This AAR is inspired by the work of Captain Sachmo, a member of the Space Empires III community from near on 20 years ago. I remember playing that game on an old Intel Pentium 133hz processor. Waiting sometimes 10 minutes for the game to process turns while reading a printed version of Captain Sachmos AAR. Printed because the machine couldn't handle web browsing AND game processing at the same time. We've come a long way since then. My sincere hope is that someone, somewhere, will find the same enjoyment from this AAR as my 12 year old self did with Captain Sachmo's back in 2002.
Captains, Emperors, Presidents, Fellow space conquerors, I present to you; The Remorhaz Society.
A twinkle announced the future of mankind. Broadcast across the planet. Beamed from satellite to satellite so every citizen could see.
Yuri wondered to himself how such a momentous event could be caused by something so common as what he saw on the viewer. He supposed he had expected something as flashy as the effects from the Sapce Opera holo-dramas. The stars bending around the ship, a crash of thunder or a boom as the RSX Eagle disobeyed the laws of physics. This was downright plain by comparison. A subtle, evanescent rainbow nimbus surrounded the RSX Eagle, enhanced and translated into the visible spectrum, for a barely perceptible moment before the ship disappeared from view.
Speeding away toward Remorhaz 8, a distance of nearly 4.5 light hours. The Eagle would make the trip in a mere 2 days. Accelerating from rest relative to Remorhaz to an impossible speed of nearly .1c in an instant. Exotic particles showered the ionosphere, annihilating themselves as they collapsed into more hum-drum, everyday neutrinos and photinos. Passing without incident through the enormous mass of Remorhaz to speed away forever into the void; never touching existence again. The doubts he'd wrestled with since his stint at University overcame him for a moment. "Will a quiet miracle like this be enough to keep our peace?" he wondered.
Remorhaz had finally found an uneasy unity after centuries of recorded history. Professor Thassun Undulian had proved nearly a decade ago the unassailability of the anthropo-aborigination hypothesis. It was impossible that man had evolved on Remorhaz. We were too different from the other species on planet. With the exception of the wheat grown to feed our cities, simple stone fruits and a few herbivorous ungulates Man did not share the most fundamental of genetic structures with the other life on Remorhaz. No fossil record had been uncovered that dated to any more than a few hundred years before the first historical record and ultimately man's conquering rudimentary space flight had revealed, through satellite imagery, that the city of Treppenabsatz sat above an archaeological supersite. The city was built on the bones of an obviously artificial structure. A supersite that was determined to be the remains of a space faring vessel. A vessel that had enough secrets to glean to jump-start Professor Undulian's theory of faster-than-light travel.
These revelations had a salutary effect on mankind's more base instincts. Yuri Okkoros had won election as prime minister by a too-slim plurality of political parties but a comfortable majority of the popular vote. He'd campaigned on a platform of settling old enmities and launching Remorhaz once more into the stars; Expanding mankind's footprint to exploit the untapped resources of the system. <Yuri began the game with Colony Income AND Colony Happiness as SKILLS!!!! He's since picked up 'Industrialist' and 'Expansionist' as traits>
STATE OF THE REMORHAZ SOCIETY IN 2778.03.23
<Sorry for the lack of screenshots, those I snapped were somehow corrupted. I think I've solved the problem by storing screenshots locally instead of to the cloud. Screens will be included in future posts as soon as my writing catches up to the gameplay.>
Assets
RSS Eagle - EXS-1 class exploration vessel. Currently assigned to explore the Remorhaz system beginning with Remorhaz 8.
Dusty Mirage - CTS-1 class construction vessel on route to Remorhaz 3a <Remorhaz's moon> to construct a mining facility.
Remorhaz Spaceport - A construction and commerce facility in orbit of Remorhaz.
3 OFS-2400-1 class small freighters with a lift capacity of 2400 units.
1 OMS-30/800-1 class small mining ship with a mining rate of 30u/second and a lift capacity of 800 units.
Characters
Yuri Okkoros - Leading the Remorhaz Society from Remhorhaz
Thassun Undulian - An 'Inspiring Presence'<!!! LUCKY !!!> scientist leading research from Remorhaz Research Station orbiting Remorhaz 3a.
