Vince wrote:If
Sirius had not come back at
Fearless, crossed the hyper limit, and translated to the alpha band, she still would have been under impeller drive.
The only time you rig Warshawski sails prior to translating to hyper-space from normal space is when the volume of normal space you are in directly corresponds to a volume of hyper-space in the alpha band that is occupied by a gravity wave, or if you are approaching a wormhole terminus prior to making transit.
The Tellerman wave does not encompass the entire Basilisk system:
On Basilisk Station, Chapter 27 wrote:"We'll be going in pursuit of Sirius, Mr. McKeon. It's imperative that we stop her from leaving the system. What's her current heading?"
"She's steadied down on two-seven-four by zero-niner-three true from the primary, Captain," Lieutenant Brigham's crisp voice replied for the exec.
"What's out there, Mercedes?"
"At her current heading and acceleration she'll hit the hyper wall about one light-minute this side of the Tellerman wave, Captain," Brigham said after a moment, and Honor swallowed a silent curse. She'd been afraid of something like that.
The Tellerman wave is one full light minute away from the hyper limit. It is not mentioned whether that light minute is measured in normal space or hyper-space. Worst case scenario for
Fearless is it is measured in normal space, which would put the edge of the Tellerman wave approximately 0.968 light seconds from the hyper limit in the alpha band.
First
Sirius has to get into hyper-space, then
Sirius has to reach the Tellerman wave, because the gravity wave isn't that close to the hyper limit:
On Basilisk Station, Chapter 30 wrote:Fearless was out-gunned by a factor of ten, whether Harrington knew it or not, but RMN cruisers were tougher than the numbers might suggest. If he turned on her, she would not only have the higher base velocity as they closed, but her higher acceleration and lower mass would make her far more maneuverable than Sirius in close combat. The way she'd taken out the courier boat's drive told him Harrington was no shiphandler to take lightly, and if his sidewalls were tougher than hers, her main impeller bands were just as impenetrable as his own. If he got drawn into a close-range dogfight against a more agile opponent, she might just get lucky and score a hit or two in the right place before she died. If she crippled his Warshawski sails, for example, it wouldn't even matter whether or not he could get into hyper. He'd get home eventually, no doubt, but he could never reach the rendezvous in time to stop the task force. Not under impeller drive alone, and especially not when he'd have to detour around the Tellerman rather than using it.
***Snip***
Without the alpha node, Fearless couldn't reconfigure her forward impellers for Warshawski sail. If Sirius broke through into hyper-space and reached the Tellerman, she would run away from Fearless at over ten times the cruiser's maximum acceleration . . . and Honor couldn't follow her into the wave on impellers alone, anyway.
And
Sirius could potentially get into hyper and get home eventually using the impeller drive (instead the of Warshawski sails) without being immediately destroyed, simply by detouring
around the gravity wave. Which would not be an option if Basilisk lies directly in the Tellerman wave.
An example of ships in normal space that have lost an alpha node and the star system the are in lies directly in a gravity wave:
Ashes of Victory, Chapter 21 wrote:Diamato remembered the unending succession of disasters, the helplessness with which he had watched other battleships being clawed down, blown apart by those incredible LACs' impossible grasers or—possibly even worse—fired into just until they lost an alpha node or two. With even one alpha node down, it was impossible to generate a Warshawski sail, and Hancock lay directly in the path of a grav wave. Which meant no one without Warshawski sails could maneuver in hyper at all . . . and that, in turn, meant there would be no escape from the vengefully pursuing Manty superdreadnoughts of the system's inner picket. The SDs could cross the hyper wall and maneuver freely, which meant they would run the battleships down with absurd ease no matter what normal-space velocity they might have attained, and once a true ship of the wall brought a mere battleship to action, there could be only one outcome.
The above quote understates the difficulty for a ship in normal space wanting to translate to hyper-space without Warshawski sail capability if the star system it is in lies directly in a gravity wave. If it attempts to do so, it is immediately destroyed.
Hyper translation Does the transition have to be made under impeller drive or Warshawski sail, or either?
Outside a grav wave's area of influence, you do not necessarily have to be underway to make a hyper transit; it's just a little safer because the forward movement gives you more dimensional stability when you crack the wall.
If, however, you are making transit into a grav wave, you must have rigged at least one set of Warshawski sails, or grav shear will destroy your vessel as you enter the grav wave's area of influence.Italics are the author's, boldface and underlined text is my emphasis in all quotes from books and the reference pearl.
