A Path in the Darkness

by M. D. Cooper

  Graviton – These are small, massless particles that are emitted from objects with large mass, or by special generators capable of creating them without large masses. There are also negatively charged gravitons that push instead of pull. These are used in shielding systems in the form of Gravitational Waves. The GSS Intrepid uses a new system of channeled gravitons to create the artificial gravity in the crew areas of the ship.

  Electrostatic shields/fields – Not to be confused with a faraday cage, electrostatic shield’s technical name is static electric stasis field. By running a conductive grid of electrons through the air and holding it in place with a stasis field the shield can be tuned to hold back oxygen but allow solid objects to pass through, or to block solid objects. Fields are used in objects such as ramscoops and energy conduits.

  EMF – Electro Magnetic Fields are given off by any device using electricity that is not heavily shielded. Using sensitive equipment it is possible to tell what type of equipment is being used, and where it is by its EMF signature. In warfare it is one of the primary ways to locate an enemy’s position.

  EMP – Electro Magnetic Pulses are waves of electromagnetic energy that can disable or destroy electronic equipment. Because so many people have electronic components in their bodies, or share their minds with AI, they are susceptible to extreme damage from an EMP. Ensuring that human/machine interfaces are hardened against EMPs is of paramount importance.

  FGT – The Future Generation Terraformers is a program started in 2352 with the purpose of terraforming worlds in advance of colony ships being sent to the worlds. Because terraforming of a world could take hundreds of years, the FGT ships arrive and begin the process.

  Once the world(s) being terraformed reached stage 3, a message was sent back to the Sol system with an ‘open’ date for the world(s) being terraformed. The GSS then handled the colony assignment.

  A decade after the Destiny Ascendant left the Sol system in 3728 the FGT program was discontinued by the SolGov, making it the last FGT ship to leave. Because the FGT ships are all self-sustaining none of them came home after the program was discontinued—most of the ship’s crews had spent generations in space and had no reason to return to Sol.

  After the discontinuation FGT ships continued on their primary mission of terraforming worlds, but only communicated with the GSS and only when they had worlds completed.

  FTL (Faster Than Light) – Refers to any mode of travel where a ship or object is able to travel faster than the speed of light (c). According to Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. As of the year 4123, no technology has been devised to move a physical object faster than the speed of light.

  GSS – The Generational Space Service is a quasi-federal organization that handles the assignment of colony worlds. In some cases it also handles the construction of the colony ships.

  After the discontinuation of federal support and funding for the FGT project in 3738, the GSS became self-funded, by charging for the right to gain access to a colony world. While SolGov no longer funded the GSS, the government supported the GSS’s position and passed laws ensuring that all colony assignments continued through the GSS.

  Helium-3 – This is a stable, non-radioactive isotope of Helium, produced by T3 Hydrogen decay, and is used in nuclear fusion reactors. The nucleus of the Helium-3 atom contains two protons, but only one neutron as opposed to the two neutrons in regular Helium. Helium-3 can also be created by nuclear reactions that create Lithium-4, which decays into Helium-3.

  HUD – Stands for Heads Up Display. It refers to any type of display where information about surroundings and other data is directly overlaid on a person’s vision.

  Link – Refers to an internal connection to computer networks. This connection is inside of a person and directly connects their brain to what is essentially the Internet in the fourth millennia. Methods of accessing the Link vary between retinal overlays to direct mental insertion of data.

  Maglev – A shorthand term for magnetic levitation. First used commercially in 1984, most modern public transportation uses maglev to move vehicles without the friction caused by axles, rails and wheels. The magnetic field is used to both support the vehicle and accelerate it. The acceleration and braking is provided by linear induction motors, which act on the magnetic field provided by the maglev ‘rail’. Maglev trains can achieve speeds of over one thousand kilometers per hour with very smooth and even acceleration.

  MarSec (MSF) – The Marsian Security Force is a quasi-military organization that has its own small space force as well as ground forces and police-type security. They also make up the federal police force for the Mars Protectorate.

  MBH – Miniature Black Holes are used to power artificial gravity systems. The black holes are spun to increase their mass, which creates gravitational waves (not to be confused with gravity waves). GE is the main manufacturer of MBH’s.

  On the Intrepid MBHs are used in areas where the gravitational field of the main particle accelerator does not create artificial gravity. MBHs have the advantage of being able to be ‘spun down’ so that their mass does not have to be taken into account when accelerating.

  MDC (molecular decoupler) – These devices are used to break molecules’ bonds to one another. This technology was first discovered in the early nineteenth century—by running electric current through water; William Nicholson was able to break water into its hydrogen and oxygen components. Over the following centuries this process was used to discover new elements such as potassium and sodium. When mankind began to terraform planets the technology behind electrostatic projectors was used to perform a type of electrolysis on the crust of a planet. The result was a device that could break apart solid objects. MDCs are massive, most over a hundred kilometers long, and require tremendous energy to operate.

