Ngoverse "The Administrator" setting, "The Armada"

[Cannonshop]

continued from   "The Silent Black Ocean"

New Readers can begin this Here.

[Daryk]

But, but... there's no story yet!   :-\

[kindalas]

But, but... there's no story yet!   :-\

That's good maybe Cannonshop will have time to read my unsolicited pitch.

[Daryk]

One can hope... that was REALLY funny!  8)

[Cannonshop]

[with thanks to Kindalas, check out what he's given us Here]

Duran

Greer Antoinette Habitat, February 3, 3167

Dr. Jarred Middelveen ran through the CEO's waiting area, ignoring the shocked assistant's shout and burst into Stacy McQuinston's office.

Stacy McQuinston's head snapped up and shouted "what is the meaning of this?"

Jarred skidded to a halt and stammered "Sorry for the interruption, Sir, but project Lifeboat is feasible." as he noticed that the office was set for a secure HPG transmission.

Stacy McQuinston gestured at a report on her desk "your team's report says Can not complete manufacture by deadline what has changed?"

Jarred struggled to maintain his composure "Sir, we can complete assembly during transit if we modify the final Beagle"

Stacy McQuinston eyes flashed with insight "How extensively?"

"If we switch to the preliminary structure and transit drive designs we can have the cargo capacity to finish the module between jumps to the Pentagon worlds."

"What are the failure chances?"

"High enough that it would have to be your decision to bring this to the Archon" he paused "but if we fail it will reduce the rescue fleet by one hull. A big one, but just one hull."

Stacy McQuinston spun her desktop monitor to face NAME "Archon, Admiral what do you think of this proposal."

Jarred never heard their answer he was suddenly preoccupied by a minor fainting and collapsing problem.

[Red Pins]

Tagged.

[Shadow_Wraith]

That is an awesome start!

[Daryk]

Awesome!  Glad you took Kindalas' input!  :thumbsup:

[Euphonium]

Build your rescue ship on the way to the people who need rescued? I like it!

[ThePW]

*Transformation starts in one minute*

"I hope it will be alright today?"

"It seems to be more ferocious than usual"

[Artifex]

 :o Shit's about to hit the fan majorly... :o

[Ttw1]

TAGed

[Daryk]

I suspect it will take every ounce of Kowloonese wit and resolve to face down a threat willing to blow up stars to kill planets...

[Euphonium]

I suspect it will take every ounce of Kowloonese wit and resolve to face down a threat willing to blow up stars to kill planets...

The biggest problem is range - you don't just have to stop them reaching your worlds, you have to stop them reaching supernova-shockwave range of your worlds, which means on a purely defensive level you need to englobe the entire human sphere what, 100ly out? Further? Even with the inverse-square law how much distance do you need?

Which means the only way to win is to find a way of stopping the enemy from trying.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Side note: I can't imagine Sybil and Tabby not getting involved in this in some capacity.  Too big not to.

[Daryk]

Unless they're the ones doing the super-nova thing...  ^-^

[Sir Chaos]

The biggest problem is range - you don't just have to stop them reaching your worlds, you have to stop them reaching supernova-shockwave range of your worlds, which means on a purely defensive level you need to englobe the entire human sphere what, 100ly out? Further? Even with the inverse-square law how much distance do you need?

Which means the only way to win is to find a way of stopping the enemy from trying.

From what I´ve read, "sterilization range" of a supernova is something like 25 light-years. Or at least that was the state of the science in 2008, when "Death from the Skies" was published.

[Euphonium]

Side note: I can't imagine Sybil and Tabby not getting involved in this in some capacity.  Too big not to.

Unless they're the ones doing the super-nova thing...  ^-^

I don't see Sybil being capable of genocide. Tabby I'm not so certain about when it comes to the Clans but even then I'd think it unlikely

[Daryk]

If Sybil is still sane, I'd agree...  ^-^

[glitterboy2098]

From what I´ve read, "sterilization range" of a supernova is something like 25 light-years. Or at least that was the state of the science in 2008, when "Death from the Skies" was published.

stuff i've seen recently says 50ly. with bad but survivable* things happening if you are closer than 100ly.

*survivable for biospheres, not perhaps civilization)


still 1-2 jumps out at minimum.

[Daryk]

Good research there... that might be why they went with the supernova instead of "grey goo" for every world in the cluster...

