The Supremum Factor: Book 1: Birth of the Empire

Chapter 19 The Anomaly

Nearly seven weeks passed since the last time the enemy ship was engaged. In that time much of the phase three ship was assembled. The shell was completely closed in, with portions of decks linking the aft and forward sections completed. The ore refineries and parts factories were also nearing full assembly, along with most of the propulsion system. The bridge, which was housed halfway between all the decks at the very forward portion of the ship, also nearing it's completion. The protective hull armor, consisting of triple layers on the forward section, was still far from complete.
As Orion was doing his inspection rounds, he received a call from Francis, on his wrist communicator, routed through the currently operating bridge communicators systems.
"Orion, we have bad news for you," began Francis.
"Bad news? Don't tell me they denied my request for additional replacement personnel for the lunar base," said Orion.
"Not at all," started Francis, looking back with dismay on his face. "The enemy ship is on the move again."
"We aren't ready yet to combat them with the phase three ship," stated Orion.
"You need to get ready soon," said Francis transmitting a data file to him. "They will be here in less than a day."
"We barely have any of the shield generators in place and operational. Not to mention we only have one main canon operational," said Orion.
"You're out of time. We have the additional personnel for you to man the lunar base, as you have many now on the ship. They will arrive in a few hours. I suggest you get those you need on the ship and escape orbit with the ship, till you can complete the minimum requirements to engage in battle. Also, man all the lunar base defenses, with some of yours and most of those we sent you," said Francis.
"We can send out all our ships and intercept them. That way we can complete the ship," said Orion.
"You won't be able to," began Francis a worried look now covering his face. "We detected a second ship. It's not as big, but from what we saw, it looks like a war ship of some kind."
"I see. Then it looks like we have no option. We will have to withdraw from the area with the ship and proceed to get it battle ready," said Orion.
"I would suggest you get it away within the hour to avoid detection," said Francis.
"I will attempt to get that done. If we are successful, we will try and get the ship fully operational as soon as possible. But we are running low on materials," said Orion.
"Do whatever it takes, but protect the ship till it is battle ready," said Francis.
"In the meantime, I have a special gift arranged for you," began Orion giving him a big smile. "My assembly plant in Kincardine has been producing assault crafts since after the first successful missions of our prototype squadrons in battle. I just checked up on the production a week ago, We have over a thousand currently ready."
"A thousand?" Francis said surprised.
"Yes and these are equipped with state of the art shield generators, unlike the original ones we built here," said Orion.
"Weren't you worried that they could possibly fall into the wrong hands?" asked Francis.
"Not at all. Every employee that works in that plant in that town, has signed a non disclosure agreement, that would, if broken, make them enemies of the nation and have all their family members rounded up and imprisoned," said Orion.
"You always seem to amaze me with your planning, Orion," remarked Francis nodding his head in approval. "Always 1 step ahead of our needs."
"You should know me by now Francis. In any event, I have sent Sam Lounder to the factory to oversee the quick operational training for all the assault craft pilots you can round up," said Orion.
"So you mean to say they are all ready to launch now?" asked Francis.
"Affirmative," replied Orion. "There are enough second generation assault crafts to repel the mother ship. The second, perhaps not. But while we ready this ship for battle, I am leaving Sam in charge of all the squadrons."
"I assume he is your best pilot?" asked Francis.
"As best as I can part with for the moment. Coordination can also be done from the lunar base with the new personnel," said Orion.
"Who will you leave there to coordinate them?" asked Francis.
"Bro will remain there to oversee operations," replied Orion.
"Very well. I will have all the pilots we need shipped to Kincardine within the hour and notify them that their new posting is at the lunar base," said Francis.
"Then, I will get this ship out of harms way and try to finish it up," said Orion ending communication.
Orion proceeded down to the main engineering section, that was still under much construction. The decks surrounding it from the aft side were mostly completed, but most everything on the forward side had yet to built. Multiple power generators could be seen around the section, most still offline, but only one active, providing all the ships current power needs.