Human AAR - The Remorhaz Society - An Homage to captain Sachmo
Moderator: MOD_DW2
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confusatron
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confusatron
- Posts: 6
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Re: Human AAR - The Remorhaz Society - An Homage to captain Sachmo
The Remorhaz Society Chapter 2
The negotiations had been tense, and polarizing. The revelation of humanities origin, or at least of it's NOT originating on Remorhaz, had catalyzed a tenuous peace among the many nation states and ideologies on planet. Humanity was NOT united, and was likely never to be. Prime Minister Okoros wondered to himself whether this was a strength or a curse. For him, and most progressively minded citizens intent on the "New Frontier", it had lately been a curse.
The trouble was that Remorhaz needed an energy solution if it meant to reach even it's closest stellar neighbors. While Professor Undulian's new work on stable warp bubbles promised faster than light travel, the energy required to power such a drive, coupled with mankind's current inability to construct any vessel that displaced much more than 100,000 tonnes, meant that we would still crawl between the stars.
Yuri chuckled grimly to himself, "So much for that quiet miracle. We'll defy the fundamental physical laws of the universe yet be stymied by logistics!".
The trouble was that the next step in the reach for the stars; a smaller, highly efficient, self recycling fission pile and requisite heat sinking was ALSO, by it's very nature, a step toward more powerful and commonplace nuclear weapons.
Remorhaz had adopted a bicameral government. The lower house, or Commons, with elected officials serving two year terms by general planetary plebiscite with all civilians having an equal voice using a ranked voting scheme and the Senate, or 'Lords' according to who you asked (many strange bedfellows and ideologically opposed polities meaning the term derisively) selected for twelve year terms from those Citizens who had "demonstrated a history of service and an embrace of responsibility". Most of those in the lords just happened, by some strange circumstance, to be former heads of state and wealthy landowners. The Senate was elected only within the borders of federal member states. So while there was wide popular support for Prime Minister Okoros' platform among the Commons, those same voters had elected to office members of the 'Lords' who had campaigned on promises not always aligned with the goals of the fledgling Federal Republic.
And so the question of nuclear armament had arisen when Yuri could do little to curtail the Senators grasping for precedent. They had ruthlessly leveraged the fear of each other, as former enemies, becoming armed with the new technology that the mathematics of interstellar travel demanded man create. So a cabal of senators had colluded to impose and insist upon the disarmament of any interstellar vessel, civilian or state, of the Remorhaz Republic. Arguing that, if it is necessary to install high yield fission reactors on an interstellar vessel, then those same vessels MUST have no way of weaponizing that dangerous power.
Propaganda had zipped back and forth across the newsnets and 'faxes. Factions accusing each other of misinformation and lies. The progressive "New Men" had denounced the opposed senators as Luddites and fear-mongers but Yuri had to concede there WAS something to fear in installing on even the lowliest of freighters a fission reactor that could produce several hundred terajoules of energy at peak performance. A reactor that wasn't just theoretically capable of doing so, but would be expected, even required, to do so on a regular basis.
The debate had come very close to a constitutional crisis. Member states that had in past been accustomed to a certain free and heavy hand in dealing with civilian demonstrations had mustered their "national guards" to "keep the peace". Yuri wasn't sure that he'd have been obeyed had he needed to give the order for those "national guards" to stand down. Thankfully the crisis had not come to such a climax.
Professor Undulian had addressed the Senate and presented them a compromise that Yuri had worked diligently on behind the scenes. A compromise that took advantage of the senate's avarice. The Constitution required the maintenance of a police force sufficient to "secure the liberties guaranteed by this constitution". Thassun Undulian had suggested, with a conviction no one could question, that the danger posed by the misuse of his research was the greatest threat to the Remorhaz Republic and the liberties guaranteed by it's Constitution. A threat that would be constant and existential but also necessary and unavoidable. So it was only obvious that the federal police force must focus it's efforts on non-proliferation. Control the danger presented by the necessities of interstellar travel by allowing the member states to continue their energy production with the more traditional, entrenched (and corrupt) fossil fuel, hydro and solar power production industries.
