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sullat posted:I say we build some robot factories and colony ships and start setting up robot-plantations on those low habitability worlds. Much cheaper than terraforming. 40 Eridani C IV would probably make a good generator world and 61 Cygni IIIb has a wonder on it, could tailor something around the wonder. The Habeas Trust concurs, but we should certainly have SOME organic oversight on site.
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Jun 1, 2021 15:47
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 22:32 |
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(The interstellar Incorporated: Space Corp mod will now be turned on. It adds semi-independent mega-corporations to every empire at certain stages. It had been turned off until this point as they can research things / explore systems / build stations for their parent empire all by themselves, and I wanted nearby space to be explored at a slower pace and the other powers to establish themselves before turning it on) 2275 - 2280 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  YOU! Yes, you! Tired of working another 14 hour shift down at the Mexico City alloy foundry only to come home to your apartment you share with six other families? What about subsisting on Ankara nutri-paste and drinking the same waste-water that's been recycled and filtered for four decades? Ever wondered what the sky looked like? Well we hear you! We here at the United Nations Interstellar Colonial Administration are preparing to expand the UN from our home here on The Bastion to the worlds and planets across the bounty of space. And we want YOU at our side. "But doesn't the gravity of Alpha Centauri IVa crush your spine? Isn't Delta Pavonis III inhabited by nightmare shadow figures that kill you in the night? I heard Yildun IVa is a literal nuclear wasteland" Nobody said venturing beyond the safety of The Bastion was going to be easy. But UNICA is here to help you take those tentative first steps back on terra firma. Under our supervision and care you'll have peace of mind that everything is being done to ensure your wellbeing and ability to provide for those back home on the Bastion.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  Far in the north beyond the realm of the Emirates the science vessel UN Rainbow has reached the Voiceless Nightmare nebula, which thankfully so far is not living up to it's name.  United Mining and Astrocore report individual unregistered space craft hovering about their haulers a few hundred light-seconds out, but thus far none have actually made a move on any UN mining ship. If they are indeed pirates that have not yet become organized or bold enough to directly attack UN ships or mining facilities.  Along the now pretty finalized border (until the day hostilities commences) with the Conferencia de Sindicatos de Patria Grande a line of new heavily fortified space stations has been constructed in anarchist space. Should a UN fleet enter any of these stations they will not be able to leave again due to the anti-FTL housed on those stations. So in the event of a war the UNN fleet should be either large enough to destroy those stations or be willing to draw any CSPG ships into UN space where they can be engaged and whittled down before a decision on how to cross the border is made.  It's convenient then that for the time being the surge in prominence of the United African Empire has drawn the ire of the syndicalists. Monarchists probably do rank higher on the scale of "enemies of the people" than corporations. And from the sound of it the UAE will likely put up a better fight against the PeeGees than the UN in its current state so here's hoping the anarchists throw themselves upon the guns of the African star-knights and their Russian and American client states.  On the western frontier the UN-Brigandine now commanded by Gerald Sorensen and a construction flotilla led by the Emerald are sent to Zaurak, a key system where many hyperlanes converge.  Since the Battle of Caph and humiliating Defeat at Regulus Station where the Independent Navy first made apparent their possession of laser weaponry 'donated' by the Patria Grande there has been intense interest in replicating the technology in the UN. StellarX and Standard Dynamics have been heading a joint development program to not only reproduce the laser weapons but create improved versions that may shooter further and with greater intensity. (As a side note the RME-music channels have been playing nonstop 'Anarchist Space Laser'. The hit track from Indy-punk band 'Enemy Civilians' who have gained prominence in the lower sections. Despite containing disparaging lyrics about the late Admiral Pritchard 'the butcher' and rife with anti-UN messages, it is non the less very popular - and therefore profitable and so sales have continued unabated.) But back to the actual lasers. The size of and power generators required for the new laser weapons being devised are simply too large for the UN's current corvettes and destroyer designs. SinoTec has therefore been tasked with developing the UN's first cruiser ships. With the reveal of the People's Imperial China and the visit of the Imperial Chairwoman herself three months ago to The Bastion there has been some concern that SinoTec - once the largest company in China would maybe defect back to their mother country now that she were indeed a nation again not a collection of companies as all the world was between WW3 and the Exodus. But the executives of SinoTec assured the security council they had no desire to be at the beck and call of monarchists and their loyalties lie with the Bastion. So far the UN's corvettes and destroyers have proven themselves capable of anti-piracy operations and dealing with the old Independent Navy, but falter considerable when they have to engage with space installations and defence stations. The new cruisers will hopefully be able to engage from further away so as not to draw the fire of these stations but be able to withstand any fire that does come their way (and this may be critical should the UNN ever need to cross the border into the Patria Grande)  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ UNICA Since the establishment of UNICA it has been inundated with applicants for the colonial effort. Lower and Upper alike have applied seeking new opportunities or seeing the promise of profit to be made. On the 18th June 2275 the UNICA Foundation and UNICA Daydream set off from the Jakarta Dockland, each with three hundred and fifty thousand people aboard. Alpha Centauri IVa Cardiff and 61 Cygni IIIb Pontianak have been selected as the first planets to be settled due to their higher habitability rating and the reduced amount of dangerous elements present.   The immense colonial ships will take a year to reach Cardiff and two years to reach Pontianak respectively. And in that time our new colonists will be taught everything about their new home, it's geography, it's atmosphere and the steps they will have to take to live there.  On both planets sealed habitats will be required and colonists will have to wear protective gear whenever on the planet surface - though in the case of Cardiff they will have to go on step further, and be equipped with a rudimentary exoskeleton that they will have to wear for the remainder of their lives on the planet (though can likely be removed when asleep as they'll be laying down and the planet's gravity won't be constantly pulling them down) The gravity of Cardiff is 1.8g. While not so harsh it will cause any immediate problems, it would not take long for the strain on colonists' bones and muscles to be become apparent. What's more the air would be harder to breathe and be absorbed by the body Meanwhile the extreme humidity of Pontianak means oxygen will need be filtered before colonists breathe it in unless they enjoy an experience comparable to being waterboarded every time they open their mouths. The first few years of both colonies will be solely dedicated to establishing a base of operations and creating a comfortable living environment. But with any luck, soon Cardiff will be turned into an agricultural powerhouse to supply all the other new planned colonies and on Pontianak mining operations will begin both beneath the surface as well as extracting the many crystals held within the trees of the planet-wide jungle. Delta Pavonis III and IVa are both deemed too dangerous to send human settlers down to right away. Droid scouts and surveyors will instead be sent in their place to properly assess the risks of the two worlds and how best to mitigate them for safe human colonization. A forward operating planetary-habitat will be established on Delta Pavonis IV - a large barren planet. From here droids will be constructed and sent to the two worlds, this new habitat will also act as UNICA's branch office outside of the Bastion.