Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
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Intent: A limited-use, narrow-channel emergency/exploratory S-thread booster
Development Thread: None
Manufacturer: Clan Rekali, Inc
Model: Ret'lini ('just in case') S-thread booster
Affiliation: Select customers
Modularity: No
Production: Mass-produced
Material: Durasteel
Description: The Ret'lini is an expensive semi-disposable one-shot S-thread booster, designed for emergency situations or high-value exploratory purposes.
Of all the factors which make S-thread boosters so incredibly expensive, two of the most substantial are endurance and tunnel radius. To keep a hyperroute open and active, an S-thread booster must be prepared to last a long time. Also, very large ships need to pass through, or even convoys. As a variation of S-thread booster technology, the Ret'lini operates only in the short term and only for individual small ships.
To use a Ret'lini:
- Recognize that you have to get somewhere very close-by (<100 light-years) without benefit of a stable hyperroute, as in conditions of hyperspace turbulence and navigational hazard (nearby supernova, Unknown Regions blockages, Kathol Rift turbulence, gravity well shadows, Deep Core distortions, etc.).
- Pick a vector and upload it to the Ret'lini. (Caution: While a Ret'lini will punch a short-term hyperroute through many kinds of hyperspace turbulence, you're still dead if you run into the direct mass shadow of a planet or star; the planet or star, naturally, will be unaffected.)
- Jettison the Ret'lini from cargo bay or release it from docking clamps.
- Move to some point in front of it (aligning your navicomputer to the Ret'lini's major axis and data stream VERY CAREFULLY).
- Activate it.
- Jump to hyperspace for any distance less than 100 light-years, leaving the Ret'lini behind at point A.
- Ride out the turbulence between point A and point B, comparable to the damage/injuries sometimes sustained when using a hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer.
- The S-thread tunnel (clear hyperroute) disappears shortly after you arrive at point B.
- Anyone who managed to make the same precise jump after you is dumped out of hyperspace in the middle of nowhere, at some point between A and B.
- The Ret'lini either sits there at point A to be recovered later, or scuttles itself so the enemy can't take or use it; this choice must be predetermined before you jump.
- If you're not where you need to be, better hope you packed another Ret'lini.
(+) Can allow a single short-range hyperjump through impassable hyperspace turbulence.
(+) Can be scuttled so you can't be followed.
(-) Going back to get it isn't really practical in most circumstances.
(-) It's very expensive, on the order of half a million credits -- pricier than a TIE Defender -- and that's a complete loss in most circumstances.
(-) It's fairly bulky, about the size of a small starfighter.
(-) There's no absolute guarantee that your end destination will be any better than your current location.
(-) There's turbulence for ships under about fifty metres in length, and extreme turbulence (damage or injuries may result) for ships up to two hundred metres in length. Any ship larger than that is in a lot of trouble if it jumps along that vector, unless it's very narrow.
(-) Apart from basic maneuvering jets and starfighter-grade shields, the Ret'lini pod has no defensive or movement capabilities whatsoever. And if it's destroyed before you reach your objective, you'd better hope you have a fast hyperdrive, because you'll be racing a collapsing hyperspace tunnel that might just dump you in the middle of nowhere.
(-) The Ret'lini is a fuel hog and its circuitry is not designed for extended operation, meaning that even when it is hooked up to a large generator, it still won't last terribly long with constant use -- days at best.
Primary Source: None
