{"data":{"id":15371,"title":"Portfolio: Tarsus Electronics","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/spectrum-dispatch\/15371-Portfolio-Tarsus-Electronics","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/15371","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/15371","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"Portfolio","images":[{"id":4993,"name":"TarsusLogo.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/26uma7jchb9igr\/source\/TarsusLogo.jpg","alt":"","size":2108530,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2016-04-19T01:28:31+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/4993","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/4993\/similar"},{"id":22318,"name":"TRAVEL_WARNING.png","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/xoh0h57yqhmror\/source\/TRAVEL_WARNING.png","alt":"","size":18693,"mime_type":"image\/png","last_modified":"2016-05-05T03:15:45+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/22318","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/22318\/similar"},{"id":26463,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/weozjmuuh3hwh\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":843046,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2019-09-19T15:49:32+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463\/similar"}],"images_count":8,"translations":{"en_EN":"Portfolio: Tarsus Electronics\nA Whole New World\nOn that fateful day in 2271 when Nick Croshaw folded space around his quantum drive for the first time and broke through the interspace barrier, Humanity changed forever. Suddenly, the potential for our expansion through the stars was limitless. The stars that hung brightly in Sol\u2019s sky were calling to explorers. They were now within reach, patiently waiting for us to discover their secrets.\n\nWho better to help usher in this new age than the company who made space accessible in the first place, RSI. While the earliest brave souls who breached interspace did so with dangerous and risky tweaks to their ship\u2019s quantum drives, it was the labs at Robert Space Industries that took Croshaw\u2019s research and found a way to mass produce the results with manufactured regularity. Albeit expensive and in limited supply, RSI\u2019s QM-Core XII Jump Drive slowly allowed the governments of Earth and a select few adventurous pioneers to head out to the farthest reaches of known space, seeking new jump points and discovering new systems.\n\nA Price to Pay\nWith the introduction of jump drives a new passion toexplore sparked to life and the Age of Stellar Expansion began. A generation of children spent their youth pretending to be explorers and dreaming of how great it would be when they got to name the next star system themselves. While most grew out of the fantasy, to a select few it became a calling. What emerged was a tight knit community of amateur explorers who dubbed themselves \u2018Jumpers.\u2019 They knew the science, they followed the news, they studied every star chart they could lay their hands on, and they argued for hours the merits of a certain ship over another for traversing interspace. Sadly, the one thing that few of these amateurs ever got to do was actually go explore themselves.\n\nThe amount of capital it required to purchase one of RSI\u2019s jump drives was too exorbitant for most lay people to even come close to affording. Typically ships that were equipped with drives were owned by the government, research universities or the large corporations who moved people and cargo between the systems. There were a few billionaires who prided themselves on sponsoring private explorers in the hopes of having a system inherit their name, but for most people, owning a jump drive was completely out of reach. The irony that the same company that sought to make space travel commonplace was now, a few centuries later, ensuring the exclusivity of jump point travel was not lost on social commentators of the time. And though other companies were trying to do the research that would allow them to enter the jump drive market themselves, the status quo remained until two Jumpers, Tara Dilione and Alfonsus Carbrino, decided to take matters into their own hands.