2190/3 – Wake up callsThe Chancellor was left with no choice than to accept. Everything was a matter of time. Within a year Vanya Nesterov would have completed the Research Lab upgrade that would have increased their annual output and with that also allowed the Science Department unit to be deployed still while the current government would have been in charge. This would have left Philippine with only 12 to 18 months to sort the extra minerals sources. The Tokimasa was pleased by the accord reached and informed the house that the Federalist and Scientist coalition would have been supported the Chancellor till the end of the mandate. With the crisis finally foiled, everybody went back to work.
The Chancellor also decided to finally launch Black Swan and get rid of the Ruins in Gliese 257. This would have also reduced the Scientist weight in the Senate as based on the pollings the possibility of Alien technology to be recovered and used was something giving a good boost of popularity to the movement. On the 25th of July 2190 then, a Troop Transport was ordered to leave Earth directed to Gliese 257. all our Xeno and Engineer companies were on board with 4 small supply companies. Another 2 transports would have provided one small escort contingent each that were originally trained to participate in the Sirius assault. For the Occasion, they renamed 234th and 235th Xeno Escort Brigades.
A project to actually colonize the system was also drafted as it would have been possible to have access to all TN minerals but Tritanium useful only for magazines and ordnance in general. After considering the Tritanium a not essential mineral, the Chancellor signed the order of colonization in line with her new civilian approach to politics. Gate Builders were tasked to form a permanent link with the system.
Meanwhile, civilian dockets and contracts were prepared to get Ultima Centauri up to speed. Now, all that was left was to wait and hope everything would have been ready before the Chancellor would have been forced to take upon her promises.
Right before the end of the year, Navy Command received a message from the Able. Lieutenant Commander Ruiz broadcasted live to all frequencies the emergency message. The signal was picked also by the media:
“This is Lieutenant Commander Ruiz speaking. Emergency Message for all Republican Personnel in Sirius, we are alive, I repeat we are alive. We need immediate assistance. Reporting no Fuel, heavy structural damages, low supplies. Sensors restored, no enemy in sight, we are all clear, I repeat, we are all clear. Position estimated 888mkm from Altair-A V bearing 298. We are adrift, I repeat, we are adrift. Immediate assistance is required. This is not a recording, we are streaming live”.
Even if the population wasn’t happy to learn that our people were left behind, this would have been an enormous chance for the Chancellor to gain popularity and possibly sell a successful story right before an election year. Suddenly, to recover the ship was paramount in the whole government. A mission was arranged in the matters of hours as there wasn’t any more time to waste. A tanker would have left Earth for Sirius immediately, refuel and then jumped into Altair with the help of one of the tenders. Once in Altair, operations to refuel the Able would have been carried. A month later, the Able was finally safe on Sirius Orbit’s and Lieutenant Commander Ruiz was awarded the Medal of Honor for the great courage and resilience demonstrated to save his crew. In one go the casualties of the war were lowered by 23%, making the defeat a sweater pill to swallow. As a result, the Chancellor popularity and prestige increased to the highest ever recorded.
On the Gliese Front, a nasty surprise was waiting for the landing party. Apparently, some sort of automated defences were present in the ruins and escaped the first sensor survey from orbit. With the all units under heavy fire and no real combat capabilities, a transport left quickly the planet in the attempt of bringing backups as soon as possible while the others recalled back all civilian personnel. The 124th Sirius Occupation Force was ordered back to Earth and Randevouz with the upcoming transport from the alien ruins. The operation would have taken almost 8 months and it took only a few weeks for the aliens to wipe out our 2 brigades. The opposition might have been tougher than expected.
2191 started with the complete plan of incarceration for all those people unhappy with the Republic. 2,000 tons of Duranium and 2,000 tons of Corundium were sent to both Luna and Mars. Along with that, 50 Forced Labour Camps were delivered and installed on each planet. These would have started construction of 100 Forced Labour Mines each which would have probably been delivered to Sirius once ready. The population was extremely concerned and some malcontent started to rise in many cities but the more it rose the more people were arrested and sent to the camps. Consequentially, resistance slowly faded away.
