Ma-tek
19-09-2005, 04:23
Aglar grunted as he reviewed the message sent to the High King by Martian Aerospace Control - the only response to Vilya Elenosto's request for permission to deploy Trafalgar. He was also well aware that a communication would be on it's way to him, by now, from said High King.
He presumed it would include laughter. Semir was somewhat odd of late; not so haughty as he had portrayed himself in the earlier days of the Commonality. Aglar suspected that he was relaxing - and tried not to consider it a weakness. That could be dangerous. Even though Semir-randil was most definitely an ally - indeed, a friend.
Aglar had hoped that the message might attract some attention - but, on the other, it was probably preferable that it hadn't. And he knew what the official government response would be.
So he gave the order.
* * *
It didn't take long for Trafalgar to be deployed, in the end. The operation had been planned for some time, and as such, the asteroid itself had been fitted with - external - PG patterning nodes that, combined with a sufficiently large energy source and a good chunk of technical wizardry on the part of the ASIs and techheads, constituted a temporary T-drive.
Temporary primarily because Trafalgar's 'batteries' could only take the energy load required once. Then they would need to be replaced - and in all likelihood, the patterning nodes would be rendered useless as well. It was a one-off method, used purely out of urgency.
Whatever the urgent reason was, nobody was actually saying. Scuttlebutt on Trafalgar itself - which was already inhabited, if not technically active - was that it was something to do with the United Trade Republic of Santa Barbara.
But that, of course, amounted to mere heresay. Nobody could know for sure.
Except one Rear-Admiral Samuel Saldana-Rihad.
Saldana-Rihad was not a particuarly common name, although the Saldanas had been growing in political strength for about fifty years now. Alliances between Great House Rihad and House Saldana - Saldana having always been a minor House, ever since the Saldana Tribe had been subsumed by the Empire of the Eternal Flame around 1522f.e. - were becoming increasingly common. Had been, for about twenty years.
Samuel Saldana-Rihad was the youngest ever person to attain his rank. He was distinctly proud of that fact - and even prouder to be appointed the Technical Director of the new Stellar Intelligence Division of the Commonality Space Force...
...as well as the command of the new 5 'Ares' Vilya Elenoston Squadron. New ships, old crew. There were no new assignments direct from the Academies on Earth - every single commissioned or non-commissioned officer on all twenty-six warships was a seasoned officer: all two hundred of them.
Samuel had insisted on that.
He also knew the agenda behind the rapid deployment, but he wasn't about to spill it - young though he was, he had obtained his lofty position in the VESF for a reason.
He wasn't an idiot.
* * *
Polar areostatic orbit, 76thou klicks altitude
When it happened, it happened slowly, even though the deployment of Trafalgar itself was rapid. A low-intensity gamma ray burst - cleaner than the average Iluvauromeni instantaneous translation - announced the arrival of the Orbital shortly before the whitelight burst. And then Trafalgar hung there, her position held with constant energy expenditure. It was energy-expensive, but clearly judged a requirement.
That phase of the deployment, obviously, was, to outside observation, instant. But the remainder was, in fact, not that fast. CSF supply tugs arrive over the next ten hours, deploying a veritable armarda of satelite objects around the newly-arrived Orbital, carefully laid out.
The intent is clear: it's a sensory observation grid, providing, potentially, around 97% coverage in a outwards sphere around Trafalgar. Interesting energy signatures suggest several of the objects are fitted with some variant of fusion reactor, suggesting a need for a bit more energy than simple observation. Also of note are several hundred small, inert metallic objects deployed several kilometers away, on the northern axis of the Orbital - these appear to communicate with Trafalgar in cycles, each cycle of silence lasting about eight hundred milliseconds.
And last of all comes the promised Squadron, which Transitions into stellar space, ahead of Mars and inside it's orbital trajectory, on a decellerative arc to rendezvous with Trafalgar. Their course suggests that they'll come to a particuarly efficient-looking relative 'stop' in a parade-ground formation around the Orbital. And their gunports are sealed, with no electronic signature detectable: meaning that they're not even combat-ready (at least offensively).
* * *
VESF Deploys Command Outpost To Martian Orbit
MARS, SUNDAY - During a ten hour operation Sunday evening (Iluvauromeni Standard Time), the Vilya Elenoston Space Force deployed it's new command outpost, Trafalgar, to Martian Space.
Commonality Space Force brass hailed the deployment as a "monumental achievement," complimenting the team of engineers - headed up by noted officer Lieutenant Commander Davar Saldana - for "applying mobile thinking to a stationary problem."
That comment was no doubt in relation to the fact that Trafalgar was deployed via a single instantaneous translation from Vilya Elenosto to Mars, with energy supplied by specially constructed supplimentary generators - a feat considered impossible by Iluvauromeni engineers just six months ago. In the end, the problems inherant in moving a mass intended to be stationary proved much simpler to solve than expected, but Rear Admiral Relata Saldana-Rihad stressed that "the engineers have worked exceedingly hard to ensure the safety of all involved."
In the end, the VESF was so confident in it's ability to deliver the goods that it completed the deployment with personnel already in place - a decision some are already questioning as "gung ho" and "irresponsible." The VESF did not pass comment on such claims.
Civilian observation assets have reported that CSF support vessels completed the operation, putting into place vital sensory assets to ensure the safety of Trafalgar's crew, and it is expected that the Orbital will go fully 'active' within twenty four days.
