A Gems Odyssey

A miners morning is early, particularly on the oceans of Virelia. Much is to be done so the day must begin before the sun. On the operations facility Rian Tovek walks the platform heading for his drop site, inspecting the tendril like pipes as he walks past them. Due to its size inspections must be done as each miner heads to their site. These lines feed him air and take up material, failure means he’ll drown and the ecosystem may collapse.

At his drop point, Rian notes area’s that warrant concern but nothing that would prevent his dive. Once done, it uploads to the maintenance server, they’ll add his notes to the schedule and do a more thorough inspection when it is time for their repairs. He sits at the shaft for his drop and takes his suit out of the available lockers. The suit itself is relatively simple, air tight, adjusts to the user within 50 lbs or so. It is, however, woven with the phantom threads of the Veil, best material in the universe for this kind of work. The facility can only afford to maintain the 4 they have so he must treat it with care.

At the shaft he lowers a lever to open the hatch, inside is the excavation tool and ocean incased in a cylinder that leads strait down. He jumps in with a gasp. Now matter what he wears or how much he trains he is unable to stop the shivers that hit his spine. The suit cuts it in half but cold is cold. He reminds himself of the mantra they teach during excavation instruction “ if you can feel the cold you’re still alive” not that it helps. As he lowers deep into the water the dark grows with the depth. However, not long after he has left the surface he sees a soft glow beneath him. The veins that he is to mine illuminate some parts of the ocean floor.

Gravitite, a bluish green mineral that lives in the bedrock of the planet. It is one of the few materials that can be used for sustained faster than light travel. Rian engages the drill and slowly starts to collect.

The drill scrapes off the mineral by spinning and vibrating at high speeds and ultra high frequency. Controlling it takes practice, patience and a significant amount of compensation from technology. With the cold, and the aggressive nature of the suit he cannot separate the mineral from other rocks. He can only gather, and only for 30 to 35 minutes or risk internal damage. He disengages the drill and flips a switch that begins the ascent for them both. Slow but relieving, gives him a moment to see the small creatures that slither in and nibble on the material that has not been sucked up to the surface.

At the top he exits and closes the hatch. Next to it is the collected material. Each individually are almost the size of his fingernail, but in the tie he was drilling he managed to acquire several dozen pounds of material. Enough to end his shift. He moves it from the collection point to one for transportation and sends it ahead. He knows it’ll be sent off world but not to which.

Specialist Lira Voss walks across the bay in his whites from collar, to gloved hand to the bottoms of her shoes. A statement of displeasure regarding the lack of available personnel to pick up the shipments. She makes note to discuss this with the administration as soon as her commission is completed, but, the commission always comes first. So here she is, at the docking bay, waiting to receive a shipment of precious minerals from Virelia. As the crude ship arrives covered in rust, salt, and barnacles she puts forth every effort to conceal the lunch that made its way into her throat.

After a time, that specialist Lira uses to regain her composure, The captain has debarked and has come over to her with the delivery slip. “You don’t seem the type to receive shipments ma’am” he says to her. “Rest assured, I am not” she reaches for the slip to visually confirm the shipment, removes her glove enough to place her thumb on it for authorization. “Place the material over there captain, I’ll handle the rest” and she walks off prior to him speaking once more.

Once back in her lab with the material she takes a moment to rest and drink a cup of coffee “really, to expect that I would have to perform all the duties around her really is too much.” She says as she sips from her cup. Glancing across the lab at the metal box she’d used the anti-gravity transport to move. “They do look rather nice.” A small grin finds its way across her lips. There are few things that specialist Lira really enjoys, all of them relate to precious minerals. Almost all of them.

After she finishes her coffee she opens the box and runs her hand along the top layer of material. Several thousand tiny cylinders of Gravitate and rock shift in place clinking together like tiny bells. She re-engages the gravity transport and brings it to her furnace and dumps them all in. The gravity is lighter and has a higher melting point than the rocks they are in. So to begin, she must first burn off what does not belong. Most of this process is automated so she sets the system AI to Gravitate and it begins raising the temperature. It hums as it turns on beeping on occasion to shift the material inside. As it goes about its process she prepares the lab for the finished what comes next. The lift is set to return back to the docking bay, the floor in the lab opens up revealing several crystals embedded in in mechanical arms that rise out of the ground along with a metallic bed. It rises to the level of her knees and surrounds itself with a magnetic filed made to keep material in. She tunes it to the settings of the Gravitite mineral and sets each of the 4 arms to different frequencies. When the furnace finishes it lets out a low hiss, releasing heat into the ventilation and offloading the now freed mineral via conveyor into the space Lira prepared.

