[Hard SF] Children of a Dead World

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[X] Chemical Engineering: The Administrator was a chemical engineer, and a damned good one. The call of something more than just polymer-chem jobs on Earth made her come to the stars, and she rose rapidly in the ranks. Her expertise deals with the refining processes in zero-g that made Earth experience a minor economic boom until the Fall happened, and makes her quite suited to supplying Venus. Can give personal attention to actions dealing with refining and Venerian supply. Minor bonus to relations with Venus. Bonus to refining, refueling and extraction actions.


[X]The Affair of Extraction Dome 3D: The outpost domes on Titan where hydrocarbon pumps filled tanks for the starships and the colony are some of the most isolated places on the planet, and some of the most dangerous. They aren't built to the same standard as the main domes due to their temporary nature – they're packed up and evacuated when the methane monsoon moves in – and there have thus been two collapses of domes in recent history. The partial collapse of Dome 3D after a leak and a structural failure led to the extraction team led by Dr. Khouri experiencing severe cold and exposure to the suffocating atmosphere – only mitigated by her rallying the panicking team to repair a ruptured bulkhead, shut off air circulation to most of the dome and shelter in a tiny subdivision of the dome until evac came through. Dr. Khouri is charismatic, able to convince, persuade and argue far better than most. She is also wounded by her experiences and has suffered psychological trauma from the Dome incident.
 
[x] Psychology and Public Policy: One of the few non-scientists to rise in the ranks of the UN Initiative for Space Exploration, Dr. Khouri did so by being an expert in what few of the scientists and engineers are: Personnel management. She knows how to make the people related systems work, while the engineering staff can handle making the rest of the systems work. It isn't something that many valued very highly until it's poorly done, but personnel management is invaluable. Can give personal attention to personnel management, bonus to such actions.

[x] The Beagle Incident: Basira Khouri is renowned for her ability to act under extreme stress and lead under conditions of adversity, as was evidenced in the affair of the UNS Beagle. The Beagle was a freighter bearing 3D printers and parts to Titan and taking back a large amount of titanium and aluminium, but her supplies ran near dry when a misaligned burn made for a suboptimal course. Dr. Khouri was the supercargo on the Beagle and trained for piloting, and she was the one that calculated a new trajectory, guided in the Beagle to Titan, and supervised the food and oxygen rationing for the crew until a resupply shuttle could mate with the ship. Dr. Khouri is cool-headed but severe, taking on less stress and able to act more decisively in times of crisis but also strict in her dealings with subordinates.

Hahaha, yeah, no way do I wanna add to the stress and trauma inherent to the situation.
 
[X] The Beagle Incident: Basira Khouri is renowned for her ability to act under extreme stress and lead under conditions of adversity, as was evidenced in the affair of the UNS Beagle. The Beagle was a freighter bearing 3D printers and parts to Titan and taking back a large amount of titanium and aluminium, but her supplies ran near dry when a misaligned burn made for a suboptimal course. Dr. Khouri was the supercargo on the Beagle and trained for piloting, and she was the one that calculated a new trajectory, guided in the Beagle to Titan, and supervised the food and oxygen rationing for the crew until a resupply shuttle could mate with the ship. Dr. Khouri is cool-headed but severe, taking on less stress and able to act more decisively in times of crisis but also strict in her dealings with subordinates.
 
[x] Chemical Engineering

Chemistry can solve everything, up and including psychological traumas! Can dissolve it, too.

