03-10-2003, 21:59
[ooc: please reply with comments or questions, those are most welcome. But since I’ve put a lot of time in this, please do not post any spam or other useless stuff here
Corporate History IX – The SATO years
Chapter III – The AMD Chimera programs (121-136 AS)
----------------------------
----------------------------
Introduction
In the year 121, the Vortex Corporation re-instated the AMD, or Advanced Military Development, procedures. These procedures were designed to free large amount of cash, labor and assets to military projects. This had occured only once before, in the year 5, when the Corporation decided to make the ‘Hammer’ terradyne series their standard ground weapons (later replaced by the ‘Messiah’ hoverdyne series – red).
Several important events made it possible to activate AMD programs without suffering extraordinary losses and a decrease in market share value. First and foremost, there was the discovery of the Sajuuk shipyards. A scientific expedition recovered these shipyards on a mission to the Caelum system. After passing through an ancient hyperspace gate, they found the station in almost perfect state. Three years later, it was ready to begin production of vessels, effectively doubling the shipbuilding capacity of the Corporation. Secondly, it was around that time that the Vortex Corporation joined SATO. This provided the Corporation with an even higher degree of safety and economic benefit than before, and visibly reduced the average amount of hostile situations in which the VC got involved each year. Thirdly, the fact that a majority of councilmembers voted in favor of the project, was largely because of the effort of councilmember Robert Stone. Chairman of the Defence Council at that time, CEO Stone spent years to persuade his collegues of its benefits. Being the man responsible for the construction of the Stratos shipyards, which had become very profitable after their first eight years of service, Stone eventually managed to convince his fellow councilmembers.
The AMD procedures were initiated to facilitate the construction of a new line of spacebound war vessels, christened the Chimera series. Over the years, these vessels have proven very effective and efficient means of war, and management still recognizes the benefits that TVC enjoys from the decisions taken in the year 121. The Chimera series had been tested and analysed extensively in the five years before construction began, so when AMD funding was received, construction could start immediately. The initial ships in the Chimera class were:
Scout
Interceptor
Bomber
Gunship
Pulsar Gunship
Minelayer
Flak Frigate
Ion Frigate
Marine Frigate
Field Frigate
Torpedo Frigate
Support Frigate
Destroyer
Battlecruiser
Carrier
Mobile Refinery
Resource Collector
Probe
Gun Platform
Ion Platform
(Ship specifications can be found at the end of this chapter)
Leeches, Science Frigates, Explorers and Spider Drones remained in active service when the fleet was converted to Chimera standards. In later years, more ships were added to make the Chimera fleets more flexible and specialised. However, many analists have stated that this was in fact unnecessary, as the original Chimera ships were an excellent combination of vessels, that could fullfil any role on the field of battle. It is therefore assumed that the Corporation launched these later additions to the series for other reasons, such as high unemployment that needed to be eliminated, or the potential of making a profit in ship sales.
The design of the AMD programs was fairly simple. Over an estimated period of time, all vessels from the Exile class would be replaced by their Chimera equivalents. Exile vessels were decommisioned to provide the two Corporate shipyards with metal components and other resources, while their crews entered training programs and simulations to familiarize them with the new vessels. During the 15 years of AMD Chimera, all four fleets and twelve 1. The Sajuuk Shipyards, Caelum, orbit
2. The Stratos Shipyards, Kharak II, orbit
3. The Kharakian Colonial Naval Facilities, Kharak II
4. The White Asem Research Facility, Sisgaridia
5. The Vishna Planetary Docks, Sisgardia
6. The Hermes Facility Planetary Docks, Sisgardia
7. Classified
8. Classified[/i]
[b]Year 1 - Preparations
The first year was spent mostly on preparations. As the councils in Sisgardia debated and set policy for the upcoming events, deep space mining expeditions tripled their efforts and personnel was recruited on a previously unseen large scale. Surprisingly, the Corporation also hired workers from nations such as Tarasovka, Celeborne, DNL, Der Angst and several members of the Corporate Coalition. This was quite an unexpected move, considering the reclusive and secret nature of the proceedings. After all, in the same year it was announced that all eight facilities involved in the program, plus the logistical networks that connected them were considered restricted, top-secret areas for the duration of the project. Because of this, the hiring of foreign employees was perceived as a significant gesture of trust in the Corporations’ allies.
After seven months of extensive preparations, all the paper-work had been finished. Employees had been hired, trained and put on stand by. On the first of August, dozens of dropships and support frigates, loaded with employees and equipment, were brought to the correct locations. At the same time, a large portion of the Corporate military was deployed to ensure the safety and secrecy of the eight sites involved in construction. One month later, the mining fleets started coming in, and resources ordered abroad started arriving. The final target of constructing five fleets and fifteen battlegroups was set, and construction commenced.
On december 31, 121, the gathered Chairmen of the councils signed the documents that confirmed the initiation of Chimera. The most prominent councilmembers signing the papers were:
Simon Delendre, high council chairman
Nejra Paktu, foreign affairs council chairman
Robert Stone, defence council chairman
Marna S’jet, economic affairs council chairwoman
Nirwe Manaan, financial affairs council chairwoman
Robert Aegeri, religious affairs council chairman
Sar Tzu, elder council chairman
Of course, the official permission had been given some time before that. This time, however, the documents were signed in front of the media, and made the frontpage in almost every international paper. This resulted in a slight increase of stock value, which gave the Corporation a nice equity boost to start production with.
Year 2 – Epidemic
In the second year of construction, production proceeded very smooth. According to plan, work was first started on carriers and support frigates. Once those had been completed, they could be deployed in the construction process to expand maximum capacity even more. The only notable incident that occured was an epidemic among the crews working at White Asem. According to eye witnesses, many employees started to show symptons of something that closely resembled epilepsy, but was not exactly that.
When the media got word of this, the Corporation acted quickly. Passing an emergency bill, the High Council declared the entire area surrounding the White Asem facility G14, which is a code normally reserved for nuclear incidents. It effectively meant that Corporate marines secured a large perimeter around the base, prohibiting the media and other interested persons acces from the facility.
After a week, it became clear that production was slowed down significantly by this epidemic. Though corporate officials later confirmed that the decease was not lethal, it did put a lot of workers into the infirmery when it struck. Then, the media suddenly reported Taraskovyan craft landing at the base, unloading crates and personnel. Though nobody knew who they were or what they did, the epidemic was gone three days later, and work continued at normal. All those who had been present at the facility during the facility swore an oath of Mishkal, meaning they would prefer death over telling what happened there.
At the end of the year, both Sajuuk and Stratos reported meeting their production quota, meaning they both managed to deliver three carries and twelve support frigates, as well as crewing those vessels. The four other facilities reported producing just below their set targets, with an 84% ratio being the lowest statistic.
Year 3 – Progress
As far as history is concerned, the third year of production was a fairly uninteresting year. Production of carriers and support frigates proceeded, and more were completed by the month. In the period from may to october, all available resources were dedicated to the production of Resource Controllers and Mobile Refineries, as well as Probes to detect resources to mine. Dozens of vessels were completed, and shaped into mining expeditions that were sent out as soon as they could be crewed. According to accounts, the additional resources from these new expeditions were vital to the succes of Chimera. The events in the fourth year would have crippled the project, if it had not been for the large buffer supplies and slack capacity created by these miners.
It was also in this year that Decaughn Masari entered flight school at the Uthar Academy. At that time, he was just another student out of thousands, but his carreer would be an astonishing one. Decaughn was a young trainee, child of a Taraskovyan mother and a father with original Kiith blood. He entered flight school as soon as he reached legal age to do so. Eventually, he would break almost every record ever established by a fighter pilot. His speed, accuracy and agility in an interceptor are still legendary today, long after his death. Even to this day, he is the only fighter pilot that has ever brought down a frigate class warvessel single-handedly.
