LIghting The Beacon, Marking The Way To Dawn

Posted on Mon Nov 5th, 2018 @ 8:27pm by

Mission: Alrakis Updates
Location: Starbase 72 - Administration Level, Project Long Jump HQ
Timeline: 3rd June 2389, during the events of Myriad Problems

“How do I address him? Is it Sir? Commodore? Commodore Sir? I mean I nearly blow up a Starbase, and I don’t want this meeting to get off on the wrong foot.”

Lieutenant Commander Nabaal fiddled with the holoprojector as the Starbase functionary stood sentinel by the door. He wasn’t sure if they were there to offer assistance, or there to make sure the condemned soul did not try to make a break for freedom. He smiled nervously as again the connection request to the Long Jump Project offices timed out again.

“We pumpkin chucked a starship, four freighters and a barge full of frontiersmen types over the Galactic Barrier, and yet connecting this thing to my personal files is a bridge too far it seems,” Nabaal joked, looking up as finally the triangular mission patch for the Long Jump Project appeared in the air. A wide swirling galaxy, with a stretched Starfleet delta reaching to a stylised star at the apex. He began to swipe through the projected menus and file trees, throwing datasets and graphs into the air seemingly at random.

“How versed is Commodore Tau on higher dimensional resonance theory? I’ve never met the man, heard of him, but is he a man entrenched in the modern literature or is Copernicus still his go-to bedtime reading material?”

That might have gotten a smile out of the functionary, but then the doors opened.

Commodore Gareth Tau presided. His keen, dark eyes swept over the room, taking note of every detail. “I can assure you, Commander, that you won’t have to explain a concept so banal as supersymmetry in order to get me up to speed.” At last his eyes fell Nabaal, neither hostile nor cordial. They were simply demanding. “So how about you do that? Now, please.”

“Oh...kay, no pleasantries. I can get behind that,” Nabaal said with a false brightness to his words as his hands made gestures in the air. The holo projection took note of them and shifted the images around until a real-time feed from one of the Starbase’s telescopes could be seen. It showed an ugly arc of burnished metal and construction scaffolds set before a vast canvas of stars. It was only when a Oberth class starship could be seen acting in the role of a tug that the scale of the construction could be estimated, as the mass was nearly three times its size.

“As of an hour ago we’ve undergone the precaution of transiting the entire Alpha Phase Space Accelerator construction site to a secondary location situated behind a nearby dwarf planet. You can see the USS Tim Allen of the S.C.E putting in the horsepower there. We are doing this because, without our intervention, the Accelerator activated and began a partial power-up sequence,” Nabaal said, throwing a rising jagged graph up on the wall. “Given the prototype was shipped to a distant and expendable star system in case it suffered a catastrophic energy release, the dwarf planet should shield SB72 from the worse of the hard radiation if there is an unscheduled disassembly event.”

Nabaal grinned through the projection.

“But that's not even the good bit,” he said, and threw up another spike filled data table. “During the power-up event, there was a high intensity infrared spike along the entire structure. We’ve seen these before in power up tests and the few times we’ve sent masses through the experimental lab simulation. Its an exotic heat dispensation effect caused by the negative matter gen...er...Well, what I mean to say is look.”

The data table broke down further and further, becoming a long series of spiked on a frequency graph. The resolution of the data became finer and finer until the spikes and valley are the graphics could be clearly seen.

“Now I’m just the head Starfleet liaison to the mad science squad running the space gun, but that looks like a modulated signal to me. Or at least to did after we ran it through a standard Starfleet encryption program,” Nabaal smiled. “Guess what that program spat out?”

Gareth furrowed his brow is concentration. Sensors and comms were his bread and butter. “Something in Federation Standard, from the looks of it?”

“Give the Commodore a prize!” Nabaal said, clicking his fingers. On cue the holo’s vanished, replaced by a cycling series of data files. All of these were superimposed over the mission patch for the USS Traveller: a compass with five cardinal directions and the motto ‘Not All Who Wander Are Lost’.

“Might I present the emergency crash buoy for the USS Traveller. I mean we assume its the crash buoy, all the file headers read as coming from the engineering section. But it's a standard data contingency saving program in the event of a catastrophic event. That they’ve somehow been able to punch through a Phase Space Accelerator they shouldn’t have for at least two more years,” Nabaal grinned and whistled. “That crazy Rish son of a bitch.”

