HISTORY
The first steps - Ancient history
Founded in 51 A.S. with the merging of several major Manhattan construction firms, Deep Space Engineering sprouted into a massive conglomerate aiming to take advantage of the opportunities of space. The contract to build the first Baltimore Shipyards secured the corporation initial success and after completing the shipyards in 58 A.S., DSE began construction colonization ships with the newly developed Ageira drives. Over the next decades, Deep Space Engineering held its position as the primary construction and mining corporation in Liberty. The technology exchanges between the houses spurred an increase in production, leading to rapidly growing consumption of mineral resources in New York. In 128 the massive Dallas research station is completed in Texas; Ageira Technologies and the Liberty military begin work on several secret projects, including jump gate technology. In 145, DSE begins preparing Planet Los Angeles for agriculture by bombarding it with ice asteroids for the purpose of lowering the salinity of the atmosphere. In the following years, further terraforming and cloud seeding is conducted by DSE making Los Angeles the primary food source of Liberty. In 185, the jumpgate project is unveiled to the rest of Sirius. Four years later, DSE finishes construction of the first gates, between New York and Colorado. The mineral abundance of Colorado is thereby made significantly more available, cutting a three month trip to mere minutes. In early third century, most of the Liberty systems are connected by gates and construction is begun in the other houses. As funding becomes an increasingly pressing matter, Deep Space Engineering and Ageira Technologies fund the inception of Interspace Commerce. By the fourth century, New York is depleted of minerals leaving Liberty entirely dependent on Colorado and Texas. The first trade lanes are also built across Liberty by DSE. By the sixth century, Liberty mineral resources are nearly exhausted. Low-yield chemical extraction is put to some use on depleted deposits in Colorado, however Liberty is now dependent on minerals from Rheinland. After the Kusari and Rheinland embargo of Liberty, the ownership of gates and lanes is turned over to their respective houses. DSE still manages all construction of new gates and lanes, however. In 650, significant deposits of Boron were discovered on Pittsburgh. The DSE mining operation was established in 660 and the corporate headquarters were also moved there from Baltimore Shipyard in 698.
The modern era - Two companies combine
While Deep Space Engineering continues to reap profit from gate/lane construction in the ninth century, the corporation has largely stagnated in terms of development. With the emergence of the new Liberty corporation Duchess Industries with by a young and astute leadership, the DSE board saw a potential opportunity. They watched the corporation closely. Lars Johansen entered the freight profession in 814 A.S. with a Universal Shipping contract. With the contract came a Mammoth transport, which he christened The Duchess Blue after his recently-deceased cat, Duchess. The contract also afforded him a lifestyle that suited him well; he settled down and performed above and beyond his contract. He did, however, have significantly higher ambitions, so later that year he took out a loan for a Whale in an attempt to boost his profits. It proved to be a highly worthwhile investment and his contract with Universal was soon upgraded and renewed. At this point, freelance freight contracting became the limitation to his ambitions. Therefore, Lars sold his contract with Universal in 816 and used the profits to start a comparatively small freight business, Duchess Shipping. Within a few short weeks some freelancers took an interest in the company and were soon hired. Three large transports and an escort now made up the company fleet and earnings were soaring. Competition from Universal and other shipping corporations now became a pressing issue. Fortunately, this obstacle coincided with profits reaching a level capable of accommodating Lars's plans.
In early 817 A.S., it was decided to integrate and expand into the mining and construction sectors of Liberty industry. At this point, Deep Space Engineering made their move: Duchess Industries was absorbed into DSE and in return Lars Johansen was given a place on the Controlling Board. This greatly facilitated DSE expansion into the freight industry and reduced dependence on Universal Shipping to supply construction sites. As expected, this set in motion a series of events that led to an invigorated DSE in a new era of expansion and modernization. A convenient venue of this corporate energy presented itself with the arrival of Survey Vessel Armstrong in Coronado. The order was given to closely appraise the IMG presence there and observe their movements in order to determine potential targets for, among other things, mining. Though the most obvious opportunity had already been claimed by IMG on Planet Pecos, Coronado was full of plenty more for the taking.
A new era for Liberty - the great Tremont operation
In the latter part of 817, DSE surveyors discovered Platinum Ore within the rings of the planet Tremont in the Pennsylvania system. There appeared to be massive, nearly limitless quantities contained within the sweeping rings of the planet. DSE quickly brought out some of its rusty mining ships, and within days was constructing more, the beginnings of the Tremont Mining Fleet. More independent contractors soon realised just how profitable this ore could be, and joined DSE in its endeavours to mine the rings of their riches. Pirates were a constant threat, as criminal bases of all sorts could be found within this part of the Pennsylvania system - but DSE managed to cleave its way into massive commerical success with the operations. Soon, a barge - The Radiance - was commissioned to provide a semi-permanent base near Tremont. The hauls were incredible, and DSE was prospering almost unbelievably. Whatever money it made was directed straight back into the mining fleet - more mining ships, more transports, more escorts. Another barge, The Brilliance, was created within the span of a few months by Deep Space Engineering. It was also moved out to the Tremont rings.