[x] The Affair of Extraction Dome 3D
 
Votes are called.
Scheduled vote count started by mouli on Jan 11, 2021 at 7:27 PM, finished with 48 posts and 45 votes.
  • [X] The Beagle Incident: Basira Khouri is renowned for her ability to act under extreme stress and lead under conditions of adversity, as was evidenced in the affair of the UNS Beagle. The Beagle was a freighter bearing 3D printers and parts to Titan and taking back a large amount of titanium and aluminium, but her supplies ran near dry when a misaligned burn made for a suboptimal course. Dr. Khouri was the supercargo on the Beagle and trained for piloting, and she was the one that calculated a new trajectory, guided in the Beagle to Titan, and supervised the food and oxygen rationing for the crew until a resupply shuttle could mate with the ship. Dr. Khouri is cool-headed but severe, taking on less stress and able to act more decisively in times of crisis but also strict in her dealings with subordinates.
    [X]Psychology and Public Policy: One of the few non-scientists to rise in the ranks of the UN Initiative for Space Exploration, Dr. Khouri did so by being an expert in what few of the scientists and engineers are: Personnel management. She knows how to make the people related systems work, while the engineering staff can handle making the rest of the systems work. It isn't something that many valued very highly until it's poorly done, but personnel management is invaluable. Can give personal attention to personnel management, bonus to such actions.
    [X]The Affair of Extraction Dome 3D: The outpost domes on Titan where hydrocarbon pumps filled tanks for the starships and the colony are some of the most isolated places on the planet, and some of the most dangerous. They aren't built to the same standard as the main domes due to their temporary nature – they're packed up and evacuated when the methane monsoon moves in – and there have thus been two collapses of domes in recent history. The partial collapse of Dome 3D after a leak and a structural failure led to the extraction team led by Dr. Khouri experiencing severe cold and exposure to the suffocating atmosphere – only mitigated by her rallying the panicking team to repair a ruptured bulkhead, shut off air circulation to most of the dome and shelter in a tiny subdivision of the dome until evac came through. Dr. Khouri is charismatic, able to convince, persuade and argue far better than most. She is also wounded by her experiences and has suffered psychological trauma from the Dome incident.
    [X] Chemical Engineering: The Administrator was a chemical engineer, and a damned good one. The call of something more than just polymer-chem jobs on Earth made her come to the stars, and she rose rapidly in the ranks. Her expertise deals with the refining processes in zero-g that made Earth experience a minor economic boom until the Fall happened, and makes her quite suited to supplying Venus. Can give personal attention to actions dealing with refining and Venerian supply. Minor bonus to relations with Venus. Bonus to refining, refueling and extraction actions.
    [X]Bioscience: The Administrator was a capable biologist in her youth, with her thesis focusing on recent advancements in genetic engineering and zero-g agriculture. This makes her an excellent choice for running the life support sections on Titan that are focused on food production and waste management, but less of a good choice for the ship repair, supply and metals refining that Titan does for Venus. Can give personal attention to life-support related projects. Bonus to actions regarding hydroponics, life support and waste management.
    [X]The Affair of Extraction Dome 3D
    [X]Bioscience
    [X]Character Flavor: Decades ago, Dr. Khouri was an activist who campaigned for increased individual 3D-printing rights and the removal of patents from lifesaving drug advancements. Age has stopped her from fighting police drones and mass arrests brought in many of her fellow hacktivists after the corporate server breaches of the 2110s, but her fundamental ideals remain unchanged. This has given her an unusual style of personnel management which is heavy on the charisma and compassion but low on cynicism, finding potential contributions for everyone and with a tendency to trust too much rather than too little.
    [X] Electrical Engineering: Basira Khouri is one of the electrical engineers who ran a large chunk of the habitat's technical systems. Ranging from the 3D printing setups for spare part manufacturing to the tiny chip-manufacturing setups on Titan for replacement of electronics, the electrical engineers make a massive amount things work smoothly in the background. And now one of them is in the driving seat, fully aware of how fragile all those systems are. Can give personal attention to maintenance and repair of electrical related systems. Bonus to such actions.
    [X]Electrical Engineering
    [x] []Psychology and Public Policy: One of the few non-scientists to rise in the ranks of the UN Initiative for Space Exploration, Dr. Khouri did so by being an expert in what few of the scientists and engineers are: Personnel management. She knows how to make the people related systems work, while the engineering staff can handle making the rest of the systems work. It isn't something that many valued very highly until it's poorly done, but personnel management is invaluable. Can give personal attention to personnel management, bonus to such actions.
    [X] Character Flavor: The sixth daughter of Saudi "new money" (minor nobles and influential businessmen who'd gained or regained their wealth cashing in on the increasingly frantic and corruption ridden push towards a new, sustainable economy), Basira Khouri was fortunate enough to be born to a well off family in a time of ramping poverty but unfortunate enough to be born to a patriarchal society that increasingly reversed the comparatively progressive norms pushed by the far-sighted autocrat Mohammed Bin Salman. While not granted the same privileged of attending prestigious western institutions her brothers enjoyed, her education in Neom combined with her will to understand how the world truly works-a drive not quite shared by her brothers, who through their connections were being educated in the increasingly hot and freezing Sheppard AFB and slated towards what was a somewhat kushy position as an American-trained NCO-was more than enough to earn both a UCLA scholarship and the acquiescence of her parents to chase it, with the stipulation that she major psychology and a mutual understanding that she would both return home and serve part time as an in-house psychologist capable of understanding both empathy and discretion. However, explosive political polarization wrought by a catastrophic climate and fueled by an increasingly resurgent fundamentalist clique prompted a cronyism-infused rapid career change away from a noble's shrink to an eventual posting as chief human resource officer on Titan. With accusations of undue influencing and a silent disdain of her non-STEM specialty forever dashed by her extraordinary actions aboard the UNS Beagle contrasted by the abject panic on the ship and egotistical feuding on the scientists tasked on saving the lives of herself and her crew, it was only appropriate that Doctor of Psychology Basira Khouri, the lady of steel who rallied the crew, directed the scientists to calculate the necessary trajectories by scrawling on the walls in the same way the Manhattan project became reality and contributed directly to the herculean task be appointed administrator over Titan so as to firmly guide the celestial body.
    [X] Psychology and Public Policy
    [X] The Beagle Incident
    [X] Character Flavor: aeiou!
    [x] Chemical Engineering
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Year Zero: Your Right Hand
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    • Year Zero: Your Right Hand​

