Fusion technology perhaps marks one of the most important technological triumphs in a civilization, giving access to clean, almost inexhaustible amounts of energy, the Federation has come to rely on fusion for a significant amount of its energy requirements, but there remains perhaps one final development, to tap the stars themselves.

            A star represents the ultimate macro-scale fusion reactor, though governed alone by the physics of the universe these reactors are remarkably elegant and robust, even the feeblest star could provide the majority of the Federation’s power requirements, however the technology to tap the fusion core directly is still a hypothetical field. The advantage of tapping a stellar core over the collection of radiant energy is that the super high temperature plasmas generated could hypothetically be used in all the previously difficult energy intensive applications in the Federation.

            To tap the heart of a star a wormhole terminus needs to be generated in the exact core, at this point the gravitational field gradient is relatively flat, which provides an easy target for one-gate wormhole generator. One-gate devices currently seem the only method of extraction, several triumphs in shielding and materials science would be needed before a permanent anchor gate could survive for extended periods in a stellar core.

            The remaining question is how to regulate the plasma stream, it is this particular trouble that has prevented Federation research into this technology. Though the plasma flow could be limited by restricting the terminus size, the effect on the stellar core is not clearly known.

            During the normal function of a star, the immense energy generation from stellar fusion, which acts to force material outwards, is balanced by the gravitational attraction of the rest of the stellar matter. Ordinarily in most mid-sequence stars these two competing forces are balanced, so that the stellar diameter is near constant. It is thought that even relatively small plasma extractions from stellar cores could perturb this equilibrium, and perhaps induce core collapse leading to matter degeneration. As well as collapse, and perhaps nova or supernova, the lessening of pressure in the core might reduce fusion reactions, which would lead to a slower degeneration of the star, partial shrinkage and spectral changes may be observed. In any case the operation of extracting plasma from the heart of a star could lead to catastrophic effects for both the star and the surrounding interstellar space, and all thoughts of experimenting with inhabited star systems is out of the question.

            Federation technology is reaching a point where this technique could be developed, but because of a lack of confidence in existing models, combined with the appalling effects of a failure, will mean any experiments will be conducted in distant systems, preferably out of the galactic plane, and probably initially with low mass stars. Though the worst case scenarios would be appalling, the hazard is contained, and the potential benefits, even from such a dim star, would be tremendous. Stellar tapping would effectively remove the need for starships to carry powerplants, or for any terrestrial power generation, as the plasma could be directed through wormhole networks and need never be transported in real space accept at its point of consumption.