Posted Nov. 15, 2022, 7:47 p.m. by Ensign Kovan ch'Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) (Abigail G)
Posted by Gamemaster CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Bridge - Arrival To Vok III
[snip]On the system wide visual scanners on the smaller station screen which were phasing through different points observed in the system. The screen shifted to a shot of the in system asteroid belt it wasn’t very thick given over the long years the colonists had bit by bit been chewing up the mineral rich asteroids for resources to break them down and use them for stuff. The interesting bit was he happened to be glancing at the screen when he saw a 2km egg like asteroid that was lazily drifting like the rest, suddenly make a curious out of the way maneuver like it was ‘side stepping’ from impacting with another asteroid pair nearby. Once done it went back to lazily drifting into the system’s interior like the rest as if nothing happened. To be honest if one weren’t looking at this spot at that exact second anyone would probably have missed it!
GM CockRoach
Kovan snorted after Rand’s reply, and gave his own sly remark in return. The tension that once gripped his whole body seemed to relax a fraction. His shoulders looser and posture less tense. All this waiting around for something to jump out was hell on his mind and body. What else was there do? Unless the pirates out there suddenly announced themselves there was little the Sentinel could do. He listened to the comm piece on his ear, he watched the monitors, all in the slim hope of catching something, anything, that would give them forewarning.
Rand turned a couple shades of red and nodded her head as she answered Kovan. His comment was both accurate and pushed at her social anxiety. Better to focus on work, but there wasn’t any work to do but wait right now.
And then it happened. A stroke of dumb luck. The only luck Kovan seemed to possess. His whole life a testament to its power and cruelty. Kovan’s hands moved before his brain finished processing what it just saw. The footage was saved and sent to the main display and repeated on loop alongside live footage. “We’re not alone out here.” Kovan half-shouted to the room. A nasty swear fell from his lips as he manually adjusted the sensor arrays towards the section of space the Egg floated within. “Performing passive scan.” He wasn’t going to let whoever was floating out there to realize they’ve been discovered.
Ensign ch’Sirhc COMMO/ENGR
Passive scans began to be run.....
Franks swiveled in his chair at Kovan’s outburst and watched the screen and the looped replay. He turned back for his visual scanner at the science station. “Helm, can you plot their course and give us an estimate of where they might be going and when they will get there?”
The Helm NE began to look over the data soon giving a reply, “..Well if it is an asteroid if it maintained its current speed and course without deviation it will enter the local solar body within 5 days and 8 hours or so. But if its not and it course corrects by 3-9 degrees to port in the next 30-40 minutes or so at their current speed they would enter Vok III’s atmosphere over the northern polar ice cap in 2 days and 15 hours or so..” They said.
“Let’s go ahead and assume that it’s not an asteroid,” Kovan snapped back. Whatever good mood he was in before was long gone now. He turned back to his console screen, waiting on the results of his passive scan.
Rand looked over at Ayden, the engineer on duty. “What kind of power source would they need to move an asteroid like that and so quickly? Of is it just camouflaged to look like an asteroid? Can we track where it has been by following the power emissions?”
Yeoman Rand
Passive scan results came back for Kovan, far as anything showed it was just an asteroid. No signs of power emissions were in evidence without a deeper more active scan. Nor was it currently giving off any active engine emissions. Looking back at the data though when it made its sudden maneuver change to avoid the asteroid there was picked up by sensors a low powered thruster like burst using what might be chemical based fuel. Given this it likely WAS some kind of ship using some fancy sensor masking and other means to disguise itself as a normal asteroid. So assuming it WAS a ship manned or not it was seemingly trying to be super stealthy as possible, and as the Helm NE said do so to either A) go burn up in the sun in 5 or so days, or B) if it did alter its course by 3-9 degrees to port in the next 30-40 minutes enter Vok III’s atmosphere over the north pole in 2 days.
GM CockRoach
“Why is it headed towards the polar ice cap? What’s their goal?” Kovan questioned aloud as he mused over their findings. Asteroids don’t glide around each other like ballerinas. Nor do they have chemical fueled thrusters. But who was it? One of the other colonies? Or. . . was it the Orion pirates? “We need to be mindful of what we’re transmitting,” Kovan said to the bridge. “They could be listening in on us.” He frowned, lost in thought. If they were using some kind of sensor mask to hide themselves then it could interfere with their ship’s ability to send, receive or intercept transmissions. Would make sense of theirs was a stealth mission. Sacrificing that capability for camouflage. There was a much bigger question looming in his mind. What should the Sentinel do?
“Helm, theoretically, how long would it take us to intercept if they make the course correction?” Kovan asked.
Ensign ch’Sirhc COMMO/ENGR
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