They Answered The Call

Modes of transportation

FTL Drive: This form of faster than light travel is the most common emergency backup form of transportation after null space drive. Most interstellar species have variations of this drive and rarely use them as the energy requirements are enormous, and the harvesting of the rare exotic particles necessary to power the FTL drive is a time-consuming and expensive endeavor. As such, only a small cadre of government and military vessels have these drives. The last time an FTL drive was used by the Commonwealth was in the year 2089 A.D. when a science vessel exited null space in an uncharted anomaly that disabled the null space capacitors and stranded them.

Since the science vessel’s sub-light engines would have taken seven years to get out of the anomaly, the Commonwealth used a frigate outfitted with an FTL drive to launch the rescue operation and retrieve the crew. This one-time use drained two percent of the Commonwealth’s exotic particle stockpile and cost over a billion credits.

The fastest speed achieved with an FTL drive was recorded by an experimental Republic Scout ship in 2168 A.D. that reached its maximum speed of 3,029.26 times the speed of light, making the journey from the Sol System to Proxima Centauri 4.2 light years away in twelve hours and fifteen minutes. This new engine design is extremely efficient, reduces the number of exotic particles required by 80%, and almost doubles the highest known speed previously achieved by the Commonwealth and other non-aligned powers.

Fold Space Generator: Only the Commonwealth and two of the non-aligned powers are known to have researched and developed this, with the Republic suspected of having developed their own version. This drive is fueled by antimatter reactors and opens an artificial wormhole that connects two points of space, allowing the ship to traverse the tunnel and reach its destination almost instantaneously. The fold space generator works, but there is a random interaction with space time that introduces an unknown variable and causes one of two things to happen: the tunnel will either collapse, violently ejecting them at some point along the journey and destroying the ship upon exit, or the endpoint will disappear and they fail to enter normal space, continuing their never-ending course until the crew finally runs out of air or starves to death.

This unknown variable causes a random loss rate, such as one ship making ten trips in a row and successfully reaching its destination each time, while another ship will either be destroyed or lost in the tunnel on their first attempt. Of the known one hundred and twelve uses of the fold space generator, twenty-three ships were lost along with their crews. This unacceptably high attrition rate has led to the technology being abandoned as a viable mode of transportation, though research continues with the hope of discovering the cause of the unknown variable and finding a way to neutralize it.

Null Space Drive: This is the standard mode of travel employed by the interstellar species in known space. Null space is the only confirmed extradimensional layer of space that exists outside of the known universe. Null space allows for a ship to anchor itself in normal space time and travel from one point to another on a parallel course at up to fifty thousand times the speed of light for military vessels and a typical range of two to eight thousand times the speed of light for civilian and cargo vessels. Range is limited by the efficiency and engineering of the null space capacitors and by the limited exposure that organic beings can tolerate in null space.

Null space has effects on the brains of organic beings that limit the amount of time that they can be in null space. The typical effects that manifest range from elevated anxiety to increased aggression and a loss of emotional control. These symptoms gradually increase in severity to outright paranoia and severe psychosis the longer one stays in null space. There are expensive medications that can somewhat mitigate the effects, and training exposure can enhance natural resistance to the effects of null space, letting highly trained naval crews stay in null space up to 40% longer than their civilian counterparts.

Some species are less affected, while others suffer from a quicker onset and severity of symptoms in a shorter period of exposure. Human civilians can stay in null space for a typical maximum duration of twelve hours, while Republic naval crews can endure a maximum of twenty hours of exposure.

The typical travel method utilized for human civilian travel would be eight hours of null space travel, followed by exiting null space and resting for four hours before entering null space again and repeating the cycle until they reach their destination. Republic naval crews will usually travel in null space for twelve to sixteen hours, followed by a rest period of four to six hours, depending on the mission. The deleterious effects of null space travel are cumulative, and Republic naval crews are mandated to return to a port and refrain from null space travel for seven days after every hundred hours of null space travel.

Humans and a few other species are capable of long-term stays in null space if placed into stasis pods made of a specialized alloy and put into a medically induced coma that protects their higher brain functions from the damaging effects of null space.

Military-grade null space capacitors require large amounts of naturally occurring nenchite, a scarce mineral that is laborious and expensive to extract and refine in sufficient quantities for most species. Synthesized nenchite is more commonly used as a substitute, but the artificial nature of it reduces the efficiency of the null space capacitors, greatly reducing the speed of travel through null space. Large deposits of naturally occurring nenchite are exceedingly rare, with most solar system asteroid belts typically having only enough to construct up to twenty military-grade null space capacitors. Besides the Xenxin system, there are only seven other cataloged solar systems in known space with large deposits of natural nenchite. Two of the systems are in Commonwealth space, three are in non-aligned space, and the Republic has large deposits in the Procyon and Ross 154 systems.

