The Shade Field Network is the most ambitious technological undertaking attempted as a collaboration project between Galactic Horizon and Kingdom of Neshaten. Unlike many daring projects undertaken by various nations however, this device was not designed for warfare in any way and was in fact designed as a method of avoiding such conflict.
Partway through development of the Shade Field, a second, sister network was brainstormed and designed to be used in conjunction with the initial Shade Field. This sister network was known simply as the Laser Communication Array and was intended to be the only form of communication that could cross the barrier while the Shade Field was active.
| Designer: | Galactic Horizon Kingdom of Neshaten |
| Nomenclature: | N/A |
| Manufacturer: | Kingdom of Neshaten |
| Fielded by: | Kingdom of Neshaten |
Design work for the project began in early to mid YE 41 with Neshaten representatives and scientists staying temporarily within the Horizon residential facilities to assist and oversee the secret project which was hidden from the rest of the company and their nation of residence. It was completed in mid YE 41 but was not scheduled for implementation until later that year so that more testing could be performed.
Upon initial completion of the project a test was carried out around an uninhabited planet in a nearby system with minimal security presense to avoid drawing attention. The test concluded that the field worked as intended but due to its light-blocking nature would not be sustainable for long periods of time without moving the population underground and risk massive devastation to their flora and fauna populations.
Each satellite unit is equipped with a pair of small omnidirectional thrusters for adjusting their position according to the onboard location system. These thrusters are powered by an Ember Core at the centre of the whole unit. This Ember core can provide enough power to run each unit for at least 30 years and are checked and serviced every 3 months to ensure they continue to operate properly.
When activated, the Shade Field completely blocks all light, radiowaves and microwaves as well as preventing anything within its field to be detected via radar or other scanning techniques. The only signals it is programmed to allow to pass through are the highly precise lasers used in laser communication methods.
There are two devices that act as the combined primary system and purpose of each unit as an individual and the whole network as a single unit. The shield Engine and Generator. Both of these components are taken directly from the Environmental Starship Shield and adjusted slightly to project a non-physical field as opposed to their usual hard light shield. The generator takes energy from the core and transforms it into a usable form for the shield engine to then project between itself and the next satellite in each direction.
While it would take a number of hours the entire network can be remotely reconfigured to generate an environmental shield around their target planet in the event of known solar storms or cosmic radiation clouds passing by. This environmental shield is not hard light and has no impact of physical objects greater than the size of a pebble, instead it aims to block up to 75% of any harmful rays, waves or particles from deep space before they reach the surface.
Each satellite is roughly a meter cubed in size with a central housing containing the Ember core that connects to a larger shpere which houses the generator. Connected to the sphere on the opposite side is the shield engine, a more cylindrical housing connected to a wide angular dish used to project the barrier. Running parrallel to the body are four panels, while they have no official function in the operation of the field they provide slight protection against small debris to the units, mounted to the bottom of the ember core housing is the omni-directional thruster used to position the satellites when in orbit.
This item is manufactured and used exclusively by the Kingdom of Neshaten with its existence being hidden from its own public as a last resort convlict avoidance method. A precise number was created and it shall never be exceeded with any units recquiring replacement being destroyed and recycled.