The First Inter-Species Human-Thargoid Colony    

27/05/2002 - The Alliance Research Council revealed the colonised system to be Faackcan [-1,76]. This location was selected because of presence of both life-supporting types of planets, pleasant temperature for both races on respective planets and the vicinity of Polaris. Polaris will most probably become a system of special trade importance, where the ships from Thargoid systems and Human systems will meet, trading goods and equipment. Thargoids are planning to set up a permanent base there, with a more advanced orbital station, as well as starports on the planet.

    The colonisation fleet has been put together now, you can see the actual ships on the image below (the relative sizes are correct). This is the human part of the colonisation fleet, which will fly from Alioth to Polaris. Further details will be announced as the project progresses. The Hawks will be attached to the Quest-class ships most of the time and during hyperspace jumps. The Thargoid Warship will contain three UN-11 thargons, which will be supplied when the exploration team arrives at Polaris. The exploration team is not yet ready, because we are waiting for volunteers - everyone of sufficient skill can participate in the exploration mission! Send your ship details along with your Commander's profile. We will consider your application and decide on your assignment to the mission. If your ship is not capable of travelling over 70 Ly in one hyperjump, we will put you in one of the AJN exploration vessels, along with their AJN crew and you can choose your actual position on the ship. (according to your abilities, of course)

28/05/2002 - We are deciding about the ships the exploration team should consist of. By now, it seems that there will be two Wyvern explorers fitted with Thargoid technology hyperdrive and one Tiercel Freighter (refitted for exploration) with the same (only more powerful) drive system. We have received an application form from Cmdr. Stevens, who will be assigned to the main vessel (the Tiercel), because of his abilities to maintain a high moral among the crew. We decided that his special abilities will be of highest benefit among more people, thus assigning him to the main vessel. Apart from these considerable skills, with the highest probability he will also be the co-pilot on the main ship. It has a crew complement of 6, plus the team of 20 researchers and scientists, who will do the work once the exploration fleet gets to Faackcane. The two Wyverns will have the usual crew complement of 3, plus 4 scientists and researchers. The main ship will be in the hands of Sharn-Lugonn Shad'ey, pilots of the two other ships are not known yet. If you are rated at least Competent and are interested in this project, then YOU can be one of the pilots or co-pilots on these ships. Commanders rated at least Above average may be assigned to other positions. The mission is supposed to be taking from 2 to 4 weeks of "real"** time and the exploration team should leave on Friday, returning after they have carried out the mission - briefly exploring all of the planets in the Faackcan system and thoroughly exploring Sharnsworld and Norman's Rock. If there will not be enough volunteers from YOU, commanders, the crew places will then be given to the members of AJN.
    WHY are we recruiting among you and not take the AJN members immediately? Because we feel that more people should have the opportunity of exploring new possibilities of life... and the AJN pilots are doing exploration missions regularly, so they are not impressed by a simple exploration mission.
    Details on members of the exploration team will be available shorly, and updated as people join the team. Image of the exploration fleet will be available tomorrow.

29/05/2002 - The exploration fleet is ready! (see the new ships assigned to AJN here)On Sharn-Lugonn Shad'ey's behalf the fleet has been tested in the system Urfaa [5,7]. There are no registered settlements (well, apart from three unregistered ones - as it later came out) and the planet Gold seemed suitable for a test flight of the exploration vessels. The trip was not completely uneventful, though. The both types of ships have a hyperspace jump range above 70 Ly, so only one jump was needed to cross the distance from Gateway (the ships flew to Gateway from Alioth for an inspection of the on-board scientific instruments by AJN experts). The trip through the system was not completely uneventful, the formation had to fight 13 pirate ships. This was not as easy as it may sound, because these ships are equipped as exploration vessels, not battleships! The Tiercel was a relatively easy target, and having only 12 shield generators, sustained also some hull damage. The Wyverns were forced to destroy the hostile Harriers (carrying 4 MW beam lasers) by getting close to them and using the 30 MW mining lasers in their rear mountings, which destroyed them in one shot. The right thruster on the Tiercel was damaged, too, but the ship executed a fully manual approach and rough landing on Gold, followed by the two Wyverns. After testing scientific instruments which need to be deployed on the surface, the fleet left for repairs to the unregistered starport on this planet. Knowing the risks (just remember what happened to the scientific AJN Panther Clipper while attempting to land at an unregistered starport), the fleet approached carefully, with one of the Wyverns in front, and at such altitude (over 20 km) that they could jump out of there (directly back to Alioth). After requesting permission to land, the starport responded in usual manner. The Tiercel landed on one pad, whilst the Wyverns landed both on the other one. Minor repairs were carried out and the crew had some time to rest, strolling through the small town which surrounds the starport. It was not completely pleasant, because the temperatures were about 60 C, allowing only very limited stay outdoors. After having the ships repaired, they took off and did a low-level flight over the planet's surface, testing the remaining instruments.