All Gareth knew of the Phase Space Accelerator was the specifications listed in the Long Jump Project notes. But the Traveller stuck out in his mind for another reason. “We’re dealing with a Ronin class, are we not? It’s a highly adaptable starship design.” Gareth beamed with pride at the remark, as he was brought in near the end of the design phase to fine-tune the integration process of alternate pods. “A resourceful Starfleet crew would need little else to bridge that wide, black gulf between here and there.” Another hint of pride touched his voice, though not entirely directed at himself. The moment passed, and then Gareth was all business again.

“Time is of the essence. I want a team of analysts on this, and I do mean yesterday, Commander. Get me any sign or clue of why the Traveller’s computer executed an emergency dump. We’ll leave the ‘how’ of its transmission to hindsight for now.”

“Well then I’m gonna need some help. My team has already parsed a lot of the data, mostly engineering spec’s, that sort of thing. Some log files, including an interesting file about the events that transpired around the time of the launch. But then some weird encryption patterns start cropping up. Thought it was mostly bad data, rotten code. But when we put that through the decryption programs we got...this.”

A holographic picture materialised above the conference table of a stylised zero with a line through the middle.

“Would the Commodore like to tell me why a qubit supercomputer in the Long Jump Project offices is now a pile of slag? Because that image caused it to redline every safety on its coolant system. I’ve never seen a class D metal fire, and it's not something I want to see again,” Nabaal said. “But that symbol, Theta from the Greek alphabet right? Half the Travellers data dump is stamped with that thing. I’d rather not melt any irreplaceable hardware if possible.”

Gareth’s eyes narrowed. “Change of plans, gentlemen. This data is now under the jurisdiction of the Office of Special Investigations. Project Long Jump will be provided with redacted information as and when my team of specialists declassifies it. As a special consolation, I will allow you to address the media with a prepared statement.” His stony face nearly cracked with a smile. “This is a day for celebrating, after all.”

“The f-!” Nabaal began to say, before biting his lip and gripping his hands around the edge of the desk. “With all due respect, Commodore, but we should have full access to the data now! The Traveller would only use this method of communication, and I stress that in its loosest terms, if there was no other option save throwing a pigeon in a EVA helmet. We need to be analyzing the data in its fullest, and coming up with a plan that isn’t the halfway house measure we got last time!”

“My team of specialists will be operating under a greater priority impetus than any you could impose,” Gareth said. His smile turned grim and forced. “Mine. So never you worry. Long Jump will be read in as soon as the data is cleared for you.”

Commodore Tau nodded curtly as if the subject was closed. Nabaal bit his lip, shaking his head.

“Starfleet should have authorised the full Long Jump Project, not the science fair project they let us have. The Traveller shouldn’t be swinging out there by itself,” Nabaal said and looked right at the Commodore. “If I stand in front of the press, I’m selling them on the idea of demanding the full exploration package: Starbase and all. Office Of Freaky Mojo be damned.”

Gareth had nearly turned to leave, but he hesitated for a moment, then regarded Nabaal with the full measure of his practiced indifference. “Allow me to state for the record that you can sell any idea you wish. I don’t give a proper kak if you debase yourself with a media circus or rightly contain your press release to scientific journals and the like. You will do one or the other with only the information released to you.” The corners of his mouth ticked up in a not-scowl that approximated a genuine smile. “Thank you for alerting me as you did, though. Without my express oversight and guiding light, there’s no telling how long you might have waited in limbo before these data packets entered into the right hands. Well done, Commander.” Gareth clapped the other man on the shoulder and took his leave.

Nabaal waited until the Commodore left the room, the door sealed safely shut. Then he said something his parents on Ceres would have called uncouth and low. With a wave of his hands the data tables were sucked back into the projector, save for the rotating 3D model of the Traveller. It was a snapshot of the ship’s over all status, highlighting in red damaged or stressed areas of the ship

There was a lot of red. From the computer core, the nacelle pylons, and there were error tags assigned to some sort of tangled wire mesh running throughout the ship.

“We’re coming for you Remas,” Nabaal said to the holo. “Cavalry’s just over the hill.”