Friday 25 July 2014

Expoletian Command Vessels: Aius Avenger

A state-of-the-art warship, the 9.9km long, 400 tonne Aius Avenger is not classed as a Dreadnought due to falling 100m short of that classification. Known as a Hades Destroyer Battlecruiser, the Aius Avenger is the newest vessel in the Expoletian Armada, and is planned to become the new capital ship once the Malevellum is retired from active service.

The Aius Avenger is made from a unique design; no other vessel shares the same layout as the Avenger. The bridge of the Aius Avenger is located 3/4 of the way along the vessel, and provides a full view of the entire hull to the 50 crewmen that operate the behemoth. The crew is protected by a single pane of 4m thick diamond glass, with anti-projectile turrets destroying anything larger than a standard laser blast. Immediately in front of the bridge is the intake port for the vessel's matter collector, which fuels the vessel while in flight. The intake port leads directly to the engine room, occupying 10% of the vessel.

The Engine room is home to a pair of twin Hydra Engine blocks. The core of these 4km long, 70 tonne behemoths is the extremely efficient Combat and Real Time Espionage eXtreme (CoRTEX) rods. Although the three rods in each engine are 400m long, minimal power is required to run at peak efficiency. As such, all of the four engine cores are run by a single Super Fusion Reactor. The power provided by the twin Hydra is concentrated by the 200m long, 3m wide Apollo thruster port, enabling the Aius Avenger to output a total thrust of 10 billion tonnes. To do so, each Apollo is equipped with an infuser, which brings the volatile, superheated fuel from the two Hydra engines, and forces it through the exit port at speeds fast enough to ignite the gaseous fuel on contact with the cold of space. The saturated area behind the one way valve ensures that the fire cannot enter the engine block. Given that the engine was run for 11 years straight and not one instance of back flow occurred, the soldiers on board the Aius Avenger know that the vessel is safe.

Concerning safety, at 90 tonnes, the ultra strong, ultralight Chimera armour is stress tested to be able to absorb the impact of a 2 tonne projectile. The Chimera plating is classified down to the exact materials it is made from, as the Aius Avenger doesn't have a carbondium layer underneath this plating. What makes the Chimera plating even more intriguing is the fact that the hull isn't one solid plate, but millions of smaller plates seamlessly connected with no visible weak points. What helps defend the Chimera plating is the Hades barrier. The Hades barrier is resistant to forces generating over 900,000 Hydrogen Fusion bombs worth of power, even though the barrier itself is less than a centimetre thick. Powered by a single fusion reactor, the Hades barrier is the single toughest shield system in the Universe for a small power draw, and is the pride of the Expoletian Armada.

Since other systems on the vessel require low power draw, the weapon systems are a boast to the fact that the Aius Avenger is better than anything else. Featured on the vessel are the CAMAC MkII guns. The 8 cannons provide a high powered STS combat weapon, but due to the low fire rate, they need to be supplemented by the largest amount of turrets ever assembled on one vessel. With 500,000 Type XV turrets, 300,000 Type XIV turrets and a further 250,000 Type XIII turrets, the Aius Avenger has the highest number of rapid fire weapons of any vessel known, while being one of the fastest and toughest vessels to see action. Along with the million plus turrets, the Aius Avenger also has nearly 400,000 torpedo tubes, ensuring that the vessel can take on most enemy craft with minor damage.

In addition to the impressive firepower of the vessel, the Aius Avenger is equipped with 8 double wide hangars, with each capable of holding 225,000 fighters. This gives the Aius Avenger the role of mobile command centre or carrier, since the sensors on the vessel are more sensitive than anything else in production.

While the Aius Avenger may seem unwieldy, the Hydra engines give the vessel the maneuverability of a vessel 20 times smaller, while providing enough firepower to level any capital vessel in a heartbeat. Combine this power and agility with ultra tough armour and the Aius Avenger is truly a vessel to be feared.

Just stay on it's good side, and you'll be fine.

Monday 21 July 2014

Expoletian Command Vessels: Phalanx

The Dreadnought Phalanx is smaller than its father vessel, Ultimate, but is by no means less dangerous. 13km long, and weighing 300 tonnes, the Phalanx has never seen a battle in its life, due to the underwhelming ability of the vessel.

