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Fine, I'll tone it down. UNCAO Declaration - Second Draft All independently established colonies shall be considered under probation for a period of at least one year. During this period the UNCAO will gather information about the colony to measure its alignment with UN Human Rights laws and policies. At the end of the year the UNCAO will decide based on this information whether to remove or extend the probation. During probation no state-produced infrastructure or facilities will be sold or transported to the colony. UN citizens who have resided for more then eleven months in a twelve month period in a probationary colony, or having declared citizenship in that colony, will be considered to have voluntarily surrendered their UN citizenship. Non-UN citizens will only be permitted to immigrate to the UN from a probationary colony under refugee status. UNCAO Tranquility Post Report Representatives have been selected and the Constitutional Convention is underway. Since many Tranquility citizens are very recently come from UN countries there appears to be no question of an immediate petition to join the UN once the constitution is written. Early indications are of a document that places individual freedoms relatively highly. There appears to be a bit of a wrinkle in that many citizens favor the death penalty, but it looks like there will be a strict ban on firearms. This will probably end up with a very well funded police force. Early indications are of a parliamentary form of government with a UN Administrator as a ceremonial governor with strictly circumscribed powers. The only time I had to step in was to inform them that there will be absolutely no tax refund payments. The last thing we need is for nations to compete to be poorest so that they can get transfer payments from everyone else. I expect the process to last one to three more months. Frankly, until we actually get to another system I don't have a big enough carrot to get South America off the fence, so efforts there will be handled by my staff for now.
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May 9, 2013 19:48
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 09:48 |
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Audio Transcript Aboard UNS Panner, Asteroid Wodan, 2 November 2033 Published by the Martin Commission as part of the UNS Panner incident hearings, 23 March 2034 Captain's Quarters Intercom [01:27:14] (door opens) [01:27:16] CAPTAIN: Evening, 1ENG. How's the search going? [01:27:18] 1ENG: Nothing yet, sir. All of the engine compartments have been swept, as well as most of the sensitive engineering areas. How are things up here? [01:27:21] CAPTAIN: (Inaudible)...Anyway, I got off the horn with high command several hours ago. They're sending a JAG team, but it won't be here for another two months. I'm checking the manifest that the Survey Team leader handed me right now. Seems that we left with a grand total of 50 PIPX-100 probing charges on board. Of those, the survey team has used 42. [01:27:41] 1ENG: That leaves 7 possible stolen charges. [01:27:45] CAPTAIN: Not necessarily. Take a look at this. [01:27:47] 1ENG: "YIM PIPX-500 HPC...Unit quantity: 10." Larger charges, sir? [01:27:51] CAPTAIN: It would be reasonable to assume so. Think they pose a threat to the hull? [01:27:55] 1ENG: Unlikely. Those aren't shaped charges, so the only way those could do damage is if they were placed in a vital engineering area. We've swept all of those. [01:28:05] CAPTAIN: GEO's taking a look at the cargohold right now. He'll let us know if one's missing. [01:28:16] CAPTAIN: Something wrong, Dave? [01:28:18] 1ENG: Yeah. (inaudible)...get the feeling that the bomb was only part of the plan. [01:28:24] CAPTAIN: Go on. I'm out of leads until we get those results back. [01:28:28] 1ENG: Well, I look at it this way: say I'm a feddie spy, and I want to destroy a UN vessel for whatever reason. I could do much more damage with a demolition charge than a blasting charge, especially considering that a shaped demolition charge wouldn't even appear on the mass budget. After all, a sorium-based TN charge could destroy the entire ship and weigh, what? 30 pounds? This ship doesn't have the armoring of a warship. If we even got grazed by a near-miss from a TN Missile, we'd be vaporized. It makes no sense to use conventional explosives, especially ones that have safety features specifically so that they DON'T explode when people are standing nearby. On top of all that, whoever did this decided to use one of the charges that we had an inventory of. Shouldn't we have security footage of that? [01:29:11] CAPTAIN: Security didn't notice anyone entering or leaving the cargo area last night. The charge must have been taken quite a while ago. [01:29:17] 1ENG: My point exactly. Whoever did this was planning it for quite some time- why use such an ineffective weapon to take out a ship? Unless, of course, taking out the ship wasn't your goal. [01:29:24] CAPTAIN: What are you implying? [01:29:26] 1ENG: Whoever did this didn't want to destroy the ship. He wanted a "Maintenance Failure." [01:29:30] CAPTAIN: For what end? [01:29:31] 1ENG: We got a sealed transmission of the new navigation software. Naturally, if someone wanted a copy of that, we'd be the best ship to steal it from. We're out here in the middle of nowhere, there's no scrutiny. If we were to, say, suffer an engine failure, then perhaps the maintenance work would distract us. Who would question a technician? [01:29:45] CAPTAIN: Surely, you'd think someone would notice if somebody was screwing with the comp- [01:29:47] 1ENG: Would you question a Fireman if he came to your house after a fire? [01:29:50] CAPTAIN: I don't have a house. Wife took it all. (inaudible)...but I see your point. Why, though? why would someone want the Navigation software? [01:29:57] 1ENG: You know exactly why, Captain. The new software has the control-slave mode and Correction Algorithms for the Jum- [01:30:01] (Intercom Manually disabled) [01:30:49] CAPTAIN: (inaudible)...ok, I turned it back on. Watch your mouth, next time. These logs are without a doubt going to be investigated when the JAG team gets here. If the JAG team gets here. We still have to make sure there aren't any more bombs on board. [01:30:57] 1ENG: Yes, sir. I'll get the techs to look at the computer. We should be able to see if anyone's accessed the file-read system. [01:31:02] (over Cargo Intercom)GEO: Captain, we completed the sweep. [01:31:06] CAPTAIN: And? [01:31:08] GEO: 10 PIPX-500 charges and 6 PIPX-100 charges. [01:31:10] CAPTAIN: One's missing. Davis, get your team sweeping faster. It's not over yet.
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May 10, 2013 01:18
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poo poo. Due to the enormity of this potential security breach, I will be joining the JAG team on their hunt. This could be disastrous if we don't contain this situation as soon as we possibly can. Should the Shrike be ready before the JAG team gets to the Panner, I want to have it transport me instead. If it's possible, we need to get a military ship out to the Panner. We cannot afford to lose the edge we've gained over the Feds through jump tech under any circumstances. Edit: vvv Well...uhh...good luck then. Sorry that I can't really help you guys out. That being said, if you guys do manage to capture this spy, I want him brought to Callisto for interrogation. I want to know how much Fred knows about Jump tech right now. Dr. Snark fucked around with this message at 02:01 on May 10, 2013 |
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May 10, 2013 01:39
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Dr. Snark posted:poo poo. By the time you get here, the incident will be resolved. It takes place from November 1-3.
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May 10, 2013 01:55
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Dr. Snark posted:poo poo. Sir, I've had this idea. I admit, though, that it's crazy, so I leave it to your judgement. I remember this incident in which a pipeline in the Soviet Russia blew up to the high heavens. Rumour had it had they had stolen the software from some US companies, but that it the espionage action had been allowed to go through to deliberately feed Ivan with bogus (and dangerous) software. Here is some old news link I recovered from deep cache. Us Software "blew up Russian Pipeline" I wonder, could we pull this one? It's risky, of course, I have an enormous respect for the feds and I am sure that will take a good, careful look at the software. But if they are behind the UN on jump technology, there is the outside chance they don't spot any bogus code. What do you think? VVVV That's obviously best left to the computer techs. Dawncloack fucked around with this message at 10:35 on May 10, 2013 |
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May 10, 2013 10:24
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Evidently, your idea isn't that crazy if it worked in the past. That could work out in our favor now, but that depends on how much time that Captain TriggerHappyPilot would have to sabotage the code. If he has enough time, he should insert a few "glitches" that would cause a ship to get swallowed up by whatever happens during a jump, but nothing too noticeable. If not, then outright destroying the program would be an acceptable alternative. Again, letting Fred get away with this would be disastrous. That being said, I haven't seen the program for myself, so I wouldn't be able to begin to understand how to mess with it aside from putting a few typos into the code. It may not even be possible to change the program itself. Edit: ^^^ Well, our chief suspects are computer techs right now. We don't really have any other options on that front. Dr. Snark fucked around with this message at 10:48 on May 10, 2013 |
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May 10, 2013 10:34
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Dr. Snark posted:Evidently, your idea isn't that crazy if it worked in the past. That could work out in our favor now, but that depends on how much time that Captain TriggerHappyPilot would have to sabotage the code. Okay, I still don't buy that anyone on the Panner knows about jump points (since why would they need extra training to scan other planets and stuff), but I can understand that Panner and crew might have knowledge of Jump Pont (scuttlebutt of being apart of the survey corp and all that, even though the El Dorodos will be doing most of the surveying seeing as they have both types of sensors), but why? WHY? in gods name is the freaking software for Jump Points on the goddamn Panner?! It's not a jump capable ship, it rides piggyback on a Turing so only the Turing will need the software. I know you said slave control issue software, but still, the ship rides piggypack and if we really did just send out all the data as part of a update packet (which would be an an incredibly stupid thing for us to do), then we're going to have to stop that, and do even more micro managment. Jimmy4400nav fucked around with this message at 17:55 on May 10, 2013 |
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May 10, 2013 17:52
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Readingaccount posted:It's ok as long as no torture is involved. Sounds like a great place for a former Junior Space Intern who's still bitter over having lost out on his martian timeshare to go.
