Faction:Varangian Corporation/History
February 20, 2016: (dragonspride1995)
This was the first official day in the operations of our faction, we are still struggling to choose a name for ourselves, but that is not stopping us from beginning our operations, we have pieced together a home ship for our own purposes, within this galaxy we have noticed a faction which seems to be acting as an authority. They are allowing free commerce and protecting free trade, they also have a station they have devoted to assisting newcomers get on their feet. We used their services but sparsely, and, have; through diplomatic channels crafted an alliance, as they seem to be a military superpower within the bounds of this galaxy, however as much of their manpower is devoted to humanitarian effort, I doubt they pose much risk to our operations, but they should not be taken for granted. Our first operation was humanitarian in nature, a member of [DRG]; the faction introduced in the previous log were stranded in a decaying orbit leading to a crash on the planet. In the interest of our alliance, and our reputation, I (dragonspride) ordered the Archimedes, our mobile operations and HQ ship, to set course to mars. It was a very long trip, we had to push our jumpdrive to the limit, it took us 3 jumps just to get into the orbit of mars, during which time one of the men on mars seems to have lost his mind. He attempted to murder our ally, we did everything we could from so far out, we ordered him to stop, but in the end; our ally had to defend himself, and retaliate in self-defense.
After a collision between our home ship and our landing craft we had to piece together anything to reach the surface and back, however without previous testing we did not account for the amount of thrust needed to leave the gravity well of mars. It took a few tries but after repositioning our ion thrusters we were able to make it back to the Archimedes, the whole operation was partially successful, our thoughts are on the man who was lost, I wonder if he had family, if he had a life. But we can’t blame ourselves for the loss of life, I only wish I had ordered the mission sooner, but that is my cross to bear alone. I plan to order the research and development of a new lander tomorrow, we cannot be caught with our pants down, again. Our operations are expanding at a very good rate, we have started putting together the interior workings of our factions, ranks have been chosen, and orders have been given. Our first ship I have christened Archimedes, It is not a war ship, it's a bit cramped, and it’s not pretty but with lots of man hours put into it, it is starting to take a very unique look, At first glance it looks like a slug, big and bloated but it is so compact that you don’t get a good idea how big it is until you enter in, its hanger alone has enough room for 6 small ships, I’ve fallen in love with it, it feels like home, but we will need to keep expanding if we want to meet our goals, so I am starting work on an embassy in the communal station, a place for trade and we can represent ourselves in politics. And we need to start adding armor to the Archimedes.
February 21, 2016 (TheWrinkler)
Today the Archimedes was nicknamed the ‘Iron slug’. Its hangar was extended about 9 blocks out; it essentially has a bigger aft section now. An extra jump drive was added, doubling our jump distance (my idea), as well as 6 cryo pods. I designed, and built a gunship that seats 5, capable of entering and exiting a planet's atmosphere; and also a small fighter, to aid Ritsuka in neutralizing a planetary station giving people trouble. During travel on ritsuka's DC2 Bomber, the fighter was destroyed by rockets shot from the target base, and lost although I didn’t care all that much because it was a scrap fighter causing me to miss the raid which made me angry. The base was successfully destroyed by warheads dropped by Ritsuka (Leader of [DRG]). We were attacked by Pirates, but destroyed the assailants and were able to salvage some scrap, during which the Archimedes was undamaged.
(Dragonsrpide1995)
Today was a difficult day, one accident after another, I asked one of our crew, a transportation officer by the name of TheWrinkler to assist in the neutralization of a base, he is just the rank of ensign, however I felt that this would be a good time to test him, and give him the opportunity of advancement, however while under the commander of [DRG]’s care his scrap heap of a fighter he had put together was lost, I don’t know whether through negligence, or just a fluke. It was a pile of junk, but the ensign was very hurt that he did not get the chance to test himself in battle, I am going to need to inquire more with [DRG]. Today we gained progress, our embassy has been finished, and the ensign fully developed and built a new class of troop planetary deployment craft, I plan on having him test it tomorrow, if it manages to succeed I am considering transferring him into industry. But our docking arm has shown one problem after another, I think I finally got it working, but it took much time, and Thewrinkler was very outspoken against it, I am going to have to have a talk with him.
