Chapter 3
Twelve years before the fall
Richard was sitting in an office on Picon waiting to see the admiralty. It had been a busy year with research done at R&D. All the new weaponry had been established and added to the ship plans. Also the second set of the dome cities were just about to be completed. He had also gotten all of the plans for the new vipers and raptors completed as R&D had a break-through for the inertia dampeners. The inertia dampeners reduce the g-force that vipers went through by 25%. It also prevented the sickness that jump engines caused to some people. It would help people do their jobs without stopping during the jump.
The next thing that was determined was the proposed size of the new fleet and the order in which the necessary ships will be built. Some other concerns have arisen such as the necessary manpower which is something I am here to discuss with the admiralty. The second thing I need is old ships that need to be scrapped or replaced. This could be something that the fleet could use. I wonder when we can begin the new colony. The last report on the survey indicated that we could be able to bring in asteroids from around the nebula to mine in stable orbit. With the technological advancements, we could very likely be able to beat back the Cylons when they return. Just how long they take we don't know.
We also tried to create a planetary shield but it would not work. The most we could do is to protect areas around a planet through a heavily defended series of defense satellites but nothing that could cover the planet. We could use the empty asteroids for planetary defense later. All of a sudden, "Knock, Knock."
Richard stood up at attention. "Good morning Admirals. It has been too long."
"Well, well, Richard Sherman. You are right, it has been too long. I had wondered where you had gone after deactivation. All the companies that I know that wanted to hire you said that you disappeared off the grid. I hope everything is going ok?" Nagala asked.
"Perfectly ok," Richard replied. "I hope that I have intruded on anything important that you have to take care of today. I hate to put you in a difficult position more than necessary."
"No, we actually didn't have much to do today except worry about the next series of budget cuts," Corman stated. "They want to reduce the budget another 5% and we have had to decommission another ten ships in the last year. Pretty soon, more career military soldiers are going to be out of jobs."
"That's horrible. However, that is kind of why I am here," Richard professed. "As you know, I went back home after my deactivation from active duty. I spent some time with my sister and her family as well as took some time to meet with my father and mother. My father, whom many do not know about, was the CEO and President of Primus Construction. As you know, we are the premier construction company that can complete mostly anything that can be built. Also, you should remember that we also build some of your more kept secret projects. My father and I had a talk and he wanted me to take over. So I am here before you as my company's CEO and President. My father and I also had a talk about the military reduction and we are not happy about it, probably as much as you guys are. We all know that the Cylons will return and with the recent cutbacks, I don't believe that we will be able to safeguard the people. As such, my father left me in charge of any plan that I believe would give us a new chance. As such, I am here to see if you can give me any help or advice."
"While I am not happy that you didn't come to see us sooner, I am happy that somebody at least cares enough to start something about it. Let us see some of the things you have planned so far," Corman affirmed.
"Here is a copy of the current plans. The first thing we have done is found a place that we can set up as a new colony or safe-haven. This Nebula is very large and is very toxic to Cylons but is also toxic in excess to humans. The area we are looking at is close to the center of the nebula. It has three planets that orbit a sun. Temperatures range from -20 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius at the extremes. Climate on the planets isn't safe to live on directly but we are still researching ways to reformulate the planet to our specifications. Currently, we have researched a new technology that will be able to keep new toxins from reaching the planet but will not be able to remove current toxins. We are in the process of researching the nuclear radiation scrubbers to see if they can remove the toxins. Although unlikely, we have gone ahead and started the plan B. Plan B is the construction of large Domed cities. We currently have planned 40 domed cities capable of supporting 100,000 people each. We have also planned 40 agricultural domes as well as 40 livestock and 40 fishery domes to be placed on each of the three planets. Those domes will be built in sets of ten each and the second set of domes will be completed within the month."
"This brings us to the second part of the plan. We have researched more than planetary environmental controls. In addition to them, we have researched armor, weaponry, propulsion, and defense. Let us begin with the new technologies. Armor has been research and we have created an alloy that will hold against 4 250 megaton nuclear missiles exploding at one point. This armor will be added to all new cities and ships. Propulsion has been researched and we have created a new version of our current sub-light engines. This is because we have found a new resource we are calling tri-tylium and with that, we have created a new tylium blend that allows us to generate more power while using less fuel. The engine is also faster than any we have seen before. We have also created a new FTL engine that gives us a quicker departure from the area of battle. It is being called the warp engine and uses sustained anti-matter to charge the new tylium blend. All that is required is a heading and all ships can enter warp speed. It allows our ships to escape without charging our jump engines and without recalling viper CAPs or launching vipers to engage the enemy. Even the jump engines have been modified to use less fuel. With the new blend of tylium, we have also created energy shield that will be used for the protection of our ships. The new shield in conjunction with our new armor allows the ships to take 15 times the damage before it needs to withdraw from battle. This leads us to new advances in weaponry. We have two forms, ship killers and ship defense. Ship killers are massive lasers that use a narrow beam focused to penetrating hulls. If targeted at the ships fuel storage, it would cause a large explosion that rips the ship about. Ship defense are smaller lasers that help defend the ship from raiders and missiles. These lasers pack a small punch and are designed to riddle our ships' hulls. This in conjunction with new rail weaponry allows our ships to pack quite a punch. Other research has generated better communication relays through subspace and inertia dampeners to negate the effects of jumping and g-force in viper pilots," Richard continued.
