That's No Moon

Posted on Wed Feb 14th, 2024 @ 7:36am by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant Tor Ezzo & Lieutenant Phoebe Baxter & Lieutenant JG Hopkins Cobb & Ensign Helle Leed & Ensign Winston Hubblestone

1,901 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Long Hard Road Ahead
Location: USS Firebird, Main Science Lab
Timeline: 23 August 2396, 1730 Hours

[ON]

Unaware of the impending collapse, Helle stared at the streams of measurements marching across the screen. Each one represented a sensor array or algorithmic analysis of an array. In the academy, this sometimes grew tedious. Here, on this small ship within the Bajoran wormhole, she read the observations with a seriousness that bordered on intensity.

"Photon flux is normalized. No change in the radiation or temperature levels. Readings are within expected fluctuations," she said, just had she had repeated at regular intervals since the Firebird entered the wormhole.

Winston nodded at Helle's comment. "I'm seeing the same thing," He said and looked up from his console. "You know, I looked it up and there's never been a starship that has hovered in the mouth of a wormhole for any length of time. There's also no records of a ship cloaking inside one either."

Cobb was staring at some data, trying to puzzle out what he was seeing. Despite multiple advanced degrees, something felt very off despite the normalcy of the information in front of him. "Hey captain," he chirped into the comms. "I'm not getting much different than Helle or Winston. I wonder if we shouldn't run the numbers through a quantum regression test to see if it spits out anything new? I'll think of something else in the meantime."

"The spatial probability density in the system hasn't changed, though, and the linear regression is stable. Unless something has been slowly altering the system over time, which,..." Her stomach squirmed from the pressure that was riding on this and the uncertainty of what this was. "Well, how would that make sense?"

Cobb thought for another moment, "I suppose it could if we are near some super-dense concentration of dark matter, and it's throwing off the curvature of space-time in the area, but I don't think that's it. We really shouldn't be reading anything. Let me try one more scan."

"Wait a minute, let's try flying around. I've got a bug in my ear that this interference might have an irregular shape, which would not exist in space. Does that make sense to anyone?"

Phoebe had been standing in silence, arms crossed and chewing her bottom lip as she took in all the information her team was reporting. "You're thinking we'll see some variance if we move? It's not outside the realm of possibility ...." She tapped her combadge.

"Baxter to Bridge. Are we able to maneuver around a bit? We suspect there might be some interference to our scans from our current position."

Helle tapped on her chin while she pondered what Cobb said. "Irregular and massive could describe lots of things in space but our usual scans didn't ping anything, and astrometric charts don't show anything. So what is here that doesn't want us to know about it? Could be something like a crystalline entity." She tried, and failed, to keep the potential of that from raising her voice with excitement.

[Bridge]
Tor Ezzo was sitting at the conn his hand sliding back and forth over his console as the call came in. Here we go as you try and keep a starship from being spit out of a wormhole that connects tens of thousands of light years of space. Having to make hundreds of adjustments just to keep the ship from tearing apart, leave it to science to ask you for more, Ezzo thought to himself.

The ship shuddered a bit as Ezzo tapped the comm on his console. "Unfortunately, that shudder is probably all of the movement I can manage while we are stuck in the wormhole and I don't suggest we try and force more of those."

[Science Bay 1]

Winston felt the shudder and glanced down at his console. So much information was flooding the science department from so many sources that he almost felt overloaded. He saw a small red dot in the corner of his console screen and tapped it reflexively. It was the magnetometer reading from the close proximity sensors. Apparently, when the ship maneuvered, it detected something different.

"The magnetometer is showing some kind of device at 080 degrees. It's four meters by six meters and is putting out an interference field that appears to be growing," he said. His hands flashed across the different data access screens. "That field is... it's weakening the wormhole!"

"That's not good," Phoebe muttered as she joined Winston and took in the readings herself. Her brow furrowed as she absorbed the information. "We need to take that device out or find some way to counter the field, now. Otherwise, it's going to generate a subspace contortion that would render travel through the wormhole unsafe.... if not impossible."

"I agree, Lieutenant," Cobb said. He continued to watch the data come in only now it was showing the small forms of Starfleet personnel on EVA. One of the teams was approaching the device. Cobb watched the energy from the device spike. "Helle, can you cross and match that power surge. Where is it going because it looks very directional."

"Yes sir," said Helle. Her throat clenched. Finding one surge was like tracking the stream of one creek in a confluence of eight others. Amid a downpour. She needed to dams. "If I adjust for the difference between the energy readings now and the models from a few minutes ago, I can filter the rest through resistive power dividers and..." Helle's voice drifted away for a moment as she studied the screen. She wasn't wrong about this.

