Posted by Gamemaster Delta Wolfe (Senior Gamemaster) in Main Sim: Bridge - So It Begins

Posted by Gamemaster Delta Wolfe (Senior Gamemaster) in Main Sim: Bridge - So It Begins

Posted by Civilian Vorraye Anders (Diplomatic Attache) in Main Sim: Bridge - So It Begins
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<SNIP!>

OOC: sprinkles magical fairy GM dust to accelerate time

IC:

Two hours later, they crossed the threshold for high density local scans. Just as Manhattans primary short range scanners came to bear, the probe… vanished… There was no indication of warp trails, impulse signatures, detonation, just a low energy subspace spike as the probe vanished.

However, less than forty seconds later, sensor scans began bursting forth from a location 0.75ly in the opposite direction. It was an identical series of sensor emissions, focused more thoroughly against the wormhole neutrino envelope, the Chisca Bay and the still patrolling Avenger. Long range scans confirmed that it appeared to be an identical object, but were unable to confirm anything beyond the original scans, because they were equally out of position.

SGM

Cochrane blinked and stood up like he had been shocked. “What the…?!” he asked no one in particular, but then specifically “How did it do that? Scan the area of it’s last known location before it’s… switch. Anything out of the norm, flag it and try and figure out what happened. Helm, bring us around and plot course for intercept. Warp 9. Comms, contact the Avenger and Chisca Bay. Have them move to intercept, but still hold off on aggressive acts. And tell the station to stand down on the prep for the Ambassador’s departure. They can’t out run that thing… if it’s even the same thing. And Science. Run a check of the records from Voyager for anything describing something like we just saw.”

Cochrane, CO

Riali furrowed her eyebrows at the scan results. “Sure thing,” She turned back to the LCARS, plugging in a search for any object that showed similar characteristics to the ‘vanishing’ probe. “Captain, cloaked ships often produce a spike in subspace energy. Usually much larger than this, but.. Is it possible the probe didn’t vanish and instead cloaked and accelerated at a high velocity? Thus, we might be seeing the same device?”

There were a number of records of encountered Delta Quadrant species which had the capacity to vanish, but none that left behind no residual neutrino or photon emissions. No probes had been encountered that randomly vanished without a trace.

“Do we want to go to red alert and raise the shields, Captain?” Logan asked.

CoS

OOC: Tyv would have made it to the bridge during the magical acceleration time :D

IC: Tyv was standing by at one of the nearby security stations, but the oddities of the way this probe maneuvered prompted him to search the database for any object/probe/ship that was capable of temporal or spacial displacement that perhaps might not have directly aligned with the possible transmissions types they documented previously. It was indeed possible that they might have just encountered something new?

Ensign Tyv (Security AC)

The only records of temporal displacement referred to secured and classified files marked Braxton. There were a number of records concerning spatial anomalies and spatial displacement technologies capable of transporting objects over large distances very quickly. None matched the sensor scans thus far gathered by the Manhattan. All left some other residual energetic trace that didn’t match this profile. All that had been detected thus far was a brief and poorly defined subspace spike. Unfortunately, that spike was so vague that it matched literally tens of thousands of records from the Federation and Starfleet databases.

OOC; Yellow alert should have shields up.

IC: “Not yet, Mr. Logan. They haven’t taken any hostile action. And the last time I checked scanning, no matter how powerful, wasn’t grounds for us to start a fight. No, keep hailing, but keep a close eye on that thing.” and then he paused as a thought occurred. Looking back he said “Lieutenant Rodriguez, load the burst fire launcher will a full spread of photon torpedoes… just in case. Phasers on standby.”

Cochrane, CO

Deandres, CSO

OOC: I think we will need some more of that magic GM dust.... Apparently I can’t do math, 1 lightyear at full impulse should have been 4 years, not 4 hours… 0.75 lightyears at Warp 9 should be about 4 hours.

OOC: James had realized that back a ways and altered his original speed to intercept to Warp 5. Manhattan had only actually traversed half the distance, just long enough to get within short range sensor range. There will me magically fantabulous GM fairy dust though :P
IC:
“Yes sir, bringing us around. Setting an intercept course, warp 9,” Walker said as he swung the ship around towards the new source, and pushed them up to warp 9.

WO Darach - COO

Manhattan turned and flashed into Warp. Their time to intercept was four hours and six minutes. They’d be within close sensor range within two hours.

SGM

As the scenery out Vorraye’s quarters switched to light died then impulse then light speed again, she frowned. “What in the galaxies?”

A few minutes later the attache stepped onto the bridge and glanced around. During a lull in the conversations and calculations, her voice some thru the silence. “Anthony I can help with?” She want any good at engineering, and security was moot, but she could read the consoles as well as anyone and help wherever she could.

Vorraye Anders
Diplomatic Attache

Logan said, “Captain, I’m concerned that anything so far away, four hours and six minutes at warp nine, could scan everything in that system with such spectacular ancillary effects. It should have superior offensive and defensive capabilities as well.”

CoS

“More than likely, Mr. Drake. So I hope your ready for that, should things not go smoothly if we can ever get close enough to get a read on this thing. As for the scanning, it seems to have been able to do that from much farther off than it is now. I’m guessing something about the wormhole and our activities there is making it, or whomever sent it, curious. I just hope that curiosity isn’t a precursor to something less than friendly.” and then he spoke to the bridge crew as a whole.

