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Hessi
Oct 28, 2010
So far, Mars has been a champion of the will of the people, and now we consider to force the 6 million people of Uranus under Putins leadership? That might be Realpolitik, but it doesn t sit right by me. The people of Uranus should be given free choice to emigrate to Mars or TFS for some time after UT takes over at the very least. I d prefer a solution where the people of Uranus hold a referendum who they want to align with.

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Nick Esasky
Nov 10, 2009
JPs are stationary and don't orbit at all. One being somewhat nearby might be a factor, but the outer system is a Big Place. They probably just view Uranus as a safer option for a gas station than trying to share Saturn with the TFS or prying Jupiter out of the IC.

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!



First up the reports on the sizes and signatures of the Terran fleet as they approached Saturn.






The Negotiations:

The conference began on Luna after a few days to gather all the parties together via fast courier. For the forst two days things progressed well with everyone (outside the IC of course) agreeing roughly that the IC should be forced to concede Titan to the TFS and that reparations to the Martian Federation were in order. Furthermore all were unanimous that the IC be forced to disassemble their stealth bombardment fleet and be banned from producing further first or second strike strategic weapons.

However a stumbling block was reached over the fate of Uranus and Terran basing rights around Saturn. Titan Free State was generally in favor of leasing harvesting rights to whoever wanted them in return to a cut of the profits but far less certain about allowing Terra a base there while Terra was insistent that without the means to protect their investment it was less than worthless and merely a liability.

The Terran representatives then pivoted and allowed that they would be contented with another Solar source of Sorium, i.e. Uranus. The taken aback Martian representatives who were intending to expand the Federation that much more and were somewhat shocked at the audacity of it refused and talks stalled out with Terra refusing to support any armistice deal without garantees of a Sorium source. Neither party seriously considered attempting to capture Jupiter for themselves as the IC Jovian force was still extant and remained a force to be reckoned with. The meeting ajourned with no progress on the matter.

Later in the evening senior members of the Terran and Martian delegations met 'unofficially' to begin sounding out the governing rules for intertellar travel and colonisation. The Terrans usurprisingly professed support for the ability to claim jump points while Mars supported allowing free movement of ships despite the 'territory' a Jump Point was located in citing numerous laws of the sea dating from old Terra.

After another impasse was reached the Terran senior member produced a small datastore and handed it over to the Martian representative. Inside he professed, was a location of a recently discovered -as yet unexplored- second jump point that could be readily described as 'Martian' territory and the Terran government was prepared to give up all rights in perpetuity to in in return for Mars recognising the same for the first jump point they had discovered somewhere in Terran territory. The Terran representative also conceded that they would be prepared to withdraw their claim to Uranus if Mars agreed on this and negotiate with the Titan Free state for commercial/military access to Saturn.

Finally the admission was made that only two jump points had at this time been discovered but that the survey was as of yet incomplete and it was likely more would be located. For these further jump points Terra was willing to operate under a shared or fully open travel agreement, whatever Mars desired.

The unnamed Jump Point.


The news reached Mars like a bolt of lightning. The MFN Tangaroa, captained by Veloxyll Jr, their first experimental jumpship and not even a proper design merely a badly damaged Schiaparelli class they had disarmed and refitted to test the jump engine prototype was just completing basic engine trials. Not yet equipped with her advanced gravitational and geological scanning equipment and in fact barely more than a hull with both normal and jump engines she was rapidly supplied and dispatched to investigate the Terran claims with a light destroyer escort.



In the interim the negotiation team was ordered to delay the matter as long as possible to give the Tangaroa time to investigate and if possible discover what lay beyond the jump point.

Mars now waits for the report from the Tangaroa.

Dancer
May 23, 2011

Saros posted:

Mars now waits for the report from the Tangaroa.

:nws: :nms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuJnIJHgQ44

OwlFancier
Aug 22, 2013


I mean, on the other end, possibly, but afaik aurora does not take place in the 40k universe, so the jump itself should be fine :v:

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!



14 May, 0203hrs
Nearly ten days have passed since the second battle of Titan. The BC Victory and its commander Crazycryodude was diverted from its course to Saturn to meet the Tangaroa at the co-ordinates given.



At close range something is barely detectable at the co-ordinates given. A region of space seems to ripple slightly in ways that match the simulations run by Martian Scientists. Victory hits its active to check the area for any lurking Terrans but nothing turns up. After a few more minutes of hesitation the Tangaroa pulses its normal engine and gently slides forward into the zone.

After confirming nothing unusual is going on in the zone of space the Tangaroa spins up the internal gyro's of her jump drive and initiates her FTL sequence.

The universe falls away.



Every crewmember would later report similar sensations, like they were falling down a giant hole that suddenly opened under their feet. After an indeterminate time that registered as zero on all of the timepieces on the ship but for the crew seemed to stretch from seconds to minutes they were unceremoniously deposited back into reality.