"All of the research is incorporated into the newly designed vessels. As you can see we have created new classes of ships that will cause the existing ones to become obsolete. The New classes are the Prometheus, the Zeus, the Nexus, the Infinity, and the Apollo. We have also designed a station, massive colony ships, and space fighters. "
"The Prometheus is the ship of the fleet. It is designed to hold up to 20,000 colonial fleet members and operate on a crew of 2,000. It holds up to 80 squadrons of vipers and 40 squadrons of raptors in four bays. It has a large CIC, large medical bay, 8 sub-light engines, 2 jump engines, and 1 warp engine. It has 12 ship killer and 750 ship defense lasers as well as 12 heavy rail-guns and 400 light rail-guns.
"The Apollo class is a battle cruiser class ship, designed to hold 17,000 fleet members and operating on a crew of 2000, it is suppose to be the heavy hitters in the fleet. It contains 8 sub-light engines, 2 jump engines, and 1 warp engine. It also has more lasers than any other ship with 24 ship killers and 1000 ship defense lasers. It also has 24 heavy rail-guns as well as 500 light rail-guns."
"The Zeus class is a fast response frigate designed to hold 7000 people operating on a crew of 1600. It has four sub-light engines, 1 jump engine and 1 warp engine. It also contains two lower flight bays capable of holding 5 squadrons of vipers and 1 squadron of raptors each. It also supports 2 ship killers, 300 ship defense lasers, 4 heavy rail-guns and 200 light rail-guns."
"The infinity is the new class of mobile shipyards. It is designed to hold up to twenty Prometheus class ships for repair and be able to hold 50,000 people. It takes 5000 to operate and supports 200 squadrons of vipers and 50 squadrons of raptors. It has 32 sub-light, 4 dual-jump engines, 1 warp engines, and is designed to hold energy shields that support non-EV suit activity in its hold. Its defense systems are 50,000 ship defense lasers, 20 heavy rail-guns and 500 light rail-guns. The best feature is the retractable dry-docks."
"The next class, the Nexus, is the support vessels of the fleet. Each has a maximum of 2000 people operating on a crew of 500. They have 3 sub-light engines, 1 jump engine, and 1 warp engine. They all contain 200 ship defense lasers for protection. After that, there are five versions of this ship depending on the task. Those tasks are mining, refining, smelting, building electronics, and factory production."
"There are two versions of the colony ships where one is designed to contain 500,000 people on 5 different levels while the other is designed for farming, livestock, and fisheries. Each has 24 sub-light engines, 3 dual-jump engines, and 1 warp engine. The first version is a similar version to the domed cities except that they are on top of each other. Each layer is designed to hold 100,000 people and is connected by a series of elevators. The second version contains 12 levels where 10,000 people per level are to manage the production of all food. Each ship is designed to hold 200 squadrons of vipers, 40 squadrons of raptors, and have 5,000 ship defense lasers."
"The next item is the space station is design to be able to dock 20 ships at any one time. It has two saucers of 20 decks each at opposite ends and holds up to 50,000 people. It has 120 squadrons of vipers and 30 squadrons of raptors. It also has 4,000 ship defense lasers. It also has 24 sub-light engines, 4 dual jump engines, and 1 warp engine."
"Finally, the vipers and raptors have been redesigned to include a warp engine, shields, and inertia dampeners so that all people can get away quickly. They can also take 4 times the damage before they are destroyed. They also contain two ship defense lasers in addition to 2 light rail-guns."
"What do you think of the new ships?" Richard finalized.
"Wow, these would make all of our current ships obsolete. I would very much like these to be made. But I don't believe that these ships can be built with our current budget. Even with our slash fund, we can't make more than twenty total capital ships," Corman replied.
"It would be nice to have but we would have to dig deep before any of this could happen. More details would have to come out," Nagala stated.
