Final Tests
The exterior net went up last, once every other system had already proven itself, cloud material woven into a tight, flexible lattice across the hull's outer surface, exactly as the conductivity tests had promised, mounted not against bare steel but against a careful array of small, faceted mithril standoffs spaced evenly across the entire exterior.
"Explain the mithril again," Bram said, watching the installation crew work the last section into place. "I thought mithril was your worst conductor. Practically an insulator, by your own test results."
"That's exactly why it's here," Arista said, tapping one of the small standoffs. "I don't want the net touching the hull directly anywhere. Cloud material's an incredible conductor, that's the whole point, that's what makes the defense work, but incredible conductors are exactly what you don't want bridging straight into a steel hull with five people sitting inside it. Mithril barely conducts electricity at all, remember? Perfect material to physically separate the net from the ship without letting even a trace of charge follow it inward."
Claire crouched beside the nearest standoff, testing its seating with a practiced hand. "Same principle as the ceramic insulators in the original copper-net sketch, just swapped for something we already trust structurally. Mithril holds shape under pressure, doesn't corrode, and now we know for certain it won't leak charge where it isn't wanted."
"Belt and suspenders," Arista agreed. "The net does the zapping. The standoffs make sure the zapping stays entirely on the outside."
By the time the last panel locked into place, the whole hull sat ringed in a faint, barely visible lattice, pale, springy material stretched taut across dozens of small mithril risers, the whole assembly looking, from a short distance, almost like a piece of jewelry rather than a weapon.
The harbor tests began the following morning, the submarine lowered by crane into the shallow, enclosed test basin the Republic had built specifically for exactly this purpose, sealed off from open water, safe to fail in, considerably less catastrophic than discovering a flaw a hundred meters down in open ocean.
"Ballast first," Claire called from the control station, watching gauges with her usual unbothered focus. "Partial flood, controlled descent, controlled rise. Nothing dramatic."
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The tanks took on water in a slow, measured hiss, the hull settling gradually beneath the surface, then, on Claire's signal, expelling it again just as smoothly, rising back to the waterline with none of the violent lurch Bram's earlier emergency-purge tests had produced.
[Test: Ballast Control — Success]
"Sonar next," Arista said, glancing toward Colm, already stationed at the stylus, soot paper feeding steadily beneath the needle.
They submerged partway, and Colm dropped a weighted test object into the basin at a measured distance. The needle jumped, sharp and unmistakable, exactly the clean spike they'd spent two weeks calibrating for.
"...Clean reading," Colm confirmed, grinning. "Distance estimate's close to actual. This works."
[Test: Depth Sonar — Success]
The electrolysis cell came online next, a faint, steady hiss of hydrogen venting harmlessly from the exterior release valve while a slow, measured trickle of oxygen fed into the cabin's air supply, the CO2 scrubber cycling stale air through its absorptive chamber and back out clean.
"Air quality's holding steady," Claire reported, checking her instruments after a full hour sealed inside. "No buildup. System's keeping pace with five people breathing."
[Test: Life Support — Success]
The last test was the one everyone had been quietly saving for the end.
"Defense net," Arista said, hand resting on the overdrive lever. "Everyone clear of the water?"
A chorus of confirmations came back from the basin's edge.
She pulled the lever.
Steam redirected with a low, rolling groan, slamming into the piston bank, driving hard and fast into the crystal chamber, and the exterior net lit up, a faint, rippling blue haze crawling across the entire cloud-material lattice, humming with contained, restless energy.
[Test: Defense Net — Voltage Confirmed][Hull Interior: No Charge Detected]
Claire, monitoring the interior gauges throughout, let out a slow breath. "...Nothing. Not even a trace. The mithril standoffs are holding the separation perfectly."
Arista released the lever, watching the blue haze fade back to nothing, and let out her own long, relieved breath.
"...Every system," she said quietly, mostly to herself. "Every single system, working, tested, safe."
Bram, watching from the basin's edge, crossed his arms. "So. Are we actually doing this?"
Arista looked at the finished hull, steel and adamantium frame, mithril-mounted cloud-material net, sonar stylus, electrolysis cell, all of it built slowly, carefully, by exactly the right people handling exactly the right problems.
"...Yeah," she said, grinning, the old restless excitement finally, fully returning now that the fear had nothing left to hold onto. "Yeah. Let's find out what's actually down there."