Date: 1994 (a year later)
I don't watch politics, nothing changes in Tamora so there's little reason for me to do so. But the last year had been so stressful that I wouldn't have had the time even if I wanted to. So I was shocked when i saw the news:
"The Empire of Tamora signs cooperation treaty with the USR".
Even somebody like me who had little interest in politics knew that Tamora was always stuck between the two political blocks of Mundus: the USR and its allies on one side and the Free World on the other. The problem for Tamora was that it never got along with either of them. Tamora would have wanted to ally or at least have more friendly relations with the Free World but slavery always got in the way. The USR would have been willing to look the other way on the slavery issue but Tamora never wanted to look the other way when it came to the USR's state atheism. Only one thing makes us Tamorans more anxious than atheism: state enforced atheism. However, it seemed that Tamora finally gave in on the issue. So I was curious to see what we got from the deal:
"the new treaty stipulates that Tamora will pay 250 mil dinars (USD) per year to the USR in exchange for assistance in promoting science and research relating to space technology. Furthermore, Tamora agrees to enter into a barter system with the USR, selling at least 20 bln in oil and gas every year in exchange for various goods manufactured in the USR. The Imperial authorities have said the treaty signals a change in... "The deal was even more astonishing. As far as I can remembered Tamora never paid other countries for assistance. So this could only mean Tamora was desperate to get the programme going at all costs, otherwise it would have never signed such an obviously humiliating deal.
Date: 1996
Finally progress was made. The Soviet assistance had proved invaluable. That wasn't necessary because they bent over backwards to help but mostly because we were so far behind that whatever assistance they provided was badly needed. We had to start from scratch on a new rocket model since the current had been deemed "irreversibly flawed" by the Soviets. So the Safir 2 was "born". Today it was the first attempt at launching it so everyone was excited. Everyone with security clearance gathered to see the big event. And the countdown started:
Three.
Two.
One.
Blastoff.
The Safir 2 rocket, the second rocket design developed by Tamora
You could feel the tension in the room as everyone, expect for the Soviets of course, was praying for it to be a success. As minutes passed without any failures detected, you could feel the moral of the team surge to levels seen only at the start of the programme. It was clear then that we would be finishing our satellite navigation system, we had no idea when but for the first time in years the team was confident it could be achieved. Sure, there were immense hurdles ahead of us. Just as with the rocket , our plans for the first satellite had to be scrapped for a new design. However, unlike the rocket design, progress was much slower there. But now that we could shift our focus there, I was confident we could have a successful satellite within a reasonable timeframe. Finally, things were looking good for us.
OOC: Agreed with Libby.