Author Topic: Terran Republic - Updates  (Read 6527 times)

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Offline Ektor (OP)

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Re: Terran Republic - Updates
« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2020, 11:28:53 PM »
2210

January started with a bang. The Populists and the Federation both had approached the TFA with desires of cooperation, and the TFA quickly pounced on this opportunity. The reforms the Populists wanted were nothing major, and the Federation often had reasonable demands for the economy.  Harry Thompson saw this three-party block as the stepping stone to a decade of balanced government. Catherine Moore, being the decisive person she was, decided to call for an extraordinary meeting of the Senate, before the Council nominations and Chancellor election. All wondered what she could possibly want, and it was a fine balance between angering the TFA and fulfilling her wishes, but Moore spoke to the Senate demanding their reforms to be voted before the nominations. The reason for this was clear - the Populists had long talked about lowering the requirements for Senators to join the Council of the Senate, and that if this vote was passed, she would likely be nominated for a Council position.

The topic was hotly debated amongst the TFA Senators, but they were willing to stick to their word and support their reforms. Reception was poorer amongst the Federation, in special, for Laura Gould, who thought that competing alone once more against Harry Thompson gave her a better chance of victory. Officially, the party declared their support to the fragile alliance that had blossomed on the Senate, but a significant amount of their Senators went against the party's position, which created tensions with the TFA and the Populists. Still, a majority was achieved, and the Populists reforms would be voted on.

The first reform consisted on a measure to stop poorly performing Chancellors, it introduced the possibility of a vote of no confidence on the Chancellor, which allowed the Senate to choose a new one before their mandate officially ended. This was by far the most polemic of the measures, and the Order of Sol voted unanimously against it, only by the slightest of margins did this measure manage to pass.

The second reform consisted on lowering several of the requirements for a position on the Council, and ensuring every party with sufficient Senate seats could appoint at least one representative on the Council. The previous method relied on the Council coming to an agreement on who to take on, and had often caused tension and instability when one party, even if weak on the Senate, saw itself dominating the Council. The TFA had often suffered from this, and whilst they secured a member on the Council in 2200, past experiences made them quick to support this motion. Like before, the Federation begrudgingly followed the TFA.

The third reform consisted in reducing Senator's mandates from ten to five years. This bill faced widespread rejection, and whilst Catherine Moore attempted to negotiate a reduction to eight years instead of five, her political capital had already been exhausted by the controversy of the two previous votes. She informed the Populist Party that they shouldn't try to pass any more bills at that time, and that the goal of finally having Council representation was achieved.

The most radical sector of the Populists tried to convince Catherine Moore to push her luck and demand for the Council to be elected by popular vote and for military positions on the Council to be abolished, but she knew when to quit whilst ahead. Moore was convinced that the Populists had to deliver a stellar performance throughout the decade and raise Populist credibility, so they could capitalise on the 2220 elections. It was a long-term plan, but she reckoned she might try to pass her reforms again if the situation improved for the Populists before the next election.

The Council appointments and Chancellor elections were next, even if they had been delayed to early February due to the Populists' reforms.

The Council of 2210

The Populist reforms ensured a balanced Council. The Order of Sol still had an advantage due to the military presence, and the FOC also had the backing of Admiral Rachel Humphries, which gave them slight advantage. For the first time the Populists had any Council representation, and Catherine Moore ensured the TFA that they would have the support of the Populists in Council affairs.

Laura Gould – Federation of Commerce

Laura Gould's poor performance on the past decade has done a lot to tarnish her reputation amongst the Federation. Once seen as a qualified up and coming politician by Federation circles, her unpopularity meant she was now seen as somewhat of a lost cause. The Federation decided to run for Chancellorship, possibly to improve their bargaining powers with the TFA, and Laura was not chosen as a candidate. For once, she kept her mouth shut, and despite being obviously furious, she did her best to accept and support her colleague's campaign. This, in turn, healed the Federation's perception of her. Some were starting to think the 2200's had taught a lesson to Gould.

Harry Thompson – Terra Foundation Association

Thompson is the most popular he ever was. The Foundation was confident that given the current political climate, his bid for re-election was strong. Thompson was starting to be regarded by many as some sort of statesman, a skilled politician that knew how to achieve the Foundation's best interests. His defence of the sciences gave him credibility - Thompson was the science man, everybody knew by now that that was what he truly stood for, and the fact that he stood true made him popular with many.

Catherine Moore – Populist Party

Catherine Moore was the young, idealistic, charismatic, redheaded leader of the Populist Party. She had a meteoric rise in popularity throughout 2209, mostly with the youth that came of age during the 2200's. Moore's face had been everywhere on the news in 2209, in rallies, speeches, marches; she was painted a "dangerous agitator" by the media, which only made her more popular with the younger voters. But she was not just some megaphone-hogger, Moore had the sense to seek alliances and build bridges, and whilst some of the more radical Populists may see her as an "airheaded moderate," she had already achieved many of the campaign promises of the Populists.