On the 28th of June 2191, the newly upgraded laboratories did not give the hoped results all the scientific community was waiting for and therefore it would have been taken more than expected to deliver the science modules for the new scientific vessels. Despite that, the party pushed for the prototype of the new engine and jump engine to be researched in the meantime. The chancellor was left with no choice but to comply with the request. Another blow hit the Scientist Party shortly after. The mission Black Swan ended up with the destruction of all ground forces involved. The Chancellor spun the narrative alleging that it was not possible for the Navy to wage war against the aliens if the Military asked due to Scientists fierce opposition, however, it was fine to do so to pursue their foolish scientific motives. After having recovered the 309 crew member of the Able, the losses of the Altair skirmish were only 15% of the losses in Gliese 257. The popularity of the party and the Tokimasa were highly affected by the events. Another Federalist lead in the Senate seemed extremely unlikely now.
New tech should have been researched and given to the Army to train and design something able to compete with the Alien Ground Forces. The Chancellor asked her older brother, Thierry Barbier, to help in developing a new powerful armour for the Army. He gladly accepted and started to work on the design immediately. It was time to acknowledge the Alien superiority and work to close the gap.
Thierry Barbier ProfileAs research labs were limited and all busy working on other projects, the Chancellor decided to invest in the construction of another 10 facilities. Such a wise decision was welcomed by many parties and seen with favour also from the Militarists’ political adversaries. Furthermore, with the majority of the systems already surveyed, it was decided to resume exploration of the Sol Lacertae loop to ensure no external connection was present and hopefully end the chain. The targeted systems were the ones around the newly alien-controlled system of NN 3820, O. Struve 547 and WISE 0038+2758. 3 of the available scouts were ordered to leave Earth’s orbit immediately. By the 15th of June 2192, the 3 new jump points were explored with only the LHS 2594 being of interest. The system had in fact the remarkable amount of 202 Asteroids and hopefully, some of them would have been rich in TN minerals. So far that branch did have only another interesting candidate, already surveyed, with as many asteroids, however, the findings were not superb. Maybe the 2 systems combined would have allowed for a small mining operation to be established. The GJ 1288-A I dwarf planet then would have been a good small outpost (only 59 million people were estimated to be able living on the surface) for the exploration to continue more easily.
When finally on the 2nd of April 2193 the research on the science module was complete, it was also time to recall the whole survey fleet and start operations for the refits. With months to the election, the Chancellor hoped to slow down retooling operations and be able to end the mandate with a surplus of minerals which would have helped her cause ensuring a Militaristic win.
Horizon-IJT class Science Vessel 7,000 tons 181 Crew 1,112.5 BP TCS 140 TH 74 EM 0
1500 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1-32 Shields 0-0 HTK 47 Sensors 8/8/3/3 DCR 7 PPV 0
Maint Life 10.02 Years MSP 1,495 AFR 56% IFR 0.8% 1YR 27 5YR 406 Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander Control Rating 2 BRG SCI
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Morale Check Required
Military Jump Drive (4x7k) Max Ship Size 7050 tons Distance 50k km Squadron Size 3
Ion Drive EP105.00 (2) Power 210 Fuel Use 4.89% Signature 36.75 Explosion 4%
Fuel Capacity 561,000 Litres Range 295.1 billion km (2277 days at full power)
Standard GPS (1) GPS 1600 Range 29.6m km Resolution 100
Standard TH (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Standard EM (1) Sensitivity 8 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 22.4m km
Gravitational Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
Geological Survey Sensors (3) 3 Survey Points Per Hour
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
Eventually, right before election day, Philippine’s brother Thierry completed the new armour research. Before updating the whole army, the Chancellor wanted to review the whole structure but with the election at door’s step, she decided to wait to have regained full powers before committing to any project.
Pollings Election 2193