The senators had found themselves in a terrible position. Unable to oppose the 'Hero of the Republic' Professor Undulian, the status quo power structures and energy interests of their former states, and civilian fear of nuclear devastation (fear they were largely responsible for fomenting) they were left little choice but to vote for the creation of a police force that would curtail their own acquisition of advanced fission piles.
And so the Weapons and Space Armaments Prevention Act (WASP) passed through both houses with overwhelming support. The Act created a bureau of investigation which was solely responsible for policing traffic of any kind above the troposphere. While it was for now mostly disarmed by the same act, being limited to reaction-thruster shuttles and certainly no vessel powered by one of Professor Undulian's new nuclear fission piles, Yuri contented himself with the knowledge that the constitution and the liberties it guaranteed had a means of defending and imposing itself upon the bickering old powers of a world order still crawling out of a one planet paradigm.
Author's note: I'm playing by a few house rules which I'm hoping to explain away in-universe so please forgive me if the politics seem a little unbelievable. Those house rules include.
No more than 50% funding for colony growth.
No paying for crash research programs.
No stealing tech.
No weapons or military hulls research until war is declared upon us with a few exceptions. Ion weapons and boarding are allowed and will be researched. Military hull research is allowed so long as it either leads to a civilian hull or is one tier behind ALL of the civilian hulls I've researched.
No troop research until war is declared upon us.
No building stations of any sort outside of our influence range.
Independent colonies are only ever peacefully integrated.
More house rules might be added by reader feedback or as the demands of drama require. I got a VERY good start, almost too good honestly, so if this play through is ever going to be interesting I need to invite disaster.
The negotiations had been tense, and polarizing. The revelation of humanities origin, or at least of it's NOT originating on Remorhaz, had catalyzed a tenuous peace among the many nation states and ideologies on planet. Humanity was NOT united, and was likely never to be. Prime Minister Okoros wondered to himself whether this was a strength or a curse. For him, and most progressively minded citizens intent on the "New Frontier", it had lately been a curse.
The trouble was that Remorhaz needed an energy solution if it meant to reach even it's closest stellar neighbors. While Professor Undulian's new work on stable warp bubbles promised faster than light travel, the energy required to power such a drive, coupled with mankind's current inability to construct any vessel that displaced much more than 100,000 tonnes, meant that we would still crawl between the stars.
Yuri chuckled grimly to himself, "So much for that quiet miracle. We'll defy the fundamental physical laws of the universe yet be stymied by logistics!".
The trouble was that the next step in the reach for the stars; a smaller, highly efficient, self recycling fission pile and requisite heat sinking was ALSO, by it's very nature, a step toward more powerful and commonplace nuclear weapons.
Remorhaz had adopted a bicameral government. The lower house, or Commons, with elected officials serving two year terms by general planetary plebiscite with all civilians having an equal voice using a ranked voting scheme and the Senate, or 'Lords' according to who you asked (many strange bedfellows and ideologically opposed polities meaning the term derisively) selected for twelve year terms from those Citizens who had "demonstrated a history of service and an embrace of responsibility". Most of those in the lords just happened, by some strange circumstance, to be former heads of state and wealthy landowners. The Senate was elected only within the borders of federal member states. So while there was wide popular support for Prime Minister Okoros' platform among the Commons, those same voters had elected to office members of the 'Lords' who had campaigned on promises not always aligned with the goals of the fledgling Federal Republic.
And so the question of nuclear armament had arisen when Yuri could do little to curtail the Senators grasping for precedent. They had ruthlessly leveraged the fear of each other, as former enemies, becoming armed with the new technology that the mathematics of interstellar travel demanded man create. So a cabal of senators had colluded to impose and insist upon the disarmament of any interstellar vessel, civilian or state, of the Remorhaz Republic. Arguing that, if it is necessary to install high yield fission reactors on an interstellar vessel, then those same vessels MUST have no way of weaponizing that dangerous power.