    Titan's auroras filter in past the viewports into my office room, a dancing shimmer of multicolored light visible across the landscape of the world. The same landscape that can kill if taken lightly, that can kill without equipment, the same landscape that I've been keeping out of the domes for the past two years. It's become something of a ritual over the past two years since I became Director of the Titan colony, to look outside the 'windows' to the landscape of Titan with a cup of ersatz coffee in hand before starting work. I'm in here in my office at the top Dome One, the oldest and weirdly the best-maintained of the Titan colony domes, nice and warm and sipping the bitter not-quite-right taste of synthetic coffee with synthetic creamer.
    Outside? Worse than freezing.

    It gets driven into you over the time in training and the time in space that Titan kills. Most of space kills, mind you. Titan is no exception. The atmosphere is methane, nitrogen and an eclectic chemical mix that has a spectacular lack of oxygen. Suffocation is bad enough, but it isn't the main concern – cold is. Titan is beyond freezing, cold enough to kill in seconds without protective gear. Cold enough to kill – or at least force you unconscious – before the suffocation or poisoning from the atmosphere get to you. Out here on Titan every human works together, or we all die.

    Again, drummed into you in training. Back on Earth.
    Well. What was Earth.

    That thought gets pushed aside very, very carefully while I sip my coffee and absently wipe an eye. There's a well of emotion there I'm not going to touch yet. I can't afford to. Not as the Director. So I sip my coffee, look out onto the planet ten minutes before the workday begins, and think.

    The coffee's a bit too bitter today. A bit too little creamer and a bit too much of the instant ersatz. I set the cup down after draining it in one long pull and sit down to start work. It's too damn bitter and the aftertaste lingers. I do wish I'd had the foresight to get some coffee from home-
    Not that thought. I shake my head. This isn't the time, Basira. Later.

    What concentration I have, though, isn't helped by the first set of requisition forms that flash up on my terminal. The seal of the UN Initiative for Space Exploration glares out at me from the document, as formal and grave as the message header reading PSYCHOLOGICAL STABILITY AND RECENT NEWS.

    The rest of the message isn't anywhere near as formal or cold, thankfully. For all that my second in command is somewhat caustic at times, she isn't hopeless at reading the room.

    Pick a name for the second in command:
    []Name
    []Optional Flavor, Keep It Usable, QM Veto Applies. It Must Gel with the Below.

