My apologies for my absence. Job uncertainty and then a trans-atlantic move were unconducive for my ability to write. I have some free time now, and had intended to use it to get pulled back in to writing this story. Get it? Because pull is in the title? Ha.

I cannot, in good conscience, continue the story as and where it stands. The world building is shoddy, the characters are flat, and the prose is bith ill-timed and lacking sufficient visual detail. I have begun the process of rewriting, but I can and will not provide a time frame for releases.

I do not know what will happen with the currently posted portion of the story, but the most likely thing is that I'll just delete them as the first of the new chapters goes up, metrics be damned.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and to read my prattling. I'll put some of the worldbuilding that I'm happy with below; the best part about firm sci-fi is getting to learn about cool tech that exists in the real world.

Thermoacoustic powerplants - Electrical, or TAPEs, are the gold standard in space-faring power plants for heat and electrical generation. Production of heat and electricity uses both fission and fusion under different circumstances for heat, and piezoelectric devices and a large assortment of electrical generation devices for electrical generation.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Using purpose built batteries, a fission reaction is started. The heat from this reaction is used by dedicated piezoelectrics to provide the power required for a sustained fusion reaction. By rapidly heating and cooling the piezoelectric crystal elements, causing them to flex, they generate a charge which is directed into capacitors. These capacitors provide the electrical power for the magnetic containment of the initial fusion reaction. The heat from the fusion reaction is then used to generate electrical power for all other ship functions, with a priority on recharging the fission jumpstart battery, and relieves the piezoelectrics to allow the fusion reaction to be truly self-sustaining and to allow the more dangerous fission reactor to spin down.

Heat from the TAPEs is also pulled to other ship systems, for uses such as keeping fuel fluidized and keeping the ships atmosphere from freeze drying crews.

TAPEs also serves to reduce heat build up in spacecraft by translating heat energy into sound that is carried inside of RCS ejections.

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