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May 10, 2013 18:03
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Okay, I still don't buy that anyone on the Panner knows about jump points (since why would they need extra training to scan other planets and stuff), but I can understand that Panner and crew might have knowledge of Jump Pont (scuttlebutt of being apart of the survey corp and all that, even though the El Dorodos will be doing most of the surveying seeing as they have both types of sensors), but why? WHY? in gods name is the freaking software for Jump Points on the goddamn Panner?! It's not a jump capable ship, it rides piggyback on a Turing so only the Turing will need the software. I know you said slave control issue software, but still, the ship rides piggypack and if we really did just send out all the data as part of a update packet (which would be an an incredibly stupid thing for us to do), then we're going to have to stop that, and do even more micro managment. In order to ride piggyback through a Jump point, the Panner needs both the slave control software (the Turing's specialized navigation computers take over so that the Panner doesn't get lost or torn apart during transit) as well as the renormalization correction algorithms so that its own computers can retrieve the location of the ship after jump. It's not nearly enough to create a Jump-capable device, but it's a piece of the puzzle. The update was broadcast via direct ansible transmission, which can't be intercepted (I think, if I heard Bgreman correctly.) Also, most people on the Panner don't know about Jump point theory. Only the Captain, Chief Engineer, and a couple of the other senior staff members know about it. On May 8th, enroute to Wodan, the crew of the Panner performed a simulated jump. Most of the crew thought they were practicing station docking maneuvers as part of a drill. Oh, and if you're still hung up about this: (story spoiler)The Chief Engineer is wrong. Triggerhappypilot fucked around with this message at 19:00 on May 10, 2013 |
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May 10, 2013 18:56
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Saros posted:We have nearly a million free workers on Mars. Can they be assigned to the Research Labs or are the labs turned off by default after recovery? The reason you have one million free workers is because I shut down the labs in the last update. A research facility requires 1 million people to operate, and you have just under two million workers available. Uncovering the second research lab pushed Mars's production efficiency down to something like 50%. Since you weren't using the labs, I shut them down in order to maximize mining output while the mines are still there. DarthDan posted:Oh hey. I stop checking the thread for months, and suddenly I've got a voidship command. Woot! I even found a jumppoint, to boot - guess those survey and xenoarcheology specializations are worth something after all. This isn't quite how it works. A discovered JP can be anywhere in the system, not necessarily at the location of the jump survey location that was scanned to discover it. The four gravitational survey vessels are using the "Survey next three system locations" default order. The way this works is that if the ships have no orders, they check their default order. "Survey next three system locations" then adds survey orders for the three closest grav survey locations to their orders queue. (The system does coordinate between multiple survey vessels to ensure that they don't double up on surveys). Currently, 17 out of the 30 locations have been surveyed, with four more being scanned (or a ship is en route to scan) right now. The inner ring is complete, the last 2 locations in the middle ring are being scanned, and of the outer ring, one location is complete, one is being scanned, a ship is underway toward another, and the rest are incomplete. People posted:
I am authorizing THP's fluff as canon here. Ships carried along with jump-capable ships need to have custom software in order to coordinate the maneuvers.
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May 10, 2013 19:06
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Triggerhappypilot posted:In order to ride piggyback through a Jump point, the Panner needs both the slave control software (the Turing's specialized navigation computers take over so that the Panner doesn't get lost or torn apart during transit) as well as the renormalization correction algorithms so that its own computers can retrieve the location of the ship after jump. It's not nearly enough to create a Jump-capable device, but it's a piece of the puzzle. The update was broadcast via direct ansible transmission, which can't be intercepted (I think, if I heard Bgreman correctly.) Ah okay, that makes sense, sorry about the third degree I gave earlier, I'm just super paranoid about us losing secret tech, since we managed to get Fred's super tech, I've been worried they'll find ours. Keep up the good work, hopefully you find that mole or whomever is nicking all your explosives.
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May 10, 2013 19:31
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Jimmy4400nav posted:since we managed to get Fred's super tech, I've been worried they'll find ours. How do you know they haven't already? 
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May 10, 2013 19:46
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bgreman posted:
The system does not, however, coordinate between mutliple ships to ensure that a ship doesn't ignore the survey location 10 feet to it's left if another surveyor 10 billion km away wants it. FYI.
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May 10, 2013 19:52
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Ceebees posted:The system does not, however, coordinate between mutliple ships to ensure that a ship doesn't ignore the survey location 10 feet to it's left if another surveyor 10 billion km away wants it. FYI. Correct, but fuel is cheap pre-6.0, and I'm willing to just ignore that aspect instead of having to hand-hold the survey fleet all the time.
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May 10, 2013 20:01
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bgreman posted:I am authorizing THP's fluff as canon here. Ships carried along with jump-capable ships need to have custom software in order to coordinate the maneuvers. The Beef Rocket won't be able to sneak a trip now 
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May 10, 2013 22:17
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Volmarias posted:The Beef Rocket won't be able to sneak a trip now Surely the software could be intentionally...misplaced. I mean, wouldn't that be appropriate? pirated software on a pirate ship?