Ben Murray – Order of Sol

Murray was an interesting figure, to say the least. He became wildly popular in the Republic after winning a series of martial arts tournaments. Martial Arts were the big sport in the Republic, drawing millions of watchers and aficionados. The Order of Sol saw in him an opportunity to charm the sports-lover demographic. A muscled brute, it was hard to tell what Murray was thinking at any given time. His media background made many Senators suspicious of him, and he had yet to prove himself to be more than some mush-brained thug.

Christopher Watson – Federation of Commerce

Christopher Watson was another "qualified" name from the Federation. He was a gifted analytical thinker, and was known for being an innate organiser, from his desk to his employees, he kept everything catalogued and well-ordered. He was, perhaps, a bit dry. Too precise, too clinical, not the sort of person to smile a lot. His technical expertise in management made him popular with the Federation, which liked these serious types. His greatest achievement yet was landing the Federation nomination for the Chancellor Election, something cemented by years of building connections in the party and making himself a name as a competent and dependable man.

James Walton – Terra Foundation Association

Walton is a former scientist and professor at the Foundation. He was wildly popular with his students and post-graduates, who trusted him to offer them qualified assistance in projects and studies. Walter is not a very politically savvy man, instead he relies on his good reputation in the Foundation and his adamant defence of science, something he shares with his colleague Harry Thompson. Walton is a man with a calm, relaxed demeanour, and is considered very approachable. Given some publicity, he could quickly become a popular asset to the TFA.

Madison Wheeler – Order of Sol

Madison Wheeler is a bit of an oddball. Another civilian member of the Order of Sol, she is well known amongst ufologists and esoterics. Whilst seen with suspicion by some more down-to-earth military types, Madison has been a consistent backer of the Order of Sol. She is especially popular amongst military wives and female personnel, as she is seen as a more humane side of the Order of Sol, preoccupied with the security of the Republic instead of stronghandedly demanding the expansion of the troops, like Sophie Wheeler, to whom she is not immediately related. It is exactly because she is seen as a less-threatening name that she was chosen to be the main representative of the Order of Sol on the Council. A lot is expected of Madison Wheeler, mostly because she is the first OS Councillor after Ellen Stevens, and is often compared unfavourably to her.

Connor Blackburn – Populist Party

Connor Blackburn is a slick man. Many on the media compare him with Ben Murray, given they are both media figures turned politician. Blackburn was until recently a famous actor, playing the role of romantic lead in a number of films. With a sharp sense of style considered cool by many of the younger voters, Blackburn charms the public. Unlike Murray, who is a brute, Blackburn knows how to say what people want to hear. His ascension amongst the Populists is doubted by many, who see Blackburn as just a pretty face, he is yet to prove the contrary.

Admiral of the Fleet Joshua Duncan – Order of Sol

The last decade had taken its toll on Joshua Duncan. Always at the centre of every controversy within the Order of Sol had tired Duncan out. During the past decade, he constantly had to be the negotiator; the cool-headed person; the public speaker; the diplomat; and so on. He knew no good deed went unpunished, though, as he knew the 2210's would probably be even harder than the 2200's on the Order of Sol, since they were now politically isolated and incapable of using their weight on the Senate properly. Despite his low morale, Duncan vowed to continue providing the best leadership he could for the Order of Sol, his military background making sure he wasn't about to quit when things got hard.

Admiral Rachel Humphries – Federation of Commerce

Humphries had been a key name for the Federation during the 2200's. She had always stayed by Laura Gould's side, providing advice and helping to keep morale up when things went wrong. The Federation saw as a tragedy the fact that her military background excluded her from Chancellorship. As Gould lost her prestige within the party, Humphries was seen more and more as the real voice behind the Federation of Commerce. This invigorated her, and she was faring much better psychologically than the other military figures of the Council. She remained completely open to cooperation, and in fact it was her idea to seek a compromise with the TFA. Humphries is of the opinion that the relations between the TFA and the Federation can be mutually beneficial.

Marshal Sophie Wheeler – Order of Sol

Wheeler is still recovering from the shock of the poor performance that the Order had in 2210. Frankly in denial, she still hopes to secure large funds for military research. A fierce critic of the Populists and their reforms, Wheeler is seen as more of a hardliner than Joshua Duncan. However, like him, she is also shaken and demoralised. She still believes the Order of Sol can salvage this situation somehow, and constantly tries to communicate with the public to restore some trust in the Order. Given her lack of charisma, this has not worked out well with many. Most of the people she draws are those who gravitate around the Army, ex-soldiers, family members, new recruits and such. Her uncompromising defence of the Army earns her credibility amongst that demographic.