    The instruments worked perfectly, and the fleet is ready for its real mission of exploring the Faackcan system. However, Sharn-Lugonn is not completely satisfied with his own performance in the Tiercel, therefore sending this requet to all pilots of larger ships:

    Please, any commanders who have experience with this kind of ships are encouraged to send their application form. If the possibility of exploring a distant system is not enough for you, we have to inform you that you will get also a standard AJN payment for exploration missions, for the whole duration of the trip. That means up to 120000 Cr.
    1500 GMT - We have named Faackcan 2 after Cmdr. Stevens' suggestion, for he is a member of the exploration team and has the privilege of having an object (a planet, a moon, a base.. as they are built in the future) named with a name of his choice. Right on, Commander!

31/05/2002 - The fleet is ready, no Commanders have applied for the mission, though. We have expected more interest from the public, however, this is not the case. The ships are departing at 1530 GMT, leaving Wicca's World, Alioth, heading for the Northern sectors. The expected duration of this mission is two weeks. However, there might be some unforeseen problems, which could cause the duration of the journey to increase. The exploration fleet will make various experiments on the planet, determining the nature of plants which grow there and their suitability for growing foodstuffs. The smaller Wyverns will take pictures of all planets in the system, as well as of Sharnsworld itself, in more detail. This mission will prepare the ground for the following colonisation. You can still send your ideas about names for planets, but please send them directly to the Tiercel, i.e. [email protected] - because of the unavailability of other means of communication. Photographs from the exploration journey will be available as soon as the fleet returns. Well, no commanders for the pilot position on the Tiercel have applied, so Sharn-Lugonn will have to pilot it, against his protests that he cannot handle it well enough. We are sure that he will get used to the ship very quickly, he has flown such big ships before! The Alliance Research Council is looking forward to their arrival.

17/06/2002 - The starport of Widow Citadel is bathing in the rays of the setting sun, light breeze makes leaves on the trees moves slightly, the whole sight gives the impression of absolute peace. Suddenly, a distant roar can be heard coming up from the sky, and three dots of light emerge, apparently descending to the ground. After a short while, the dots are much closer - and in fact, they are dots no more, but the shape of three space vessels is recognisable. The formation splits, and the ships land each on a separate landing pad. The airlocks open, and the crew, obviously in good mood, are descending the ladders. The ships open their cargo bays, and various items and instruments are being unloaded. Yes, the exploration fleet has finally arrived!
    As soon as the data and images are processed, they will be displayed in an appropriate section of the Colony page. This may take three to seven days, depending on the efficiency of the Alliance Research Council's facilities and personnel.

21/06/2002 - Alliance Research Council decided to get another exploration mission moving! Because the data brought back by the first mission are not sufficient for determining the nature of the planned colony, another exploration mission is needed. This mission will be led by Commander S, who has been actively participating on other tasks connected to the previous exploration mission. This new mission will be studying geological structure of various planets in the system, as well as fauna and flora on Sharnsworld. This mission should also get the missing data about some of the objects in the system. The exploration fleet is going to be basically the same as for the previous mission, with possible battle ship escort - this has yet to be decided (on Cmdr S' suggestion). Further information about this mission will be announced here.

3/10/2002 - The exploration fleet headed by Commander S has finally returned! New information and pictures along with one of the Wyverns' flight log available!
    This mission went on in secrecy, but just because I have been too busy to update the site. To fill the void, you can check the crew roster, ship logfile or just check out the new pictures. All data will be processed soon and the colonisation can begin soon!

19/11/2002 - The colonisation fleet is being put together at the moment, the preparations will be ready in less than a month. Further analysis of the geological and biological samples brought from Faackcan suggests that the colonists won't have much trouble with resources, only with some species of local fauna.. which can be easily dealt with some reasonable firepower. There are plenty of metal deposits in the system, even some precious metals. Gem stones have not been found in any samples, but not all planets of the system were visited by the exploration fleet, so there still is a slight chance that there are such deposits in the system. Nothing more to say at the moment, just routine operations at the shipyards and ARC central. The next update will be available when the colonisation fleet leaves for Faackcan.

20/12/2002 - The colonisation fleet has left yesterday, after some minor delay, but before the deadline of one month. The fleet left exactly as it was planned, but of course it will take some time for the fleet to get to the system. They should be able to get there in about 1,5 months, mainly depending on the choice of the route and the length of their stay at Polaris. We will give out further information as the mission progresses.

** "Real" means as it appears to people on the Earth in Sol [0,0].

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