Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

Countryman made his way down the corridor. His mind wandering over the last three days. Tika had gone back to her ship, two days ago. They had sent a shuttle for her, and also politely asked for their rifles back. Ruri had already taken the opportunity to run a few scans of them, and since they need the Krall more than their stuff, they had sent them along with Tika. After that, they had dealt more with their merchants than the local military groups. As it turned out they had a few products worth a pretty penny that they could trade for useful stuff, and those merchants were more than willing to come out to see if they could not get some of those items.

Because of that, they were well on their way back to being fully armed. While repairs were proceeding apace due to their ability to get critical materials more easily. Although some items had to be manufactured, and that was what took the most time. They had already completed repairs on the Enterprise, and the Coto. While they had delayed starting work on the Umikaze while they manufactured the replacement parts she needed. They were going to begin repairs on the Umikaze today. To be more specific they would be stripping her damaged armor, and outer hull repair. By morning tomorrow, they would if things went to plan be ready to install her replacement engines.

At the moment however, he was more interested in what Ruri wanted him to see. Since she wasn’t able to proceed with her weapons research just yet, she was instead conducting an initial study into Erudite. The material already interested him due to its properties, and if it panned out it might prove useful in the production of next-generation armor. Something that would hold up better under a heavy bombardment. Of course there was also the mention about the stuff not being cheap, and it was not. The small amount they had obtained had cost them a fair bit. A reflection of how it wasn’t a cheap material. Mostly due to its apparent rarity.

Turning a corner, he consider the other bit of news over the last few days. It was very good news in fact, they had had their first birth since the fall of Earth. It was a healthy young girl. Something that had been shared with the general public, as it gave them something to celebrate. With their numbers so low, each new birth was something worthy of celebration. In fact he had thrown an official festival to celebrate this first birth one that was still going on right now. Morale was up across the board thanks to this new festival. In fact it seemed to be just what the people needed, something to celebrate, something to tell them that life goes on. It also led to people loosening up, and a spike in pairs. He suspected that they might be seeing a spike in births in about nine months. As it was they did have a few more expectant young mothers due over the coming weeks.

Speaking of those mothers, he had been talking with them, and had arranged things so that they would have quarters near each other. That would allow them to support each other, and place the young kids in an area where they could easily meet up with others there own age. It was something all of them agreed would be nice, not to mention good for their kids. On Countryman’s end it had not been easy to arrange this, but he had managed to get it done.

Finally reaching the lab in question, he put those thoughts aside, and made his way into Ruri’s lab. Where he found her bent over a table, her lab coat dirty and torn. He ignored the fact that he could see her underwear, and approached the table. It wasn’t the first time, and certainly would not be the last. In fact her careless nature was why over the years he knew her, he had to protect her from those that would take advantage. Discretely, he adjusted her damaged lab coat to cover her, and said, “So what did you want to see me about?”

She looked up from the console, she was writing notes on, and said, “This Erudite you got me is quite the interesting stuff.”

“Ah, you already completed the analysis. What can you tell me about that Erudite?”

She picked up a sample container, and replied, “I have. It has a very unusual molecular structure, but it is composed mostly of elements we are familiar with. I’ll put the exact compoistion in my written report. What I will say is that the elements making up its structure are all present in forms we are not familiar with. The result of unusual processes not present on Earth.” she paused, placed her sample in a scanner, and then continued after the display came on displaying the structure of Erudite.

“As such this Erudite could not have formed on Earth. If it had we likely would have used it for quite a few applications. Its unusual molecular structure makes it very resilient against energy weapons. As you know, a particle beam not only imparts significant thermal energy to the target, but also disrupts the molecular integrity of the target. Not to the point of actually breaking down physical matter like a disrupter, but enough to matter. Our armor makes use of structural fields to resist this effect, but this Erudite stuff does it naturally.”

He looked over the scan, and said, “A material that naturally retains integrity after being hit by a particle bolt. The potential for armor is...”

“Revolutionary I know.” she interrupted, “I’ve already conducted a few simulations, and small-scale lab tests. Even better the stuff seems to alloy nicely with the materials we already use in our armor. Still working on the optimal formula, but from the look of it we can at the very minimum double our armor integrity by including this stuff in our armor.”

“Interesting.” he knew a fair amount about modern armor. The plates used a very specific alloy that when subjected to a structural reinforcement field was almost indestructible, at least as long as the field remained above a certain level of strength. It was also specially coated to protect the plates from the extreme heat of modern energy weapons. Plasma for example could burn incredibly hot, and can burn through most materials almost instantly. Particle beams while not as hot could do the same with just a little bit more time, It was why each plate was treated with layered thermal coats. Coats that were separated by layers of Titan alloy. Not to mention the circuitry integrated into the plate to allow the structural field to more efficiently augment the integrity of the plates.