"Sir, what brings you by," asked Jason, diligently working on trying to complete work on the main reactor.
"How long till the reactor is ready for operation?" asked Orion, looking up and around the impressive power plant.
"Likely a few more days till we can begin testing the systems," replied Jason.
"Well we are out of time right now. This ship has to break orbit and flee the system till we finish installing the main battle systems," said Orion.
"Sir, might I ask why the changes? I thought your ship was powerful enough to deter the enemy mother ship with the fighters," queried Jason.
"It is, but not enough with two of them," replied Orion.
"Two? How did they make a second one?" asked Jason.
"This second ship is smaller and more of a warship, according to what Hubble had to say. We aren't sure of it's capabilities. But we do know that it is much more powerful than the original. Thus I require all power reactors online that are ready," said Orion.
"Most of the auxiliary generators are ready for operation, safe for two," said Jason.
"Then proceed to power them up," ordered Orion. "We will be breaking our stationary orbit and heading in the opposite direction of the enemy, trying to keep the planet in between to avoid detection."
"You don't want them following us then," said Jason.
"We need to complete fitting the entire ship for battle, before we can think of engaging them," said Orion.
"Very well sir, I will get all generators online as fast as I can," said Jason, dropping all that he was doing and proceeding to the nearest generator.
Orion himself proceeded to the main control systems near the main reactor. There he began activating what the ship had for propulsion systems and readying them for full activation, with the additional power.
Over the internal com system, Orion spoke to the crew. "Attention all hands. Attention. This is Zeenner here. Due to new circumstances, the ship is in danger before it can be fully battle ready. By the request of the counsel, which I fully agree with, we are taking the ship on it's maiden voyage, away from the battle till we can complete installing all weapons and shielding. As I speak I am powering up all systems, but until all auxiliary generators are powered up, we will not be leaving. I ask all to ready for departure and to lock down all exterior hatches. Zeenner out."
Over the next short while everyone in the ship made preparations ready. Orion also radioed Bro at the lunar Base, notifying him of the entire plans. Following that, he communicated with the factory in Kincardine, to notify them of the plans also. From there he then spoke to his sister notifying her and to notify their parents. By the time he was finished, nearly all the generators were finally online, when Zoi arrived to aid him.
"Sir, anything I can do here?" she asked.
"I have most everything under control. But, I can use someone to guide the movements. These systems are still new and only partially functional," said Orion.
"Very well sir, manning the auxiliary scanning station," said Zoi.
"Great," said Orion as he began to engage the limited propulsion system. "Powering up our only active drive field and engaging starboard thrusters."
"The ship is coming about and sufficiently turned now," said Zoi.
"Engaging all available main thrusters, compensating with port thrusters to maintain direction due to inoperative main thrusters not complete yet," said Orion.
"Direction stabilized. We are maintaining mostly a straight course sir," said Zoi.
"Current speed?" asked Orion.
"Speed now reaching mach seventeen, sir," replied Zoi.
"Escape velocity met, now disengaging all thrusters," said Orion.
"Drive fields holding and maintaining current velocity," added Zoi.
"Thruster fuel now at forty five percent. We will require collecting spacial gases in order to replenish our stocks," said Orion.
"Sir, how did we use so much so fast?" asked Zoi.
"We don't have full power to the drive system, so I had to use maximum thrust to get the ship moving," replied Orion.
"Sir, could we not have waited till we could have had full power?" asked Zoi.
"Negative, we had to leave now," said Orion. "We could not wait any further, otherwise we would risk being seen."
"So now what sir?" asked Zoi.
"We complete the battle systems then we return," replied Orion beginning to leave his station. "But your task now, is to monitor local space and let me know of any problems."
"Will do sir," said Zoi, then asked, "Do you think I could get a chair? It's going to get very tiresome just standing here."
"I'll see what I can do, along with getting you a replacement," said Orion, as he walked away.