While most regard the Phalanx as a failure, the vessel was never designed to be a front line combat vessel, with Kodekai opting instead for a stealth destroyer. This is evidenced as the 2m thick reflective titanium plating masks the energy signature of the vessel, disguising the profile of the vessel. The Phalanx uses the standard issue Herculean Shield system, which forms a barrier over the entire hull of the vessel, and can absorb ten minutes of sustained firepower, although the shield can only recharge if engine power is rerouted, rooting the vessel while it regenerates shielding. Featuring less firepower than a standard Expoletian Guard ship, the Phalanx, while lacking in sheer numbers, has upgraded versions of the Type XIV turret, using piercer rounds as opposed to the standard shredder bolt. This makes the Phalanx well suited to attacking unshielded craft, and often intercepts military grade cargo transports.

In order to intercept military grade transports, the Phalanx requires a powerful engine that can also mask any energy signature it creates. Kodekai used the Shadow Hawk made Obelisk Engine core to power the 2km long, 15 tonne Haven Engine block, attached to the Whirlwind thruster port. The Obelisk enables the Haven to produce 1.25 million tonnes of power, which is translated into 10 million tonnes of thrust by the Whirlwind. In order to mask the heat signature of the engine, the Whirlwind is equipped with heat vents that dissipate the heat generated over a long path, and this heat is then recaptured to power the Super Fusion generators that power the Obelisk core. The heat signature of the Phalanx is reduced to an area of 500m at most, making the vessel one of the stealthiest ever created.

While the 4 Haven Engine blocks provide the movement ability for the Phalanx, the true might of the vessel lies in its spine. Running the length of the vessel is the dreaded Phalanx cannon, which weighs around 140 tonnes. The weapon, which is shrouded in secrecy, is a smaller, less powerful version of the Ultimate's Civilian. The inner machinations and power requirements are unknown, but given the size of the Phalanx, speculations are that the Phalanx cannon can cause incredible damage. To defend the weapon, the Phalanx has 5 hangar bays spanning the 2km wide vessel, and each is capable of holding 300,000 fighters. Only 10,000 fighters are assigned to the vessel however, and the Phalanx is unlikely to see combat for a long time.

The Phalanx bridge, built towards to front of the vessel, is inline with the hull of the vessel, and composes mainly of a viewing window and the 120 crewmen that operate the systems around the vessel. Since the vessel is classified and hasn't seem combat, the full capabilities of the Phalanx can't be determined, but the vessel is assumed to be quite capable in combat, even if it doesn't show.

Friday 18 July 2014

Expoletian Command Vessels: Ultimate

One of only two Expoletian Dreadnoughts, the Ultimate was the largest warship ever created. 20km long, and weighing nearly 700tonnes, the Ultimate was the brainchild of L'lurk M'aig.

Wanting a vessel like none seen, the Ultimate was built around the gargantuan Civilian weapon. At 18km long, and weighing 350tonnes, the Civilian was the largest weapon ever created, but was never fired. Since the Ultimate was built to protect the Civilian, the 150 tonne armour plating was made of reinforced Tungstanium - an alloy made by combining Tungsten and Titanium - with a thickness of 3 metres. Because of the power draw of the Civilian, a shield system was never installed on the Ultimate, although the vessel was tough enough to shrug off most firepower. Along the hull were 450,000 Type XIV turrets, along with a further 250,000 Type XIII turrets, supplemented by 200,000 torpedo launchers. The sheer amount of turrets disallowed the Ultimate any form of STS Battery Cannon, making the Ultimate a vessel of fear as opposed to force.

In order to propel the Ultimate, Kodekai Enterprises made the largest engine block to date - the 4km long Cerberus Engine, which is built around the Minotaur rods. Four of these engines were installed on the Ultimate, and each weighs 40tonnes, but are capable of putting out nearly 4 million tonnes of thrust. In order to achieve this feat, the Cerberus is built with 8 Fission-Fusion reactors dedicated to powering the mighty engine. For the rest of the ship, another 8 Fission-Fusion reactors are required in order to make sure the vessel runs at optimal power.

