"A bit further down! That's it! Okay...and...stop!"
Fyrgoff smiled at his work crew. They'd been installing the upgrades on his new vessel, the Interdicted, for around ten stazuras now.
Nodding to the engineers to release the complex tri-althim manifolds, the prototype shell that they'd been tasked to develop for employment in the new M5-class carrier ships, he slipped into the cockpit.
The feel of leather was a definite pleasurable one on his skin. Sometimes it was the simplest of amenities that made so much difference in the void of space, and he was glad to have spent at least a jazura thinking up all of the things he could do to this vessel before it entered production.
Flipping on the various switches, he checked each component one by one, calling out to the engineers for them to confirm activation as he went.
Click "Plasma fuel line inhibitors-check." "Functioning normally"
Click "Fusion pulse reactor-check." "Online and nominal"
Click "GWCS (General Weapon Control Systems)-up and running"
"That's a go"
Click "Interlocking plasma sheathes-check." "They're good as well"
Click "Weapon Ports One through Four-activated." "Affirmative, online and well"
Click "Turning on electronic manifold operations." The shields flared into life with a bright flare. "That's a go"
Click "Micro-meteorite deflection shell, go." The shield began rotating slightly in strange, almost smokelike, patterns of light. "Everything looks good so far"
Click "Bringing system output to 60" The fusion reactor brightened as he pushed the steel lever forward, which would soon control his engines once they were hooked up to the main operating system. "Roger that, fusion reactor still stable"
Click "Bringing subspace jumpdrive online..." His finger hovered over the switch as he looked over the energy gauge and he hesitated, waiting for the magical number 60, which indicated his systems were ready to activate it.
The indicator's yellow bar reached 60 and he breathed in deeply before he flicked the switch. A lot of lives had been lost do to pre-emptive activation. If he turned it on without the energy available to stabilize it, it would soon generate a small black hole exactly where his ship was, and rip him apart until the ship imploded and the jumpdrive was destroyed.
Exhaling slowly, he flicked the switch and waited. "Now."
The jumpdrive thrummed through his ship, pulsing like his own heart but magnified to shake the whole vessel. Each thrum was a relief, because if there wasn't a thrum, there would be a black hole.
Thrum-Thrum-Thrum-Thrum-Thrum-Thrum...THRUM...THRUM...THRRUUUMM
His eyes widened, the reaction was getting a bit out of hand now. His whole body lunged forward with the last thrum. Gritting his teeth, he knew there was no shutting down the reaction once it started. Either he had installed it correctly, or it would kill him now.
THRUM! The engineers around him took a few steps back nervously, seeing the ship beginning to shake from the power of the jumpdrive's cascading fusion reaction.
THRUM! His eyes widened as a piece of data scrolled across the main screen.
THRUM! The jumpdrive began shaking slightly, barely able to contain the powerful forces of gravity and anti-spacial warp fields within it.
THRUM! The ship lunged forward onto its first landing gear and slammed back into the ground, causing Fyrgoff to groan in pain as several consoles took the liberty of greeting him first-hand.
THRUM! The walls around the ship began to groan and the engineers looked up in horror as a bolt began twisting out of its place.
THRUM! The groaning increased and soon it sounded like the station was actually screaming in pain from the pull on its inner walls.
THRUM! The groaning began to subside and the engineers gulped nervoulsy.
Thrum. The jumpdrive stopped rattling.
Thrum-Thrum. The ship stopped lurching.
Thrum...Thrum-Thrum...Thrum,Thrum. Fyrgoff's chair stopped shaking him into the various consoles around the cockpit.
Thrum,Thrum,Thrum,Thrum,Thrum... The enginner's held their breath hopefully and Fyrgoff closed his eyes in silent prayer for the reaction to not spike.
...Thrum,Thrum,Thrum,Thrummmmm...Mmmmmmmmmm. A slow, but steady, shaking shuddered throughout the ship and Fyrgoff's head dipped forward in silent thanks.
The engineers all yelled in success of the first jumpdrive that was now capable of drawing in such powerful subspace fields that not only could it transport just the ship itself, but it could, if projected far enough, take an entire station with it.
He patted the console and declared the ship was ready for its first voyage. Stepping out of the cockpit, he looked back to the reactor, feet still on the metal ladder, and smiled softly as he saw the beautiful light blue and gold sparkle of the new jumpdrive humming softly.
Jumping down off the ladder the rest of the way, he hugged his engineers and told them he would test the capabilities of the new type of vessel that they had decided to be the 'M6.' Higher not because of its size, but because of its power.
The ability to take a station with you to wherever you wished was such an unheard of technology that if Fyrgoff had wished it, he could sell it to the Argon Navy and not only would they instantly become a superpower, but until someone developed another prototype, they would be literally invincible.
A bit exhausted, he walked back to his quarters, wondering if anyone would've ever expected that such an invention would come from the front of a simple little Solar Power Plant in the Ore Belt.
Then again, he reasoned, without the discovery of the rare mineral that fueled the new jumpdrive, they would've never been able to test this highly-tuned machine in the first place. There just simply wasn't enough energy in anything else to fuel it enough to have it work properly but the rare element 'tricarbonite,' which had enough compressed energy to make a thousand warheads from a piece of mineral the size of his clenched fist.
Slipping into his bed, he smiled at his accomplishment, wondering what the next day would bring...