Hopes dashed, fears realised - the great crash
But then, disaster struck. The surveyors had been wrong - somehow, they had been incredibly wrong. The platinum within the was not nearly as dense as the surveyors had initially predicted - it came in pockets, true enough. It was hypothesised that the surveyors had somehow only sampled the most dense pockets of platinum. But this did not matter - the facts were plain. DSE was almost completely invested in mining. There was almost nothing left to mine, just platinum dust. The company crashed overnight, leaving the Brilliance and Radiance in the orbit of Tremont, the Brilliance recently crippled by a pirate raid. Another barge, the Incandescence, was left three-quarters completed in the shipyard. Mining ships were abandoned on sight, as were transports and freighters. It was nightmarish, and the company's losses were inconceivable. Trade operations, whatever had been going, died out almost overnight. A few miners stayed around Tremont for a few days after the Great Crash but it soon became apparent that mining operations out in the rings would be futile - whatever platinum dust was left was barely worth salvaging. So it was that platinum ore became rare, a collector's item, something that was indeed truly rare. There was little left that hadn't been processed and alloyed and installed into machinery or ships. DSE's stores of platinum ore - many hundreds of tons - simply lay forgotted within the barges, within the transports moored to them. The ghost fleet of Tremont had riches within it, and riches abundant - but it was forgotten, run by a skeleton crew on the dark side of Tremont. There were no active operations near Tremont, and nobody ever went there any more - not even pirates. DSE had halted overnight, and had never restarted.
The Ouroboros - New year, new hopes, new leadership
On Christmas Day, 817, the worst that could happen did indeed happen. The DSE president - who had been Lars Johansen - disappeared. He had fallen out of contact for days beforehand, and when the vice-president Aliester Brown had gone in person to find Lars, he had vanished entirely. It remains a mystery to this day - Lar's fleet of ships was intact, his Yacht moored at Baltimore, his Mastodon lay within the silvery dust of Tremont. No one could fathom why he had left, or if he had left, or where had had been gone - or been taken to. Aliester suspected foul play, but never voiced his suspicions to anyone. So it was that Aliester Brown became the President of Deep Space Engineering, Incorporated, on Christmas Day, 817 A.S. He inherited a rusted, crashed, desolate company; a fleet of rusting ships, a barge and two half-barges; some small capitol; and a few still-dedicated pilots. Things were bleak, but he was determined to lead DSE to new heights within the first months of 818. As it seemed DSE was not going to get off the ground again for some time, Aliester Brown sold the company for a tidy profit to Jess and John Doe in the last days of 817, a wealthy couple based primarily on Planet Pittsburgh. Jess and John took it upon themselves to start cleaning up the radiation and scrap fields caused by the Texas incident. After spending their entire life savings on obtaining a 'movable refinery' and preparing a fleet able to withstand the radiation, the project, named 'Project Dallas' became the main focus for DSE.
The uprising - The rise of an empire
Once Jess and John Doe had managed to start making a small profit with Project Dallas, they decided it was time to expand their business, hiring more traders and beginning to focus on assisting the Liberty Navy by supplying the front line of war in New Hampshire with Military Vehicles. After the many months spent focusing on these two projects, they began to slow down and the staff began to need less supervision while performing these tasks. This gave Jess and John some more time to decide where to take the company. after weeks of discussions, a second movable refinery was purchased and Saber Nyoki opened the Mining Academy in early 818. It was not long after this Jess and John Doe were invited to be a part of the Liberty Government. Months went by, and everyone was content with how DSE was progressing, except from Jess and John Doe. They believed they could create more, to help Liberty, and their new found family. In the latter part of 818, with the help of a newly hired team of scientists and a new department in DSE, they began to look into alternative fuel sources to try and solve Liberty's H-Fuel crisis.
Drugs and scandal - The Downfall of John Doe
All the stress eventually got to John Doe, and he took up smoking the tobacco he had tried so hard to keep off Planet Pittsburgh due to health problems it was causing. Unfortunately this tobacco was laced with cardimine, but when it was noticed it was too late. John Doe had thought there was a conspiracy against him, and his pride and joy - DSE, this paranoia caused him months of trouble until one day, he could not hide it any more. After attacking some Navy Officers, Jess Doe paid the bail costs and took him to Cirque Lodge - a highly esteemed rehab facility on Planet Los Angeles - to get help. After Jess Doe had dropped him at the lodge, she declared herself Acting president and began working on Public Relations to try and save the company they re-built from the ground up. Jess and John Doe's relationship was stretched to the limit during this time, with the pain caused by John's addiction and the scandals that surrounded the incidents it caused. John Doe was released on the 22nd of November 818, on the condition he continues to go to weekly Cardimine Anonymous meetings, and did not return to presidency until his Doctor had cleared him fit to work. With Kenzo Dijksterhuis, and Saber Nyoki's help, Jess Doe managed to keep the company running smoothly until John Doe's return from a rehabilitation cruise in early 819.
