|Dynarsky Ship Workshops, lower Muon orbit, Khasi system

Master Designer Gene Dynarsky inserted the data-square into the meeting table's port. He spared a glance at the foreign design advisory teams. Eastwing had the infrastructure in place for this particular art piece, so it made sense to build the ship here in his workshops. Of the many final contestants who had vied for the contract, Gene had proved most flexible. The competition for the contract had been interesting - Eastwing completely changed the specs at the last moment to find out which designer was most flexible. Some of the less robust designers (Gene thought of Kwan, here) had insisted that the switch made the competition unfair and impossible. Gene simply adapted, and found that he could spontaneously grow his aesthetic from the new, sudden requirements.

His design - with no real input from the alien parties, yet - flashed to life above the table. It wasn't a large ship; it was something that could be completed within a few years. Contained within were carefully separated living quarters, a full gallery, an observation lounge, probe bay, bluespace drive, multichromatic laser weaponry, and the most beautifully colorful bridge he'd yet conceived. It was capable of atmospheric entry, if somewhat unweildy when doing so. Gene was particularly proud of how mechanized the design was. He'd incorporated movement into most parts of the exterior - the multichromatic lasers were hidden behind gracefully curving arms that would move to protect vital areas of the ship when it was firing. The drone bay was covered unless in use. More arms could line up along the lasers' path, allowing for post-firing modulation of targeting and beam intensity through a holographic lensing effect. And the entire ship seemed to come alive when it bluespace transited, the various armatures whirling around madly. Such action served to distribute heat evenly along the hull.

"This is my rough draft," he said. "I expect you'll have some changes to recommend and requirements to add, but I think the aesthetics are there. It's a definite design direction. What do you think?"

It took a lot for Persea not to choke to death when she saw the design. It made her furious. What did she ever do to admiral Astra to land this job? Right, she was her best student. Never before had she cursed her intelligence until now.

"I... beg your... pardon?" she said, her stunned silence changed to barely contained outrage. "It... looks well for a liner, and I am amazed at the efficiency of the heat diffusion system, of that is no doubt. But I have to question the wisdom of such intricate design for our mission specifications!" she said, managing to contain her want to screama t the top of her lungs to mildly heated exclamation.

"I do not know about you, but I have been assigned to this mission, and I know for a fact that cut off from all logistical supplies, a design this complex will fail on the first instance fo something breaking. Take all of these moving bits - how difficult to repair and replace. The ship is not big enough to even haul enough spare parts. Having perfect parameters is meaningless if they would drop over time. I think we should consider simply modifying an existing, proven frame to suit the mission's needs." Persea summarized her philosophy and displayed her own design.

Two ships flashed to life, both heavily modified Faira mainline ships. One seemed to be an extended Raider with two additional engine pylons, the other apparently based upon one of their civilian designs. "Our frames may not work with such efficiency, but they are tested, have less effective systems but with many levels of redundancy and can be largely automated in case of... unforeseen shortage of crew." the Faira engineer said a bit uneasily.

Astra have warned her about Eastwing's designs. The Faira in general considered most of it a complete waste of resources. Astra has estimated that their Discovery science craft costed as much to build as a Cygnus class frigate, and that was a ship an order larger. She braced herself for any counterargument the green fellow might throw her way, wondering whether her patience would hold out for long enough.

Dynarsky stared at the blocky... things (he hesitated to call them ships) on the table. They looked modular. They had bits stuck on at odd places. There seemed to be no cohesive palette other than heat-reflective gray. Which, now that he thought about it, might make a few of his signature, elegantly-twisting radiators irrelevant. The entire thing looked not just born out of necessity and efficiency, but bound to it. It was closest in philosophy to Dent's Pre-Modern Neo-Anarchism*, when the famed designer had attempted to eschew all philosophies for something functional. That was right around Eastwing's first season of broadcasting, during the Kessian Fundamentalist Uprisings**. There was a reason that he'd won the competition, however. After blanching at the design, he forced himself to work with it.

His face went through several phases of outright disgust, concern, confusion, and suspicion. Then he regained his composure.

"Those are, um... very... functional?" he said. "I suppose we could use some of those concepts as a basis for the final design. But what message are we trying to send here? That this is a bare-bones military expedition, and that any alien life we encounter on the other side should steer clear? It seems like the design suggests a desperation and aggression on our part, as if we're shouting, 'stay back! I bite!'" Gene paused.

"Having been in some of your ships, I think we can make the interiors substantially more liveable, too. Doesn't anyone get sick of gray? And the lack of decent views? If this is going to be a long term mission, then we ought to make at least the interior pleasant. Which, to be frank, you can't do with such a modular, factory-printed design. It's not like we don't have the experience to make a functional bespoke ship."