\n\nFinding the Fix\nThe pair met working as mechanics in a small refuel station near the Croshaw-Sol jump point. Over the course of working late shifts, repairing busted thrusters and cracked fuel lines, they soon discovered their shared love of space exploration. Both had been trying to crew on explorer ships but had had little success. Each of them took the position at the station for the same reason: if they couldn\u2019t be on a jump ship, they might as well be working with them. It was there that they both got their first up-close look at an RSI jump drive.\n\nMost owners would take their ships to an RSI-authorized repair shop when their jump drive needed any maintenance, unwilling to risk that new and expensive tech in the hands of just any old greasewrench who happened to be working that day. So while Tara and Alfon got to look at the drives and poke around a bit while making other repairs, they hadn\u2019t ever had an opportunity to work on one. It certainly wasn\u2019t for lack of knowledge \u2014 each had their own well notated copy of the operation manual that any real Jumper had read front to back at least a dozen times, but that wasn\u2019t the same as rolling up your sleeves and diving in hands first. Unluckily for the ship\u2019s owner, a transport ship\u2019s drive failed while it was fully loaded with high paying passengers; luckily for Tara and Alfon, their refueling station was the closest when the drive failed. The owner had invested everything they had into running the transport, and the potential financial fallout ruled out the prospect of flying back to an RSI facility near Mars.\n\nInstead, the ship docked at the station and the owner reluctantly let the two mechanics take a look. It ended up being a simple wiring fix, but Tara and Alfon couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity. They made up a complicated story for the owner and proceeded to spend the rest of the day inspecting every inch of that component. After their later success, the pair stated that they ultimately apologized for their deception and make a general payment to that unfortunate ship owner for their inadvertent contribution to the development of Tarsus. For it was while inspecting that Jump Drive that they pair realized the jump drive was actually a \u2018nick.\u2019\n\nNamed after Nick Croshaw\u2019s dangerous experimental methods, a nick was a term in Jumper circles for a modded quantum drive. Considered extreme even for the most hardcore of Jumpers, nicking your QD could get you into a jump tunnel just like Croshaw did originally, but it was so unreliable and unstable that chances were you\u2019d never get back out. The risk all but rendered the technique unusable. Every Jumper could tell stories of people heading out with nicked drives, never to be heard from again, and after a dozen such cases, the practice had fallen off. When RSI had released their original jump drive and it was completely stable, the assumption was that they had made a technical leap in quantum science, but with the component spread open before them, the truth clicked into place. Even after inspecting the manual dozens of times, it wasn\u2019t until they saw it in real life that they realized that the quantum manipulation part of the jump drive, even though it was spread out and arranged differently, was technologically identical to the quantum drives everyone already had in their ships.\n\nThey immediately confirmed each other\u2019s conclusion: RSI hadn\u2019t reinvented the drive, they had just perfected the nick. It meant that it should be possible for them to convert their own ships to be jump capable without buying a full new drive. That night they wouldn\u2019t sleep at all as they discussed what they had learned.