During this time we were attacked by some pirate drones, standard stuff, nothing we haven’t seen before. We were able to scrap 3 of them, but one got away back to mommy, I plan to warp out tomorrow, so I don't think it is going to be that big of a problem, our resources are stockpiling, I think it's time to start thinking about expanding our fleet, but I plan to do so discreetly, we do not want our efforts to alarm friend or foe. As for the rest of the crew, Cinnamon, my captain has shown lots of initiative, I believe it is time to expand his authority, I am going to ask him to talk to the unassigned recruits or look for someone to work under him he's a great guy, but he is taking too many shifts, we need more muscle to keep up with the demands of our operations, and one man can’t do everything as I have learned, from experience. Raven has family problems, and a few other members are on leave, I will have to contact them.
February 22, 2016 (CinnamonBrunzuh)
C.Brunzuh report: Feb 22, made planetary landing on an earthlike body. Landing party, consisting of TheWrinkler and I, CinnamonBunzuh, made planet-fall and scouted and claimed two small outposts on the surface. One in the middle of a valley plain, the other on a hillside. We had found the hillside outpost abandoned and claimed it for IND faction. Although, when we had finished our excursion, we attempted to add additional thrust to our landing craft, for fear it would not properly escape the planet’s atmosphere and gravity. But, in doing so, due to a freak malfunction, the ship became unusable.
We did our best to use the parts available to craft a rocket capable of escaping the gravitational pull, and to fill it with enough fuel to get us there. A disagreement on the amount of engines required resulted in the craft being less than adequate for the task, and we had again lost our craft. However, fate was in our favor, as the previously rescued Jbosses1 came to our assistance and airlifted us to our rendezvous point. Once back with the ship, we activated all systems, and with the rest of the crew and fleet in tow, warped away from the heavily trafficked planet and resumed our normal mining operations, which we ceased only to replace the landing craft with what we hope to be a superior craft. Having just finished this, and having fully scouted our present location for useful ores, I have retired to the confines of the ship to debrief and rest.
February 24, 2016 (Holzhey)
At noon I decided to help with the issue of excessive use of elite welders*cough* TheWinkler *cough* by building a small & compact welding drone, promptly named small welder. The welder’s conveyer system is built in series. This means all the large ports are linked in a straight line. During building few mishaps happened. After building the ship performed excellently in building a pad on the six pack of the Archimedes. The ship was able to be loaded via connector on the back.
February 24,2016 (Jedidls)
This is my first log in this faction and the best I’ve ever done on a server. My time comprised of mainly spinning in the hanger and waiting for orders; but once I received orders it all went rather smoothly. My commanding officers told me to pilot the small miner, gather gold and land the miner. I was in the middle of gathering the gold when the server crashed.
February 24, 2016 (Dragonspride1995)
Today I had a meeting with the faction officials of [DRG], they seem to have claimed an exoplanet they found, I tried to warn them of the legal ramifications of claiming planets under the outer space treaty, they didn’t bite. Kirisokue is wanting to take a more active role in faction politics, but it seems that she just wants to fulfil her role and is not actually interested. We are also looking into an alliance between [IND] and [DRG], this would include both exploration and military alliances; allowing us to more readily forum strike groups. We had an encounter with [CIS] they seem to be looking to expand their mineral territory, they entered our territory and I sent us to Defcon four, we sent out the interceptor and the destroyer out to intercept, they complied with the search, and we didn’t find anything out of the ordinary so we let them go. I am going to order us further into space, if civilization is catching up with us this fast we need to keep on the move. I had more trouble with TheWrinkler, had to pull him aside and have a chat, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but I think he got the point. My captain is advocating for stricter protocols during operations, I will have to sleep on how to implement them. I also need the get our people on deciding on a name, my paperwork is piling up. I would also like to develop strict protocols for different activities, such as mining, combat, scouting, and the like. The Archimedes needs a drastic overhaul, our industry needs to be expanded if we want to continue expanding our fleet at such a rapid pace, so I am setting this as a priority first thing in the morning, then I also have a meeting with the galactic leaders on how to implement better industry through the less dominant factions, and I think I have a few good ideas.
