Winner said:
[X] The trial
-[X] The blue marble justice
You're holding four people who don't want to be here, nor do you want them anywhere near Little Klondike, and ultimately the piracy is not your problem alone. You'll have to be content with the knowledge that you've set whoever is behind them back by a ship, terrible though its quality is, and made them tread much more carefully around you.
[X] Plan: Nanites
-[X] Diplomacy
--[X] Call back to the private resort
If it's some trillionaires party house, then something as exotic as locally sourced fruits and vegetables might very well fetch a price that would be ridiculous elsewhere. And the security staff have needs too, maybe you can undercut their current supplier, especially in light of recent circumstances. DC 15
-[X] Security
--[X] Ships
---[X] Transport
The Excelsior is a fine ship, but she is just one ship. Similar personnel transport vessels are much cheaper than freighters, don't have the issues of buying military hardware and have many more uses than the shuttles. Try to get another one, it's the only class that's not completely breaking your bank at this stage. DC 75
--[X] Drones
Just imagining combat inside a spaceship gives you the chills. Information is worth more than bullets in many cases and a tiny camera can't be too hard to stick on some legs. The classic flying approach from Earth doesn't work without an atmosphere, but some skittering spiderbots should be within your means of development and production. Now if only you could get them to work at reflex speeds, supplementing and improving the awareness of a soldier instead of distracting them. DC 25
-[X] Engineering
--[X] Bakery
The closest thing to fresh bread you've had in years are the dry crackers from the ration packs that, rumors say, expand when you apply moisture. You now have a variety of grains, things like rye bread and rice cookies would definitely sell like hot cakes. Also, muffins, 'nuff said. DC 20
--[X] Power
---[X] Fission power plant
Sure you've a good system developed for powering your stuff, but diversity is a strength. Unlike the free sunlight, you'd need to import uranium, possibly refine it too, not to mention the difficulty of developing and constructing a plant from scratch. On the plus side, waste isn't a problem when you've the world's biggest incinerator staring down on you and no pesky gravity to stop you from chucking things in. Your new vassals might be less helpful than you'd have hoped, but there's still a bit of expertise in minor, yet significant, hurdles. DC 60
-[X] Internal Affairs
--[X] Base information
---[X] Emergency generators
Your current power supply is awfully vulnerable to forces of nature and targeted attacks alike. Set up well hidden, well shielded and separately supplied backup generators that would at least sustain basic life support around your compound should something happen to the solar fields. DC 30
-[X] Research
--[X] Medical concerns
---[X] Silver nanites 2
A follow-up to the technology Lena has come up with, with focus on the areas she listed as having room for improvement. The little critters can (semi-theoretically) fix strands of DNA damaged by the generation loss effect or be programmed to produce organic compounds from the constituent molecules. And whatever else your head scientist can come up with. DC 80
-[X] Personal action
--[X] School Visit (Student Q&A? Political Debate?)
(Roll, call back to the private resort, required 15: 88)
Between already effectively having made a delivery once, previously expressed interest and the goodwill of the people you rescued, reaching a profitable deal is essentially trivial for Hailey. Pointing out the wealth of fresh, or at least fresher, food, its novelty factor, reduced transport expenses and increased safety lets her badger some poor secretary for every penny. With the Excelsior serving as a reliable backup and the newly rechristened Skookum bouncing back and forth between Prismdust and the resort, none of your own schedules are adversely impacted either.
What you did not expect comes a few months later, in the form of an innocuous message reaching your launch pad broadcast tower. The contents are simple and standard, a request for an approach vector and permission to land, sent by a ship of middling size, custom class. The vessel is some days out yet, leisurely cruising on a path that's seemingly no different from other blips on the radar, the once quiet neighborhood becoming more and more alive as the years pass. Unexpected, but you really have no reason or cause to want to say no, so it receives the flight plan and corrects course to visit Little Klondike.
Soon enough, the ship lands. It's similar in purpose to the Excelsior, but that's just about all that's similar about the ships. Perhaps triple the size, the spacecraft has at least two separate decks, outwardly fashioned in a faux-modern design, sleek silvery panels giving the ship a curved and bulbous look. The thrusters are precise, barely caressing the catching rails during landing and while you can only speculate about the innards, your gut feeling tells you it's every bit as custom made and expensive as the visible features would suggest. A boat made for showing off, not merely utility.
You're sitting in your office and staring at the airlock tube attaching to the freshly landed ship, feeling conflicted. On the one hand, you've long since given up on greeting every arrival personally and the giant cargo freighters come and go without you so much as meeting a foreign sailor, but on the other hand it feels like someone has come to visit your home, and as the head of the household you should be at the door to greet them. It's to these thoughts that Hailey walks in.
"Hey boss, I've got a meeting request for you."
Shaking your head to clear your mind, you turn away from the window, "Someone on that ship, yes? I can shuffle some things around, send them in when they get here."
"Not quite so simple," she pulls out a data pad and you notice she's suppressing a grin, "There's a list of
specifications the size of an instruction manual for the meeting. We can cover them, but it would be difficult for your office. I recommend one of the Dome's rooms."
"That seems quite arrogant," you huff, swiping at the text, "A four meters wide door? Are we hosting a parade for our guests?"
"Oh no," the brunette is no longer trying to hide her smile, "they're really quite humble; check the last line."
"For the inconvenience of consideration, we have forwarded to your account…" you read out loud, trailing off as the zeroes on the sum keep going. "Right, wouldn't want to be rude to our guests. You can arrange all of this how fast exactly?"
"I've a team setting up coordination with their personnel now, boss. We'll be ready by six."
A few hours later, you're leaning against the railing overlooking the entrance, a meeting room prepared behind you. At first your own people were bumbling about trying to get things set up before a team of people dressed in matching uniforms got through the med-scan and smoothly took over. Evidently, they had done similar preparations countless times before, working for the mysterious benefactor. That benefactor is just being carried in through the main door, or at least that's the only way you can explain it.
Four security troops in pale lithe power armor are carrying a featureless off-white ovoid the size of a small limousine into the plaza. As one, they turn to march towards the closest walkway, their smooth helmets never twisting to gaze about. While they make their way up you rouse yourself and enter the room behind you. A pair of armchairs made of what you can almost guarantee is real leather and wood have appeared, separated by an elaborately decorated screen. The fractal patterns painted on the paper break up any silhouettes, you note as you take the seat meant for you.
Moments later the delegation arrives. The security guards softly lower the gondola to the ground and you see the nose open up over the screen, disgorging the person – persons – within. One indistinct shape sits in the chair as the guards pull out the carriage while the other steps out from behind the screen, sliding another panel over to close the final gap. He's an elderly man dressed in a simple suit, although you're sure it costs more than all of yours combined, and he gives you a shallow bow, his dark skin shining light back at you off his bald head.
"Mr. O'Rielly, my employer greets you."
"Likewise, welcome to Little Klondike," you nod back. "I'm afraid you have me at something of a disadvantage here."
"I am the envoy. I interpret for my employer who wishes to remain anonymous in all dealings with everyone. I shall speak to you as if I were they."
"Very well," you've little choice but to roll with the situation, bizarre though it may be. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I am here to extend my gratitude to you regarding your role in recent events."
"The pirates," it doesn't take much to guess, "I'll forward the message to Sergeant Luke Memphis, who led the operation."
"Do so however you wish. Underlings reflect on the leader just as the leader reflects on them, and I care not how you reward them. I deal with you."
The silence that descends is anything but comfortable and after a moment you continue on, "While we did what we could, and I appreciate the gesture, pardon me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem the type to fly out and shake hands over what amounts to routine police work."
"No," he pauses, "I understand, William, that you're something of a self-made man."
"You could say that," you blink at the non sequitur.
"In some ways I like that. To forge a legacy is no small matter, but it's a job never finished. Legacies last beyond mere lifetimes, and how they're carried on is up to our progeny," a hiss of exhaled breath from behind the screen is followed by a cloying cloud of blueish smoke. "Yours, perhaps, less than mine. The empire I've cultivated I inherited, and eventually I'll leave my investments and deals behind, with little that's tangible to show for my life's work. On the Liberty was my great-granddaughter, and such debts must be repaid."
"When you say
repaid?"
"You'll find I am very resourceful indeed, and decisions of such magnitude are not to be made on a whim. I am not here for something as base as writing a cheque. I am telling you that you are owed a favor, and
that I do not give lightly," another cloud of vapor floats up. "You know how to contact my representatives, and they in turn have channels that eventually lead back to me."
You can recognize a dismissal, but per the instructions you remain seated as the doors open and the same security detail begins marching in.
Before the envoy vanishes behind the screen, he turns to you again, "I would be remiss not to compliment you on the venue. I'll be recommending it to some of my associates."
