Project: Brown Bird

[Demonic]

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--- timestamp - 833.11.12.0208 ---

Project: Brown Bird

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With the plan to expand our capabilities with supply of exotic materials finaly getting some traction, I decided it would be a good idea for me to get organised a bit, as there are simply too many moving pieces right now to keep track of them only in my head. The key steps that should enable the Irregulars the access to Earhart and the Uncharted systems are thus:

1, Obtain a ship capable of creating Artifical Jump Holes
2, Secure training for our people so they can confidently and safely crew the ship
3, Secure as much information possible prior to our first excursion to the uncharteds - completed
4, Hire a security detail for the expedition - scrapped

Jump capable ship

After a careful examination of the Jump Drives and civilian ships available on the current market, I have determined the only available option, at least without a lot of extra hurdles to go through, is the Civilian Carrier design nicknamed Bustard. No other ship available for civilian purchase has a powercore strong enough to support the Jump Drive and licensing a military built vessel is simply not feasable. The current plan is to commission a new ship of the Bustard class, with Jump Drive, docking modules and expanded medical facilities. After some searching and asking around I was able to get in contact with Corfu base, run by Phoenix, who are capable and willing to manufacture the Bustards and accommodate my request for the non-standard equipment, though I'm not sure, if I'll have to obtain the equipment on my own or if they will provide it.

I have also made contact with Med Force Enterprises, and they seem to be interested in the project. I will have to wait and see what the meeting with their leader brings.

It would be a good idea to make sure we're licensed to go through as many of the houses with the ship and equipment as we possibly can. If the rumours are through then you never know where the Earhart system will send you when you exit it and it would be a good idea to be able to legally go through the house space so we can get the ship back to Magellan quickly.

--- edit: timestamp - 833.12.06.1914 ---
The ship has been bought from Zoners on Freeport 6. It is currently moored there, without any crew to speak of. The price offered was just too good to pass up the deal. Since the ship is now a reality, I have sent licencing requests to Bretonia, Kusari and Rheinland. Liberty was notified, but they do not require licencing and I decided to not bother with Gallia since it's location makes it extremely unlikely for us to ever need to go there with the Bustard.

Progress

1. Commission the Bustard
   
2. Commission or purchase the additional equipment
   
3. Procure the medical facility equipment
   
4. License the Bustard and Jump Drive in all Houses
   • Liberty
     
   • Bretonia
     
   • Kusari
     
   • Rheinland
     
   • Gallia - scrapped
     

Crewing the Bustard

This one proves to be trickier than I hoped. We don't have very many people capable working as crew onboard ships and even less commanding them, so if we want to be able to operate the Bustard, without hiring external spacers, we need to train our people from New London. At first I hoped I'll be able to get them training from some of larger spacefaring factions in the sector, but Zoners are not interested since they don't operate the Bustards and Starfliers don't feel like they're up for it. I don't really see another options, since the Bustard is not used much in Sirius. We could theoreticaly try to start small, put what few spacers we can spare from our transports onto something like Corvo and start training a first small batch of trainees. That way we could theoreticaly slowly build up the whole crew, but it would be a slow process. I think I'll call a meeting of all our captains to see if they have more ideas.

--- edit: timestamp - 833.12.02.2132 ---
The plan that came up from the meeting is finally being implemented. Ash has the first group of volunteers on Ben Nevis, making them familiar with space and ships. His people will put them through the basic paces, teaching them the essentials, so they know how to go around the ship, know the main emergency protocols and other basic stuff. We don't plan to drill them like the military, there's no reason for that, but they need to be able to function on a ship before they can start learning to actually work on the ship.

When that's done we'll distribute them among our transports where they'll be part of the regular crew. That way they can safely learn their new job from our experienced crews. The plan for the transports is to begin with safe routes between Houses, probably through Liberty, as the risks are generally low there. When the new guys are settled in we can start with progressively riskier routes, like Dublin blockade, border words and such, until they are comfortable even in deep Omicrons.

The medical personnel will instead be brought to MedForce academy, so they can go through their training there. I'm not sure how long that will take, but in the worst case scenario where they’re ready before the general crew we can lend them to MFE to bolster their staff for a while.

The next step would be the Bustard itself. First only in simulators, because I imagine the systems will be quite different from the other ships and even will have to familiarize myself with the ship. Then we’ll put the ship through its first paces in some safe system, to make sure the crew gets used to the differences between sims and reality. The next step would probably be some larger trip together with jump drive testing, just to see what makes it tick.

After that? Earhart.

Progress

1. Teach volunteers the basics on Ben Nevis
   
2. Distribute the volunteers among our transports and let them learn on the job
   • Carry the medical personel to MedForce academy for the training
3. Practice on the Bustard's simulators to make sure people are familliar with its systems
   
4. Put the ships through its paces in some safe systems so we have a real experience with it
   
5. Round trip around the sector with jump drive tests.
   

Information about the systems

I decided to purchase charts of the systems from Starfliers. They refused to chart Earhart itself, but they are more than happy to sell us the charts for the systems accesible from there, so it's just a matter of finalising the deal.

--- edit: timestamp - 833.11.21.1613 ---
The deal has concluded. For a fee of one milion credits, the Starfliers provided cartography reports of three uncharted systems currently accessible through Earthart system. The language of the reports is... a bit unusual so to speak, but all the important information is there and that's what matters. Now we don't have to wander around blindly.

Security detail

I haven't put much thought into this yet. I'm fairly certain I want to have some security with us, but apart from deciding I want to do that, I haven't really done much. I made a cursory search for potential security providers, but that's about it. Then again, we're still far away from actually being able to mount an expedition, so there's time for this particular piece of puzzle.

--- edit: timestamp - 833.11.21.1613 ---
I have decided not to hire escorts, at least at the beginning. We should have ample firepower to deter a ship or two from harrasing us, and if someone brings in the big guns, few more snubs won't probably make a difference. I might reconsider this in case we get seriously harrased, but for now I don't think escorts are actually needed.

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