Jump to content

Lunar Republic Reports


Lynneth

Recommended Posts

A luxurious office, shelves lines with trophies. The oversized model of a motorcycle hung from the very high ceiling. Everything had a somewhat odd reddish tint to it, and the view kept bobbing and swaying, enough to make an observer seasick.
Behind a large desk crafted from dark wood stood an older lady with an orange, furlined overcoat and auburn hair that showed the first solid streaks of grey. "Anything yet?"
"Just one so far," came a voice from nearby. The perspective suddenly tilted crazily, leaving the observer looking at the ceiling. Then it righted itself again. Much more of this and he would vomit, possibly giving away his position. But he had to endure for now.

He was bobbing towards a bookshelf. Then he was staring at the wall above it through the haze of red. Slowly the view pivoted until he was looking into the face of a stern lady with scarlet hair and matching lipstick. She stared right into him. Then she pressed a button on a device she was holding and the red haze vanished, leaving the room in sharp and perfect color. The woman walked across the room, the device beginning to glow again as she scanned over the furniture on the far side. When it passed near one of the lamps, there was a gleam of brilliant pink from it. The pink gleam flashed with the sound of a popping balloon and was gone.

"This is the last one, Miss. Your room is clean of any Ministry of Morale snooping," the woman said. "Shall I send them in now?"
The lady nodded, grimacing. "Please. They have been waiting long enough." She watched the woman walk out of the office then looked around with a sigh. Her gaze caught him.
"Oh, Ashley!" she called out after the woman. "You left your..." Her voice trailed off with a sigh, "...Cola."

A spy device planted inside a bottle of good old Cola. The lady walked over to him, leaning up and grasping what he assumed was the top of a cola bottle, lifted it, and carried him over to her waste basket. His vision twisted weirdly as he fell, landing face up amongst her trash. She stared at him through the circle of the waste basket, then walked out of sight.

Yes, the room was clear of any Ministry of Morale snooping. Definitely.
He heard the door open. All he could see was the ceiling. Then he heard voices. A secret meeting would begin in moments.
He needed to pay attention now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 222
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

[i][Elsewhere][/i]

An office high above, overlooking parts of the district of Corriverton. It was one of the taller buildings, providing for an excellent view. On a mahogany was a simple, if powerful work PC. The owner, head of a decently sized - if partially state-owned - company, was looking through a few reports. He wore a brown suit, black tie, with dark brown hair on his scalp, a similarly-coloured beard adorning the angular face.

He stopped all of a sudden, staring at the monitor for a bit. He sighed, clearly annoyed. "Beatrice, the virus program is acting up again. Would you help me out?"
On command, his secretay walked in from an adjacent room. The smile on her face soothed his anger. "Of course, Sir."

The woman proceeded to the computer, scanning the holographic display for a few moments. The course of action was obvious; the anti-virus program merely wanted to update. She gave permission, and less than a minute later, it claimed to be up-to-date. "There you go, Sir."
"Thank you, my dear." He nodded with a smile. "I wouldn't know what I'd be doing without you."
She just smiled, returning to her desk and duties.

In the meantime, the program did its duties. Unknown to either of the two, part of its duties was not only keeping the files uninfected, but also keeping a watch on the system itself. The program was made by a BoI subsidiary firm and in regular contact with its servers. Due to the close cooperation with MoM, this information was easily accessible by the Ministry.
While the good man was dutifully working and looking through reports, all activity was reported to the BoI hub. MoM used its access to keep an eye on 'suspicious' people. And everyone else, too. Just in case.

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Classified][/b]

Lunar forces across the nation went into high alert as a [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=107983&view=findpost&p=2890262"]most grave[/url] message was received.
Troops were shuffled towards the northern border and two carrier battlegroups began exercises in the atlantic near Lunar coasts, while AWACS and other airplanes were ordered to patrol Lunar airspace.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Classified][/b]


[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/futura/BattleLaser_Campbell.jpg[/img]
[u]The DB-350 Flashlight Battle Laser[/u]

These are pulsed lasers of the "blaster" variety, which emit rapid bursts of ultra-short pulses to drill through their targets. They primarily emit in the near infrared at around 1 micron wavelength, but can frequency double their beam color to green if desired. All these lasers are 50% efficient at turning electric energy into beam energy. The beam parameters are fairly flexible - they can emit lower energy beams for a higher sustained rate of fire, for example.
Using the latest in supercapacitor, lasing and precision lensing technology, this state-of-the-art directed energy weapon has a weight of 5.5 kilograms when loaded. It is capable of directing 50 pulses of firecracker-strength into a target over the course of 500 microseconds. Lasing in near-infrared wavelengths, the Flashlight's beam is practically invisible unless there's a considerable amount of dust or pollen in its path, which will burn, if barely visible.
The beam energy is 10 kJ per shot, made up of 50 pulses of 200 J each, spaced 10 microsecond apart. The total beam energy is about the same as a .460 Weatherby magnum bullet - a bullet for the Weatherby elephant gun and the most powerful sporting cartridge in existence. It can sustain a rate of fire of up to 2 full energy pulses per second, or safely handle overheating by up to 8 full energy shots. It has a 6 cm primary aperture. The beam causes full damage out to about 350 meters. It is powered by a 1 kg high capacity power pack, with enough energy for 100 full energy shots and enough power to supply 2 full energy shots per second, although the laser can be hooked to a power backpack via a power cable to allow higher rates of fire and ammunition capacity.

Further information is available [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=90657&view=findpost&p=2667657"]here[/url] and [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=90657&view=findpost&p=2671663"]here[/url]. In the second location, other variants are discussed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Von Braun][/b]

"Goddamn this Horde and Jia. This 'Dispatch' is aimed at us and nobody else."
"He's getting afraid of us, Alex. Otherwise he wouldn't have done this."
"True. Still. It's enraging that he would think his Horde could stop us from bringing mankind to the starts. That was and is our greatest duty."
She nodded. "Of course, and it always will be." Both of them sighed.
Alexander slammed his fist onto the desk. "I'm not going to let this megalomaniac Jia destroy what so many have worked for. What father has worked for."
"Nothing of that is ever going to happen. But we'll need to prepare for the case of the chinese attacking us. It's only a matter of time."
"Build docks, then. Construct facilities capable of building vessels larger than even the Yeomans. If that upstart thinks he'll be able to stop us, he's sorely mistaken."
"We'll have a hard time keeping those secret, Alex."
"We can repurpose one of the habitats. Or several of them, the I-2 habs are more than big enough to house several vessels."
"Now that's an idea. I'm pretty sure we could get at least one hab at [i]Gagarin[/i] and two each at [i]Polo[/i] and [i]Magellan[/i] modified like that. None at Lagrange though. The Tianxia and Athens might ask questions about why so much material goes in, but so little comes out."
"Yes... And we'll have to remove those massive windows. That's an easy explanation though, experiments and research that have to be protected from sunlight or something like that. Or updated safety standards. Both work well."
Laura nodded. "It'll make things a bit more expensive, but that'll be worth it if we can just tell the Mongols to stay the hell out of our business."
"On towards the future then, Laura. Let's preserve peace, by preparing for war."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Classified][/b]

While Vicidalia's integration was underway, with the former nation now as autonomous region of the Lunar Republic, the added manpower would be useful in heightenin lunar industrial capacities.
Anticipating revenge from those who had mobilised for Vicidalia, a programme for the defense was initiated. Firstly, all [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=106348&view=findpost&p=2877974"]defensive measures[/url] that had [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=106348&view=findpost&p=2878971"]been built[/url] in the Republic proper were to be applied to Vicidalia as well. Next, Vicidalia needed an elite army for its defense, meaning that a volunteer corps of roughly 80,000 men would be created and trained in the same ways as Lunar soldiers, named the VDDF (Vicidalian District Defense Forces). They would be equipped, drilled like the Republic's troops, and a sense of nationalism would be instilled. They were doing this for their people, not some aloof king or princess who hadn't even been in the military themselves.
The old Vicidalian fleet meanwhile would be mothballed, to be called out of service if the Lunar fleet experienced shortages of certain shiptypes.