Orion proceeded to the bridge, where he began helping to complete the installations of the monitoring systems, along with navigational controls. In a few hours, they had basic controls set, with the monitoring station well into its final completion stages.
Just then Zoi called up to the bridge. "Sir, we have a problem."
"What kind of problem?" asked Orion.
"We have a ship incoming," replied Zoi.
"Distance?" asked Orion.
"Still on the edge of the scanners but triple our current speed," replied Zoi.
"Damn that isn't good," thought Orion to himself, opening the com and paging Jason.
"Sir, what can I do for you?" asked Jason.
"What's the status of all the Generators?" asked Orion.
"I'm just trying to get the second last auxiliary generator operational now sir," replied Jason.
"Therefore all the rest are fully operational now?" asked Orion.
"Affirmative," replied Jason.
"How long till you can get this one operational?" asked Orion.
"I could power it up to fifty percent shortly, for a brief time sir," replied Jason.
"Good, we are going to need all the power we can get," said Orion. "But first, I need someone to get to the main control systems and shut down all ships systems, environmental controls and lighting. I need every ounce of power we can muster up."
"Sir why do you need that much?" asked Jason.
"We need to outrun an enemy ship that has now started to pursue us. Zoi has just informed me that they are traveling three times faster than us. Without the drive systems being fully operational, we have to expend more power just to meet our speed goals. Not to mention, we don't have sufficient thruster fuel to expend on this," explained Orion.
"I see Sir. Give me a few minute and I'll see what I can do for you," said Jason.
Jason got together some of his nearby staff putting them to work shutting down the required system and to help get the last two generators operational. Within four minutes power was diverted. After another minute the second last generator was powered up to half capacity.
"Jason, is that all the power I am going to get for now?" asked Orion over the com system.
"It's all I can do for the next hour sir," replied Jason.
"Zoi, what's the status of the enemy ship?" asked Orion.
"Ship is coming closer. I estimate forty minutes before interception," replied Zoi over the com.
"Stand by all of you. I am increasing power to the drive systems. System is taking all the remaining power and volumetric mass is almost neutralized. Engaging required thrusters, and...." Orion said as the ship suddenly lurched forward in a vast speed increase. After a few moments of thruster increase, he shut them off. "Zoi status report?"
"We have not matched their speed yet, but it's given us a lot of extra time," replied Zoi.
"Jason, how long till you get the next generator operational to full capacity?" asked Orion.
"I can have it ready in about two hours sir," replied Jason.
"I'm afraid that won't be enough time. The ship has increased speed and will over take us in the next hour," said Zoi.
"What's our current trajectory?" asked Orion.
"We need to change course sir , other wise we will come too close to the sun," said Zoi.
"Very well. I will change course using only the main operational thrusters," said Orion, as he gave them a thirteen second burn time.
"Sir. Speed is now registered at... ummm.... lets just say sub light, till I make calculations," said Zoi, frantically making her calculations based on the movement of the Sun and planets on the scanner.
"But have we matched the enemy ship's speed yet?" asked Orion.
"They are changing course in order to intercept us," replied Zoi still working on her equations. "I just need a few moments to make calculations." After calculating as fast as she could, moments later said, "We are coming up short again sir, they will over take us in about ninety three minutes. However, based on our speed, we have almost....."
Just then the entire ship experienced a weird phenomenon, everyone onboard getting tossed around slightly.
"Report, what did we just hit," asked Orion.
"Sir nothing that I know of.... ummm....." she replied attempting to get readings
"What is it?" asked Orion.
"Sir I am not sure what to say, the readings have all gone blank," replied Zoi.
"Blank," Orion pondered to himself. "How can they be blank?"
"I am not sure. I am running diagnostic tests to see what has happened," Zoi replied. In a few moments the diagnostics came up clear and then an object came up on the scan. "Sir scanner is registering fully functional, and I just located a new object on the scan.... OMG, Sir, engage full stop now."