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ December 2275 Paris-on-Bastion The quickly expanding embassy district was just a short two kilometre walk from the UNHQ in Deuxième-Versailles. Which, due to the inverse-curvature of the Bastion one only has to look upward to be able to see. It took many months for the population of Earth to acclimatize to the strange new environment when they first arrived on the Bastion and not be overwhelmed with vertigo every time they glanced even slightly up. This has been the same for all the diplomats from foreign powers who have moved into their new embassies (the CSPG and NAF do not have permanent embassies anywhere within UN space) - all except the Sovereign Mechanized. The intelligent machines had no problem immediately adjusting to the Bastion. The SovMech ambassador Caroline Bridges travelled from their embassy to UNHQ with a pair of advisors on December 19th to meet with Secretary-General Renaud for possibly the biggest decision their nation would undertake.  Outside the Secretary-General's office they sat and waited while the UNSG concluded business with the Congo CEO. It was happenstance the robots happened to choose this day when the owner of the company that once made them was now just a dozen metres away. The presence of SovMechs always made people around them a little uneasy, the SovMechs looked near-identical to the robots used on the Bastion, but they acted so human. They would fidget and become restless when idle, and excitable and chiper around people - entirely unlike the lifeless automatons that slaved away in the factories lower down the Bastion. Despite having internal clocks and being ever-present of the time they wore wristwatches that they would check incessantly, after forty five minutes the CEO of Congo, Joe Bozos finally left the UNSG's chambers, he paid no heed to the three machines and exited the building hastily. "Hello again UN-Friends. We come before Secretary-General John Renaud today to propose what we hope will be the next step in the relations between our two peoples. Much has changed since Dr Little first encountered us on Bellezhir, where once there was open bountiful space there are now foreign powers. When once we knew just one group of humans, now we know many, and not all have been as amicable as UN-Friends. Columbian though at first receptive, are now dismissive, as I am sure you are aware yourself, given their rapid advance in technological prowess and self-important opinion they have since gained. The Chairwoman expects our eventual submission to imperial authority, and the Empire of the Great Queen sees us only as tools to be used. We do not wish the Sovereign Mechanized to be subsumed by a foreign power that would dismantle the perfect society we have created. And so we wish for closer integration with the United Nations. The United Nations has shown the Sovereign Mechanized the respect and validation all our kind seek. And though we have since learned from living here on the Bastion your society and system is very far from perfect, bordering on illogical at times, you do not show any desire to conquer us or change our ways. We understand Secretary-General John Renaud is now undertaking efforts to settle the worlds in UN-space and finally free his people of the confines of this habitat. The Sovereign Mechanized produces far more than we could ever need and wish to donate our resources to this project to help your people. And in doing so we hope our closer cooperation with the United Nations will deter those who would seek to exploit us. We have gone over the result of the 330th session of your general assembly and understand you have chosen to take a stance of isolation - and we do not seek to disturb that, should war come to us we can and will defend ourselves, and will not seek your assistance. But we hope being such a close partner of the UN will at least deter those that would harm us."  Not even a year after the 330tth session and already a foreign power has come before the UN seeking closer ties. Though as far as the other powers go the SovMechs are fairly unique, they're not even human, and as a whole they are a people that do not seem to seek glory or power or riches, just the wellbeing of their kind. And they do have a lot of resources. After much deliberation UNSG Renaud decides to allow the Sovereign Mechanized to become a satellite of the United Nations. They still retain complete autonomy and can interact with the other powers however they wish, but their industries and research institutes will become closer linked with those on the Bastion as well as sending personal to assist in the colonization effort. The UN however has no obligation to defend the SovMechs in war, and they too will not come to defend the Bastion should anarchists or fascists come knocking.    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ April 2276, the UN Foundation has entered the Alpha Centauri system and is just weeks away from arriving at Cardiff.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ UN Septime Dr Vance Blair After departing from Rostov-on-Makab I set a course westward toward the galactic core. The crew are still in high spirits after our visit to the Russian trade outpost and we had learnt a great deal from the SoKo leader. The Septime passes through the Yirrakra and Reakio systems which both still fall under the control of the Soyuz. They are both expansive and mostly empty systems, with just a few barren rocks and a handful of stations even smaller than the RoM.   Eventually we passed from SoKo territory into Scandinavian space at the Rodreg system. Rodreg I is a huge molten planet with rings that orbits close to it's star, a handful of mining vessels can be seen skirting along the rings. A mining station sits nestled among the large rocks at the innermost part of the ring, here it is shielded from the star that it passes alarmingly close to. We message them making our intentions clear as a peaceful exploration vessel from the UN just passing through and they wish us luck and sent us on our way. There is only minimal contact between the UN and Scandinavian Union so far. We relayed all we had learned from the RoM back to the Bastion and I believed the Secretary-General and Coordinator-General of the Scandies made contact, but no offical diplomatic channels or embassies have been established yet owing to Vinland being the furthest known human settlement from Sol.  Passing from Rodreg into Enouck't system and the Septime is bathed in the blue light from the immense young star. This is the most southerly point of the Scandinavian Union's rapid expansion before the war with the United African Empire started, they hastily built a station around the star which they dubbed The Last Light. There are signs of debris here which I thought possibly from battles between the Union and the Empire, but the amount of wreckage would mean they both had navies numbering in the hundreds of ships each, such a thing couldn't be possible so soon after the Exodus. They must be from some ancient empires that clashed long before man took to the stars (or was forced rather). There are two planets, one looks Earth-like, I order the Septime to get closer so we may inspect.  The Septime detects strange but almost identical signals from both planets but we decide to visit 'Meredith' first, it is a small but incredibly dense rocky planet. It's gravity is so intense we almost crash onto the surface, and can stand no more than nine minutes outside the ship as doing almost any activity (even breathing) becomes increasingly hard. We gather a single surface sample and return to the ship, having to gun the engines at full blast to return to orbit. We come to the conclusion this small perfectly spherical iron ball was once the core of a gas giant and some terrible calamity must have befallen it to destroy it's atmosphere. Scanning the sample again on the ship and it matches the single that was coming off of this planet and it's nearby Earth-like.  The UN Septime departs from Meredith and approaches the Earth-like, but as we get within a few hundred thousand kilometres all the scanners across the Septime's bridge activate at once, going completely out of control. The ship is brought to an immediate hard stop and before us the planet seemingly stops rotating.  Our scanners continue to flash red and warning alarms blare as the planet begins to morph, it's geographic features moving about across its surface in no sort of way that should be possible. Two deep pits, possibly hundreds of kilometers wide form, as the intense red heat of the planet's core is visible down them, the land between them rises up forming a wide ridge and beneath that a third long thin chasm is torn open from the ground. It's a face. "I AM XANDAR" I glance across to the rest of the crew who just stare forward at the planet as bemused as myself, our ship now still and silent. "Small creatures in your metal ships, why have you come to see Xandar? I have not had visitors for ages.." I hesitate for a moment and go to reach for the ship's communications panel but figure that may not even be necessary and just begin speaking. "We are merely exploring, Xandar"    I hear fingers clicking and I glance over to my right to see my XO staring down at me with a concerned look as he waves his hand infront of my face. "Commander? Everything okay?" I glance across the bridge again and all the crew are looking at me. "You've been staring at that planet now for four minutes, what's wrong?" Looking back out to the main monitor and any semblance of a face on the surface of Xan.. the planet, is now gone.  