Year 4 – Pirates and Buccaneers
The first two months of year four went as planned. Most carriers, mining vessels and support frigates had been completed, and the next phase of construction commenced. This included the start of strike craft production. At each facility, huge construction bays started to spew out fighters and corvettes. Night after night, the Corporations’ denizens watched the exhausts of strike craft soaring through the dark skies, on route to their new stations.
In march, however, things went bad. A large resource convoy, consisting of twenty-four old Providence class resource collectors was lost. After it entered hyperspace from deep inside the Skya Nebula, nothing was ever heared of it again. Immediately, an assault fleet, consisting largely of Exile class ships, was sent to investigate.
After days of searching, thehy found the remains of the convoy. Thirteen vessels were completely missing, salvaged by whoever had attacked the convoy. The rest of the collectors had been destroyed, and amidst the debris, the search party found several Taiidani and Turanic vessels. After several weeks of investigation and analysis, intelligence services showed that rogue factions of these two races had joined forces after they had found out about the trade routes used to supply the Chimera facilities. When three days later an employee caught downloading ship designs from the Sajuuk mainframe was caught, it was the last straw. Rather than being caught, the traitor decided to detonate a pack of explosives rigged to his belt. The explosion killed the traitor, two marines and compromised two of the Sajuuk data pods.
At first, the Councils refused to believe their defence had been penetrated. However, they also knew something had to be done. Within two days, they had reached a decision. Both the Battlemage legions and the Black Wolf special forces were mobilised to protect the facilities. Also, all escorts protecting resource-carrying vessels were doubled. A month later, a mixed Taiidan / Turanic fleet was defeated by a large flotilla under the command of Fleet Admiral Paktu. Using old gravity wells, bought in haste from the Somtaaw, his crews managed to neutralize the enemy strike craft without a single shot. While Corporate fighters destroyed frigate after frigate without significant opposition, salvage crews started to capture the helpless strike craft.
The captured vessels themselves were moved to the nearest Chimera facility, in this case the Stratos shipyards. There, they were used to replace resources lost by raider attacks in the previous week. The hostile crews of those strike craft were interrogated, and fleet command soon had a list of enemy bases and concentrations. This list confirmed that it was a group of raider flotilla’s that had been working together to hit the Corporation.
In a series of swift and devastating strikes, this organization was annihilated. By november, production was recovering at steady pace, and at three facilities, workers even managed to raise output to 120% of intended production.
Year 5 – Back on Track
By all accounts, the fifth year of Chimera is seen as the best year the project experienced. The Corporation had an easy year in both foreign and internal affairs, and was able to concentrate its efforts on the creation of the new fleet. By now, one hundred percent of all Black Wolves, plus some fourty percent of the battlemages were assigned to safeguard the program. This has visible results, as no terrorist strikes or raids were executed after march that year. In that month, a subversive group was caught trying to steal a newly completed Ion Frigate. Eventually, they were handed over to the Roanian Inquisition, who offered to enlighten them as a sign of friendship between Roania and the Corporation.
At this point, carriers, support frigates and all corvette and fighter types were already in active production. In july, when the ‘Demeter’, ‘Isis’ and ‘Freia’ mining expeditions returned, the time was right to commence production of flak, torpedo, ion, field and marine frigates. The production of these frigates turned out to run very smoothly. This also meant that bigger weapons would now have to be taken to the facilities in order to arm the capital ships. A set of logistical procedures, involving Eagle Dropships, Rhinox Hoverdynes and the StarGate system, were activated to get the weapons and ammunition to the right location at the right time.
Year 6 – Shaila Gaalsien
Year six was a year in which little change in the production programs had been planned. According to the plans and briefings, the intention was to let production of carriers, frigates, strike craft and civilian vessels continue, while naval personnel would be given as much training with their new vessels as was possible. This became very clear when a direct Stargate connection was established between the Taegor Academy and the Sajuuk shipyards. Taegor was the biggest naval training facility at that time, run by Sobani kiithmen. This link enabled recruits to train with newly finished vessels on an almost daily basis, greatly enhancing the speed and flexibility of their education.
However, this was all overshadowed by the actions of a certain Shaila Gaalsien. Throughout history, the Gaalsien have always been considered ‘fundamentalists’, ‘zealots’, or even religious madmen. It had therefore been with some hesitation that the Corporation had taken upn the descendants of this kiith in their ranks. However, they still did so, and lived to regret it.
The Gaalsien were only very small in numbers, never more than a few thousand strong. However over the years, they managed to establish a significant powerbase in the Corporations’ political and religious system. This would not have been a problem, had it not been for the strange views of the Gaalsien regarding space travel. The Gaalsien still advocated their former faith, considering the world where they lived a punishment of God (Sajuuk). The world could only know violence, death and decease if those things were meant to humble us and prepare us for the afterlife, so they thought. Therefore, they considered it blasphemy to leave that ‘divine prison’ and travel to the stars.
In the year 126, Shaila Gaalsien, the leader of a Gaalsien faction that strongly pleaded for anarchy and chaos to ‘test the faith and dedication of us all before the gaze of Sajuuk’, appeared at the Vishna Planetary Docks’ outer perimeter. Somebody had informed the media something was about to happen, and they were present in large numbers. There, Shaila gave a speech, of which a part is quoted here:
...we walk this mortal plane, destined to pay for the errors of our ancestors. Sajuuk looks down on us and judges each and every one of us ... heathens are building a fleet of monstrosities here, trying to escape his Holy judgment and their own destiny. .... Never before has such a grave insult been expressed towards the allmighty Sajuuk
For an hour and a half, Shaila continued her rethoric, predicting that Sajuuk’s wrath would come down on the world, would the Chimera project be continued. Apparently, she believed this to such an extinct, that she was prepared to give her own life to fight the thing she kept referring to as ‘The Blasphemy’. When she finished, she and a hand full of her bloodbrethern attacked the marines that were guarding the perimeter, in a desperate attempt to disturb the fleet construction.
As Shaila was a trained swordsmistress, she was lethal witht he Katana. Twelve marines fell, but soon after, special forces arrived. While battlemages quickly neutralized her comrades, a Black Wolf sniper ended the life of Shaila. This whole event had been witnessed by the gathered press, and the Councils immediately feared that this incident could escalate and create strong negative feelings directed at Chimera. Fortunately, the opposite was true. The sight of the young Shaila murdering twelve men and women who were supposed to be on the same side, was the death blow for the Gaalsien. Their reputation as religious madmen was now confirmed by the image of Shaila slitting the throat of a 20 year-old marine, broadcasted live and in full color to the world. The Gaalsien were soon stripped of all their political power and functions, and never again managed to gain the status of anything more than a cult. This was largely because the Corporation decided to either fire or demote almost every Gaalsien in its service, except for those who had become battlemages*. As for Chimera, it got more support than ever. Anybody who worked on the project was now seen as one of the brave men and women that directed the Corporation into the next age, away from the dogma’s of the old world. The Vortex governmental propaganda, in the form of advertisment and commercials, exploited this viewpoint very succesfully. More on that topic can be read in the appropriate literature.
*Battlemage initiation rites include renouncing the kiith, and swearing allegiance to the battlemage Order instead. Non-kiith members do not have to pass this ritual, of course.
Year 7 – Secrecy
The seventh year was both very prosperous and very hectic. The production, training and constructionn activities related to Chimera went on as planned. The logistical system, responsible for the inflow of resources and labor, the transformation process and the output of spaceworthy vessels was functioning above expectation. The smoothness of production is mostly seen as a result of the leaders of the project. Admiral Paktu, Councelor Stone and most of all the Head Engineer of the project, Koran Manaan, were all geniuses in their own area of activity, and it is because of these men that many crises were resolved quickly.
