Turn 7 (Q1 2508) Results
Resources (R): 605 initial - 405 expended = 200 remaining
Funds (F): 70 initial - 20 expended = 50 remaining
Paranoia: 30 initial + 15 gained - 25 lost = 20 remaining
Suspicion: 10
Infrastructure
Korhal: Capital City Augustgrad (Phase 2) [MANDATORY]
With the base of the Imperial Palace and most of the central Imperial District complete, your crews can begin expanding outward and upward. In addition to finishing the Palace's upper floors, they'll start building the second ring of inner districts, which are slated to include most of the necessary government offices, various supporting enterprises and service establishments, and a variety of cultural sites, including the vast and baroque Korhal Planetary Opera House.
(Progress 451/400, -5R per die) [87, 18, 22, 62]
[-10 Paranoia] [51 Progress toward next phase]
"In recognition of their heroic efforts, the 14th Labor Brigade is hereby awarded a two-week furlough at the Elysian Resort and Casino on Tyrador IX. Estimated time until the necessary non-essential transport craft become available: Twenty-nine months, seven days."
- A slightly underwhelming reward for completing the Treasury Building ahead of schedule
While the extra resources that Mengsk frees up are very helpful in getting the job done quickly, you notice that the major factor at work seems to be your own personal presence. It's not like you're yelling at people or threatening their jobs, either; they seem genuinely quite moved. Part of that is probably due to how you take Mengsk up on his metaphor and actually live out of a field tent during Phase 2 operations, even after the Treasury Building proper is complete.
The new Dominion Treasury Citadel is a lesser structure to the Imperial Palace in every way, but formidable in its own right. Instead of a traditional pyramid, the Citadel is an elongated model, a flanged, spike-shaped four-sided tower reaching a hundred stories into the sky. The base is covered in traditional 'banking' architecture, with white-veined black marble columns and an austere facade, but rising out from the temple of commerce is a thoroughly modern structure of dark neosteel and unbreakable glassine polymer. Several smaller outbuildings and some rather nice park space make up the rest of the Citadel grounds, which are in turn surrounded by high security walls and checkpoints with armed TRUSTroopers at every entrance.
The Palace structure is likewise complete, but you have yet to actually see inside it. The Imperial Guard and Dominion Security descended on the place the minute your DLS crews cleared out, and swarmed all over the place like they were decontaminating it from some communicable disease (hardly anybody on the work crews gets dysentery anymore, sheesh). Mengsk has taken up residence within, apparently, but it'll be some time yet before the official unveiling.
By the end of the quarter, enough of the Treasury District has been completed, including the rather palatial Chancellor's Mansion, that you can officially order the Ministry's numerous dependents and support staff onto the next set of Korhal-bound transports. Carla, bless her, is on the first one out.
Brontes: Orbital Cleanup (Phase 2) [Reconstruction]
Brontes orbit has been cleared of the largest and most potentially dangerous debris (as well as any Zerg bio-signature large enough to be a hatchery), but the approach vectors are still full of small and medium-size debris that need to be removed before transit can be considered truly safe. The next phase of the effort involves both removing the mid-size pieces and neutralizing major danger zones, including the poetically-dubbed "River of Daggers."
(Provides one-time Resource gain upon completion)
(Progress 203/300, -5R per die) [44, 38] [+15 Omake bonus]
[Autocompletes in Q2 2508] [3 Progress toward next phase]
"A Novel Solution to the Problem of Highly Mobile Orbital Debris and Other Space-Borne Detritus"
- The second-choice title of the journal article a group of your engineers co-write; the first,
Damming the River of Daggers, is rejected for being "insufficiently professional"
The problems with space debris are twofold: There's lots of it, and it never stops moving. This is especially true of the storm of razor-edged Wraith debris that periodically orbits Brontes, named the River of Daggers for its tendency to rip anything in its path apart. Several attempts to manually seize the larger 'daggers' each end in various degrees of calamity, ranging from multiple fatalities to one highly embarrassing incident involving a perforated drive thruster and a damaged SCV sent into an uncontrollable corkscrew.
Finally, you withdraw the SCVs and set the eggheads on the problem. Their solution: a so-called "gravity trap," little more than a heavily-armored gravity generator mounted with thrusters, electromagnets, and a motion sensor. The thing 'skims' the surface of the River as it passes by, drawing up a bunch of metal shards, then trundles off toward the salvage yard to deposit its cargo. Sure, about one in ten takes on more than it can chew and violently explodes, but they make good progress nonetheless, and without any further casualties.
