Confederate News Network

[Mara Lithaen]

[center][img]http://imageshack.us/a/img705/5715/cwa2.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][size=5][i][b]"Hello and welcome to the Confederate News Network! Here you'll find the latest information about the goings-on in the Confederacy, political, social and otherwise..."[/b][/i][/size][/center]

[size=5][size=3][size=4]Our first story follows the rebuilding efforts underway across the Confederacy. Years of benign and not-so-benign neglect have left our nation's infrastructure in a shoddy state, but the Council have already implemented their revitalization program out of their own pock[/size][/size][/size]ets, as we wait for the results of the first Representative election to appear. Under the name "Project Phoenix", the existing road networks' infrastructure is being completely overhauled and expanded, an effort that is going to create an estimated three million jobs for the next two years.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[Mara Lithaen]

"Six parties have competed for the last month in the polls; their races neck and neck, the vitriol and mudslinging kept to a strange minimum. The moderators kept the debates civil and on-topic - and the Confederate people have voted. In a narrow victory over her closest competitor, James Iwukungu of the Libertarian party, Elizabeth Stratton, a Confederacy-First party leader, has secured the first Confederate Presidency."

The news crew cuts to a clip of her victory speech from the night before, given from the podium at a Windhoek college auditorium. She stands, dark as the night, in a tastefully-tailored navy dress whose simplicity belies the craftsmanship involved in its' creation. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Confederacy,

I thank you for your support. It was a hard-fought, if short, campaign. But we're not done yet. We have a lot of work to do to get this nation into a stance from which it can compete on the global market. We have a lot of work to do to get this nation able to defend itself. We have a lot of work to do to catch up.

So without further ado, my friends," she says, flashing a quick, quirked smile, " Let's get to work."

[Mara Lithaen]

"In other news today, geologists and petroleum engineers from the University of Gaboron have located a sizable oil field in the state of Botswana, estimated to hold more than a hundred billion barrels of crude at the low end. A number of so-called "wildcat" drilling operations have already begun moving into the oilfield area, setting up for what promises to be a Black Gold Rush."

"The old Debswana mineral mines have finally been re-staffed, re-supplied and powered up for the first time in a century and a half. Remarkably little in the way of material was mined in the mines' operational years, and it seems the most recently-made digs hadn't had time to get into production before the Collapse hit..."

"The reconstruction efforts in the various States are going smoothly as could be wished for, with a small number of construction and demolition accidents already being reported; government and private projections indicate that within two and a half years, the rebuild will be complete and West Africa born anew."

[Mara Lithaen]

"The Confederate government has signed into the pan-continental African Unity Pact, conferring allies and trade partners to the Confederacy; the Government will soon be making diplomatic outreaches to the individual member nations, as well as a select few non-African polities..."

"Government officials held a press conference today, announcing the creation of the Confederate Disaster Control and Relief Agency. The DCRA is tasked with organizing the reconstruction of the Confederacy's infrastructure, as well as making contingency plans and stocking supplies for future emergencies, such as famine, drought, earthquakes, fires, floods, war... et cetera ad nauseam. In the same conference, the Government announced the reformation of the Confederate Defense Force into the Confederate Marine Corps, a combined-operations organization taking the role of land and amphibious operations, rather than a split Army/Marine model."

Edited October 16, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[Mara Lithaen]

"Thirty-two vehicles were involved in a catastrophic pileup on NH-1 today, just outside of Windhoek. Official investigators have discovered that the accident was begun when a tractor-trailer lost traction on a bare section of cement and jack knifed on the roadway, causing the vehicles behind it and next to it to crash into it. One of the vehicles was a tourist bus; no official injury or death toll has yet been released... Already, regional Representatives are calling for the complete reconstruction of the national highways, citing a number of similarly worn-down areas and the potential for more such disastrous events."

"The Government Complex under construction in Windhoek, popularly known as the Spire, has finally begun under English construction company Horizons Construction, Ltd., and is expected to be complete within the next two years."

