NationStates Jolt Archive

"Former, current, and we hope future friends of Titan:

"The Imperial Space Networking Cooperative respectfully requests permission to extend the grasp of the Iluvauromeni Sol Mass-Transit Network to Saturn via Titan Space.

"Following lengthy consideration and recent approval for additional funding by the Imperial Trade Conglomerate, the Cooperative would be pleased and honoured to further our commitment to civilian traffic between the major planetary systems of Sol. In doing so, we are currently pursuing avenues to ensure a physical link between the extant Earth-Mars Highway and Mars itself, ensuring the flow of freight from Earth to Mars in an almost-seamless route providing cheap, rapid transportation.

"The Mars-Vilya Elenosto Highway, completed just over eleven months ago, is now ready to accept traffic but is fiscally unsupportable without an active link to the Saturnian system.

"Titan, obviously, represents the only choice as the logical next stop en route to Jupiter beyond. The construction of the Highway is likely to considerably lower costs for the transmission of goods between Earth, Mars, and Saturn, and, due to advances in the propulsive technology used in the Highway system, the travel time between Mars and Jupiter is likely, initially, to be comparable to the travel time between Earth and Mars currently with the use of the Highway..."

~ IsnCo press release aired on INN Titan - a semi-independent local subsidiary of the Solar Imperial News Network (AKA INN Solar)

IsnCo Seeks to Strangle Iluvauromeni Competition with Highway Swoop for Titan

TITAN, MONDAY - With news that IsnCo (Imperial Space Network Cooperative), the ICEL's space industry leader, is set to press forward with it's plans for an orbital lifting mechanism for Mars still hot on the pages of the week's financial news vendors, plus the unprecedented but brief recent shutdown of the Earth-Mars Highway, one might be forgiven for thinking that IsnCo plans to steal all the headlines in Iluvauromeni economic circles.

And one might well be right: Titan, apparently, is the next target of the ambitious Sol Mass Transit Network which is IsnCo's flagship operation, according to a press release aired on fellow ITC-owned INN Titan.

With accusations already mounting at the Iluvauromeni Economic Court, IsnCo's future may not be as rosy as it's turnover suggests. IsnCo, the leader of the space industry in the Commonality, has only existed nine short years. Founded by the current Empress, Rialla ux-Rihad II, the company is committed to multimedia satelites, observational equipment for the military, and high-volume transportation.

It's major projects are the Sol Mass-Transit Network - a network which currently encompasses only Earth, Mars, and a single Iluvauromeni colony, Vilya Elenosto, generally at the belt between Mars and Saturn - and CSS Valiant, a supermassive freight and luxury passenger carrier. IsnCo also operates a small fleet of orbital freight vehicles, as well as owning license for the only major spaceport inside the borders of the Commonality, the IsnCo Nenya Stellar Terminal.

IsnCo is even rumoured to be in negotiations with the Tumnorean government to lease a small area of Mount Tumnore, which would provide it with a prime socket-site for an orbital elevator at Earth.

So where does such a new start-up gain the capital for such ambitious projects?

It's clear that having the Empress as your Chairlady does wonders, but the easy answer is far simpler: the Imperial Trade Conglomerate funds IsnCo. The Conglomerate has already stated it is willing to spend upwards of fifteen trillions over the next twenty years to attempt to gain IsnCo a major 'footup' in the Solar freight, transportation and communications industry, and, considering that the ITC effectively is the Iluvauromeni economy, it should come as no surprise that the supermassive Conglomerate is willing to punch well above the apparent weight of it's smaller subsidiary, IsnCo.

All is not rosy for the Cooperative, however. It continues to lose several hundred billion Relhames year on year, and has, as yet, failed to make a profit in any month of it's nine years of operations. It has a turnover of around sixteen billion Relhames a year - a turnover which, although slender in comparison to it's outlay, is expected to grow year on year for centuries to come, should it make good on it's promise for a mass-transit system for Sol.