However the crew and almost every advanced electronic device on the ship were utterly and completely disoriented for nearly a minute. Patchy internal camera footage shows the crew staggering around, a handful being sick in their vacsuits and at least 45 seconds passing before anyone was able to regain proper control of their senses.

Slowly, as they return to their senses and consult the instruments they are overcome with wonder, before them rises a new star.

Saros fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Dec 15, 2017

Zurai
Feb 13, 2012


Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

:f5::f5::f5:

Serpentis
May 31, 2011

Well, if I really HAVE to shoot you in the bollocks to shut you up, then I guess I'll need to, post-haste, for everyone else's sake.
Annnnnd now we wait for the Pluto wormhole's friends to show up in 3, 2, 1...

Pharnakes
Aug 14, 2009
I suppose we could concede to 1 permanent exclusive JP each in exchange for all others being more flexible. I'm a bit suspicious because I can't see what Terra is trying to gain by that. Is the one they have discovered some sort of wonder system?

Saros
Dec 29, 2009

Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

A new system discovered.

A G0 main sequence the ship tags it as, slighly bigger and brighter than Sol and no close match for any known star in the solar neighbourhood.



Two small and dark dwarves orbit it, both glowing gently in the infrared as they are right on the edge mass for stellar ignition and appeared to have failed in their efort to become proper stars at some point in the distant past. Thirty minutes pass as the ship completes its all sky survey and comes back with an initial model of the system they have found themselves in.

It is... strange to say the least.



The first dwarf star - tagged B - orbits at nearly a quarter of a light year and is stretching the definition of being associated with the primary with an orbital period of over two million years.



Further in a still nearly incomprehensible distance we find two dwarf planets and a small collection of loosely associated bodies similar ti the Kuiper bet, however it is nearly impossibly further. The blue ring in the image above represents a ring ten times as far from the sun as pluto.



Falling inwards to more comprehensible scales we find the second dwarf star - C - orbiting the primary at nearly three billion km, roughly the distance of Uranus. It seems to have swept the outer system largely clear of debris and stopped any gas giants from forming.



Finally the inner system. The fourth and fifth planets orbit at roughly the distances of Earth and Mars. As the readings come in the ships attachment of astronmers becomes more and more confused. The system seems to be riddled with impossibilites and aghast scientists scramble about taking readings as if the worlds will disappear from their screens at any instant.

The inner planet is shrouded in a dense atmosphere of CO2 despite orbiting a punishing 17m km from the sun meaning it whips around every 14 days. It is also superdense at over twice that of Earth and generates a magnetic field while being titally locked to the sun. Every prediction and piece of scientific sense seems to indicate that it should have lost its atmosphere rapidly and lack a magnetic field but there it is, staring back at them.

The second world is an airless barren dwarf similar to Mercury and elicits little interest.

The third and fourth are of a type well known from decades of planet hunting. Super-earths who seem to have suffered a runaway greenhouse effect and become hothouses like Venus, both can be dismissed fairy easily as interesting bodies and nothing but the most specialised equipment could even effect a landing. The forth is huge for a Super-earth clocking in at 7x the mass of earth and over two G at the surface.

However when the moon of the fourth world gets a look things really get interesting. It is small with no atmosphere and has only 13% Earth gravity at the surface but the increased heat from the larger, brighter sun, it being slightly closer to the star than Earth and gathering reflected light from its giant planet means that temperatures average out at around 10C. The astronomers murmur amongst themselves as it would require only a dome for habitability, simpler even than Luna...

The fifth planet is something else again. A Terra analogue covered 95% with ice sheet. It seems to have fallen on hard times. Only half the mass of Earth it also has half the atmospheric pressure but cruicially is covered in water-ice and has an oxy-nitro atmosphere. The crew falls silent watching the readings refine themselves as a planet that - while not perfect - is likely to be easier to terraform than Mars and has a high enough gravity to prevent many of the issues adapting to low G faced by denizens of the outer planets and Mars.

Implausibly for such a Terra-like world it also sports a diffuse ring around the planet which gives off very very odd spectral readings...

The sixth planet is harsher than the fifth. Two small asteroid moons orbit it similar to Deimos and Phobos (used to) orbit Mars. Colder and less hospitable and only trace amounts of atmosphere (strangely one might add as predictions would indicate it could sustain one) it is still a better enviroment than the Jovian moons humanity has made its home.

The seventh planet is another oddball, intensely volcanic said volcanoes have poisoned the nitrogen atmosphere with Sulfur and CO2, the greenhouse effect rendering it warmer than the much closer sixth planet.

Further out there are only the indescribably far tiny dwarf planets and the sparse belt.

After over an hour Veloxyll calls it enough. Over the protestations of his astronomers he orders a return to Sol carrying the news of the remarkable system they have discovered. The crew dubs it Te Toi-o-nga-Rangi after the highest heavens of Polynesian lore but this of course will be subject to political whims.


