WC-9
Warp Coil Assembly
Matched nacelle coils wound to a tolerance tight enough that you can run them for six years without a symmetry re-trim.
UNIT PRICE
2,870,000 GCR
LEAD TIME
140 standard days
RATING
Sustained warp 8.4
Specification
| Sustained velocity | Warp 8.4 (9.1 for 90 minutes) |
|---|---|
| Coil material | Verterium cortenide, 214-turn winding |
| Symmetry tolerance | ±0.0004 across the pair |
| Segment count | 12 per nacelle, individually replaceable |
| Plasma intake | 2 × 640 cochranes/sec |
| Re-trim interval | 6 years or 400 warp-hours above 8 |
| Mass | 31 tonnes per nacelle |
| Certification | Utopia Planitia Standard, Rev. 9 |
Flight notes
- Coils are wound as a matched pair and shipped in the same crate — never mix serial numbers.
- Any of the twelve segments can be pulled and replaced without unshipping the nacelle.
- Subspace field stays symmetric at warp 8 even with one segment offline.
- Intake baffling keeps plasma stream noise below the threshold that erodes the inner winding.
HULL COMPATIBILITY
Nacelle coils are the most expensive thing on most ships and the least understood. A coil pair that is 0.002 out of symmetry will still make warp — it will just quietly eat its own windings and hand you a rebuild bill four years early.
Wound as a pair, shipped as a pair
Every WC-9 leaves the shop as a matched set with sequential serial numbers, wound on the same mandrel within the same thermal cycle. We ship them in one crate for a reason. Mixing serials across a nacelle pair is the single most common cause of premature warp field asymmetry, and it is entirely avoidable.
Twelve segments, twelve independent lives
Traditional coils are one continuous winding: when a section degrades, the whole coil comes out. The WC-9 divides each nacelle into twelve segments, any of which can be pulled and swapped at a starbase — or in open space, if your crew is patient and your EVA rating is current. The field geometry compensates automatically for a single missing segment up to warp 8.
Quiet plasma, long windings
Most winding erosion comes from turbulence in the plasma intake, not from the warp field itself. The WC-9's intake baffling smooths the stream before it reaches the first turn. The practical result is a six-year symmetry interval instead of the two to three years the previous generation managed.
Fitting notes
The WC-9 uses the standard deep-mount nacelle pylon interface. If you are replacing a WC-7 or WC-8 assembly, the pylon geometry is unchanged and the swap is a straight drydock lift. We strongly recommend a full symmetry certification after installation; see Services for our drydock schedule, and our modular nacelle argument for why this design exists.
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Open a work order
Tell us what you fly. We'll tell you what fits.
Send a hull class and a mission profile and our systems engineers will return a fitted parts list, a lead time and a drydock window — usually within one standard day.