| Author |
News Report: Relic Discovered |
Kanman
Grand Admiral
Pitch Black
Joined: August 26, 2005
Posts: 1017
From: Virginia, United States
|  Posted: 2007-11-23 13:10
Before Jump Drives there were Warp Drive prototypes. These attempts at FTL travel were primitive and consumed horrid amounts of energy. Recently, a lost relic of Warp Drive research has been discovered after having been lost in the void for almost 200 years. This relic is a small ship, roughly the size of a modern frigate.
Sensors confirmed the hull to be in tact with no signs of damage. Dozens of bodies were found within. Some of these bodies were arranged neatly, while others lay slumped over in the corridors. It is obvious that the deaths were over a long period of time, perhaps a few weeks. The first to die were mourned and given a proper funeral, while the last to die had no one to tend to them. The vessel’s stockpile of food was completely depleted. It is likely the crew starved to death.
The ship does not have logs in the way that we think of them today. Instead, they left several hand-written journals. Reading these journals has exposed the origins of this morbid derelict.
The vessel was launched for the first full-scale test of a Warp Drive shortly after man first walked on Mars. The Warp Drive creates a large ‘bubble’ around the vessel of static spatial density. Then, another warp device compresses the space in front of the bubble and yet still another warp device expands the space beyond the rear of the bubble. Once the warp tunnel is stable, the vessel’s tachyon coils are fired to burst the vessel forward at 5% light speed. To outside observers, the vessel travels forward at FTL speeds, while the crew feels little to no forces pressing on them from the acceleration.
Warp Drive vessels, had they become common, would have had over 70% of the external hull dedicated to the warp projectors, and over 35% of the interior volume dedicated to the warp reactor and power supply. This explains why even though the vessel discovered is as large as a frigate the crew compliment is only around 40 people.
The Chief Scientist in charge of the mission wrote of the technical failures that led to their deaths. It was a simple oversight, really. Stars move. They drift around over time, and since their light only travels at the speed of light to our eyes on Earth, we see where the stars used to be. The engineers in charge of the Warp Drive design overlooked this, and the crew jumped straight towards a star of interest. As they traveled at FTL speeds safe within their warp bubble, the star they targeted moved quickly ‘left’. The warp was cancelled while the ship was somewhere in the void between Sol and Alpha Centauri, roughly 3.7 light-years from Earth.
The targeting computer and calculations were checked for accuracy, and another attempt was made a few hours later. Again, the star drifted ‘left’, but suddenly another star, Barnard’s Star to be exact, drifted ‘left’ as well, directly in front of the vessel. They hadn’t known that Barnard’s Star was directly in their flight path in present times.
The warp was hastily cancelled and the crew turns for an emergency warp away from the star. However, they used the same tachyon coils in their drive as we use in our modern Jump Drives. They need to recharge before another use. The premature re-firing of their coils both fused the coils in firing position as well as damaged their warp reactor. The warp ‘bubble’ collapsed, but the vessel continued to warp forward. Without the protection of the warp bubble, the crew was exposed to relativistic time dilation. Traveling at just below the speed of light, due to the warp reactor’s damage, the crew frozen in time from the perspective of Earth. In the ten seconds it took them to cut power from the tachyon coils, the crew has been missing for just over 100 years. No one was looking for them, and no one knew where they were.
By this time, the first of the Jump Gates were being constructed and Jump Drives were in common use. The crew didn’t have the materials or manpower to fix their ship, so they drifted alone in the void until their food ran out. A full century after the last death, we discover their vessel between Lalande and R33.
[ This Message was edited by: Kanman *FC* on 2007-11-23 13:36 ]
_________________
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Don Nukey of ICC *CO*
Chief Marshal
Interstellar Cultural Confederation United
Joined: June 05, 2006
Posts: 429
From: Zeebrugge, belgium
| Posted: 2007-11-23 13:24
nice story kan
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Eledore Massis [R33]
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: May 26, 2002
Posts: 2694
From: tsohlacoLocalhost
| Posted: 2007-11-23 13:29
Nice story realy.
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DS Discordion
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2007-11-23 16:47
The Interstellar Cultural Confederation would like to partake in the proper burial at space to be conducted for these brave explorers.
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Darkspace: Twilight
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Kanman
Grand Admiral
Pitch Black
Joined: August 26, 2005
Posts: 1017
From: Virginia, United States
| Posted: 2007-11-23 19:45
UGTO High Command is sorry to report that you have been mis-informed. No bodies were recovered recently, much less bodies of long lost scientists. The only discovery of note lately was the recent discovery of a weather balloon. These peices of the balloon could have been mis-identified as warp drive components to the untrained eye. The remains of this weather balloon have been taken into custody of the UGTO and will go through decontamination and examination. In a few days time, when they have been through quarantine, a few representatives can view the debris and see that there was no vessel, no warp drive, and no bodies. View, that is, from behind a glass barrier a safe 10 yards from any of the peices.
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Leonide
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: October 01, 2005
Posts: 1553
From: Newport News, Virginia
| Posted: 2007-11-23 23:49
LOL Kan... LOL!
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captain of the ICC Assault Cruiser C.S.S. Sledgehammer
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Light-of-Aurora
Grand Admiral
Joined: December 01, 2003
Posts: 602
From: NJ, USA
| Posted: 2007-11-24 00:33
Oh, pics pls!! 
I'm not imaginative enough for you to trust me to make a cool looking engine in my head on my own...
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Coeus {NCX-Charger}
Admiral, I can't read,
Sundered Weimeriners
Joined: February 16, 2004
Posts: 3635
From: South Philly
| Posted: 2007-11-24 08:55
I see....
*dons the hat of the ISC Chief Enforcer*
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Darkspace: Twilight
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