OOC Thread
Discord Channel
Coreward | Beta Quadrant | Milky Way Galaxy
It was simply another system; another star. The Cognitio-class probe vessel entered the system, slipping out of hyperspace, like a ghost. It's artificially intelligent mind spun through a series of quick diagnostic checks -- this was the sixty-fifth system it had reached since it's inaugural flight. The ship's mind itself did not consider too many things beyond the realm of it's prime directive: to search out and map every star in the Beta Quadrant. Secondary directives, and even tertiary ones, existed within it's meme-banks, but none of them have been required to be acted upon. There was no need.
Sixty-four star systems entered, mapped, logged, and data about transmitted.
Sixty-four times that the prime directive had been followed.
An energy spike was registered.
The probe mind metaphorically paused.
It had not yet activated the sensor network. There was theoretically nothing that could create such a massive energy reading via passive sensors unless it was a Dyson Sphere or similar mega-structure. The probe mind slowed it's perception of time down, allowing it to run several hundred thousand possibility predictor routines in a millisecond. A decision was made. Active sensors: command - on.
An electrical surge flowed through the probe mind.
Something was rendering the probe's sensors nearly blind.
It executed an emergency jump into hyperspace, moving several AU beyond the outer edge of the system. Somehow, for some reason, the sensors were no longer picking up the energy source. In fact there were no readings beyond the normal radiation signals that an empty star system usually exhibited. The probe mind was...startled. Surprised, even. It's creators had not expected such eventualities as these, such extremes, but a level of inquisitiveness was part of the probe mind.
Tertiary Directive: Activate - Anomaly Investigation
...
...
...
It took seventy-three cycles. Just beyond the outer limit of the system, all detection of the overwhelming power source was somehow, mysteriously, stopped. The probe's AI had to reroute power couplings and capacitors to compensate for the signal. It needed to go closer. To see, with it's mechanical, artificial eyes what it was that was causing this phenomenon. It traveled back into the system.
The star was nothing out of the ordinary, a white dwarf star that gave off a white-yellow tinted spectrum. Absorption lines of neutral metallic atoms and ions were detected. There were binary gas giants stuck within a relatively stable orbit, the barycenter of which was several hundred million kilometers between them. Opposite, at the moment, within the star system's planetary orbits, was the source of energy reading anomaly. A blue-green globe, a planet safely within the 'Goldilocks' zone that determined the area of space most conducive to the development of life.
The probe approached, setting itself to incognito mode to mask its presence. The planet was covered in landmasses, oceans, lakes, and rivers. There was no moon but the gravitational pull from the binary gas giants was enough to affect this world's oceanic tides. Gravity on the planet itself was Sol-normal.
Life signs...life signs were overwhelming. The planet was teeming with life. The probe's mind became baffled, a figurative state of being that it had never understood to be possible. Not only was the planet filled with a complex and interdependent ecosystem, but sentient species lived across it's entire surface...and while the probe's AI mind was not able to dip into hyperbole, it had nothing else to reach for as it logged and recorded. It was as if every sentient species was here. Humans, Chanrorns, Elorians, Piradians, Forns, Elderizi, Koralecks, and more...some were species that were not recorded in it's meme-banks. The sheer diversity was staggering.
Cities sprawled across plains, beside rivers, atop hills, and beneath mountains. Pollution levels were, at best, below pre-Iron Age level technology; and yet the probe was detecting electricity, radio frequencies from planetary-wide networks, and communication devices capable of transmitting information through yet unknown means. Strange capacitors were at the heart of all communities, pulsing with the same frequency that the probe had detected when it first arrived.
There was no violence. Another troubling anomaly.
The probe mind was confused. How could so many varied sentient species, some of which were recorded as being among the most warlike in the history of the universe, capable of living alongside each other without conflict arising?
The metaphorical elephant reared it's mighty trunk. It was time to approach the true heart of the issue, of the anomaly.
On the surface of the planet, in it's northern hemisphere, was a mountain -- the largest on the planet -- that was the source. As the probe approached it 'saw' what was producing the energy spikes.
