Weekly Science: T&AD News Channel (FO, Read only)

[Thyrzul]

<([ Transmission entrée ])>

Sorce: Planet Toulouse, Roussillon
De: Docteur Charles Lavoisier
En: Toutes les personnes Du Conseil
Sujet: Weekly Science
Encription: High

Bonjour Mesdames et Mesieurs,

Let me introduce myself, je suis Docteur Charles Lavoisier, a scientist of the Technology and Advancement Division of The Council. I was tasked with initiating a weekly news feed, the Weekly Science, to keep our brave councilors up to date in regard of scientific knowledge and technological advancement. Oui, the main purpose of this channel is to keep you informed about everything new our scientists and engineers are either working on or have already succeeded at researching or developing, be it a minor project or something really big. I have to admit I am not entirely familiar with providing such news feed for such audience as I have never been doing anything similar before, but time - and of course feedback from my readers - will tell how successful I am with this task. I better not waste words more.

I will start with introducing what will be our main base of operations. Few weeks ago the Trade and Supply and the Technology and Advancement Divisions of The Council have initiated a joint project, in which they were tasked to build a common base of operations. Now this space station, namely Le Grande Stockage Fromage, can be located not far from the stationary CLN Pamiers.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage, with Planet Toulouse, Planet Foix and Roussillon's star in the background

While the Trade and Supply Division is tasked with delivering the neccessary resources and supplies, the workers of the Technology and Advancement Division are working on the construction and maintenance. So far a Shield generator have been constructed to ensure the safety of the base, along with a Storage extension, to provide more space for stored supplies. The current population of the station is 200, however this will probably change in the future, as our technicians are working on a general extension of the base. This will provide us more possibilities to construct more advanced modules, which then may increase the number of required of engineers on board.

As you may have noticed, this transmission is being aired from Planet Toulouse yet, but if Le Stockage will be extended, it is planned to move this scientific studio to there as well. Further smaller projects are being worked on as well, an enhanced communication software par example, which I may be able to introduce in the next WS.

Until then, au revoir, mes amis. Lavoisier signing off.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

<([ Transmission terminée ])>

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

A week has passed since the first airing of the Weekly Science, an other week, which was barely uneventful. Surely not for our Division. Par example, you can already notice our brand new communication software with built-in real-time video feed. Now you can see and hear more of me, and hear the latest updates of our technological advancement.

New looks The world is changing non-stop, everything will has to change once. The time of the old transmitter software has ended, and a new one came to replace it. In the past weeks one of the juvenile programmer teams on Marne Academy, namely "Les Fromageurs" has succeeded in upgrading the previous software into a faster and more reliable one. The current software includes a more stable audiovisual streaming, a more complex encryption system, and a way stronger connection.
Congratulations et merci beacoup pour Les Fromageurs*:

• Quentin Cours (project leader)
  
• Antoin Favreau
  
• Marcel Bien
  
• Monique Chantal
  
• Jean-Pierre Bertineau
  

Gathered technology More or less than a month ago word have spread about a plan of the Gallic Corporations, actually about the development of a more resource-efficent defense turret for transports. The idea was basically the production of a turret type with a smaller profile, thus less resource requriement for production. Not much later our intel provided us nothing less than freshly acquired blueprints of said transport turret. During this week our engineers finished our own prototype in the workshops of Toulouse and began testing.

A Gallic Small Transport Turret being mounted on top of a "Pachy"

Initial tests indicate significant difference neither in power consummage nor in damage output. It is much like a cheaper version of the previous turret types, however this does not show up in it's current prices yet.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage The Division has recently finished the extension of Le Grande Stockage Fromage. The crew of the station has been doubled as well as the number of laboratories and workstations. The next steps are not so clear yet, some advice the building of a second storage extension, but further research regarding various types of cloaking devices are amongst the plans of the leadership.

Out of the lab The T&AD considers a joint project with the Assault and Security Division. Instead of repairing some combat vessels of gunboat or battletransport type to reassign them in their original duty, our division proposed an idea about refitting some of said vessels for research purposes. It is possible that in the future we will have more opportunities of research due to such science vessels. I hope I will be able to share more information about this matter next week.

Until then, au revoir mes amis.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

// *Great credit goes (gone) to Anomander for the transmission bars.

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[Thyrzul]

R. E. P.


Reposer en Paix
Professeur Gérard Châtelier (649 - 734 AGS)

My dear readers, I bring troubling news this Dimanche. One of our scientists, Professeur Gérard Châtelier, a great asset to The Council et our community overall, has passed away Mercredi this week. Our division lost a great mind that day.