Propaganda had zipped back and forth across the newsnets and 'faxes. Factions accusing each other of misinformation and lies. The progressive "New Men" had denounced the opposed senators as Luddites and fear-mongers but Yuri had to concede there WAS something to fear in installing on even the lowliest of freighters a fission reactor that could produce several hundred terajoules of energy at peak performance. A reactor that wasn't just theoretically capable of doing so, but would be expected, even required, to do so on a regular basis.
The debate had come very close to a constitutional crisis. Member states that had in past been accustomed to a certain free and heavy hand in dealing with civilian demonstrations had mustered their "national guards" to "keep the peace". Yuri wasn't sure that he'd have been obeyed had he needed to give the order for those "national guards" to stand down. Thankfully the crisis had not come to such a climax.
Professor Undulian had addressed the Senate and presented them a compromise that Yuri had worked diligently on behind the scenes. A compromise that took advantage of the senate's avarice. The Constitution required the maintenance of a police force sufficient to "secure the liberties guaranteed by this constitution". Thassun Undulian had suggested, with a conviction no one could question, that the danger posed by the misuse of his research was the greatest threat to the Remorhaz Republic and the liberties guaranteed by it's Constitution. A threat that would be constant and existential but also necessary and unavoidable. So it was only obvious that the federal police force must focus it's efforts on non-proliferation. Control the danger presented by the necessities of interstellar travel by allowing the member states to continue their energy production with the more traditional, entrenched (and corrupt) fossil fuel, hydro and solar power production industries.
The senators had found themselves in a terrible position. Unable to oppose the 'Hero of the Republic' Professor Undulian, the status quo power structures and energy interests of their former states, and civilian fear of nuclear devastation (fear they were largely responsible for fomenting) they were left little choice but to vote for the creation of a police force that would curtail their own acquisition of advanced fission piles.
And so the Weapons and Space Armaments Prevention Act (WASP) passed through both houses with overwhelming support. The Act created a bureau of investigation which was solely responsible for policing traffic of any kind above the troposphere. While it was for now mostly disarmed by the same act, being limited to reaction-thruster shuttles and certainly no vessel powered by one of Professor Undulian's new nuclear fission piles, Yuri contented himself with the knowledge that the constitution and the liberties it guaranteed had a means of defending and imposing itself upon the bickering old powers of a world order still crawling out of a one planet paradigm.
Author's note: I'm playing by a few house rules which I'm hoping to explain away in-universe so please forgive me if the politics seem a little unbelievable. Those house rules include.
No more than 50% funding for colony growth.
No paying for crash research programs.
No stealing tech.
No weapons or military hulls research until war is declared upon us with a few exceptions. Ion weapons and boarding are allowed and will be researched. Military hull research is allowed so long as it either leads to a civilian hull or is one tier behind ALL of the civilian hulls I've researched.
No troop research until war is declared upon us.
No building stations of any sort outside of our influence range.
Independent colonies are only ever peacefully integrated.
More house rules might be added by reader feedback or as the demands of drama require. I got a VERY good start, almost too good honestly, so if this play through is ever going to be interesting I need to invite disaster.
Re: Human AAR - The Remorhaz Society - An Homage to captain Sachmo
I could certainly see you building some garrison troops on worlds to represent the security force you just described.
Also, why no tech stealing? Just curious.
Also, why no tech stealing? Just curious.
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confusatron
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:52 pm
Re: Human AAR - The Remorhaz Society - An Homage to captain Sachmo
@freyland I prefer not to steal tech because it will mean too much progression too soon and almost definitely lead to a boring game. The AI appears in my experience to base it's aggression on your potential power rather than your actual power. So even with no military to speak of, equal war fighting tech but vastly superior infrastructure and economic techs they will decide not to attack.
I like the idea of garrison units as part of the police force and will also be recruiting 2 escorts per populated planet in the Republic. Both owned colonies and independent systems inside our influence range. TBH even arming my vessels with boarding parties and ion weapons exclusively should be more than sufficient to quickly match my first opponent in military tech.