\n\nOne Small Jump\nIt took them 27 months, nearly all their money, and hours of extra \u201crepair time\u201d with any jump drives they could get their hands on at the station, but in the end they had designed a separate module that would convert any quantum drive into a jump drive \u2026 at least if you had a ship big enough. The early versions took up most of the cargo hold. After running all the computer sims they could think of, the pair tested the \u2018Tarsus\u2019 on November 7th, 2292, a mere twenty-one years after Croshaw\u2019s first jump. In the spirit of the nick, they had named their device after a combination of their first names, saying it was the closest thing to a child either of them was ever likely to have. They settled all their worldly affairs, moved the ship into position, made sure their nav data was loaded, spun up their modded drive, and held their breath as they plunged into the jump point.\n\nThankfully, the pair emerged safely in Sol, their test successful. Word spread through the Jumper community quickly, and everyone demanded Tarsus modules of their own. Even though they had grand plans of exploring, Tara and Alfon figured they could use the extra funds and put their journey on hold to begin constructing jump modules for their friends. One Jumper, Selma Tontil, a lawyer by trade, realized what the Tarsus would mean when word of the invention broke publicly, and she hurriedly advised the pair to patent their plans. With her help, the Tarsus corporation was established.\n\nJust in time too. Once word spread beyond the Jumper community, the demand was instant. At only a fraction of the cost of the RSI jump drive, ship owners could upgrade their existing quantum drives. RSI tried to sue the fledgling company, but Tontil was able to successfully defend their right to mod the drives. It was a mere six months before RSI began to offer their own jump module.\n\nScanning Ahead\nTara and Alfon eventually did leave to explore the stars, but their company continued on under the watchful eye of CEO Tontil, who bought out the pair\u2019s controlling shares. Under her leadership, Tarsus moved from just producing jump modules to also producing a popular line of quantum drives.\n\nOver the centuries Tarsus has continued to develop and grow, and though the populace at large enjoys their products, the Jumper mentality is never too far from their core. When Tarsus\u2019 testing division was frustrated with having to use off-the-shelf scanning devices and nav computers, they developed their own to better be able to see how their jump drives performed. The in-house versions become popular with the staff who installed them on their own personal ships, and soon the ships of fellow exploring enthusiasts. It didn\u2019t take long before word got out, and now Tarsus is as well known for their equipment to help you find jump points as they are for helping you navigate through them.\n\nAs much as Nick Croshaw gets credit for expanding Humanity\u2019s reach, it is safe to say that our expansion would never had been as rapid or as vast if it hadn\u2019t been for Tara Dilione, Alfonsus Carbrino and their homegrown Tarsus mod. To quote Alfon, \u201cThe pieces had all been right there thanks to the hard work of so many others. Tara and I just happened to be the lucky ones who put it all together.\u201d","de_DE":"Portfolio: Tarsus Elektronik\nEine ganze neue Welt\nAn jenem schicksalhaften Tag im Jahr 2271, als Nick Croshaw zum ersten Mal den Raum um seinen Quantenantrieb faltete und die Zwischenraumbarriere durchbrach, ver\u00e4nderte sich die Menschheit f\u00fcr immer. Pl\u00f6tzlich war das Potenzial f\u00fcr unsere Expansion durch die Sterne grenzenlos. Die Sterne, die hell am Himmel von Sol hingen, riefen nach Entdeckern. Sie waren nun in Reichweite und warteten geduldig darauf, dass wir ihre Geheimnisse entdecken konnten.\n\nWer k\u00f6nnte besser helfen, in dieses neue Zeitalter einzutreten, als das Unternehmen, das den Raum \u00fcberhaupt erst zug\u00e4nglich gemacht hat, RSI. W\u00e4hrend die fr\u00fchesten tapferen Seelen, die den Zwischenraum durchbrachen, dies mit gef\u00e4hrlichen und riskanten \u00c4nderungen an den Quantenantrieben ihres Schiffes taten, waren es die Labore von Robert Space Industries, die Croshaws Forschung \u00fcbernahmen und einen Weg fanden, die Ergebnisse mit gefertigten Regelm\u00e4\u00dfigkeiten in die Massenproduktion zu bringen. Obwohl teuer und begrenzt verf\u00fcgbar, erlaubte der QM-Core XII Jump Drive von RSI den Regierungen der Erde und einigen wenigen abenteuerlustigen Pionieren langsam, sich auf den Weg in die entlegensten Winkel des bekannten Weltraums zu machen, um neue Sprungbretter zu suchen und neue Systeme zu entdecken.