A pillar of pure white light was flowing upwards from the mountain's caldera. Above it, exactly one-point-six-one miles above the mountain, was a metallic structure. The metal shone like chrome, but was obviously heavier. It was, to dive into the probe mind's supplementary language files, poetically breathtaking. The structure was like a circular platform atop which a small city was raised; towers of gleaming, chromatic metal. It floated freely there, the light pressing under and through it, and coming to a glowing sphere above the structure. The light was so...bright. This was the obvious source, not only of the energy readings that the probe had picked up when it first entered the system, but also for the clean energy that the entire planet's population was using.
Analysis of the energy source was difficult to say the least. It wasn't magnetic or thermal; kinetic wasn't entirely out of the question but there was no evidence for that; it wasn't gravitational...
...
...
Hypothetical: this energy source breaks the law of conservation of energy.
The idea was disturbing to the probe mind's AI, but as was always quoted: "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." This anomaly existed and wasn't acting according to the known laws of physics or the conservation of energy. It must, therefore, be something entirely new. The entire planet, it's populace, was just a growing laundry list of improbable and unlikely phenomenon.
The probe droid packaged everything it had thus far recorded. A hyperspace transmission signal was prepped and the information sent.
Perhaps because the AI was so overwhelmed by the phenomenon it had discovered, in compensating for the overwhelming nature of the energy levels, it had failed to realize that it had damaged part of itself. It's normal encryption tools failed to activate, thus meaning that the message and data that had been sent could be intercepted and seen by any that might chance upon the signal.
Deep Space Operations Station Kharybdis | Vismanus Sector | Empire of Thrashia
The area of space was filled with Imperial Navy ships coming and going. Tracking lights projected from the hundred-and-fifty kilometer station helped to create a web of traffic lanes, for visual sight detection as well as the station's navigational control tools that kept things from descending into a chaotic mess. No vessel of capital grade was allowed to be parked within twenty kilometers of another capital grade vessel, for example. Corvettes and frigates had more leeway, but equally stringent parking and maneuvering rules to adhere to. TIE Interceptor squadrons paced through the extended towers of the station, zipping through the morass of ships, lighters, and station arms.
A hundred thousand kilometers out from the station, a patrol group of Imperial IV-class Star Destroyers kept rigid in their scheduled paths. A FTL-inhibitor field pulsed through the ether, forcing incoming ships to leave hyperspace within a light-year of the station in all directions. Specifically created mine fields had been laid in areas as dictated by the station's security chief. Only someone who had the correct navigational coordinates would be able to reach this station -- and if someone did by accident, they'd wish they'd never made such a mistake.
Trying his best to ignore the glare of a repair droid's arc welder a few hundred meters out the portal to his left, Commander Horlen pressed a button on the replicator food processor.
"Please indicate your choice," a mechanical voice anounced.
"Recaf -- extra strong, with eight grams of sugar," said Horlen.
The machine beeped and within moments a cup of steaming, black recaf was sitting there. Horlen took it out and puffed air over the surface, trying to cool it down a bit. Naturally he'd forgotten to set it to his preferred temperature, again. He sipped and winced. The damned machine was suppose to be able to produce anything, so long as it had the requisite matter to use as a base, but it never seemed capable of producing a decent cup of recaf.
"Another ruined day," he murmured to himself.
Horlen took his cup and walked out of the fresher-room. On the way back to his office, still put off by the bad drink, he barely returned the salutes of passing crew and junior officers. For their part they stepped aside with alacrity -- no one wanted to anger an Imperial Intelligence officer, let alone one who looked as upset as Horlen.
"Welcome back, Commander," said Lieutenant Thon, turning from his station to smile. Horlen ignored Thon and the two stormtroopers that stood sentinel outside the door. Thon was always too damned cheerful.
Horlen sat down a bit harder than he'd meant to and a drop of recaf spilled out, falling upon his white tunic lapel.
"DA-mn," Horlen managed to squeeze the oath to a lower decimal of volume. Not that it wouldn't be the first time he'd spilled recaf on his uniform, but it always annoyed him. Severely.
"Uh, Commander, I believe you'll want to see this." Thon's voice was suddenly sharp.
Horlen looked up, sipping his recaf. "What is it now, Lieutenant Thon? Another emergency signal from the frontier? Kharybdis only has two EARTs at the ready right now and I'm sure that Rear Admiral Hark has just about had it up to here with..."