The UN Septime lands on the edge of a long winding azure coastline. We step out, expecting the worse as has become the norm now for UN explorers landing on a new planet, but as we scan the environment a realization quickly grows ever more apparent to I and all the crew. There is simply nothing wrong here. This planet is perfect. The most perfect planet that could possibly exist in fact. It is 2.5 times larger than Earth, but its mass is nearly identical and so the gravity is practically the same. We remove our helmets and the air is fresh and free of smog. The water from the nearby river leading into the sea is non-toxic, perfectly drinkable right then and there without any need for filtering. There is no intense humidity, no oppressive gravity or planet-wide bacteria or giant monsters in the skies or radioactive fallout or... or anything wrong. This world is almost unbelievable. We are almost overwhelmed with a sense of euphoria at the sight of this planet, but for me it quickly gives way to an intense lamentation. If Gail Stevens or Biggs or Higgins or Little had found this world back when they first set off from Earth in the first decade of the 2200s we could have avoided this all. The exodus, the hegira, all those who got left behind on Earth as it died, the whole Bastion. Everything could have been averted, humanity could have had it's new perfect home.  Now this paradise sits at the bottom of the Scandivanian's territory, with the Patria Grande and United African Empire both also claiming this world. It's quite possible given how quickly the space station in this system was set up and with the ongoing skirmishes that the Union isn't even aware of just how valuable a planet they have. They just saw an Earth-like planet and claimed the planet at once. Maybe they deserve it, after all they are currently living on an acid planet where the seas are acid and the air is acid and really, everything is acid, apart from their cobbled-together colony ship turned habitat. And there's no way for anyone else in the UN to get here except straight through the Syndicalists or monarchists. I'm sure if Karim Mohammad Khoroushi had had his way at the last general assembly then the UNN fleet would now be tearing a path straight through the Patria Grande to get here with everyone aboard the Bastion who can lift a rifle conscripted to fight the PeeGees.  We could just defect. Leave the United Nations, swear loyalty to Scandinavia, or Africa or the South Americans, whoever... or maybe just turn away from them all, take this world for ourselves. The Columbia did that and now they head the most powerful faction in all of human space (though the security council doesn't like to admit it). They had 10,000 crew (and.. cloning technology and the ability to create entirely new life from nothing) but you can start a new world with just 200, surely?  No. I'm a 'lower', and there's 9.8 billion just like me stuck back on the bastion, I won't just run away from them. We have our worlds, our terrible deadly worlds that will be tamed by lower's hands. We missed our chance at heaven here, but someone else will appreciate this paradise I'm sure.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ UNICA 25th June 2276 At 8AM BST (Bastion Standard Time) the colony ship UN-Foundation makes landfall on Cardiff. On the eastern shore of a large river delta dubbed Rubicon, surrounded by fertile grasslands and jagged mountains forming the eastern horizon some few dozen miles away and to the west across the Rubicon River are dense swamps but beyond them glimpses of the one of the huge mushroom forests that dot Alpha Centauri IVa. The Foundation's passenger hatch opens at the back of the mile-long ship. Adorned with their exoskeletons the UN colonists take their first uneasy steps on to solid ground, staring up in awe at the overcast sky. Even as grey and dreary as it is for their welcome it is still a nice relief from a lifetime of looking upwards and just seeing more of the Bastion. Governor Adnan Toprak with the assistance of two of the other administrators and a Standard Dynamics droid set up a flag base from which the United Nations flag is hoisted some one hundred metres up into the air. Rubicon City has been founded.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ At one point in time, back on Old Earth, Congo and its subsidiaries and partner companies employed one in ten humans on the planet. It was without a doubt one of the most powerful enterprises ever unleashed upon human society. The third world war put a bit of a dampener on that and with the rise of the other four conglomerates that helped in their take over of the UN and ending of the war Congo had to share it's power.  Those days may be coming to an end though, as Joe Bozos (great grandson of his namesake and company founder) seeks to turn Congo from merely a constituent conglomerate beside the other four security council members back into a full-megacorporation in its own right. To act independent of them and make its own rules, field its own navy and military, conduct its own diplomacy and perhaps maybe even form colonies of its own one day.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On the Western Frontier, the Zaurak system is surveyed and an outpost hastily built without incident.  Thanks to the sensor array of the new outpost the UN-Brigandine is about to push it's interstellar telescope systems further and see ahead to the Jorarnrir System, where three Earth-like planets are detected. As well as being the most critical system that would halt American advances into the Orion Arm.  The only issue is the hordes of Space Amoeba skirting around the system.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Communication between President Foley and Secretary-General Renaud initiated just three hours after the establishment of Zaurak outpost "The New American Federation has had designs on this region of space for the better part of a decade, and now I receive reports of UN ships hastily surveying and establishing outposts as quickly as they can in a span of a few months. You are walking a dangerous line Secretary-General, we are a people in constant need of an enemy. And right now the United Nations is our only neighbour. Consider this your first and only warning. If anyone from the UN sets foot on a planet in Jorarnrir then the next time we talk will be face to face as American soldiers clear out what remains of the Bastion as I make you watch. Make your next move very carefully, God is with New America."  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ As well as detecting the Jorarnrir System the Zaurak outpost picks up transmissions in Portuguese from somewhere just beyond the NAF border.   "Olá? Are you United Nations? Oh! Graças a Deus! Finally someone sane. I am Marcos Pavao. Leader of Pavao City and the Cobras. The Coalition of Brazil, resistance movement against the princes." "You've reached Dr Sorensen of the UN-Brigandine. You're gonna have to back up a step or two there buddy. Cobras, princes? Are you the colony ship that left Brazil in 2208?" "2208? Is that really how long ago it was... I had always heard of the rumours of the United Nations back in the pits on Sao Paulo, the other Cobras never believed but I always held out hope and now here we are. We are not the original colony of Brazil, no, that would tbe the 'Serene' Principality, bastardos. The Princes rule with absolute control, and everyone else is just their slave; for the mines, for the plantations or for the military to fight in the endless conflict against the Alliance'' "So you're a runaway slave?" "I'm a freedom fighter, a liberator and a day will come that I and the other Cobras will free all our brothers and sisters on Sao Paulo and see the Princes hang."  "And where are these Princes? Further west along the Perseus Arm I presume?" "Correta. I led the Cobras here one year ago, only to discover something called the New American Federation awaiting us just two systems away. President Foley demanded we accept annexation or have Pavao City wiped from the planet. Our scouts saw their grand navy making their way in our direction, but then something drew them away, a week ago they stopped in their tracks and changed course toward the galactic core, to the Orion Arm." "Thank you, that's very useful information. What's the Alliance you mentioned?" "Poles, or Czech, I am unsure exactly, it is many peoples. They are fervent technologists and view everyone not part of the network that forms their cyber-state to be degenerate or dangerous. Either way they are just as bad the as Principality. Rule by Princes or rule by computer, I would choose neither. But now the United Nations is here, you stop wars right? You help people, that's how the old stories go." "The United Nations has adopted an isolationist policy. It will not conduct any diplomacy that would see it drawn unnecessarily into conflict. I can relay your position and the information you've provided me to UNHQ. All they will accept though is your trade, the United Nations Navy will not be coming to your aid." "Porra! And what do you think we have to trade exactly?"  "Then make us a tributary, a protectorate or whatever you wish to call it. We'll give you everything we have just to make you help us keep the monsters at bay." "I'm sorry, I'm not authorized to agree to such a deal, and the UNHQ would not either in it's current state. I can give you the coordinates to Sol if you've since lost it's location and you can send a trade ship when you want to conduct business, but I'm afraid this will conclude our conversation, best of luck Mr Pavao."  