And it's time for some more fiction from participating players! First up we will visit Tokyo and the Pacific Commonwealth of Nations in the middle of their financial growth where hundreds of new aircars are added to the busy skylanes every day as Toyota figured out a way to drastically drop their costs. After that an update from Mars and The Russian Federation!
Written by and full credits to Jaen:
HQ of Miyawaki Financial, Nakatomi Plaza, Tokyo
10pm local time
Yoshinobu Takagi slumped in his chair. He's tired. Being the CEO of the largest Banking and Finance conglomerate was taking its toll.
Today he has been on the phone with investment groups from across the Commonwealth demanding action, because earlier today Miyawaki released their Q3 numbers and adjusted next year's financial outlook.
It wasn't good. He was elected CEO by the board with the promise of doubling the company's revenue in the next 5 years, and the new numbers would have Miyawaki miss that target by almost 20%.
Taking a deep breath, he told his assistant to get the Chief Marketing Officer and the President of Growth and New Acquisitions into his office immediately.
The assistant goes pale "Sir... It's 10p. They're both at home with their families. Would you like me to send a car to bring them in now, or tomorrow morning?"
Yoshinobu glances at his watch. smeg, it was 10p. When did that happen? He still hadn't eaten dinner. Time was so hard to keep track of, especially when the office never stopped working. People were working in the office 24 hours a day. The laws passed in prior decades outlawed most employees working more than 8 hours shifts, so Miyawaki has 3x 8 hour shifts per day. Unfortunately those laws did not apply to most positions director level and above - and certainly not to a CEO.
"First, I need dinner. Order the kitchen staff to bring up some food. Next, I need you to direct the PR team to schedule a press conference tomorrow, and prepare some talking points about our growth and numbers. Finally I need suggestions from the GNA department on how we can fix this - we will not fall behind my promise to double revenue. Those suggestions need to be on my desk by noon tomorrow. I'm going to head to my on site penthouse and have dinner. You can go now."
The assistant bows and rushes off.
Tomorrow, Yoshinobu thinks, tomorrow I will... I will have a plan. For now, it's time to rest.
Written by and full credits to Opti:
10.00 February 3rd 2043, CSS New Singapore, in trans-martian transfer.
The New Year had come and gone quicker than she would have expected. Days up here went so quickly she could hardly keep track of them. Melissa was shocked over the spacious interiors of the craft, nothing like the transfer rockets or the cramped interior of the Toyashima shipyard. This was a real spaceship, like in the movies. Except for the lack of gravity of course. Working in zero-G was like second nature at this point, but still she got caught by surprise every now and then.
She was on her way to the galley when she heard the Captain, Goro Nishida-san over the PA system; “All personnel to their stations”. She grabbed a hold of the closest railing and swung around and headed back to the bridge.
The bridge was something of a mess. Stations everywhere, and people working. Even so, it was spacious, which could be confusing. Thankfully the requirement to wear your mag-boots on crew areas, made life a little easier. Most of the ship was made of lightweight materials but every walkway had two strips of Alnico tape in the floor, for ease of transport. This way the colonists weren’t making too much of a mess in the galley area.
When Melissa arrived at the bridge the captain had already begun his briefing. Tomorrow at 13.00 they would initiate their orbital insertion burn, which required extra preparation. Everything unnecessary would be stowed away, all passengers seated, all personnel at their stations or in flight seats. Even though this would be a weak burn at 2G, it’s still double the force of gravity. Things could get messy unless they prepared accordingly.
The new experimental Wake Drives would have less of this problem, as the Wakefield effect grew exponentially with speed. She was no trans newtonian scientist, but the math was simple. Orbital insertions would be a thing of the past, if you traveled fast enough, contradictory to regular physics. In this case, they were stuck with an engine and a ship that could not yet fully utilize the Wakefield effect.
The Wakefield effect was discovered 12 years earlier by the American quantum field physicist Andrew Wakefield, when he found theoretical evidence of parallel universes. That was one of the pre existing theories that eventually gave birth to the discovery of trans newtonian theory and the finding of elements that could bend the laws of physics, at least in a traditional sense.