[img]http://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2011/10/seville20tower.jpg[/img]

[Mara Lithaen]

"Scientists at the University of Windhoek's Physics and Energetics department have made an immense breakthrough in energy storage technology in recent weeks. Using what is known in the scientific world as a "double-diamond anvil", a machine that uses two large, flawless-cut diamonds (a quarter carat each), layered with a secondary set of diamonds made from nanocrystal diamond “semi-balls" to create extreme pressures on anything placed between them - exerting up to twice the pressure of the Earth's core on the substances between the diamonds. By placing xenon difluoride gas in the pressure chamber with metallic 3D structures, the pressure exerted by the machine forces the atoms of the xenon difluoride onto the structures, and the mechanical energy of being forced into such an unnatural configuration is stored with the xenon molecules' chemical bonds, enabling an energy density not found outside of nuclear power. The researchers at UWindhoek's P&E department are currently working on a way to harness the energy stored within these so-called "power crystals". The implications for domestic electric-vehicle power applications by these highly-powerful, highly-compact power sources are astounding, as well as the possible benefits afforded to a number of other areas. This is Mary Ostlund, CNN."

OOC:

[url="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100704162218.htm"]http://www.scienceda...00704162218.htm[/url]

Edited October 25, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[Mara Lithaen]

Benjamin Kanembe sighed, rubbing his eyes as he leaned away from his computer's brilliant LED screen. He was tasked, currently, with finding ways to harness his team's battery's electrical output in a safe manner. As it stood, however, the only way to retrieve the energy within the XeF[sub]2[/sub] power crystal was by untethering the atoms attached to the metal structure - which ended in a rather powerful explosion, roughly on par with 20% the yield of a gram of HMX explosive per gram of power crystal. To this date, they hadn't synthesized enough crystal to even damage their equipment, but one day, Ben hoped, they would find a better way to harness the electricity. The most promising route was as part of a thermocouple, using the temperature gradient generated by the untethering process (once they could control the rate of untethering) to generate the large amounts of electricity this battery was capable of.

He figured that the easiest way to control that process would be to make the battery metastable, much as a plastic is a metastable form of hydrocarbon. Once they could make it metastable, glorious, glorious science could happen, working out how to make it safe - and more so, cheap. Being able to substitute another, equally energetic but less expensive substance than XeF[sub]2[/sub] as the crystal's base component would be a massive improvement, and could very well lead to many breakthroughs in its own right. But until they could find such a substance, this would have to do.

[Mara Lithaen]

[i][b][u]University of Windhoek, Confederacy :[/u][/b][/i]

A full two-and-a-half months later, Benjamin was surrounded by a group of university staff, various onlookers and reporters, and one very curious Colonel from the Marine Corps as he demonstrated the first commercial-sized XeF[sub]2[/sub] crystal battery in action, as the AA-sized power crystal drew on the immense reserves of power put into it over the course of a day, while hooked into a nuclear reactor's output line. The cutting laser that the battery was powering etched the facility's logo, a stylized oxygen atom made of numbers, into a quarter-inch plate of carbon steel as they watched, and going about it quickly.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, and his audience looked up from behind super-darkened safety goggles, even as a titanium-boron shield slid into place over the laser chamber, blocking the process and the harsh light emitted from the laser's impact point from view. "That is but a small taste of what this technology can offer. That battery is the same dimensions as an AA battery - and stores nearly a day's energy production from a modest research reactor. Atop that storage capacity, the crystal itself can be unwound, releasing the raw, pent-up mechanical energy in any way you please. We are, as of this moment, working on a way to make the battery metastable - and in so doing, we should be able to further increase the usefulness and storage capacity of such a battery. The implications for our energy economy are profound - no longer should we need to use fossil fuels to power our vehicles, our cities, our very way of life; no longer will we further need to degrade our environment to harness those power sources, and in so doing we make this battered world a bit better to live on." he said.

"But this depends on your support - on all of your support, from my colleagues in the scientific community to the businessmen and women, and even the military. This works - what you are seeing right in front of you proves it. It is, however, expensive as it stands. Xenon is rare. But with additional funding, we can, perhaps, find another metal or gas that can perform the exact same feat at a fraction of the cost." Benjamin said, finishing his pitch, and he waited for the questions to begin.

