Shipyards

Shipyards

In the beginning of spaceflight most ships and modules were buildt on the surface of a planet or moon. When the ship was finished it usually left the pull of gravity with so called gravboosters. These enormous rocket engines was fitted to the shiphull and was discarded once the ship left the planets grip.

This method for building spaceships and spacestation modules was the only means of commercial companies to build space facilities. It was extremly expensive and the ship sizes were limited to a couple of hundred meters in length. At this time the only means for space-exploration was by the largest of goverments on earth. However as the numbers populating space grew and the first colony of spaceshipwrights was established the shift of power started. Soon mighty corporations established their own spacenavies usually by taking over older ships that was sold by governments needing to upgrade their fleets.

The Hanstock Corporation which was leading in spaceship engineering launched a project in 2402 in which the technology for the first space shipconstruction yard(SSCY) was developed. In the beginning these construction yards were spacefields with powerful builderdrones that assembled ship-parts together.

Ship-parts and raw materials were usually constructed on earth and then gravboosted into space where a barge took the parts and moved them to the ship yards where they were put together by the building drones and shipbuilding crews.

The technology for advanced and huge shipyards that could encase the largest of ships were created, the first called “Detroit” in 2490.

Inside the shipbuilding crews could pressurize and work more effective and precise with ship-assembly. These shipyards are in no way luxurious for the workers but they offer a pressurized enviroment and are less hazardous. They also enable building very decorated and comfortable civilian ships that were previously impossible due to the lack of amosphere. In 2544 the first civilian vessel with a class A-comfort was deployed called “Titanica”. The ship housed 890 passengers, 4 holo-theatres, 1 bloodsport arena, 32 resturants, 3 casinos and a gym for the guests. For more info on Titanica, check the designated document.

The companies owning shipyards grew in the 25th century. In the beginning Hanstock Corporation held all except one that they donated to the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth however duplicated the technology and started to build more yards in colonized space. These yards were building warships for domination of space to gain advantage on privatized armies and other goverments that had made claim to some solar systems in the Commonwealths intrest. These wars were despite the Commonwealths superiority lost due to civil unrest.

To keep ther grip on their empire the Commonwealth instead started to sell the shipyard technology and soon the cruicial components and secrets about this industry was free for everyone. Hanstock Corporation almost went bankrupt when this happened, they could not compete with much cheaper competition as the shipyards spread across human space.

Today (2892) the space shipyards are huge and plentiful throughout human space. They are usually deployed in the close proximity of a spacerefinery and can be moved, albeit slowly to better locations. Hanstock Corporation is one of many corporations in the top game, having fought their way back in the ship/spacestation-buisness. Other large companies are Tsunami Alcore, Foxstar, Barge, Tulum Industries and Mirsk Freight Industry. The most prominent governments holding large spacebuilding assets are The Commonwealth, The Federation, Makhi and the Fringe(pirates).

Combat Vehicle

Excerpt from a damaged logg server found in the area.

Estimated time; 2214 – Valencia – Tau Betaris 530 Sector.

The screen powered up and he could hear the low buzz that it emanated. The screen soon filled up with information about drivers and subroutines for the startup of the vessel. As soon as the basic powerup subroutines were completed the hoverengine routines were set into motion. The hovertank started to vibrate faintly, making itself ready.

Marc was impatient so he lit a cigarette and opened the top window above him. Cold air filled the cockpit immediately. He pulled the neck on his leatherjacket tighter against his neck and regretted that he´d picked up on his smoking habit since the war started. But it was inevitable, he needed the damned things to keep his steady cool before combat. And after, for that matter.

The startup sequence usually took about thirty seconds but in this cold climate it completed slightly faster. Betty declared the vessel ready for maneuvering and the same fact was flashing green on the navigation screen. Marc released the gravbrakes and the tank lifted itself to the designated height above the ground. In this snowy landscape it was about half a metre atleast or else he would act as a snowplow instead of a combat vehicle.

- End of Excerpt -

The Fate of Valencia, one of the first colonies ever established

A report was made in the later 21st century about the first universal war. A war that devastated 12 of the 14 colonies that was established by the first space enterprise. The space faring technology was new and as all new endeavours the plans and hopes for the colonies were very idealistic. However the hack and  reprogramming of Atlas, earths space-communications network would change all that. Soon after the hack an assault on research facilities on colonies Hope and Trafalgar resulted in the following war. A war that resulted in the reformation and total domination of the information technology. The report is here published in a unchanged state and was archived on the colony Valencia before it was attacked by AI-forces. 

The attack on Trafalgar has come as a shock to us. But the second attack that commenced a couple of hours later on the largest colony world Hope were even more shattering. The ecologists has really made reality of their threats! Before we were cut from the outside universe a statement was made. We suspect Atlas to be compromised. Chaos has erupted in the largest settlements on our world and the military garrison stationed here already has their hands full, keeping order. If the A.I´s attack we wont be able to hold out for long!

We have of course tried to contact Earth and Iona where the Federation fleets are stationed but all efforts to connect to Atlas has failed. Our systems cant access it and even our personal accounts are unaccessable.
So I can´t contact my daughter on Arthun and warn here of the threat spreading in the galaxy!
It seems were stuck on Valencia and only the regional network seems to work, so we´ll have to hope for the best and a quick response from the Federation.

Viceroy Alistair has dispatced a refugee-convoy with tourist and others that was stranded here. A delegation bearing the fate of Valencia is also among the refugees, hidden. The hope is that the terrorists won´t attack refugees, that would be a violation of Federation rules of engagement. All other spacecraft is grounded until further notice except military vessels. 

