pA ɴ,da-nᴏᴠᴇʟ.cᴏm The message that roused Max from his hungover stupor the next morning was completely predictable. The Alliance delegation and the Dryads had decided to stay to observe their terraforming efforts. At the same time, the announcement came in that the blue-skinned species would be ready for a Portal back to their home planet in an hour if Max were willing to oblige with their power supply.
The fact that so many species had focused on efficiency above all else and were incapable of opening a portal with their trade and diplomatic ships, relying instead on the space stations in their home systems, was a bit ridiculous to Max.
It was a matter that had bothered him for a while, and he was determined to get to the bottom of the matter today. He couldn't take it, not knowing why they didn't simply increase the power output of their ships enough to take care of all the tasks that might be required for their duties.
So, he sought out the Giant and Valkia envoys, who were the most likely to have answers for him.
They were sitting around a desert-themed bar, basking under the UV lamps in the heat and enjoying breakfast much more slowly than usual as they recovered from the night's festivities.
"Good morning, envoys. I hope you are enjoying the amenities. We do have a trained physician on board should you require some medicines to recover." He greeted them.
"Hangovers are proof that you truly lived." The Giant chuckled, sipping a Mojito while he waited for another plate of food to be delivered.
"You look like you have a question, Commander." The Valkia stated as Max settled down into the seat across from them.
"I do. It has to do with the difference between the human and Alliance warp drive technologies. They are quite similar, both using Dilithium and other similar Crystals in a matrix to create the warp field. But where humans have no issues generating enough power to open portals, it is standard practice for the Alliance ships to need a station to open a Portal.
I know that you have the precision that it's not a matter of arrival clearances, and I can't seem to understand why you don't increase the output of your vessels. Even if it's a reserve capacity, there is bound to be a case that it would be an improvement."
The Giant snorted. "Did you ask the Innu first?"
Max nodded. "They said that they were too broke, and their thoughts went on a tangent about repair techniques and warp theory. I couldn't make sense of it, so I decided to come to you instead."
Now the Giant was actually laughing. "I can see how trying to deal with Innu as a mind reader would be a nightmare. To summarize, do you know how the crystals are formed and prepared for use?"
Max nodded, and the Giant continued.
"When they are replicated, there is no way to set the matrix in the crystals. It needs to be done afterward with specialized nanotechnology. The technician needs to tune it to the ship and then fine-tune it to the warp bubble patterns and frequencies. It is a very delicate procedure, and putting strain on the system causes microfractures.
So, the maximum safe output of the system is limited. We could greatly increase the size of the matrix, but that makes it even harder to create and tune and increases the rate at which it degrades and needs to be overhauled.
Ships with Terminus's output using Alliance warp drive technology have an overhaul schedule of a single decade. It's a massive inconvenience, and the skills to perfectly tune a warp drive are in high demand, so the downtime can be considerable.
I have investigated the human warp drives and have a question for you. How do you get around the problem of microfracture events pushing the drive out of tune?" The big man answered.
"We actually built a Materials Printer into the Warp Drive to repair the microfractures. Then, a technician with a repair-related System Function aligns the matrix through the repaired section. They have only had to do it once so far, but it worked flawlessly and took under a minute." Max explained.
"So, you are saying that there are humans who can just FIX damaged warp arrays in a minute without tools or specialized tuning bays?" The Valkia asked in shock.
"Well, you need a screwdriver to get the cover off unless you're wearing a Tech Adept Harness or you're a Cyborg, but yeah, that's the basis of it.
The drive doesn't put off any radiation that is harmful to humans when it is powered down, so we can open it up and have the tech put a hand on it to align the repaired sections. Certain humans, like myself or Nico, with more versatile system functions, can actually do it from outside the enclosure by sending the nanobots into our surroundings."
"That is one hundred percent cheating, by the way." The Innu Envoy stated, walking up behind them.
"I talked to the Tech Nomads, and they said the same thing. When they break the warp drive prototypes during testing, they have a human reset them to default values and start over again."
That made Max chuckle. No wonder they loved Nico right away. The Warp Drive improvements were among their first projects here aboard Terminus, and he hadn't realized that they couldn't do them with such efficiency without Nico around. Their thoughts were too full of ideas for him to isolate such a small detail.
"You mentioned humans like yourself and your second in command. Should I understand it as there being more humans with such capabilities?" The Innu Envoy asked.
"Of course. Repair-related functions are fairly common among the descendants of Kepler and the Reavers. Most won't be at anything near our level, but being able to align a warp matrix is common enough that I haven't heard of any severe shortages of technicians either for the factories or aboard our ships." Max replied.
The envoys shared an overjoyed look and spoke as a group.
"I don't suppose that it is possible to hire these Clan bonded humans, is it?"
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