A (Anti)Matter of Opinion (ask)

[Tesh Aquer]

[member="Salmakk"]
[member="Gir Quee"]

Tesh tapped his foot patiently as he waited for the new engineer to arrive. His life had been a lot more stressful since he took over the Mon Calamari Shipyards and it was showing. The latest transfer of the shipyards had severely reduced their capabilities and Tesh had to build them from the ground up. Along the way, he had to completely rethink the design philosophy of the Mon Calamari Shipyards. While the curved hulls, command bubbles, and redundant shielding remained, other aspects had to be completely changed. Gone were the days when the shipyards could crank out the MC80s left and right. Now, they were lucky if they could even make 5 in a year.

The space station where he was was reminiscent of the old Mon Calamari space stations, albeit much smaller. Like all aspects of the shipyards, its size had been reduced. It was a reminder of just how much the company was struggling before Tesh took the helm, but even now it wasn't close to back on track.


However, Tesh had contracts coming in with multiple major organizations, and he had to prepare his products. The newest one he had thought of was an improved antimatter reactor. While it is hard to improve the efficiency of something that is already supposed to be 100% efficient, he could try. He had hired a Mon Calamari engineer by the name of Salmakk to help him develop the reactor. He could design ships, but reactors were far beyond him. He was an Admiral and a CEO, not an engineer.

Being an Admiral was very helpful to his designs. He knew what admirals wanted and he could deliver the products. He was aware of the shift from large Imperial Star Destroyer-type ships down to smaller, but more numerous, cruisers and light star destroyers. Thus, he he was ready to crank out new, smaller designs that could worm their way into every fleet in the galaxy.

Before he started with the new ships, he first had to redesign many aspects of the ships. He needed better reactors, better programming, better weapons, and much, much more. The reactor was the core of all of it though. If he could increase power output in his ships he could upgrade the rest afterwards. Of course, upgrading was the hard part. That would depend on the engineer.

 

[Salmakk]

Salmakk idly watched the stars fly past the viewport of ship until the ship reverted realspace. His fishlike eyes immediately began to scan the area around. It has been a while since I was here...and then it was far different than now. But that is how the years change a place. Salmakk turned his attention to the ship's pilot, a human female of slight build but of far greater heart. She seemed dazzled by the sight.

"First time here?" asked the engineer.

She nodded and spared a brief green-eyed glance at him, "Bigger than I thought it'd be."

"Yet smaller than what I remember," said the mon calamari with a chortle, "but memory is a funny thing."

"I've got my coordinates now...where are we headed, Salmakk?"

The engineer nodded, "To the shipyard, to work on a reactor."

"Sounds like a job for a certain Duros I know."

Salmakk mock-scowled, "Oh, he'd get it to work, right before he'd blow it up."

Several more minutes of idle banter passed before the shuttle slipped into the bay of the yard. His pilot started to go over the ship to make sure it would be properly refueled and receive the proper maintenance. Salmakk himself followed the instructions on his datapad to meet one [member="Tesh Aquer"], though he was not certain that he would be able to solve the reactor problem.

 

[Tesh Aquer]

Tesh grumbled a little and glanced at the holocron. The engineer was a few minutes late. Then again, with all of the traffic around the new stations and shipyards, that was to be expected. Still, he hoped the engineer wouldn't be too late. He had a lot of work to do. He munched idly on a Crab-stuffed Cream Puff, a Mon Calamari favorite, while he waited. If the engineer didn't arrive fast enough, all of them would be gone. Tesh was a little fatter than most Mon Calamari due to his insatiable appetite for the cream puffs. He knew a lot about cream puffs, in fact they were one of his favorite subjects. Unlike antimatter, of course.

Tesh knew almost nothing about antimatter. He knew it was the opposite of matter, but that was something that could be discerned from the name. All of the Mon Calamari ships he had served on had used hypermatter reactors, less efficient but much less complicated. He had seen first-hand that one mistake in an anti-matter reactor could destroy an entire ship instantly. He was hoping that the engineer would be able to design something much safer than what he had previously.

He sent out a memo to his staff briefly, telling them to direct the engineer [member="Salmakk"] to the R&D section of the station, where Tesh was currently seated. The Mon Calamari had lost a lot of their touch for research and development, it seemed. Hopefully this one had not. He had heard great things about the engineer, so his hopes were high. If he could improve the antimatter reactor, then that would be the first step into releasing an incredible new line of ships.