RISE OF THE REMORHAZ SOCIETY CHAPTER 3-----Commander Joan Hall, Captain RSS Eagle, stepped through the bridge hatch as Eagle prepared to translate out of FTL. Her ship was the first to leave the Remorhaz system; the first of a dozen ships like her sent to explore the nearby systems that Professor Undulian's inventions had put within mankind's reach.
So far those surveys Eagle had made had been mostly uninteresting. Her crew had discovered several new sources of construction materials, two sources of caslon gas and a few intriguing crystal deposits that she was sure one of the new interstellar business concerns would be all too happy to exploit, but no habitable planets yet.
While the stable warp bubble generated by Eagle's hyperdrive engine protected the ship and it's crew from the effects of sudden deceleration there were a few aspects of Undulian's new engine that Captain Hall knew she would never grow weary of. She now witnessed one such effect through the forward view screen. A brilliant flash of rainbow light as Eagle dropped quickly from an apparent superluminal speed to more mundane fractions of c. For a moment Eagle moved so quickly through the light in front of her that the entire spectrum was squished into the visible band. The light moving backwards along the rainbow; violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and then red before stretching out again beyond what the eye could see.
Before her sat the Yhueco system. A massive red giant star with two gas giants, and their attendant moons, and a respectably large ball of ice orbiting it at several AUs distance. Commander Hall was hoping to discover another source of caslon on those gas giants. The Yhueco system was approaching the point of no return for Remorhaz's current transport systems. Eagle and her cohorts in the survey corps had much more endurance than the merchant spacers and so a source of caslon here would allow the Republic to exploit this region of space with considerably fewer headaches.
"Ma'am, initial survey coming in now." Reported Mister Villalobos, Eagel's communications officer. "Cartography confirms observations from Remorhaz. Two gas giants currently diametric. No confirmation on Yhueco 3 but orbital projections suggest it's currently hidden from us by Yhueco 1. Yhueco 1 has three moons, local system map should be updated shortly."
"Thank you, mister Villalobos. Sally, plot us a least-burn course through the local system that also ends us on a heading for Yhueco 2 and finalize the recon package for a remote probe of Yhueco 3." Commander hall ordered.
"Already on the recon package ma'am. We can cut a fuel cell and add an ARV by launching the probe ballistic over Y1's north pole. If we do it in the next 10 minutes we can burn for 1 hour at 1g to reach the local ecliptic and coast to Y1c in only 18 days." Sally Hansfield responded, her fingers flashing over her terminal as she continued working on other courses the Eagle MIGHT want to follow along the way.
"Don't be too efficient Sally, some of us want to make a career of this. At your pace we'll have explored the galaxy in 20 years." Commander Hall replied with a grin. "Relay your changes to Jonah down in the survey hangar and prepare the ship for 1g acceleration."
-----
Eagle had nearly completed her 1g burn when mister Villalobos picked up the first modulated radio signal through the background noise of Yhueco 1's magnetosphere. The signal was clearly artificial. A series of prime numbers ascending through the first 100 primes, then repeated backward, then the first ten twin-primes ascending then descending.
"Ma'am, I'm picking up a radio broadcast." Villalobos said flatly.
"What was that mister Villalobos? A broadcast?" Commander Hall inquired.
"Yes ma'am. Definitely a broadcast, and not one of ours." He said with increasing excitement in his voice. "I'm triangulating now. Origin includes the volume around Y3, ma'am. I, I think it's a call and response, ma'am. A series of primes."
"Sally, cut the burn now!" Hall snapped. She knew if something from the planet was looking in the right direction then the engine bloom from Eagle had already been spotted but maybe she could keep her presence quiet for a bit longer. Dammit, Eagle's course toward Y1c was also carrying her almost directly toward Y3. She couldn't decelerate relative to Y3 now without turning over and burning the engines directly into the face of whatever eyes might be watching down there. She felt a lurch as the sublight engines responded and the hyperdrive's artificial low gravity bubble took over at one quarter g.
"Sally find us a place to hide, gas thrusters only! Has the message changed at all Mister Villalobos, any indication we've been spotted?"
