The Best for the Best

[Aristaan]

April 24th, 824 A.S.
Isolation of Premium Material

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After the meeting between Doctor Erzie and General Heinrich, the pieces were in place, and a team was selected and stationed at the ready. Two-hundred strong, this elite team would deliver the best the Group could offer in the shortest amount of time. Though there was no actual rush, it was clear everyone moved with a sense of urgency, every action deliberate. James overlooked the efforts, with personnel moving to view all possibilities of improvement. The request was simple: Faster engines. However, this meant more strength to weight, which either means more thrust, or lower mass; or both. The Researcher's zeal was after the best possible.

Hull segments already utilized a very efficient alloy composition, so improving on this alone would be negligible. The armor of any spacecraft only holds about thirty percent of the total mass of the craft; in this case the Sabre. A typical Sabre weighs between 19,000 kilograms and 21,000 kilograms, and to get the speed and performance to desired levels, the weight would be limited to about 16,500 kilograms. This would mean that all hoses, hard-lines, structural skeleton components, and engine components would be forced to be optimized. Even with the maximum optimization, some refitting of the engines would also be required.

With the materials already moved on-site the day prior, the only limitation was manning. All hands moved to help wherever possible. A team of six ran the refinery, with additional maintenance personnel at the ready in any case of a malfunctioning component or part. Any discrepancies were quickly remedied as quickly as possible. Jobs that took two men hours were completed in a matter of minutes, with all documentation accomplished by support personnel so the grease monkeys had more time on the project. Once all was in place and ready, they began their trials of alloy composition. Although almost all crew present knew the science behind the creation of high-entropy alloys, this wasn't about making just the highest resilience material; weight was the biggest limitation.

May 1st, 824 A.S.

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One week later, everything still functioning at maximum. The team has been working tirelessly for a week straight, one hundred men per shift, twelve-hour shifts that often stretched to fourteen with turn-over. A normal group of researchers and maintainers would've been beaten by now, exhaustion setting in, and stress toleration dwindling. Though this still occurred for the Group, the determination in their minds prevented them from lowering their quality of work. Life was the job, and that's all that mattered. The push was beyond the norm, and success here would be more than economically satisfying.

After several hundred trials, the optimal alloy was finally isolated. Using primarily titanium, at roughly forty-five percent, boron at thirty percent, and the remainder Iridium. Such was obtained from stockpiles already nearby at a small cost, but the addition was well worth finding the secret ingredient. With this known and ready to be produced from the kilns, the creation of these ingots was the next step. Once fabricated, every component on the craft was to be replaced and optimized, which would require additional supplies.