Good day. I'm Kelly Combs, Natio Octavarium's Minister of Engineering.

We're interested in planetary and lunar mining operations in Coronado, Baja was specifically cited by a few Aquila scouts, but if there's anything of note on the moons nearby, we're interested. This will help reduce some of our manufacturing costs and also provide us with valuable exports.

To that end, we would like to construct a station in orbit of Baja, positioned such that it will not impede system traffic. An alternative suggestion that was offered was to situate our station between Baja and Salina, in the event that Salina's moons have any worth for robotic mining operations.

MInister Kelly Combs
Natio Octavarium
Ministry of Engineering

A pleasure to meet you, Minister. Those scans would be most appreciated.

I'm also interested in any data you may have on Salina itself. If it fits the typical composition of hydrogen-helium gas giants, it should be a viable source for small-scale deuterium and helium-3 harvesting operations. There are a few Octavarian civilians already trying to get the equipment together to probe Salina and Malakka, but existing data would save some time and money.

I doubt it would be enough to significantly impact the GMG market, but it may be enough for our own fleets and possibly some surplus to sell.

We'll be sure to keep our guests in line and our station from obstructing traffic. Your settlement suggestion is more a matter for Services, but I'll pass it along to them.

On a largely unrelated note, Aquila has asked that I pass along a request to borrow a dock at Sabah. They have plans for a new recon cruiser concept, they've been pretty secretive about the whole thing so I assume the Commission's involved. They want to keep anyone outside of the Aquila team away from the project, which also means that they're not requesting any of your personnel for the project, just the space to work.

MInister Kelly Combs
Natio Octavarium
Ministry of Engineering

Good evening. We're pleased to inform you that Kwinana Refinery's operations are going well. The majority of station operations are handled by the Perth Extraction and Reprocessing Cooperative, and they seem to have established a working routine for their operations. Salina-based fuel production has gotten off to a slow start, but progress is being made, and they've had few issues with Oraibi.

They did have a few requests, however.

We've heard that Crayter has some specialized shielded drones for Oraibi operations. So far, PERC technicians have been able to retune the shield generator on Aquila's Cissa mining drone adequately, but it simply doesn't have the battery power for that to be a permanent solution, and Aquila's currently occupied with other work that takes priority.

I've also received numerous inquiries about your Celestra armed courier, and not all of them are from civilians. While PERC currently uses Kestrels for the Oraibi operation - I'm told they've worked out a system with the detachable cargo pods - the Celestra would be particularly useful for small freight operations as well as moving people to and from Canberra. We have a few Dorado-class ferries we used to use for passengers, but they all suffered near-simultaneous power failures. I suspect Orbital is trying to avoid a repeat of the second-hand market for old Oasis liners. They have to preserve their monopoly, you know.

MInister Kelly Combs
Natio Octavarium
Ministry of Engineering

I believe seven Celestras will serve well for a trial run. One for PERC, a few for civilian endeavors, and one or two in reserve for future use based on how well they work for us. We appreciate your offer for help sourcing replacements for our Dorados, but ultimately I believe we'll be phasing Orbital's ferries and shuttles out in favor of more reliable options.

As for the drones, I apologize for not being more clear earlier, shield technology isn't exactly my specialty and it took PERC a bit to get back to me. Either a batch of your own shielded Oraibi-spec drones or the shield generators to refit into our own Cissa drones would work. Aquila's standard drone shield uses an oscillating graviton inversion grid rather than a total molecular veil. This gives good protection from collisions, which is usually the main concern. But while it can be retuned to provide a full graviton veil, that drains a fair bit more power than a purpose-built veil would, and Aquila doesn't have the equipment to produce molecular drone shields at this time.

Oh, and it's Ms. Combs, actually.

MInister Kelly Combs
Natio Octavarium
Ministry of Engineering

Excellent. We had been investigating Kestrel refits or purchasing additional Pelicans, but neither is exactly an ideal solution. I'll arrange for ADSV Fort Resolution to pick up the Celestras.

As for your suggested meeting, I'll check in with Aquila, My role is generally more administrative and legal.

MInister Kelly Combs
Natio Octavarium
Ministry of Engineering