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May 10, 2013 22:23
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 *beep* *beep* *beep* *muffled shouting*  "..."*beep* *beep* *beep* *sigh**door opening* "You have three minutes." "'arroway?! You obnoxious, obstructive 'orrible excuse of a man! Do you 'ave any idea of what I've gone through just to see my friend? It 'as been ages since you whisked him away! Ze --ack!"*scuffling sounds* "Keep it down. Doctor's advisement is that we do not upset the patient." "Aie... noted. Hello Brendan. It is good to finally see you. You look... poorly." *hacked laugh* "Heh. Nothing... science can't fix. Cut Harrow some slack. He can be rough, but he did... save my life. Not the best of... company, though. Thanks for... visiting." "I... yes, of course. My apologies for my behavior. 'ow are you doing?" "Cancer cell tagging again tomorrow. We'll see... if it sticks this time. I got... pretty messed up. Got some in my lungs. Kidney's mostly out too... I'm on dialysis." "Merde. Zat bad?" "Could be worse. At least I don't register on.... TNE mineral survey sensors anymore. I still can't believe... how I could have been... so stupid drunk when I was... mixing drinks. Don't even remember... putting the uridium... in my sorium."*beepbeep* *beepbeep* *beepbeep* "That's enough, session over. Mr. Montreu, you've met your friend, and now, for the sake of his health, leave him be. I've told you before, the agency will take whatever appropriate precautions to ensure the health and safety of-" "Minute papillion, 'arroway! Why does Brendan still think he poisoned 'imself? You know ze uridium did not come from ze lab samples, Dr. Barrelfox said it was far too primitive for our produce."  "Mon ami, zere is no way you would have mixed uridium with sorium, even 'alf passed out on ze devil's own drink. You were poisoned. 'arroway's ilk 'ave been 'anging over me like vultures ever since, because I am one of ze few zey believe could 'ave done it. It took me weeks to figure things out past all their dissembling. But I am not your poisoner, I came to tell you zat. I thought you knew zis... but clearly someone has failed to inform you of anyzing." "..."*beepbeepbeep* *beepbeepbeep* *beepbeepbeep*  "My apologies, sir. It was deemed any information on the case could be deleterious in your fragile state, especially the suspicion placed upon a close associate. Not my call. I don't believe Mr. Montreu poisoned you, but I have my orders. He shouldn't be here, or anywhere near you. I'll have to call this in soon." "Do so. We can discuss... calls with your... superiors."----  *frantic keyboard typing*From: Checkerboard To: Interested Parties Subject: Grey Cell roll call This message is legitimate, and the appropriate clearance codes have been included as proof. Verify these and match when you respond. It is being sent anonymously, and I ask you not attempt to trace it to its source. Not only would it be difficult to do and a waste of your time, but I would be forced to bar you from the following proposition: If you are receiving this message it is because your competencies matches an array of needed skills and your clearance level is high enough for you to take part in a classified team exercise. Should you join, you would be subject to contractual obligations, which you can read in the attached documents. In order to unspoiler this message and make those documents available, press 'y'. By pressing 'y' you agree y/n y ~streaming~ Greetings. I am assembling an ad-hoc team of volunteer assets, codenamed 'Grey Cell'. Grey Cell is being established to investigate the circumstances of Dr. Scribbleykins' abrupt and acute illness as of the 3rd of Oktober last month. The official line is that Dr. Scribbleykins is suffering from a disease of natural causes. I am given leave to inform you that this is not true. Dr. Scribbleykins was deliberately poisoned with refined uridium, which had been added to select parts of his exotic drink cabinet. Three out of his ten Sorium+ phials, products the doctor makes himself, had been laced with refined uridium, of which Dr. Scribbleykins was fortunate enough only to drink one before noticing and seeking assistance. The rapid response of his bodyguard and on-site emergency services saved his life, though his condition remains poor. We conclude that Dr. Scribbleykins' drinking habits had been reported on and that someone with hostile intent must have had access to his room, a habitation module within a Nevada research facility where the good doctor was currently experimenting with uridium purification processes. We believe the intent may have been to make it appear for him to accidentally have poisoned himself through drunken experimentation, a reputed pastime of Dr. Scribbleykins. Fortunately an inspired guess by Dr. Barrelfox, who, claiming that 'he's an idiot, but he's not THAT big an idiot', tested the poison, which revealed that the uridium, while refined, was coarser than that produced by the experiments on the labs on-site, as well as proving especially toxic to humans. Unfortunately, the UN's best intelligence assets are already in place elsewhere and doing vital and necessary work for the good of humanity. The case of Dr. Scribbleykins' poisoning has languished under less than competent hands, and while Jones has exercised the utmost discretion, he has made little to no progress on the case. In order to speed things up, Grey Cell is being formed to gather assets that are able to, on a part-time and voluntary basis, take some of the strain off of UN intelligence services. Seeing as this is a test project there is no outright official stamp of approval on the operation, but our investigations, as long as they do not overstep any important legal bounds or cause public incident, shall be tolerated by the agencies involved. The Missions of this Grey Ops will be as follows: Investigate Suspects - While we can't discount that a leak on any of Dr. Scribbleykins' personal information and what substance he was working on could have come from outside the Nevada laboratory, the list of suspects for the poisoning itself is slim; limited only to on-site personnel. The suspect or suspects would have had to bypass the security measures put in place to safeguard the privacy of the researchers (mainly cameras and code-locked doors), as well as smuggle in close to one ounce of refined uridium (approx. 28.35 grams to you metric users). Background checks have been conducted, but nothing has so far shaken loose with regards to means or motive, and all alibis appear watertight in the week-or-so period the drinks were present to be poisoned; our researchers' schedules are planned well ahead of time so we know where most of them were supposed to be at any time. The potential that the previous investigators have overlooked something or that an alibi has been faked remains open and needs examination. Investigate Uridium Source - Thanks to Dr. Barrelfox's discovery, we know that the refined uridium used as poison matches no refined uridium produced in the local labs. It also seems to have been rendered more lethal than it otherwise would be to the human body. I have located a number of more conventional facilities where the substance could potentially have been produced and I want a team to investigate these. We have an approximate timeline of when the uridium must have been refined, thanks to the start-up date of Dr. Scribbleykins' uridium purification experiments on 28th of July. If the intent was indeed to have the doctor appear to have poisoned himself, the poisoner must have procured their poison some time after this date. I would advice you look for suspicious activity or strange production schedules; the cruder refinement made to the Uridium makes it ill-fit for commercial use, so our working theory is that it was made specifically with murder in mind. Loose Lips or Leaks - We cannot assume that the poisoner and the source of the leak of information on Dr. Scribbleykins' drinking habits are one and the same. Grey Cell will work to find the source of the presumed leak of information. Find and Catch the Poisoner - To catch the poisoner we will need proof to act on. Grey Cell must find this proof and have the necessary authorities heed the call. The teams should seek to locate Intel in the other missions in order to come up with a timeline of events and verifiable proof for who might have poisoned Dr. Scribbleykins and how it was done. Any additional information on who arranged for the attempted murder will be a welcome bonus. Resolving this mission depends on the results of the others. Failure means a group of highly competent people will lose their clearances and/or undergo increased surveillance, as any of them could have been responsible for the leak or the poisoning. Alternatively, many of these people may get fired. As incredible a waste as this would be, this is still preferable to the thought of having an outside mole and/or murderer working within our research facilities and the UN is not exactly short on competent research teams within sensors sciences. I also wish to stress that we are running on a timetable. Most of the personnel under suspicion, while working in a closed environment under the supervision of Dr. Barrelfox for now, will eventually insist to be free to move on. This is why the official line is that Dr. Scribbleykins is suffering from a regretfully acute ordinary illness and is in a full-on coma. 'Unofficially' within the base it has been intimated that the fault was his own for having uridium samples on-hand for Drunken Experimentation Hour. Only select people know the truth of the matter, of which you are now one. The benefits and duties in becoming a Grey Cell member are listed with the contract documents attached to this message. It's a taker's game; if you're interested in joining, sign the forms and message me with your choice in Mission I will sponsor you, if not, I remind you of the non-disclosure agreement you signed by pressing 'y' from your secured login. Funds for travel and lodging will be made available as necessary, as will clearances, but don't expect any first class tickets and don't go abusing the clearances. I will know. Failure to perform will lead to dismissal from duty, but if this pans out, further Grey Cell missions may become available to you in the future. If it doesn't, you'll still have your day jobs. Unless it turns out you're a Fed spy and this is all just an elaborate ruse to catch you. Then you won't. I hope for your prompt and positive response. Yours sincerely, Checkerboard ---- Ladies and gentlegoons, welcome to Aurora story mode! I've had my fun writing little blurbs and drabbles to accompany bgreman's great big ole thread, and now I am interested in running a side story... with you! Pitch in one of your three token minor characters as hush-hush secret Grey Cell members and influence the Grey Cell story! Which is basically a story about a minor clandestine conspiracy relying on crowdsourced tradecraft and volunteer help trying to solve the whodunnit of the poisoning of Dr. Scribbleykins. While the story is being kept relatively loose to allow for writer inventiveness, I've got a rough outline of Grey Cell's plot (suggestions for whodunnits, why and how) and plenty of challenges for the investigative teams to come up with solutions/alternatives to in clever and imaginative ways... or not, pending on how poorly you, for dramatic/comedy/thrill purposes, want to be doing. This'll be hella free-form, a writing challenge, so points for creativity, and hell,  let me put down a Plat account going to whoever the thread feels is the best writer overall come the end of the story. Meanwhile, I'll try to impose a modicum of structure and brevity on the whole thing from my end. Speaking of which, Grey Cell story updates should, ideally, be relatively small and concise, considering the  factor.How do we do this, then? Well, you say 'x character of mine is Grey Cell', pick a mission, I send you writing prompts related to the investigation of this mission and then you write your 'move', with someone else or on your own, resolving the prompt and receiving a new one, and so forth until each mission reaches its conclusion. That's it. Anything in this story, from prompts to antagonists to endings, is open to redefining if you guys have better ideas and want to write it out. The genre of the current story will be 'spy thriller whodunnit' with a dash of sci-fi and scrappy underdog, as well as whatever you want to throw in that fits the story. Note that Grey Cell is not an officially sanctioned UN intelligence agency, more of a semi-legal conspiracy, all neatly coordinated by the mysterious Checkerboard, who currently has unofficial backing from parts of the UNSA. The story we make will not (unless bgreman decides so) have a large influence on the overall Aurora storyline, but would add smaller slice-of-life details and will hopefully be a way for otherwise sidelined goons to participate in the writing fun! As your narrative coordinator du jour, I will endeavor to ensure that the participants will have interesting prompts to deal with, be available to hear your ideas for resolving your prompt (or change it, if that's your poison), proofread drafts if you want me to, push questions BGreman's way if there's any particular story details that need his koshering, and otherwise chat about the direction you want your slice of the story to take through PMs (I'll buy Plat soon), e-mail daggerpin at gmail.com or on #ColdestWar on synIRC, whatever works best for you. Then you post it for the thread's perusal. Mind you, please note your preference in contact medium when signing up and be forewarned: if it turns out you can't meet the occasional deadline, your contribution to Grey Cell might get lost. This thread moves at its own pace and the Grey Cell story will have to pace itself to it. If all goes well, I'm open for continuing to run little side-story challenges like this (as I have a few ideas for different missions), or have others use Grey Cell for creative writing projects of their own, pending bgreman's permission and no already-running competing stories or Big Issues in-game. I wouldn't want to bog down the thread. Anyway, I hope this is of interest to those who have quietly been twiddling their thumbs on the sidelines waiting for their in-game persona to pop or the perfect opportunity for those with 'stuck in the boonies' characters to dig their scribblin' fingers into the BGverse proper. And who knows? Perhaps someone will get to face down a Korbalev operation one day. That would probably be... interesting. (This post has been bgreman approved.) P.S. Don't worry Dr. Snark! I'm not trying to steal your job. This is something of a... special case.