(CinnamonBunzuh) -
Refitted the stern of the Archimedes to house the new landing craft, made minor modifications. Also, due to a malfunction in the rotor arm, we were forced to reload the hangar, and one of our fighter ships was lost by collission with a ship antenna. Both the antenna and fighter craft were lost.
February 25, 2016 (CinnamonBunzuh)
Today we bestowed the rank of Ensign upon jameshodgins and have also commended him with the Exemplary Behavior medal for good teamwork and consistent assistance with day to day operations. The crew spent the day retrofitting the Archimedes and it’s support vessels, improving systems and layouts and increasing it’s size and ease of use. Overall, turning into quite a fine ship. One of our smaller drill ships was lost, forgotten at a rendezvous and left behind after initiating warp jump. Checking the resource counts after our repairs, it was noted that some reserves were low, so an emergent dispatch of the mining module was called. Now we have increased our supply count to adequate levels. There have been reports of disastrous attacks on the Neutral Station. Repair teams are correcting the damages.
February 26, 2016 (CinnamonBunzuh)
Today was spent crafting many mining ships, and finishing repairs to the engines and hangars of our primary ships. We refilled the neutral station with a large portion of our supplies, and then proceeded to reacquire those very materials from the environment. New hulls can be seen here and there around the Archimedes today.
February 27, 2016 (CinnamonBunzuh)
Lost one small miner, down to none in the hangar. The crash tore a large hole in the ship, and destroyed one of our refining facilities, which we had to repair before sealing the hull. After docking with the station and offloading large parts of our ore and refined materials, we warped back out to fair distance and resumed mining operations.
February 28, 2016 (Holzhey)
Last night I started repairs on the damages areas of the ship. While not running into many problems initially we finished the structure. After the structural repairs were complete we ran into problems with pressurization in the ship. Of course the moment dragon woke up it magically fixed itself.
March 1, 2016 (Holzhey)
After being woken up from cryostasis from a short in the electrical system I was told it was defcon 1 due to extreme damage on the ship. The ship was hit by a large explosive warhead planted by an unknown person(s)
March 1, 2016 (dragonspride1995)
I woke up exhausted, I’ve been having trouble sleeping. My captain immediately told me that there were warheads aboard the Archimedes, my first order was to go directly to defcon 1, followed by clear all craft away from the Archimedes, to help minimize any potential damage, good thing too, we were able to disarm 4 of the 5, but the 5th one was booby trapped, it exploded resulting in the catastrophic destruction of the Archimedes’ hanger deck, and also destroyed our refineries. We were able to easily repair it because of the competence of my crew. However, we were not able to get any intel into who the bomber was, so we have no idea if it was hostile, or worse… an inside job; I dread the thought.
Everyone was called on deck, and that was the majority of our crew, but a few of them were unable to attend much to my dismay. We got much work done, including full industrial production of our new battle carrier. There is a disagreement on how the hangers should be laid out, one of my industry officers has a design that makes me think of a massive hamburger, however has much interior space, and allows for full view from the bridge. I still do not find it aesthetically pleasing, while that is not the primary concern, I still don’t like the idea of a massive hamburger on the side of our flag ship. But Voychek is insistent, so I have left the choice to my second in command, Cinnamon.
March 7, 2016 (CinnamonBunzuh)
Much progress has been made on the new carrier ship, dubbed the Albatross. Most of the hull is complete and intact, with some patches left untouched and unfinished. It has been taxing for me to try to keep supplies of ore high enough to continue work, while also performing my duty as XO and keeping the construction of the carrier and support ships moving along at a good pace. There is an active debate going among most of the officers about what to do with our old industrial ship, the Archimedes. Suggestions range from using it as an escape pod and lower deck to mothballing it to scrapping it down entirely. We will all have to discuss the possibilities further, but until the carrier is finished and we have the time to apply our resources and attention to the other ships more fully, it will have to remain in it’s state of disrepair.
