Back to the Future?
Posted on Fri Jul 19th, 2024 @ 9:38pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant JG Randolf Forst & Lieutenant JG Hopkins Cobb & Ensign Helle Leed & Ensign Winston Hubblestone
2,660 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Mission 1: A Long Hard Road Ahead
Location: Gamma Quadrant, Mouth of the Wormhole
Timeline: 25 August, 2396 - 1000 Hours
[ON]
Winston grabbed another of the heavy boxes and lifting with his legs, moved it onto the Runabout. They'd had a few hours of sleep and now were heading back to the wormhole. They'd had enough time to examine the devices the Coalition had used to seal the wormhole. Although, the word seal wasn't exactly the right term. They'd just moved the opening in time, not in space. It was still there and, they had a plan to fix it.
"So, Lieutenant Forst," Winston said, as he came back out of the craft. "We are basically going to try to create a time phase bubble and move time like the Coalition did?"
Tapping away at the loading manifest that he had created for the trip, Rudolf nodded. He tapped again and started to check the list of items before he realized that he hadn't actually answered the question, and wasn't sure that Ensign Hubblestone could even see him at the moment.
"That is the plan. Hopefully our analysis of the Coalition probe, for lack of a better term, was close enough to accurate to be able to replicate the effect in reverse."
Assuming that nothing goes wrong. He added to himself.
"Ensign Leed, would you double-check that phase transmitter for the correct amplitude modulation? I am sending you the most up-to-date calculations from the computer, and Lieutenant Cobb is there a humming coming from the Optronic sensor plate, or am I just hearing things?"
"Starting diagnosis of the phase transmitter." Helle had already checked it but restrained herself from pointing that out. This was no time for petulance. It's a great time for being petty. She silenced her inner voice. "Transmitter is just fine, sir. I'll start checking the calculations for variances and anomalies."
Cobb took a close listen at the sensor plate. "Well, that is odd. I wouldn't have heard if you hadn't said anything, Lieutenant Forst. I think my brain is trying to focus out all the 'noise,' so to speak. But, I don't think the sensor is actually picking anything up, so it might just be the console has something loose and vibrating. I need to pry this display open if there is time."
Winston lugged the final crate aboard the Runabout and paused to stretch. "Not even off the ship and Cobb is already opening up the sensor console," he said with a grin. "I think that's everything, Lieutenant. We are ready to ship out whenever Cobb gets finished and you give us the say so. Although, I'm not really excited about the upcoming EVA that we each have to do to place the new devices around the wormhole."
Randolf winced at that. He had known it was happening of course, but it still didn't make him any happier about it. EVAs were always a little nauseating.
"Let's pack in, and get settled. Lieutenant Cobb, can you check the internals while we are in transition to the Wormhole?"
"Absolutely," he replied. "We should have enough time that I can open up a few consoles and do some manual troubleshooting. I can't imagine too much has gone wrong since the refit, but battles do crazy things."
The flight out to their first stop was as smooth as could be expected, all of the equipment was prepared, and now all that was needed was to drop Leed off for the first placement. They had all managed to get into their EVA suits on the flight, now to get the helmets in place and start dropping off people.
"Ensign Leed, are you ready for the first drop?"
"Yeah, of course, this is what we trained for in the Academy," said Helle. She compulsively checked the helmet seal for the... she had lost count. This shouldn't be any different than the tests at the academy or the holo-programs on the Firebird. The cold rush of adrenaline on her skin shook her fragile confidence. Luckily, her dad had taught her breathing exercises to calm herself.
"Ready when you are, sir. I got this," she said to herself as much as anyone. Fandme! Why couldn't she remember the exercises?
Forst had the shuttle in place. The crew was in EVA suits. The checklist was checked, now to start deploying his crew around space to synchronize the devices that would allow them to replace the wormhole in time. He swallowed as he checked everything again. Time to start.
Ensign Leed was the first. They were in position and the door was opening.
Almost too quickly Helle dove through the airlock into the vastness of space. She kept her eyes focused on the HUD to block out the distant ships, the damaged station, and the drifting debris. The ends of her fingers tingled with the rush of adrenaline into her bloodstream. Breathe, damn you, she mumbled to herself, inhaling and exhaling several long, slow breaths.
