Charting Course: System Unknown [LitRPG Space Drama]

Penelope Mercer was a renowned theoretical physicist, and a hobbyist engineer. Notorious for being difficult to handle, she's been blacklisted by the scientific community and fired from multiple labs that continue to develop her work on faster than light (FTL) propulsion. Desperate to continue working on her ideas, she turns to the Sol Navy, the largest contributor to research funding on the topic. While the Navy does have a research arm, Penelope knows they would never accept her and she had no interest sitting in a corner shuffling paperwork, so she enlists. How will she react when she finds more than empty space and bureaucracy? (volume notes below) LGBTQ Relationships (Primarily Lesbian and Gay). B2 and B3 have a lot of drama. Background Volume: Accelerated Navy stuff. When Penny met Katie.  No RPG elements. Prologue: Space and how things lead to crisis. Some relationship Drama. Arc 1: RPG Elements begin. Starting Here is Doable. Moderate relationship drama. Arc 2: Tons of early drama. Society building. Arc 3: War with the Cat People. Multiple perspectives.