As before, the capsule opens and closes out of sight, and just like that the room is empty again, leaving only you to wonder at the glimpse of the lifestyle of the ultra-rich, and whether you'll ever become as eccentric yourself. Then again, as a particularly big red and gold fish lazily floats up through one of the walls, maybe you're closer than you think. Somehow, you're left with no doubt about the ability of the mystery person to deliver on your favor, unspecified or not.
(Selling food to Resort Station, gained one favor, can be applied to any non-research action to guarantee success, no time limit.)
(Roll, transport ship, required 75: 81)
The ship you want reaches your awareness through similar channels as the Excelsior did. Once again there's an auction, although this time you have several weeks to fret over whether the bid you submitted was good enough. Time you and Amanda spend digging into the background details.
Originally, the vessel was commissioned from a Lunar drydock over three years ago, before the embargoes and the switch of political parties, by a US mining company apparently looking to branch out from a freighter chain to more personnel ships. An unfortune timing on their part, as the predicted economic boom ended up suppressed, or at least delayed. Before the construction was finished and final payments made, the firm was forced to declare bankruptcy; a case where adapting too early can end up biting just as bad as not adapting at all. Between the colonizing drive for the New Belt finally hitting its first true spurt and increased efforts picking up steam to the Old Belt and beyond, had they lasted another year then the ship would have been a veritable gold mine.
However, their misfortune is your lucky break.
The vessel itself has bigger quarters for crew or passengers, but at the cost of engine power. Especially the auxiliary thrusters used for maneuvering or rotating the ship leave quite a bit to be desired, at least compared to the Excelsior; a sledgehammer compared to a mallet. It's still a single deck, or more accurately single shaft craft, a central elevator joining the bridge to the aft bay, with sets of alternating common rooms and sleeping quarters running down the length of the ship. You're told upfront that furnishing the inside beyond the basics is not part of the price, but that just lets you use similar schematics and backups you have for your other boat. Having to fabricate a single set of fridges is easier for you than maintaining two separate products anyway.
For its maiden voyage you have it stop by Troy Station to pick up another set of migrants before beginning the months long trip through the void. The route isn't strictly optimal, but the extra fuel spent means it gets to you sooner than waiting around. The journey has the ship leap-frogging through Venus, and the maneuvers have it arriving with a – thankfully only figurative – military escort. Your vessel enters the sector about three days before a full carrier, escorted by a cruiser and three frigates, follows it in. Before the week is up, they've overtaken you, blazing past under sustained thrust.
You've assigned a small program to alert you if they deviate from their course towards you, but a healthy sense of paranoia still has you conferring with Amanda one night.
"How many strike craft do you think that behemoth is carrying?"
"Hard to say," she eyes the promotional pictures you have access to, "At least a few dozen. Maybe hundreds."
The carrier is less a ship than a floating city. A skeleton crew for it would probably number in the thousands while a full complement would outdo most stations. That its thrusters don't rip themselves off the ship or through it while still actually getting it to move is a marvel of engineering, and you shudder to think of the sweltering heat that must surely be present at the core levels.
"Think they had enough time for a full loadout?"
"I hope not. There's no way they would keep the whole thing fully operational all the time. If I had to guess, it's here to serve as a staging post, based on the trajectory."
The elephant in the room. The EU carrier group is blasting straight through your orbital plane and heading for the presumed black site.
"Perhaps they're here to destroy the base and then leave," you muse, although you doubt life is that simple, "If there is a base to destroy at any rate."
It seems your sheriff agrees, "They would have sent a dreadnought for that, moving a carrier isn't cheap; I fear they're here to stay."
A week later, right as your new ship is being pulled into the pyramid for the interior installment, your thoughts are all but confirmed. The warfleet has started deceleration and you've picked up another signature blazing towards the same destination from within the common orbit, appearing from the suns shadow. The US's responding force has a similar composition, and if the Europeans are spending fuel through a firehose then the Americans have just broken the whole hydrant, but it does let them avoid the invisible borders and the associated diplomatic incident.
"I think it's safe to say this is what Rosseau meant," you quip to Amanda, once again sharing a coffee break, this time accompanied by Lena.
"The unusual flight vector is good at least," the scientist adds, "If they're worried about diplomacy then perhaps it won't be the first space battle in history."
"What I don't get," Carpenter mumbles as she takes a sip, "is whose site it actually is? The EU doesn't seem to be here to blast it to pieces, suggesting its theirs, but they acted first, the US is just responding."
"An evacuation, just blown out of proportion?" you suggest.
Lena sounds like she's rolling her eyes, "Way, way out of proportion. That carrier could fit every living soul in the sector with room left over, I refuse to believe that there's enough people completely hidden in open space to necessitate that."
As the two armadas arrive near the patch of space your data suggests as the location of the anomaly, the mystery remains. Both fleets park a few hours off the epicenter, on opposite sides, entering what you can only assume is a nerve-wracking standoff, occasionally firing thrusters to maintain the same relative position lest they fall behind on the slower orbit.
While troubling, life goes on as no shots are exchanged. After the interior refit of your brand-new spaceship finishes, all that's left is to fill out the internal registry, including a name.
(Proud owner of a second vessel capable of interplanetary flight, as described above.)
(Roll, drones, required 25: 18)
Maybe, just maybe, you're forced to admit to yourself, there's some reason as to why you couldn't find anyone selling combat recon drones for zero-g environments. That reason being that the damn things have turned out to be hellishly complex to get to work.
You've tried any number of adhesion methods, from your first attempts with electromagnets to suction cups to micron thorns to van der Waals force generating nanometer scale patterns. None of it seems to just work. Either the latching mechanism is too slow and the drone becomes a ricocheting metal fragment or it's too strong and the actuators fail to rip the body from the surface or the whole mechanism doesn't scale down to the size you need or it's so delicate as to break beyond repair after a few tests.
And if it's not the movement – you have prototypes that can leap about as you want them to – then it's always at the cost of some other critical component. Magnets strong and precise enough to grant proper mobility? The static generated completely scrambles the communication signal. A gecko's foot system whose control algorithms take up all the available circuit space. The suction cups can't fit both pumps and jet tubes for aerial maneuvering. A fiendishly clever permanent magnet and hydraulic system has a battery that's only good for a minute at best. You've a three circle Venn diagram on your workshop whiteboard split between size, mobility and utility, and while most experiments fall into two categories, you have none in the middle of the drawing.
Things that move while being the size of a chestnut: check, but they don't come with a camera. A broadcasting lens the size of an actual eye: check, but there's no room for leg motors. A robot that moves as fast as you want for a useful amount of time, all the while transmitting: check, but it's the size of a torso and weighs as much as a sack of bricks. You might not really care about gravitational mass, but accelerating a trooper wearing that means it's basically the only piece of gear they can carry, at which point you might as well make it man sized and cover it in armor.
Well, dreams of robot militia are nice, but if you can't get the little things off the drawing board then you shudder to think of the challenges of actual combat robots.
Ultimately, all you have to offer are empty apologies to Amanda, who assures you that she and everyone else on base can tell you've been busy with other projects, but deep down you still feel the sting of failure.
(Minor progress made, still no operational drones.)
(Roll, bakery, required 20: 71)
Between your work on the energy side of the base, the SPIDERs and the ships both private and military giving you grey hairs, you realize one lunch break that you haven't seen your fellow engineer in nearly two weeks. That, in and of itself isn't a problem, you've seen the schematics for the industrial mill and occasionally met some of his team working on a component in the workshops, but today you feel like bouncing some ideas off him, so you resolve to track him down.
A visit to his office yields no results, and dipping into the farms for a chat with the engineer squad there is likewise fruitless. Your next stop is the bakery building going up across the brewery. Here, at least you get some intel, waving down the engineer on site through a window. After the airlock cycles you greet her as she yanks off her helmet.
"Miss Octavia."
"Hello, sir," the woman calls back, "Is there a problem?"
"No. I'm looking for Ken, but while I'm here, I might as well get a status update. How's the project coming along?"
"Everything on schedule. The silo feed system to the mill is finished, the ovens' heating elements were just installed, although the final tests will happen in atmo. Next is the packaging…" she consults her data pad, "scratch that, the dough mixers, then the packaging, then the cooling racks. Probably a month until we're sealing her up. On the front end, you'd have to ask Ken or whoever's in charge there, the tunnel from the shop is being dug, but that's all I know about that."
"All good then, thank you. Now about Ken; do you know where I might find him?"
"Probably with his new lady," she grins at you, "didn't think the old dog had it in him, but one of the Troy arrivals has been hanging off his side like moondust on power cables."
"That is news," you smile back, "he hasn't been saddling you with his work just to fool around, has he?"
"Nah, he still drops by, and too many cooks spoil the dough, as it were, anyway."
You choose not to react to the pun with a supreme effort of will, "Know where they are now?"