The only downside to the process is that it's slow, and the work will take at least another quarter before it's done properly.
Heavy Industry
Vardona: Ardonin Heavy Vehicle Factory (Phase 2)
Now that the central factory is up and running, you can begin the process of vertically integrating SCV production. Secondary industrial sites will be established across the valley, each capable of mass-producing a necessary part or component, or of refining raw materials into useful metals and polymers. This will dramatically speed up production time, while minimizing reliance on external freight.
(Progress 373/300, -10R per die) [77, 85, 20, 76, 21, 61]
[-50 Progress for all groundside construction projects] [-100 Progress for all space-based construction projects] [+10 Paranoia] [73 Progress toward next phase]
"Please find enclosed a Standard Construction Vehicle, our factory's best production specimen from the first-ever batch of all-domestic SCVs. My workers have made a number of modifications; aside from the paint job, the exterior is perfectly standard, but inside you'll find a luxury interior, a souped-up reactor engine, extra computer memory, an officer-grade comm system, and full surround-sound audio. 'Only the best for the Boss,' as my DLS boys like to say."
- A note attached to a very large crate that lands on your doorstep one morning
Your new personal ride notwithstanding (gotta set aside some time to learn those controls, if you can ever pry Carla out of it), the first batch of Dominion SCVs made with all domestic parts and labor goes out the door without any fanfare whatsoever. Part of that is due to Mengsk's own preference, focusing the spotlight on the average DLS conscript laborer rather than the trained, volunteer SCV pilots. But the rest is, simply, a growing expectation that the new regime is capable of and willing to commit to things that the Confederates were too cheap, lazy, or corrupt to even contemplate.
The once-barren Ardonin Valley, rich in minerals and poor in wildlife, now teems with industrial activity, as the central assembly lines are fed by smelters, parts fabricators, warehouses, and any number of miscellaneous outbuildings. Minerals from both the Core and Fringe filter into the Valley, are turned into parts and pieces, and are then assembled right then and there. A thoroughly efficient, streamlined process, lacking only the mineral wealth and sheer industrial output necessary to end one more costly dependence on the Kel-Morian Combine.
Nephor II: TerraUnion Tool and Die Works (Phase 2)
The Tool and Die Works is up to its pre-War level of output, but the Labor Corps is a massive and rapidly growing body with an insatiable need for handheld cutters. As such, the TerraUnion Works must be expanded outward substantially, necessitating the demolition of neighboring blocks and facilities, in order to improve overall output and efficiency.
(Progress 294/200, -10R per die) [62, 80, 99]
[-50 Progress for all groundside construction projects] [94 Progress toward next phase]
"Mmm. Smells like... progress."
- Demolition Squad Brigadier 2nd Class Mason Smithson, rehabilitated ex-Firebat
Prior to its repurposing, the Tool and Die Works was a sizable factory, encompassing several city blocks and employing thousands. But for it to meet the demands of a billion-strong labor force, it needs to be much, much bigger. As such, the entire surrounding borough, full of ruined hab-blocks and run-down factories, is razed to the ground. Archibald's Demolition Squad, now a labor division in its own right, descends upon the area like a rain of fire (metaphorically, not like the actual literal rains of chemical fire that occur periodically on Nephor II), taking down multiple derelict buildings a day for a month straight. Plumes of smoke and debris rise up from the borough, blocking out the sky (insofar as there's any sky to see).
When the dust settles and the rubble has been cleared, there's a flat expanse of ground surrounding the Works for several miles in every direction. That's when the construction crews begin undoing all of Demolition Squad's hard work. While the central facility is left to continue production during the building process, its machines and assembly lines are replicated in full a dozen times across the new industrial park, with entire factories dedicated to churning out individual parts or circuits, and vast assembly areas that spit new-built fusion cutters out into capacious warehouses. For now, all that storage space is barely occupied, as the waiting time between completion and delivery to a labor unit in need is minimal, but someday there'll be a surplus of supply awaiting a spike in demand.
In the meantime, another war-blighted area of Nephor II has been restored to productivity, and it now toils for the greater good of the Dominion and of Terran Space as a whole.