Most governments build massive carriers that are surrounded by a latticework of berths for smaller ships to connect to. These carriers will transport cargo and civilian ships along established trade routes and travel destinations in a circuitous fashion, dropping off cargo ships, civilian transports, and passengers along predetermined destinations for a fee. Carriers range in berth capacity from small, fifty-berth capacity carriers for the shorter, less frequented routes to massive, four hundred-berth capacity carriers that ferry cargo and passengers throughout known space.

The construction of these carriers by governments serves a dual purpose: they are an important source of revenue and stimulate economic activity by fostering trade, internal population movement, and tourism. The other benefit is that the use of these carriers allows for the preservation of the scarce natural nenchite deposits for military use and the stabilization of the synthesized nenchite market, which had been at the mercy of unscrupulous speculators and industry titans many times in the past.

Weapons systems

Particle Beam Weapons: The most common form of directed-energy weapon employed for space combat by most navies, these systems utilize a high-energy beam that directs subatomic particles kinetically at a target, damaging it by disrupting the molecular structure where it hits. Once the beam has penetrated the armor and hull of an enemy ship, the beam ionizes the interior atmosphere, causing further damage via superheated molecules and secondary explosions. They are long-range offensive weapons, with beams becoming attenuated after 50,000 kilometers and losing 20% of their hitting power for every 10,000-kilometer distance after that.

Particle accelerators: This class of particle beam weapon is fielded only by the Republic Navy. They are twice as powerful as regular particle beams and have an effective range of 25,000 kilometers before attenuation loss. They require antimatter reactors for power generation and are employed exclusively on the automated null ships due to the large amounts of radiation that the weapons put out. They are classified as war beams.

Plasma torpedoes: These weapons are employed by the navies of the Commonwealth and most of the non-aligned powers. They are kinetic weapons that have a hardened nose cone and will impact the hull of an enemy ship, penetrating it. Once the weapon detects that it is about to impact a hull, it will convert the first, smaller warhead into a jet of superheated plasma and direct it against the impact point, weakening it before penetration. Once it has penetrated, it will convert the second, more powerful warhead into a jet of superheated plasma, causing massive damage and secondary explosions. These weapons are very effective against most hull types, but they have reduced effectiveness against the dense, flexible organic hulls of insectoid ships, requiring two or more successive strikes in the same area before they are able to successfully penetrate.

Triple bolts: These weapons are exclusively employed by the Republic Navy. They are torpedoes that are fired in groups of three with warheads that convert into plasma charges upon impact. The first bolt superheats the hull and weakens it, followed by two additional plasma bolts that impact it . 2 microseconds between hits. This causes massive damage to the hull, and typically the third bolt will pass through the opening created by the first two and impact the interior of the enemy ship, penetrating deeply and causing catastrophic secondary explosions. They are effective against all hull types and are especially potent against the organic hulls of insectoid ships.

Plasma turrets: These short- to mid-range secondary weapons systems are utilized by the Republic Navy for close-quarters combat and as additional point defense against missiles and torpedoes. They can be scaled in power output to fulfill both roles, and they are extremely effective weapons systems. The plasma turrets have twice the hitting power of particle beams but have a severely reduced range, losing 50% cohesion beyond 5,000 kilometers and dissipating after 6,500 kilometers. These turrets have eight barrels and a firing rate of sixteen plasma bolts per second at maximum power output. In a point-defense role, the power output is scaled down, and they can fire eighty bolts per second to intercept incoming missiles and torpedoes.

Missiles: These weapons offer several benefits over torpedoes, such as variable-yield warheads, target tracking, greatly increased range and loitering abilities, and the ability to engage in evasive maneuvers to avoid point defense systems. Insectoid missiles use an onboard worker drone for targeting, while most of the other navies use computers or rudimentary AIs.

Penetrator Missiles: These missiles are part of the offensive weaponry package of the Peregrine-class Starfighters fielded by the Republic Navy. They serve an anti-ship role, and they are carried in the interior bays of the fighters, with a load of two penetrator missiles per fighter. Guided by advanced warhead AI’s, these missiles have excellent tracking abilities, and their evasive maneuvering capabilities make them extremely hard to intercept and destroy. The missile’s first warhead will fire a concentrated jet of plasma to weaken the impact point before its extremely dense, hardened nose cone hits, allowing it to penetrate the weakened hull. The warhead AI will then activate the powerful second-stage boosters and force the entire missile through the opening, penetrating the weaker secondary hull if there is one.