On the other side, there was also some tension in the seventh year of construction. It all started out very well. In march, the first carrier of the year was completed, coincedently also the last carrier needed for the third fleet. To emphasize the symbolism of these numbers, the Catholic Church was asked to pick a name for the vessel and christen it. In a grand ceremony, Cardinal Aegeri, the highest ranking Catholic among the Utharians, baptised the ’Holy Spirit’. For days, the media covered this event. After the Shaila incident, this was a very well timed happening, showing the Corporations’ citizens that the higher powers were benevolent towards Chimera.
But then things started to go wrong. In august, a former employee of one of the top secret, classified project facilities stepped to the press. Without any time to prepare for such a disaster, the Councils saw themselves confronted with design specifications and weapon descriptions appearing in the news. Fortunately, the man who had betrayed his vows of silence, had only given his information to one single reporter, who was a cousin of his.
The reporter was quickly arrested when his employer realized it was much easier to co-operate with the intelligence services than to withstand them. During interrogation, he refused to give up the name of his contact. However, when he heared that whoever had informed him had violated a Mishkal oath, he quickly confessed.
His cousin was apprehended shortly after. Neither one of them was ever seen again. But, as a Mishkal oath cannot be broken without suffering the penalty of death, it will be quite clear what happened. The Vortex Corporation confiscated all the written and spoken media that contained mentioning of Chimera content and was also quick to release information that brought discredit to the three newspapers and two radiostations that had been involved in the incident.
Year 8 – Grandeur
The next 365 days started out with a very positive tiding. In a press conference held by Councelor Robert Stone, he informed the press the completion of the first battlecruiser. Construction of five of these vessels had started in the second year, but the Corporation had thought it better to keep this secret. Now, that was no longer needed. Also, Stone confirmed that the four other battlecruisers would be completed over the next six years. The population, that had seen hordes of small strikecraft and frigates being completed, could now rejoice, knowing that the Corporation was now capable of wielding one of the most powerful weapons in space.
The Stratos shipyards were prepared for the launch of this ship, the ’Pride of Uthar’. At the event itself, chairman Delendre of the High Council held a speech in which he both elaborated the current progress of the program, as well as inspiring the audience with words of glory. An extract of this speech can be read below:
’I would like to say something to all those who live and work in the Vortex Corporation. For eight years now, we have demanded much from you, your children and the people around you. For eight years, we have been dedicating resources and time to one of the greatest projects we will ever complete.
If we manage to finish this, we will have a fleet of five battlecruisers, dozens of frigates, destroyers, carriers and resource vessels. These glorious vessels of righteous fury will carry legions of fighters and corvettes, and together they will safeguard our lives and belongings for decades to come.
My friends, we know that we demand much from you. A fleet of the size we are constructing, would normally be seen only in nations much larger than ours. But I know we can do it. I know we are capable of it.
And I know that I am not one of the countless workers that physically labor to complete these new vessels, day after day. But I hope you will believe me when I tell you that every minute of time I can spare, is dedicated to creating a better climate, better circumstances, for the Chimera project.
Ladies and gentlemen, as of now we have completed two full fleets of vessels, safe for a battlecruiser to lead the second fleet. We have constructed eleven mining groups and seven battlegroups. Dozens, if not hundreds of Gun and Ion platforms have been launched. More and more pilots and crewmen leave the academies every day, ready to serve and protect. And I can also inform you of the fact that construction of Destroyers will start this very day.
My friends, the Chimera AMD procedures are a succes. We have had our problems, some minor, some substantial. And we will see more problems before we finish what we have started. But I sincerely hope that every one of those involved will fight for this project! We will complete this! We will show the world what we are capable of!’
During that last sentence, the huge Battlecruiser was detached from its docks and powered his engines. As the guests and gathered media watched, they saw the Cruiser slide past the observation deck, hundreds of meters of pure armor and firepower. And indeed, the presence of the vessel seemed to inspire people. Employee performance and motivation skyrocketed, share value increased, and as a result the entire economy of the many Vortex branches of activity got a boost. The magnitude of this increase in productivit is best shown by the following quote from a former Council member:
’It was completely asthounashing. We sat there in a conference room, and the propaganda people had fallen totally silent. They looked at the figures that were presented, and could not believe what they saw. The launch of one single ship and a speech had raised production and efficiency more than the cumulative effect of the last three propaganda campaigns had done. It was then that they realized the talent that councelor Delendre had for inspiring the masses. It was wonderful...’
Year 9 – Visitors
During may, the hyperspace gate of Sajuuk opened, and out came the ‘Defiance’ (an old Exile class destroyer) and the ‘Phoenix’, a CRM vessel. As a regional ally and trusted friend, the nation of CRM had been invited to watch the construction of new vessels at the Sajuuk shipyards. The people of CRM, known for constructing their huge living cities, had been granted a visiting period of several weeks, in which they were given the full guided tour through the shipyard. During that time, several incremental changes were made to the production process, following suggestions made by these new guests. When it appeared their advice proved valuable, the CRM crews were asked to participate in several brainstorming sessions concerning the type of missile to be used by the Destroyers.
Eventually, it was decided to use two types of weapons. First of all, so-called Mercury missiles would be installed on Destroyers to take down enemy strike craft or other fast-moving objects. Secondly, sets of Earthquake Missiles would be used to engage enemy capital ships and large stationary targets.
After the CRM delegation had left for Sisgardia again, a second group of outsiders arrived. Despite attempts to keep their presence a secret, rumours started to spread that these new visitors spoke the Dutch language, though nobody knew for sure. They had been entering the Void under the cloak of Forcefields that created black screens between floating generators, blocking the view on the foreigners. What they did or why they did it, was not known at that time. They were stationed in the Void, though far away from the shipyards and the Gate. All contact with them was forbidden, and ships that came too close were bombed with EMP charges and then dragged back to ‘secure’ zones. After a while, the crews of Sajuuk stopped caring about what was behind the black fields, and business returned to normal.
In the autumn of 129, the first squadrons of Minelayer Corvettes were completed. Combat officers immediately saw the potential of these vessels, and they were hastily crewed and deployed. In the next weeks, minefields were put in place around the Stratos shipyards and the Caelum hyperspace gate. These fields were intended to stop any spies, smugglers and raiders dead in their tracks. The only vulnerable point in the defence and security of the Chimera facilities were now the StarGates that conncected them. However, since the Raider incidents in the beginning years of the project, these gates were defended by Battlemages and Black Wolves, ensuring that no hostile being would be able to get through.
One other important fact about year nine, is that production hit its peak in this year. A final productivity of 107% of the planned numbers was measured, and for the remaining six years, productivity remained fairly constant at this number.
Year 10 – Living Cores
Frigates and smaller vessels used in the Chimera series use large bridge crews and a central computer to keep all systems co-operating in desired fashion. However, for Destroyers, Carriers and Battlecruisers this was not possible. Just as with the old supercapital ships of the Exile class, these vessels needed a living core, the brain of a person to connect the countless systems and subsystems.
When the first carriers and other large vessels were completed, the ‘pilots’ for these vessels were recruited from the ranks of those who had piloted similar craft in the Exile series. However, since the Chimera projects would surpass the number of ships in the Exile fleets, more of these living cores were now needed.
Corporte officials, pshychologists, sociotechnicians and behavioural experts started looking for the most suited candidates for the task at hand. In an ideal situation, so they argued, a pilot for a supercapital ship would have the following characteristics:
- A large intellect and information-processing capacity
- Rational judgment and co-operative spirit
- Absence of arrogance or cruelty in personality
- Excellent physical condition
- Knowledge of tactics, strategy and weaponry
- Diagnosis and problem-solving skills
The list went in and on. Eventually, it looked like the recruitors were looking for people that did not exist, until they thought about the battlemages. After an extensive analysis, it appeared that they were perfectly suited for the job. Immediately, several experienced battlemages volunteered, upon hearing that they could be given the chance to become ‘pilots’. One battlemage was connected with a Destroyer in order to run some tests and do a group of exercises.
Three weeks later, positive results started coming in. Apparently, the combination of battlemage and warship worked very well, and the trained mind and spirit of the battlemage were a large benefit to the efficiency of ship-performance. A new policy was set shortly after, which stated thatb each new NUP (Neurally Uplinked Pilot) had to have gone through at least basic battlemage training.
