NationStates Jolt Archive

In the Western fringe of the milky way lies a system of planets simply named SYS-44D. In this empty region of space, little bother has been spared by the official galactic council for names and references. The nearest navigation point was 30 light years away, and there were frequent nuclear storms, making travel dangerous.

However, Sharf droid ship 883.D12 has recently been blown into SYS-44D's gravitational system, and carried routine checks on the local planetoids. What they have discovered could be the answer to the region's failing economy and maintainance.

***3:30 GST, 2601AD***

The Kommander stood at the bridge of the space station, surveying the space traffic around his new planets. What had been returned from the droid ship had surprised everyone. Now, all the planets in the system were alive with activity, as colonies were set up, an mines dug. Mines for a new energy resource.

This resource, dubbed Grel by the Kommander, after his own name, looked promising in initial tests. The energy was completely clean, and apparently renewable. A simple heating process to 1 gallon of Grel produced 1,000KW of energy. Even with the greed of the Sharf empire, it was realised that they could not use all of that energy. Kommander Grel turned, re-reading the advertisment.

NEW ENERGY SOURCE!

COORDINATES ATTACHED, MINING PLANET UP FOR SALE FROM HIGHEST BIDDER.

ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE IN 20 DAYS FROM NOW. THIS 'GREL' HAS NOT BEEN SEEN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE!

Official Statement from Recanic Scavenger's company.

We are interested in beging excavation of the area. We will be sending several mining transports to this region...

to the company:

There is a picket line where your ships will stop and be searched by our infantry. Failure to comply will result in death.

We are interested in studying this newfound source of energy. A significant amount research into this new source of energy will allow for the proper development of machines to efficiently utilize this source of energy.

OOC: Isn't any chemical reaction inherently inferior to, say, nuclear fission, fusion, or antimatter? Also, energy's measured in joules.

IC:

The Unbroken Eye questions the use of non-antimatter, non-nuclear energy sources. Are you a pre-nuclear civilization? If so, we are willing to grant you the secrets through which you may master the atom, and, in doing so, begin space travel in truth.

-End Message-

OOC: True, though it might find other uses beyond powering starships. A megajoule of energy per gallon isn't much use for generating the kind of juice necessary for FTL or gigaton-level particle beams that so many ships use these days (you'd need billions of gallons just to fire one such beam for a second), but it's still quite a high energy potential and could possibly find use as a chemical battery for small equipment, maybe?

OOC: One more thing. How precisely is it renewable?