In moments Orion engaged all reverse thrusters and soon the ship slowed to just a crawl. Opening up the view port, those on the bridge peered outside the front of the ship. They had just avoided impacting a new planet.
"What the hell," spoke Orion looking out. "Zoi, which planet or moon is this?"
"Sir I have no clue. Relative distance and size tells me this is not a planet in our system. Further more, the sun appears to be a white dwarf," replied Zoi.
"So you are saying we are not in our own system then?" queried Orion.
"That would be correct sir," replied Zoi. "There isn't another stellar body around to be seen on our scans. Nor is the enemy ship."
Pondering the situation, Orion engaged the thrusters a bit, allowing the ship to reverse its trajectory slowly, Following this, he powered down the main drive system down sufficiently to maintain their present reverse trajectory
"Zoi, maintain a full scan at all times of our surroundings. Log our reverse trajectory, then let me know how long it would take at the speed to return to our original positioning when we got jolted," said Orion.
"I'm already on it, sir," replied Zoi.
"Jason, restore all power throughout the ship and complete work on the last generator. When you are done, put all efforts into getting the main reactor online before anything else," said Orion, closing the com and looking around the bridge at the crew surrounding him. "Get the navigational and scanning station completed as soon as possible. I want both these systems ready just in case."
Orion left the bridge and shortly was on the central walk leading from the forward section to the aft section of the ship in the very centre, where lots of work had yet to be done. He looked downward at the ore refinery plant, then at the manufacturing plant which was still under assembly. He gauged there was still another couple of days left before it's completion at best.
Just then Zoi beeped him on his wrist communicator. "Sir, I may have something. Can you join me at the auxiliary station?"
"On my way," replied Orion, hurriedly moving to the aft section of the ship.
Upon arrival, Zoi looked at him and said, "Take a look at this sir. It's a scanning record during the time of that jolt"
As Orion looked at it he saw all the stellar bodies outward from the forward areas on the scan disappear and eventually something enveloping around them till the stellar bodies far beyond to the aft section of the ship disappeared as well.
"What is this?" asked Orion.
"It's actually a time delay of the scan at the moment of the turbulence. I slowed down the recording from frame to frame," replied Zoi.
"Everything just disappears in the blink of an eye then," stated Orion.
"Yes, but the more interesting part is this," she said advancing the scan.
"What on earth is that?" asked Orion.
"My guess the entry point to where we are, sir," replied Zoi, advancing the scan slowly. " It faded fast, but it still remained partially visible on the scan till we got to this distance. Nothing else could be scanned on it."
"So by all accounts whatever it is, can be seen within a half light minute," mused Orion.
"Would appear so," said Zoi.
"Theories on this?" asked Orion.
"Some sort of spacial rift or tear," replied Zoi.
"My thoughts exactly," said Orion. "I doubt that the enemy will be able to locate it from what their distance was."
"To them, we would have disappeared in a flash," added Zoi.
"Quite right. Therefore under the current circumstances, we should take advantage of this safety and complete all battle systems of the ship," stated Orion. "But first we will need to find this rift, or whatever it may be."
"Sir, your transport is fully equipped for this. Shall we go out and investigate in it?" asked Zoi.
"Yes we should find out where it is, before it becomes too faint to detect," replied Orion.
Setting the system to record all, Zoi followed Orion to his ship, in the starboard hanger bay. They quickly launched, soon heading in the direction of the anomaly.
"What would you estimate was our original speed coming through?" asked Orion setting a navigational preset course.
"We were just short of light speed, sir, and...." replied Zoi but Orion interrupted before she could finish.
"It's all I needed to Know. Be ready to scan. I am engaging a pre-set course," said Orion activating the ships FTL drive.
After a few moments they dropped back to normal speed and Zoi begun scanning. For nearly ten minutes there was nothing. Then...
"Sir I am getting something now. Very faint but really close by," she began, looking intently at the scan. "It looks like the same anomaly, but it is almost undetectable."
Orion went over to her station, looked at the scan and said, "it is very faint, either that or we need to improve the scanning power of this ship."