\n\nEin zu zahlender Preis\nMit der Einf\u00fchrung von Sprungantrieben wurde eine neue Leidenschaft zum Erforschen geweckt und das Zeitalter der stellaren Expansion begann. Eine Generation von Kindern verbrachte ihre Jugend damit, sich als Entdecker auszugeben und davon zu tr\u00e4umen, wie toll es w\u00e4re, wenn sie das n\u00e4chste Sternensystem selbst benennen w\u00fcrden. W\u00e4hrend die meisten aus der Fantasie entstanden sind, wurde es f\u00fcr einige wenige zu einer Berufung. Es entstand eine enge Gemeinschaft von Amateurforschern, die sich selbst \"Jumper\" nannten. Sie kannten die Wissenschaft, sie folgten den Nachrichten, sie studierten jede Sternenkarte, auf die sie ihre H\u00e4nde legen konnten, und sie stritten stundenlang \u00fcber die Vorz\u00fcge eines bestimmten Schiffes \u00fcber ein anderes, um den Zwischenraum zu durchqueren. Leider war die eine Sache, die nur wenige dieser Amateure jemals zu tun hatten, dass sie sich selbst erkunden sollten.\n\nDer Kapitalbedarf f\u00fcr den Kauf eines der Sprungantriebe von RSI war f\u00fcr die meisten Laien zu exorbitant, um sich \u00fcberhaupt etwas leisten zu k\u00f6nnen. Typischerweise geh\u00f6rten Schiffe, die mit Antrieben ausgestattet waren, der Regierung, Forschungsuniversit\u00e4ten oder den gro\u00dfen Unternehmen, die Menschen und Ladung zwischen den Systemen bewegten. Es gab ein paar Milliard\u00e4re, die stolz darauf waren, private Entdecker zu sponsern, in der Hoffnung, dass ein System ihren Namen erbt, aber f\u00fcr die meisten Menschen war der Besitz einer Sprungfahrt v\u00f6llig unerreichbar. Die Ironie, dass das gleiche Unternehmen, das die Raumfahrt zum Alltagsgegenstand machen wollte, heute, einige Jahrhunderte sp\u00e4ter, die Exklusivit\u00e4t der Sprungbrettfahrt sicherstellte, ging den damaligen Sozialkommentatoren nicht verloren. Und obwohl andere Unternehmen versuchten, die Forschung durchzuf\u00fchren, die es ihnen erm\u00f6glichen w\u00fcrde, selbst in den Markt f\u00fcr Sprungantriebe einzusteigen, blieb der Status quo bestehen, bis zwei Jumper, Tara Dilione und Alfonsus Carbrino, beschlossen, die Angelegenheit selbst in die Hand zu nehmen.\n\nAuffinden der Behebung\nDas Paar traf sich als Mechaniker in einer kleinen Tankstelle in der N\u00e4he des Croshaw-Sol-Sprungpunktes. Im Laufe der Sp\u00e4tschichtarbeit, der Reparatur von kaputten Triebwerken und geknackten Kraftstoffleitungen entdeckten sie bald ihre gemeinsame Liebe zur Weltraumforschung. Beide hatten versucht, auf Entdeckerschiffen zu besetzen, hatten aber wenig Erfolg. Jeder von ihnen nahm die Stelle an der Station aus dem gleichen Grund an: Wenn sie nicht auf einem Luftschiff sein konnten, konnten sie genauso gut mit ihnen arbeiten. Dort bekamen sie beide ihren ersten Blick auf einen RSI-Sprungantrieb.\n\nDie meisten Eigent\u00fcmer w\u00fcrden ihre Schiffe zu einer von RSI autorisierten Werkstatt bringen, wenn ihr Sprungantrieb gewartet werden m\u00fcsste, ohne diese neue und teure Technologie in den H\u00e4nden eines alten Fettschl\u00fcssels zu riskieren, der zuf\u00e4llig an diesem Tag arbeitete. W\u00e4hrend Tara und Alfon sich also die Laufwerke ansehen und ein wenig herumst\u00f6bern konnten, w\u00e4hrend sie andere Reparaturen durchf\u00fchrten, hatten sie noch nie Gelegenheit gehabt, an einem zu arbeiten. Es war sicherlich nicht aus Mangel an Wissen - jeder hatte sein eigenes, gut notiertes Exemplar der Bedienungsanleitung, das jeder echte Jumper mindestens ein Dutzend Mal von vorne nach hinten gelesen hatte, aber das war nicht dasselbe wie die \u00c4rmel hochkrempeln und zuerst in die H\u00e4nde tauchen. Ungl\u00fccklicherweise ist der Antrieb eines Transportschiffes ausgefallen, w\u00e4hrend es mit hochbezahlten Passagieren voll beladen war; gl\u00fccklicherweise war ihre Tankstelle f\u00fcr Tara und Alfon die n\u00e4chstgelegene, wenn der Antrieb fehlschlug. Der Eigent\u00fcmer hatte alles, was er hatte, in den Betrieb des Transports investiert, und die potenziellen finanziellen Auswirkungen schlossen die Aussicht auf einen R\u00fcckflug zu einer RSI-Anlage in der N\u00e4he des Mars aus.