Playing the Game - BT/CF SI - Chapter 13

Outer Asteroid Belt, Novo Franklin System, Periphery Space

January 22nd, 2981 AD

I took a deep breath as I sat down and focused entirely on how to handle this situation.

The first thought that came to mind was to relax, and nod at the first portion.

I stood up and motioned the three to come with me. I looked towards the captain as they left the bridge. “Alright. I have a plan, but I need to go over it with my advisors. In the meantime, continue the mission. It would look suspicious and be a confirmation of that suspicion if we just stopped now.”

The captain took a moment to steady himself before saluting.

Leaving the bridge, I and the companions walked into a cabin and sat about a table.

“Alright. Before anyone suggests it.” I began, looking at Ariel and Emma as I did. “I’m not gonna nuke the HPG.”

Ariel scoffed, and Emma frowned.

“Why not? It would be easier if you just did that.” Ariel whined.

“Because I have a long-term goal that requires me to not just steam roll everyone. As easy as it would be for me to just rid myself of all obstacles and just take the top of the hill, that would not fix things long term. Not in this universe.”

We had this argument many times, and she wasn’t wrong on many things. She had an entire history of humanity traveling the stars for over four myriads of years. Though “Fortieth Millenium” is a lot more marketable than the word for ten thousand years.

“That all said, I had a new gift appear to me. It’s given me an idea that might help us in the situation.”

Everyone looked at me with various levels of interest. I turned to breeze and exposed the brain jack.

“I have the data, please bring it out and share with them.”

With a little whistle, Breeze floated over and touched the port. In that instant, all of the knowledge I had gained from the Honor Harrington universe was within the mind of Breeze, who in turn gave the data over to the PDA in Emma’s hand, which in turn was connected to the girls.

The Spider Drive from that universe was a step forward in terms of stealth technology for that universe. For me, it was merely giving me the knowledge that I would have gained in time anyways due to the Architects own gravitation control technologies. Their weapons alone were insane, as they fired charged gravitons that were weaponized mini-singularities, which used gravitational force to violently push and then pull upon the molecular and atomic bonds of a target, which caused them to literally fall apart into dust.

Gravity impellers for ships, missiles, fighters, and so on. With a mixture of the various tech bases I possessed now, it was just more to the pot. I could probably cancel out the issues with gravity affecting jumps into hyperspace with some reference from the Architect and Covenant technology trees.

It had been a few minutes before everyone came out of the fugue they fell into whenever I presented technological gifts.

This new knowledge, combined with the understanding of Lutece physics would allow me to…

I blanked hard as I realized I was inadvertently marching down the path to a tear generator.

I rubbed my brow with my fingers. The Rick in me was irritated by that, but at the same time it wasn’t that big a deal. I will get annoyed if a certain pair appear as a result.

I grinned a little at the sudden random thought as I looked at Ariel. “Bet the Imperium would appreciate some of this missile technology.”

Ariel, who was already parking her eyes in glee at knew knowledge and technology, merely tsked at me before returning to her data dive.

I gave a small grin before pacing the room. With the new knowledge, I more or less had Warships that were unmatched by the entire Inner Sphere. Hell…I had planned to create warships using submarines that were capable of flying into the air due to the Quantum Particle technology, which could also function in space. Ships that would be straight out of Space Battleship Yamato in terms of capability. More than a handful of special weapons for said ships were on paper already.

Honor Harrington just threw a lot of that into the trash, as most of them were built in mind with Ion thrusters and Battletech styled warfare in mind. Now the PD-Era weapons and motive systems just annihilated it at a fraction of C. Still, at least I don’t have to worry about the designs as that universe did since Force Fields are a thing. Architect weapons are far more powerful than the weapons of Harrington’s setting, but they don’t have potentially unlimited range like missiles do.

So, I’m back to the drawing board. Well…only the for designs really. Granted, the ships look like space-subs, but it was too on the nose for me. The idea of all terrain ships was still something I would go through, but now I had to apply this new technology to the mix.

“Before I give out my idea however. I’d like to hear your suggestions.”

“I would just pretend to know nothing about what the precentor speaks of, but given the message, I doubt that would work long term, and do nothing but harm what you are trying to achieve.” Breeze gave in reply.