  Mj – Refers to the mass of the planet Jupiter as of the year 2103. If something is said to have 9MJ that means it has nine times the mass of Jupiter.

  MOS Sec – The MOS Security organization handles internal and external security around the MOS.

  Nano (nanoprobes, nanobots, etc…) – Refers to very small technology or robots. Something that is nanoscopic in size is one thousand times smaller than something that is microscopic in size.

  Platoon – A military unit consisting of roughly 30 soldiers. In the TSF a standard Marine platoon has three squads, a staff sergeant (often a gunnery sergeant if it is a weapons platoon) and a second lieutenant as the platoon commander.

  Railgun – Railguns fire physical rounds, usually small pellets, at speeds up to 10 kilometers per second by pushing the round through the barrel via a magnetic field. The concept is similar to that of a maglev train, but to move a smaller object much faster. Railguns were first conceived of in 1918 and the first actual magnetic particle accelerator was built in 1950. Originally railguns were massive, sometimes kilometers in size. By the twenty-second century reliable versions as small as a conventional rifle had been created.

  Ramscoop – A type of starship fuel collection system and engine. They are sometimes also referred to as Bussard ramscoops or ramjets. Ramscoops were considered impractical due to the scarcity of interstellar hydrogen until electrostatic scoops were created that can capture atoms at a far more distant range and funnel them into a starship’s engine.

  Stasis – Early stasis systems were invented in the year 2541 as a method of ‘cryogenically’ freezing organic matter without using extreme cold (or lack of energy) to do so. The effect is similar in that all atomic motion is ceased, however not by a removal of energy by gradual cooling, but by removing the ability of the surrounding space to accept that energy and motion. There are varying degrees of effectiveness of stasis systems, the FGT and other groups having the ability to put entire planets in stasis, while other groups only have the technology to put small items, such as people, into stasis. Personal stasis is often still referred to as cryostasis, though there is no cryogenic process involved.

/>   SOC (Security Operations Center) – This is both the command organization for security on the Intrepid as well as the physical location on the ship where the offices of the SOC are located. The command organization has over two hundred humans and AI working in the organization to oversee the security of the ship. Physical security departments, both internal and dockside, do not operate directly out of the SOC, but have their own divisional locations within the ship.

  Solar mass – A solar mass is an object with the mass of the Sol Star (Earth’s sun) as of the year 2103.

  SolGov – An abbreviation for Solar Government, SolGov was originally analogous to the early Earth U.N. It was a guiding governing body for the Sol system and interfaced with all of the many local governments across multiple worlds.

  After the creation of the Sol Space Federation and the dissolution of the Solar Government, the term was still used to refer to the current government.

  Sol Space Federation (SSF) – Formed in 3301, the Sol Space Federation became a true federal government for the entire Sol system. Unlike SolGov, it has full legal authority over its constituent regional powers. The primary member states of the SSF are: the Terran Hegemony, the Mars Protectorate, the Jovian Combine, and the Scattered Worlds.

  Squad – In the TSF Marines a squad consists of three fireteams. It is headed up by a sergeant, making the squad consist of 13 soldiers. Each squad in a platoon has a number, and each fireteam has a number. Thus, one/one refers to the first fireteam in the first squad in the platoon.

  T3 (Tritium) – T3 (3H) is an isotope of hydrogen where the nucleus of the atom is made up of one proton and two neutrons as opposed to a single proton in regular hydrogen (protium). T3 is radioactive and has a half-life of 12.32 years. It decays into Helium-3 by this reaction.

  TSF – The Terran Space Force was originally the space force of the Terran Hegemony, but after the formation of the Sol Space Federation, the Terran Hegemony used its position of pre-eminence to make its military the federal military. Over the years, elements of different national and regional militaries merged into the TSF, bringing new elements and a mix of organizational structures to the military.

  The space force is a mix of naval and army disciplines. It consists of sailors, Marines, pilots, and the regular army.

  v – Represented as a lower case v in italics, this symbol stands for velocity. If a ship is increasing its speed it will be said that it is increasing v.

  Vector – Vectors used are spatial vectors. Vector refers to both direction and rate of travel (speed or magnitude). Vector can be changed (direction) and increased (speed or magnitude).

  PLACES

  Alpha Centauri – A 3-star system, Alpha Centauri contains two yellow stars (originally known as simply A and B, but named Prima and Yogi after colonization) and a red dwarf known as Proxima which is the closet star to Sol.

  Cruithne (3735 Cruithne) – This asteroid, named after an early people of Ireland, was discovered in 1986. It is a unique asteroid which is in a 1:1 orbital resonance with Earth. This means that, with rare exception, it is always on the same side of Sol as Earth and spends half its time accelerating toward Earth, and the other half of its time accelerating away from Earth.