 

[Salmakk]

While his time with Lucerne Labs had been relatively small, it had been productive. The crowd-sourced network of engineers that sprouted from the core of the company had brought him into touch with a variety of technologies and ideas. Some of them, such as a biologically-based computer, did not interest him from a practical standpoint, though it certainly was a mentally engaging concept.

But power was something practical, that nearly all of his devices ran from. If he had understood Tesh's original message, the technology that the Mon Calamari shipyards was working on might provide a breakthrough that could help them all. The mon calamari finally entered the office where [member="Tesh Aquer"] resided, eating his crab-stuffed cream puffs. Gir's adopted brother stopped halfway in the doorway.

"Tesh Aquer, I presume? Or did I take another wrong turn?"

 

[Tesh Aquer]

(Normally my dialogue is in blue but I can't do it on moble )
"Grwf?" Tesh asked through a cream puff. Quickly, he swallowed it and brushed some crumbs off of his uniform. "Pardon my rudeness," he said as he stood up to shake the engineer's hand. "No, you're in the right place. I'm Tesh, and I presume you are [member="Salmakk"]? I have a great project for you, but first, have a creampuff."

He motioned to the creampuff, the crab still wiggling inside. Crab-stuffed creampuffs were an ancient Mon Calamari delicacy, although most species found them revolting. It was little more than a regular cream puff, except the crab was still alive. The squirming of the crab as it tried to escape from your mouth was one of the best feelings, one that every Mon Calamari craved.

Tesh sat back down and sent out a memo to bring refreshments to the meeting room. As he did so, he pulled out some numbers on Mon CalamarI ships and slid it across the table for the engineer to see

 

[Salmakk]

Salmakk glanced at the cream puff as he released his hand from Tesh's. When was the last time I had one of them? Living among a group of non-Mon Calamari, Salmakk rarely had time to indulge in such delicacies, even if he could find them. The engineer gingerly reached out and grabbed the last one, delicately inspecting it before he began to eat it, savoring its unique delights. He finished and turned his eyes back to [member="Tesh Aquer"].

"I understand this project is something about a reactor, am I right?"

 

[Tesh Aquer]

"Yes, you are correct," Tesh said, a flash of annoyance crossing his face as the last cream puff was taken. But then again, it wouldn't have been the last had he slowed down and savored them more, rather than chowing through them like a Gamorrean. "I'm looking to reduce the size of antimatter reactors and improve their efficiency. I know not a whole lot can be done to improve something that is 100% efficient, but we, or rather you, can try. If all else fails, simply reducing the reactor size would suffice," he explained.

The new antimatter reactor would be imperative in revamping the line of Mon Calamari ships. Every iota of space counted aboard a starship, and something like a reactor didn't need to take up as much space as it does. Plus, if the engineer could get the reactor small enough, he could compartmentalize parts of the ship, making them much tougher to destroy and allowing materials and budget to go a lot farther in a firefight.

"I don't have much in the way of technical expertise, but I can provide you with the materials for constructing a reactor and testing it. Would you like me to take you there, or would you like me to discuss your payment first?" he asked, turning one bulbous eye towards [member="Salmakk"] and waiting for a reponse

 

[Salmakk]

Salmakk hesitated if for a brief second. Money had never been a key motivator for him. The creative muses, galacticl politics, and his desire to understand the universe had always propelled him deeper into the science than any fiscal rewards. Yet the amount that Tesh was offering could give him a clue just as to how far the project was along or what his resources would be. He almost felt dirty thinking about even contemplating to analyze the project from such a vantage point though. He wasn't a spy, nor competition. But the idea of miniaturizing such a vital component of technology appealed to him. He eyed [member="Tesh Aquer"] carefully.

"I am sure that we can discuss financial compensation at a later point," offered Salmakk, "I'm more interested in the project itself right now. Would you please take me to where I would be working? I'm curious to see the facilities and resources available for the project."

 

[Tesh Aquer]

Not wanting to discuss the price? Tesh smiled a little at the thought. Maybe he didn't have to pay the engineer so much after all. The shipyards needed every credit these days, so that could turn out for the better.

"Yes, follow me. Although the shipyards aren't as impressive as they once were, I have dumped quite a bit of money into our R&D facility. I need plenty of projects to be completed before we start rolling out ships, so I figured it would be a wise investment. Plus, it's the government's money," he joked. He gestured to a corridor and took the lead, strolling down with the engineer in tow. Presently, they came to a heavily secured door with multiple locks. First, Tesh turned one eye to the retinal scanner. The lasers mapped his eye briefly before moving to the next step, the full facial scan. Finally, a 15 digit pass-code and a key swipe were required to get into the Research and Development facility.