The colonel spoke up first."You mentioned the military, Mr. Kanembe - but what, precisely, do you see this crystal doing for us? It trades one logistical supply train for another; it doesn't eliminate it."

"True, Colonel, it doesn't. But stop and think a moment - unlike that gasoline or diesel you just burned propelling your tank across the country, you can send this crystal back to be recharged and reused almost endlessly. The crystal weighs less than any given volume of liquid fuel, and has significantly more energy density. This crystal can power a human's heart for a dozen lifetimes - or something much bigger for a dozen hours."[b][i] [/i][/b]Benjamin said, and he received a few chuckles from the audience.

"Trust me, Colonel: if I was a tanker, or even an infantryman - I would want my equipment powered by something the size of my pinky or fist with all the power I could ever need, rather than endless lithium batteries or even more explosive fossil fuels."

[Mara Lithaen]

It had been a year and more since the founding of the Confederacy, and the reconstruction efforts were in full swing. Much of the rubble and litter in the cities had been removed, and the cities themselves were beginning to take on new forms as citizens flocked to them for work and pleasure. Skyscrapers rose where shacks and tenements had once stood, enormous edifices of iron and steel that told the story of the region's rebirth. Botswana's age-old ties to banking from more than a century before were born anew, as financial institutions the Pact over put down roots in Gaborone. New highways were under construction, and the national system was estimated to reach completion by the end of the next year, a solid boon to the nascent mining and manufacturing industries, even as tracks were laid for high-speed freight trains following the highways' roadbeds.

A curious meteor dropped from the sky somewhere in the Kalahari and landed in the desert, but when a local nomad went to look, there was nothing on the ground but scorchmarks and a slight indentation in the sand, and what looked to be an enormous roll-track, as if someone had taken the world's biggest beach ball and rolled it across the dunes. Seven figures stole into the night, unseen by the nomad, making for civilization. The impact made for some chatter among the locals, and even managed a mention in a major astronomy journal in the Confederacy, but within a week most had forgotten it.

[Mara Lithaen]

Elizabeth stroked the arm of her immensely comfortable chair, staring out the window of her office on the Spire’s seventy-seventh floor, watching as the sun set on Windhoek. The city was beginning to raise about the enormous, still-incomplete government complex, mirroring the Confederacy’s growth. In less than two years’ time, much of the rebuild work had been completed here and elsewhere, and, if her analysts’ projections hit their mark, in another year they would begin to see true growth once again.

She watched a maglev train zip into the Government Quarter Station less than two miles away, the long, silver bullet small from this height, and wondered which regional capital it was bound from – Gaborone, perhaps? Harare? Elizabeth shook her head, and with a sigh she turned back to her desk, rapping her fingers lightly on the steel-framed glass top, bringing her screen to life. The quarter-inch-thick glass pane reflected the light projected on it from behind, putting information at her fingertips.

She scrolled down through the contents, past reports of the ongoing construction of the AUP-wide strategic missile defense shield, with two of the stations visible from her own window and a pair more in this city alone. She zipped past readiness reports of the Confederacy’s armed forces, and arrived at the message she wanted to see.

[b]CLASSIFIED, CODE BLACK, TOP SECRET:[/b]

[quote]

FROM: EAGLE EYE

TO: RAVEN SHIELD

Subj: Sighting

RADAR RETURNS INDICATE OBJECT 221-V TO BE OF EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL TERRAN CONSTRUCTION. SUSPECTED TO BE LUNAR/SOLAR ESCAPE VEHICLE. RETURN MATCHES CLASS EV(P)-33 GAMMA; MAX OCCUPANCY: 7. LACK OF DEBRIS IN LANDING AREA INDICATES THREE POSSIBILITIES:

AIR DETONATION PRIOR TO LANDING

TOTAL DESTRUCTION AFTER LANDING

SURFACE MOBILITY CAPABILITIES

GIVEN EAGLE EYE KNOWLEDGE OF 33 GAMMA CAPABILITIES, THE PROBABILITY OF THE THIRD POSSIBILITY IS UNDER ONE IN ONE MILLION. PROBABILITY OF FIRST POSSIBILITY IS NEAR SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT. PROBABILITY OF SECOND POSSIBILITY IS JUST UNDER THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT. DUE TO THE UNKNOWN OCCUPANCY STATUS, EAGLE EYE REQUESTS PERMISSION TO TRACK SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IN THE AREA.
[/quote]

Her response was short and to the point.

