Chapter Fifty-Three - Mark One

While Night was taking care of lowering the cargo hauler to Io Base, Day was charged with delivering some materials to NOVA QUANTUM. In this case, she was delivering a pair of Accord power generation units.

They were relatively small, very intricate devices that output a constant amount of power and only required a single fuel rod to operate for years at a time. The systems weren’t tech that they couldn’t understand, but the generators were exceptionally well designed, tough, and while their output wasn’t as great as the Thorium reactors Day and her sisters had, they did last forever.

The ERF could probably make similar generators themselves, but the manufacturing tolerances for Accord generators were stringent and several parts were beyond complex, involving shifting electromagnetic containment shields and finely tuned magnetic capture devices that were nonetheless extremely robust.

In the time it would take them to make one of these generators, they could make five Thorium reactors.

Day was bringing the captured frigate-turned-cargo-hauler’s generators to NOVA QUANTUM for the AI to do with as she pleased.

“Hello again, Day,” NOVA QUANTUM said as Day came to a hover in orbit over her base. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Hello, NOVA QUANTUM,” Day said. “How have you been?”

“Very well. My research is once again progressing at an acceptable rate, and I’ve found that I thoroughly enjoy having a... neighbour of sorts. Will Night be staying in the Jovian system for the foreseeable future?”

“Maybe,” Day said. “Would you like that?”

“I believe I would. Night is a good conversationalist.”

“Mhm,” Day replied. NOVA, You’re something of a friend, so please take this with the good grace its intended in. But don’t hurt my sister’s feelings.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” NOVA QUANTUM said.

“That’s okay,” Day said. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

The research AI’s response took a while to return. “Very well. In any case, I have something for you. You’ll recall I was interested in your ‘shark’ stealth drones?”

“I recall, yes,” Day said. “Was it the stealth functions or the drives that interested you?”

“The drives. The drone’s stealth functions are... passable, I suppose. In anycase, the drive system, the French drive, I think you called it, was what interested me. The way they function does function well as a stealth-capable drive, but I suspected that there was more that could be done with them. Unfortunately, while the drive system does output surprisingly strong burst of gamma radiation, they tend to be impossible to aim in a predictable fashion. Besides, there are better ways of creating gamma burst with greater reliability.”

“So, it’s no good?” Day asked.

NOVA QUANTUM sent Day some files. More blueprints and simulation data. “As a weapon? Terrible. But as a method of travel? Perhaps they have some potential. Look at these and tell me what you think?”

Day opened the packet, then fumbled with the schematics within. They were for two large panels that had, essentially, half of the drive system she’d developed on each. They were fifty-metres long, and five tall, with a slight curve to them. Each panel had all of the French drive’s simple electromagnetic particle-capture-and-release mechanisms built into them.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“This is just a much larger, less concentrated drive,” Day said.

“Yes, but slightly improved. Louder, more visible, and with a more obvious electromagnetic signature, but with a bigger magnetic capture field at the front.”

Day nodded along. The system was fairly simple in principle. Large magnetic baffles would pull in loose particles towards the boards where the particles would be accelerated. Kind of like a very poorly aimed rail system. That acceleration would impart a little recoil to the entire platform, with the accelerated particle basically leaving as a burst of radiation out of the rear of the drive.

The system would essentially produce some of its own power once it got moving, as long as it had particles to vampire, and it would produce thrust based on the number of particles in its reach.

“How much thrust can this produce?’ Day asked.

“In the void of space? Barely any. But near a planetary body, especially a gas giant? Plenty. Perhaps even dangerous amounts as the system would run hot.”

It wouldn’t be as much as her current drives... but it would be in addition to what her hydrogen and ion dives could output, and it would essentially be free thrust.

Day pinged Night with the plans, and soon they were building their first prototype.

Day still had her racks on her sides for drone hauling, so those were used to fix the twin panels. They were smaller than what NOVA QUANTUM’s blueprints called for, but it was just a prototype.

Soon enough, after a week spent in Io’s orbit, Day was ready to head back to Ceres with a few processed materials grabbed from the frigate being disassembled. “Let’s see how this goes,” she said.

The initial burst of thrust had to be provided by her ion engine. These new drives wouldn’t work unless a ship was already moving at a decent speed through ionised-particle-heavy space.

Once they started to work through, Day was impressed at the slight but very much noticeable boost in her acceleration. She flung herself around Io, then leapt into a Jovian orbit, each pass near the planet scattering flickering sparkes behind her as the drives worked.

By the time she flung herself towards Ceres, she was moving as if she had been burning her main engine for several hours without having spent any real fuel on the manoeuvre.

This wouldn’t make her much more than a few percent faster, but it would save her a lot of fuel, fuel which she might be able to burn more liberally now that it wasn’t as much of a concern.

Of course, the flight was wobbly, and she needed constant course corrections on the way back, but those were details that could be worked on.

“Hey!” Twilight pinged Day as she approached. “You’re so freaking loud, are you trying to tell everyone in this end of the galaxy that you’re here?”

Day had to admit, even this smaller prototype was a lot hotter, had a sharper electromagnetic profile, and was literally brighter than any other drive they had.

So, efficiency in exchange for stealth. She could live with that, though. “It’s something new. Don’t knock it until you try it,” she sent back. “Has Dawn launched for the first time yet? I don’t want to miss it.”

“I have yet to launch, though I’m going through the final stages of my deployment,” Dawn replied. “Though, perhaps I should wait, if that new drive system proves tenable.”

***