Note: a few years later, an academy was founded for the training of NU Pilots. Recruits were trained both by battlemages and ‘normal’ mentors, and the entire program was intended to ensute the best possible co-operation between ship, pilot and crew.
Year 11 – Gratitude
The eleventh year started out very well with the launch of two more Battlecruisers, and the prediction that all five fleets and fifteen battlegroups would be completed on schedule, with much of that owned to the slack capacity originally planned into the process, in order to counrter any inconvenient events.
Soon after the launch, the High Council asked all written media to publish a list of friends and allies of the Corporation. Some of them had contributed to the AMD Chimera procedures actively, and all of them had helped the Corporation indirectly by taking their responsibilities as allies and friends. The introduction of the article that came with it can be seen below:
~Announcement~
The Vortex Corporation would like to thank the following nations for their support and friendship in the years that are behind us. It is our wish that our employees are hereby reminded of the names of those who mean so much to us in our daily lives.
After that a list with dozens of nations from the SFN, SATO, CC and other organizations, as well as independant states was summed up. The article was received fairly positive, and a slight improvement of import and export records was measured in the weeks after its publication. However, this was not the only important event of that year.
In the Chimera facilities, marines had started exercising with the so-called Marine Frigates. These vessels were designed to be able to board and capture almost any vessel, even those of Mothership class. Media were given recordings of fully armored marines with heavy assault rifles, storming holographic enemy positions. Even the most sceptic reporters had to admit the performance of these battalions was quite impressive. The marines had been trained by battlemages and drill sergeants of the Black Wolfs to become masters of close combat, and the test data confirmed this. By the end of the year, each Marine Frigate that left the dock was immediately crewed with a marine battalion, and often these frigates were sent on exercises with Field and Torpedo frigates, in order to improve the synergy between various ship times.
Year 12 – Weaponry and modules
One of the reasons that such a large fleet could be constructed was the use of modular designs. Many ships had been constructed at a dock, while there weapons and a good portion of their subsystems was produced at a totally different facility. In the twelth Chimera year, when production of vessels was almost complete, procedures to fully integrate these systems with there ships were commenced.
From all over the Corporate holdings, weapons and equipment were put on transport to the correct facility. There, assembly line workers were shaped into teams that were each responsible for integrating the newly arriving parts in the approriate ships. Especially the long range beam cannons of the Battlecruisers got quite a lot of attention. The cruisers had been almost fully built at their own docks, except for these weapons. After installing the beam cannons of the first Cruiser, a field test showed that the weapon performed very well, and thus the other Battlecruisers were also equipped with it. During this period, the early construction of Carriers and Support Frigates proved its worth, as they were deployed on a large scale to haul modules, weapons and ammunition to the right location, under heavy escort from Pulsar Corvettes and Flak Frigates.
Many of the larger ships also posessed the capability of having modules attached to them. Though those would form potential weak points in a ships’ defence, the benefits were considerd to outweigh the disadvantages of such a setup. Several module types already were in construction, such as cloaking, sensor and construction systems, and others would soon follow in the coming years, when engineers had enough experience with Chimera vessels to design new systems.
Year 13 – Exercise
When the exercises of marine frigates with other frigate-types proved to improve efficiency and performance with significant amount, management decided to organize large fleet exercises in the fourteenth Chimera year. Allies from the SFN, SATO and several other groups were invited to a large area of space reserved for the war games, near the fifth planet of the Kharak Secundus System. Results between fleets varied, but on the whole, the simulations produced incredible results. Fleets that would have obliterated the Corporate fleets in the Exile days, were now humiliated in mere minutes. Of course, the defence council made sure that the most concinving war game victories were achieved over more or the less ‘neutral’ nations, in order to prevent close allies from feeling insulted. In fact, the exercises turned into a combined effort of Corporate allies, when Koran Manaan implemented an algorithm into the simulation computers that constantly teamed up neutral and insignificant nations against Corporte ships and their allies. The smaller nations realized that this was happening, but none of them protested or left the scene. After all, this could be the only opportunity they would get to observe these new fleets in battle.
Naturally, the crews of those fleets had orders to use much old tactics and constantly keep jamming signals that tried to get readings on their ships, so that only very little useful information ever reached places were the councils did not want it to be.
Year 14 – Maintenance
Now, the Chimera programs had one major problem. After all, ships that were produced in the second or third year, would be twelve years old by the time the entire fleet was completed. But, as in many things, modular design offered the perfect solution here. In february of this year, the final ships were completed. Instead of announcing this and organizing celebrations, every single Chimera vessel (including mining vessels) was called back to the docks. There, the craft received an update, were as much new technology replaced old components as possible. Hulls were extensively inspected en reinforced were necessary. Crews and weapons were subjected to exercises, simulations and even more exercises. This period of updating, reengineering and maintenance would take two years. And indeed, by the end of year fifteen the Corporation presented the world a huge fleet of top-of-the line vessels, each equipped with the best technology, weaponry and personnel available on the market.
Year 15 – Completion
The first eight months of this year were used to continue the maintenance and updating of Chimera vessels. In the meanwhile, several Explorer class vessels, plus large amounts of Leeches and Spider Drones, were constructed as support for the soon to be deployed Chimera fleet.
In november, one month ahead of schedule, the High Council publicly announced the completion of the Chimera fleet. Images of the huge warfleet, the mining groups and the battlegroups were broadcasted live and in full color, and on a large reception, heads of state from all over the universe were given the opportunity to join the Corporation in their celebrations. Mothers rejoiced as their sons returned home, engineers got drunk with their teammates to celebrate their succes, and fighter pilots made low altitude runs over the cities of the Corporation.
After a celebration period of nearly a week, it was time to attend to serious business. The entire Chimera force was mobilises, and different elements were given orders to move to their stations. Two fleets were directed to the Caelum system, two more to the Kharakian colonies. The fifth fleet was put into orbit above Sisgardia, while the various battlegroups were deployed to guard less significant assets, run patrols or escort mining expeditions.
Now, no more Exile vessels remained. Instead, the Corporation now had an ultramodern fleet, equipped with the latest technology and weapons. In the next years, this fleet would prove a dominant influence on the battlefield whereever the Corporation interfered. More about this subject can be read in the next chapter.
Chapter III – Supplement
Fleet numbers
The Vortex Corporation currently owns five fleets. One fleet normally contains the following vessels:
Capital ships
6 x Flak Frigate
6 x Ion Frigate
4 x Torpedo Frigate
4 x Support Frigate
3 x Marine Frigate
3 x Field Frigate
6 x Destroyer
3 x Carrier
1 x Battlecruiser
Strikecraft
18 Fighter Squadrons
5 x Scout squadron
5 x Bomber squadron
8 x Interceptor squadron
18 Corvette Squadrons
8 x Gunship squadron
8 x Pulsar Gunship squadron
8 x Minelayer Corvette squadron
The Vortex Corporation currently owns fifteen battlegroups. One battlegroup normally contains the following vessels:
Capital ships
3 x Flak Frigate
3 x Ion Frigate
2 x Torpedo Frigate
2 x Support frigate
2 x Destroyer
1 x Carrier
Strikecraft
7 Fighter Squadrons
1 x Scout squadron
2 x Bomber squadron
4 x Interceptor squadron
7 Corvette Squadrons
3 x Gunship
3 x Pulsar Gunship
1 x Minelayer Corvette
Each fleet is accompagnied by several squadrons of repair / salvage corvettes and probes, plus many capital vessels tend to carry a number of Leeches, just like Marine Frigates often carry Spider Drones to aid in ship boarding assaults. Also, a mining group is usually attached to a fleet, in order to supply it with resources for repair and replacement of assets. It should also be stated that the composition of battlegroups varies grately with their current mission. The layour for a battlegroup model above is a standardized model, that is used in less than 70% of situations.