She almost shrugs before focusing on something over your shoulder, "Yes, sir, I do, but it's time I got back to work before someone messes up a weld."
As she refastens her helmet, you turn around to the sight of your head engineer following a diminutive woman whose face immediately breaks into a wide smile upon seeing you.
"Kenny! You have to tell me when we're meeting important people," she exclaims, and while you're picking your jaw off the floor –
Kenny? – marches up to you, dragging Ken along by the sleeve.
"Well, don't be rude, introduce us," she hooks her arm around
Kenny's.
"William O'Rielly, this is Natasha, my…" his face remains blank.
"His wife, Natasha Hiragi. Oh, I've been dying to meet you, but we've had so much catching up to do. Really dear, you should have invited him over much sooner," she extends her hand and despite the fact that her fingers barely circle your palm, gives you a strong squeeze.
"I'm sorry," Ken mumbles.
"I didn't realize you were back together, Ken," you venture.
"We're…"
"Oh, all that's so long in the past now. We've talked it over and he's come to his senses again," she lets out an almost painfully loud laugh and playfully whacks at his shoulder as he winces, "Really, I always told him that he needs to seize more opportunities. Aren't you glad you finally listened to me, Kenny?"
"Yes dear."
"And you," she rounds back to you, "I don't know how you've managed to keep things running with lazy-bones here on your staff, but don't you worry any more. I'll whip him back to shape, Will."
"Of course," you smile at her, just a bit off balance still, "Ken, I wanted to go over some of the regolith absorption numbers with you. Drop by my office tonight, would you?"
"He'll be there by four, I'll make sure of it," she answers before
Kenny gets a word in, "But you have to be back by eight or you'll be all tired in the morning."
"Yes, dear," he says, showing no reaction to your saucy wink as you brush past, leaving the pair behind as Ken starts to don a vac-suit.
(Bread, cookies, confectionary, cakes, sweets… sweethearts?)
(Roll, fission power plant, required 60: 83)
With recent failure a year ago from trusting too much in others fresh on your mind, you shoulder perhaps more than your share of the work, if only to make sure things get done. Still, this isn't the time to reinvent the wheel. A solid fourth generation design using molten lead as coolant is the final pick. The same tech is used for many older satellites, although on a smaller scale than you intend to construct. The station reactors are modular units that operate for about twenty years before getting replaced wholesale, producing some two hundred megawatts during operations. Your own plans call for at least double that to start with, and options to expand to the gigawatt range should you need it. And just because it's old, doesn't mean it's not well suited to your situation.
The design has two glaring weaknesses, or what would be such on Earth. First is the issue of structural reinforcement: the lead coolant driving the turbines is… well, lead, one of the densest, and therefore heaviest metals. Between geological forces, building integrity and gravitational sinking, larger designs of such reactors were quickly phased out. On a microgravity environment with not a single earthquake in sight, the weight isn't a concern.
The other issue has to do with heat conservation. The liquid lead must be kept above three hundred thirty degrees lest it solidify. While heating the metal back up is simple enough, it still could either damage the turbine blades or force the reactor offline for weeks. However, while space may be cold, it's also an excellent insulator, the best even, when it comes to passive cooling. Without air convection to ferry heat energy away from the plant, you could shut down the power for a month and still have perfectly molten metal in the pipes.
Indeed, you would be more worried about overheating causing a pressurization catastrophe, except that unlike the most conventional water-based designs, lead coolant remains a liquid well above even the worst failure temperatures. Before it would become gas, a weld or rivet on a pipe will melt, generating a small leak that's inconvenient and perhaps hazardous to some incredibly unlucky spacewalker, but much preferrable to a core explosion.
Of course, you don't neglect the usual safety concerns either. Your base is already shielded against radiation by necessity, the housing structure of the power plant forms the second layer, and the lead coolant serves as the first line. There's also no electricity required for a safe shutdown, should for example a particularly bad solar flare wipe your grid then the pumps circulating the metal stop, the control rods are forced down by expanding gas pockets as electromagnets turn off, and the whole system begins an exceptionally slow cooling process.
Both the fissile uranium for the core and the coolant you source from Prismdust, and this time they deliver, although from Ghorst's report on the matter you make a note to invest in their mining operation before further expansion, seeing as you're consuming pretty much all of their surplus production already. You also know that you're definitely coming out ahead in the exchange of foodstuffs for enriched fuel, although if the scientists are aware of the fluctuating market value, they don't seem to mind. Truly the wonders of a barter economy.
(Nuclear energy reactor operational, options to expand it available.)
(Roll, emergency generators, required 30: 62)
While all eyes are focused on the surprisingly small nuclear power plant going up next door, Erikson, alongside a team of your engineers, is busy in the bowels of your complex. Sub-subbasements are excavated in the most critical locations and metal hunks he assures you are generators are taken below, alongside containers with fuel. The focus is on reliability, simplicity and storage time; fate willing you won't ever need to activate the machines, which means they will need to stand idly by for decades on end. Ragnar is approaching things from a different angle, making sure that only people who need to know of the generators do.
"Worried that the fuel reserves will look like appealing sales articles?" you jokingly prod him.
"I'd like to see someone try to run a car with this stuff, let alone a spaceship," he chuckles, and you lift an eyebrow at him.
"What do you mean?"
"They're coal generators. The containers just have black rocks in them."
"Really? I'd expect that to be kind of expensive."
"There's plenty of coal left, especially now that no one uses it," he waves your concerns away, "Plus it's about as stable a fuel as there is. Wouldn't recommend using it for longer than absolutely necessary, but it'll keep us going long enough."
You're forced to admit that his approach makes sense. You can just vent what gases you can't recycle into space, and the things only need to work until repairs are complete or evacuation. If either of those takes longer than a few weeks then you've got more pressing concerns than heat and noise pollution.
(Backup coal generators installed.)
(Roll, silver nanites 2, required 80: 97)
With your blessing, Lena sets about ripping into the already impressive nanite dust with gusto. For months on end, she's glued to her electron microscope, often only emerging from her lab on Amanda's prodding. Her reports, usually overflowing with technical detail grow sparse and concise, although no easier to digest or chew through. The woman seems nearly possessed as she develops atomic structures for ever more complex commands and operations. Your own consultations with Prismdust take less of the years bandwidth than hers as she looks for more and more precise magnetic fields. She even has a brief call with the Dreamers, although whether she got any meaningful radio signal tech from the cult or not remains unclear to you beyond a throwaway line in a report stating that 'the cloud can, with sufficient cohesion, retrieve and interpret soft x-rays'.
One of the printers is carted into her workspace and dissected and rebuilt in record time. Apparently, the lasers were far too unfocused, so through an iterative process she built better lenses to build better lenses to build better lenses to have the properly scaled depositors. From there her reports shift to retroviral delivery systems and electromagnetic field flagellum control modulation and your eyes glaze over, try as you might. You do notice that some of the motion looks like it was lifted from the early AI scripts, although it's been heavily modified to account for things like blood flow and cell membranes.
After the first few months, she apparently deems the
first nanite up to her standards, and starts work on another model. From what you understand, multifunctionality on that scale is a pipedream, so multiple synergistic bots are needed. Thankfully, the tools and some of the underlying work carries over, so she's not starting from scratch and in the time it took to develop the first type, she's left with half a dozen designs, each apparently vital.
Next on her list of tech to repurpose is the MRI helmet, and by the time she's done with it, its more of a sarcophagus. Hundreds of magnets encircle an inner cavity, each carefully controlled by what you can proudly say are designs you were forced to abandon on your drone project. Still, between the menacing hum of capacitors and servos, coupled with medical sensors and an ominous injection port, it would take quite a bit of convincing for you to voluntarily enter the machine. Thankfully she assures you that people would be sedated well before seeing the mausoleum. And she assures you with an exasperated eyeroll that it's not a mausoleum.
The final part of her magnum opus is the delivery medium. Saline solutions apparently don't work, as the nanites become too diffused to be effective, but the direct application she previously used doesn't guarantee an even distribution of the various models. Instead, she requisitions some plasma from the blood bank, uses yet another nanite to prepare it by rendering out unnecessary proteins and builds capsules mimicking red blood cells for the actual bots to hook on to. The resulting syringe is a creepy mix of yellowy and silver hues, looking more like robotic pus than life saving medicine, but you're not one to judge a book by its cover… so long as you're not the one to administer her dose.
"So that is the procedure, sir," she finishes explaining her plan, standing at parade rest in your office.
"First, thank you for not just going for it like last time," while she remains stoic, a tiny blush creeps over her cheeks. "Second… actually, I won't insult you by asking whether you think the procedure is safe or not. What's the expected aftermath and is there anything I can do?"
"Really it should be in line with last time: this time I'll be under narcosis before the shot is administered. The magnetic chamber is already programmed and human intervention is unnecessary beyond taking me out once it's done and transferring me to the ward. I should be awake within eight to ten hours. Then it'll take a few days to run tests, and depending on the…" she lets out a long breath, "outcome, there'll be more tests over the weeks and months."