:siren: Political Vote: :siren:




Now you have a glimpse of the system the Terrans appear to be offering sight unseen. Right now there are two choices:

A) Push for unrestricted travel through jump points. This may succeed but the Terrans will likely hold out for concessions like joint/sole ownership of Uranus and probably be less insistent in supporting IC reparations.

B) Agree to the Terran proposal for jump points. Exclusive access to one each in Sol and share any others that are discovered. Terra will likely allow you to annex Uranus and negotiate with the TFS for rights to the Saturn System

You can also submit proposals for naming the system and any planets you wish.

Saros fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Sep 10, 2017

Tythas
Oct 3, 2013

Never felt at home in reality
Always hiding behind avatars


I vote B We should name the star system Ver Sacrum (Ritual migration (ver sacrum) undertaken as a rite of Mars) and name the planets after other gods of war from many religions

Cathode Raymond
Dec 30, 2015

My antenna is telling me that you're probably wrong about this.
Soiled Meat
I am relieved that this new system is not awash in tentacle monsters, as I thought it would be.

B, and furthermore I move that the sixth planet be named Phobos Redux and it's moons be named Cathode and Raymond.

I think we should probably get a stranglehold on Uranus and try to grab up all the sorium we can since it looks like this new system has no gas giants. Does jumping require sorium or is it powered by something else?

Fray
Oct 22, 2010

B This one is a no brainer.

Fray fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Sep 10, 2017

Dr. Snark
Oct 15, 2012

I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

BBBBBBBBB that's an Earth-analogue planet takeittakeittakeit

Cathode Raymond posted:

I am relieved that this new system is not awash in tentacle monsters, as I thought it would be.

B, and furthermore I move that the sixth planet be named Phobos Redux and it's moons be named Cathode and Raymond.

I think we should probably get a stranglehold on Uranus and try to grab up all the sorium we can since it looks like this new system has no gas giants. Does jumping require sorium or is it powered by something else?

Jumping is sorium-independent. On that note it's also possible to mine sorium from terrestrial planets so just because there's no gas giant it doesn't mean that there's not sorium there.

Pharnakes
Aug 14, 2009
B is indeed a no brainier as presented, so why are the Terrans even offering it? What do they know that we don't? We have an icy terra analogue, do they have some lush world they can just step right out onto?

Dr. Snark
Oct 15, 2012

I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

Pharnakes posted:

B is indeed a no brainier as presented, so why are the Terrans even offering it? What do they know that we don't? We have an icy terra analogue, do they have some lush world they can just step right out onto?

They never got the chance to survey this system according to Saros in the Discord.

For all they know the system we've found is a black hole or some poo poo like that.

Cathode Raymond
Dec 30, 2015

My antenna is telling me that you're probably wrong about this.
Soiled Meat

Pharnakes posted:

B is indeed a no brainier as presented, so why are the Terrans even offering it? What do they know that we don't?

It's possible that with this new jump technology they would rather go jumping around the galaxy and have us do the same and spend most of our respective energies doing that rather than, you know, firing missiles at each other constantly until we're all dead.

CoffeeQaddaffi
Mar 20, 2009
B


More importantly than the fact that planet 5 is a Terra analogue, the gravity is .69. That's some destined poo poo right there. Too bad about no gas giants, that would make this system nearly perfect.

Tactical_Torpedo
Feb 26, 2017

When all else fails?

FIRE EVERYTHING!

Then bravely run away.
Grimey Drawer
B

Earth-like on our doorstep? Yes please.

unwantedplatypus
Sep 6, 2012

Dr. Snark posted:

They never got the chance to survey this system according to Saros in the Discord.

For all they know the system we've found is a black hole or some poo poo like that.

We shall tell the Terrans that our scientists fear that the system of said jump point will be naught but a barren black hole system. However, in our endless generosity we will agree to sole ownership of these two jump points, and hope that the shared systems will have more resources in store.

B

unwantedplatypus fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Sep 10, 2017

LostCosmonaut
Feb 15, 2014

B

Take the deal.

frankenfreak
Feb 16, 2007

I SCORED 85% ON A QUIZ ABOUT MONDAY NIGHT RAW AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY TEXT

#bastionboogerbrigade
B

Even without a gas giant and no geological surveys, those potential colonies are too good to pass up.

I assume Earth made their proposal because they found what the wanted behind their jump point, i.e. a gas giant to mine for sorium or similar potential colonies.

Robo Captain
Sep 28, 2013
B

With the addition of Uranus we should have enough sorium for a while. Our Earth analogue need to be named to Papatuanuku.

Added Space
Jul 13, 2012

Free Markets
Free People

Curse you Hayard-Gunnes!
B

The only thing that could have made this better is a gas giant in the central system and a gas giant on that crazy distant dwarf with a JP connecting them.