Thinking this much gave Melissa a queasy feeling, since much was unknown. They were just a bunch of amateurs rushing forward at very high speeds with thin margins, trusting in a branch of science that was younger than her.
Hopefully the margins would be on their side.
14.15 February 4 th 2043, CSS New Singapore, Mars Orbit
The Planet was even more spectacular than in the VR-training. The red planet, looming outside the viewing area. They had just finished their injection burn and were now orbiting Mars at approx 87 km above the surface. Today they would send down the two landing craft, Izanami & Izanagi, aptly named after the two creator gods of the Japanese islands, with all necessary equipment, and begin their unloading schedule. At 0600 tomorrow the first colonists would be welcome into the shuttle bay to leave the Colony Ship for an extended time (minimum 2 years contract), some would stay the rest of their lives.
Melissa would be taking a ride down tomorrow night, while the crew had 48 hours of low activity schedule before packing up and heading home. Orders have arrived over the Instanet, the next gen communications net that allows for near instantaneous communication, from Tokyo that the new batch of colonists will be ready soon. Apparently CSS New Singapore would long term act as a shuttle craft. At least until the next generation ships came online. She had taken a look at the early drafts and the capacity of that craft was daunting.
The red planet had always fascinated her. The endless dunes and the hostile terrain matched with the lack of people had a real draw to her. She had always known that she would one day move there.
For now, Melissa would enjoy the spectacle of watching the civilians try to figure out how to keep food in place in the Galley. She would definitely ask for a posting at Mars when she returned, maybe she would ask Chet to tag along.
Written by and full credits to Zap:
A new film has been released recently, chronicling the events leading up to and during the military intervention in Iran several months ago. A collaboration project between military communications and a state media agency, it has been dubbed a "patriotic documentary" and illustrates the critical decisions and actions of the intervention using a combination of interviews and actual combat footage.
The story begins with the terrorist raid on an abandoned cold war era bunker in a sparsely guarded military region in central asia. A standard investigation is launched into the brutal deaths of the guards, wholly unaware of the full scope and implications of the incident. They are able to identify the perpetrators as belonging to a known anti-globalist extremist group and find that the motivation behind their raid is linked to the legacy of a recently deceased ex-KGB agent. The man in question, apparently also a loose associate of former president Putin, had lived out a long life in one of the former Soviet republics. His will and inheritance fell into the hands of the extremists, who therein found clues to the secret stash of cold war nukes that could not be accounted for after the end of the Soviet Union. He had kept this secret hidden all his life.
The dramatic high point of the film is the discovery of this circumstance by a Russian special ops team and the revelation of the extremist's plan to nuke Dubai by a dying member of theirs during a raid on a known safehouse. Without leads and with Iranian agents obstructing the investigation more and more, playing desperately for time, the incident is escalated all the way up to the president, who is awoken in the middle of the night. Not having any other recourse, he gives the OK for broad military action and possibly the largest hunt for man and material in recent history.
In the resulting frantic and hasty fighting, the Iranian support for the extremists becomes all-too-apparent. Russian troops and agents are depicted as heroes, pushing themselves and each other to find their targets and prevent the plot, defending the peace of the post-WW3 world order. As the terrorists are unable to move quickly, they are eventually found, executed, and the nukes secured. All three of the ancient warheads are later transferred to FoN control, as is required by Resolution 001.
The film ends with a short speech from General Ilyich, mastermind behind the whole intervention, somberly warning everyone that we all carry the weight of the sins of the past generations and must not hesitate to defend peace decisively if need be.
A few weeks after the release of the "patriotic documentary", the President is making an announcement:
"The events of last year's intervention were a shock to us all, particularly the broad support of local governments for the extremist and anti-globalist ideology of the terrorists. While the situation in Iran is stabilizing and a new government with all currently possible autonomy is being instituted, there are still others out there who would see the terrorists work finished: Warlords, clans, local powers. The Russian Federation will carry out a necessary campaign against such structures in the middle east to preempt the next crisis before it starts. Such is the best way towards lasting peace."
