Science Fiction

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How would interdiction of Spaceships be possible? (feddit.de)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello Sci-fi fans and writers, I hope that this here is the correct spot to ask this question regarding a conundrum I have come about during my work on a sci-fi short Story.

Outline

In said Short Story, I have some people (Agents) chasing after some other people (Heroes). The heroes stumbled upon some critical information that could damage the faction (Bad Guy) that employs the chasing party. The information got intercepted in time, but to make sure that the information wouldn't be leaked again, they would need to silence the heroes.

Technology

In space there are two modes of flight: conventional reaction based propulsion and a higher speed propulsion which uses a so-called jump drive which flings the spaceship along a predetermined trajectory at high sub-light speeds (max speeds would be 0.5c). There is near instantaneous communications, but you would need to be in coverage of the network itself, which is flaky at best.

Conundrum

So how would agents be able to intercept / interdict the heroes in a plausible fashion? Would it be reasonable to have a micro wormhole generator or some other way to deploy gravimetric wells, which would destabilize the entire star system? Would it be anticlimactic to just have the agents wait for the heroes to finish their jump, as they would know where they would drop out?

I would love to hear opinions and suggestions from you.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (28 children)

@swope @DmMacniel
Alas, I am not on Lemmy, so I never saw the original post.

In this case, I again note that the important thing is to focus on Effects, not Causes.

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/fasterlight.php#id--Establishing_Limits

The desired Effect is "intercept / interdict the heroes".
The proposed Cause of "deploy gravimetric wells" seems to have too many unintended consequences. For starters it can destroy planets.

Perhaps some technobabble that slows down the protagonist's ship engine?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (20 children)

I am honored! I'll take a look on your document.

And yeah gravimetric wells are a bit overkill.

Another user suggested, as the travel sequence is on rails, that sending projectiles or other kind of weaponry toward them from the other side would be a suitable idea.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

I started following @nyrath on Google+, and followed him as a refugee to Twitter. I lost track of him when I abandoned Twitter (mostly) after the Muskageddon. I escaped Reddit recently and happened to find him again.

Now I have this idea for space settlers jumping from one corporate colony to another as their once-visionary founders turn to squeezing profit from their tenants.