"Aye ma'am, but it's empty out here, like mostly anywhere in space." Sally griped.
"No change yet ma'am. Message repeats primes up and dow.. New broadcast! Multiple Broadcasts!! We're still 13 light minutes away from Y3 they must have sent these as soon as we came in sight around Y1 ma'am! Whoever they are, they know we're here."
"No sense hiding then, I suppose." said Commander Hall. "Sally rig the ship for hyperjump, set our heading 284-20 incline Local. If we need to run we'll do our best to help them lose us in Y1's gravity well." And try not to lead them directly back toward Remorhaz she though silently to herself.
"Ma'am" interjected Villalobos, "I've been following the telemetry from the Y3 recon probe. It's much shallower in the Local magnetosphere and is also now picking up radio traffic around Y3. Traffic is, sparse. Remorhaz Station is busier than this place ma'am! If they're hostile then at least there aren't many of them. Should I respond?" asked Villalobos.
Should we respond? Commander Hall thought to herself. Well, we did come knocking.
---
"Dammit! The senate will NOT STAND for this! Captain Hall had NO RIGHT OR AUTHORITY to make such a decision! She's endangered the lives of nearly 6 BILLION people for the sake of her, what did she say in her report, her 'rules of hospitality'!" Senator Korolenko was upset. He was usually upset but this time it wasn't just posturing.
"The senate will stand for what the people of Remorhaz want. You've been presented three pieces of legislation from the Commons empowering the Republican government to manage diplomacy with Yeti and three times you've rejected it." Yuri replied calmly. "I would much prefer to follow the wishes of the the citizens of the Republic but your stonewalling forces me to work in a vacuum. But it doesn't force me to NOT work."
"Save me your 'holier than thou' man of the people horse shit!" Shouted Korolenko. "You know as well as I do that dealing with ALIENS is beyond the scope of your constitutional powers. Foreign affairs are still the purview of federal members. You will IMMEDIATELY transport our representatives to Yeti, without interference."
"I'll do nothing of the sort. Current law clearly establishes activities above the troposphere of Remorhaz as the domain of Republican governance. Your lot now is to do as the people demand. Three times they have demanded you recognize the government's legitimate authority to continue diplomatic efforts with Yeti. Three times you've said no. So now I'm left with a 'continuing resolution of common support' from the Lower House condoning Republican efforts to make Friends of the Zenox and you are left on the sidelines with no say in how I conduct that business." Yuri responded, this time unable to hide his pleasure at Korolenko's position. "Do you know who WILL have some say in the foreign affairs of this Republic, Senator?" asked Prime Minister Okoros, "The first senators to cease this childish tantrum and actually consider the legislation being proposed by the Commons. Until you are one of those senators, Mister Korolenko, I'm afraid I simply haven't the time to discuss this matter further. Diplomatic efforts are taking a considerable portion of my time."
Yuri cut the comm then immediately cursed himself. It wouldn't do to make enemies of the reactionary men and women of the senate. They HAD led countries before the nascent Republic had ever been dreamed of. Still, it had been satisfying. He turned apologetically to his guest. "No need to excuse yourself, Prime Minister, my colleague can be insufferable. I am familiar with his 'tantrums'." Senator Li Na smiled warmly. "Let us continue our discussion of the advantages of supporting the Republic's diplomatic efforts.------ END CHAPTER 3
I like the idea of garrison units as part of the police force and will also be recruiting 2 escorts per populated planet in the Republic. Both owned colonies and independent systems inside our influence range. TBH even arming my vessels with boarding parties and ion weapons exclusively should be more than sufficient to quickly match my first opponent in military tech.
RISE OF THE REMORHAZ SOCIETY CHAPTER 3-----Commander Joan Hall, Captain RSS Eagle, stepped through the bridge hatch as Eagle prepared to translate out of FTL. Her ship was the first to leave the Remorhaz system; the first of a dozen ships like her sent to explore the nearby systems that Professor Undulian's inventions had put within mankind's reach.
