It's a notable point, actually - when you're talking about trips to the limit, you're not talking zero/zero intercept anymore. That takes a whole *lot* of time off the total.
Random question: *Why*, particularly, does your character want a Blackbird? Answering that question might give you a decent idea of what he was willing to pay (not just in money, but in promises, contracts, and years of indenture) to get one.
Random note: You're pretty deep in the Professor's pockets. There almost certainly are a few backdoor relationships between the Professor and *some* scientists at NASA. On the whole, though, my understanding is that they don't like and/or trust him much. Still, with a sufficiently important mission, you might be able to get an under-the-table deal, if there was a mission imporant enough, and assurances strong enough. Interestingly, this would fit in really well with the Mayan Calendar plot. If the multi-year exploration mission doesn't come back in time... well, they have a limited quantity of at least some of their critical supplies (even with the safety margins) and . By the time you know enough to start worrying about it, you're going to want something really fast to get out there before they run out, and you're going to want someone who's a really good flyer once they get there, in the hopes that he can deal with whatever they've run into. Now, suppose that the bureaucracy back home isn't willing to mount a serious effort to go out and save them - by now, no one cares anymore. Suppose that someone in just the right place in NASA has friends and/or family on board. It comes out in conversation, and the Professor muses that, you know, he could probably make something that would go *really* fast, if he just had something like a Blackbird to play with.
Clarification: I had been throwing around the time dilation idea, not as a result of any sort of relativity, but just as another inexplicable quirk. After all, it's the #defined fastest warp drive in space. It *ought* to have a few quirks, of one sort or another. On the other hand, given the relative unimportance of warp speed to the overall narrative, there's no particular reason why they'd have to be *bad* quirks. On the gripping hand, with enough dilation, and enough distance, you can still wind up with a whole *lot* of History Lag.
Random question: *Why*, particularly, does your character want a Blackbird? Answering that question might give you a decent idea of what he was willing to pay (not just in money, but in promises, contracts, and years of indenture) to get one.
Random note: You're pretty deep in the Professor's pockets. There almost certainly are a few backdoor relationships between the Professor and *some* scientists at NASA. On the whole, though, my understanding is that they don't like and/or trust him much. Still, with a sufficiently important mission, you might be able to get an under-the-table deal, if there was a mission imporant enough, and assurances strong enough. Interestingly, this would fit in really well with the Mayan Calendar plot. If the multi-year exploration mission doesn't come back in time... well, they have a limited quantity of at least some of their critical supplies (even with the safety margins) and . By the time you know enough to start worrying about it, you're going to want something really fast to get out there before they run out, and you're going to want someone who's a really good flyer once they get there, in the hopes that he can deal with whatever they've run into. Now, suppose that the bureaucracy back home isn't willing to mount a serious effort to go out and save them - by now, no one cares anymore. Suppose that someone in just the right place in NASA has friends and/or family on board. It comes out in conversation, and the Professor muses that, you know, he could probably make something that would go *really* fast, if he just had something like a Blackbird to play with.
Clarification: I had been throwing around the time dilation idea, not as a result of any sort of relativity, but just as another inexplicable quirk. After all, it's the #defined fastest warp drive in space. It *ought* to have a few quirks, of one sort or another. On the other hand, given the relative unimportance of warp speed to the overall narrative, there's no particular reason why they'd have to be *bad* quirks. On the gripping hand, with enough dilation, and enough distance, you can still wind up with a whole *lot* of History Lag.