\n\nStattdessen dockte das Schiff an der Station an und der Eigent\u00fcmer lie\u00df die beiden Mechaniker nur ungern einen Blick darauf werfen. Es endete als einfacher Verkabelungsfehler, aber Tara und Alfon konnten die Gelegenheit nicht verpassen. Sie bildeten eine komplizierte Geschichte f\u00fcr den Besitzer und verbrachten den Rest des Tages damit, jeden Zentimeter dieser Komponente zu inspizieren. Nach ihrem sp\u00e4teren Erfolg erkl\u00e4rte das Paar, dass sie sich letztendlich f\u00fcr ihre T\u00e4uschung entschuldigten und eine allgemeine Zahlung an diesen ungl\u00fccklichen Reeder f\u00fcr ihren versehentlichen Beitrag zur Entwicklung von Tarsus leisteten. Denn w\u00e4hrend der Inspektion des Jump Drive erkannten sie, dass der Jump Drive tats\u00e4chlich ein \"Nick\" war.\n\nBenannt nach Nick Croshaws gef\u00e4hrlichen experimentellen Methoden, war ein Nick ein Begriff in Jumper-Kreisen f\u00fcr einen moddierten Quantenantrieb. Als extrem angesehen, selbst f\u00fcr den h\u00e4rtesten aller Jumper, k\u00f6nnte man seinen QD in einen Sprungtunnel stecken, genau wie Croshaw es urspr\u00fcnglich getan hat, aber er war so unzuverl\u00e4ssig und instabil, dass die Chancen gro\u00df waren, dass man nie wieder rauskommen w\u00fcrde. Das Risiko machte die Technik fast unbrauchbar. Jeder Jumper konnte Geschichten von Leuten erz\u00e4hlen, die mit eingekerbten Laufwerken unterwegs waren, von denen man nie wieder etwas h\u00f6rte, und nach einem Dutzend solcher F\u00e4lle war die Praxis abgefallen. Als RSI ihren urspr\u00fcnglichen Sprungantrieb freigegeben hatte und er v\u00f6llig stabil war, ging man davon aus, dass sie einen technischen Sprung in der Quantenwissenschaft gemacht hatten, aber mit der offenen Komponente vor ihnen klickte die Wahrheit an ihren Platz. Selbst nach dutzenden von Inspektionen des Handbuchs erkannten sie erst in der Praxis, dass der Quantenmanipulationsteil des Sprungantriebs, obwohl er verteilt und anders angeordnet war, technologisch identisch mit den Quantenantrieben war, die jeder bereits auf seinen Schiffen hatte.\n\nSie best\u00e4tigten sich sofort in ihrer Schlussfolgerung: RSI hatte das Laufwerk nicht neu erfunden, sie hatten gerade den Nick perfektioniert. Es bedeutete, dass es ihnen m\u00f6glich sein sollte, ihre eigenen Schiffe so umzur\u00fcsten, dass sie sprungf\u00e4hig sind, ohne einen komplett neuen Antrieb zu kaufen. In dieser Nacht w\u00fcrden sie \u00fcberhaupt nicht schlafen, als sie dar\u00fcber diskutierten, was sie gelernt hatten.\n\nEin kleiner Sprung\nEs dauerte 27 Monate, fast ihr ganzes Geld, und Stunden zus\u00e4tzlicher \"Reparaturzeit\" mit allen Sprungantrieben, die sie an der Station in die Finger bekommen konnten, aber am Ende hatten sie ein separates Modul entwickelt, das jeden Quantenantrieb in einen Sprungantrieb verwandeln w\u00fcrde.... zumindest, wenn man ein Schiff gro\u00df genug h\u00e4tte. Die fr\u00fchen Versionen nahmen den gr\u00f6\u00dften Teil des Frachtraums ein. Nachdem sie alle denkbaren Computersimulationen ausgef\u00fchrt hatten, testeten die beiden den Tarsus am 7. November 2292, nur 21 Jahre nach dem ersten Sprung von Croshaw. Im Geiste des Nicks hatten sie ihr Ger\u00e4t nach einer Kombination ihrer Vornamen benannt und sagten, es sei dem Kind am n\u00e4chsten, das einer von ihnen jemals haben w\u00fcrde. Sie erledigten alle ihre weltlichen Angelegenheiten, brachten das Schiff in Position, stellten sicher, dass ihre Navigationsdaten geladen waren, drehten ihren modifizierten Antrieb hoch und hielten den Atem an, als sie in den Sprungpunkt st\u00fcrzten.\n\nGl\u00fccklicherweise ist das Paar in Sol sicher aufgetaucht, ihr Test war erfolgreich. Die Nachricht verbreitete sich schnell in der Jumper-Community, und jeder verlangte eigene Tarsus-Module. Obwohl sie gro\u00dfe Pl\u00e4ne zum Erkunden hatten, dachten Tara und Alfon, sie k\u00f6nnten die zus\u00e4tzlichen Mittel verwenden und ihre Reise auf Eis legen, um mit dem Bau von Jump-Modulen f\u00fcr ihre Freunde zu beginnen. Eine Springerin, Selma Tontil, eine Anw\u00e4ltin von Beruf, erkannte, was die Tarsus bedeuten w\u00fcrden, wenn die Nachricht von der Erfindung \u00f6ffentlich bekannt wurde, und sie riet dem Paar eilig, ihre Pl\u00e4ne zu patentieren. Mit ihrer Hilfe wurde die Tarsus-Gesellschaft gegr\u00fcndet.