Forst started the trip to the next spot, checking again that he had Leed's communicator and life sign readings up on the secondary panel.
"Lieutenant, are you finished with the Optronic sensor? I can drop off Hubblestone next if you need some more time."
Cobb barely looked up. "Hmm? Yes, yes, I should be done in just a second. It was merely a matter of recalibrating some of the nodes inside the console. These things are so sensitive, you know? Anyway, it should be right as rain now. The only humming that will be coming from this Optronic sensor is if it is picking up a real reading."
Forst pulled the shuttle into position. Checking the placement again he opened the airlock for Cobb.
Cobb finished his thing and shuffled his way through the airlock. He looked for what looked like the comfiest chair; shuttles were notoriously utilitarian, but that didn't mean comfort was to be neglected. After a moment of prodding at one in particular, he sat and secured himself. "Alright, ready to go. Are we there yet?"
With Cobb and Leed in position, Forst maneuvered the shuttle to where Ensign Hubblestone would debark.
"Ensign, are you prepped?" He queried as the shuttle slipped into position.
Winston paused to think about the question. Was he prepared? "I'm prepared, sir, but I'm not sure I'll ever be ready though. I look like a caricature of myself in this suit," Winston said, raising his long arms in the EVA suit. He knew he was jabbering because of the nerves but he couldn't stop. "Did I ever tell you the time...." he began and then the airlock cycled and he found himself tumbling into space, one of the devices to his left. Did Lieutenant Forst just shoot me out of the airlock?
Forst maneuvered again to the final position. There was a moment where he was concerned that he had cycled the airlock too quickly, but he had triple-checked that Hubblestone was in position, so he brushed it off. He glanced at the readings for the rest of the crew and moved back to the airlock. Checking again that everything was in place, he grabbed the modified probe and stepped into the airlock.
The spacewalk was simple enough, but his stomach was wheeling. He tried hard not to look past the probe and the HUD readouts as he brought himself into position.
[Device 1]
It took Winston an embarrassingly long time to get his EVA suit under control. He learned that, much like dating in a holoprogram, doing EVA under real-life circumstances was a lot harder. By the time he'd gotten himself stopped and oriented himself to the device, at least five minutes had passed. He gently pressed on the stubs that provided thrust and began moving forward.
=^=Ah, this is Winston. I got a little off course and I'm en route to my target. I don't see any damage to this one, which is encouraging. I do see some odd protrusions from the sides. Could be sensors but could also be weapons I guess. So you all be careful. Winston out =^=
[Device 2]
Cobb also struggled with his EVA suit for a brief moment. It wasn't that he misunderstood the principles of moving it, the simple reality was that science was far less efficient outside of the lab.
"Alright, let's get things started," he thought. "Wait, why is nothing happening?" Cobb responded to the lack of obvious feedback on what he was investigating by punching it moderately hard. It didn't really do much, but it felt good. After a few more minutes of fiddling and cursing, something seemed to be happening. =^=Alright, got something. I'll have more in a moment.=^=
[Device 3]
The device hummed beneath Helle's feet, a little ebb and flow like a wave lapping the shore. Tethered to a D-ring on the outside of the device, she scanned the device. Low power, broad-spectrum photon emission, minor exterior warping from stress. She noted small knobs on the surface which could be the protrusions Winston mentioned.
"Freaking alien technology," muttered Helle while sending a close feed of the readings to Forst. The tricorder picked up a small graviton field but struggled to render it. She banged the side of it a few times. "No time to figure it out so you're left guessing until it's too late."
[Device 4]
Now that the shuttle was in position, Forst moved back to the airlock. Checking, and re-checking the seals of the suit he cycled the airlock.
Orienting himself in the void he maneuvered the suit to the device. Limited damage, which was good.
=^= Forst to crew. I am in position at the last device. Powering up now. =^=
The device hummed to life. Well, he assumed that it hummed, but he couldn’t actually hear anything. Time to see if our calculations were correct. He thought as he pulled up the feed to the other devices. One by one each of them blinked on in his HUD.
The devices blinked in unison in the HUD, but then another blink drew his attention.