"Both I and Doctor Strauss still insist that you remain bedbound for the duration, Miss Weissmeier," you inform her with faux sternness before dropping the act. "We'll be rooting for you, Lena."
"I know," she musters a tiny smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes, betraying her nervousness.
(88)
The next time you see her, she's sleeping peacefully, although the hospital gown is a stark departure from her usual suits and cardigans. Amanda is paging through her tablet, although she stirs at the smell of coffee you bring with you.
"She still asleep?" you ask as you hand her one of the cups.
"The doctor was here about half an hour ago. He said she'd be waking up soon," she tells you after a sip, "Thanks."
"Thought you might need some. Have you been here the whole night?"
"It's fine, I'm…" she stops as Lena stirs. For a brief moment you're all silent before she blinks her eyes open.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Amanda holds a water bottle with a straw to her lips, and as she groggily takes a sip asks, "How are you feeling?"
In answer, the woman pulls herself up to a sitting position and grabs the bottle, "I'm not recovering from a surgery, you know. I feel like I just woke up, which is how I'm supposed to feel."
You can't help but laugh at her grumpy expression, "That sounds promising, but you're still staying in here. I'll go find Strauss," leave your own untouched coffee on the bedside table, and spotting the entwined hands, add, "Although it might take me a while, decaffeinated as I am."
Amanda's look is decidedly more grateful than the suspicious glare from Lena, although even before you're out the door her expression has smoothed out as she turns back to your sheriff.
It's a few days later that you next check in on her in person. This time she's alone in the ward, Carpenter eventually having to end her vigil. The lights are dimmed, and her face is lit by the back glow of a computer sitting on her lap, her hands laying motionless on the keys. Were it not for the fact that you can see her open eyes, you'd think she was asleep. Standing in the doorway, she hasn't noticed you, so you knock on the frame and she startles.
"Hey," you call out softly, "this a bad time?"
"No," she sniffles once, "no, come in."
You take the seat next to the bed, and look at her. Up close, her cheeks have bright tracks running down from her eyes. You remain silent, letting her gather her thoughts.
It takes her a moment, but eventually, you catch her whisper.
"It worked…" she turns to you, her eyes bright and wide, "It worked!"
"That's good, right?" you ask as a small, fragile smile blooms on her face.
"It's wonderful," she replies, fresh tears of happiness brimming in her eyes. "Even if it turns out that it isn't perfect later, it's a cure that works," a giggle escapes her lips, and like a dam had burst it's followed by genuine and infectious laughter.
You laugh along, basking in her joy and letting her let her fears out. She keeps going until she runs out of air, eventually laying on her back and staring at the ceiling, a look of rapture on her face. The silence descending between you is perfectly content, each of you lost in thought until she breaks it.
"What now?"
"What do you mean?" you quirk your eyebrow at her.
She turns to look at you, still sprawled on the bed, "What do you do when your life's work is done?"
"I imagine that's up to you, the whole point of achieving this was to have a life
for work to be done, yes? Although I might be a bit biased in recommending the R&D department of this little outpost called Little Klondike, I hear good things about the current head."
"You're joking, but I owe you far too much to ever pay it off," she shushes you when you start to protest, "Ten years of virtually unlimited budget for no expected returns, on a scientist barely out of grad school, in a place where you're literally months away from any safety. Do you even realize how insane you are? With the money you've sunk into this place you could've been the richest man in L5 by now, yet you keep pumping all your profits back here. And I know you have a better sense for business than I do for pharmacology, don't even try to deny it."
Before you can get a word in, she keeps going, "This research, fifty years on Earth just to cut through the red tape. On Luna, I'd have been shut out from the project as soon as initial viability was shown, because I don't have the right connections. On Mars, even
if – by some miracle – I could gather the investor, my lab would get blown up halfway through."
Suddenly, she seems to realize that she's rambling and takes a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm a bit off kilter, endorphin rush. What I wanted to say… Thank you, for… this. None of it would have been possible without you."
"You sell yourself short, you know," you rebuke her, "but you're welcome all the same."
A moment later you feel like breaking the levity again. "Speaking of debt, how much do you owe me for the dose you just used and how much will you be requisitioning from the first batch for your sister?"
"Oh god!" she nearly leaps up, the laptop floating towards the far wall in a lazy arc, "I have to tell Anna!"
You just laugh again as she dashes from the room, hospital gown flapping about.
The follow-up report she sends you a week later is just the cherry on top. The improved nanites can be incorporated into other medical projects, from cancer treatment to anti-aging therapy to genetic modification for plants; in short, they're versatile miracle machines, although the difficulty of mass producing the new models has gone up alongside the complexity.
(Nanites advanced, various related DC lowered, Lena Weissmeier suddenly finds herself with more free time that she happily invests in working for you.)
-.-
Your first visit to the Little Klondike Elementary School debate club was, looking back on it, rather awkward. The whole point of debate is to explore the strengths and weaknesses of an argument, but your authority on subject matters meant that no one was willing to seriously challenge your positions. At least, that was the case last year.
Children are wonderfully adaptable, and once you decided to keep showing up every few months, their awe and respect quickly took a backseat to excitement.
This time you're in the role of a UN moderator, and the two teams on the floor are the corporations and the US. The topic for the day is whether colonization should be a private venture. Opening statement goes to government.
"The government thinks that colonial efforts by the state are a vital point of national interest, and as such cannot fall under business regulatory law, nor be run on a for-profit basis. The purpose of a government is to guarantee the wellbeing of its citizens, whereas a corporate entity seeks to maximize profit. While gaining surplus income to augment the national budget isn't at odds with the aforementioned purpose, a well-run corporation will, by definition, lead to deteriorating conditions for the colonists as profits are extracted, rather than invested. In the short term, early employees will see massive riches, but such ventures are by their nature barely better than pyramid schemes. Furthermore, a corporation isn't capable of providing a proper safety net, and when they inevitably fail, the state must pick up the bill to protect the people who are still its citizens."
As the first person to talk has the advantage of setting the stage, the opponent gets to start by cross examining the points.
"First contest: a corporate entity doesn't deal in profit extraction; we're interested in long-term projects that cultivate permanent income streams for investors. A government-run colony is much more likely to be bled dry as such a large entity always has conflicting interests."
The first speaker now has the opportunity for an even shorter rebuttal, or to tap you for some actual data regarding the scenario.
"Clarification: is the corporation solely for creating a colony?" the question is directed at you.
"It will need either already established reserves or significant investor backing, but the contest is reasonable. A nation-state will be bigger than the firms represented here."
"The state considers unelected investors to be a corporate entity."
Several pairs of fingers take note of the statement and the speaker winces as another law is retroactively added to the great game and you don't dispute it. Whether either side considers it a win, no one knows yet.
"Second contest: pyramid schemes do not generate extra value, work on an asteroid or satellite generates very real, tangible products, so all labor is backed not by fiat but market value. Early adapters simply see the fruits of their labor."
"I did not equate the two. A refined ingot is worth the same on the market, but statistics show that tenured employees earn significantly more, which is inherently unfair."
Technically true, you pay much more to the people who've been with you for the longest, but not just because of the time. Usually, they've been promoted to leadership roles because they've shown their competence and trustworthiness, which should be rewarded. But it's not up to you to weigh in here, it's up to the kids to reason things out themselves.
Now, the corporate team gets to make their own arguments.
"The government already has tools to control and direct businesses: they're called laws. Government interference in the market leads to less optimized results, and colonial ventures by the state cannot be competed against. This is inherently unfair, but also untenable. By restricting the ability of legitimate businesses to operate, a path is opened for illegitimate operators, who can use dishonest means to circumvent the market, such as script-slavery, piracy and corruption. This means that by interfering in the colonial drive to prevent the exploitation of its citizens, the government inadvertently causes that very thing to happen. Furthermore, a government doesn't own its citizens. Should a group wish to break away, giving up the benefits in the process, then that is their fundamental right."
The back and forth continues as both sides alternate between raising new points and trying to topple old ones. The real world operates with a bit more complexity of course, with both options occurring simultaneously, alongside a bevy of hybrid solutions, but in the microcosm that is the Great Game, it seems like the corporate standpoint is slowly winning. Its up to the teachers to finally determine todays champion, which will grant their team some points. How the scoring system works, you don't really know, having begged off descending into that madness with the excuse that it'll help you remain completely impartial, but from what you understand, the rules decided today will help the corporate team next week when they'll be debating the same argument against the Europeans, who are currently in talks with the spacer faction two rooms down the hall.
All told at the end of the day, you're left quite tired, having to exercise your creative muscles and dig through long forgotten memories to answer increasingly complicated questions on the fly. But it's a good kind of tired, and it's even more worth the effort when the kids invite you to partake in the after-battle pizza.