Gérard Arnaud Châtelier was born on Planet Orléans in 649 2éme Février AGS. He was born into a rich, but non-noble family, both of his parents being well into science. This and his thirst for knowledge has set his future already that time. He graduated at the New Paris Université Scientifique in 675 AGS in astrophysics and astrochemistry. In 680 AGS he returned back to Orléans, just a year later marrying a young local woman, Monique Beaufort. Around this time he was contributing greatly in the creation of the Orléans Equatorial Hadron Collider, which was completed around 687 AGS. Châtelier later lost whole of his family, consisting his wife, his 5 year old son, Arnaud et his 8 year old daughter, Clara, in a hovercar accident in 691 AGS. This was a severe turning point in his life, permanently turning him to science, as a possible place to escape to. For a few years he was marauding amongst the kingdom, arriving to and settling down on Marne in 697 AGS, shortly finding himself a job of an astrochemist professor in a local university. Politics did not interest him, he wanted only to learn as well as to teach, but politics did not leave him alone. The Crown's men turned him against themselves, as they did with everyone, resulting in Châtelier joining The Council. He was teaching in peace on Marne until the Second Gallic Civil War broke out. During those years everything sped up. The years between 710 and 732 AGS has passed in a constant change of environment. Despite his surrounding colleagues advising him to retire because of his age, he did not want to hear about anything such. Gaining knowledge about the mine field breach, the opening to Sirius, he saw the opportunity of more space to discover, to research, more scientists to share ideas with, he travelled to Languedoc, only to be evacuated to Roussillon a year later. After the exilation he finally retired from teaching, just to have more time for his researches. Professeur Châtelier has passed away on 734 2éme Maille AGS in an accident aboard the new modular base Le Grande Stockage Fromage, Deck 6, 3éme Laboratorie.

We will always remember him as a great mentor, a good teacher, a zealous scientist. We will never forget his remonstrances, his shouts of "Don't play with the hydrogene-chloride, tete de b..." as well as his lamentations on if a sample of an alien excrement or his coffee is in that particular container. He was always a thinker, eager to learn from his age of five to his age of eighty five.

Instead of a funeral (as nothing significant remained from him after that explosion) a commemoration will be held aboard the CLN Pamiers, in the small auditorum on Deck 2 at 17.00 on Mercredi, 9éme Maille. Be warned however that approaching the lab on Deck 3 of Le Grande Stockage Fromage is unsafe now and will be for about the duration of repair works, estimated two weeks. I hope next time I will be able to provide more delightful news. Until then, au revoir.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

Time goes fast and it is Dimanche again. The Weekly Science is again full of news just for you, my dear readers. Time to get your weekly dose of knowledge.

On the move As I reported earlier, our Division was planning to reequip unused transports and recommission them as science vessels. So far, with the help of the Assault and Security Division, we were able to equip a Taureau-class Gallic Assault Transport, christened to the name CLSV Marignac after it's successful recommission.

The CLSV Marignac with Roussillon's star begind it

The vessel, along with the casual defense turrets, is also equipped with a mining laser for gathering samples from asteroids, and an external enhanced communications relay, for long distance communications. The inner equipment consists of various analizer machines, spectrometers, micro and macroscopes, high tech computers and a wide array of chemical substances. Our technicians did their best to make a moving laboratory out of it. Field tests are being conducted and will last for about a week. If the results prove it to be worthy, further vessels will be equipped for similar research roles.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage Two weeks ago I reported about the Division leadership being indecisive whether to start the researches about cloaking technology immediately, of after extending the cargo storage of the station. Decision had been made about starting them both in the same time. Since then, the construction of the Storage Extension has been finished with the Cloaking Device Factory is closing to it's completion as well. But how will we make cloaking devices?

Alien technology As we can't create such technology out of nowhere, we have to study those who have been developed it already. Well known to the scientist community of Sirius, and now to us as well, that the alien species called Slomon K'Hara, or more commonly the Nomads, are the first developers of this kind of technology. It is still unclear how they were able to develop biologically, what man couldn't develop technologically. Our current task is clear: the studying and thorough examination of these species, the way they manage to alter electromagnetic waves in order to become invisible to human eyes. As they are known to be hostile to mankind, I highly doubt we can examine living K'Hara in our labs. But where do we get dead ones?

New contacts The presence of the Slomon K'Hara culminates in distant systems, commonly called the Omicrons. As they are far from us, The Council itself is incapable to get proper samples of K'Hara organs. Luckily our diplomacy with a group called Cerberus is going well. As a part of some sort of trade pact, they agreed to send regular shipments of Nomad material as well as two of their scientists with the first shipment. They will share their knowledge and tips for examining and containing the samples properly, and I hope in exchange, we can share some ideas with them regarding technology and science. They will stay for approximately two weeks. Do not forget: I expect hospitality from the members of the Technology and Advancement Division, and I will not tolerate impolite behaviour towards our guests.

