Discovery Gaming Community

Greetings. Lena Atzenbruck here, of ALG Waste Disposal.
I'm writing to you today for a contract that's somewhat out of the usual.

As you may or may not be aware, the remote and largely arid Planet Saarbrücken in Köln is the scene of a terraforming and settlement project, currently still in its infancy. The eventual goal is a massive agricultural and population expansion over the decades.
Naturally, with our unique position in the system, we fully intend to be at the forefront of the settlement program. We currently possess a small depot and supply station planetside, mainly selling construction materials and fuel to other settlers.
It's an initial foothold for what will hopefully become a much larger operation. Saarbrücken is almost a blank slate, an entire planet with nothing but a handful of tiny hamlets totaling only a few thousand inhabitants.

Needless to say, ALG has great interest in dominating this early stage of settlement, and as the owners of the only station in the system that sees major traffic, we are in a unique position to do so.
It is our intention to invest heavily in early infrastructure, to make the planet rely on us and keep us ahead of inevitable competition.
Now, while selling four tons of sheet metal and a domestic-grade reactor to a family of settlers is a start, we will need to expand to a more industrial scale.

This is where you come in. We intend to start planetside mining operations as soon as possible, to create exports and attract more investment. Obviously, to actually prospect the whole planet is a grand project that will take generations, but we've got a few locations in mind based on the geological data we have.

To get to the point:

We intend to hire a prospecting team of the Independent Miners Guild, for long-term prospecting of mining opportunities on Planet Saarbrücken.
A few things to clear up about this contract:

- We require full nondisclosure. We can have no information about the results of the team's surveys escaping.
- The contract is for an initial 24 month period, to be extended on the agreement of both parties.
- The location is very remote and lacks basics amenities, including long-range telecommunications. The team must be aware of these conditions and willing to work under them. For this reason, we are willing to pay around 300% of standard rates for the task, with details to be arranged.
- We will provide all machinery and supplies, we just ask they be requested as far in advance as possible, as shipments to the planet are slow due to its location and lack of docking infrastructure.
- The planet is largely lawless. Planetside Police presence is essentially nonexistent. We will provide heavy security, but there is still an inherent danger to operating in such a location. Again, the team must be aware of this.

If you can recruit a team of experts willing to work with this in mind, we would like to begin as soon as possible. With colonization only a few years in, we want to expand our influence at the best possible speed.

It's no great secret that we consider Köln to be "our" system, in practical terms if not in name. With the prospect of a fairly habitable planet beginning colonization, it is of utmost importance to us that we not lose but gain influence with it.

Thank you for your time, Lena Atzenbruck

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¤ LOCATION: Deep Taus

¤ COMM-ID: Jack Henderson

¤ TARGET-ID: Lena Atzenbruck

¤ SUBJECT: Köln Prospection Operation

¤ ENCRYPTION: IMG M.E.T.A.N.O.L. Code

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MESSAGE DECRYPTING... |||||||||||||||||||||||||| 100%

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Dear Ms. Atzenbruch,

I've just returned from a meeting with the executive committee and I have good news. The Guildmasters fully agreed with my proposition to invest into the mission you proposed. A speedy, and also secretive mission is essential to keep others from taking a firm grip on the planet - we know how DHC and Kruger can be. Therefore I can promise that the choice to call for IMG prospectors is a good one.

We intend to hire a prospecting team of the Independent Miners Guild, for long-term prospecting of mining opportunities on Planet Saarbrücken.
A few things to clear up about this contract:

Quote:

1. We require full nondisclosure. We can have no information about the results of the team's surveys escaping.
   
2. The contract is for an initial 24 month period, to be extended on the agreement of both parties.
   
3. The location is very remote and lacks basics amenities, including long-range telecommunications. The team must be aware of these conditions and willing to work under them. For this reason, we are willing to pay around 300% of standard rates for the task, with details to be arranged.
   
4. We will provide all machinery and supplies, we just ask they be requested as far in advance as possible, as shipments to the planet are slow due to its location and lack of docking infrastructure.
   
5. The planet is largely lawless. Planetside Police presence is essentially nonexistent. We will provide heavy security, but there is still an inherent danger to operating in such a location. Again, the team must be aware of this.
   

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1. Nondisclosure agreement: In general, this is not much of a problem. However, the Guild Masters want to know what is happening. I doubt it is very realistic to have an IMG prospection crew on the surface and expect us not to know what they found. I assume that this means: keep it from becoming public, and this is what the Guild can easily promise. A restricted circle of IMG Guildmasters needs to be in the loop. Everybody else can be in the dark.

2. Accepted.

3. Accepted. We have such daredevils.

4. Accepted. It is likely best if IMG mining equipment is nearly invisible as long as possible, so having ALG move it makes sense. I'll have our Chief of Engineer look at the available data asap, so we know what equipment we will need on the surface of your planet. Could take a while, and can be sped up hugely if you send us the geological data you've collected on secure data stream link.

5. Accepted. The daredevils that sign up for these jobs know what they are getting themselves into.

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You will be contacted by our Chief of Engineering as soon as she has managed to gather a team to make the trip there. I expect that the team can be ready in 3-5 days, equipment selection and transportation is likely the more decisive part in logistical and time management.