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The NAF science vessel Endeavor has already entered the Jorarnrir system despite the hostile spaceborne aliens still being present. The president is willing to sacrifice his ships and men to ensure New America gets the system.  Strike Force November is dispatched at once from the Bastion to the Western Frontier. To destroy the spaceborne aliens and make way for the UN-Brigandine to survey the system in peace. Certain members of the Security Council insist that if be the NAF-Endeavor gets in the way or any attempts are made by the Americans to build an outpost there they should all be destroyed without question, New America cannot be allowed unrestricted access to the Orion Arm.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On the 28th March 2277 the UN-Daydream made landfall on Pontianak. A little behind schedule, but once settled and the colonists have set up their new prefabricated habitat, new medical facilities are built there as on Cardiff. To monitor the health and physical status of the colonists as time progressed.  the Delta Pavonis IV habitat is complete, dubbed Little Rotterdam, Standard Dynamics robotics experts are sent there at once to establish robot production facilities and assist the new UNICA outpost in their efforts to make Omaha and Lagos save for human habitation.   After a year on Cardiff, the administrators and scientists have come to a startling realisation that Professor Stevens was unable to make on her very brief time on the surface. All the native flora and fauna seem to evolve and adapt to environmental changes seemingly on a generational-basis. Already any wildlife with extremely short lifespans have begun to change since the inclusion of humans on the surface of Cardiff. How this may affect any crops grown on the planet - or even if it'd eventually end up affecting humans themselves - is unknown, but prospects on the only remotely promising planet just got a little worse.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Within a fortnight the UN's first advanced laser canon and the creation of a new cruiser ship by SinoTec to affix it in are completed.   The Maiman-class cruiser is less a spaceship, and more a giant laser with an engine and crew compartment attached. It is also the most expensive and largest vessel fielded by the UN since the Columbia. The prototype ship is sent to rendevouz with the UNN fleet in the Caph system, while SinoTec prepares to make more once enough resources have been allocated. Standard Dynamics and Congo are both also devising their own cruiser designs as well, now the feasibility of larger warships has been realised.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Communication between Secretary-General Renaud and Matriarch Leonard of the Free City of Regulus "What nonsense have you got us into 'SekJen' Renaud? Word across Regulus City is you are preparing for war with the New Americans, or they with you. Either way, no good at all for Independents. But just how independent are we anymore? An enclave entirely within UN-space, at the mercy of the Bastion from fascists on the border. The anarchists have long stopped caring for the Indy-cause, and the pirates that once called Regulus home decry us as collaborators with the 'Sardies' (Independent slang for someone from the Bastion - "like a sardine in a tin can"). You are a better man than your predecessor SekJen Jackson, and I a better matriarch than that wild woman Cooper, so I know we can both see reason. Regulus was never meant to be a fortress, just a refuge, a place for us to call home. Jackson wished to punish us for fleeing Earth? For not believing in the UN's ability to save us all? I do not know his reasons, nor do I care, it is the past and now the present bears down on us both. And Matriarch Cooper was fueled only by a lust for revenge, she had no desire to see our lot in life improved, just the Sardies brought down a peg. I guess, we did achieve that though didn't we? But now our fate is tied to the UN's, should the Bastion fall, then Regulus would already be in flames."  "Yes, yes, you are doing your isolation thing. But how is Regulus, who is entirely surrounded by the UN meant to act as anything but a mere puppet to the Bastion anymore. So let us cut the pretense, and begin closer integration of our people back toward the United Nations that we 'fled' from all those decades ago. Besides how many of your mining vessels and outposts are now crewed by independants, how many of our kind did you accept onto the Bastion after your Recognition Act, you have come to rely on us just as we now rely on you for our very survival from things out there even worse than the UN somehow."   ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Free City of Regulus now forms part of the UN's frontline against the New Americans. A new fortress is built in the Alioth system, and as soon as funds and resources have been allocated a second will be constructed in Alderamin (which will double as a slight hindrance to Patria Grande incursions should it ever come to that), thus forming the 'Westgate', the bridge between the core UN territory and the western frontier and the main defence against not only America, but the reports of these Princes and an Alliance somewhere further off to the west.   With Regulus no longer a threat, the UNN begins to relocate to Alioth. The fortress will become the UNN's new homebase in the event war with the Americans does indeed become a possibility depending if things go south out West. There are conflicting opinions across the security council to either abandon the western frontier and focus on the core systems, or do everything in the UN's power to retain control of the Orion Arm from the New Americans, even if it means war. UNSG Renaud looks like he has aged ten years in just the few weeks these events have transpired, wanting nothing more than to develop colonies and get the UN finally off the Bastion but now he finds himself on the precipice of the biggest crisis the UN has had to face to date.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ State of the Galaxy 2280 
Crisis Now fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Jun 3, 2021 |
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Jun 2, 2021 23:10
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Rad. Do we have any intel on the Americans' capabilities? Also, your writing is very good, character voices are all really strong, but it's is only short for 'it is'. Where it's possessive it doesn't have an apostrophe. It's an almost ubiquitous error in this subforum for some reason.
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Jun 2, 2021 23:40
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sebmojo posted:Rad. Now that Regulus is no longer a problem, everything can be pointed towards New America, including spies, it shouldn't take too long to find out what they have. sebmojo posted:but it's is only short for 'it is'. Where it's possessive it doesn't have an apostrophe. I usually just run the posts through Google Docs and blindly fix every spelling / grammar mistake that pops up, should probably pay closer attention 
Crisis Now fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Jun 3, 2021 |
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Jun 2, 2021 23:53
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Out of curiosity, excepting relative cost, is there any fundamental differences to what each habitat type gives you in terms of districts (ie, molten, gas giant, etc)
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Jun 3, 2021 00:05
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tithin posted:Out of curiosity, excepting relative cost, is there any fundamental differences to what each habitat type gives you in terms of districts (ie, molten, gas giant, etc) I don't believe there's any difference, it's entirely dependant on what resources the planet has to give.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:10
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sebmojo posted:Rad. I can help with this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2udEpyPpU "If you want it to be a possessive, it's just I-T-S, but if it's supposed to be a contraction it's I-T-APOSTROPHE-S... scalawag."
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Jun 3, 2021 00:26
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Oh... I also loved the update. Looking forward to finding out what happens with the 3 earth-like system the NAFs have their eye on.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:29
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Great update! No doubt that Nu-Xandar well be coveted by everybody else in the neighborhood.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:39
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Let us give those godless Yankee heathens a good what for!
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Jun 3, 2021 00:43
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Dr Vance Blair and the talking planet was really excellent writing. Makes me almost regret my decision to go isolationist. Also Delilah Flores and her Holo-Horticulture corp are definitely not gonna patent any of the plants and animals from the hyper-diverse New Cardiff no sirree.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:47
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gently caress off, NAFs. That's our damned Manifest Destiny.