Fleet specifications
Will be added soon
Corporate History IX – The SATO years
Chapter III – The AMD Chimera programs (121-136 AS)
----------------------------
----------------------------
Introduction
In the year 121, the Vortex Corporation re-instated the AMD, or Advanced Military Development, procedures. These procedures were designed to free large amount of cash, labor and assets to military projects. This had occured only once before, in the year 5, when the Corporation decided to make the ‘Hammer’ terradyne series their standard ground weapons (later replaced by the ‘Messiah’ hoverdyne series – red).
Several important events made it possible to activate AMD programs without suffering extraordinary losses and a decrease in market share value. First and foremost, there was the discovery of the Sajuuk shipyards. A scientific expedition recovered these shipyards on a mission to the Caelum system. After passing through an ancient hyperspace gate, they found the station in almost perfect state. Three years later, it was ready to begin production of vessels, effectively doubling the shipbuilding capacity of the Corporation. Secondly, it was around that time that the Vortex Corporation joined SATO. This provided the Corporation with an even higher degree of safety and economic benefit than before, and visibly reduced the average amount of hostile situations in which the VC got involved each year. Thirdly, the fact that a majority of councilmembers voted in favor of the project, was largely because of the effort of councilmember Robert Stone. Chairman of the Defence Council at that time, CEO Stone spent years to persuade his collegues of its benefits. Being the man responsible for the construction of the Stratos shipyards, which had become very profitable after their first eight years of service, Stone eventually managed to convince his fellow councilmembers.
The AMD procedures were initiated to facilitate the construction of a new line of spacebound war vessels, christened the Chimera series. Over the years, these vessels have proven very effective and efficient means of war, and management still recognizes the benefits that TVC enjoys from the decisions taken in the year 121. The Chimera series had been tested and analysed extensively in the five years before construction began, so when AMD funding was received, construction could start immediately. The initial ships in the Chimera class were:
Scout
Interceptor
Bomber
Gunship
Pulsar Gunship
Minelayer
Flak Frigate
Ion Frigate
Marine Frigate
Field Frigate
Torpedo Frigate
Support Frigate
Destroyer
Battlecruiser
Carrier
Mobile Refinery
Resource Collector
Probe
Gun Platform
Ion Platform
(Ship specifications can be found at the end of this chapter)
Leeches, Science Frigates, Explorers and Spider Drones remained in active service when the fleet was converted to Chimera standards. In later years, more ships were added to make the Chimera fleets more flexible and specialised. However, many analists have stated that this was in fact unnecessary, as the original Chimera ships were an excellent combination of vessels, that could fullfil any role on the field of battle. It is therefore assumed that the Corporation launched these later additions to the series for other reasons, such as high unemployment that needed to be eliminated, or the potential of making a profit in ship sales.
The design of the AMD programs was fairly simple. Over an estimated period of time, all vessels from the Exile class would be replaced by their Chimera equivalents. Exile vessels were decommisioned to provide the two Corporate shipyards with metal components and other resources, while their crews entered training programs and simulations to familiarize them with the new vessels. During the 15 years of AMD Chimera, all four fleets and twelve 1. The Sajuuk Shipyards, Caelum, orbit
2. The Stratos Shipyards, Kharak II, orbit
3. The Kharakian Colonial Naval Facilities, Kharak II
4. The White Asem Research Facility, Sisgaridia
5. The Vishna Planetary Docks, Sisgardia
6. The Hermes Facility Planetary Docks, Sisgardia
7. Classified
8. Classified[/i]
[b]Year 1 - Preparations
The first year was spent mostly on preparations. As the councils in Sisgardia debated and set policy for the upcoming events, deep space mining expeditions tripled their efforts and personnel was recruited on a previously unseen large scale. Surprisingly, the Corporation also hired workers from nations such as Tarasovka, Celeborne, DNL, Der Angst and several members of the Corporate Coalition. This was quite an unexpected move, considering the reclusive and secret nature of the proceedings. After all, in the same year it was announced that all eight facilities involved in the program, plus the logistical networks that connected them were considered restricted, top-secret areas for the duration of the project. Because of this, the hiring of foreign employees was perceived as a significant gesture of trust in the Corporations’ allies.
After seven months of extensive preparations, all the paper-work had been finished. Employees had been hired, trained and put on stand by. On the first of August, dozens of dropships and support frigates, loaded with employees and equipment, were brought to the correct locations. At the same time, a large portion of the Corporate military was deployed to ensure the safety and secrecy of the eight sites involved in construction. One month later, the mining fleets started coming in, and resources ordered abroad started arriving. The final target of constructing five fleets and fifteen battlegroups was set, and construction commenced.
On december 31, 121, the gathered Chairmen of the councils signed the documents that confirmed the initiation of Chimera. The most prominent councilmembers signing the papers were:
Simon Delendre, high council chairman
Nejra Paktu, foreign affairs council chairman
Robert Stone, defence council chairman
Marna S’jet, economic affairs council chairwoman
Nirwe Manaan, financial affairs council chairwoman
Robert Aegeri, religious affairs council chairman
Sar Tzu, elder council chairman
Of course, the official permission had been given some time before that. This time, however, the documents were signed in front of the media, and made the frontpage in almost every international paper. This resulted in a slight increase of stock value, which gave the Corporation a nice equity boost to start production with.
Year 2 – Epidemic
In the second year of construction, production proceeded very smooth. According to plan, work was first started on carriers and support frigates. Once those had been completed, they could be deployed in the construction process to expand maximum capacity even more. The only notable incident that occured was an epidemic among the crews working at White Asem. According to eye witnesses, many employees started to show symptons of something that closely resembled epilepsy, but was not exactly that.
When the media got word of this, the Corporation acted quickly. Passing an emergency bill, the High Council declared the entire area surrounding the White Asem facility G14, which is a code normally reserved for nuclear incidents. It effectively meant that Corporate marines secured a large perimeter around the base, prohibiting the media and other interested persons acces from the facility.
After a week, it became clear that production was slowed down significantly by this epidemic. Though corporate officials later confirmed that the decease was not lethal, it did put a lot of workers into the infirmery when it struck. Then, the media suddenly reported Taraskovyan craft landing at the base, unloading crates and personnel. Though nobody knew who they were or what they did, the epidemic was gone three days later, and work continued at normal. All those who had been present at the facility during the facility swore an oath of Mishkal, meaning they would prefer death over telling what happened there.
At the end of the year, both Sajuuk and Stratos reported meeting their production quota, meaning they both managed to deliver three carries and twelve support frigates, as well as crewing those vessels. The four other facilities reported producing just below their set targets, with an 84% ratio being the lowest statistic.
Year 3 – Progress
As far as history is concerned, the third year of production was a fairly uninteresting year. Production of carriers and support frigates proceeded, and more were completed by the month. In the period from may to october, all available resources were dedicated to the production of Resource Controllers and Mobile Refineries, as well as Probes to detect resources to mine. Dozens of vessels were completed, and shaped into mining expeditions that were sent out as soon as they could be crewed. According to accounts, the additional resources from these new expeditions were vital to the succes of Chimera. The events in the fourth year would have crippled the project, if it had not been for the large buffer supplies and slack capacity created by these miners.
It was also in this year that Decaughn Masari entered flight school at the Uthar Academy. At that time, he was just another student out of thousands, but his carreer would be an astonishing one. Decaughn was a young trainee, child of a Taraskovyan mother and a father with original Kiith blood. He entered flight school as soon as he reached legal age to do so. Eventually, he would break almost every record ever established by a fighter pilot. His speed, accuracy and agility in an interceptor are still legendary today, long after his death. Even to this day, he is the only fighter pilot that has ever brought down a frigate class warvessel single-handedly.