Emma nodded. “I agree with Breeze. There’s no reason to fear them, or anything on this world…but I do not want to jeopardize the long term goals you possess.”

Ariel just smirks and shrugs. “Nuke em.”

I rolled my eyes as she cackled like a gremlin.

“Let’s pretend you’re on board with the non-nuke side for a moment. Subverting the wannabe Admech would be right up your alley here.”

Her smirk reduced itself to a grin, and she put her thinking face on. It took only a few moments since her brain worked as quickly as mine did.

“Alright. So, the HPG compound has detected our ship jumping into and out of hyperspace. They think likely think it is something like the HPG since they admitted to detecting multiple signatures across the system.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course, given their monopoly on interstellar communications, it’s obvious they would get pissed that someone is muscling in on their turf, let alone someone they are slowly coming to trust in, or at least not see as a threat.”

She held out her hand and extended the thumb.

“We cannot reveal the Architect sites, so that’s a no go, and is a nukable offense as far as I am concerned.”

Then the index. “We cannot say we have a space ship, as that would reveal our capabilities even if it wasn’t an architect ship.”

“We can since we gave the Union to Carson. They would know we had the ability to repair it, let alone construct more.”

“They don’t know we can do that, which would beg the question as to why we hadn’t before.” She pointed out.

“We were under a self-imposed isolation until my “accident” occurred. Also, we weren’t planning to leave and spread out for some time, so why would we waste resources.”

She paused for a moment. “Alright. We can go that route. We say we have a union that we managed to build. Then what?”

“Well…We know how to build Hyperdrives from various sources now. So why not make a small one that fits in a dropship. Allowing it to blink across the system?”

She narrowed her eyes, clearly not liking the idea, but she continued.

“Alright. How do we explain that it can do that given the physics of Hyperspace in this universe, or rather their understanding of it?”

“Gravity Impellers.”

She blinked, and then her eyes shifted quickly as she did the math and put it together. She grinned.

“That would be quite the façade. We’d have to make the thing though.”

I nodded. “Something we can do very quickly. Together, we could design it right now. Emma?”

She smiled and pulled out a small capsule, pressed the button and placed it on the table. A release of pressure and cloud of smoke revealed a holographic projector with four interface units. Within a moment, all four of us were connected, and within seven minutes, we designed the first “prototype” jump capable dropship. Only capable of small jumps within a system, but with twelve nuclear reactors powered by processed Ion Crystals providing the energy for the drive.

We’ll steal from Buzz Lightyear and call it “Crystalic Fusion”.

As for how it was able to jump within a gravity well of a star, that’s where the Impellers came in. Just as they were used to tame gravity to provide propulsion, they could also be used to create an area where gravitic forces were repulsed, reducing the levels to a degree that a jump point was created directly around the ship in the space it occupied.

Once the design work was finished, we pulled out, and Emma retrieved the design interface.

“Alright. We got the ship. Now, when we get back into orbit, we fabricate the ship in orbit.”

I looked over to Ariel. “You, me, and part of this crew will enter into the newly made ship and maneuver to land at the space port near the HPG. While this ship returns to the Architect site.”

Ariel cocked her head as she blinked at me. “And what am I supposed to do?”

I grinned at her. “You are now my new Subdector of Science. Congrats.”

She blinked until the implications of the rank struck her, and then she gave me a toothy grin.

“So, I get to fuck with people with my smarts openly?” she asked excitedly.

My grin died a little. “…Yeah, more or less.”

She cheered. Breeze just stared at her with a deadpan expression, while Emma politely clapped for her.

I sighed. “Alright, let’s finish this and get to it.”

====

Comstar HPG Compound, Corealdas Port, Northern Continent

Novo Franklin, Periphery Space

January 22nd, 2981 AD

Precentor Nyung tapped his fingers in frustration. It had been hours since he had sent the message, and the emergence signatures hadn’t stopped until it appeared over Novo Franklin once more a half hour ago.

Then his phone went off. He picked it up in an instant.

“Communication from the Sovereign of Subnautica on the line for you.”

“Put him on.” He commanded.