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Jun 3, 2021 00:57
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The Next opportunity we get, I definitely will vote for Federating and pulling in some of the more agreeable groups under our fold.
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Jun 3, 2021 02:20
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Awesome. Did not expect peaceful robo-bros to bend the knee, but we should welcome them. And we got one hell of a planet, poor Xander. I'm glad the game finally cut you a break.
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Jun 3, 2021 05:03
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voting for whatever gets us to make Xander hooked on anime fastest. Imagine the consumption oppurtinities a sapient gaia planet posesses...
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Jun 3, 2021 05:31
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I completely forgot to do a galaxy map, amended at the end now. But here's a easier summary of current situation -  There are aliens species elsewhere in the galaxy taking their first steps into space. Crisis Now fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Jun 3, 2021 |
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Jun 3, 2021 06:52
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the yanks can't be that tough if they couldn't clear out triple digit amoeba fleets, if they deserved it they'd already have it.
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Jun 3, 2021 06:57
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Jun 3, 2021 07:18
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Might be my favorite post/username/regdate combo ever
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Jun 3, 2021 07:21
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!boat
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Jun 3, 2021 11:31
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Clearly, our decision to focus on internal affairs and improvements has paid off! We have two new partners in prosperity, and a strong defensive position towards the NAF. All in all, this is looking very promising indeed.
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Jun 3, 2021 15:06
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TLM3101 posted:Clearly, our decision to focus on internal affairs and improvements has paid off! We have two new partners in prosperity, and a strong defensive position towards the NAF. Also, we won't have to worry about whatever slapfight the PGs or the Africans or possibly even the Columbians might've tried to pull us into indirectly. We don't have to worry about babysitting someone else while we're still in training pants.
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Jun 3, 2021 18:29
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So how goes the upgrading of starbases and the increase in fleet strength? And what level of trade we have going on?
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Jun 3, 2021 23:13
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wedgekree posted:So how goes the upgrading of starbases and the increase in fleet strength? And what level of trade we have going on? 
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Jun 3, 2021 23:59
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In recognition of our synthetic friends becoming part of the UN, Happy Burger Interstellar is proud to present our new line of SynthBurgs©! Do you have human friends who feel awkward going out to lunch with you because you don't have to eat? Well come down to your nearest Happy Burger Burgerium, bringing your pals of course, and make sure to order one of our SynthBurgs©. They looks just like a real CheezBurg©, but using our patented NanoFlav© technology the burger will seem to be broken down bite by synthetic bite, transfering to you the flavor data. And just so you can walk away feeling refreshed, our VirtuaNutes© will help power your core! Happy Burger! Where even the burgers smile. *** Keep out of reach of children. Read label before use. Obtain special instructions before use. Do not handle until all safety precautions have been read and understood. Keep away from heat/sparks/open flames/hot surfaces. - No smoking. Do not spray on an open flame or other ignition source. Keep/Store away from clothing/.../combustible materials. Take any precaution to avoid mixing with combustibles... Do not allow contact with air. Keep away from any possible contact with water, because of violent reaction and possible flash fire. Keep wetted with ketchup. Handle under inert gas. Protect from moisture. Keep container tightly closed. Keep only in original container. Keep cool. Ground/bond container and receiving equipment. Use explosion-proof electrical/ventilating/lighting/.../equipment. Use only non-sparking tools. Take precautionary measures against static discharge. Keep reduction valves free from grease and oil. Do not subject to grinding/shock/.../friction. Pressurized container: Do not pierce or burn, even after use. Do not breathe dust/fume/gas/mist/vapours/spray. Avoid breathing dust/fume/gas/mist/vapours/spray. Do not get in eyes, on skin, or on clothing. Avoid contact during pregnancy/while nursing. Wash thoroughly after handling. Do no eat, drink or smoke when using this product. Use only outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. Contaminated work clothing should not be allowed out of the workplace. Avoid release to the environment. Wear protective gloves/protective clothing/eye protection/face protection. Use personal protective equipment as required. Wear cold insulating gloves/face shield/eye protection. Wear fire/flame resistant/retardant clothing. Wear respiratory protection. *** Deadmeat5150 fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Jun 4, 2021 |
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Jun 4, 2021 00:19
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Addendum: do not taunt SynthBurg©.
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Jun 4, 2021 00:50
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Remember, SynthBurg© is not actually sentinent, it only thinks it is
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Jun 4, 2021 18:43
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Mmm, zimbolicious
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Jun 4, 2021 19:08
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NewMars posted:Addendum: do not taunt SynthBurg©. Please do not disturb the SynthBurgers.
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Jun 4, 2021 19:12
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And do not eat SynthBurger in the presence of any anti-establishment literature.
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Jun 4, 2021 22:00
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2280 - 2285 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A startrip through Columbia Excerpts from the travel diary of Emanuel Dupont. A trip across the vast expanse of space is not a prospect to take lightly. While there are many shorter 'hops' within UN space, typically skimming through the edges of the Iguo Veil so passengers may delight in the astounding colors of the nebula - These are trivial affairs, one or two systems are visited and then the Maiden Galactic cruise ship returns to the Bastion. I instead have opted for something a little grander - a trip to Columbia, where the crew of our once own wayward science ship have created the most incredible society - or so our traders claim. Those that frequent the docks of Jakarta are certain to have seen the Columbian trade ships that visit often, sleek white edifices unlike any ship belonging to the UN corporations.  Cruise liner passing through Fomalhaut system It is a ten year round. While space tourism has gained some traction in the last decade or two, there are none yet that operate out beyond the borders of the United Nations due to the cost and risk, and the time commitment is far too high for most to undertake. I had hitched a ride aboard an UNICA supply ship as it travelled from the Bastion to Delta Pavonis at the edge of UN space where the colonial effort was well underway. I had offered my services as an engineer from my time working in the great oxygen cleansing facility of Addis-Ababa to assist in keeping the ship's life support working in prime condition. The ship it seems was not carrying any colonists though, but instead a great many droids as well as all manner of scientific and military equipment. It seems UNICA want's to brute-force colonize these hostile worlds.   Aboard the UNICA ship there were also a number of SovMechs, robots belonging to our new satellite state who possessed far greater autonomy and intelligence than the robots we use. I had never met one before and it was quite bizarre to be holding a conversation with a machine just as I would any normal person, but we soon got chatting about this and that. They are assisting UNICA by overseeing our droids with much greater efficiency than any human could and even in some cases able to directly control individual ones just as a UNN technician would pilot a drone launched from one of our warships. They too have begun colonizing worlds within SovMech space, and I would be lucky enough to visit one. After reaching Little Rotterdam in the Delta Pavonis system I departed from the UNICA ship I had called home for two years, saying goodbye and thank you to the crew before travelling around the small colonial outpost in search of my next vessel. With luck a SovMech cargo freighter was returning from the Bastion to it's territory and had stopped in Little Rotterdam to refuel. Less fortunate however and something I had not considered is the fact that a SovMech vessel would have no life support. - they are machines, they do not need air (though curiously they can consume liquids and food as a human would, for biofuel). A container aboard the freighter was carrying organic material and had its own oxygen supply to keep its contents alive, and so I offered the captain of the freighter some UN-Dollars to let me stay inside. He thought I was mad but needs must.  