"The new ship does have superior capabilities compared to this one sir." added Zoi.
"Yes, indeed it does. In any event, I will bring us over next to the anomaly for further investigation," said Orion returning to his seat.
As he moved the ship closer, the anomaly could be felt very strongly, as waves of it's energy flowed around it.
"Sir the feeling of the anomaly is quite curious," remarked Zoi.
"It is a strange phenomenon isn't it," added Orion.
"Scanning more thoroughly now. It seems to be fluctuating somehow. It's energy drops and then rises. It's like it is almost a generated rift, with some sort of energy being fed to it at various intervals," explained Zoi.
As Orion got the ship as close as possible, the anomaly could now be seen on the view screen from metres away. The waves of energy emanating from it continually passed over the hull of the ship, making it bright.
"Are you up for a little space walk Zoi?" asked Orion getting up from his chair.
"You plan to go outside to investigate it?" said Zoi in amazement.
"Yes. How else can we truly experience it," replied Orion.
Zoi followed Orion down to the ship's main cargo hold, where they both donned a spacesuit, then proceeded to open the ramp like door to exit. As it opened, they could feel the waves of energy hitting them directly. Orion then grabbed a tether rope, attaching them both to it. They floated outside the ship to the event horizon, where they could actually see the phenomenon with their naked eyes through the clear visor glass.
"Look at that, the closer you get the more visible it becomes," remarked Orion.
"It doesn't look very big. How did the ship pass through it in the first place?" wondered Zoi.
"Likely it stretched open as we struck it, which was the jolt we felt. The drive energy fields likely also helped with that," pondered Orion to Zoi.
"Look here at the very centre. At each regular interval it glows somehow," observed Zoi.
"This is absolutely fascinating," remarked Orion. "I have never seen anything quite like this."
"Sir, my hand sensor is picking up some kind of matter particle reading," stated Zoi.
Orion picked up his hand scanner to also check as well. "Yes I see it here as well."
"What do you think it is from?" asked Zoi.
"No idea at all. This is the first time we have ever encountered anything like it. But it does appear to be bombarded with something. I can't see by what tho," replied Orion.
"Perhaps it is some kind of core reaction within the phenomenon," added Zoi.
"It's possible. We know nothing of such things," said Orion.
"Well the data we are collecting now will be invaluable," said Zoi, double checking that her visual recording device was also still operating.
Orion, using the suits basic thrusters, moved himself right up to the event horizon. Once next to it, he attempted to put his hand through. As he did a surge of energy struck him, pushing him backwards.
"Sir, are you alright?" asked Zoi.
"Yes I am. I think I discovered what the turbulence was when we passed through with the ship," replied Orion. "Some kind of charge is on the surface repelling objects."
"Perhaps it is best we just take more reading and avoid direct contact with it," suggested Zoi.
"Yes that would be some good advice. But I think we have done all we can from out here. Lets return to the ship," said Orion.
Pulling on their tether rope, they returned to the safety of the transport. After arriving and before they sealed the entry, Orion gently pushed a small object out of the ship.
"What was that?" asked Zoi curiously.
"It's a small beacon. We will be able to keep track of this location with it. It is set to emit a low pulse every few minutes. It should not be able to penetrate through the phenomenon tho," explained Orion.
Zoi looked at him with approval. After the entry was sealed, with atmosphere restored, they both removed their suits and returned to the command deck. They remained in the area for another short while doing more intense scans, before returning to the main ship.
Upon arrival Jason was waiting for them outside the shuttle bay. "Sir, I have been looking for you. When I heard the docking procedure, I came right up here."
"What news have you got for me?" asked Orion.
"Well sir, we ran out of parts for the main reactor. We had to cannibalize one of our auxiliary generators just to complete it. The main reactor is now fully online," said Jason.
"What? Already? I thought you were still days away from finishing it," said Orion in amazement.
"Sir, it's been nearly four days since we last spoke," replied Jason.