[quote]FROM: RAVEN SHIELD

TO: EAGLE EYE

Subj: RE: Sightings

APPROVED.[/quote]

Within minutes, the reply came.

[quote]FROM: EAGLE EYE

TO: RAVEN SHIELD

Subj: Re: RE: Sightings

BEGINNING SURVEILLANCE OPERATION: TUNGUSKA. CONFEDERATE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY ASSETS REQUESTED AND RECEIVED. CBI ASSETS REQUESTED; PENDING RESPONSE. TENTATIVELY ASSUMED TO BE RECEIVED.

REPORTING SCHEDULE: ONCE DAILY, UPON CONFIRMATION OF NON-CONFEDERATE PRESENCE IN THE AREA. SHOULD EXISTENCE BE FOUND FALSE, ONE REPORT SHALL BE MADE TO INFORM RAVEN SHIELD OF THE FACT. ACTION DECISIONS LIE IN RAVEN SHIELD'S HANDS.[/quote]

Edited November 26, 2012 by Mara Lithaen

[Mara Lithaen]

Classified, AUP-only:

Deployment of the STARS-standard, AU--wide OTH-B radar installations began smoothly, a number of military bases within the Confederacy along with outback stations being established to house and maintain the sensitive equipment. Concurrently, a space-staring AESA network began to be deployed across the Confederacy, in order to track both inbound missiles and orbiting platforms of all sizes and classification. The Confederacy's LONGBOW distant-early-warning network is now mostly complete, to be complimented by the newly-begun programs, and the SDI network is nearing completion.

Confederate Marine Corps recruiting levels have remained high since the service's inception, and troop numbers have reached 260 thousand troops, newly issued with Mark 32 6.8mm STARS-compliant rifles; M1A3 TUSK units have reached 2,000 strong.

[Mara Lithaen]

[i]Classified:[/i]

Given the dire situation in Africa, the leaders of the Confederacy began planning for a withdrawal from the AUP in the event of a catastrophic collapse, and opening lines for peace treaties separate from Africa as a whole to the leaders of the coalition that had no business there but nonetheless deigned to crush them.

[Mara Lithaen]

President Stratton rubbed her nose as she thumbed through the memos forwarded to her by the CIA. Their progress on tracking that downed craft was considerable, but every time they thought they had a lead as to its current location and the identities of its occupants, it and they would move again, frustrating their efforts. If the war wasn't taxing so much of her intelligence agency's strength, she would apply more minds and feet to the problem, but as it was...?

 

She sighed, setting the latest memo on her desk's blotter, and she looked out the window of her office on the Spire. That glass, crystal clear as it was, was deceptively strong - it was able to withstand 14.7mm fire head-on, or 20mm glances. It was blast proof and shatter proof, and there was nothing in the capitol city that could get a bead on this office. But still, she thought to herself, there are days I feel I should be in a bunker somewhere.

 

She looked out on the dusky sunsetscape of the city, seeing the growing spires over in the business sector, the tall, gleaming edifices of steel and glass that housed the Confederacy's new prosperity. Looking a bit further still, she saw sleepy suburbs and the circular cones of missile shield installations, a low, expandable wall enclosing the city. In a real attack, she knew, that wall would be next to useless except as a roadblock, but it did make her people feel safer at night, and the low hum of a high-altitude flight of Grey Widows was something one grew used to in times like this.

[Mara Lithaen]

Despite the war raging in Africa, the Confederate economy continued to boom, and recruitment for the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force was at an all time high. President Stanton was well on her way to securing re-election...

[Mara Lithaen]

It seemed the war was drawing to a close... so the President took the day off.