Light and Chemical Industry
Tyrador IX: Refugee Workshops (Phase 2) [Reconstruction]
While the core factories on Velocis have been completed, many smaller refugee communities remain without viable sources of employment. As such, the next push in factory construction will be a series of dispersed mid-range workshops focused on the literal nuts and bolts of industry: fasteners, small hand tools, and other mass-produced metal items.
(Provides Resource income upon completion)
(Progress 300/400, -5R per die) [100 (nat 100), 28, 15] [+5 Omake bonus]
[-5 Paranoia] [Autocompletes in Q2 2508]
"What the hell do you mean, my micro-presser heads are on back-order? Well, when do you expect the next batch to come out? July?! That's four months from now! Listen to me, you no-good thief, when I tell my boss about thi– hello? Hello?! Dammit."
- Recorded vidcom call between a factory foreman and a Kel-Morian sales representative
While your "Made in the Dominion" PR campaign is paying dividends — most especially with your beloved and wise sovereign, whose grudge against the Morians is legendary — there have been other, less-desirable ripples in the field of, you guessed it, foreign trade. The KMC has noticed the Dominion's efforts to break free of its industrial dependence on the Combine and has begun very quietly retaliating. One area in which you won't be rid of them any time soon is miniaturized and high-precision machine parts; building SCV reactors is one thing, but missile-guidance nanochips are quite another. Unfortunately, they are also aware of this.
What follows are back-ordered products, missed pickups and drop-offs, lost shipments, and any number of other creative ways the Kel-Morians devise to either indefinitely put off or otherwise simply not deliver the goods, most of which are already paid for. This leads to project delays, cost overruns, and a very annoyed Emperor, who expected faster results rather than slower ones.
This last part is definitely a problem, but not at all for you; when you show up to offer an in-person progress report, the audience chamber is full of still-warm, shut-down holo-projectors and stone-faced military officers. Mengsk is all smiles and understanding phrases, even patting you on the shoulder in a fatherly sort of way. Your relief is tempered by a brief glimpse back into the chamber as you depart; the holo-projectors have powered back on, and the planet Moria is prominently displayed on their readouts.
Mar Sara: Endureum Extraction Operations (Phase 1)
What used to be Saramar City is now a flat, almost glassy plain, but beneath the surface lurks an endureum reservoir of monumental proportions. With fine-detail surveying, the full extent of the reservoir can be mapped and quantified. Several distributed wells will be sunk across the reservoir, including one devoted entirely to pressure relief, allowing extraction operations to begin in earnest.
(Unlocks endureum refinement projects)
(Progress 67/400, -5R per die) [8, 57]
"Please be advised that any unprotected contact with raw endureum may result in the following symptoms: rash, blistering, moderate or total loss of tactile sensation, hot flashes, cold flashes, mild seizures, major seizures, brain bleeds, locked-in syndrome, and/or terminal hardening of the epidermis. Caution is therefore encouraged."
-
Endureum: Nature's Miracle Substance, a DLS training manual
While the ICMS fellows were quite helpful at pointing out the largest concentration of endureum on Mar Sara, one which had never been found due to its unusual depth and its counterintuitive location directly beneath the primary planetary settlement, their estimate on the size and shape of the thing was, to use a technical term, "iffy." Therefore, a more detailed sonic mapping effort is required.
While endureum is extremely thick and viscous, it is still a room-temperature liquid ("sludge," in your mind) and thus distinguishable from its rocky surroundings. As such, your work crews move in and begin digging shafts down to roughly three-quarters of the distance between the surface and the reservoir, several hundred feet. Once there, they deploy highly sensitive ultrasonic probes, run the connecting cable back up the shaft, and then clear out to a safe distance. Apparently the probes have a tendency to harm any carbon-based life within a certain radius, a phenomenon rather unsettlingly referred to as "shake and bake."
Fortunately, your crews are entirely professional about the whole thing and suffer minimal casualties, emerging from the process with a detailed map of the reservoir. The endureum deposit is enormous, even larger than initial projections, and when combined with the rest of the planet's known reserves will likely meet the Dominion's needs for the next hundred-plus years.