Year 4 – Pirates and Buccaneers
The first two months of year four went as planned. Most carriers, mining vessels and support frigates had been completed, and the next phase of construction commenced. This included the start of strike craft production. At each facility, huge construction bays started to spew out fighters and corvettes. Night after night, the Corporations’ denizens watched the exhausts of strike craft soaring through the dark skies, on route to their new stations.
In march, however, things went bad. A large resource convoy, consisting of twenty-four old Providence class resource collectors was lost. After it entered hyperspace from deep inside the Skya Nebula, nothing was ever heared of it again. Immediately, an assault fleet, consisting largely of Exile class ships, was sent to investigate.
After days of searching, thehy found the remains of the convoy. Thirteen vessels were completely missing, salvaged by whoever had attacked the convoy. The rest of the collectors had been destroyed, and amidst the debris, the search party found several Taiidani and Turanic vessels. After several weeks of investigation and analysis, intelligence services showed that rogue factions of these two races had joined forces after they had found out about the trade routes used to supply the Chimera facilities. When three days later an employee caught downloading ship designs from the Sajuuk mainframe was caught, it was the last straw. Rather than being caught, the traitor decided to detonate a pack of explosives rigged to his belt. The explosion killed the traitor, two marines and compromised two of the Sajuuk data pods.
At first, the Councils refused to believe their defence had been penetrated. However, they also knew something had to be done. Within two days, they had reached a decision. Both the Battlemage legions and the Black Wolf special forces were mobilised to protect the facilities. Also, all escorts protecting resource-carrying vessels were doubled. A month later, a mixed Taiidan / Turanic fleet was defeated by a large flotilla under the command of Fleet Admiral Paktu. Using old gravity wells, bought in haste from the Somtaaw, his crews managed to neutralize the enemy strike craft without a single shot. While Corporate fighters destroyed frigate after frigate without significant opposition, salvage crews started to capture the helpless strike craft.
The captured vessels themselves were moved to the nearest Chimera facility, in this case the Stratos shipyards. There, they were used to replace resources lost by raider attacks in the previous week. The hostile crews of those strike craft were interrogated, and fleet command soon had a list of enemy bases and concentrations. This list confirmed that it was a group of raider flotilla’s that had been working together to hit the Corporation.
In a series of swift and devastating strikes, this organization was annihilated. By november, production was recovering at steady pace, and at three facilities, workers even managed to raise output to 120% of intended production.
Year 5 – Back on Track
By all accounts, the fifth year of Chimera is seen as the best year the project experienced. The Corporation had an easy year in both foreign and internal affairs, and was able to concentrate its efforts on the creation of the new fleet. By now, one hundred percent of all Black Wolves, plus some fourty percent of the battlemages were assigned to safeguard the program. This has visible results, as no terrorist strikes or raids were executed after march that year. In that month, a subversive group was caught trying to steal a newly completed Ion Frigate. Eventually, they were handed over to the Roanian Inquisition, who offered to enlighten them as a sign of friendship between Roania and the Corporation.
At this point, carriers, support frigates and all corvette and fighter types were already in active production. In july, when the ‘Demeter’, ‘Isis’ and ‘Freia’ mining expeditions returned, the time was right to commence production of flak, torpedo, ion, field and marine frigates. The production of these frigates turned out to run very smoothly. This also meant that bigger weapons would now have to be taken to the facilities in order to arm the capital ships. A set of logistical procedures, involving Eagle Dropships, Rhinox Hoverdynes and the StarGate system, were activated to get the weapons and ammunition to the right location at the right time.
Year 6 – Shaila Gaalsien
Year six was a year in which little change in the production programs had been planned. According to the plans and briefings, the intention was to let production of carriers, frigates, strike craft and civilian vessels continue, while naval personnel would be given as much training with their new vessels as was possible. This became very clear when a direct Stargate connection was established between the Taegor Academy and the Sajuuk shipyards. Taegor was the biggest naval training facility at that time, run by Sobani kiithmen. This link enabled recruits to train with newly finished vessels on an almost daily basis, greatly enhancing the speed and flexibility of their education.
However, this was all overshadowed by the actions of a certain Shaila Gaalsien. Throughout history, the Gaalsien have always been considered ‘fundamentalists’, ‘zealots’, or even religious madmen. It had therefore been with some hesitation that the Corporation had taken upn the descendants of this kiith in their ranks. However, they still did so, and lived to regret it.
The Gaalsien were only very small in numbers, never more than a few thousand strong. However over the years, they managed to establish a significant powerbase in the Corporations’ political and religious system. This would not have been a problem, had it not been for the strange views of the Gaalsien regarding space travel. The Gaalsien still advocated their former faith, considering the world where they lived a punishment of God (Sajuuk). The world could only know violence, death and decease if those things were meant to humble us and prepare us for the afterlife, so they thought. Therefore, they considered it blasphemy to leave that ‘divine prison’ and travel to the stars.
In the year 126, Shaila Gaalsien, the leader of a Gaalsien faction that strongly pleaded for anarchy and chaos to ‘test the faith and dedication of us all before the gaze of Sajuuk’, appeared at the Vishna Planetary Docks’ outer perimeter. Somebody had informed the media something was about to happen, and they were present in large numbers. There, Shaila gave a speech, of which a part is quoted here:
...we walk this mortal plane, destined to pay for the errors of our ancestors. Sajuuk looks down on us and judges each and every one of us ... heathens are building a fleet of monstrosities here, trying to escape his Holy judgment and their own destiny. .... Never before has such a grave insult been expressed towards the allmighty Sajuuk
For an hour and a half, Shaila continued her rethoric, predicting that Sajuuk’s wrath would come down on the world, would the Chimera project be continued. Apparently, she believed this to such an extinct, that she was prepared to give her own life to fight the thing she kept referring to as ‘The Blasphemy’. When she finished, she and a hand full of her bloodbrethern attacked the marines that were guarding the perimeter, in a desperate attempt to disturb the fleet construction.
As Shaila was a trained swordsmistress, she was lethal witht he Katana. Twelve marines fell, but soon after, special forces arrived. While battlemages quickly neutralized her comrades, a Black Wolf sniper ended the life of Shaila. This whole event had been witnessed by the gathered press, and the Councils immediately feared that this incident could escalate and create strong negative feelings directed at Chimera. Fortunately, the opposite was true. The sight of the young Shaila murdering twelve men and women who were supposed to be on the same side, was the death blow for the Gaalsien. Their reputation as religious madmen was now confirmed by the image of Shaila slitting the throat of a 20 year-old marine, broadcasted live and in full color to the world. The Gaalsien were soon stripped of all their political power and functions, and never again managed to gain the status of anything more than a cult. This was largely because the Corporation decided to either fire or demote almost every Gaalsien in its service, except for those who had become battlemages*. As for Chimera, it got more support than ever. Anybody who worked on the project was now seen as one of the brave men and women that directed the Corporation into the next age, away from the dogma’s of the old world. The Vortex governmental propaganda, in the form of advertisment and commercials, exploited this viewpoint very succesfully. More on that topic can be read in the appropriate literature.
*Battlemage initiation rites include renouncing the kiith, and swearing allegiance to the battlemage Order instead. Non-kiith members do not have to pass this ritual, of course.
Year 7 – Secrecy
The seventh year was both very prosperous and very hectic. The production, training and constructionn activities related to Chimera went on as planned. The logistical system, responsible for the inflow of resources and labor, the transformation process and the output of spaceworthy vessels was functioning above expectation. The smoothness of production is mostly seen as a result of the leaders of the project. Admiral Paktu, Councelor Stone and most of all the Head Engineer of the project, Koran Manaan, were all geniuses in their own area of activity, and it is because of these men that many crises were resolved quickly.
On the other side, there was also some tension in the seventh year of construction. It all started out very well. In march, the first carrier of the year was completed, coincedently also the last carrier needed for the third fleet. To emphasize the symbolism of these numbers, the Catholic Church was asked to pick a name for the vessel and christen it. In a grand ceremony, Cardinal Aegeri, the highest ranking Catholic among the Utharians, baptised the ’Holy Spirit’. For days, the media covered this event. After the Shaila incident, this was a very well timed happening, showing the Corporations’ citizens that the higher powers were benevolent towards Chimera.