A few seconds of silence passed before the click of a connection filled the phone.

“Precentor. May the Peace of Blake be upon you. How are you this fine day?”

His eyebrow rose slightly at the tone. The sense of ease and confidence was hard to miss, and he cleared his throat a little as he remembered himself.

“I am doing well, and Peace of Blake be upon you.”

“Excellent to hear. Now, I know you wish to get right to the subject that I had been informed of. Regarding Emergence Signatures across the system.”

He clenched his hand, and his teeth began to grit. “I do, yes. Are you responsible?”

The sound of a saddened sigh filled his ear. “Well, I must say I wasn’t expecting this, but you’ve caught me. However, I can tell what it is you are thinking given the slight grinding I hear from your jaw.”

He held his breath for a moment and realized he was clenching his teeth a bit too hard and force his jaw to relax. His cheeks were slightly sore from the tension, but no longer was he trying to shatter his molars.

“Is that so? And, if you may indulge me, what is it that I was thinking?”

“That somehow I had gotten my hands on an HPG and was sending signals all over the place trying to test it out.” He then chuckled lightly, and Nyung’s anger spiked.

“I can assure you however, it is nothing of the sort. In fact…it is far more amazing than that. Seeing how my secret was detected, I may as well fill you in on it. Right now in fact. I’ll be landing shortly. Please come to the space port, with an entourage if you wish.”

The call was then cut off, and Nyung starred at the receiver with a shocked frown, before it morphed into confusion when a distant rumble filled the air. Within a moment he looked out his window towards the space port and saw the distant light of a dropship landing. It was…a model he had never seen before, with an egg shape that was a sharp incline. A Guillemot he recalled the shape being named.

It slowed down gracefully, in a way that a dropship he had never seen in his entire life, floating above the landing pad with barely any thrust before settling down with an ease that defied physical law.

He picked up the phone again.

“Get me a van.”

===

Going past the security, and the gawking ground crews that stared at the distant craft, Nyung got a much better look as they approached more closely.

The ship appeared to be over one hundred and fifty meters in height, and about eighty or more meters wide and long. The nose of the ship tapered to a semi-fine point with three black rings near the top and bottom of the pristine craft.

The loading ramp was already down, and He could see crews of Subnautican colors working about like a busy hive, checking over everything, though these ones lacked the aquamarine and white, and instead sported Red and Black uniforms.

They slowed to a stop when Marines in power armor stood before them in a barricade. One wandered over and took a look at them.

“Precentor. You are expected. However, you will submit to a quick scan.”

He felt irritation, but simply waved a hand to get started.

A uniformed soldier with a device of some kind that covered his front and ended with an overly large bar scope lit up blue and was waved over them. He watched in fascination as his body and the vehicle glowed blue, like waves of energy coursing over them, for several seconds before it stopped.

“You’re clear. Proceed.”

The Marines stood aside, and the Adept starred at the scanning device as they drove on.

“Yet another toy we knew nothing about.” Adept Yari grumbled.

“It is to be expected. Like this ship. Keep your eyes open.”

Soon enough they were stopped before the landing ramp of the ship, and exited out into the sound of work. The familiarity of ground crews who knew their craft filled his eyes, and he knew just from a few moments of watching that these people were as well trained as any proper void crew. He took a note to see if any could be hired, or talked at the least, in the future.

“Precentor!”

Looking towards the voice, he saw the Sovereign smiling gently at him as he walked down. A regal air about him that set him on edge, as if his instincts realized he was before a predator. It was silly, as he had come to know the man, but these last hours showed he didn’t know him well enough.

“You’re tense my friend. Relax, you are not among enemies this day.”

With a slight jolt, he remembered himself, and he did calm down.

“Well, there are many reasons to be. Never mind HPG signals that aren’t yours. Dozens of ships suddenly appearing in the system was our first guess.”

With a guilty expression, the Sovereign nodded. “Another unforeseen consequence of today’s occasion.”

“What is today’s occasion exactly then? You said you had no HPG, but something more exciting.”

With a bright smile, the Sovereign took him by the shoulder, making him feel uncomfortable. Not from the embrace, but that this man, a leader of a nation, was being at ease with him.