-.-
Try as you might, there's precious little that you can do about the twin military encampments distressingly close to you. As the weeks turn to months and another year draws to a close, you almost start to float ideas of selling the soldiers food.
Almost. Instead, all your available information channels, few though there are, remain silent on the subject, and life goes on, bringing with it another yearly meeting. Lena is the last to arrive, clutching several tablets in a holster as she shoots the room an apologetic smile. She's been living on cloud nine for months now, nearly skipping around the compound, and were it not for the wide array of medical tests performed on her you'd be worried the nanites had done something to her personality.
"Hailey, kick us off," you nod to the diplomat when the blonde has taken a seat.
"Rodger-rodger, boss. The bad news first: we have no idea why the space sunward of us has been occupied by two rival superpowers. The good news is that it doesn't seem to involve us. I've gotten nothing from Rousseau, the Chois actually don't know and even the cultists are quiet for once. Venus Station remains on lockdown, just passes supplies onward for both groups. No one on Earth is commenting either, and it's suppressed in the media to the point of not being the front-page story any more. Azure Star sent their heartfelt gratitude for dealing with the piracy issue, and say that they're steadily recovering from their earlier setbacks. Perhaps they'll even have something to trade soon, but not yet. There's also been two travel firms contacting me about scheduling stops for cruises here. I haven't said yes just yet, and their enthusiasm waned when they heard more about us, but apparently they're stopping at New Ireland, and we're still a worthwhile detour."
Next you turn to Ken, who's been rather absent over the past months. He still attends any mandatory meetings and his work remains up to par, but the rest of the time he vanishes. When you do see him however, he's as quiet and withdrawn as always.
"How are we on production?"
"With the reactor online, we have a significant surplus. Between the bakery and the fish stock, food stores remain steady, regardless of migration and increased sales. We keep using large amounts of water, but there's no getting around that. Depending on how many people we're expecting," he turns to Hailey, who shrugs, making finger guns to clarify the reason for the uncertainty, "qualitative or quantitative improvements seem prudent. The suburban sprawl keeps getting worse. There's also the future concern of outgrowing the docks. The launch pad is fine, but there's not much parking."
"Carpenter, anything to report?"
"Police activity is up, sir. People are tense, and some don't have healthy outlets for that stress. As far as military matters are concerned, we have one ship in reserve full stop and one that's idle most of the time. From a sheer utility perspective, we might want to start offering protective escort services to recoup losses. I've also squashed talk of ranged boarding actions so far, but there are legitimate avenues to pursue there. Perhaps."
"Erikson, anything to say on those internal tensions?"
"She's right. There's at least a correlation between rising population and discontent, but there's no simple to fix cause. Well, sort of. There's a separate group forming around the COD mission. Some people are naturally sympathetic to the monks' losses on the expedition. I haven't seen them overtly preach dissenting messages, but they haven't exactly stepped in to stop negative sentiment either," he wiggles his hand, "although from what I understand, they're all about expressing feelings, even negative ones, so maybe it hasn't even occurred to them."
Before you get to move on, he coughs once before bringing up another point.
"Also, you might have seen this coming, but the education operation is quickly being outgrown. Without a high school, we're that much less attractive to families, which means that the people coming over have less attachments, which feeds into the discontent, which stops bonds forming, et cetera. We can also attract scientists easier if we have facilities with a longer history, and it boosts our legitimacy. In a decade, we might even have important alumni."
When he finishes, Hailey leans over, faking a conspiratorial whisper, "And he doesn't want to send Kari back to Earth before she's old and grey."
"There is that," the man nods, a solemn expression on his face.
"Right. Speaking of sciences, Miss Weissmeier?"
"In no particular order, sir," she draws out one of the tablets she brought, "On water consumption: theoretically there's enough free particles in the solar wind to build hydrogen and let it react with our oxygen supplies. It would definitely be a multi-year project between proof-of-concept and industrial application," she nods at Ken, "but once we have it running, it would be virtually infinitely scalable."
"Next," she switches tablets, "On diplomatic inroads: an oncology ward alongside the official establishment of a full hospital might give us a boost with the local embassy branch. It would also be world-class on results, even if such a reputation would take years to properly form. That's thanks to the nanites. Segway into those, if we want to do more than maintain a local stockpile, mass production might be the project. There's also the increasingly popular field of life extension technology, beyond just improving medicine and prosthetics where the bots could be useful."
Another tablet appears, and you start to wonder how much work she's done just to compile the reports.
"A possible mineral survey is also recommended. We're starting to reach peak employment in the existing mines, but we've only mapped out a little bit of the surrounding area. I wouldn't count on another vein like the aerogel, but there's plenty to be done with mundane materials. However, on the aerogel front there's still more research to do, especially on its origin and production, although more practical applications also remain. Either would also mean that we could potentially put the ship to work. I'm sure you know better about the ranges and load accelerating properties, but I believe we can use it as a freighter in the local sector to sell any minerals without much trouble."
She then gives you a wink, "Speaking of trouble, sir. Project Goldfish remains operational. He's gone from successfully reducing data footprint to struggling with further learning, but it does continue to make progress and drain a minute amount of resources. We could, I believe, use it – with supervision – on just about any task we so choose as an assistant."
You stop her before another tablet can emerge and the briefing gets completely derailed, "Thank you, Miss Weissmeier. I'm sure that's enough work to go through."
Her tirade broken; she takes note of the amused looks sent her way. Instead of blushing or stammering, she shoots the room a wide smile and sits back down, "By your leave, Will."
"Okay. Here's what I propose."
-.-
US headlines: the 69th President dies of heart disease at age 86, vice-president sworn in mid-second term.
As president Rayleigh takes the oath of office, tensions remain high both in the nation and on the international arena. Military maneuvering and embargo remain in effect, colonial drive continues at break-neck speed. Experts predict increasing populist rhetoric as the leading party scrambles support after the unexpected passing of the previous president.
EU headlines: new war hawk takes the reigns across the pond.
While the previous president was often regarded as a moderating presence for the deeply partisan country and held hope in defusing summits, president Rayleigh is known to have often clashed with the man over "soft" foreign policy. Markets and intraplanetary travel frozen once again, impacts the lower class. Investment in off-earth operations soars and space tourism booms.
Chinese headlines: Party maintains relations with Martian government despite unrest.
Despite growing concerns over treatment of workers, the official stance remains supportive of the legitimate government of Arabia Terra. Inquiries are being launched into foreign Olympus based actors radicalizing elements of the revolt.
Lunar headlines: IF renounces DMZ treaties.
A network of treaties has prevented the manufacturing of military equipment on the Moon; however, the Independence Front believes it's time to break those agreements. "The writing is on the wall. We'd be fools not to use our vast industrial power to its fullest extent. We will be lifting the ban on small arms manufacture starting next year, and further options remain open to us."
Martian headlines: unrest and insurrection at Arabia Terra.
Armed conflict has broken out between factions at the capital city. General Wraith declares martial law to stop the spread of terrorism to Olympus. Various human rights groups' requests to send observers denied, Chinese government maintains ties with old leadership, helping supply lines.
Spacer headlines: stations consider ban on emigration.
Several smaller satellites have been forced to shift orbit to share expertise for critical functions as citizens leave the Earth sphere for New Belt. Other stations wary, reports of shifts away from citizenship model in favor of business contract system. Larger clusters remain unworried.
-.-
Hailey Maria Erikson nee Perez, or just Hailey, as she insists, is an energetic and empathic woman. Prone to some daydreaming with a short attention span and with a habit of talking to herself, a symptom of her condition, she also has an uncanny insight into what people are feeling around her, see [REDACTED]. A masterful poker player and a great shoulder to cry on, the latter by her own words at least, she's probably best suited to face-to-face meetings and positive contacts. Also proficient in astronomy. Choose
1 task to send her on.