My current assignment is to coordinate the shelters established in vaults and bunkers all over the planet. As colonist you have a place in a survival facility or bunker baked into the contract. That is one of the contract pros that is very heavily inspected to be fulfilled by the corporations people work for and/or government.
Our problem on Valencia is that we have a couple of vaults that haven´t been contructed yet so I must squezze som people in in the others. Families will have to break up and if fate is willing we wont be attacked and they will easily and efficiently be re-united as soon as the conflict is solved.

(Neo-Scribes note: The colony was attacked a couple of hours after this document was archived in a server keept in one of the vaults. One of the few vaults that wasnt destroyed by the planet-destroyers that attacked with spacebombardment that night and made the planet totally unhabitable. The name of the writer is als withheld due to classification F upheld by the Belive Terraforming Corp. )

The Miners of Tau Betaris 532 part 2

As to gather knowledge about the mindset of the hardy people called the miners, the federal army assigned a team of medical proffessionals and anthropologists to investigate and try to meld into the culture. This team reported strange, almost cultistic and ritual behaviours. Miners didnt drink, they trained alot, most worked 12 hours a day and there was nearly no crime. This might sound like a ideal but as stated above, there is dark, very dark sides of culture.
The miners strongly believe in the eye for an eye philosophy. They have a darwinistic approach to their life and never give up. Pain is a friend that tells them they are not dead… yet.
Esthetically the miners love to paint their bodies with cosmetica in different terra-asiatic signs and patterns. Nearly all men make “beautiful” scars in the shape of flowers, trees, tribal patterns. When they engage in a feud they paint these scars so their signs and scarrings are very visible. This is a sign of pain and rage and it lets you challenge any othe miner into a duel.
Women also did these same things to their bodies but not in the same extent. Many women settled for the removable comsetica that in some cases could last on the body for twelve months.
All in all the study of the miners was a success except for the loss of doctor Hirota Ishiwara, who was fatally wounded by a small meteorite that penetrated the roof of one of the places the team visited during their work.
As to the official report, recruiting miners was still very worth the extra spending in commercials and incentatives but one should also note that some miners were very dangerous people if they could not let go of the cultural customs and laws the very used to on the rocks. No occurences of miners being insubordinate or worse due to cultural differences has been reported as of yet but its still advisable to be careful when screening and testing the recruits.

The Miners of Tau Betaris 532.

The mining cluster at Tau Betaris 532 had for nearly a century been the main recruitment point for the federal military. It had however not always been so.
The harsh enviroment of this region made “miners” known for their strength and excellent physical condition.
A mining colony is a dangerous place and if disaster strikes help is almost always several days, maybe weeks, away. The dense asteroid fields and general harshness of space makes it a very slow process to navigate through the starsystems in the Tau Betaris sector.
So the people who live here has become known as miners, not for their proffession, far from
all of them are actual miners. No, the miners are the men and women living on mining
colonies.

Some of them have grown up on a mining colony and the hard livleyhood has prepared them to
be excellent soldiers. They have their own culture and social rituals, some of them very
alien, to what we condsider more civilized societies.
Thats why federal agencies are spending high amounts of money for recruiting promotion in
these areas. In the beginning the general attitude was that no real investment in PR had to
be made to get miners to the military ranks. It was believed that as soon young miners
heard about their chance to get off the “rocks” they would swarm the recruitment offices in
the galaxy. But this was dead wrong.

Miners have become rooted in their colonies and call them their homes. Theyre proud of being miners and the culture that has sprung in these areas is now their whole identity.
Some interviewed miners have stated that the rest of human space is boring. They need to live in danger to feel at home. This investigation led by a federal agency soon formed a PR-offensive together with several PR corporations. The resources spent was reported to increase over time since it was hard to convince miners to live the hard soldier life instead of the hazardous life as a miner.

End of part one.

Colonial Reports 2210 4 feb ET

Cold, the blistering cold. Barneys looked at the panel, it would soon be impossible to distinguish the interface through evergrowing frost. He tried to scrape most of the frost off, but his fingers were all stale, he only managed to smeer the frost out over the screen.
He had to supress the urge to contact Larsen, the engineer with responsibility over the ships atmospherical functions, he knew he was down there doing everything he could.
Four hours of far beyond sub zero temprature however would mess with anyones mind.
“Lieutenant Barney!? I need coordinates ASAP!”, the female voice came from the intercom. It was commander Earnhardt. Barney switched the navigation panels to the correct mode and started replying the coordinates for nearest emergency station. His voice was shaky so he had to repeat several of the coordinates.
“Good job, Barney. The coordinates are noted, you should get into the engineering bay before you freeze, theres still some heat in there. Earnhardt out!.”
- About time… Barney said and exited the reserve navigation room and immediatley headed for the lift down to the engineering bay. The flickering lights made it hard to navigate through the debris and the cold had made some parts of the floor slippery. At times even the gravitational systems went haywire and he would suddenly be weightless and as suddenly as the first time he would crash down to the floor again. He didnt notice the pain and finally entered the blastdoor into the enginnering bay.
The sound from the fusionreactors was deafening but a welcome warm wind swept across his frozen body as he entered the bay. He could see that many more crewmembers had gone down here to get shelter from the cold. Captain Morgeaue had probably ordered all non essential crewmembers to do so. He joined the group of people standing in the engineeringbay office where the maintnance people had their administrative duties. The room was isolated from the sounds of the engines when the blastdoor was closed. It didnt take long before Barney was asleep.

I am the Neo-Scribe.

As long as someone writes down everything into the net, were in danger of being caught. Thats why I search for the more prominent investigators of corporative buisness. Then I either shoot them or offer them a job.

- Lech Williams, CEO of *censored* at my jobinterview.

Note: I got the job. Im am the new Neo-Scribe.