Environmental
Korhal: Regreening Effort (Phase 1)
While Augustgrad is intended to be the center of a vast planet-wide city, the Emperor has been convinced that covering the entire planet in urban sprawl is perhaps not ideal. Instead, swathes of the surface have been set aside for so-called "park districts," where forests and meadows are allowed to exist. The process of regrowing an ecosystem may take decades, even after the radiation scrubbing, but there's no time like the present.
(Progress 111/100, -5R per die) [40, 23]
[+5 Paranoia] [11 Progress toward next phase]
"In commemoration of the Hundred Million Martyrs of Korhal, who perished due to villainy, but whose inspiring legacy will endure forever."
- Inscription on the Wall of the Lost, in the Imperial Garden District
In the end, the thing that sells Mengsk on the park districts is not their natural beauty, nor their offering of essential amenities to the residents of Augustgrad. No, it's the opportunity to hold a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony for the designated Imperial Garden District and its vast black-marble monument to the murdered citizens of Korhal. He never misses a chance to identify himself with that tragedy, or to play on it for political gain.
But while the Garden District might be the preserve of the Dominion's elites, a high-walled and high-security paradise amidst the towers and pavement, the other park districts will serve all without distinction. There, even the most humble resident of Augustgrad will be able to enjoy a piece of natural beauty and a respite from the noise and crush of city life.
Moreover, as decontamination efforts continue across the planet and small signs of life begin to return to its surface, there is a commensurate reduction in radioactive dust storms, opportunistic underground predators, and other hazards. Today, people are moving en masse to Korhal because they're told to. Tomorrow, maybe they'll actually want to live here of their own volition.
Tyrador IX: Establish Farmsteads (Phase 2) [Reconstruction]
The initial focus of the Velocis farmstead program has shifted away from small-scale family farms towards larger-scale communal farms based around planned villages, with the intention of improving both efficiency and output. While small farmsteads are still available to those who prefer the frontier lifestyle, this new emphasis on large communes should allow us to absorb more of the refugee population and improve food output at the same time.
(Progress 525/400, -5R per die) [84, 81]
[125 Progress toward next phase]
"I'm tellin' you, that no-good daughter of a dromedary done shot my prize karak! Mister Kicks was gonna breed a whole new line of healthy, plump-legged birds, and now he's dead! Dead! Dead!!!"
- Excerpt of a mediation session between a homesteader and the neighboring commune
As farms continue to go up across the fertile plains of Velocis, prime real estate grows less abundant and boundaries go from vague concepts to firm lines demarcated by fences. In some cases, when situations get especially acrimonious, those fences have razor wire, live electric hookups, and the occasional auto-turret. Ex-refugee farmers, used to settling disputes "amongst the camp," are disinclined to resort to annoying formalities like the rule of law or local government officials.
Given that independent streak, you begin empowering and training local marshals to serve not as armed peacekeepers, but as diplomats and adjudicators. Many of the new breed of marshals are ex-surveyors, with plenty of experience gauging land borders and plot values. Given their newfound authority, they're capable of sitting disputatious parties down across the table from each other and hashing out issues over a long weekend.
Naturally, their decisions are still subject to appeal and review by local magistrates and the Treasury as a whole, but their backgrounds in conflict resolution and their technical expertise makes them generally adept at finding a solution that annoys everyone equally. That's about the best you can hope for with any frontier.
Mar Sara: Restoring the Biosphere (Phase 1)
Unlike irradiated Korhal, Mar Sara has the unspoiled land needed for regreening, as well as some lingering remnants of its old biosphere. By reconditioning the glassine surface of the planet and restoring the flow of water, we can encourage Mar Sara's (admittedly limited) plant life to flourish once more.
(Progress 109/200, -10R per die) [94] [+15 Omake bonus]
[Autocompletes in Q2 2508] [9 Progress toward next phase]
"Bless the Maker and all His water."
- Recovered fragment of a now-lost Earth religious text
Much of Mar Sara's damage is only skin-deep. When the seas boiled off, their water collected at the polar ice caps. When the lakes dried up, their water fled underground. The loss of actual H2O was minimal; the problem is just reaching it.
Your crews employ a multi-pronged assault on the problem, moving on land and in space. They drill wells down into overfull reservoirs, pumping up liquid ton after liquid ton and directing it back into riverbeds and lake bottoms. In orbit, they direct large terraforming mirrors toward the ice caps, using beams of pure concentrated sunlight to carve off large chunks of the outsized glaciers and melt them down into moisture again.
