2115 – The Start of the Second Ertegün DemocracyAs the elections approach and with the current polling showing an easy win of the pacifist movement again, the concern shifted to the alarming drop in popularity of the party. Even if the democrat faction is supported by many other forces it is imperative to maintain the peaceful line that the government worked so hard to defend.
National Media Service Poll Elections 2115National Media Service Population Census 2115It was clear that the new candidates had brought in new lymph to the respective supporters and even if defeat was largely expected on both sides, it seemed like the tide was about to turn. Ertegün's first mandate wouldn’t be remembered for anything extraordinary and the people were so accustomed to the sensationalism Danilov put in any of his decisions that it almost looked like Ertegün didn’t do anything in past 5 years. Sure he was able to run the Earth colony efficiently but his lack of prestige was starting to pay its toll.
Ertegün first mandate ResolutionsOn the night of the 1st of January 2115, Halil Ertegün was declared the winner for the democratic party winning his second mandate as President of the Democracy and, as polls were already showing, another big drop in popularity and 10% fewer preferences of the previous election were recorded. This new government would be then a bigger stage for those powers which were constantly backing the Democrats. Thanks to the shared concerns over the demilitarization of the Democracy under Ertegün, these powers would be forced to find new alliances leading to fierce battles over Military Productions bills which are now tied to 172 in favor versus 172 against thanks to the surge in votes over the Mercantile and Industrialists Guild.
The new Parliament is composed of a total of 343 seats, an increase of 38 seats was necessary to compensate for our population growth. 67 seats went to the Federalists (27 seats more), 76 to the former leading party of the Pacifists (19 seats less), 91 to the new leading party of the Mercantile and Industrialists (15 seats more), 43 to the Scientists (5 seats less and keep dropping), 67 to the Nationalists (21 seats more in constant growth election after the election) and again no Militarist Men were able to enter Parliament.
Elected seats of the 2115 ElectionAn enormous amount of spoil votes (over 6%) was identified and immediately challenged by the opposition. A similar problem happened during the Danilov election with the difference that at that time there were more than enough votes for Danilov to secure a clear win. This time with Halil Ertegün win with only 41.5% of the preferences, the situation wasn’t that bright for the Democrats. In fact, Mahmud Abba for the Federalists came in second with an incredible 34%, and even Stiaan Naudé that came in last managed to get a reasonable 24%. After few hours of heated discussions, the Federalists acknowledged that even if all the spoil votes would have been for their candidate that would have not been enough for them to win and decided to drop the challenge even if with few extra votes the official distance could have been less than the 5% needed for a clear Democratic win.
Everybody understood immediately that this government would be very different from the previous one and many are already speculating on what future is going to lay ahead.
Parliament seats distribution after 2115 ElectionPresidential Elections 2115The second Ertegün mandate will rule a very different society than the one Danilov led on his second one. Our determination has been growing year after year (from 61 to 62) along with our diplomacy skills (from 59 to 62). As our military has been kept at the margin of our society so as our expansion desire (from 48 to 45) also causing an increase in our militancy level (from 65 to 69). The trade has reached peaks never reached before and the surge in preferences during the election is a natural consequence of that (from 75 to 76). As our society started to see first humans born on Luna and Mars along with the first cadets from their academies a considerable decrease of the xenophobic sentiment through the lower classes (from 47 to 44) has been maintained in the last 5 years.
The president knew that the government would expect to see some immediate results reflecting the new landscape of the parliament, therefore he arranged an extraordinary session to discuss all matter of the state as soon as all results were in. All parliamentarians were notified with those that could not attend physically expecting to attend by conference call. Before the meeting, he announced that the Admiral and former Military Party Leader van Gelter would have been still in charge of all assignments. The same goes for General Kruk.
The Race Information PanelAs the meeting started, the first item the parliament wished to discuss was the research policy. The new majority believed that priority should be given to technologies capable of “bringing us out of the solar system”. While the president tried to explain that such technology was not only further away but also pointless giving the resources in government possession, one of the parliamentarians asked to speak. Apparently, the person asking to speak was a woman that claimed to have been involved in a romantic relationship with the departed scientist Humberto Gianotti. She couldn’t even start telling what she knew that Ertegün asked to interrupt the session and bring the lady in his private chambers as a person of interest in an ongoing investigation.
