NationStates Jolt Archive

60 degrees ahead of Ganymede, a large wormhole orbited Jupiter. Currently, it was open only by incredible luck, but that would hopefully change when the Sakkrans arrived.

(OOC: I was hoping to finish the research thread first, but everybody seems to have abondoned it, so here we go....)

The Sakkran Merchant Navy had just finished loading its passengers, crew and materials at the Orbital Docks. The destination was the wormhole jumpgate orbiting Jupiter. 15 of the newest medium freighters were loaded to the gills. Constructor Suits, technical crews, engineers and some rather daring test pilots with their newly commisioned fighters were loaded aboard. Habitation modules were outfitted within the freighters, since this would likely be an extended project. Defensive missiles were loaded into their pods in case of uppity raider activity.

The lead craft, the Tortuu, left the berth at the Orbital Yard. Captain Shaavv got 'on the horn' to the rest of the fleet. "All crafts, this is the Tortuu. We make our exit at 1/8 power until we are 1,000 kms away from the Dock. Then it's cruising speed to the rendezvous point. I don't need to stress the importance of every piece of equipment getting there in good shape. Keep sensors on full, and keep radar at maximum range. On my mark, we go. .......Mark!"

All fifteen ships kicked in their fusion engine drives in unison, and were under way.

<<Whack>>

(OOC: OOF! Sorry, Real Life isn't being very cooperative lately.)

"Sakkran fleet on telescope, visible for another 8 hours, behind jupiter for 12."
"Copy. Estimated range?"
"3 light-minutes."
"Copy. Transmit greeting."

<Transmission: Ganymede->Tortuu>
Sakkran vessel, this is Ganymede. Welcome to the Jovian subsystem. Please indicate whether you wish to proceed directly to the constructin site, or stop over at Ganymede.
<End Transmission>

<Transmission begins>

"We copy you Ganymede. For the sake of efficient time use, perhaps making a straight path for the construction site would be best. All equipment on board is in good order. Made a stop to pick up some refined materials at our mining facility in the Asteroid Belt. Requesting rendezvous coordinates and protocols."

<Transmission ends>

<BeginTransmission>
Understood. Recommend rendez-vous at 55 degrees east, 0 degrees north, 0 kilometers inward relative to Ganymede. Transmit notification of arrival to the base station.
<EndTransmission>

At the specified coordinates, orbiting very, very slowly around the barely stable wormhole was a grey cube, 100m to a side.

The Merchant Navy ships begin to slow about 5,000 kms away from the coordinates. The captain sends an all-ships communication to the fleet.

"Okay people. We have the coordinates, and you know your jobs. I need the propulsion technicians and astro-physicists to begin researching all available data."

" The engineers should begin with the cube there, scanning and getting schematics and diagnostics, as well as blue-printing possibilities. We're working in conjunction with the Snel, and I want it to be like a well-calibrated chronometer. Construction teams, begin working on the refined material we have. Find out what is needed. Now get to it!" The teams on board the ships begin at their tasks, and the captain sends a comm over to the Snel.

"We'll be reaching the work area in 10. We'll need to get any available data on the project so we know where to go from, and technical schematics as they stand. All crews are ready for orders."

"Copy. The base cube should be in view from where you are. You are welcome to send someone over if you wish, otherwise we can transmit the designs now. First order of business is to begin constructing the arches off of each face."

Semi-OOC: The complete design for the Gate involves six of the cubes and three rings forming a sphere around the wormhole, with the cubes placed at the points of intersection.

"Copy that. Foreman Schooug is ready to EVA to the base cube. The construction crews are ready to begin to assembling the segments of the arches outside of the work area."

The Foreman slides into his EVA Suit and propels himself towards the base cube. The Merchant Navy ships are behind him, decelerating more and more.

A circular airlock door slid open to allow the Foreman entry. After cycling through, he was met by a light green Snel, obviously more at home in this zero-g environment than any ever was on land.

"Glad to meet you. I am Sub-Coordinator Three of Megascale Engineering. You will be wanting to see more details, yes? Work schedules and such?"