Besides the massive power consuming engines, the rest of the Ultimate is pretty basic. The 30 million strong crew is housed over 6 stories, but the luxuries of the Ultimate aren't like the Malevellum or Sonic Rupture. The Ultimate wasn't designed as a hybrid vessel, and was built with one purpose in mind: war. Due to the design of the Ultimate, the bridge of the vessel is similar to a viewing deck, jutting out from the hull, made entirely from reinforced glass.

Although the Ultimate is a weapon of war, the vessel is limited as it is super massive and draws on massive amounts of power. The specialty of the Ultimate was also its downfall; while holding back the entire Earth Armada so the Expoletian Fleet could retreat, the Ultimate suffered fatal damage, and tore apart, killing everyone on board. The $63 Octillion vessel only served to show how powerful interstellar warships have become.

Expoletian Command Vessels: Sonic Rupture

The Sonic Rupture is one of the last Generation 4 starships manufactured by Kodekai Enterprises, and the vessel is a 6km long, 220 tonne behemoth. The base vessel is the same make as the Malvellum, but highly altered and with more advanced technology.

Built in 3753, the Sonic Rupture is outfitted with Generation 7 weapon systems, which include the Type XV Turret. Half a million of these turrets lie concealed in the vessels hull, which is made of 2.4m thick titanium alloy, layered on 1.2m thick carbondium. The plating of the Sonic Rupture is thicker than most other warships in the armada, although the armour alone weighs a staggering 70 tonnes. Also concealed within the hull are 8 LABs, with everything being optimised to have as little mass as possible.

While the Sonic Rupture has massive plating, the Swarmer Shield System is leaps and bounds ahead of previous shielding. Instead of oscillating waveforms, the Swarmer is thousands of overlapping shields that absorb 12,000 joules of energy each, regenerating every five seconds to form a highly resistant barrier that ensures the Sonic Rupture can withstand an insane amount of firepower. These shields consume little power, but because of the size of the vessel, two Fission-Fusion reactors are required to power them all. These reactors are in the massive reactor room of the Sonic Rupture, which occupies the full width of the kilometre wide hull and the full 1.75km height.

The main reason the reactor room is so large is to house not only the dual warp cores, but the Leviathan Engines. The Leviathan is more powerful than any other engine of a similar size, only beaten by the power the 4x larger Gorgon can output. Powered by the TRACER core, the Leviathan is capable of outputting 900,000 tonnes of power out of the 175m long, 2m wide thruster block. This thruster block is the funnel for two Leviathan engines, meaning the Sonic Rupture has 16 Leviathans inside the Reactor room. The thrust provided by the engines is not cheap, and for every two Leviathan engines, there is a Super Fission-Fusion reactor, making the Sonic Rupture the most expensive vessel ever produced at a cost of $173 Octillion.

Powered by the mighty Leviathan engines, the Sonic Rupture is capable of entering Warp space twice as fast as the Malevellum, and the vessel is normally the first attacker in a fight. To allow maximum effectiveness and streamlining, the bridge of the vessel is at the foremost point of the hull, covered by two way reflective plating. With a bridge crew of 50, the Sonic Rupture has specialist pilots that have control over specific systems. The weapon systems operators are shielded by special pods that mask outside interference while allowing full functionality. The crew of the Sonic Rupture is said to be second-to-none in terms of reaction timing as a result, although this might have something to do with the fact the vessel is commanded by a soldier of no rank less than Colonel.

Like the Malevellum, the Sonic Rupture has 8 large hangars, capable of hosting well over 100,000 fighters each, although the main hangar, which is twice as large, is located on the top of the hull. Although this exposes a major weakpoint of the battlecruiser, the sheer amount of fighting that needs to occur to reach this point makes attacking the hangar virtually impossible. Since the Sonic Rupture is unable to enter an atmosphere, there is a command hangar on the belly of the vessel, hidden from sight, which is where most cargo vessels dock.  The other 6 hangars line the port and starboard decks of the Sonic Rupture.

The interior of the Sonic Rupture is composed of a twelve story luxury crew deck. Four million soldiers can reside on the vessel, which features state of the art training facilities, and a massive training facility. Two hallways run the length of the vessel, and are able to have twelve Expoletian soldiers stand fingertip to fingertip across. The sheer size of the vessel, although shorter than the Malevellum, make the Sonic Rupture a target few would consider attacking. Rightly so, as the Sonic Rupture possessed more firepower than any other vessel in the Expoletian Armada before it's destruction in 2754.