C'est tout for now, mes amis. Adieu.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

Oui, it is this time of the week again and I am here to inform you about the latest scientifique news happening in and around The Council. Let's not waste words more, let the flow of knowledge commence.

It is a good day to fly Field tests of the CLSV Marignac are about to end. The on-board computers and analizer softwares have been calibrated and test runs been made, proving the ship is ready for duty. I guess I can safely say that tomorrow, after a final safety check, the CLSV Marignac will be finally ready to leave the system and begin it's researches in distant systems. Which part of space will be the first for it to examine is undecided yet, but the nearby nebulae are amongst the most possible choices.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage The Cloaking Factory Module is about to be finished during the next week. The previously installed container tanks have been filled with a special solution of various nutritious organic chemicals and water, to be able to contain K'Hara materials and keep them in their best condition as possible. There is no information about the scheduled arrival of the Cerberus scientists however.

Slomon K'Hara Few words have been said before about these species, nothing more than their ability to cloak and that it is amongst our plans to replicate this ability. To give a bit wider perspective about what we are dealing with, I will tell a bit more about them. The Slomon K'Hara, or Nomads, are a non-humanoid, squid-like alien species, native to the Sirius Sector. Despite our knowledge is still a bit thin about them, we know that they are a space-faring species, heliotropes, and that in some way they are related to Cardamine. With the arrival of mankind, they were pushed back to the distant systems known as Omicrons, however to our knowledge, they did not give up their plan to retake the sector. Therefor it is adviced that if anybody gets into contact with them, be cautios as their intentions are unknown, but hostiliy is their most probable answer to our presence.

Toulouse Switching topic, I want to inform you about the current state of the terraforming. The terraforming devices the IMG set up for us are doing great job. The level of phosgene and hydrogene-cyanide is reduced to minimal levels on most regions of the planet while the oxygene level of the athmosphere is already over 15%. The terraformers are aiming on the original air ratio of 78% N2 and 21% O2, which is deemed to be possible within a few years. Currently more than half of the planet's surface is habitable, giving way for the increasing agriculture to flourish.

More news next time, stay tuned. Adieu mes amis.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

Et oui, I am here again, at this time of the week again. The Council advances, our technology flourishes, week by week. There is no moment when the fine scientist and engineers of the Technology and Advancement Division not inventing something new and useful, or at least working on something big. No more waste of words, let the news begin.

New piece of technology Surprisingly the first route of the CLSV Marignac wasn't about examining nearby gas clouds. One of our trustworthy suppliers found something exotic in a wreck deep within Gallia. Fortunately the first thing he did was to offer it to The Council, for further examinations. The CLSV Marignac went immediately to rendez-vous with him, just to take the strange weapon to Marne, Champagne. The scientists of Marne Academy are currently working on knowing more about it.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage The construction of the Cloaking module factory has been successfully finished, giving us opportunity to start producing cloaking modules for our vessels. Furthermore, Monsieur Beckz of the Cerberus has finally assured us about the first shipments of K'Hara organs being prepared for shipping. Experts of the Division say gold will be needed for precise circuits, but more could be said once the alien remains arrived. With these shipments, our guests, Professor John de Beers, and his assistant, Jennifer Roela will arrive as well. These two fine xenobiologists of the Cerberus will teach us the tricks of keeping the samples safe and fresh. The knowledge they will share with us will be of great value to our Division, moreover to The Council itself.

Last Warning This will be the last warning until the arrival of our guests. I expect everybody to be polite towards Monsieur de Beers and Mademoiselle Roela. Anybody found even to simply picking their nose in the presence of them can easily find himself on my personal blacklist. And getting off of that list will not be this easy. Just two weeks, mes amis.

But then, to cheer you up, here is a fine image of our station:

The sunny side of Le Grande Stockage Fromage, with CLN Pamiers in the background

I hope you like it, mes amis. More news next time, au revoir.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

Splendid news I have for you my dear readers. Improvement is constant, researches are continous, and our pool of knowledge is growing at a high rate. Let's get into the details, oui?

