The Falcon drive is an experimental unit developed by Galactic Horizon to act as their FTL travel replacement. The technology had been in development since the company was founded in a joint project with Section 6 with plans to compact the device into a handheld form by the end of YE 40.

The Falcon drive uses a basic level wormhole generator in conjunction with a special targeting system to ensure smooth operation. Designed to be mounted to the front of a starship the Falcon consists of the gate spires and the main energy sink which is located within the ship usually near its power source. Using the three gate spires to find weak points, they amplify magnetic pulses and force open a directed wormhole within the weak point.

Special consideration needs to be given when deciding to outfit a ship with this technology, as it has a limited range compared to other devices and cannot be used at any random point. In space, however, the points are quite common away from planets. It should also be noted that starships using this technology should be suitably outfitted to withstand the manipulation within a wormhole such as sufficient gravitational countermeasures or shielding.

The Falcon drive is the result of a short-term project between S6 and Horizon and as a result was slightly rushed resulting in a lack of ability compared to other devices of the same type used by the Poku (Hidden Sun Clan) and in the gates used by Nepleslia and Yamatai. With two significantly smaller groups working with less advanced technology the project yielded good results, however, they were not the same caliber as the larger factions devices.

Each gate spire is a flat grey colour and about 25m in length, however, they are telescopic and can retract back into their mounts making a length of 5m. The drive engine is a large energy sink that takes the form of a large spherical object with several protrusions for linking the sink to the spires.

When deployed the wormhole looks like most other wild wormholes, however, it will always have a yellowish hue which differentiates it from the wild ones. The wormhole gate formed can have 1 of several size options:

• For smaller shuttles and craft, roughly 250m in diameter.
• For medium craft and small to medium warships, roughly 500m in diameter.
• For mega craft, warships, and some mobile stations, roughly 1500m in diameter, however, this mega gate requires several drives to operate.

Basic statistics and information for the Falcon drive including nomenclature information.

• Stats & Info
  • Nomenclature: GH-S1-P4001
  • Designer: Galactic Horizon/Section 6
  • Manufacturer: Galactic Horizon
  • Type: FTL Drive
  • Classification: Wormhole (Wild)
  • Lifespan: 5 years
  • Range: 15LY
  • Speed: 0.2ly/m
  • Charge time per LY: 5 minutes
  • Price: 10 000KS

A drawback of the Falcon's design being created by significantly smaller groups is a lack of efficient science in its design and function. While the Hidden Sun Clan uses advanced methods utilizing exotic matter forms and can effectively create a wormhole gate wherever it likes, the Falcon relies on the natural instabilities found in space and manipulates them. With this need for naturally occurring weak points, the Falcon is limited to use away from planets where magnetic and gravitational interference usually prevents these points from occurring.

The components of the Falcon drive must be maintained and repaired every year to ensure their function is not compromised by damage or wear to the spires or the energy sink. Technicians are required to check the connections on the energy sink before each use to ensure structural integrity is upheld and to avoid any errors in the sequence. Technician crews must also be able to maintain the energy sink during charge and use of the Falcon drive to ensure it does not become unstable and detonate or release a large amount of electromagnetic energy.

club24 created this article on 2018/06/25 18:07; approved it (using the checklist) on 2018/08/11 10:38.