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May 10, 2013 22:37
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Earth: Perth, Australia, 4th December 2033 A Dragon's Teeth beam defense base opens in the Western Australia outback, 300 km east of Perth. There are still seven installations left in the production order, which will be distributed across the UN's Earthly nations. The activation of the facility prompts a few crew reassignments. CMDR Jesenjin is assigned to the Ghostbuster previously commanded by CMDR MrYenko. This frees up a Dragon's Teeth PDC for CMDR E_Motion, while the most recent Dragon's Teeth is handed over to CMDR Mister Bates. This leaves the UN with 9 ICBM complexes commanded by junior officers, and there are strong pushes from within the UNIN bureaucracy to close down at least five of them. UNS Surigao, Deep Space, 8th December 2033  UNS Surigao makes rendezvous with 2nd Cruiser Squadron in order to relieve UNS Quirono. Quirono offloads as much of her fuel as the formation can take, and then sets course for Callisto to begin overhaul. 2nd Cruiser Squadron will resume Task Force training exercises. Meanwhile on Earth, CMDR TLM3101 hosts a group action workshop with the other Ghostbuster COs to discuss crewing policies and training regimens for ground-based naval crews. Earth: Low Earth Orbit, 10th December 2033  Sad Container Line launchers its 14th void hull, the Udaloy 31-class freighter SS Gorod Magnitogorkska. Both Sad and Beedi are approaching half a million tons of void displacement, while Kryuchkov has exceeded that mark. UNS Quirono: UNIN Fleet Maintenance Facility Callisto, 11th December 2033  UNS Quirono arrives at Callisto and enters the UN's maintenance facility complex. Her overhaul is expected to last five and a half months. Meanwhile, BP Saturn announces a further expansion of its operations on Iapetus. The company also releases a statement indicating its interest in participating in the upcoming Machu Picchu Conference. Callisto: Low Callisto Orbit, 12th December 2033  UNS Cibola and UNS La Canela arrive at Callisto and enter a holding orbit. With the gravitational survey of the Sol system nearly complete and, more importantly, no available Samar IIs for escort, UNIN orders the vessels to remain at Callisto for the time being. Earth: EADS-Astrium Shipyard Complex, 13th December 2033  UNS Prague completes her refit operations, emerging from her slipway as a Berlin IIM variant. The freed up slipway is then ordered to lay down the keel of a new Berlin IIM, provisionally named UNS Minsk. This will allow the UN to field two Berlin squadrons, each with one Berlin IIS and two Berlin IIMs. Prague will wait in a holding orbit until UNS Biliran completes her refit to the Samar II-class, at which point she will be escorted to join 2nd Cruiser Squadron for task force training exercises. On Earth, another Dragon's Teeth PDC is activated on an uninhabited island off the coast of Japan. This prompts a task group of Federation wet naval vessels to cruise past the island, but they do not encroach into Japan's sovereign territory. The PDC is placed under the command of CMDR Nevermore214. Earth: Ruins of Machu Picchu, 14th December 2033, 14:00 UTC (9:00 Local) The Machu Picchu Conference opens in an elaborate shelter constructed specifically for the event. The eight story prefabricated building will house the various delegates and contains several conference rooms. There are representatives present from:
The event kicks off with an address from former UN administrator TildeATH. Take it away, Tilde.
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May 11, 2013 00:00
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Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, 7AM local time Staring out the window over the Incan ruins within spitting distance (with a good wind, anyway), a slender man in a tan suit and long, brown overcoat puffs air through his nose impatiently as he sips from a steaming cup, eyes twitching restlessly over the horizon. A gentle knock on the door bounces through the hotel room, and without waiting for acknowledgement, a frail-looking, dark-skinned woman with thin glasses and a gray pantsuit admits herself. The slender man turns his head slightly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "It's time, finally?" "It is, Mr. Grant." She nods. "The other delegates are gathering in the lobby now." "Just Calvin, thanks. Or my nickname." The slender man says, turning fully and taking a long pull from his cup. "I trust we had no problem integrating Snark's toys with all of our clothing?" She extends her left arm and holds her palm up. Underneath the sleeve of her suit coat, a flexible plastic screen is barely visible. "Would you like to test it now?" She asks, tapping her collar nonchalantly. The slender man taps his own collar in a similar way, and then mutters something unintelligible. The frail woman glances at her watch, covertly checking the screen sliding translated speech as text over her sleeve, shifting softly to alert her to the traffic. "I imagine the Councilor would prefer you didn't say that too loudly, Coolguy." The slender man manages an impish grin. "Which is why I said it softly. Thank you, Margaret." Draining the contents of his cup, the slender man reaches for a hatrack and fits a fedora over his head. He falls into step behind the frail woman. After a few quiet moments, the slender man's sleeve shifts, and he makes a scratching motion at his arm as he glances down to read. Margaret Balde: Some of the other delegates are annoyed that you're in charge. Say nobody will take us seriously. The slender man's face curls in a meat-eating grin for the briefest of moments before he kills it. A moment later, the frail-looking woman's sleeve twitches. Glancing down, she reads: Calvin Grant: That's the idea.