Taranis During the last week, mes amis en Marne Academy didn't waste their times. The unknown piece of technology however told very few secrets about itself to them. The only information our scientists were able to gather from the information section of the weapon software is that the weapon is called 'Taranis'. It took a while to find out that this might be one of those rare pieces found on a few markets and labeled as 'Codename' weapons. A few words has spread to us as well, but due to their high price, the Division didn't bother to get one yet. Now that we have one right under the hands of our scientists, we may have a closer look on exactly what kind of technology it is based on. With these news the CLSV Marignac has left the Champagne system, and is en route back to the lower Taus.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage The first shipments from Cerberus, containing the K'Hara samples have finally arrived to our station. Along with the many small pieces of organs, and a few bigger ones, they were kind to bring us a major brain, a quite nice piece. These organs have been carefully brought to the tanks for storage and for later examinations. Recently Professeur de Beers gave us lectures about proper examination of the samples, and cautiousness during it. He taught us a few nice tricks on what could be importand, what should we pay attention for. The beggining of actual researches is planned to take places tomorrow.

Brains From tomorrow, for a good while, the main aspect of researches on board the Le Grande Stockage Fromage will be about revealing the secret by which the Slomon K'Hara is able to become invisible from both human eye and conventional scanners. According to the knowledge Professeur de Beers and Mademoiselle Roela summarized and shared with us, the K'Hara is actually bending the electromagnetic waves around itself. Basically light does not reflect from the surface of their body, it goes around them. Considering that the technology our conventional space scanners are based on detection by electromagnetic waves and reflections, it is understandable that they bypass the sensors the same way. What we don't know yet is whether they are using their mental capabilities to do so, or there is some kind of massive skin-like organ on their surface emitting interfering waves.

Future plans Rumors have spread throughout Sirius about other brand new technological advances, similar to cloaking devices. Including these rumours there is word about revolutionarized warping technology, hyperspace sensors, and customizable cargo holds for larger vessels. If The Council can get more intel about these technologies, more to say, if we are able to gather blueprints of any of these, a new, way greater set of possibilities will be available for us. I guess it is up to our Intel, right now.

All in all, The Council Technology and Advancement Division is flourishes like never before. Au revoir next time mes amis.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

Time has come for the Weekly Science to publish the next dose of knowledge for our dear readers. Let the flow of words begin.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage Theory after excercise, lectures after experiments, life on the station can not stop for a moment. There is always something to do, there will be always a sample to examine. Our dear guests from Cerberus are taking their time to educate us about their knowledge on the K'Hara, their habits of movement, combat, most importantly their sudden approach upon uncloaking. It seems that they mastered their ability of cloaking and embedded it well into their tactics of warfare. No doubt that if we want to keep up with them, we have to learn from them.

Strange results When experimenting, we usually examine few samples at a time. On Lundi, samples Alpha-1, Alpha-8 and Alpha-23 were brought for examination to 1ére Laboratoire, Deck 2. Took Alpha-1 out of the mobile container, and put it on table. Put electrodes on Alpha-1 Alpha-8, and Alpha-23. Ran a few routine tests on them. Results showed a vegetative state of all of the samples, with the state of Alpha-1 deteroriating rapidly. We concluded that we should keep the samples in the nutritious solution during the examinations. Changing light conditions in the laboratory indicated two different vegetative states of the samples, with the samples biologically being a bit more active during one of those. Slight increase in metabolism was noticed at Alpha-8, and a more significant increase at Alpha-23 upon brightening the room. Results noted down and archived for future interpretations.

Beta-1, in it's container

Further experiments Mercredi we took back Alpha-23 to 1ére Laboratoire, Deck 2, along with Beta-1, which is one of the lesser brain nodes. The same test about different levels of brightness was taken, with similar results. As Alpha-1 had a part of the skin of the K'Hara on it, we tried to cut a piece off. Took it out of the tank, to a table, cut it off quick, then put the sample back before it deteroriating to an unusable state. What we did not expect were brief signs of mental activity, despite of the dormant states of the samples. Which is more strange is that these signs did not come from Alpha-23, but from Beta-1. The brain, however thought to be dormant, probably awoken up for a few moments, when it felt the little pain we caused, when cutting off that piece of skin. Probably like a sleeping child, when a mosquito bites him, he reacts, then he continues his sleep. No further activity was noted from the lesser node, other than this brief reaction. This turn of events gave us much to think, will all of the samples react similarly? Where is the point where we wake them up? What will they be able to do once they are awoken?

Strange questions, yet to be answered. Once they are, you can be sure you will be informed about the results. Au revoir, mes amis.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

The Division's researches on K'Hara anatomy, biology and their natural ability of cloaking is going well, although we are yet to learn everything about them. For this reason, the main theme of this week will be these researches. Let's start.

