Skyriver Galaxy
Mid-Rim
Chommell Sector
Naboo System
Naboo
Mantaris Transport
Naboo Moon
Admiral's Log, Supplemental:
Despite the few bumps from our arrival, construction of the first colony in a new galaxy has begun and progress has been proceeding well. The building material for the colony hub is being delivered down to the surface and with the assistance of the Naboo and the Gungans, progress is moving at an astounded rate. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi along with Queen Amidala having using the Mantaris transport to deliver Naboo animals and plants to populate the moon. The ship's ability to travel underwater makes it a perfect transport and its scanners have been able to help find suitable locations for the underwater plant life that are essential to the Gungan economy.
At the same time, the planet's atmosphere has proven to be like that of a Class-M planet, perfect for colonization. Before returning to the Milky Way, the Enterprise left behind suitable personnel and equipment to begin building the first Federation colony in a new galaxy.
End Log
"Yoosa doing good, Obi."
The colonization of the Naboo's moon had proceeded quite smoothly since leaving the Gungan city. Thw Mantaris entered the atmosphere of the moon and dove right into the ocean. From there, a probe was sent up to the surface to give a more detailed scan of the moon.
"Releasing plants and animals." R2 beeped.
The transport moved into a location close to the shore, knowing that a lot of plants would grow in the mud and shallow water. The operation to colonize the moon for the Gungans was different from how colonization would be done in Federation space. Obi-Wan and Queen Amidala were being careful were to place the various plants, both on land and in the water and having to choose locations for animals, especially predators to be placed at. If placed too close, the predator might eat all the herbivores and then turn on each other for food.
So, the crew took the safest route and started placing plants in the shallow water.
"The ecosystem appears to be stable." R2 commented.
Of course, that was because they were starting with the plant life first.
"The nave are increasing." R2 reported, seeing the plant life growing under the water.
"Good. We'll need plenty of plants down there before we start setting animals down." Amidala stated. "Next, we try placing chak-root."
"Just so you know, chak-root doesn't grow in deep swamp. Be sure to try for a shallow swamp." R2 suggested.
Kirk watched carefully, seeing how colonization at least for the Gungans was being carried out. "A fine method of trying to create a brand-new eco-system, Your Highness."
"I'm guessing it's a bit different in your galaxy, Admiral." Padme replied.
"A bit. This is more similar to how Earth colonization was done a hundred years ago." Kirk replied. "We make use of terraformers and weather machines to make planets that share the right mass, gravity, rotation and balanced period of days and nights suitable for life. Most species part of the Federation are humanoid or similar enough that we can account for any of the smaller differences."
"Is that your people will be doing right now?" Padme questioned.
"No, nothing like that." Kirk shook his head. "The moon is already enough like an M-Class planet we can forego the usual terraforming."
Before leaving back for the Milky Way, the Enterprise had left behind dozens of shuttles along with one-man anti-gravity pods carrying supplies and equipment to help set up a Federation colony on the moon. Engineers were already stationed to receive the supplies to begin construction of a Crusoe class colony hub. The Colony Hub is the single most important structure in any colony. A stage 1 Hub is always the first building placed by Starfleet engineers and it is from this structure that all Federation colonies must grow.
At first the Hub is used to produce everything a colony needs - vehicles, construction, power, etc - albeit in a very limited and inefficient manner. As the colony grows, the construction of specialist buildings such as Power Generators or Production Yards - gradually relieves the Hub of its production duties. Yet far from rendering the Hub redundant, the development of these specialist buildings allows it to mutate from a producer into a controller. So, just as the bridge of a starship unites and directs all the ship's systems, the Colony Hub acts as the command nexus for the colony.
As the colony grows, so too does the Hub. With each upgrade to the Hub, the colony progresses to a higher technology level, with new systems and units becoming available for production. The next stage would be the Construction Yard, a production facility that generates all of the parts needed to construct new buildings or upgrade existing ones. As such, the Construction Yard is a key structure that is the first to be built early in the colonial development phase.