\n\nAuch gerade noch rechtzeitig. Als sich die Nachricht \u00fcber die Jumper-Community hinaus verbreitete, war die Nachfrage sofort da. Zu nur einem Bruchteil der Kosten des RSI-Sprungantriebs konnten Reeder ihre bestehenden Quantenantriebe aufr\u00fcsten. RSI versuchte, das noch junge Unternehmen zu verklagen, aber Tontil konnte sein Recht auf Modifikation der Antriebe erfolgreich verteidigen. Es dauerte nur sechs Monate, bis RSI begann, ein eigenes Sprungmodul anzubieten.\n\nScannen vorw\u00e4rts\nTara und Alfon verlie\u00dfen schlie\u00dflich die Stadt, um die Sterne zu erkunden, aber ihr Unternehmen wurde unter den wachsamen Augen von CEO Tontil fortgesetzt, der die Mehrheitsanteile des Paares \u00fcbernahm. Unter ihrer Leitung wechselte Tarsus von der reinen Produktion von Sprungmodulen zu einer beliebten Reihe von Quantenantrieben.\n\nIm Laufe der Jahrhunderte hat sich Tarsus weiter entwickelt und w\u00e4chst, und obwohl die breite Bev\u00f6lkerung ihre Produkte genie\u00dft, ist die Jumper-Mentalit\u00e4t nie zu weit von ihrem Kern entfernt. Als die Testabteilung von Tarsus frustriert war, dass sie handels\u00fcbliche Scanger\u00e4te und Nav-Computer verwenden musste, entwickelten sie ihre eigenen, um besser sehen zu k\u00f6nnen, wie ihre Sprungantriebe funktionierten. Die Inhouse-Versionen werden bei den Mitarbeitern, die sie auf ihren eigenen pers\u00f6nlichen Schiffen installierten, und bald auch bei den Schiffen von anderen Entdeckern beliebt. Es dauerte nicht lange, bis die Nachricht kam, und jetzt ist Tarsus ebenso bekannt f\u00fcr seine Ausr\u00fcstung, die Ihnen hilft, Sprungbretter zu finden, wie f\u00fcr seine Hilfe bei der Navigation durch sie.\n\nSo sehr Nick Croshaw auch die Anerkennung f\u00fcr die Erweiterung der Reichweite der Menschheit erh\u00e4lt, kann man mit Sicherheit sagen, dass unsere Expansion ohne Tara Dilione, Alfonsus Carbrino und ihren selbst gebauten Tarsus mod nie so schnell oder so gro\u00df gewesen w\u00e4re. Alfon zitiert: \"Die St\u00fccke waren dank der harten Arbeit so vieler anderer direkt vor Ort. Tara und ich waren zuf\u00e4llig die Gl\u00fccklichen, die alles zusammengenommen haben.\"","zh_CN":"Portfolio: Tarsus Electronics\nA Whole New World\nOn that fateful day in 2271 when Nick Croshaw folded space around his quantum drive for the first time and broke through the interspace barrier, Humanity changed forever. Suddenly, the potential for our expansion through the stars was limitless. The stars that hung brightly in Sol\u2019s sky were calling to explorers. They were now within reach, patiently waiting for us to discover their secrets.\n\nWho better to help usher in this new age than the company who made space accessible in the first place, RSI. While the earliest brave souls who breached interspace did so with dangerous and risky tweaks to their ship\u2019s quantum drives, it was the labs at Robert Space Industries that took Croshaw\u2019s research and found a way to mass produce the results with manufactured regularity. Albeit expensive and in limited supply, RSI\u2019s QM-Core XII Jump Drive slowly allowed the governments of Earth and a select few adventurous pioneers to head out to the farthest reaches of known space, seeking new jump points and discovering new systems.\n\nA Price to Pay\nWith the introduction of jump drives a new passion toexplore sparked to life and the Age of Stellar Expansion began. A generation of children spent their youth pretending to be explorers and dreaming of how great it would be when they got to name the next star system themselves. While most grew out of the fantasy, to a select few it became a calling. What emerged was a tight knit community of amateur explorers who dubbed themselves \u2018Jumpers.\u2019 They knew the science, they followed the news, they studied every star chart they could lay their hands on, and they argued for hours the merits of a certain ship over another for traversing interspace. Sadly, the one thing that few of these amateurs ever got to do was actually go explore themselves.