So far those surveys Eagle had made had been mostly uninteresting. Her crew had discovered several new sources of construction materials, two sources of caslon gas and a few intriguing crystal deposits that she was sure one of the new interstellar business concerns would be all too happy to exploit, but no habitable planets yet.
While the stable warp bubble generated by Eagle's hyperdrive engine protected the ship and it's crew from the effects of sudden deceleration there were a few aspects of Undulian's new engine that Captain Hall knew she would never grow weary of. She now witnessed one such effect through the forward view screen. A brilliant flash of rainbow light as Eagle dropped quickly from an apparent superluminal speed to more mundane fractions of c. For a moment Eagle moved so quickly through the light in front of her that the entire spectrum was squished into the visible band. The light moving backwards along the rainbow; violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and then red before stretching out again beyond what the eye could see.
Before her sat the Yhueco system. A massive red giant star with two gas giants, and their attendant moons, and a respectably large ball of ice orbiting it at several AUs distance. Commander Hall was hoping to discover another source of caslon on those gas giants. The Yhueco system was approaching the point of no return for Remorhaz's current transport systems. Eagle and her cohorts in the survey corps had much more endurance than the merchant spacers and so a source of caslon here would allow the Republic to exploit this region of space with considerably fewer headaches.
"Ma'am, initial survey coming in now." Reported Mister Villalobos, Eagel's communications officer. "Cartography confirms observations from Remorhaz. Two gas giants currently diametric. No confirmation on Yhueco 3 but orbital projections suggest it's currently hidden from us by Yhueco 1. Yhueco 1 has three moons, local system map should be updated shortly."
"Thank you, mister Villalobos. Sally, plot us a least-burn course through the local system that also ends us on a heading for Yhueco 2 and finalize the recon package for a remote probe of Yhueco 3." Commander hall ordered.
"Already on the recon package ma'am. We can cut a fuel cell and add an ARV by launching the probe ballistic over Y1's north pole. If we do it in the next 10 minutes we can burn for 1 hour at 1g to reach the local ecliptic and coast to Y1c in only 18 days." Sally Hansfield responded, her fingers flashing over her terminal as she continued working on other courses the Eagle MIGHT want to follow along the way.
"Don't be too efficient Sally, some of us want to make a career of this. At your pace we'll have explored the galaxy in 20 years." Commander Hall replied with a grin. "Relay your changes to Jonah down in the survey hangar and prepare the ship for 1g acceleration."
-----
Eagle had nearly completed her 1g burn when mister Villalobos picked up the first modulated radio signal through the background noise of Yhueco 1's magnetosphere. The signal was clearly artificial. A series of prime numbers ascending through the first 100 primes, then repeated backward, then the first ten twin-primes ascending then descending.
"Ma'am, I'm picking up a radio broadcast." Villalobos said flatly.
"What was that mister Villalobos? A broadcast?" Commander Hall inquired.
"Yes ma'am. Definitely a broadcast, and not one of ours." He said with increasing excitement in his voice. "I'm triangulating now. Origin includes the volume around Y3, ma'am. I, I think it's a call and response, ma'am. A series of primes."
"Sally, cut the burn now!" Hall snapped. She knew if something from the planet was looking in the right direction then the engine bloom from Eagle had already been spotted but maybe she could keep her presence quiet for a bit longer. Dammit, Eagle's course toward Y1c was also carrying her almost directly toward Y3. She couldn't decelerate relative to Y3 now without turning over and burning the engines directly into the face of whatever eyes might be watching down there. She felt a lurch as the sublight engines responded and the hyperdrive's artificial low gravity bubble took over at one quarter g.
"Sally find us a place to hide, gas thrusters only! Has the message changed at all Mister Villalobos, any indication we've been spotted?"
"Aye ma'am, but it's empty out here, like mostly anywhere in space." Sally griped.
"No change yet ma'am. Message repeats primes up and dow.. New broadcast! Multiple Broadcasts!! We're still 13 light minutes away from Y3 they must have sent these as soon as we came in sight around Y1 ma'am! Whoever they are, they know we're here."
