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Chapter 188 - What Could Go Wrong[]
Thazi (Independent System)
2nd January, 3045
Not a single vote had been cast against Major General David Mitchell with an estimated 97% turn out. While there were celebrations, he was more concerned with the overdue convoy from Inner End. They were already two weeks overdue, and he did not like that at all. He hated the separation, he hated the lack of communication among his command, he hated the fact that his own people were taking great pleasure in calling him "sire" at every opportunity they got. The only pleasure he had was looking out the window and seeing Sergeant Major Tyler Crenshaw digging a hole for the 8th time and filling it back in only to start again in a new location as punishment for fashioning a crown from copper and trying to crown him at breakfast while calling him Emperor Mitchell.
He could only smile that his troops morale was high enough to crack jokes, even though he was terrified at screwing up what he had just been elected to. He now had an entire planet to look after for all of time. He watched Sergeant Major Crenshaw for a few minutes before returning to work. He had been studying as much as he could from the various computer libraries they had about Monetary Policy. Which was surprisingly quite a bit. He learned that down thru history many nations got into trouble when more money was issued than could be backed by real assets. He could not just rely on what they might keep, not yet anyway. He started digging thru a stack of folders until he pulled the one he wanted from the stack. He flipped it open.
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Department of Mega Engineering Planetology Report, 2714
Initial survey of system indicates a habitable planet at the 1st orbit around the M3V star. Nadir and Zenith Jump Points are located 2.7 days travel from the habitable planet. The planet itself is a single continent with several large islands. Water covers 57% of the planet's surface. There are abundant fresh water on the planet and the oceans are close in salinity to that found on Terra. Minimal terraforming will be required. Land mass coverage is 65,561,400 sq miles. Various islands cover 1.74 million sq miles with the largest island covering 783,000 sq miles. Surface gravity is .89 of Terra and pressure is standard.
Continental land mass has an overall temperate climate with dense rain forest around the equator, vast plains above and below the equator with the southern and northern most areas having a colder temperature. Mountain ranges run on a north south bearing down the center of the continent indicating the location of tectonic plates. Highest mountain peak is 8,578 meters above sea level and deepest part of ocean is 9,824 meters. Mineral wealth is estimated at following amounts.
Gold - 245,000 tons
Silver - 3.9 Million tons
Iron Ore - 220 Billion tons
Platinum - 182,000 tons
Copper - 765 Million Tons
Aluminum - 585 Million Tons
Titanium - 443 Billion Tons
Diamond - 2.2 Billion Carats
Zinc - 113 Million Tons
Nickel - 84 Million Tons
Cobalt - 12 Million Tons
Tin - 36 Million Tons
Germanium - 8 Million Tons
Emerald - 2.5 Billion Carats
Indium - 3 Million Tons
Molybdenum - 19 Million Tons
Rare Earth - 130 Million Tons
Bauxite - 45 Billion Tons
Gallium - 145,000 tons
Tungsten - 6.2 Million Tons
Manganese - 1.2 Billion Tons
Lithium - 32 Million Tons
Iridium - 420,000 Tons
While mineral wealth of the planet is within the norms, it is the planets long growing seasons and fertile ground with minimal terraforming that make the planet an excellent colony location. The vast plains and easy access to fresh water are ideal agricultural locations. Colonization is recommended without haste.
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While Wokha was a nice catch all, it was a Federated Commonwealth holding so he could not count on having a monopoly on mining that system forever. He would continue for as long as he could, but he needed to also focus on developing the resources on Thazi. But it would have to be done in a way so as to not impact the planets agricultural land. He had a ton of research to do.
Inner End (Federated Commonwealth)
12th January, 3045
Command Sergeant Major Chester Pullman had not gotten any word back on the pending purchases, but since their bank account kept growing from deposits from the Federated Commonwealth he gave Briscoe Osbourne, their lawyer, the go ahead to purchase what was requested. It was a massive amount to him, but he was getting used to seeing large transfers into the account and right back out again. It only took a few hours, and he checked the account again and the balance was down to 38 million C-bills and some change.
Across town, Briscoe Osbourne finished the various forms setting up Alpha Marine, Inc and transferring the assets from Pattison Marine Yards to the new company. He had hired a local lawyer on Pattison to make contact with all the former employees of Pattison Marine and rehire them, but they had to be willing to relocate. The new company had a different bank account setup with a modest 48 million C-Bill initial deposit, but going by previous payroll numbers, that was barely 10 months of operating funds. Pullman would just have to deposit more funds when the time came. He had gotten a good deal for them, and Pattison Main Bank had agreed to a 500 Million bid.
Not really knowing what was planned, but after his own research to purchase the various animals, where he learned that was the way you started a herd for production, he had filled out the paperwork forming Outer Rings Agricultural Products in Major General Mitchell's name. If they did as he predicted, when the time came, they would have a name to operate under. They would still have to be inspected by the Federated Commonwealth food inspectors before they could sell their products, but they would be legal in every other way. The various animals had cost them only 225,000 C-Bills.
He had then purchased the various heavy machinery requested; these he had assigned to Solar Metals as assets from Achernar Heavy Industries for a total of 227 Million C-Bills. He had been close in his estimate and those funds had been transferred to Alpha Marine for operating funds.
Finally, he was done for the day.