Written by and full credits to Jaen:
HQ of Miyawaki Financial, Nakatomi Plaza, Tokyo
10pm local time
Yoshinobu Takagi slumped in his chair. He's tired. Being the CEO of the largest Banking and Finance conglomerate was taking its toll.
Today he has been on the phone with investment groups from across the Commonwealth demanding action, because earlier today Miyawaki released their Q3 numbers and adjusted next year's financial outlook.
It wasn't good. He was elected CEO by the board with the promise of doubling the company's revenue in the next 5 years, and the new numbers would have Miyawaki miss that target by almost 20%.
Taking a deep breath, he told his assistant to get the Chief Marketing Officer and the President of Growth and New Acquisitions into his office immediately.
The assistant goes pale "Sir... It's 10p. They're both at home with their families. Would you like me to send a car to bring them in now, or tomorrow morning?"
Yoshinobu glances at his watch. smeg, it was 10p. When did that happen? He still hadn't eaten dinner. Time was so hard to keep track of, especially when the office never stopped working. People were working in the office 24 hours a day. The laws passed in prior decades outlawed most employees working more than 8 hours shifts, so Miyawaki has 3x 8 hour shifts per day. Unfortunately those laws did not apply to most positions director level and above - and certainly not to a CEO.
"First, I need dinner. Order the kitchen staff to bring up some food. Next, I need you to direct the PR team to schedule a press conference tomorrow, and prepare some talking points about our growth and numbers. Finally I need suggestions from the GNA department on how we can fix this - we will not fall behind my promise to double revenue. Those suggestions need to be on my desk by noon tomorrow. I'm going to head to my on site penthouse and have dinner. You can go now."
The assistant bows and rushes off.
Tomorrow, Yoshinobu thinks, tomorrow I will... I will have a plan. For now, it's time to rest.
Written by and full credits to Opti:
10.00 February 3rd 2043, CSS New Singapore, in trans-martian transfer.
The New Year had come and gone quicker than she would have expected. Days up here went so quickly she could hardly keep track of them. Melissa was shocked over the spacious interiors of the craft, nothing like the transfer rockets or the cramped interior of the Toyashima shipyard. This was a real spaceship, like in the movies. Except for the lack of gravity of course. Working in zero-G was like second nature at this point, but still she got caught by surprise every now and then.
She was on her way to the galley when she heard the Captain, Goro Nishida-san over the PA system; “All personnel to their stations”. She grabbed a hold of the closest railing and swung around and headed back to the bridge.
The bridge was something of a mess. Stations everywhere, and people working. Even so, it was spacious, which could be confusing. Thankfully the requirement to wear your mag-boots on crew areas, made life a little easier. Most of the ship was made of lightweight materials but every walkway had two strips of Alnico tape in the floor, for ease of transport. This way the colonists weren’t making too much of a mess in the galley area.
When Melissa arrived at the bridge the captain had already begun his briefing. Tomorrow at 13.00 they would initiate their orbital insertion burn, which required extra preparation. Everything unnecessary would be stowed away, all passengers seated, all personnel at their stations or in flight seats. Even though this would be a weak burn at 2G, it’s still double the force of gravity. Things could get messy unless they prepared accordingly.
The new experimental Wake Drives would have less of this problem, as the Wakefield effect grew exponentially with speed. She was no trans newtonian scientist, but the math was simple. Orbital insertions would be a thing of the past, if you traveled fast enough, contradictory to regular physics. In this case, they were stuck with an engine and a ship that could not yet fully utilize the Wakefield effect.
The Wakefield effect was discovered 12 years earlier by the American quantum field physicist Andrew Wakefield, when he found theoretical evidence of parallel universes. That was one of the pre existing theories that eventually gave birth to the discovery of trans newtonian theory and the finding of elements that could bend the laws of physics, at least in a traditional sense.