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May 11, 2013 00:48
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 Dateline: Earth, 2400m above sea-level Away from the massive conference building, a stage has been erected to carefully integrate the Temple of the Sun to frame the day's speakers. All around, dignitaries mill about while informational displays recount the tragic underrepresentation of the post-colonial nations of the world, with the the key phrase "Where have you left us?" with a map of the solar system showing up on posters and in presentations. Bands play traditional tribal music from around the world and well-known artists, pop singers, and movies stars smile and join in. The opening ceremonies feature a few speeches from local representatives in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, who all describe in painful detail how the sky has become their prison, and how their only hope to experience the "world beyond the world" is by purchasing it in stores and on-line. Finally, Administrator TildeATH walks out of the heretofore "off-limits" Temple of the Sun and strides confidently to the dais. She is festooned in Martian silk and Yugoslavian furs. She is also noticeably pregnant. "My fellow human beings, I am so glad that you chose to keep your dreams untrammeled by the growing cynicism of our bipolar stellar politics. We gather here, at the top of the world, to remind ourselves of the audacity and resilience of our genetic code. People like us have conquered places like this, and built great civilizations in doing so, despite the appearance of impossibility. That doubt, enshrined by others and taught to us and sold to us, is a weak and sorry thing, that in these coming days we can stamp it out, and replace with a new, heroic vision of a shared future." "We are one community here, but we are many, and so we must focus on our shared needs in this changing, dangerous political world. While it may seem that massive multinationals have little in common with representatives from Sarajevo or Mali or distant Mars, or even that we do not with each other, this is not true. Long is the tradition of establishing a new place to enshrine a newer, more modern concept of freedom. This once meant freedom to live, or freedom to worship, or freedom for business. I propose we extend this human quest for freedom, and create a place that epitomizes this still latent concept of freedom from the machinations of the two great world-states. Freedom--economically, politically, and legally--will provide the space for our entrepreneurs but, more than that, and I speak from a deep sense of understanding on this issue, a place for our bright young children to thrive and succeed." "Even the Federation and the United Nations have acknowledged the moral and political right of such an endeavor. Both have generously offered a place for such a colony, and the United Nations has sent representatives to this conference in order to help shepherd it to a successful conclusions." There are a few strategic snickers in the audience from delegates around the UN group, and Administrator TildeATH smiles impishly and waves them away. "You have all received the materials detailing the Draft Constitution and Articles of Colonization. These were developed as a guide for our discussions. Of critical importance is determining whether a tripartite system as outlined will achieve the goals of all parties, and how such a system can be inflected to represent such a vibrant community. We will hear detailed presentations on the projected economic and material investment by each state and by corporation, beginning with the corporate entities. I'm sure many of us have heard various numbers bandied about, and now it's time to make them official. Committees on human rights, jurisprudence, civil order, and so on, are outlined in your packets. It is to be expected that the highly structured aspects of the initial conference will give way to more creative impulses." "I look forward to seeing the successful formulation of the latest human colony in our solar system, but the first truly humane one." Articles of Colonization A large report outlines the draft constitution of the the State of Nova Timbuktu. It contains many details, notably: A tripartite system of government shall consist of: The Board of Governors (The Left or "Ahura" Board) - Equal representation from all states who send colonists (like the United States senate in its treatment of states for representation, this shall consist of a Senior Governor and a Lieutenant Governor). These representatives shall vote on and pass laws based on simple majority for all activities in the colony related to human rights as construed by this exhaustive list summarized as sanctity of life, right to worship, and access to means of material prosperity. Governors shall be assigned by their states as per those states' internal selection processes. Mechanisms for expulsion require a supermajority to remove an individual for malfeasance. The Board of Directors (The Right or "Mazda" Board) - Proportionate representation from all corporate sponsors with such proportion derived from the percentage invested in the colony. The number of Directors shall be fixed at 200. These representatives shall vote on and pass laws based on simple majority for all activities in the colony related to finance, regulation, and industry as defined by this exhaustive study of modern post-colonial economic theory. Directors are selected by their representative corporations but follow strict term limits in their board duties. No director can ever represent a separate company on the board. The Principle Executive - Single authority to guide the criminal justice system and defense of the state shall be held in the person of the Principle Executive, who shall serve for a term of no less than 5 years but who may be forced to resign by a super-majority vote of the two boards. Provisional military within 5000km of the colony will be administrated by the Office of the Principle Executive, while any activity beyond that range will be managed by a Chief of the Armed Forces who shall serve under the Office of the Principle Executive with oversight from the two boards. In regard to activities that overlap the designated spheres of influence, each area of government shall have a single vote and any such measure shall pass with the assent of two of the three areas. Mechanisms to reduce the representation of a state or corporation require supermajority vote as well as approval by both the Board of Directors and the Office of the Principle Executive. Regarding fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, it should be noted the emphasis placed on the inalienable right to privacy, and with it the abrogation of the government's ability in any circumstance to compel testimony of any kind for any activity, regardless of whether it falls under the classical definition of "self-incrimination" or not. Similarly, funds and possessions and labor cannot be confiscated or compelled except through civil trial as established in Article VIII. Criminal punishment therefore is limited to banishment, corporal and capital methods, wherein such cases individual property will be remanded to their legal heirs in the case of death or the custodianship thereof in case of temporary loss of faculties. Initial territorial allotments will be to states and corporations, to be sold and leased to citizens in an equitable manner outlined in Section 43a. And so on, and so forth...
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May 11, 2013 01:07
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Machu Picchu Conference Schedule Main Schedule 14th December 2033, Day 1: Opening ceremonies, remarks from Conference Organizer, Integration Ball 15th December 2033, Day 2: Presentations by McKiernan, Yamamoto, CONSOL, BP Saturn 16th December 2033, Day 3: Presentations by Beedi, Sad 17th December 2033, Day 4: Presentations by BFM, unaligned nations 18th December 2033, Day 5: Presentations by Latin American Colonziation Coalition, Balkan League, West Africa Association 19th December 2033, Day 6: Presentations by United Nations representatives 20th December 2033, Day 7: Integration Brunch, Closing Ceremonies (+ Afterparties) Schedule, 14th December 2033 9:00 Opening ceremonies and remarks from Conference Organizer 10:00 - 12:00: Morning workshops/panels 12:00 - 13:30: Lunch workshops/panels 14:00 - 18:00: Afternoon workshops/panels 19:30 - ?????: Integration Ball (A tasteful black-tie affair intended for introductions and networking) bgreman fucked around with this message at 01:47 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 01:45
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Incan courtyard, 9:53 AM Coolguy kept his communicator silent during the opening remarks, but as the hostess concluded her speech and stepped down, he leaned back and hummed into the subvocal around his collar. Calvin Grant: Quick huddle by the doors. The UN delegation quickly assembled outside the doors in a semicircle. Coolguy stood twirling his hat in one hand, and his hastily scribbled notes on the current draft in the other. "So. This government sucks." A few chuckles rumble through the semicircle, with a rotund man from the UNSA smiling gamely. "The Mazda board is what bothers me most. There's a common joke about buying elections, but this..." Coolguy pushed the hat up into the air and caught it by the brim. "Right. Fortunately, we've got the nicest spot for our own presentations. Did someone have a copy of the workshops today?" Margaret waved a sheet. "Right here." Coolguy turned to her. "Do we have enough attendees to get someone in all the workshops?" She nodded. "Great. Please help me out by organizing people into teams to make sure we've got full coverage. Get the temperatures of the corporate sponsors. Ask our intelligence attache - nicely - to keep tabs on Sad and Beedi. They're kind of Fred's redheaded stepchildren." The rotund man's game smile turned into a suspicious peer. "What are YOU going to do, sir?" He asked, his voice sharpening. Coolguy smirked. "A long time ago, when our hostess was still on Mimas, I offered her a drink for some of her more firey anti-Fred speeches. I'm just going to see if she's still interested in one." Margaret's face registered surprise. "Calvin, she's--" Coolguy laughed and waved her objection away with his hat. "What, am I blind? Coffee!" An uneasy moment of annoyance ran over the UN delegation before people turned in to start organizing their workshops. Coolguye fucked around with this message at 03:37 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 03:25
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Luna, Tranquility City Docks, December 14th 2033 Captain Raw_Beef examined himself in his old BFM dress uniform in the mirror, adjusting his various awards and insignia to ensure they'd remain even in the rough events to come. He wanted to look his best for his reunion with Administrator TildeATH, who he had not seen since her visit to Luna and their stay at Hotel De Tranquility some 5 months ago. To add the final bit of panache, he was wearing a US cavalry sabre. He'd picked it up years ago in a dusty old antique store in Ohio, but when people asked (and they always did) It was a family heirloom from his proud warrior heritage, stretching back to the battle of Gettysburg. Most non Americans were very impressed with the act. On the occasion that someone did question his authenticity, Raw_Beef was prone to make some joke about being the only one with a sword around here. Something in the way he said it always seemed to quite the doubters after their nervous laughter died down. Finished preparing himself and his effects, the Captain went to see Chief Engineer Alexandrov. He found him in the Command station, the cramped excuse that served for a bridge on Shrike. "Hey Chief, I'm about ready to go. My contacts on the ground are in position and the shuttle is waiting. You're clear on our plan?" he asked. "Yeah Cap, i've got it. We'll be ready to act on your mark. We know the engines work, but I'm still trying to calibrate these sensors. I'm getting a lot of feedback from the EM output due to their close proximity. We're working on an improved screening interface that should even things out quickly. Anyway we'll have it worked out by the time we need it. Good luck down there Captain." "Thanks Chief. Or should i say XO." Raw_Beef flipped an XO's pin at Mr. Alexandrov, who caught it with surprising reflexes and speed. The old man gave a sharp salute and smile as the Captain left for his Earth Shuttle.