“Indeed it is. Let me show you.” He said while pulling him up the ramp. Adept Yari followed closely, eyeing everything, until they were inside of the vessel and noticed the object at the center that dominated the view.

Alexander, the Sovereign, released him and strode forward.

“If you recall before Precentor, I had stated that I was in the midst of opening the future for my people. Specifically the young generation.”

“I do.”

“Well, as you can see, this ship is but the first step to making that a reality.”

With a flourish, the leader waved his arm and pointed directly at the large machine that dominated the center of the ship.

“Specifically, this is the key to that future.”

He and Yari gazed upon the machine. It was a central mounted rod that rose up to the ceiling of the open chamber, taking up most of the central potion of the ship. At the bottom and top were six mound like devices whose purpose they couldn’t guess at, but they were attached to the central pillar.

“And what are we looking at.”

The Sovereign smiled in pride as he gazed upon the device.

“The work of a lifetime for some. The source of the Emergence Signitures across the system. The means for my people to leave this world and spread across the system when the time is right.”

That caused both chills, and intrigue. Then his words repeated in his head, focusing on the mentioning of being “the source of the emergence signitures”, and remembered the pattern recorded back at the compound. It was then that an inkling came to him…No…that’s impossible.

“This cannot be a…” Nyung motioned his hands towards the device…no…the…

“My good Precentor. I present to you, mankinds first Dropship mounted Jump Drive.”

The words rolled over the two men, and before long Nyung found his voice again.

“That’s impossible! You…it’s too small! And you jumped within the gravity well of a star…and the planets!”

“Impossible is not in our vocabulary!”

The two men froze at the sound of a woman’s voice, and the Lord turned towards the source.

They turned as well, and Nyung’s jaw dropped. The woman was…there was no way this wasn’t someone who got work done, because one one looked that good naturally. Then they saw the metal tentacles coming out from behind her back, holding her aloft as she was using a PDA.

The tool belts, robe, and various devices signal to them that she was either an engineer, or a scientist of some sort. He had seen more than his share of the type. Never one this stunning however.

“Ariel. Come down here and meet our friends. Precentor Nyung, Adept Yari, this is Subdector Ariel-“

“Ariel Divinus. Head of all Subnautican Research and Development. A pleasure gentlemen.” The woman said as her cybernetics gracefully brought her to the floor and she stood before them with a cheery smile.

Nyung could feel his heart beating a mile a minute from the proximity alone.

He and the Adept bowed in respect for her station. “A pleasure to meet someone educated in the holy works of progress.”

“Oh you. We’re gonna get along.” She purred as came closer and looked them both in the eye, and they both realized, her eyes were cybernetic as well!

“Ariel, won’t you explain to these fine fellows what they are looking at.”

“Gladly my Sovereign~” she said in a way that made him immediately envious.

The Subdector rose on her mechanical arm/tentacles and waved over the…jump drive.

“What you are looking at gentlemen is nothing less than seventy years of research and development finally paying off. Utilizing technologies pioneered in Subnautica, we managed to create the means to jump a ship of this size to and fro across the system at will.”

She then came down and got close to them again, making them lean back slightly.

“How you may ask? How can we do something that event he Star League of old had not accomplished? How had we done it with such a small space craft? Or, most importantly inside of a gravity well of a primary?!”

Nyung and Yari nodded, to be safe.

She grinned before shivering, that did…things.

“By doing something no one else anywhere has ever accomplished. We told gravity…to take a hike!”

“…..Eh?” Nyung replied intelligently.

The sovereign snorted, undignified, but obvious on what his thoughts were.

“As you came up to the ship, you likely had noticed the three rings above and below the main body of the ship?”

“We had.”

The lord strode over and stopped before them, with a firm expression.

“What I am about to reveal is something I know you may share with the First Circuit, but I would appreciate if you kept to yourself for the time being. While our fabrication technology was the secret behind our capabilities, it is hardly the only thing we have developed that is a secret.”

He wanted him to keep this to himself, and not send it off to the First Circuit?! The balls on this man!

“I cannot promise anything.” He replied evenly.