\n\nThe amount of capital it required to purchase one of RSI\u2019s jump drives was too exorbitant for most lay people to even come close to affording. Typically ships that were equipped with drives were owned by the government, research universities or the large corporations who moved people and cargo between the systems. There were a few billionaires who prided themselves on sponsoring private explorers in the hopes of having a system inherit their name, but for most people, owning a jump drive was completely out of reach. The irony that the same company that sought to make space travel commonplace was now, a few centuries later, ensuring the exclusivity of jump point travel was not lost on social commentators of the time. And though other companies were trying to do the research that would allow them to enter the jump drive market themselves, the status quo remained until two Jumpers, Tara Dilione and Alfonsus Carbrino, decided to take matters into their own hands.\n\nFinding the Fix\nThe pair met working as mechanics in a small refuel station near the Croshaw-Sol jump point. Over the course of working late shifts, repairing busted thrusters and cracked fuel lines, they soon discovered their shared love of space exploration. Both had been trying to crew on explorer ships but had had little success. Each of them took the position at the station for the same reason: if they couldn\u2019t be on a jump ship, they might as well be working with them. It was there that they both got their first up-close look at an RSI jump drive.\n\nMost owners would take their ships to an RSI-authorized repair shop when their jump drive needed any maintenance, unwilling to risk that new and expensive tech in the hands of just any old greasewrench who happened to be working that day. So while Tara and Alfon got to look at the drives and poke around a bit while making other repairs, they hadn\u2019t ever had an opportunity to work on one. It certainly wasn\u2019t for lack of knowledge \u2014 each had their own well notated copy of the operation manual that any real Jumper had read front to back at least a dozen times, but that wasn\u2019t the same as rolling up your sleeves and diving in hands first. Unluckily for the ship\u2019s owner, a transport ship\u2019s drive failed while it was fully loaded with high paying passengers; luckily for Tara and Alfon, their refueling station was the closest when the drive failed. The owner had invested everything they had into running the transport, and the potential financial fallout ruled out the prospect of flying back to an RSI facility near Mars.\n\nInstead, the ship docked at the station and the owner reluctantly let the two mechanics take a look. It ended up being a simple wiring fix, but Tara and Alfon couldn\u2019t pass up the opportunity. They made up a complicated story for the owner and proceeded to spend the rest of the day inspecting every inch of that component. After their later success, the pair stated that they ultimately apologized for their deception and make a general payment to that unfortunate ship owner for their inadvertent contribution to the development of Tarsus. For it was while inspecting that Jump Drive that they pair realized the jump drive was actually a \u2018nick.\u2019\n\nNamed after Nick Croshaw\u2019s dangerous experimental methods, a nick was a term in Jumper circles for a modded quantum drive. Considered extreme even for the most hardcore of Jumpers, nicking your QD could get you into a jump tunnel just like Croshaw did originally, but it was so unreliable and unstable that chances were you\u2019d never get back out. The risk all but rendered the technique unusable. Every Jumper could tell stories of people heading out with nicked drives, never to be heard from again, and after a dozen such cases, the practice had fallen off. When RSI had released their original jump drive and it was completely stable, the assumption was that they had made a technical leap in quantum science, but with the component spread open before them, the truth clicked into place. Even after inspecting the manual dozens of times, it wasn\u2019t until they saw it in real life that they realized that the quantum manipulation part of the jump drive, even though it was spread out and arranged differently, was technologically identical to the quantum drives everyone already had in their ships.