"No sense hiding then, I suppose." said Commander Hall. "Sally rig the ship for hyperjump, set our heading 284-20 incline Local. If we need to run we'll do our best to help them lose us in Y1's gravity well." And try not to lead them directly back toward Remorhaz she though silently to herself.
"Ma'am" interjected Villalobos, "I've been following the telemetry from the Y3 recon probe. It's much shallower in the Local magnetosphere and is also now picking up radio traffic around Y3. Traffic is, sparse. Remorhaz Station is busier than this place ma'am! If they're hostile then at least there aren't many of them. Should I respond?" asked Villalobos.
Should we respond? Commander Hall thought to herself. Well, we did come knocking.
---
"Dammit! The senate will NOT STAND for this! Captain Hall had NO RIGHT OR AUTHORITY to make such a decision! She's endangered the lives of nearly 6 BILLION people for the sake of her, what did she say in her report, her 'rules of hospitality'!" Senator Korolenko was upset. He was usually upset but this time it wasn't just posturing.
"The senate will stand for what the people of Remorhaz want. You've been presented three pieces of legislation from the Commons empowering the Republican government to manage diplomacy with Yeti and three times you've rejected it." Yuri replied calmly. "I would much prefer to follow the wishes of the the citizens of the Republic but your stonewalling forces me to work in a vacuum. But it doesn't force me to NOT work."
"Save me your 'holier than thou' man of the people horse shit!" Shouted Korolenko. "You know as well as I do that dealing with ALIENS is beyond the scope of your constitutional powers. Foreign affairs are still the purview of federal members. You will IMMEDIATELY transport our representatives to Yeti, without interference."
"I'll do nothing of the sort. Current law clearly establishes activities above the troposphere of Remorhaz as the domain of Republican governance. Your lot now is to do as the people demand. Three times they have demanded you recognize the government's legitimate authority to continue diplomatic efforts with Yeti. Three times you've said no. So now I'm left with a 'continuing resolution of common support' from the Lower House condoning Republican efforts to make Friends of the Zenox and you are left on the sidelines with no say in how I conduct that business." Yuri responded, this time unable to hide his pleasure at Korolenko's position. "Do you know who WILL have some say in the foreign affairs of this Republic, Senator?" asked Prime Minister Okoros, "The first senators to cease this childish tantrum and actually consider the legislation being proposed by the Commons. Until you are one of those senators, Mister Korolenko, I'm afraid I simply haven't the time to discuss this matter further. Diplomatic efforts are taking a considerable portion of my time."
Yuri cut the comm then immediately cursed himself. It wouldn't do to make enemies of the reactionary men and women of the senate. They HAD led countries before the nascent Republic had ever been dreamed of. Still, it had been satisfying. He turned apologetically to his guest. "No need to excuse yourself, Prime Minister, my colleague can be insufferable. I am familiar with his 'tantrums'." Senator Li Na smiled warmly. "Let us continue our discussion of the advantages of supporting the Republic's diplomatic efforts.------ END CHAPTER 3
Re: Human AAR - The Remorhaz Society - An Homage to captain Sachmo
Wow, what a blast from the past. Thank you so much for your kind words. The fact that this story added to your enjoyment of the game makes me feel very good.
Oddly enough, I found the save file for this game on an old thumb drive, and I *think* I own Space Empires 3 in one of my game clients or another.
Anyway, thanks very much for bringing up old memories and making me smile. Happy gaming!
Oddly enough, I found the save file for this game on an old thumb drive, and I *think* I own Space Empires 3 in one of my game clients or another.
Anyway, thanks very much for bringing up old memories and making me smile. Happy gaming!
Re: Human AAR - The Remorhaz Society - An Homage to captain Sachmo
I'm going to recraft the story with the help of my friend Meave, my ChatGPT assistant. I'm going to post it on Steam because I think it is maybe the most active Space Empires community around. I could be wrong, and also they might make me remove it, but for now, it lives in the Discussion forums for Space Empires IV Deluxe on Steam.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1610/dis ... 678408356/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1610/dis ... 678408356/