But then things started to go wrong. In august, a former employee of one of the top secret, classified project facilities stepped to the press. Without any time to prepare for such a disaster, the Councils saw themselves confronted with design specifications and weapon descriptions appearing in the news. Fortunately, the man who had betrayed his vows of silence, had only given his information to one single reporter, who was a cousin of his.
The reporter was quickly arrested when his employer realized it was much easier to co-operate with the intelligence services than to withstand them. During interrogation, he refused to give up the name of his contact. However, when he heared that whoever had informed him had violated a Mishkal oath, he quickly confessed.
His cousin was apprehended shortly after. Neither one of them was ever seen again. But, as a Mishkal oath cannot be broken without suffering the penalty of death, it will be quite clear what happened. The Vortex Corporation confiscated all the written and spoken media that contained mentioning of Chimera content and was also quick to release information that brought discredit to the three newspapers and two radiostations that had been involved in the incident.
Year 8 – Grandeur
The next 365 days started out with a very positive tiding. In a press conference held by Councelor Robert Stone, he informed the press the completion of the first battlecruiser. Construction of five of these vessels had started in the second year, but the Corporation had thought it better to keep this secret. Now, that was no longer needed. Also, Stone confirmed that the four other battlecruisers would be completed over the next six years. The population, that had seen hordes of small strikecraft and frigates being completed, could now rejoice, knowing that the Corporation was now capable of wielding one of the most powerful weapons in space.
The Stratos shipyards were prepared for the launch of this ship, the ’Pride of Uthar’. At the event itself, chairman Delendre of the High Council held a speech in which he both elaborated the current progress of the program, as well as inspiring the audience with words of glory. An extract of this speech can be read below:
’I would like to say something to all those who live and work in the Vortex Corporation. For eight years now, we have demanded much from you, your children and the people around you. For eight years, we have been dedicating resources and time to one of the greatest projects we will ever complete.
If we manage to finish this, we will have a fleet of five battlecruisers, dozens of frigates, destroyers, carriers and resource vessels. These glorious vessels of righteous fury will carry legions of fighters and corvettes, and together they will safeguard our lives and belongings for decades to come.
My friends, we know that we demand much from you. A fleet of the size we are constructing, would normally be seen only in nations much larger than ours. But I know we can do it. I know we are capable of it.
And I know that I am not one of the countless workers that physically labor to complete these new vessels, day after day. But I hope you will believe me when I tell you that every minute of time I can spare, is dedicated to creating a better climate, better circumstances, for the Chimera project.
Ladies and gentlemen, as of now we have completed two full fleets of vessels, safe for a battlecruiser to lead the second fleet. We have constructed eleven mining groups and seven battlegroups. Dozens, if not hundreds of Gun and Ion platforms have been launched. More and more pilots and crewmen leave the academies every day, ready to serve and protect. And I can also inform you of the fact that construction of Destroyers will start this very day.
My friends, the Chimera AMD procedures are a succes. We have had our problems, some minor, some substantial. And we will see more problems before we finish what we have started. But I sincerely hope that every one of those involved will fight for this project! We will complete this! We will show the world what we are capable of!’
During that last sentence, the huge Battlecruiser was detached from its docks and powered his engines. As the guests and gathered media watched, they saw the Cruiser slide past the observation deck, hundreds of meters of pure armor and firepower. And indeed, the presence of the vessel seemed to inspire people. Employee performance and motivation skyrocketed, share value increased, and as a result the entire economy of the many Vortex branches of activity got a boost. The magnitude of this increase in productivit is best shown by the following quote from a former Council member:
’It was completely asthounashing. We sat there in a conference room, and the propaganda people had fallen totally silent. They looked at the figures that were presented, and could not believe what they saw. The launch of one single ship and a speech had raised production and efficiency more than the cumulative effect of the last three propaganda campaigns had done. It was then that they realized the talent that councelor Delendre had for inspiring the masses. It was wonderful...’
Year 9 – Visitors
During may, the hyperspace gate of Sajuuk opened, and out came the ‘Defiance’ (an old Exile class destroyer) and the ‘Phoenix’, a CRM vessel. As a regional ally and trusted friend, the nation of CRM had been invited to watch the construction of new vessels at the Sajuuk shipyards. The people of CRM, known for constructing their huge living cities, had been granted a visiting period of several weeks, in which they were given the full guided tour through the shipyard. During that time, several incremental changes were made to the production process, following suggestions made by these new guests. When it appeared their advice proved valuable, the CRM crews were asked to participate in several brainstorming sessions concerning the type of missile to be used by the Destroyers.
Eventually, it was decided to use two types of weapons. First of all, so-called Mercury missiles would be installed on Destroyers to take down enemy strike craft or other fast-moving objects. Secondly, sets of Earthquake Missiles would be used to engage enemy capital ships and large stationary targets.
After the CRM delegation had left for Sisgardia again, a second group of outsiders arrived. Despite attempts to keep their presence a secret, rumours started to spread that these new visitors spoke the Dutch language, though nobody knew for sure. They had been entering the Void under the cloak of Forcefields that created black screens between floating generators, blocking the view on the foreigners. What they did or why they did it, was not known at that time. They were stationed in the Void, though far away from the shipyards and the Gate. All contact with them was forbidden, and ships that came too close were bombed with EMP charges and then dragged back to ‘secure’ zones. After a while, the crews of Sajuuk stopped caring about what was behind the black fields, and business returned to normal.
In the autumn of 129, the first squadrons of Minelayer Corvettes were completed. Combat officers immediately saw the potential of these vessels, and they were hastily crewed and deployed. In the next weeks, minefields were put in place around the Stratos shipyards and the Caelum hyperspace gate. These fields were intended to stop any spies, smugglers and raiders dead in their tracks. The only vulnerable point in the defence and security of the Chimera facilities were now the StarGates that conncected them. However, since the Raider incidents in the beginning years of the project, these gates were defended by Battlemages and Black Wolves, ensuring that no hostile being would be able to get through.
One other important fact about year nine, is that production hit its peak in this year. A final productivity of 107% of the planned numbers was measured, and for the remaining six years, productivity remained fairly constant at this number.
Year 10 – Living Cores
Frigates and smaller vessels used in the Chimera series use large bridge crews and a central computer to keep all systems co-operating in desired fashion. However, for Destroyers, Carriers and Battlecruisers this was not possible. Just as with the old supercapital ships of the Exile class, these vessels needed a living core, the brain of a person to connect the countless systems and subsystems.
When the first carriers and other large vessels were completed, the ‘pilots’ for these vessels were recruited from the ranks of those who had piloted similar craft in the Exile series. However, since the Chimera projects would surpass the number of ships in the Exile fleets, more of these living cores were now needed.
Corporte officials, pshychologists, sociotechnicians and behavioural experts started looking for the most suited candidates for the task at hand. In an ideal situation, so they argued, a pilot for a supercapital ship would have the following characteristics:
- A large intellect and information-processing capacity
- Rational judgment and co-operative spirit
- Absence of arrogance or cruelty in personality
- Excellent physical condition
- Knowledge of tactics, strategy and weaponry
- Diagnosis and problem-solving skills
The list went in and on. Eventually, it looked like the recruitors were looking for people that did not exist, until they thought about the battlemages. After an extensive analysis, it appeared that they were perfectly suited for the job. Immediately, several experienced battlemages volunteered, upon hearing that they could be given the chance to become ‘pilots’. One battlemage was connected with a Destroyer in order to run some tests and do a group of exercises.
Three weeks later, positive results started coming in. Apparently, the combination of battlemage and warship worked very well, and the trained mind and spirit of the battlemage were a large benefit to the efficiency of ship-performance. A new policy was set shortly after, which stated thatb each new NUP (Neurally Uplinked Pilot) had to have gone through at least basic battlemage training.