“Listen up, everyone. We are new here. There are species, technologies, and politics in this quadrant that we simply don’t know about. Be that as it may, we are not assuming that every new ship is trying to kill us. We present ourselves as we are: representatives of another sector of the galaxy. We are not here to start a fight, nor do we want one. We are here to learn. So every first step we take in dealings like this are based on that desire. Information… not conquest. We aren’t here to stake a claim to anything. We are here to explore and discover. Fighting is a last resort, and only in self-defense or the defense of others. Everyone understand?”

Cochrane, CO

“Understood Captain. We are 2 hours till we get within short range sensors,” Walker said as he turned around from the helm.

WO Darach - COO

OOC: sprinkle sprinkle sprinkle magic fairy GM dance

IC:

As Manhattan closed within short range distance, sensors began to gather more data. Initial scans confirmed the duranium hull signature. The object was clearly a probe. No weapons were detected, but the energy being emitted by the probe didn’t jive with the engine signature. It appeared the sensor equipment was not only different to the engine signature aboard the probe, but individual energy signatures from the sensor equipment differed from each other. It was as if someone had cobbled a number of different technologies from different species together to craft this probe.

Before Manhattan could close to near visual range, there was another burst of subspace energy and the probe vanished from sensors. No ion trails, no warp signatures, no neutrino or photon signature tells of a cloaking field, no exposions; just gone.

SGM

Cochrane’s jaw clenched and he glared daggers at the blank view screen for several moments. “Comms. Contact the Avenger and Chisca Bay. And Event Horizon. Have any scan data they compiled sent to the CSO. Science, get us any information you can on that thing. Full analysis. We’ll need a full report within the hour. Mr. Drake. Stand down from alert, but keep defensive systems on standby. XO, you have the bridge.” and Cochrane stood up and made his way towards the Ready Room.

Cochrane, CO

“Yes sir.” Jack said as he shifted slightly. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but he always felt a little unease out here. So far away from home made you wonder about who was coming up from behind.

“Standing down from alert status. Systems on stand by, Sir,”Logan confirmed.

“I was in the Boy Scouts,” Logan explained after the CO left. “Our motto was Be Prepared. So I’ll hope for the best when we meet these aliens again. But I’ll be ready for the worst case scenario.”

CoS

“Agreed,” Celina nodded at the security chief. “I tend to be rather heavy handed on those klaxons. Better to be safe than sorry. What concerns me most is that duranium hull on a probe. Why would a probe need the capacity to defend itself like a starship? my gut says it has something really fragile in it or really nasty.”

Lt. Celina Rodgriquez CTO.

“Well there is always some nosy little bastards who might mess with your probe… better safe than sorry when it comes to protecting it. Though that maybe my hopeful optimism so many people are known for.” Jack replied sardonically as he smirked at Celina before looking back at his console in the main chair.

Creed, XO

Feeling rather useless, Raye helped send the queries for additional information. Until they actually met someone, or some thing, she really had no duties to speak of.

She watched the Captain walk and wondered if everything was ok.

Raye
Diplomat

Neither the Chisca Bay, the Avenger, nor the Event Horizon had detected anything more than the Manhattan, being that she had gotten closer than any of the others. Deeper scans closer to the probes past location revealed a very minor fluctuation in background subspace radiation. Beyond that, there was no sign any probe had ever been present.

SGM

The science station terminals beeped that an incoming datastream from the Captains Ready Room was incoming.

Riali adjusted her attention to the terminals, ready to receive the data stream.

The computer terminal screen began to display rapidly progressing image data. Being disturbingly more thorough than usual, given the broad parameters of the search, the computer displayed a fairly high degree of similarity to the scanning technology used by all of the mentioned species. It appeared that the probe incorporated elements of each of those species technologies in its scanning capacity. The power system seemed to be a rather complex combination of Hirogen, augmented with borg nodes. The hull construction of the probe matched any number of dozens of races across all four quadrants of the galaxy. Tritanium and Duranium were fairly common construction elements among almost all warp capable species. There was, however, a heavy concentration of radiogenic particles detected within the hull, consistent with long term exposure to high levels of plasma radiation.

SGM

Knitting her eyebrows together, Deandres considered the data. It seemed as though this probe was the product of various species’ technology combined into a single device. Was it possible the species responsible for its production were observers? A civilization who had spent time studying various peoples’ technology, piecing together what they deemed efficient to create a contraption of their own? She wasn’t sure. Casting the thought to the back of her mind, Riali focussed on the radiogenic particles. They were the product of radioactive decay, which she knew could often be found in Class-T clusters. Perhaps one was responsible for this reading? Had they encountered a radiogenic phenomena? Been attacked by nuclear weapons? Radiogenic particles, if converted properly, could be used as a source of power, but Riali was doubtful considering they were found in the hull rather than the engines. Questions and ideas concerning the precense of radiogenic particles in the probes hull began to fill her mind. If only she could retrace its steps.

“Computer,” An idea popped into her head. “Could long term surveillance within nebula be responsible for a high concentration of radiogenic particles in the Probe’s hull?” Nebulae were notorious for producing plasma, as well as material which formed radiogenic particles, such as uranium and thorium. If this probe was intended as most were, to study, perhaps it had found itself surveying a nebula, specifically one born of a surpernova. It would explain the hull’s evident exposure to plasma and the precense of radiogenic particles. Although they had no way of telling where this probe had come from, she wanted to see if it was possible.

Deandres, CSO