Diaries of an Officer 1 -Background

[Flash55]

Here follows an AAR of unknown length. Part game/part fiction.Enjoy.

Since my retirement from EarthFleet,I have faced several years of legal battles to allow my diaries to be published. Although the days of military rule have now passed, censorship is still with us. Despite winning my case,much cannot still be revealed,supposedly in the interests if security.So be it.

First a reminder of our history,for those too young to remember.

After the year 2000, environmentalism became the dominant force on Earth. The unintended consequences were low levels of technological advance and food shortages. International unrest led to the resource wars of 2300-2387. Several dominant states acquired control over 80% of the Earth's resources. The remainder were left to starve. In desperation, the coalition of disadvantaged nations began another, more brutal war.65% of the Earth's population perished. This ended in 2417. Governments had ceased to exist and the vacuum was filled by a military council.Earth was placed under martial law and order was finally restored in 2438. 138 years of conflict had left the Earth desolate and technologically backward. The council ordered a programme of urgent research to determine a strategy for the planet; 2 years of analysis suggested that populating and harvesting the resources of the solar system would take almost as much effort as travel to the stars with the same,or a lesser chance of success. The Great Exploration programme was launched and hyperspace travel was the objective. The technical difficulties were recognised and a launch date of 2515 targeted. In parallel a major expansion in the higher education system took place to provide the thousands of graduates needed to fuel progress. The Liberal rebellion broke out in 2462 which was ruthlessly suppressed. Dissidents were offered the choice of death or work on the exploration programme. They would be the first test crews.Survival would see citizenship rights restored.

The first test hyperspace jump took place secretly in 2509. No communication was possible with the test ship which never reached its destination point. Scientists argued for a suspension of the programme.I was told many years later that various accidents had destroyed three manufacturing plants and the navigation computers were thought to have an error margin of plus/minus 30%. Jumping from hyperspace near the gravitational pull of another object guaranteed a ship's destruction.

Four more test flights took place between 2510 and 2514. Three vanished. The fourth reached its jump exit coordinates. However the crew appear to have been driven mad by the experience. Presumably they still drift in space. Efforts were then concentrated on reducing the psychological effects of the jump which took ten long years and many deaths to resolve.


This is where I come in; I joined the graduate programme in 2520. Following that I was allocated to the Exploration Academy for navigation and flight training. In 2526 I was selected to join the exploration vessel Sigma Six as Navigation Officer Class 1.

Sigma Six carried 56 crew and a scientific observation mission plus engineering observers. It was a little cramped. No earth ship had ever jumped more than .35 of a parsec and at the briefing I was surprised to discover we would be jumping 65 light years!

The good news was that we would be making the jump in stages and setting way points for other ships to follow. Many were pleased to find out they would receive enhanced pay (commonly known as danger money) The Captain told us our survival chances had been rated at 11%

For me, the Navcom Astral Exploration System(AES) was a pleasant surprise. It was a vast improvement on the training navigation systems I had used and I could not wait to try it during our working up flight. We also began the daily round of pills to counter act the effects of hyperspace travel.


The plan was to jump to the edge of the solar system then triangulate the earth's position using four pulsars in the centre of the galaxy. That should help us to get home.

The working up cruise was eventful,with serious defects in the propulsion systems and hull integrity problems. For legal reasons I cannot detail these. However the repairs seem to have been made in very quick time.The Navcom software seemed to work well but who knows until we try it for real? Some repair work would continue during pre-launch and the period before we made jump 1.The workmen added to an already overflowing crew complement.

To boost planet morale, our launch was to be a prime time media event.Roll on hyperspace when we can get away from these idiots. The Exec Officer told me the ship had only one purpose -to get from A to B. It had no turn of speed, feeble shields and little armament and we have no idea how to communicate with any aliens who may appear. Any problems we hit we just have to fix ourselves,or die trying.

My main worry was the new food synthesis hardware. It would be a drain on power and we might need everything we had. If it broke down,the nearest supermarket would be many light years away. We had no means of landing on a planet,so starvation in space would beckon.....

Next episode...Launch and the Jump.

[Flash55]

The tension is perceptible. Hours of interviews, medical checks,upload navcalcs and pre-flight drills. Final messages home. Send surplus kit to storage. Final inspection before send off by the captain. Last media show,quick change of uniform,take position on flight deck. Hull sealed. Engines on. Navcom set. Comms up. OK skipper,let her go..please.

At last we are on the move. The plan is to execute a standard speed move to the edge of the solar system, where accidents are hidden from the media,check shields and weapons. Earthcom will then check my navcalcs and give me the error % assessment and authorise jump 1 - a mere 0.35 parsec hop. If we can communicate with earth after jump 1,we follow the same routine. If not,it's down to me. At jump 1 we will switch on the bioscanners -top secret and not for prying eyes. Can't see what use they will be as we are unlikely to find humans out there which is what the scanners are calibrated for.

It has taken a long time, it seems. to get to the edge of the solar system.

OK,worrying news on the navcom calcs - 15% error chance,plus or minus is the news-maybe. The Captain say stick with what we have.We will need plenty of luck to survive this,so let's see if we have any.

Special preparations for Jump 1:

Stow everything movable. Not easy with all the extra bodies on board. Power down non-essential systems(do we have any?) Make a will(why-who will read it?)  Then wait for the go command, That will take days to get from Earthcom at sub space speed.

The thing you can't train for is the vastness of space. Too big to take in already and we have hardly started. Some will not cope with it well.I just try to keep busy.Thinking about it is part of the problem. If my navcalcs are wrong,we will be just names on the space memorial.Problem over.


I have now met some of the crew -we seem to have a number of political dissidents on board and they will take any risk to get their citizenship back.Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

The Skipper says we are go. Final checks are done, Secure bulkheads,crew strap in. Recheck navcalcs. Recheck earth co-ordinates. All checks ok, press the button skipper......please.

[Lifer]

Looks like the jump was made and the error in the jump calc was enough to destroy the ship and crew.  Pity.