The loss of an icon - The demise of the Armstrong
In December 818, all contact was been lost with the deep space surveyor Armstrong. The last transmissions from the vessel were garbled, and indicated a sizable pirate raider party on approach. The vessel is presumed captured or destroyed by a group of pirates who disliked the Reaver Mercenary company using the vessel as the base for their bounty hunting operations. Despite the efforts to save the Armstrong by both the Reaver Mercenaries and Deep Space Engineering, no one was there in time to save it, several probes are being sent out to try and determine what had happened, but no information was ever returned, and the investigation was eventually closed until new evidence arose. To carry on the trend of bad luck no less then a week after contact was lost with the Armstrong, many staff had to be pulled out of Kansas, and all operations there have been stopped. The Iridium-rich field that was found within the system has been exhausted as far as deep-space mining capabilities allow. Jess Doe spent most of her time desperately trying to re-assign staff to prevent the loss of hundreds of jobs within the company while also trying to prevent an internal economic breakdown. This didn't work out as well as hoped, and DSE started dramatically loosing profit in all areas.
New hopes - The end of the recession
Months had gone by, and Jess and John Doe were beginning to loose hope in ever finding a new project to create jobs. They began considering making hundreds of staff redundant to save the company. As a final effort to prevent this from happening, they send out a small team of researchers to survey the last fields they had not yet got information about. The deep space probes sent into a Humboldt orbiting planet Bora Bora determined there was extensive silver and copper deposits, and a team in Alberta noticed a field of asteroids drawn in by one of the outer planets gravity well seems to contain unusually high concentrations of Platinum. This was the saving grace for many staff who were resigned to these systems. As the operations were only beginning to be set up here, and there was realistically not enough jobs for all of the staff, because of this, Jess and John Doe began importing Beryllium ore, Platinum ore and Gold ore onto Pittsburgh to begin production of components for ships. They found this to be quite successful and was able to fund a rehabilitation centre for rescued salves with the profits.
A little bit shady
After Project Hope was well established Jess Doe soon found the number of people coming onto Planet Pittsburgh far outnumbered the amount they were able to send off to new jobs and new starts as promised. In early 819, under the guise of 'working people' rather then slaves Jess and John along with the Gas Miners Guild conferred with the Liberty government and was allowed the export of these refugees to work with Gas Miners Guild. This helped even out the numbers of incoming and outgoing people to the planet without raising questions.
Cold Lake Project
After months of planning and preparation, Deep Space Engineering, in collaboration with large organisations in Sirius began construction in Alberta. Looking promising, a large celebration was planned to keep peoples hopes up and try keep the thoughts about the Dallas incident at bay. The construction site fondly referred to as the 'Cold Lake Project' among the staff of Deep Space Engineering became one of the main focal points of the companies operations.
Additional Projects:
At the turn of the century, in 500AS, the Texas incident. Valhalla Research scientists aboard the Dallas had begun the second phase of testing a new “Hyper-gate. “ A new, long-range jump gate. Although the project's goal was unclear, that would have allowed travel beyond the confines of the Sirius Sector and could have potentially opened the entire galaxy for exploration. The gate’s path, however, was obstructed by an undetected Dark Matter cloud - and when it was activated, the gate backfired and sucked the dark matter through, causing an explosion with the force of 10 nuclear bombs, annihilating the Dallas and expelling massive amounts of Dark Matter and radioactivity into the system. A quarantine was immediately erected across half the system - not for security, this time, but for the safety of anyone foolish enough to stray into the dangerous morass. The explosion left two massive dark matter clouds (Pequena Negra and Grande Negra, Spanish/Portuguese for Little Black and Large Black, respectively), where scanner function is reduced to zero and where radiation levels are so high they will destroy even the best ships within seconds. At the same time as Project Hope was being established, Jess Doe instructed the staff at Deep Space Engineering to send their first barge, and a clean up crew to Texas for "Project Dallas". From this point on Deep Space Engineering has taken it upon themselves with support from The Junker Congress to clean up Texas, and in later years expanding the clean up efforts to the heart of New York.
With the profits made of the clean up, Deep Space Engineering purchased a second barge for "Project Penny", and situated it in Pennsylvania. It was primarily used to hire new pilots, teaching them where to purchase their first basalt miner or transport. Deep Space Engineering decided to pay the newly hired pilots per unit to mine a decided amount towards the barge. DSE transports and the occasional independent transport will have the opportunity to buy the helium from the barge, and deliver it to where they see fit. If the independent transport is unsure of the selling location, Deep Space Engineering staff are encouraged to assist in the mining and the movement of the commodities mined, and an opportunity to join the convoy. While doing this, Deep Space Engineering strives to teach the new pilots about the laws in space, good public relations and communication skills, as well as giving them a good footing and credits to get started in space. When the pilots were ready to move on, Deep Space Engineering either offered a full time contract or directed them to other mining areas in Sirius, or trading routes to further assist their career.
WIP
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