NationStates Jolt Archive

General O'Neill had seen the figures. He knew of the problem. Three small moons was plenty of space when the colony had been a few million strong, but now, it was approaching three billion...There simply wasn't enough room. He'd talked to T.G.I. Bob about it, and he had agreed. The civilians would be moved, leaving the Jovian territories as military bases. The staryards and mining colonies would be operated from the existing bases, or possibly a new station constructed in orbit above The Silver Turtle. All that was needed now was a few suitable systems close to one another. A fleet was already under construction to transport the populace...

...And now they had a place to go. The exploratory missions he'd sent out had turned up three close systems with habitable planets, and other nearby "dead" systems, planets with an acceptable gravitational strength, entirely devoid of an atmosphere. If the need arose, those planets could be terraformed, but currently there were plans for observatories and weapon testing facilities there.
All in all, seven systems had been claimed by the mission, beacons marking the Ineffable Empire's claim to a volume of space 12 light years by ten by five. The systems had been scoured and all astronomical maps checked; they were uninhabited and unclaimed. Any ship now straying into the territory would receive an automated message telling them to turn back, that this space had now been claimed.

Open Broadcast to all spacefaring nations of the galaxy
Greetings; you may or may not know me, but whether you do I care not. I am here to tell you that the systems at these co-ordinates [the system's coordinates flash up on the screen] are no longer open territory. They have been claimed by the Ineffable Empire, and are to be the home of the majority of Leda Colony's civilian populace. Thank you for your time.

OOC: Here's a map of the Seven Systems, as I've decided to call the territory.
Key:
Pink=stars
Cyan=Habitable rocky planets
Red=Uninhabitable rocky planets
Blue=Gas giants
Green dots next to gas giants=Habitable moons
And I can't be bothered to show comets, uninhabitable moons, asteroids, general space junk etc. (or at least, not now. This was a two minute GIMP job. It will be updated when I get around to naming everything.)

http://aa.1asphost.com/AllyG/mapsevensystems.jpg

Aboard the transport ship the IS Noah
A attendant approached a jittery looking man.
"Sir? The first transport fleet is ready to depart. Do you wish your window transparent?"
"No, I think I'll be fine, thank you miss. Remind me, how many people are on this ship?"
"Each ship carries half a million civilians, and we've built one thousand ships. They are all designed to carry construction materials and prefabricated dwellings also, to get the new colonies off the ground. Five hundred are departing now, and the others will be leaving in two weeks when the first lot return. You have nothing to worry about."
"Eh, I thought the slipstream travel meant it only took a few minutes?"
"Yes, however for ease of transition a few weeks for em- and debarkation."
"How long will the whole thing take?"
"Well, moving two point six billion people isn't easy, but with a five hundred ships moving a total of two-hundred and fifty million people every two weeks, it will take eleven trips total."
"Only two-point-six? But there are over two-point-eight billion Ledans..."
"When you subtract the number who will be needed to live and work here, keeping our current outposts active, as well as those serving on ships, in mining facilities, in staryards, it comes to about two hundred million. For most of them their families will be moving, but as you said with slipstream The Seven Systems are only a few hours away at the most."
"What about protection? We must be a prime pirate target."
"Ten heavy cruiser battle groups have been assigned to the escorting of the ships. We already have significant forces in the Systems, as well as increasing numbers of automated defence drone sweeps as our presence is increased in the area. We are perfectly safe."
"Oh, good. Actually, I think I would like to look out my window..."

The General looked out at the parking swarm, where hundreds of assorted ships floated, waiting for the next departure to the Seven Systems.
"How many more trips?"
"Another five sir. By the way, aren't you worried that e haven't named all the major bodies yet?"
"Only slightly. But what's wrong with living on a nameless lump of rock? Amoebas do it all the time."
"Yeeeess..."