“The Nova Directive” Part 4

COMMANDER’S LOG
CMDR: [REDACTED] aka MostlyAwol
Date: 3306-07-25
System: [REDACTED]
Location: [REDACTED], Inner Orion Spur

I’ve lost track of how many iterations I’ve tested.

The problem isn’t the data. It’s the structure. My simulation cores are producing stable predictive matrices in isolation, but every time I try to embed them into a live lattice framework, the signal degrades under load. Thought vector mapping becomes erratic. Contextual alignment fails within seconds. It’s like trying to balance a magnetic field on a spiderweb.

I thought maybe it was a timing issue. So I rebuilt the array clocks from scratch using triple-buffered quantum delay chains. No improvement. I tried isolating each logic gate with staggered power filters, even resorted to floating the whole system on a Faraday grid to eliminate ambient interference. Still got the same result: thermal stress, signal collapse, and in one case, a blown containment fuse that nearly torched my entire bench.

It’s not the code. I think I’ve written the cleanest behavior-mapping engine of my life. The issue is physical, some part of the lattice simply can’t handle the load I’m putting through it.

While cataloging options, I reviewed a partial Guardian artifact manifest from NGC 3199 Sector DL-Y d12, stored in one of my encrypted archives. Among the more esoteric entries, I found repeat references to a “polycrystalline structural alloy.” Normally I’d file that under another dead end, but I remembered I had a few relic fragments tucked away in deep storage. Recovered during that misguided salvage job out past Synuefe.

I ran a scan. The structural density of the alloy is unlike anything in our fabrication libraries. Not resonant like some of the Guardian tech we’ve seen, but incredibly stable under thermal and electromagnetic strain. High conductivity with virtually no bleed. It doesn’t do anything, no glow, no tricks. It just sits there and takes whatever punishment you throw at it.

And that’s what I need. A substrate that doesn’t flex, doesn’t melt, doesn’t fracture when I ask it to carry the weight of a fully threaded feedback lattice.

One problem solved. One more opened.

The alloy is the right material, but I have no clue how to fabricate with it. It doesn’t react to my forge settings, won’t bond to traditional carrier scaffolds, and whatever tooling the Guardians used, it’s long gone, or buried in data we don’t understand.

If I’m going to make this work, I need to figure out how to shape it. How to build with it. And for that… I’ll need to find somewhere, or someone, who understands this stuff better than I do.

Time to start digging.