Thursday 17 July 2014

Expoletian Command Vessels: Malevellum

The Expoletian Armada is led by the battlecruiser, Malevellum. Built in 3716, the Malevellum is the oldest vessel still in service, being one of the first Generation 4 starships to be produced.

One of the largest starships ever produced, the 8.7km long, 130tonne Malevellum is the second largest vessel in the Expoletian Fleet, but is often regarded as the toughest vessel to ever be built. The hull is made of large panels consisting of steel support bars, built into an osmium-tungsten-iron alloy. The largest of these panels lines the belly of the vessel, falling just short of the length of the vessel to make room for the engine outlet. This panel weighs nearly 10 tonnes, but is only 0.45m in thickness. The panel is secured to the interior wall of the vessel with a layer of carbondium, 2.3m thick, providing the Malevellum with the armour it needs, while reducing weight as much as possible. The firing deck of the hull is made of smaller panels, intertwined to form a lattice over the vulnerable areas of the vessel, while allowing the weapons systems to be used quickly.

While the armour of the Malevellum seems light, the real defensive power of the vessel comes from the Insanity Barriers. These barriers form a network of advanced combat shielding for the Malevellum, and while they may be small, they provide a massive defensive boost to the vessel. Using rapidly oscillating shield technology, the Insanity Barrier takes the entire impact of an object hitting the barrier, and dissipates it across the entire vessel. This process has a limited threshold, and after a few minutes, the Barrier engines will fail, requiring a 10 minute restart. While this may not seem like much, the Malevellum has suffered some major damage in battle on occasion, and this can be shown as the vessel is noticeably less active in combat.

The Malevellum, although a humungous vessel, is the fastest non-fighter craft in the Expoletian Armada, capable of outrunning a Galdon class interceptor cruiser. The Malevellum gains this speed from the 6 TASER class engine cores, providing the power of the massive Gorgon Engines. Each Gorgon weighs 10 tonnes, and is capable of providing 1.73 million tonnes of thrust. Powered by two Fission-Fusion reactors, the Gorgon superheats He-2, which is used as the catalyst for the He-3 fusion process which provides the thrust of the engine. The Kilometre long Gorgon has a thrust port 375m in diameter, and can house enough fuel for the Malevellum to stay in transit for 7 days with one functional TASER core. Being such a large engine, it is impractical to replace the Gorgon with a new one, making the 6 Gorgon Engines of the Malevellum the oldest in service.

With the speed of a vessel 1/10th it's size, the Malevellum is highly mobile, but it does not sacrifice firepower for such agility. The vessel has an armament of 400,000 Type XIV turrets, with just under 100,000 Torpedo Tubes, giving it an edge over most other vessels in combat with just those weapons. Complementing the light weapon systems are 16 LTABs as well as 4 LABs, making the Malevellum a high power vessel. These weapon systems are supplemented by the 100,000 fighters the Malevellum can carry inside of it's 8 huge hangars, each capable of holding two Gorgon Engines. With 4 hangars on each side of the vessel, a large crew deck runs along the area between the hangars and the engine room. With a crew of nearly two million, the Malevellum has 10 floors to house everything the crew needs, including a 300m diameter sparring arena.

The Bridge of the Malevellum is located at the top of the vessel, streamlined to disguise the profile of the vessel, with a 5m thick viewing mirror providing 360 degree vision around the bridge. This mirror is two way; and has seeker turrets which protect it from any object larger than a shredder bolt. The Bridge has a small crew for a Generation 4 warship, requiring no more than 20 crew members. Each crew member is specially trained for the micromanagement of systems aboard the Malevellum, with each crew member in charge of two reactors and a large number of weapon systems. The piloting of the vessel is done by two of the most decorated pilots in the Empire, and each pilot is in charge of managing half of the vessel, while co-ordinating with the other to ensure the Malevellum runs at maximum efficiency.