Essentially the Construction Yard is a processing center. It takes raw materials and processed resources and combines them to make construction materials. These materials are then installed in the construction magazines used by the Construction Bees. Like most Federation industrial colony installations, the Construction Yard is a modular unit that can be developed according to each colony's needs.
When first built, the Construction Yard is a basic processing plant only capable of producing the more basic colony buildings. Then as the colony develops and more complex buildings are required, it can be upgraded. These improvements enhance both the Construction Yards production capacity and its technical capabilities, allowing the colony to construct further specialist structures. Next was the Vehicle Yard that provided the colony's muscle - both military and industrial.
The vehicles constructed in the Yard give colonists the power to explore new environments, move cargo and defend themselves. The first stage of the Vehicle Yard is by necessity a relatively small structure that can be built quickly and easily by the first few colonists to make planet fall. This 'hangar' is then supplemented with second and third stage extensions built to each side of the original structure. These increases in size reflect the fact that the more advanced the Yard becomes the greater its production capacity, and that physically larger craft can be built inside.
As the development of the colony continues, the selection of vehicles available in the Yard increases though many of these rely on other structures to be present in the colony as well. With the addition of the structural upgrades the Yards defensive efficiency increases, and its manufacturing times lessen. The Vehicle Yard is designated as the general workstation for the colony's engineering officer, aiding efficiency levels and manufacturing times once stationed here. Then came the Resource Processor, the link between the remote mining stations and the needs of the colony.
Taking the raw materials gathered by the Mining Stations and then processing them into usable minerals and alloys. This unit is at the sharp end of colonial economics, as the processed materials produced are in demand both for export to the Federation and internally, for further development of the colony. The Resource Processor is no simple foundry, however. It can handle everything from gases to metal ores, producing goods as diverse as transparent aluminum and nitrium.
In order to make the Processor as useful as possible it features a modular design, allowing for additional ore-processors to be added to the main structure. These sub-systems allow the overall efficiency of the Processor to be increased, speeding up the mineral processing times significantly.
Then there was the tricky part of the operation.
Usually, colonies in Federation space had a Dilithium plant, meant to reduce the time required to process raw Dilithium ore into refined Dilithium. However, it seemed that to the people of this galaxy Dilithium didn't exist. However, they did have Lithium which in a crystal form as utilized in lithium crystal circuits, important components in the power-generation systems of Constitution-class starships. In order to be utilized in this fashion, lithium crystals were required to be processed in large 'cracking stations,' such as the one on planet Delta Vega.
Dilithium on the other hand was usually formed naturally by violent explosions or supernovae, especially on planets and asteroids that had a high concentration of Lithium. If so, then the people of this galaxy possibly had a potentially large abundance of Dilithium that they perhaps never knew existed.
Of course, Kirk would have to be careful with that information.
Even if Naboo and the rest of the Galactic Republic were advanced, it was too soon to consider showing them where to find and how to mine Dilithium deposits. That would need to be determined by Starfleet and likely the Federation Council. From what he had heard, the Naboo were considering creating a spice mine on the moon as well which made Kirk raise an eyebrow until he read up on what specific forms of spice they were talking about.
Spice, also known as narco-spice, was slang for various mind-altering drugs. Varieties included ryll and the strongest (and most expensive), glitterstim.
Most forms of spice were collected raw, then processed and refined. Some forms of spice were produced completely synthetically, without the use of any kind of natural material. Many organizations, and planets, took on this enterprise, notably the Hutts.
Kirk wasn't sure what to make of what was essentially an intergalactic drug trade but that was what the Prime Directive was for. As long as it didn't affect him or Starfleet, he wouldn't look too deep into it.
After the Dilithium Plant was the Thermo-Concrete Plant meant to process Silicon into Thermo-Concrete materials.
The Transparent Aluminum plant to process Kelbonite ore into Transparent Aluminum.
The Nitrium Plant to process Magnesite ore into Nitrium.
And then the Duranium Plant to process Dolomide ore into Duranium.
And finally, the Mining Station.