[Sir Chaos]

"Five Light Years from Strana Mechty." Star Captain Joseph Khatib stated.  "The shockwave will reach the Pentagon worlds in a decade."

It´s at least 200 light-years from Strana Mechty to the Pentagon worlds. The shockwave cannot propagate faster than light, so this would have happened in the mid-2900s - and wiped out half the Kerensky Cluster by the time of Revival.

And the Kerensky Cluster is BIG. Even with a 50 light-year lethal radius, it´d take a dozen supernovas to wipe out all the cluster.

[worktroll]

I'm still wondering re the starkiller mechanism. Manufacturing a billion engines & facilities on a billion asteroids is non-trivial work.

For example, the Lyrans (in the Ngoverse) have thousands of jump-capable ships made in a decade or so. Let's assume unlimited geometrical growth - Loonie "human von Neumanns" turning belts into shipyards into more hulls, all across the IS & periphery, going up an order of magnitude every 5 years or so.

So that's 10,000 ships in 5 years. 100,000 ships in 10 years. 1,000,000 ships in 15. 10,000,000 in 20. 100,000,000 in 25. 1,000,000,000 in 30.

Okay, you just spent 30 years turning thousands of systems into slag.


To kill one star.

Thing about von Neumanns, they take time. Yes, all the reward is in the last cycle. How many years ago did "the Enemy" start this?

Then there's something I (with some astronomical background) have problem with.

Mass of Sol: 2x10ex30 kg
Mass of an asteroid - let's riff the Expanse, and use 433 Eros - 7x10ex15 kg

Mass of a billion Eroses - 7x10ex24 kg. Or 0.000001 solar mass Or 0.0001% solar mass.

Cannonshop, there are more efficient ways to invoke stellar explosions!  :thumbsup: Simplest way is disrupting core fusion. Without that supporting the mass of the star, you get collapse, and for a large enough star, you will get bang.  You do that by inserting a damper (very fond of the Nova Bomb from Glen Cook's Starfisher trilogy), although the Singer from Alastair Reynold's Redemption Ark is nice hypertech.

Now maybe the billion asteroids also carry damper seeds, and shields maybe capable of penetrating solar fusion, and they used a billion so that at least some work ... but it still seems like a lot of work.

[Korzon77]

It may not be related to anyone in the inner sphere, and depending on how much time they've had... Well, the Great Filter may finally be explained.

[Giovanni Blasini]

A billion asteroids all containing strangelet factories at their core?

[Liam's Ghost]

Side note: I can't imagine Sybil and Tabby not getting involved in this in some capacity.  Too big not to.

Assuming Sybil and Tabby still met Chobi in this setting and keep in contact, she could probably convince Man'yoshu and their allies to throw a badly abused war surplus Monsoon to the effort as well.

(needs work and a crew, it's been in storage for a decade or so...)

[DOC_Agren]

Tagging

[idea weenie]

I'll bet Sybil and Tabby (if present) are helping with the design work

But this should be an interesting method, launch the rescue platforms now, and assemble the quarters en--route.

Depending on the time frame, have the Pentagon worlds start assembling stuff too, so they are readier to be evacuated.  Don't worry about environmental effects, as there won't be an environment soon

[glitterboy2098]

I'll bet Sybil and Tabby (if present) are helping with the design work

But this should be an interesting method, launch the rescue platforms now, and assemble the quarters en--route.

Depending on the time frame, have the Pentagon worlds start assembling stuff too, so they are readier to be evacuated.  Don't worry about environmental effects, as there won't be an environment soon

presumably they're using a pre-fab quarters set up. i'm thinking a glorified capsule hotel arrangement.. each person gets an alcove with a bed, a small entertainment screen, and a little storage. bathing and toilet facilities are shared across the compartment. build lots of compartments and make all the capsules and facilities sections standard and modular so you just have to hook them down into the deck in each compartment. you'd have to run life support, electrical, and plumbing around to each compartment, but the main hookups can be centralized (power and life support shared across capsules via their hookups, plumbing mainly has to go to the facilities)


https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2025_capsule_hotels.html

a big advantage of this set up would be that you can use the exact same capsules, and a modified facilities module, to build the refugee facilities in the IS that they'll be routed to. and once the armada is done with its rescue work you can yank the capsules and facilities modules from those ships along with the last load of refugees.

[Daryk]

I think those would qualify as "Bay" quarters.  The trip is long enough you want to pay for Steerage.