The Guildmasters have also discussed what the Guild would like to have in return for helping the ALG to get full control on the planet and its resources:

Quote:

1. Keep the planet free from Kruger and DHC strategic, economic and whatever else influence.
   
2. IMG is the exclusive supplier of Mining & Prospection Equipment for a certain amount of time.
   
3. IMG receives 2 % of any future mineral resource export profits for a certain amount of time without documentation, tax receipts, etc. It has to be untraceable, non-existing money.
   

The exact text is still under discussion but these are the three main ideas that I am permitted to already communicate to you, so you can already spend some thought onto it.

Yours sincerely,

Jack Henderson
IMG Operations

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Greetings again, Mr Henderson.

Thank you for the Guild's swift and positive reply.
Time is indeed of the essence in this matter, and I hope I can address all your remaining points.
First for our requirements.

1.) Nondisclosure pertains to all outside parties. The results of your teams surveys will be collected and reviewed by our planetside team. The data will then be sent, in physical form, to Wuppertal, from where it can be broadcast. There will be no way for your team to contact your Guildmasters directly, but we will ensure the information reaches those you select. While broadcast would be possible from orbiting Tholey station, we want maximum security for this and will be using our own facilities instead.

4.) All the data we have should have been sent at the time of this comm.

Good to hear all the other points are agreed upon. As for your own terms:

Quote:

1. Keep the planet free from Kruger and DHC strategic, economic and whatever else influence.
   
2. IMG is the exclusive supplier of Mining & Prospection Equipment for a certain amount of time.
   
3. IMG receives 2 % of any future mineral resource export profits for a certain amount of time without documentation, tax receipts, etc. It has to be untraceable, non-existing money.
   

1.) Within the best of our abilities. Needless to say, it's in our own interests to form a dominant presence, however as the planet is intended to be a major population center in the future, it will inevitably house not only Kruger and DHC operations, but probably offices of all major companies in Sirius in the long term. Thus it is crucial to gain a strong initial foothold to keep their influence below our own.
2.) Agreed; the Guild would be our first choice for such equipment anyway.
3.) Agreed. Those profits will be diverted as some form of hard-to-trace expense, and shipped in physical form to an anonymous deposit at a location of your convenience.

I'm very happy we're working this out quickly. As a final note, I have a post card of sorts from our main station, Furthafen Depot:


To give your team an idea of what sort of environment you'll be working in. It's not all like that, the mountains are humid and densely vegetated. It's not exactly a five star hotel, but I've visited a few times and a place like that certainly has a charm of its own.

Thank you for your time, Lena Atzenbruck

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¤ LOCATION: Deep Taus

¤ COMM-ID: Jack Henderson

¤ TARGET-ID: Lena Atzenbruck

¤ SUBJECT: Köln Prospection Operation

¤ ENCRYPTION: IMG M.E.T.A.N.O.L. Code

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MESSAGE DECRYPTING... |||||||||||||||||||||||||| 100%

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Dear Ms. Atzenbruch,

The terms you broadcasted are acceptable and our lawyers can go over the small print, exact numbers and legal wording once the contract details are finalized, but let's not be held up by it and get the more important steps rolling.

I have good news: I have a team for your mission and for the beginning stages of the mission, likely the first two weeks, the Guild is sending Chief Engineer Rebecca Jameson to assess the situation on site. After that, Chief Deputy Luther Burns will take over, he is depicted in the center of the picture.

I'll clear the channel for Chief Engineer Rebecca Jameson who wants to address you personally. If we do not speak again before this starts, I'd like to wish you good luck.

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Greetings, Ms. Atzenbruck, my name is Rebecca Jameson. My team of volunteers is currently still spread all over the Taus and Omegas, however we will be able to gather our personal belongings and basic gear at Aland Shipyard in the next 36 hours. I'll bring 24 mining experts first, so we can work in 4 teams. In total our team has around 400 years of experience under their belts. We'll not disappoint.

I have studied the geological data and the topography of the planet quickly and I have to say it looks beautiful. After being stuck inside the Falkland Asteroid for months, you cannot imaging how much this looks attractive to someone that saw darkness and artificial light for an eternity.

Having done a quick Harvey-Primbs-34 digital exploration survey - that's a rather sophisticated piece of software using automated probability search functions by looking at certain geological parameters to locate patterns that suggest a higher probability of resources present - I dare say we will find at least 'something'. The heavily eroded, rather old and folded rock formations north of Camp Furthafen in grid 33.296 / 97.115 look promising for a first exploration. That's where I would start personally, but pictures and maps, as well as seismic data is still pretty unreliable and we need to do a lot of gathering data there before we can start pinpointing potential resource depots.

Another good piece of news is: our equipment works better in arid environments, so I attached a list of prospection material that you can already ship discreetly. Our own equipment can be fitted into two standard ISO containers, so this should not be too much of a problem and should likely fit into your transports.

I'll see you soon.

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Jack Henderson
IMG Operations

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