“I understand. You have your own obligations, especially with us on the radar. This however will change the universe as you know it, and should it get out to the wrong parties due to people in your organization being more nationalistic, or greedy, than you are aware of, it would be catastrophic in more than a few ways…”

The implication…he wasn’t wrong. He wanted to say he was…but he wasn’t.

For a minute they stared before he sighed.

“Tell what this development is, and I will consider it.”

The firm expression left, and a grateful smile returned.

“I’ll hold you to that, because those rings are Gravitic Repulsors.”

Both he and the Adept looked at the man like he had grown a second head.

“Ariel, if you would.”

“Sure!” she agreed cheerily as she came back down from the wall, her cybernetics somehow strong enough to accomplish this. Myomners?

She cut off his thoughts as she approached them, and one of her tendrils opened its claw like head and a hologram appeared int the air! Nyung could hear Yari gulping behind him.

The hologram showed the ship, highlighting the rings before zooming in upon them. It then shifted into a diagram of the rings beneath the armor plating, revealing a literal ring of material that then came apart, revealing various sections connected to one another. He counted five of these sections per ring, for a total of fifteen on the top set, and for the bottom set.

“To put it simply, about…Mmm…twenty-eight fifty-five, one of our more famous scientific minds, Dr. Beowulf Warshawski, was focusing work on gravitational forces during that time. We were developing various sensor systems that allowed us to get a more accurate reading upon gravitational forces created by high mass objects that were not planets and stars.”

A picture of a dignified older man, though stereotypical of the scientific community, appeared in a full body image as she explained.

“And, like most discoveries, what he and his team ended up discovering was completely by accident.” She said with a smile as she recalled her history. Her energy was infectious as Nyung found himself grinning a bit.

“What they did, was they took objects we now call Alpha nodes, whose primary purpose of the time was to generate various electromagnetic fields, and attempted to increase the mass of an object artificially by compacting it to a smaller space, and then add more of the same, to see what the result was.”

The hologram now showed two circular plates with an object suspended between the two, and more of whatever it was being added to it, and still remaining the same size, but turning more metallic in the process. His eyes widened at the results, even if it were only visual.

“That’s when the sensors detected something amiss, and to make a few months of study short, they detected…”

Her tendrils then rapped the floor like a drumroll.

“Gravitons!” her hologram showing a dark purple, if near black particle.

“Gravitons? But…wait, they’re theoretical. No one has ever been able to observe their existence, even during the Star League era!” Yari chimed in, both in doubt but also in intrigue.

She shrugged. “We were just as shocked and doubtful as you were. It took years, decades of research to confirm what I just said they were. The reason we were able to detect them, it turned out, was entirely due to the Alpha Nodes. It turned out, when they are made of a “special” material, and then energized to a certain amount of electrical energy, that they can then interact with Gravitons. Mostly, they just become hyper energized, making gravitational forces within a certain area of space more pronounced, before then losing that energy when they move away from the node.”

She then showed a hologram of researchers placing objects near an active node, the sound coming out of a speaker or something.

“Test three hundred and seven, aluminum box of zero, point, zero, zero one millimeter thickness is in place.” A voice sounded.

“Initiate Field Increase.”

The image than showed the aluminum box shaking…before being crushed. Nyung’s eyes were wide and his mouth dropped.

“Gravity Field control successful.”

This…this was bigger than even their fabrication technology. They can control gravity! Even if it’s only to a degree, they can do it! They just threw centuries of theoretical physics out the god damned window!

“If you think that’s impressive…watch this.” Ariel said with a sly grin.

The hologram repeated…or it appeared to, with a new object being placed into the field area, a bluish metal sphere. It required a robotic lift to place it into the test area before it retreated.

“Test eighty-seven. Osmium sphere in place. Diameter is six inches. Weight is forty-one, point, eighty-seven kilograms.”

Once more, his eyes widened. Osmium is one of the densest metals around. No wonder they needed a small carrier!

“Energy levels are at capacity. We are ready.” A voice off camera announced.

“Activate Repulsion Field.”

Soon the image show…nothing happening, until a voice sounded out.

“Repulsion field has reached equilibrium. Increasing by one percent.”

Then it happened. The sphere…slowly began to float.