While the material is still hot she uses the 4 arms to separate them by density. The lightest of the batch will be used for the FTL internal timer the rest will make up its housing. the arms hum with their programmed frequencies attacking the respective parts to their gravity field. She brings the less dense material into the center and starts adjusting the magnetism in the center to shape and refine the material into thin lines that she circles back onto the center. Not long after she has begun the internal timer has several thin circles that come from the center going up over and back through a sphere of layered circles evenly spaced. She sends a simple charge into it and its internal energy ignite pulsing in a greenish blue. at this point it generates an external field of energy. Because this external field is unique to each timer, the shell that houses the timer is also unique.

The other three arms she activates at the simultaneously. Each radiate 2 separate frequencies agitating the mineral to change its state from solid to liquid to gas and back to liquid. During this process she slowly introduces the material to the timers energy field letting it flow around, up and over. When all the material is flowing she reverses the transition matching the pulse of the timer. Once completed, she shuts down hare hardware and has it return to the floor. The timer, complete with internal and external parts, rests in air. No gravity will affect it besides its own. She records a few measurements tags it, and hails the chief engineer. “It’s ready.”

Chief Engineer Corven Tyros sit at his desk twiddling his thumbs or tapping his fingers on the wooden from waiting for the energy readings from specialist Lira. The ship in the yard has been waiting for this device longer than he cared to admit. Understanding that each piece to make a ship capable of traveling through the cosmos was one thing. Add a last minute requirement for FTL travel and the deadline might as well had been a shot in the dark at a match facing the opposite direction. However by the will of the Eternal he managed to get a shipment of material. Even more impressive the refinement facility had a specialist capable of doing the work within the timeline. Having it done this soon was a wish he didn’t know he could make. But with everything falling into place his gratitude has morphed into worry that something will go wrong.

Density, composition quality, frequency, and G-value. All required information on the first line of the transmission from specialist Lira. “She sure took her time.” He grumbled as her read over the technical specs from the device. With everything cleared he sent the data including the provided dimensions to his team so they can start fabricating the housing for the timer within the engine housing. He then dials Lira and hangs up, has the connection automatically redial her, hangs up again and manually calls her once more allowing it to connect. “Damn superstitious fool. How many times have I told you not to do that to my office!” Lira exclaimed “Look SP Voss, I don’t make the rules I just follow them” Corven responded with his arms raised relieving himself of the responsibility. “Your excuse is as backwards as the practice. It is no rule just bad manners masquerading as fortune. It’s a wonder anything works coming from your yard.” “Be nice, I paid double for this.” “It Wa-never mind, give me your 4-Vector.” She said through a sigh. “Roger ma’am, in the Adarthis system, Planet Thern Prime, coasting at 42.13 kilometers per second (km/s), with a magnetic reading of 55 microtesla (µT).” “All readings match, turn on your field sync with my time. 10, 8, 6, 4,” “Synced, ready to receive.” “Transmission in progress.” Specialist Lira flipped the switch and within her lab gravity glitched enough that loose papers and pens slowly lifted into the air. In the center a clear blue dot appeared and began to expand in the same space as the timer. Like a bubble it covered the device until it disappeared in a blink of light. “Transmission completed on my end, verify receipt.” Lira said Corven looked across his desk to the monitor viewing the yard. There was a flash and one of the crew gave a thumbs up. “Revceived, much obliged.” He said before Lira cut the feed. With everything now on hand Corven relax’s a bit. Now the schedule is only waiting on the work of his crew. Not a guarantee that the delivery will be on schedule, but certainly more in his control. Corven gets up to leave his office. He taps the door frame thrice on his way out.