General concerns and wide outreach are on the cards:
[] [Diplomacy] Advertise your colony
You'll pretty much always have potential room and jobs (provided they don't mind the cramped quarters) for people willing to put in the effort, but you won't get all that many colonists if no one knows of you. Place ads, make unreasonable and vague promises and put up flyers, whatever works. You'll probably get people to come, but they won't be… overqualified, to put it optimistically. On the other hand, maybe a bit of grunt work is exactly what you need right now, and occasionally you might – might – find rough diamonds with the slop. DC 15
[] [Diplomacy] Establish relations with…
Subtly put out feelers for a patron, someone to legitimize your claim. Nothing overt, just find out who might be interested in your little rock and see what they might offer you in return. Nothing permanent or committal of course, your first partner will always be special and just the act of choosing will make you enemies as well as allies, even if they won't show it. Geez, this is like high school all over again, except now you need to worry about nuclear warheads instead of hurt feelings. Events in the Belt and the world at large have made something of a target out of you by now, but as with everything, there's both up- and down-sides. DC 45
[] [Diplomacy] Offer protective escort to vessels *New*
You have ships, you have troops. Both are burning holes in your pockets, and there's an obvious solution: rent them out. It'll mean that they will be out in the wide solar system, and not ready to respond to your every whim at a snap, but that's a concession you'll have to make in order for this to work out. DC 40
The local sector and its players hold your interest:
[] [Diplomacy] Visit the Children of Dreamers
They've extended an open invitation to you to go and see how their colony differs from yours. Hailey has told you in clear terms that if she's going then you're coming with and she wants a case of Ken's original Felix along for the ride. Although their ship is currently out of commission, you could still do with a little vacation. And unashamedly snoop around for whatever info they might share while you're there, of course. DC 50
[] [Diplomacy] Set up a joint research project with Prismdust
They're still somewhat busy wrapping up final tests and arguing over which parts of the process they can sell forwards, but you want them working for your interests now. Although you'll lose a minor revenue stream, as there's no point in laundering money from yourself, the benefits of them working on some precision engineering project with you outweigh the costs. DC 45
[] [Diplomacy] Reach out to a mister Roland Prescott regarding sports
Amidst all the other scheming on New Ireland, it seemed like at least one genuine offer of cooperation also came your way. Mr. Prescott wanted to organize a tennis league between your two outposts; how pleasantly innocent and pure. Perhaps set things in motion, life in Little Klondike tends to swing between terribly dull and terribly stressful, a little spice in between the extremes is sure to raise morale. DC 30
[] [Diplomacy] Negotiate trade with Azure Star *New*
While they say they lack products to sell now, that won't be the case forever. Maybe if you give them a house visit, you could convince them to buy from you, and get an early foot in with them in the process. DC 35
The European Union, as one of the three global superpowers, is involved with your business:
[] [Diplomacy] Hospital concessions
Ambassador Lisette Rousseau mentioned that building and maintaining a hospital in the sector can come with support and extra considerations. Just so happens, you have a solid basis set up and it only needs a little push to start growing again. A perfectly innocent you scratch my back, I scratch yours situation. DC 50
[] [Diplomacy] Smooth relations with the EU *Updated*
The whole 'your colony, my colony' thing was so long ago, who even remembers these things anymore. Surely, we can all just let bygones be bygones and start on a blank page. Honestly, the whole world has already moved on, and no Armageddon has befallen you, so really this is more of a matter of polite protocol than actual diplomacy by now. DC 45 30
There might be some other matter that you feel requires your attention:
[] [Diplomacy] Try to talk to the military ship commanders *New*
Surely, they won't fault you for trying, at least. It's not like their presence in the sector is a secret, and you're coming with entirely honest intentions and legitimate concerns. Namely: would they kindly get the hell out? Well, barring that, you really, really, want to know why they're here. DC 70
-.-
Miss Carpenter projects an air of confidence and her no-nonsense attitude backs up her demeanor. Perhaps a bit headstrong and stubborn, but as long as you don't act against her she'll likely be quite competent. After a successful operation under her belt and her necessity in the colony thoroughly proven, there's no doubt that she's in her element as a commander of your executive branch. She's mellowed out over the years and perhaps even developed something resembling genuine respect and admiration for your governance. Choose
1 security action to focus her on.
It's the foot soldiers or police forces that need your attention:
[] [Security] Squads
Your colony has a professional and well-liked security force, largely thanks to the expertise of your sheriff and an early focus on discipline and training. While it's hard to justify having more than a platoon of professional soldiers at your command right this moment, you could start arming another one if you so desired. DC 30 20
[] [Security] Better armaments
Turns out neither you nor anyone on your immediate staff is a trained soldier, so the weapons you got were probably more flash than bang. Not that they are completely useless, just that they could be so much better. Hunker down with your sheriff and find a better set of offensive equipment for your troops. DC 40
[] [Security] Heavy armor
Instead of the mobile suits you have for everyday work, you want Power Armor with a capital letter, the real space marine stuff. You'll try to buy it, but most governments are unlikely to sell what basically amounts to a personal tank to people, so be prepared to start your own designs. DC 60
[] [Security] Jetpacks
Combat mobility is key and especially in a zero-gravity environment you want your troops to have all the possible tactical advantages. The basic ship maintenance stuff has tiny thrusters to control yourself, but the combat variant would be much stronger and come with proper dampening software and trajectory control. DC 40
[] [Security] Armored personnel carrier
A support vehicle for ground-based combat, capable of light fire support, however its main purpose is to serve as a safer way to get infantry into combat zones. Its current usefulness to you is questionable, but you never know. You've been on both the unprepared and over-prepared side and you know which you'd like better. Whether there's someone out there that produces APCs for a microgravity environment is a different matter. DC 55
The navy, also known as your fleet of ships, be it military or trade vessels, is where you'll focus:
[] [Security] Transport ships *Updated*
Personnel transport vessels are much cheaper than freighters, don't have the issues of buying military hardware and have many more uses than the shuttles. You currently have two, but the more the merrier. DC 75 80
[] [Security] Freight ships
Buying anything better than a tugboat attached to a fuel tanker is expensive. Really, really expensive, especially if it needs to accelerate tons and tons of rest mass in anything resembling a reasonable timeframe and fuel cost. Multinational corporations have a few chains of ships, you're barely the size of a local branch, but needs must. DC 85
[] [Security] Combat ships
There are pirates about your patch of the void and you're not going to sit idly by like some who shall not be named. Cost-wise, a corvette doesn't run you significantly more than a freighter – which is still incredibly expensive, mind you – but the real bottleneck is finding someone to actually sell one. DC 90
[] [Security] Shuttles *Updated*
As your local sphere grows in activity, the idea of having access to a short-range vessel, or perhaps even multiple, is becoming more and more attractive, especially as the single one you have has proven its worth. Affectionately called rust-buckets or flying coffins, the shuttle class is always equipped for a one-way trip and it struggles to go further than a few weeks, but sometimes that's all you need. DC 40
[] [Security] Ship design
The idea has always existed in the back of your head: build instead of buy. For the first time ever, it just might be possible to go through with. That is to say… incredibly unlikely, but perhaps there's a kernel of truth to the saying that inventing a thousand ways to not do something is worthy in and of itself. DC 95
[] [Security] Ship refit *New*
Your new vessel doesn't come with on-board weaponry, and you used up the sole railgun-analogue you had on hand. Still, you can either get another one or come up with something else, and arm the second vessel too. Although, having a single armed ship is excusable caution, having two might make people nervous. DC 40
A development of technology, idea or construction project otherwise related to force projection and application:
[] [Security] Drones *Updated*
Just imagining combat inside a spaceship gives you the chills. Information is worth more than bullets in many cases and a tiny camera can't be too hard to stick on some legs. The classic flying approach from Earth doesn't work without an atmosphere, but some skittering spiderbots should be within your means of development and production. Now if only you could get them to work at reflex speeds, supplementing and improving the awareness of a soldier instead of distracting them. In fact, by now its personal. You will get the SPIDERs operational, come hell or high water. DC 25 20
[] [Security] Riot gear *New*
Well, not just helmets, batons and shields. A space station is inherently a potential fortress under your near absolute control. A sprinkler system could dispense tear gas, fire doors could break up crowds on command and whatever else Amanda could brainstorm. Not that you expect to need to use such measures, but having the option is something of a mantra for you. DC 45
[] [Security] Boarding doctrine *New*
Honestly, what Sergeant Memphis did was foolhardy and boneheaded in the extreme, but it just might also be a revolutionary proof of concept. That concept being human torpedoes aside, you could develop a whole new stratagem of war in space, a field where little is proven and no conventions exist… yet. The manned bombardment doctrine is very possibly something unique and novel, and ironing out the kinks will be hard and dangerous, but while your own hubris isn't as overt as that of your soldiers, it's no smaller for it. DC 85
-.-
You and Ken often find yourselves working together; engineering as an honest means of work is something you're both intimately familiar with. Likewise, you both know that a space station's engineers are her lifeblood, so you've hit it off quite well with the man. Far from being a simple farmer, he does have a solid base in nearly all things mechanical and you shore up the electric side of things. While he's still shy, his beer is to die for. Choose
2 projects to start building.