For the struggling biosphere, this is like breathing air back into a choking victim. The beleaguered green areas begin to flourish outward, encouraged by reconditioned soil and extensive use of fertilizers. Seeded clouds deposit rain upon the parched land for the first time in years.
Much of the planet is still barren, and only the smallest of its lakes and rivers are full again. But now, rather than being stuck in permanent stagnation, the circle of life has begun slowly spinning once more.
Services
Vardona: Angustia Orbital Shipyard Complex (Phase 2) [NEW]
The current quartet of drydocks at Angustia are hard at work churning out medium freighters, but there are no facilities suitable for building or overhauling the largest of the superfreighters, whose massive cargo holds are necessary for true bulk haulage. This next phase of the Complex will establish several 'outdoor yards' with variable frames capable of adjusting to the massive tonnage of the superfreighters, perhaps even allowing for development of the Dominion's first domestic heavy-haul design.
(Progress 281/500, -10R per die) [82, 34, 17, 69]
"The Yards aren't just a problem, they're a menace
. Not only is there a big new obstruction in my aerospace lanes, one with an atypical mass and orbital speed, but you're telling me the silhouette is going to change regularly
? I hate that. I hate you
. Why are you doing this to me?"
- A less-than-productive meeting with the Chief Aerospace Traffic Controller on Vardona
Standard practice when building or expanding a shipyard is basically the same as it ever was for terrestrial vessels: you assemble a structure larger than the thing you intend to build, which in turn allows you to fully enclose the thing and maintain control over construction conditions. This is especially valuable in space, where the ability to pressurize and depressurize a space is quite useful.
However, the needs of the Dominion don't call for perfection or a fully centralized process; they call for as much haulage as can be put into the void as possible, as quickly as possible. Given the sheer magnitude of the shipping shortage, you've approved a new, experimental design for the Yards' high-volume construction.
These 'outdoor yards' are little more than adjustable metal skeletons on motorized tracks, capable of being expanded outward to a single vast space or shrunk down and partitioned into several more manageable areas. They're liberally festooned with maintenance areas that come equipped with power plugs, oxygen rechargers, and propellant tanks, which is good, because they're open to space and require all workers to be in SCVs.
Because the outdoor yards can't just be hooked into the standard utility grid that the other traditional yards are on, they require substantial groundwork to be laid and modifications to be made. Moreover, a collapsible skeleton capable of encasing an entire large-haul freighter is still a monumental undertaking, even if it is much more efficient than a solid shell. As such, much of the quarter is dedicated to preparatory work, with little chance to build the yard skeletons themselves.
Korhal: Katherine Mengsk Memorial Veterans' Hospital [MANDATORY] [NEW]
Mengsk has made a last-minute alteration to the Augustgrad city plan, mandating that what was originally set aside for a sports complex instead be wholly dedicated to medical care for sick and injured military veterans and their families. Katherine Mengsk Memorial will be the largest, most modern medical facility in all of Terran Space, and serve as the central pillar of the Dominion Health Service. It'll also carry the name of his sainted, martyred mother. Personally, you'd rather name it after the poor bastard who got thrown in prison for speaking his mind to Mengsk.
(-5 Paranoia)
(Progress 98/300, -10R per die) [98]
"Lady Katherine Bandaging an Injured Wolf's Leg"
- Inscription on a larger-than-life bronze statue of a ethereally-beautiful woman and a proud but humbled wolf
The term "hospital" for Mengsk Memorial (also known as Lady Kate's by the workers building it) is a bit of a misnomer, conjuring the mental image of a single large building. In fact, the plans call for half a dozen
very large buildings, and a double-handful of smaller support structures, all arranged around immaculately sculpted parkland crisscrossed with walkways. Above the surface, the buildings are connected by enclosed personnel tubes, forming a frame through which convalescent park-goers can view the stars.
It's a nice idea, but also an extravagant one, envisioning the employment of thousands of doctors who are needed out in refugee camps and actual veterans' settlements, along with a hundred times as many nurses and support personnel. However, you begin to suspect (given Mengsk's recent mood) that your Emperor may have a slightly better grasp on just how many veterans there are about to be in the not-too-distant future.