Assuming the Economic Court doesn't step in first and swing the sword against it's seemingly anti-competitive activities. The issue is simple: IsnCo already has an unassailable market lead, and many prospective entrepeneurs seeking ITC funds to build up competition in the market are denied because they cannot provide an economic plan to compete with that of IsnCo.

The numerous cases brought continue to be debated.

~ source: Nenya Today electronic broadsheet

Scolopendran Independent News
"Because it sucks to be S.I.N.-less!"

Good evening. This is the 2000 hours Titan Standard Time edition of the financial news here on S.I.N.-Business, and I am Hentigh Baqua.

Our top story: In response to recent public requests by the Imperial Space Networking Cooperative, an ICEL-based merchantile interest, for access to Saturnspace for an expansion of their interplanetary 'highway,' Saturn Space Traffic Control Central held a public board meeting this morning as its officers discussed the issue. STC Central Chief Operations Officer Edward Khomeni opened the discussion with a frank estimate of STC's heavy workload and its projected increases, stating that a new transit hub would increase the STC's workload by at least two orders of magnitude. In debate between him and Chief Financial Officer Nathifah Clarke the point was brought up that a 'highway stop' in Triumvirate space could be a lucrative toll route, especially if the ISNC's plans to continue to Jupiter come to fruition. The requisite buildup in computing power and infrastructure would be paid off "within the year," Ms. Clarke said in response to a figure stated by Mr. Khomeni. Mr. Komeni retorted that such an optimistic return would only play out if ISNC's Highway user numbers meet the company's own expectations; recent service blackouts of the "theoretically tested" Earth-Mars Highway have made the largest mercantile interests "leery of trusting ISNC so far as to helping meet their hoped usage statistics."

STC's Combined Services liason, Lieutenant Commander N!gebe Schliemann, pointed out that the Services' opinion on ICEL is "mixed due to instability and past erratic actions." He went on to say that "what amounts to a mass driver capable of slinging ships interplanetary distances works both ways; if they can sling stuff to Vilya Elenosto then they can sling stuff with just as much force as us." While the TYCS is prepared for an event like that, the idea that such an event would be isolated would be "laughable," said the commander. For security reasons "as well as commonsense engineering" he recommended that STC not accept a Highway platform in intraRing space.

The STC Chief Executive Officer, Fukusaku Mary, tabled the debate by directing the COO and CFO to coordinate on studies comparing probable costs to "realistic" gains and asking LCDR Schliemann to assist with risk mitigation estimates. Mr. Khomeni replied that he would "get in touch with his opposite number" in ISNC and "get our engineers together to discuss what's going on." Ms. Clarke indicated she would "bring in the market study group [she has] on retainer" and initiate an "impartal third-party" analysis of several scenarios. With these statements Ms. Fukusaku adjourned the meeting and declined further comment, saying "I think the meeting speaks for itself. We're currently undecided because we don't know enough." Video of the full conference is available from our YutLink node at address shown below.

Shares in Saturn STC and the ports in its economic coalition are up only a few tenths of a point at the current point in trading. Market analysts suggest that traders are currently wary of speculating because of uncertainty both over Saturn STC's lack of a current strategy and the fiscal futures of ISNC.

In other news, Garage Industrialist Combine posted gains in market shares versus TME Industries in home appliances in the Scolopendran market, long a TME Industries stronghold. GIC spokesman Lester Korodyev said that GIC's strategy of making appliances networked to ease the effort of synchronizing cooking different items at once seems to have struck a chord with consumers. TME Industries Foods Division spokeswoman Vera Cook replied that GIC lacks the industrial capacity to mass-produce such items and went so far as to thank GIC for conducting market research for TME Industries. Shares of both companies went up with high volume for TME Industries with the expectation that networking upgrades will soon be available from the consumer-goods giant...

Rivette MI Corporation Sucked Into Economic Court Battle

NENYA, WEDNESDAY - The ongoing deliberations regarding industrial monopolies at the Iluvauromeni Economic Court took a decisive new twist today, as national aerospace and automotive leader Rivette MI Corporation was accused by Lady Justice Silur Devente-Menjda of "extreme anti-competitive behaviour".