While the Malevellum may have low armour, the vessel was designed to act as a fast, hard hitting vessel, based off the Expoletian Guard Ship design, but heavily modified to be physically superior. Having some of the most advanced technology in the Empire has increased the longevity of the Malevellum, but the Gorgon Engines are slowly becoming more of a burden as the vessel ages, often failing to engage on first ignition, and possessing no stealth capability whatsoever. The Malevellum is at the end of what is regarded as the longest lifespan of any space faring vessel, and it is being prepared for decommission, although it is predicated the vessel will become a cargo transport due to its immense size. Only time will tell.

Thursday 10 July 2014

Warp Technology

Interstellar travel is a key part of life in the 38th century, although the process involved to achieve this differs in many ways, but the outcome is always the same: Warp Technology.

This phenomenon is prevalent in most stars that give off high energy electromagnetic waves. The first Empires to discover this technology have since been absorbed by the Western Universe's Gorbal Syndicate - the single largest Empire in the Universe. Roughly 400 years later, the Expoletian Empire figured out the basics for Warp Technology, after a manned expedition past Tyrgon. On board they had a lump of Iridium inside a mass field, and after a few days the scientists noticed that the piece of metal had formed an antigravity well inside the mass field - effectively making the Iridium massless. More tests were conducted with lighter metals, and this yielded the opposite results: the metals gained more mass, and had an increased gravity field. Elements that weighed more were then tested, and the antigravity field increased in strength, with Bismuth producing the strongest field.

Knowing this data, the Expoletians began tests using Bismuth, and after 4 decades of arduous research and testing, a prototype teleporter was made, and managed to transport 100g of LiFe7 a distance of 260km using 130GV. This energy was provided by a prototype fission-fusion reactor, powering a small gamma ray emitter surrounding the Bismuth donut. Not sure what would happen, the test compound was launched through the donut at mach 1, and what happened astounded the scientists.

The scientists discovered that the Bismuth core of the Warp Field didn't increase the velocity of the compound that went through it; the matter had been translated to a plane of space smaller than the Universe as it entered the field, and had materialised at a spot correspondent with the initial speed and mass of the object. The 100g alloy was discovered intact, and without damage. Further tests were conducted with more mass, and the distance increased linearly; a 1kg ingot managed to travel 2,600km. During one of the last tests, a 10kg ingot was accelerated too much, and hit the Warp Field at Mach 1.5. Rather than traveling the proposed 39,000km, the ingot traveled 40 times further, coming out of the warp field 1.5 million kilometres away from the launch point. It was at this point the military gained interest in this new technology, and procured all rights and resources, commissioning the science team to run further tests for speed.

A decade after the military seized the Warp Field technology, another breakthrough was made by the team working on it. After countless calculations and theories, the Warp Field was generated in a zero gravity environment, and the initial experiment - 100g of LiFe at Mach 1 was repeated. This time, the Warp Field was much more potent, and the ingot traveled nearly 12 Astronomical Units before exiting the Warp Field. After presenting their findings to the Military Council, the low budget project was commissioned to make the first Warp Core. After years of exhausting production, the 120m wide Bismuth-208 Warp Core was finished. Scientists had discovered that Bismuth-208 produced a field 10 times more potent than any other isotope of Bismuth, so the Warp Core was produced using 98% Bismuth, mixed with Tungsten to resist the 3000C temperatures. The Warp Core was powered by a 130TV reactor - 1000 times more powerful than the first reactor used to power the initial Warp Field. Once the Warp Core was powered up for the first time, a noticeable gravity shift was observed by everyone in the command room, who started the superaccelerator responsible for firing the 100kg ingot to 10% lightspeed. The Emperor was given the honour of firing the ingot into the Warp Core, and upon passing through the Warp Field, the entire Warp Field core - Bismuth donut, gamma field generator, shieding, everything inside - and the generator were seemingly lost as no data was sent back within the next few hours after everything instantly disappeared. The Project was shut down afterwards, but in a stroke of luck, as the facility was about to be powered down a week later, the probe they had placed started sending data back.  S'tr'ry, the head scientist was the first to notice, and reports indicate that he fainted when he saw the data.