The parliament was boiling with people talking over each other, some asking for a formal investigation and not a private one, others claiming the president was abusing his powers. Ertegün addressed the house after managed to get everybody listening to him again saying that the meeting with what was so-called Lady Gianotti would require only a short period of time, therefore, only a short recess was required. Once face to face, Ertegün acknowledged that Gianotti’s researches were more than just power and propulsion researches. He was working with Danilov formally to get humanity out of the Nuclear power dependency but secretly he was working on a new theory that would have revolutionized the way we were conceiving space travel.
Intrigued by what he just listened the president was ready to talk to the parliament. He explained all he discovered after the death of Gianotti and what he was just told. Ertegün then asked the parliament if it was favorable in allocating as many resources as possible to pursue such a theory. As this was basically what everybody was asking the best scientist in the field, doctor Engela Prinsloo was appointed to research the now known as “Jump Point Theory”. Based on Gianotti’s material received, Engela informed the president that, if revealed correct, the theory would be validated by 2117.
The second item in order was the situation regarding the shipyards. The parliament reckoned that keeping the workers sitting on their hands for the most part of the year was inadmissible and even if some of the shipyards were focused only on military production it was imperative that these would be kept busy.
Despite the formal agreement, the government still got hit on almost all military resolutions with the new military ship construction rejected 132 votes against 139 and the new military design rejected too with 141 votes in favor and 149 votes against. What surprised was that out of 4 new slipways construction only 2 were actually approved. Ertegün was disappointed as it was clear that the opposition was intentionally voting against friendly resolutions in the attempt of undermining his authority. Sadly this was something he did witness already as this is exactly how Danilov got kicked out. The vision of 5 years under this sword of Damocles over his head did not thrill him.
Clearly, while everybody agreed on the concept, the pacifist soul of the government managed to keep the militaristic one at bay meaning that, as usual in politics, a compromise was found without letting the President know. The Naval yards would have been then allowed only to either expand their capacity or increase their slipways and no new military ship construction would be tolerated. Different was the situation on the commercial side. The Industrialists and Trade representatives needed more freighters to don’t rely entirely on the civilian fleet and this is why on the commercial side, everything went as expected. Eventually, President Ertegün was finally left going home with a humiliating defeat considering that out of 7 motions presented, 4 were rejected and only 3 approved.
2115/2119 – The Second Ertegün DemocracyFollowing the Industrialists and Trade representatives' suggestion, the president organized for the mining Colonies of Eris, Haumea, and Macholz to start mining operations with both Freighter Fleet 125k 001 and 002 tasked to dispatch all relative installations from Earth with operations expected to be completed by October 2115.
Furthermore, without the need for any geological survey in Sol for more than 6 years now, all the Geological Survey Vessels were ordered to scrap, not only to recover precious components but mostly to decrease the maintenance supplies use and therefore the mineral consumption. The Promise Geological Survey Vessel class was then officially decommissioned from the UNEN after 15 years of honorable service: from 2100 to 2115. As a reward and compensation for losing their respective commands, all the captains were awarded the Medal of Honor to have successfully completed the Sol operations even if many of them didn’t even manage to break Earth’s orbit since in command.
Once scrapping operations will be completed the class will be declared officially obsolete.
On the 23rd of December 2115 after the completion of the Deep Space Tracking Stations on Earth the final part of the Industrialists part took place with the order of constructing 1 Commercial Shipyard to replace the current Mandal Enterprises one as 10,000 tons operations. As result, the Mandal Enterprises shipyard was ordered to expand his capability to 25,000 tons. The construction of the new shipyard is scheduled to be completed by January 2117 and the name will be Murkami Fabricators. As soon as completed the Murkami shipyard will be ordered to increase its slipways.
Also, on the 21st of April 2117, the Chojnacki Shipyard Limited finally reached the expansion to 40,000 tons started 7 years earlier.
