produce when at T-cubed speed. Our own tachyon wave detectors, and probably the Empire’s, sense the wakes, or the disruptions in the lowest energy bands of nearly infinite velocity tachyons, when massive objects pass through them. These low mass scout ships ought to produce less of a wake. They might not be detectable by us, or the Empire, even at higher levels of travel. At least not with the detectors that we have now. With a slight reduction in crews, there’s room for multiple one-meter radius Nova II’s inside a Scout class, provided we reserve a single safe space for the launch area, for the small Jump Hole they form. That would probably make it a ten-person combat ship, if humans were the crew. Nothing says twelve Prada, or a couple of Torki, three Raspani, or six Krall’tapi can’t fly something like that. They want to participate in the defense of the Federation, and with these craft they can learn how to fight without risking a full sized ship and a large crew.”
Mirikami agreed. “That’s something I’ll take to the full council even before production starts. I’m sure the other species will want to customize controls and specific features for their use.”
“They should be easy for any of our species to operate. There will be better AI’s in these small ships than on the standard shuttle models you bought from the PU navy for your recent drone tests. Chief Haveram has found another Hub world, Pittsburg II actually, who will build them for us. These are very good systems, like those used in our old clanships. Tet, you saving them from Dismantler destruction has made them willing to skirt the embargo that the PU’s House and Senate placed on us in trade with Hub worlds. The intent was to block our buying of technology from Hub Worlds unless we share our technology with them. Parliament was able to override President Strickland’s veto of that act, but Pittsburg II has conveniently created a loophole that allows a Hub licensed corporate entity to buy them, and then sell them to Rim worlds. Those independent governments are not bound by the PU embargo.”
“Max, will these small Scout ships be able to conduct long term missions? I’m thinking of sending them into Empire Space if they can do that without detection. Smaller crews of course, so they can carry extra provisions.”
“I suppose so. The courier versions and personal transports will have a configurable Smart Plastic interior, with seating for mixed species traveling together, and lockers containing the seat padding for each anatomy type. No pads for the Torki of course.” He smiled at hard-shelled Coldar, squatting next to him on a rigid carapace support.
“What about the military scout version? That’s the one I’m talking about.”
“The dedicated intense combat versions won’t have the same multi species configurable interior, because only a Kobani can fight with them effectively and expect to survive. If it carried fewer people, it has room for more consumables.”
“OK, such decisions will have to be made after some of the ships exist and we’ve used them, and we can probably get resupply in Empire space from species that I think are willing to secretly be our allies. But you touched on one of my questions. Will the new scouts allow Kobani to operate them closer to our physical limits? We removed the limits the Olt’kitapi installed on clanships, to prevent reckless or careless Krall from causing their own death and equipment damage, unless they did it deliberately. For example, they couldn’t Jump into a moon or a planet, or accelerate and turn as hard as we can tolerate. Even so, we found that even a clanship couldn’t produce forces, in some maneuvers, which exceeded our ability to endure the stress. In straight-line maximum acceleration yes, they could kill some of us. But maneuverability stress from rapid turns was less than what we could tolerate, and the ships physically couldn’t do what we wanted. Will the new
Mirikami agreed. “That’s something I’ll take to the full council even before production starts. I’m sure the other species will want to customize controls and specific features for their use.”
“They should be easy for any of our species to operate. There will be better AI’s in these small ships than on the standard shuttle models you bought from the PU navy for your recent drone tests. Chief Haveram has found another Hub world, Pittsburg II actually, who will build them for us. These are very good systems, like those used in our old clanships. Tet, you saving them from Dismantler destruction has made them willing to skirt the embargo that the PU’s House and Senate placed on us in trade with Hub worlds. The intent was to block our buying of technology from Hub Worlds unless we share our technology with them. Parliament was able to override President Strickland’s veto of that act, but Pittsburg II has conveniently created a loophole that allows a Hub licensed corporate entity to buy them, and then sell them to Rim worlds. Those independent governments are not bound by the PU embargo.”
“Max, will these small Scout ships be able to conduct long term missions? I’m thinking of sending them into Empire Space if they can do that without detection. Smaller crews of course, so they can carry extra provisions.”
“I suppose so. The courier versions and personal transports will have a configurable Smart Plastic interior, with seating for mixed species traveling together, and lockers containing the seat padding for each anatomy type. No pads for the Torki of course.” He smiled at hard-shelled Coldar, squatting next to him on a rigid carapace support.
“What about the military scout version? That’s the one I’m talking about.”
“The dedicated intense combat versions won’t have the same multi species configurable interior, because only a Kobani can fight with them effectively and expect to survive. If it carried fewer people, it has room for more consumables.”
“OK, such decisions will have to be made after some of the ships exist and we’ve used them, and we can probably get resupply in Empire space from species that I think are willing to secretly be our allies. But you touched on one of my questions. Will the new scouts allow Kobani to operate them closer to our physical limits? We removed the limits the Olt’kitapi installed on clanships, to prevent reckless or careless Krall from causing their own death and equipment damage, unless they did it deliberately. For example, they couldn’t Jump into a moon or a planet, or accelerate and turn as hard as we can tolerate. Even so, we found that even a clanship couldn’t produce forces, in some maneuvers, which exceeded our ability to endure the stress. In straight-line maximum acceleration yes, they could kill some of us. But maneuverability stress from rapid turns was less than what we could tolerate, and the ships physically couldn’t do what we wanted. Will the new
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