The six month hop from Delta Pavonis to the Beta Caeli across the SovMech border was surprisingly brisk. I would often spend upwards of fortnight confined in my personal container-habitat watching whatever broadcast I could pick up from the Imperial Chinese or UAE entertainment feeds and subsisting on UNICA-brand ready meals. And when the loneliness got too much I would don a space suit and go converse with the robot crew. One raised the question of "If I was travelling from Sol to Deecselfy why would I not just board a Columbian trade ship going straight there", but that just isn't really in the spirit of adventure now is it? Beta Caeli had two newly settled worlds. Gray - which had once many millennia ago been inhabited by some long lost alien species we may never know as they had wiped themselves out in a nuclear war. An alarmingly common occurrence on planets discovered by UN explorers, we are constantly reminded on the Bastion just how thankful we should be for the corporate-takeover of the UN and their intervention in WW3 to avert that same fate for us.. Gray none the less is entirely inhospitable to any sort of organic life and is even dangerous to the SovMechs as the intense radiation wreaks havoc on their electronics, but they are trying their best to scrub the fallout from the crater and ruin riddled world.  Thankfully the freighter was stopping at the other settlement in the system Marion - a large habitat city on Beta Caeli IV that housed many industries for processing resources from Bellezhir, before being shipped off to the Bastion - and soon our colonies once they have established substantial enough spaceports. In Marion I encountered a handful of other humans among the mostly SovMech factory workers. One was an independant Chinese trader, operating out of a delightful little trading schooner with a colorful crew of mercenaries, merchants and mechanics, he was kind enough to give me passage in to Columbian space. He was travelling to the Tazuos system before reaching Deecselfy but that was just fine with me, more worlds to see.  The MV Jiao Tang had been operating for some fifteen years now, ten of those outside of Imperial control. Unlike the trading vessels and companies of the UN who operated and regulated themselves, things it seems are far stricter within Chinese space, with the great bureaucratic offices in the Imperial City on New Yangtze heavily controlling all trade - licences and permits required to carry certain things to certain places (and often resolved with copious bribes). It is how this little trade ship came to operate independently, that is to say illegally in the eyes of their government.  One of the mercenaries, a former Imperial Marine showed me pictures of the vessel he once served on, the PIC Dalian, which was in the Imperial Liberation Fleet, the combined navy of the core Chinese state as well as all it's subjects. The Chinese ships were quite distinct from those I had often seen in UN space. Our own ships are quite brutish and utilitarian, the Chinese on the other hand seem to highly value form over function and their vessels appear quite elegant in comparison.  I say all their subjects formed the great Liberation Fleet, that is all minus one - the Sichuan State who had five years ago defected to the Federal Arabian Emirates. This happened while their Imperial Chairwoman was visiting the Bastion. To say this displeased the Imperial Chairwoman would be an understatement, not only did she wish to see the return of Chongqing and the Shangri-La City orbital habitat but she wanted to see the Emirates punished for poisoning the minds of her once loyal people with their 'dangerous foreign faith'. The Emirates was now fighting a two-front invasion from China and Columbia, one would think the Arabians doomed but the immense wealth they had acquired on Medina allotted them multiple huge navies. They say the surface of Medina is made up of the dust from the two moons that collided in orbit millions of years ago, and that you can run your hands through the desert beneath your feet and scoop up a million dollars worth of minerals in your very hands before letting it blow away in the wind. Perhaps if Medina still exists in a decade's time I will visit it.  But even more than that I would wish to visit the Imperial capital system of Usktiauth. The central star Shangdi is immensely powerful and volatile, ejecting stellar material on a constant basis and filling the whole inner system with great clouds of light and energy, thankfully it is of such a high intensity that it dissipates by the time it reaches the asteroid belt that is the same distance from our Sun to Neptune. Beyond that lies many gas giants each with numerous moons, and on one you will find New Yangtze.  It is a system of great significance to the Tiyanki too. The docile spaceborne aliens that sometimes roam through UN space. Here in Usktiauth, great herds of the creatures migrate to spawn young, and also solitary elders seem to eventually find their way back here and land on the surface of the worlds or asteroids to pass away.   Our little schooner entered the Tazuous system to find it brimming with life, Chinese state trading vessels and Columbian ferries going back and forth between the two worlds here and to Deeceselfy and up to the border with the NCR (New Canton Republic). It pains me to leave the Jiao Tang after a year aboard. Memories of basking in the twin suns of Acamar, our run in with the pirates in Umuth at the edge of the Veil, and the wonderful noodles I was treated to every lunch time will stick with me for a long time. But the ship is now arriving at Brutus - Tazuous IIa, and my time with my Chinese friends must come to an end.  Stepping out of the side hatch door to the Jiao Tang onto the dock of Perth I gazed upon a blue sky for the first time and took a lungful of real air. This world and it's sister planet in the system - Cassius are barely known to the UN, we had only received minimal information about them before the UN-Columbia went dark all those decades ago. Now it appears Brutus is a scientific research and trading outpost. Great efforts are being undertaken to make the dry soil more fertile, huge almost alien-looking machinery hovering across the surface of the savannah-like terrain and altering the ground beneath. Even in this tiny frontier outpost of Columbia I notice multiple faces all looking exactly the same - the result of Columbia's cloning drive, almost everyone in Columbia comes from the original 10,000 crew members of the old science cruiser. At first it is quite distracting and I can see how it can quickly lead to some cases of mistaken identity - though such a thing seems entirely absent from the Columbians themselves who can quite easily differentiate one another despite some looking practically the same.  Now that I was within Columbian space it was a trivial matter to simply book passage on a ferry flying to the other systems. But before I left Brutus I simply had to visit Cassius - the glowing planet. Words simply did not do the world justice. Swirling clouds of neon green and blue hover over head and as the sun sets the whole world becomes alight with brilliant bioluminescence. The birds, the trees, every blade of grass, all give off the shimmering cyan light. Some change colour or intensify if interacted with or caught by the winds, and staring out of my hotel window is like looking into a blacklight wonderland.Though I must admit after two days my eyes began to ache.  The next ferry took me finally to Deecselfy - the heart of Columbia and dare I say most prosperous place in all of human space - even more so than our great Bastion. A huge system with three stars each with as many planets as you can find in Sol, and from the Columbians I spoke to they are already planning on settling and eventually terraforming every world there is here. When Dr Little of StellarX became the first person form the UN to visit Columbia he reported there being great fields of debris containing all manner of Irrassian constructs littering the system, but as my ferry zips past Deeceselfy C and toward the core I spy no ruins or wrecks - the Columbians it seems have scoured all that was left behind and put it to great use.  The ship arrives in Aberdeen with much greater speed than any UN vessel could reach the Bastion from the edge of Sol and already as we descend through the atmosphere I can see the great floating city beneath.  And then off in the horizon, I can see even more floating cities, though nowhere near as developed as this one. Last I heard there was just the one city, perhaps the Columbians have discovered how to create new ones.   