Le Grande Stockage Fromage Professeur de Beers and Mademoiselle Roela has finished their task of preparing us for our researches and departed from our station to return to the Cerberus. During the last two weeks they taught us many useful things, many tricks, which I hope we will be able to utilize at our best. Merci beacoup mes amis.

Malfunction? After the strange response of Beta-1, we tried to characterize what exactly happened. As Beta-1 did not replicate the events, we tried to hurt it directly. Cutting off a significant part of a yet unknown organ being right next to it's cardioneural cortex, not a slight change it did. After several failed attempts at recreating these events, we concluded that possibly a malfunction happened in some of our analyzers, and we will investigate this case further. However this strange kind of organ is yet to be examined.

Shiny The sample cut from Beta-1 bears quite strange characteristics. This organ seems to be reflecting or diffusing the outside light at first, but it keeps shining for a while once the source of light has gone, giving it a somewhat fluorescent look. It is suspected that this organ has some relation to the distinct glowing of the space-faring K'Hara. Upon cutting it apart for further examining, it seems to generate light even while contacting the metal lancet. Computers indicated heat generation as well, at a similar rate to shining. Until we figure it out how it creates and emits energy from itself, we will have to be careful.

Scalped... or not? The piece of presumed-to-be-skin we cut off of Alpha-23 doesn't seem to be exactly what we thought it is to be. Upon examining, we found out it is made of multiple layers of tissues of different kind, supporting our idea of it being the skin of the K'Hara specimen. What was against it is that the side containing the wider circulatory vessels was made of the more dense, thus more protective tissue. If we follow common anatomical logic, circulatory vessels should be below the denser layers, to be able to feed them protected, not on top of them, exposed to space. By this we suspect that it is not the entirety of the skin, and that we found only part of it. Now, having a sample, we are able to compare further lesser organs, if they have similar skin pieces on themselves or not, maybe we could find a more complete piece. That would be great. But until then, we have to work with what we have.

More news as we go along on our way of expanding our knowledge about these strange alien species. Au revoir for now, my dear readers.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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[Thyrzul]

Bonjour mesdames et mesieurs,

The more we know about the K'Hara, the more we realize how little we know about them. But still, that little is getting more and more, and I will present you now the latest of it.

Energy storage The organ we took from Beta-1 is giving away it's secrets slowly. We were able to define a safetly limit, above which the organ emits too much heat to be safe for experimenting, however it wasn't as easy as it sounds like: during the tests it did not reproduce the heat emitting reaction several times, while other times it emitted heat at a higher rate than before. We are yet to discover the exact purpose of this organ, but it is suspected that this might be some kind of energy storage, which now, that it is separated from the neurocardial cortex, operates without any control. Chemical analysis will have to wait a bit more. Until then, we won't know much about it.

Skinny Despite having plenty of K'Hara samples from the Cerberus, we didn't find much having the same kind of tissue as that piece of skin from Alpha-23. Cinq, to be exact, and all of them are thinner than the first one found. Physical and chemical tests on Alpha-23's skin confirmed that these layers of tissues might be an inner part of the whole skin, as they give more protection than simple organs, and seemingly have no other purpose, but still get hurt easily to be exposed to open space. All other skin samples will go through similar tests for result comparison.

Traveller The CLSV Marignac has arrived back to Le Grande Stockage Fromage, and is ready to continue it's researches in the nearby systems. The next task of the scientist team will be further experiments on the two nebulae within Roussillon. Basic tests have already been made long ago about these nebulae, about their chemical contents and physical properties. The current task will be to examine the behavior of the various gases and mini-clouds, and then compare them to those lying in the Coronado system. Oui, our scientists will examine the Barrier Nebula too, for a base of comparison to our other two.

Companion It is believed that the CLSV Marignac won't stay alone for long. The Technology and Advancement Division is planning an other common project with the Assault and Security Division on equipping a second science vessel. While the CLSV Marignac is technically a refitted Taureau-class Battletransport, and was chosen because of the great cargo space and agility, this time our Division leadership is thinking in a more reinforced vessel, maybe a Perilous-class gunboat. Of course the vessel will not be capable of combat like it used to be, after repairs it will be refitted with scientific equipment instead. While a Perilous-class vessel is about the same agile as a Taureau, the reinforced hull will allow on-the-field researches on more dangerous parts of space. The reduced cargo hold however will not allow us more than one laboratory.

As it seems, we are not only expanding our knowledge, but the means of getting more. Our opportunities of gathering knowledge is widening from day to day. Stay tuned for the next Weekly Science, mes amis.

-= Note: Feedback regarding the news feed of Weekly Science is welcome on this specific channel: Ch-#124018 =-

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