"Four days?" both Zoi and Orion exclaimed.
"Are the two of you alright?" asked Jason.
Both Zoi and Orion looked at each other then Orion said, "We've only been gone a few hours. How can it be almost four days."
"It has sir. Did you both fall asleep and not know it?" mused Jason.
"No, but we may just have the answer to this," began Orion.
"It must be the phenomenon," added Zoi.
"Phenomenon?" queried Jason.
"Yes, we discovered we came through some kind of spacial rift to this region of space. We just returned from examining it," said Orion.
"Proximity to the rift must slow down time sir," added Zoi.
"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," confirmed Orion turning to look at Jason. "So the main reactor is now online?"
"Yes sir," replied Jason. "We have also nearly completed work on the drive systems as well."
"That is good news indeed," said Orion nodding his head in approval, then asked, " what about the rest of the ship?"
"Uncertain sir, you would have to ask those departments," replied Jason.
"Very well. Is there anything else?" asked Orion.
"No sir was just letting you know our progress," replied Jason.
Turning to Zoi, Orion said, "we should go inspect the bridge and see what progress they have made. Your new station might be complete by now."
"I can only hope so, sir," replied Zoi.
Upon arrival, much had been done on the bridge. Zoi's monitoring station had been completed,  along with the helm as well as the main diagnostics station also nearing completion. The tactical station had still much yet to do along with the ships weapons stations.
"Sir," greeted Jenny Polson.
"Jenny," Orion greeted back. "What is the status of everything here?"
"At the current pace, we should be almost done in two days sir," replied Jenny.
"Is my observation correct, that the helm station is now fully complete and operational?"
"Aye sir," confirmed Jenny. "So is the monitoring station. We concentrated on getting both done first, as per our immediate requirements."
"What would I do without you guys?" said Orion,
"Likely never sleep," joked Zoi.
"Wouldn't be the first time," added Orion. "Now, lets see how these new systems perform."
"Ahead of you on that sir," stated Zoi, as she sat at her new station.
Within moments, Zoi had her station fully active making monitoring of local space her priority. Orion himself begun to test the new helm systems until he was satisfied with their operation.
"Sir, I'm doing detailed scans of the whole system. I'm also picking up the probe. It's signal is very long," said Zoi.
Looking at the readings Orion said, "the signal has been incredulously slowed down. The wave is also flat lined."
"So do you think the further away we get from the anomaly, that time flows even faster?" asked Zoi.
Studying the scans intently, for a short time, Orion finally said, "the anomaly is generating some kind of waves that the further away we get, the faster time passes. I'm afraid to think of how long time has passed on the other side of the event."
"Sir, I've been told that in order to complete installing the shield generators, we're going to need more raw materials," said Jenny.
Turning the scanning beams to the planet Orion looked for mineral deposits till he found some. "Right here. We will dispatch a number of people to mine the ore from this dense deposit on the surface."
"But sir, the planet is inhospitable. We also don't have any mining equipment," said Jenny.
"Everyone will have to work with space suits on. We will also have to improvise for tools to mine with. I leave that in your hands Jenny," said Orion.
"My hands? But I don't know anything about mining," said Jenny.
"I have faith that you will figure it out," said Orion.
"What if I don't?" asked Jenny.
"Then I will be very disappointed in you," said Orion.
"Seriously?" said Jenny.
"If I didn't think you could do it, I wouldn't ask you to," said Orion.
"Very well, I'll see what I can come up with," said Jenny, leaving the bridge.
"Sir, that sounds like an impossible task to me," said Zoi.
"Impossible no. Difficult, just a little," said Orion.
"You really think she can do it?" asked Zoi.
"As I said, if she doesn't I will be disappointed and have to do it myself," said Orion.
"That sounds like you already know what needs to be done," said Zoi.
"In fact I do know," said Orion.
"Then why not do it yourself?" asked Zoi.
"I have other things I need to worry about," replied Orion.