"I know that the military would have issues so I decided more money needed to be sent to my slash fund in R&D. I currently have 2,100 billion cubits stashed away for the building of these ships. I acknowledge that we can't build all of them without other resources that you have. The first thing I would like to get started is that many of the electronics in the current ships can be used or recycled for new parts. I would like all of the decommissioned ships to be stripped of all usable material before being used to make new ships. If we can reuse many of the ship materials in all of the military depots, then we can build some more ships without spending more. Without those ships, we can build about 35 capital ships of 15 Zeus, 10 Apollo, and 10 Prometheus, and support units of 3 each of the Nexus class, one shipyard, two of the mobile colonies, and one space station. With those ships we can expand that to 90 Capital ships of 40 Zeus, 25 Apollo, and 25 Prometheus with 15 each of the Nexus class, three shipyards, 16 mobile colonies and the 1 space station. This would include all of the obsolete vipers and raptors and any civilian decommission ships as well," Richard formulated. "About half of those ships could be ready for launch in about 6 years, if we are given the necessary resources. Also, we would need many pilots and fleet personnel to man these ships as well."
"That would be perfect. We can have those ships built at the new haven and begin the process of moving all of the necessary ships over there. By the end of the month, we will begin removing ships starting with the oversized battlestars and with each month, more of the warstars, frigates, and old gunstars will begin dropping in," Nagala confirmed. "When can you start dropping the domed cities down on the first planet?"
"I can have the first group ready for launch immediately after I receive some Argo ships to move them. I would also like to have a battle group on hand for protection," Richard replied. "Furthermore, the second set of domed cities will be ready in 3 weeks. All the food, life stock, and fisheries will be ready. One thing that I need to do is to hire more personnel. Do you believe that I can get some fleet members to participate in our deployment and for security?" Richard asked.
"I'm sure that we can do that. It might be possible for us to keep more members and have them supplemented by income from you. I can also have new pilots sent your way as well for more training starting in two years. Is there any way we can make it better for the members?" Corman asked.
"Yes I believe some of the perks of the positions is if they take the position, they would have to take a twenty year commitment. All personnel can break regulation and get married if they want without issue from the military. The remainder of their ten year commitment to the military is served through us and if they have any family that they would like to bring along, they can. They will receive 1/3 pay from the military for ten years, ½ pay from us with a 1/6 pay raise after ten years, and have a monthly allowance for food, free housing, and free medical during the entirety of their commitment. They will also receive a 1/3 pay raise for serving an additional ten years in our company. Finally, if they retire with us usually after 30 years, they will receive 1/3 of their final salary in the form of retirement for an additional 30 years and free housing and medical for life. This is all according to pay at the rank they entered as and any promotion of rank will change the amount of pay they will receive," Richard suggested.
"Any children brought along will also have adequate education as we will be hiring teachers and professors. We will be able to give any education into any industry they want as we will train people as engineers, doctors, specialists, and many others. We will also be hiring people to work the Argo domes. We should be able to put more domed cities in at anytime to expand the population. Current plans have us having close to 5 million people possible per planet. Eventually, we should be able to add entertainment domes as well. Life shouldn't suffer," Richard continued. "Please be aware that at the moment, we have an excess of food that we can exchange to the military for more ships and that should help to supplement the budget by reducing food costs."
"Excellent. We should have quarterly talks about any expansions but be aware that if any word gets to the government, we are all in a world of hurt," Corman affirmed. "We should have BSG 107 sent to help escort you over to the Nebula. I am also thinking of having them based in the nebula for further security until we can get the first batch of ships ready. Once the first series of ships are completed, I want BSG 107 returned with a skeletal crew with the remaining personnel transferred to the new ships. The new ships will be label in battle fleets of 5 Prometheus class ships, 5 Apollo and 8 Zeus class ships. The new battle groups will be BSG 111, 112, 113, 114, and 115. As soon as BSG 111 and 112 are completed, they will be filled out with personnel from decommissioned capital ships. Those ships will then be sent to you. Once BSG 114 is completed, we will begin plans for BSG 116 and 117 and more if we can. We can decide that at a later date."
"That is perfect, Admiral Corman. I believe that this plan can be a success. Further plans for planetary defense will need to be worked out later. I should see you in 3 months," Richard confirmed. "Have a good day, Admirals."
Leaving, he felt that he had accomplished a lot and even then, there was a lot more he had to do.
A/M: Sorry for the wait, I've been busy with a new job and has caused me to slow down a bit due to a long schedule. I will be able to post the next chapter later this week but don't expect it until Thursday or later. I will try to get as much as I can do done so that you can enjoy. Please continue to review. Thank you.