After S'tr'ry regained consciousness, he marched into the Emperor's chambers, holding a thick folder, throwing it into the Emperor's lap. Opening it, the Emperor's jaw dropped, and he looked back up at S'tr'ry, mouth agape and uttered the now famous words "N'char'is O'gh'p." Three hours later, Kodekai Enterprises was founded and began mass production of the Warp Core, in varying sizes, while reducing the power load that the contraption required. The first Warp Core had finished it's journey 130,000 light years away, fully intact and fully functional in a matter of days. The Warp Field wasn't limited to passing through the Bismuth; it could transport anything in a radius based on the size of the Bismuth Donut. S'tr'ry was tasked with improving the Warp Core's design, and eventually produced a Core that could be calibrated and consumed less than 130MV/kg of energy at maximum. This Core was tested on the Plux Probe, and transported the probe, fully intact with all systems functioning, a full 200,000 light years in less than 48 hours.

Almost simultaneously, the Earth Empire conducted similar experiments, but used the element Platinum instead, and produced a similar Warp Core, although the Earth Empire variant is often regarded to be inferior to the more streamlined Expoletian Warp Core. The Earth Empire variant is cheaper to produce, but lacks the Expoletian Warp Core's ability to be installed on one man fighters. The Expoletians have used this to their advantage, using their fighters to intercept the Earth Empire supply lines.

The latest version of the Expoletian Warp Core has the added feature of delaying exit from Warp Space when the entire fleet is in motion. If the vessel's sensors detect any obstruction, the Warp Core is recalibrated midflight to change exit location if any asteroid sized rock or larger is detected, or delay exit by a few seconds if an allied vessel is in front of them. The modern Expoletian Warp Core, which is a Generation 7, is a 36m diameter sphere of Tungsten encasing the 12m diameter Bismuth Donut, which rotates in all directions when active, making Warp Space seem like a leisurely flight on board the vessel. The Warp Core is protected by a 12m thick carbondium cube - made by compressing a layer of diamond between two layers of graphene, forming an ultra strong, flexible material which is commonly used to layer the underneath of interstellar vessel plating due to its ability to hold together under an extreme load. The fighter variant is completely different in design, using two 30cm diameter spheres of 1.2cm thick carbondium to house the two 16cm diameter Bismuth Donuts. These spheres are functionally the same as the larger version, but are located directly behind the cockpit, and providing a Warp Field that prevents air sickness from occurring in battle. Due to the nature of the Warp Core, the Expoletians have no need for Gyroscopes; the Warp Field generated by the Bismuth Core is enough to stabilise any vessel in combat. To prevent accidental warp jumps, the Core has a power regulator; going to Warp Space is not possible if the Core doesn't have sufficient power.

The modern Expoletian Warp Core is able to transport 1000tonne vessels 500,000 light years in approximately 72 hours, making the Warp Core significantly more powerful than any other Warp Core in the Universe, but also the most expensive.

Warp Technology has advanced civilisations more rapidly than any other discovery in their recorded history, and it is one of the most important features of daily life for all citizens of the Universe.

Tuesday 8 July 2014

The Tyrgon-Plux Star System - Expoletian Home System

The Expoletian Empire is based around a binary star system - Tyrgon-Plux, and consists of four planets.

The largest planet is Tharassia, and orbits at a distance of 40 AU. Roughly 150 Earth masses, Tharassia has a dense atmosphere, and has a surface gravity averaging 1.4 G, which has forced the Expoletians to evolve much stronger back and leg muscles to support the increased pull. Orbiting the stars Tyrgon and Plux in roughly 270 Earth days, Tharassia has slowly been increasing in velocity, and it is expected that the planet will reach terminal velocity and escape the system in the next three thousand years. As a result of this, Tharassia is slowly being evacuated.