It was a few hours later when Jenny returned to the bridge and said, "sir, I did manage to figure out something, but we will require your transport."
"Yes, I expected you would," said Orion.
"No sir, not just for transport, but to use it to blast the ore loose," said Jenny.
"Yes I know. But you will need more than just that," said Orion.
"You knew we would have to use it in this fashion?" questioned Jenny.
"I did, for preliminary work. But you will need far more than that," said Orion.
"More? What more do we need?" asked Jenny.
"You can punch holes in the rock with the ship, but it won't break the rock up. You will need an explosive device to do that," said Orion.
"Sir, we don't have any explosives on the ship powerful enough to do that. Nor do we have materials to make anything like such," said Jenny.
"Go down to my transport, into the cargo hold, to the storage lockers. In locker twelve you will find several huge boxes. Bring one back here," said Orion.
Leaving once again, Jenny returned with a box saying, "is this what you wanted, sir?"
"Yes," replied Orion taking the box and setting down in a chair.
"Sir, the box is coded locked," said Jenny.
"You tried opening it I assume?" asked Orion.
"Uh, yes I tried," said Jenny.
"Each box is coded to my finger print and DNA with an additional code. No one but myself can open them," said Orion, proceeding to do so. Once open he took out a baseball sized sphere.
"What's that?" asked Zoi, looking at it with curiosity.
"It's a thermo fusion explosive," replied Orion.
"We have such a thing?" said Jenny surprised.
"Who researched that?" asked Zoi.
"This was developed some years ago back at Zee Corp headquarters. It's essentially a micro fusion reactor, with mostly the sole purpose of creating an overload leading to explosion," replied Orion.
"Why would you have such a dangerous item on your transport?" asked Zoi.
"They aren't dangerous at all until you activate them. To do so, you take the sphere, place it in this socket specially designed with two electrodes sticking up. It fits only one way so you can't make a mistake," said Orion doing so. "You can see lights now lighting up all around it. Once fully lit up, more than this," taking it out, "the sphere will be charged and initiate it's fusion. Once it begins you have about one minute till it explodes."
They looked at the sphere now powering down.
"So this one didn't activate?" asked Jenny.
"No. I took it out before it got a full charge to begin the fusion reaction," replied Orion.
"There's no way to deactivate?" asked Zoi.
"It can be, but you would have to place the power receptacles on something to draw the power out of it. It's second function is to act as a temporary energy cell. So long as you use up the entire build up of power, it can't reach critical mass, eventually draining it's fusion fuel then it becomes inert and useless," explained Orion.
"Why do you have them on your transport?" asked Zoi.
"In case we ever need them. Had we had them when we boarded the enemy ship, we could have used them to cause serious damage within it in key locations. Also, they are meant as a temporary emergency source of power. One of these has enough power to initiate the started up of the main reactor on my transport," said Orion.
"So what you are saying, is, they are essentially useless spheres until you give them the charge they need?" said Jenny.
"Very much so. You can throw them around like a ball, hit them with a blaster, or any other kind of abuse. They won't do anything. Safest destructive item we possess," said Orion.
"How many of these exist?" asked Jenny.
"I believe we have a few thousand boxes full sitting at Zee Corp headquarters. They're being kept for a rainy day," said Orion.
"What kind of energy cells do these boxes have? How long will their charge last" asked Jenny.
"That's the second beauty of this. Each box has a latmium energy cell, which is kept charged by a motion generator. Every time the box moves, it generates a charge, charging the cell. It also has a field charger, so they can be charged regularly in their storage compartment. They can remain charged indefinitely," replied Orion.
"This is quite the technology. It could really help when we are in dire situations requiring emergency power," said Jenny.
"That's part of my thinking for future design. I'm thinking we will keep a good number of them in the weapon's locker," said Orion.
"I can agree with that thinking," said Zoi.
"Now Jenny, you have all that you need. Gather those you need and proceed on your task. I'd like to get more of this ship together before we return," said Orion.