Chapter 10
MarkWarrior
Well-known member
Chapter 10
"So, you developed fusion reactors that do not rely on Helium-3?" Sura asked. "What do you use instead?"
"We managed to crack Protium reactors nearly a thousand years ago and haven't looked back since," Dr. Kelley replied as they worked on the installation of the 400 rated fusion engine that would be the power source for the omniforge that they had just finished the construction on. "We even use it in our tanks among other things if we can afford it."
"I believe our vehicles run off of a similar principle," Sura stated. "But ours use the lower mass to try and boost speed and the power generated to power kinetic barriers over whatever armor the tank or vehicle possesses. Are your fusion powered ground vehicles faster?"
"It depends on the tank oddly enough," Dr. Kelley laughed. "We have some that are lightning fast, and some that are much slower," He checked the readings on the fusion engine as they slowly powered it on in stages and monitored the power requirements. "We have fusion engines that are rated for a multitude of things, similar to the way that you described different eezo cores. And they produce different speeds or velocities depending on the vehicle that they are installed in."
"Do any of your work VIs possess such a fusion engine?" Sura asked as she pointed at the modified Lumberjack in the distance as it cut apart a starship and assisted a Jabberwocky in loading it up onto a flatbed for hauling.
"Actually, those are driven by pilots," Dr. Kelley stated as he brought the 400 engine fully online. "And it depends on the manufacturer and what level of technology the world they would be selling it to might possess. For instance, the mech over there with the excellent hands and other things for dragging salvage is called a Jabberwocky, it possesses a fusion engine, and is more valuable than the one next to it that is cutting the starship apart. That Lumberjack is run by an internal combustion engine that is much simpler to work on and can be maintained by a planet that might have regressed technologically."
"Interesting," Sura said in response. "Is all of your technology constructed with this in mind?"
"It depends on the budget for the most part," Dr. Kelley replied. "A poorer world may only be able to afford an ICE engine, whereas a richer world might go with something that is powered by a FE. Or the reverse may be true for any number of reasons. The mechs that you see being used now have been in operation for centuries and have been used by generations of people."
"Similarly to our ships," Sura realized. "Only you do the same thing with equipment that we do with ships."
"Ours is more of a design choice though," Dr. Kelley replied. "We chose to build things to last so that they may be of continued use to the future generations. I'm afraid that your Migrant Fleet isn't left with that option."
"Sadly, yes," Sura replied. "Many of our ships are falling apart and have been in service for centuries past when they should have been scuttled. A place where we could get a complete overhaul would be a miracle but I'm not certain that it will happen at all."
"Korlus is open to business from everyone," Dr. Kelley said with a grin. "While official alliances may be out of the cards, I do not believe that any yards we have in the future would deny business from a fleet that needed a good overhaul."
"I swear you're worse than the Volus sometimes," Sura elbowed the man in his armored ribs and winced. "All of you are looking at how best to profit from all of this."
"Science is driven by two things, my dear apprentice," Dr. Kelley laughed. "War, and business, and when one falls behind, the other one takes up the slack. If you want your discoveries to be funded by someone with fat checkbooks then you'll find a way to profit out of it." Dr. Kelley then turned and walked out of the omniforge's central room and began to run it through the first test cycle. "Remember that, and you'll be set in funds for the rest of your life."
"I'm seeing some quality issues with the first batches," Sura reported, changing the subject as she looked over the report with her omnitool.
"Well within the predicted margins," Kelley replied. "This is the first test anyway, and we can further refine it as necessary.
“How is everything going on Veil?” I asked Melissa over the HPG. “I know that Ward is a good leader, but I was worried some of his Clan tendencies would manifest while he was in charge.”
“We’re solid here,” Melissa replied. “It’s a bit warmer than I’d like, but I’m from Tharkad so I’m not sure I get to complain.”
“Any natural resource deposits found yet?” I asked. “Anything that would allow us to be able to manufacture more of our gear would be nice.”
“The asteroid belt has some nice looking rocks from the few spacers that we’ve got with us, they’re using the Elephants to push them up into orbit so we can mine them easier. “We haven’t had time to survey the rest of the planet yet though, so I can’t give a full report yet.”
“That's fine, just send a report if you do happen to find anything,” I replied. “Have a good night Melissa, Hull out.”
“Things are going too well,” I muttered to myself as I glanced down at my slate. “We’re about to get hammered by something, I just know it.”
I began looking through my files to see if there were any local governments that we had pissed off aside from the ones on Korlus.
“Shit,” I said to myself as I facepalmed. “That Baron was linked to a Turian Arms dealer. We may have a shitstorm coming down on us because we just killed his main middleman.”
“There might be some retaliation from this “Shadow Broker” as well,” Natasha said as she walked into our quarters. “We have killed every single one of their agents since they tried approaching some of our people.”
“We’ll eventually lose someone to them,” I replied. “Most of our people are trustworthy, but there are well over twelve thousand of us, someone will betray us eventually, it’s only a matter of time.”
“Then we continue to plug leaks here for now,” Natasha said with a shrug. “Now stop worrying and come to bed, you’ve been working for too long today.”
–
–
Natasha and I woke up to sirens going off and flashing lights in our quarters.
“All hands report to your battle stations, this is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.”
Author's note: Went back and revised the discussion between Sura and Dr. Kelley. It should work quite a bit better now.
