To: Bretonian War Cabinet, Special Dispensation for Base Construction Location

[kornon]

Bretonian War Cabinet:

I am Dr. Ron Kosher, and I am writing you to get special dispensation from the Bretonian War Cabinet from Chapter 5 of Bretonian Charter of Interstellar Law, section 4, paragraph 2, clause 1: “Bases must be no closer than 10K from any existing base or jumpgate, unless special permission is granted by the War Cabinet.” The location of our proposed base, and reasons for construction near Freeport 1 are located in our base construction application which is Attached, as well as an addendum with more details about the proposed location of the base.

I hope that you find our reasons compelling and are willing to grant the dispensation to build our base within the 10 km zone of Freeport 1.

Respectfully,
Dr. Ron Kosher
IMG Research
Director of Research

[AlphaWolf215]

Doctor Kosher,

As a member of the War Cabinet, and a reviewer for your case, I'm going to give you another chance, and some advice.

That law was put in place to aid us in avoiding some "headaches". During the war, it is incredibly important to the security of Bretonia.

You have given us reasons as to why having your modular station in the requested position aids you, you haven't explained how it aids Her Majesty, Queen Carina I, or Her Majesty's forces. You need to convince me that this station, in the desired location, is beneficial to Bretonia.

So, Doctor Kosher, convince me.

Fleet Admiral Michelle O'Brian
Commander of Her Majesty's Armed Forces
Bretonian Command

[kornon]

Greetings Admiral O’Brian:
Thank you for the prompt reply, I am sorry my response was delayed, but I have been very busy with preparations for shifting our operations, and wanted to take adequate time to compose a proper response. I also apologize for the lack of information in my first communication. I was under the impression the War Cabinet was more concerned with bases posing strategic, tactical, or transportation threats, and I focused more on those issues. I would be more than happy to outline some of the many benefits our base has to offer.

First it will provide a safe location for military and police vessels to dock if for some reason Freeport 1 is not acceptable for a given situation. I know that in a tactical situation, more options are better even if most of the time it may not matter, there may be that one time when our base could prove critical.

Secondly, it will greatly speed up our research to be able to utilize the more convenient location rather than having to make a trip of a longer distance between the fields and our station. The faster research will mean that our research will be able to be brought to market sooner. Our new graviton mining array has the potential to reduce mining times drastically, thus leading to lower ore prices, and Bretonia would be the first house to benefit from these lower prices giving shipping companies in this region a substantial advantage over their competitors and better profits. This should translate into a better economy for the Kingdom, and more tax dollars for the government.

Third, many Bretonian citizens are involved in mining operations, and as I am you sure know, the ore fields are a dangerous place. While the Royal Fleet does a very good job keeping piracy under control, they cannot be everywhere. A faster mining array will reduce the time spent in the ore fields by miners, and thus make piracy and it associated hazards less likely. This will give your forces more time to devote to other matters.

Furthermore, we will bring a great deal of money and several jobs into Bretonia. We will need to hire several more scientists and tradesmen to facilitate our work. We will also be making contracts with Bretonian shipping companies to supply our base with various supplies and equipment.
Finally, I would like to reiterate that the station should not be a “headache.” Its proposed location is sufficiently out of the way shipping lanes, we have no intention of building defensive structures, and thus if for some reason it did become a problem down the line it could be easily removed by your forces.

As an aside, the location we are proposing is very special from a radiation flux standpoint, we have maybe a few hundred meters wiggle room. If we are not allowed to build very near there, we will have to move over 30 km further away from the sun to get similar radiation flux levels. This will increase supply costs over 10 fold, as well as increasing our travel time to the field by about 50%. The economics of this situation are not good and it is dubious whether we would be able to rationalize building the base at all, and Bretonia would miss out on all of the benefits our base has to offer. I hope you will recommend to the war council to support our petition. If there is any further information I can provide I would be more than happy to supply it.

Respectfully,
Dr. Ron Kosher
IMG Research
Director of Research

[kornon]

Greetings Admiral O’Brian:

I just wanted to follow up on my previous transmission to see if there had been any progress on processing my request.

Respectfully,
Dr. Ron Kosher
IMG Research
Director of Research

[Marcus]

Dr. Ron Kosher,

Your proposal for special consideration has been forwarded to the Investigations Division for a feasibility study of allowing your request, with the outcome of said study dictating the success of your application.

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Special dispensation feasibility study; Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

The restriction of construction for new bases close to pre-existing infrastructure. There are several concerns that are initially obvious; Most present would be the presence of Freeport 1 (FP1). The extreme political nature of Freeport 1 makes any interference within the No Fire Zone (NFZ) a hazard to the stability of the the region. Changes with the NFZ would require the additional permission of the Freeport 1 administration.
In addition to building within the 10k limit around FP1 it also is within range of the trade lane network. The Omega 3 lane network is a major trade corridor to Rheinland and the addition of a new large installation along the lanes is deemed to interfere with the smooth passage of trade to and from Bretonia. The additional construction platforms, supply and maintenance craft in proximity to the main path of travel would cause traffic delays in a system with a high pirate presence. The only suitable counter to ensure the safety of civilian traffic would be the extension of the Cambridge Line, which is deemed to be unfeasible at this time. Predicated accidents and incidents from a research station is suggested to cause additional problems for passing craft, including but not limited to; loitering transport haulers in No Standing Zones, explosive decompression of station areas and weapon system malfunctions causing a 'disturbance'.

The Scientific research benefits, mining boost and strategic location of a supply and repair station is predicted to be insignificant to counter the political and economic ramifications. Thus it is the recommendation of this division that the request for special dispensation for the construction of Rutherford Appleton Laboratory should be Denied.
-----

As such, Dr. Kosher, acting under authority from the Bretonian War Cabinet we regret to inform you that your request to construct a new facility within the Omega 3 system is denied until new construction coordinates have been provided. Due to nature of FP1 it is suggested that any further locations avoid proximity to FP1.

Regards,
Lady Kensington
Chief of Investigation
Bretonia Police Authority

[kornon]

Greetings Lady Kensington:

We are sorry to hear that our request has been rejected. We do not fully agree with your assessment of the risks, in fact we determined that the risk of collision with our proposed station was 1000 times less than a collision with Freeport 1. However, we understand your concerns, and political risks are hard to quantify.

We have decided to move the station back from Freeport 1 and into the Burgess Ice Field. The ice in the field will provide additional shielding from the sun’s radiation to make up for the lack of shielding from Freeport 1.

Our new proposed location is at coordinates -25633, -11, -22238. More complete details on the location are attached. This uses the entire Freeport 1, specifically the station core as a shield. This position puts the proposed base 10.1 K from Freeport 1, 8.6 K from the Cambridge Jump gate trade lane ring, and 11.9 K from the Aland Shipyard trade lane ring. I believe this location puts the station outside of the range that requires your body’s review, but I wanted to keep your body informed on our plans.

Thanks again for your time and consideration.


Respectfully,
Dr. Ron Kosher
IMG Research
Director of Research