Dimension

-Part 2-

Five Years Ago

The galaxy was dying. 

Both of them, Carson thought, correcting himself. Paragon was way farther down the well, but Carok was right behind it. 

Breaching the third temporal barrier had proven to be infuriatingly difficult. The Ash Equation didn't seem to give reliable solutions. Scientists had long abandoned the concept of jumping to other galaxies in the same universe- accounting for all of the variables made the Ash Equation a disorganized mess that often didn't return anything. 

It turned out that each galaxy had a cousin in every universe. Paragon and Carok were "cousins"- everything about them was identical except for their size and the physical composition of the galaxy itself. The Ash Equation at that point was simple- solving for the power required was significantly easier.

And the equation worked. It broke the wall into Carok- now, when it was needed the most, the formula derived by Alexandra Ash so many years ago was failing.  

Carson glanced at his tuxedo as a shuttle blasted cones of flame into the heat-resistant hangar deck, extending a trio of landing gear. 

Even their shuttles were more impressive, Carson thought. No pilot would ever dare to perform such an aggressive landing in a Union shuttle. The chance that it would rattle apart was too great- either that or it would simply slam into the floor and explode.

He smiled grimly to himself as a man stepped onto the hangar deck. 

---

Kuznetsov still didn't fully understand superimposed space. Apparently, it had been discovered when an early Union attempt at a Nygev-Ash matrix imploded and swallowed a 17 trillion credit station as well as obliterating the world it was orbiting. 

The Grand Admiral wasn't quite sure he believed that either. 

But the Republic scientific community had hit a brick wall. The Ash Equation simply wasn't working. Puddlejumpers were not disposable- if there was even a slight chance the calculations were wrong, then the mission was called off. 

Superimposed space couldn't magically fix the Ash Equation. What it would allow for is the mass-production of cheap, compact Nygev-Ash matrices. Scientists could test their calculations as much as they wanted- someday, someone would get it right. 

They had to.