Chancellor Elections of 2210

As a gesture of goodwill, the Populists decided not to run for Chancellorship. Catherine Moore convinced them that after managing to score Council representation and passing their reforms, they needed to appease the TFA in order to avoid wearing out their agreement. Thus the Populist Party declared their support for Harry Thompson, the TFA candidate. This gave Thompson a marked advantage, as the other two parties decided to run their own campaigns. The Federation believed they still had a chance to earn the powerful bargaining chip that was the Chancellorship, and the OS kept their campaign as a way to reinforce they weren't about to back down and let themselves be rolled over. The Federation candidate was Christopher Watson, a new name amongst Federation politicians, who campaigned as a skilled administrator who could set the Republic right. The Order of Sol candidate was Madison Wheeler, a friendlier name amongst the Order, which was trying to heal the public's perception of them.

Harry Thompson: 253 votes

Thompson's re-election was seen as inevitable. With the support of both the Populists and the Association, Thompson easily placed much higher than his competitors. He began his term by thanking Catherine Moore for ensuring the support of the Populists, and reinforced his defence of the sciences and his willingness to cooperate. The following five years would make or break Thompson's reputation as a good politician, as people expected him to consolidate more during his second term.

Madison Wheeler: 143 votes

Madison had just recently established herself as a famous figure on the Order. Her strange beliefs and ways however, displeased the older members of the Order of Sol. Joshua Duncan, again spending his energy on party efforts, managed to convince a large share of the Order to vote for her, and Wheeler's campaign amongst the party was instrumental in raising the Order's opinion on her. Still, not all of the OS Senators could be dissuaded, and she didn't secure the voter of the entire Order. She still placed second overall, which showed to many that the Order of Sol still had a fighting chance.

Christopher Watson: 126 votes

The Federation was very determined to win the Chancellorship, and Watson knew this. He had spent years building contacts on the Federation, and by now he was seen as the man of the hour. It didn't take much for him to be wholly endorsed by the Federation of Commerce. However, despite his commendable attempts to win over Order of Sol and Terra Foundation Association votes, he could not cause any outside Senator to bulge. His performance was as a result, not the best, but he did well enough on his campaign to win him further confidence amongst the Federation of Commerce.

74 Abstentions

There was, again, a surprising number of abstentions, coming mostly from Populists who refused to vote for Thompson or members of the Order of Sol who refused to vote for Madison Wheeler. However, surprisingly, a number of TFA Senators did not state their support for Thompson, especially those of more conservative background, who were displeased with the reforms done by the Populists.

-

As March finally came and all the thunder of the election passed, things settled for a bit. Amongst the public, debate about the elections seemed to die down. The Populist reforms proved to have a wide appeal, with voters becoming surer that their votes would reach the Council. This increased the popular support for the Republic, and created the precedent, seen as dangerous by some, that the Republic was living an age of furthering of democratic rights. Many hoped that the stories about the great democracies of pre-collapse Europe could be matched by the Republic. After all, they had come this far in technology, why shouldn't they go equally far in politics? The talk of the moment was debate about human rights, and even amongst the backers of the Order of Sol there was a slight murmur about banning corporal punishment in the Army and Navy. Joshua Duncan had never been a stark defender of corporal punishment, so he let this slide without making any promises. Sophie Wheeler's clique, however, did everything they could to supress such talks amongst the soldiers. The old guard of the Order of Sol was starting to feel that the military was losing grip of the Republic, which put many of them in a furious mood.

As a result of the elections, most members of the Order of Sol were expecting military research to be slashed, and construction of the new military shipyard to be entirely defunded. Throughout early March, one could hear the grumble in most Order of Sol spaces.

Catherine Moore did indeed speak to the Senate about cutting funds to the military, which could have been well received had she not followed this with a proposal of cutting space exploration funding. Moore was booed out of the Senate podium, which, although somewhat souring her popularity amongst the other parties, reinforced her previous position on backing down from requesting every Populist reform. The Populists saw that their position was more fragile than it looked, and decided not to raise any more proposals for the month.

The most surprising moment of March came when Harry Thompson made his proposal for a new Republic budget. Instead of radically slashing military research and development, Harry brought the two shipyard projects to the same level of funding. This would delay the military shipyard in about a year, and shorten the delivery date of the survey shipyard to December 2210. This still displeased the Order of Sol, but it was seen as a welcome surprise that the buts on their budget were not extreme. The excess budget left over by diminishing funds to the orbital shipyard would, of course, sent to a project for a new research facility.



Likewise, when reallocating research budget, Thompson merely proposed a rough equalisation of all ongoing government-funded projects. Military research was not cancelled or forgotten, and still made up most of the research budget. This did a lot to raise the opinion of Thompson amongst the Order of Sol, as they were certain he would crush them.