Rivette MI Corporation, not initially the focus of the thus-far eighteen-month case, now stands accused by a petition of twenty-two thousand workers of rival firms to IsnCo of "deepening the monopoly in the strictest sense of selfish interest". While this is not technically in itself illegal, it is now likely that further Economic Court action is likely to examine the manner in which the Armed Forces license the use of MI technology to Rivette - and how Rivette in turn makes use of that license. Currently, only Rivette-approved engineers are allowed to be employed on any project utilizing the technology - including the planned Sol Mass Transit Network - which is already under fire in a seperate case brought against Rivette.

"The exclusive sub-license granted to IsnCo for the construction of it's MISATs, VECO drones, and the Earth-Mars and Mars-Vilya Elenosto Highways could be said to appear to be a strong example of over-monopolization of product in an economy intended to ensure equilateral oppurtunities for all businesses," Devente-Menjda further observed, before the Court adjourned Wednesday.

Both Rivette MI and IsnCo deny all wrongdoing.

The case continues.

~ Reproduced courtesy of the Turath Times financial broadsheet

IsnCo Denies Technical Fault in EMH, Set To Sue CSF For Damages

CSS VALIANT, WEDNESDAY - IsnCo leading officials aboard CSS Valiant, currently halfway through a passenger-focused cruise in high orbit above Saturn, confirmed Wednesday that the Earth-Mars Highway's recent shutdown was poorly carried through and ill-planned, but stated categorically that "a technical fault was not the reason for the shutdown."

IsnCo, however, further denied that the shutdown was in fact related to any activity it was pursuing, but rather was caused by extreme locality of AG drives - and that safety was the prime concern in the shutdown. IsnCo further confirmed that it will be seeking damages from the Commonality Space Force, laying the blame at the eight warships which Jumped into Trafalgar space recently.

"Mass indicators at the Mars terminus of the Highway detected high-energy AG activity within unacceptable range, and auto-shutdown the power relay systems along the Highway. As is commonly known... the AG-MI Interaction is a particular danger when proper measures are not taken. IsnCo received no warning from the CSF and fully intends to seek compensation on behalf of it's customers, to whom it extends deepest regrets for this marring of a previously entirely uncheckered service," the IsnCo spokeswoman, Lesharra Duponte announced at the press conference held aboard Valiant.

She further remarked that the swift shutdown of the system "proved the versatility and endurability of the system."

"Nonetheless, as a result of this incident, IsnCo plans to perform a series of upgrades to the Highway, improving the overall acceleration arc while retaining current prices."

It is not expected that the upgrades will interrupt service.

However, the IsnCo representative refused to accept suggestions that it's plans to extend the Mass Transit Network outwards to Titan may have been scuppered following remarks made at the recent Saturn Space Control Centre public board meeting reported on Scolopendran Independent News, with Duponte saying, "IsnCo is encouraged that... ambitious plans are being regarded as ambitious rather than being seized with a gusto unfitting the realities of business," going on to add that, "investors might well take heed of the long-time stability of the Iluvauromeni market as an indicator of the tenacity of it's long-term planning."

~ Reproduced courtesy of the INN Titan Electronic News Service

Saturn STC Central Press Conference
Recorded at 1100 TST, Cheddar Room, Port Aurora Asterix-Cinq

[Saturn STC Public Relations Officer Sinopa Kaylis stands behind a podium made of dark wood bearing the Saturn STC insignia, a silhouette of Saturn viewed at an angle with the rings forming part of a six-pointed star or flower made of ellipses much like the archetypical Bohr atom model. She has slightly dark skin with a mildly reddish tint and short, businesslike black hair; she looks to be equal parts Melanesian and well-tanned Caucasian and wears a simple medium-blue business suit.]