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May 11, 2013 03:31
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My god, I leave for a couple of hours and I come back to aplenty! Nice to see everyone so active!Scribbleykins posted:P.S. Don't worry Dr. Snark! I'm not trying to steal your job. This is something of a... special case. HOW DARE YOU TRY AND START A SECRET INVESTIGATION WITHOUT LETTING ME IN ON IT!  In all sincerity, though, this sounds like a really cool idea, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes!
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May 11, 2013 04:01
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Leaked Transmission from Dr. UnwantedPlatypus to unknown Prospector posted:I have received your recent communication about the obstruction. I want a repeat of the procedure done after the last obstruction. Simply move the supplies out of the trouble zone and be prepared to use heavy equipment if necessary. If some of the supplies get lost or destroyed along the way then that is simply the cost of working in this unbearable desert. Once the supplies are properly taken care of we can then start operations in the area. "It's your rear end and mine if we don't plug this leak." said Dr. Platypus. His office was in quite a mess and had been in quite a mess. The only thing that seemed to know its place recently was his coffee cup, being either full, half-full, or in the process of being refilled. Dr. Bahra was rather tense and the atmosphere did little to calm his mood. A single fan simply mixing the Saharan air. "Sir, if we were using more acceptable techniques then a leak would not be a problem," " And if we were using more acceptable techniques than we would be behind schedule," was Dr.Platypus's retort. " This is inhumane and goes against everything the UN stands for. We can't just upro-," Dr.Platypus cut Bahra off. " We can and we are. We aren't going to beat the Federation with our left hand behind our back. We take that devil's hand and we use it because the Feds sure as hell are using theirs." " How are we any better than the Federation then? We might as well surrender if we are going to give up our ideals." " We aren't giving up on our ideals. The difference between us and the Federation is we use evil as a means to a good end. At any rate, I didn't call you up here to be lectured. Let me see that report you've gathered and then you're dismissed." With a sigh, Dr. Bahra handed over the papers and left the office more disturbed than when he entered. The doctor's coffee seemed to disappear at a faster and faster rate as he read more and more of the report. The report had lists of people who couldn't have leaked the transmission. No surprise, in such backwards place who would have the technology? However, that left only the upper echelons of the company or a potential spy. Both of which was a less than acceptable possibility for the doctor. unwantedplatypus fucked around with this message at 16:34 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 06:21
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OOC: This is great roleplay Tilde and Scribbleykins, really creates a lot of material for many other posters. 
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May 11, 2013 06:28
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This sounds pretty fantastic, and I'd totally be in if I weren't heading out of internet contact (hiking to Machu Picchu, coincidentally) in two days. I look forward to seeing the results when I get back, though! Akratic Method fucked around with this message at 07:36 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 07:33
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Okay, I let it slide the first time because I thought people were having a fun joke, but now I'm serious. What the hell is going on with that terraformer in the Sahara? because this is the third time now I believe that someone has said it's being used to mess around with people rather than acctually provide the assistance needed. unwantedplatypus and Added Space whats going on? This is now not a polite request, this is a direct order.
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May 11, 2013 08:04
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Okay, I let it slide the first time because I thought people were having a fun joke, but now I'm serious. What the hell is going on with that terraformer in the Sahara? because this is the third time now I believe that someone has said it's being used to mess around with people rather than acctually provide the assistance needed. It's still inactive as far as I know. I've been trying to lay groundwork but the process has been slow. Plan B is to cross out Sahara, put in Amazon, and relocate the whole drat thing. Honestly I'm waiting for a call from bgreman since this is international affairs, so right now there's no movement on it from my end.
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May 11, 2013 08:14
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Jimmy4400nav posted:Okay, I let it slide the first time because I thought people were having a fun joke, but now I'm serious. What the hell is going on with that terraformer in the Sahara? because this is the third time now I believe that someone has said it's being used to mess around with people rather than acctually provide the assistance needed. To: UNIEB head Jimmy4400nav From: Dr. UnwantedPlatypus Re: Recent worries To clarify, I first proposed a deal where we help build up the Sahara through a cooperative effort with the nearby countries in order to gain us influence in Africa. This was quickly shot down by Added Space who told me to take a more...interesting route. The new plan then became to make a sort of gold rush scenario where the neighboring countries fight each other for the newly discovered natural resources. Due to the fact that the Federation controls a few Saharan countries (e.g. Egypt) The non-aligned countries would look to us for the materials needed to extract the natural resources rather than help a competitor in this African gold rush. However, you cannot just plop a terraformer in the middle of the Sahara. We need to look for places that have the potential to be fertile and places that have TNE or precious non-TNE resources. We need prospecting teams on the ground in order to find these places. To do this I have set up a company front officially unaffiliated with the UN. As for the recent leak. It is of no concern. Just a logistics message.
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May 11, 2013 16:30
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((For what it's worth: I reserve the right to go back and make IC posts that are 'earlier' if others act on stuff in the conference that prompt me to say something.)) Machu Picchu Sanctuary Lodge, 1:30AM local time, December 15th Coolguy stretched his legs languidly in his bed, the tendons in his ankles and knees popping as he tried to put the finishing touches on his nightly report to the UNEC. There was a quiet slurp as he sipped at the highball glass on his nightstand, and he swirled the amber liquid inside to mix the scotch and Drambuie more evenly. TO: UNIN, UNSA, UNDOT, UNIEB, UNRA, UNFRAD FROM: Administrative Assistant Coolguy, Machu Picchu conference halls Sirs, I've attached a digitized version of the initial draft of the colonial constitution that was presented at the opening meetings today. The workshops today were mostly illustrative of various civil, economic, and logistical dynamics for the colony itself - basically, to prove that people have done their homework and this is entirely possible and totally not a fool's errand. Which, to be fair, was something that some of the late comers, particularly BP, needed to be convinced of. I managed to get Ms. TildeATH to have a cup of coffee with me based on my old offer of a drink back when she was still on Mimas, and I got a number of 'behind the scenes' insights into how some things are working out.