It was a sunny morning of the 23rd of September 2117 when the president, during his usual briefing, got the news over the validation of the Jump Point Theory. He rushed to the research center where doctor Prinsloo was already waiting for him with a detailed explanation of what to do next. Basically, based on Gianotti’s theory of Space Jumps, 3 elements were required to build an engine capable of moving through dimensions and Jump instantly from a particular place of interest to another. Additionally, equipment capable of identifying such places of interest would be required. The device, called Gravitational Survey Sensor, could work similarly to the Geological counterpart and could be potentially installed on similar ships to the now obsolete Promise class.
Back to the engine, the first element required would be a stabilizer. In theory the better the stabilization of the gravitational field the longer we could leave the breach into the space continuum allowing more ships to transit at once. The second element would be the spread where such ships would be coming out of the Jump. While knowing exactly we are going to “land” could be seen as a good thing, some are implying that so could eventual other “entities” predict that, limiting the jumping ship options post jump. This was important because Prinsloo predicted that such a high amount of energy couldn’t come without a price and it is to be expected that ships may be sensor blind for a few seconds (5 to 30 at least) immediately after the jump. Finally, all these elements would require a great effort in engineering them to increase their efficiency reducing the size of the engine per tonnage transit.
Prinsloo went also further than Gianotti did, probably helped by the possibility of actually verifying the theory. She did theorize that if it was possible to temporarily stabilize the gravitational fields then it may have been possible to keep them always stable allowing any ship passing through them. Such a portal or gate would have been constructed on-site and it would probably take a considerable amount of time.
Ertegün referred the discoveries to the parliament and it was agreed to immediately start the research for the Gravitational sensors and once completed all the components required to build a jump engine prototype. The decision on the gate builder was postponed as it looked a bit stretched as a theory if we considered that we did not know if we could really jump from a system to another yet.
With the construction of more Automated mines completed in 2118, the plan of the industrialist was completed; President Ertegün was then called to report in parliament again to define the strategy of the new production but mostly to find a new agreement on the Military Spending. The new discoveries along with the new components under study were, in fact, all military components. Mindful of what happened at the start of his second mandate, Ertegün adverted a chill over his spine.
The proposed massive reform included: the classification of all geological survey vessels and gravitational surveys vessels as commercial to untie the parliament stalemate over this matter in the past 10 years, the possibility for sensitive and strategic elements to be designed but not produced even if for a military purpose under the commercial build act, and the unification of the commercial and military navy under a new entity called United Nations Navy (UNN). The president knew that this was not only a can of worms better staying closed but that most likely this would have been also the end of his political career if not played well.
If going through the reform unharmed was impossible all he needed was a way to get out of it alive. He called representatives of all parties and as he did already once, with a savvy maneuver, managed to get a seat at the table in the figure of president special counselors to both Admiral Maximiliaan van Gelder and General Marcin Kruk. It was time to cash in the benevolence and faith shown in them over the past 8 years.
The President could then represent: 91 seats of the Industrialist and Trade Party and 67 seats of the Federalists Party thanks to Kruk for a total of 158 seats, only 14 short for the majority. Assuming that though van Gelder many from the Nationalist Party would be okay with the reform, Ertegün was able to at least starting negotiations on a position of strength with the whole Scientists Party still in play and only the Pacifists against.
He went then through the proposal and considering the different pressures he was receiving from all parties he went with what recommended by his counselors. First, the Geological and Gravitational Vessels would have remained under Military structure. Such vessels from now on would have been operating outside the Sol system in a potentially hostile environment ad on uncharted territory. Such conditions needed a military-grade preparation and in the end, pretty much everybody agreed on that.
Second, the design of the ships and components would have been allowed without the need for a vote from parliament. Ertegün stated that as long as production and research of such elements were at the hand of the parliament there was no need to worry about any misuse of the technology. Also, it did make no sense to limit the creativity and the technological advancement of the Human race entirely based on the fear of what happened. That should have been a lesson learned and it was time to move on. Thanks to the full support of the Scientists' party even that decision was approved.
Third and final, the unification of the Navy under a new entity was scrapped as the current system was defined as good enough.