With that cheerful thought in mind, you set about ordering the construction of the main emergency and triage structures first, concentrating on those areas which can immediately serve the needs of Augustgrad's growing population and its immense number of resident laborers. The aforementioned bronze statue graces the somewhat overdone main entryway of the urgent care building, which is now up and running, tending to DLS workers and relocated officials alike as they encounter the perils of a newly built city.
Military
Brontes: Refloating the Fleet (Phase 2)
The second stage of the Brontes salvage operation involves building a permanent scrapyard and recycling facility in orbit over the planet, thereby providing the war-torn world with an immediate industry for employment and productivity. This will also substantially speed up your efforts to refloat the wrecked capital ships still floating around.
(-10 Paranoia)
(Progress 244/400, -10R per die) [2, 46, 79, 80]
"Welcome to the Combined Salvage Deconstruction and Repurposing Facility, Chancellor. CSDRF is a bit of a mouthful, though, and so unsuitable. Look at her. Her great, gnashing teeth. Her powerful, supple magnetic conveyors. She's like a great monster out of mythology. A beast of wonder. All who come before her are humbled, broken, devoured. No, instead, I like to call her... The Maw
."
- CSDRF site director giving a guided tour, shortly before a surprise mental health review
Despite the unavoidable slowdown caused by having to suddenly replace your top on-site official for incipient space madness, progress is quite acceptable on the orbital scrapyard floating above Brontes. The primary focus for the year is indeed The Maw, whose nickname proves impossible to remove, a massive neo-steel crusher-shredder capable of rendering entire dropshops down into scraps of metal. While this is a late-stage process used principally on stripped-down hulks and other unfixable debris, it is a much simpler process than taking a hulk apart by hand, and much more fun to watch.
Brontes: Fort Riley Orbital Training Center
Another special training camp request from General Duke, this one is located in an out-of-the-way debris field in Brontes orbit. The basic intent is to set the facility up on the same derelict space platform that used to host a Zerg hatchery, then use the platform and the debris field to train troops and pilots in navigating hostile space.
(-10 Paranoia)
(Progress 41/300, -5R per die) [4, 37]
"Oops! All Zerg!"
- An inside joke among DLS laborers in Brontes orbit, repurposed from an ancient formula
The TRUSTroopers get their first official combat outing during the construction of Fort Riley, which is also a valuable lesson in taking Edmund Duke at his word that a project is 'complete.' Anyone who had to defend Tarsonis forty-plus times in direct orbit clearly has issues with decisively solving a problem.
A lone Zerg defiler, one of the most innately devious of the creatures even without the hive mind to direct it, seems to have evaded the Alpha Squadron extermination effort, and kills a half-dozen laborers with its corrosive spores before it's properly identified. Afterwards, the troopers spend the next month and a half hunting the thing down, during which several more plague outbreaks occur. While these are not actually lethal pathogens, they do render entire work gangs bedridden for weeks at a time, and have an uncanny ability to slip in through suit seals.
Finally, the troopers track the thing down to its lair deep within the platform's innards, where a number of surviving ferals have taken up residence. A pitched battle ensues, with surprisingly light casualties on TRUST's side, and they emerge victorious, with a new defiler skull for Site Alpha's wall.
It's a great accomplishment and you duly issue the necessary awards. If only it didn't mean that basically nothing got done on the actual fort this quarter.
Research
High-Efficiency Conduits [Tech]
Most Terran vehicles run on either fusion cells or ultracompact fusion reactors, depending on their size and power needs, while structures tap into the local power grid or command center. However, what all these sources have in common is that their raw output exceeds the safe transmittable flow of energy through their old-style metal wiring. The solution: an adaptation of Protoss energy-circuit technology to create conduits that transmit electricity through an aligned, highly durable crystalline matrix. This increases allowable power output while reducing waste heat and wear and tear.
(Progress 109/200, -15R per die) [78, 29, 2]
"You know, not to sound ungrateful, but if our species had grown up on a planet with a crystal that could do damn near anything, I think maybe we'd be known for our 'elegant technology' too."
- Chief researcher on the conduit project, venting
Unlike the Protoss, your researchers simply do not have access to psionically-reactive crystals in any great quantity (yet), nor are your scientists able to realign that crystal's structure with the power of their minds (yet?). This proves to be a surprisingly difficult stumbling block to cracking the secrets of Protoss technology, but not an impossible one.