Only Mining Stations rival the Hub within a colony as the pivotal structure, as it is often the mineral wealth of a world that leads to its colonization in the first place. The Mining Station is the primary source of all raw materials for the colony, so the more productive the mine, the faster and stronger the colony it serves can grow. To think of it as just a mine however is a mistake, for it is a highly complex resource gathering system that is both diverse and specialized.
The central core of the tower can gather gases, fluids, ores, crystals, and many other chemicals that are then roughly sorted and dispatched to the resource processor. Like other colony structures, the Mining Station can be superseded at a later stage in the development of a colony with the construction of an Advanced Mining Station. Of course, they wouldn't be close to finishing when there was still the Storage Facility, the Transporter Pad, the Science Block, the Accommodation Block, the Sick Bay, the Security Center, and the Hydroponics Farm.
The Hydroponics Farm may sound rustic in these days of food replicators, but they are in fact at the forefront of colony science. For while on a starship the power costs of the food replicators are outweighed by the space required for storage/production, the exact opposite is true of a colony, where power is at a premium and space is not an issue. The Farm solves this problem. With a Hydroponics Farm up and running, the colony can divert power rations away from the replicator systems to other, more needy systems.
Using advanced agricultural techniques these facilities can begin to provide basic food groups within days and a full complement within a matter of months. Further to the production of food, the Farm also provides a valuable portfolio of additional services to a colony. There are the obvious educational and psychological benefits of walking amongst and seeing plants from the colonist's home planets, but most importantly however the Farm also provide an 'atmosphere scrubbing' facility that ensures the air within the colony structures stays fresh. An extra benefit of the Farm, similar to the Sickbay upgrades, allows the colony to increase its unit limit by 10.
Needless to say, a lot of work was put into setting up and running a Federation colony and it was hopeful that the colony would be the first of many to bring in much needed resources for the Federation who was in the middle of overhauling the entire Starfleet. A lot of hopes were on this colony being successful and Kirk was the one they were relying on to get it up and running.
"Mesa hungry. I dink I daw up one of them critters for a snack." Jar-Jar said and walked to the back of the ship.
A moment later and R2 let out a distressed wail. "Bubble-spore released, Chak-root released, Falumpaset released, Hassling released, Jaboon released, Nave released, Nuna released, Pikobis released, Rutiger tree released, Urusai released, Yumi pod released!"
Jar-Jar came back up with a sheepish face. "Sorry. Mesa hit wrong button."
And that meant stopping Jar-Jar from making a mess of things.
Dr. McCoy rolled his eyes and pulled out a hydro-spray which he then used on Jar-Jar.
"Ow!" Jar-Jar jumped from the sudden injection…and then fell back onto a chair, snoring now.
"It's no Vulcan nerve pinch but it does the trick." McCoy sighed. "What was Boss Nass sending this up with us?"
Kirk felt a headache now, knowing they would need to round up all the released animals before they ate each other or the plants up and causing them all to go extinct before the Gungans arrived.
"I imagine because Jar-Jar is so famous amongst his people now, Nass thought it would be, as they say on Earth: 'good press'." R2-D2 surmised.
"Good press…" McCoy rolled his eyes. "I think he just wanted him up here and not down in their city to cause trouble."
"Probably." Kirk pulled out his communicator. "Kirk to all shuttles, there has been an incident and many of the animals have escaped. Initiate a wide arc phaser sweep, set to stun."
A moment later there were flashes of red light all along the surface of the small land the animals had been released on.
"That should give us the time we need to get them back onboard." Kirk put his communicator away.
"Indeed." Obi-Wan angled the ship to pick up the escaped animals. "It's impressive what you can do with your weapons."
"They come in handy." Kirk simply said. "R2, I trust you have kept track of all animal life signs."
"Tracking and catching, Admiral." R2 beeped. "We'll have them back onboard in a jiffy."
Obi-Wan glanced at R2 for a moment before returning to the task at hand. For some reason, he was able to sense R2's emotions through the Force which should not have been possible because he was a Droid. The Force could be sensed in all living beings and Droids have no presence in the Force and thus were not considered living beings by the Jedi.
So why could he sense R2 now, almost like how he and Master Qui-Gon had sensed the machine intelligence V'Ger?