[b][Von Braun][/b]

"The colonies at [i]Polo[/i] are completed, no?"
"Well, aside from the two we're modifying, yes. Construction at [i]Magellan[/i] has begun, factoring modifications in."
"Alright, good to hear." She nodded, walking over to the holographic window.
"Meanwhile, do you have news about the designs, Laura?"
"Only a general shape. Elongated, with two rings. No weapon emplacements yet. Wings behind the habitat rings, for fuel and the engines."
"Interesting... Anything else?"
"That's it right now. We should get a definite design the next time."
"I'll be looking forward to that."
"Me too. On another note, Alex, immigration is slowing down. We won't be able to fill the habitats as easily."
"So we might want to move people from the surface into space? Is that what you mean?"
"It would at least prevent them getting involved in battle with the Horde. And considering the amount of automatisation we can achieve if we put some work into it, we might be able to lower the planetary population by a great deal before anything happens to the economy."
"Mhm. Very well, let's begin planning for that..."


[b][Message to Selenarctos][/b]

"We are happy to announce that the Island 3 habitat you had purchased from us is complete. It will be capable of housing up to 24 million people nearly completely autonomously, only rarely requiring resupply missions for things such as fresh soil or oxygen.
Maintenance of the colony will of course be performed by certified Lunar personnel, so you will not have to worry about that.

With regards,"

Laura Leclerc
Speaker of the Republic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b]Reply to the Lunar Republic:[/b]

On behalf of the people and government of Selenarctos, please allow me to extend my thanks to the administrators and workers of the Lunar Republic who have made this moment possible.

Sincerely,
President Melchoro Diokno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Von Braun; Top secret meeting][/b]

For a change, more than just Laura and Alexander had gathered, and it wasn't in their office, either.
This time, they were gathered in one of the sizable conference rooms of the office habitat.
As Alexander walked to the front, muttering and hushed conversations died with each step, until all attention was on the second Speaker. He looked over the crowd for a few moments, with a smile.

[color="#4169E1"]"Ladies, Gentlemen, welcome. Especially [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/1308367475695.jpg"]Mr. Rocketworth[/url], head of the Ministry of Space Technology."[/color]
The scientist briefly stood up, turning to bow at the clapping crowd. Then, Alexander continued.
[color="#4169E1"]"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Ministries and Bureaus of our great Republic of Luna. We are here because of a project that, under all circumstances, [i]must[/i] stay secret. You all have been informed with a few bits and pieces until now, some of you may even have come to a conclusion as to what it may be. Before I continue, however, I would ask the honourable head of Morale to shut all listening devices in this room down."[/color]
The pink-clad woman with hair that would have looked like cotton candy if it had been white or pink instead of dark brown cleared her throat, then pulled what seemed to be a standard HoloPC from a pocket. A few moments later, she gave a 'thumbs up' to nobody in particular and replaced the device from where she had taken it. .
[color="#4169E1"]"Thank you very much. With that done, and absolutely nobody listening, I can come to the next point, namely the reason why five Island-2 habitats are being changed considerably. Especially those actively involved in our colonisation effort of space may be wondering just why this is being done.
Well, it is quite simple. The Horde [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=108107"]announced[/url] that it would see any development of weaponry in space as attack upon itself. What would the rational response be?"[/color]

Rocketworth stood up. "Rationally, one might agree with the Horde and promise to aid their cause. However, the man who built the Space Elevator was not rational. Neither are we, who stand in a construction more expensive than the horde Khagan's harem of virgin children costs him in a year." General amusement was audible.
"And because of this irrational thought pervading our esteemed circle, it has been decided to utterly and completely violate almost all of their clauses.
This means, we will deploy orbital weaponry to gain strategic supremacy over Earthly targets. We will build enough of these weapons as to create an 'area denial' effect. If it comes to blows, we will attack Horde assets in outer space, and those of their allies. We won't aggress without being provoked, though, but once at war, we will block access routes into outer space for all but our allies, and monopolise the resources of this our solar system. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, why do we do this? Because SCIENCE is not rational! We do what we [b]must[/b], because we [b]can[/b]."
Applause filled the room as Rocketworth smiled, feeling right in his element, telling people how glorious SCIENCE was. It took a good minute to stop.

"Right now, a team headed by one of my best engineers, Jürgen Holtz, is working on the finer details of this most irrational of projects. His team will ensure that the bucket of bolts that's being designed will not disintegrate when hit by a few stray particles.
Before I begin with the project itself, a few things surrounding it should be cleared up beforehand."
Rocketworth had by now walked to the podium, stepping off to walk to the hologram of an Island 2 habitat. "You all know the workings of our standard habitats. Huge cylinders, almost a million possible inhabitants, yadda, yadda, and so on. We are in the process of repurposing one Cylinder at [i]Gagarin[/i] and two each at [i]Magellan[/i] and [i]Polo[/i] for this project. They'll not be filled with an atmosphere, and one end will be capable of being opened up like an overly large can of Pringles. Construction of the project would take place in the center of a cylinder. Workers and all that will be housed in the standard constructions along the outer edge, industries would be moved anywhere there is space for the, but no atmosphere will be provided for the large central emptiness.
The current projection is that th innermost core will have a radius of roughly 200 meters and house all construction efforts, scaffolding and all that. Around it, for point five kilometers, we can establish industrial facilities to construct components and provide the means for building them. The remaining outer layer would house the construction crews, contain life support, perhaps even food production. These habitats would naturally have a far lower population compared to others. We expect less than 200,000 people to be involved in total, including manufacturers, refineries, etc outside of each modified habitat."

[color="#4169E1"]"Unfortunately, the nature of the project results in only a limited amount that can be built within each habitat."[/color]
"Indeed. We are limited by the length of the habitats, which is around 9 kilometers. If we construct the project in 15 steps, each with specialised work stations, we should be able to create a nice, steady assembly line. Work done in station one, go to station two with the entire thing still within its scaffolding. The usual, really."
He bisected the habitat with a few button-presses, a rudimentary example of 15 sections being shown. "Accounting for modern construction technologies, the zero-G environment, 3D printing, vacuum construction and a multitude of other factors, we will be capable of doing all 15 steps over the course of three years. Now, theoretically, once completed the project [i]should[/i] be ejected from the 15th station out of the cylinder, have its scaffolding removed and then launched properly. Further, in theory, the next production run would be finished three months later, so we would, after the first is done, get another completed one every three months. A disadvantage of this assembly system is that it'll take a good three years until we can change what is being built. Ah, well.
"As said previously, secrecy needs to be kept, and we will thus only do an initial production run of three to four prototypes in each cylinder, and complete all of them over time."

