(30, 2.0 kt, 28 crew, 2500 km/s, 250k fuel, shuttle transport)
FH Long Beach(21, 79.1 kt, 411 crew, 379 km/s, 1.5m fuel, fuel harvester)
FH Perry III(4, 20.1 kt, 123 crew, 498 km/s, 350k fuel, fuel harvester)
TT Portland(2, 4.3 kt, 35 crew, 581 km/s, 60k fuel, troop transport)
FT South Carolina(4, 164.6 kt, 531 crew, 607 km/s, 2.15m fuel, superfreighter)
SV Wickes(1, 20.6 kt, 188 crew, 486 km/s, 250k fuel, salvage/recovery)

Total:  76 vessels(+12%), 2.88 mt(+63%), 14.2k crew(+65%), 68m liters fuel(+51%)

Largely the same, with the Wickes added and most of the Perry's replaced by the Long Beach.  The Lexingtons are still around but this is to be their last election.  When the Caldwells are finished in a couple years, they will be scrapped and the numbers will shrink here. 

Grand Total:  141 assets(+34%), 3.04 mt(+39%), 17.9k crew(+15%), 94.5m liters fuel(+76%)

Another major expansion of the Navy.  The commercial ships are still the majority across the board, nearly 95% by size, despite the growth of the military sector. 

Available Crew:  154k(+21%)

VI E.  Fuel Status

Earth -- 9.3m liters
Titan -- 12.1m
Callisto -- 5.2m

Total -- 26.6m liters(-16%)  A second straight decline, and the new pair of tankers for the ESFs will put even more strain on the reserves.  It remains to be seen whether the almost-finished Long Beach's will be up to the task of recovering it after that or if even more need to be built. 

VII.  ACTIVE ARMY ASSETS

** Brigade HQs(5)
** Construction Brigades(7)
** Mobile Infantry Battalions(10)
** Garrison Battalion(34)

Total Active-Duty Soldiers:  420k

VIII.  CIVILIAN SHIPPING CORPORATIONS

Tolles Transport & Logistics(23 ships, 4.65m annual income)
Voliva Carrier Company(68, 4.48m)
Jensrud Transport and Trading(47, 2.99m)
Everton Shipping & Logistics(2, 160k)
Hayter Container Group(3, 140k)
Suter Shipping Services(2, 96k)
Ouellet Shipping(3, 90k)
Presnar Freight(1, 10k)
Clavette Shipping Line(2, --)
Abair Shipping(1, --)
Forbus Carrier Ltd(1, --)
Sherrill Freight & Trading(1, --)

Total Vessels:  154(+32%)
Total Civilian Income:  12.62m(+17%)

Tolles exploding with infrastructure runs from Earth to Mercury and colonists from the moon to Earth.  Despite having only a third of the ships, they have taken the top spot from Voliva, something once thought impossible.  A decade ago, Tolles was just an afterthought.  They sure aren't anymore after more than doubling their income in this past cycle.  The others didn't do as well. Everton was looking to make some noise, but they've fallen off again.  There's a full dozen firms right now, but after the Big 3 the other nine might as well not exist -- they have a combined market share of less than 4%. 

Overall the civilian sector was up and down, showing marginal growth over the cycle as whole. 

IX.  SPACE LEADERSHIP PROSPECTUS

** Naval Officers:  148 of 176 assigned(84%), +10%
** Ground Forces Officers:  62 of 82(76%), -15%
** Civilian Administrators:  27 of 34(79%), -3%
** Scientists:   36 of 40(90%),  +32%

Overall:  273 of 332(82%), +5%

The reorganization of the R&D Directorate has been much to the delight of the scientists.  Meanwhile, naval prospects have rarely been higher, but a lack of resources has limited expansion of opportunities in the army.

[Bryan Swartz (OP)]

RETIREMENTS

Carroll Westcott -- A mining outpost supervisor, Westcott did one tour at Io at the end of his career.  By the time he diversified her skills, he was too old and in too poor health to really take advantadge of it.  A solid mid-level governor. 