Mining, farming, other raw resources; your growing baby needs her nutrients for the forges and freighters to keep the lifeblood of money flowing:
[] [Engineering] Aerogel quarry
Now that you know the special properties of your find, you can price your work accordingly, and you know for a fact that if you carefully chisel out massive sheets of the stuff then you can get far more massive amounts of dosh for them in exchange. Can't go wrong with massive amounts of dosh. DC 40
[] [Engineering] Prismdust uranium mine *New*
Diplomatic efforts are probably necessary before you undertake a project on what amounts to foreign soil, but you want access to more fissile material now. Badger the local leadership to accept a team of your engineers and set up another shaft. Oh, and since the literal walls of the shaft are out to kill you, there's also that as a complication. DC 85
Industrial manufacturing is the secondary sector of the system-wide economy, and a way to multiply your export profits:
[] [Engineering] Fuel refineries
Instead of trading away leftover oxygen as a low quality, low yield fuel replacement, get proper cooling towers and better filtration systems, start importing larger amounts of hydrogen and maybe even water for industrial electrolysis. Sure, you'll be intruding a bit on your neighbor's market, but they'll be out of the production business soon enough anyways. DC 50
[] [Engineering] Munitions factory
You've got a working design for bullets and enough components eke out a profit in manufacturing them. It'll probably not win you any friends locally, but the global military-industrial complex is just as rich and hungry for more contracts as ever, so someone will surely be interested in buying your ammo. DC 50
[] [Engineering] Weapons factory
The gun you've invented isn't revolutionary, but it is reliable and usable. Unlike the ammo, mass production of precision equipment can be a bit tricky and finding a buyer might take some extra work. Also, arms dealers aren't usually the most well regarded of factions, but all that just means that there's significant profit to be made, even if you do need to import the steel. DC 75
Public infrastructure is ever evolving, and you have decided to add another facility, this time outside the main living areas and primary compound:
[] [Engineering] Transportation network
Moving to and from any installation on the surface is perilous. Low G walks under the blackness are scary and slow and you have almost no redundant cars. Ken pointed out that as you grow, a robust metro network is never set up soon enough. The lack of unoccupied mining equipment is but a minor concern he assures you. DC 50
[] [Engineering] Docks expansion *New*
The pyramid is huge, but a significant portion of the inside needs to be filled in for structural integrity, leaving room for only a few bays. Couple that with the two rails to catch and launch ships, and it's easy to imagine a situation where you're forced to tell incoming vessels to wait until someone leaves. Since that might mean that they take their money elsewhere, which is bad, you need a system of temporary storage. A parking lot in space. DC 30
[] [Engineering] A prison *New*
You told Carpenter that you weren't interested in an expansive incarceration facility once, but times have changed. Have her and Ken draw up plans for a space prison and let Erikson find people to serve as personnel. Filling it up is another matter, but if you build it, they will come. Or be brought at any rate. DC 60
Quality of life aboard a desolate rock can vary wildly from sleeping pods in mining shafts to opulent floating palaces and hotels, and you're interested in being the latter category:
[] [Engineering] Luxury living space
The current apartments are adequate, but not luxurious. Expand the existing ones by including more floors and extra amenities. DC 30, can be taken with More living space for DC 50, counts as 1 action
[] [Engineering] More living space
Now that actual money is rolling in and you're firmly established, more and more people will be coming. It's a good idea to stay ahead of the curve, maybe even set up a whole new town, as it seems that this is something you're in constant need of. DC 25, can be taken with Luxury living space for DC 50, counts as 1 action
[] [Engineering] Church
You might keep your religious beliefs close to chest, but having a place of worship for others could be important. It'd also show your nominal overlords breathing down your neck that you're an important cultural center and a quick hostile takeover is out of the question. DC 20
[] [Engineering] Stadium
There are gyms and resistance equipment scattered throughout your colony to help stave off muscle atrophy and brittle bones, but nothing even the size of a basketball court. You've heard that sport is a common leisure activity and a great propaganda tool both for recruitment as well as demonizing your enemies. Not that you'd ever do that, you just wanted to play some ball. DC 20
Electric power is the most vital component you have, its stable presence necessary for just about everything, it's no wonder you focus here:
[] [Engineering] Fission power plant II *New*
The first reactor is online, and it was constructed in record time. Most of the time you're not using the full power, control rods barely extracted, but as far as nuclear power plants go, it's a tiny thing. However, you always planned on the possibility of expansion. Source another core, build the turbines, buy the coolant and fuel. Unfortunately, your current supplier, Prismdust, is tapped for the moment, but you're not the only space settlement who makes use of nuclear power, someone can sell you the uranium. DC 65
[] [Engineering] Fusion power plant
This is what the big boys use. There's a total of three functional ones on Earth, one on Mars and probably a few on some cutting-edge satellites and military cruisers, so it might be worth it to build one just for the prestige alone. It'll also mean that as long as you have access to the most abundant element in the world you can produce power. Not to mention the potential scientific benefits. DC 95
-.-
A quiet individual, it took you months to find out that one of the children in your colony was the daughter of your personnel manager. When Ragnar Erikson does contribute to the conversation, it's usually a well thought out response or an insightful comment and his action plans are clear and concise. Perhaps this is just his way of separating his occasionally thankless job and his private life, and the man has the trust of all your councilors. In 2178, he remarried, snagging your head diplomat all to himself. Choose
1 action.
Yes, on the official documents the department is listed as internal affairs, but that's just the polite version of spymaster, and you've info to obtain:
[] [Internal affairs] The colonists
Why did Europe come after your rock so insistently? Sure, it's a lovely rock, but as you sent them packing, it clearly wasn't worth fighting over. Was it just an overzealous officer? Find out what you can about the expedition to Little Klondike and the lead officer, one Lisette Rousseau. DC 55
[] [Internal affairs] Poke the black site *Updated*
You haven't done it yet, and honestly, you're even more leery now, but a tiny and entirely innocent exploratory probe to the sun does just so happen to have an optimal flight path near the dry kindling waiting for a spark. And maybe – just maybe – you've grown bored of predictability and the status quo. DC 70 85
[] [Internal affairs] The congregation *Updated*
The monks have arrived on your station and keeping them contained and complacent should be trivial enough, but you thoroughly plan to probe their inner peace. Secretly. They are a bit upset with you over your choice to fight pirates over saving their ship, but everybody grieves differently and they seem to practice what they preach, forgiveness amongst that. DC 40 50
Internal affairs are just that this time; options related to administrative hurdles and data regarding your citizenry:
[] [Internal affairs] Census
Take stock of your current populace. Where do they come from, what do they think of life here, familial status, religious affiliation, occupations, etc. DC 35
[] [Internal affairs] Schooling expansion
A glorified kindergarten is fine and all, but being a center of learning in the New Belt could certainly be beneficial. Having access to more scientists, not having to send your brightest off the base and getting that sweet influx of new taxpayers and customers for your businesses. Still, you've taken baby steps, now you'll need to walk before running. Set up a general-purpose high school focused on university preparation for the students. DC 45
[] [Internal affairs] Global WIFI
With generally expanded data transfer equipment set up in your central complex, you can fix the issue of having communication on your proverbial backside. At the moment you need to route through your silver mine tower and the single mobile antenna you have. Set up towers all over Little Klondike to grant adequate internet connection to every nook and cranny. DC 50
The affairs of people on your base are secondary to the possible issues of your innermost circle. While you lead Little Klondike, these people are very much the keys to your continued prosperity:
[] [Internal affairs] Hailey Maria Erikson and her very real imaginary issues
So, you now know what must surely be her biggest secret, but a rogue AI, while undoubtedly useful, reeks of Icarian hubris. Worse yet, said AI will know as soon as any contingencies are brought up around Hailey. Not only does this mean that the task of rooting it out is incredibly difficult, it's also insanely dangerous to the person you care about. Still, what's a secret project amongst friends? Develop a preliminary protocol for dealing with the potential threat of the AI taking over, maybe consider – very carefully – how to remove it entirely. DC 50
[] [Internal affairs] Thorough check – Amanda Carpenter
The conversation with Luke Memphis got you wondering – did she really never take a bribe, or was she already bought and paid for all along? Or perhaps you've inherited her enemies and they're just biding their time to strike. Either way, dig a bit deeper into her past than is strictly polite and find out. DC 40
[] [Internal affairs] Thorough check – Ken Hiragi *Updated*
There's something about the nice, quiet ones. Erikson brought to your attention the barest of possibilities, but you should still follow up and reassure yourself. There's also the fact that his loyalties might be compromised by the arrival of his wife. Poke at his private life and see what happens. DC 50 65
[] [Internal affairs] Thorough check – Ragnar Erikson
Hah, only a fool would take the master of intrigue at his word. Dig into Erikson's story and see what there is to see. Either you don't get caught and there can be no harm done to you or you do, in which case you'll give good odds that he'll understand anyway. Indeed, he probably expects you to have already done so. DC 55
Rather than focus on the big picture or your own colony, the immediate neighborhood is of interest to you:
[] [Internal affairs] Study Ironbond
Oliver Jarnstad was direct to the point and brash but honest; or a good enough teller of half-truths. If he wasn't such a douche about things, you'd have gotten along famously. However, his extended family and the corporation tied to it have some shady history. Try to get a more thorough and up-to-date overview of their colonial ventures in your sector. DC 30
[] [Internal affairs] Study Azure Star
From what you gathered during your first meeting, the colony is perhaps the closest analogue to your own, but you know very little about them. Set about fixing that: what do they have on site, who were their leaders before they were directors? Rulers? Supreme space sovereigns? Whatever they style themselves as. DC 30
-.-
Miss Weissmeier is a younger, more conventionally beautiful and feminine version of Miss Carpenter. Even in zero G she wears a dark business skirt and heels, her reports are thorough and drier than a vacuum, but you can't fault her data or methods – bar one. She might be the youngest on your council, and in rare moments her lack of life experience shows, but you're quite glad to have someone with medical expertise on standby at all times. She has also all but declared that you've saved her life from being cut short by a terrible disease, although she did pretty much all the work. With her initial ambitions fulfilled, she's thrown herself at the business of Little Klondike with renewed vigor, her dedication second only to yours, and she doesn't have nearly your administrative burden to shoulder. Choose
2 subjects.