"Sir, the energy is being sent to the other three devices. They are syncing up to--I think they're coming online."

Hubblestone frowned and then got up and moved to Leed's station. He looked down at the data. "Definitely. Get this information to the captain and to Lieutenant Smith. It looks like his team is heading towards one of the devices right now."

Phoebe could feel her curiosity turn to concern for the away team, so she stepped back to focus. Worry... well, actual fear, if she was being honest... would not help her ship and its crew. She needed to stay clinical. Keep an eye on the readings, see if anything was being overlooked.

Returning to her console, she let out an audible "Huh," when she realized something had indeed been overlooked. "All of these different readings we're getting," she spoke to the room. "None of them are coming from Deep Space 18. In fact, I'm getting nothing from the station."

Cobb was taken aback. "What?? I guess that makes sense. That must mean we have a ship out here we can't see. But I'm not sure we can pick out its exact location even with our advanced tools. Lieutenant, what should we do?"

Good question thought Winston. He glanced around main science, taking in all the new equipment. New equipment! "I do have an idea, Lieutenant Baxter. If Ensign Leed and I work together, we can use the new equipment we gained during our refit, along with the newly installed science arrays on DS 18 to boost our scanning capabilities. That additional range should let us see what is really going on. But we would need Lieutenant Cobb to remotely access those DS 18 arrays while we triangulate the ones on the Firebird to work with them.

"Do it," Phoebe ordered. It was a good plan, and not for the first time she felt a swelling of pride in her heart for the science team. But now was not the time for sentiment. "I'll notify the bridge, then let me know if you need any help." She addressed that last part to Cobb, then stepped back to inform the Captain of what they'd discovered and what they were attempting.

"On it, sir," Winston said and then turned to face Ensign Leed. "Ok, Helle, what do you think about my idea? Better yet, do you have any idea how we can make it happen? I just blurted the first idea that came into my head."

"It's a great idea, actually. If we integrate our scanners with DS18, we offload the time-intensive data mining to their power grid. We let them sort the data that comes back from our sensors. That means we can send more power to the sensor arrays and focus completely on collecting data." Helle was actually rubbing her hands together with excitement. "Winston, that's stellar. Lieutenant Baxter, can we order the station to do that, or whatever?"

Phoebe nodded. "Do it."

Cobb immediately began to work the DS18 system in the way described in his order. As the array realigned, it seemed like the data they needed was coming in fast. Cobb was very excited and worried at the same time.

"Lt. Baxter, I'm getting something. The numbers are still coming in, but I think we are about to find out what is in front of us. Sending the data to you now."

As the information scrolled before her eyes, Phoebe could trace the energy being fed to the devices threatening the wormhole all led back to the same set of coordinates. Coordinates that showed empty space, which meant...

"There is a ship. A cloaked ship."

"A cloaked ship that big?" Winston said. He quickly accessed the ship's tactical database and cross-checked it with what their sensors were showing. "Sir, it is bigger than the largest known Romulan vessels. And these energy readings do not match up with anything Jem'Hadar either."

A pulse of energy, visible only as an intense surge relayed to their consoles by the sensors, burst from the enigmatic vessel. Eyes shift to the projection of the wormhole on a large, mounted viewscreen. The pulse reached forward from the ship and caused a ripple across the wormhole as if a colossal hand had passed through it, stirring the surrounding accretion disc. The background cascade of radiation burst into millions of gamma "droplets" that flared across the sensors.

The vessel discharged another pulse, which they could now see was a series of short, powerful bursts, each one striking the wormhole with precision, causing it to convulse and writhe. As the destabilizing energy surged through the fabric of space, a violent cascade of sparks and ethereal waves ripple outward. The reactionary forces from the wormhole itself distorting time and space. Helle couldn't help but think of the ways her father spoke of the "Celestial Temple" of the Bajorans, and how much this looked like a body in immense pain. Another pulse barrage. Another, much large wave rippled outward. Suddenly, Helle felt a disorienting swell of vertigo wash over her that caused dazzling bursts of light in her head, each flare accompanied by a disconcerting metallic taste lingering on her tongue.

Around the crew the consoles continued to stream the silent station sensors standing as solemn witnesses to the persistent, violent dissolution of the wormhole.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Phoebe Baxter
Chief Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Lieutenant JG Hopkins Cobb (NPC by Harlan)
Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Ensign Winston Hubblestone (NPC by Llwyedd)
Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Lieutenant Tor Ezzo
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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