122 Anchors Aweigh (1/2)
Once Zoey and 704 were back on the cruiser's bridge, Zoey gave 704 a quick rundown of how the cruiser would function in flight. She had designed the ship with the mindset that she would be making considerable modifications to the ship over time as she improved the design as needed. But at the moment, the flight system was a combination of Gravity Rune arrays that would control the weight of the cruiser, and a series of RCS thrusters placed around the cruiser's mass that provided lift and maneuverability.
These RCS thrusters were not your normal, chemical fuel powered affair. Zoey had done some tests and realized that she could use magic arrays to compress air, and subsequently force the compressed air through the RCS thruster nozzles, and thus removing the need for costly and inefficient chemical propulsion.
Of course there were other options, such as ion thrusters or the more advanced plasma thrusters, and even some that were beyond her understanding. But all of them were ridiculously costly to build and maintain, often with absurd power requirements, not to mention that her Aether Engineer talent could not fabricate most of the heavy elements required in their design.
This also was part of the reason why she was using Aether Crystals to provide the cruiser with power. She could have used some form of electric power generation or reactor, but when she had compared efficiency, reliability, and cost, Aether Crystal power was the winner in all categories.
In short, a magic powered compression array that forced air through a RCS nozzle was simple, efficient, and effective, all she needed at the moment. Sure, the air-powered system would not be able to produce the same amount of acceleration and force as a plasma based thruster, but for now it would be enough until she decided on an alternative.
It didn't take long for her to familiarize 704 with flight mechanics. Thanks to his new link with Zoey's interface, she was able to send him information as needed. Plus, the first flight was going to be basic, more of a hover really, just to test the Gravity Rune array network and the maneuvering thrusters.
Once they were prepared and 704 was up to speed, Zoey sat on the Captain's chair while 704 hovered nearby. Smiling with anticipation, Zoey input some commands into her interface, and activated the RCS thrusters alongside the Gravity Rune array.
As the systems activated, the left arm of the Captain's chair opened up and the control node emerged from within. The ship's controller was a palm sized grip shaped to Zoey's hand, suspended a few centimeters in the air by a Gravity Rune array. This grip would allow her to control directional movement, and the pitch, yaw, and roll of the ship, all with one hand.
As Zoey settled her hand onto the grip in preparation for takeoff, 704 said to her, ”System preflight check complete. All Gravity Rune arrays operational. RCS thrusters online and compression ratio holding steady at 30:1. We are ready for takeoff Miss Zoey.”
”Thank you 704, lets bring her up!” Zoey said with a grin.
She then lifted the control grip vertically, commanding the ship to lift off.
Outside the ship, the RCS thrusters on the bottom of the ship started to spool up with a hum of power and the hissing of air that quickly became a roar as the thrusters began to kick in. The Gravity Runes as well started to glow on the inside of the hull, modifying the weight of the huge cruiser so the thrusters could actually lift it off the ground.