Note: a few years later, an academy was founded for the training of NU Pilots. Recruits were trained both by battlemages and ‘normal’ mentors, and the entire program was intended to ensute the best possible co-operation between ship, pilot and crew.
Year 11 – Gratitude
The eleventh year started out very well with the launch of two more Battlecruisers, and the prediction that all five fleets and fifteen battlegroups would be completed on schedule, with much of that owned to the slack capacity originally planned into the process, in order to counrter any inconvenient events.
Soon after the launch, the High Council asked all written media to publish a list of friends and allies of the Corporation. Some of them had contributed to the AMD Chimera procedures actively, and all of them had helped the Corporation indirectly by taking their responsibilities as allies and friends. The introduction of the article that came with it can be seen below:
~Announcement~
The Vortex Corporation would like to thank the following nations for their support and friendship in the years that are behind us. It is our wish that our employees are hereby reminded of the names of those who mean so much to us in our daily lives.
After that a list with dozens of nations from the SFN, SATO, CC and other organizations, as well as independant states was summed up. The article was received fairly positive, and a slight improvement of import and export records was measured in the weeks after its publication. However, this was not the only important event of that year.
In the Chimera facilities, marines had started exercising with the so-called Marine Frigates. These vessels were designed to be able to board and capture almost any vessel, even those of Mothership class. Media were given recordings of fully armored marines with heavy assault rifles, storming holographic enemy positions. Even the most sceptic reporters had to admit the performance of these battalions was quite impressive. The marines had been trained by battlemages and drill sergeants of the Black Wolfs to become masters of close combat, and the test data confirmed this. By the end of the year, each Marine Frigate that left the dock was immediately crewed with a marine battalion, and often these frigates were sent on exercises with Field and Torpedo frigates, in order to improve the synergy between various ship times.
Year 12 – Weaponry and modules
One of the reasons that such a large fleet could be constructed was the use of modular designs. Many ships had been constructed at a dock, while there weapons and a good portion of their subsystems was produced at a totally different facility. In the twelth Chimera year, when production of vessels was almost complete, procedures to fully integrate these systems with there ships were commenced.
From all over the Corporate holdings, weapons and equipment were put on transport to the correct facility. There, assembly line workers were shaped into teams that were each responsible for integrating the newly arriving parts in the approriate ships. Especially the long range beam cannons of the Battlecruisers got quite a lot of attention. The cruisers had been almost fully built at their own docks, except for these weapons. After installing the beam cannons of the first Cruiser, a field test showed that the weapon performed very well, and thus the other Battlecruisers were also equipped with it. During this period, the early construction of Carriers and Support Frigates proved its worth, as they were deployed on a large scale to haul modules, weapons and ammunition to the right location, under heavy escort from Pulsar Corvettes and Flak Frigates.
Many of the larger ships also posessed the capability of having modules attached to them. Though those would form potential weak points in a ships’ defence, the benefits were considerd to outweigh the disadvantages of such a setup. Several module types already were in construction, such as cloaking, sensor and construction systems, and others would soon follow in the coming years, when engineers had enough experience with Chimera vessels to design new systems.
Year 13 – Exercise
When the exercises of marine frigates with other frigate-types proved to improve efficiency and performance with significant amount, management decided to organize large fleet exercises in the fourteenth Chimera year. Allies from the SFN, SATO and several other groups were invited to a large area of space reserved for the war games, near the fifth planet of the Kharak Secundus System. Results between fleets varied, but on the whole, the simulations produced incredible results. Fleets that would have obliterated the Corporate fleets in the Exile days, were now humiliated in mere minutes. Of course, the defence council made sure that the most concinving war game victories were achieved over more or the less ‘neutral’ nations, in order to prevent close allies from feeling insulted. In fact, the exercises turned into a combined effort of Corporate allies, when Koran Manaan implemented an algorithm into the simulation computers that constantly teamed up neutral and insignificant nations against Corporte ships and their allies. The smaller nations realized that this was happening, but none of them protested or left the scene. After all, this could be the only opportunity they would get to observe these new fleets in battle.
Naturally, the crews of those fleets had orders to use much old tactics and constantly keep jamming signals that tried to get readings on their ships, so that only very little useful information ever reached places were the councils did not want it to be.
Year 14 – Maintenance
Now, the Chimera programs had one major problem. After all, ships that were produced in the second or third year, would be twelve years old by the time the entire fleet was completed. But, as in many things, modular design offered the perfect solution here. In february of this year, the final ships were completed. Instead of announcing this and organizing celebrations, every single Chimera vessel (including mining vessels) was called back to the docks. There, the craft received an update, were as much new technology replaced old components as possible. Hulls were extensively inspected en reinforced were necessary. Crews and weapons were subjected to exercises, simulations and even more exercises. This period of updating, reengineering and maintenance would take two years. And indeed, by the end of year fifteen the Corporation presented the world a huge fleet of top-of-the line vessels, each equipped with the best technology, weaponry and personnel available on the market.
Year 15 – Completion
The first eight months of this year were used to continue the maintenance and updating of Chimera vessels. In the meanwhile, several Explorer class vessels, plus large amounts of Leeches and Spider Drones, were constructed as support for the soon to be deployed Chimera fleet.
In november, one month ahead of schedule, the High Council publicly announced the completion of the Chimera fleet. Images of the huge warfleet, the mining groups and the battlegroups were broadcasted live and in full color, and on a large reception, heads of state from all over the universe were given the opportunity to join the Corporation in their celebrations. Mothers rejoiced as their sons returned home, engineers got drunk with their teammates to celebrate their succes, and fighter pilots made low altitude runs over the cities of the Corporation.
After a celebration period of nearly a week, it was time to attend to serious business. The entire Chimera force was mobilises, and different elements were given orders to move to their stations. Two fleets were directed to the Caelum system, two more to the Kharakian colonies. The fifth fleet was put into orbit above Sisgardia, while the various battlegroups were deployed to guard less significant assets, run patrols or escort mining expeditions.
Now, no more Exile vessels remained. Instead, the Corporation now had an ultramodern fleet, equipped with the latest technology and weapons. In the next years, this fleet would prove a dominant influence on the battlefield whereever the Corporation interfered. More about this subject can be read in the next chapter.
Chapter III – Supplement
Fleet numbers
The Vortex Corporation currently owns five fleets. One fleet normally contains the following vessels:
Capital ships
6 x Flak Frigate
6 x Ion Frigate
4 x Torpedo Frigate
4 x Support Frigate
3 x Marine Frigate
3 x Field Frigate
6 x Destroyer
3 x Carrier
1 x Battlecruiser
Strikecraft
18 Fighter Squadrons
5 x Scout squadron
5 x Bomber squadron
8 x Interceptor squadron
18 Corvette Squadrons
8 x Gunship squadron
8 x Pulsar Gunship squadron
8 x Minelayer Corvette squadron
The Vortex Corporation currently owns fifteen battlegroups. One battlegroup normally contains the following vessels:
Capital ships
3 x Flak Frigate
3 x Ion Frigate
2 x Torpedo Frigate
2 x Support frigate
2 x Destroyer
1 x Carrier
Strikecraft
7 Fighter Squadrons
1 x Scout squadron
2 x Bomber squadron
4 x Interceptor squadron
7 Corvette Squadrons
3 x Gunship
3 x Pulsar Gunship
1 x Minelayer Corvette
Each fleet is accompagnied by several squadrons of repair / salvage corvettes and probes, plus many capital vessels tend to carry a number of Leeches, just like Marine Frigates often carry Spider Drones to aid in ship boarding assaults. Also, a mining group is usually attached to a fleet, in order to supply it with resources for repair and replacement of assets. It should also be stated that the composition of battlegroups varies grately with their current mission. The layour for a battlegroup model above is a standardized model, that is used in less than 70% of situations.
Fleet specifications
Will be added soon