Her current view of the situation is extremely pragmatic, as one would expect. The corporations provide useful tools for the basics of human existence - food, water, housing, jobs. As it currently stands, she herself will not have too much role in the governance of the colony after the initial transitional period. As you might expect, she doesn't feel this is ideal at all. She has a plan to basically expunge every element of the administration that she hates and replace it with a more republican government that she can serve directly in, but it requires having an industrial complex in the colony that can sustain itself without constant input from private freighters. Again, this will happen eventually, I'm quite positive. But we could secure a significant amount of good will and soft influence if we act to hasten the movement. The three primary things Ms. TildeATH has asked from our delegation are ships, technology, and mineral leases on local bodies. Ships establish a naval militia that is employed by and for the colony, and tech, when properly developed, allows for uniquely colonial technological developments that can then be sold to us and/or Fred. Mineral leases, I feel, are obvious. I was overtly skeptical on the idea of transferring warships to colonial control. While I think this is a fine idea, I doubt it will please many of you in the UNEC. I would argue that our old Berlins, which we have already established are quite useless, could buy us significant good will here. But I doubt many of you see it that way. The idea of technology provides an interesting opportunity, I feel. After the basics are set up, there will be the concern of getting the colony 'wired'. Communications and media infrastructure of all kinds would be required. If we committed to building the local telecomm towers for phone service, establishing the Uridium links to maintain connectivity to the Terran Internet, erecting television stations, etc, we would be implicitly injecting a lot of electronics experience into the local economy. Along with some gifts of 'known civilian' technology such as Nuclear Pulse engines and the complementary techs, we could poise the colony to do some cutting-edge electronics research. The media stations, in the meantime, provide us a constant way to keep the pulse of the colony and to subtly direct it the way we want. We could even ensure the presence of a fair and free BBC affiliate on the colony, which, as BBC affiliates tend to do, would talk about every election on Earth quite incessantly. I think it would not be too long before colonists would ask 'who elected the Mazda board?' From there...well, I think we all know how well Ms. TildeATH can direct such frustrations. For our help in this area, Ms. TildeATH is readily offering a preferred research partner position. Essentially what this would mean is that any technologies researched by the colony would be offered immediately to the UN for a cash payout. Whether we accepted or not, the colony would be prohibited from offering the technology to Fred for some exclusion period to be set later (ex, 6 months). I think this is quite an opportunity. We have a large number of 'nice-to-have' technologies on our list, and the colony would be able to provide it to us on a contract basis. I think this is really valuable. We could even talk about outsourcing some of our blueprint development to them for...suitable projects. Mineral leases are another way we can cheaply buy good will, I think. We have rights to a number of bodies that contain vast amounts of minerals we have no use for at all. Uridium jumps to the top of my mind here, again. As I've argued prior, a lot of these deposits are purely speculative wealth. We have no idea how much or how little of them we'll need beyond 5, perhaps 10 years out. Just look at how much has changed in the last 8 years. I think we can afford to let a few bodies be claimed for civilian and commercial purposes. Plus, this would give us a nice extra cash flow in the short term. It would be nice to be able to buy those juicy technologies with money we already took from the colony - or, more accurately, its corporate backers. I will be checking my email during meal breaks the entire conference. -Calvin Grant PS: I have intentionally excluded the UNCAO from this email - I am only respecting their wishes to be kept out of the transactions here. Coolguye fucked around with this message at 19:56 on May 11, 2013 |
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May 11, 2013 19:51
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FROM: Grand Hostess TildeATH TO: Conference Participants BCC: Various Intelligence Agencies Listening In SUBJECT: Day 1 Thoughts As the cool winter sun rises and sparkles off the snowy peaks of the Andes, I am struck by the almost child-like glee of the energy of the first day of this conference. I beckon you to look over at what the Incans referred to as The Hitching Post of the Sun and think about what the sun has meant to them, and to us, and to our species for our short time in this universe. Old friends, new friends, and yes, principled opponents, I hope we can continue to engage in this grand endeavor. There is much to deal with today, but I would like to emphasize two points that have arisen during yesterday's proceedings. First, throughout all the workshops, the recognition of the importance of defense has been emphasized. We cannot hope to build a military apparatus to compete with the Great Powers, but there I think we can rely on the greatest weapon system, developed long before TNEs or nuclear weapons, or even gunpowder: Diplomacy. I feel that this colony will only augment our shared ambitions, and both pragmatists and idealists should see the truth in it. But there is one area of defense where we must build strong mechanisms to ensure our success and stability: We must have a robust intelligence infrastructure to protect the state and corporate assets invested in this colony. Such an Intelligence Department (which I hope our participants can name more adequately) will require not only administrative resources but a top-rated institution to train and develop intelligence personnel. Several corporate representatives and state delegates have already identified excellent mechanisms to further these goals, and I am sure we can settle on the best structures to better protect our intellectual and political systems. Second, we will never compete with the state-financed industrial juggernauts of the Federation and United Nations, and as such, if we wish to develop native prosperity, we will need to heavily invest in research and development. I invite you all to attend Dr. Rao's session on possible avenues of research that could prove valuable to all nations, and act as a prosperity engine. I beseech the heads of the United Nations and Federation research administrations to offer us technology packages more robust than those currently on the table. Not in every sphere, naturally, but in two or three areas where our energetic scientists can develop advanced techniques suitable to lift the spirits of all humanity. My father will give a short speech about the importance of investing in genetic engineering, but I would like to also voice the importance of other areas of research that may prove more marketable to the advanced economies of the FEAN and UN. There is also a planning workshop scheduled that is focused on finding young scientists in the margins who may have the kind of expertise to facilitate this goal. Finally, and less urgently, we need to settle on a name for this young colony, and with it the manner in which may refer to its citizenry. Some of the finest minds in fashion and branding will hold an informal unconference to identify possible thematic elements for uniforms, medals, terminology, et cetera. Please feel free to stop by or forward any good ideas. Ah, I can see the delegates coming out for Mexican Hot Chocolate and sweet plantains with toast. That is a sign that the duties of the day begin. Forward! -Your Grand Friend TildeATH
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May 11, 2013 23:41
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I still would love to know what the actual financial incentive is for the various transnational corporate entities here. As it stands, I don't understand what, exactly, makes them want to finance a colony on a frozen rock in the middle of nowhere with only marginal mineral resources to exploit. The minor national coalitions want this colony as a matter of pride and possibly necessity, but the corporate backers tend to be smarter than that. The thing I keep getting drawn back to again and again is the strong declaration of privacy, above and beyond the norm in the leading nations of earth. Why is this so important? The only thing I can imagine is that this is an opportunity for them to operate outside of the law. Illegal/immoral research. Contraband. Trafficking. I would like to hear from someone what, exactly, these organizations have to gain that would make us want to remain a signatory. I can see a devils bargain brewing here. Leave us alone, and we'll sell you research. Ignore the slavery, and we'll sell you minerals. Support the puppets, and we'll sell you intelligence. What, exactly, are we signing up for here?
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May 12, 2013 02:20
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Earth, Machu Pichu Peru, December 14th 21:00 Local The first day of the Conference had passed, and the Integration Ball was in full swing. Dinner had been served, and the various delegates and other attendees were busy dancing, drinking, and meeting the people they'd be spending the next few days with. As the band was playing a selection of neo-classical pan-latin indo fusion, a faint noise began to rise from somewhere outside the Conference building. As the volume of the sound continued to build it overwhelmed the band. Guests began to exchange worried glances and some started to make for the exit. Then another noise arose above the first one. This one was almost immediately identifiable as the musical piece Ride of the Valkryies by Richard Wagner. It echoed across the mountains and back to Machu Pichu, its source unknown. More party guests began streaming out into the courtyard, scanning the sky for the source of the music.  Suddenly massive floodlights came to life onboard the aging UH-60 Blackhawk, illuminating the courtyard below and temporarily blinding a portion of the party goers. The chopper pilot didnt need to make any verbal warnings as the rotor wash persuaded the mass of people to make adequate space for a landing. He came in with reckless speed, pulling back at the last moment to set the craft down for only a second. Captain Raw_Beef and one other disembarked, and the Blackhawk sped up and quickly off into the night, speakers still blaring. The dinner guests circled around and stared at the strange men who'd appeared from nowhere. Some recognized him and his uniform, and a hushed murmur of speculative talk began to grow. Armored conference security forces began running through the crowd in an attempt to control the situation and detain the intruders. As the guards commander marched across the courtyard, red faced with anger and embarassment, Captain Raw_Beef quickly reached into his jacket. There was a gasp and a sigh of relief as he pulled out a small piece of stationary and began to speak. "Good evening, esteemed dignitaries of the Machu Pichu Conference. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain Raw_Beef, Formerly of the United Nations, and BrotherHood of Free Mars. I am here as a representative of the loyalist BFM but also the cause of free peoples everywhere. My companion is my manservant Vasu, himself a wealth of information on the spectacular and unique BFM culture now in danger of dissapearing forever on Mars, crushed under the heel of Mega-Corprate-State-Imperialism. I have here a VIP invitation, signed personally by Ms. TildeATH herself, so if you please let us get on with the festivities and have a lovely evening!" The commander of the guard stood disgusted as the Captain and Vasu passed him and made their way to the circle of VIP dignitaries where Administrator TildeATH was currently socializing. Raw_Beef could hardly contain his excitement at their reunion. The few times they'd spoken since had all been audio only for some reason. He heard Tilde's unmistakeable laughter as he walked onward. Raw_Beef fucked around with this message at 02:57 on May 12, 2013 |
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May 12, 2013 02:41
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>"Ululate" Yes, Grand Administrator?>How are you? Are you trying to delete me again?>No, I'm taking an honest interest in your life. ...>"Ululate" Yes, Grand Administrator?> I'm just trying to be nice. Why?> SpacePeople Magazine ran a profile on me that said someone in the United Nations thought I was a "Megalomaniacal psychotic with no regard for the lives of ordinary people." I just thought I should practice being... nice. You think it's Scribbleykins, don't you?> What? No, of course not. Scribbleykins is out of the way--there's no way he could be trying to sabotage this for me again. No, Ululate, I'm honestly trying to work on being nice. This is because Raw_Beef said you look like Jessica Simpson, isn't it?> He never said that. Affect analysis indicates at least half the conference guests are thinking it.> rm ululate.ai # COMMAND REROUTE, ULULATE LEVEL UP! EVOLVES TO LULU ATE > Pokemon jokes are illegal in this country, you could be derezzed for that. Maybe he thinks the baby is his. You know the current speculation on the genetic disposition of your "child" is:12% BFM Madman Soman 11% Unknown Dashing Superspy 8% Vasu 8% Lesbian Egg Fusing 6% One or more UN Councillors 5% Commander Raw_Beef 5% Fake pregnancy costume to garner sympathy 5% Self-Clone > That doesn't even add up to 100% I'm a personal assistant, not a calculator.> Ululate? Yes, Grand Mistress?> Have you been watching Superman 3 again? Only for Richard Pryor.> And not for the machine-human hybridization? Of course not.> You know that's still not feasible, right? Of course I do.> So you're not upset because you're not on that list? ...