"So, you developed fusion reactors that do not rely on Helium-3?" Sura asked. "What do you use instead?"
"We managed to crack Protium reactors nearly a thousand years ago and haven't looked back since," Dr. Kelley replied as they worked on the installation of the 400 rated fusion engine that would be the power source for the omniforge that they had just finished the construction on. "We even use it in our tanks among other things if we can afford it."
"I believe our vehicles run off of a similar principle," Sura stated. "But ours use the lower mass to try and boost speed and the power generated to power kinetic barriers over whatever armor the tank or vehicle possesses. Are your fusion powered ground vehicles faster?"
"It depends on the tank oddly enough," Dr. Kelley laughed. "We have some that are lightning fast, and some that are much slower," He checked the readings on the fusion engine as they slowly powered it on in stages and monitored the power requirements. "We have fusion engines that are rated for a multitude of things, similar to the way that you described different eezo cores. And they produce different speeds or velocities depending on the vehicle that they are installed in."
"Do any of your work VIs possess such a fusion engine?" Sura asked as she pointed at the modified Lumberjack in the distance as it cut apart a starship and assisted a Jabberwocky in loading it up onto a flatbed for hauling.
"Actually, those are driven by pilots," Dr. Kelley stated as he brought the 400 engine fully online. "And it depends on the manufacturer and what level of technology the world they would be selling it to might possess. For instance, the mech over there with the excellent hands and other things for dragging salvage is called a Jabberwocky, it possesses a fusion engine, and is more valuable than the one next to it that is cutting the starship apart. That Lumberjack is run by an internal combustion engine that is much simpler to work on and can be maintained by a planet that might have regressed technologically."
"Interesting," Sura said in response. "Is all of your technology constructed with this in mind?"
"It depends on the budget for the most part," Dr. Kelley replied. "A poorer world may only be able to afford an ICE engine, whereas a richer world might go with something that is powered by a FE. Or the reverse may be true for any number of reasons. The mechs that you see being used now have been in operation for centuries and have been used by generations of people."
"Similarly to our ships," Sura realized. "Only you do the same thing with equipment that we do with ships."
"Ours is more of a design choice though," Dr. Kelley replied. "We chose to build things to last so that they may be of continued use to the future generations. I'm afraid that your Migrant Fleet isn't left with that option."
"Sadly, yes," Sura replied. "Many of our ships are falling apart and have been in service for centuries past when they should have been scuttled. A place where we could get a complete overhaul would be a miracle but I'm not certain that it will happen at all."
"Korlus is open to business from everyone," Dr. Kelley said with a grin. "While official alliances may be out of the cards, I do not believe that any yards we have in the future would deny business from a fleet that needed a good overhaul."
"I swear you're worse than the Volus sometimes," Sura elbowed the man in his armored ribs and winced. "All of you are looking at how best to profit from all of this."
"Science is driven by two things, my dear apprentice," Dr. Kelley laughed. "War, and business, and when one falls behind, the other one takes up the slack. If you want your discoveries to be funded by someone with fat checkbooks then you'll find a way to profit out of it." Dr. Kelley then turned and walked out of the omniforge's central room and began to run it through the first test cycle. "Remember that, and you'll be set in funds for the rest of your life."
"I'm seeing some quality issues with the first batches," Sura reported, changing the subject as she looked over the report with her omnitool.
"Well within the predicted margins," Kelley replied. "This is the first test anyway, and we can further refine it as necessary.
“How is everything going on Veil?” I asked Melissa over the HPG. “I know that Ward is a good leader, but I was worried some of his Clan tendencies would manifest while he was in charge.”
“We’re solid here,” Melissa replied. “It’s a bit warmer than I’d like, but I’m from Tharkad so I’m not sure I get to complain.”
“Any natural resource deposits found yet?” I asked. “Anything that would allow us to be able to manufacture more of our gear would be nice.”
“The asteroid belt has some nice looking rocks from the few spacers that we’ve got with us, they’re using the Elephants to push them up into orbit so we can mine them easier. “We haven’t had time to survey the rest of the planet yet though, so I can’t give a full report yet.”
“That's fine, just send a report if you do happen to find anything,” I replied. “Have a good night Melissa, Hull out.”
“Things are going too well,” I muttered to myself as I glanced down at my slate. “We’re about to get hammered by something, I just know it.”
I began looking through my files to see if there were any local governments that we had pissed off aside from the ones on Korlus.
“Shit,” I said to myself as I facepalmed. “That Baron was linked to a Turian Arms dealer. We may have a shitstorm coming down on us because we just killed his main middleman.”
“There might be some retaliation from this “Shadow Broker” as well,” Natasha said as she walked into our quarters. “We have killed every single one of their agents since they tried approaching some of our people.”
“We’ll eventually lose someone to them,” I replied. “Most of our people are trustworthy, but there are well over twelve thousand of us, someone will betray us eventually, it’s only a matter of time.”
“Then we continue to plug leaks here for now,” Natasha said with a shrug. “Now stop worrying and come to bed, you’ve been working for too long today.”
–
–
Natasha and I woke up to sirens going off and flashing lights in our quarters.
“All hands report to your battle stations, this is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.”
Author's note: Went back and revised the discussion between Sura and Dr. Kelley. It should work quite a bit better now.
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