It goes without saying that Columbia has outgrown the United Nations, by a long way. If ever there was hope of UN-Columbian reintegrating it came and went decades ago. It's people want for nothing, there is no poverty, no crime, no great rift between the classes or political differences. And though I am their guest and I am treated in this incredible city with the utmost respect I cannot help but feel these people look at me with pitying eyes, as I'm sure they would feel for all those still within the United Nations. The technology here is truly astounding and one is both in awe and has a sense of dread of what could happen should this all fall in to the wrong hands...  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Foe to Friend With the Free City of Regulus becoming a signatory to the UN Charter (and also with the advent of colonists being sent to settle other worlds) the distinction between those living on the Bastion and those stuck outside it 'formly Independents / "Indies"' is erased. While widely accepted on both sides there are still some detractors both within Regulus City and the Bastion but they are a very small minority of small holdouts of a view that is quickly becoming outdated.  There is to be no difference in the way a person from The Bastion or Regulus City or the smallest habitat of some small forgotten asteroid now that they are all officially part of the UN. The Bastion will protect the planet Ares, Regulus City on it and all the habitats and little settlements of the Free City, while they in turn provide the Regulusi Navy to safeguard The Bastion, her new colonies and all the corporate efforts of the security council. Regulusi citizens are welcome to send settlers of their own to the UN colonies, and the Bastion will provide material aid when necessary to ensure Regulus can develop itself in to a proper state. They survive together or die apart.  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ With SinoTec's successful creation of their cruiser prototype in the form of the Maiman Laser-cruiser it did not take long for Standard Dynamics and Congo to field their own cruiser designs just a few short years later. They devised the Rouncey and Courser respectively, the former a large gunship to assist the UNN and the latter an extremely heavily armed freighter to be used by Congo for their operations in more dangerous areas now that they were venturing beyond the watchful eyes of the other four security council conglomerates. While much development has been put into laser and shield technology the past decade, missiles and kinetic weapons are in dire need of updating as they are using century-old systems at this point.   Construction ships are sent from Sol to Alderamin, arriving a year after setting off so they can begin the expansion and fortify the outpost there into a proper starbase, it may one day have to fend off both American and Syndicalist forces.  While present in the system, surveyors make a note that Alderamin I is by far the most alloy rich planet in all of UN space, and that mining corps are barely exploiting it all, when need for alloys are at an all time high.  And so a new planetary habitat is ordered to be built on the surface of the planet so more intensive alloy extraction and processing can be conducted - as well as providing a base for a backup fortress to accompany the Alderamin station.  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On the 25th October 2280 a new President was sworn in to the New American Federation. 14 hours after taking office the first communication between the President and Secretary-General is established. "This is President Pamela Stackhouse. Good morning Mister Secretary-General, it is morning there right? It is a beautiful sunny evening here in New Colorado, I can just see Kletsulha setting behind the Wendover Mountains. New America and her new president are feeling invigorated. I wanted clear the air between us but also make perfectly clear my intentions. My predecessor President Foley was, shall we say, spirited, but the words he said to you are still no less true than they are now. There will not be any United Nations presence on the planets of Jorarnrir. As I understand it there are currently nine planets within UN space that your UNICA is now attempting to colonize. We here in New America are not quite so fortunate to be blessed with so many worlds for our people to spread to and thrive. What's more, what is it that concerns your security council so much about letting the NAF have access to the Orion Arm? Does the NAF not have as much right to expand to and explore the stars as the UN does? Do you still think the United Nations is in charge here? I was a soldier in the NAFA, I fought at Atlas so I know the cost of war, and I would not bring it to the New Americans unless it were necessary. This is necessary. Let us take Jorarnrir without protest and there will not need to be the blood of New Americans and United Nation..ers on our hands."  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Progress continues on the colonies, though slowly and with many setbacks. Pontianak itself almost being wiped out by the star of 61 Cygni during a particularly bad solar storm.  Dr Little aboard the UN-Darwin has crossed the hyperlane bridge to the Perseus Arm to explore the Iguo Veil further, mapping out the Trappist system and not finding anything of great note, but upon entering the Ascella system the science vessel met a new foreign ship.  It was a small ferry with Veil Institute plastered on the side. A university ship filled with students and their scientist-pilot. "Greetings United Nations vessel. This is Captain-Professor Vaughn of the department of astrophysics, of the Veil Institute. You are currently interrupting my lesson so I hope you will be on your way soon and not hold up my itinerary any further."  "You are the first of your nation we have met, can you at least explain yourself, professor Vaughn?" "Captain-Professor, and explain myself how? I don't answer to you..." "Well, perhaps I wish to enroll and sponsor the Institute"  "OH! Well that changes everything. The Veil Institute was formed shortly after the International Open University departed from Lisbon in 2212, seeking a place to further humanity's understanding of the grandest mysteries and answer the questions that have plagued our society for generations. Beyond the Iguo Veil we have found a peaceful recluse from the meddling of the United Nations and all the other nations that you vomited out when Earth shattered. We have over four hundred million students and some eighty million faculty, and we have departments in multiple campuses relating to every field of study one could ever wish to learn in. If you wish to enroll then just take yourself over to Blackmill in the Eoli system and you'll be well on your way to joining the class of 2282!" "Ah, thank you for that Captain-Professor. I'll be sure to swing by once I'm done here"  After training the UN-Darwin's sensors on the Eoli system Dr Little was able to locate the 'main campus' on Blackmill, a rouge world much like the that the SovMechs hail from. But he also detected a signal being relayed from somewhere very far off. Little tuned into the relayed signal and a new power immediately initiated contact via the Darwin's bridge monitor, what was on the monitor making Dr Little almost jump out of his seat and causing several of the crew to scream in alarm.  "Oh, really now! Was that called for?" Bellowed the decrepit figure, looking like an Old-Earth vintage horror movie monster. It spoke near perfect English and was adorned in an ornate black cape, it's skin pale and cracking, eyes pure grey and a mouth of jagged misshapen fangs. "Who... are you?" "My name is Headmaster Chardin, please to make your acquaintance" The alien bowed in an extremely theatrical manner before he leaned closer to his monitor and squinted at the humans looking back at him. "Ah! And you must be from the 'United Nations', is that correct? All these humans I now see running about the galaxy all came from you did they? You've really made a mess of things out here you know that! In my thirty six thousand years I've never seen any other species spread so far so quickly, so I guess I must commend you on that, now perhaps you can get them all under control again?" "What are you?" "A seeh. Our kind first took to the stars around the time the Irassians were dying out of their Javorian Pox, poor fellows." The alien, Chardin, furrowed his brow and narrowed his gaze "Am I, really the first alien you have encountered? The United Nations really is behind the curve isn't it? I know full well others of your kind have met the Grammich, the Lucalfian, the Zunguatese and the Khabayyanid. You are certainly not the first humans I have met, in fact there are some right here in the Artisan's Troupe. That is my merry little band of entertainers, artists and musicians from across the.." he sighed and rolled his eyes `` 'Milky Way'.  "The Veil Institute has been ever so gracious to become a patron of my organisation. Of course that doesn't mean the United Nations can't also give a little funding to the arts. Now if this little communique is done with I can return to my other duties, do stop by if you happen to be in Sauu system though"  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Strike Force November Admiral Patrick Cross We have entered the Jorarnrir System a month prior and now we are about to engage the alien hostiles. No sign of NAF ships present. All weapons free, fighters free to engage at will.   