Touche.
?2040, Part Two
It was obvious that the Abetti would no longer be needed – Venus was no longer a priority and there’d be nowhere to send colonists. The ship was less than a third finished and construction was cancelled, a tacit admission of years of wasted resources, time and effort, but far better than trying to defend a near-useless ship in the upcoming election.
Lena Dungey also decided not to build new freighters, as improvements in cargo handling techniques were expected to be ready at the end of the year. A new variant could be designed at that time, and a decision made on jump theory. For now, the Victoria would continue to ship as many mines as possible to Schaumasse. The only other major change that was made was the decision to get another mass driver built and prioritize using the remaining corundium to convert as many mines as possible to the automated variety. At the moment, that meant 67 could be ordered. Work on new research labs was prioritized down to 25% capacity as before. Meanwhile the four geosurvey vessels(both variants) would continue to work on sweeping the remainder of the asteroids, and the surface teams would continue following up on any finds as quickly as they could. A third team, considerably inferior in skill and therefore speed as well, was formed to aid in the process, led by LTC Kathy Wheatley. Among its members was LTC Hannah Shepard. There weren’t enough qualified officers to field any more teams, at least without crippling Fleet Headquarters of it’s best ...
Sol Survey Efforts
Aug. 15th – Wheatly team arrives on Whipple, their first assignment ...
Six more asteroids were found to contain insignificant deposits. There are now 49 bodies with resources of some kind in the system. 14, less than 30%, have had their ground team surveys completed. Still nothing from the JupSat team on Titan. Concern and frustration are growing. The asteroid belt between Mars and Saturn orbits has been virtually exhausted, and the original Essex survey ships, lacking the range to push further out into the system, will become obsolete very soon.
Commissioned Officers
?Sept – LTC Jedidiah Thone is commissioned.
Fleet Movement Initiative: 171
Bonsuses: 10% Fighter Combat, 10% Mining
Personality Traits: Determined, Intolerant
Research?
Dec. 8th – Ignacio Bravo’s team completes research into Cargo Handling system. In order to have the most efficient(in terms of time, not fuel) freighter possible, his team begins work on a new engine prototype, the CNT-25-5, which is 25% faster and 80% less fuel efficient than the current Fletcher’s design. It will be another three months delay now for that work to complete.
Earth
In December, the last of the original Lexingtons, the Venus – which literally never left earth orbit – is ordered to be scrapped at the P&A Group Shipyard. At year's end the duranium deposits begin to become more difficult to access -- the economic crunch has officially begun. A mine on earth once produced 68 tons -- that's down now to 37.3 tons, or just over half. Many of the comets are more lucrative than that.
There are now a dozen automated mines ready to be shipped off world with 61 more being converted. Even at that, there will still be 230+ standard human-operated mines on earth. Work on new research labs is ongoing but slow, another should be ready sometime in the summer.
Remote Mining Colonies
Schaumasse has a mass driver and almost two operational mines, Venus has one and six operational mines, and Reinmuth will have an operational mass driver soon.
2041 Election
Politics can be a brutal business. The colonization of Venus was abandoned before it rightly could be said to have begun, as the comets have been found to clearly be a much better source of needed resources. Combined with the wasted effort put into the Spruance design, this was a death sentence for the career aspirations of Director-Governor Lena Dungey. She chose to retire from public life rather than accept the ironic assignment to run the automated mining colony with 24 tons of infrastructure accomplishing absolutely nothing that Venus has become. SPACE's first director, Dungey served three terms and is only 37. Hers is a mixed record -- there were many successes, but her failure to detect the comet resources earlier will unfortunately be her most enduring legacy.
There were only two serious candidates for her replacement: Herbert Duling, the current Governor of Venus who narrowly lost in '37, and India Rakes, an incredibly talented young woman who has just about every skill you could ask for and a good amount of political acumen to go with it. Despite being only three years older(27 to 24), Duling's main advantadge is the experience from last year's election and his time on Venus, along with his superlative political skills. These proved to be more than enough as he won a landslide victory with a surprising 59.8% of the vote.
Rakes takes over on Venus, and Duling tapped the best mining mines available for other appointments: Herman Fox is the new governor of the mining colony on the comet Schaumasse, Jarrett Hugh at Reinmuth, and others will be needed soon.
Duling has named Comas Sola and Machholz as the primary targets for investment after the new engines are ready and the Fletcher II freighter design is complete. As short-period comets with several kt deposits of all three essential minerals(duranium, neutronium, and corundium), these are to be the centerpiece of the effort to minimize the coming economic struggles.
His inaugural speech also emphasized the need to pursue all possible options, indicating that Jump Theory is very much on the table though no immediate investment in research was announced.
Cmdr. Ken McKay -- 13th out of 15. Continues to serve on the Rater team, the best and most productive of the three geology teams. At present, they are about three weeks into a survey of the comet Encke.
Cmdr. Sam Baker -- 5th. Cmdr. Baker has commanded the GEV George Ogden Abell for almost five years now, but with the vessel nearing the end of it's usefulness, his future is uncertain as well.
Lt. Cmdr. Roger Wilco -- 6th out of 45. He may have an outside shot at one of the new freighters, depending on how many are built and what happens with other officers. Some new recruits have surpassed him, which has not helped his ambitions any, but he's still a well-regarded leader.
Lt. Cmdr. Jay Cin II -- 22nd. Good enough to be respected, bad enough that he might not ever get to actually do anything.
Lt. Cmdr. Jedidiah Thone -- 42nd ... it's early yet.
Col. Benjamin Berkeley -- 4th out of 22, command unchanged. Steady, seems to have settled in where he's likely to stay.
Herman Fox -- Newly appointed Governor of the mining colony on the comet Schaumasse.
Karabishi Juishao -- This is a new, and in it's own way even more frustrating kind of waiting.