James Earl Jones V -- A veteran of a few directorial elections, Jones had tours on colonies like Luna, Venus, and Titan, as well as top mining placements such as Sedna.  He didn't play the political game, and it cost him a chance at the top spot.  Ironically some of his best work was in the past year in helping with the recovery from his important post on Titan. 

Art Weston -- Another solid governor, good mining skills but not quite enough excellence or versatility to be more than a long shot. 

Larry Steckel -- For a long time, Steckel has been the premier mining expert in SPACE.  Though these skills were wasted on Mars recently, he's bounced around to almost every important post short of Earth in his varied career.  Health concerns force him aside a bit early at 59.

Alberto Eighmy -- Perhaps none other than Herbert Duling have been more gifted.  Health was the one-time director's achilles heel, and combined with the stress of trying to do two jobs after the Rakes resignation it has compelled him to retire early at 56.  Eighmy had a gift of being able to take in all the information available, regardless of the pressures, and see through to the end results.  He wasn't a visionary like Duling, but he was exceptionally competent and always had a friend or six he could count on in a pinch.

It's a veritable who's-who of the old guard.  SPACE will be in dire need of new civilian leaders to step up and be counted after losing five valuable servants this year. 


2081 ELECTION

A new era dawns under Operation Renewal, and it will dawn under untested leadership.  There are no former directors even active.  Only seven are even eligible for the office -- SPACE has had elections with more names than that on the final ballot!  Former Earth governor Riley Awad, presently on Luna, is the biggest name in the field and the early favorite simply on name recognition. 

Five were on the final ballot, but only three had a real chance.  The real favorite was indeed Awad, who simply has more varied experience and gravitas than the others.  Mercury governor Burt Stonerock, the best natural challenger,  did himself no favors with his response to the New York scandal, and polarizing loudmouth Russell Salvucci made himself a lot of enemies but even more friends with his scathing attacks on Rakes during that period.  He based his campaign on tying Awad to those failings as part of the old, failed leadership.  This had some effect but not all that much given most people's settled opinion that the lion's share of blame belonged to India Rakes, not SPACE as a whole.

** Note:  Salvucci was given a much wider range of possible popular support for the election, with the most likely scenario a slightly better vote for him than would otherwhise have been the case, but also the possibility for a boomerang effect and bigger negatives. The scandal is still plenty fresh to have an impact here, but due to the effective recovery it is not a dominant, defining issue. **

In the end, the voters made it clear that there were no real winners, only losers.  They unenthusiastically elected Awad, the most qualified candidate.  He had more than twice the votes of Salvucci, but neither impressed and both Stonerock and Sedna governor Errol Igoe were obviously detested by large numbers.  The only one that really did well was Ganymede governor Francesco Alborn who came in a surprising second, but as he's only supervised the one small colony for a single tour, he was considered to be greatly lacking in experience. 

Full results: 

Awad -- 37.9%
Alborn -- 23.2%
Salvucci -- 18.2%
Stonerock -- 12.8%
Igoe -- 7.9%

POLICY REVIEW

The loyal Awad has a chance to implement his vision for the first time.  He and Alborn each have a variety of of skills, neither particularly impressive in any one area but rather more likely to find their impact in a range of smaller influences. 

He also has the general outlook that it is better to take a risk than to be overly cautious.  Awad wants the situation in Epsilon Eridani resolved sooner rather than later, concurring with the Navy's opinion that regardless of what happens elsewhere, the Fleet will be tied down until that happens.  Aside from the obvious technological inferiority we still face, we do not have a jump drive capable of bringing our combat vessels through to the system.  In any case, the Navy believes it is best to wait for the Ion Drive and a new generation of missiles, electronics, etc. before a new generation of ships is prepared that will be capable of mounting a credible threat.  The new director believes SPACE should be ready to act when that happens, and in that vein has authorized the deployment of a diplomatic ship to the system ...