At some point in Aurora with random stars turned on you have to accept you're jumping into another universe with different physics.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Robo Captain posted:

B

With the addition of Uranus we should have enough sorium for a while. Our Earth analogue need to be named to Papatuanuku.

petitioning for the dimensional orifice to be named Te Nono o Maui

habituallyred
Feb 6, 2015
B But try to at least send a probe past each of these planets before we send anyone we care about. I don't want anyone's last words being, "Are those fighters tractor beaming us towards the planet?"

Beware of strange warp points.

POOL IS CLOSED
Jul 14, 2011

I'm just exploding with mackerel. This is the aji wo kutta of my discontent.
Pillbug

habituallyred posted:

B But try to at least send a probe past each of these planets before we send anyone we care about. I don't want anyone's last words being, "Are those fighters tractor beaming us towards the planet?"

Beware of strange warp points.

Yeah, this.

unwantedplatypus
Sep 6, 2012

habituallyred posted:

B But try to at least send a probe past each of these planets before we send anyone we care about. I don't want anyone's last words being, "Are those fighters tractor beaming us towards the planet?"

Beware of strange warp points.
Something like this?

https://youtu.be/HYKwJx3jwB8?t=16m48s

mossyfisk
Nov 8, 2010

FF0000
Planets 1 and 5 terrify me. That looks like an orbital defense network from where I'm standing.

Hessi
Oct 28, 2010
Definitely B.

To consider
UT thinks we have no Jump Tech, so they think we buy blind
UT offering this deal in the first place means that their first jump point leads to a good place as they want to ensure exclusive use

If we agree too enthusiastically, they could get suspicious, so we should try to push for additional consessions from UT, mainly in our claims against IC.

Further points:

- We should also reach an agreement for mutual support in case one of us runs into a really big bad Xenos.
- For the exploration of the possible other jump points, i d suggest a mixed team of Mars/UT personel on UT explorer vessels for the time being until Mars has jump capable ships officially.
- We also need to contact Swift-Tuttle (closest object to our jump point for some time) about establishing a naval base, maybe even a DSTS(??) there.
- Saros mentioned that the repair bill the Pluto Facility presented to us is 2-3 times of Mars total annual mining production of TNEs, so a massive expansion on this front seems necessary, it would help if IC payed part of their reparations in TNEs.
- Other stuff we should push for in reparations from IC in declining importance: Shipyards - Scientists - Labs (if those are transportable?) - Ships - Tech
The low value placed on tech can be explained that we captured so many examples of IC tech, we are fairly confident to being able to reverseengeneer those rather quickly.

Hessi fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Sep 10, 2017

Zaodai
May 23, 2009

Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.


We should make at least one zany demand of the IC, like they are required to convert half their potentially military capable manufacturing facilities to manufacturing novelty baubles commemorating the brave liberation of Titan.

mossyfisk
Nov 8, 2010

FF0000
I'm not sure if repairing Pluto is an option anymore, since it tried to invade us and we fired a bunch of nukes into its gate.

Can we drag some asteroids over to the jump point and stick a crapload of missiles on it?

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Looks nice. Any space monsters lurking about though?

TheWetFish
Mar 30, 2006

by FactsAreUseless

Synthbuttrange posted:

Looks nice. Any space monsters lurking about though?

Saros posted:

The fifth planet is something else again.
Implausibly is also sports a diffuse ring around the planet which gives off very very odd spectral readings...
:shepicide:

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007

Could be anything! a ring of debris, a planet girdling orbital ring construct!

unwantedplatypus
Sep 6, 2012

Zaodai posted:

We should make at least one zany demand of the IC, like they are required to convert half their potentially military capable manufacturing facilities to manufacturing novelty baubles commemorating the brave liberation of Titan.

Replace Are Moon :colbert:

Synthbuttrange
May 6, 2007



Artists rendering of Planet 5

Cathode Raymond
Dec 30, 2015

My antenna is telling me that you're probably wrong about this.
Soiled Meat

Synthbuttrange posted:



Artists rendering of Planet 5

So...pretty much exactly like Saturn...?

Getting killed by a missile barrage is not that different from getting killed by Void Horrors is what I'm saying.

Dr. Snark
Oct 15, 2012

I'M SORRY, OK!? I admit I've made some mistakes, and Jones has clearly paid for them.
...
But ma'am! Jones' only crime was looking at the wrong files!
...
I beg of you, don't ship away Jones, he has a wife and kids!

-United Nations Intelligence Service

The real question here: if there are aliens on this new world, will Cathode try to defect to them?

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Dirt5o8
Nov 6, 2008

EUGENE? Where's my fuckin' money, Eugene?
I gotta ask: Where is everyone getting these badass sci-fi/space pics from? They're all pretty badass.

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