Finally, the hologram vanished, and Rocketworth walked back to the podium.
"Now, I'd like to go into detail about the project itself."
A holographic projection appeared to his right. "We're looking at an approximate length of 500 meters, with a height of 70 meters and a width of 36 meters for the main body, while the habitation rings are 140 meters in diameter. The engine blocks are sideways trapezoids, with a maximum height of 18 meters, minimum height of ten, length of 80 meters, wifth of 40. Length is part of the project's 500, I might add.
"As with most of our space assets, the command center is located within the construction and not exposed to space in any way. No windows, viewing ports, nothing of the sort.Internal systems will include a prototype auto-repair system, at least two standard fusion reactors, each capable of delivering 180 Megawatt at standard load. There will, as usual, be state of the art life-support systems. Now, you might ask yourself about those auto-repair systems. Hits will be taken. It won't be fun. Assuming survival, damage will have to be repaired as quickly and efficiently as possible, where this prototype systems comes in, coordinated by an advanced virtual intelligence.
"Of course, the crew will too be expected to repair systems if they're capable. I estimate, with modern automation technologies and a few other factors, we're looking at a crew of 90, eight of them officers. Rather small, despite the size. But, consider: An aircraft supercarrier, generally around 330 meters in length, with up to 90 planes, requires a complement of 3,200. This largely is because most of them are pure support, or dedicated to a single taske, as well as three shifts.
"You may be thinking, 'Oh hey, why not compare it to a modern missile cruiser'? Still just as wrong. Now take an old russian Typhoon, 175 meters with a complement of 160, or a US Ohio class. 170 meters, 15 officers, 140 enlisted crew. They weren't using the sort of automation we are using, and they of course had problems that differed from ours. Submarines re still a somewhat faulty comparison, but still better than a carrier or other surface vessel."

Rocketworth let the hologram move to the other side, then continued.
"Of course they won't be going around repairing a damaged fusion reactor on the fly. Even the best 90mph tape or duct-tape won't fix that easily. That why there will be another one or two, as backup while the damaged one is shut down. Standard maintenance, however, will happen, even if fusion reactors are too complicated and will require repairing and maintenance in dedicated stations. Remotely operated robots will likely be used in such a scenario.
"This all is because wet navy ships and submarines have the option of going unpowered or working on batteries only for a certain frame of time. Our project doesn't have that luxury. It will absolutely and utterly require at least one of its reactors running, at all times. Redundancy is the name of the game, even though we want to keep the total mass to a minimum."

Finally, the scientist stepped away from the podium.
"But before I continue, let us take a small break. I've been talking for a while, and my throat is getting sore."
[color="#4169E1"]"Very well. Let us all take a small break in the adjacent cafeteria. I'll see you in... let's say thirty minutes."[/color]

The general sounds of people standing up and leaving a meeting were audible for the next minute or so, as chatting about various subjects resumed.



OOC: This is just the tip of the ice berg. And I don't give a single $%&@ about what others think of it.
Science. I do what I must, because I can.
Further walls of text incoming when I get to writing them. There will be much, much more. Glorious [b]science[/b].

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Von Braun; Top secret meeting continuation][/b]

The heads of the ministries gathered back into the conference room, the last - Laura - closing the door behind her after entering.
Once everyone was back on their seats, Rocketworth once more took the podium.

"Alright, looks like everyone's back. Had fun, I hope, but now it's back to my boring droning about the glorious things in space we can and will make."
The rough hologram displaying the project's rough measurements reappeared.
"The next thing on the agenda - engines. That's easy and quick, they'll use the standard fusion rockets the Yeoman freighter uses, though not in a tractor configuration. Theoretically, that engine could be used as weapon, what with the exhaust being basically a gigantic torch. The same will be true for its maneuvering thrusters, by the way, so being too close to that thing maneuvering isn't healthy.
"That leads me to one of the most pressing issues - heat. Temperature. The fusion reactors provide power, that power is being used, and we get heat. That heat needs to go somewhere, so we need heat radiation rods or something similar. Currently, expectations are around 380 rods in total, of 3 different sizes, spread over the hull. They will be fully retractable, too, to protect them in case of combat operations. The exact configuration of one is making it corrugated, and capable of unfolding to four times the original area. This allows for a maximum surface area while retaining minimum actual size and keeping the largest possible bleed-off of heat.
"The approximate total area of the unfolded and fully extended rods will be around 200,000 square meters. That, in turn, allows to keep everything else relatively cool with one reactor running, at approximately 355 Kelvin. That's quite below boiling temperatur for water, by the way. With dedicated life-support systems keeping the actively crewed areas at comfortable temperatures, but the rest being rather warm, crew will need specialised worksuits to get into other sections. Those will be in vacuum, by the way, to further insulation.
"Naturally, in cases of combat, we can't keep the radiators out. Not in the direction facing the enemy, at least. In combat situations, the heat radiators would be extended on the side that did not face the enemy, while the one facing hostiles would have no rods active. This will raise temperatures, unfortunately, and we have considered dedicated heat-sinks for such situations. Combat isn't expected to last very long, however, likely less than an hour, during which temperatures wouldn't rise too much.
"I'd like to note, by the way, that the engines themselves will contribute relatively little to internal temperatures. All that waste heat is dumped through its exhaust, which is exactly why it's so dangerous. The exhaust plume is effectively the radiator, in technical terms called 'Open-Cycle-Cooling'. This is an advantage over electric drives like ion engines, which require radiators on their power plants, and over conventional shuttle- or rocket drives, which require much more fuel to gain delta-v and have a much harder time maneuvering."