Thinking this much gave Melissa a queasy feeling, since much was unknown. They were just a bunch of amateurs rushing forward at very high speeds with thin margins, trusting in a branch of science that was younger than her.
Hopefully the margins would be on their side.
14.15 February 4 th 2043, CSS New Singapore, Mars Orbit
The Planet was even more spectacular than in the VR-training. The red planet, looming outside the viewing area. They had just finished their injection burn and were now orbiting Mars at approx 87 km above the surface. Today they would send down the two landing craft, Izanami & Izanagi, aptly named after the two creator gods of the Japanese islands, with all necessary equipment, and begin their unloading schedule. At 0600 tomorrow the first colonists would be welcome into the shuttle bay to leave the Colony Ship for an extended time (minimum 2 years contract), some would stay the rest of their lives.
Melissa would be taking a ride down tomorrow night, while the crew had 48 hours of low activity schedule before packing up and heading home. Orders have arrived over the Instanet, the next gen communications net that allows for near instantaneous communication, from Tokyo that the new batch of colonists will be ready soon. Apparently CSS New Singapore would long term act as a shuttle craft. At least until the next generation ships came online. She had taken a look at the early drafts and the capacity of that craft was daunting.
The red planet had always fascinated her. The endless dunes and the hostile terrain matched with the lack of people had a real draw to her. She had always known that she would one day move there.
For now, Melissa would enjoy the spectacle of watching the civilians try to figure out how to keep food in place in the Galley. She would definitely ask for a posting at Mars when she returned, maybe she would ask Chet to tag along.
Written by and full credits to Zap:
A new film has been released recently, chronicling the events leading up to and during the military intervention in Iran several months ago. A collaboration project between military communications and a state media agency, it has been dubbed a "patriotic documentary" and illustrates the critical decisions and actions of the intervention using a combination of interviews and actual combat footage.
The story begins with the terrorist raid on an abandoned cold war era bunker in a sparsely guarded military region in central asia. A standard investigation is launched into the brutal deaths of the guards, wholly unaware of the full scope and implications of the incident. They are able to identify the perpetrators as belonging to a known anti-globalist extremist group and find that the motivation behind their raid is linked to the legacy of a recently deceased ex-KGB agent. The man in question, apparently also a loose associate of former president Putin, had lived out a long life in one of the former Soviet republics. His will and inheritance fell into the hands of the extremists, who therein found clues to the secret stash of cold war nukes that could not be accounted for after the end of the Soviet Union. He had kept this secret hidden all his life.
The dramatic high point of the film is the discovery of this circumstance by a Russian special ops team and the revelation of the extremist's plan to nuke Dubai by a dying member of theirs during a raid on a known safehouse. Without leads and with Iranian agents obstructing the investigation more and more, playing desperately for time, the incident is escalated all the way up to the president, who is awoken in the middle of the night. Not having any other recourse, he gives the OK for broad military action and possibly the largest hunt for man and material in recent history.
In the resulting frantic and hasty fighting, the Iranian support for the extremists becomes all-too-apparent. Russian troops and agents are depicted as heroes, pushing themselves and each other to find their targets and prevent the plot, defending the peace of the post-WW3 world order. As the terrorists are unable to move quickly, they are eventually found, executed, and the nukes secured. All three of the ancient warheads are later transferred to FoN control, as is required by Resolution 001.
The film ends with a short speech from General Ilyich, mastermind behind the whole intervention, somberly warning everyone that we all carry the weight of the sins of the past generations and must not hesitate to defend peace decisively if need be.
A few weeks after the release of the "patriotic documentary", the President is making an announcement:
"The events of last year's intervention were a shock to us all, particularly the broad support of local governments for the extremist and anti-globalist ideology of the terrorists. While the situation in Iran is stabilizing and a new government with all currently possible autonomy is being instituted, there are still others out there who would see the terrorists work finished: Warlords, clans, local powers. The Russian Federation will carry out a necessary campaign against such structures in the middle east to preempt the next crisis before it starts. Such is the best way towards lasting peace."