These proposals were seen as reasonable by most, and whilst still resisted by the Order of Sol, he easily managed to pass his budget.

The rest of the year was surprisingly calm, with life quickly returning to normal. There were no big questions for the Senate for most of the year, and this progressed as normal.

Things only seemed to warm up by December, when the conversion of a good amount of civilian industry and business to trans-newtonian had been achieved. Not only this resulted in faster computation, it markedly improved the Republic's economy, which approached December with a surplus of three trillion Republic Dollars. The Populists made sure to endlessly campaign for the application of this surplus money to social causes and public infrastructure, and were largely successful, given money was plentiful. This was backed by Federation politicians who feared excess of currency not circulating could cause unwelcome effects for the economy. As a result, a large list of product subsidies were declared, which raised the popularity of the Populist-Association-Federation block on the Senate. This money was also use to fund private research of spacefaring technology, aiming to one day make space travel an economically sound investment, many contractors feasted on these research grants, whilst a slight controversy arose because many of these grant dollars found themselves back in the pocket of Terra Foundation figures. The Order of Sol demanded probes into this matter, but nothing came up. This put the TFA under some suspicion, but Henry Thompson was quick to make all Foundation financial data public, which eased most of their detractors.

What had also been completed was the expansion of the trans-newtonian Sorium industry, which now fuelled most of the energy generation of the Republic. The new Sorium power plants were so powerful that the old conventional fission reactors that the Republic had favoured had one by one been deactivated throughout the first decade of the 23rd century. The government maintained the control over most of Sorium mining and refining, which ensured they had always a powerful bargaining chip with the civilian sector. As Sorium production largely exceeded demand, prices dropped dramatically, and humanity had at last achieved an almost free energy source. The first Sorium-powered automobile had also made its debut in 2210, and it quickly became popular due to the cheap price of Sorium and the fact that it consumed less than ten millilitres per kilometre. The Senate came to the conclusion that no further increase of Sorium production was immediately needed.



A couple of days after the debates around the surplus budget had ended, the Navy and the TFA finally announced the completion of their joint project: a new orbital shipyard that would build yet unprecedented space craft to survey Sol for minerals. There was widespread celebration throughout the Republic, and the eyes of the media focused on exploring every little detail on the new orbital shipyard. Immediately, the joint Navy-TSA program moved on to designing a new class of ship to be built in that shipyard, however, further news would have to wait for better development of the project.

The construction capacity that had been freed up by the conversion of these industries was hotly disputed amongst the parties. The Federation wanted more investments to the civilian economy, the TFA wanted more research facilities and the OS wanted more military installations. Surprisingly, the OS and the TFA came to an agreement: a part of the budget would be destined to the expansion of both the educational facilities of the Terra Foundation and the Academies of the Army and Navy. Whilst this displeased the Populists and was seen with indifference by the Federation, it surely helped to improve the mood in the Order of Sol once more, who felt they weren't being isolated by the Association. The TFA called in their favours with the Populists once more to secure support for the construction of a new research facility, and whilst reception was mixed, Catherine Moore knew the TFA had supported them with the surplus budget investments and that she needed to repay the TFA with something. Lastly, the TFA contacted the Federation and said they would support minor funding for the civilian economy, which helped raise spirits amongst the Federation and fostered confidence on the TFA.



This ended the discussions of 2210, guaranteeing a somewhat peaceful New Year on the Republic.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 05:26:17 PM by Ektor »
 
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Offline Ektor (OP)

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Re: Terran Republic - Updates
« Reply #16 on: April 30, 2020, 08:42:01 PM »
2211

On January 2211, everybody in the Republic was talking about the new ship being developed by the joint Navy-Foundation project. The shipyard was up, the required technology was ready, people around the Republic were waiting intently to know when the first extraterrestrial use of the geologic sensors would happen. By the 4th of January, Admiral Joshua Duncan participated on a press conference where he announced publicly the new Speculator Class.

Speculator class Geosurvey Ship  2 500 tons       57 Crew       329.6 BP       TCS 50    TH 63    EM 0
1250 km/s      Armour 1-16       Shields 0-0       HTK 15      Sensors 0/0/0/2      DCR 4      PPV 0
Maint Life 12.58 Years     MSP 329    AFR 12%    IFR 0.2%    1YR 4    5YR 58    Max Repair 100 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Terra Foundation Engineering First Generation Engine (1)    Power 62.5    Fuel Use 11.18%    Signature 62.5    Explosion 5%
Fuel Capacity 164 000 Litres    Range 105.6 billion km (977 days at full power)

Geological Survey Sensors (2)   2 Survey Points Per Hour

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

This was no minor undertaking. This ship was over sixteen times as big as the Progress and over twenty-three times as expensive, and despite being small for naval standards, it would be a challenging job for Republic engineers to produce it in the new shipyard. Despite the valuable experience in orbital construction provided by the experiences in building the Terra Spaceport, years ago, this was a very different matter. The Speculator had to survive trans-newtonian speeds. For a conventional spacecraft, space was a vacuum; but the properties of the fluidic dimension meant the ship would constantly face resistance from the aether. The Progress, built with a conventional steel hull, never suffered significant problems with this because its small size and relative low speed, but the Speculator was, as said previously, over sixteen times as large and roughly twice as fast. If it weren't for the recent developments in duranium material science, few believed this project would be even possible.

