Final Chance - Ch 1: Rebirth

[MrAnderson (OP)]

The Journal Of Robert Duffy

January 1st, 2350

Or so that's what the ships computer says. I was woken from cryo stasis just a few hours ago. Turns out that my pod malfunctioned and wouldn't open with the rest of them. When I asked the engineers why it took so long to fix mine, they said that they were only able to get back to orbit a few weeks ago. They told me that the colonists landed on a habitable planet in the M55 Monoceri system. There were not enough supplies or people to support a modern economy until now. Atleast my neural interface still worked in the cryo chamber, I continued my research while in stasis. What surprised me is that while I was re-configuring the survey sensors in the ship, I found some interesting readings near the planets core. 11 different minerals, each never seen before, that emitted a very strange energy reading. As soon as I get off this ship, I will order a mine to be dug to these minerals to investigate further. I apparently an part of the government - its made up of council members that work together, and have complete control over their areas. For example, the The Director of Science has full control over research, the Minister of Security has full control over defending ships and garrisons etc. There are many "major" and "minor" council members, but each are equally important, and it is imperative that they work together. I, Robert Duffy am a American scientist that deals mostly with defense contracts. While I didnt help the Generation ship projects much, I guess Administration thought it would be wise to bring me along anyways.

April 27th, 2350

After showing the other members of the council of my discovery, they agreed to start digging a mine to find these minerals. Also, I had a look at the passenger rosters of the other two ships, turns out alot of my fellow scientists and many of the military officers are in the broken stasis pods. The current technology level of our little empire is rather saddening. The most advanced things we have is the datacore from ship 3, everything else is sporadic - pre-industrial, industrial and modern technology can be found in the same place. It's mostly due to us knowing how to make them but not having the resources to. This will make digging the mine even more painful.

September 4th, 2351

I am kind of starting to get used to this new life now. The council ordered the construction of a house for me. It's almost done. Looks like a Roman building - our cheif engineer seems to like the style alot and he based almost everything he built on their work. Seems to be rubbing off on everyone else now too. Anyways, to the point. We have drilled down 3 miles, that leaves only about 500 meters until we reach a suitable mining area. Life here is strange. It's relaxed, but with extreme determination.

December 30th, 2351

That was quick. Apparently the miners say that they have reached it. I'll tell the council after the new years celebration. But it's time to relax for now.

January 7th, 2352

The meeting was really long today. It mainly involved the Cheif Engineer and the Industrial Manager arguing about resource allocation. I miss my research labs, without them I have to do everything by myself, in my house! Oh yeah, it's finally finished. Really nice style actually. I have a team and supplies ready, the engineers are just finalizing the cargo elevator now.

January 10th, 2352

We went down the elevator today. Mind you, these elevators aren't the fastest things, it took an entire hour of waiting to finally reach the bottom. The minerals are indeed there, and we managed to find samples of all of the minerals I discovered.One of them's radioactive, and i'm going to need a actual research lab to study these minerals. Ah well, atleast it's an excuse to get one built.

January 12th, 2352

Great, my neural processor broke today. Oh well, it isn't much use here anyways - the only computers are out of range in the Generation ships or home made ones with no networking - a requirement for linking to them. There are some spares on the generation ships, but the only way up there is by space shuttle, and fuel is kind of low for it, so we can't use it.

July 8th, 2352

And my new lab is built. Now I can finally start analyzing those minerals. It's about time...

August 5th, 2352

The results are back, they are as follows:

Duranium - This mineral when refined into metal is a very durable material - such it's name. Practical applications as of now are ship and building structures.

Neutronium - An extremely dense metal with a high melting point, this mineral may be useful for armor and kinetic weapons.

Corbomite - These crystals have a unique ability to bend waveforms - making it almost invisible, and nearly undetectable by sensors. This may be useful for energy based sheilds and cloaking systems.

Tritanium - A very volatile mineral that make nuclear sized explosions from very small quantities of it. This may very well be used for next-generation nuclear missiles.

Boronide - Boronide is a highly conductive metal that will be very useful in high powered computers, reactors and capacitors.

Sorium - An extremely unstable radioactive isotope, after refined this could serve as an extremely efficient fuel for nuclear reactors.

Uridium - These crystals when energy is channeled through them produce gravity waves faster than light outward from the crystals. These could be used for next generation space-based sensors, and fire control systems.

Corrundium - Another crystal that can focus energy into extremely high powered lasers. This shows promise for decent energy based weapons.

Mercassium - This mineral, when in contact with an electrical current will absorb CO2 and convert it into oxygen. Obviously this will work well in life support systems.

Vendarite - This crystal while in contact with iron will send gravity waves in the opposite direction. This allows for extremely small engines, perhaps useful in fighters.

Galacite - This mineral is stupendously heat-resistant, and will be useful in engines and reactors.

