Tension Report Application
Submitting Party: Colonial Republic of Earth (with extensive ooc assistance from Interstellar Terra in the creation of this report and ooc review from The Uthani Imperium)
Nation Name of Submitting Party: New Dornalia
Affected Quadrant(s): Alpha/Beta
Precise Locations (If Applicable):
Nation(s) Involved: United Star Commonwealth, Colonial Republic of Earth
Description:
The Colonial Republic of Earth’s State Department has announced that it will join forces with the United Star Commonwealth in the construction of a landmark facility designed to connect the two countries. Known as the “Evenstar Project,” the project consists of constructing two jump gates connected to one another. One jump-gate will be located in a remote location in the Commonwealth, and the other would be located in a stretch of Dornalian space within the Dornalian territory of “New Kazakhstan County”. The jump gates will be surrounded by spacedocks and spacestations on both the Dornalian and Commonwealth sides, designed to accommodate extremely large vessels and provide services ranging from repair and resupply to entertainment and even dining. Both governments’ respective customs agents will be at the Evenstar Gates--the Commonwealth Border & Port Authority on the Commonwealth side and the Dornalian Immigration and Common Border Authority on the other side.
The project seeks to better connect the Dornalian and Commonwealth through a direct link to the Dornalian Hyperspace Expressway System. Although the two countries engage in commerce and trade along the Trans-Betan Expressway already, the prevailing thought among experts in Los Angeles as well as Thompson is that a direct government-sponsored link between the two countries will make trade that much easier. This is especially as the proposed Evenstar Project gate, would effectively produce a shortened, direct access route between the two countries which traders from both nations could use. This is especially as the Dornalian Hyperspace Expressway system is a coordinated series of jump-gates established around major planets throughout the Colonial Republic designed to facilitate rapid, nearly instantaneous movement of civilian and military vessels. As such, the prospect that Commonwealth traders will be able to sell their wares to even the farthest reaches of the Republic becomes that much more likely.
In turn, the Republic’s merchants are excited by the prospect of having a direct, mostly trouble free route to the Commonwealth. As Herman Kinneman, director of HT Industries’s NYK Division--which specializes in the interstellar shipping of goods and materiel--notes, “The Evenstar Project is a thing which needed to exist and which should have existed long ago. The Trans-Betan Expressway hookups are nice, but I think we can all agree that the Republic and the Commonwealth will benefit from a method of access that, at the very least, minimizes the risk of pirate activity nabbing valuable freight.” Kinneman then added with a nervous grin, “I dunno about you, but I’m not eager to have a repeat of the M/V Georgia Maru incident. Those poor people.”
The gates will be protected by the various law enforcement agencies and militaries of both countries, respectively. On the Dornalian side, witnesses have spotted Immigration and Common Border Authority cutters being assigned to patrol the gate, and even the odd Navy ship as well--the CRS Colossus, one of the Republic’s Mercury-Cain Battlestars, was seen patrolling the Dornalian side. Likewise Commonwealth preparations have seen the UNCS Carradine mobile shipyard move into the area along with its escort group to begin preparations to erect the connecting gate. Already everyone from private individual interests and massive mega corporations have made their interest known in both the connected systems and in building facilities. A new corporate entity has arose over night after the announcement a conglomerate known as The Evenstar Civilian and Military Drive Yards aims to set up dry dock and production facilities on the Commonwealth side of the gate to offer ship building services to both the Commonwealth and the Dornalian’s.
The prospect of significant new outflows of trade has raised the stock markets of both nations, and many in the New Kazakhstan County area--which has been regarded as something akin to “FTL-Over Country” due to its otherwise stereotypically unremarkable nature--are excited to see a potential bonanza coming their way. Said New Kazakhstan County’s Governor Florence J. Lepetomane, the Republic’s youngest governor at just 25 years of age (and an otherwise human woman with calico cat ears and a tail), “I welcome the prospect of the Evenstar Project bringing more trade into my County. This County’s needed brighter economic prospects for a while, and more importantly it has needed a reason to keep jobs and skilled workers in this area. I think that when the Commonwealth sends its merchants here to the Republic, they’re going to see a fine, friendly welcome.”
There are however, critics of the plan. A local advocacy group called Keep New Kazakhstan Quiet has raised concerns about the prospect of increased traffic and crime in the region. Said the group’s leader, one Konstantin N. Tukachevsky, speaking in front of the Juan J. Gomez Federal Building in New Kazakhstan’s capital of New Almaty, “The people of New Kazakhstan need to be aware that like any big project, it will have consequences, okay? I don’t know about you, but I don’t fancy much the prospect of having to dodge endless amounts of freighters and seeing my property values go down because some idiot in Los Angeles wants to march full steam ahead without regard for the consequences.” Additionally, analysts have warned that given the ongoing emergencies in Nova Louisiana County and parts of the Dornalian Solar System, and even in the fringes of Luxembourgia County, it may perhaps be premature to open a new trade link.
Nonetheless, the plan’s supporters indicate that such concerns are unwarranted. Secretary of Transportation Donald Aguinaldo, said simply as he left the Juan Gomez Federal Building, “The current Emergencies in Nova Louisiana County and elsewhere are not going to get Commonwealth traders killed. They haven’t gotten Dornalian traders killed, so why would they get the Commonwealth’s people killed? We’ve got the gotdang Navy working overtime and every cop and county mountie in the gotdang country making sure our spacelanes are safe. Hell, just last week I rode unescorted in a C’tani Space RV from Los Angeles to this place unescorted and even made pitstops on Mars County because I wanted to make sure. I’m here, ain’t I? Mr. Seibert’s article in the Times is calculated hokum and quite frankly, I’d invite him to look at the longer term prospects and to check himself before writing down such things.”
Such is the confidence of the Dornalian State Department that it is considering extending this program to other nations with which it is allied. This includes the Two Coredias--that is, the Elemental Nations of Coredia and the Imperial/Semi-Nomadic Republic of Coredia.
Said Norton Simons, Secretary of State, “I’m going to be frank here. This gate project works successfully without any major troubles and with great benefit, I’m going to work with my colleagues in The Nassau Accords and elsewhere to do other projects similar to the Evenstar Program. Why? Because frankly, any opportunity to cut out the middleman and greatly expedite travel and trade not only brings nations together in peaceful commerce, it also helps us protect one another in times of trouble. Who wouldn’t want that?”
Potential Greater Impact(s):The prospect of increased access between the Commonwealth and the Republic means not only greater trade, but also potentially higher military access between the two nations. Certainly, the present construction and the Dornalians’ intent to expand the Evenstar Project to other Nassau members is a sign of continued cooperation between the Republic and at least one member of the Nassau Accords membership, as well as a sign perhaps of greater galactic assertiveness alongside their existing contribution of the rather substantial Task Force 57.