But for now, the delivery of the Speculator was nothing but a distant dream. The initial structure of the shipyard showed itself to be insufficient for the project, and a large extension program was initiated before the Speculator class would start its construction, with an estimated finish time of one and a half years. This displeased the public, specially the science aficionados, who couldn't believe they'd have to wait yet another year for further developments in trans-newtonian engineering. This was somewhat eased by the publication of the Speculator's technical details, as well as a series of videos done by Foundation scientists that explained the engineering process and technology behind almost everything in the Speculator. From the boronide fuel compartments, to the mercassium in the ship's artificial gravity system, down to the complex uridium-based sensors in the bridge, the public would easily have time to pour over the Speculator's design.

The Speculator dominated media interest for the first months of the year, but amongst the supporters of the Order of Sol and military folk, all talks surrounded the new military shipyard. Construction of its first phase finished on the 20th of March, and whilst the Navy was understandably a lot more secretive about its contents. Rumours started circulating about what was going on inside the new shipyard. Some of these rumours were big, saying the Navy would build a battleship in space, and other equally absurd claims. Whilst some figures on the media, especially more sensationalist ones, did some reports on these rumours, the Navy neither confirmed nor denied any of these allegations, but made sure to tell the public most of the stories were wildly out of proportion.

This only created more curiosity, and on 19th April, ufology enthusiast Edgar Owens hijacked a Terra Spaceport cargo shuttle and used its trans-newtonian navigation sensors to locate the new military shipyard. He flew towards it, until navy armed shuttles, which identified the unauthorized approach, hailed the cargo shuttle in hopes of establishing what was happening. Terra Spaceport flight control was quickly contacted, and when they couldn't answer what that shuttle was doing so close to the shipyard, the officers in the military shipyard decided to act. The shuttles approached and threatened to open fire if the driver didn't identify themselves. The answer to those threats was a surprise to all. "I know that's where you keep all the alien tech! Your mind rays can't control me! I'm not afraid of you!" The armed shuttles then opened fire against the cargo shuttle's engine, causing an explosion that destroyed the shuttle and killed its driver.

Not soon after the media was all over the navy trying to get details on the incident, and Owens' face was plastered all over the news on the Republic. Media ran his story for days, and the ufologists of Terra turned him into some sort of martyr. The Navy tried to clear up any misunderstandings, and whilst most people though Owens was just some insane idiot, a couple of odd figures blamed the Navy for murdering him because he knew the truth. Despite their best intentions, the Navy could not clear up the subsequent conspiracy theories on how the new military shipyard would construct a ship "based on alien technology", and how the Navy was hiding first contact from the whole Republic. Joshua Duncan reportedly found the whole thing hilarious, and ordered that the Navy "shouldn't give any attention to those sorium-drinking morons."

On the Senate, April was marked by the question of where the funds freed up by the construction of the shipyards should be destined. This time, the Populists and the Federation bargained together with the Terra Foundation Association, and managed to secure more funding for the project of trans-newtonian conversion of Terra industry. Whilst the Federation saw in this an opportunity to increase production, the Populists saw a chance to reduce unemployment. Sectors of the civilian economy also benefitted from increased government funding.



Late April also saw the official decommissioning of the Progress, which was deemed obsolete. The vessel was transformed into a museum piece, to be exhibited in the Republic Aerospace Museum in New Barcelona. It quickly became a disputed tourist destination, with museum organisation developing an official tour which explained the different systems and pieces of the craft.

All in all, 2211 was a relatively quiet year, with no major events to shake the Republic. The passage to 2212 was uneventful.
 
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Offline Ektor (OP)

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Re: Terran Republic - Updates
« Reply #17 on: May 01, 2020, 12:16:00 AM »
2212

The year began without major incidents. Media was still focused on the Foundation-Navy shipyard, and how its construction seemed to be going a lot faster than expected. By the 8th of May, the construction of the first Speculator Class Geosurvey Ship was officially announced, with widespread celebration. The Terra Foundation hosted a gala event where most of the admiralty, together with the Foundation directorate, were invited. This was seen as a positive moment in TFA-OS relations. The shipyard authorities gave a forecast that the first Speculator should be ready by early June 2213, and the public was relieved to finally have a real date to look forward to.

