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Deep Space Engineering (player faction)
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- This is a player faction. For the affiliated NPC faction, see Deep Space Engineering
| Deep Space Engineering | |
| Origin |  Liberty
|
| Alignment | Lawful/Corporation |
| Profile | |
| Date of founding | 51 A.S. |
| Founder(s) | Several Companies |
| Current leader(s) | Lars Johansen (Eyvind) |
| Base of operations | Planet Pittsburgh, New York |
| Primary role | |
| Jump gate and trade lane construction | |
| Secondary role | |
| Ship and station construction | |
Description
Formed in the dawn of Libertonian life in Sirius, Deep Space Engineering has held a central position of infrastructural development in the sector. The ongoing project of building and maintaining the physical gate/lane network has always been the primary directive of DSE, but it has lead to the emergence of several secondary roles; exploration, mineral extraction and processing, and ship construction also adorn the corporate profile. DSE is fundamental to the influential position of Liberty in Sirius today.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And then, on Christmas Day, 817, disaster struck.... or, perhaps, it was not disaster... 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. And 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.
Standard Operations
Standard daily operations consist primarily of gate/lane construction and maintenance, supplies hauling, mining, and survey exploration. All operations contribute to gate/lane construction in one form or another; mineral deposits are sought out and surveyed, after mining operations are established they supply shipyards and component factories with material resource whose products are then used to maintain the actual construction sites. DSE is not completely self-sustained, however, primarily in regard to materials and freight hauling. Many necessary materials are imported from other houses and Universal Shipping and various independent traders aid in hauling whiteboxes to outlying sites.
Engineering Department: Engineers are more or less split into the two major operational areas of gate/lane construction and ship construction. Engineers are also on duty for field repairs.
Freight Department: Most freight routes consist of hauling Gate/Lane Parts to one of the three large construction sites in Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Tau-23. Subsequent legs are dependent on several factors, but all circuits inevitably end in import of materials or components to Liberty.
Mining Department: Non-planetary mining is based primarily in Colorado with a heavy focus on the Copperton field, though low-yield chemical extraction is still ongoing in the Silverton field. Other than mining, the only other major responsibility of the Mining Department is prospecting.
Science, Research, and Technology Department: The DSE SRT Department is relatively small, consisting mostly of scientists accompanying DSE ships in the field. However, the department also consists of a few scientific vessels each with either specific or broad assignments in deep space. The secondary directive of the SRT Department is to maintain the integrity of all optronic, electronic, and bioneural systems in DSE assets. Therefore in addition to those of scientific and exploratory nature, technicians will be tasked to any of a large variety of postings, including: supporting engineers at construction or maintenance sites, supporting miners in the field, and contract jobs for third parties.
Security Department: The security of DSE assets and personel is paramount, hence the singular responsibility of this department. Not only are Security ships attached to most departmental wings and field operations, but Security ships can also seen throughout the corporate zone of influence patrolling supply routes and standard operational areas, cleaning out threats.
Owned Bases
Other bases populated
- Ames Research Station, Kepler
- Bonn Station, New Berlin
- Freistadt Base, Omega-7
- Norfolk Shipyard, New York
- Roppongi Station, New Tokyo
Current Construction sites
- Chugoku Gate Construction Site, Hokkaido
- Tau-31 Gate Construction Site, Tau-23
- Sigma-19 Gate Construction Site, Okinawa
Diplomacy
Complete faction diplomacy of both NPC and player factions can be be found here.