~ Source: Iluvauromeni Military Review ezine
He presumed it would include laughter. Semir was somewhat odd of late; not so haughty as he had portrayed himself in the earlier days of the Commonality. Aglar suspected that he was relaxing - and tried not to consider it a weakness. That could be dangerous. Even though Semir-randil was most definitely an ally - indeed, a friend.
Aglar had hoped that the message might attract some attention - but, on the other, it was probably preferable that it hadn't. And he knew what the official government response would be.
So he gave the order.
* * *
It didn't take long for Trafalgar to be deployed, in the end. The operation had been planned for some time, and as such, the asteroid itself had been fitted with - external - PG patterning nodes that, combined with a sufficiently large energy source and a good chunk of technical wizardry on the part of the ASIs and techheads, constituted a temporary T-drive.
Temporary primarily because Trafalgar's 'batteries' could only take the energy load required once. Then they would need to be replaced - and in all likelihood, the patterning nodes would be rendered useless as well. It was a one-off method, used purely out of urgency.
Whatever the urgent reason was, nobody was actually saying. Scuttlebutt on Trafalgar itself - which was already inhabited, if not technically active - was that it was something to do with the United Trade Republic of Santa Barbara.
But that, of course, amounted to mere heresay. Nobody could know for sure.
Except one Rear-Admiral Samuel Saldana-Rihad.
Saldana-Rihad was not a particuarly common name, although the Saldanas had been growing in political strength for about fifty years now. Alliances between Great House Rihad and House Saldana - Saldana having always been a minor House, ever since the Saldana Tribe had been subsumed by the Empire of the Eternal Flame around 1522f.e. - were becoming increasingly common. Had been, for about twenty years.
Samuel Saldana-Rihad was the youngest ever person to attain his rank. He was distinctly proud of that fact - and even prouder to be appointed the Technical Director of the new Stellar Intelligence Division of the Commonality Space Force...
...as well as the command of the new 5 'Ares' Vilya Elenoston Squadron. New ships, old crew. There were no new assignments direct from the Academies on Earth - every single commissioned or non-commissioned officer on all twenty-six warships was a seasoned officer: all two hundred of them.
Samuel had insisted on that.
He also knew the agenda behind the rapid deployment, but he wasn't about to spill it - young though he was, he had obtained his lofty position in the VESF for a reason.
He wasn't an idiot.
* * *
Polar areostatic orbit, 76thou klicks altitude
When it happened, it happened slowly, even though the deployment of Trafalgar itself was rapid. A low-intensity gamma ray burst - cleaner than the average Iluvauromeni instantaneous translation - announced the arrival of the Orbital shortly before the whitelight burst. And then Trafalgar hung there, her position held with constant energy expenditure. It was energy-expensive, but clearly judged a requirement.
That phase of the deployment, obviously, was, to outside observation, instant. But the remainder was, in fact, not that fast. CSF supply tugs arrive over the next ten hours, deploying a veritable armarda of satelite objects around the newly-arrived Orbital, carefully laid out.
The intent is clear: it's a sensory observation grid, providing, potentially, around 97% coverage in a outwards sphere around Trafalgar. Interesting energy signatures suggest several of the objects are fitted with some variant of fusion reactor, suggesting a need for a bit more energy than simple observation. Also of note are several hundred small, inert metallic objects deployed several kilometers away, on the northern axis of the Orbital - these appear to communicate with Trafalgar in cycles, each cycle of silence lasting about eight hundred milliseconds.
And last of all comes the promised Squadron, which Transitions into stellar space, ahead of Mars and inside it's orbital trajectory, on a decellerative arc to rendezvous with Trafalgar. Their course suggests that they'll come to a particuarly efficient-looking relative 'stop' in a parade-ground formation around the Orbital. And their gunports are sealed, with no electronic signature detectable: meaning that they're not even combat-ready (at least offensively).
* * *
VESF Deploys Command Outpost To Martian Orbit
MARS, SUNDAY - During a ten hour operation Sunday evening (Iluvauromeni Standard Time), the Vilya Elenoston Space Force deployed it's new command outpost, Trafalgar, to Martian Space.
Commonality Space Force brass hailed the deployment as a "monumental achievement," complimenting the team of engineers - headed up by noted officer Lieutenant Commander Davar Saldana - for "applying mobile thinking to a stationary problem."
That comment was no doubt in relation to the fact that Trafalgar was deployed via a single instantaneous translation from Vilya Elenosto to Mars, with energy supplied by specially constructed supplimentary generators - a feat considered impossible by Iluvauromeni engineers just six months ago. In the end, the problems inherant in moving a mass intended to be stationary proved much simpler to solve than expected, but Rear Admiral Relata Saldana-Rihad stressed that "the engineers have worked exceedingly hard to ensure the safety of all involved."
In the end, the VESF was so confident in it's ability to deliver the goods that it completed the deployment with personnel already in place - a decision some are already questioning as "gung ho" and "irresponsible." The VESF did not pass comment on such claims.
Civilian observation assets have reported that CSF support vessels completed the operation, putting into place vital sensory assets to ensure the safety of Trafalgar's crew, and it is expected that the Orbital will go fully 'active' within twenty four days.
~ Source: Iluvauromeni Military Review ezine