The hologram changed again, highlighting the hull.
"Let me elaborate on the hull now. The design calls for 'spaced armour', meaning we have the usual heavy shell of armour that actually has a decent chance at stopping a good shot. And [i]that[/i] is being protected by a much thinner shell, with some space between them. The use of that thin hull is to make projectiles tumble or disintegrate on impact, making the actual armour take a much weaker hit and giving it greater survival rates. It's basically a way to avoid smaller hits like micrometeoroids and tiny pieces of debris. Bigger things will still punch right through, but might be slowed down a little or hit sideways instead of edge-on, which is always better.
"That'll be for the main hull. The only truly reinforced and armored structures will be crew quarters and life-support areas, all deep within the construction. The rest is basically protected by sheet metal surrounded by tinfoil. Not literally of course, but you get the drift, I hope. After all, there is no need to armour it up if we only need enough redundancies for it to survive, keep working after being hit return later, badly battered, to one of the modified habitats, preferrably with the crew surviving. The less weight we dedicate to passive armour, the easier it will be for the whole thing to maneuver. Which will greatly aid in surviving, I might add.
"Right now, estimates by Mr. Holtz' team say that the whole thing will have a mass of roughly 14,000 tons - despite the apparent size. Now, let's get it moving at 0.5 km/s. Suddenly, we have 1,750,000,000 joules of kinetic energy moving, and each kilogram adds to that. Armour adds many kilograms to mass, so, yeah. Anyways, this also means that we have rather powerful engines for it to accelerate quite a bit better than a Yeoman, and maneuver too, of course. At full output, those fusion rockets will be very unhealthy. Let me give you an example: 'They're sending a boarding party to us! ... Oooh, their shuttles just got sliced into bits by our maneuvering thrusters from 10 kilometers away. Too bad for them.'
"And that's only the maneuvering thrusters. The main engines will be deadly over a distance of approximately 50 kilometers. That, of course, leads to the question how to resupply and maintain that thing? Easy. Maneuvering thrusters will be kept at a minimum, and shuttles and tugboat craft can move it around the docking areas. That includes getting there, and removing the thing.
"Now. That was the hull, engines, thrusters... Weight, too. Heat was earlier. Alright."
Rocketworth nodded and pressed a few buttons. The hull vanished.

"I think I'll keep it at that for the time being. I should receive the finished design soon enough, so if you like, we can take another break."
General murmur in agreement was the result, and so another break would happen, the heads of the ministries leaving the conference room once more.


OOC: With 1,010 words around 600 words shorter than the previous post, which clocked in at 1,637.
Total size of 15.34 KByte. SCIENCE.

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Von Braun; Top secret meeting continuation][/b]

A third time, the heads of all ministries gathered into the conference room after a break. The presentation had taken the better part of the day already, and they were eager to hear the rest of Rocketworth's data.
The scientist and head of the Ministry of Space Technology had wandered to the podium once more.

"Thank you all for joining us on another episode of 'Goddamn, Rocketworth, how long will this take?'" He chuckled, and some laughter showed that the joke was well-received.
"I myself am hoping that we'll finish this briefing up soonish, but there's just a whole lot of material. This is an entirely new kind of project, after all, and there's many things that are entirely new or have to be reinvented, adjusted, to fit. The heat radiation rods are just one of those examples.
"Anyways, back to the topic: For the time being, I'll talk about life-support. The first thing is, how much water does the crew need? We're expecting an endurance of 180 days. Preliminary calculations result in approximately 800 cubic meters in total, with standard recycling systems possibly cutting down on that. Please note that around a thousand liters fit into a cubic meter, so we'd have 800,000 liters of water in use over the course of an unaided mission. Now, this figure includes on-consumption water usage like washing etc, effects on water intake due to temperature and physical workload, but it does not include recycling - which can, theoretically, more than halve all water usage. In practise, it would be best to keep around 550 cubic meters of water available in that case. However, cutting down on water-use by hygiene is possible, as well: Recent developments allow for sonic treatment of clothing, dishes and certain other things, cutting down quite a bit on water-use. These and a select few other developments allow to cut water requirements down to approximately 400 cubic meters.
"Oxygen requirements are a lot easier. Assuming one atmosphere with 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, and 0.8 kilograms of oxygen per day per person, we'll need 144 kilograms of oxygen per person for the duration of the mission, for a total of around 13,000 tons. Using liquid oxygen at 0.0007 cubic meters per 0.8 kilograms, we get around 9 cubic meters in total for the entire crew and mission. This is without recycling, CO2 scrubbing, and the like. That covers the greatest essentials: Water and air."

He walked off the podium, the holographic displays showing a variety of foods.
"What about eating, however? The average human needs around 600 to 700 grams of pure food, which is converted into the stuff a body needs to keep going. Add around 2.8 kilograms of water and you can keep a man moving for a long time if he gets the appropriate nutrients in his food. So what sort of food do they get?
"We have tested hundreds and hundreds of possible sources for food, from simply dry-freezing things over growing plants in the local environment to micro-organisms. We eventually hit jackpot: [url="http://www.javeriana.edu.co/universitas_scientiarum/universitas_docs/vol8n1/J_bernal.htm"]Spirulina platensis algae[/url]. Spirulina is highly digestible since it contains no cellulose. It is 65% protein by weight and contains all eight essential amino acids in quantities equivalent to meat and milk. It also has almost all the vitamins, with the glaring exception of vitamin C. It is also a little sparse on carbohydrates. Calculations show that it will be possible to achieve production rates of 55 grams dry weight of algae per liter of water per day. It breaks down 11 liters of algae water per person, supplying both food and oxygen, while consuming sunlight or grow-lights, CO2 and sewage. 11 liters of algae water will produce 600 grams of "food" - 540 grams is 2500 calories, an average daily food requirement - 1100 liters of oxygen, and consume 1320 liters of CO2 and an amount of nutrient salts extracted from sewage. Since food is generally 75% water, 600 grams of dry food will convert into about 2.4 kg of moist food, pretty much what the average person eats per day. Should eat, anyways.
However, a current pitfall: this algae is high in nucleic acid, which means you can only eat about fifty grams per day or you're at risk of gout or kidney stones after the nucleic acids are metabolized into uric acid. And it's going to be really, really, really embarassing if you have to list "gout" as the cause of failure for a space mission. So we're going to have to genetically modify it and get the nucleic acid content removed or lowered significantly before it can be utilised safely. It's possible that the reason the algae has so much nucleic is because of truckloads of redundant non-coding DNA, in which case we may be able to do a 'DNA clean-up' to lower the amount. Which technically is what I just said, only in other words. Ha!
"Anyways, in addition, various forms of blue-green algae can be naturally contaminated with highly toxic substances called microcystins. We'll have to breed that out as well, and impose extreme measures to keep supplies for the crew safe, lest they all die from toxins.
"Blue-green algae can also contain a different kind of highly toxic substance, called anatoxin, AKA [i]Very Fast Death Factor[/i]. Don't want that, obviously.
"The only things these algae lack are, as mentioned before, Vitamin C and Calcium. The simplest solution for both of these is pills, which is the route we will be taking."
Alexander interrupted Rocketworth briefly, [color="#4169E1"]"How do those algae taste?"[/color]

The scientist fidgeted a little with some files on his holoPC, then cleared his throat.
"Green slime. It is, however, very easy to use genemanipulation to add the taste of, say, bacon or chicken. Alternatively, we have nutritionless and edible powders in development that can provide any desired taste. So the crew might stock powders for chicken, pizza, potatos, turnips, et cetera and add those to the algae when it's eating-time. Now, these algae, together with water recycling and all other measures can create a nearly completely closed ecological cycle together with our crewmen, making it possible for them to survive longer than the expected 180 days.
"Big problem in space, though? The human factor. Boredom. Lack of entertainmen. That is why the crew will not only be provided with plenty of movies and e-books, but also enough videogames to keep them all busy, if necessary. Officers will be supplied with 'homework' to solve on a tri-daily basis to keep their minds sharp. Crewmembers will be allowed to teach others about the intricacies of their individual work. You never know when knowledge of a job outside of your specialty could prove vital in an emergency. The commanding officer will have to know when to turn a blind eye to the home-made moonshine still 'hidden' in one of the decks or the floating poker and dice games. Gambling and rocket-juice will combat boredom. As will other forms of recreation.
"Additionally, having male and female crew members cooped up in close quarters for weeks at a time can cause certain tensions. This makes one officially required item a selection of erotic magazines, under some circumstances perhaps even movies. This allows the crew members to take care of the problem in solitary fashion."
Rocketworth cleared his throat.