Instead, your crystal matrices must be artificially forged using heat, pressure, and time, along with absolute painstaking attention to the smallest detail. The fundamental process itself is well-understood and time-tested, but adapting it to something that needs molecular precision is... tricky. After all, you can't just handcraft these things; they need to be reproducible on an industrial scale.
Fortunately, the handcrafting is proving more or less about as expected, and the main difficulty lies in designing a machine that can alter the microscopic differences of each crystal to properly align the matrix. That'll take some more doing, or so the eggheads say.
New Model Weaponry (Phase 2) [Tech]
The Hailstorm shoulder-mounted multiple missile launch system is a modification of the anti-air missile launchers mounted on the Goliath walker. Instead of two separate launchers, the Hailstorm boasts four sequence-firing tubes, albeit with much smaller munitions. The projectile spread will give each rocket trooper a surprising amount of firepower against enemy flyers, especially when deployed en masse.
(Progress 297/250, -15R per die) [13, 86]
[-10 Paranoia] [47 Progress toward next phase]
"Chuck, sweetie, I think it's great that your fellows like to send you the first new model off the line of whatever they build, but this pile of stuff is getting pretty unwieldy. Maybe set aside a room at the Treasury? Or... maybe a whole floor?"
- Your beloved and very tolerant wife, looking down at your shiny new missile launcher
The completed Hailstorm launcher is a thing of beauty. It attaches to a shoulder mount on the Integrated Protective Ensemble, leaving the trooper's hands free to wield small arms for personal defense. The IPE's kinetic supports redistribute the thing's weight, and its integrated targeting system allows the trooper to either voice-target it individually or connect it to the tactical net for massed group fire.
The multi-missile setup is finally working as designed, now that the little issues have been ironed out. It isn't pinpoint-accurate, but it fires four missiles in sequence, so it's more a saturation weapon anyway. Get a dozen missile troopers together and you'll be covering the skies in explosions in no time.
Bureaucracy
Services/Administration/Logistics/Operations Mechanization Endeavor
Okay, set aside the insane acronym. SALOME is the brainstorm of Vice-Chancellor Smith, who heard that your former adjutant was just sitting unused in storage and despaired at the notion of an underutilized resource. He believes that Sally can be repurposed into a central computer for the entire Treasury, capable of handling a variety of mundane tasks and serving as an all-purpose reference guide for the various laws, regulations, and protocols at work.
(Adds one die to all non-Personal categories) (+10 Paranoia)
(Progress 233/300, -10R per die) [8, 26, 62, 43]
"Your Excellency, I am pleased and proud to report that we are finally ready to deploy the Services Administration Logistics Operations Mechanization Endeavor. All the programming is complete, the various structural modifications have been made, we've sourced the high-flow linkages, and I have a team of contractors on standby ready to make the necessary alterations to the building. All I need is your final app– I do beg your pardon, could you repeat that? We're moving to Korhal when
?"
- Vice-Chancellor Smith, learning to appreciate the Emperor just like you do
There's an ancient adage that applies well to the bureaucratic process — "'cheap,' 'fast,' and 'quality': pick two." In this case, you have your (relatively) cheap and (apparently) high-quality project, struck with the tragic misfortune of bad timing. Not through anyone's fault but Mengsk's, either; by all estimates, Smith had this thing fully in the bag, ready to roll out and be implemented inside a couple months. Indeed, his planning was meticulous... for the building on Vardona.
Instead, SALOME has to be moved wholesale across the Core Worlds to Korhal, where your Vice-Chancellor now has to run around frantically organizing the interplanetary move. Some things inevitably get lost or go by the wayside during this process. Sadly, SALOME is one of them.
Veterans' Benefits Program [MANDATORY] [NEW]
Clearly stung by his guilty conscience, the Emperor has "requested" that the Treasury set up and disburse cash subsidies for military veterans, most especially "his" veterans from the Sons of Korhal (and also, sure, Alpha Squadron). A direct and unconditional cash payout is a relatively unique program for a department used to laundering outgoing money through layers of means testing and oversight, but what the hell, why not learn something new?
(-5 Paranoia)
(Progress 39/400, -15R per die) [39]
"What the hell do you mean, 'you didn't think to ask'? Veterancy is one of the most basic statuses somebody can have. I'm
a veteran! No, no, I don't care. Go out there and find out who served and who didn't, and do it fast."
