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To: The Bretonian War Cabinet. Encryption: Moderate. Topic: Report: O3/Sprague/Environs.
This series of reports has been compiled by the Sprague Administrative and Growth Initiative (SAGI) in order to demonstrate colonial progress within and around the Omega border.
This report details the environs and conditions of Planet Sprague. Later reports will expand on the progress surrounding the terrestrial development of Planet Sprague; the fortification of its orbital paths; the maintenance of Port Talbot and the projection of Bretonian authority throughout the system. We will also include a break-down of the activities of each of the component bureaus of the SAGI, and a speculative assessment on methods by which part of our colonial overheads could be reclaimed.
Planet Sprague is a largely barren planet, possessing extreme variances of temperature. Due to the planet's orbital pattern and spin, its rotational period is slightly shorter than a New London Standard Cycle, being approximately 17.8 hours. Sprague's average year is 162.3 Standard Cycles. The atmosphere is considered suitable for unassisted human respiration, to within 1 degree of error. There is very little surface water on Sprague by way of oceans or large lakes, so most of our colonies will have to tap groundwater from underground aquifers. Sprague consists of three primary environmental biomes:
1) A hot equatorial desert band. The deserts closest to equator can reach midday heats of up to 70oC, which can then drop as far as -15oC during night cycles. This region posesses the greatest variance of temperature on the planet, and of any Bretonian planet in general. Very little organic life thrives in this region, limited to hardy desert plants that subside along the desert perimeters and primitive photosynthetic bacterial organisms. Bowex ExSec surveyors located several sites that would be appropriate for a spaceport complex. Due to DSE docking rings requiring geostationary orbits, a touch-down point on the equator is essential. The extreme polarity of heat at sea-level would make establishing a site there impractical, so a compromise was struck with the survey of the Aberavon Plateau, a level area of the Glywysing Mountain Range. The elevation above sea-level gives an ideal stable mean temperature, although the thinned air does require assisted breathing.
2) Frigid polar regions. The deep polar areas can reach an extreme low of -71oC. Much alike its equatorial opposite, this temperature is lethal to humans without extreme protective measures, making it highly inappropriate for colonial projects. In contrast to the massive daily variations within the desert bands, temperatures in the polar regions are mostly stable, and slowly warm as longitude increases/decreases. Over the course of a year, these areas can vary from -70 (winter) to -30oC (summer) based on the orbital period. Contrary to the image associated with the name, the polar wastes are not capped by thick ice, as there is not enough surface water or atmospheric humidity to warrant their creation, although there is frequently a covering of frost. The frigid winds do freeze the ground solid, turning the area's dust and sand into a material akin to concrete. There is some scientific interest in portions of this area, due to a rich fossil record. While analysis is still ongoing, popular hypotheses claim that this is proof of a planet-wide slump in biocomplexity due to a massive climatological shift.
3) Temperate scrubland. Zone three is the area picked by colonial surveyors for settlement sites, and the construction of significant infrastructure. The scrublands exist on both sides of the equator, occupying a broad range of temperatures deemed suitable for human settlement (proposed capital city site located within the southern band). The areas our colonies will focus on range from -15 to 40oC over day, night and seasons. The central scrublands are largely covered in a monoculture of green-brown grass, which are regularly interrupted by rocky outcroppings, mesas and plateaus. While the Baroness Snowdown has now been declared traitor, her recommendation that settlements be mined into these formations for security has merit. Large formations with mineral metal content and nearby underground water-tables were favoured (see final report, recovery of overheads). The terrain itself does not lend itself well to terrestrial travel, making the construction of a long-range motorway system to link cities impractical. Most commercial transit and commuting will be done via shuttle, including shipments to and from the equatorial spaceport. Plans have already been made for a nationalised shuttle service to be established that will handle the majority of civil needs.
One factor in particular appears to be common within all three of these regions: the concentration of Daam K'Vosh ruins and artifacts. Sprague has long been an object of interest to the academia of Cambridge (who might I add, strongly opposed colonisation for precisely this reason), and subject to many xenoarchaeological expeditions. This number starkly fell after the Rheinland-perpetrated destruction of Sprague's first docking ring (see report on the projection of Bretonian authority), but has continued in a reduced capacity to this very day. It has always been within the Crown's interest to have a Bretonian presence on the planet, even if we were not directly payrolling it. With the sudden increase in attention and scrutiny the planet is receiving, ruins are being uncovered at an almost unprecedented level. Protocols are already being established which allow the Intelligence Services to quarantine sites of potential interest until such a time as they have been fully catalogued and can be deemed safe for public consumption. There is also the worrying prospect of a deregulated Bretonian artifact trade becoming established, due to local grave-robbers pillaging newly discovered ruins.
Posts: 6,068
Threads: 304
Joined: Aug 2007
Staff roles: Story Dev Economy Dev
To: The Bretonian War Cabinet. Encryption: Moderate. Topic: Report: O3/Sprague/Security.
This series of reports has been compiled by the Sprague Administrative and Growth Initiative (SAGI) in order to demonstrate colonial progress within and around the Omega border.
