History Lesson 05

During the previous decade of exploration the UN-EDC was very strict on matters of expansion. Only official missions were allowed outside our solar system. These included many small research outposts but no actual colonies. Until we had a clear idea of the space around us, it was considered wise to be very cautious.

2020 to 2030

The policy changed in 2020 with the creation of the UN-HHC (Human Horizons Council) which would oversee the expanse of humanity out into the galaxy. Included in the new UN space law was the allowance for corporations to own and use FTL technology, and to set up extra-solar outposts (subject to UN-HHC supervision) In basic terms the door to expansion was open. 

 

However much colonizing had been talked about and planned for, doing it was a huge undertaking.

The Ranger M3 outpost establisher ships were simply to small. Thus a new class of colony FTL ships had to be built. These Outreach ships would later serve as the regular cargo transports to keep the new settlements connected to Earth, and to each other. Of course the size limits of FTL tech still held true, one could not build ships to transport 10,000 people or 10,000 tons of cargo at a time. 

However it was not only size that mattered it was speed. Even as we had been zipping through hyper space at 1LY/week speeds, we had been working on the next generation of Hyper Field Generators, that would give us access to the 1LY/day band of H-Space.  The brake through came in late 2020, and working systems were ready by 2022. 

Outreach Ships in Brief. 

Built starting in 2023.

These were much bigger than the Rangers. With a length of 320ft, main body width of 85ft, and wing span of 250ft. They basically were two ships welded together side by side.  Their FTL speed was 0.5LY / day, the best we could manage for their size.  

(To reach stars 10 LY distant would be a trip of about 25 days, allowing some rests between hyper hops, as was required by the medical rules. )

It had basic point defense guns but no launchers for drones or missiles.  

In a very controversial move it only had 4 escape pods. 

The MK1 had a crew of 10 and room for 60 passengers, with 900 tons of cargo. 

The MK2 cut down the passengers to 20 in exchange for more cargo room, total of 1,400 tons. 

The MK2-6 removed the hanger bays to install 6 more regular cargo pods. 

The MK2-w was actually the first ship in service, being specialized as a work shop, it would be essential for the colonial plan, which called for the construction of a space station before the ground facilities were built. 

The Colonizing Conventions.

 

There had been a huge amount of debate between Nations, Corporations and the UN-HHC over who could settle where. (The UN-EDF being concerned with Earth Defense, had wanted to avoid this political bickering.)

The eventual rule made was;  

1. That no one could claim exclusivity over a star system or even a planet.  

2. Direct ownership of small moons was allowed, providing a permanent-manned outpost was established.  

3. When a colony was planted on a planet, it would be granted ownership of the “logical geographic zone” it was in. With the HHC being arbiter of any bounder dispute between colonies.  

4. Native life (plant and animal) must be respected. If intelligent native life is found, ownership of the planet and the star system defaults to them. The colony must offer to withdraw.

At the same time the UN-HHC was getting started so was “Star Fleet”. Up till this point the UN-EDF had concentrated on a home defense fleet and a small exploration core. Now with the prospect of many extra-solar colonies to be concerned with, a fleet of FTL warships was required. Construction began in 2024.

The Saber Class Warship

 

Built starting 2023.

Bigger than the Ranger, at 320ft length, 55ft main body width, and a 200ft wing span.  It sacrificed a lot in the way of versatility to focus on its roll as a fighter. Of course, being built after years of technical improvement, it outperformed the Ranger in almost every way. Faster in both real space and hyper space, its point defense guns were similar but its armor was much heavier. It mounted larger forward and aft missile launchers, but its main weapons were something far above what the Ranger had, long barrel rail guns that could punch holes in just about anything. 

It had a crew of 12 and a space marine squad of 10.  Its hanger was built for the Condor shuttle, which could carry the entire squad.  The Saber did keep the 2 cargo pods as its main aspect of versatility, because a number of weapons packages had already been developed for them. 

The Saber MK2 "Alrex" was developed in 2024, as an armed long range exploration ship, basically a replacement for the Ranger. It made a few minor changes, replacing the marine squad quarters with a science lab, and reducing the hanger bay size so an extra cargo pod could be carried. 

The Used Ranger Market

With the development of better Hyper Field Generators in 2022, the older systems were rendered less useful. There was at first talk or refit, but the reality of the undertaking was not favorable. The UN decided instead to decommission its fleet of Rangers as replacement ships became available over the next few years. Starting in 2025 the old ships were put up for public sale. Corporations and special interest groups were eager to have even a slow FTL ship.

However this was not an end to the class of ship.  The basic and cargo types were now built with the newer systems and sold directly to Governments, while the R-mk3-v5 named Shortbow became the UN-EDF scout and messenger. 

The First Colony. 

It was located at Teegarden's Star, 12.5 LY from Earth, a red dwarf discovered in 2003. Because the telescope data was so promising, 2 planets in the habitable zone, it was made a priority for Ranger missions. The data was confirmed in 2017 when the first scout visited the system.  In 2019 a research outpost was set up on Tee-B, with one placed on Tee-C in 2021. 

  

Tee-B was found to have an average equatorial temperature of +24c, and gravity of 0.8 G, native life included vegetation and animals, odd but understandable to the science team. No intelligence above the level of crows. 

Tee-C was found to be much colder with an average -47c temperature, with a gravity of 0.6 G, native life was similar to the fungus and microbes found on Tee-B. There were no higher order plants or animals. 

A lot of research was done on both worlds before actual colonizing plans were drawn up. In fact the story of Teegarden is the development of the UN-HHC colonial process. Great attention was given to the biological cross contamination question.

The research stations were expanded and rotated through several crews until 2025 when the first Outreach ships arrived. After 6 months of constructing a orbital station, work shifted to the ground infrastructure for the colony for the next 6 months. Although a hundred people were working and living on the ground, the colony was not considered to be founded until early 2027 when the first ship full of colonists arrived. Some of the workers would stay, others would go on to use the experience they gained and be leaders on other colonial establishment projects.

( See Colonial Development article for more details )