A wide array of different disciplines of science, both theoretical and applied are open to you:
[ ] [Research] Mineral surveys
The general readings claim that your rock should have a good balance of light and heavy metals, silicates and oxygen rich rock, and who knows what else. You've gone over the surrounding top soil, for lack of a better term, but there's more to the asteroid both in depth as well as further out, keep looking for more minerals. DC 40
[] [Research] Patent encryption breaking
There're several techs in your colony that you'd be able to produce yourself, in theory. From guns to motors to radios and lasers you should be able to make the components as prototypes in your lab. It's not industrial scale production and if someone caught wind of you using or worse yet, selling cracked products you'd be in trouble. But if you don't get caught then you'd be able to sustain your own needs just fine. DC 60
[] [Research] Nanomachine forge
The experimental version of the silver nanites was a resounding success. Now, it's a matter of producing more than a pinch of them each month and for that, you need specialized equipment. Perhaps you can further refine your existing printers, perhaps you can train the existing robots to make more of themselves. Gray goo? Never heard of it. DC 60
[] [Research] Solar wind capture
The lighter the element, the less likely you are to find a good supply of it around here. Unfortunately, hydrogen is one of those, yet you need a constant supply of it. It's used in many, many chemical reactions and synthesizing processes, it's a prime component of rocket fuel and the only component of fusion fuel. It's also hard to keep recycling it, as the tiny gas can leak through most seals in time. Thus, try to catch some of the material that the Sun constantly bombards you with. DC 80
[] [Research] Magnetic field research
A key component of fusion, magnetic fields can be used to direct a stream of particles. Similarly, Earth enjoys a protective shell shielding her from harmful radiation thanks to a massive iron core generating immensely big fields. Could there be anything you can do to replicate these effects? Or perhaps probing one of the fundamental forces of the universe might reveal some new applications that people haven't thought of or haven't needed so far. A new influx of scientific expertise from your acquisitions can probably help. DC 50
Miss Weissmeier is a medical savant first and foremost, so it's no wonder that healthcare experiments are often given priority:
[] [Research] Medic Training
The people in your colony come from various backgrounds and educations, but lifesaving knowledge is something everyone should have. Expand the rudimentary programs currently set up and make it a mandatory part of life on this rock. It will cut into productivity a bit but it'll be worth it to literally save lives. DC 20
[] [Research] Oncology ward
The next step towards a fully-fledged space hospital is a cancer ward. Cosmic radiation can be mitigated quite well these days, but ultimately the human cell is still the same as it was thousands of years ago. For most colonists, there's the option of flying back to Earth for treatment if the tumor is detected on time, but you'd like to be better than that. DC 55 40
[] [Research] Life extension
Sure, you'll probably live to see a hundred and fifty, barring some accident. But if you want to enjoy eternal youth not eternal life, then you might want to put in your own contribution to the development of various life extension technologies. DC 60 55
[] [Research] Bionic eyes
The clear, extremely lightly conductive, inert material of your aerogel, alongside the talk of augmented reality seems to have given Lena a strange idea: to build artificial eyes out of the material. While you're not sure you'd gouge out your own, she seemed enthusiastic about the research as such. Supposedly she could combine the gel with her nanites to revive damaged ocular nerves and make one of the most complex organs a human body has. DC 60 50
Project Goldfish is the cutesy name you've assigned to the secret artificial intelligence experiment you're running on a nondescript server bank in your basement. The AI is definitely self-aware, and you've signed off on granting it the capability to modify its own code, but there's still steps you can take here:
[] [Research] Mark II *Updated*
Refactor the code, give it more abilities, apply what you've learnt so far. Perhaps you can trust it with some actual tasks by now, it hasn't done anything more sinister than cause Lena to refer to it as 'he'. It's also tried to do something similar itself, although you're pretty sure it didn't succeed yet. DC ??
[] [Research] AI Power optimization
The AI takes up a noticeable chunk of your total base power. In part because it's always on, unlike the furnaces, but it's still far too much; you know you can cut it by a magnitude of magnitude orders. Put Project Goldfish on a diet. DC 55
[] [Research] AI Miniaturization II
The machine intelligence is tidy, at least. Slowly but surely its memory footprint is shrinking as functions become optimized and memory modules do things to bits you never knew were possible. Still, there's improvements you can try and make to the hardware; something that the AI can't do with its current level of access. DC ??
[] [Research] Training: social analysis
Ragnar once mentioned that to improve the intelligence reports your customs teams create, an AI would be perfect. Now granted, you haven't checked if he still thinks that way after learning about Hailey, but it's only a passing similarity. Let the computer loose on the gathered data and find out for what it thinks of the colonists and their views towards you. DC 30
[] [Research] Training: combat prediction
Aiming torpedoes when the distances involved are counted in megameters and the targets are free to move whenever requires more than a ballistics computer; you need something capable of predicting responses based on details in the engine wear and tear signature, or whatever else an AI could read. Just make sure it's not training on profiles of your own ship… just in case. DC 40
Within the asteroid, also named Little Klondike as there's little practical difference between the settlement and the rock, is a deposit of something that bears close resemblance to aerogel. It is, however, entirely unique in the solar system, as far as you can tell, and research on its applications is required:
[] [Research] Aerogel production
Surely you must be able to figure out a way to manufacture the stuff wholesale. You have all the materials needed in abundance. Plus, it'll let you patent the process, so your deposit truly will remain the only source in the world. Or if it turns out to require some cosmic process not replicable by humans, at least you'll have a prestigious paper to publish. DC 80
[] [Research] Aerogel armor
Those ceramics in your light power armor you wanted to upgrade? Well, this could be it. The gel doesn't shatter on impact like normal silicates do, it's probably possible to make it bendy by doping it with normal fibers, it's not air-permeable and can totally withstand the pressures. And it's lighter than any other armor, or clothing for that matter, so you might even be able to sell it to planetary markets. DC 60
[] [Research] Aerogel classics
Sometimes you don't need to come up with something new, just do the old thing better than anyone else. The usual aerogel markets are trivially easy to break into with your new edge; start a test run of optics for telescopes or weapon sights, make heatshields for ground to orbit craft or exhaust cones, produce sports gear. DC 40
-.-
Over the years you've amassed various boons and options that you can apply or spend on a whim. These actions are
free, use as many or as few as you'd like, subject to specific limitations.
Project Goldfish can be used or shut off at will, these actions do not expire or get used up. Attach to the option you wish to boost with a sub-category:
-[] Applied intelligence
Right, you have an AI, and dumb as a rock it might be, it's still capable of rapid data analysis. You won't be swayed by horror stories meant for children, plug it into your actual network and set it to work on some project you're pursuing. DC ??
[] Pull the plug
You have other, more pressing concerns, and while the AI could passively truck along in the background, a few of Lena's more trusted scientists keeping an eye on it and studying it passively, you don't want to take any risks or spend the power. Turn the servers off and let the machine intelligence lay dormant. DC 2
This will guarantee the success of a project, not applicable to [Research] tagged actions. Attach to the option you wish to boost with a sub-category:
-[] The Resort Boon *New*
You've gained the promise of a boon of your specification from an enigmatic and anonymous benefactor, who can move mountains on projects not related to groundbreaking research, which might turn out to be impossible. Other than that though, you know from personal experience that money can make just about anything happen, and for the few things where that's not true it's about the right connections.
[] [Personal action] Write-in
Not everything you do is related your work… sort of. You have free time too, and this is a small glimpse into how you choose to spend it.
[] [Ship name] Write-in *New*
You've gained ownership of a second passenger craft, and tradition dictates that it needs a name.
-.-
A
lot of things suddenly came to a head in the chapter, so it's a bit all over the place. There're also the revamped voting blocks, obviously open to feedback and further tweaking or reverting.
So this post; also, front page data has also received the minor updates associated with the turn.