The foreman, in his EVA suit, gave thesurroundings an eye-balling. "Good to meet you Sub-Coordinator Three of Megascale Engineering. I am Foreman Schooug. Specialist in astro-construction. Details would be good. I need to know what materials are needed, and how much. Just in case I have to requisition some more from the mining facilities."

"Also, my workers go on standard eight hour shifts, with a half-hour lunch break. Union rules, of course. There are enough to work three separate shifts, so construction could be round the clock. Now let's see what we're dealing with here."

"Of course. Our hours are slightly different, but we can accommodate. It would be good to have overlap between shifts."

Schooug is led into a 10x10 meter cubic room at the center of the cube.

"This won't be here on the other cubes, but we need it for this one. A sort of control-slash-conference room." A holographic screen popped up in the center, and diagrams and information began scrolling by.

"Glassteel, nitinol, and silver are important, but won't be needed in large quantities. And copper, we'll need about 1.5 metric tonnes. The outer hulls are to be beryllium, aluminium, and carbon fiber, but that can wait until the framework is layed. The size of the wormhole means that curvature around the edge is minor, so the framework for the arches can be constructed in straight lines and then bent around, if that will be easier."

"That might indeed make things a bit easier. We can definitely do copper and silver from the homeland. We have .75 metric tonnes of copper on us now, and a glut of aluminum. 3 freighters worth. Glassteel would have to be made, which is possible on-site, but the quality may be less. Your call there."

Shooug continues to look at the data. "If there's energy focusing to be done, we can requisition some lithium from the mining facilities in the asteroid belt, and some nickel. Don't know how much you'll need there."

<<slap>>

<<Oof!>>

"That might indeed make things a bit easier. We can definitely do copper and silver from the homeland. We have .75 metric tonnes of copper on us now, and a glut of aluminum. 3 freighters worth. Glassteel would have to be made, which is possible on-site, but the quality may be less. Your call there."

Shooug continues to look at the data. "If there's energy focusing to be done, we can requisition some lithium from the mining facilities in the asteroid belt, and some nickel. Don't know how much you'll need there."

"I'll have to recheck, but I the aluminium and copper you have on hand should do for quite some time. Glassteel doesn't have to be high-quality, it will only be serving plating and connection functions. Lithium we can fuse, but if you can get nickel, it would save us in acquiring or synthesizing nitinol."

"Very well then. I'll have my aid send a comm to the refinery there to get any nickel extruded, refined of course, ready for pickup for some of the freighters after they're unloaded."

"As for the glassteel, i'll have some of the boys on that immediately. We'll have to do a little modifying of one of the freighters to facilitate that, but no big deal there."

"Good. In that case, work can begin on the frame. If you could dock one of your freighters with the Cube, we can begin casting aluminium immediately."

A few hours later, the first four twenty-five meter lengths of aluminum were being fed out of the Cube and secured to one face by Sakkran/Snel teams.

As the last of these was secured, and they started bringing out the next set, someone called out over the radio "Twenty-five down, three-thousand seven-hundred and fourty-five to go!"

Almost a full 48 hour cycle later, the freighter that had been sent for the refined nickel begins making its way back to the construction site. It would take 30 hours for it to get to the Cube.

Meanwhile, the modified freighter that is manufacturing the glassteel gets underway in its function. The construction teams continue feeding out extruded aluminum. One of the workers quips with an associate. "Three thousand seven hundred and fourty five? Sheesh! This will be a real time sink. Talk about job security!"

the Foreman checks his schedule absentmindedly while walking about the room. He proceeds to <<BUMP>> into a table.

"DAMMIT!"

<<<Status check>>>

(Hm. Not much I can think of in the way of character RP... given ~20 days now, let's put it at about 60%.)

OOC: That works for me. Big construction completion party?

(Whoo... forgot about this for a while.)

And lo and behold, the Gate was complete (http://timesurfer.linuxcowboy.net/WormholeGate.gif), and the Shapers looked upon it, and saw that it was good, and there was much rejoicing.

The construction crews looked upon their work, and much beverage was consumed.

Now the question remained....


Who would be the first to make sure it worked?