    One quick skim of the letter gets me the gist of it, but a few passages stand out.

    ...The electrical engineers are worried about rationing what spare parts we have for the waste recycling systems and the hydroponics monitors. Our electronics used to come from Earth, but now we're stuck with no resupply and a yearlong round trip to Venus. I don't think that we have time or personnel for augmenting what supply chain we have here on Titan, so we're going to have to scream loudly enough that the Venerians will hear and send something. I don't think things are as bad as the engineers' first panicked appraisal makes it out to be, but my advice is to plan for the worst and be pleasantly surprised…

    I smile a little at the old adage that she's always held to. A bit pessimistic, but one look at the attached appendices tells me that it's damned true. At worst case projections we're all going to die, but a more measured worst case means food rationing and waiting for resupply from Venus for the electronics fabs. I make a note on the tablet at my side.
    One more thing for the list. I mark it Critical, a bright flashing red on the to-address list.

    The list in question flashes red all the way down, by now.

    ...Life support is holding up for now, but psych is worried. We have a decent number of psych specialists here courtesy of the UN and your plans for expansion, but they're all saying the same thing. We don't have enough of them. We've had three more suicides since last night, newcomers who had family back on Earth. All of us do, but they haven't had time to settle into the colony yet. No life here for them. Pierre Niang, William McFarland, Jasmine Hertzog. All by hanging. Titan's worse than smalltown USA, the news has spread like wildfire and people are on edge…

    This...this, I'd expected. We all had family on Earth seems to glare at me from the page. It takes me a moment to realize that my fingers are pressing down on the chair's armrest and that's why they were aching a bit, and it takes another to get my mind away from thoughts of home. Of the hot, humid, unbearable summers of Lebanon sheltered behind air conditioning with my parents away from what was my second home at university-
    Later, Basira. Later.

    There's a bottle of water on my desk. A sip to calm the nerves, and then back to it.

    ...I hope you're able to cope, Basira. I'm not an idiot so I won't ask if you're alright, but for all of our sakes I hope that you can shoulder this. I'm writing this on autopilot and thinking of Eunice back in Delaware. I can't do this, that's why you're the Director here. I'll do my best as your second, but for all our sakes…

    I blink once, twice, and then wipe my face on my sleeve. This isn't the time to cry. Not now, Basira. Later.

    Pick an affiliation for your second in command:

    []Life Support Engineer:     She's the one in command of the hydroponics and waste management units, dealing with a collection of irascible bioscientists and assorted support engineers to feed the colony and supply air and water. And, of course, deal with the literal mountains of crap that are generated by the thirty thousand colonists on Titan.

    []Spacer: She's the leader of the logistics department, which translates to 'yelling for supplies from Venus' and 'loading up freighters in orbit'. She's someone who knows how to run the orbital sections of Titan and deal with the resupply ships from Venus, run resupply for the mining outposts in the Belt and the refining domes set up across Titan for collecting hydrocarbons and what metals Titan's surface can provide.

    []Personnel Manager: While Dr. Khouri is someone who prefers to take this section of administration under her own eye, a capable subordinate here is something of a godsend. Personnel is more than just dealing with the issues that the colonists bring forward or addressing medical/psych issues – it's also public order, ration allowances, monitoring the mood of the colony, skill development and cross--training, and more.

    Pick one memento of Earth:
    []Coffee:     Dr. Khouri brought real coffee here from Earth. Ground, sadly. But genuine coffee from home in Lebanon, a few bags of Jamaican and a bag of the supermarket blend that she had a guilty craving for. It's all in a trunk in her room, a small box that's now something more to look at than to open. When the coffee runs out, there isn't any more on the way. The doctor will ration it out, a sip or two just to remember what real coffee tasted like. To remember what home tasted like. It's comforting, at least until it's gone.