  From an Earth-bound perspective that makes Cruithne appear as though it is orbiting Earth, and when it was first discovered it was thought to be the world’s second moon.

  Originally a 5 kilometer asteroid, Cruithne quickly became a significant trading hub because of its ability to function as a useful cargo slingshot platform to OuterSol. Cruithne is not a part of any planetary government, nor does it fall under the jurisdiction of the Terran Hegemony. It is, however, subject to the Sol Space Federation and has a TBI presence.

  High Terra – As the second planetary ring created (completed in 2519), High Terra is more elegant than the M1R, though Earth’s planetary ring has slightly less habitable space than its Marsian counterpart. The ring also houses the city of Raleigh, which is the capital of both Earth and the Terran hegemony.

  InnerSol – This is the common name for the both the region of the inner solar system as well as the political groups that comprise that region. The boundary for InnerSol is nominally the main asteroid belt, but this is somewhat nebulous because some worlds within the belt are considered part of InnerSol (such as Ceres) while other sections, such as the Trojan asteroids, are part of the Jovian Combine and thus in OuterSol.

  Jovian Combine – The JC encapsulates all worlds in OuterSol—most notably Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and all their satellites. After the construction of the Cho, Jovian space began an upward rise toward not only housing the majority of all the humans in the galaxy, but also becoming the center of commerce and culture. In the year 4123, InnerSol and the Terran dominated SolGov were facing a regional government that was effectively more powerful than the federal government.

  Jupiter – The largest planet in the Sol System, Jupiter has more mass than all the other planets combined.

  In 2644, a process of heating up Jupiter was initiated. Targeted impacts of KBOs (Kuiper belt objects) caused pressure waves in the planet’s hydrogen clouds. These waves triggered fusion in deuterium rich layers of Jupiter. This process has not made Jupiter a brown dwarf, or a star of any kind, it is just a much hotter planet, providing warmth and energy for the worlds nearby.

  This process has been refined over the years and now the warming effect is generated by accumulating and igniting pools of Helium3 within Jupiter.

  Kapteyn’s Star – This star is 12.8 light-years from Sol and has the second highest relative motion to Sol of all the stars in the human sphere. Kapteyn’s is estimated to be over ten billion years old and was formed in a dwarf galaxy outside the Milky Way. Unlike most stars it has a polar orbit around the galactic core and also orbits the galaxy retrograde. It spends most of its time above or below the disk of the galaxy.

  Because of its age, Kapteyn’s has fewer heavy elements and has a more bluish tint than most red dwarfs. It also has 32% of Sol’s mass and 7% of its luminosity.

  LHS 1565 / GJ 1061 – Named “Estrella de la Muerte” by the crew of the Intrepid as it passed through the system, this star is a small red dwarf 12 light-years from Sol. With a diameter not much larger than Jupiter’s, it has roughly 11% the mass of Sol and 1% its luminosity. No significant planetary objects exist in the system, which only possesses a few asteroid belts.

  Mars Inner Shipyards (MIS) – After the MCEE was constructed, which made it possible to dock at a station further out from Mars and have materials transported down the gravity well, the Mars Inner Shipyards were constructed. Because high-tech manufacturing was occurring on the M1R as well, it became a better location for shipbuilding than the MOS and through the latter half of the fourth millennia and beginning of the fifth it overtook the MOS as InnerSol’s premier shipyard.

  Mars 1 Ring (M1R or MIR) – The first planetary ring saw its construction begin in the year 2215 and, through a massive effort, it was completed in 2391. The ring is just over 1600 kilometers wide and wraps around Mars at the planet’s geosynchronous orbital point, making it 128,400 kilometers long.

  The ring is not flat like a natural ring (such as Saturn’s) but faces the planet. It does not orbit at a speed to match the surface of Mars, but rotates at a slower speed to provide exactly 1g of gravity on the inside surface. Walls over 100 kilometers high line the inside of the ring and hold in atmosphere. The total surface area of the ring is 205 million kilometers. This is half the surface area of Earth and 72% more area than Earth’s landmass. Considering that M1R has hundreds of levels, it contains more than 100 times the surface area of planet Earth.

  The completion of M1R definitively proved that mankind’s future home was in space and not on the surface of worlds. In the year 4123 the population of the M1R had reached over seven hundred billion people.

  Mars Protectorate – is the name for the political entity that encapsulates Mars, its moons, the Mars 1 Ring, and several asteroids in the main asteroid belt
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  MCEE – The Mars Central Elevator Exchange is a secondary orbital ring around the planet Mars, which connects all of the outer habitats and shipyards to the Mars 1 Ring (M1R). Because of the need to keep gravity under 1g, all habitats and shipyards connected to the M1R must orbit Mars at a slower speed than the main ring. As a result, they must connect to it via elevators that can move along the surface of the MCEE. Maglev elevators can then travel from locations such as the Mars Outer Shipyards to the M1R without requiring passengers or cargo to transfer to other transports.