PRO KAYLIS:We've received several questions from our shareholders concerning the potential of a deal with the Imperial Space Networking Cooperative and how an extension of their interplanetary Highway fits into our business strategy, if at all. Since See-Ee-Oh Fukusaku directed See-Oh-Oh Khomeni and See-Eff-Oh Clarke to work together on trade studies, we've also been getting questions about that, from operators and clients as well as shareholders. We at Saturn Ess-Tee-See greatly value all of our business partners and associates and so now that some preliminary results have come in, we're happy to share them now with you all. If we could dim the lights please...
[lights dim]
Thank you, that's excellent.

First, the bottom line. Ms. Clarke's initial report, dated yesterday, says that her market analysts started with several different scenarios: an intraRing Highway station, an extraRing Highway station, and a station outside of Saturnspace--outside of Saturn's sphere of influence.
[a holographic display appears behind and to her left, showing a simplified schematic of the Saturnian system. Points lie inside, outside, and far outside the thin circle representing the Ring habitats]
Taking into account safety issues, potential damages due to accidents and stoppages, their model indicated an extraRing station would be the best location. The chance of accidents would be very low, any that did happen would be in the relatively sparse extraRing traffic environment and not very damaging, and we would still have all the benefits of establishing a toll at that station. Using that as a starting point, the Financial Office ran through scenarios where the station would be operated jointly by Saturn Ess-Tee-See and Isn'k, or operated solely by Isn'k with Ess-Tee-See oversight and traffic fees. With known efficiency boosts from other parts of the Highway, the latter was found to be most profitable as the savings offered by the Highway in terms of fuel costs to end users would allow us to generate revenue and above-standard profit on tolls to Isn'k even after Isn'k charged the end user plus fee. It would also establish a direct competitor to GateCorp of Berserker, leading to competition where Saturn Ess-Tee-See is in a position to both capitalize on market forces and reduce the cost for the consumer.
[display disappears, lights come back up]
Now, the technical side. Taking into account the need to guide both inward and outward Highway traffic in addition to increased innerspace traffic due to a larger percentage of Solar customers being able to access it would require a dramatic increase in both computing power and observational capability. While opting out of the actual construction costs of the station outside of some mild headhunting work to look for local contractors, this increase in infrastructure would of course increase operating costs and cut profits while revenues retain the current growth model during the construction period. Mister Khomeni reports that is simply an unavoidable result of working with Isn'k; on the other hand, he also reports that it would give Saturn Ess-Tee-See an opportunity to modernize ahead of the current upgrade cycle and take advantage of several new technologies and methods that would cut overhead. He concludes that the technical side of working with Isn'k would be well within our means and would be no different from the upgrade cycle market dips we're all used to. His report does retain some concern with the 'AG-MI Interaction' that shut down the Earth-Mars Highway, given that Saturn hosts many different kinds of drives and if particular drives cause a problem it would make the Highway service intermittent at best due to the limitations of Isn'k's technology.

After taking these into account Ms. Fukusaku, in line with Saturn Ess-Tee-See's ironclad commitment to safety, has decided to request from the Imperial Space Networking Cooperative a report concerning the recent AG-MI interaction that caused the last service interrupt of the Highway, technical reports concerning this interaction and exactly when it occurs, risk evaluation and mitigation plans on how this interaction will be resolved, and a system test plan to ensure any new Highway station meets our stringent safety standards with any and all drives that pass through Saturnspace. A final decision will be made based on the content of these reports and any future testing.

If there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Thank you all for your time.

[OOC: Little placeholder for an IC post to come in a little bit when I'm more awake - first, though, as I'm sure you've forgotten, Scolo: the MI-AG Interaction was established as a limiting factor way back to prevent my ever having ships with MI/AG combination drives (which would put them way beyond the maneuverability in-atmosphere of any competition that I can think of). To establish this, we arranged OOCly and then carried through ICly a ToY-to-EOTED sale of a gravitic engine, which was outfitted on an ill-fated colony ship which exploded quite spectacularly in high Earth orbit as it attempted to kick in it's gravitic engine while it's MI propulsors were still running 'hot'. In fact, if I recall, the AG engine came from either Scolopendra or Cetagenda. I suspect the idea may have originated with The Territory, as we were all sat around on IRC discussing techwank fairly often back then at the time.