“No way…” Yari whispered.

“Returning to Equilibrium in three, two, one…Equilibrium reached.”

The sphere floated for fifteen seconds, before the voice spoke.

“Equilibrium maintained. Gravity Repulsion is a Success!”

Then cheers, and whoops filled the air. The hologram faded away with a smiling Ariel looking them in the eye.

“That day, we discovered how to do something impossible. To repulse Gravitons from an area of space…and create a space of zero gravity…within a gravitational zone.”

Nyung’s mind did the math. The emergence Signatures. The miniature jump drive. They were jumping…within the system.

“So…you discovered…and succeeded…at finding a way for a ship to jump within a systems gravity well, and make it small at the same time.”

“Well…not all at the same time. We have our data from jump ships from way back in the day. When Ryan and his people came, they had the means to produce the technology to seed and survive this world after all. Jump Drive technology data for us is vastly out of date compared to what may be out there in the Inner Sphere, but the principles have not changed as far as I am aware.” Ariel said with a shrug.

She is…correct, and incorrect. These people were by far superior to everyone, including Comstar, when it comes to this marvel and the technology behind it. On the other hand…

He glanced over to the Sovereign, who watched with amusement.

“I thought we had agreed to not spread things to the inner sphere that would endanger…everything?”

Ariel barked a laugh, while the Sovereign gave a disappointed look.

“Like hell we would give this away. This is Subnautica exclusively. No sharing this technology with anyone.”

The sovereign gave a thoughtful look.

“Well...maybe to Comstar.”

Nyung’s and Ariels eyes widened, and she turned like a whip, getting in his face within a moment. The Sovereign’s eyes widened in surprise before returning to normal.

“Excuse me, my Sovereign, but did I just hear you change your mind about this?” she asked sweetly, but everyone in the room, including the workers nearby, suddenly were backing away in caution.

“No. I said maybe. If we blackbox the technologies in question that make the capabilities even possible, then no one, including Comstar, can make these themselves. The last thing we need is a repeat of the Vortex Incident from someone across the universe with no ability to shut it down.”

Alarm bells rung loudly.

“Vortex Incident?” Yari warily.

Ariel sighed angrily. “Yeah. As you can imagine, the technology allows you to manipulate Gravitons. Gravitons which when energized, increase gravity in a given space. So imagine what would happen when you hook it up to a Fusion Reactor with enough energy to power North America on Terra, and push it to full strength.”

“…you created a Black Hole!?” Yari shouted in horror.

“Only a small one.” Ariel said in a casual tone.

“…HOW SMALL IS SMALL!?” Yari shrieked. Nyung wasn’t too far off himself, but he was keeping calm unlike his subordinate, and was about to take a hold of the young man.

He couldn’t however, as Ariel suddenly got in Yari’s face, silencing him in instant, especially as she gently grasped his face. He froze, flushed slightly, but eyes were still wild, much like his probably were.

“Small as in small enough to match the size of this ship. Fortunately, we canceled it out, by producing a positively charged Graviton Field, which canceled it out, and then we shut it down.”

She leaned away from him; a much calmer young man was left in his place.

“This event was ninety years ago. So be at peace gentlemen.” Ariel said with a calm authority.

Kinda hard to do lady! You just admitted you have the ability to create Black Holes! NO ONE CAN CREATE BLACK HOLES!

The Sovereign cleared his throat. “I know what you are fearful of Precentor. Of what appears to be a dynamic shift in the danger my nation represents to literally the universe. I can assure you however, what you are fearful of is something that is virtually unachievable.”

Nyung’s eyes narrowed, his lips stiff. “How is that?”

“As the good Subdector had said…it took a fusion reactor that could power North America, that is Alaska, Canada, The Continental US, and Mexico combined, and a purposeful act of energizing a Node to such a level, to cause this in the first place.”

He looked him directly in the eye. “I can assure you, Subnautica is capable of many things, but weaponized singularities capable of destroying entire worlds, let alone cities, is not one of them. We are many things, but we…I am not another Amaris.”

Nyung…was torn. He didn’t know why…but he believed him. With every interaction, with every action, he has shown not only to be honest and truthful…while he had hidden things, he never said he wasn’t hiding things either. Everything he has said and done had been backed up by actions and proof.