“Anyway, what kind of thermal resistance does this new stuff have?”

She tapped the keys bringing up the data of her analysis. “It also has some really good thermal resistance.” he read the exact figures off the screen, “As you can see, its can naturally resist a plasma bolt, much better than most other known materials. Although as you can also see, its not as impressive against kinetics as titan alloy, the alien Duranium is far better at that than this stuff.”

“Interesting. Although I doubt the Krall much care about the poor performance against railguns. Most everyone out here uses energy weapons, and even if they did use kinetics its doubtful such weapons could penetrate those sheilds they were using.” replied Countryman. He had read Ruri’s report on Krall shields. Unlike Cathamari shields, Krall shields functioned on a rotating band modulation. That key difference also made them much more resistant against shield penetrators. Then there was the fact that shields could block a physical projectile more easily than an energy bolt.

“There is that alright. Still no point talking about things we both already know. Anyway since it isn’t perfect, I think it would be best as part of an alloy. Which is why I have the computer running alloying simulations right now.”

“Interesting but they would be of limited use without a source of the stuff.”

Ruri nodded, “I know. I’m already looking into methods of synthetically producing the mineral. I have another monitor running simulations on that right now. Nothing to really show for it yet, but we might have something soon enough. In the meantime, I have an update for the scanning protocols. Once installed our sensors will be able to identify natural deposits of Erudite. Might prove useful in finding a natural source of the mineral.”

“Good to know. We could certainly use better armor. As strong as our armor is, it doesn’t last long if the field goes down. Keep on this, it could save lives.”

She nodded, and turned back to her work. Countryman glanced back at her monitor with data on the substance. It was quite an impressive mineral, and if they could synthesize it or produce it in any significant quantity, they could use it to enhance their armor. They had already had to patch the plating more than he would like. Especially during this last battle, while they had the materials on hand, and they can be acquired easily enough it would be better if the plating hadn’t been breached in the first place. The properties of this Erudite certainly showed promise for ship armor. It would be better able to withstand the rigors of space combat than anything else they knew of. Assuming they got the mix right, although even pure it would hold up better against energy weapons.

In any case, he looked forward to whatever she came up with. Although they still needed to find somewhere to test those prototype weapons she had developed. Those also showed alot of promise, and while technically they might be able to test them here, he would much prefer an isolated backwater. She had already dismissed him, and gone back to her work, so he headed out of the room. Already mentally going over the star charts, they had obtained. There was already one system on those charts he wanted to visit, it was home to a Cathamari colony, and outpost. The system was not heavily populated or of much strategic importance. According to the notes, it didn’t even have a standing garrison. Apparently, only a single cruiser was responsible for patrolling that entire sector, and that system was included on the list. Information on exactly what defenses the outpost had, and the configuration of that one cruiser was unfortunately not available from the channels he had access to.

The stars resolved themselves after a moment, and the ship-leader was greeted with the view of Iliera. Evidence of the recent attack could still be seen, and already her officers were conducting scans. Her task force was assigned to chase after the raiders, they should be able to overtake them, and destroy the freighter carrying stolen Krall technology.

As her eyes studied the screens, she noted three ships of a type she wasn’t familiar with. They were marked as friendlies on the local defense net, and she could see a freighter near them, with shuttles being exchanged. However, her gaze was drawn to the capital ship.

At this very moment, a smaller ship either a cruiser or destroyer she wasn’t sure was docked beneath it. Several robotic arms were deployed around it, while focused cutting lasers carved into her hull, targeted at damaged sections of hull plating. As each section came loose, a precise application of a tractor beam was used to separate the plate from the hull. A series of tractor projectors were then used to guide the damaged plate to a recovery bay in the belly of the ship above. It wasn’t all that different a process from what was done at their own shipyards. The only major difference was that the tractor projectors would fire a strange disk at each section before activating the beam. She figured it must serve some purpose in the function of their tractor projectors.

Her battle-leader suddenly spoke up behind her, “I doubt they are planning any trouble or expecting any. From the look of it, no one else is either, which may be why they felt comfortable enough to conduct hull armor repairs.”

She nodded, “I gathered that myself. I was just studying them. I hear those aliens assisted in the defense of our outpost here. So it wouldn’t make much sense for them to start something after that. Still, I would like your men to stay on alert. There is nothing to say those cowards won’t make another attack, and we will be stuck here for a few hours anyway, while the drive recharges.”

He nodded, “I already have them on standby. We will be ready to fight at a moment’s notice.”

She smiled, “Good.” then she turned to another officer, to inquire about tracking data. They needed to know what course the raiders left on. Its why they had come here. The new aliens were a curiosity, one she would like to know more about, but unfortunately, it was going to have to wait. She had a mission to complete, one vital to the security of the Imperium. Especially now that war with the Cathamari Empire seemed to be inevitable.