These are all my notes, in a more basic form. This discovery is amazing, and I am sure that the Cheif Engineer will be able to design some next generation buildings that use these minerals.

December 3rd, 2352

We have harvested sufficient amounts of Sorium to fuel the shuttle a hundred times over. The cheif engineer has finished drafting some incredible works of architecture, and our factories are starting to be converted now. I will be going with an engineering team to the Generation ships to try and fix some of the cryo pods. Can get a new neural interface while im there too.

December 5th, 2352

We have arrived on the Generation ship. The engineers immediately set off to fixing the pods, and I headed to cargo storage. It was pretty empty, so it was easy to find the interface. Grabbing a few, I decided to bring a box of cerebral replacements too. Real weird technology, you could replace half of someones brain with it. The only catch was of course, no one could really save the memories stored in that part of the brain. After I came out, a rather startled Taylor Barber greeted me. He was also in one of the broken cryo pods. If I remember him, he was a energy weapons developer who lived in Britan. Laying down in one of the lounges, I fell asleep, we were leaving in a couple days anyways.

December 7th,2352

INCOMING TRANSMISSION
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SOURCE GENERATION 3
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PLAYING MESSAGE OVER INTERCOMM
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RECORDING START

"This is Director Robert Duffy. Generations ship #3 has been hit by a asteroid. There is major damage, and the thrusters are not responding. Our orbit has destabilized, and we are falling towards the planet. We are going to burn up in less than a minute. We are abandoning ship."

Medical Record #1585
Patient: Robert Duffy
Status: Critical
Diagnosis:
Lacerations on the arms, legs and chest
Shrapnel embedded in skull and chest cavity
Severe blunt trauma to the head, heavy brain damage
Left lung punctured
Description: The patient was on Generation 3 while it was burning up. An engineer found him unconscious and carried him back into the shuttle, and they launched before the ship crashed. The patient was put on life support while diagnosis was being done. Immediate surgery was attempted, however patient is still critical. Placing patient into cryo stasis until a solution is found.

((OOC:So, do you guys like this new journal style? I have wanted to try a story like this, and I think it will give a better sense as to how the empire is actually doing. I will do military officer journals for ground combat, ship logs for ship combat, and council member journals for empire development.))

[MrAnderson (OP)]

Medical Record #1585
Date: May 1st, 2395
Doctor: Amanda Sheppard
Patient: Robert Duffy
Status: Cryo-Stasis
Diagnosis:
Lacerations on the arms, legs, and chest
Shrapnel embedded in skull and chest cavity
Severe blunt trauma to the head, confirmed brain damage
Left lung punctured, respiratory system non-functional
Severe oxygen deprivation
Treatment:
Patient has undergone treatment to restore his body to full functionality. Treatments are as follow:

Treatment 1: Emergency cranial pressure release. Brain is expanding safely without further injury.

Treatment 2: Shrapnel in chest cavity removed, left lung surgically removed, and replaced with mechanical lung

Treatment 3: Replacement of damaged sections of the brain. Estimated loss - 90% of memories and motor control patterns.

Treatment 4: Activating neural processors, mechanical lung, starting heart.

The patient will now undergo a one year reintegration program.


LOADING DISK
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DISK LOADED
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FILE CONTENTS:
DAY 1
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PLAYING FILE DAY 1
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Robert Duffy: ”Hello? What is this! Where am I? Tell me why I can’t remember anything!”

Amanda Sheppard: “Calm down Robert, you are in the capital, you are safe. Now please, can you remember anything?”

Robert Duffy: “Well not really… I remember that I made some important discovery, and my name… Robert William Duffy. Christ, why can’t I remember anything?”

Amanda Sheppard: “Alright, I will tell you about yourself Robert. You, along with all of us are from a planet called Earth. Right now, we are in V55 Monoceri, a solar system close to Earth. Earth was dying, so we build massive space ships to bring us to safety. When we arrived here, your cryo pod wouldn’t unlock, and you were stuck there for 200 years until engineers could get to the ship and fix your pod. You then lived with us for two years, and while you were helping the engineers on another journey to the Generation ship, when an asteroid hit it and caused it to fall out of orbit. Before it hit though, an engineer managed to bring you on to the shuttle. Sadly, you were too heavily wounded for us to fix, so you were put into stasis up to now. Does any of this seem familiar to you?

Robert Duffy: Well, I guess a little. Can you give me a while to think about it?

Amanda Sheppard: Alright. But first, let me give you a tour of the facility. It’s not that big really, down the main hallway is the reintegration centre. It’s where you will spend most of your time here. And this door is to your room. It is pretty bare, but that’s mainly due to safety reasons. Also, your meals will be delivered there too.

Robert Duffy: Alright, thank you for helping me.