"This is the gist of things regarding keeping our men and women alive when they're on their missions. If you'll give me a few moments to find a glass of water, we can continue - this time without a break."

OOC: Almost to 4,000 words in total. Ha ha!

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[center][b][Public announcement][/b]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/lunarRepublic.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_lunarRepublic.png[/img][/url]

"Due to a changing geopolitical landscape, we would like to announce a full review of [i]all[/i] treaties the Lunar Republic currently has.
Until we come to a decision about which treaties to keep and which to end, [i]every[/i] treaty the Republic currently has is [i]temporarily[/i] suspended.
Thank you for your attention."[/center]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Von Braun; Top secret meeting continuation][/b]

Rocketworth finished the glass of water, putting it down with a smile.

"Alright, with all that done, there is only one thing to talk about. And I think we all know what that is.
"Guns. A whole goddamn lot of them, I might add. Current plans call for the following armament:
"Several countermeasure launchers, which will dispense simple chaff in hopes of enemy missiles hitting it. Basically, 'toss stuff into the missile's path and hope it works' is the philosophy. Missiles will be set up to track large targets like enemy stations and the like, so they won't be able to detect and evade the clouds of shrapnel moving towards them.
"Next is CIWS, or as we tend to call it, PD - Point Defense. These will be spread all over the hull, enabling maximum protection in any thinkable direction. These will be anti-missile missiles, and lasers, both being a last-ditch effort in case the countermeasures fail. Even deactivated, a missile is still a kinetic projectile en route to the defender. That's basically it for active defenses. Our best bet is still not being hit at all.
"Anyways, next are sensors. Those are relatively easy: Laser communication systems, standard super-encrypted radio, laser rangefinder, radar, thermal vision, the works. Anything to detect enemies both actively and passively, as well as relay that information to allied positions. They can't hide without moving behind considerably-sized celestial objeccts, and if they do that, they can't see us, either. You always know who's knocking unless you're completely blinded for some reason.

"Now. That's defensive stuff, largely. Here comes the good stuff.
First, please note that essentially all missiles utilised will be launched to 500 meters per second via use of railguns, igniting their propellant only after they're far enough away from the launcher. Not only does this save immensely on fuel cost, but also allows them to reach high hypersonic speeds with ease, 5 kilometers per second and more. This applies to all missiles. Basically, railguns - as much as I love them to bits - have a couple of really serious problems. They consume [i]way[/i] too much power and heat up [i]a lot[/i], so they can't be fired at a sustained rate. They don't have any guidance, so they lose accuracy very quickly. They are very prone to hitting things [i]beyond[/i] the target if they miss. And it comes to a point that firing something too quickly will punch through the target with little actual damage.
"Oh, one other thing; most of you will think fighter-based 'sidewinders' and stuff like that when I say 'missile'. Child's play. We're not throwing those baby things around. I'm talking Tomahawk-equivalents.
"Since we're talking about comparatively large and possibly unpressurized targets, you can't really trust spalling or pyrophoric elements to do the job modern anti-tank penetrators do nowadays. Stations and the like are heavily compartmentalized, tanks aren't. In space the best option is a hybrid of railguns and missiles. Use railguns or some other gun-type device to accelerate the missiles to cruising speed - making it so they don't have to waste fuel speeding up - , then let the missile guides itself to the target and delivers its payload. The beautiful thing about missiles is that, assuming they are speedier and more maneuverable than the hostile they're hunting, which they [i]should[/i] be, unless you can shoot them down somehow, they will [i]always hit[/i]. It might take a while, but they'll get the target. And railguns? They're the most weight-efficient way to accelerate the missile. It'll need all the fuel it can pack for maneuvering, not acceleration.
"Naval ships don't have to deal with that because atmospheric missiles usually either spiral out due to aerodynamic effects or simply crash into the ocean due to gravity.
"How to best kill things in space without getting hit? Fire first. Period."

"Anyways, let me explain the 'buckshot' missile mechanism. Launched via railguns, they are, like standard missiles, guided towards their target, but then comes the difference. Upon reaching anti-missile weapon range, they detonate, firing tons of hypervelocity high-density penetrators towards the target. This is an extremely effective tactic if the enemy has not taken the time to develop appropriate countermeasures like we have. Effectively, armor stops being an issue, it turns into a matter of who's denser? The projectile or the armor? Hint: I already mentioned you can't armor up a half-kilometer long object in space.
"There will be launch mechanisms for standard missiles too, of various kinds. Kinetic penetrator, chemical explosives, the works. There'll be standard tubes for these missiles, specialised tubes for the buckshot, and eight 'torpedo' tubes for larger than average missiles, which would be used against heavier targets. Say, a habitat colony. There will also be [i]one[/i] nuclear warhead available on board, in case a result has to be [i]forced[/i] like that.
"Lastly, there will be two large standard railguns, dubbed 'siege' for appropriate work ot taking large stations apart over time. I'll talk later about them."

"But for now, let's talk about the launch mechanism. Each standard missile will have an approximate weight of 700 kilograms, and will be accelerated to 0.5 klicks per second. In ideal conditions, we get 87.5 Megajoule of power required, but accounting for inefficiencies and the like, we are likely safe with around 100 Megajoule. Approximately 28,000 watthours, if you prefer that measurement. That's a lot of course, and we'll need appropriate capacitors. Luckily, the work for those has been done for us, and Ceylon's supercapacitors do the job incredibly well. Let me elaborate.
"Our current, high-end reusable capacitors with low failure-rates are capable of holding around 2.5 kilojoule per cubic centimeter of volume. With 100 million joule requiredand 2,500 kilojoule per cubic cm, we'll need around 40,000 cubic cm for a full load. Their density results in 196 cubic cm being one kilogram. For those interested, that's 490 kilojoule per k-gram, or around 136 watthours per k-gram. 40,000 divided by 196 gets us 205 kilograms, so we need, for each railgun, a capacitor with a weight of 205 kilograms to supply it with the necessary power. Consider burn-outs and replacement, we get approximately thrice the weight. Let's say we have 40 such weapons, the total weight of the capacitor banks will be less than 25 metric tons. Older capacitors would more than quadruple that, if not more.
"Now, if you don't get the maths, just trust me when I say: We did the maths, and it all works out. The capacitors are powerful enough to get enough power into the railguns to propel the missiles to their appropriate speed. On that note, we'll be integrating a mechanism into the missiles - if they go undetonated for, say, a month, they will self-destruct to prevent too large damage to anything that might eventually be in their path. Don't want to ruin someone's day in a few thousand years."

