2053 ANNUAL REPORT
All four freighters were immediately sent to Venus to load up the six mines that were there and transfer them to Schaumasse as the initial action of the Maximum CD Plan. Three of them carried infrastructure as the 2% Initiative investment for the year, and all of the shuttles were fanned out over Sol as the bustle of reassigning administrators and beauracrats dominated activity as it always does immediately after an election.
For the first time, the most significant development of the year had absolutely nothing to with anything SPACE did, any policies enacted by the returning director, or any such thing. Beginning in February, for reasons that are still unknown and may forever remain so, a major depression hit the private shipping corporations. Populations on all colonies consistently slightly outstripped infrastructure(ironically not including Venus until late in the year, but everywhere else). Director Duling could only reiterate SPACE’s position that the colonists were on their own – he couldn’t have made up the slack even had he wanted to, it would have required several times more freighters than are at his disposal.
Shipping just plain fell of a cliff – almost overnight, it dropped to less than a fifth of previous levels which had been sustained for years since the early stages of the Titan colonization. Soon there were for all intents and purposes only two active firms(Jensrud and Voliva) and the majority of their shipments were miscellaneous trade goods – spices, plastics, recreational drugs, and the like. Virtually all of the civilian-produced infrastructure, and there wasn’t much, went to Luna.
Unquestionably, the ‘gold rush’ of colonization is over, at least for now. Nobody knows for sure why, and the 2% Initiative has been called into serious question in many quarters, while others argue it is all the more essential now to support new markets for earth’s colonists and products. Many of these proponents suggest prioritizing the Jovian moons as their proximity to each other could lead to a new boom in shipping activity. No official word has yet come from SPACE on this.
Meanwhile, an adjustment to the Maximum CD Plan was soon made. One factor that was not sufficiently foreseen was how much production would drop off on Earth as Duling took the helm again: his factory production skills are only 10%, with mining, wealth, logistics, and ground unit
construction being his primary strengths. Rakes was better in industrial(20% to 10) and shipbuilding(5% to 0), so output on Earth declined. A side effect of this was a lowered goal in terms of corundium as the factories would produce a couple fewer mines per year. Maxing them
out at the 50% dedicated space would now require 1.19 kt, so the goal for the first phase was to up the production rate to 1.43kt or thereabouts, a bit lower than the previous estimate. By early summer, over 1.2kt had been reached and the process of sucking mines off of high-efficiency comets ceased as corundium supplies on earth began to creep upwards again. By year’s end, it was nearly 1.3kt, and both neutronium and duranium(over 3kt by year’s end for the first time ever) were increasing on earth as well, the first time that all three have been on the rise(though notably this comes partly due to limited shipyard activity). The mineral picture hasn’t looked better in over a decade, largely thanks to the activities on Sedna.
The year’s big research news came in two parts. The first was the completion of the Garrison Battalion project by Dr. Everett Snuggs and his team. For the first time, ground combat technology has leapt into the TN age, over a quarter-century after its discovery. Garrison Battalions have no attack capability, but utilize new techniques, equipment, and weaponry to achieve incredible increases in combat effectiveness. Simulations to date detail that despite being only including 5,000 men each, one-tenth the size of the active divisions, each battalion would be equal to four Low-Tech Infantry and better than three Low-Tech Armour divisions on the battlefield in defensive roles. The cost is also equal to a full infantry division(but well worth it, of course).
Training began immediately for the first battalion, which will be immediately field-tested on Luna. It was expected to be ready early in 2054, but finished ahead of schedule. Earth’s #2 in command, Brigadier General Abel Rosinski, arrived on Luna via the first of the Portland Troop
Transports with the 16th Garrison Battalion in early December. Unrest there was approaching critical levels with stability less than 30%, but by year’s end that was up to 37% and climbing with just the one unit in place. More battalions would be continued with the goal of having a few on Earth and one on each occupied colony as soon as they could be trained up. It’s the first expansion of army capabilities in SPACE’s nearly three decades of history, most welcome and according to many observers long overdue. It hasn't completely pacified the colonists though -- they want naval assets as well. The army should be able to keep them from causing havoc, however.