RECORDING ENDS

Journal of Amanda Sheppard

May 7th, 2395

Today is going to be really busy. The 7th of each month is the new meeting day for the council. Some of my medical personnel have been looking at the wreckage of Generation 3, and apparently they found something interesting. Finally, on top of that, I have to go see Robert Duffy to archive his recovery progress so far. He is after all quite a special case - all other tests with the cerebral technology in live patients has failed up to now, and observing him may prove beneficial.

LOADING DISK
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DISK LOADED
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FILE CONTENTS:
DAY 1
DAY 7
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PLAYING FILE DAY 7
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Amanda Sheppard: Alright, now we are going to try and get you out of this wheelchair. Remember when I explained to you that when we replaced your brain that you lost most of your memories but also your motor pattern memories, so you need to learn how to do everything again. Just take it slow and relax.

Robert Duffy: Alright, I’m going to try to stand up now.

Amanda Sheppard: Good job. You seem to be recovering very quickly. Now let’s practice a little bit more, then we are going to try to see if you remember anything else.

RECORDING ENDS

The meeting was pretty much the same as usual. Taylor Barber, the new Chief Science Officer was talking about his current work on meson cannons. Oh right, the new Chief Engineer Isabella Potts was talking about how she loved these core minerals and that she could do so many new things with them.  She’s not as capable as the previous one, but again, she’s the best one we have since Fredric retired from the council. Oh yeah, we also had to appoint a head chancellor, not very fun. In the end, Dimitri Kerr, the Russian tech director got the most votes. You wouldn’t think he is a very good leader at first glance, but he is amazing at leadership. Almost immediately after he was elected, he submitted a rewritten training procedure that is roughly 30% more efficient. He knows how to manage the economy, and also considers mining very important. He is very sincere whenever he talks to people, and works well under pressure, good qualities for our new chancellor.

Now the council was looking at me. I stood up, took a deep breath, and said “Council members, a few days ago some of my assistants were walking through the crash site of Generation 3, and found a collapsed part of the ground. This however, was not a cave. It was a purpose built underground bunker. While the group did not go past the first few feet, they shown us pictures of  distinct zymology on the wal-” Dimitri interrupted me. “Amanda, exactly what are you trying to say?” I replied “Well sir, I’m saying that we did not build this. Or any other humans. That leaves only one other real explanation…” The council went into an uproar. Members were arguing with each other, until the Chancellor finally broke in. “Order council, order. If what Amanda says is indeed true, we are not alone. There may be friendly and hostile aliens, but one thing is obvious. We must develop ways to protect ourselves from the latter variations of these aliens. With our industry almost fully converted, I believe our economy to be stable enough to start a new space program. Do I have the support of this council?”

Slowly, the room filled with “Yes”. “Good, now I want every single aspect of our people ready for this change. I am going to authorise the construction of six additional research labs. Taylor, how are your prototypes coming along?” Taylor replied “Well sir, we have a working prototype of a pebble bed reactor, that has a increased 33% power generation. We are just finalizing it now, and it should be ready in a month. One of my colleagues is working on a forcefeild generation, and the meson cannons I can’t really say since we just started, and one other thing…  I’ve been looking over Roberts old research papers from Earth… there’s some really interesting stuff in them, but I need to read the rest of it still.” Dimitri replied “ Good, now Isabella, I know this is a bit quick, but we need you to start repairs on the two Generation ships. They can be used as colony ships until we can start making our own.” Isabella nodded . “Alright people, council dismissed, let’s get to work! One last thing Amanda, I want you to form a team and start exploring those ruins.”

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Well great, I just started a chain reaction and now we are preparing for war. At least it will be good to get out of the city for a bit. I’m probably not going to put any more of the logs of Robert Duffy in my journal, but I hope he is able to get back into working soon.

The Journal of Isabella Potts

May 15th, 2395

Great, now I have to fix those godforsaken pieces of glued together metal in orbit. I almost died on Generation 3 you know. If I didn’t have my helmet on when the asteroid hit, I would have suffocated long ago. Whatever, we’re bringing up some metal, some solar arrays, and a prototype shields generator Taylor gave us. At least it might stop us from dying whenever a little pebble hit’s a soft spot.

May 20th, 2395

We are on Generation 2, the most intact ship. Did I ever explain exactly how big they are? Because I had to walk halfway across it in the dark to reach the power relay room. In a spacesuit. Didn’t take long to restore power, though some sections weren’t powering up, and the main reactor was depleted. I’ve sent a team to repair it, but it is going to take a while.

June 4th, 2395

Finally the power is up. Some problems with the cooling system still but we don’t have enough supplies to fix it. It’s running at 20% capacity right now. We repressurized some of the crew quarters so we didn’t have to sleep in the shuttle, and we have enough power to atleast run lighting in the ship. We still have lots of electrical problems to solve , as well as structural, but “It’ll all be worth it” or so says Dimitri. Whatever.

((OOC:These take up quite a bit of creative energy to write since it's no longer copypasta and explain stupid/random events. Time for some more brain food, enjoy chapter 1.5))