Pages 308-309 (line-work) (Patreon)

Here it is, the grand reveal of the new ship!

Many an hour of research and conceptual work has gone into this design. Interestingly, the design of the ship in the background was originally going to be the new hero-ship. But the hero-ship needed to be something unique, something memorable, so I set about coming up with something that had never been done before.

I ended up inventing a completely new engine type. It is based on an engine concept called an aerospike engine, except it flips the principle on its head (literally). An aerospike Is effectively an engine bell that has been cut in half, the thrust of the engine is directed towards the remaining side of the bell. Aerospikes can come in unique shapes, like linear aerospikes and toroidal aerospikes (both are visible in the background), but what I have come up with for this new ship is a variable geometry Aerowedge, let me explain:

The actual engines outputting thrust are a row of rocket throats in the main body of the ship, but they are fired into an aerowedge which splits the exhaust and directs it in opposite ways. This is where the variable geometry comes in. The aerowedge is built into a large cylinder which can rotate slightly in either direction thanks to powerful motors at either tip. The aerowedge can twitch left and right to channel the exhaust solely in one direction or the other, when it’s in neutral position, the thrust goes out of both sides, halting movement. This enables instant and highly responsive reaction control. These Aerowedges are located all over the new ship, effectively turning the entire thing into one huge RCS (reaction control system).

These engines are powered by an oversized FLUX drive. The FLUX drive has a small wormhole throat sustained in its centre by some very advanced housing technology, this housing unit simulates FLUX conditions locally and allows some FLUX particles to bleed through, it directs these bled particles into chambers which obey the relativistic physics of the surrounding REAL (our universe). As discussed before, due to unknown reasons, if ever a FLUX particle ends up in the REAL and falls under the governance of its physical laws, it begins to divide exponentially, boiling off in a process of annihilation. This annihilative energy is harnessed by the variable geometry aerowedge to output constant thrust.

In combat situations the ship blazes bright with wings of flame like an angel of death, gerking here and there in a moments notice to avoid incoming attacks. The radiator panels which cover it head to toe glowing hot with waste heat. I haven’t even mentioned its armaments, but we’ll see plenty of those later this volume.

Because of this ability to move erratically, the interior of the ship is well padded to protect the crew. Robotic Straps can shoot out from between the cushions to grab loose crew members and secure them to the nearest wall if need be. There are also dedicated smart-gel flight chairs built specifically for protecting the crew in full-combat flight mode. These cushions are usually white, but some are coloured bright colours to indicate that they conceal appliances or instruments, all rooms are free from dangerous protruding obstructions this way. So as you can see, the entire design language of the ship is based around these unique thrusters.

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I also just wanted to say really appreciate everyone’s patience in waiting for this post, thanks for giving me the time to nail down the design, I’m really happy with how it turned and and I look forward to demonstrating the ships capabilities in the coming pages. I’d like to thank you for your support too, you enable me to dedicate the time it takes to create pages like this in the first place, you’re the best!