"As you can see, I take a lot of precautions to protect our research. This room should have everything you need. I have a decent amount of antimatter stored for your use, although you must take the utmost precautions when using it. I'm sure you know that already. I also have multiple metals, radioactive materials, capacitors, transformers, and converters stored in the room for you to use. I will be supervising from a secured location, and I can communicate with you through the com system if you need anything," Tesh explained as he let the engineer move past him. He planned on sticking around for a little bit, just to see what the engineer was doing. After all, it would be his reactor, and potentially a staple of Mon Calamari Shipyards products for years. It was of the utmost importance that the engineer was able to complete the project.
[member="Salmakk"]

 

[Salmakk]

Salmakk nodded in appreciation, "The facility seems entirely suitable. I must admit, I would like some helpers, droid or organic, to assist with the work, especially with building the prototype. They would help ensure that the product can be completed in a more timely, and thus more profitable, fashion."

He found his mind already wandering into how such a device would work. The principle of using anti-matter as a reactor was not new by itself, with small Antimatter furnaces being used to power submarines that had once travelled the seas of Dac itself. It was a technology that the Mon Calamari knew well, though the ideas conjured up by Mon Calamari Shipyards might be what was needed to bring the technology to the next level. His mind began to ponder ways in how to contain and move the anti-matter about.

[member="Tesh Aquer"]

 

[Tesh Aquer]

"More workers? I can get you a few engineers if you like. They're not nearly as smart, so speak slowly and use small words," Tesh joked. Unfortunately, the words had truth in them. The engineers at the Mon Calamari Shipyards were not exactly the galaxy's best and brightest. Most of the talent had left during the Silk Co. takeover, and Tesh was struggling to get them back together, pulling them from around the galaxy.

He sent out the order to bring five of the engineers to the engineering facility. They wouldn't mind the interruption in the lunch break. Although most of them were not brilliant, they did have a certain eagerness to learn and work that few could match, and for that Tesh was grateful. He sipped some seaweed tea as the engineers rumbled and tumbled into the facility, smiles on their fishy faces and eyes bulging with eagerness. They gathered around [member="Salmakk"] and leaned in, waiting to hear any ideas that the Mon Calamari had to offer.

 

[Salmakk]

Salmakk bobbed his fish-like appreciatively as the engineers appeared. He had found that there were several types of engineers in his experience, and the successful ones tended to run on a continuum between wildly creative and impractical, to conventional number-crunchers with a lack of creativity. He would need a mix of both to complete this project. From what [member="Tesh Aquer"] had shown him, it looked like the project had been started by the former type, but he only had engineers of the latter type. And that suited him just fine. The mon calamari engineer strolled over to a holo-projector and rapidly punched in a few commands, bringing to life the schematics of the device so far.

"My fellow engineers, I am Salmakk, and this is the anti-matter reactor that you've doubtlessly heard about," said Salmakk, "and that I'll be taking over for shortly. One of the problems with conventional anti-matter reactors that limits their power is containment. Can any of you tell me why?"

Salmakk eyed each of them carefully, waiting for them to answer, and consequently sort themselves on his little scale.

One of them bobbed his shoulders in a shrug-like motion, "Many of these reactors use a magnetic containment field to keep the anti-matter from touching anything else. This containment field requires power."

"Exactly," said Salmakk, "what's your name?"

"Loci."

"Well done Loci," said Salmakk, "as Loci alluded too, anything that antimatter touches typically explodes, and thus provides power. It seems like the last head of this project couldn't find a magnetic containment field that by itself would make the reactor any better than its peers on the market. But the wonderful thing about this design is the potential for it be scaled down to small size because of its simplicity. I think we can make the design even more simple and efficient if we think about this a little more. What if we were not to only rely on a magnetic containment field, but also a type of material that does not easily react to anything, almost like a noble gas."

"Solely," said one of them, "you mean use two systems."

"Yes," started Salmakk, "I imagine that we could use a weaker magnetic containment field, almost like the ones found in a magcon field, to reinforce or suspend neutrons or something similar to contain it that are very slow to react to anything, even anti-matter. And that is where you all come in. I want you all to track down ideas about how to get that stable physical containment in a cost-effective way. Think of the magnetic containment field as the shields to a ship, and we're now looking for the perfect armor for that shield's oscillating frequency. Understood?"

The other mon calamari engineers scattered as they moved to their research stations. Salmakk walked over to the mon calamari commander.

"You wouldn't happen to have some sort of neutron wall-like material handy, would you? Or know someone who might?"