June began with Admiral of the Fleet Joshua Duncan and his advisors taking a second look at the development of new sensors. The scientists at Terra Foundation requested more time to deliver a functional project, and Duncan was informed that it would take until the second half of the decade until anything could be delivered. This displeased Duncan, who requested the files on the new sensors for his personal inspection. Duncan asked for the assistance of tech-savvy Admiral Rachel Humphries, and they poured over the files. After some deliberation, they decided that current tech was enough to provide a sensor suite to the old shelved Navy project, the Fist Class Gunship. Duncan immediately ordered project focus to be redirected into materialising the studies done so far, no matter how weak the currently available sensors would seem compared to what could be developed in the following years. Duncan, and most of the Navy officers behind the Fist Class, wanted a warship now.

A series of cooperation efforts between the Navy and the Foundation happened in utter secrecy. These projects developed prototypes for a sensor suite, weapon control system and a new reduced size sorium reactor, dubbed the Sanders Reactor.

Code: [Select]
Fist class Gunship (P)      5 000 tons       153 Crew       370.3 BP       TCS 100    TH 250    EM 0
2500 km/s      Armour 1-26       Shields 0-0       HTK 40      Sensors 0/0/0/0      DCR 6      PPV 15
Maint Life 6.26 Years     MSP 277    AFR 33%    IFR 0.5%    1YR 12    5YR 182    Max Repair 62.5 MSP
Commander    Control Rating 1   BRG   
Intended Deployment Time: 12 months    Morale Check Required   

Terra Foundation Engineering First Generation Military Engines (2)    Power 250    Fuel Use 63.25%    Signature 125    Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 359 000 Litres    Range 20.4 billion km (94 days at full power)

Terra Foundation Engineering Prototype Particle Cannon (3)    Range 80 000km     TS: 2 500 km/s     Power 5-1     RM 60 000 km    ROF 25       
TNE SN-50 Weapons Control (1)     Max Range: 80 000 km   TS: 2 500 km/s     55 47 39 31 23 16 8 0 0 0
TFE Shipboard Sanders Reactor (1)     Total Power Output 3    Exp 5%

TNE SS-50 Military General Sensor (1)     GPS 2000     Range 26.2m km    Resolution 100

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

[TNE and TFE stand for Terran Navy Engineering and Terra Foundation Engineering, I shortened it to make the component names easier to see]

Research was quickly redirected towards making those systems a reality. Whilst not what the Foundation had planned, the scientists adapted without major complaints to their new routine. However this generated a bit of distrust when TFA politicians got word of this, as they had long campaigned by Foundation research independence, they disliked this rearrangement, but no one ever officially complained about it.




By August, the Federation informed the Senate that more civilian companies and industries had been built. They then approached the Senate with the request of using the freed-up funds to intensify their efforts to convert Terra's heavy industries to trans-newtonian. This proposal easily passed, given huge strides had been done in industry conversion in the last two years, and throughout Terra many felt the deep impact of having the much more advanced trans-newtonian industry backing the economy.

This was only the final strike in what had been a long campaign defended by the Federation and maintained by the Republic since 2200. The 26th of August was lauded by the Federation and those involved in the economy as the day that the Republic's industrial power had been completely converted to trans-newtonian. The 26th of August was named Industry Day, and a worldwide celebration was arranged.

The conversion had been the main expense of the Republic for over a decade, and what to fund next was the most debated topic on the Senate in late August and early September. The Federation and the Populists wanted the Republic to expand the economy even further, Admiral Rachel Humphries and Councillor Christopher Watson spoke several times before the Senate, reinforcing the importance of extending the Republic's mineral wealth as a base for further development. Watson was adamant that despite the current abundance of trans-newtonian minerals, continued growth of the Republic would be hindered in the next decades if more sources of trans-newtonian minerals weren't found. Humphries also raised concerns about how future space exploration might be cut short by a lack of uridium to build navigation sensors. They also raised concerns about how corbomite, essential to the civilian sector, would apparently be mined out within the decade. Of course, supplies would last longer, but the lack of availability of a mineral with such importance worried the Federation. What got the interest of the TFA was how mercassium, a critical supply in trans-newtonian lab equipment, could run short in Terra in a couple decades time.

These debates generally were well seen on the Senate floor, and permission was given for expansions to the economy. But the TFA saw fit to take for themselves a "tithe" of another research facility. The Order of Sol adamantly requested for expansion to the military industries, and given the recent events putting the TFA in good relations with them, they managed to secure funding for it. The budget was set for the next few years, and confidence that the Senate was doing what was best for the Republic ran high amongst the people.



September saw the completion of the first of the Fist systems, but this was never revealed to the public, so it was as if it had not happened. Joshua Duncan, however, was very pleased that his dream of a Space Navy was coming to fruition. He felt he was very close.