Walking through the yard during construction should come with hazard pay. Sparks streak across numerous materials. Energy flares in different colors from various crystals being outfitted for engines, thrusters, or turrets. Mallets, hammers, bludgeoning devices are beating away at various cadences all encompassed by the constant yelling of each crew trying to relay status and expectation to one another. Amongst the chaos there is a single crew outfitting a timer to a particular ship that Corven needs to directly oversee. “Still unnamed?” The question addressed to no one directly. Multiple superstitions come in and out of the shipping yard. Several regarding the naming of a vessel, one is universal. You name the ship after it is built.

He looks over the hull from stem to stern and forgets that he is an engineer here. The material is coaxed into from using the crystals manufactured with the energies of the leylines on living trees before they are downed. They are only valuable before they are pulled from up. After it takes more than a few shots from a blaster to change their shape again. Most the structure is made from these trees. The parts should see the void of space or aggressive disagreements need to be sturdy. The insides where the crew would be made of softer things. Especially since this is commission directly from house Veltrion. “Final inspections complete chief, just need to see if she floats.” Looks like the same member that gave him the thumbs up. “Great, when does Captain Thane supposed to get here?” “Well, she’s already upstairs chief.” “WHAT! Why’d no one tell me” he motions for the man to follow him as he heads toward the elevator in the back of the yard.

Near the doors leading to the customer gallery where Captain Thane was waiting Corven stopped to wash his hands and straiten his hair. He closes up the jumper and straightens the insignia denoting him Chief Engineer for the facility. When he leaves the wash room his gait and posture reflect his leadership position. The crew member behind him does his best but some grease can not be washed by normal means. Through the doors they sitting on a couch in the receiving lounge is Captain Thane drinking a complimentary tea with her first and second mate standing behind her. “Hello Captain Thane, I do apologize for the wait. I was just on a call with Specialist Voss going over the specifications of the timer.” “Any complications that I need to be aware of?” She asks casually “No, no. Everything looks to be coming along as expected. Is there anything that you need? Completion isn’t due for another couple rotations.” “My mistress is..excited and sent me ahead in anticipation of its completion. I just came down to let you know we were in orbit. No need to deviate from the schedule.” “Thank you, well if you will excuse me I will return.” With a subtle nob he exits the room and hurriedly moves towards the (Bay) “Lets get them out of here today.” “But she said that we can still to the schedule?” Obvious plea from the crewman that followed. “Yes that is what she says but our employer is getting impatient since their early arrival and they are not the type I want waiting on us.”

In the hangar, Captain Thane runs her hand along the smooth surface of the recently finished commission for her mistress, lady Veltrion. The initial inspections were pleasant enough but nothing as good as it completing earlier, no doubt due to Lady’s influence. Lady Veltrion will be pleased, the engineers of Thern Prime have so far lived up to their accolades. The ship is beautiful, the layers of (what’s the material) wood grain spreads across the hull polished to near mirror like reflection. The colors a pleasant mix of blues, sandy brown and ocean green reflecting the sands of Kaelthear that birth the energy rich crystals that have made the Veltrion family wealthy.With the ship signed for and inspected, now they need only make the first flight using the FTL engine on their way back to orbital station around Kaelthar. She boards the ship and makes her way to the bridge. “Begin startup” instantaneously each station methodically flips switches and pushes buttons, turns knobs and raises levers. The sound of the ship humm to life like its taking its first breath. When the engines kick in the whole ship lifts from the hoist levitating on its own. All stations report that normal behavior so she moves the ship out of the large doors leading to the launch pad. She navigates to the center most location and contacts the tower “Thanks again Chief Corven, Lady Veltrion is going to be ecstatic.” “No problem, give her my best Captain. Safe travels.”

They engage the main thrusters and quickly claim elevation. Before long they are breaking through the atmosphere and settling into the outer most orbit. “Navigation?” “Whenever you are ready captain” in her station she presses a link that brings up a communication window. “How does it look down their Neal?” Everything is looking good. Readings are showing steady power output.” The engineer on board relays. “Ok, everyone strap in. Travel in 3..2..1” as the engine and timer synchronize the front window ripples from its center as the energy reaches out into space and time grabbing the fabric of it. Taking reality and like blanket folding it infront of them. The engine whines with the effort raising in pitch as the visual distance of Kaelthar comes closer and closer until it is seen on screen the size of a dinner plate. It sits there for a moment then as the pitch of their engine disappears from the range of human hearing the ship stretches into a thin line before snapping out of sight.