This report details the fortification of Sprague's orbital paths. Later reports will expand on the progress surrounding the terrestrial development of Planet Sprague; the maintenance of Port Talbot and the projection of Bretonian authority throughout the system. We will also include a break-down of the activities of each of the component bureaus of the SAGI, and a speculative assessment on methods by which part of our colonial overheads could be reclaimed.
Compared to the relative safety of the core systems, the Omega frontier is well known for both danger and violence, and has historically relied on the subsidiary battlegroups of the Norfolk Great Fleet for its security. The dual Tau Wars have sapped the manpower that can be committed to this task considerably, allowing for a rise in Corsair and Hessian activity within the region. This fact is exacerbated by the long poorly policed neighbour-system of Omega 7, which further encourages unlawful action. Compensating for these factors has been one of the prime targets for the security agencies of the SAGI. Two key defensive policies have been marked as paramount to the colony's success. The first is ensuring the security of the Sprague Restricted Zone, extending to an area of 10K around the planet. The second is securing the vital supply lines terminating at the planet, allowing safe transit to and from colony sites. These vital objectives have been catered to by an integrated combination of passive defence and active patrols.
An effective defence of the Sprague Restricted Zone requires a comprehensive understanding of what allowed for it to be compromised previously. The establishment of Port Smallwood was rapidly noticed by Corsair raiders (the extreme vigilance of which is believed to be linked to a recent blunting of a Corsair push into Cambridge), who immediately set about harrying the structure's suppliers and construction teams. This had the effect of stalling progress and forcing the project onto the defensive. With the arrival of Corsair heavy armour from the Edge Worlds (see recovered footage on the right), their proficient use of hit and run tactics allowed them to deal significant damage before reprisal assaults could be launched to clear them away. Therefore, it can be deduced that the primary shortfalls of the previous effort can be established as the following: 1) the failure to establish a sufficient perimeter around the project, 2) the failure to advance our stationary defences aggressively enough and 3) the failure to respond quickly and fluidly enough to emerging threats.
Contrary to the fanfare associated with Port Smallwood, the construction of Port Talbot was considerably more clandestine. A media blackout was enforced until post-event, and a tight perimeter guard was responsible for destroying several Corsair scouting parties before they could report their discovery. In a handful of isolated cases, individual Corsairs had their silence brought by SAGI agents. Largely, Corsair forces were distracted throughout the day by ongoing skirmishes against the BAF across the Cambridge system. This allowed for a Core 2 construction surge to rapidly take place, outfitting Talbot's superstructure with superior armour plating, accommodation and infrastructure. Most critical was the establishment of the SRZ Automated Targeting System. A core component of the Core 2 surge was the construction of several area defence weapon platforms, which are primed to fire on unknown contacts unless otherwise cleared by the SAGI or BAF Admiralty sub-boards. These units act as force multipliers at tactical choke points, channelling hostile forces into firing arcs should they wish to engage Talbot (and by extension the colony sites it guards) directly. The final preparations for a Core 3 surge are under way, as well as plans to finalise our passive defences with further additions to our platform network. Long term plans have the passive defence network complemented by terrestrial extra-atmospheric missiles, which will extend our operational arcs to the full 10k.
While set-piece defences meet all requirements for passive defence and orbital superiority, they are of little use when it comes to the securing of mobile supply chains. Talbot and Sprague will require a constant stream of materials and resources over the coming days, with significant losses being potentially devastating. Several solutions have been proposed to this prickly issue, which also address failure 3 of the Smallwood drive. First and foremost is the understanding that personal health and safety is the responsibility of the individual as well as the employer - we ensure all transport captains and crews have been adequately briefed on the security situation within the system. All shipping should use the trade lanes and jump gates where possible and travel in escorted convoy groups when available; several Bowex crews have been cautioned for recklessness after being caught taking a shortcut from the Cambridge jump gate directly to Port Talbot, heading through the Corsair infested Graham Ice Field. All crews have been instructed to travel to Freeport One and use the provided nav buoy trail. The lanes themselves will receive extra scrutiny from the remaining elements of the Norfolk fleet and newly arrived 23rd MacDuff Battlegroup, as well as BMM and Bowex paramilitary units.
The above is supplemented by handsome bounties, bankrolled in majority by the project chief financiers, Interspace Commerce. This has led to a general increase in Bounty Hunter and mercenary activity within the system, relieving the strain on Crown employed agencies. In addition to funding bounties, Bowex is offering to pump credits into the proposed Civil Defence Force, on the grounds that the Cambridge division initially be deployed to Omega 3 as a lane defence initiative. While it may take some time for the (admittedly inexperienced) CDF to fully mobilise, the raw manpower should provide a strong Bretonian security presence throughout the system. It has also been suggested that Interspace may be using its alleged influence with the Red Hessians to aggravate their dispute against the Corsairs within the system, further reducing the ability for the Corsairs to freely deploy. The Red Hessians currently present a lesser threat to our operations than the Corsairs, although frequent acts of piracy within Omega 3 do still require armed intervention from the BAF and extreme vigilance from Bretonian pilots.