Secondly, and probably even more significant, was the September 18 unveiling of the Sorium Harvester Module report. The second-most impressive achievement of Deacon Palmer’s distinguished career(after TN technology of course) it brought with it a new round of ship design. The Oliver H Perry class, hereafter known simply as the FH Perry class, was initialized with the goal of extracting enough sorium from Saturn’s atmosphere to render planet-based refinery operations obsolete and preserve other sorium sources for industrial uses such as jump drives. Obviously the Perry would not need to refuel as it would be providing its own and then some, and with Titan close by it could have shore leave there. This meant it would be the first vessel to be deployed with someplace other than earth as it’s base, another step into the galaxy for
humanity. That also meant that speed is a virtual non-issue: it shouldn’t need to go anywhere, once on station.
Specs were finalized as follows:
Speed: 254 km/s(the slowest ship in the fleet by far) – twin CNT-25-4 efficiency engines
Size: 18.95kt
Fuel Capacity: 350,000 liters
Harvesters: 6, estimated at about 275k liters harvested per 2-year tour
Range: 48.5b km, a mere academic curiosity in this cae
Crew: 98
Cost: 405.5(just over a year)
8 of these could completely replace current fuel production. The plan is for six to be built immediately, which would allow conventionally mined sorium to be used for other purposes such as jump drives. However, ‘immediately’ is a bit of a relative term in this case of course. It would be a six-month process for retooling the P&A Group Yard to build the first, putting the first ship into service at approximately late winter/early spring of 2055. Before the decade is out though, planetside refineries are expected to be a part of history. Naval officers received the news with much excitement, as it meant a considerable increase in the number of available commands, and duties for the shuttle transports as well which will be required to ferry commanders to Saturn from time to time.
Earth
January 14 – The two Portland class troop transports are completed. For now, no more are planned to be built.
May – Earth crosses the 900-million threshold in population.
Early October – The FT Ute, fifth in the Fletcher class, is completed. A sixth, the Yellowstone, is now under construction. The freighters are mostly quiet for now, but it won’t be long until development of the outer system begins, and they will be needed then. Lt. Cmdr. Ali Mandujuano, notable for her ability to brown-nose at extremely high levels(as in, better than any current politician, which is saying a lot) and little else, is the Ute’s first CO.
Commissioned Officers
Early February – Jay Cin III’s training skill is up to 200
Late February – This year’s purge claims 20 officers, 14 of them navy. Warren Clark is among the victims.
Late April – Jay Cin III now has a 225 training skill.
May -- Pioneer Deacon Palmer made a substantial leap in his skill to 45%. This is enough to accelerate the completion of the Sorium Harvester Module a few months, now due in early fall.
Late August – Herman Fox increases factory production to 30%, a true achievement considering he doesn’t currently, nor has he ever in his career, oversee a single one.
Early September – Alberto Eighmy’s political reliability increases again as he is already thinking about the ‘57 elections.
Late September – A new scientist joins the fray, Julio Kuchler, who has a 20% skill in Sensors & Fire Control, a field of moderate and increasing importance as of late. This makes him instantly our top expert in the field, and he takes over Billie Allington’s work on Beam Fire Control Range.
Research & Development
** May 25 – Following the completion of Garrison Battalion, a new projects was begun on Beam Weapon Fire Controls(new addition Billie Allington)
** September 18 – Three research labs are freed up by the completion of the Sorium Harvester Module project. Particle Beam Range(Wayne Sabagh), Small Cryogenic Transport(Everett Snuggs), and Meson Focal Size(Joe Tycho in his first assignment) claim the available space. There are now a dizzying 15 active research projects, as the feverish rush to ‘catch up’ on weapons tech continues.
** November 18 – Two research projects are completed concurrently: Boat Bays(Brandon Grimmett) and Active Grav Sensors(Elwood Tousant). Edward Groat(Alpha Shields, our first investigation into kinetic shields), Deacon Palmer(10cm Microwave), and Grimmett(15 cm Carronade) begin new research into basic weapon systems. The weapons technology holes are starting to get filled in. Sometime around the end of the decade it is expected that there will be enough information to consider prototyping the top candidates for initial weapons systems.
** December 18 – Ignacio Bavaro’s team completes research into 10cm focal size lasers. Meson focusing technology is his next project.
Maximum CD
July saw the establishment of the first asteroid mining colony on Prokne. By the end of the month, new administrator Jedidiah Thone was on site along with an operational mass driver and the first automated mine. The sole purpose of this outpost was to add to the corundium supply.
Late September – Within the span of a single week, Sedna is expanded from 2 to 4 civilian mining complexes, making the distant dwarf planet a primary contributor of duranium at nearly half a kiloton per year.
Quite interestingly, one could argue that the best good news and bad news both came from areas completely out of SPACE's direct control. First time that's happened, and I'm not sure what to make of it.