He sighed. “Alright. I’ll take your word for it.”

Looking back up at the Jump Drive, he felt a small headache build up. Once more, Subnautica reveals their capabilities, and they are world shaking. Universe shaking. Even if they wanted to…there’s no way they could contain, let alone destroy this nation without overwhelming force. Force…they honestly didn’t possess. They must contain this…control it. Limit its growth in some way. He must accomplish something.

“How exactly did it jump so many times? And what is the range of this drive system?”

Ariel was holding a PDA, and wiggled her fingers.

“That’s the one advantage standard jump ships have over this engine. Standard Jump Drives can jump thirty light years. If all of the energy is used for a single jump, it could only jump five lightyears. Then, unless you have the fuel, you’d be dead in the water.”

He blinked. “Fuel?”

She nodded. “This is not your standard jump drive, obviously, but it’s different in more ways than you realize. The issue with it is that you cannot utilize a standard Germanium Rod system to create such a small Jump Field. The energy required to move the mass of an object is directly proportional to the ability of the rod to act as a capacitor. When a rod is too small, it cannot hold enough energy to open the way into Hyperspace. That’s why Jump ships are designed as they were, with a drive taking up ninety percent of the ships mass.”

She waved over the drive. “So instead, we created an engine that takes up about ten percent of the mass of an object, by removing the need for a capacitor. What you are looking at is the drive alone.”

That…then what the hell did they use to power it?! It appeared he was about to get his answer as she wandered over to one of the metal mounds on the floor, and opened it up. What appeared to be a seamless object opened up with a triple-leveled door, revealing within four…green glowing rods…with crystals floating within them.

He felt his stomach drop. Yet another wonder about to drop on him.

She carried it out and reverently held it out for him to see. Within was a glowing green crystal seemingly suspended in the middle of the chamber that made up the rod. It was beautiful. Mesmerizing in fact.

“What is this?”

“The fuel. As you are aware, we possess the ability to use microscopic robots to construct objects. This is no exception. In this case however…what you are looking at is a solid crystal of positively charged Ions. We took ion particles, and compressed them until they became the crystal you see before you now. This crystal before you possess zero, point thirty-five percent of a fully charged standard sized Jump Core. Enough to jump one tenth of a light year of distance.”

He was in awe, however.

“Why not make it bigger? Surely a bigger crystal means greater distance?”

She nodded. “You would be correct, but remember…these are energized Ions we are talking about. Forcefully compacted into a solid shape that we can see. Once you reach a threshold, the object begins to go through an increased state of decomposition, which in turn…causes it to become brittle, and a single bad tap can cause it to instantly go into Fusion….Boom.”

He backed off like it was a snake.

She giggled. “Do not worry. At this level, it’s quite safe. You’d have to shoot it with a high-powered rifle to achieve that catastrophe.”

She turned and returned the fuel rod to its place, and closed the fuel pod closed. Getting a look at the drive again, he noted six pods above and below. That was…forty-eight rods. Combine the range each rod gave, plus the zero gravity they can create to achieve an artificial jump point, and the number of rods…they could jump across the system in an instant.

From a tactical standpoint, any one of the houses would go to war just to attain this technology. Nay, just the ship itself if they could. Traveling to any place within a system, in an instant, after arriving from somewhere is essentially the same as a pirate point.

Adept Yari was silent, and quite overwhelmed now from all the revelations this one ship had revealed. A new form of power generation and use. A new Drive System for interstellar travel. The means to cancel out gravity entirely, and increase it artificially. Plus, the capability to do so repeatedly across a system provided you have the fuel, which is compact for its size…and possibly weaponized as well. Plus, the whole “Vortex Incident” and the danger that represents to…the universe really.

It is getting harder and harder to justify not telling Comstar the folly of controlling Subnautica and just eradicate them…while at the same time that it is impossible to do so, and that they should ally themselves with this power before it overruns everything.

Yes. He is admitting it to himself now. They cannot control this. It’s too much.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked into the eyes of the man who has turned his universe inside out by simply appearing…damn him.