"Right, thats that. The torpedos will need approximately double the power, just for your information. Not a big problem.
"Last on the agenda are the siege railguns. Each will fire a 100 kilogram slug. I'm not going to calculate exact stuff, but at a planned 150 meters in length, these babies will be powerful enough that you do [b]not[/b] want to be in their way when they fire. They're end-game weapons, anyways, once they're being used seriously, we've basically won already.
"Even so, a small example, just to give you an idea. A 20 kilogram slug, fired at 7.5 kilometers per second. We get, at 100% efficiency, an energy-requirement of 562.5 Megajoule. That's about the equivalent of 135 kilograms of TNT detonating on your porch. You don't want that. You most certainly don't want the siege railguns to start firing, slow as they'll be thanks to that size. Show me something that can survive that much energy point-blank and you'll get my eternal respect. Point is, they'll ruin anyone's day in cislunar orbit mighty quick. So, despite the honestly ridiculous energy requirements, they should be worth it if they do come into use.
"Just remember: in space, whoever hits first wins. I don't think even our projecct will be able to take a single direct hit - which honestly is all that matters - and not be immediately crippled."

With that, Rocketworth prepared to end the presentation, but stopped in mid-bow, taking out his holoPC. He started smiling.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, it looks like my colleagues are done. Let me present to you..."

[center]Oppenheimer-class cislunar combat vehicle
[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/Cruiser01.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/th_Cruiser01.png[/img][/url][/center]

Length - 500 meters
Width - 35 meters
Height - 70 meters
Complement - 90 crew (8 officers)
Mass - 14,500 metric tons
Range: Limited by supplies (180 days)
Speed - Limited by maneuvering requirements
Equipment
[list][*]128 maneuvering thrusters
[*]380 heat radiation rods (retractable)
[*]578 PD/CIWS weapons
[*]16 countermeasure launchers
[*]40 'Buckshot' missile launchers
[*]90 missile launchers
[*]28 sensor towers
[*]8 torpedo tubes
[*]2 siege railguns[/list]

The room erupted into applause, a standing ovation, even.
The sheer amount of technology and thought having gone into this entirely new class of spacecraft was staggering and utterly amazing!

OOC: Done~

Fake edit: Cue complaints, attempts of wiping, etc. :v:

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Operation Ecuador - Take Two][/b]

It had happened [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=106348&view=findpost&p=2849013"]once before[/url]. Rebel Army seemed to have vanished from existence.
It seemed to have happened once more. This time, however, things appeared to be more definite. A carrier battlegroup was sent to the Space Elevator territory to secure it from opportunistic scoundrels and keep it international territory - if administered by the Republic. That said, they would first attempt making contact with the people there, to confirm that the RA government had fallen.
Once confirmed, 5,000 men would move in to secure the protectorate, brought on landing ships with the CBG.

In South America itself, the same that had happened the first time was done, except now via the sea, instead of land. A carrier battlegroup was ordered to move 20 kilometers before Ecuador's coasts, helicopters would be used to attempt and make contact.
In the case of no contact to the RA government being established, 10,000 men would land via landing ships, to secure the region as Lunar Protectorate.

"We have noted that Rebel Army's government may have fallen into anarchy; It is thus that the Lunar Republic sees the need to help the people of RA's Ecuador province and prevents deteoriation of its economy to the same standards that reigned in most of the South American continent after the HAE's civil war and subsequent fall.
Should our attempts to make contact with Rebel Army's government and Lavo Shalam fail, we will offer full integration of the province into the Republic after a public election.
Additionally, we have sent troops to the Space Elevator territory, in order to secure it in case contact with the RA government cannot be established. The international status of the elevator will not change. Only the administration will.
That is all. Thank you."


OOC: Lavo's last IC post, after extensive search: [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=107832&view=findpost&p=2887659"]December 28[/url]. Yesterday was the 25th day of inactivity. Today is the 26th day of inactivity. Just a bit ago was the 26th tick since Lavo's last post. I consider Lavo wiped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Public Announcement][/b]

[center][url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/lunarRepublic.png"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_lunarRepublic.png[/img][/url]

"Following a previous [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=106348&view=findpost&p=2900868"]announcement[/url], we have completed re-evaluating our treaties.
The following treaties will be cancelled, as per their respective cancelling clauses:

[url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=99886&view=findpost&p=2683746"]Addis Ababa Accord[/url] with Principality of Aeon
[url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=103150&view=findpost&p=2745343"]An MDoAP[/url] with Royaume de la Lumière
[url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=103239&view=findpost&p=2747302"]Pact of Carbon Nanotubes[/url] with former UFE, now Tianxia
[url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=106357"]A NAP[/url] with Selenarctos
[url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=97661"]Trade Pact[/url] of the Trade Federation

All other treaties are considered valid and active as before the re-evaluation.
Thank you." [/center]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The Athenian Federation would like to point out that in a recent declaration made by the Horde and backed by the Athenian Federation it was announced the Space Elevator is to remain untouched by any nation. We would like to ask you to pull back any and all military forces as soon as possible."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Centurius' timestamp='1327594370' post='2907358']
"The Athenian Federation would like to point out that in a recent declaration made by the Horde and backed by the Athenian Federation it was announced the Space Elevator is to remain untouched by any nation. We would like to ask you to pull back any and all military forces as soon as possible."
[/quote]
"The Space Elevator requires maintenance, administration and protection. We provide all that while keeping access free for all nations. Not only can anyone schedule its use, they don't have to pay for it, either.
Just like the Panama Canal, the Elevator is international, merely requiring someone to keep it running. Which we do."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Semi-classified][/b]

With the cooperation of the Corporate Territories, Lunar forces were busy moving into the former Solar Kingdom to keep the protectorate safe, and prevent anarchistic movements from taking root. Around 60,000 soldiers, supported by one tank division would be moving into the region over the next week or two, while 5,000 men would be sent to secure the small strip of land on South America's western coast between Peru and Neo Roma.
Thus, the Paramaribo Dictate was upheld, and all was fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote][b]Private
To: Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic
From: Ambassador Ollanta Humala of Peru[/b]

[b]Señora Leclerc[/b],

I would like to discuss, on the behalf of Peru, the return of the Region of Tarapacá, which was ceded as per the terms of the [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=107898&st=40"]Tratado de Ciudad Solar[/url]. My Government believes it would be preferable if these Peruvians be reunited with their fellow people. I look forward to your response.

[b]Ambassador Ollanta Humala[/b][/quote]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote][b]Private
To: Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic
From: Ambassador Ollanta Humala of Peru

Señora Leclerc,[/b]

I would like to discuss, on the behalf of Peru, the return of the Region of Tarapacá, which was ceded as per the terms of the Tratado de Ciudad Solar. My Government believes it would be preferable if these Peruvians be reunited with their fellow people. I look forward to your response.

[b]Ambassador Ollanta Humala[/b][/quote]

[b]To:[/b] Ambassador Ollanta Humala of Peru
[b]From:[/b] Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic

"Ambassador,

we will gladly give administrative control of that small region back to you. As soon as you send men and officials to take administrative duties over, we will pull our troops back."