By December, the Sanders Reactor project was finished, and the final touches on the General Sensors were being made. Duncan's dream came closer and closer to being fulfilled. Not much else happened, though, and 2212 ended with high hopes amongst Navy officers. The Fist would probably enter production in 2213, and this excited everyone in the higher ranks.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2020, 12:21:04 AM by Ektor »
 

Offline Ektor (OP)

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Re: Terran Republic - Updates
« Reply #18 on: May 01, 2020, 04:53:30 PM »
2213

As had been previously estimated, the General Sensors project for the Fist Class was delivered by the 23rd of January, marking the end of the R&D phase for the Fist. The admiralty congratulated Fleet Admiral Joshua Duncan and Admiral Rachel Humphries in their decisive action allowing the materialization of the Fist class. The research into more advanced sensors was then resumed by the Foundation. The military's focus then turned to the new military shipyard, which was over halfway done. Hopes were high that 2213 would see the Fist class enter production.

By the 7th of February, a new research facility was completed in Terra. The TFA used its position on the Senate to ensure the new installation went to the theoretical research program they had established a few years back. The freed-up funds were destined to increasing the TFA's academic facilities, in hopes to increase the number of graduates and post-graduates in trans-newtonian technology.



Wide celebration followed the 22nd of June, when the first Speculator class officially let the drydock. The media was allowed on the ship, where they filmed and documented anything they found of interest. The Speculator then embarked on its mission, reaching Luna within a couple minutes and beginning a geological survey. Masses on the Earth waited intently for the news of new trans-newtonian deposits being found beyond Terra. A second Speculator was slated for mid-2214, and the joint shipyard quickly began its construction.



By the 25th, the Speculator relayed its findings back to the Navy's command in Terra. Not spectacular findings, but a significant amount of brute sorium ore was found not far below the surface. Given the relatively low demand for sorium, this was not major news, but many on Terra celebrated the first successful use of geological sensors in the Solar System. Spirits were high in the Foundation and amongst the scientifically-inclined citizens of the Republic. The Speculator then followed on to its second destination: Mars. This was a long-awaited moment, as the Red Planet's mysterious appeal led to many depictions of Mars in Republic Media.



Just a day later it arrived at Mars and started surveying the red planet. By the second of July, it had completed its survey. What the Speculator found dropped jaws all over the Foundation and Navy:



Just below the surface, buried under the fine regolith, the geosurveyor found large concentrations of degraded metallic duranium. At first, this was thought to be just some sort of native outcrop that had been buried over the years, but further inspection revealed an immense amount of highly specific duranium compounds, followed by concentrations of other trans-newtonian elements. An imaging scan was ordered on this strange deposit, and to everybody's immense surprise, the scan found what were clearly sky-scrapers, factories and other structures under the Martian regolith. This was undeniable proof of extra-terrestrial intelligent life outside Earth, and both the Foundation and the Navy agreed on waiting a month to process findings and to digest those news before presenting them to the public. Thankfully, information was successfully secured, as a leak right now could prove disastrous, given the Owens incident in 2211.

Meanwhile focus turned to incredible trans-newtonian deposits found on Mars. There was more duranium on Mars than all trans-newtonian deposits on Terra combined. The significant amounts of Corbomite also ensured that mining Mars would be of great benefit to the civilian sector. This mineral news was immediately released, and mid-July saw Admiral Rachel Humphries deliver an ambitious project to the Senate that involved the establishment of a permanent Mars colony. According to her, the recent developments in trans-newtonian technology would make the construction of ground-based habitats trivial, and all that was needed was the development and construction of transport vessels capable of transporting installations and colonists to Mars.

Some TFA Senators questioned the size of such vessels, saying that they would be much larger than what current understandings would allow. In response to this, Humphries brought specialists from the Association-Navy joint shipyard who explained how the valuable information learnt by building the Speculator would allow further projects to dwarf it in size, now that the basics of trans-newtonian shipbuilding techniques had been discovered. However, these larger ships would need much simpler components to be feasible. This distinction in size was then known as commercial and naval scales, with commercial ships being roughly ten times as large, so a cargo freighter of up to 50,000 tons was within current capacities. This was also reflected on old naval terms, given the largest ships currently operating on Terra reached around 300,000 tons, whilst the largest aircraft carriers hovered around 90,000 tons, and most military warships around 10,000 tons.

She insisted that the next opening in construction budget should be divided between a new, improved shipyard, destined to build commercial-sized ships and the construction of pre-fabricated infrastructure that would allow the early settlement of Mars, paving the way for mining enterprises to be established. This was seen as incredibly ambitious, but extraplanetary colonisation had long been seen as the next step in trans-newtonian developments. The project was accepted by all but the Populists, who saw this as a waste of resources, and questioned the living conditions of early Mars settlers.