His voice trailed off as he looked at the holographic projector. A standard probe transmission template was being shown, information and details of all sorts being checked and cataloged in separate windows. But it was the information on the primary screen that was most eye catching, with the subsequent data further backing that up.
Horlen spilled more recaf on his uniform as he reached for his comlink.
* * * * * * * * * *
"You're telling me that what I'm seeing here is not in fact a fabrication or a holo-drama?" asked Rear Admiral Hark. The admiral was older than Horlen, by about a decade, but it was the scars that ran down his face that told a much more compelling story and aged him far further than he was.
"Yes, sir, admiral -- that is exactly what I'm telling you," replied Horlen. He turned to the Imperial SR&D officer standing next to him.
"The Commander is correct, Admiral," piped up Captain Jocasta. She fidgeted with the hem of her lab coat, seemingly unconsciously. "The data we've received is not a fabrication. The attached observational notes that the Cognitio AI appended coincide with my team's own analysis. This is a power source of nearly unlimited potential. It's breaking all the rules and seemingly getting away with it without any negative side effects. This thing has the potential to make Dyson Spheres look like a child's toy. In every measurable category, this thing is just...better. Cleaner. Just...amazing."
Jocasta's voice was raised and her eyes wide, her enthusiastic smile growing from ear to ear. This discovery was the kind of thing one could barely even conceive of -- let alone imagine. It wasn't a once in a lifetime discovery; it was a once in a epoch discovery.
She coughed, calming down a bit. "This has the potential to power the needs of entire star systems. The capacitors that the probe detected are not entirely dissimilar from our own technology. It'd be possible to re-engineer most of it. But we need to do a LOT more studying. We've got a nice head start, but we need more information. We need to send a team to the planet."
Admiral Hark raised an eyebrow. He was well aware of the penchant that some R&D types had for technology, especially anything new. But he was also well aware of the advantages that could come if the Empire was to lay claim to this new source of energy. He looked at Commander Horlen, noticing abstractly that the man had recaf stains on his tunic.
"I agree with you in principal," Hark said at length, "But there must be more. Commander, you look like you want to tell me something important."
Horlen visibly swallowed and tried to hide his cringe.
"Y-Yes, sir. Uh, Admiral, I hate to be the bearer of bad news after receiving this good news...but...uh...the probe's message. The signal? It wasn't encrypted."
The words hung in the air, full of weight and yet hanging still.
"Say that again?" asked Hark, a threateningly low bass tone bubbling.
"The data from the probe was not encrypted, sir. For whatever reason -- likely damage of some sort that failed to show up in a diagnostics check -- the probe sent all this information without encryption."
"But that means," began Jocasta.
"-that just about anyone that happens to also come across that signal burst, will have the data from the probe," finished Hark. He sighed. Another day ruined.
"It would still take time, sir," Commander Horlen rallied. "Even though it was not encrypted, they'll have to translate it from our own language and have some trouble with processing our data transmission methods. If, that is, anyone also picked up the signal."
Admiral Hark leaned over and pressed a com button. His secretary spoke up.
"Yes, Admiral?"
"Alert Captain Lorand that I'm bringing the 86th EART to full activation. Further details and deployment will be transmitted soon."
"As you order, Admiral."
Jocasta almost gasped. "B-But, Admiral, we need to study this thing -- not turn that planet into a combat zone."
"That's the plan," replied Hark. "We'll need a few experts to go along to study with the EART."
Alarm bells started going off in Jocasta's head.
"Yes, Captain, you're going to be in charge of the research team. Grab whatever you need or can - you've got less than thirty minutes to get aboard the Predominant before she takes off from the docks," said Admiral Hark, making it an order.
"B-B-But..."
"Time's a-wasting, Captain. I look forward to your follow up reports. I expect one within the first twenty-four hours after you make planetfall."
* * * * * * * * * *
Twenty-nine minutes later a haggard, angry, and exhausted Captain Aleen Jocasta was aboard the Predominant with a team of equally group of discombobulated SR&D team members. The 86th EART moved off from the limits of the FTLi field of Kharybdis station -- the ISD Predominant, the medical cruiser Champagne, two Vindicator cruisers, three Velox-class frigates, and half a squadron of Intersector-class patrol ships.
Their destination a previously unknown, uncharted system that had quickly picked up a new nickname among the staff of the science team.
The Beacon System.
