Unfortunately, it was later identified that Auriga's asteroid belt was unstable, frequently causing asteroids to collide with each other, hurling fragments in all directions. It was estimated that strikes such as those of April 4th, 77 would happen again, unless some measures were taken. The Milian Directorate proposed the construction of a network of defensive satellites, which most nations accepted without conditions. New Eden remained neutral to the proposal, participating only through contractual suppliers but not devoting any official resources to the program. During six years, the project progressed at an incredible pace, re-using the shuttles that previously supplied the Ulysses to deploy the various satellites in low orbit. In the meantime, numerous telescopes were built on the planet's surface to feed targeting data to those satellites, with the last telescope being completed on April 25th, 83.
In order to intercept any asteroid heading for Vesta, a vast network of 53 ground observatories was built throughout the planet. Each observatory was to be operated by citizens of the nation they were built in, but would feed their data to the program's central administration to effectively identity and isolate each threat. Each observatory was carefully located to provide optimized coverage of Vesta's sky, but ground-based installations were not enough to cover the entirety of it, as the planet's oceans left numerous blind spots. To remedy this situation, another network of 26 space-based telescopes was also deployed to cover the remaining early-warning perimeter.
The heart of the Oberon program is a network of 82 satellites, each equipped with a powerful coil gun and a full magazine of 24 rounds. These satellites, officially named the Forward Emergency Response Interceptors, or FERIs, are designed for accurate fire based on the target data they would receive from ground or space based telescopes. Using a weight-based prioritization system, a group of FERIs can neutralize a sizable group of asteroids at significant ranges, though they require frequent resupply of ammunition and fuel for their maneuvering thrusters. The 250mm coil gun installed on each FERI fires an explosive payload with a tungsten penetrating tip, designed to penetrate deep into the asteroid before detonating, maximizing the damage for each shot.
By forcing the construction of a vast infrastructure dedicated to spaceflight, the Oberon program had a major impact on the Vestan economy as a whole. This enabled the Vestan nations to develop their orbital trade infrastructure in addition to the planet's defensive network, reducing the load on the existing land, sea and air trade routes already in place. The loss of the Ulysses and its manufacturing capabilities, as well as its data archive, was undeniably a major blow to Humanity. However, local partial copies of knowledge and a growing industrial capacity, both key elements of the Oberon program's incredible pace, allowed mankind to overcome the various challenges caused by this incident. Finally, the construction of numerous observatories and space telescopes allowed the Vestans to begin their study of their surrounding star systems and constellations.
Unfortunately, the Oberon program was not without drawbacks. Shortly after New Eden took over as president of the Oberon Command Council, a large-scale terrorist attack struck the Oberon Command Center, decimating the staff and taking over the FERI network. Holding the entire planet hostage, the terrorists made their demands, revealing themselves as the Chroniclers of Ops, while the rest of the world prepared its counter-attack. Thankfully, a kill switch was implemented at the request of the Milian Directorate, specifically for this kind of scenario. While its use disabled the FERI network for a time, it allowed for a rapid disposal of the Chronicler threat. With the immediate threat gone, however, investigations begun to question the legitimacy of New Eden's ruling party, which was found to have been related to the attack. The Directorate also came under fire for implementing the kill switch despite the peaceful context.
With tensions rising between Vesta's major nations, the investigation of the Chroniclers revealed some shocking development. While New Eden government officials were found to be related to the attack on the Oberon Command Center, many officials in other governments were also implicated in Chronicler activities all over the globe. As a result, Vesta's nations began to implement regulations to its rapidly growing industry, as well as new counter-terrorist specialist forces. To enforce those new rules and allow the newly created law enforcement agencies to operate beyond borders, the Mediatory International Vestan Administration, or MINERVA, was created.
Comments