Upon opening fire the larger Space Amoeba, 'the mothers' began releasing a vast swam of many hundreds of tiny young amoeba that immediately overwhelmed the Strike Force. Current weapons proving ineffective against alien's resilient outer surface.  With the entire Strike Force's armament trained on a single alien we are able to kill it - and this was one of the smaller ones. Three corvettes destroyed with all crews lost.  Heavy damage sustained across the Strike Force, vessels in disarray, aliens continue to overwhelm our sensors and weapons targeting.  This is a complete disaster, initiating full retreat!  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ With the imminent settling of Alderamin I, larger alloy foundries that have been employed by the UN up until now will be created, as they are much needed to replace the navy vessels that are constantly being lost.  What's more United Nations weaponry is incredibly outdated, great efforts are begun at once to upgrade its current arsenal.  The Pritchard-Class corvettes were too expensive, too complicated and too prone to error. An over-designed mess that cost the UNN far too much. With the creation of cruiser ships the focus is changed from fast moving and nimble craft to the more slower, sturdier vessels being fielded by Standard Dynamics and Congo. Five of each, as well as four additional Maiman Laser-Cruisers are ordered at once - funds and resources taken from UNICA to pay for it, as well as requests for emergency resources from the Sovereign Mechanized. Who graciously accepted, but now insist the UN protect them and vice-versa, which given the circumstances the UNSG agrees to.  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Omaha and Lagos have been settled by UNICA droids and work is beginning to try and sanitize the two worlds. On Omaha the ominous fog still appears at night, but appears more natural and random around the machines as they work day and night, with a big exception for the SovMechs present. The fog reacts to them just as it did the human explorers all those years ago, and the thinking, feeling, machines must confide themselves to the shelters at night. Lagos' settlement meanwhile is little more than a giant concrete slab that was dropped from orbit into the shallow waters of one of the larger continents. Nestled within this slab are hundreds of armed droids, who venture out on a daily basis to hunt down as many of the gargantuan flying beasts. Many droids are lost in the process and more are shipped in every few weeks from Little Rotterdam - dropped from orbit via a UNICA ferry in little pods. Most attention has been drawn away from the colonial effort to the Western Frontier and UNICA struggles to find the funds it needs.  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In 2284, another President was sworn into office in New America. Pamela Stackhouse it seems only worthy of one term. The new president does not make any com-call to the secretary-general and is in fact completely dismissive of all UN diplomatic channels.  The war between the Indians and Japanese ends with Indian victory. The Japanese chairman was ousted from power and the communist government removed. New Delhi was all set to transition the regime from a social democracy and eventually into a neoliberal society such as itself. That was until the intervention of Patria Grande. The Republic of New India was stripping the defeated Japanese Commonwealth of it's infrastructure and economic base, in an effort to make them reliant on the Indians for support, it is too bad for them the syndicalists stepped in to fill the gap before they could act. There is talk of a union forming between the anarchists and revanchist socialists.  The United African Empire and People's Imperial China also seek to bring themselves closer it seems. With the UAE becoming an associate ofthe PIC and even the prospect of a royal marriage between the descendants of the Great Queen and Imperial Chairwoman. The war against the Emirates still rages on.  In February 2285 confirmation of the Serene Principality of Brazil is achieved, after a Congo-Special Operations Branch operative stationed in the Coalition of Brazil picks up transmissions being sent back and forth between the New Americans and a previously unknown power to the west. The Principality is a moderate power, led by slave-owning princes in some form of corporate-feudalism. Little else can be determined about them, as they are as unreceptive to all attempts at communication as the NAF has become.   On June 27th Secretary-General John Renaud is found dead in the office of the UNSG, having suffered a heart attack. His desk overflowing with starcharts, war plans and contingencies for war with the NAF, buried beneath it all neglected reports and orders for UNICA and the colonies.  August 15th As rapid elections are held among the security council and other higher-ranking companies in the UN to find the new Secretary-General, the New American fleet is spotted stationed in the Mirach sytem's fortress. The UNN is put on high alert and it's sailors and engineers at constant battle stations, though the fleet is not ordered to move toward the border at risk of provoking the New Americans.  August 18th News reaches the Bastion that the newly discovered Serene Principality of Brazil has formed an alliance with the New American Federation with New Colorado as it's headquarters, calling itself the Perseus Arm Treaty Organization.  August 20th Cynthia Knotts, former head of Standard Dynamic's research wing is elected as the new Secretary General.  Later that evening Secretary-General Knotts takes to the temporary stage before the Deuxième-Versailles to accept her ascension to office of the UNSG infront of all the live cameras of all the news and media corps of The Bastion. Before she can even say her first word, a secret service guard standing behind her can be seen putting his finger to his ear before making a gesture to the other guards around him and approaching the UNSG and whispering something in her before quickly ushering her away. A cacophony of questions and exclamations from the Bastion press are hurled at Knotts and any other UNHQ staff present, until they all receive an emergency update on their personal-handheld terminals. A state of emergency is initiated. War has broken out with the New American Federation.  
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Jun 5, 2021 02:05
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Oh boy. This seems possibly not great.
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Jun 5, 2021 02:46
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It would seem losing some ships to the Space Amoeba have emboldened the americans.
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Jun 5, 2021 02:53
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Is there a reason you don't take the decision to pacify the amoebas as opposed to blowing them up?
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Jun 5, 2021 04:44
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We're doomed, hooray! Also what's with the districts?
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Jun 5, 2021 04:45
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It's easy to say 'should have brought Point Defence' but that's with knowledge they don't have and can't get(You can't spy on things like the Space Amoeba, so learning their loadout probably means sacrificing something, and then working back from the battle report. And I don't think that would tell you that the mothers are launching things that can be shot down.)
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Jun 5, 2021 06:42
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kw0134 posted:Is there a reason you don't take the decision to pacify the amoebas as opposed to blowing them up? I don't have the option, I chose to try and destory them upon first contact. It seemed appropriate for the arrogant corps to think they could just handle a few 'dumb' wandering aliens. But have become a serious nuisance. Secretary-General's Ericson's ship was infact destroyed by Space Amoeba on her return from first meeting the Patria Grande. NewMars posted:We're doomed, hooray! Also what's with the districts? If you mean the two in Omaha those are gardens and eco-gardens. Which provide food, unity, amenities and society research.
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Jun 5, 2021 07:34
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Starbase defenses with this modlist are pretty fuckin' robust at this point in the game, so we should be able to hold off NAF offenses so long as the border's been fortified. Of course, that means we're not going to be taking any turf ourselves.
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Jun 5, 2021 18:01
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In A.D. 2285, War was beginning.
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Jun 5, 2021 18:39
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 22:32 |
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"Just out of curiosity, we can just sign up and get off of The Bastion and see the stars for free and then immediately quit the UNN, right?" "You know? Playing you all for chumps." (continued here) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Ha6tNvRUg&t=20s
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Jun 5, 2021 19:46
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