- The Chancellor, to a very cowed subordinate
Some things, however, were handled badly from the jump. In their rush to get the census out, they seem to have omitted several key questions, and "Did you serve in the military?" was one of them. You've demoted the hapless individual in charge of that particular part of the census, but that doesn't actually fix the problem. Instead, a supplementary wave of census-taking is needed to answer that question, plus a few others. Between the one you've already done, this one, and the one scheduled for 2510, the people of the Dominion are going to get awful used to answering their front doors.
Personal
Korhal: Go Drinking with Colonel de Santo
Diamond "Dia" de Santo is the third of the three survivors of Dominion Section, Captain Arcturus Mengsk's command in the Confederate Marines during the Guild Wars. Never one to kowtow or keep her mouth shut, De Santo returned to duty along with you when the Sons of Korhal rose up against Confederate rule. Unlike you, and despite her loyalty to Mengsk, the old boys' club has conspired to keep her at a lesser rank while everyone else has become generals and admirals. Maybe it's time to take her out for a friendly drink and see how she's feeling, now that she commands the Marine garrison on Korhal.
(DC 60 to avoid +10 Paranoia, -5F per die) [14, 82]
[96 vs DC 60; pass!] [Military Personal projects unlocked]
"Just between us, Chuck, I think the Boss is making a big mistake keeping all those old fossils on. You know, Duke and the rest. Sure, they're not that much older than us, but their brains are practically prehistoric. You know what happened to the dinosaurs, right? I'm just saying."
- Dia de Santo, three drinks in, on the need for generational change
Yeah, it's even worse than you thought. Dia would and did run into burning buildings for Arcturus Mengsk during the Guild Wars and the Great War alike, but a few years of peace and neglect and she's entertaining fantasies of conveniently placed meteor strikes on the high command. She's not quite where you are regarding the Great Man himself, but it's really only a matter of time. Honestly, you have to fault Mengsk's decision-making on this one. She's worth ten of those crusty old goons, and he's got her on garrison duty. A criminal waste of talent, that is.
Fortunately, the two of you have a great talk about TRUST (which she disparages in a friendly sort of fashion) and how it can be brought up to a standard more befitting the uniform its people wear. Cross-branch exercises, that's the ticket. It'll certainly give you plenty more time to fraternize with other, like-minded officers.
Korhal: Have a Talk with Director Starke
Devon Starke has indicated to you that he is not averse to a friendly, mutually beneficial working relationship. That is interesting. You've also heard that he has some sort of connection to the much-rumored secret son of the Emperor, who Arcturus has alluded to while in his cups but never formally brought up or introduced to you. Why not have a chat, see if he's got anything to offer?
(DC 80 to avoid +10 Paranoia, -5F per die) [53, 35]
[88 vs DC 80; pass!] [Security Personal projects unlocked]
"Thank you for meeting with me, Chancellor. I'm confident that a strong working relationship between our ministries is in the best interest of the Dominion and its people. There are many things I can learn from you, and perhaps a few things I can be of service for."
- Captain Devon Starke, the blandest man alive
Starke is much harder to read than de Santo, which isn't surprising given all the mental conditioning he's been through. He definitely keeps his psychic inhibitor on, almost ostentatiously so, and you try thinking a few outrageous bits of nonsense just to test it, to no noticeable effect. Either the thing is functional or he has the best poker face you've ever seen. Or maybe both.
Most of the conversation is professional in nature; Starke doesn't give the impression of having any sort of personal life, and doesn't ask about yours. Instead, there's a lot about handing over site security and other areas of potential conflict that need to be hashed out between the Treasury and Security, as well as the benefits of cooperation. It is an extremely normal working lunch.
However, you do notice something rather curious, or actually Carla does, when you relate the conversation back to her later. She mentions that Starke never once brings up the Emperor himself; all his references are to 'the Dominion' or 'the people of the Dominion.' Given the Imperial Guard's responsibility for Mengsk's personal safety, it could be that he simply doesn't concern himself too much with the Emperor. Or... it could mean something else entirely.
Regrettably, your half-baked clandestine efforts to tease information on the Emperor's secret son out of him go basically nowhere. He seems to acknowledge what you say, but has little to offer on the subject, save an indirect confirmation that the boy does actually exist. Still, that's not nothing. Maybe he'll warm up later.
