Research into Alien 'Trade Lanes'
The Research log of Jack Denton, Former Captain of the deep space exploration and research vessel Prometheus
Several weeks ago, our scanners detected energy signatures in the Nomad occupied system Omicron Iota, these energy signatures were very similar to the ones given off by Sirian trade lanes.
After attempting to run the blockade of Nomad ships around the Iota Jump hole I ordered a retreat and we moored back on Freeport 11 for repairs. After several attempts to recruit pilots to help me I gave up and filed the mystery of the Alien lanes away to solve another day.
A couple of weeks later I began researching the Privas planetary cluster, the research log is included in this log. --- ATTACHMENT---
As you can no doubt see, there is still much work to do before the device is ready for its intended purpose. However, quite by accident, I discovered another use for the gravitational manipulators; if the gravity well size is decreased to only a couple of centimetres wide then the gravitational pull within that tiny space becomes orders of magnitudes greater. If it becomes great enough, it will create a gravitational anomaly commonly known as a Jump Hole. By creating spherical gravity wells and then changing the shape just slightly the destination of the Jump Hole can be controlled. Using a Nuclear Device as a power source I created a modified gravitational manipulator designed purely for creating Jump Holes and began creating a program that could calculate the changes needed to Jump to a specific destination.
With the modified Gravitational manipulator complete I ordered a course set for Omicron Iota again. We ran the blockade successfully, barely, and set a course for deep space for repairs, after several hours of drifting repairs were completed and the Prometheus headed towards the closest Alien Lane.
The lanes were designed in a simple fashion, one ring each made up of three individual curved pieces of organic material. They were fully functional unlike the ones found by my associate Zeppet in the system beyond the Kansas gate. When we approached, the lane automatically came to life and our ship activated its automated docking systems, attempts to regain control of the ship were futile so I ordered the crew to calm down and take readings of the lane.
As you can see, the activation sequence for the Alien Lane is very different to our own trade lanes, the trade lane appears to use quite a bit more energy than our own trade lanes, I hypothesized that this is due to the organic nature of the Nomad ships. It is possible that the extra energy goes into shielding the Nomad's hull from the radiation caused by going close to the speed of light (called Cherenkov radiation).
With the scans complete I ordered the Prometheus pulled out of the Lane and a course set for deep space. With our ship already damaged and the Nomads alerted to our presence I knew it would be impossible to make it back through the Jump Hole, this was where the modified Gravitational Manipulator came in, I ordered the Gravitational Manipulator launched and activated the program. Ten seconds later there was a silent explosion, everything close to the Gravitational Manipulator was pushed away for a split second before been pulled into the gravity well. Thankfully our ship was well outside the radius of the blast, the effects of the Gravitational Manipulator were visible even from our extreme distance however, everything within an eight kilometre radius of the device was ripped to shreds in an instant before being pulled in to the newly formed Jump Hole. The Gravitational Manipulator itself imploded within seconds when the gravitational fluctuations had ceased I ordered us taken through the Jump Hole.
The jump took much longer than usual, at least ten minutes maybe more, I had begun to think that we were trapped when the jump finally finished and we found ourselves in normal space again. Scans revealed our location to be several thousand Kilometres from my programed coordinates, a Jump Hole in the Omicron Delta system. Regardless I was happy to have made it out alive and so was the rest of my crew, I ordered a course set for Freeport 11 so we could make repairs and go over the data we had collected. After hours of travel at impulse speed (the cruise engines failed half way through the journey) we arrived at Freeport 11 I advised them that we had wounded personnel on board and that the Prometheus was in dire need of repairs. They quickly replied that they had cleared a mooring station and had a medical team ready, we moored safely and the wounded were taken for treatment (I later learned that one had a fractured arm and rib, the other had a bad concussion, both were discharged within 24 hours and both tell me they are fine).
The Zoner repair team tell me the Prometheus is beyond their help, they say we were lucky to have power at all let alone cruise engines for an hour after coming through the Jump Hole. Most of the electronics are fried or overloaded and 20% of the interior is exposed to space. It saddens me to see it go, the Prometheus has been my home for almost a year now and it was a fine ship, and in its final moments it truly lived up to its name-sake. I will look over the scan data tomorrow but for now I need some rest.
This research was done completely independently and was not commissioned by any faction in Sirius.
My crew and I take no responsibility for misuse of this information.
Jack Denton, Former Captain of the Prometheus.
After looking over the data collected on the Alien Lanes I have indeed confirmed that the extra power does go into shielding and containing the Cherenkov radiation. However over time I realized that the Nomads would easily be able to survive the radiation, even for hours of constant exposure at a time.Â
Why then did the Daam K'Vosh bother to implement this useless failsafe? I asked myself this several times but no answer came to mind, I decided to retrace my steps. It was due to a comment by the Junker Catherine Herstal that I had my epiphany. She noted that the Alien Lanes had lasted centuries without deteriorating, Sirian trade lane technology requires constant maintenance, the only major difference that I had found in the the Alien Lane from our own design was the radiation shielding. What if then, the shielding was not to protect the Nomads but instead to protect the Lane itself?
Cherenkov radiation is capable of eating away at certain materials over time, it would take approximately a years worth of exposure to destroy a super-conductor cable but the cable does not need to be destroyed to become useless. The organic nature of the device is likely another reason that it has lasted so long, Sirian Trade Lanes are occasionally hit by asteroids, ships or other miscellaneous objects causing damage to the lane. The organic nature of the Alien Lanes likely allows them to "heal" their "wounds", if circumstances permit I will test this healing hypothesis in the near future.