It was time to decide the resolutions to be put under vote and here Ertegün would have been forced to walk on a very narrow road. Due to the expected increase in military ship construction, all the shipyards would have been required an upgrade and the build of at least another facility was also not a bad idea. With the designs unlocked and the shipyard ready to potentially produce destroyers the president wouldn’t also mind getting at least one on the line. Surely soon an entirely new generation of ships would have been required but he thought to leave this to who is going to be eventually in charge that day.
On the production side, not only a new shipyard was required but also more terraforming, fuel harvesters, and another batch of fighters was postponed for too long.
On the 26th of May 2118 all motions went up for a vote and the first 2 resolution regarding the expansion of the Naval Slipways were both rejected 112 versus 145 and 139 versus 159. The President was starting to feel nervous and he was afraid that the scheming in the shadows was about to have the upper hand. He decided then to rally his troops and cash in all favours he granted over the years to pass the most important and significative bill: the production of the 1st destroyer of the fleet, just designed for the occasion and renamed May B Class Destroyer. Under a fragrant gasp, the resolution passed 120 versus 102, it was time to counterattack and present the 2 resolution with the unanimity of votes to keep the morale of his supporters high before introducing the resolution for the new batch of fighters and the production of a new naval shipyard the Tarhan Industries Inc. It was a triumph with all resolution passed without problems.
Even if with a couple of wounds, Ertegün gained a solid win and at least a couple of prestige points to spend over the next election campaign as it was now assured that he would be the lead candidate for the Democratic Party even in 2120.
New Prestige Levels, Ertegün was at 5May B class Destroyer 15,000 tons 417 Crew 1,150.7 BP TCS 300 TH 400 EM 0
1333 km/s Armour 5-54 Shields 0-0 HTK 91 Sensors 5/5/0/0 DCR 18 PPV 134.4
Maint Life 4.00 Years MSP 783 AFR 225% IFR 3.1% 1YR 78 5YR 1,172 Max Repair 51.2 MSP
Captain Control Rating 1 BRG
Intended Deployment Time: 1 months Morale Check Required
Nuclear Pulse Engine (Vessel) (5) Power 400 Fuel Use 80.0% Signature 80 Explosion 10%
Fuel Capacity 273,000 Litres Range 4.1 billion km (35 days at full power)
Quad 12cm C1 Visible Light Laser Turret (5x4) Range 80,000km TS: 8000 km/s Power 16-4 RM 20,000 km ROF 20
Quad 10cm C1 Visible Light Laser Turret (2x4) Range 60,000km TS: 5000 km/s Power 12-4 RM 20,000 km ROF 15
Beam Fire Control R128-TS8000 (1) Max Range: 128,000 km TS: 8,000 km/s 92 84 77 69 61 53 45 38 30 22
Beam Fire Control R64-TS5000 (1) Max Range: 64,000 km TS: 5,000 km/s 84 69 53 38 22 6 0 0 0 0
Pebble Bed Reactor (Medium) (3) Total Power Output 37.8 Exp 5%
Commercial GPS (1) GPS 1000 Range 18.5m km Resolution 100
Commercial TH (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
Commercial EM (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 17.7m km
This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes
With the Tarhan Industries Inc. on the way, the president decided to try again asking permission to expand the Takenouchi Drydock Company from 1,000 tons to 5,000 tons. This would allow more flexibility in building the future Gravitational Survey Vessels as soon as in September the new sensor will be ready to be installed. Spending some of the credit gained during this mandate he managed to get approval from parliament with 125 votes in favor against 122, close but still valid.
Once September arrived it was time to vote for the production of the first Twilight class Gravitational Survey Vessel. This class was nothing more than a copy of the Promise class Geological Survey Vessel but with a gravitational sensor instead. The problem was in the delay of the expansion of the Takenouchi Drydock Company from the parliament that made the vote obsolete and therefore postponed to once possible to actually build the ships. In the meantime, it was decided to rename Takenouchi Drydock Company into Takenouchi Drydock Survey Company to better identify the production reserved for such a shipyard.
It was then time to prepare for the new elections, knowing that this time would have been a tough battle.
Government Resolutions