Laura Leclerc,
First Speaker

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote][b]Private to the Lunar Republic[/b]
TO: Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic
From: Alice Wesker, Chancellor of the Corporate Territories of Uruguay and Southern Brazil
Subject: Santa Catarina, Parana

Speaker Leclerc, it is the wish of the people in the Northern regions of the nation, paticularly those who hail from "Southern Brazil" to be reunited with their people in the regions of Santa Catarina and Parana. The addition of these two territories would unify the people of Southern Brazil with those seperated inside the Lunar Protectorate. Historically, Southern Brazil was unified under the Brazillian Empire and the later Federative Republic of Brazil until the dark age of 2005 when the world changed. It is not only my wish, but the wish of my people to be unified with the remainder of the region.

I am more than happy to arrange a video conference or meeting of some sort to discuss this topic with you, or a representative of the Lunar Republic.

Best Regards

A.Wesker[/quote]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Chancellor Patrick' timestamp='1327601289' post='2907417']
[b]Reply[/b]:

[b]Señora Leclerc[/b],

I thank you gratefully for the return of this region. To show our appreciation, we offer the city of Iquique to be home to a Lunar Pacific Fleet.

[b]Ambassador Ollanta Humala[/b]
[/quote]
[b][Reply][/b]

"Ambassador,
thank you very much for the offer. We will notify you if we need to send a fleet into this pacific port."

Laura Leclerc
First Speaker

[quote]Private to the Lunar Republic
[b]TO: Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic[/b]
From: Alice Wesker, Chancellor of the Corporate Territories of Uruguay and Southern Brazil
Subject: Santa Catarina, Parana

Speaker Leclerc, it is the wish of the people in the Northern regions of the nation, paticularly those who hail from "Southern Brazil" to be reunited with their people in the regions of Santa Catarina and Parana. The addition of these two territories would unify the people of Southern Brazil with those seperated inside the Lunar Protectorate. Historically, Southern Brazil was unified under the Brazillian Empire and the later Federative Republic of Brazil until the dark age of 2005 when the world changed. It is not only my wish, but the wish of my people to be unified with the remainder of the region.

I am more than happy to arrange a video conference or meeting of some sort to discuss this topic with you, or a representative of the Lunar Republic.

Best Regards

A.Wesker[/quote]

[b]To: [/b]Alice Wesker, Chancellor of the Corporate Territories of Uruguay and Southern Brazil
[b]From: [/b]Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic
Subject: Re: Santa Catarina, Parana

"Ms. Wesker,

I do not believe that a video conference will be necessary. As friend of the Republic, I find it only prudent to lessen the protectorate's weight on us to allow focus on extraterrestrial matters, while at the same time aiding some friends.
In addition, I would propose the reunification of the Paraguayan people, who have been mistreated under the Solar government, it seems, and would now like to rejoin their family.

With regards,"
Laura Leclerc,
First Speaker

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Lynneth' timestamp='1327700128' post='2908421']
[b][Reply][/b]

"Ambassador,
thank you very much for the offer. We will notify you if we need to send a fleet into this pacific port."

Laura Leclerc
First Speaker



[b]To: [/b]Alice Wesker, Chancellor of the Corporate Territories of Uruguay and Southern Brazil
[b]From: [/b]Laura Leclerc, First Speaker of the Republic
Subject: Re: Santa Catarina, Parana

"Ms. Wesker,

I do not believe that a video conference will be necessary. As friend of the Republic, I find it only prudent to lessen the protectorate's weight on us to allow focus on extraterrestrial matters, while at the same time aiding some friends.
In addition, I would propose the reunification of the Paraguayan people, who have been mistreated under the Solar government, it seems, and would now like to rejoin their family.

With regards,"
Laura Leclerc,
First Speaker
[/quote]


[quote]Speaker Leclerc, I find your words generous and wise as always, I would be honoured to accept your offer of unifying Paraguay and its peoples. The Solar Government were inadequate, only a fool would say otherwise. As a matter of importance and coincidence, the Corporate Forces presently executing a staggered withdrawel from the protectorate moving in tandem with your own forces, I have just recieved reports that are saying Corporate Forces have Paraguay already secured and are preparing to move eastwards towards the coastline as Lunar Forces begin to take control of the area.

I will dispatch orders to the two divisions to begin policing operations until party representatives are flown into the area to begin organsiing local elections and establishing Umbrella Party Offices. Corporate contractors will also be moving into the area to begin re-establishing the economic output of the region to its fullet potential. With any luck, within the month I can have Paraguay intergrated into the Corporate Territories so that they also enjoy the freedoms Uruguay and Southern Brazil have.
Signed

A.Wesker[/quote]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Public][/b]

Partially complying with the Athenian claim that the Space Elevator should 'remain untouched by any nation', the Republic has decided to re-deploy a majority of the 5,000 men who had been brought to protect the Elevator from less than honourable nations.
In the end, only 100 men would remain, largely confined to protecting the industrial facilities and power plant nearby instead of the elevator itself. If anything happened, the blame would be shifted to Athens and the Horde, who had demanded for this to happen.


[b][Classified][/b]

Looking from one massive habitat through the vastness of space towards another, tens and tens of kilometers away was an experience not too many people got more than once in their lives, and even then only a relative few got it even that one time.
If you owned more than three dozen such habitats, however, achieving this was quite a bit easier. Yet, "Every time, absolutely amazing, Alex. I'm not sure I'll ever get sick of this view."
Alexander nodded with a slight smile on his lips. He, too, found it a newly amazing experience every time they visited the habitats. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to living in space." He looked above, where the - for a human - gargantuan cylinder stretched in every direction but below. Over eight hundred thousand people were living within this structure. That alone might boggle the mind, but with fourty such constructions floating within cislunar space while eight even larger habitats had been made with sheer determination and endurance... It was near-impossible to imagine properly There were the numbers, of course, but actually putting them into a context, trying to imagine tens of millions of people [i]living[/i] in these conditions: that was the difficulty.
Yet here they were, the heirs of Leclerc. Laura and Alexander, born in the turbulent south German state, they moved with many fellow countrymen to an island in the Indian Ocean, named Ceylon. There, they built - practically overnight - a technocratic nation, moving towards a corporate state model before the decision to subjugate an entire continent, almost completely on their own: South America, where the Republic of Guyana was crafted with care, soon enough becoming the Lunar Republic. The only nation with more than a million citizens in space. The only nation with more of its citizens living permanently in de jure zero-g conditions than under the natural influence of gravity. Almost 250 million people lived in the Republic. Over 146 million of them had moved to the moon or - the majority of them - into one of the impossibly large colony habitats, with each of the colonised 'sides' or Lagrange points having been given a name. Lagrange, Gagarin, Polo and Magellan.