"In short, if we did use your designs, it would have to be heavily modified. Something to give it an overall direction, with purpose in the components, not just aimlessly sticking on what's needed and then seven backups anywhere that works."

---

<sup>*Arthur Dent had a rather simple philosophy toward the art of engineering: go with what worked and was efficient. There's an old debate among Khasi historians that Dent never intended to have a philosophy, and had just blundered into fame by being born at the right time. There are several books going into great detail about the meaning of this or that detail aboard Dent's ships, all rather dry, efficient, and methodical. Many Khasi buy them just because the way the books were written acts as a silent critique of how Dent's ships were built, and most think that's really rather clever.

**The Kessian Fundamentalists were a group of Khasi that wanted to return to Kes' perceived original message: "follow your heart, and everything will work out in the end". They attempted to perform an opera creatively called "Yanhallow 2", taking advantage of the chaos of the inter-governmental period. Unfortunately, part of their philosophy was a banning of television cameras, so any recordings of the sequel to Kes' famed masterpiece are extraordinarily rare. Critics of the period universally panned it, however, calling it derivative, and that it lacked a certain realism. Which was ironic, in the end, since realism was exactly what the Kessian Fundamentalists hoped to achieve.</sup>

"Interesting point." Persea said with a small nod, frowning in thought. "Much like i did with yours I did not expect our design to be perfect. Modifications would have to be made even if it's for the sake of accommodating the different species. However the point still stands. It is a chassis that has been proven even in combat. Perhaps we could keep the ship's frame but redesign the armor layout to make it more... pleasing?" the Faira said as she struggled for the correct word.

"Have you put thought into the internal structure? I realize my people do not need as much as yours, so i'll leave that happily to you. There is plenty of space inside the frame, it was designed to take fire and that meant a lot of spall lining as well. Something the expedition ship doesn't necessarily need with the improved power generation and shielding. If there comes a need, additional plates can be manufactured and added on top, provided we keep that in mind and put attachment points onto the surface." she continued.

"Oh, good," Gene said. "I think I can work with that." Dynarsky was relieved; even though he didn't have to go on the expedition, he didn't want his name to be on one of those dreadful Faira prison-corridor ships. Even so, he felt sorry for whatever Khasi ended up on the monstrosity they were "designing". Even with flexibility, the basic shape of the ship would end up boxy.

"I have a few rough drafts of the interior," here Gene brought up several options detailing interior compartments, "but I think we may be getting ahead of ourselves slightly. What exactly is the expedition's purpose here? As far as my government is concerned, it's strictly an exploration and science mission."

"I believe it will have to be a little bit more than that. Yes, I do have a personal stake in this since I am assigned to the expedition, but that's not the point. I do not know how well you have been briefed about the means of getting where the ship is going, so let me quickly summarize." Persea said, switching her display to another file. The hologram that flashed to life was of a massive object. At the same time, a jamming device in her suit made the Eastwing drone cameras temporarily unable to broadcast.



"You are about to learn something that my government only chose to disclose two weeks ago. Shortly before the cataclysm, my people have found a derelict ship on our former home world. It has been the source of much of our technology, most importantly our subspace drives. According to admiral Astra who is one of the last surviving members of our kind who actually saw the derelict, this... portal... is strikingly similar in construction, from the materials used to its function. That is why she theorized it is capable of generating artificial jump node to virtually any point in space. However, we have no way of knowing if it also requires a portal on the other end, and thus if this subspace structure can be used to travel back home."

"For that purpose, this ship will have to not only be self sustaining, but also capable of defending itself. The people on board may well have to rely on it for the rest of their lives." she finished the explanation. The image of the portal vanished and the drone cameras started buzzing around, trying to quickly accomplish a set of directives queued for them that didn't make it through the jamming before it turned off. "I will give you a copy of the file as well as a more detailed report. Your government is free to distribute it as you see fit."

"Back to the question at hand, the ship will need to be armed and carry a strikecraft complement, along with factory units to support this equipment. In light of what you told me, it may be beneficial to incorporate popup turrets. They may be more prone to breaking, but definitely less threatening." A notion I would probably do well to forward to the Striker fleet. the Faira thought. "On top of the usual thing, space will need to be reserved for fuel collection systems and food production for the Khasi and Sinnsyk. Oh, and of course, laboratories and probably more comfortable quarters. This means that the extra space is going to take something off of the armor protection, however we have some ideas on how to bolster the ship's shielding."

"What worries me is the power plant. The vessel will be equipped with subspace motivator to transition the portal, but for local movement, bluespace drive is clearly superior. It's energy requirements are far too big for our fusion reactors though, and the RLC antimatter core would be impossible to refuel. I am hoping the Sinnsyk would be able to lend a hand there." Persea finished thinking out loud and sharing her worries.