\n\nThey immediately confirmed each other\u2019s conclusion: RSI hadn\u2019t reinvented the drive, they had just perfected the nick. It meant that it should be possible for them to convert their own ships to be jump capable without buying a full new drive. That night they wouldn\u2019t sleep at all as they discussed what they had learned.\n\nOne Small Jump\nIt took them 27 months, nearly all their money, and hours of extra \u201crepair time\u201d with any jump drives they could get their hands on at the station, but in the end they had designed a separate module that would convert any quantum drive into a jump drive \u2026 at least if you had a ship big enough. The early versions took up most of the cargo hold. After running all the computer sims they could think of, the pair tested the \u2018Tarsus\u2019 on November 7th, 2292, a mere twenty-one years after Croshaw\u2019s first jump. In the spirit of the nick, they had named their device after a combination of their first names, saying it was the closest thing to a child either of them was ever likely to have. They settled all their worldly affairs, moved the ship into position, made sure their nav data was loaded, spun up their modded drive, and held their breath as they plunged into the jump point.\n\nThankfully, the pair emerged safely in Sol, their test successful. Word spread through the Jumper community quickly, and everyone demanded Tarsus modules of their own. Even though they had grand plans of exploring, Tara and Alfon figured they could use the extra funds and put their journey on hold to begin constructing jump modules for their friends. One Jumper, Selma Tontil, a lawyer by trade, realized what the Tarsus would mean when word of the invention broke publicly, and she hurriedly advised the pair to patent their plans. With her help, the Tarsus corporation was established.\n\nJust in time too. Once word spread beyond the Jumper community, the demand was instant. At only a fraction of the cost of the RSI jump drive, ship owners could upgrade their existing quantum drives. RSI tried to sue the fledgling company, but Tontil was able to successfully defend their right to mod the drives. It was a mere six months before RSI began to offer their own jump module.\n\nScanning Ahead\nTara and Alfon eventually did leave to explore the stars, but their company continued on under the watchful eye of CEO Tontil, who bought out the pair\u2019s controlling shares. Under her leadership, Tarsus moved from just producing jump modules to also producing a popular line of quantum drives.\n\nOver the centuries Tarsus has continued to develop and grow, and though the populace at large enjoys their products, the Jumper mentality is never too far from their core. When Tarsus\u2019 testing division was frustrated with having to use off-the-shelf scanning devices and nav computers, they developed their own to better be able to see how their jump drives performed. The in-house versions become popular with the staff who installed them on their own personal ships, and soon the ships of fellow exploring enthusiasts. It didn\u2019t take long before word got out, and now Tarsus is as well known for their equipment to help you find jump points as they are for helping you navigate through them.\n\nAs much as Nick Croshaw gets credit for expanding Humanity\u2019s reach, it is safe to say that our expansion would never had been as rapid or as vast if it hadn\u2019t been for Tara Dilione, Alfonsus Carbrino and their homegrown Tarsus mod. To quote Alfon, \u201cThe pieces had all been right there thanks to the hard work of so many others. Tara and I just happened to be the lucky ones who put it all together.\u201d"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":64,"created_at":"2016-06-08T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"9 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 00:23:14","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":15370,"next_id":15372}}