Ambassador-class Diplomatic Craft
Size:  800t
Speed:  1500 km/s
Crew:  18(+10 for diplomats)
Sensors:  Commercial-grade passive EM and Thermal, latest Mark IV version

The mission of the Ambassador is to perform a solo jump into a hostile system, and broadcast friendship messages on all frequencies in an attempt to begin a dialogue with an alien species.  To that end, quarters for two diplomatic teams are included.  It is also equipped, like the ESF carriers and tankers, with extra supplies for a 5-year stay if required.  Awad's goal is to determine, however long it takes, whether there is any chance of peaceful co-existence with the aliens who destroyed our Pioneers back in the 50s.  Many, in fact most in SPACE, want and will probably get a military response eventually, but by sending in an Ambassador those of a more pacifistic mind can be mollified, Awad can appear to be doing something about Epsilon Eridani while the next generation of ships is developed, and there is the chance that we could learn more about the alien threat.  Any intelligence is greatly valued right now, we still know virtually nothing.

In Awad's mind this need for more information outweighs all risks.  Therefore the Lalande 21185 will no longer be considered off limits, but the ESFs will only visit it after they have surveyed the others.  Sirius and Luyten 726-8 are considered to be by far the best candidate systems after EE, and they will be prioritized first.  Sirius has the easiest terraformable candidate for a 'system hub', and Luyten is the only known system outside of Sol with comets, plus four possibilities for major fuel sources on gas giants/super jovians.  Rather than focus on any one system though, the plan is to see what Siriuis and Luyten have, then also survey the other four(Barnard's Star, Teegarden's Star, Lalande 21185, and Van Maanen's Star), which are considered much less promising.  Unless a particularly excellent find is discovered, no colonization plan is expected to be hatched until all six are surveyed completely.  Epsilon Eridani is of course off-limits until the diplomatic teams have reported back.

Finally there is the issue of the off-world bases.  It's clear that building local, static defenses everywhere is not going to be a viable option.  SPACE must instead focus more on a mobile defense via the Navy, an approach which places more importance than ever on resolving the Epsilon Eridani situation since the navy will be tied down to Earth unless that system is secured.  The Tennessee, both normal and Light versions, are to be eradicated.  The Alaska(brigade of ground troops, multiple missile launchers) will continue to be built on any strategic locations with significant population(Titan and Earth at the moment), and the Ticonderoga on less critical populated colonies.  Major mining outposts, defined as any which contribute 10% or more of total output,  will recieve a DSTS(deep space tracking system).  Minor mining outposts will be defenseless, the judgement being that they aren't important enough to be worth the cost of investing in their protection.

LEADERSHIP OUTLOOK

It's an interesting situation in the higher-ups of civilian leadership at SPACE.  The military branches are better led than they ever have been overall:  the top leaders may not be as good as Chiefs Camble or Silvers, but the depth of quality in the upper reaches is outstanding right now.  On the other side of the coin, civilian leadership which is IMO more important -- the navy can only uses the tool the civvies give them, after all -- has never been weaker.  Awad is the only administrator left, who would have been considered good enough to be relevant on an agency-wide scale during Duling's heyday, and both he and Alborn have one, maybe two at most terms left.  The requirements of leading the colonies grow ever higher, to the point where low-level admins aren't skilled enough to take on tasks like Mercury and Titan.  Right now the stage is set for less capable and even more importantly unstable/impulsive/self-seeking leaders like Stonerock and Salvucci to take the reins within the next decade.  It's a dangerous time for SPACE politically.  We've been both spoiled and blessed with usually great leadership in this arena, but it appears that's about to change and the results may not be pretty. 

As already mentioned, the scientific arena isn't any better right now.  The only elite scientist who won't have retired in ten years is Julio Kuchler.  He's been around for what seems like forever but is only 48, though health is already a concern so even he's not a guarantee. 

The development of new leaders has never been more important, particularly with Operation Renewal about to launch and the navy beginning to approach a point where it can consider the possibility of serious combat operations by the end of the century.  Exciting time are ahead ... who will step forward to ensure humanity faces them with courage and vision?

[JacenHan]

The Ambassador shuttles are unnecessary, as diplomatic teams work from the homeworld and any ship can establish contact with another race. Unless you are planning to use them for another purpose (scouting?) and the diplomatic functions are just for RP purposes.