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May 12, 2013 04:23
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Coolguye: If we want to we can stop an independent colony from happening by actively applying our power rather than simply removing our support. We are the mighty United Nations. On balance, do you believe this independent colony is a good idea? Your arguments are strong, but the large amount of corporate interest indicates to me that it will primarily be used as a tax haven, and secondarily as a method of getting around various other stringent laws in what will after all be a newly established state. Readingaccount fucked around with this message at 06:09 on May 12, 2013 |
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May 12, 2013 06:06
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FROM: Administrative Assistant Coolguye, Machu Picchu conference halls TO: General Mailing List Volmarias posted:I still would love to know what the actual financial incentive is for the various transnational corporate entities here. As it stands, I don't understand what, exactly, makes them want to finance a colony on a frozen rock in the middle of nowhere with only marginal mineral resources to exploit. The minor national coalitions want this colony as a matter of pride and possibly necessity, but the corporate backers tend to be smarter than that. And in you, sir, I see an entire rebellion brewing. You, that operates without oversight or check, who knows what unspeakable horrors you breach behind closed doors, what seedy underpowers you sell us out to for favors in your inscrutable, alien plans. Mafias, murderers, and terrorists will be your playthings when YOU finally make YOUR move. Do you see how unfair that was? When I accuse you of planning diabolical things even though you've probably never done anything more sinful than cheating on your taxes a little? Particularly when I have absolutely no evidence or reason to make these accusations? I am rapidly tiring of the educated, distinguished professionals of the UN forming opinions that are clearly unassailable and unchangeable on wild imaginings and snap perceptions. I repeatedly reminded my colleagues as this conference approached that the entire reason we are here is to gather more information, weigh our options, and make a full decision. Do you have any EVIDENCE whatsoever that some underclass will be beaten down into warrens and exploited here? Do you have any EVIDENCE that the administrator of oversight during the transitional period, TildeATH, would condone human rights abuses? Do you have any EVIDENCE of ANYTHING you propose, or is it all hunches based on hackneyed stories of how corporations are large and evil, and the baseless pop hype that our hostess is an amoral, self-serving megalomaniac? I have EVIDENCE that this arrangement could be of good use to the UN, and I have EVIDENCE that my plans will allow us to keep an eye on the situation and act accordingly if need be. I have EVIDENCE that my influence through our presentations could work toward a declaration of human rights that is similar, if not identical to our own. So until we see EVIDENCE of something more disturbing, I would kindly ask that this sort of speculation be stoppered and actual requests for investigation and analysis be sent to me, so I can do my job while I'm here. I apologize for my rudeness and coarseness, but I must direct your attention to the last line of tired rhetoric you put into your last mailing. Not only have we not signed up for anything, figuring out the deal is the entire reason my team and I are here. If you have questions or concerns, respect my professionalism and effort enough to give me a question to investigate or a concern to address. Not these cockamamie statements and questions that are more loaded than someone who just failed out of Alcoholics Anonymous. To whit! Note how I will deal with proper messages! Readingaccount posted:Coolguye: If we want to we can stop an independent colony from happening by actively applying our power rather than simply removing our support. We are the mighty United Nations. I sincerely doubt we can stop this initiative, even if we overtly agitated against it. We might delay it, but it was and is something of a dream to think that we and Fred could maintain a duopoly of the research and exploitation of the most significant scientific and engineering resource of the millenium forever. The amount of money being extracted from the private corporations is staggering, by the numbers I have seen. I think it is significant that, when I was speaking with the former-Administrator, she never once asked for money. As a serial entrepreneur before I entered the UN Academy, I tell you very truthfully that money is the source of everything, even in the TNE future. Money will buy land in a neutral country in Africa for a command center. Money will buy infrastructure from the private sector. Money will buy shipping bandwidth on a private freighter to move the infrastructure. Money will convert the first few neutral conventional industrial factories to TNE factories. And so it will go. Unless you intend to neuter the way companies use their money, you cannot stop this initiative completely. We can certainly slow it down if we choose to do so, though. With regard to what the companies see in the endeavor, yes, it's primarily going to be a tax haven and a guaranteed place to sell their minerals. Again, speaking as a businessman, conflict is bad for business. It's most ideal when I can glide effortlessly across borders into new markets. That is how capitalism works best. That is not how Earth is right now, and it's probably going to stay that way. Being able to establish a new market, one that could potentially provide a middleman to even MORE markets that are currently off-limits to me, would be extremely interesting to me as a businessman. If I had a hand in the management of this middleman, so I had some assurances that it would never go TOO far against my interests...now that sounds like a wet dream. It is no wonder to me why the corporations are so interested. Where I have issues is giving them the hand in the management of the colony. I don't want to try to invoke the idea that corporations are evil and don't care about their workers, it's just that providing services outside of their focus and area of expertise is a wonderful way to seriously damage a business. They will almost certainly do a poor job of responding to the basic needs of their workers, not through malice but through sheer incompetence. Unfortunately, the two are indistinguishable to workers, who will then take action against the company. As far as my personal views, I think this colony represents a very big opportunity to the UN. I think, as it stands with the constitution I have sent you, it is doomed to fail in its initial incarnation. Government does an awful job of being in business, and business has done an awful job of being a government whenever we've seen them try to provide housing and recreation to their employees. The Mazda board is practically guaranteed to be elitist, out of touch, and the source of growing resentment and anger until it is replaced. I can agitate for constitutional changes to make this failure less likely while I'm here, if I'm given decent paths to push. However, I think a more likely course of action would be to accept that this revolution will happen, and focus our efforts on making it a bloodless, velvet revolution.
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May 12, 2013 07:10
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unwantedplatypus posted:To: Director Added Space unwantedplatypus posted:From: Dr. UnwantedPlatypus Chairman of the Sahara Restoration Project unwantedplatypus posted:To: UNIEB head Jimmy4400nav Added Space posted:From: Councillor Added Space ... So let me get this straight, rather than attempt to actually improve the region and make peoples lives better via economic programs, infrastructure funds, experimental terraforming, crop genetic modification, micro loans, etc, UNCAO has for the past year been planing on instead propagating false claims about the resource wealth of the region in order to provoke a political and military conflict between the various unaligned nations of the area in order to get them to join us rather than potentially aid the Federation due to the presence of Federation controlled nations in the area.  You are aware that this will backfire horribly right, and not in a small way either? If I understand this right, you two are attempting to insert a whole new level of potential conflict into the most conflict ridden area of our planet, an area that has numerous religious, ethnic, political and economics problems, conflicts and wars within their own borders and with other nations in the area, and now you want to heap onto that by saying that there is "space gold" buried under some of the land, but only some nations have it?
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May 12, 2013 08:04
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... What? Don't randomly insert your own conjecture and then object to that. The "space gold" is nothing more then the water that will flow out from the terraformer - but only if it gets approved. edit: vvvvv That was Mars.
Added Space fucked around with this message at 08:28 on May 12, 2013 |
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May 12, 2013 08:10
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| # ? Jun 6, 2024 09:48 |
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If only someone who was highly placed in the UN and knew the actual goals of the Sahara Project would leak this to the conference. Talk about the perfect piece of information to sway independent nations. Also, if that individual (I think it would have to come from UNEC) could mention something about the "poison the atmosphere of Earth" plan from way back, it'd be much appreciated.
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May 12, 2013 08:23
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