Terminus Article 11

Some background information on my sci-fi YA series Terminus…

No teleporting and no physical shields.

The spaceships of all the known races use missiles, directed energy weapons, energy shields, and faster than light travel. The directed energy beams are only used in close quarters since hitting a moving target with a linear shot is implausible at greater distances. Missiles are the primary long range weapon. Energy shields are not a physical barrier but will “push” against fast moving objects. They block energy shots and missiles and will knock aside larger physical objects if the mass is not too large. Something smaller must move slowly to pass through an energy shield. All major powers also possess weapons of mass destruction called Divisional Bombs, or D-Bombs. They create miniature singularities that could become self-sustaining and permanent. Every use of a D-Bomb carries the danger of creating a black hole that could swallow an entire planet. They are a weapon of last resort.

While there are many ship classes in the GAN (Great Alliance Navy), the workhorse of the fleet is the Ruella class battleship. These all-purpose capital ships can match other ships of the line and carry a large complement of single-man Oleander (“Ollie”) class fighters and other small escort ships. The fighters must be crewed because remotely controlled drones can be jammed and the GA has strict rules limiting artificial intelligence due to past catastrophes. In fact, sentient AI is strictly illegal and the use of “Virtuals,” virtual reality simulations indistinguishable from reality, are limited and strictly policed for their dangerous computing power.

Their faster-than-light method is called hypospace. Using MGDF (Magnetic Gravitational Divisional Field) engines, ships generate intense gravimetric energies to rip a hole through the fabric of reality into the lower dimensions. Since each dimension is an order of magnitude physically smaller than the one above it, ships can “dive” down to travel distances in a fraction of the time it would take in first-space. At the time of Terminus, the GA is capable of eighth-space travel. In prehistoric times the first race of the cosmos, the Primary, were capable to travelling through twelfth-space. Using eighth-space it is possible to sail from Parid to the border of the GA in a single day.

The laws of physics work differently in hypospace. Missiles and energy beams do not function. Energy shields maintain minimal functionality, barely enough for navigational deflection. Not that there is anything in hypospace to run into aside from the endless energy storms. There are no stars or planets and the only inhabitants are small energy beings called jubilees who do not have a physical form. A rail gun firing an unguided bullet would work, but one would have to close to a dangerous distance for a firing solution. Royal Marines could fly over to an enemy ship for a boarding action, but the numbers required make it generally inadvisable. Combat is generally avoided in hypospace altogether. When an enemy fleet invades, the defending ships will simply trail after them in hypospace while alerting other ships ahead of them to lie in wait. When the enemy fleet finally emerges, they will find themselves surrounded bow and stern. Naval combat favors the defenders.