New Expoletia is slightly smaller than Tharassia at 140 Earth masses, but has a much thinner atmosphere and slightly lower gravity. Orbiting Tyrgon-Plux at a distance of 2.3 AU, New Expoletia breaks all laws of habitable planets. In addition to being in a hostile zone - surface temperatures in unshielded areas can reach 300C, New Expoletia has a retrograde orbit compared to other planets in the system. The axial spin also does not support life since no surface water can form on the planet, yet 2km underneath the hard exterior of the planet lies the largest basin of water in the universe. This water basin is over 10km deep in places, and surrounds the mantle of the planet, which is speculated to be responsible for the harsh orbit of the planet, as this water is affected by all three moons, causing tremors to regularly shake the surface. The largest of these moons is Z'for'is, which literally means outsider. The moon has a retrograde orbit to the planet, orbiting in the reverse direction that the axis of New Expoletia, and at a 90 degree angle to the other two moons. The orbit of the moon is the same as it's day length, so the same face is always facing New Expoletia. The next moon is uninteresting, as it has a standard lunar orbit, and is used to determine the calender of the planet - it always orbits the planet in exactly 38.6 days, and has a 19.8 day axial orbit. Other than that, nothing resides on this moon, and it has minimal effect on tides until Z'for'is is in the same orbital area, which causes tremors that are felt planet wide. The final moon is [CLASSIFIED] and is the Empire's most closely guarded secret. Only half the size of New Expoletia's second moon, [CLASSIFIED] is often cited as the heart of the Expoletian Military, since military traffic frequently passes through the moon's area, although very little is known.

Expoletia orbits at 95 AU, and is 80 Earth masses. The planet is heavily occupied by military stations since the end of the Tharassian Civil War, and has no known moons. The surface temperature is close to absolute zero, as the heat from Tyrgon-Plux cannot be stored due to a lack of atmosphere after the planet was towed to it's current location. Expoletian Military keeps most data on Expoletia hidden, and it is proposed to be a military testing ground, due in large part to the number of operations on the planet.

Eternia is the Empire's Farm. Orbiting at a distance of 5.5 AU, Eternia is a jungle planet of 4 Earth Masses, protected as a national park, the ecosystem of the planet cannot be interrupted, and most farms use the abnormally high gravity of the planet to stay in orbit around it, since Eternia is at the sweet spot for life to grow. Approximately 10 billion biofarms orbit the planet, and almost all the food from the Empire comes from here. Due to it's high gravity - 19 G - scientists propose that the core of the planet is an undiscovered super dense element, perhaps the elusive element 144, which is confirmed to exist, but has never been produced due to the nature of elements 143 and 145 - both incredibly expensive and unstable in all forms, and Element 144, although produced, has only had a half life of 1 femtosecond in most states, proposing that the core of Eternia is an undiscovered isotope composed primarily with Protons and Positrons, meaning the element has a strong magnetic field, and will violently bond with any element. This has been the most accepted answer for the strong magnetic and gravitational fields of Eternia, but attempts to find the answer have turned up no results to this day.

Prior to the Earth Empire's discovery of Tyrgon, most stars were though to emit certain wavelengths of light, centered in the visible spectrum. Tyrgon appears as a white giant star, but emits light with a wavelength in the extreme Ultraviolet range, ranging from 100nm to 10nm in length, causing atoms to eject electrons, which the Expoletian Empire harnessed as a means to help create their warp drive. Tyrgon acts as a unreliable, but permanent warp drive for the Expoletian Military, able to hyperaccelerate the generator for the warp core, effectively providing the Expoletians with an infinite power source, and this energy was transferred to the Fission-Fusion reactors which power most of New Expoletia.

Plux is a star half the size of Tyrgon, and it is even more high energy than its sister. Plux emits gamma rays, and very rarely releases a Femto Ray - a super high energy Gamma Ray with a wavelength in the femtometres. Because of the radiation produced by Plux, the Expoletian Empire is unable to study the chemistry that occurs within the star, as any attempts to study the star result in almost immediate destruction of any equipment. It is hypothesised that if the energy of Plux can be used to create a new warp core, then it may be possible to travel anywhere in the universe in a matter of seconds. The gamma energy of the star is used in prototype Anti Matter cannons, which allows for the mass production of antimatter. This is an energy dependent process, although this process is observed in the Fusion reactors regularly, which surprisingly improves the efficiency of the reactor, rather than diminishing it, since the antimatter purges the reactor of most heavy elements. The purge produces more lighter elements, such as the always necessary He-2, which is used as the catalyst for many engines. Plux has advanced science in ways many thought impossible, and it holds many more mysteries.

Tyrgon-Plux is a rare binary star system because it houses one of the most advanced species in the known Universe. Why the Expoletians haven't found a more suitable star system is puzzling to scientists around the universe, but there is a reason that the Expoletians haven't left the system.

Tyrgon-Plux is Home.