Once the warhead AI detects that it is inside the target, it will drop the penning trap field that was bottling the four-milligram antimatter charge of the main warhead, releasing the explosive energy equivalent of 84 tons of TNT within the interior of the targeted ship. One missile will destroy all classes of warships fielded by the other interstellar powers except for their massive battleships and dreadnoughts, which would be so damaged that they would have to be completely rebuilt in a shipyard or scrapped. These are the only non-nuclear/fusion weapons capable of causing immediate and severe damage to Hive ships relative to their size, with eight to ten properly targeted penetrator missiles rendering them nearly inoperable and/or derelict.

Fusion missiles: Fielded by all the interstellar navies as a weapon of last resort, these deadly weapons systems are typically used not for their destructive power but for irradiating enemy ships, burning out systems and cooking the crews by inundating them with deadly gamma rays. If these large missiles can enter the interior of an enemy ship via an opening or a large enough hull breach, then the fusion warhead can be set off in the interior, annihilating the ship in a 5-kiloton explosion. These weapons systems have been banned in combat since the Treaty of Sirius was signed by all the interstellar powers in the year 2095 A.D. at the behest of the Ma’lit Domain. The Republic of Humanity voluntarily became a signatory to the treaty in the year 2169 A.D.

Electromagnetic Railguns: The Republic Navy is the only force that still uses railguns, as they were the primary offensive weapon system they used before their suspected uplifting. The Mark-16 fires a 16 cm (6.2 inch) diameter slug, and the Mark-24 fires a 24 cm (9.4 inch) diameter slug from the railgun turrets at 0.0003% of light speed (90 km/s). The slug is comprised of an outer shell of CrCoNi alloy with a depleted uranium core. These are powerful weapons systems for close to mid-range combat, but ranges greater than 1,000 kilometers are an issue due to smaller, faster ships potentially being able to evade the set trajectory of a railgun slug with a time to target arrival greater than ten seconds.

To compensate for this, the Republic railgun crews will “stitch” a target and fire multiple rounds that predict potential evasive maneuvers, saturating an area with slugs and assuring hits regardless of efforts to evade. These railgun slugs are devastating, as the kinetic energy they impart when they hit can destroy entire sections of vessels, if not outright obliterate them. In CQC, these slugs can sometimes pass through an entire ship and cause catastrophic exit breaches on the other side, making it impossible to seal the massive hull breaches they leave in their wake.

Grapeshot: The Republic Navy is the only force that uses these weapons systems for point defense and close-quarters combat. A single-point defense grapeshot canister holds 25,000¼-inch-diameter maraging steel ball bearings and is fired at a velocity of 5,000 m/s. The spread of the grapeshot can be controlled by changing the shape of the barrel it is fired from and the muzzle velocity. The CQC (close quarters combat) canister holds 25,000 one-inch-diameter maraging steel ball bearings, and their spread and muzzle velocity can also be changed.

A grapeshot rotary turret has eight cannon barrels and a firing rate of eight canisters per second, allowing for a combined one million hyper-velocity ball bearings to be fired in five seconds for point defense against missiles and torpedoes. The CQC canisters have a similar firing rate, and a million one-inch ball bearings fired in broadsides against an enemy ship at 5,000 m/s are utterly devastating, destroying any weapons emplacements, sensors, and other hull-mounted apparatuses.

Grapeshot that is fired into openings and hull breaches left by railgun slugs, torpedoes, and missiles causes additional damage to enemy ships as they decimate crews and scatter throughout the ship interior, tearing through bulkheads and severing conduits and power transmission lines.

Flak Guns: These weapons systems are secondary point defense weapons utilized by the Commonwealth and copied by the Insectoids when they reverse engineered them from derelict Commonwealth warships that were left behind after battles.

The Commonwealth variant is a twelve-barreled cannon system that shoots an explosive projectile that is 30 cm in diameter and 50 cm long. They have fuses that can be set for a variety of circumstances, such as distance, proximity, or penetration. Once the projectile fuse is activated, an explosive core will go off, sending tens of thousands of fragments and tiny ball bearings in all directions, with a lethal area of effect for 1000 meters around the projectile. The Commonwealth will typically use this as a barrage method and create a wall of fragments and ball bearings around their ships that will destroy incoming missiles and torpedoes. The Commonwealth also utilizes a variant of flak gun ammunition that will disperse large clouds composed of microscopic polycarbonates and other highly reflective particles that will attenuate laser and particle beam weaponry, reducing the damaging effects of the strikes on hulls.

The Insectoid variants are crude, typically firing hardened organic materials, tiny chunks of unrefined metal, or crushed stone. Despite their low-tech nature, they are incredibly effective at intercepting torpedoes and missiles due to the large numbers of them deployed on the Insectoid hulls, especially the massive Hive ships. They are particularly effective against the bomber and fighter ships that are utilized by most navies.