The habitat had moved sufficiently for Earth to come into view.
"The Cradle of Humanity. Our place of birth."
"Earth, Terra, or so many other things she's called. Our Mother. Millions and perhaps billions of species, and we of all manage to do what but two centuries ago had been thought impossible."
"We tore out from her what we wanted, whatever we desired. We still do, and by doing so have begun a slow but perhaps irreversible process of... well, not murdering, but re-shaping her, most certainly."
"I wonder. If she could think, if she was watching us, what would she thing? Appaled by our actions, or proud of our independence and what we achieved with it? Would she scold or encourage us?"
"She's been floating around the Sun for billions of years. And only now, a species emerged, capable enough to try and survive the next inevitable cataclysm."
"But what will it be? Supervolcanos going off? A gargantuan meteor anihilating all life? Will a nearby star [url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/SGR_1806-20_108530main_cloudballPri.jpg"]go nova[/url] and cook us with gamma radiation? So many scenarios."
"Some we will survive here in space. Others, perhaps not. But we will try and go on, come what may. After all, this is why we're here. This is why we built these habitats. To give mankind a greater chance at surviving what may be. To give a starting point from which to launch us into the cosmos."
"No matter what some may think, this is not the effort of one nation trying to enrich itself. It is an effort to facilitate Mankind's continued survival, regardless of whether our homeworld is habitable. This is our effort."
"We do what is needed for long-term survival regardless of the circumstances. And that is what so few seem to grasp. A pity."
"A pity, indeed."

She sighed, then tore her eyes off the incredible view, proceeding back towards the bureaucratic areas of the habitat. They hadn't come here to stare into nothingness all day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[b][Classified][/b]

Far away from Earth, in cislunar space, a project far less ambitious than constructing giant habitat colonies was going its course.
It had been started some time ago, shortly after Charles Rocketworth had finished his presentation about the [i]Oppenheimer[/i] class, when the restructuring of 5 habitats had been completed.

"So, how long has it been since Rocketworth's presentation?"
"Quite a while." He chuckled. "I can barely remember the most important things. Anyways, around two years, I think. There's a run of 15 vessels going."
"The estimate was 3 years of construction each, no?"
"Yes. So the first will be done in about a year, and then one more every three months."
"But they won't be launched until a certain point in time. And until then, we'll try and complete as many as we can."
"Indeed. Even the first batch would give us unprecedented capabilities to protect ourselves."
"Very well. And how do we defend ourselves on the planet?"
"Simple. Let me explain..."

__________________________

[b][Still classified][/b]

Classic defense mechanisms will, inevitably, fail if there are enough enemies, and if they are determined enough. That is a fact.
Another fact is that a population in the millions, spread over an area just about half as large as Brazil, can hide a multitude of things in the mountains and dense rainforests. Especially if the latter are too wet to be burnt down just like that.
Laws in the Republic were quite lax already - many civilians were in possession of at least one firearm. If they got a good license, it was even possible for a civilian in the outlying regions of the nation - meaning anywhere that wasn't a city - to obtain a GAR 22 rifle with appropriate ammunition. And once the government began encouraging communities to set up weapon storage areas, both public and some more secret. In addition, the military itself began, under high secrecy, to set up caches of weaponry, including examples of nearly every infantry weapon available and even light vehicles in a few select cases. All of these caches were dug into the mountains or ground, then concealed well with normal vegetation matching their surroundings unless in cities, in which cases they would be concealed using high-tech equipment tomake entrances practically impossible to see unless one knew they were there. The caches included, aside from weaponry, enough supplies to keep hundreds of people going for months and potentially years on end, often an autonomous geothermal generator and directed satellite uplinks, engineered to be extremely difficult to detect. Furthermore, various kinds of explosives would be stored within them as well, ranging from classic C4 to high-grade military explosives. The constructions themselves were of course set up to withstand the local conditions extremely well, to the point of potentially functioning as 'time capsule', if one had enough food and drink. Even the air supply was accounted for, with sophisticated filters included in the ventilation system and 'shutters' if the use of fuel-air explosives was detected that would prevent the explosion from getting into the cache. For emergencies, air scrubbers were available within each cache to produce oxygen.
These caches would be scattered all over the nation and, within the next two years or so, grow into the hundreds in numbers, capable of providing countless of people - be they civilian or military - with high-grade weapons. Enough to wage a guerilla war of more than respectable proportions, should it come to that.

For the more secret caches, specialised auxiliary groups would be established by the armed forces, each group's members specially selected because of their resourcefulness, for the ability to keep secrets, their ability to live off the land and the ability to work with one another, and lastly their ability to quickly pick up the rudimentaries of firearms and explosives training and quickly to become experts. All in all, the OMI would organise well over 75,000 such auxiliaries, in addition to 2,000 officers who were trained to add auxiliaries to these numbers in case of war, and if they deemed it necessary.

__________________________

[b][Other Classified things][/b]

Despite the extensive preparations for guerilla war, however, the normal armed forces needed supplies, too. Tank shells, missiles, artillery rockets and much, much more would be required in greater amounts than were available if full-scale war broke out instead of a short skirmish like against Vicidalia.
Thus, some industrial capacities were redirected to fulfill these needs while in a few select, easily reinforced, hidden and highly defensible locations larger weapons bunkers would be constructed underground. With the Lunar Republic using rather specialised materiels, it was unlikely that a hostile army could ever utilize these larger caches unless they so just -happened- to use the exact same technology as the Republic. Nontheless, the utmost was done by MoM and OIA to keep these bunkers hidden and secret, even during their construction, such as making it look like people just chopping a few trees in the rain forest, or using cloudy/very foggy weather (an all too common phenomenon in the amazonas region) to conceal construction efforts. Once completed, concealment would be near-perfected depending on the region the bunker was built in. Everything humanly possible was done to make it hard to impossible for hostile forces to find these caches.

Furthermore, the military network was revamped. No longer connected in any form to commercial networks and highly encrypted, the protocols would be changed in irregular intervals to prevent jamming while the system was set up so that at least two terminals had to work together to access certain important files. This would ensure that an enemy hacking into [i]one[/i] computer couldn't access any files on it unless they found the corresponding [i]second[/i] computer. Of course, there was a workaround, one which included unlocking the terminal physically. And that key was in the commanding officer's hands. No hacker in the world could bypass such security without being [i]there[/i], in high danger of being discovered.
And with the MoM always watching, even their own operatives, the risk of discovery was massive. Automated systems allowed detection of unauthorised remote connections within less than ten seconds, which would not only enable them to cut the connection, but also trace it to the point of origin. Proxies went only so far to disguise one's identity, after all.

Last, but not least, research in chemical and biological weaponry was kickstarted in a military-oriented I-2 habitat of [i]Lagrange[/i] and on the moon. Secrecy and security there were higher than anywhere else in cislunar space. The aim?
Agents capable of annihilating populations in the excess of the millions with a quickly spreading agent that took at least one week to incubate, but could be protected against with a relatively simple vaccination to provide the immune system with an effective capability against the virus or bacteria.
Considering the sheer knowledge - both practical and theoretical - that Lunar scientists could work with, it was expected that the appropriate agent could be created within a matter of months, if not weeks. Further agents to kill cows, cicken and other such livestock were considered, too - and approved. Chemical weaponry to destroy crops, vegetation and fishery would be developed as well. A second Spanish Flu, a pandemic resistant to antibiotics and many other immunization techniques was the aim and most likely the result of this gruesome research, with only the Lunar Republic having a cure. Near-complete depopulation of a region was the aim.
And if it spread to the rest of the world? Collateral damage.

Edited by Lynneth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...