When news of this new Mars colony project was announced, people took to the idea like mad. When the Foundation officially opened applications for future settlement, without even giving an estimate on the year those applications would be made effective, millions of people signed up for it. This both allowed the Foundation to pick the best people for the job, but created an immense backlog of possible applications.

By the 4th of July, the Speculator had reached Mercury, and four days later it delivered the richest trans-newtonian survey thus far.

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Mercury
     Duranium 10 521 202   Acc 0.4
     Neutronium 1 609 853   Acc 0.9
     Corbomite 572 141   Acc 0.1
     Tritanium 609 649   Acc 0.1
     Boronide 192 897   Acc 0.7
     Sorium 5 373 124   Acc 0.3
     Uridium 5 835 123   Acc 0.2
     Corundium 4 403 283   Acc 0.5
     Gallicite 172 059   Acc 0.9

The Senate agreed to explore and settle Mercury in the future, but not before Mars colonisation had been achieved.


During the next month, the Speculator made some great discoveries:

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Jupiter
     Sorium 643 500   Acc 0.7

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Venus
     Corbomite 32 964   Acc 0.1
     Boronide 937 644   Acc 0.1
     Mercassium 9 903 861   Acc 0.3
     Gallicite 31 678 436   Acc 0.1

This cemented the need for intense efforts to colonise the Solar System, and whilst Mars would be humanity's first experience with interplanetary colonization, the Senate agreed that as the capacities of the Republic grew further the rest of the Solar System should also be colonised. This promise of future solar expansion stormed the minds of the Republic. Throughout the year of 2213, many films featuring space exploration were released and watched by the millions, and many types of publication about the future of solar exploration sold like water.

The biggest turning point of the year, though, would come on the 14th of August. The whole Council decided on a press conference without immediately telling the subject, but hyping up the public by saying they would announce "the biggest news in the century." When all eyes and ears of Terra were focused on the conference, Chancellor Harry Thompson officially announced the discovery of remains of extra-terrestrial intelligence buried in Mars. This sent an almost delirious wave throughout the Republic. So many people turned to the livestream of the conference that Terra communications temporarily crashed, and messages and calls flew like thunder throughout all Republic communications. The media storm was immense, and every imaginable question was asked on the conference. Sadly, more information would have to wait for special technology to excavate and study the ruins on Mars, and the curious minds of humanity started imagining all sorts of things about the Mars aliens. Together with the influx of space exploration on the media, an unending stream of films, series, songs, books, comics, drawings and paintings on the subject of the Martians were released in 2213. Humanity had become enamoured with the idea of extra-terrestrials.

This also meant an increase in popularity for the Order of Sol, as the possibility of future extra-terrestrial invasion and warfare was now confirmed; while it was impossible to date the Mars ruins for now, the possibility that the Martians had an extra-solar origin did not go unnoticed by the public. A reaction to all the speculation about aliens also came up, with a wave of xenophobia calling for the expansion of the navy in order to deal with future threats, and a growing impression that humanity would be attacked sometime in the future by aliens, and that Republic citizens had to prepare for it. This was what substituted the now incredibly ridiculed ufologists of Terra, this new "alien-prepper" movement resulted in the construction of many fortified private bunkers, and some civilian investment in personal weapons and other defence technology. The Order of Sol decided to finance media focusing on human-alien conflicts, which had already been popular, but some big 2213 productions had OS backing.  The Navy also ran a propaganda campaign on the perils of space and how the navy was Terra’s shield against the universe.

Meanwhile, on the Senate, he TFA was adamant that any new research facilities would go to Xenoarchaeology studies, as this was instantly considered the hottest topic amongst the sciences in 2213. This again displeased the Populists, who downplayed the importance of the alien ruins. It also displeased the Order of Sol, who said any efforts in archaeology should focused on figuring out what advanced weaponry these aliens had and how to adapt it to human use.

September brought the construction of new academic facilities for both the military and the Foundation, and with it the completion of a new research facility. Councillor James Walton awkwardly petitioned the Senate for furious funding for more research facilities to study the aliens, and whilst his petition had little impact, other politicians of the Terra Foundation Association used any political capital they had accrued in ensuring funding for those facilities was secured.



Late September also brought more news of the Speculator:

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Ganymede
     Boronide 224 790   Acc 0.3
     Vendarite 1 948 872   Acc 0.5

The rest of the year was consumed by the cultural storm caused by the discovery of aliens, and not much else happened, the year of 2213 ended with this cultural explosion still in course. 2213 would be remembered in Republic History as the year humanity had confirmed the existence of intelligent extra-terrestrial life. Sadly, the Navy prognostic of starting construction of the Fist in 2213 didn't materialise, as the military shipyard was not yet ready, but the admiralty was certain they would start production runs by 2214.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2020, 02:34:06 PM by Ektor »
 
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