=^= Forst to crew, anyone else reading a build up of chronitons? I don’t remember that in the simulations that we ran. =^=
The chroniton readings started to pulse in rhythm with the blinks from the devices. He pulled up the feed from the shuttle’s sensors. The chronitons were building all around the devices.
His eyes grew wide as he worked out what was about to happen.
=^= Quick check on my supposition, but are we about to be pulled back in time? =^= He was hoping that he was wrong, but as the pulses increased in tempo he was less and less convinced.
Ice dripped down Helle's neck as two puzzle pieces slammed into place. The photon emissions. Bad graviton readings.
=^= Jhivon radiation, sir. It generates when charged particles travel faster than light which can happen in a quantum state and that's why the graviton readings are wonky and I should have picked up on it and... =^= Helle noticed how much the ebb of flow of the device was matching the background radiation of the universe, almost like it was syncing to it.
=^= Røvbanan. =^= she hissed, forgetting the open comms.
Winston took in what the other were saying and quickly came to a conclusion. =^=Yeah I think we are in trouble, Lieutenant. And I don't know what Røvbanan means but I think I agree=^= Winston said. They needed to shut the devices down. Winston didn't waste any time. He patched the data feeds from the other three EVA suits into his own and began furiously tapping on the access screen on the device. He saw the chronoton particles sync up just as he pressed the button to execute the emergency power-down cycle. Or what he thought was the emergency power down cycle but instead, the devices spiked.
There was a flash of light, forcing Winston to close his eyes. When he reopened them, everything looked the same except for the fact that DS18 was gone, along with the asteroids that had been clustered around the mouth of the wormhole.
Forst took a moment to collect himself. The flash and the rather disconcerting lack of familiar land ... space? marks left him a little stunned.
=^= Forst to crew, sound off, and let me know you're still with us. Cobb, start an analysis of the devices, did they work or malfunction?
Leed, given the temporal nature of these devices, see if you can track stellar drift, if we are not when we should be it would be nice to know when we are.
That is a strange way of speaking that I hope to avoid in the future. He thought.
Hubblestone, let's start prepping for another run at this. We may have to try again.
Cobb felt a bit perplexed and unsure of what just happened. "Um, I'd lean on the side of 'worked,' but with a broad definition of success. It'll be a few minutes of punching at the output screens to determine exactly what those chronitons did, if anything. Early analysis based on the spike that I think we all saw at the end would indicate that we experienced a potential temporal anomaly worthy of a proper science article."
Winston was still trying to process what had happened when Lieutenant Forst and Cobb chimed in. He shook his head in his EVA suit. Again? He'd done a lot of work on stellar cartography back in the Academy and one thing he knew how to do was measure the decay of chronotons from stars, which all emitted some as they were continually dying. He used the sensors from his suit to target the nearest sun and began running a sensor sweep on it. The star was far away but he could still get readings. When it was finished, he did the same but this time on the recordings from right before the devices triggered. When he compared the two results, he shook his head.
"Lieutenant Forst, I think we can definitely say we experienced a temporal event. I've been running some scans and my best guess is that we've moved three hundred and fifty years in the past."
The ice inside Helle froze. Helle couldn't have been more arctic than her veins when she heard Winston's reply. Fragments of thought went off at random. Three-hundred and fifty. Emitter. Decay. Device. Three-hundred and fifty. A remote part of her brain kicked on through some deep-set pattern of neurons. One of her last readings near the place/time they had just been was a surprising traces of ytterbium atoms. They acted as entangled particles, probably through the time-travel thing the devices did. It was simple to take a new reading and compare the two.
"Per the oscillation phase drift of some atoms, 350 years seems close. As close as we'll get without a bigger computer," said Helle. Saying it out loud was both terrifying and liberating. "On the plus side, the Runabout was sent with us."
Forst turned back to the runabout. Time to pick everyone up and start running calculations.
=^= Alright all, I'm going to bring the runabout to you, we will reconvene and determine what we are going to do about this. =^=
Reaching the airlock Randolf let out a slow breath. This was definitely replacing the previous outing as his worst away mission.
[OFF]
Lieutenant JG Randolf Forst
Assistant 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
Ensign Helle Leed (NPC by Leed)
Biologist
USS Firebird NCC-88298
RSS Feed