Chapter 34: Chapter Twenty-Eight Exchange

Tika stepped off the shuttle. It had been a short trip, followed by a wait while the bay pressurized. That wasn’t something she was used to, but it did allow her to discuss things with her party. One thing they had noted, was the Enterprise had deployed a number of small shuttles. Lightly armed with only a couple of short-range particle cannons and protected only by some thin dispersion plating. They weren’t designed for combat though, they featured some fairly robust engines, and came standard with some rather primitive tractor beam systems. So primitive they required a special disk to latch onto a target's hull in order to establish a lock. Still it was better than grapplers. Most cultures moved past that tractor beam type within a decade or two after discovering it. 

They could probably help them improve their tractor beams, but their main goal was to get them ready for warp towing. Not to mention they planned to offer help in upgrading their engines. Warp three was barely sufficient for interstellar travel, and it would take over a year to get back to port at that speed. Months at warp four, but it would also take a couple of months for ships to get out here to tow them back. Getting them to warp four minimum would allow them to get home faster than waiting for tugs. Not to mention they were vulnerable here. The Cathamari had fleet bases a lot closer, and a second attack would doom them. The aliens didn’t want to stick around either, and she had a feeling they too didn’t want to deal with another Cathamari fleet.

A few armored men greeted them as they stepped off, and the alien captain Countryman stood not far away, waiting to speak with them. She looked around and noted that this smaller upper deck shuttlebay they had been directed to was as dimly lit as their bridge. You would expect it to be well lit, so perhaps they were nocturnal? Valorians like the Krall were diurnal, so this was just more evidence they weren’t Valorian. She approached the captain and introduced herself again before saying, “It occurs to me I neglected to mention who my people are. I represent the Krall Imperium, and you?”

He sighed, “I represent the People of Sol. We would rather not discuss it, but it would be hard to hide it. What you see around you is all that is left of our civilization, thanks to the Cathamari. We came here hoping to have some time in relative peace, but it seems that was not to be.”

She blinked, “You did?”

He nodded, “As far as the Cathamari are aware we have no ability for star travel. That was an illusion we were hoping to maintain. This system was just far enough from our homeworld to provide some safety, and allow us to work on certain projects before we set out looking for some new world to call home.”

Realizing what he was saying, she said, “That fleet showing up, ruined those plans of yours. Well, you helped us, and it would not be right to leave you with nothing. I think we are in a position to help each other.”

Countryman gestured for the door, “I was thinking the same. Let's sit down before we discuss the particulars. I’ve prepared a conference room where we can meet, and convened a few of my officers for this discussion.”

She nodded, and allowed him to lead the way. Two of his guards joined them, and they headed out of the dimly lit shuttlebay, into a dark corridor. Lit only by the occasional overhead light, and blue light strips set in the walls. The lighting was frankly terrible, but it was enough to see where they were going. The lighting was a little better near each door, just enough that they could clearly see the alien script labeling the doorways. Tika finally decided to comment on the lighting. Countryman soon replied.

“As I said, our resources are limited. I know you scanned my tanks. What you saw is all the fuel we have. The lighting is part of our conservation measures. It might not seem like much, but dimming the lights helps a lot. More than most would think in fact, especially on a ship this large.”

So perhaps they weren’t so nocturnal as she thought. Although she wished they had thought to turn the lights up a little. It would have been a little more comfortable. As it would turn out the conference room while still dim was better lit than any other room she had seen.

---

The conference went well enough. At least from Tika’s perspective. She ended up meeting their chief engineer and head scientist. Lovely young ladies, that certainly knew a thing or two about their subjects. Surprisingly Countryman seemed to know as much as those two. The meeting had ended a while ago, and she had headed back to her ship. Her sensor officer had stayed with them, and she was sending a few engineers over to consult with the human engineers. During the meeting, she had learned that they called themselves human. Talking with them, and getting a look at some of their technology gave her a rough idea of where they were in terms of development. If the Cathamari had not attacked them, they likely would have developed into a power that might have rivaled the Imperium. As it was they were already on par or ahead of many of the local powers. The Enterprise itself was quite impressive, if slow by current standards. Something they could fix. What the Cathamari did to these people was frankly detestable. No wonder they offered the Cathamari no mercy, no quarter. Tika likely would have done the same if she had been in their place.

---

Richards showed the Krall girl, she had been escorting into the engine room. On the way here, she and Ruri had been conversing with the Krall officer on the finer points of warp theory. The Krall had agreed to help them enhance their engines. Something they were already doing, but with outside input they would likely be done in a fraction of the time. Now that they were on the clock she knew that was going to be important.

Stopping in the door, she told the Krall, “This is the main engine room, we have a second in the secondary hull that is directly responsible for the warp engines. The main drives and most of the other systems are controlled here. That module over there, is the main fusion reactor for the primary hull, and supplies power directly to three of our five primary sublight engines. There is a second reactor that supplies the power to the other two, and each engine has its own back up reactor. Anyway, we can get to work on the mag tractors from here, at least for anything that doesn’t require a physical alteration to them.”

