Took another month to reach smooth space and Jump. Which really wasn't as far as I expected, but I was finally able to finish the mapping of the UV star's system, and therefore where those pockets of smooth space in the system were.
The jump went smoothly. Exactly as it was supposed to according to the techs from all that time ago now. Literally more than a year. I am not actually sure how long, and I no longer care. Strange thing about this jump though. There were no gravity waves generated by the ARC drive this time. Not only that, but I did not experience any Jump Stun.
I did a full work up in the ADoc. I thought that maybe it was the implants. According to all the readings, it wasn't. So I queried other systems, checked other things and what I found points the finger at the crew compartment. Systems that I had noted had the micro-fissures that were causing problems, like the ET/EC. They experienced high strain during jump while the crew compartment was attached. This time. No stress, no new micro-fissures created. The jump was just as smooth as it was supposed to be according to the original information that the Tech's gave me, as well as the writing by CT.
Now that I am so linked to the Viteză Furie, I have found so many systems opening up to me. Diagnostics I can run, scans I can monitor, and I have a deeper access to the ARC drive. So much so that I am actually starting to understand it. I am starting to find control functions that I should have had access to from the beginning.
I find myself, as these new things open up to me, getting angry at times, sad at others. Feeling as if this was stolen from me, that the option was not given to me. Though I also understand that the implants that make this possible. They are generally frowned upon, as if they somehow make you less of a person. We all have a comm implant, but the deeper modifications, the brain augmentation. At this point. I think it is based in fear more than anything.
The reality is, the gravity waves that the ARC drive was generating, and it was the ARC drive generating them, were because of the crew compartment. I can jump wherever I want to, so long as I am going faster than .25c. At least that is what I am understanding from what I am learning. The gravity waves were auto-generated by the ARC drive to compensate for the crew compartment, as if the jump was being done in a gravity well, like around a planet. Only, because the crew compartment was attached to the ship, when it jumped, it was forced to drag all that extra mass with it, which made the jump rough, and threw off the drives auto-compensation systems.
If I had then, what I have access to now. If the Tech's hadn't strapped the crew compartment onto the Viteză Furie. If they had, but I had access to what I do now. I might honestly not be lost. That is however a lot of; if, if, if, what if, what if, if.... I cannot live that way. What is, is. I cannot go back and change it, but I can learn to understand what happened, why it happened, and now control the ship better.
I am going to continue with the deep jumps as I have been doing, which is all I knew I had access to until now. But..., now if I find something on long range scans that I want to check out. Say, I pick up what might be a civilization in a nearby system from where I am. If I am understanding these new things correctly, I can do that. With precision.
The garden in the lounge is growing really well. I have a full harvest now and can make a hand crafted meal at least twice a standard week.
The display, now that I am back in jump, in the ARC drive room is different somehow, even more familiar than before. Still not quite able to place it, but I am convinced that what I am seeing is the distorted image of something. I wonder...…
Anyway. Time to get back to coding. I'm about a third of the way done with the programming to let me recreate and print the boards I need for the ET/EC.