EOTED and the (and, since EOTED was a ToY member back then, the other) ToY nations exchanged sensor data shortly thereafter to ensure that reactions between EOTED warships and other ToY vessels did not occur. Essentially, the effect is only an issue with primitive gravitic engines (such as those on the eight new starships currently near Trafalgar, which, incidentally, are the first truly gravitic ships produced by the Iluvauromeni, and probably the last, since the tech doesn't offer any advantage over existing drives), usually at extremely close range (yet another reason why ICEL vessels are almost exclusively designed for extreme-range assaults, since Dor Daedoloth also used AG vessels), and, probably, equally primitive MI propulsors.

There have been no more recorded cases of the Interaction (although a certain suggestion for a design-path for an anti-Sky Furnace weapon springs to mind), but the loss of life (around six thousand, if I recall) was sharp enough to ensure exceedingly over-zealous safety laws (and provide an IC reason as to why the Iluvauromeni would never pursue the otherwise obvious MI-AG combination technology).

I'll repost most of this ICly in a bit, as I said before. :)]

(OOC: Hadn't forgotten at all. Problem is we never got around to fixing it.)

{Login accepted. Welcome, Your Majesty.
{MESH-HS Corporate Data Squirt Shell Service Ready.
{User -> Server - [start] attch "AGMIInteractions M-Packet" @ "IsnCo-541-221-83-datanodeAlpha"
{User -> Server - set auth 'PriHigh' by 'RiallaAlpha' auth {'LittleLambsDrinkCoffeeButCowsDrinkCola'
{User -> Server - autort by 'file header' ; trckrt ; cnfm [fin]
{Server -> User - Have a pleasant day. Thank you for using the MESH-HS Corporate Data Squirt Shell Service.
{Server -> User - Sending... Tracking...
{___Vilya Elenosto Node 411-A --> INN Titan Private Array 1 {trusted associate certificate status: verified} --> Saturn STC
{Server -> User - Arrival projection date confirmed: >timestamp goes here<. Further services?
{User -> Client - [start] negatory ; logout [fin]



Note: Last update DE 3, June.

>Much gumpf on the physics of the interaction.<

[b]...but it would appear that the risk of Interaction is directly proportionate to the efficiency of both the magnetic impetus device and the gravitic device employed. Range of effect is also minimal. It is worth noting that the Earth-Mars Highway has functioned correctly for nearly a year, now, with no accidents caused by the Interaction. Since Federation of Sentient Peoples warships have utilized the Highway on special permission, and their drive systems were once categorized as 'high risk' to our magnetic impetus systems (and, potentially although unconfirmed, vice versa) it would seem clear that any effect is potentially directly related to

a) Remarkably close proximity;
b) Very particular interaction of the AG field with the MI propulsors;
c) Primitive MI-field generation systems.

[OOC: Just, basically, the nub of the matter, since the rest would be SO boring, and, if it were a MAJOR problem for anything but me combining the two systems, then the Earth-Mars Highway would have already gone boom. And it hasn't. And I like continuity. *grins*

I thought about a load of baloney science for a while, but, meh, what's the point in that? :)]

Scolopendran Independent News
"Because it sucks to be S.I.N.-less!"

--News Search: My Portfolio--

Shares of Saturn STC are up slightly with the announcement that STC has authorized the Imperial Space Networking Cooperative to build an extension of their interplanetary Highway system inside the Saturnian sphere of influence. There was some debate on the trading floor concerning ISNC's future fiscal prospects given the possibility of an antitrust suit being leveled against it in Commonality courts as well as ISNC's decision to sue the Commonality's spacy for the maneuvers that shut down the Earth-Mars Highway a short time ago. Saturn STC's public relations officers were quick to point out that they hope to forge a profitable working relationship with ISNC and the Earth-Mars Highway has been a proven revenue-generator.