The Krall girl nodded, looked around, and then her gaze focused on a console. Richards blinked when she realized that she had left it open earlier. Right on the screen was the data for Ruri’s latest compression modules. They hadn’t been tested yet, and Ruri wanted her input on the designs. The girl took a look at them, and said, “These look interesting, are they prototypes?”

Richards sighed, “A proposed revision for prototypes we tested not that long ago. Ruri here wanted my input before she went and built them.”

“May I?”

She glanced at Ruri who nodded, and Richard said, “go ahead.”

The girl tapped away at the console, looked them over, and then made a few alterations. “I think those minor changes will improve the performance. Still, the base design was actually rather impressive.”

Ruri beamed, “You liked my work?”

“Its some of the best I have seen outside the Imperium. Its very impressive coming from someone so young.”

Ruri giggled, “I’m not as young as I look. This year was my ninetieth birthday.”

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Richards blinked, she had no idea Ruri was that old. She certainly didn’t look or act that old. It seemed the Krall girl was surprised as well, “90? You have lived that long?”

She nodded, “We can live to be much older. The captain is a hundred ninety-one years old, making him the oldest living member of our race. Both of us have several centuries to look forward to, in fact.”

“I uh, see. I thought since you looked so much like a Valorian that you were no more than twenty cycles. From the sound of it your species lives much longer than they do.”

“Valorian?” they both inquired at once.

“The Valorians are a species that looks very much like your own, except their skin is typically a light shade of blue. Other colors are possible, but the beige tones of your race is not one of them. Anyway, they share a border with the Imperium. They are one of our more peaceful neighbors. If you ever find yourself in need of something, it might be a good idea to look them up. They maintain a number of ports, that welcome just about anyone, as long as you have something to trade.”

Richards said they would keep that in mind. That might prove useful. The Krall seemed like they might just be that much-needed ally they needed, but more friends would always be good. Not to mention, if these Valorians proved to be the friendly traders the Krall claimed they were, they might prove to be good friends as well. She then approached the console, and brought up the warp drive, and the mag tractors. The two systems they actually promised to help with.

The first thing the Krall woman commented on was the cooling array, “That is a rather unusual cooling system you have there. Never seen anything like it. Definitely not the norm, most would just use a radiator to deal with the heat output of a warp drive.”

Ruri nodded, “Yes, the Cathamari used them, and so did some of our earlier prototypes. Unfortunately, radiators are rather inefficient and fragile. That fragility can be compensated for to a degree, but frankly, many of us just didn’t like having to deal with it.”

“So naturally you created a pure heat recycler cooling set up. I do have to congratulate you on your ingenuity. Other races use heat recyclers, but always in conjunction with a radiator.”

Richards commented, “You seem to know quite a bit, given your position.”

The Krall girl giggled, “I guess, until you realize that being the sensor officer on a starship means a lot of analysis work. That includes looking at alien technology, and determining what it does. I’ve ended up learning quite a lot about disparate alien technologies. Its why I chose to be a sensor officer. I like looking at alien ships.”

Ruri smiled, “Anyway, we should get started on the engine it won’t be long before your fellows show up, and it would be nice to have everything ready when they get here.”

“Yes, we should. There are a few things to note as well. I can see a clear Cathamari influence in the design, but the engine is quite different from theirs as well.”

Ruri nodded, “Well naturally. We were already experimenting with warp drive before we ever encountered the Cathamari. Being able to study captured Cathamari components, merely accelerated the program. Not to mention we had to adapt their design to our own.”

That launched a discussion, that the other Krall ended up joining when they arrived. Richards managed to keep up, but only because she was well versed in the subjects. Within hours, they started discussing the problems they faced going at higher warp factors. The engine itself all agreed was able to go faster, especially thanks to the adaptive structural field generator compensating for the effects of coil stress. The problem was in the cooling system. The Rydium based array, was not something they had seen before, but the Krall had knowledge of a quite a few disparate cooling methods. With their help, they were able to redesign the cooling system, the rydium based components remained largely the same. The configuration was altered a bit so that they could function better with the new Krall-human design for the rest of the cooling system.

Stepping back from the Console, the Krall sensor officer smiled, “I think that will work. All we have to do now is test it. If it works, we will have created the galaxy’s first warp five stealth engine!”

Richards blinked, she knew their simulations showed the system handling heat up to warp five, but she wasn’t sure what she meant about stealth. Ruri beat her to asking the question though.

She sighed, “I should have guessed. Once Interstellar travel comes about, its not long before techniques to track those ships moving faster than light come about. With warp ships, the best way to track them is by energy signature. Hyperlight sensors capable of picking up, and relaying energy signatures at faster than light speeds are required. Radiators dump a lot of excess heat into space in the form of light, which these sensors can easily pick up. Your ship on the other hand while slow can’t be tracked at all in this manner, and if our upgrade works, you will be competitive with most of the local powers in terms of speed. Along with being immune to normal tracking methods. There are others that can detect a ship moving at warp though. So not completely invisible yet, but getting there.”

“Interesting, we mainly chose using a heat exchanger cooling setup because it is more efficient at least in terms of fuel consumed, and being a fully internal structure also made it more attractive to us. I am sure you noticed, but we don’t have energy screens to protect our hull.”

The Krall sensor officer nodded, “Yes, I did. That dispersion plating you have is quite remarkable.”

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