    []Samizdat: Dr. Khouri was a digital activist when it wasn't fashionable to be one, and a battered volume on her room's table is testament to that fact. It's handwritten, in a mishmash of Arabic and English and slang that only she can parse, a collection of memories and orders and emotions spilled out on paper that was passed from member to member before the organization drifted apart and aged. When Basira is gone there will be nobody to read it anymore, and with Earth gone that means nobody else to remember the plucky little Pirate Underground and their so-called 'illegal medicine' campaign. Nobody now will remember Simone Lang the librarian, Yusuf Khalilzad the cableman, or poor little Abubakar Konte who took the fall for all of them. Nobody but Basira Khouri, all the way here on Titan.

    AN: Please keep the description of the 2IC sane and meme-free. I will not hesitate to veto if I do not want to write it. After this, Turn 1.
     
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    • Well I know for sure that our second shouldn't be a personal manger we're that already personally I'm leaning towards Engineer. And I like the idea of having coffee to have but that second memento option is really tempting.
     
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    I think we live or die by logistics (and this includes the rest of humanity, even), so having our own Tim Asteroid as our second would be ideal:

    [X] Spacer

    We're already a personnel manager; let's have an expert at running the system.

    (That said, life-support is a close second.)
     
    [X]Spacer
    The whole point of Titan is to be an important logistical node.
    Let's be actually good at it.
    [X]Samizdat
    At first I wanted this for it's indefinite usage, compared to coffee... but honestly, it just feels more sentimental.
    You can technically make all those coffees, exact chemical composition as it was on Earth.
    Those memories? Those people? You won't get a second of them, no matter what.
     
    [X]Life Support Engineer: She's the one in command of the hydroponics and waste management units, dealing with a collection of irascible bioscientists and assorted support engineers to feed the colony and supply air and water. And, of course, deal with the literal mountains of crap that are generated by the thirty thousand colonists on Titan.

    We are a year out from any form of logistics and need to manage the situation here, with a lot of engineers making proposals. We need a 2iC that can sort out most of the proposals/explain them to someone who does not know about the specific technical aspects. While the spacer may help us get faster transport, having an engineer here can help to keep us alive would probably do more.

    [X]Samizdat: Dr. Khouri was a digital activist when it wasn't fashionable to be one, and a battered volume on her room's table is testament to that fact. It's handwritten, in a mishmash of Arabic and English and slang that only she can parse, a collection of memories and orders and emotions spilled out on paper that was passed from member to member before the organization drifted apart and aged. When Basira is gone there will be nobody to read it anymore, and with Earth gone that means nobody else to remember the plucky little Pirate Underground and their so-called 'illegal medicine' campaign. Nobody now will remember Simone Lang the librarian, Yusuf Khalilzad the cableman, or poor little Abubakar Konte who took the fall for all of them. Nobody but Basira Khouri, all the way here on Titan.
     
    [X] Kassandra Whitmore

    [X]Life Support Engineer

    [X]Samizdat

    Is there Plan voting or is it by line?
     
    [X]Spacer
    [X]Samizdat
    [X] Zara Kohen

    Couldn't resist the temptation for the 2ICs name. Let old animosities be no on more the new frontier.

    [X]Optional Flavor: Israeli pacifist. She wanted to get away as fast as possible.
     
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    [X]Life Support Engineer
    [X]Samizdat

    Spaceships are great and all but even at the best of times on the fastest ship we have Venus is months and months away. If shit's fucked here and now (which it definitely will be) the people who need to fix it are the engineers we have with the supplies we have not eggheads 8 AU away.
     
    Hm, life support or logistics? Have to think on it.

    [X]Samizdat: Dr. Khouri was a digital activist when it wasn't fashionable to be one, and a battered volume on her room's table is testament to that fact. It's handwritten, in a mishmash of Arabic and English and slang that only she can parse, a collection of memories and orders and emotions spilled out on paper that was passed from member to member before the organization drifted apart and aged. When Basira is gone there will be nobody to read it anymore, and with Earth gone that means nobody else to remember the plucky little Pirate Underground and their so-called 'illegal medicine' campaign. Nobody now will remember Simone Lang the librarian, Yusuf Khalilzad the cableman, or poor little Abubakar Konte who took the fall for all of them. Nobody but Basira Khouri, all the way here on Titan.
     
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